rcarback
Richard Carback

Privacy Preserving Cryptography - Voting and Governance - Blockchain - Cyber Security

co-founder https://xx.network

Public Key

npub1cac5f9tvz8k8wvnyjpnfm46m022vr0tdu554de0zrfk35qunq72s5lmnv7

NIP-05 Address

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsvwu2yj4kprmrhxfjfqe5a6adh49xph4k7222kuh3p5mg6qwfs09gpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsakx2nh

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1cac5f9tvz8k8wvnyjpnfm46m022vr0tdu554de0zrfk35qunq72s5lmnv7

Show more details

Last Notes

2025-10-07 15:41:36 UTC

https://blossom.primal.net/d7c36dae275bbe7c8fe4d74d392f707648f3d3fe703fc9413c86eb8a23beb0b9.png
Last week I presented a paper at E-Vote ID: “Revisiting Silent Coercion” — This was joint work with a large team, and it took years. Jeremy Clark deserves the most credit for getting this paper published. 🙏
The paper explores “coercion” (vote buying, forcing someone to vote the way you’d like) that is “silent” (voter doesn’t know about it).
More Details: https://blog.carback.us/2025/10/revisiting-silent-coercion/index.html
#voting #digitaldemocracy #electionintegrity #crypto #coercion

2025-06-26 04:39:51 UTC

Love to see 🔥 research like this:
"Our findings do not comment on the intentions of computer-vision researchers. Rather, they bring into focus the systematic pattern of extracting human data and enabling surveillance."
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08972-6
https://blossom.primal.net/ba3e67ede56edab4e6a61460c9b4b010f42ef9d466259032e332572144aae75f.png

2025-05-26 21:18:51 UTC

Interesting news for quantum doom clock, Craig Kidney, the 2019 author of "How to factor 2048 bit rsa integers in 8 hours using 20 million noisy qubits" just published an update of "with less than a million noisy qubits", on arxiv - That is close to my estimate from January!
Kidney's treatment is, of course, substantially more thorough than the estimates on https://quantumdoomclock.com - but this convergence on estimates is key evidence that the progress is real and accelerating!
Kidney's full article, "How to factor 2048 bit RSA integers with less than a million noisy qubits" is here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2505.15917
We'll be updating and linking it on quantum doom clock shortly!
#quantum #cryptography #rsa

2025-04-06 13:07:58 UTC

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Devs were center of the show (as it should be) - great insights and panels.
Fav was probably discussion on dusting attacks (they’ve been around a while on eth but are now all over btc but don’t seem to have been very effective)
https://image.nostr.build/b40ca118f3555279a5de6e508af832536d677cdfc394c04edfa910a970388a66.jpg
https://image.nostr.build/cc8f97cb9ee2c455289a8a7dc8bee39ae51f7ed76c02ba4a7d4209d5b02c132b.jpg

2025-04-05 18:48:03 UTC

More 🔥
https://image.nostr.build/79f590bf832455f29e403b44a96d18ed4a22b09d02ce2b3143d6888f1eefcd81.jpg
https://image.nostr.build/79f590bf832455f29e403b44a96d18ed4a22b09d02ce2b3143d6888f1eefcd81.jpg

2025-04-05 14:39:51 UTC

“Can quantum break nostr?”
“Yes we’re screwed”
“we need an upgrade and key rotation”
🤣 @npub1xts…kk5s @npub1gcx…nj5z
https://quantumdoomclock.com
https://image.nostr.build/65b7bf94ead49a36678574baa337b8a086152a0ba64cafd748d386710b9440b4.jpg

2025-04-05 14:25:42 UTC

@npub1gcx…nj5z and @npub1xts…kk5s spitting facts at mit bitcoin expo rn
https://image.nostr.build/2a51fd393471b08bb54896e169ba28fa60e1f88c3b30707ba37e07e839b75c3f.jpg

2025-04-03 01:38:27 UTC

I'm working on the April 2025 for the Quantum Doom Clock, which you should all subscribe to!
Here's some tidbits from last months update:
QDC now projects March 8, 2028 as the breaking point for cryptocurrency security. Major quantum systems from Amazon, Microsoft, and IQM show error rates approaching 10^-4, accelerating the timeline by several months. That is some scary fast progress 🤓
Tech leaders are revising quantum timelines dramatically:
🕛 Gates: "useful in 3-5 years."
🕧 Pichai: "practical applications in 5-10 years."
🕐 Krishna: "remarkable progress by decade's end."
🚨 The threat to cryptographic foundations is imminent. 🚨
Major breakthroughs are accelerating development: Amazon's Ocelot, Microsoft's Majorana 1, and massive funding ($400M+) flowing into quantum computing. The clock is ticking for current encryption methods. ⏱️
Visit https://quantumdoomclock.com/ and sign up to get the latest. Update goes out next week!

