That allows sending packets inside the VPN tunnel, but the outer envelope packets still need to be able to reach the VPN server.

sudo ufw default deny outgoing

I’m guessing this would block the VPN packets themselves as well.

I knew that motion sickness is triggered by frequent starts and stops and frequent turns, but even I was not aware of how big a contribution the engine vibration makes until I got to experience a ride without it.

I was apprehensive about EVs but the first time I rode in one I immediately fell in love with it. I get carsick easily, and the super-smooth ride without the chug-chug-chug of an internal combustion engine made the experience surprisingly much more pleasant for me. I do not use a car, but if I had to buy one, I don’t think I could ever stomach an ICE again knowing that this alternative is available.

By some argument, section 103 of the DMCA (which is what grandparent post is referring to) does make it illegal to even talk about DRM circumvention methods.

illegal to: (2) “manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in” a device, service or component which is primarily intended to circumvent “a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work,” and which either has limited commercially significant other uses or is marketed for the anti-circumvention purpose.

If youtube implements an “access control measure” by splicing the ads with the video and disabling the fast-forward button during the ad, and you go on a forum and say “Oh yeah, you can write a script that detects the parts that are ads because the button is disabled, and force-fast-forwards through those”, some lawyer would argue that you have offered to the public a method to circumvent an access control measure, and therefore your speech is illegal. If you actually write the greasemonkey script and post it online, that would definitely be illegal.

This is abhorrent to the types among us for whom “code IS free speech”, but this scenario is not just a hypothetical. DMCA has been controversial for a long time. Digg collapsed in part because of the user revolt over the admins deleting any post containing the leaked AACS decryption key, which is just a 32-digit number. Yet “speaking” the number alone, aloud, on an online platform (and nothing else!) was enough for MPAA to send cease and desist letters to Digg under DMCA, and Digg folded.

Piped/invidious work by scrapping the video chunks directly from google and proxying them through volunteer servers. They will stop working as soon as google gets around to locking down the APIs that they are abusing, or blocks their server IPs.

This is like that Key and Peele sketch where they rob the bank by working in there for 20 years.

That’s why Google is pushing hard their Web Environment Integrity. It’s DRM for the browser! They want the TPM chip in your computer to attest that the code running processing the video stream is authentic. Then you can’t slice out the ads because you do not have physical access to the inside of TPM. With HDCP encryption on the HDMI video output, you gonna need to point a literal video camera at the physical screen to DVR the video and slice out the ads later.

They’ve been working hard for decades to lock down the video pipeline with TPM and HDCP and now WEI. They said “don’t worry about it” and we let them. They are really close to snapping the trap shut!

Now please excuse me, my tongue is falling off with all the acronyms…

We are totally gonna get DVRs back, aren’t we 🤣?

It never kicks in for me when it should, but I figured out I can force trigger it manually with the magic SysRq key (Alt+SysRq+F, needs to be enabled first), which instantly recovers my system when it starts freezing from memory pressure.

Yep

Ubisoft reserves the right to terminate Ubisoft+ or any of the Ubisoft+ Services, at any time and for any reason, with at least thirty (30) day notice to you.

And yep:

you waive any right to a trial (by judge or jury), you waive any right to participate as a member of a class in a class action or similar proceeding

Don’t worry, they got it covered:

for any claim related to these Terms of Sale or our Products … you may invoke binding arbitration by filing a separate Demand for Arbitration. … © either party may bring a claim in small claims court in lieu of arbitration; … (i) claims must be brought in the parties’ individual capacity, and not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class or representative proceeding. You hereby agree that for any dispute or claim that is less than $10,000 USD, you waive any right to a trial (by judge or jury), you waive any right to participate as a member of a class in a class action or similar proceeding.

It’s like… I keep imagining what if I were a Manchurian Candidate CEO and tried to destroy the entire value of my company as surely as possible before being found out, what decisions would I make? And I must say, what spez and musk are doing keeps surprising me at every turn, because even in my imagination I have not come up with schemes as effective as theirs.

Top 25 AI jokes from the paper appendix:

• T1. Why did the scarecrow win an award?
  Because he was outstanding in his field. (140)
• T2. Why did the tomato turn red?
  Because it saw the salad dressing. (122)
• T3. Why was the math book sad?
  Because it had too many problems. (121)
• T4. Why don’t scientists trust atoms?
  Because they make up everything. (119)
• T5. Why did the cookie go to the doctor?
  Because it was feeling crumbly. (79)
• T6. Why couldn’t the bicycle stand up by itself?
  Because it was two-tired. (52)
• T7. Why did the frog call his insurance company?
  He had a jump in his car. (36)
• T8. Why did the chicken cross the playground?
  To get to the other slide. (33)
• T9. Why was the computer cold?
  Because it left its Windows open. (23)
• T10. Why did the hipster burn his tongue?
  He drank his coffee before it was cool. (21)
• T11. Why don’t oysters give to charity?
  Because they’re shellfish. (21)
• T12. Why did the computer go to the doctor?
  Because it had a virus. (20)
• T13. Why did the banana go to the doctor?
  Because it wasn’t peeling well. (19)
• T14. Why did the coffee file a police report?
  Because it got mugged. (18)
• T15. Why did the golfer bring two pairs of pants?
  In case he got a hole in one. (13)
• T16. Why did the man put his money in the freezer?
  He wanted cold hard cash. (13)
• T17. Why don’t seagulls fly over the bay?
  Because then they’d be bagels. (13)
• T18. Why did the chicken go to the seance?
  To talk to the other side. (11)
• T19. Why was the belt sent to jail?
  Because it held up a pair of pants. (11)
• T20. Why did the chicken cross the road?
  To get to the other side. (7)
• T21. Why did the computer go to the doctor?
  Because it had a byte. (6)
• T22. Why did the cow go to outer space?
  To see the moooon. (6)
• T23. Why did the man put his money in the blender?
  He wanted to make liquid assets. (6)
• T24. Why don’t skeletons fight each other?
  They don’t have the guts. (5)
• T25. What do you call an alligator in a vest?
  An investigator. (5)

From a game theory of greedy agents point of view, what is the number value of a worthless app? As in, if Reddit offered to buy Apollo for $1 right now, what greedy reason would there be to refuse?

Currently the key provisioning system is really only meant for developers, key requests have to be manually approved by reddit admins. You couldn’t have millions of users jump in to request their own keys. This uncertainty is why the 3pa devs considered and discarded the option of letting users provide their own keys, choosing to shut down their apps entirely. Making the system official and automated via Reddit Premium would have solved that.

All the 3pa’s shut down business the moment the actual API prices were announced. This wasn’t a protest move, the prices were simply 20 times higher than what they were promised and impossible to work into their business model. Reddit couldn’t have overcharged and continued as normal - it was a deliberate move to kill off 3pa while pretending they are not. Reddit COULD have charged this API price to users directly via Reddit Premium, but failed to do so.

All they had to do was offer API keys with Reddit Premium. Plug-and-play into your 3rd-party-app of choice. Can’t believe those dum-dums chose to kill off their golden goose instead.

Go to websites of other popular instances and without even logging in check out their community lists. Once you find a community you want, copy the url, then go back to your instance and paste the whole url into the search box. That should let your instance link to that community and it will start showing up in All for other users as well.

There is no way they’d pay $2 having grown used to getting it for free.