AI Security is Already Here

Image created by Google Gemini

An article was published late in the day on 16 September. It was originally slated for a much higher-profile technology site - as the feature - but leadership of one of the companies in question threatened them if they ran it, so it was shuffled along to a point of obscurity.

I find it amusing that people think these strategies are viable in the long term.

Our technology works, and we're making it available. We've solved "nearly" all of the problems (I only qualify that in the event something else happens to bubble to the surface) and are already well down the path outlined in my recently re-published Microsoft-Linux essay.

They're trying to fight, so we're not far from winning - again.

The correct place to fix a problem is the place where the problem enters. Not the place where the problem manifests.

Voxiferi - Stop Bad Data at the Door

History Repeats

 Mark Twain once said: "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes."

In the early days of the Linux revolution no one took us seriously. We were dismissed as rabble-rousers and seen as dreamers and delusional idealists. I like to view us as believers. In a time when the world was becoming more disconnected a group of people who leaned towards being anti-social (most nerds and geeks are neurodivergent to one degree or another) found common ground and a common cause. We were family-like in every respect; we'd have intense disagreements one day and celebrate someone's birthday the next - everything was about improving Linux.

In the spring of 1999 there was a disturbance in the force. This is an article I wrote and published. It still survives in the Internet Wayback Machine.

Today it holds renewed significance as we stand on the cusp of being re-branded rabble-rousers, dreamers, delusional idealists, and perhaps a few other adjectives. If our estimation is even remotely close we're destined for uncharted territory without so much as a compass. Things are about to get interesting.

Then You Win 

May 18, 1999, 02 :35 UTC 

 In recent months, I've had the opportunity to sit back and watch a prophetic statement made many years ago unfold before me. Many of you have seen the statement -- at Linux Hardware Solutions, we have distributed it on T-shirts since last October. The quote is attributed to Mohandas Gandhi (or Mahatma Ghandi, depending upon the reference used)1: 

 First, they ignore you. 

 Then they laugh at you. 

 Then they fight you. 

 Then you win. 

I'd like to provide my perspective on these few lines and how they relate to the relationship between the corporation known as Microsoft and the Linux community. I use Linux here, not to diminish any other moniker that might apply -- be it GNU, OpenSource, Free Software,or *BSD -- but due to the fact that Linux is the target with the highest profile and has attracted the attention of Microsoft. 

First, they ignore you 

I don't think we need to dwell too long on this point. After all, how much can you say about things that didn't happen? For the first several years that Linux was mentioned, the Microsoft response never amounted to more than, "What's that?" So, although a measure of the ignorance may have been feigned, I doubt there was more than a ghost image on their radar scope. 

 Then they laugh at you

My first recollection of this goes back to sometime last summer when Steve Ballmer made a habit of dismissing Linux as nothing more than a toy being used to amuse computer enthusiasts: students as well as professionals. This phenomenon built momentum, with Ballmer being replaced as spokesperson by the one we all know and love, dear old Ed "The Mouth" Muth. Ed Muth's role has metamorphosed from stage two to stage three, which we'll take a closer look at in a moment. Along with the participation of Ed Muth, we've had the dubious honor of attracting direct references from none other than Bill Gates himself. Although less frequent, the outbursts by Mr. Gates have followed fairly closely the tone of Muth. Until recently, Microsoft appeared to be stuck between this stage and the next, apparently trying to figure out who they could fight. They started tossing out real FUD one minute, then they would change to a more patronizing tone, apparently fearful of providing too much credibility to the movement due to their protests. 

