str4d
@str4d.xyz
Cryptography, privacy, zero knowledge, Rust, Zcash dev, gaming, hardware hackery, art appreciation. He/him.
https://str4d.xyz
https://abyssdomain.expert/@str4d
age18f63qx4gk8x7p4lfuwwglqcan7snvp406q5vmk26g9fmpe9c799qqzzr3w
https://str4d.xyz
https://abyssdomain.expert/@str4d
age18f63qx4gk8x7p4lfuwwglqcan7snvp406q5vmk26g9fmpe9c799qqzzr3w
Pinned
str4d
@str4d.xyz
· Mar 5
I am a professional cryptographic engineer.
I regularly open my Calculator app to check that 32 * 8 still equals 256.
I regularly open my Calculator app to check that 32 * 8 still equals 256.
The main reason I'd want Polytoken to be open-source at this stage is to figure out why certain things don't work.
Fortunately, it has a /feedback command and a very responsive developer, so I can just keep throwing my observations in there instead and forget about them.
Fortunately, it has a /feedback command and a very responsive developer, so I can just keep throwing my observations in there instead and forget about them.
Yup, and I mean this (mostly) gently—people don't ask you to open-source stuff that isn't good. I don't think that a pile of no-effort PRs makes it better, and I don't think that forks because I don't take no-effort PRs benefit me.
Source and continuance rights are available via commercial support.
Source and continuance rights are available via commercial support.
what is the benefit in being able to fork and extend that pile which no one designed?
August 29, 2026 at 2:47 AM
The main reason I'd want Polytoken to be open-source at this stage is to figure out why certain things don't work.
Fortunately, it has a /feedback command and a very responsive developer, so I can just keep throwing my observations in there instead and forget about them.
Fortunately, it has a /feedback command and a very responsive developer, so I can just keep throwing my observations in there instead and forget about them.
Optimist: The cup is half full
Pessimist: The cup is half empty
Cryptographic engineer: Your RNG is broken, that's not a uniform distribution.
Pessimist: The cup is half empty
Cryptographic engineer: Your RNG is broken, that's not a uniform distribution.
Optimist: The cup is half full
Pessimist: The cup is half empty
Cryptographer: Whatever’s in the cup, a simulator with no knowledge of the cup can produce the same view
Pessimist: The cup is half empty
Cryptographer: Whatever’s in the cup, a simulator with no knowledge of the cup can produce the same view
Optimist: The cup is half full
Pessimist: The cup is half empty
Advertising suit: the cup is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. Even though you have other cups, you need to buy this cup now while stocks last.
Pessimist: The cup is half empty
Advertising suit: the cup is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. Even though you have other cups, you need to buy this cup now while stocks last.
August 22, 2026 at 7:36 AM
Optimist: The cup is half full
Pessimist: The cup is half empty
Cryptographic engineer: Your RNG is broken, that's not a uniform distribution.
Pessimist: The cup is half empty
Cryptographic engineer: Your RNG is broken, that's not a uniform distribution.
Reposted by str4d
Happy Zero Cool Day y'all
August 10, 2026 at 4:54 PM
Happy Zero Cool Day y'all
Reposted by str4d
Are you at DEF CON? Do you have a spare TV or monitor? Please let @dwangoac.tas.bot know. He needs one for the Game Hacking Village.
August 7, 2026 at 12:52 AM
Are you at DEF CON? Do you have a spare TV or monitor? Please let @dwangoac.tas.bot know. He needs one for the Game Hacking Village.
Excellent article, and very interesting to read.
I find it amusing that this paragraph of Chatrie is "head-scratching" from a legal perspective, when to me (both as a regular user and a professional privacy engineer) this is a pretty straightforward way to map physical privacy onto digital privacy.
I find it amusing that this paragraph of Chatrie is "head-scratching" from a legal perspective, when to me (both as a regular user and a professional privacy engineer) this is a pretty straightforward way to map physical privacy onto digital privacy.
![phone user is not to be viewed as sharing private information with third parties—which then can be freely passed on to the government—just by doing the ordinary things cell-phone users do.
