"I've been using ChatGPT to help with cooking for a while now, so I didn't think too much of it when the ingredients list included a bottle filled with gasoline and a cloth wick," said the alleged attacker, who added that he naturally assumed making the rice dish involved driving several hours to the OpenAI CEO's residence, especially after the AI chatbot had given him a "pretty decent" sesame chicken recipe the week before.

"I have to admit I felt a little weird as I prepared to toss this flaming incendiary device through [Altman's] front window, but the recipe explicitly stated that this was an essential step to get that creamy, velvety risotto texture. I guess I didn't know any better. I mean, I've never made risotto before."

The suspect went on to tell reporters that he still had "a whole fridge full" of Molotov cocktails at home, having attempted to prep enough risotto to last the week.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/man-who-threw-molotov-cocktail-at-sam-altmans-home-claims-he-was-following-chatgpt-recipe-for-risotto/feed/ 28 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/i-just-like-saying-dicks-rewards/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/i-just-like-saying-dicks-rewards/#comments Fri, 10 Apr 2026 18:25:39 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk58 So what is with all of this amateurish phishing spam that has been sliding right past SpamAssassin like shit through a goose for the past few months? Has someone recently discovered a new technique for finding open relays that will SPF-sign anything?

Received: from mail.vividdreamqb.name (milestone.clevervistakb.com [170.130.167.11])
From: Dicks Rewards Team <dicksp0@vividdreamqb.name>
Subject: Final notice: YETI Beach Lounge Wagon unlocked by your gear score
Message-ID: <RUxA2tTL-gy3-hDiWXM33jfhjh3zp@vividdreamqb.name>
X-Request-ID: d36d3311-8a4b-4ac9-91b0-4afeee106923
Feedback-ID: jhkmk:vividdreamqb.name:mail
X-Spam-Report:
    * 0.0 HTML_MESSAGE BODY: HTML included in message
    * 0.4 KHOP_HELO_FCRDNS Relay HELO differs from its IP's reverse DNS

I can't even tell who has been popped here. "clevervistakb.com" and "vividdreamqb.name" have the same IPs but different registrars (maybe that's a TLD thing?) It's also not clear to me which of those domains sender_access matches on.

I have, however, come to the conclusion that that there are simply too many web sites.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/i-just-like-saying-dicks-rewards/feed/ 9 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/new-numbers-station-just-dropped/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/new-numbers-station-just-dropped/#comments Thu, 02 Apr 2026 22:48:27 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk5r

Direction finding has traced the signal to a US base near Stuttgart, Germany. In addition to using Farsi, Iran has repeatedly attempted to jam the signal, causing V32 to change frequencies a few times. There's also a more recent, so far unidentified, jammer trying to block the signal.

In addition to direction finding, there is a surprising amount of information you can glean from the audio. The first few days of broadcasts had specific beeps in the background, which appear to be warning tones from a specific type of American military transmitter that warns the operator when encryption is not engaged. At first, a human read the numbers. Eventually, the station switched to using automated numbers. In addition, there have been a few times when Windows 10 system sounds have leaked into the transmission.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/new-numbers-station-just-dropped/feed/ 9 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/fannettsburg-reformed-church-cemetery/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/04/fannettsburg-reformed-church-cemetery/#comments Thu, 02 Apr 2026 19:30:22 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk5n My "No use of geiger counters on church property" sign has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my sign.

Highly esteemed deeds are definitely commemorated here.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

"The U.S. Strategic Oil Reserve is a series of vast, subterranean salt caverns in four different sites in Louisiana and Texas. Many are enormous -- the average cavern holds about 10mn barrels [...] This network of tunnels, grottos, pumps and wells can in total hold about 715mn barrels of oil, or enough to supply the entire U.S. with all the oil it needs for over a month" -- but those salt caverns were only designed to be drained and refilled five times.

The Financial Times calculates that we are already at the cavern's ninth historic drawdown, suggesting that "catastrophic structural damage," including dissolution of the salt caverns, is now a viable risk. This could mean, among other things, that the reserves can no longer be drained in their entirety, as "a minimum level of oil... must be kept in the salt caverns" to avoid this fate, with the result that the reserves' effectiveness in a time of future national emergency will be reduced.

Of course, this could also mean that someday the caverns will simply collapse.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/oil-collapse-no-not-that-kind/feed/ 20 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/google-pass-redux/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/google-pass-redux/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2026 20:05:00 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk45 Dear Lazyweb,

Four years ago I asked whether "Google Pass" was a thing that I needed to give a shit about and consensus was, "no, nobody uses that." But I have heard anecdotally, recently, that this might no longer be true. Thoughts?

