Alec Muffett

Not your average cybersecurity book Visit the post for more.

Not your average cybersecurity book
https://alecmuffett.com/article/116912
#InformationSecurity #LegalPositivism #cybersecurity

The bad news is: the fact that the vote was cancelled signals that they want to have yet another go. We still have to fight Chat Control. If it had gone to a vote and lost then they would be in a bad place for another attempt, so they cancelled the vote in order to keep the idea warm for next time. Keep this link handy, we will need …

The bad news is: the fact that the vote was cancelled signals that they want to have yet another go. We still have to fight Chat Control.
https://alecmuffett.com/article/116838
#ChatControl #EndToEndEncryption #OnlineSafety #censorship #privacy #surveillance

This is a new image from #JWST.

The bright points with spikes are stars in the Milky Way.

Everything else is a galaxy.

Everything. Else. Is. A. Galaxy.

1996: “Law and Borders: The Rise of Law in Cyberspace” | David R. Johnson & David G. Post | …we’ve seen this comity problem coming for ~30+ years By asserting a right to regulate whatever its citizens may access on the Net, these local authorities are laying the predicate for an argument that Singapore or Iraq or any other sovereign can regu…

1996: “Law and Borders: The Rise of Law in Cyberspace” | David R. Johnson & David G. Post | …we’ve seen this comity problem coming for ~30+ years
https://alecmuffett.com/article/116730
#AgeVerification #OnlineSafety #OnlineSafetyAct #censorship #ofcom #surveilance

CARTOON OF THE DAY 😕🇺🇸

Ofcom, the Government, the Online Safety Act and the Leather Shoes Once upon a time, in a bright and busy kingdom, there was a kind young princess who loved her people very much. One summer, the roads grew hot and rough, and everyone’s feet were getting scratched …

Ofcom, the Government, the Online Safety Act and the Leather Shoes
https://alecmuffett.com/article/116699
#AgeVerification #OnlineSafety #OnlineSafetyAct #censorship #ofcom #surveillance

Two teenagers arrested over cyber-attack on nursery chain | BBC News Something something two kids in a basement something indistinguishable from cyber war something: Two 17-year-old boys have been arrested by police investigating a cyber-attack on a chain of nurseri…

Two teenagers arrested over cyber-attack on nursery chain | BBC News
https://alecmuffett.com/article/116629
#cybersecurity #hacking #kido #security

One-man spam campaign ravages EU ‘chat control’ bill | POLITICO I can’t decide if I approve of the coverage or disapprove of the “lone hacker” spin: The website, called Fight Chat Control, was set up by Joachim, a 30-year-old software engineer…

One-man spam campaign ravages EU ‘chat control’ bill | POLITICO
https://alecmuffett.com/article/116596
#ChatControl #ClientSideScanning #EndToEndEncryption #OnlineSafety #censorship #surveillance

Citizen Protest Halts Chat Control; Breyer Celebrates Major Victory for Digital Privacy | Patrick Breyer “Without the tireless resistance from citizens, scientists, and organizations, EU governments would have passed a totalitarian mass surveillance law next week, spelling the end for digital pr…

Citizen Protest Halts Chat Control; Breyer Celebrates Major Victory for Digital Privacy | Patrick Breyer
https://alecmuffett.com/article/116572
#ChatControl #EndToEndEncryption #EuropeanCommission #PatrickBreyer #censorship #germany #surveillance

Data protection under fire: Messenger services react to EU chat control | heise online Feedback from Signal, WhatsApp, Messenger & Threema: A Meta spokesperson told netzpolitik.org that despite claims to the contrary, the new proposal from the Danish EU presidency continues to un…

Data protection under fire: Messenger services react to EU chat control | heise online
https://alecmuffett.com/article/116504
#ChatControl #ClientSideScanning #EndToEndEncryption #EuropeanCommission #privacy

Proof-of-age ID leaked in Discord data breach | The Guardian If they were not obliged to collect the data then the data would not be available to be stolen: The support system was targeted to access user data with a view to extort a financial ransom from Dis…

Proof-of-age ID leaked in Discord data breach | The Guardian
https://alecmuffett.com/article/116459
#AgeVerification #OnlineSafety #OnlineSafetyAct #censorship #discord #extortion #surveillance #vpns

Chat Control is “like a malware on your device” – Signal slams the EU proposal to scan your private chats | TechRadar “Apart from the legal bit, that’s exactly how malware works. It compromises your device in order to gain access to information,” said Signal’s vice-president for global affairs, U…

Chat Control is “like a malware on your device” – Signal slams the EU proposal to scan your private chats | TechRadar
https://alecmuffett.com/article/116368
#ChatControl #ClientSideScanning #EndToEndEncryption #censorship #signal #surveillance

I'm looking forward to that day in some ways, then maybe we can start talking about ideas again rather than outrage.

