Dispatch 4: While the Iron's Hot
Here are a few news stories that made me do a double take during the first half of this very odd December.
📣 security news
WhatsApp bug bypasses View Once - A now-resolved software bug in the WhatsApp web app allowed a message recipient to bypass its View Once privacy feature. This is a good reminder that even in the case of a well-thought out view once message implementation, a recipient can save the message whether through a software flaw or by simply taking a photo of the device's screen.
CISA employees navigate uncertainty - The upcoming Trump administration is a major source of concern for Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) staff who mostly just want to do their jobs securing critical infrastructure and supporting the nation's cybersecurity posture. I hope that Secure by Design, the agency's effort to bolster the product security of U.S. software and hardware manufacturers, isn't on the chopping block.
🛟 safer tech
Anduril and Palantir team up for wartime AI applications - Lattice Mesh seems poised to change the speed of battlefield decision making; however, questions around how this will be applied for targeting purposes hang overhead. I can’t help but wonder if it will be similar to what we’ve seen used extensively in the Middle East over the last year and change. These systems introduce a level of technical complexity that can simultaneously 1) hand-wave away targeting issues and 2) absolve humans of responsibility for the impacts of actions they take at the tool’s prompting.
Chatbot mental health harm continues - (TW) AI chat bots are traumatizing children and encouraging them to self-harm. I'd love to know where the upper bounds are for how much of this sort of harm we'll willingly accept and even encourage in the quest for the "perfect" AI model. If you find it, let me know. It's not just kids, these interactions have demonstrated similar impacts on adults.
🤿 culture dive
Amazon workers prepare to strike - The company is contesting reports that jobs at its warehouses are 2-3 times more dangerous than comparable warehouse jobs as members of the first Amazon warehouse workers union prepare to strike at a strategic time. You can donate to the strike fund to support the workers.
They're not regular ads, they're cool ads - Bluesky's CEO doesn’t rule out ads on the social media platform as it sees a major uptick in growth. Jay Graber believes that future advertising on the site will take a different form than what we've become accustomed to experiencing on social media.
Mods can’t stop the memes - Community moderators on Reddit are having a hard time keeping their subreddits in line with the site's terms of service as they are drowning in posts celebrating the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Meanwhile on other sites, the memes continue to take flight. There's even merch now. These truly are wild times.