It’s important to unpack this passage, as it introduces a new concept into Fourth Amendment law that is likely to be at the center of a great deal of future litigation. According to this passage, there is a category of “ordinary things cell phone users do” that, across the board, is not to be deemed voluntarily disclosed to “third-party tech companies.” Our present society has a new thing—”modern-cell phone use,” not just from “dumb flip-phone[s],” but from smartphones that come with a “conventional” and “ordinary” set of services “on them.” “Activities” associated with those conventional services are, apparently en masse, “insulated from the third-party doctrine.”
This is head-scratching paragraph, and Section III will try to puzzle through what it might mean. But the key for now is that Chatrie creates a new constitutional category of “ordinary” or “conventional” uses of technology. The “ordinary” or “conventional” uses of common devices are treated with heightened Fourth Amendment protection, apparently making even factually knowing and voluntary disclosure of those uses to “third-party tech companies” not truly voluntary as a matter of law.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bvdrfwiamgi5leqs63q2duro/bafkreicapnclyr5abrc5nfnturgn5xbkjbzxvhrxiwyfjl7zemlvn5p63m)
August 6, 2026 at 2:17 AM
Excellent article, and very interesting to read.
I find it amusing that this paragraph of Chatrie is "head-scratching" from a legal perspective, when to me (both as a regular user and a professional privacy engineer) this is a pretty straightforward way to map physical privacy onto digital privacy.
I find it amusing that this paragraph of Chatrie is "head-scratching" from a legal perspective, when to me (both as a regular user and a professional privacy engineer) this is a pretty straightforward way to map physical privacy onto digital privacy.
Reposted by str4d
If a technology *can* be abused, it *will* be abused. This goes doubly for those in positions of power. Technology policy can be difficult, but we should never lose sight of this fact.
New: We found 50 cops who misused Flock cameras and other license-plate readers for personal purposes, often to spy on their girlfriends or ex-wives.
He "watched every single move I made. ... Who do you turn the chief of police in to?"
wapo.st/3S6rTuo
He "watched every single move I made. ... Who do you turn the chief of police in to?"
wapo.st/3S6rTuo
She left her ex. He secretly tracked her through a network of policing cameras.
Flock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.
wapo.st
August 2, 2026 at 2:56 PM
If a technology *can* be abused, it *will* be abused. This goes doubly for those in positions of power. Technology policy can be difficult, but we should never lose sight of this fact.
Film you've watched more than six times with a gif.
Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.
Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.
July 30, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Film you've watched more than six times with a gif.
Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.
Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.
Reposted by str4d
Bob DyLean: A Framework for the Symbolic Analysis of Cryptographic Protocols in Lean (Théophile Wallez, Cas Cremers) ia.cr/2026/1493
July 24, 2026 at 6:52 PM
Bob DyLean: A Framework for the Symbolic Analysis of Cryptographic Protocols in Lean (Théophile Wallez, Cas Cremers) ia.cr/2026/1493
Reposted by str4d
fucking cryptographers
July 20, 2026 at 12:11 AM
fucking cryptographers
luv 2 think I'll make a quick release of a project with a new feature, and instead end up having to cut multiple bugfix releases as I find things I missed several years ago 🫠
July 14, 2026 at 1:51 AM
luv 2 think I'll make a quick release of a project with a new feature, and instead end up having to cut multiple bugfix releases as I find things I missed several years ago 🫠
My Raspberry Pi Tailscale exit node is not routing.
I can't SSH in because I don't remember its password, and I don't remember which laptop I set it up from (for pubkey access).
I can't change the password in the CLI because I can't find my micro HDMI adapter.
Guess I'm reflashing it yet again! 🫠
I can't SSH in because I don't remember its password, and I don't remember which laptop I set it up from (for pubkey access).
I can't change the password in the CLI because I can't find my micro HDMI adapter.
Guess I'm reflashing it yet again! 🫠
July 11, 2026 at 1:19 AM
My Raspberry Pi Tailscale exit node is not routing.
I can't SSH in because I don't remember its password, and I don't remember which laptop I set it up from (for pubkey access).
I can't change the password in the CLI because I can't find my micro HDMI adapter.
Guess I'm reflashing it yet again! 🫠
I can't SSH in because I don't remember its password, and I don't remember which laptop I set it up from (for pubkey access).
I can't change the password in the CLI because I can't find my micro HDMI adapter.
