Whitney Merrill

Wow. Serious lack of freedom of the press.

Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.

This song, which came out today, is a perfect soundtrack for this insanity:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XQ0...

This song, which came out today, is a perfect soundtrack for this insanity:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XQ0...

Let’s catch up! I’ll be around!

Please, don’t ever do this to me.

Image depicts a variety of stickers: a malort bottle, 404 democracy not found, a blue box, a tarot card, a bird with a camera for its head, the Clipper chip, and a spicy pillow.

Inspiration hit. All the new stickers arrived today!

thegarbagefile.etsy.com

Age verification laws are coming fast.

And, from my perspective, opponents are struggling to find impactful messaging for the general public to frame damage they are about to do to freedom.

Or to propose alternate futures that address the underlying anxieties. 1/

Ryanair’s CFAA Claim Against Booking.com Has Nothing To Do with The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) is supposed to be about attacks on computer systems. It is not, as a federal district court suggested in Ryanair v. Booking.com, applicable when someone uses

EFF has filed an amicus brief asking the Third Circuit to clarify that this case is about violations to policy, not hacking. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

Videos of Cute Dolls Behaving Badly Have Gone Quiet. Fans Are Freaking Out. A Japanese toy company is suing the creator of crude skits starring its Calico Critters

Sylvanian Drama has a great fair use case. Epoch, maker of Calico Critters, is going to have a hard time getting past Mattel v Walking Mountains, the Food Chain Barbie case. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/sy...

Thank you ❤️🙏

PBS: Public Broadcasting Service Watch full episodes of your favorite PBS dramas, find in-depth news analysis and explore documentaries on history, science, art and more!

For $5/month or $60/yr you get access to PBS Passport and the entire Masterpiece library plus Great Performances, etc. Defunded but not defeated. www.pbs.org/passport/lea...

Ok just purchased a new domain for my new enamel pin.

I’ll have most of these with me at DEFCON.

How the Grateful Dead built the internet Before the internet took over the world, psychedelic rock band The Grateful Dead were among the first – and most influential – forces at the dawn of online communication.

Dead & Co are playing for free in SF this weekend, so now is as good a time as any to revisit the contributions of Deadheads to the early development of the internet: www.bbc.co.uk/future/arti...

Thanks! 🙏 it’s fun to make these!

Phreaker basics

thegarbagefile.etsy.com/listing/4345...

Surveillance!

thegarbagefile.etsy.com/listing/4345...

I’ve grouped some together in fun groupings.

Hacker nightmares: thegarbagefile.etsy.com/listing/4345...

Image depicts a variety of stickers: a malort bottle, 404 democracy not found, a blue box, a tarot card, a bird with a camera for its head, the Clipper chip, and a spicy pillow.

Inspiration hit. All the new stickers arrived today!

thegarbagefile.etsy.com

Project Hacker Kakusei: Gotta hack ’em all! For an adventure game with such impressive development talent behind it – that’ll be Red Entertainment (Sakura Wars, Galaxy Fraulein Yuna) and Creatures Inc. (Mother 3, manymanymanymany…

This untranslated hacking-themed DS adventure with its own little fake internet to search for clues is a lot of fun - please give it a go if you can!

kimimithegameeatingshemonster.com/2021/08/20/g...

Senators Could Vote Imminently to Remove Their Homes, Travel Info From Internet The Senate could vote imminently to allow members of Congress and their staff to demand websites take down info about their houses and travel details.

Privacy for me but not for thee: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

I also appreciate how design choices have unexpected waterfall consequences.

Why was Digg so popular and why did it essentially die after a design overhaul?

It's changed the way I look at any product or service I use or advise on. It also has helped me understand which UI/UX problems are hard and where my limits are, and when to ask experts for help.

Lawyers shouldn't write copy for in product disclosures.

I hoped it would help me advise on better privacy and security solutions, which it does. But I also can't let go of the key principles I learned there about how design choices facilitate collaboration, adoption, and understanding of a system - in other non-security and privacy related functions.

The grad classes that keep on giving in the most unexpected ways in my career: the UX/UI design classes I took at UIUC related to the development of online social spaces (social.cs.uiuc.edu#/).

Yah and his tech has definitely eroded society and helped destroy an open, free, and anonymous internet.

And I’m ok being at that disadvantage.

Don’t mind me, I’ll be living in reality.

Oh look the party that claimed to care about the 1st Amendment and free speech is intimidating people for free speech and association.

I think we all need to build another/different internet. This one (“The Internet”) is failing humanity.