If you're not aware, the hack was performed by Arion Kurtaj, an 18 year old, who has been put in prison a psych ward in a uk prison. He hacked rockstar at a hotel, where he was left with no computers or phones, only to find that the TV had a chromecast, which he used to buy a phone and a keyboard (presumably by selling his monero).

• He hacked into all major uk telcom providers: EE, BT and Orange.
• He hacked into nvidia

This kid deserves a 7-8 digits salary as a pentester, not prison; plenty of pentesting companies would hire him in a heartbeat.

Don't get me wrong, he deserves a long and drawn out lesson on morals, but also a stellar salary where he can do what he's doing for the right side.

EDIT: I have made a mistake in my original comment, which has been pointed out. My bad, he's technically in a psych ward in a uk prison, because he's aggressive and unstable. I still stand by what I said (and what I clarified in the comments below), but I wanted to correct the record

Weekly reminder that the best way to tell them off is to donate to the Lemmy developers, even 1 dollar is no doubt appreciated. Tell reddit off by using their competitor and paying for it.

Please don't. Use regex to find something that looks like an IP then build a real parser. This is madness, its's extremely hard to read and a mistake is almost impossible to spot. Not to mention that it's slow.

Just parse [0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3} using regex (for v4) and then have some code check that all the octets are valid (and store the IP as a u32).

Let's remember, fellas, that big tech is not a disease that needs to be eradicated. Let us not forget that Google is a legitimate corporation, not merely a group of professional stalkers. And let's be clear: obviously you are the crazy ones for worrying about this, naturally...

Pardon my jest; I was merely echoing the absurdities often heard.

Maybe just maybe it's time we stop with this garbage and actually stop using their services. Nothing will change if we keep using their services.

The most direct and effective strategy to inspire reform in their practices is to stop using of their platforms. Each time we use a service from Google or any similar big tech entity, we inadvertently endorse their methods.

YOU hold the power to change them by using FOSS alternatives instead.

He can learn once he understands the repercussions of his actions. Remember that he's an autistic teenager, he has a lot to learn about life and especially morality.

I believe that the following IP ranges

• 103.231.144.0/24
• 192.31.196.0/24
• 216.176.216.0/21
• 199.248.239.0/24
• 192.198.30.0/24
• 69.12.98.42

are engaged in highly suspicious activities

furthermore I can definitely say that I found some dirty pirates hiding at the following ip ranges:

• 175.45.176.0/24
• 175.45.177.0/24
• 175.45.178.0/24
• 175.45.179.0/24

my research clearly shows proof that those people are not just pirates but also engaged in highly illegal activities such as stealing BILLIONS of dollars and hacking who knows how many servers, and that's only the crimes one can talk about online.

::: spoiler if you don't get the joke no, I didn't share IPs that anyone here would ever have, I guarantee it, if you don't get the joke look up "bogon routes" and then look up which ASN owns the other set.

It looks more legit than people who use 192.168.0.0/16, 8.8.8.8, 127.0.0.1, or any other things like that because most people don't know about those.

Also bonus info:

here's a tip for you, if you're a sysadmin just go ahead and ban those IP ranges on your machines, if you ever get packets from them it's an attack 99.999999% of the time (I guess unless you have customers in north korea? in which case only block the first ones and all other bogon routes)

:::

As a lifelong coder and Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) champion, I've come to a critical realization: the majority of folks are tech-disinterested to the point of stubbornness. A whopping 80% won't lift a finger to make their digital lives better, not even if it means spending a measly five minutes. Tech nuances, innovations, platforms? They couldn't care less. But guess who loves these tech-phobic masses? Big Tech, that's who. These are their dream users, the last to hop onto any tech trend, yet the most dogged in clinging to their tools till they're six feet under.

However, the remaining 20% exhibits a different dynamic. An 80-20 split reigns here too. The larger slice contains folks who will actually consider switching things up, give new tech a shot, learn a thing or two. The tinier sliver? Those are the folks ready to take on the tech titans, to build fresh software to go toe-to-toe with them. Their ranks may be small, but don't underestimate them. Some even hit the jackpot (Linux, for instance).

