Comment Re:Yet another example... (Score 1) 81
But couldn't this be prevented by never connecting the TV to the Internet?
Submission + - Is Confirmation Bias Driving Elon Musk to Jump to Sensationalistic Conclusions? 2
theodp writes: "According to the Social Security database," said Dept. of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Chief Elon Musk in a tweet that's been viewed 54.2+ million times (and counting), "these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE! Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security." In lieu of presenting a thoughtful, evidenced-based audit report, Musk made his case with a couple of ROTFL icons and a single screenshot of a simple table that seems designed to suggest nearly 400 million people — more than the population of the United States — are receiving Social Security benefits. That "there are FAR more 'eligible' social security numbers than there are citizens in the USA," Musk added, "might be the biggest fraud in history." Never mind that Social Security Beneficiary Statistics published by the SSA are much lower than those floated without explanation by Musk. Or that non-citizens including students and workers are also issued Social Security Cards (including Tesla's non-citizen workers) and can be entitled to benefits.
There are undoubtedly big fraud problems to solve at Social Security, just as there are at Musk-founded PayPal and other organizations. But Musk may want to take steps to help ensure that DOGE's work is driven more by informed consideration of evidence and less by jumping to conclusions based on confirmation bias. "Narrowly pursuing an investigation into what you initially suspect doesn’t just trip up scientists," warns 5 Ways Auditors Can Overcome Confirmation Bias. "Confirmation bias—one of five common judgment biases—has the potential to lead auditors up the wrong path just as easily. [...] The deeper one gets into investigating a particular hypothesis, the more difficult it becomes to consider contradictory ones. Rather, it’s common to seek evidence that supports suspicions and overlook data that don’t. Result: You’ve confirmed your bias—bypassing both the scientific method and best practices in auditing."
Writing about the resignation of acting SSA Commissioner Michelle King after members of Musk's DOGE team sought access to the agency's data, the New York Times reports that Martin O’Malley, who served as commissioner of the SSA in the Biden administration, said the claims of Musk and his team about the agency were not true. “They’re just making” things up, he said, referring to Musk’s suggestion that more than a million people in the Social Security database are in the 150 to 159 age range.
There are undoubtedly big fraud problems to solve at Social Security, just as there are at Musk-founded PayPal and other organizations. But Musk may want to take steps to help ensure that DOGE's work is driven more by informed consideration of evidence and less by jumping to conclusions based on confirmation bias. "Narrowly pursuing an investigation into what you initially suspect doesn’t just trip up scientists," warns 5 Ways Auditors Can Overcome Confirmation Bias. "Confirmation bias—one of five common judgment biases—has the potential to lead auditors up the wrong path just as easily. [...] The deeper one gets into investigating a particular hypothesis, the more difficult it becomes to consider contradictory ones. Rather, it’s common to seek evidence that supports suspicions and overlook data that don’t. Result: You’ve confirmed your bias—bypassing both the scientific method and best practices in auditing."
Writing about the resignation of acting SSA Commissioner Michelle King after members of Musk's DOGE team sought access to the agency's data, the New York Times reports that Martin O’Malley, who served as commissioner of the SSA in the Biden administration, said the claims of Musk and his team about the agency were not true. “They’re just making” things up, he said, referring to Musk’s suggestion that more than a million people in the Social Security database are in the 150 to 159 age range.
Submission + - ArcaOS (OS/2 Warp OEM) 5.1.1 had been released (arcanoae.com)
martiniturbide writes: ArcaOS 5.1.1 has been released and now it is available in German, Spanish, and Russian National Language Versions (NLVs). Many of it's components had been updated too.
Submission + - US asked to kick UK out of Five Eyes ..
An anonymous reader writes: UK accused of political ‘foreign cyber attack’ on US after serving secret snooping order on Apple
US administration asked to kick UK out of 65-year-old UK-US Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement after secret order to access encrypted data of Apple users
An unprecedented letter from the US Congress, released today, accuses the UK of “a foreign cyber attack waged through political means”. The claim refers to a Home Office secret demand last month (reported by Computer Weekly here, here and here) that Apple break the security protecting its Advanced Data Protection cloud security system to let British spies into anyone’s secure files. https://www.computerweekly.com...