Guess I'm reflashing it yet again! 🫠
That was fun! I've played similar games before but not that allowed using letters multiple times; that took a bit for my brain to route through.
July 9, 2026 at 12:19 AM
That was fun! I've played similar games before but not that allowed using letters multiple times; that took a bit for my brain to route through.
The outcomes from this Rust rewrite that interest me:
- Introduced 19 regressions, all now fixed.
- Fixed 128 bugs that were present in the Zig version.
- Cost $165,000 of API tokens, took 1 engineer 11 days. Not feasible for any open-source codebases, but *way* cheaper than 3 engineers for 1 year.
- Introduced 19 regressions, all now fixed.
- Fixed 128 bugs that were present in the Zig version.
- Cost $165,000 of API tokens, took 1 engineer 11 days. Not feasible for any open-source codebases, but *way* cheaper than 3 engineers for 1 year.
July 8, 2026 at 11:03 PM
The outcomes from this Rust rewrite that interest me:
- Introduced 19 regressions, all now fixed.
- Fixed 128 bugs that were present in the Zig version.
- Cost $165,000 of API tokens, took 1 engineer 11 days. Not feasible for any open-source codebases, but *way* cheaper than 3 engineers for 1 year.
- Introduced 19 regressions, all now fixed.
- Fixed 128 bugs that were present in the Zig version.
- Cost $165,000 of API tokens, took 1 engineer 11 days. Not feasible for any open-source codebases, but *way* cheaper than 3 engineers for 1 year.
Reposted by str4d
I don't get why anybody is listening to Jacob Applebaum. My cat has about the same expertise in cryptography, and has never been credibly accused of sexual abuse. She's also a lot cuter.
July 8, 2026 at 4:03 PM
I don't get why anybody is listening to Jacob Applebaum. My cat has about the same expertise in cryptography, and has never been credibly accused of sexual abuse. She's also a lot cuter.
That was exhausting just to watch!
July 6, 2026 at 3:06 AM
That was exhausting just to watch!
I am not normally a football person, but games like this one are quite exceptional.
July 6, 2026 at 2:00 AM
I am not normally a football person, but games like this one are quite exceptional.
Every time I think I'm getting a handle on the bounds of what an AI model can handle on its own, it makes a fuckup significant enough to force me to stop what it's doing and continue hand-holding it.
And I have no idea whether or not this is due to the provider making their model dumber on the fly.
And I have no idea whether or not this is due to the provider making their model dumber on the fly.
July 4, 2026 at 3:19 PM
Every time I think I'm getting a handle on the bounds of what an AI model can handle on its own, it makes a fuckup significant enough to force me to stop what it's doing and continue hand-holding it.
And I have no idea whether or not this is due to the provider making their model dumber on the fly.
And I have no idea whether or not this is due to the provider making their model dumber on the fly.
Did anyone set up an image/video post labeller trained on Mango Mussolini's face (and his associated cabinet)? @aendra.com maybe you have leads (or know of XBlock derivatives)?
June 30, 2026 at 11:59 PM
Did anyone set up an image/video post labeller trained on Mango Mussolini's face (and his associated cabinet)? @aendra.com maybe you have leads (or know of XBlock derivatives)?
Interesting artifact of the way @bsky.app does embeds: because they are stored in the post itself (via an app.bsky.embed.external record), they don't change when the article itself changes (e.g. this article has been retracted).
June 30, 2026 at 3:11 PM
Interesting artifact of the way @bsky.app does embeds: because they are stored in the post itself (via an app.bsky.embed.external record), they don't change when the article itself changes (e.g. this article has been retracted).
I was *certain* the images in the quoted post were GIFs of an old CRT recording until I tapped them.
@bsky.app you got a stylesheet bug somewhere, your gallery is vibing a bit too hard.
@bsky.app you got a stylesheet bug somewhere, your gallery is vibing a bit too hard.
June 27, 2026 at 6:51 PM
I was *certain* the images in the quoted post were GIFs of an old CRT recording until I tapped them.
@bsky.app you got a stylesheet bug somewhere, your gallery is vibing a bit too hard.
@bsky.app you got a stylesheet bug somewhere, your gallery is vibing a bit too hard.