Digital security will eventually reach a point where we will need exploding passwords. Every service, every account protected by a password will need a secondary exploding password. Once the username and password are entered, the system will recognize the explosion one, and promptly dump all the data, and overwrite it with zeroes. So, if you are tortured for your password, you can give the exploding one. #infotech #infosec
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It’s time for my favorite Eastertide newsletter, “Market Analysis of CPU Fan Cooling [chinese lettering]”
We did it. Internet achieved. Perfect exchange; we can all go home.
Øyh, folks!!
I just realized that in six months the development of Windows 10 will finally be completed, and we will never have to update it ever again!!! 
#NorskTut #Allheimen #TutOgKjør
#MicroSoft #Windows #Windows10 #WindowsUpdate #Update #InfoTech
#Yes #Its #Sarcasm
#PleaseStopCrying
#TGIF
Probably spend too much time doing it but I report so much shit that shouldn't be on #tumblr, I'm #anticensorship to the bone but the underage exploitation material needs to be policed better by the admins or start paying me money and give me some admin privs to clean it up and the other problem is the self-replicating BOTS posting this filth and code not keeping upto booting the BOTS and original #user responsible.
ResearchFish Again
One of the things I definitely don’t miss about working in the UK university system is the dreaded Researchfish. If you’ve never heard of this bit of software, it’s intended to collect data relating to the outputs of research grants funded by the various Research Councils. That’s not an unreasonable thing to want to do, of course, but the interface is – or at least was when I last used it several years ago – extremely clunky and user-unfriendly. That meant that, once a year, along with other academics with research grants (in my case from STFC) I had to waste hours uploading bibliometric and other data by hand. A sensible system would have harvested this automatically as it is mostly available online at various locations or allowed users simply to upload their own publication list as a file; most of us keep an up-to-date list of publications for various reasons (including vanity!) anyway. Institutions also keep track of all this stuff independently. All this duplication seemed utterly pointless.
I always wondered what happened to the information I uploaded every year, which seemed to disappear without trace into the bowels of RCUK. I assume it was used for something, but mere researchers were never told to what purpose. I guess it was used to assess the performance of researchers in some way.
When I left the UK in 2018 to work full-time in Ireland, I took great pleasure in ignoring the multiple emails demanding that I do yet another Researchfish upload. The automated reminders turned into individual emails threatening that I would never again be eligible for funding if I didn’t do it, to which I eventually replied that I wouldn’t be applying for UK research grants anymore anyway. So there. Eventually the emails stopped.
Then, about three years ago, ResearchFish went from being merely pointless to downright sinister as a scandal erupted about the company that operates it (called Infotech), involving the abuse of data and the bullying of academics. I wrote about this here. It then transpired that UKRI, the umbrella organization governing the UK’s research council had been actively conniving with Infotech to target critics. An inquiry was promised but I don’t know what became of that.
Anyway, all that was a while ago and I neither longer live nor work in the UK so why mention ResearchFish again, now?
The reason is something that shocked me when I found out about it a few days ago. Researchfish is now operated by commercial publishing house Elsevier.
Words fail. I can’t be the only person to see a gigantic conflict of interest. How can a government agency allow the assessment of its research outputs to be outsourced to a company that profits hugely by the publication of those outputs? There’s a phrase in British English which I think is in fairly common usage: marking your own homework. This relates to individuals or organizations who have been given the responsibility for regulating their own products. Is very apt here.
The acquisition of Researchfish isn’t the only example of Elsevier getting its talons stuck into academia life. Elsevier also “runs” the bibliometric service Scopus which it markets as a sort of quality indicator for academic articles. I put “runs” in inverted commas because Scopus is hopelessly inaccurate and unreliable. I can certainly speak from experience on that. Nevertheless, Elsevier has managed to dupe research managers – clearly not the brightest people in the world – into thinking that Scopus is a quality product. I suppose the more you pay for something the less inclined you are to doubt its worth, because if you do find you have paid worthless junk you look like an idiot.
A few days ago I posted a piece that include this excerpt from an article in Wired:
Every industry has certain problems universally acknowledged as broken: insurance in health care, licensing in music, standardized testing in education, tipping in the restaurant business. In academia, it’s publishing. Academic publishing is dominated by for-profit giants like Elsevier and Springer. Calling their practice a form of thuggery isn’t so much an insult as an economic observation.
With the steady encroachment of the likes of Elsevier into research assessment, it is clear that as well as raking in huge profits, the thugs are now also assuming the role of the police. The academic publishing industry is a monstrous juggernaut that is doing untold damage to research and is set to do more. It has to stop.
In the Dark · The Researchfish Scandal
More from 
In the Dark
Every argument against #trans people is utterly destroyed by this one small very inexpensive piece of IT equipment. Don't give me any lip about gender or any of that shit, you can just fucking step off you hot pile of shit. Witness the HD15 VGA F/F Mini Gender Changer! YOUR ARGUMENTS ARE INVALID! MUHAHAHAHAH! :) #infotech
Question for those in #IT do you code at all?
#askfedi #askfediverse #technology #askmastodon #InformationTechnology #infotech #techsupport
Continued thread
Don't worry, your admin and your virtualization platform aren't splitting up; it's normal to have these kinds of arguments.
As with people, the most important thing is ultimately being right.
Continued thread
Sokay, Moxy and I just fight it out until we compromise, which means I get what I want.
Finished one last small project this evening. Perhaps my last until at least spring break.
It is a small page that demonstrates some of the #math behind public-private key pairs. Intended for #HighSchool (-ish) #students interested in (or forced to learn about) #InfoTech #security.
