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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 25th, 2023

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  • exactly, it’s not a problem that’s unique to the web. I’d argue that as an execution environment, the browser has properties that make it slightly easier to catch this class of attack (though as you said, we’re in halting problem territory so there’s no universal check for this kind of thing):

    • there’s browser plugins (for Firefox at least, I don’t care about chrome) that alert you if the JavaScript you’ve been sent has changed and provide some tools to evaluate what specifically changed
    • you can examine JS memory in depth with a variety of tools, all of which come with the browser
    • you get a running log of network requests
    • as our intrepid cypherpunk visitor noted, you can mitmproxy it if you really want to? they seem to think it’ll be too late to do anything by then but like, losing your keys to an SLA doesn’t instantly dissolve you in a vat of acid or anything. they’ve still left forensic evidence of an attack in your browser’s cache and the potential for you to catch it and make a terrible lot of noise about it, and they really didn’t need to — Proton’s security is compromised enough by entirely silent server-side cleartext leaks, metadata logging (they turn it on silently on law enforcement requests; their no-logs policy is a legal no-op), and other evil fuckery

    and I do have to emphasize that last bit. I’m not here to praise Proton, I’m here to bury it correctly. if the worst thing you’ve got to say about proton is that an SLA could request a custom JS exploit be sent to your browser, then it’s probably still a perfectly fine service to use if you’re just chatting with your grandma and your drug dealer, depending on your threat model. I’d argue that Proton isn’t suitable for anybody, because the class of attacks they’ve enabled allow for quiet mass surveillance, rather than the motivated (and loud) targeted kind.




  • that’s utterly trivial for a sufficiently paranoid user’s browser to detect, and damning for proton if it is (not to mention, pushing hostile JavaScript doesn’t work for users on the imap bridge or using mobile apps they update via methods that can’t easily be tracked like Obtainium on Android)

    the mechanisms proton uses to exfiltrate encrypted data and get their users arrested are far more subtle and deniable than that basic shit. specifically, they’ve been silently overcomplying with law enforcement data requests for years, which has led to documented arrests of activists, and all of their LLM features represent a significant data leak, as all of them are implemented in a way that sends cleartext to proton’s servers while maintaining the illusion that the feature is more secure than it is.

    I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they were doing more evil shit than the above, but I would be very surprised if any of it were in the form of JavaScript that the user could, you know, deobfuscate and read


  • ah right, you only care about vague consolidation in the tech industry, but will take the industry’s word at their self-reported energy usage (while they build massive datacenters and construct or reopen polluting energy sources, all specifically to scale out LLMs) and don’t care about the models being fed massive amounts of plagiarized work at great cost to independent website operators, both of which are mechanisms by which LLMs are being used as a weapon with which to consolidate the tech industry under the rule of a handful of ethically bankrupt billionaires. but it’s ok, Claude Code is a massive improvement over the garbage that came before it — and it’s still a steaming pile of shit! but I’m sure going to bat for this absolute bullshit won’t have any negative consequences at all.

    how about you fuck off, bootlicker.