2025-03-25 19:23:35 UTC

new protocol actor names just dropped
https://m.primal.net/PssN.png

2024-11-11 16:27:47 UTC

https://nostrcheck.me/media/c77144956c11ec77326490669dd75b7a94c1bd6de52956e5e21a6d1a03930795/f8e5a8fd1114c484397f7db76544b84e6f8d6d57fdd5fa19b02ff1781a9643c1.mp4

2024-08-25 15:05:49 UTC

Assuming accurate reporting, I strongly condemn the recent arrest of Telegram’s #PavelDurov in France. Refusing to moderate other’s speech is not terrorism. It is not conspiracy to commit a crime.
Pavel’s arrest is a stain on the central fraternity between France and the US in supposedly being the world’s defenders of free speech and liberty. France is continuing an unfortunate tradition our governments have of ignoring our values whenever it is convenient. This is both wrong and short sighted.
While I understand the “Telegram is not E2EE and gives full access to Russia” sentiment (e.g., https://www.wired.com/story/the-kremlin-has-entered-the-chat/ ), I believe this is an L take. In this context, it is saying if you are capable of moderating then you should be required to do so per government orders.
Any precedent set here will be used against other platforms. We should be extremely uncomfortable about this situation. We are violating the long-standing principle of going after the criminals and not the mediums they use. You can pretend that Signal/WhatsApp is somehow incapable of modifying their client to add monitoring, but they are definitely capable of monitoring usage and just choose not to record that metadata.
Geopolitically this is an unprecedented, massive propaganda win for Russia. As they continue to suppress freedom at home, they can now credibly say they’re fighting to free him.
Make no mistake, Telegram is harmful. They do not care about free speech or privacy for their users. Their business model exploits access to your messages. Just because a fascist regime enjoys special access does not mean you should join in the facism. It is as simple as “two wrongs do not make a right.”

2024-07-19 12:47:31 UTC

This #crowdstrike crisis feels like a "we fired the guy who managed the tool/process that would have prevented this" situation 🤦‍♂️
My ❤️ goes out to all the IT folks out there dealing with this.

2024-07-05 22:37:39 UTC

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2436023-multiple-nations-enact-mysterious-export-controls-on-quantum-computers/
They are starting to freak out

2024-06-01 16:43:52 UTC

Thanks to all who came by and said hi to my team and I at #Consensus2024 this year. We had a blast and are stoked to haven taken home the win for the sui track!
https://github.com/Consensus-Hold-Em
https://youtu.be/x-OcnymwbOM?feature=shared

2024-05-09 17:53:59 UTC

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I think 2 options, one is sharing that cred means they will lose access to it and maybe any funds or other access protected by it. The latter is to ban when you see access from the same pseudonym from different places at once.

2024-05-08 23:29:32 UTC

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Unfortunately tons of people do, I’m constantly inundated and redirecting people to better choices 🤷

2024-05-08 23:26:20 UTC

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This is how public channels work in xx, and the main issue in your scenario is you need to trust your users not to share this key… instead you could blindly sign a cred that allows them in via a valid signature, but you could still track the now pseudonymous cred. That should fine as you have all the connection metadata which allows you to do that already.

2024-02-09 19:09:00 UTC

Small project announcement from me -- we're going to be working a project to improve #privacy in worldcoin:
https://twitter.com/xx_network/status/1755981614931472575
I'm looking for a #rust and/or #golang #internship for the summer to help with this and another project. It is #remote
https://image.nostr.build/6cbe9ef28d11efa2e0c5dd89f2087f85f668c16d0b67e1cb97ebcc84867caafd.jpg

2023-09-22 17:49:31 UTC

Had a great time at https://bostonblockchainweek.com/
Thanks to everyone who chatted me up and ba e a great weekend!
https://image.nostr.build/e204db59659269194cb2e51cf6e85fecedc3bdf12f50d68ad42853aec5544a56.jpg
https://image.nostr.build/b6ce9a1a69d5ab6e1c5fa26b9ef754d6b38fe977cd010f8f2434b6352c7bf609.jpg
https://image.nostr.build/b0ae3ce68bb73f003c38cc76ec481f3cb1b09c86eb479334b8ec10fad401ba03.jpg

2023-08-28 20:46:27 UTC

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This sounds really cool, looking forward to checking it out!