Then they fight you 

The recent Mindcraft fiasco is probably the most poignant example of this stage. I think it actually started with the Halloween documents, since it is apparent in these that Microsoft is at least trying to figure out how to fight, even if they didn't know who to fight at that point. Judging from the Linux Today archives, an off-the-cuff, totally unscientific survey appears to indicate that the FUD campaign started in earnest sometime around the first of March. The Mindcraft "study" was an apparent attempt to add some credibility to the FUD from Redmond. I'm being charitable when I make the observation that it didn't quite work out as planned. Where will the next blow strike? What will be the next target? When all is said and done, will the answers to either of these questions really matter? Whether they realize it or not, Microsoft has attacked a hydra. If they manage to successfully sever one head, at least two more will take its place. Microsoft is finally pitted against a competitor that they cannot buy, cannot bankrupt and cannot combat in the traditional sense. They see their competitors embracing Linux, they see large, high-profile customers embracing Linux, and they don't know what to do. 

Then you win 

They're fighting, so it's only a matter of time before we can claim victory. The recent invitation to have Linux pitted against NT in the ZD labs is the most direct affront so far. We don't just have Microsoft publishing the results of a study, we have them issuing a direct challenge. If they didn't view Linux as a legitimate threat, why would they bother? Unwittingly, they have provided a level of promotion that could not be purchased otherwise. There is no need to walk into their trap. We can play this game on our terms, when we're ready. If we keep our wits, there is no way we can lose. Will Linux mop up the floor with NT across the board? Probably not. But Linux doesn't have to. Through the simple act of issuing a challenge, Microsoft has already crowned Linux the victor. 

 1. Yes, his name is Mohandas (Karamchand) Gandhi. He has also been known as Mahatma Gandhi and (incorrectly) Mahatma Ghandi. There are several references that I have located that list the first and the last, and other references list all three. That's why I mention in the paragraph at the beginning that there are references to different spellings of his name. Email comments are welcome, but I don't need anymore reinforcement on the spelling of his name. I listed the confused spelling as a point of reference and used his proper name in the main body. Thanks to Ajay Shah and Michael Hall for additional insight. 

 Kit Cosper started using Linux in 1993 and was a member of the Red Hat Development Team from 1995-1996. In 1996 he founded Linux Hardware Solutions which has recently joined forces with VA Research. When he's not at work Kit enjoys SCUBA diving, fishing and spending time with his wife and three children.

Hold on to your hat

 "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim." -Dijkstra

AI is not intelligence, it is data processing parading as human reasoning. Given that human reasoning is inherently flawed, ergo not worthy of emulation, trying to force a machine designed for precision to implement human intuition is nonsensical.

I've been warning for years that AI was going to collapse as it began to ingest it's own output. The day has come, albeit much sooner than I would have posited. Over at Voxiferi a new law of IT has been discovered. It's been tested and proven, patents are pending, and opening hands have been played.

Garbage In – Garbage Out has been proven much more detrimental than just producing nonsense.

Stay tuned, it's going to be a wild ride.

Not podcasting after all...

Legally Profiting from a Ponzi Scheme

Our group was recently recruited to contribute to a start-up technology organization in a rapidly developing market sector. According to their narrative, they were sitting on a war chest of $1B in venture funding, and in the process of building strategic partnerships to accelerate growth rather than face delays developing expertise in-house. In our realm they were seeking assistance with system architecture specification and testing to implement their novel, multi-layered, distributed approach to a high-intensity compute paradigm. Their proposal promised an elegant, optimized approach showing great potential for being a disruptive force in the industry. The concept was simple; don’t just toss more memory and processing power at the problem, build a system that offloads different types of jobs to specific processor architectures, each ideally suited to the task at hand. Building the communication structure to handle this task would be no mean feat. Our team has participated in the design and construction of multiple large cluster systems over the years, delivered to various “Three Letter Agencies” of the proverbial “We could tell you, but we’d have to kill you” variety and other systems used in massive international construction projects – so we have a catalog of experience in the design of unique systems.

The start-up deployed significant lobbying and provided strong encouragement to sign-on one of our group as an employee, but that didn’t align with our long-range vision, and would have needlessly complicated our internal accounting while creating taxation issues. Maintaining a simple consulting relationship between business entities was much cleaner, allowed for internal distribution on the basis of contribution, and avoided over-complicating taxation issues. Imagine the nightmare if one person were employed and received compensation that then needed to be redirected to another in consideration for their work. A simple consultancy agreement mitigated everything.