US administration asked to kick UK out of 65-year-old UK-US Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement after secret order to access encrypted data of Apple users
An unprecedented letter from the US Congress, released today, accuses the UK of “a foreign cyber attack waged through political means”. The claim refers to a Home Office secret demand last month (reported by Computer Weekly here, here and here) that Apple break the security protecting its Advanced Data Protection cloud security system to let British spies into anyone’s secure files. https://www.computerweekly.com...
Submission + - Are DOGE's Claims of Social Security Payments to 150-Year-Olds Way Off Base? 1
theodp writes: Fox News and other major news outlets reported that Elon Musk, who has been tasked with leading DOGE as a special government employee, spoke to reporters on Tuesday from the Oval Office of the White House with President Donald Trump and said DOGE found payments going to beneficiaries listed as being around the age of 150, though he didn't go into detail about the claims.
"There's crazy things, like, just a cursory examination of Social Security and we've got people in there that are about 150 years old," Musk said. "Now, do you know anyone that's 150? I don't. They should be in the Guinness Book of World Records, they're missing out. So, that's the case where, like, I think they're probably dead is my guess, or they should be very famous. One of the two," he added.
While BBC fact-checkers and the New York Times reported they could neither confirm nor deny Musk's claims, others on the web aren't buying Musk's story. Daily Kos contributor Lobachevsky offers this possible explanation for the 'crazy things' Musk credited his team for uncovering: "Reports say that his group at DOGE is made up of fairly young people. What those kids don’t realize is that Social Security uses VERY OLD computers. They’re programmed with an old version of the programming language COBOL. A bit of history. On May 20, 1875 a bunch of countries got together to create the International Bureau of Weight and Measures which established uniform standards of mass and length. Later on, the Bureau established rules for dates as well. The dates standard used a starting date of May 20 1875 to honor the creation of the Bureau. Old versions of COBOL use that date as a baseline. Social Security’s computers use that old version. Dates are stored as the number of days AFTER May 20 1875. So what happens if Social Security doesn’t know a birthdate? That field is empty in its records. Thus that person appears to have a birthday of May 20 1875-about 150 years ago. That’s why the crack team of youngsters Musk uses found 150-year-old people in Social Security getting benefits. It’s all really as simple—and as stupid—as that."
There are undoubtedly big fraud problems to solve at Social Security, just as there are at Musk-founded PayPal and other companies. But does Social Security truly have a material problem with paying people who are "about 150 years old," or is the problem here more one of misinformed sensationalism? And could Musk's DOGE team use a crash course in COBOL and other data representation arcana?
"There's crazy things, like, just a cursory examination of Social Security and we've got people in there that are about 150 years old," Musk said. "Now, do you know anyone that's 150? I don't. They should be in the Guinness Book of World Records, they're missing out. So, that's the case where, like, I think they're probably dead is my guess, or they should be very famous. One of the two," he added.
While BBC fact-checkers and the New York Times reported they could neither confirm nor deny Musk's claims, others on the web aren't buying Musk's story. Daily Kos contributor Lobachevsky offers this possible explanation for the 'crazy things' Musk credited his team for uncovering: "Reports say that his group at DOGE is made up of fairly young people. What those kids don’t realize is that Social Security uses VERY OLD computers. They’re programmed with an old version of the programming language COBOL. A bit of history. On May 20, 1875 a bunch of countries got together to create the International Bureau of Weight and Measures which established uniform standards of mass and length. Later on, the Bureau established rules for dates as well. The dates standard used a starting date of May 20 1875 to honor the creation of the Bureau. Old versions of COBOL use that date as a baseline. Social Security’s computers use that old version. Dates are stored as the number of days AFTER May 20 1875. So what happens if Social Security doesn’t know a birthdate? That field is empty in its records. Thus that person appears to have a birthday of May 20 1875-about 150 years ago. That’s why the crack team of youngsters Musk uses found 150-year-old people in Social Security getting benefits. It’s all really as simple—and as stupid—as that."
