Author: Spencer Dailey

Security

Is a Kessler Syndrome for open source software a risk worth acknowledging?

Spencer Dailey

The Kessler Syndrome is a scenario where the density of objects and space debris in low Earth orbit becomes so high that collisions between them trigger a runaway chain reaction. Each crash generates thousands of new fragments, exponentially increasing the risk of further impacts and potentially rendering Earth’s orbit unusable. Because of the rise in… Continue reading Is a Kessler Syndrome for open source software a risk worth acknowledging?

Meta shares drop on fears US verdicts open door to deluge of lawsuits →

Meta’s own research (and its use of it) has shown that it repeatedly ignores well-substantiated facts about the harms of its products. Now that Section 230 seems like a flawed shield, I fear the takeaway for other companies will be: never do the research in the first place to preserve plausible deniability. Meta has always… Continue reading Meta shares drop on fears US verdicts open door to deluge of lawsuits

Epic gagging: Industry activist Tim Sweeney agrees to be muzzled about Google as part of a settlement that opened up the Play Store →

One thing you could always confidently say about Sweeney was “he’s going to speak his mind”. Going back decades, he has consistently been outspoken against powerful platforms and gatekeepers, including Windows, Apple’s App Stores, and Google’s Google Play store. Five years ago Epic Games sued Apple and Google over their app store practices. Recently, the… Continue reading Epic gagging: Industry activist Tim Sweeney agrees to be muzzled about Google as part of a settlement that opened up the Play Store

Developer Ramblings

From Tahoe bugs to long app review wait times (even app processing delays), the Apple app developer experience is fraying

Spencer Dailey

This post was linked to by legendary link blog mjtsai, which features additional discussion. [Update: Since posting I have continued to face delays. I’ve decided to log them: My Mac app’s most approval time: Submitted mid-Saturday March 7, was “Waiting for review” until March 12 (the review itself was short).] Average app review times for… Continue reading From Tahoe bugs to long app review wait times (even app processing delays), the Apple app developer experience is fraying

Privacy

Don’t even “Dismiss” the “How is Claude doing this session?” prompt, as it may compromise your chat session’s privacy

Spencer Dailey

You have to be obsessive compulsive to avoid the privacy landmines that companies like OpenAI and Anthropic spread throughout their products. Yesterday I wrote a blog post about how the “How is Claude doing this session?” prompt seemed like a feature just designed to sneak more data from paying Claude users who had opted out… Continue reading Don’t even “Dismiss” the “How is Claude doing this session?” prompt, as it may compromise your chat session’s privacy

Privacy

Assume that “How is Claude doing this session?” is a privacy loophole

Spencer Dailey

I am a power user of AI models, who pays a premium for plans claiming to better-respect the privacy of users. (Btw, I am not a lawyer.) With OpenAI, I pay $50/month (2 seats) for a business account vs a $20/month individual plan because of stronger privacy promises, and I don’t even need the extra… Continue reading Assume that “How is Claude doing this session?” is a privacy loophole

AI Tools

Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT can get it wrong (or very wrong) about your product

Spencer Dailey

[If you’re here for the worst AI fail, I’ll spoil it: ChatGPT hallucinated my app’s purpose and basically described it as some sort of keylogger, which it absolutely isn’t 🤷‍♂️. Google AI Overviews also failed both of my tests. There is some discussion of it here. Now, the article:] Google search isn’t what it used… Continue reading Google AI Overviews and ChatGPT can get it wrong (or very wrong) about your product

Apple

Apple starts pushing AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 owners into Transparency or Noise Cancellation modes repeatedly, without an easy opt out

Spencer Dailey

(If you want to skip directly to the fixes, click here. If you want to skip to some genuine praise of Apple, feel free to jump to the next section. There’s a lively discussion on HN here and 9to5mac here.) A couple of weeks ago I noticed my pair of AirPods Pro 2 aggressively switching… Continue reading Apple starts pushing AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4 owners into Transparency or Noise Cancellation modes repeatedly, without an easy opt out

Bitcoin · Security

Napkin math suggests Bitcoin will perish unless its mining incentives change

Spencer Dailey

For years, analysts have gone on channels like CNBC calling Bitcoin “digital gold”, and many everyday crypto investors truly believe that. But gold has been a “store of value” for millennia. Could Bitcoin, as we know it today, retain its value long term, say even just fifty years? The simple math tells us it likely… Continue reading Napkin math suggests Bitcoin will perish unless its mining incentives change