A Consultancy agreement was negotiated and executed, reflecting a considerable discount on our standard rates in consideration for other non-cash benefits, such as shared marketing and promotional opportunities. The agreement was based on a flat daily rate with a framework covering the commitment of resources to the project. We could plan our schedule, and they could manage their cash flow; a beneficial arrangement for both parties. Our work began upon execution of the agreement. In the first month we hit the limits as we got up to speed on the abstraction layers and developing conceptual outlines for workload segregation, routing, and aggregation. As the month progressed, they invited a member of our group to join their C-level team in an advisory capacity. This relationship was agreed, so long as any direct compensation remain directed through the existing agreement. Having an industry authority listed among their leadership would certainly benefit the organization and, by proxy, our group. A rising tide does lift all boats, after all.

Per the terms of the consulting agreement, we submitted an invoice at the end of the month for our work, with the balance due upon receipt and payable via wire transfer. Two days later we were still waiting, with no commitment for when we should anticipate payment. As the delay continued, we deepened our investigation and discovered some startling information.

• Employees were granted contracts from a non-existent corporate entity.
• No one had received a paycheck. (Remember the claim of a $1B investment raise.)
• There was no corporate structure, only an LLC – with $1B invested?
• Fraud charges against a principle settled with the government.
• We were directed to build out a sandbox for testing the distributed framework that was abstracted in our initial round of development, only to discover that the hardware required for construction was not even on order. The lead-time for the hardware exceeded the deadline for initial validation. (Perhaps an attempt to manufacture a claim of failure to perform and extract damages from us?)

Our spidey-senses started tingling, and the organization was instructed to scrub any reference to our team from their website and/or promotional material. We requested an update on invoice payment and were met with various iterations of “we’re working on it.” ($1B in the bank and they’re having to “work on” paying an invoice that is a small fraction of the daily interest that $1B should earn.) We informed the organization that we intended to terminate the consulting agreement under the cancellation provisions due to non-payment of the invoice.

Several conference calls followed, with assurances that we were merely victims of “growing pains” and things should flow much smoother in future as processes were developed and implemented. With these assurances we withdrew our intent to cancel the agreement, but we remained vigilant. Over the next few days we were met with more news of payment delays. We redoubled our investigation, which revealed even greater irregularities.

• There were over 100 LLCs associated with the organization. Each LLC represented a different physical location.
• Investments were actively solicited in units of $5000 or less.
• Those considering larger investments were encouraged to diversify across multiple locations. (i.e. invest $5000 ten times instead of $50,000 once.)
• Projections of ~25% returns on your investment.
• Multiple lawsuits and settlements pertaining to prior executive behavior.
• Unauthorized, and rather abusive, use of our platforms to promote the organization, resulting in measurable financial losses.
• Claims of strategic partnerships with LARGE network hardware manufacturers were pure vapor, as confirmed by first-person contacts at these manufacturers with direct knowledge of these types of relationships. 

With the discovery of these troubling patterns, we redoubled our collection efforts and turned up the pressure. We were shuffled from one person to the next, with the promise at every transfer that “this” person had the authority to resolve the problem and have payment issued. After a day of playing “hot potato” we ended up back on the CEO’s desk, because apparently not even the CFO could pay an invoice (even with a billion dollars in the bank…)

Then came the coup de grace.

The organization was conducting virtual meetings/conference calls with an operating systems company that we have deep ties to. Some of us have known each other for decades, and relationships go far beyond the professional. Spouses and families are known on a first-name basis, vacations and holidays are common topics of discussion. To say these are friendships would be an understatement.

In the moments leading to one of these teleconferences our friends were waiting on an open, recorded, line. The CEO of the organization and his spouse were also connected, and others were scheduled to attend. 

Our friends overheard the CEO making plans to avoid paying our invoice.

It was recorded.

When their teleconference completed our phones rang.