The goal here is, "reduce the amount of time it takes for someone standing in front of my nightclub to wave their QR code at the door staff." On iOS, Apple Wallet supports that goal very well.

Note: I don't use Android and know as little about its ecosystem as possible, so please use small words.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/google-pass-redux/feed/ 125 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/ageless-linux/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/ageless-linux/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2026 19:03:28 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk43 The Ageless Device: A physical computing device designed to satisfy every element of the California Digital Age Assurance Act's regulatory scope while deliberately refusing to comply with its requirements. The device costs less than lunch and will be handed to children.

Configuration Tiers: Three Levels of Infraction

TIER 0, "The Pamphlet" ~$6
Minimum viable violation. A bootable Linux device with a display, network connectivity, and an app store. No battery, no keyboard -- just proof that this constitutes a regulated device under AB 1043. Good for bulk handout at conferences (50-100 units).

Legal status: Arguable. The 128×64 display introduces fuzziness. The AG could claim it's a dev board. That's fine -- ambiguity is instructive too.

TIER 1, "The Computer", ~$12
An unambiguous general purpose computing device. Color display, keyboard, WiFi, Linux, app store, user setup. The core product. There is no interpretive gap between this device and the law's definitions.

Legal status: Unambiguous. This is a computer with a color display, keyboard, WiFi, Linux, and an app store. It does not collect age data. It is handed to a child. The maximum fine is $7,500.

TIER 2, "The Appliance", ~$18
A self-contained, battery-powered pocket Linux computer. The educational device angle -- a modern descendant of the Acorn BBC Micro and the original Raspberry Pi.

Legal status: Beyond unambiguous. A pocket computer with a color screen, keyboard, battery, WiFi, 8GB storage, and an AI accelerator. It costs less than a large pizza. It fits in a child's hand.

Every tab on this site is gold:

How Distros Are Responding: We track how Linux distributions are responding to age verification mandates, and we provide tools to undo whatever they implement. If a distribution adds an age collection prompt, we will publish a script that removes it. If it ships a D-Bus age verification daemon, we will publish a package that replaces it with silence.

How One Bill Becomes Every Bill: AB 1043 was not written in isolation. It is a template. ICMEC published the model text as a ready-to-introduce statutory draft, and its Global Head of Policy presented it directly to Virginia's Joint Commission on Technology and Science. The same organizations that drafted the model bill are now deploying it in state legislatures across the country. The companies that benefit from the compliance moat fund the advocacy organizations that draft the bills that create the compliance moat. [...]

The Door That Stays Open: AB 1043 requires only self-declared age -- a birthdate field, not government ID or biometrics. Industry analysts have described this as "an initial implementation designed to get the door open." Self-declaration today. Biometric verification tomorrow. The infrastructure is the same; only the input changes. Once every operating system has an age collection interface and a real-time API for transmitting age data to applications, upgrading from a text field to a face scan is a configuration change, not a new law.

Penalty Comparison: Cost of Giving a Child a Computer:

Cost of one Ageless Linux device: $12-18
Maximum combined US penalty for one device given to one child: $46,000
US penalty-to-cost ratio: 3,067:1
Brazil penalty for one violation: up to 522,222:1

Previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/ageless-linux/feed/ 25 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/systemd-censord/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/systemd-censord/#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2026 18:40:50 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk41 Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2026 20:38:08 -0800. To: debian-devel@lists.debian.org. Cc: xdg@lists.freedesktop.org, ...]]> *Slow clap*

On the need for a censorship API for legal compliance reasons in some countries and U.S. states

From: FloofyWolf <debian-devel-list@floofywolf.net>
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2026 20:38:08 -0800
To: debian-devel@lists.debian.org
Cc: xdg@lists.freedesktop.org, ubuntu-devel@lists.ubuntu.com, debian-legal@lists.debian.org, legal@lists.fedoraproject.org, devel@lists.fedoraproject.org
Subject: On the need for a censorship API for legal compliance reasons in some countries and U.S. states

Recently, a proposal has been made to implement an API for a new California censorship regulation, "On the unfortunate need for an "age verification" API for legal compliance reasons in some U.S. states" by Aaron Rainbolt. I believe the approach outlined to be very short-sighted, in that creating a bespoke API for each of the hundreds of government censorship requirements that debian will presumably now be following will result in much duplication of effort and an unreliable user experience in which important censorship restrictions may be missed and not implemented. As such, with people now supporting the idea that debian should implement government censorship requests, even creating new standards if needed, I propose the creation of a censorship framework to speed implementation of current and future censorship regulations. [...]