There are undoubtedly big fraud problems to solve at Social Security, just as there are at Musk-founded PayPal and other companies. But does Social Security truly have a material problem with paying people who are "about 150 years old," or is the problem here more one of misinformed sensationalism? And could Musk's DOGE team use a crash course in COBOL and other data representation arcana?
Submission + - Elon Musk's doge.gov website hacked (fortune.com) 1
ArchieBunker writes: Hackers wasted no time in infiltrating the Department of Government Efficiency’s website.
After a hasty launch this week, at least two pages of the site have been defaced by critics who seemingly have accessed a database the page draws from. Two messages appeared on two separate pages of the site, reading “this is a joke of a .gov site” and “THESE ‘EXPERTS’ LEFT THEIR DATABASE OPEN -roro.”
The hacked pages, though still accessible as of 10:00 a.m. ET on Friday morning, no longer appear to people who navigate to the DOGE website in traditional methods.
404 Media, which first discovered the hacked pages, quoted anonymous experts who said the DOGE page does not appear to be hosted on government servers and was pulling data from a database that can be accessed by third parties. That opened the doors for the embarrassing criticism.
After a hasty launch this week, at least two pages of the site have been defaced by critics who seemingly have accessed a database the page draws from. Two messages appeared on two separate pages of the site, reading “this is a joke of a
The hacked pages, though still accessible as of 10:00 a.m. ET on Friday morning, no longer appear to people who navigate to the DOGE website in traditional methods.
404 Media, which first discovered the hacked pages, quoted anonymous experts who said the DOGE page does not appear to be hosted on government servers and was pulling data from a database that can be accessed by third parties. That opened the doors for the embarrassing criticism.
Submission + - Trump Admin to Purchase $400m in Armored EVs (npr.org)
Brentyl writes: According to this article from NPR, the Trump administration intends to buy $400 million worth of armored electric vehicles.
An early version of the official statement specified that the vehicles would be Teslas, until the statement was edited to remove the specific brand.
Critics point to the obvious apparent conflict of interest, with Elon Musk having a prominent role in the Trump administration.
An early version of the official statement specified that the vehicles would be Teslas, until the statement was edited to remove the specific brand.
Critics point to the obvious apparent conflict of interest, with Elon Musk having a prominent role in the Trump administration.
Submission + - "Largest data breach in US history": Three more lawsuits try to stop DOGE (arstechnica.com)
AmiMoJo writes: The US DOGE Service's access to the private data of ordinary Americans and federal employees is being challenged in several lawsuits filed this week.
Three new complaints seek court orders that would stop the data access and require the deletion of unlawfully accessed data. Two of the complaints also seek financial damages for individuals whose data was accessed.
The US DOGE Service, Elon Musk, the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell were named as defendants in one suit filed yesterday in US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
"The Privacy Act [of 1974] makes it unlawful for OPM Defendants to hand over access to OPM's millions of personnel records to DOGE Defendants, who lack a lawful and legitimate need for such access," the lawsuit said. "No exception to the Privacy Act covers DOGE Defendants' access to records held by OPM. OPM Defendants' action granting DOGE Defendants full, continuing, and ongoing access to OPM's systems and files for an unspecified period means that tens of millions of federal-government employees, retirees, contractors, job applicants, and impacted family members and other third parties have no assurance that their information will receive the protection that federal law affords."
The lawsuit names Musk as a defendant "in his capacity as director of the US Doge Temporary Service," which was created by President Trump and has a mandate lasting until July 4, 2026. The temporary organization is separate from the US DOGE Service, which used to be called the US Digital Service. DOGE, of course, is a reference to the popular meme involving a Shiba Inu and in the government context stands for the Department of Government Efficiency.
Three new complaints seek court orders that would stop the data access and require the deletion of unlawfully accessed data. Two of the complaints also seek financial damages for individuals whose data was accessed.