Our friends let us know what they overheard, and that the conversation was recorded.

With the smoking gun on the table, we finally had the leverage needed to bring everything to a conclusion. When we presented the evidence to the other parties suffice it to say they were a bit rattled. They offered us less than 10% of the balance due to go away.

We laughed.

An agreement was finally reached granting us legal damages for their breach of the consulting agreement. We were sent photos of computer screens confirming a wire transfer from personal accounts (not a business account with over $1B – shocking.)

By our best estimate, even our generous concessions placed a significant burden on the personal finances of the CEO, since the massive venture funding contribution was non-existent the entire time.

The funds were transmitted by wire transfer and confirmed safe in our account.

In the weeks since we've received confirmation that the nominal CEO of the organization was boasting to his remaining Board of Directors that he ripped us off for dimes on the dollar. A direct violation of the agreement, and exposing them to greater liability.

We're assessing available options now, and will likely seek additional compensation.

And that’s how we managed to profit from a Ponzi scheme, legally.

Dunning-Kruger

Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias that describes the systematic tendency of people with low knowledge or ability in a specific area to give overly positive assessments of this knowledge or ability. 

JK Adams

I follow JK Adams Photo on FaceBook. Kyle, for lack of a better characterization, specializes in shooting The Blue Angels. He does photograph other subjects, but his work with The Blues is some of the most exceptional aviation photography I've ever seen, and I've been shooting SLRs for almost 45 years and infatuated with airplanes for a bit longer. The photographs in this post are all his, lifted directly from his FB page. If you want to see his best work, check out his website. As a matter of fact, visiting his site will make this story much more relatable. I deliberately selected images that help tell the story but mitigate the opportunity for anyone to pirate them. I haven't met Kyle in person, but we interact a bit on his FB page, and those interactions have steadily been more and more around the trolls who pop in and tell Kyle that he didn't do what he did, or he didn't see what he saw, or his images are the product of some "lousy" AI or Photoshop trickery.

©JK Adams

These people are all so confident in their ignorance it has become laughable. It has become so routine that I will often toss in a sarcastic comment along the lines of "Wait - no one has made the obligatory 'Obviously AI' post yet!" before the trolls even have a fair chance to crawl out from under their bridge. These people don't understand shockwaves, atmospheric conditions, or basic physics – much less precision flying. They've never seen a flight team perform, but they know more about jets and flight demonstrations than any #1 pilot could ever dream of. 

But these keyboard warriors are so severely infected with Dunning-Kruger they will insist that everyone else (even the people who have flown the F/A-18) have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. They'll deny that the jets are flying as close to each other as they are, so they insist the photos are "obviously" doctored. 

©JK Adams

It's my impression that if The Blues are flying in Pensacola, he's shooting. I couldn't begin to estimate the number of times he sees them fly every season. It appears that he often gets to know the solo pilots, and meets them a couple of times during the season. He shoots video and stills, and gets direct information from the announcers (and, this is my assumption – a live feed from the radio traffic, based on some of his statements.) His sources are as primary as primary can possibly be. I've seen them perform no less than five times, and I've seen The Thunderbirds at least four times. I've seen the Frecce Tricolori practice over Rome and watched more documentaries and videos of demonstration teams than I can count. Nothing that Kyle posts raises an eyebrow, it's all perfectly plausible to those who have a reasonable understanding of the subject.

©JK Adams

While this particular instance is more entertaining than anything else, the pervasiveness of Dunning-Kruger in modern society is a highly corrosive phenomenon.  People who barely graduated high school are under the impression that they are experts on international trade and the economic impact of tariffs. Others, who lack the fundamental ability to treat a fever, think they have mastered epidemiology and immunology to the point that they can determine the need for immunizations. 

Twenty five years ago, when discussing  online securities trading, I made the comment that the acceleration of information was not going to benefit society, because people were making decisions based on information that they did not understand. The problem has only been exacerbated over the years, thanks to that information moving from the desktop to our palms. The number of people who lack the ability to parse and process contradictory data is shocking, and instead of trying to understand the data, they simply discard whatever doesn't confirm their bias; Dunning-Kruger marches on. 

