Four short links: 9 September 2019
Secure Android, Group Chats, Ethical Location Data, and Philosophy of Computer Science
- Secured Android Phone Spec — I want to build a secured phone that can be used as either a hardened comms device, or even as a daily driver. I have a decade of experience in practical applied operational security, and over 5 years of experience working on secured Android phones. This project is my last attempt to make a secured phone for everyone.
- China is Cashing In On Group Chats (A16Z) — interesting for the mechanisms to keep it manageable and free of buttheads: QR codes to join and capped group sizes; anonymous usernames (but WeChat knows who you are, for police purposes); no visible history before you joined, etc.
- Ten Years On, Foursquare Is Now Checking In To You (NY Mag) — But even if Crowley and Glueck have the best intentions, until there is federal oversight, they are a cork in a dam, accountable to themselves, investors, and one day, with a potential IPO looming, shareholders. This x1000.
- Philosophy of Computer Science — long and good. I love that it starts with “what is Computer Science?” and works up to AI and ethics through “do we compute with symbols or with their meanings?” and “copyright vs patents.” I like his questions that CS is concerned with: What can be computed?; How can it be computed?; Efficient computability; Practical Computability; Physical Computability; Ethical Computability.” The author is the CS professor who gave us the wonderful valid sentence “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo”. (via Hacker News)