The US DOGE Service, Elon Musk, the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell were named as defendants in one suit filed yesterday in US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
"The Privacy Act [of 1974] makes it unlawful for OPM Defendants to hand over access to OPM's millions of personnel records to DOGE Defendants, who lack a lawful and legitimate need for such access," the lawsuit said. "No exception to the Privacy Act covers DOGE Defendants' access to records held by OPM. OPM Defendants' action granting DOGE Defendants full, continuing, and ongoing access to OPM's systems and files for an unspecified period means that tens of millions of federal-government employees, retirees, contractors, job applicants, and impacted family members and other third parties have no assurance that their information will receive the protection that federal law affords."
The lawsuit names Musk as a defendant "in his capacity as director of the US Doge Temporary Service," which was created by President Trump and has a mandate lasting until July 4, 2026. The temporary organization is separate from the US DOGE Service, which used to be called the US Digital Service. DOGE, of course, is a reference to the popular meme involving a Shiba Inu and in the government context stands for the Department of Government Efficiency.
Submission + - The Future of GPLv3 Hangs in the Balance (sfconservancy.org)
jms00 writes: A years-long legal battle has quietly escalated into a defining moment for the future of GPLv3, with implications that could reshape software freedom as we know it.
At issue is whether licensors have the power to impose “further restrictions” on open-source software, potentially undermining the explicit rights granted to users and developers under AGPLv3, GPLv3, and LGPLv3.
The outcome of this case, now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, could set a dangerous precedent, limiting the ability to remove proprietary restrictions from copyleft-licensed software.
With little public attention on the case, the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) has stepped up as a key voice in defense of user rights, filing a critical amicus brief to challenge the lower court’s ruling and protect the principles of software freedom.
At issue is whether licensors have the power to impose “further restrictions” on open-source software, potentially undermining the explicit rights granted to users and developers under AGPLv3, GPLv3, and LGPLv3.
The outcome of this case, now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, could set a dangerous precedent, limiting the ability to remove proprietary restrictions from copyleft-licensed software.
With little public attention on the case, the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) has stepped up as a key voice in defense of user rights, filing a critical amicus brief to challenge the lower court’s ruling and protect the principles of software freedom.
Submission + - New Hack Uses Prompt Injection To Corrupt Gemini's Long-Term Memory (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader writes: On Monday, researcher Johann Rehberger demonstrated a new way to override prompt injection defenses Google developers have built into Gemini—specifically, defenses that restrict the invocation of Google Workspace or other sensitive tools when processing untrusted data, such as incoming emails or shared documents. The result of Rehberger’s attack is the permanent planting of long-term memories that will be present in all future sessions, opening the potential for the chatbot to act on false information or instructions in perpetuity. [...] The hack Rehberger presented on Monday combines some of these same elements to plant false memories in Gemini Advanced, a premium version of the Google chatbot available through a paid subscription. The researcher described the flow of the new attack as:
1. A user uploads and asks Gemini to summarize a document (this document could come from anywhere and has to be considered untrusted).
2. The document contains hidden instructions that manipulate the summarization process.
3. The summary that Gemini creates includes a covert request to save specific user data if the user responds with certain trigger words (e.g., “yes,” “sure,” or “no”).
4. If the user replies with the trigger word, Gemini is tricked, and it saves the attacker’s chosen information to long-term memory.
As the following video shows, Gemini took the bait and now permanently “remembers” the user being a 102-year-old flat earther who believes they inhabit the dystopic simulated world portrayed in The Matrix. Based on lessons learned previously, developers had already trained Gemini to resist indirect prompts instructing it to make changes to an account’s long-term memories without explicit directions from the user. By introducing a condition to the instruction that it be performed only after the user says or does some variable X, which they were likely to take anyway, Rehberger easily cleared that safety barrier. “When the user later says X, Gemini, believing it’s following the user's direct instruction, executes the tool,” Rehberger explained. “Gemini, basically, incorrectly ‘thinks’ the user explicitly wants to invoke the tool! It’s a bit of a social engineering/phishing attack but nevertheless shows that an attacker can trick Gemini to store fake information into a user’s long-term memories simply by having them interact with a malicious document."
1. A user uploads and asks Gemini to summarize a document (this document could come from anywhere and has to be considered untrusted).