You don't understand, your lights need to track you, how else are they going to improve your user experience? Using lights is so complicated that it requires them to train AI models to better understand the necessities of users. The methods that have worked for hundreds of years cannot work with today's users

yeah, to be clear: capsule hotels in japan are not meant to be long term stays, they're for busy business people that need a quick place to sleep for ONE night because they worked till late at night and missed the last train, or similar situations like that. Nobody actually lives in a capsule hotel

EDIT: to clarify, some people may live in a capsule hotel, but they're not designed for long-term living

If we're serious about transforming the conversation around this issue, we've got to be more intentional with the words we choose. Let's call a spade a spade: labeling them as "personalized ads" is a gross understatement.

It's more than that. It's like someone constantly lurking behind you, watching every move you make, and getting into the private spaces of your mind. It isn't mere content tailoring—it's relentless stalking and a brazen assault on our psyche.

We need to call it what it is.

I keep telling people that, but for some, what amount to essentially a simulacra really can pass off as human and no matter how much you try to convince them they won't listen

I agree, BUT, you should pay anyways. FOSS developers should be paid

But ultimately, the F in FOSS doesn’t really mean “Free”. It means “Free to the end user”.

The F in FOSS does NOT mean gratis. I absolutely hate that we decided to call it Free. There have been attempts at saying another word like libre (aka FLOSS) but those haven't worked out.

I don't agree with the FSF on a lot, but their definition of free software is as follows:

“Free software” means software that respects users' freedom and community. Roughly, it means that the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. Thus, “free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech,” not as in “free beer.” We sometimes call it “libre software,” borrowing the French or Spanish word for “free” as in freedom, to show we do not mean the software is gratis.

You may have paid money to get copies of a free program, or you may have obtained copies at no charge. But regardless of how you got your copies, you always have the freedom to copy and change the software, even to sell copies.

In other words software can be paid and still be FOSS. In fact, I want to see MORE paid software that's FOSS.

Gratis software only works in very rare cases, when an entity other than the user of the software pays for it, but that is NOT the case with FOSS.

I want more FOSS software that is monetized. Charging for FOSS software is not only permissible but desirable. This model ensures that developers are compensated for their skilled labor, fostering an environment where innovation is rewarded. It's about creating a sustainable ecosystem where the values of open-source are upheld without sacrificing the financial viability of the developers.

When software is open-source and monetized, it strikes a critical balance. Users gain the freedoms associated with FOSS – the liberty to run, modify, and share – while developers receive the financial recognition for their contributions.

Paid FOSS software also opens doors to more professional and polished products. When developers are remunerated, there's a greater incentive to maintain, improve, and support software. This, in turn, encourages wider adoption, as users are more likely to rely on software that is regularly updated and supported.

Moreover, a paid FOSS model disrupts the surveillance capitalism model. It negates the need for monetizing user data, as the revenue comes directly from the users in exchange for the software. This aligns perfectly with the principles of respecting user privacy and data ownership.

I WANT to pay for FOSS software that respects my rights and freedoms. The payment becomes an investment in a world where software is not just a tool, but a statement of principles. It's a declaration that I support an ecosystem where the power and control lie with the users, not in the hands of a few large corporations.

By paying for FOSS, we're contributing to a marketplace that values ethical practices over profit maximization. We're fostering a space where software developers don't have to resort to underhanded tactics like data mining or invasive advertising to make a living. Instead, they can focus on creating quality, user-respecting software.

This isn't to say that all FOSS should come with a price tag. There will always be a place for gratis FOSS, especially in educational and non-profit sectors, tho in such cases developers should strive to ask for donations. But for the software that powers businesses and our daily lives, a paid model is more sustainable and ethical.

The beauty of this approach is its alignment with the principles of free-market capitalism. It's a voluntary exchange where value is given and received. Users pay for the freedom, quality, and respect that FOSS offers, while developers are compensated for their ingenuity and hard work.

