what the fuck
#WhatsApp #Meta #privacy #infosec #GDPR #AI
https://thehackernews.com/2026/10/whatsapp-hid-instructions-in-help-pages.html

RE: https://mastodon.scot/@Walkaholic/117472527922723039

If you're not in one of the countries where eBay is legally required to notify you of your right to opt out of your data being used for AI training (European Economic Area, U.K., Switzerland, perhaps others), then eBay probably sent you a different email which doesn't mention that you can opt out.
However, you still can, at this page:
https://accountsettings.ebay.com/ai-preferences
#eBay #AI #privacy

I am really not sure enough people in the U.S. understand that we are actually fighting a war here, and at the moment the pro-democracy side kind of seems to be losing overall.

P.S. Guillotines would also work, I'm not picky. 🤷

I'm not a violent man, but I'm concerned that the only way we'll save democracy in the U.S. is to line up a bunch of traitors against the wall and shoot them.
And I don't just mean traitors to the U.S. I mean traitors to democracy.
We did not shoot nearly enough people for treason at the end of the Civil War, and we're still paying for that.
At this point I put in the "needs to be shot" category any member of Congress who does not condemn the raid on #IlhanOmar's house.
#politics #USPol

Oh, I suppose I forgot option 3:
3) It's yet another instance of market manipulation, enabling Trump and his allies to make money trading diesel futures.
2/2

RE: https://mastodon.social/@CelloMomOnCars/117426924316559994

There're people postulating that this "U.S. to buy diesel from Russia" thing is Trump (or someone in his admin) playing 4-D chess. However, that's usually the wrong answer. I see two more likely possibilities:
1) Trump knows this is a drop in the bucket and it's just a dumb stunt to try to win votes. (If so, then the timing is off; he should have waited until a week before the election.)
2) Trump doesn't know shit and Putin is manipulating him as usual.
#politics #USPol #Trump #RussianDiesel
1/2

To be clear, I think all this is probably actually a _good_ thing for the world, even though it's inevitably going to reduce the standard of living, at least in the short term, for me and most other people living in the U.S.
It's long past time for the big bully that the U.S. government has been since WW2 gets taken down a peg or two.
But I'm definitely concerned that Russia and China are going to fill the power vacuum. They're not exactly known for democracy and human rights.
#politics #USPol

Mark my words: by the end of 2028, the dollar will no longer be the world's reserve currency; U.S. big tech will have lost billions of dollars in revenue from other countries switching to other tech; and the U.S. stranglehold over world banking (i.e., that which gives the U.S. the ability to impose arduous financial sanctions on anyone in the world they want) will be at least 50% gone.
Trump couldn't do more damage the U.S.'s financial supremacy if he were trying.
Because he is.
#politics #USPol

And a related poll… If you work full-time in infosec or IT, has the company you worked for taken steps to protect itself against typosquatting?
#infosec

A scammer registered a typosquatting domain mimicking my employer's and started sending out emails impersonating our head recruiter, offering people fake job interviews / jobs.
After a lot of effort we managed to get the domain suspended, and the scammer moved on to another domain.
I'm thinking about what to put as the "root cause" in the post-mortem for this incident.
#infosec #breach #postMortem

My response:
"Fuck off. I do not want to ever receive another email from melaya.org or any other domain you create for your AI spamming now or at any point in the future.

And please understand that sending these AI-generated spam messages in response to postings to the fediverse is going to be greeted with IMMENSE HOSTILITY by the people receiving them.

This is incredibly shitty. Stop."
#AI #AISlop #scam #spam #dystopia
2/2

I received this fucking bullshit AI spam about the above post LESS THAN AN HOUR AFTER I POSTED IT.
God FUCKING damn it.
#AI #AISlop #scam #spam #dystopia
1/2

Remember that case in 2025 where the family of a man killed in a road-rage incident presented an AI-generated video of the dead victim during sentencing, and the judge not only allowed the video to be shown in court but praised it as "genuine"?
Well, the defendant appealed his sentencing on the grounds that the AI video was unreliable evidence and unduly prejudicial, and fortunately, the appeals court agreed: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sentence-vacated-ai-video-dead-victim-rcna601457
#lawFedi #law #ai

ME: “So I guess this is why patients really need to advocate for themselves. It seems like they’re more likely to remember what happens at their appointments than their doctors are.”

DR: “Yes, that’s true.”

Now you know why your doctor’s notes come days after your appointment, or why when they do the notes are sparse and don’t capture nearly everything that was discussed at your appointment.

U.S. healthcare system, best in the world, amirite? [Narrator: he is not right.]
5/5

ME: “That’s insane. Why don’t they give you a few minutes between patients to record notes immediately, rather than putting all of your ”admin time” separate on its own days?”

DR: “I guess they think it’s more efficient this way. When I’m in the office, vs. when I’m doing admin time at home, they want me seeing patients.”

🤦
4/5

ME: “I assume doctors are trained in how to capture the important points from a conversation with a patient, so it’s a lot faster and probably also more accurate for you to write quick notes between patients.”

This is where things went off the rails.

DR: “Oh, I don’t have time to write notes between patients. They want me seeing patients all day on practice days. I don’t do patient notes until my admin time on Wednesday and Friday.”
2/5

I want to share with you the gist of a mind-blowing conversation I had with my doctor today at my annual physical.

She asked about my mood, which led to a conversation about how AI is ruining everything, which prompted her to mention that she doesn’t use the AI transcription app that her hospital network is encouraging people to use, because she finds it’s too time-consuming for her to read and correct the AI transcriptions instead of just writing down her own notes.
#healthcare
1/5

ME: “Wait a minute, I assume you’re seeing at least six patients per day—”

DR: (interrupting) “Oh, I see *16* patients per day.”

ME: “OK, wow, 16 patients per day, so that means that by the time you get to Wednesday you’re supposed to be able to capture accurate notes from the 32 patients you saw on Monday and Tuesday, without having written anything down before that?”

DR: “Yes, that’s correct.”
3/5

As if the possibility of Ebola coming to the U.S. (see my last post) weren't bad enough, we also need to worry about a literally unprecedented upsurge in #Dengue infections, primarily in #Florida but in other states as well. Thanks, climate change!
:dog-this-is-fine.gif:
https://www.dailymail.com/health/article-16176157/florida-dengue-fever-outbreak.html
#publicHealth