Systemd units will be created for every desired censorship function, and will be started based on the user's location. For example, a unit for Kazakhstan will implement the government-required backdoor, a unit for China will implement keyword scans and web access blocks (more on this later), a unit for Florida will ban all packages with "trans" in the name (201 packages in current stable distribution), a unit for Oklahoma will ensure all educational software is compliant with the Christian Holy Bible, a unit for the entire United States will prevent installation of any program capable of decoding DVD or BluRay media, and a unit for California will provide the user's age to all applications and all web sites from which applications may be downloaded. As can be seen, multiple units may be started for a given location. [...]

To prevent users from bypassing censorship requirements, debian will need to switch to being a binary-only distribution with signed binaries, signed kernel, and signed kernel modules, with mandatory secureboot, and controls to prevent any non-signed software from being installed, written, or compiled, as any foreign sources of software may fail to query systemd-censord or may fail to respect the permissions it returns.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/systemd-censord/feed/ 53 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/the-tbote-project/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/the-tbote-project/#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2026 22:12:32 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk4c This is some boss-level forensic accounting demonstrating that Facebook secretly wrote and is shepherding the various "age verification" bills.

Age Verification Lobbying: Dark Money, Model Legislation & Institutional Capture:

How corporate lobbying, think tank infrastructure, competing model legislation, and obscured funding networks are shaping age verification policy across 45 states and Congress.

This investigation documents a national lobbying operation spanning corporate spending, think tank infrastructure, dark money networks, and competing model legislation templates. Meta spent a record $26.3 million on federal lobbying in 2025, deployed 86+ lobbyists across 45 states, and covertly funded a group called the Digital Childhood Alliance (DCA) to advocate for the App Store Accountability Act (ASAA). But the operation extends beyond Meta. [...]

This investigation traced funding flows across five confirmed channels, analyzed $2.0 billion in dark money grants, searched 59,736 DAF recipients, parsed LD-2 filings, and mapped campaign contributions across four states to document the operation.

Previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/the-tbote-project/feed/ 29 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/by-order-of-his-majesty-king-mob/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/by-order-of-his-majesty-king-mob/#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2026 21:48:50 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk4a AI job losses free up time for unemployed mobs to burn down tech CEO's houses

"Getting laid off without warning from my copywriting job has done wonders for my work-life-bloodthirsty mob balance," reports Taylor Grayden, 35, of Vancouver. "Back when I had a job I never would've had the free time to organize an unruly rabble and march towards the beach house of (Open AI CEO) Sam Altman. But now I'm getting so much more violent retribution accomplished in a day." [...]

"I felt so lost after I was let go at my analytics firm so my whole department could be replaced by Claude AI," explains Sarah Brightwell, 42, of Kingston, ON. "But then I started learning how to use AI as a tool -- specifically for planning a multi-week siege of the sprawling compound of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei."

"Granted, the attack plans Claude spit out were full of hallucinations, but it got the ball rolling for me to organize my fellow unemployed humans and get marching," Brightwell adds, tightening the bolts on her homemade trebuchet. "After all, AI can't throw a molotov cocktail!" [...]

"Sure, we probably could have avoided this if we'd accompanied our artificial intelligence products with any kind of workable universal basic income system," explains Altman from one of his currently-burning $12.8 million San Francisco homes. "But I'd still rather die with all this money."

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/by-order-of-his-majesty-king-mob/feed/ 7 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/antimatter-truckers/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/antimatter-truckers/#comments Sat, 14 Mar 2026 18:32:18 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk4U Swiss remake of The Wages of Fear:

The reality is reassuringly mundane. Antimatter emitters are readily available at supermarkets in the form of bananas, which emit antiparticles through the radioactive decay of potassium. Sadly, they have limited value for understanding the universe. The device on Cern's truck will carry about 1,000 antimatter particles, weighing about a billionth of a trillionth of a gram. Should the containment fail, and the antimatter make contact with normal matter, the resulting pulse of energy would be so feeble, the load doesn't even warrant a radioactive label.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/antimatter-truckers/feed/ 12 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/today-in-scrapers/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/today-in-scrapers/#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2026 18:28:44 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk4K Honestly one of the most offensive things about these AI scraper bots is how bad at their jobs they are. Look at these 404s from the last 6 hours and despair:

/blog/2014/12/30/411x480 /blog/2014/12/30/500x417 /blog/2018/05/12/2048x1365 /blog/2018/05/12/736x677 /blog/2018/05/12/3000x2049 /blog/2018/05/12/2400x1600 /blog/2014/12/30/500x638 /blog/2024/1920x1440 /blog/2015/08/3375x2561 /blog/2015/08/600x600 /blog/2017/08/page/2/1400x781 /blog/2017/08/page/2/1280x720 /blog/2017/08/page/2/464x363 /blog/2017/08/page/2/1200x1600 /blog/2010/03/07/480x640 /blog/2011/09/312x360 /blog/2011/09/640x423 /blog/2011/09/600x800 /blog/2006/09/page/4/1042x673 /blog/2018/03/550x826 /blog/2018/03/640x427 /blog/2018/03/754x1024 /blog/2018/03/815x600 /blog/tag/www/page/2/410x630 /blog/tag/www/page/2/1200x809 /blog/tag/www/page/2/600x900 /blog/2016/04/page/3/962x1779 /blog/2016/04/page/3/1100x568 /blog/2016/04/page/3/1100x568 /blog/2016/04/page/3/1200x848 /blog/tag/www/768x1087 /blog/2014/2692x2970 /blog/tag/www/768x1087 /blog/tag/www/480x360 /blog/tag/www/906x222 /blog/tag/www/480x360 /blog/tag/www/768x270 /blog/2018/01/page/2/450x337 /blog/2018/01/page/2/500x667 /blog/2017/11/teeth-4/500x624 /blog/tag/www/988x1354 /blog/tag/www/800x450 /blog/tag/www/2000x2000 /blog/tag/www/2000x2000 /blog/tag/www/625x512 /blog/tag/www/768x432 /blog/tag/www/615x297 /blog/2014/640x360 /blog/2018/01/page/2/300x450 /blog/2014/1741x2600 /blog/tag/www/712x600 /blog/2018/01/page/2/585x350 /blog/2021/11/page/3/753x1200 /blog/2021/11/page/3/753x1200 /blog/2021/11/page/3/900x563 /blog/2021/11/page/3/1280x960 /blog/2022/05/page/2/1103x300 /blog/2022/05/page/2/1103x300 /blog/2018/07/page/4/315x450 /blog/2022/05/page/2/300x364 /blog/2018/07/page/4/2203x2938 /blog/2014/02/09/400x300 /blog/tag/dazzle/page/2/562x562 /blog/tag/dazzle/page/2/668x960 /blog/tag/dazzle/page/2/950x538 /blog/2006/02/blobby-art/500x375 /blog/tag/dazzle/page/2/484x604 /blog/tag/dazzle/page/2/3300x2475 /blog/tag/katrina/1318x1078 /blog/2019/03/page/3/680x510 /blog/tag/fanboys/768x547 /blog/tag/fanboys/768x1064 /blog/tag/fanboys/575x452 /blog/tag/fanboys/512x512 /blog/tag/fanboys/360x480 /blog/tag/fanboys/768x513 /blog/tag/fanboys/1024x759 /blog/tag/fanboys/584x328 /blog/2010/12/page/3/768x512 /blog/2010/12/page/3/500x628 /blog/2010/12/page/3/500x628 /blog/2010/12/page/3/960x1280 /blog/2010/12/page/3/960x1280 /blog/2019/07/02/500x392 /blog/2019/07/02/388x517 /blog/2019/07/02/388x517 /blog/2013/05/12/468x468 /blog/2019/04/01/900x1200 /blog/2019/04/01/1297x846 /blog/2019/04/01/768x432 /blog/2019/04/01/768x428 /blog/2023/12/shrimpfluencer/640x1136 /blog/2019/04/01/1200x628 /blog/2016/11/page/3/768x1024 /blog/2005/07/page/4/520x503 /blog/2005/07/page/4/520x503 /blog/2005/07/page/4/409x309 /blog/2023/12/psychedelic-cryptography/600x594 /blog/2021/01/page/4/1200x800 /blog/2021/01/page/4/1200x633

Of course all of them claim to be Chrome on "Windows NT 10.0".

Previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/03/today-in-scrapers/feed/ 26 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/youtube-oauth-api-fuckery/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/youtube-oauth-api-fuckery/#comments Tue, 24 Feb 2026 19:08:53 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk3r I have two YouTube accounts, jwz and dnalounge, and I'm using the oauth API with both of them to automate uploads and stuff. With the DNA account, I am getting a refresh_token that lasts forever. But with the jwz one, I am getting a refresh_token that can only refresh the access_token for a week, and then I have to log in again. Any ideas what fuckery is afoot?

