AI

Getting less wrong about computing

The last two weeks online have been like a flood, I’m not even sure what words to use to describe them accurately, but I’ll give this a go:

  • Disinformation
  • Misinformation
  • Hype

I have been shocked really at what has occurred, in front of me:

  • Mass hysteria
  • Media hosting people constantly who are making unprovable claims with seemingly no real challenge

It’s been frankly exhausting to watch, let alone being involved in a range of discussions online:

  • I’ve seen people actually say things like: we have created a new lifeform, AI is alive etc. (paraphrasing)
  • I’ve had people tell me that these computing systems are not computers (WTF)
  • I’ve seen journalists essentially platform and parroting people with what appears to be significant loss of grasp of science and reality.

So I’ve been quite active online (whilst trying to field off questions from friends, family and colleagues about: is AI going to kill us? (good god how much time has been wasted!) but also I’ve been trying to give people a view of reality TODAY! So that’s partly what this blog is about!

Read more “Getting less wrong about computing” →
Education

All your DNSSEC base are belong to us

DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) has been around since the mid-2000s and technically works well: it cryptographically signs DNS records so resolvers can verify that the answer they got really came from the authoritative server and wasn’t tampered with. Despite that, adoption and real-world deployment remain surprisingly low outside a few countries (notably .se, .nl, .cz and some others). Here’s why it never took off broadly, and why the rise of DNS over HTTPS (DoH) has made many people conclude that pushing DNSSEC further isn’t worth the effort anymore.

Read more “All your DNSSEC base are belong to us” →