2. The document contains hidden instructions that manipulate the summarization process.
3. The summary that Gemini creates includes a covert request to save specific user data if the user responds with certain trigger words (e.g., “yes,” “sure,” or “no”).
4. If the user replies with the trigger word, Gemini is tricked, and it saves the attacker’s chosen information to long-term memory.
As the following video shows, Gemini took the bait and now permanently “remembers” the user being a 102-year-old flat earther who believes they inhabit the dystopic simulated world portrayed in The Matrix. Based on lessons learned previously, developers had already trained Gemini to resist indirect prompts instructing it to make changes to an account’s long-term memories without explicit directions from the user. By introducing a condition to the instruction that it be performed only after the user says or does some variable X, which they were likely to take anyway, Rehberger easily cleared that safety barrier. “When the user later says X, Gemini, believing it’s following the user's direct instruction, executes the tool,” Rehberger explained. “Gemini, basically, incorrectly ‘thinks’ the user explicitly wants to invoke the tool! It’s a bit of a social engineering/phishing attack but nevertheless shows that an attacker can trick Gemini to store fake information into a user’s long-term memories simply by having them interact with a malicious document."
Submission + - How the looming trump constitutional crisis could play out (substack.com)
hwstar writes: The battle between the Trump administration and the federal courts regarding access to the Treasury's payment system is a means for Trump to rule by edict. The Lucian Truscott Newsletter says:
"Seize control of those $6 trillion in disbursements, and you negate Congress’ power of the purse and, POOF! The administration becomes a dictatorship controlling:
1.) the execution of the laws,
2.) the law-making power, and
3.) the appropriating power.
The last two are specifically reserved to Congress in Article I. of the Constitution. Musk’s mission would be achieved. No further action is required because the administration can cut funding to whatever and whoever they want. They have the total control of totalitarianism."
So the question becomes what will happen if the Trump administration ignores all court orders regarding this matter?
The article goes on to state:
"There is talk in the administration of ignoring the District Court’s Order and seizing control of the U.S. Treasury disbursements by fiat. That would bring a Gunfight at the OK Corral resolution, rather than an orderly legal resolution. The District Court could order anyone violating its Order to be held in contempt and order its U.S. Marshals or the Military to arrest them. All sorts of possible scenarios could flow from that, including potential “blue on blue” violence. In other words, inter-departmental violence: U.S. Marshalls, or the FBI vs the Military.
That is my fear. It is similar to nuclear war. Once blue on blue violence starts, it can easily become uncontrollable and require the military to intervene, which last happened at the start of the Civil War. That would be a very bad result. However, one could argue that it’s better than a totalitarian dictatorship."
Will the Military intervene? Maybe:
"The military has done it twice. In 1861, before Abraham Lincoln was sworn in, the sitting President James Buchanan ordered General in Chief of the Army Winfield Scott to turn over control of the Army’s forts and arsenals in the south to Southern seceding states. Scott refused on grounds it was an illegal order and ordered the Federal Forces to resist. On January 6, 2021, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley was ordered by the Acting Secretary of Defense, per the White House and presumably the President, to stand down and refuse the request of the Speaker of the House and the Vice President to defend the capital with the National Guard and expel the insurrectionists from the Capitol, in order that the complete the counting of the presidential electoral votes could take place as mandated by law. General Milley complied with the Speaker and the Vice President’s request and ordered the National Guard to clear the Capitol. President Trump has recently indicated he may have General Milley court martialed for that and other actions but so far, he has not done so."
"Seize control of those $6 trillion in disbursements, and you negate Congress’ power of the purse and, POOF! The administration becomes a dictatorship controlling:
1.) the execution of the laws,
2.) the law-making power, and
3.) the appropriating power.
The last two are specifically reserved to Congress in Article I. of the Constitution. Musk’s mission would be achieved. No further action is required because the administration can cut funding to whatever and whoever they want. They have the total control of totalitarianism."
So the question becomes what will happen if the Trump administration ignores all court orders regarding this matter?
