Wow, AI generated videos View quoted note →

Neat project! View quoted note →

French Judge's Digital Exclusion Reveals US Influence Judge Nicolas Guillou of the International Criminal Court faces significant digital exclusion due to US sanctions over arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. The sanctions mean his accounts with US firms like Amazon and PayPal are closed, and he struggles with basic transactions as US companies dominate global finance and tech sectors. Guillou suggests the EU should block such sanctions to ensure digital sovereignty and protect the rule of law. He advocates for stronger EU regulations to prevent the enforcement of US-imposed sanctions within Europe. - US tech dominance complicates Guillou’s daily functions, highlighting Europe's vulnerability.

heise online

How a French judge was digitally cut off by the USA

Nicolas Guillou has been sanctioned by the USA as a judge of the International Criminal Court. He notices the effects primarily in the digital realm.

Beginning to think that more conflicts in Bitcoin will center around the perceived control over Bitcoin. View quoted note →

Fucking weird like 😳 View quoted note →

Censorship Systems Spread Globally A document leak reveals that Geedge Networks sells advanced censorship and surveillance systems akin to China's Great Firewall globally. Operating since 2018, the company provides governments in countries like Kazakhstan, Ethiopia, Pakistan, and Myanmar with tools to monitor and block internet activity. Its systems can intercept unencrypted data and target individuals. Despite claims of focusing on cybersecurity, Geedge's technology enhances government power over online information. This raises concerns about digital authoritarianism worldwide. - Geedge's technology has been installed across 26 data centers in Myanmar, affecting millions of internet connections. - The company's systems can block VPNs, forcing users to go without encryption, increasing vulnerability to surveillance.

WIRED

Massive Leak Shows How a Chinese Company Is Exporting the Great Firewall to the World

Geedge Networks, a company with ties to the founder of China’s mass censorship infrastructure, is selling its censorship and surveillance systems...

Supply Chain Attack Compromises JavaScript Packages A major supply chain attack breached the NPM account of developer qix, resulting in malicious versions of key JavaScript packages like chalk and strip-ansi. The malware, a crypto-clipper, swaps wallet addresses to hijack crypto transactions. Though efforts are underway to resolve this issue, it's crucial to audit project dependencies to ensure safety. - Affected packages have over one billion weekly downloads. - Immediate action required: update package dependencies to known-safe versions in package.json.

Anatomy of a Billion-Download NPM Supply-Chain Attack

A massive NPM supply chain attack has compromised foundational packages like Chalk, affecting over 1 billion weekly downloads. We dissect the crypt...

New Epstein Footage Discredits Initial FBI Claim Previously missing footage from Jeffrey Epstein's prison cell has emerged, contradicting initial FBI statements about its inaccessibility due to a midnight reset. Newly released files from the House Oversight Committee reveal previously unseen surveillance footage, including the so-called “missing minute,” justifying conspiracy theories that questioned Epstein's official suicide. This footage also shows Epstein being escorted for a phone call—a detail not publicly mentioned before. The Trump administration has yet to respond to these revelations or the inaccuracies in their earlier assertions. - The footage gap was supposed to be a technical reset error, but that explanation is now debunked. https://newrepublic.com/maz/post/199920/missing-minute-epstein-files-prison-video

eSIM Security Concerns Unveiled A Northeastern University study revealed that eSIM providers often route user data through foreign networks, notably Chinese infrastructure, without disclosure, raising privacy concerns. The team tested various eSIM services, finding that user IP addresses frequently corresponded to third-party countries, not the user’s actual location. Surprisingly, creating an eSIM resale service required minimal effort, granting resellers extensive access to sensitive data. Researchers recommend increased transparency and regulatory measures to address these vulnerabilities. - eSIM profiles were seen to silently communicate with servers and retrieve SMS, often without user knowledge. - A full dataset and methodology will be available on GitHub for further research.

iTnews

Travel eSIMs secretly route traffic over Chinese and undisclosed networks: study

Convenient tech brings big bundle of security and privacy risks.

Google is just mad that Bitcoin has a better market cap 🧢

Bitcoin Sidelined by U.S. Crypto Milestone The GENIUS Act, the first U.S. law focused solely on cryptocurrency, establishes federal regulations for stablecoins, marking crypto's legal debut without mentioning Bitcoin. This shift in focus highlights Bitcoin's diminishing relevance in Washington as stablecoins, linked to the U.S. dollar, gain favor for their practicality and regulation. While Wall Street continues to embrace Bitcoin as an investment asset, its omission from the legislation signals a pivot towards stablecoins at the political level, questioning Bitcoin's role in the evolving crypto landscape. - The GENIUS Act underscores a shift in crypto power dynamics, spotlighting stablecoins over Bitcoin. - Bitcoin’s absence from new legislation may impact its future significance in a regulated crypto environment.

