#Futureproofed

[shelbybunny]

do you actually give a damn about transfems. do you care about us. our interests, even the ones that arent stereotypically applied to us? do you care about the unpalatable? the uninteresting? the masculine? even the ones you hate and abhor? do you think our suffering is unjust? would you listen to us? do you think we deserve love? would you listen to me? please listen to us. please.

[THIS POST IS SPECIFICALLY ABOUT TRANS WOMEN/TRANSFEMS PLEASE DONT DERAIL]

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Amazon Alexa is a graduate of the Darth Vader MBA

Next Tuesday (Oct 31) at 10hPT, the Internet Archive is livestreaming my presentation on my recent book, The Internet Con.

If you own an Alexa, you might enjoy its integration with IFTTT, an easy scripting environment that lets you create your own little voice-controlled apps, like "start my Roomba" or "close the garage door." If so, tough shit, Amazon just nuked IFTTT for Alexa:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/25/23931463/ifttt-amazon-alexa-applets-ending-support-integration-automation

Amazon can do this because the Alexa's operating system sits behind a cryptographic lock, and any tool that bypasses that lock is a felony under Section 1201 of the DMCA, punishable by a 5-year prison sentence and a $500,000 fine. That means that it's literally a crime to provide a rival OS that lets users retain functionality that Amazon no longer supports.

This is the proverbial gun on the mantelpiece, a moral hazard and invitation to mischief that tempts Amazon executives to run a bait-and-switch con where they sell you a gadget with five features and then remotely kill-switch two of them. This is prime directive of the Darth Vader MBA: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further."

So many companies got their business-plan at the Darth Vader MBA. The ability to revoke features after the fact means that companies can fuck around, but never find out. Apple sold millions of tracks via iTunes with the promise of letting you stream them to any other device you owned. After a couple years of this, the company caught some heat from the record labels, so they just pushed an update that killed the feature:

https://memex.craphound.com/2004/10/30/apple-to-ipod-owners-eat-shit-and-die-updated/

That gun on the mantelpiece went off all the way back in 2004 and it turns out it was a starter-pistol. Pretty soon, everyone was getting in on the act. If you find an alert on your printer screen demanding that you install a "security update" there's a damned good chance that the "update" is designed to block you from using third-party ink cartridges in a printer that you (sorta) own:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

Selling your Tesla? Have fun being poor. The upgrades you spent thousands of dollars on go up in a puff of smoke the minute you trade the car into the dealer, annihilating the resale value of your car at the speed of light:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/23/how-to-fix-cars-by-breaking-felony-contempt-of-business-model/

Telsa has to detect the ownership transfer first. But once a product is sufficiently cloud-based, they can destroy your property from a distance without any warning or intervention on your part. That's what Adobe did last year, when it literally stole the colors from your Photoshop files, in history's SaaSiest heist caper:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/28/fade-to-black/#trust-the-process

And yet, when we hear about remote killswitches in the news, it's most often as part of a PR blitz for their virtues. Russia's invasion of Ukraine kicked off a new genre of these PR pieces, celebrating the fact that a John Deere dealership was able to remotely brick looted tractors that had been removed to Chechnya:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/08/about-those-kill-switched-ukrainian-tractors/

Today, Deere's PR minions are pitching search-and-replace versions of this story about Israeli tractors that Hamas is said to have looted, which were also remotely bricked.

But the main use of this remote killswitch isn't confounding war-looters: it's preventing farmers from fixing their own tractors without paying rent to John Deere. An even bigger omission from this narrative is the fact that John Deere is objectively Very Bad At Security, which means that the world's fleet of critical agricultural equipment is one breach away from being rendered permanently inert:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/23/reputation-laundry/#deere-john

There are plenty of good and honorable people working at big companies, from Adobe to Apple to Deere to Tesla to Amazon. But those people have to convince their colleagues that they should do the right thing. Those debates weigh the expected gains from scammy, immoral behavior against the expected costs.

Without DMCA 1201, Amazon would have to worry that their decision to revoke IFTTT functionality would motivate customers to seek out alternative software for their Alexas. This is a big deal: once a customer learns how to de-Amazon their Alexa, Amazon might never recapture that customer. Such a switch wouldn't have to come from a scrappy startup or a hacker's DIY solution, either. Take away DMCA 1201 and Walmart could step up, offering an alternative Alexa software stack that let you switch your purchases away from Amazon.

Money talks, bullshit walks. In any boardroom argument about whether to shift value away from customers to the company, a credible argument about how the company will suffer a net loss as a result has a better chance of prevailing than an argument that's just about the ethics of such a course of action:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/microincentives-and-enshittification/

Inevitably, these killswitches are pitched as a paternalistic tool for protecting customers. An HP rep once told me that they push deceptive security updates to brick third-party ink cartridges so that printer owners aren't tricked into printing out cherished family photos with ink that fades over time. Apple insists that its ability to push iOS updates that revoke functionality is about keeping mobile users safe – not monopolizing repair:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/22/vin-locking/#thought-differently

John Deere's killswitches protect you from looters. Adobe's killswitches let them add valuable functionality to their products. Tesla? Well, Tesla at least is refreshingly honest: "We have a killswitch because fuck you, that's why."