The People You Meet

June 20, 2017

I haven't been here for a while, most of my blogging attention has been focused on my travel blog (The Erudite Tourist) and this space has been a bit neglected. 

I tend to write things here that I'd like to say, but might not be inclined (for whatever reason) to broadcast on more interactive social media platforms. If someone happens to stumble upon my writings here then great, but if not I'm happy for them to be out there if and when they are discovered. In other words, I'm not necessarily looking for feedback, but if it comes, OK. This was written on June 20, 2017, but I never got around to publishing, so here it is.

A promising start to the trip

I'm currently sitting in the Charlotte, NC airport, waiting for my flight to London which is scheduled to depart in 7.5 hours.

I was supposed to arrive in London almost 11 hours ago, but Mother Nature decided to unleash her fury on the Eastern United States yesterday and the air traffic system ground to a screeching halt.

A Few Thunderstorms

So here I sit in the American Admiral's Club (thanks to a Business Class ticket) sipping a Cuba Libre, reflecting on any number of topics, but mostly thinking about people and specifically how we deal with random encounters and connect with others. Given the current socio-political climate in the country this has been a common topic of late, so it certainly makes sense. 

Thanks (?) to Mother Nature I've had several encounters in the last 24 hours and I'll list them here with some thoughts on each. For some reason I've been more engaging than usual, a bit by design but mostly due to circumstance.