2023-07-30 17:51:05 UTC

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I think we more or less agree, but the properties here differ and there's room for more than one solution. For example - What you linked seems good but can't work for large groups at first glance (it also suffers from much more severe comms patterns analysis attacks).
Modifying the invite link to ping a coordinator for the final channel info (I.e. accept the invite) is easy to do and would eliminate the threat you outline. There might be other options like adding a password.
I don't object to the analysis so much as dismissing the entire approach as unsound. I'm advocating for constructive collaboration. (And I've got no dog in this fight, I'd love to work on this but I'm too busy with my other projects right now).

2023-07-30 16:31:26 UTC

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There's no protocol that protects against a malicious participant that shares the keys, that's like trying to protect against someone who can video record the phone while its being used or something.
The link sharing can be improved but I think this part is making reasonable trade offs and could be modified to prevent mistakes users might make without much trouble.
I think its too easy to id what npubs are group chats, and subsequently who the participants are with taps on the relays.

2023-07-29 14:15:44 UTC

https://www.wired.com/story/nsa-ndaa-lobbying-privacy-loophole/
Why do it yourself when you can just buy the spying data directly from the ISP?

2023-07-28 16:00:18 UTC

https://blockworks.co/news/worldcoin-privacy-concerns

2023-07-28 14:00:10 UTC

Cory Doctorow has a 🔥 writeup on the newest musk scandal about the fraudulent mileage reporting:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

2023-07-28 13:52:43 UTC

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Fwiw I only see 971in my client. Follower count is somewhat difficult for the clients to calculate so I wouldn't read much into it.
I'm sorry the trolls are attacking you. 💔
https://cdn.nostr.build/i/e2db9e51889d9740f6878c41f0bf09600d71cacdd30d9fa7ef51473fabbf55f6.jpg

2023-07-28 00:27:15 UTC

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/07/27/journalist-tells-fbi-to-give-back-devices-seized-during-extremely-questionable-investigation-into-leaked-fox-news-footage/
The overreach here is absurd
I hope he succeeds 🔥

2023-07-27 23:58:45 UTC

#foodstr #tacos
https://cdn.nostr.build/i/0d2d827c87f8955569c277fc859ebb84a8117153d58f4182d108d717e7b08910.jpg
https://cdn.nostr.build/i/0ec84c803f13e756f2ef918dd086bb4810663f9821132d191ed5f81a4cdecb87.jpg
https://cdn.nostr.build/i/438d4f66918537694afd71050d1afff8997b8fd6bfde5cbb2fe34cab81f92a87.jpg

2023-07-27 23:56:10 UTC

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They're spelling 'fraud' wrong

2023-07-27 22:52:22 UTC

https://youtube.com/watch?v=wa2jZtbKbRs
I am speaking tomorrow @ July 28 at 8:00 PM UTC
Does the USA Get Left Behind in Crypto Innovation?
Eleanor Terrett, Alex Chizhik & Richard Carback
Crypto regulations in the United States has been a quagmire. Eleanor Terrett has been following the daily updates in crypto regulation. Alex Chizhik is the COO of the Digital Chamber of Commerce and knows the industry well. Richard Carback is co-founder of xx network. Darren Moore is a content creator that researches crypto.

2023-07-27 12:46:12 UTC

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TOR, nym, i2p, etc could help but the metadata behind the comms patterns can make the server identifiable.
They wouldn't help in this case as it was a seizure incidental to something else the admin was doing. I guess isolating to a data center with unique payment info?
The core issue is that the server knows the content.

2023-07-27 12:41:20 UTC

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They could...it is not clear nostr fixes anything here except maybe the uptime on the service which is not the problem here 🤦
The only way to fix this is if the server operator is oblivious to what is happening, so seizing a server doesn't get you anything and seizures are forced to end point devices to be effective (and limited to only that user).
Xx network nodes have this property, as do some voting systems and other crypto proposals but I'm not aware of anything else at scale.