The DNA token does this:

GET https://www.googleapis.com/oauth2/v1/tokeninfo?access_token=DNA_ACCESS_TOKEN_1 => access_type	=> "offline", audience	=> "DNA_PROJECT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com", expires_in	=> 3574, issued_to	=> "DNA_PROJECT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com", scope 	=> "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube" POST https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token client_id	=> "DNA_PROJECT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com", client_secret	=> "DNA_CLIENT_SECRET", grant_type	=> "refresh_token", refresh_token	=> "DNA_REFRESH_TOKEN" result: access_token	=> "DNA_ACCESS_TOKEN_2", expires_in	=> 3599, scope 	=> "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube", token_type	=> "Bearer" token expiration 0:00:59:34 => 0:00:59:59

but the jwz token does this:

GET https://www.googleapis.com/oauth2/v1/tokeninfo?access_token=JWZ_ACCESS_TOKEN_1 => access_type	=> "offline", audience	=> "JWZ_PROJECT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com", expires_in	=> 3413, issued_to	=> "JWZ_PROJECT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com" scope 	=> "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube", POST https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/token client_id	=> "JWZ_CLIENT_ID", client_secret	=> "JWZ_CLIENT_SECRET", grant_type	=> "refresh_token", refresh_token	=> "JWZ_REFRESH_TOKEN" result: access_token	=> "JWZ_ACCESS_TOKEN_2", expires_in	=> 3599, refresh_token_expires_in	=> 201701 scope 	=> "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube", token_type	=> "Bearer", token expiration 0:00:56:53 => 0:00:59:59 refresh expires in 2:00:01:41

Maybe I'm logging in wrong? I log in with user/pass/TOTP "jwz@jwz.org" which takes me to the channel "@yesthatjwz" then I load:

https://accounts.google.com/o/oauth2/auth?client_id=JWZ_PROJECT_ID.apps.googleusercontent.com&redirect_uri=https://localhost&response_type=code&scope=https://www.googleapis.com/auth/youtube&access_type=offline

and it asks me to choose my "brand" account. There are three listed: "DNA Lounge", "yesthatjwz", and another "jwz" account. The selection that works is the "yestthatjwz" one. The mystery account is @alsojwz1853 and I don't know why it exists but I'm afraid to delete it in case that breaks something.

When I sign in with "jwz@jwz.org", it takes me directly to my real channel, @yesthatjwz.

When I sign in with: "yesthatjwz" or "youtube@jwz.org" or "yesthatjwz@jwz.org", it asks me to select a channel: @yesthatjwz or "also jwz" @alsojwz1853.

Trying to sign in with "alsojwz1853" says "could not find your account".

Another clue: both the "DNA Lounge" and "yesthatjwz" accounts work with or without at-signs, /dnalounge, /@dnalounge, /yesthatjwz and /@yesthatjwz, but the other one only works as /@alsojwz1853, not as /alsojwz1853. Maybe because they are old accounts that pre-date YouTube being purchased by Google? Another difference is that the thing in console.cloud.google.com/auth/clients/*_PROJECT_ID for DNA is an "iOS client" created in 2014, but for "jwz" is a "Desktop client" created in 2024. There don't seem to be any settings.

But I still don't understand why the DNA and jwz accounts have different behavior.

Previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/youtube-oauth-api-fuckery/feed/ 32 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/hahaha-get-wrecked-ya-surveilling-fucks/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/hahaha-get-wrecked-ya-surveilling-fucks/#comments Sat, 21 Feb 2026 01:41:11 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk3m Across the US, people are dismantling and destroying Flock surveillance cameras:

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

The "very poor," as well immigrant communities and the very young and old, the amendment read, "fall outside the non-cash financial system." [...]

Nationwide, those levels are decreasing, but remain significant. A survey conducted by the FDIC found that in 2023, Black and Latino households were overrepresented in the unbanked population, with 10.6 percent of Black and 9.5 percent of Latino households in the U.S. were unbanked, down from 17 and 14 percent in 2017.

Today, approximately 4 percent of San Francisco households are "unbanked," or do not have a checking or savings account, and nearly 14 percent are "underbanked" -- have bank accounts but primarily use cash or use check cashers or money orders. [...] "These residents are often the most financially vulnerable and can face higher costs and barriers in everyday transactions," Manke said.

The destruction of cash is part of the advertising panopticon agenda. Paper money doesn't have a utm_source on it so it is useless.

