Jack Allnutt @jack@allnutt.net

Please remember: functional cookies (login session, shopping carts) do not need user consent. So every time you see one of this oversized cookie banners someone is trying (often through dark patterns) to make you accept the whole tracking and spying as well. Don't be mad at the legislative for creating the need for tracking consent. Be mad at the websites that are trying to stir you up against that law by annoying you with those banners.

me: computer, show me a news article

computer: WE USE COOKIES TO IMPROVE YOUR EXPERIENCE. YOU HAVE 3 FREE ARTICLES REMAINING THIS MONTH. NOW THAT YOU'RE HERE, WE HAVE A SMALL FAVOUR TO ASK

Some people claim that instance-blocking weakens the fediverse, and undermines the point of federation.

This is the opposite of the truth.

The point of federation is that it limits the accumulation of power: no single instance can control fedi, because users can always switch instances without leaving fedi.

This is why fedi and fascism are fundamentally opposed -- and why the ability to block fascist/abusive instances is the very heart of federation's power to serve its users.

The unreasonable effectiveness of simple HTML

I've told this story at conferences - but due to the general situation I thought I'd retell it here.

A few years ago I was doing policy research in a housing benefits office in London. They are singularly unlovely places. The walls are brightened up with posters offering helpful services for people fleeing domestic violen

https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/01/the-unreasonable-effectiveness-of-simple-html/

#/etc/ #html5 #web #weeknotes #work

join a union, now

Brilliant.

GitHub has a Nazi problem.
---
RT @ZoeSchiffer
The guy on the left still works at GitHub. The guy on the right was fired :/
https://twitter.com/ZoeSchiffer/status/1350159432282357760

Because I am getting too many strange signups in the last 24 hours and most people don't read the Terms of Service, I added a Temporary Notice to Masto.host Pricing page: https://masto.host/pricing/

"If you are looking for an alternative to Parler, this is not it. Please look elsewhere. Thanks."

I hope that's clear enough :)

I was listening to CNBC and CNN on XM last night and good fucking grief Americans love the smell of their own shit. So many “we are the shining light of the world, the best democracy, what will the world do now?”

A lot of us will just keep living our free lives, you fucking assholes*.

(Them, not you, dear reader.)

App privacy labels show stark contrasts among messaging apps https://9to5mac.com/2021/01/04/app-privacy-labels-messaging-apps/

TL;DR:

Signal - perfect!

iMessage - very good (and defensible).

WhatsApp - huh, that's starting to seem a little sus.

Facebook Messenger: oh hell no.

You guys know I like to bash Go, but... FUCK!

"The Go security team has determined that the root causes of the vulnerabilities cannot be reliably addressed."

Ok, your language design has some serious flaw that can't be fixed, so they are basically saying "Yup, a core library is going to be vulnerable for a long time".

Also, this is going since August 2020, according to the related post. Project Zero works way fast (30 days) to disclose issues on every other project, but on a project from their own company, 4 months.

Google surely cares about the well-being of the internet, sure.

Link: https://mattermost.com/blog/coordinated-disclosure-go-xml-vulnerabilities/

the idea that there is a neat division where politics, not in the specific electoral sense but in the broader meaning, ends, and that polite folks should not speak of it but instead leave it to the political class we have assigned it to, is antidemocratic and frankly white supremacist in its effect

when i do it, it's gentlemanly debate. when my vile clamoring foes do it it is politics, and distinctly unseemly

Mobilizon. Your events. Your groups. Your data.

Go behind the scenes of the design of #Mobilizon, our new tool to free your groups and events from Facebook.

https://framablog.org/2020/10/27/mobilizon-your-events-your-groups-your-data

(illus CC-By @davidrevoy)