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Society, Policy & Culture

The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 345 posts.

2017
122

What I'm Telling US Congress about Data Breaches

Last week I wrote about my upcoming congressional testimony [https://www.troyhunt.com/im-testifying-in-front-of-congress-in-washington-dc-about-data-breaches-what-should-i-say/] and wow - you guys are awesome! Seriously, the feedback there was absolutely sensational and it's helped shape what I'll

124

Denied Entry

- Sorry, you're not allowed entry to the US on your ESTA. The lady who delivered this message to me this early Monday morning, worked behind the check-in counter at the Arlanda airport. I was there, trying to check-in to my two-leg trip to San Francisco to the Mozilla "all hands" meeting of the summer … Continue…

125

The tech sec­tor might be evil

Or at least, your employer might be. Over the years we in the tech sector have gotten used to being well-regarded. After all, we make people’s lives better, on balance. That’s changing. At the moment it’s rumblings from thought leaders, not pervasive popular anger. The other thing that’s new is that they’re thought…

126

Social Media Needs a Travel Mode

News reports tell us that Customs and Border Patrol has become more aggressive about checking social media accounts at the border. In doing this, the United States joins a growing list of countries that recognized the value of these accounts, and the unique data mining opportunity that a border crossing provides.

139

An Inferno on the Head of a Pin

Today’s processors contain billions of heat-generating transistors in an ever shrinking space. The power budget might go from: * 1000 watts on a specialized server * 100 watts on desktops * 30 watts on laptops * 5 watts on tablets * 1 or 2 watts on a phone * 100 milliwatts on an embedded

141

When “Dumb Pipes” Get Too Smart

I wrote this in 2012, when CloudFlare (an almost awkwardly popular CDN) introduced a bug into websites they hosted using some of their "advanced features" via injected JavaScript that managed to not just break the website but lock up entire web browers by tickling a scheduler starvation bug in WebCore. This issue was…