2023-07-26 23:50:50 UTC

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Welcome to the free(er) internet

2023-07-25 19:23:41 UTC

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If you're in boston, I highly recommend going to the DAO and Blockchain Nights events

2023-07-25 14:48:14 UTC

https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/07/24/chainalysis-investigations-lead-is-unaware-of-scientific-evidence-the-surveillance-software-works/
Finally chainalysis is getting called out on their bullshit.
I do think they are more likely to misattribute. Their technique relies on users doing an obviously stupid thing, and smart users will deliberately subvert that by making their end balances match other (presumably innocent) users of the mix.

2023-07-25 00:27:14 UTC

"Renowned lawyer Tor Ekeland is poking holes in the U.S. government's case against alleged Bitcoin Fog creator Roman Sterlingov by poking holes in Chainalysis' forensics, privacy advocate L0la L33tz writes."
Https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/07/24/chainalysis-investigations-lead-is-unaware-of-scientific-evidence-the-surveillance-software-works/

2023-07-25 00:17:11 UTC

Face the truth. Your #Privacy is in their Hands. Get it back!
The World of #Crypto is vulnerable, empower yourself to safeguard your personal data
Don't miss this eye-opening podcast with our Guest @rcarback, Co-founder of the @xx_network
🎧Spotify || ➡ bit.ly/3DmsvRJ
https://cdn.nostr.build/i/1b327bf3acbcebec637b3e4330397aecf22fdd891e158c2e8cfc5f43b1cd7e24.jpg

2023-07-23 19:01:31 UTC

Hey #american #usnostr folks, it is time to annoy your congress people and representatives to stop these bad internet bills.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/07/you-can-help-stop-these-bad-internet-bills

2023-07-21 19:12:09 UTC

Some wildly unethical "economics" research:
https://www.karlstack.com/p/yale-university-vows-to-geolocate-aa2
I am in shock they got this through an IRB! They de-anonymized a decade of forum posts on a jobs&discussion site for economists... Some of these folks are in countries where they could be killed for what they posted.
#privacy #anonymity #ethics

2023-07-21 18:46:45 UTC

https://us-southeast-1.linodeobjects.com/dufflepud/uploads/0fe8d322-8976-4ab4-8306-dc9f144596ae.jpg

2023-07-21 15:26:00 UTC

Forcing private individuals to store an report PII is a significant overreach.
Source: https://twitter.com/jerrybrito/status/1682073500184461321
https://us-southeast-1.linodeobjects.com/dufflepud/uploads/131628e9-129a-443b-b4b6-ee8af5c638a5.png

2023-07-18 13:04:17 UTC

https://nostr.build/i/031ef182767f1186e71fc266f47d43d801b851034bda0da9f39a110f124e5496.jpg

2023-07-15 03:04:00 UTC

Running an open source privacy project, you sometimes get some interesting PRs...
https://us-southeast-1.linodeobjects.com/dufflepud/uploads/345a152d-9454-45fa-be1e-7dc8a8d7fb73.png

2023-07-13 12:32:49 UTC

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Happening in 30 mins!
#nevent1q…m6qf

2023-07-11 18:27:29 UTC

I'll be doing an interview on Thursday: https://twitter.com/AdLunamInc/status/1678820046200614912

2023-07-09 16:03:46 UTC

https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/10/23299502/facebook-chat-messenger-history-nebraska-teen-abortion-case
It was only a matter of time until we saw private chats being used against folks in court. This case is more extreme than most, but cases with much more sympathetic facts are coming (I.e. unintentional miscarriage).
If you are using a major service, what you say, when you say it, and where can and will be used against you. Even the encrypted messengers only really protect against the first one. Use metadata protecting tech when you can.
#privacy

2023-07-09 05:02:10 UTC

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The metadata protected E2E messaging in xx network takes a similar approach. It stores for a set period of time (21days) since it can't be known when the recipient receives the messages.
It's definitely the right design for private messaging applications.

2023-07-09 04:49:27 UTC

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It makes it legal for them to buy and deploy spyware such as Pegasus and its ilk.
You'd think that would be reserved for spy shit, but it is actually just people the local gov or corpos don't like, like soda tax activists in mexico.

2023-07-07 01:03:19 UTC

https://inthesetimes.com/article/university-of-california-san-diego-chalk-markers-arrests
Love unions or hate them, but this is disgusting news out of the University of California union fight...What do you think the chances are these folks have had their private digital devices and email combed through?
Its almost a certainly. For what should be protected first amendment activity.
When we talk about a right to privacy and making tools to protect those rights. This is the abuse we are talking about.

