Dispatch 0: Welcome to Dystopia
Welcome to my inaugural newsletter. Don't ask me how often this will happen. Let's say 1-2x a month.
📣 security news
Snowflake Customers Targeted- Several large customers of data analytics firm Snowflake have already been breached and hundreds more alleged Snowflake customer credentials are floating around online. The firm says that customers without MFA enabled were targeted.
Give Your Recyclables New Life with Autonomous Driving Attacks - Researchers discovered attacks that trick the sensor systems from major autonomous driving systems using a low-cost object made of cardboard, metal foil, and a special color patch. They were able to use it to trick a vehicle into colliding with objects.
Windows Recall: Your Computing History in Plaintext - The feature that creates a photographic memory of everything you do on your computer will be shipping with Copilot+ PCs. Apparently the compression is great, so this should make data exfil a breeze. Thanks, Microsoft!
🛟 safer tech
Anti-deepfake Laws Risk Excluding Sex Workers - Lawmakers seem to be avoiding collaborating with sex worker led organizations in spite of abusive deepfake imagery disproportionately affecting sex workers on both ends of the issue: both as "the face" (or the subject of the abuse) and as "the body."
Current and Former OpenAI Employees Pen Open Letter- OpenAI employees call out speech-suppressing labor practices like non-disparagement clauses and call on AI companies to create cultures of transparency and support for addressing risk-related issues.
🤿 culture dive
The theme is Black prosperity and the reactions to it. Coming off of the anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre (May 31 - June 1), which included the destruction of Greenwood (AKA Black Wall Street), the following stories just hit different.
Fearless Fund Grant Program Suspended - Fearless Fund provides startup capital for founders who are also Black women. A conservative group has entangled them in a legal battle over discrimination and an appeals court has ordered the fund to suspend its Strivers Grant Contest. To achieve this, the aggrieved party is wielding the 1866 Civil Rights Act enacted to protect formerly enslaved Black Americans and their descendants.
Reparations Program Faces Lawsuit - Evanston, Illinois has developed a program to provide one-time reparations payments to Black residents who were hurt by the town's racist housing policies during roughly the first half of the 20th century. A conservative group has submitted a class action lawsuit claiming the program is in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.