Charlie Stross

Apparently I am mentioned (just once) in the Epstein Files.

https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01755942.pdf

(Spoiler: it's a deeply nerdy infosec discussion which name-checks one of my short stories. It doesn't even mention Epstein or Maxwell, let alone the Tangerine Shitgibbon or anything remotely incriminating.)

Age Verification | United States Department of Justice

Feb 3 at 3:04pmWeb
Show threadYvanFeb 3

@cstross "voice commands give access to system level scripting" ... foreshadowing the current age of "prompt injection" there.

I always wondered how some of the "information warfare" type ideas in some sci-fi worked... turns out it's just prompt injection?

Show threadSophie SchmiegFeb 3
@cstross
You are in good company there: https://youtu.be/VNLdyWPAz18?si=4urxFQVKcAC-Lgnq
So I'm in the Epstein Files

YouTube
Show threadHugo MillsFeb 3
@cstross Just as long as they're not applying the Torment Nexus argument to Equoid...
Show threadCavyherdFeb 3

@cstross

I am somehow feeling disinclined to click on that link. Is this how the web page displays on your side?

Show threadJaap ZeldenrustFeb 3
@cavyherd
There isn't any real age check, you're just asked whether you're over 18 years old. The DoJ probably don't want to be held responsible if kids visit the site and read material that's inappropriate for minors.
@cstross
Show threadCharlie StrossFeb 3
@cavyherd Yes, it is indeed the DoJ (I didn't get any active age verification, just a "click here to say you are over 18".)
Show threadCavyherdFeb 3

@cstross

Ah, okay. That's at least reasonable, given the context of the web page.

Show threaddraxilFeb 3
@cstross nice to be included?
Show threadCharlie StrossFeb 3
@draxil No, it really isn't!
Show threadGeorge BFeb 3

RE: https://masto.nyc/@gbargoud/116003310894666297

@cstross

There is one person who was included in the files in a positive way, because he decided to CC Epstein on an email he wrote saying Epstein should be throttled

Show threadJdeBPFeb 3

@cstross

You would have had your full name and unredacted e-mail address if only you had licenced some free/open source software. (-:

https://mastodonapp.uk/@JdeBP/116007537194276014

#EpsteinFiles #CopyrightLicences

JdeBP (@[email protected])

Another non-political tid-bit from the #EpsteinFiles. A whole load of famous software developers, from Paul Vixie and Bram Moolenaar through Matthew Dillon and Theo de Raadt to a positive laundry list of Perl module developers, all get search hits because someone decided to make a 205-page collection of free software/open source copyright licences. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00289243.pdf I expect some very bored person one day to make a statistical analysis of how many of each kind of licence is in there. #OpenSource #FreeSoftware #CopyrightLicences

Mastodon App UK
Show threadCharlie StrossFeb 3
@JdeBP I have no idea what you're trying to say.
Show threadJdeBPFeb 3

@cstross

As I pointed out in that post, there's a whole bunch of well-known people in the software world in there simply by dint of their names being attached to the copyright licences of various pieces of free/open source softwares. (Hyperlink to document in that post.)

And unlike in other cases, the USADOJ people didn't go through that document and black out the e-mail addresses.

#EpsteinFiles #CopyrightLicences

Show threadJdeBPFeb 3

@cstross

I found it by having the idea of putting #OpenBSD into the search field.

Other people have already found the (redacted!) copy of the Bourne Again shell GNU reference manual and man page that are in there; and I had been wondering what the most bizarre software thing might be in there.

There's also a copy of Kevin Gallagher's instructions for EDT for GNU #emacs in there; with M. Gallagher's e-mail address redacted.

https://mastodonapp.uk/@JdeBP/116007091737561503

#EpsteinFiles

JdeBP (@[email protected])

It is even more amusing when you spot the old MS-DOS TSR program named GOLD.COM being redacted in the same document. We aren't supposed to know what GOLD22.ZIP contains, apparently. Not without finding an old Simtel CD, at any rate. (-: https://discmaster.textfiles.com/view/10857/simtel_1193.iso/msdos/keyboard/files.bbs There's supposed to be a legal explanation published for every redaction. What do you think it is going to be for blacking out the name of an MS-DOS TSR utility program? #MSDOS #EpsteinFiles #SimtelCD #emacs #MSKermit #GoldKey #DECVTs

Mastodon App UK
Show threadspecialcaseFeb 3
@cstross I was going to reply "Were they discussing how to use Norse death-magic to summon the Aesir?" and now I realized I spent the last 10+ years thinking you wrote Thor Meets Captain America. I hang my head in shame. 
Show threadradarskiyFeb 3
@cstross In the future everyone will be famous to 15 jury members.
Show threadRobert BanzFeb 3
@cstross Congratulations or something?
Show threadPoul-Henning KampFeb 3

@cstross

My 15 seconds of fame in the #EpsteinFiles is the beerware license :-)

Show threadJaime RobertsonFeb 4
@cstross Is there going to be a new version of Bacon Numbers? How many degrees of Jeffrey Epstein?