2023-07-06 17:16:23 UTC

The french government is about to legalize police use of pegasus and other spyware to hack and turn on cameras and other tracking:
https://www.disclose.tv/id/hr3rek1ov2/
This is on the heels of the same government prosecuting folks using secure comms tools:
https://coracle.social/nevent1qqs2rk65q5sc8jdln7lnfq4gs8r6rve2tr83hlg8pyrdf5d6uukeadgpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfdu5zww04
FWIW, Pegasus and it's ilk are largely used to suppress activists in other countries (i.e., Mexico), so it is safe to say that will largely be its purpose here.

2023-07-06 17:11:54 UTC

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This is a great idea, and I have one additional detail that should be considered: Based on the source code leak twitter had a while back, it would be best to post a non-linked tweet then post the link with the preview as a reply.

2023-07-06 12:39:17 UTC

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I wonder which side we are in. There is definitely overreach but also the dystopian levels of privacy violation and data abuses are attenuated there, so 🤷‍♂️
I certainly don't "speak freely" on these platforms, and am also careful about my usage and what I say there...

2023-07-06 01:32:18 UTC

Really looking forward to the Fairphone /e/OS launch in the US. A modern, repairable phone with a headphone jack is 🧑‍🍳💋!
https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/05/fairphones-repairable-smartphone-goes-on-sale-in-us-for-the-first-time-in-a-degoogled-murena-e-os-variant/

2023-06-11 19:53:05 UTC

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Its worse than that: exchanges not only "invest" before listing but also want a much better price discount than you'd offer any other early stage supporter.
Projects that find this unethical pay a heavy price for not playing ball.

2023-06-11 00:53:53 UTC

Some folks in France have been imprisoned for using Signal, TOR, and other privacy and security tools:
https://www.laquadrature.net/2023/06/05/affaire-du-8-decembre-le-chiffrement-des-communications-assimile-a-un-comportement-terroriste/
The suspicion is terrorism, but evidence for that doesn't seem to exist outside travel history.

2023-06-09 19:30:35 UTC

Proxxy is now available for metamask users. You can get it here:
https://proxxy.xx.network
https://nostr.build/av/0f16d26ff6fdf4d7ff426ecde613be6d230d8b7f2806a6701c08d4e6f4fec5a7.mp4
It provides robust metadata protection that's superior to VPN/Relay/TOR from Infura and the rest of their ecosystem.
p.s. For my fellow Bitcoin friends, solutions for you are coming soon. Already having conversations with Wasabi and other wallets to integrate more directly. If you know the devs of a wallet project we should work with, please DM.

2023-06-01 02:44:51 UTC

The Blockchain Technology Symposium (BTS) 2023 which will happen tomorrow and Friday. It is virtual. It is free.
It has awesome talks like:
twitter.com/kostascrypto/s…
Please join in!
bts23.encs.concordia.ca/program.php

2023-05-31 15:07:30 UTC

Great news, the US CBP needs a warrant for your cell phone now (at least in the NY district)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/05/federal-judge-makes-history-holding-bor

2023-04-24 15:06:32 UTC

https://media.nostrgram.co/i/1c/media_1ccd60a996446.jpg
This weekend was the #MITBitcoinExpo. Attendance was down from last year, but it was filled with interesting people and talks.
All the talks are available for free at:
https://www.mitbitcoinexpo.org/streaming
I wrote up my experience here: https://blog.carback.us/2023/04/mit-bitcoin-expo-2023/index.html
The two most notable talks I saw were ZeroSync's update on ZKP for bitcoin, and the lightning network limitations estimates by Rene Pickhardt. Details in my post!
https://media.nostrgram.co/i/5d/media_5d1f13aa96446.jpg
https://media.nostrgram.co/i/9e/media_9e81c1da96446.jpg
This was the 10th anniversary, and it is all done by the student run @MITBitcoinClub. Kudos to the volunteers who made this critical event possible!

2023-04-22 19:20:24 UTC

Strong update from zerosync. Performance needs work but they have assume valid working. Really nice progress for a project that came out leas than a year ago!
https://i.imgur.com/09791d2.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/slfCQs0.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/SqJZc7Q.jpg

2023-04-21 19:59:07 UTC

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If you haven't see this yet, it got really spicy and is worth the watch.
#[0]

2023-04-21 15:58:37 UTC

I'll be presenting updates at the XX Network Public Council Meeting Livestream starting @ 1:30pm Eastern, join me here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYFICWVF8ls
#xxnetwork #privacy #crypto

2023-04-21 15:01:15 UTC

https://media.nostrgram.co/i/92/media_92e85b15a2446.jpg
Anyone else going to the MIT bitcoin expo tomorrow? I'll be there around noon!