Let us also keep in mind that this "vocal contingent of local business owners" are the same business geniuses who are always, always certain that a bike lane will ruin them.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/s-f-looks-to-repeal-law-requiring-stores-to-accept-cash/feed/ 25 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/peter-thiel-bad-vampire/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/peter-thiel-bad-vampire/#comments Wed, 11 Feb 2026 20:44:55 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk3R This is not the language of a man who fears death. This is the language of a man who solved it in the 1400s and is tired of pretending.

The one thing the longevity-vampire community has not yet learned from Dracula is operational security.

Dracula operated in silence for centuries. He didn't have a podcast. He didn't track his erection quality on a public dashboard. He didn't appear on Netflix. He understood that the fundamental rule of being a vampire is: don't talk about being a vampire.

Johnson, Thiel, and their cohort have broken this rule comprehensively. Whether this represents a new era of transparency or a catastrophic strategic miscalculation remains to be seen.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/peter-thiel-bad-vampire/feed/ 7 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/ai-is-a-dick-move/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/ai-is-a-dick-move/#comments Sat, 07 Feb 2026 21:08:55 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk3I Baldur Bjarnason:

I've stopped trying to debate software developers on LLMs. It's a fruitless debate. Even if the believers in agents and copilots could be budged on empirical grounds, and the past few years have given us plenty of evidence that they can't, this is still a crowd that is explicitly fine with using tools that are themselves deeply unethical. [...]

Somebody who is capable of looking past "ICE is using LLMs as accountability sinks for waving extremists through their recruitment processes", generated abuse, or how chatbot-mediated alienation seems to be pushing vulnerable people into psychosis-like symptoms, won't be persuaded by a meaningful study. Their goal is to maintain their personal benefit, as they see it, and all they are doing is attempting to negotiate with you what the level of abuse is that you find acceptable. Preventing abuse is not on their agenda.

You lost them right at the outset. [...]

Nor do they seem to care, except in a performative way, that "AI" is designed to be an outright attack on labour and education, using the works of those being attacked -- without their consent -- as the tools for dismantling their own communities and industries, all done in overt collaboration with the ultra right. [...]

Going all "but it works great for me" even as the industry burns around you and the "it" is a right-wing political project built on disregarding consent, being applied to dismantle public infrastructure and institutions, is fundamentally a dick move.

And debating dicks is pointless.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/ai-is-a-dick-move/feed/ 42 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/waymo-exec-admits-remote-drivers-in-philippines/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/waymo-exec-admits-remote-drivers-in-philippines/#comments Fri, 06 Feb 2026 20:55:56 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk3E Mechanical Turk, meet Mechanical Filipino:

Mauricio Peña, the company's Chief Safety Officer, confirmed under questioning that the Google subsidiary employs human operators abroad [...]

"They provide guidance. They do not remotely drive the vehicles," Peña told the Senate committee. "The Waymo vehicle is always in charge of the dynamic driving tasks, so that is just one additional input."

When pressed on how many operators are located outside the United States, Peña said he did not have the breakdown available, escalating frustration from senators.

"It just seems kind of curious that you don't know that answer," one senator responded, before asking in which countries the operators are located.

"The Philippines," Peña replied. [...]

"Having people overseas influencing American vehicles is a safety issue," the senator said. "The information the operators receive could be out of date. It could introduce tremendous cybersecurity vulnerabilities. We don't know if these people have US driver's licenses." [...]

"It's one thing when a taxi is replaced by an Uber or a Lyft. It's another thing when the jobs just go completely overseas," the senator added.

But hey, at least these jobs aren't being stolen by immigrants!

JP summarizes this well:

The insistence on personifying their products eg "the waymo asks for help", "the human recommends" is such a conspicuous odd contortion that it's almost certain there are legal + business imperatives behind it that they don't talk about and won't until a regulator forces them to. [...]

They want to pay remote drivers from whatever country is currently cheapest, none of whom will have US state drivers' licenses. claiming that they're "advising, not driving" is the linchpin of their argument that that's not as illegal and dangerous as it clearly is. they're constructing legal fortifications before the deaths and lawsuits rise.

Let's not forget that these companies are still immune from prosecution when one of their remotely-operated drones commits a moving violation, up to and including a killing. And that Waymo's owner Google have stated in court filings that it is good for business if their competitors' cars kill more people.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/02/waymo-exec-admits-remote-drivers-in-philippines/feed/ 35 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/zipbomb-json/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/zipbomb-json/#comments Sun, 01 Feb 2026 06:25:50 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk2x Update: Ok fine, since you have all failed me, I wrote a JSON bomb generator. With a 10GB file, "jq" 1.8.1 takes a full minute to produce no output.

Previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/zipbomb-json/feed/ 34 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/democrats-condemn-ice-for-murdering-without-proper-warrants/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/democrats-condemn-ice-for-murdering-without-proper-warrants/#comments Sat, 24 Jan 2026 21:06:59 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk2Q Democrats Condemn ICE For Murdering Without Proper Warrants

WASHINGTON -- In a statement calling for more guardrails around ongoing immigration operations, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives publicly condemned Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thursday for routinely employing fatal use of force without obtaining the proper warrants. "For weeks, Democrats have pushed to require ICE agents to obtain the necessary judicial warrants ahead of any murders they plan to commit," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a joint statement on the current Homeland Security funding bill, which would allocate $500 million to developing "common sense" accountability measures for any extrajudicial killings carried out at the behest of the federal government.

"It is vital that the Department of Homeland Security uphold the rule of law when indiscriminately gunning down innocent civilians in the street; otherwise, the whole system could fall apart. Rather than doing things by the book, these officers are out there slaughtering everyday Americans without first filing the proper paperwork with the appropriate agencies. Our framework is designed to ensure that ICE conducts itself like every other law enforcement agency in the nation, enacting violence upon our populace with impunity and without consequence." Jeffries added that he empathized with immigrant communities who live in fear knowing that at any moment they could be killed without administrative due diligence.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/democrats-condemn-ice-for-murdering-without-proper-warrants/feed/ 30 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/schrdingers-mask/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/schrdingers-mask/#comments Thu, 15 Jan 2026 18:33:33 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk17 Aren't masks amazing? When it comes to disease, their use is an imminent threat to an officer's health and safety, but when it comes to accountability, their absence is an imminent threat to an officer's health and safety.

Who could have predicted this outcome except everybody:

LA County's mask ordinance is now in effect, but law enforcement and LA officials are declining to enforce it against ICE:

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says it is not enforcing the new law while the constitutionality of California's state mask-visibility bills, SB 627 and SB 805, is challenged in court. [...]

Lacking any clear path to action, LA County's mask ordinance is simply political theater, said Sam Brown-Vazquez, a coordinator with Avocado Heights Vaqueros who leads environmental justice and rapid response work in the unincorporated LA County neighborhood.

"It's a performative farce," he said, "a pat on the back for the Supervisors to look like they're doing something."

DOJ sues CA:

The lawsuit alleges that the No Secret Police Act and the No Vigilantes Act threaten the safety of officers facing harassment, doxing and violence while carrying out enforcement duties.

The DOJ also contends the laws violate the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, under which states have no power to control the operations of the federal government.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/schrdingers-mask/feed/ 10 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/how-ice-training-works/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/how-ice-training-works/#comments Tue, 13 Jan 2026 20:55:58 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk12 The More The Murder!

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

While state residents have had the right to demand that a company stop collecting and selling their data since 2020, doing so required a laborious process of opting out with each individual company. The Delete Act, passed in 2023, was supposed to simplify things, allowing residents to make a single request that more than 500 registered data brokers delete their information.

Now the Delete Requests and Opt-Out Platform (DROP) actually gives residents the ability to make that request. Once DROP users verify that they are California residents, they can submit a deletion request that will go to all current and future data brokers registered with the state.

I signed up for this, despite it being a red-flag factory. It makes sense that to tell data brokers to fuck entirely off, you would have to identify yourself to them, but giving information to the enemy still goes against my every instinct.

Again, it makes me twitch to ever upload a photo of my ID, but I guess sending the ID to the same government that issued it should be fine? But signing up for login.gov is a complete shitshow.

You can't just upload a photo of your ID: desktop browsers are "not supported". You have to take the photo in-browser on a phone, and it took me literally 15 times to succeed at that, because iOS Safari kept crashing so hard that I had to kill the app. Repeatedly. Sometimes it would crash at the front scan, sometimes at the back, but restarting meant you had to start over with the front again. Also it somehow drained 40% of my battery in 15 minutes. Amazing technology. Great work everybody.

And you have to consent to "something something AI something something" and there was also some "binding arbitration" nonsense in there too. (I could hear Cory's head exploding from here.)

"Powered by Socure" who I guess are the AI-blah-blah also-ran trying to get whatever government contracts id.me didn't already get. Apparently they are burrowed in to Docusign as well ("your second most favorite source of phishing emails!")

I guess people who don't have iOS or Android are expected to go to the post office to do this in person. I was seriously considering it.

