Victoria McIntosh

Just a quick reminder... You might collaborate with or otherwise interact with folks currently in the Middle East. Those people are having an extremely difficult week, even if there are not currently bombs falling in their towns. This might be a good time to be very aware of what you're asking.

That spot needs a cafe. Glad a new one was found. 🎉

Threads thread: thriller_instinct 3d Is it okay to bully 40 and 50 year olds who are on social media just for being on it, cuz like why are you here - 254 Q 3.1K G 28 746 corporateash 18h ••• My ICQ UIN is 7231680. That number is burned into my consciousness. I inadvertently learned that you could see private conversations in public chat rooms when using Telnet instead of a browser on GeoCities. I can tell you the difference in audible dial-up handshakes between 1200, 2400, 14.4 kbps modems. I needed a edu email address to join Facebook after my university was admitted. We were here at the beginning. We made social media. You wouldn't be in my Top 8. I have usernames older than you. 852 Q62 G6 72

“I have usernames older than you.”.
Holy shit

For a province of our size? In the middle of the work week? That is a heckuva lot of Nova Scotians!

Congress Is Considering Abolishing Your Right to Be Anonymous Online The bipartisan push to remove anonymity from the internet is ushering in an era of unprecedented mass surveillance and censorship.

You should be able to criticize your government anonymously online.

Full stop.

"Age verification" legislation is just a pretty name for "forced online ID checks," meaning everything you post is associated with your government name

We have to stop this.

theintercept.com/2026/03/05/k...

Old enough to remember when Shrek was super to be satire.

Spam text: President Obama just made an alarming prediction about our country's future. You've got to see this Me: The fuck I do Spam text: You have successfully been unsubscribed. You will not receive any more messages from this number. Reply START to resubscribe.

It works

Anthropic vs Department of War + David Usher on AI Risks Podcast Episode · The AmberMac Show · March 4 · 52m

We chat about Anthropic's battle with the Department of War on this week's episode of The AmberMac Show. Plus, our guest is David Usher.

Listen here on Apple podcasts:
podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/a...

Cc @jeffmacarthur.bsky.social

That annoying part of the brain that focuses all thoughts on that one stupid thing you said earlier instead of anything actually beneficial.

Good. Meta has a long record of putting their users’ safety and privacy second (or last even) for years now.

As @amostoh.bsky.social and I explain, the Pentagon's dispute with Anthropic should not distract from the broader crisis at hand: Congress's failure to regulate some of the riskiest uses of AI - namely, amplifying surveillance and automating the use of lethal force.

True. But again, the issue is they advertise & many believe proton = total anonymity. However they also comply with laws, including Swiss law “give us the payment information” which of course, is still reidentifiable.

It’s a reminder even with services such as this, you may leave a trail behind.

Such floof! 🥰

I hope journalists covering tech caught this. It was by far the most unexpected and newsworthy moment of the hearing today

Oh snap. 😣 🧵

But they will have another one of your email accounts or a phone number: common requirement to prevent fraud.

Signing up for a paid account is the way to bypass this.

I had an old email recently dropped by a provider (add-on to another service) used for select services that I had to replace, and pain in arse. Esp. as most email providers require another email to verify and I didn’t want to connect the accounts!

Google pledges roughly three hours of its annual profit to fight climate change Google and others are committing $100 million to combat climate change.

The perfect headline doesn’t exi…

Interestingly enough I have sent companies physical mail, simply because the information was sensitive and they lacked secure electronic transfer mechanisms.

Same reason I’d argue passwords are safer in a physical diary than a secure cloud host.

Honestly, if you find one let me know. Certainly “set up your own from scratch” isn’t reasonable for most.

The lack of anonymity / the ability for individuals to engage in society with some protection against digital re-identification is a BIG problem that’s only getting worse.

Every privacy policy and Terms issue exemptions if the company is compelled to provide information by applicable laws. Which is why the more leeway the laws give enforcement, the more it can spiral into a big privacy problem.

Even if they did so in compliance with all laws and the Term of Service, this will bite Proton hard. Their sales is you can trust them and accounts are private.

On a practical level however, a reminder for email as a service that can’t be true.

Flipping through my morning feed; Daphne has the right idea.

Lenny, having been installed by the bank as boss of Springfield nuclear power plant following the removal of Mr. Burns, sits behind Burns' desk looking confused. "Uh...," he says.

My editor is away on holiday, so as deputy editor, I'm, uh, technically in charge for this week?

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

Late last Thursday, I made my best effort to amend C-4 in a sensible and concrete way. I failed, alas. But here is a link to the argument I made. #cdnpoli #C4 #BillC4 #SenateofCanada

I’d even argue this was the desired outcome.

Gemini Expands to Live Camera Feeds: What It Means for Your Privacy Gemini for Home's AI is getting a significant upgrade -- if you don't mind it peering through your security cam.

Today in luxury surveillance.

Ohhh that an’t good. 😞

In 2023 only Pakistan and Afghanistan had polio in the wild (Wiki). We were so damn close!