Source: Generative AI, prompted with “Elon Musk management style”. Allegedly he detests humans because they have needs (sleep, eat, friendship, family) and aims to replace everyone with servile robots.
The big story in a nutshell is that Twitter lied and hasn’t fixed security flaws, negligently and catastrophically ignoring customer safety.
An FTC complaint [a decade ago] said far too many Twitter employees could access internal systems and user data, and the company agreed to set up a “comprehensive information security program that is reasonably designed to protect the security, privacy, confidentiality, and integrity of nonpublic consumer information.”
When Zatko testified in Congress that no such plan was in place, a third engineer still at the company told Twitter security executives that a program for tweeting as others was still widely available, and that he had tried to get it shut down or restricted years earlier. That issue was reopened, the complaint says, leading to the discovery of even deeper access that also would allow deletion of tweets or the restoration of tweets that had been deleted — something regular users can’t do on their own accounts.
Though Twitter’s then-leaders had said the number of people who had access to such powerful tools had been cut in 2020, the new whistleblower complaint says the GodMode code remains on the laptop of any engineer who wants it. All they would have to do is change a line of the code from FALSE to TRUE and run it from a production machine that they could reach through an easily accessible communications protocol known as SSH.
“Twitter does not have the capability to log which, if any, engineers use or abuse GodMode,” the complaint says.
It’s very easy to log SSH. That’s kind of the point here. Twitter isn’t doing even the basics to protect its customers from itself.
Terrible company management of a horrible technical design while lying about it; what more could convince you to abandon ship?
It gets worse because there’s now allegedly both heavy internal and external threats from management to censor security experts and hide the slide.
The company’s current head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, did not respond to an email seeking comment on the new claims. […] The whistleblower spoke with The Post on the condition of anonymity because other former employees have been threatened and harassed. …recently departed security staffers said in interviews with The Post that [customer safety and trust] has gotten much worse under Musk.
As I’ve written before, Irwin (after suspiciously fluffing her resume) was very publicly censored by the CEO after she tried to speak freely to external claims. Of course she didn’t respond.
The Motorcycles and Misfits podcast from Santa Cruz, California has put together a fantastic interview with local sailor Mo Hart, first American-born rider to finish the Dakar Malle.
This week on our motorcycle podcast we are joined by Mo Hart, fresh back from completing the Dakar Rally. This is no small feat, especially in the Malle category, which is the most challenging for competitors. This is where you have no support and have to maintain your own bike after a long day of riding. And taking the expense and skill it takes to compete, it’s no surprise that this is the first year that any American finished the race in the Malle category. Way to go Mo! We’ve got so many questions for Mo, including Emma’s probe into how you handle bodily functions out in the abyss of the Arabian desert.
And of course everyone knows the turtle and hare legend (slow is smooth, smooth is fast), which comes through in his description of finishing, keeping both his machine and body functional. It’s a race where almost anything can interfere and change everything in a split second.
Mo’s ride: KTM 450 RALLY REPLICA with American Rally Originals performance tuning
I found it very satisfying to listen to a real-world version of the turtle getting a medal, especially in contrast to all the flaccid-sounding noise that comes from “free speed extremists” who optimize for disposable lives and throwaway cages.
It’s a great interview for all the race-specific details, for sure, including safety of riding across extreme environmental, social and political conditions in Saudi Arabia.
Mo points out many times he started racing bikes only in 2015, which seems unbelievable, and that’s because his stamina and determination is linked directly to his long time on the US Sailing Team on campaigns to go to the Olympics.
The part about having to be primarily self-funded and going into heavy debt (Raised $1,885 from 12 donations while spending over $100K) to finance a race that makes him into a quiet legend is quintessentially on brand for American sailors.
It was one of the toughest Dakar events ever. Our goal was to get one American across the finish in the unassisted Malle Moto (Original by Motul) class. Mo Hart was able to do that for us.
It’s better than the Olympics, even on an old wave-pushing bathtub called the Finn. Finn drag profile. Source: SailRaceWin
There might be a hint towards Mo’s training mindset there, not to mention when he reveals he grew up riding basic motobikes and was often left in the dust by “faster” riders.
Congratulations Mo and Team ARO. The only thing missing is an electric bike.
Crashes on the Nurburgring (Ring) have been a problem, as one of the most dangerous tracks in the world, especially in the areas unseen by “marshals” until it’s too late like in 2021.
The driver killed in the pileup was a Nurburgring regular. “There weren’t many marshals on that day. There should be,” a driver and instructor who was on track Monday night said.
That devastating crash was caused by a coolant-leaking Porsche creating a slick, which caused 10 vehicles and motorcycles within a few seconds to lose control, something they fear more than anything.
Koprivica’s fatal crash has left many Ring regulars and local business operators wondering if the track has become too dangerous. It also leaves the community in a precarious spot. Road & Track spoke about safety conditions with a number of people whose livelihood depends on the Ring. Many wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal from circuit management, which controls access to the track. Everyone we spoke to wants change, but many fear the consequences of speaking out publicly. The Ring is the only game in town. No one wants to get shut out. […] “The problem always was, and is now, the amount of marshals there during the week,” Neumann said. “I’d guess there are sometimes only five people, and five people can never see everything over 20 kilometers.”
In a similar vein, a McLaren spilled oil on the Ring causing a huge pileup. Here’s what it looked like in 2017.
To make a finer point, do you see the yellow danger light warning here at 2:13.78, which is about seven seconds before the pileup comes into view?