These excuses ring hollow because they conspicuously omit the possibility that you could have the benefits without the harms. Like, your tractor could come with a killswitch that you could bypass, meaning you could brick it at a distance, and still fix it yourself. Same with your phone. Software updates that take away functionality you want can be mitigated with the ability to roll back those updates – and by giving users the ability to apply part of a patch, but not the whole patch.

Cloud computing and software as a service are a choice. "Local first" computing is possible, and desirable:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/03/there-is-no-cloud/#only-other-peoples-computers

The cheapest rhetorical trick of the tech sector is the "indivisibility gambit" – the idea that these prix-fixe menus could never be served a la carte. Wanna talk to your friends online? Sorry there's just no way to help you do that without spying on you:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/08/divisibility/#technognosticism

One important argument over smart-speakers was poisoned by this false dichotomy: the debate about accessibility and IoT gadgets. Every IoT privacy or revocation scandal would provoke blanket statements from technically savvy people like, "No one should ever use one of these." The replies would then swiftly follow: "That's an ableist statement: I rely on my automation because I have a disability and I would otherwise be reliant on a caregiver or have to go without."

But the excluded middle here is: "No one should use one of these because they are killswitched. This is especially bad when a smart speaker is an assistive technology, because those applications are too important to leave up to the whims of giant companies that might brick them or revoke their features due to their own commercial imperatives, callousness, or financial straits."

Like the problem with the "bionic eyes" that Second Sight bricked wasn't that they helped visually impaired people see – it was that they couldn't be operated without the company's ongoing support and consent:

https://spectrum.ieee.org/bionic-eye-obsolete

It's perfectly possible to imagine a bionic eye whose software can be maintained by third parties, whose parts and schematics are widely available. The challenge of making this assistive technology fail gracefully isn't technical – it's commercial.

We're meant to believe that no bionic eye company could survive unless they devise their assistive technology such that it fails catastrophically if the business goes under. But it turns out that a bionic eye company can't survive even if they are allowed to do this.

Even if you believe Milton Friedman's Big Lie that a company is legally obligated to "maximize shareholder value," not even Friedman says that you are legally obligated to maximize companies' shareholder value. The fact that a company can make more money by defrauding you by revoking or bricking the things you buy from them doesn't oblige you to stand up for their right to do this.

Indeed, all of this conduct is arguably illegal, under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits "unfair and deceptive business practices":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

"No one should ever use a smart speaker" lacks nuance. "Anyone who uses a smart speaker should be insulated from unilateral revocations by the manufacturer, both through legal restrictions that bind the manufacturer, and legal rights that empower others to modify our devices to help us," is a much better formulation.

It's only in the land of the Darth Vader MBA that the deal is "take it or leave it." In a good world, we should be able to take the parts that work, and throw away the parts that don't.

(Image: Stock Catalog/https://www.quotecatalog.com, Sam Howzit; CC BY 2.0; modified)

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/26/hit-with-a-brick/#graceful-failure

[luxurychristmaspudding]

Formed by five best friends during their first term at university, Copilot emerged from the underground Edinburgh music scene with a gritty sound and an unapologetic attitude that quickly propelled them to stardom. Their debut album, Frontrunner, was a blazing success, dominating charts and establishing the band as a force to be reckoned with in modern rock. With a raw blend of anthemic guitar riffs, electrifying vocals, and lyrics that captured the spirit of rebellion, Frontrunner set the stage for Copilot’s meteoric rise.

In their early years, Copilot embodied the hedonistic lifestyle synonymous with rock and roll — sex, drugs, and endless partying defined their world. Their live shows were legendary, pulsating with energy and unpredictability. But as the band matured, so did their sound. Copilot’s evolution from a hard-partying, chaotic outfit into one of rock’s most thoughtful and poignant voices has been remarkable.

Their later albums, culminating in the critically acclaimed Futureproof, have showcased a more introspective and dynamic side of the band. With themes ranging from political upheaval to personal loss, and the bittersweet process of grieving for past versions of oneself and the people who once filled their lives, Copilot’s music has become more than just a soundtrack for rebellion. It’s become a voice for a generation grappling with change, identity, and the complexities of modern life.

Despite their rockstar origins, the members of Copilot remain as close as ever, bound by a friendship forged in the fires of fame and the trials of growing up together. With multiple chart-topping albums and sold-out arenas around the world, they have cemented their place as one of the most influential rock bands of their generation — iconic not just for their past, but for the future they continue to shape with their music.

-> CAM ROBERTSON, DRUMMER

-> ADIE GILMAN, RHYTHM GUITAR

-> JACK ETZLER, LEAD GUITAR

-> VIC WALKER, BASSIST

-> ROCKSTAR, LEAD VOCALS

• series masterlist •

[brokenxmachine]

NOTHING BUT THIEVES performing “Futureproof”  live at Estéreo Picnic Festival 2024, Bogotá, COL (22.03.2024) // 🎥 source

[rad-roche]

here's a shot in the dark. anybody have experience using obsidian for tabletop organisation? any tips?