2023-04-18 19:49:57 UTC

https://media.nostrgram.co/v/7c/media_7c245b14fe346.mp4
Some of my thoughts on why it would be good to sunset some traditional banking technology in favor of crypto.

2023-04-17 20:55:40 UTC

Andrew Bustamante (CIA ops guy) and David Chaum (godfather of crypto) are streaming an interview at 1700 UTC tomorrow on youtube, it should be a good watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2hgLCRLpBw

2023-04-16 13:52:39 UTC

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It is particularly bad seeing bitcoin folks dumping on wasabi while claiming to be privacy maxis...
I can't tell if its legitimate ignorance/misunderstanding the power and properties of the tech or its something else.

2023-04-10 13:39:07 UTC

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Many of the variants existed before the vaccines, so NOPE! 🤣
Thats a fundamental misunderstanding of how the biology works. You could argue that vaccines helped put environmental pressures to help omicron, but first versions likely developed absent a vaccine prevalent in the local environment. Not enough people took the vaccine to make that case, imo...
That said, I'm not aware of anyone who has done that analysis but I would be interested in reading it. #[2]

2023-04-10 13:35:06 UTC

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We were able to get these answers because of the unprecedented level of worldwide scientific collaboration aimed at capturing viral sequences from infected individuals to build a public-facing database. Unfortunately, our ability to measure and quantify the viral spread is evaporating due to decreased funding & ability to continuously sequence patient samples. Better records could also answer more questions.

2023-04-10 13:34:54 UTC

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Even worse, Omicron reinfection occurs over an even shorter time frame. In some cases, only a few weeks!
https://media.nostrgram.co/i/45/media_451bd37014346.jpg

2023-04-10 13:34:27 UTC

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You can ALSO catch omicron more than once. https://media.nostrgram.co/i/99/media_99b3f06014346.jpg

2023-04-10 13:34:03 UTC

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Omicron, in particular, reinfects people who had non-omicron variants more often than other variants.https://media.nostrgram.co/i/06/media_06f7594014346.jpg

2023-04-10 13:33:22 UTC

Getting COVID doesn’t protect you from getting it again. While a lot of folks believe that catching it does protect you, there is a growing body of evidence that it does not. I recently helped write a peer reviewed analysis in Nature Communications Biology adding to that pile.
https://media.nostrgram.co/i/91/media_91686eff04346.jpg
You can download the full paper for free here: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-023-04687-4

2023-04-06 18:04:37 UTC

https://media.nostrgram.co/i/8d/media_8df3d8390f246.jpg
For xx network libxxdk .NET library users, we just merged some major changes. It now builds on all major architectures and we made some quality of life improvements.
Our plan is expose the rest of the modules and have a nuget package published sometime in May. Any feedback on improvements we can make are welcomed!
My hope is we will see a Wasabi Wallet build or another tool get posted that allows folks to use xx as an option over the summer.
Here is a link to the MR: https://git.xx.network/elixxir/libxxdk/-/merge_requests/1

2023-03-31 20:01:59 UTC

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The bigger problem is that the RESTRICT act, which is supposedly banning tiktok, actually gives the president powers to ban any app (and protocol, like nostr..) they don't like. That's a huge problem. Contact your congresspeople folks!

2023-03-31 19:58:44 UTC

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xx messenger only has small private groups. We built a separate tool for chat rooms called Speakeasy, which is currently in alpha. Here's a link to one of the main chat rooms there:
http://alpha.speakeasy.tech/join?0Name=xxGeneralChat&1Description=Talking+about+the+xx+network&2Level=Public&3Created=1674152234202224215&e=%2FqE8BEgQQkXC6n0yxeXGQjvyklaRH6Z%2BWu8qvbFxiuw%3D&k=RMfN%2B9pD%2FJCzPTIzPk%2Bpf0ThKPvI425hye4JqUxi3iA%3D&l=368&m=0&p=1&s=rb%2BrK0HsOYcPpTF6KkpuDWxh7scZbj74kVMHuwhgUR0%3D&v=1 #[2]

