quefish77

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happy birthday dean winchester!

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Never ever turn off your phone: rethinking security culture in the era of big data analysis.

Back in the 80′s if you were a pissed off anarchist that wanted to burn down a building, you probably checked your home for listening devices and made a plan. If you were the same kind of pissed off anarchist in the late 90′s, you  turned off your phone and encrypted your online traffic. In the 2020′s we’re gonna have to change our strategies once again. Intelligence gathering has adapted and so we must adapt too.

To get a head start at this, let’s look at how big data analysis is being used. To do this, we’ll need to talk about 3 things: metadata, patterns and networks. Those sound boring and complicated but I’m not a techy and I won’t bore you with tech language, I’ll keep it as easy as I can.

Metadata: In the context of online activity, ‘content’ means ‘the message you send’ and ‘metadata’ means ‘everything other than the content’. So, for example, if you send your friend a text about lunch, the content might be “Let’s go out for lunch” and the metadata might be “Message send at 01/04/2018 11.32 from phone 0478239055 to phone 079726823 using Signal”.

This information is registered by your phone even if the app encrypts your actual message. Your metadata is very badly protected by technology and very badly protected by the law. No matter which country you are in, most of your metadata if freely available to intelligence agencies regardless of whether you are a suspect in anything.

Patterns: Whether you realize it or not, your metadata has a pattern. If you have a daily job you might have a very consistent pattern, if you do not your pattern might be more flexible but you have a pattern. If someone wanted to know the rhythm of your day, they could very easily do so because your pattern is in the metadata.

For example: Maybe you use the wifi at your favourite bar on most Sunday nights until about midnight, you wake up around 10 AM and check your Signal, you use your public transport card to get to class every Monday afternoon and you spend on average 1 hour on Tumblr twice a day. All this is part of your pattern.

Networks: You have online networks. Your facebook friends, the people in your phone adress book, the dropbox you share with coworkers, everyone who bought online tickets to the same punk band you attended, the people using the same wifi points as you. Take your networks, combine them with other people’s networks, and clusters reveal themselves. Your work community, your family, your activist scene, etc.

If you are in an anarchist community that will probably be abundantly clear from all your minor network connections like going to the same band and knowing the same people as other anarchists. Even if you never liked an anarchist facebook page or pressed ‘going’ on an anarchist facebook event, your network is hard to hide.

Now, let’s say you commit a crime,

the kind that would result in some serious research. Let’s say that on Sunday night 3 AM, you are your friends go out and burn down a nazi’s house. (Of course I would never advice any of you to do such a thing.) It’s obvious that anarchists did it but there are no other clues. You use traditional style security culture: you burn your notes, you are careful not to communicate about your plans near technology and you do not leave physical traces.

But because you commited the crime that night, your metadata will vary strongly from your usual rhythm: you stay at your usual bar until 2 AM to wait for your friends, you do not wake up at 10 AM in the morning so you do not check your Signal or Tumblr until 1 PM. You do not go to class. Your metadata pattern is very different from your usual pattern. The metadata patterns of your friends are different too. If one of you is clumsy, they might generate a super suspicious metadata signal like a phone being switched off at 2.30 AM and activated at 4AM. You wouldn’t be the first.

If I wanted to solve this crime using data analysis, what I would do is:

let a piece of software run a pattern analysis of the local anarchist scene to generate the 300 people most connected to the anarchist scene.

let a second piece of software analyse the metadata patterns of those 300 people over the last months and identify the biggest metadata variations around Sunday night as well as very suspicious metadata activity

Illiminate pattern variations with an obvious cause or an obvious alibi (people who are on vacation, people who are in the hospital, people who lost their job, etc).

Do indepth research into the ones that remain.

Which is how, out of a massive amount of people that I couldn’t possible all listen to at the same time, I could quickly identify a few to monitor closely. This is how I could find and catch you.

So, now what?

If traditional security culture doesn’t protect us as well as it used to, how do we adapt? Well, I don’t have all the answers but for a start, I’d say: know your network + know your pattern.

In the case of the example above: leave the bar at midnight, return home and put your phone on your bedside table. Check the apps you check before going to bed and set your alarm to 10AM. Return to the bar without your phone. Wake up at 10AM and check your Signal. Drag yourself to class or ask a comrade to make the trip with your travel card and do not use technology in your home while the comrade is taking your travel card to class. Stick to your pattern. Never ever turn off your phone.

You might also be able to manipulate your network but that seems much harder to do. Not having a smartphone and dropping out of all social activity online is  a big commitment. Knowing your data pattern and making sure your data pattern doesn’t look out of the ordinary? Much less commitment.

Some of the old rules will still apply: don’t talk about a crime around devices with microphones, don’t brag after a succesful action, etc. Other rules, like ‘turn off your phone when planning an illegal act’ need to change because their metada looks too out of the ordinary. No one switches off their phone anymore. We look suspicious as fuck when we do.

This is just one idea on how we could update our security culture. There are probably other people with other, better ideas about updating our security culture. If we start the conversation, we may get somewhere.

Finally: we need to keep adapting.

As technology changes, more information is becoming available, including data we have very little control over. Smart-tv’s and ads in public spaces that listen to every word we say and the tone of our voice when we say it are examples. Data analysis projects are currently using license plate reading software on security footage to map the travel patterns of cars. A lot suggests they may soon be ready to do the same with face recognition, at which point the presence of our face in public space becomes part of our metadata. More information means more accurate data analysis. Our metadata may soon be too vast annd too complex to completely map and mirror. Which means we will need to adapt our counter measures if you want to hide something.

How do we keep it all under the radar? I don’t know. But let’s try to figure this shit out. These are some first thoughts about what security culture should look like in the age of modern big data analysis and I’d be very happy for any insights from comrades that have some thoughts on this.

