Senior Security Engineer @ Wise (they/them or he/him). Tech, trains, and Taylor Swift. #ActuallyAutistic, probably #AuDHD. Views my own unless stated otherwise.
Sussex, United Kingdom
Joined December 2010
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Ben retweeted
The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment: effective systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption. #NoDeathPenalty
Ben retweeted
Grenfell - 72 died from the fire, at least five died by suicide, 11,000 have PTSD, concerns about long term effects of toxicity on residents, 11 firefighters with terminal cancer - plus £1bn spent and rising.
That's 'nothing' right?
Ben retweeted
Facebook bought a VPN for $200 million.
The app was called Onavo. it promised to "keep you and your data safe" and "block dangerous websites."
Buried in the small print: "Onavo collects your mobile data traffic. Because we're part of Facebook, we use this to improve Facebook products."
Meaning Facebook could see every app you opened, how long you used it, and how much data it consumed. all of it flowing through their VPN. Feeding their competitor intelligence operation.
Zuckerberg's internal emails showed he was specifically worried about Snapchat. its traffic was encrypted. Facebook couldn't see what was happening inside it. Onavo solved that.
Unsealed court documents revealed Project Ghostbusters. Facebook used Onavo's infrastructure to run SSL man-in-the-middle attacks on Snapchat's encrypted traffic, they decrypted it, read it and used it to inform product decisions.
and when Apple forced Onavo off the App Store in 2018 for data collection violations:
Facebook didn't stop, they rebranded it "Facebook Research" and paid teenagers between 13 and 25 up to $20 a month to install it and grant root network access to their phones, recruited via ads on Instagram and Snapchat.
Apple found out and banned that too.
Facebook's statement: "market research helps companies build better products."
Ben retweeted
What is disturbing is people building machines (LLMs) lobbying for “consciousness”.
Machines are tools we humans we create for us. An LLM is as conscious as my screwdriver, lawn mower or smartphone is - all tools we build to do X or Y.
Damning Ant founder thinks like this?!
NEW: According to a bombshell report in the New York Times, Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah threatened to walk out of Pope Leo XIV’s AI encyclical launch in May because the pope rejected the idea that machines can be conscious.
Olah’s team then privately lobbied the pope’s advisers “to take the possibility of model consciousness seriously.” Pope Leo XIV held firm.
For months, Anthropic has wined and dined theologians and religious scholars under nondisclosure agreements, hoping they would bless the idea that Claude has moral standing. thelettersfromleo.com/p/nyt-…
Ben retweeted
NEW: According to a bombshell report in the New York Times, Anthropic co-founder Chris Olah threatened to walk out of Pope Leo XIV’s AI encyclical launch in May because the pope rejected the idea that machines can be conscious.
Olah’s team then privately lobbied the pope’s advisers “to take the possibility of model consciousness seriously.” Pope Leo XIV held firm.
For months, Anthropic has wined and dined theologians and religious scholars under nondisclosure agreements, hoping they would bless the idea that Claude has moral standing. thelettersfromleo.com/p/nyt-…
Ben retweeted
i miss nintendo selects so bad man bc wdym they used to permanently discount some of their games for only 20 bucks
Ben retweeted
If the BBC is to survive in the digital age then it needs to hire many more people to work in media technology, not get rid of the ones it has.
BBC cuts latest: 151 employees taking voluntary redundancy in BBC Media Tech, the unit that helps power online services including iPlayer and BBC Sounds. Will save £14.5m. deadline.com/2026/09/bbc-cut…
Ben retweeted
The contagion of fear
bcantrill.dtrace.org/2026/09…
Ben retweeted
🧵 The Amazon business model, from the low pay and human rights abuses in the warehouses, to free Prime shipping on everything including a literal anvil (thanks @iamjohnoliver) is a major factor in how this #21Air Miami accident happened. ⏬
It's looking like @dhh's decision for @37signals to "leave the cloud" was impeccably timed... katelynlesse.com/blog/cpu-sh…
Ben retweeted
The pictures from Reform conference of delegates assaulting women protestors should be front page news. There should be no excuses because of their age. This is where the country is heading under Farage and Reform. These are the people who have been radicalised in this country.
The networks should charge extra for a "we guarantee at least (e.g.) 2Mb/s on the route between Hastings and London" product. Commuters would pay for it, and it would fund upgrades like this.
Ben retweeted
In 2025, John Edgley (@NetworkRail’s chief engineer of infrastructure and asset strategy) stood up and showed that graph to a conference of engineers.
He said the following words, and they should be seen as a stark warning:
But why should the customer have to tell the train operator to process their Delay Repay claim properly? Can you imagine if a passenger excused themselves from buying the correct ticket because they "auto purchased" one?
It sounds like your claim has been auto processed and not actually worked by an agent. You can appeal the decision by contacting Customer Relations directly. [email protected] 03447 369 123 (option 4) Mon-Fri 09:00 - 17:00 Sat 09:00 - 16:00. ^JM
Baffling that XC don't seem to have resiliency for when there's a power failure affecting their control centre. You would imagine that a train operator serving England Scotland and Wales might have a backup control centre and / or a backup generator.
⚠️ Services across the CrossCountry network will be significantly disrupted on Sunday 23 August due to a power cut affecting our control centre
Significant reductions to services and cancellations are expected across almost all routes
For more info:- crosscountrytrains.co.uk/tra…
Sounds like they do have a generator, so perhaps they just forgot to test it until it was too late? xitter.cf/CrossCountryUK/status/…
Ben retweeted
Well done @SouthernWater
First bit of rain and you discharge sewage into our seas.
It’s only holiday season.
Don’t worry about the kids swimming about in it all.
And please stop sending us letters saying it’s our fault, it’s not, it’s yours.
