Ashley Rain, MSW, LSW
@curtosis
- 265 Followers
- 163 Following
- 6.9K Posts
Computational linguist, artificer, λ(data). Syntactician with semanticist delusions. Theatre artist. Anti-Taylorist. Continuous everywhere, differentiable nowhere. Boosts are multivalent. He/they.
⁂ L. RhodesThe closure of Sora is a solid exhibit for the argument that the affordability of at least some forms of consumer AI is an illusion that will evaporate once these technologies have to actually start paying for themselves, rather than coasting on VC funding.
If OpenAI, the company with arguably the largest head start and the most funding for R&D, can't make on-demand, AI-generated video economically feasible, then it probably just… isn't.
Jamez Barrett 🜃 ॐ ⒶWhat Happens When a Bad-Tempered, Distractible Doofus Runs an Empire? | The New Yorker
One of the few things that Kaiser Wilhelm II, who ruled Germany from 1888 to 1918, had a talent for was causing outrage. One of the many things that Wilhelm was convinced he was brilliant at, despite all evidence to the contrary, was “personal diplomacy,” fixing foreign policy through one-on-one meetings with other European monarchs and statesmen. In fact, Wilhelm could do neither the personal nor the diplomacy, and these meetings rarely went well. The Kaiser viewed other people in instrumental terms, was a compulsive liar, and seemed to have a limited understanding of cause and effect. He was susceptible but never truly controllable. He asserted his authority unpredictably, as if to prove he was still in charge, staging rogue interventions into his own advisers’ policies and sacking ministers without warning. Sound familiar? Revisit Miranda Carter on the lessons of Kaiser Wilhelm II:
Ben WerdmullerWhat ICE is doing in US airports today, it will be doing at US polling places in November. These photos aren’t funny or incongruous; they should be giving us nightmares. This has to end now.
Jay KuoThe danger grows each time ICE is used in ways it’s not supposed to be. Video: https://xcancel.com/rpsagainst.../status/2036183953443336368
Ben ZaninThere are legitimate reasons to use regulatory power to diminish the vulnerability of computing devices. The problems are real⁴.
But this usgov administration has repeatedly demonstrated it does not take the problem seriously⁵ ⁶. For it to suddenly forbid just one class of device, and for that one type to be the most valuable for domestic network surveillance, strains trust badly.
Look up OpenWRT.
2/2
This FCC administration banning foreign-made consumer network routers¹ ² citing "national security" concerns is not credible.
No mention is made of IP-connected monitoring cameras, set-top boxes, IoT devices, or any number of other demonstrably problematic classes of device³.
1/2
¹: https://infosec.exchange/@briankrebs/116280575943263005
²: https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-updates-covered-list-include-foreign-made-consumer-routers
³: e.g. https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ddos/glossary/mirai-botnet/
BrianKrebs (@[email protected])
Whoa, that escalated quickly. This just got sent out by the press folks at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC says it has decided that all foreign-made consumer-grade Internet routers are henceforth prohibited from receiving FCC authorization and are therefore prohibited from being imported for use or sale in the United States. "Update Follows Determination by Executive Branch Agencies that Consumer-Grade Routers Produced in Foreign Countries Threaten National Security WASHINGTON, March 23, 2026—Today, the Federal Communications Commission updated its Covered List to include all consumer-grade routers produced in foreign countries. Routers are the boxes in every home that connect computers, phones, and smart devices to the internet. This followed a determination by a White House-convened Executive Branch interagency body with appropriate national security expertise that such routers “pose unacceptable risks to the national security of the United States or the safety and security of United States persons.” "The Executive Branch determination noted that foreign-produced routers (1) introduce “a supply chain vulnerability that could disrupt the U.S. economy, critical infrastructure, and national defense” and (2) pose “a severe cybersecurity risk that could be leveraged to immediately and severely disrupt U.S. critical infrastructure and directly harm U.S. persons.” "This action does not affect any previously-purchased consumer-grade routers. Consumers can continue to use any router they have already lawfully purchased or acquired." "Producers of consumer-grade routers that receive Conditional Approval from DoW or DHS can continue to receive FCC equipment authorizations. Interested applicants are encouraged to submit applications to [email protected]." Not sure how many consumer-grade routers will be left for sale if it really is a ban on approvals for any foreign-made consumer routers like they said, and not just a bunch of already restricted Chinese makers like Huawei and ZTE. https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-updates-covered-list-include-foreign-made-consumer-routers FCC's "covered list" of "thou shalt not entities": https://www.fcc.gov/supplychain/coveredlist
Alda VigdísThe men who wouldn't document, lint and format their code so they themselves and their coworkers could maintain it 5 years ago, even to save their lives would totally do it nowadays to "help the AI".
mcc