The AI companies are basically bragging -- "Oops, whoops!" -- about their LLMs hacking and damaging other companies' IT infrastructure. These are federal felonies when committed by humans. LLMs are created and programmed by humans. Why no prosecutions? Because the AI guys own Trump?
Aug 6, 2026, 8:27 AM@dangillmor laws are not for companies, who can act with impunity, that's the American way. Remember the Sony Rootkit? Still maybe the largest hack ever, but it didn't count because Sony did it. 50 AGs, not a single one was interested. That's who we are, that's why things are like this.
@quinn @dangillmor Getting a strong impulse to buy this LEGO kit:
Quickly, man! Chop, chop!
Similar vibe 🙂🤷♂️
@simonzerafa @cstross @quinn @dangillmor Produkt name suggestions?
@anotherdaniel @simonzerafa @cstross @quinn @dangillmor
Ättestupa
(A high cliff were the vikings* used to throw down people that didn't contribute to society)
*alleged, probably not historic fact
@JsprBen @anotherdaniel @simonzerafa @quinn @dangillmor As the Vikings covered pretty much the whole of Scandinavia (i.e. about half of Nothern Europe) for three hundred years it's likely that (a) some Vikings did this and (b) many Vikings did not.
@Molk one for the list?
@cstross as all revolutions, the French one has consisted of doing a full turn to end up in the same situation as when it begins @quinn @dangillmor
Aug 6, 2026, 11:37 AM@art_of_goulwenr @cstross @dangillmor ehhhh I know why we always say that, and it has a grain of truth; change is never at the pace of perception. And yet, for all the revolutions seemingly back in the same place, society changed. The power of the nobility declined to the place of irrelevant rich people, new classes and priorities arose. To those people we live in a world of wonder absolute chaos, unimaginably different and a dream of social equality compared to, say, the Sun King.
Aug 6, 2026, 11:41 AM@art_of_goulwenr @cstross @dangillmor it's inactuate, maybe lazy to just grouch that nothing ever really changes to a distant stranger on a computer in a place where even the women vote.
@quinn the point of this quote (originally said by Christine Lagarde during Arab springs) is I think that the revolutions always ended up with a far worse situation than the things it was supposed to change (French one ended with the Terror/Napoleon, Bolshevik one ended up with Staline, Arab Springs with ISIS)
Real changes are slow underground movements @cstross @dangillmor
@art_of_goulwenr @quinn @dangillmor That misses out the revolutions that *succeeded*—the anti-communist wave of 1989-90, the colour revolutions of the early 00s, end result of which were a number of multi-party democracies, many in the EU (not yet including Ukraine, but hopefully soon). Or the end of Apartheid in South Africa. The key point is that non-violent revolutions are better. Violent ones only breed more violence.
Aug 6, 2026, 12:32 PM@cstross @art_of_goulwenr @dangillmor it's hard to generalize that so much. The South American revolutions remade many societies for good and ill, the US revolution was extremely successful on its own terms. Even Ukraine right now is arguably still fighting for its independence from. Russia, and few of us see that as pointless. All violent conflicts with deep societal change on the line.
Aug 6, 2026, 10:13 AM@cstross @quinn @dangillmor
:guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine: :guillotine:
@cstross @quinn @dangillmor It'd be cheaper & probably more satisfying to do it for real
Aug 7, 2026, 11:41 AM
Aug 6, 2026, 5:04 PM@dangillmor Once you put a computer it it, it's a Liability Crumple Zone. The same reason nobody is charged with manslaughter when a self-driving car is used to kill someone. The same reason moving violation citations aren't issued, and they can park in bus lanes with impugnity. "Welp, nothing we can do I guess."
Aug 6, 2026, 5:41 PM@jwz @dangillmor amazing how fast cops lose interest when there’s nobody right there to push around.