• The lady sitting behind me on the first leg who pushed everyone out of her way to de-plane when we arrived is completely forgettable. Just your average inconsiderate traveler. Not a good experience.
• The gentleman that I walked with down the concourse during my layover, sharing observations on the need for a more efficient way to get people from the end of Concourse E up to the Concourse D walkway in Charlotte. They've added a tremendous number of gates to the E concourse over the years but haven't made any provision to expand the choke point at the escalators, creating quite a mess at times.
• The lady with four kids who pushed in front of me as we waited to board the flight to JFK. Her rudeness would only increase.
• Colin, my seat-mate on AA 1972 (or at least the attempt at such.) His phone was dying so I pulled out my booster battery (Amazon owes me a commission if he ever figures out how to get one shipped to one of his addresses.) We chatted off and on for hours, sharing anecdotes and jokes of the struggles of modern air travel. He was just trying to get home.
• Colin's co-worker, who sat behind us and across the aisle. Offering witty retorts and joining in the banter as we sat and waited, and waited and sat.
• The guy behind us, another New Yorker, who was generally non-plussed and also lighthearted about our shared misery.
• The lady across the aisle from me, from Raleigh, also trying to get to London, who works in the biomedical field. She was on a flight from RDU the previous evening which was cancelled due to mechanical issues. A friend of mine was also on that flight, trying to get to Stockholm, he ended up making it, albeit 24 hours late as well. An experienced traveler, she was going with the flow and hoping for the best. Her flight from JFK to LHR was also delayed, but the cancellation finished things off.
• The flight attendant "up front" for the adventure was just a good guy. He chatted and joked with us as well as sharing whatever information he had available. At every twist and turn he maintained his sense of humor and communicated a very strong sense of "we're all in this together." This guy was the epitome of what it takes to keep passengers on an even keel in an unfortunate situation.
• Captain O'Toole (a name I won't soon forget, since he was on the PA about every 98 seconds giving us updates as he received them from various sources.) He gave us the best he had and stood at the cockpit door every time the jetway was connected, chatting and joking with passengers. Based on his demeanor I'd fly with him any time - he came across as a real pilot's pilot.
• The young lady from France who is a member of the USC track team who stood in line with me waiting to be rebooked. I think I was on Face-Time with her boyfriend more than she was, as she was holding her phone at an odd angle. I hope she made it to Paris with minimal hassle. She was helped quickly by the agent at the customer service counter, so I think she ended up in good shape.
• The group in front of me in line, trying to get to Italy and working the phones to sort things out with Travelocity and the other airline. Apparently they ended up with a refund from AA, not sure how things ended up with their second flight. Lesson learned - make sure you have plenty of padding if you're trying to glue together your own trip with different airlines.
• Kim, at the American Airlines Customer Service Counter on C Concourse last night. She was cranking people through the system and had me rebooked in minutes after I finally made it to the front of the line. Despite the crushing number of passengers she kept a smile on her face and did everything she possibly could to say "yes" if at all possible.
• Jackson, my Ghanaian Uber driver, who provided a clean, safe ride and a fantastic conversation about his country. I have other friends with connections to Ghana, so it was easy for us to find a connection.
• The staff at the Hilton City Center in Charlotte. Due to fatigue and lack of attention I didn't catch any names, but everyone was amazing, from check-in to check-out. The young man who delivered toiletries to my room spoke very little English, but was a delight to interact with and went above and beyond to make sure I had what I needed.
• Donald, the Uber driver who took me back to the airport. Another clean, safe ride with good conversation. Never found out when his son played golf for NCSU, but hope that turned out well for him!
• The TSA agents in the Pre-Check line were friendly and engaging. I think the size of the airport and volume of passengers may contribute to their generally superior demeanor. No screaming instructions (for either line) and no condecension was offered that I heard, quite unusual given the varied experience level among travelers.
• My friend Paul, who happened to be connecting through Charlotte on his way to Newark. By chance I saw his post on Facebook and went to visit his gate. We were able to chat for a good thirty minutes and that alone almost made the whole delay worth it. It definitely made the day much more tolerable!
• The grandparents from Kansas with their 4 year old "Cars" fan on their way home from Disney who had their flight cancelled last night. They made me realize that yes, I am old enough to be a grandparent, even if I still see myself as a kid sometimes. Now I'm pretty sure that the reason grandparents are so crazy over grandkids is because it gives them an excuse to be young and goofy again. It seems to be a reward for having to be more serious while raising your own kids.
• The former Montessori teacher who spoke so softly that I never figured out where she was going (I think she was also going to Kansas, but not sure.) She's been to London a few times and has a relative who married a Scot and lived in the UK for a while.
• The family from Columbia with the toddler who was too cute for words. With a mother who speaks at least four languages other than English and a father who speaks at least three more he's destined to be a polyglot.
• The lady from California, who was nice enough to recite not only her SSN and personal details, but also her credit card information, all while sitting in a large room surrounded by countless others. How does identity theft happen? Just like this...
• The arms dealer who sat across from me talking loudly on his phone so everyone could hear how important he was. I quickly located him on the internet (luggage tags and stickers on laptops can divulge a lot of information that Google can turn in to actionable intelligence.)
• The staff in the American Airlines Admiral's Club who made sure I was comfortable during my protracted wait. They checked on me "just enough" without being overbearing, and each time the snacks were updated they gave me a rundown. Top tier, all the way.

Finally Leaving Charlotte

I got to London 24 hours late, with no luggage. Somehow it made it to JFK without me, but before my flight from CLT-JFK was even cancelled, then had to catch up to me in London. Yes, it defies logic...

What and Why

General observations, sometimes rants, of the world around us. Occasionally an anecdote.

I consider it therapy. My cardiologist endorses the activity because it keeps my blood pressure manageable. 

There's no telling what you might find here, so fasten your seatbelt, I'm not everyone's cup of tea. I'll defend my LGBT friends with my 2nd Amendment rights and think we should spend marijuana tax revenue with fiscal restraint. 

I often write quickly and edit poorly, due to a desire to get thoughts down before I forget them.

Content is added sporadically. Sometimes I edit to update links, but I don't change content. Sometimes I predict the future (Obama's first election) – sometimes my predictions fail (Obama's second term.)

I hope to do better going forward, now that I've rediscovered this neglected corner.