The heads-up-display on these cars is becoming impressively detailed, yet they have to see a barely visible yellow light to get any sense at all about road safety.
Here’s another example at 120mph involving no spill, after the white car hit the shoulder on the left causing over-steer and drift to the right before crashing into the barrier.
All 21 kilometers (just over 13 miles) of the Nordschleife will be digitalized as part of a project that will cost the Nurburgring operating company €11 million ($11.95 million). Over the next two years, a “completely new infrastructure will be built” around the track, with foundations laid and storm-proof masts carrying “special HD cameras” erected. While this work is underway, earthworks will be carried out along the track to lay channels for fiber optic and power cables. The Nurburgring will also be adding off-grid systems for power supply, and LED panels for digital warning signs will go up.
The LED panels will warn drivers on track, promising far more coverage than the existing 13 lights, while the intelligence analysis will feed a control room.
An off-grid system might sound strange, but in the 2022 fatal crash people tried to use Facebook software for critical safety updates (group called TrackSecure, started after another fatal crash five years prior) and the service went offline. They have since moved to a standalone cellphone app with the ability to update others even without cell signal.
Enhancement of safety – specifically for the drivers and the safety marshals – by increasing the capacity of perceiving flag signals through an electronic real-time transmission of the marshals‘ flag signals into the driver cockpit under permanent surveillance and control by Race Control.
Really this simple app from 2020 was meant for the dashboard of any car. Instant bright and giant yellow or red flags get displayed on a cellphone screen. Yet it alone couldn’t prevent the latest pile-ups.
What’s most interesting is that the Ring wants to operate as a rural one-way road under generic German traffic rules. Even when considering it a toll-road, it doesn’t want to be classified for the usual safety and insurance requirements of a race track. As such it operates only the five or so marshals mentioned for the entire road on a normal day (versus an organized race day when it runs 1,000 marshals). The need for a cost-effective, private, safety data sharing platform is evident.
This resistance to an expensive and comprehensive race-track safety baseline, while being used as an unofficial race-track, has forced the Ring towards distributed technology solutions.
Its AI doesn’t even have to be very sophisticated, watching primarily bright shoulder lines and alerting on any transgressions, or abrupt speed changes.
People who are in the area might benefit from distributed data storage and consent systems like W3C Solid, which would enable AI processing all to happen without centralization (avoid privacy violation). You can achieve intelligence, privacy and safety too!
Speaking of being over the lines and off-grid, that lesson from Facebook failing at the very moment it was needed for safety… led to the exact right conclusion. Facebook should not be used for anything, especially not safety.
If there’s one thing we no longer can dispute about Russian predictions for its “space age technology” T72 tank variant (e.g. optimistically branded T90) is that they aren’t anything like what was promised.
“Let me check my Twitter account. OK, so I’ve got 127 million followers, and it continues to grow very rapidly,” Musk said. “That suggests that I’m reasonably popular. Now, I might not be popular with some people, but for the vast majority of people, my follower count speaks for itself. I’m the most interacted social media account, I think maybe in the world, certainly on Twitter”…
Journalists: Here’s a problem
Musk: I can’t see it and neither can my followers
Journalists: That makes three problems
Musk: My followers will find you, and will harm you, unless I can assassinate you first, if you know what I mean.
Might makes right?
I’m sure Putin right now is telling someone he has so many followers he can’t be doing anything unpopular, arguing he shouldn’t listen to anyone other than his loyalists.
There’s something special in that message, a dangerous market warning even.
Nobody will be allowed to have more followers than the platform dictator.
In fact, Trump not too long ago has 140 million Twitter followers. Fraud, amiright? That was a reflection of a very unpopular man who took other people’s money to do very bad things.
That’s a similar story to Musk, who is right now not even in the top ten of popularity while claiming he’s “growing rapidly” by being “most interacted” (e.g. such self-arousal shouldn’t be confused with being liked by others).
Pride before the fall.
More to the point, Musk is getting booed in public because he’s known as an abusive liar, a toxic brand too scared to face reality. Him thinking he isn’t accountable to victims because he has fans, is a perfect example of why he can’t be trusted.
The question Musk was supposed to answer was about Tesla brand, which is weak. And it’s getting weakerbecause of who follows him.
Tesla’s brand could be stronger… Automotive brands are typically worth about 40% of the auto makers’ market capitalization, but Tesla’s brand value divided by market cap is about 16%. The figure for Mercedes is more than 70%.
…entrants have said they no longer want to win a Tesla thanks to Elon Musk.
That’s how popular Musk has become by surrounding himself with people who tell him only what he wants to hear.
And so we see the Tesla truck, promised years ago, is a total failure in both design and timing. The company had to stop production and drop prices 20% across its models to find any buyers, even as other EV brands saw increased interest (e.g. Tesla fell out of the top ten EV sold in Germany, and couldn’t attract workers there either). Nobody is buying their luxury models anymore. There has been almost no innovation since 2012 and it’s being classified a mediocre small scale car manufacturer, left in the dust by technology companies and legacy brands. The CEO was exposed in court testimony for intentional deception.
That’s the real quarterly update, but you’re about as likely to hear that from Musk as a tank casualty read out from Putin.
Tesla or T90? Both promised “space age technology” yet instead quickly became known for huge losses among those who unfortunately believed the lies.
Tesla competitors probably know the song in my head that comes naturally at the end of Musk’s sad disinformation performance.
