ReHacked vol. 280: Rest of World on influence in social networks, Computer security is a political struggle and more
Computer security is a political struggle #security #privacy #politics #longread
Most of Western society now depends on digital technology. Yet we have a technology industry that is at war with its own customers. Much of our technology is broken, and it is broken by design. because this is profitable and brings power to its creators. Technologically, our civilisation is suffering from a lack of self-care. We are struggling with a broken model of "security" and the emergence of a global insecurity industry. This self-devouring and abandonment of our own values is what Solzhenitsyn warned us against in his Warning to the West.
We are now taking an unprecedented direction in political history having slept-walked into a territory where the monopoly companies we allowed quasi-governmental status through delegation (dereliction) of power in the late 20th century cannot be coerced, regulated, fined or even taken over and "nationalised" as a remedy. So far politicians have underestimated and misunderstood the power struggle with technology that is afoot.
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Rest of World on influence in social networks
YouTuber Vikas Divyakirti criticized Rau’s IAS coaching tragedy - Rest of World
Students feel betrayed by the lack of support from these educators who enjoy near-cult popularity.
Nigeria’s economic crisis fueled a stunt philanthropy boom - Rest of World
- Several Nigerian content creators are mimicking American superstar YouTuber MrBeast by publishing charitable deeds as content online.
- Experts disagree on the ethics of the practice.
- Some say the creators are mere businesspeople who are doing nothing wrong as long as they obtain consent.
Filipinos want YouTube star Raffy Tulfo to run for president - Rest of World
- Raffy Tulfo has the most popular YouTube show in the Philippines.
- Ordinary Filipinos trust him to resolve their problems more than the country’s courts.
- The show helped him win a Senate seat, but critics say his sense of justice is flawed.
The other news
18-year-old security flaw in Firefox and Chrome exploited in attacks #security
A vulnerability disclosed 18 years ago, dubbed "0.0.0.0 Day", allows malicious websites to bypass security in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari and interact with services on a local network.
However, it should be noted that this only affects Linux and macOS devices, and does not work on Windows.
For impacted devices, threat actors can exploit this flaw to remotely change settings, gain unauthorized access to protected information, and, in some cases, achieve remote code execution.
Despite being reported in 2008, 18 years ago, this problem remains unresolved on Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, though all three have acknowledged the problem and are working towards a fix.
Windows Update downgrade attack "unpatches" fully-updated systems #security
SafeBreach security researcher Alon Leviev revealed at Black Hat 2024 that two zero-days could be exploited in downgrade attacks to "unpatch" fully updated Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server systems and reintroduce old vulnerabilities.
Microsoft issued advisories on the two unpatched zero-days (tracked as CVE-2024-38202 and CVE-2024-21302) in coordination with the Black Hat talk, providing mitigation advice until a fix is released.
In downgrade attacks, threat actors force an up-to-date target device to roll back to older software versions, reintroducing vulnerabilities that can be exploited to compromise the system.
A wonderful coincidence or an expected connection: why π² ≈ g. #science #nature
Let’s take a brief trip back to our school years and recall some lessons in mathematics and physics. Do you remember what the number π equals? And what is π squared? That’s a strange question too. Of course, it’s 9.87. And do you remember the value of the acceleration due to gravity, g? Of course, that number was drilled into our memory so thoroughly that it’s impossible to forget: 9.81 m/s². Naturally, it can vary, but for solving basic school problems, we typically used this value.
Göbekli Tepe is one of the most important archaeological discoveries of modern times, pushing back the origins of monumentality beyond the emergence of agriculture. … At the dawn of the Neolithic, hunter-gatherers congregating at Göbekli Tepe created social and ideological cohesion through the carving of decorated pillars, dancing, feasting – and, almost certainly, the drinking of beer made from fermented wild crops.
Employers used return-to-office to make workers quit #career
As organizations navigate the shifting dynamics of the post-pandemic workplace, some have controversially used return-to-office mandates as a strategy to induce voluntary turnover.
Recent surveys reveal that this approach has led to unintended and significant consequences, including higher-than-expected attrition rates and a disproportionate loss of women and underrepresented employees.
Google and Meta struck secret ads deal to target teenagers #internet #bigcorp
Google and Meta made a secret deal to target advertisements for Instagram to teenagers on YouTube, skirting the search company’s own rules for how minors are treated online.
According to documents seen by the Financial Times and people familiar with the matter, Google worked on a marketing project for Meta that was designed to target 13- to 17-year-old YouTube users with adverts that promoted its rival’s photo and video app.
Real-Life Locations That Inspired My Neighbor Totoro #art
Studio Ghibli films have taken viewers on a magical journey for decades. One of the most popular Miyazaki films has to be My Neighbor Totoro, its fluffy titular character serving as a mascot of Ghibli. While creating the film, Miyazaki took ample inspiration from the lush forestry and quaint countryside charm across Japan. In fact, the film is said to be primarily based on the real-life city of Tokorozawa, Saitama, which is only a 30-minute train ride from central Tokyo. Here are some real-life locations to visit in Tokorozawa to be whisked away to the whimsical world of My Neighbor Totoro.
Archaeological evidence suggests these diminutive, small-brained humans inhabited Liang Bua as recently as 50,000 years ago, a time when our own species (Homo sapiens) was already long established in Australia to the south.
There has been much debate about the origin of the mysterious humans from Flores. It was first hypothesised that Homo floresiensis was a dwarfed descendant of early Asian Homo erectus.
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