Discovering the xz backdoor with Andres Freund [audio]

I've only had a chance to listen to the beginning of it, but I share their disgust with the NYT article [1]. In any other field, journalists feel responsible for simplifying and explaining. Professionals in science, law, or medicine are often critical of these explanations, because the journalists' understanding of the relevant background material is often flawed, and the simplifications either ignore crucial distinctions or get the facts wrong. But they are at least trying, because the journalists understand that it's their responsibility to explain the issues at hand to the audience; that's the point. Instead, here we see a sort of flip shrug, with a "geek stuff, amirite?" wink. Obviously, there's a limit to the amount of technical detail a general-interest article can include, but it needn't deliver its elisions with a smirk, and I can't imagine any other subject area the NYT would approach that way.

My brother, who is not in IT, sent me the article a few days ago. He was fascinated by the underlying story but frustrated with the article's tone and lack of explanation, so I'm confident this isn't just me suffering from a bout of Gell-Mann amnesia.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/03/technology/prevent-cybera...

I spent 15y+ writing in C/C++/.NET and and I have hard time understanding what is going on with xz with all twists and turns, why you are expecting your brother to understand and NYT will give you clear explanation that laymen can understand this very intricate hack ?

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available here https://share.transistor.fm/s/e2538f7d