My biggest problem with the concept of LLMs, even if they weren’t a giant plagiarism laundering machine and disaster for the environment, is that they introduce so much unpredictability into computing. I became a professional computer toucher because they do exactly what you tell them to. Not always what you wanted, but exactly what you asked for.

LLMs turn that upside down. They turn a very autistic do-what-you-say, say-what-you-mean commmunication style with the machine into a neurotypical conversation talking around the issue, but never directly addressing the substance of problem.

In any conversation I have with a person, I’m modeling their understanding of the topic at hand, trying to tailor my communication style to their needs. The same applies to programming languages and frameworks. If you work with a language the way its author intended it goes a lot easier.

But LLMs don’t have an understanding of the conversation. There is no intent. It’s just a mostly-likely-next-word generator on steroids. You’re trying to give directions to a lossily compressed copy of the entire works of human writing. There is no mind to model, and no predictability to the output.

If I wanted to spend my time communicating in a superficial, neurotypical style my autistic ass certainly wouldn’t have gone into computering. LLMs are the final act of the finance bros and capitalists wrestling modern technology away from the technically literate proletariat who built it.

It feels like Proton are being intentionally misleading in their statements. They know that most of their customers aren't familiar with how legal process actually works, so are happy to spread half-truths.

Under US law, a US law enforcement agency (LEA) typically has to apply for a subpoena or search warrant with a US court. The court is then responsible for deciding if the legal bar for search a request has been met, then either grants or denies it.

The problem is, if a company has no real US footprint (no US corporate entity, offices, servers, etc.), then a US court typically doesn't have the jurisdiction to compel the company to hand over customer data (except in some rare circumstances). Even if the court approved the warrant anyway, it wouldn't really be legally binding.

Which is why the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) exists. MLAT enables law enforcement agencies in one company to send requests for information to law enforcement agencies in another. Switzerland has such a treaty with the US. This means that the FBI can request that Swiss authorities hand over a Swiss company's data on their behalf.

Any country requesting information held by a company in a foreign jurisdiction would typically do so via MLAT. Which means from Proton's perspective, the legal request would appear to originate from their local law enforcement, not the FBI. Which they clearly understand based on their Reddit post.

Saying "we don't respond to legal requests from anywhere other than Swiss authorities" seems very intentionally worded to give the impression that the company does not cooperate with foreign law enforcement. But since it'd be the Swiss authorities handling any such requests, they'd have to comply, since as they admitted, they have to comply with local laws.

There is, however, some useful (but more nuanced) information here:

Firstly, MLAT requests are handled by local law enforcement according to local law. So if there is a difference between the law of the sending and recipient country, that might mean the MLAT request is denied. That probably doesn't mean much, because if you're on the FBI's radar, the chances are you did something that is also massively illegal in Switzerland too.

Secondly, they are 100% correct in saying that no other service provider is going to do any better. They're all beholden to local laws, and the ones that think they're not tend to get their doors blown off by SWAT like CyberBunker did. The only exception is if the company resides in a country which does not cooperate with US law enforcement (which Proton does not).

But the part that's extremely disingenuous is that the "we only respond to requests from the Swiss authorities". That statement is likely intended to imply they don't cooperate with law enforcement in any other countries, which is simply not true. Switzerland has MLAT agreements with over 30 counties.

People really need to understand that no company is going to shield you from the FBI (or any reputable law enforcement agency). They'll use misleading statements to make it sounds like they don't cooperate with law enforcement, but they do. They have to.

"You, the consumer, purchased your Android device believing in Google’s promise that it was an open computing platform and that you could run whatever software you choose on it. Instead, as of September 2026, they will be non-consensually pushing an update to your operating system that irrevocably blocks this right and leaves you at the mercy of their judgement over what software you are permitted to trust."

Keep Android Open
https://keepandroidopen.org/

#KeepAndroidOpen #Fdroid #NotOkayGoogle

EFF:

"...The New York Times reported that Meta is considering adding face recognition technology to its smart glasses. According to an internal Meta document, the company may launch the product “during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns.” ..."

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/02/seven-billion-reasons-facebook-abandon-its-face-recognition-plans

#Facebook #Meta #privacy #bigbrother #surveillance

Lol. The RFK stans came out today.

I’ll be as polite as I can here:

RFK could choke on a fucking pinecone and I would piss on his headstone every time I was in town.

I watched people die of vaccine preventable disease in ‘21-22. I hospitalized flu patients this fall who didn’t vaccinate. I’ve listened to people cling to false hope that avoiding seed oils will cure their cancer.

RFK is an evil shitbag grifter. Every death from his nonsense rests on him. Fuck the guy with a hedge trimmer.

Dunno if you have ever tried fermented tofu. It basically tastes like spicy, very salty cheese.

I consider it a crucial ingredient for homemade mapo tofu, but I do not know a single other recipe that calls for it, so I end up experimenting with it from time to time.

It's great in cheese sauces as long as you reduce salt somewhere else in the recipe.

I just smeared some on toast, and it was great, but I'll use less next time because it is really salty.

Next: bagel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermented_bean_curd

In a world ruled by Epstein collaborators,

The infrastructure for us not here anymore.

mail-order catalogs
pen-pal lists
shortwave broadcast radio
typewriters and typewriter ribbons
analog TV stations
independent, small-town newspapers with classified ads, including help-wanted ads
independent, analog, small-town radio stations with DJs that take requests and dedications over the telephone
analog, land-line telephones
telephone operators reached by dialing 0
independent, corner grocery stores
milkmen
independent taxi companies
service stations (not just gas stations) with mechanics on-site and non-self-service pumps
analog records
independent local banks with passbook savings accounts
paper job applications
local businesses you can call of the telephone and talk to a human being
a phone company that doesn’t limit or log local phone calls
pay phones all over the place
stationery stores

We still have some public libraries, but they’re under attack. We have just about no local, independent book stores.

A digital world is, unfortunately, largely a inhuman world.

The people of Minneapolis are doing the rest of the people in the former USA a massive favour right now.

ICE tried their best to get Minneapolis to riot. They did everything they could including murdering innocent people on camera in broad daylight and boasting about it.

Minneapolis has responded with dignity and compassion towards ICE's victims. They have stood up and been counted. They have not backed down in the face of terrorists in their community.

Most importantly they organised themselves, they didn't wait for the Democracts to pull their fingers out of their arses to organise a politely worded petition or some other waste of time.

I think the best action they have taken was the strike and "buy nothing day". That showed the fascists that they have real power. Not just numbers on the ground but figures on company spreadsheets. Money and violence are the only languages fascists understand. Though their grasp of economics is very limited of course.

As far as I can see there are no real "leaders" of the protests. People are just coming together to do the right thing for their communities, neighbours and friends. True anarchy. Its a wonderful thing to see. No wonder the fascists and their boot lickers hate the protestors and demonise them at every turn.

The fascists are desperately trying to find "proof" that one of their bogeymen in organising and funding the protesters. They cannot understand anything apart from self-interest backed by violence. Altruism is anathema to them.

The people of Minneapolis and Minnesota are the exact opposite of the MAGA fascists. They care about one another.

#Minnesota #Minneapolis #USA #ICE #Anarchy #Strike #Boycott #BuyNothing