Dose of Paranoia - 2025-01-26

It gets worse before it gets worse...

Important Stuff

Things to come - I got a first hand view of the downside of our outsourcing of public discourse to private companies this week… when I saw posts on neighborhood social media site Nextdoor about Immigration and Customs Enforcement rounding up my neighbors, I posted a link to a site explaining your rights when stopped by ICE. No politics, just civics. Of course, local MAGA-heads responded with trenchant, intelligent and well thought out commentary we would expect, but I was a bit surprised when Nextdoor removed the post (and a number of similar ones). My post was killed for “criticizing moderation policies,” which it clearly did not. I appealed the decision to no avail. Now, this is totally within the rights of Nextdoor to do and is NOT by any means a First Amendment issue - and that is exactly the problem. This seems to be yet another case of social media companies protecting themselves and their shareholders from blowback from the administration and MAGA mouth breathers - and I expect that this is a preview of what the next four years will be like in social media. Welcome to the Golden Age of America, folks.

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Infosec/Scam Stuff

Please, please, please stop mailing checks - Stories like this one are happening all over the country. Gangs have turned to assaulting USPS employees to steal their mailbox keys as a much more efficient way of doing crime than going after individual victims. Using a paper check under any circumstance is insecure. Mailing one is just asking to be robbed.

We need more of this - In an age where any schmuck with ears can churn out realistic looking misinformation using AI tools, and where 90 percent of the population seems to have lost the ability to think critically, courses like this one are really really important. I wish it was available to those of us outside the hallowed halls of academia - especially in light of some research which shows that the less people know about AI, the more open they are to using it in their daily lives. This is truly scary, especially now that we in the US have decided to put idiots in charge.

And speaking of putting idiots in charge - This. Having worked in the blockchain industry for a couple of years (and having thankfully left), I have become convinced that it is mostly a solution looking for a problem and yet another “innovation” which mostly serves to add complexity without value and to put money in the pockets of amoral tech-bros who have the illusion that they are waaaay smarter than they actually are.

Invasion of the phone snatchers- For those of you with Android phones, make sure to take a few moments to enable these theft detection and response features which will help protect your data in the event some miscreant snatches your device. And if you are an iPhone user, Apple has some similar (but not quite as advanced) features that you should turn on.

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Cool Stuff

4 Cheers for the NYPL - If you are reading this from the NYC metro area, make sure to stop in at a branch of the New York Public Library and get yourself a library card. Apparently, one does not need to live in the city to qualify - I just showed my NJ drivers license and within moments had my card, which provides online access to thousands of e-books, audiobooks, magazines, newspapers, online classes and events, and even a streaming movie service which has tons of independent films available - all for free. In a world where facts and truth are under attack, libraries are really important and NYPL is fighting the good fight for sanity in an increasingly insane world.

It’s sort of sad that radio communications have made Railroad Worker Sign Language obsolete. Just saying.

And Finally - Those of you who know me well know that I am of the firm belief that the Universe is a cold, impersonal place with no guiding hand - just a series of random events with no overarching purpose. But hey, you never know - with the way things are going, it may make sense to hedge our bets and find a deity to address our prayers and complaints to - and here is a one stop shop to find one of your very own. Maybe George Carlin had it right.