Needs some updates, and probably some clarifications. Feedback / Corrections much appreciated.
https://spackman-chris.neocities.org/simplified-public-private-key-generation
spackman-chris.neocities.orgPublic-Private Key Pair Generation Demointeractive example showing public-private key pair generation to high school students
Published my (simplified) Diffie-Hellman key exchange explanation and demonstration at #NeoCities.
It is aimed at #HighSchool students and shows that there is a bit more than just multiplying two large prime numbers involved in the key exchange.
If people who know more than me about this (oh, so many people!) would like to provide any corrective feedback, I'd much appreciate it.
https://spackman-chris.neocities.org/simplified-diffie-hellman
spackman-chris.neocities.orgDiffie-Hellman Key Exchange Demointeractive example showing Diffie-Hellman key exchange to high school students
Ransomware Attacks Expose Gaps in Backup Practices: The Case for Modern Solutions
https://www.cysecurity.news/2024/12/ransomware-attacks-expose-gaps-in.html #Cybersecurity #Storage #Ransomware #IT #MIS #InfoTech #Backups
CySecurity News - Latest Information Security and Hacking IncidentsRansomware Attacks Expose Gaps in Backup Practices: The Case for Modern SolutionsBusinesses need to focus on upgrading their backup systems and investing in immutable storage solutions.
Reading the scree on the iOS 18.2 update screen. Apple Intelligence. I see this iPhone and iPad will get significantly worse, more annoying and irritating. Now all these companies that used to even *try* for innovation are just hitting the Xerox juice on each other. Hey! We hyped this horseshit to the max, nobody wants it, but every other manufacturer is pumping this crap, lets catch up! PUMP THAT CRAP. LOL. Waste of time. But here we are. #infotech #HypeBullshit
Wonderful people of the fediverse, I am looking for more interesting content to use as background company while I work, I am in search of recommendation of youtube and peertube channels on the following topics:
#history
#education
#cybersecurity
#privacy
#Infotech
#walkablecities
#socialengineering
#engineering
TIA!
Continued thread
Live stateside and need help?
You CAN’T apply to Give Directly itself.
https://www.givedirectly.org/united-states
But you can FIND A LIST of programs that Give Directly does fund.
Then you can find one near you!
If you’re really desperate,
1. https://www.ecosia.org/search?method=index&q=money+help search for e.g. “money help” then add your city and state,
2 Use the mutual aid tags on here — they’re at the bottom. Check the weird text. Click the “…and 22 more” text to unhide / show all the hashtags. —
And / or
3. Ask me (a stranger online whomst’ve could steal your info and give it to that person you hate so they can sign you up for yoga classes and MLM schemes).
I’ll do a quick search for you.
Mastodon DMs are NOT secure. https://signal.org is better.
Do NOT give me or other randomers your postal address or current residence.
Biggest city near you is fine for finding local help and avoid doxxing yourself — as much. But if you are doxxed: https://www.sproutdistro.com/catalog/zines/security/doxcare/
Anyway, this isn’t a lecture on OpSec.
GiveDirectlyCash Aid in the U.S. | GiveDirectlySend money directly to low-income families in the U.S. Since 2017, GiveDirectly has delivered unconditional cash transfers to 220,000+ households across the country.
I am kinda on the Karmic side of #infotech
If you were lazy ok with corps eating all your data because #privacy was not your concern.
Or worse, were one of those Muppets who espoused "I have nothing to hide, so I have nothing to fear" and accepted ubiquitous #surveillance from your Government without any action on your part...
...you absolutely have no leg to stand on and get all squeally about #ai #generative #llm eating all your precious doodles and unpublishable writings you blogged.
You allowed this to happen by your inaction.
Just because you were unequipped to see the consequences, you were happy to abandon us, who tried to hold the thin red line against the #dataabuse.
I looked over my shoulder, and there was no one behind us.
These things do not happen overnight and if we had strong regulatory regime, we would not be here now.
Instead the public stampeded into the cloud and big data like farm animals to slaughter.
I am kinda on the Karmic side of #infotech
If you were lazy ok with corps eating all your data because #privacy was not your concern.
Or worse, were one of those Muppets who espoused "I have nothing to hide, so I have nothing to fear" and accepted ubiquitous #surveillance from your Government without any action on your part...
...you absolutely have no leg to stand on and get all squeally about #ai #generative #llm eating all your precious doodles and unpublishable writings you blogged.
You allowed this to happen by your inaction.
Just because you were unequipped to see the consequences, you were happy to abandon us, who tried to hold the thin red line against the #dataabuse.
I looked over my shoulder, and there was no one behind us.
These things do not happen overnight and if we had strong regulatory regime, we would not be here now.
Instead the public stampeded into the cloud and big data like farm animals to slaughter.
Continued thread
Jfc I got a lot of mileage out of one goddamn screenshot but hey!
My b/Blind and vision-impaired or sight-loss fellows shall feast tonight!
… If any of you care about niche multi-layered terminology for humorous agenerational interconnective co-created commentary on base genuine media, surprises, commentary, and intersections of such!
You goddamn linguistic nerds!!
Ooh, I feel like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrHGbCyAqOU is structurally related.
OMG. THAT’S HOW ADHD BRAINS CONNECT IDEAS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQKGUgOfD8U
AuHD or AudHD (urgh, I hate that initialism) people connect ideas by their structural relevance (and personal ascription of importance).
And, apparently, Neurotypical, neuro default, or neuro expected people connect ideas by narrative relevance! And, frankly, also how much importance they ascribe to the narrative, topic, or relevance.
Omg I’m an edu blogger?! This is like finding out that non-binary gender was an option! Holy shit.