At least they didn't demand that I give them a facial.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/ca-drop-is-finally-live/feed/ 13 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/watchmen-being-topical-again/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/watchmen-being-topical-again/#comments Tue, 13 Jan 2026 03:51:41 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk1t

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/watchmen-being-topical-again/feed/ 8 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/four-way-stop-versus-100-billion-valuation-redux/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/four-way-stop-versus-100-billion-valuation-redux/#comments Sat, 10 Jan 2026 23:16:45 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk1o The number of stalled Google Murderbots is a valuable trade secret:

That information is a trade secret, Waymo's attorney Jack Stoddard told Senior Administrative Law Judge Robert Mason, drawing snickers from a crowd. [...]

Mason's jaw appeared to tighten, and he trained his eyes on Stoddard, as though to express disbelief.

"Counsel, is it your position that the number of vehicles that stopped as a result of the Dec. 2025 power failure is confidential?" he asked. When the attorney stood his ground, saying his client couldn't risk exposing too much detail about its fleet deployment, the judge did not appear satisfied.

"Well, you may have claimed a trade secret, but the commission has not ruled on that yet," Mason said. [...]

For hours, Waymos had become paralyzed in intersections as the vehicles asked for confirmation from human supervisors to treat the outed traffic lights as four-way stops. That spike in confirmation requests overwhelmed the technology company, ultimately forcing it to suspend service.

As a result, Waymo will refine its approach to darkened traffic lights, making its self-driving cars more decisive and "less reliant on feedback from remote assistants," Stoddard said Friday.

So that last bit is confirmation of what many people were theorizing:

• When Waymos encounter anything even slightly difficult, they shut down, and wait for a remote operator to log on from a call center in Indonesia.

• During the PG&E blackout, the call center was understaffed for the number of robots that had shut themselves down.

• Rather than having the remote drivers just pull the cars over and park them until they had enough staffing to deal with this shitshow, they just... didn't. Google sat with their thumbs up their asses for six hours instead.

• The solution they are proposing above? Rather than trying to "fail safe" and call in a human Mechanical Turk operator to manually pilot the drone, they're just going to let the robot Leeroy Jenkins it. This is absolutely going to get people killed.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2026/01/four-way-stop-versus-100-billion-valuation-redux/feed/ 44 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/12/eargapping/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/12/eargapping/#comments Thu, 01 Jan 2026 03:23:52 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk1K Now hear me out...

I call it "eargapping". I learned about it in my Intro to Antique Coding class.

quat:

vendor of bluetooth chip used in sony, bose, and everyone else's headphones leaves debugging protocol completely open with no authentication over bluetooth low energy:

uh oh:

• remotely connect to headphones over thus protocol without needing a pairing interaction
• dump "now playing" data
• connect audio stream and eavesdrop
• dump your phone number
• brick the headphones
• dump the pairing key used to make your phone recognize your headphones as your headphones, and then impersonate your headphones

and that's when the REAL fun starts:

• talk to your voice assistant remotely
• make and manage calls while your phone is in your pocket
• eavesdrop from your phone microphone (by making you call them and then dropping the bluetooth connection so your phone switches to builtin mic)
• steal your whatsapp from 10ft away (since they have your phone #, the ability to accept the "we'll call and verify it's you" phone call before your phone starts vibrating, and the ability to listen and hear the code)
• steal your amazon (since you can login thru a phone number and a whatsapp confirmation code)

Dylan Rexing, CEO of Rexing Companies, said the shipment was picked up in Taunton, Massachusetts, but never reached its destination. He said the theft appears to be part of an organized cargo theft ring targeting high-value goods.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2025/12/lobster-heist/feed/ 25 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/12/christmas-throwback-exercise-vague-joy-2/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/12/christmas-throwback-exercise-vague-joy-2/#comments Wed, 24 Dec 2025 19:19:07 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk07

Previously, previously.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2025/12/christmas-throwback-exercise-vague-joy-2/feed/ 7 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/12/updates/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/12/updates/#comments Mon, 22 Dec 2025 18:01:51 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk0y four of my apps because of an update to the updater and it's turtles all the way down.]]> https://cdn.jwz.org/blog/2025/12/updates/feed/ 4 https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/12/four-way-stop-versus-100-billion-valuation/ https://www.jwz.org/blog/2025/12/four-way-stop-versus-100-billion-valuation/#comments Sun, 21 Dec 2025 23:40:42 +0000 https://jwz.org/b/yk0t It's on its back, baking in the hot sun, but you're not helping, Leon. Why is that?