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Alec is a technologist, writer & security consultant who has worked in host and network security for more than 30 years, with 25 of those in industry.
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A bug on the dark side of the Moon

2026-04-08 14:30:03

The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) is one of the most scrutinised codebases in history … We found a bug in it that had been missed for fifty-seven years: a resource lock in the gyro control code that leaks on an error path, silently disabling the guidance platform’s ability to realign.

https://www.juxt.pro/blog/a-bug-on-the-dark-side-of-the-moon/

The trial lawyers come for online free speech | Blaze Media

2026-04-07 03:23:37

Trial lawyers are poised to accomplish in courtrooms nationwide what politicians have thus far failed to write into statute. The effects of this effort — undertaken without the deliberation of the nation’s representative bodies — are likely to rival those of even the most sweeping laws.

https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/the-trial-lawyers-come-for-online-free-speech

New Mexico’s Meta Ruling and Encryption | Schneier on Security

2026-04-07 03:19:41

Mike Masnick points out that the recent New Mexico court ruling against Meta has some bad implications for end-to-end encryption, and security in general:

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2026/04/new-mexicos-meta-ruling-and-encryption.html

Age Verification causing people to stop installing security updates on iPhone

2026-04-03 16:19:31

What could possibly go wrong?

Australian eSafety: “It is a ‘dark pattern’ to permit people to 1/ amend mistakes 2/ be in control of information about themselves 3/ be obliged to validate abuse reports”

2026-04-02 04:12:25

Clearly the perspective which the Australian eSafety Commissioner brings to the table is “users are untrustworthy scum and must be whipped into control” – basically like MPs, then.

Also: “false negatives” are not a thing and never occur; if an AI declares you to be likely “too young” it cannot possibly be a technological problem.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4181pkxl2o

The Timeless Fear of Corrupting the Youth | WSJ

2026-03-28 15:02:58

Excellent piece:

The lesson from these examples isn’t that protecting children online is misguided or an unworthy goal. It is that the means proposed to achieve this end pose significant risks to human rights, and that the tools created for that purpose can easily become instruments of broader control over speech once governments acquire them.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/social-media-freedom-speech-meta-youtube-ruling-32aaee3b archived at: https://archive.ph/PMCjL