Secure Android, Group Chats, Ethical Location Data, and Philosophy of Computer Science
- Secured Android Phone Spec — I want to build a secured phone that can be used as either a hardened comms device, or even as a daily driver. I have a decade of experience in practical applied operational security, and over 5 years of experience working on secured Android phones. This project is my last attempt to make a secured phone for everyone.
- China is Cashing In On Group Chats (A16Z) — interesting for the mechanisms to keep it manageable and free of buttheads: QR codes to join and capped group sizes; anonymous usernames (but WeChat knows who you are, for police purposes); no visible history before you joined, etc.
- Ten Years On, Foursquare Is Now Checking In To You (NY Mag) — But even if Crowley and Glueck have the best intentions, until there is federal oversight, they are a cork in a dam, accountable to themselves, investors, and one day, with a potential IPO looming, shareholders. This x1000.
- Philosophy of Computer Science — long and good. I love that it starts with “what is Computer Science?” and works up to AI and ethics through “do we compute with symbols or with their meanings?” and “copyright vs patents.” I like his questions that CS is concerned with: What can be computed?; How can it be computed?; Efficient computability; Practical Computability; Physical Computability; Ethical Computability.” The author is the CS professor who gave us the wonderful valid sentence “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo”. (via Hacker News)
Continue reading Four short links: 9 September 2019.
