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Cory Doctorow: Persuasion, Adaptation, and the Arms Race for Your Attention

locusmag.com

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Re: Cory Doctorow: Persuasion, Adaptation, and the Arms Race for Your Attention

#11

Post by interfixus »

superkuh wrote: post #5
hugo0384729109 wrote: post #3

A bit odd to open an article about an arms race for my attention and see an ad for a book (A whirlwind out-of-this-galaxy adventure! #1 New York Times best selling author...) in the menu that takes up the top half of the page, and then only the title of the article and no actual text before scrolling (mobile safari)... and then a donate now box also came up over 80% of the screen. Also a nice touch to have all the so…

There's no better time than now (Meltdown/Spectre) to switch to whitelist only JS (NoScript works). The menu/ads completely fail to display but the text is just fine.

Nope. My personal preference is uMatrix, but that's an implementation detail. I rarely see an ad, and I didn't see any on this page. Also, I have more or less tuned out Facebook and similar sleaze, and I try to maintain some vigilance concerning anything which begins to unduly attract my attention.

And then I have to wonder: Am I living in a cleanroom? Am I letting my defenses rot? Am I setting myself up for a fall if some day I end up face to face with all the unfiltered gunk out there, presented in some new, insidious manner that I believe myself far too sophisticated to succumb to? Have I - or we - perhaps already succumbed, but do not know it?

Re: Cory Doctorow: Persuasion, Adaptation, and the Arms Race for Your Attention

#12

Post by 0xWilliam »

freedomben wrote: post #2

Always interested in what Cory Doctorow has to say. While this particular blog post isn't about DRM, his work is benefiting everyone (except those who would rather enrich themselves at the expense of humanity). It's probably bigger than you think. I highly recommend reading up on what Cory has to say on DRM and the war on general purpose computing. It may change your mind. http://www.zdnet.com/article/cory-doctorow-s…

Can you summarize what you mean instead of wasting my time with useless platitudes like:

>his work is benefiting everyone (except those who would rather enrich themselves at the expense of humanity). It's probably bigger than you think.

Re: Cory Doctorow: Persuasion, Adaptation, and the Arms Race for Your Attention

#13

Post by pferde »

Splines wrote: post #10
superkuh wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no better time than now (Meltdown/Spectre) to switch to whitelist only JS (NoScript works). The menu/ads completely fail to display but the text is just fine.

I've done the same thing, but I wonder how much I am really protecting myself. I need to whitelist sites that I use to get them to work (HN, for example), but that doesn't stop HN from attacking me. I suppose it raises the bar, but how soon until I whitelist a site that attacks me?

That's why javascript blocker is just one layer of a multilayer defense.

Re: Cory Doctorow: Persuasion, Adaptation, and the Arms Race for Your Attention

#14

Post by vog »

freedomben wrote: post #2

Always interested in what Cory Doctorow has to say. While this particular blog post isn't about DRM, his work is benefiting everyone (except those who would rather enrich themselves at the expense of humanity). It's probably bigger than you think. I highly recommend reading up on what Cory has to say on DRM and the war on general purpose computing. It may change your mind. http://www.zdnet.com/article/cory-doctorow-s…

> I highly recommend reading up on what Cory has to say on DRM and the war on general purpose computing. It may change your mind.

Does he argue convincingly in favour of DRM? Otherwise, I don't see how he would change my mind about DRM.

Re: Cory Doctorow: Persuasion, Adaptation, and the Arms Race for Your Attention

#15

Post by Majestic121 »

Splines wrote: post #10
superkuh wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no better time than now (Meltdown/Spectre) to switch to whitelist only JS (NoScript works). The menu/ads completely fail to display but the text is just fine.

I've done the same thing, but I wonder how much I am really protecting myself. I need to whitelist sites that I use to get them to work (HN, for example), but that doesn't stop HN from attacking me. I suppose it raises the bar, but how soon until I whitelist a site that attacks me?

You'll never have perfect security, but whitelisting JS does raise your defense a lot : mainly because you'll be able to block most attacks from third parties/ads

Re: Cory Doctorow: Persuasion, Adaptation, and the Arms Race for Your Attention

#17

Post by C0d3r »

vog wrote: post #14
freedomben wrote: post #2

Always interested in what Cory Doctorow has to say. While this particular blog post isn't about DRM, his work is benefiting everyone (except those who would rather enrich themselves at the expense of humanity). It's probably bigger than you think. I highly recommend reading up on what Cory has to say on DRM and the war on general purpose computing. It may change your mind. http://www.zdnet.com/article/cory-doctorow-s…

> I highly recommend reading up on what Cory has to say on DRM and the war on general purpose computing. It may change your mind. Does he argue convincingly in favour of DRM? Otherwise, I don't see how he would change my mind about DRM.

The name of one the articles is: Cory Doctorow says fight against DRM laws is more important than his blogging

So, no, he won't change your mind about DRM because he is not in favour of it.

Re: Cory Doctorow: Persuasion, Adaptation, and the Arms Race for Your Attention

#18

Post by superkuh »

Splines wrote: post #10
superkuh wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no better time than now (Meltdown/Spectre) to switch to whitelist only JS (NoScript works). The menu/ads completely fail to display but the text is just fine.

I've done the same thing, but I wonder how much I am really protecting myself. I need to whitelist sites that I use to get them to work (HN, for example), but that doesn't stop HN from attacking me. I suppose it raises the bar, but how soon until I whitelist a site that attacks me?

You don't need to whitelist HN. It works fine without it. It just involves reloads. Also, it really helps to only ever temporarily whitelist so exposure is minimized and you learn what you can get by with.

Re: Cory Doctorow: Persuasion, Adaptation, and the Arms Race for Your Attention

#19

Post by tannhaeuser »

superkuh wrote: post #5
hugo0384729109 wrote: post #3

A bit odd to open an article about an arms race for my attention and see an ad for a book (A whirlwind out-of-this-galaxy adventure! #1 New York Times best selling author...) in the menu that takes up the top half of the page, and then only the title of the article and no actual text before scrolling (mobile safari)... and then a donate now box also came up over 80% of the screen. Also a nice touch to have all the so…

There's no better time than now (Meltdown/Spectre) to switch to whitelist only JS (NoScript works). The menu/ads completely fail to display but the text is just fine.

It would be an excellent outcome of Meltdown/Spectre if we could just get rid of JavaScript and other attempts at throwing arbitrary crap code at you (such as WASM unblockable ads, bc miners, and what not) and work towards the original goal of the Web as federated (or even better p2p) hyperlinked documents once again.

Re: Cory Doctorow: Persuasion, Adaptation, and the Arms Race for Your Attention

#20

Post by gaius »

hugo0384729109 wrote: post #3

A bit odd to open an article about an arms race for my attention and see an ad for a book (A whirlwind out-of-this-galaxy adventure! #1 New York Times best selling author...) in the menu that takes up the top half of the page, and then only the title of the article and no actual text before scrolling (mobile safari)... and then a donate now box also came up over 80% of the screen. Also a nice touch to have all the so…

The irony being that boingboing is the proto-Buzzfeed
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