Did it look hon-y?

UK Digital ID Cards: is the Government going to compensate UK business for losses due to forcing them to accept additional business risk? I spent the best part of 14 hours yesterday learning how to argue with people who, perhaps blindly, believe that Digital ID will bring “advantages” to “everybody”; a detaile…

If an ID card is good, then an ID card plus a utility bill will be better:
alecmuffett.com/article/115347

[Home Secretary] Mahmood answers that just because you have a freedom “doesn’t mean you have to use it at every moment of every day” Um…

[Home Secretary] Mahmood answers that just because you have a freedom “doesn’t mean you have to use it at every moment of every day”
https://alecmuffett.com/article/116208
#HomeOffice #HumanRights #ShabanaMahmood

The UK Is Still Trying to Backdoor Encryption for Apple Users | Electronic Frontier Foundation “…but if there are no British users then there will be nobody to spy upon?” The initial order from January targeted the data of all Apple users. […] The new order provides insight into …

The UK Is Still Trying to Backdoor Encryption for Apple Users | Electronic Frontier Foundation
https://alecmuffett.com/article/116180
#EndToEndEncryption #HomeOffice #apple #censorship #privacy #surveillance #tcn

Terry Pratchett explains large chunks of civil society in a nutshell From “Jingo”.

Terry Pratchett explains large chunks of civil society in a nutshell
https://alecmuffett.com/article/116170
#CivilSociety #TerryPratchett

Discord Age Verification Data Hack: ‘The unauthorized party also accessed a “small number” of images of government IDs from “users who had appealed an age determination.”’ If you require platforms to age verify it means the user is giving up more data to somebody, which means there is more data to be hacked: Discord customer service data breach leaks user info and sc…

Discord Age Verification Data Hack: ‘The unauthorized party also accessed a “small number” of images of government IDs from “users who had appealed an age determination.”’
https://alecmuffett.com/article/115973

Struggling to heat your home? Try 500 Raspberry Pi units | The Register Thermify told us that the processing power inside each HeatHub is provided by a cluster of 500 Raspberry Pi Compute Modules, either the CM4 or CM5. The whole kit is submerged in oil, and the heat i…

Struggling to heat your home? Try 500 Raspberry Pi units | The Register
https://alecmuffett.com/article/115932
#RaspberryPi #heating

@alecmuffett.bsky.social

I've got a post on my blog which will get pushed to social media tomorrow morning :-) — it turns out that if you want shit to actually be read you need to post it during daylight hours on weekdays.

Ridiculous, isn't it?

Might be something to do with the EU tendency to regulate things to death, no?

Screen cap of parodic version of William Blake's "The Tyger" that begins: Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright (Not sure if I spelled that right) What immortal hand or eye Could fashion such a stripy guy? What the hammer that hath hewn it Into such a chonky unit? Did who made the lamb make thee, Or an external franchisee?

In honor of National Poetry Day, the greatest parody rewrite of all time:

Do not introduce Digital ID cards | Petitions | 2.75 MILLION SIGNATURES … …and all they can do is retrench; extended details at the link: We will introduce a digital ID within this Parliament to help tackle illegal migration, make accessing government services easier, an…

Do not introduce Digital ID cards | Petitions | 2.75 MILLION SIGNATURES …
https://alecmuffett.com/article/115813
#DigitalId #IdCards #KierStarmer #UkLabour #censorship #surveillance

<cough>nobodymentiondocker</cough>

People: the boot will never lick you back

Google will require developer verification for Android apps outside the Play Store | TechCrunch Google will ask all Android developers to verify their identity starting next year.

Also in this connection, recall that Google is also going to be forcing developers to identify themselves to get a signing key to install on stock Android: techcrunch.com/2025/08/25/g...

It gradually begins to dawn that replacing web sites with apps distributed through easily-controlled chokepoints was a terrible idea

Six years ago, almost to the day, Apple removing a similar app from the Hong Kong App Store was seen as such a breach that Tim Cook wrote an all staff email to defend it www.theguardian.com/technology/2...