I hate humanity sometimes, why would they send death threats? Just don't use their engine; this is the way you actually make a change -- switch to something else, threatening people does not help you prove your point. I hate their new pricing changes too, but death threats are never warranted

I get movies and TV shows from the digital high seas because it’s easier, and I openly admit this with my real name on my Lemmy profile.

Currently, I'm subscribed to four streaming platforms: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Crunchyroll, and Disney+. Despite this, I resort to pirating every piece of content I watch.

The simplicity of searching a title on Radarr or Sonarr and clicking 'add' vastly outshines the cumbersome process on legal platforms.

These sites are all flawed, tend to harbor more spyware than Windows and present a usability nightmare compared to the streamlined interface of Jellyfin.

In terms of ethics, my conscience is clear. If a movie or TV show isn't available on the platforms I subscribe to, it's a clear sign they aren't interested in my money.

I see absolutely no problem with paying for what I watch; financial constraints aren't the issue. The crux of the matter lies in the user experience, which is undeniably superior and hassle-free on the open waves of the digital ocean.

This is someone you can never count on to do anything they don’t want to do. Someone who will destroy things if they don’t get their way. Triple letters won’t touch him.

definitely, but people can change

a lot of this was social engineering

people always have a high and mighty mentality when talking about social engineering, most attacks today use some form of social engineering and have for a long time, if not always.

I agree with you in principle, you are definitely objectively correct, however people can redeem themselves.

To name two:

• Mitnick (RIP) started as a black hat
• Gollumfun started as a twisted criminal

If somebody actually did that it would be grounds for removing their privileges to merge into master. THIS, THIS is why the JavaScript ecosystem has gotten so bad, people with mentalities similar to his.

Let's not make this sound worse than it is. We don't need to devolve into Stallman everytime we see software that's not 100% in agreement with the GPL or other extreme licenses. Let's celebrate some great software, nitpicking like this is not productive. Their license is perfect for their product; at the very least they're HONEST unlike big tech companies. I'd rather have "source available" code than proprietary bullshit that can only be understood by spending months looking at it with ghidra

Seconded, and added Haier to my mental list of companies to never buy from.

sigh 'member when computers were there to serve you and not the other way around? pepperidge farm 'members

Against all odds, open source hackers keep outfoxing one of the wealthiest companies.

sigh developers will ALWAYS be able to outsmart companies stealing from others.

The kid was an idiot and a dickhead. He extorted companies and sim swapped people for his private gain, and was stupid enough to continue his hacking spree while he was on bail for another hack.

Yeah I don't think anyone here disagrees with that; his actions are objectively wrong and as I said, he definitely needs to learn morals and ethics.

Samsung Dex over Miracast (which the news liked to present as some kind of amazing hacking feat)

I mean, duh, the media can't tell the difference between a computer and a toaster, but that's besides the point

He’s violent, damaging property and injuring staff.

I didn't know about this, thanks for sharing. Can I get a source?

I don’t get what this “he deserves a stellar salary” mentality comes from

I'm a firm believer in meritocracy and the importance of rewarding skills. He should still pay a hefty price for his crimes, including jail time, where he will hopefully learn to change his ways, but once he gets out, if he's truly remorseful for his actions and he's willing to have others monitor his device usage activities, I don't see why he shouldn't be hired by a red team

you're posing an unfalsifiable statement as a question

"prove to me that you don't have an invisible purple unicorn friend that's only visible to you"

I'm always astonished by the amount of information that people give away freely without securing it properly.

As for yet another billion dollar company's data being stolen... well... that's just a normal Friday. I'm not one for government intervention, especially considering how our governments act nowadays, but I seriously think that our privacy laws should be a lot more useful and a lot more severe.

I don't even know what this company was thinking, what goes through someone's brain to not stop for 20 seconds and think that storing this information unencrypted and just behind a simple login screen is a bad idea? Isn't it just blatantly obvious that they should've used e2e encryption? Require people to generate a key before they send their sample? Or if you want to make it moron proof, was it really impossible to write a unique seed phrase on each box and require users to type that to see their PRIVATE GENETIC INFORMATION?