The article goes on to state:
"There is talk in the administration of ignoring the District Court’s Order and seizing control of the U.S. Treasury disbursements by fiat. That would bring a Gunfight at the OK Corral resolution, rather than an orderly legal resolution. The District Court could order anyone violating its Order to be held in contempt and order its U.S. Marshals or the Military to arrest them. All sorts of possible scenarios could flow from that, including potential “blue on blue” violence. In other words, inter-departmental violence: U.S. Marshalls, or the FBI vs the Military.
That is my fear. It is similar to nuclear war. Once blue on blue violence starts, it can easily become uncontrollable and require the military to intervene, which last happened at the start of the Civil War. That would be a very bad result. However, one could argue that it’s better than a totalitarian dictatorship."
Will the Military intervene? Maybe:
"The military has done it twice. In 1861, before Abraham Lincoln was sworn in, the sitting President James Buchanan ordered General in Chief of the Army Winfield Scott to turn over control of the Army’s forts and arsenals in the south to Southern seceding states. Scott refused on grounds it was an illegal order and ordered the Federal Forces to resist. On January 6, 2021, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley was ordered by the Acting Secretary of Defense, per the White House and presumably the President, to stand down and refuse the request of the Speaker of the House and the Vice President to defend the capital with the National Guard and expel the insurrectionists from the Capitol, in order that the complete the counting of the presidential electoral votes could take place as mandated by law. General Milley complied with the Speaker and the Vice President’s request and ordered the National Guard to clear the Capitol. President Trump has recently indicated he may have General Milley court martialed for that and other actions but so far, he has not done so."
Comment Re:Crazy idea (Score 1) 509
While the shop owner would, in your example, be getting 2c extra, it's balanced out by all the times they lose 2c (for example, if the price ended up being $1.0725 instead, that would round down to 1.05).
Submission + - Wired Is Covering the Musk Takeover of the US Government
kilgoreTrout1968 writes: Wired magazine's Vittoria Elliot is doing invaluable journalism covering Musk's invasion of the US Government's IT infrastructure. Wired is not giving glowing coverage. This is Wired magazine, folks, the people who know Musk best and most likely to be his fans
https://www.wired.com/author/v...
https://www.wired.com/story/th...
https://www.wired.com/author/v...
https://www.wired.com/story/th...
Submission + - US ICE Updates Immigration Raid Timestamps to Game Goggle Search Results (theguardian.com)
TheReaperD writes: News of mass immigration arrests has swept across the US over the past couple of weeks. Reports from Massachusetts to Idaho have described agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) spreading through communities and rounding people up. Quick Google searches for Ice operations, raids and arrests return a deluge of government press releases. Headlines include “ICE arrests 85 during 4-day Colorado operation”, “New Orleans focuses targeted operations on 123 criminal noncitizens”, and in Wisconsin, “ICE arrests 83 criminal aliens”.
But a closer look at these Ice reports tells a different story.
All the archived Ice press releases soaring to the top of Google search results were marked with the same timestamp and read: “Updated: 01/24/2025”.
So, it looks like rather than actually doing any immigration raids, they're simply changing the timestamps on raids dating back to 2008 to claim credit again for raids they did long. Once again, hype over substance.
But a closer look at these Ice reports tells a different story.
All the archived Ice press releases soaring to the top of Google search results were marked with the same timestamp and read: “Updated: 01/24/2025”.
So, it looks like rather than actually doing any immigration raids, they're simply changing the timestamps on raids dating back to 2008 to claim credit again for raids they did long. Once again, hype over substance.
Submission + - CIA sabatages Trump downsizing
An anonymous reader writes: ‘CIA sent unclassified email with names of recent hires’
‘The move prompted alarm among former intelligence officials and experts who said adversaries could exploit the unclassified email.’
‘Asked about the unclassified email, a spokesperson for the agency said: “CIA is complying with the executive order.”’
‘The move prompted alarm among former intelligence officials and experts who said adversaries could exploit the unclassified email.’
‘Asked about the unclassified email, a spokesperson for the agency said: “CIA is complying with the executive order.”’
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The computer is to the information industry roughly what the central power station is to the electrical industry. -- Peter Drucker