2023-03-31 19:56:10 UTC

Harvard Kennedy school posted this great explainer on the fundamental problem with banning tiktok.
https://media.nostrgram.co/v/b2/media_b240b56a37246.mp4

2023-03-18 22:42:34 UTC

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More importantly its difficult to make a distinction between what happened in Ukraine from e.g., Iraq.
Obviously its the intentionality and awareness of it all, but its hard to define or set precedent with that because its literally not significantly different unless you've got a trailorf prosecuting and actually punishing offenders, and the US doesn't have that.
Related link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/08/us/politics/pentagon-war-crimes-hague.html

2023-03-18 01:15:29 UTC

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Its highly useful but I'd recommend most use f-droid. I think its a little safer and their process is a bit better with respect to avoiding broken builds and releases.

2023-03-17 23:19:25 UTC

The Journal Vaccines published a vaccine mouse study I helped with that targeted breast cancer:
https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines11030644
It showed statistically significant slowed tumor growth compared to the control group. We believe this is due to a protective T-cell response.
This is all based on our current best understanding of how the disease interacts with the body. In future experiments, we would like to see a demonstration of the presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes we think are responsible for the effects on tumor growth. We also would want to take advantage of next-generation sequencing, among other measurements.
#breastcancer #cancer #immunotherapy #vaccine

2023-03-17 02:47:56 UTC

For any of the parents out there, some guidance on controlling computer and phone use for your kids:
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/23/03/harvard-edcast-how-support-your-childs-digital-life

2023-03-17 00:41:43 UTC

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#[0]

2023-03-16 19:08:37 UTC

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Whoops, I meant Signature. The names are too similar!

2023-03-16 19:07:51 UTC

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/03/barney-frank-says-more-shuttering-signature-bank.html
Apparently Silvergate was solvent when it was shut down. That raises some questions...
https://media.nostrgram.co/i/5a/media_5a73bcc863146.jpg

2023-03-16 17:16:41 UTC

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Out of curiosity, are there any legal briefs or analyses from lawyers in this space about this? If he's right, then why isn't he doing his job and taking the high profile projects to court to set a precedent?
Putting up money to win a lottery seems to fail the efforts of others part, but IANAL 🤷. There's also no risk of fraud or of losing the investment, so I don't see the point from a policy perspective.
I don't even think such a rule breaks most PoS systems, but instead it would force them to use a rent and guarantee model to the nominators (i.e., significantly more stake from the validator and significantly less profit for the nominator, as now stake is collateral to pay them for renting the nomination). That keeps the protocol viable but makes it harder to participate as a little guy for no ones benefit or risk.

2023-03-16 16:48:21 UTC

Has anyone written a rebuttal to Nicholas Weaver's latest slanted opus? Link:
https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/area/center/isp/documents/weaver_death_of_cryptocurrency_final.pdf
It's started to gain traction with the policy wonks I know. He's obviously not entirely wrong about some things, but the ideological bent on this thing is anti-all things crypto, so it would be useful if anyone has done a more fair analysis.
Please reboost for visibility with your audiences.

2023-03-16 16:37:24 UTC

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Great point, and I do think this is a reasonable change (and I gave you sats for it 😂). I was merely suggesting an alt path to consider.
The impl I was thinking of checks size and ignores w/ a warning, and that wouldn't actually "break" here, just drop it semi-silently. FWIW, Implementations doing more strict checking are likely to be more secure and avoiding issues like resource exhaustion but, in these early days, you are right that it doesn't matter right now. ✌️

2023-03-16 15:01:38 UTC

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It wouldn't be hard to fix, but it would break some clients. Nothing stops the NOTICE message from following a standardized format which includes a subscription id, so it might make more sense to define that format in another NIP. The disadvantage is a second decode step, but you're already processing an error message, so that doesn't seem all that bad to me. #[2]

2023-03-14 15:05:16 UTC

Neat howto for speakeasy sent to me by a community member:
https://media.nostrgram.co/i/2c/media_2c5d0ddc80146.gif
FWIW, you don't need to use the speakeasy website to use speakeasy (most of our users don't, actually!), you can run the npm app locally:
https://git.xx.network/elixxir/speakeasy-web