Also: feel free to distribute and rework these words without credit.

[quefish77]

You are not alone.

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TikTok chose to shut down US access both earlier than the federal ban mandated (it would start tomorrow, 1/19/25) and in a further-reaching manner than the ban intended (it would have prevented Apple & Google from allowing updates but left the app intact on people's phones).

[quefish77]

Y'all

Im not on tiktok and never have been, but I downloaded RedNote just to see what is up, and I am witnessing something truly amazing

The Chinese user community is giving the American tiktok refugees an overwhelmingly warm welcome, meanwhile the American users seem to have collectively agreed that not only will they not let the app be taken over with English and they will provide Mandarin subtitles for everything, they are LEARNING MANDARIN. Ive scrolled through so many videos of Americans offering greetings in Mandarin to try to acclimate to the new environment and be respectful, and speakers of both languages are posting lots of tutorials on language basics and internet slang in Mandarin

My God, there is an AMAZING outpouring of curiosity and delight among everyone to learn about each others cultures and daily lives. People are posting videos of landscapes, cities, towns, and natural areas in USA and China, posting recipes and traditional foods, vlogs of everyday life, and reaching out to find people with similar hobbies.

And it's not just young people! There are loads of videos from middle-aged American guys who have come to post about fishing or motorcycles and are now happily chatting with Chinese users sharing the same interests using Google translate

One American guy who was like. in his 60's had a comment on one of his videos that was like "Red Neck?" and he replied "Yes!" and I just about fucking lost it

Also the Chinese users love, and I mean LOVE, Luigi Mangione. He is apparently broadly adored in China. There is SO much fanart and SO many edits.

There are many threads initiating Chinese users to ask questions of American users about the USA, and vice versa, and everyone on both sides is clearing up a lot of misconceptions. Some of the questions I saw a lot from Chinese users were: "Is it true that American parents kick you out of the house as soon as you turn 18" (not often, but sometimes) "Do you all really wear shoes in bed" (NO!!! Apparently a lot of characters in American sitcoms are shown lying in bed with shoes on which I never noticed before!) and "are there really guns everywhere" (yes).

For the most part Chinese content creators seem just overwhelmed by the sudden influx of hundreds of followers that are super enthusiastic about what they're doing. A lot of them have made posts about how initially they thought the uptick in follower count was some kind of error, or that there was some kind of joke or prank, but then they realized the interest and enthusiasm was genuine and now they're welcoming all the newcomers.

I found several posts by Chinese users saying that this felt like a really profound historical moment, where these previously separated worlds are suddenly smashing together and suddenly there is freedom to learn about each other's cultures and connect. One of them said something along the lines of "This is a 21st century Tower of Babel and even though I'm an atheist I hope God lets this tower stand." OUGH MY HEART.

The app itself works a little bit like a video-based version of Pinterest. It's not really my thing so I probably won't be on there long term but it's been amazing to see what's happening.

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Biology 101

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/ZdwOxcg by Questiel (Quefish) It's Dean's first day of college. He's taking the basics and doesn't want to draw attention to himself, just wants to get his education and degree and open his own shop. His Biology professor is gorgeous and a Freudian Slip at the end of class utterly mortifies him. Words: 2322, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Supernatural (TV 2005) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Categories: M/M Characters: Castiel (Supernatural), Dean Winchester, Charlie Bradbury, Benny Lafitte, Jo Harvelle, Gabriel (Supernatural), Rowena MacLeod, Bobby Singer (Supernatural), John Winchester, Sam Winchester, Meg Masters 2.0, Multiple Canon Character Cameos Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, BDSM, Dom/sub, Dom Castiel/Sub Dean Winchester, Domestic Relationship, Inspired By Memes, Slow Burn, Slice of Life, John Winchester's Mediocre - but not really abusive - Parenting, Fantasizing, Masturbation, Kneeling, Blowjobs, Rutting, Cockwarming, BDSM Scenes, Spanking, handjobs, Pining, broken leg, Mystery Dinner Theater, Reference to Timeless Episode w/Misha Collins as Eliot Ness, Minor Sexual Harassment Investigation and Resolution, Safe Sane and Consensual, Kink Negotiation, Kissing, Reference to David Carradine's Death, Coming In Pants, Mild Dissociation, Sub Case including Bathing and Toothbrushing, Bondage/Suspension, Blindfolds, Aftercare, Cuddling, Texting, Sex Doll Roleplay, Objectification/De-humanization, Anal Sex, Rimming, Erotic Photography/Videos, Somnophilia, Watching/Commenting on the Writer's Favorite Movies, LARPing, Safeword Use, Broken D/s Scene, Rape Fantasy, Discussion of Rape Fantasy vs Reality, Edging, Cards Against Humanity, Public Play, Exhibitionism, Body Worship, Ideal BSDM Club, Flogging, Mild subdrop, Additional Warnings Will Be in Author's Notes, Piddywickles and Chonkers - Writer’s Insistence on Including Her Favorite Food/Recipe read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/ZdwOxcg

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"Investigators ... found in a detached garage more than 150 explosive devices — mostly pipe bombs ..."

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Cake is just really soft, moist, sweet and flavourful bread.

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...you know that Cas is totally going to replant that thing afterwards.

This is just a small token of my gratitude and appreciation for all your support this year. I really can't convey enough how much it means to me. Have a safe and happy holiday season <3

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every time i listen to “you’re a mean one mr. grinch” i can’t help but sit there and think “what did the grinch do to hurt you?” because dude just stands there for 2 minutes and 58 seconds and drags the grinch into the dirt

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jensen dancing to all i want for christmas is you by mariah carey

spn nash 2024

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