Notices by Lauren Weinstein (lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org)

@murph These will be live and probably not recorded (at least by me), so RSS wouldn't work. Nor am I interested in hassling with multiple platforms. Been there, done that.

Ward Christensen, co-founder of first online BBS system and creator of XMODEM, dies at 78. Peace.

I have nothing against bicycles, but some of the most arrogant people I know are bicycle proponents. Who just don't seem to understand that not everyone can safely ride one. YA' KNOW?

@KevinMarks I see people on bicycles blow through red lights and stop signs here in L.A. as if they're nothing. Cars slam on brakes to avoid hitting them and you know what the bicycle riders do? Give them the finger and/or bang on their hoods. What swell people.

Re: the latest silly AI letter - I like science-fiction as much as the next person, but AI is *not* an extinction level problem on par with climate change and nuclear war. (An AI did not write this.)

**** Elon's Soviet style post-event alteration of Twitter policy to attack NPR ****

Let's be clear what just happened. Elon Musk apparently was unhappy about at least one NPR story. So he arbitrarily slapped NPR with the "state affiliated media" label usually reserved for propaganda outlets under government editorial control like Russia's RT and the Chinese Communist Party newspaper. NPR only gets a tiny percentage of its funding from the government, which conservatives have long been trying to zero out completely. Voice of America, BBC, and "Stars and Stripes" are not so designated, despite being under government editorial control.

Worse, Elon *retroactively* moved after the fact to specifically remove NPR from the section of Twitter policy that explained that outlets like BBC and NPR were not considered to be government-affiliated media.

He continues to respond to official queries with a poop emoji.

No media organization or advertiser is safe dealing with him. Nor is the U.S. government. End these relationships as quickly as practicable, before you regret being in bed with his twisted sensibilities.

I'm not a fan of TikTok. But as far as I'm concerned, these bipartisan efforts to "ban TikTok" (and some other widely used Chinese services/products) based on "spying" concerns are essentially based on political bull. That's not to say that China doesn't spy (as does the U.S.) -- but going after these widely examined products and services is -- as far as I'm concerned -- nonsense. They're almost certainly not how China does their spying!

**** In windfall for hackers, #Twitter
will disable 2 factor authentication by sms (text messages) if you don't pay them! ****

Twitter has three methods of 2 factor authentication -- SMS text messages, authentication codes, and security keys. We all know that text messages are the least secure of these -- still, they are much better than nothing, and the exclusive choice of vast numbers of users of virtually all services offering 2fa.

Now Twitter has announced that unless you pay them by joining Twitter Blue for $8 month, text message 2fa will no longer be available, and will even be switched off on existing accounts, even if no other 2fa option is currently enabled. In other words, they're saying that they will unilaterally disable 2fa on likely some vast number of user accounts -- unless you pay them.

I have never heard of such an irresponsible and greedy scheme relating to account authentication in my life, but it is very Musk. -L

https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2023/an-update-on-two-factor-authentication-using-sms-on-twitter

The bundling video streaming services are rapidly becoming indistinguishable from the cable services' behaviors that inspired so-called "cord cutters" cancelling cable TV services in preference for Internet-only services.

Prices keep going up as they include more and more "niche" channels with small viewerships, that nobody would pay for if they weren't forced to as the price of receiving the channels that they actually want to see. This often includes forcing sports channels on people who loathe sports channels.

Some websites' UI/UX have become so convoluted and unwieldy (and slow) that I've now reverted to using phone-based systems for some information queries that I've long used the web for up to now. De-evolution in action.

**** How to Destroy the Internet ****

The ultimate effect -- if not the implicit goal -- of these new regulatory efforts (which are happening around the world, including here in the U.S.) will be to force everyone to be fully identified via government IDs for accessing most content, all in the name of "protecting" children. It's a race toward even worse than Chinese-style Internet censorship and use of the Internet for oppression by government authorities. The road to Hell is indeed paved with good intentions. -L

UK Threatens Blowtorching Internet Platforms - Including Wikipedia - https://cepa.org/article/uk-threatens-internet-platforms/

AND ... McCarthy appears to lose Vote #6. I keep expecting to hear "I've Got You Babe" before every vote now.

Greetings. Once upon a time long ago, I was sitting alone in the UCLA ARPANET site #1 computer room late one night when the high Santa Ana winds outside started disrupting power. Hit after hit, very dangerous for the minicomputers, disk drives, and other equipment in that room, since we didn't have uninterruptible power supplies back then.

I made some calls and it was decided I should shut everything in the room down. Everything. I phoned the ARPANET NOC (Network Operations Center) at BBN and explained the situation, since I was about to shut down IMP #1 (essentially, a refrigerator-sized router) on ARPANET which sat in a corner of the room, and doing this could cause disruptions if done in an unplanned manner. The IMP was *always* running -- I had never seen it powered down.

I worked my way around the room, powering down terminals and disks, and printers, and the power supplies on the 11/45 (ARPANET Host #1 - UCLA-ATS) and the 11/70 (Host #129 [1+128 on IMP #1] - UCLA-SECURITY. Back then my email addresses were LAUREN@UCLA-ATS and LAUREN@UCLA-SECURITY -- no domains yet.

The usual roar of the many machines' fans and motors gradually got quieter and quieter, until only the IMP was left. I pulled down the power switch. Now there was dead silence except the hum of the lights, a situation I'd never experienced in that room before. Very odd feeling.

Suddenly I heard a click -- the IMP was powering back up by itself. Damn. I pulled down the switch again. Quiet for a time, then click and it came back up yet again. Before I started thinking about screwing around with its power cables or turning off breakers that could have unexpected effects, I called the NOC again to ask them if they had any ideas.

"Oh yeah. We should have told you! There's a little switch that controls auto-restart. Surprise!"

So I found and flipped that little toggle switch, powered down the IMP again, and this time it stayed down. I had turned off the ARPANET -- at least at UCLA. -L

@amerika @PhenomX6 @pieist C'mon, radio is still around. In almost exactly three hours I'll be speaking to something like a million listeners on network radio.

@amerika @pieist Keep in mind the efforts of the dominant ISPs to prevent communities from setting up their own fiber etc.

Greetings. The amount of cynicism I see here about the Internet is really quite remarkable. Maybe it helps to have been engaged in this wonder of the world from the early ARPANET days (as I have) to fully appreciate what a fantastic tool the Internet is.

And yes, like any tool, the Internet can be used for good or evil. A hammer can help build a house for a needy family, or it can bash in someone's skull. The hammer doesn't make that decision -- the people using it are in control.

And so it is with the Internet as we stand on the cusp of 2023. Best, -L

@pieist @amerika It's actually a much more complex story, once you bring in the evolution, participation by NSF, etc. There were many unlikely events that led us to where we are now.

@pieist @amerika I'm writing essays here but that's just me. I try to avoid letting overly simplified analysis stand without amendment, because the details do matter.

@amerika @pieist What monopoly are you referring to? There is no *Internet* monopoly. There *are* dominant ISP monopolies that are highly abusive, but that's a different discussion.

@amerika @pieist Local regulation of ISPs has been decimated by years of conservative FCC and court rulings. You need to catch up on this I suggest.