2023-03-14 00:36:10 UTC

Really pleased to release v0.3.0 of speakeasy today, which has the following improvements:
💬 Dms are finally here. Click a username to try it out. You can disable them in your channel settings.
🔒 Control your DMs, what channels you can be DMed from and which Users can DM you
💪 Performance enhancements for large channels.
👀 A few UX tweaks, channel settings are now in the channel header and account settings are now in the top right corner.
You can check it out at https://alpha.speakeasy.tech and the main channel invite link is:
https://alpha.speakeasy.tech/join?0Name=xxGeneralChat&1Description=Talking+about+the+xx+network&2Level=Public&3Created=1674152234202224215&e=%2FqE8BEgQQkXC6n0yxeXGQjvyklaRH6Z%2BWu8qvbFxiuw%3D&k=RMfN%2B9pD%2FJCzPTIzPk%2Bpf0ThKPvI425hye4JqUxi3iA%3D&l=368&m=0&p=1&s=rb%2BrK0HsOYcPpTF6KkpuDWxh7scZbj74kVMHuwhgUR0%3D&v=1

2023-03-09 23:07:28 UTC

The xx team just released this tech preview for Proxxy, which adds some privacy when working over Metamask. 🦊
https://media.nostrgram.co/v/d8/media_d8a703866a046.mp4
I work on the backend of this with the mixnet. Happy to answer any questions.

2023-03-09 04:01:32 UTC

"Then, we show how this vulnerability can be used to construct second preimages and preimages for the implementation, and we provide a specially constructed file that, when hashed, allows the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the victim's device. " 💥🔥
https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/331

2023-03-02 19:24:56 UTC

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This is certainly reality in a world lacking a functioning legal system like ours but, in practice, it's extremely rare that a violent criminal emerges without a history of criminal behavior. Society is both too lax and too strict in all the wrong ways. There's no emphasis on rehabilitation and monitoring earlier, when it counts. The punishments are also purely punitive and paint individuals with scarlet letters that make it difficult for them to ever be productive members of society again.
In other words, the current systems are largely designed to produce worse criminals (unintentionally, unless you're a prison corpo...). While a statement like this is true on it's face, it naturally leads to policy preferences that make the problems worse (i.e., less gun control for all including all the known and worst criminal elements out there). Responsible citizens and policies get sidelined.

2023-03-02 03:33:31 UTC

Today I had some fun getting my golang library running in C#, if any .NET aficionados are out there I'd appreciate feedback on how to make it better:
https://git.xx.network/carback1/libxxdk

2023-03-01 15:57:38 UTC

https://www.eff.org/files/banner_library/digital-books-og.png
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is defending the Internet Archive against a lawsuit that threatens its Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) program: https://www.eff.org/cases/hachette-v-internet-archive
The CDL is a hugely useful resource and EFF is doin great work here. I hope they win and it will be a travesty if they dont!

2023-03-01 14:10:23 UTC

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This was a really good and accessible discussion, and I will be bookmarking and recommending this audio to folks who ask me about this topic the next time it comes up.
Do you have any write-ups that summarize the main strategies and issues you discuss here?

2023-03-01 01:45:16 UTC

If you care about election security, Matt Bernhard from voting works is talking about it on a live stream right now: https://www.youtube.com/chihacknight/live
I'm not affiliated, but I can tell you these folks more than any others are focused on high impact practical improvements. Definitely worth a watch!

2023-02-28 14:25:38 UTC

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💯 and I agree amount and time should be fair game, but I loathe the idea of this becoming another product offering for palantir or chainalysis..
Especially in this context its really disturbing. This isn't a dark web marketplace, its words. The targets here are activists and dissidents. The opinions might be disgusting but any crime is happening elsewhere.

2023-02-28 14:15:13 UTC

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I'm also interested to know the details. Presumably it picks a random keypair then encrypts and puts your real info inside the encryption. This is kind of like sealed sender in Signal or DM in xx.
Not announcing on the network is a huge step, but its likely that other tech is needed for full protection. LN payments aren't that private even with private channels and the relays are in privileged positions to break privacy.

2023-02-28 04:22:03 UTC

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There could be weaknesses introduced by the mining alg that make it predictable but, naively, it's the probability that the rest of the bits randomly selected are the same.
So, assuming your vanity is 6 bytes, thats 32-6 => 26 bytes or 208 bits of entropy if i'm remembering the pubkey size right, so chances are 1/2^208 => 2.4308653429×10⁻⁶³ to choose the same key that was mined, then doing that over and over until you find it. 208 bits is pretty safe. #[2]

2023-02-28 04:09:12 UTC

DIY surveillance camera countermeasure hoodie: https://media.nostrgram.co/v/28/media_2839a84e7df36.mp4