Bitcoin Is Lost In Washington, and Nobody Is Looking for It — Gizmodo

Congress just passed its biggest crypto law ever, and Bitcoin didn’t even get a mention. Once the face of financial rebellion, it’s now sidelin...

Jeffrey Epstein Case Documents Unsealed Recently, unsealed court documents on Jeffrey Epstein provided limited new insights into his high-profile connections, though many notable names were already known. The Miami Herald's Julie Brown emphasizes the broader narrative of legal manipulation by the wealthy. Among the revelations are testimonies from victims and witnesses, spotlighting Epstein's misconduct beyond just Palm Beach. Despite portrayals of salacious connections, these documents primarily reflect Epstein's and Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes. Brown criticizes the fading governmental and media interest post Epstein's death and Maxwell's imprisonment, urging focus on systemic trafficking issues. - The Miami Herald's legal efforts have led to thousands of pages of documents being unsealed. - Victims emphasize the importance of revealing the truth hidden within these documents.

Vanity Fair

How the Miami Herald Got the Epstein Documents

Recently unsealed documents related to Jeffrey Epstein are among thousands that the Herald fought to obtain in a five-year legal battle that goes f...

Appreciate the passion, but this doesn’t actually answer questions like: “Do you agree or disagree that spam filters contribute to mining centralization or not?” Would love a clear take that doesn’t shift focus from the effect of spam filters on centralization to attacking others’ perceived inconsistency or bad faith in discussing these topics. Blaming devs for every decision is peak NPC energy. Touch grass. View quoted note →

Coinbase finally acknowledges Bitcoin’s store of value

The core issue isn’t the technical efficacy of filters but the precedent they set for censorship within the Bitcoin network. When nodes or miners begin filtering transactions—be it JPEGs, Ordinals, or others—they’re making subjective decisions about what constitutes “spam.” This subjectivity opens the door to broader censorship, as evidenced by instances where mining pools like F2Pool filtered transactions linked to OFAC-sanctioned addresses . These actions undermine Bitcoin’s foundational principle of neutrality. If certain transactions can be excluded based on content or origin, it challenges the idea of a permissionless and decentralized network. Moreover, these filters can be circumvented through backchannel deals with miners, leading to a less transparent and more centralized system. In essence, censorship by another name is still censorship. While filters may reduce unwanted data, they also pave the way for discretionary censorship, threatening the very ethos of Bitcoin’s open and decentralized nature. Bitcoin is for protecting things you might hate. No exceptions.

Moral Ambition: Harnessing Talent for Meaningful Change The concept of "moral ambition," as discussed by Rutger Bregman, emphasizes the importance of utilizing one's talents to tackle significant global challenges rather than pursuing conventional success or idle comforts. Bregman categorizes jobs by ambition and idealism, advocating for a combination that drives individuals to impact meaningful change in the world. - The article challenges readers to reconsider their career choices, encouraging engagement with societal issues, from climate change to inequality, rather than settling for roles that offer little societal value. - Highlighting the legacy of abolitionist Thomas Clarkson, Bregman calls for a reflection on what constitutes honorable achievement, urging people to pursue lives worthy of respect by utilizing their skills and opportunities for the greater good.

the Guardian

No, you’re not fine just the way you are: time to quit your pointless job, become morally ambitious and change the world

Most working people can be put into one of three categories, from idealistic yet unambitious to greedy and immoral. But there is another option …

World Economic Forum's Troubled Work Environment The World Economic Forum, led by Klaus Schwab, is criticized for a workplace hostile to women and Black employees. Allegations include sexual harassment, racial discrimination, and unfair treatment of pregnant employees, which starkly contrast with the organization's public stances on inclusion and equality. - Schwab is noted to have inappropriately influenced staff retention, with instances of improper comments and actions towards female employees. - Despite public initiatives promoting gender equality, the Forum reportedly struggles with internal diversity and inclusion, failing to address complaints adequately. https://archive.ph/TONmr

Undisclosed UK Order Demands Apple Create Cloud Access Backdoor Security officials in the UK have issued a secret order requiring Apple to create a backdoor for accessing the content of any user's cloud data worldwide, potentially impacting both user privacy and tech company autonomy. - This mandate seeks access to fully encrypted material and sets a concerning precedent among major democracies. - The order reflects ongoing tensions between tech companies and governments over user privacy and surveillance capabilities. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/02/07/apple-encryption-backdoor-uk/