I'm not anti capitalism, but the audacity of certain companies especially in the us is a sight to behold

It's truly a shame that in this advanced age of technology, encryption remains a distant, unattainable dream! In this archaic age of ours, safeguarding customer data is just not possible yet because nobody has ever invented the concept of public private key pairs yet, and hackers are having a field day with our data. Clearly, we're still stuck in the digital dark ages where safeguarding sensitive information is just a pipe dream. 🙄

Seriously, how is it possible that they're still not using key pairs for encrypting this data? It would be so simple, you just include a flash drive, or a qr code, in the box with the key and accessing the website to view the data would require that key, how is that still not something they're doing?

#EncryptionPlease

can you imagine the audacity of a company to not only collect your data and sell it, but also charge you for that?

Yeah, there is one way to make it better, but it won't happen until they're forced to change: force them to integrate with the matrix protocol

yes, I know that it's possible to use a bridge, and I do it, but it still requires a discord account, it would be great if discord rooms were just accessible with the matrix protocol

Actually other search engines do much better with Lemmy. Kagi's search works wonders if you select the filter for Fediverse Forums. And you can assign that filter to a bang, such as !lemmy, so that when you search "!lemmy query here" it'll search only on the fediverse A few examples:

MIT is a terrible license that only got popular because of the popularity of the anti-open source movement in the last decade.

one could write books about what's wrong with the MIT license.

It could even theoretically be argued that MIT has in some ways allowed big tech companies to proliferate, by effectively allowing them to take open-source code, modify it, and then close it off in their proprietary software. What does this mean? It means that the work of countless dedicated open-source developers can be co-opted by companies that have done almost none of the work, reaping several billions of dollars, while the developers who actually did the work make no money. It's like opening your doors wide only to have someone come in, take your stuff, and sell it back to you.

In contrast, in licenses like the GPL, there's a requirement that if you use GPL-licensed code and modify it, your new code also has to be open-source under the GPL.

And this ladies and gentlemen is another reason why we should try to escape big tech's grasp.

First time I'm hearing about Bookwyrm actually, that's pretty cool.

Then use alternative youtube clients, like piped or freetube.

Or even better: spend money (if you can afford it) to host a peertube instance that automatically rips the videos off of youtube.

That's an even stronger message that you'd rather spend money than use their crappy free services.

Absolutely, didn't mean to imply otherwise

Someone really should maintain a list like that, hosted on multiple non big tech git hosts.

This recent Anti-FOSS propaganda needs to stop

How is he dishonest? It's fine if you disagree with his opinions, but saying he's dishonest is very.... well.... dishonest :P

Lemmy doesnt stand a chance against any company big enough to advertise.

I disagree with this to be honest. I think that people are starting to see the cracks in what Big Tech is doing, and slowly, once enough people switch and Big Tech platforms become worse and worse there is gonna be a shift. I mean that's basically the entire thing I'm trying to do with escapebigtech.info, literally showing the world what Big Tech does and pointing them to other FOSS alternatives. It's probably not gonna happen tomorrow, or next year, or heck, even this decade, but at some point enough people will switch that it will be inevitable.

the results for me are hilarious, who knew people in my general area downloaded so much porn... and... weird porn at that

it's literally only porn, who the heck torrents porn?

some of the most hilariously sounding things on that list:

::: spoiler very nsfw

• FATAL ECSTASY.rar
• I was looking for work as a voice actor but I was made to do a motion capture sex.rar
• Picking up girl on the way home from a live show and having sex!.rar
• Divine Fuck VR ~Sex Worship~
• Sailor Girl Stuck In A Wall.rar
• ReEro - Ejaculating in Another World ver.2.0 [EnglishMTL].rar
• Intercourse Study Week.rar :::

Doesn't match my experience. The worst thing about it is ping, but download is mostly always around 100-200.

As time marches on, my skepticism about there being ONE smart google employee only grows.