Mark Kraus

Just trying to make us both better, luv. <3

If you had asked, "This isn't my area of expertise, but is this a possible security risk?" I wouldn't be coming on hot. I would have just answered your question.

You didn't ask a question, though. You said, "I have some slight security concerns that could be mollified if it were open source." as a respected technologist with a platform.

You are free to believe whatever you want. But we should not be vibe scaring people.

But they don't have to! It's literally not any different. The game can just do the bad stuff itself. the game code on disc can be manipulated out-of-process to be malicious... save-file injection is a risk for all games.

No.. There really is 0 difference between this and any other game that, by necessity, needs to access files on your system and execute code within them. It just has the vibes of being less safe.

The same concern exists with every game, though. This is not positioned any differently. They all need to read files from disks, including assets, libraries, and save files. They all have to process strings etc.

Are you worried about the player code injecting their own system???? Are you worried about another malicious piece of software launching the game and reaching a loot box to perform code injection??? You have already been successfully compromised before either of these scenarios.

bad wording... instead of "worry about," I should say "impliment."

I can sympathize with a non-tehncial player being concerned. But you and I are technologists. We shouldn't add to their anxiety.

If a game pops up a terminal, it's no less secure than a game that just does all its nefarious stuff directly in the game code without a terminal.
The developer doesn't need to worry about command injection... you are already running their code.

By focusing on a game that "looks" less secure based on vibes, you give a pass to all the other games. You draw undue scrutiny for a game that does nothing different from others.

We don't base security posture on what "looks" less or more secure.

This game has no increased risk over others. They all access your filesystem. A game without a folder gimmick doesn't mean it isn't scraping your hard drive for data.

Law #1: If a bad actor can persuade you to run their program on your computer, it's not solely your computer anymore.

o_O Why would it be a particular security concern with this game and say... every game?

The Mario 64 intro scene with a letter from Princess Peach, reading: Dear Mario. Please come to the castle. I'm down bad. Yours truly-- Princess Toadstool (Peach)

CATS from the video game Zero Wing (the All Your Base Are Belong To Us game), saying: "I am Locutus of Borg. Resistance is Futile"

Dracula from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, saying to Richter "Get out of my house"

The transportation advisor from SimCity 2000, saying "YOU CAN'T STAY ON TWITTER! YOU WILL REGRET THIS!"

My big project: The Death Generator.
It's a tool for making fake video game screenshots, just fill in new text and it'll give you a (generally) pixel-accurate image back, the correct fonts and everything.

deathgenerator.com

But what if that person is my emotional support politician, and I live my entire life by a team sports mentality and dogmatic tribalism? Surely I can defend them without repercussions!

So yea... I subscribed to this labeler: bsky.app/profile/join..., then took a long browse through the Discover tab. Every bad lib take, or "orange man bad" meme, is coming from a Nov '24 account. Wild.

Awesome. I kind of suspected it was some of that, especially with the election timing, but I'd never seen it actually articulated anywhere. Thank you for taking the time to explain!

I guess now we will have to stop calling them Spanish Flies and start calling them Freedom Flies.

I have seen multiple people call out the Nov '24 join date as a thing, but I don't know the reason. Can someone enlighten me as to why so many of these accounts suck?

Epstein, Me Too, and the Justice We Never Got (ft. Lyz Lenz) YouTube video by Cancel Me, Daddy

You're not going to want to miss this important discussion with @lyz.bsky.social about the Epstein survivors' struggle for justice. It is one of the most important episodes we've ever recorded.

Now out only on YouTube. Tomorrow morning everywhere else.

youtu.be/UjDdFwgIdAU

I'll go with 七人の侍 (1954) (Seven Samurai)

This guy gets it.

The Shadowban labeler bsky.app/profile/did:...

I'm begging news outlets to include at least the name of cases when quoting decisions/orders/etc. Ideally, also include the case ID and courtlistener link if available. I really dislike having to sleuth my way to the source when it is public and accessible.

That's just lame. I'm not extremely well-read on Marxism, but when I read Lenin's "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism" I was constantly blown away by how much of what he was describing back then was still so painfully relevant now.

I used "botty" as a shorthand for that, and it was a poor choice of words.

I should say that it doesn't seem organic. Whether it's bots, coordination, foreign influnce, right-wing psy op... whatever. It just has the stench of not being a bunch of people with deeply held beliefs, organically finding these conversations to insert themselves into.

Oh... I mean, there are definitely some real people in the mix.. and I wasn't making a claim about this specific individual. But I've seen pile-ons happen to accounts with fewer than 50 followers. If it's not bots, then it's at least coordinated.