[cocteautwinslyrics]

fucking drives me up the wall seeing american transport projects be like 'our stations take ages to complete and theyre expensive :(' meanwhile theyre massively oversized in ways that dont increase capacity/throughput and make poor use of the space theyre using. if youre building with TBM/NATM and your station looks like it was built cut and cover that is Not a good thing. Looking at you Second Avenue Subway

[leliwardens]

while it is exceptionally disappointing keep is being phased out, i understand completely that it's more or less the right call to futureproof games and not having to rely on an outside source to play said games that'll eventually be taken offline (plus the joy of an ea account locking after longterm disuse and you don't have access to the email anymore lol)

and it is wistful thinking and hoping that maybe with it being built in now, maybe we'll get choices keep didn't have, like the awakening crew? come on bioware......there's gonna be wardens...bring my kids home......

[stromulites]

irbs (not to scale)

[kindlyanni]

Nothing But Thieves - Do You Love Me Yet

I've really been sleeping on Nothing But Thieves, huh? You can't not stomp to the chorus.

[dailyplanet-loislane]

Battling Bakeries in an AI Arms Race! Inside the High-Tech Doughnut Feud

[soysaucevictim]

I wanted to bring my bro's adjustable dumbbells with me when i moved out.

But it seems certain shady company at dad's place took them at some point. Gd do I hate the shit my dad's in the middle of rn... =_=

(But I'm eyeing a particular good looking set for what I want rn. And just need to assess my finances a bit before I buy it.)

[otter-byte]

I see a lot of people saying "oh twitter is dead" and buddy i fucking wish it was but honestly I doubt it. The entire business model of successful VC funded startups is to insert themselves as middlemen in a way that makes it _really_ hard to compete with them regardless of their failings (usually due to the network effect or by lobbying to make it hard to break into their market without billions). Twitter has effectively inserted themselves as a middleman into the personal and business relationships of millions of people, and without any way to meaningfully export all those friends to another platform at once you're effectively stuck using twitters degraded user experience until you rebuild your following list on another site. Furthering this issue most of twitters changes make moving your content off twitter even harder. Reposting from and to twitter is broken by API changes, linking to things like substack suppresses your reach, you can't even leave your content up as an archive because for some reason twitter has decided inactive accounts are free game to delete.

[kapkant7]

Our regularly scheduled Yui Kimura W, courtesy of Ikumi Nakamura

Based new charms too

But it's time for a conspiracy theory: Our next two Chapters after End Transmission are licensed right? Which makes them August and November.

We've all heard the "FNaF in November" theories already since it's right after the movie and there's no real Survivor options so a solo Killer paragraph makes sense, but I wanna discuss August. They said these were iconic licenses but they never specified horror. They also said they were "licenses with a big L." What's one of the biggest video games of all time and takes L after L every year? That's right!

I propose that August will be the long awaited (by me) Call of Duty Zombies chapter. Specifically Blood of the Dead.

The Survivors will be Richtofen and Nikolai and the Killer will be Brutus. Clearly this is the most logical choice for a chapter and not me coping.

Remember this when history calls me the second coming of Nostradamus.

[luxurychristmaspudding]

WIP Wednesday Thursday

goooooooood evening my lovelies.

you’ve caught me on a not-very-hot-girl string of days - sweaty and tired, trying to sort my classroom before the school year starts, and i have a tummy ache.

the horrors persist, but so do we, friends.

thank you ever so much for my tags, darlings @for-a-longlongtime @penvisions @whocaresstillthelouvre @ace-turned-confused @magpiepills

@thelightsandtheroses @thetriumphantpanda @sawymredfox @evolnoomym @guiltyasdave

i have not one, but two half-way (probs less) there things to show you like gemstones in a gift shop (@toomanytookas this time I promise not to put them in my mouth 👀)

‘God - motherfuckin’ - shit.’ Joel snorts at you. ‘You kiss your mother with that mouth?’ You flip him off as you slam the door closed. ‘Yeah. Suck your dick with it, too.’ His lips quirk, watching as you stand with your hip against the front of the car; a box in one hand, the other shielding your eyes from the sun. You watch his smirk grow, feeling the trickle of sweat down your spine. ‘There a reason why you’re here?’ You roll your eyes, like it should be obvious. ‘Freezer’s fucked,’ you huff, holding the brightly coloured cardboard up for him to see. ‘Can I put them in yours?’ ‘Popsicles?’ Joel frowns. You pout, and he can feel his already weak resolve dissolving. ‘Please, Joel. They’re literally the only thing keeping me sane.’

(proceeds to get railed)

and completely unrelated:

np tags to these lovely peeps: @pascalssbabyy @covetyou @schnarfer @jolapeno @goodwithcheese

@yopossum @yxtkiwiyxt @dancingtotuyo @sixhours @joelsgreys

[lwieserce]

just heard some youtuber say dh il doesn't seem futureproof when to me he's easily the most futureproof dps out of the ones we have IDKKKKK.

[practicalsolutions]

File so old I feel like an anthropologist.