Lina Khan's departure as chair of the FTC is a huge loss. I don't intend for that to sound the least bit partisan. She is so intelligent, so well spoken, and has such a deep understanding of the complex issues in the tech industry today. During her time at the FTC, the agency went after tech monopolies, data brokers, deceptive advertising, surprise fees, resort fees, fake reviews, enshittification, and so much other bullshit. So much could be done if only she were to remain in her role, and we desperately need it. I truly hope she leads the organization again very soon.
In Passkey technology is elegant, but it’s most definitely not usable security, Dan Goodin makes the case that passkeys are too difficult to use, despite their tremendous promise as easy-to-use security tools. He points out that platforms like iCloud, Google, and 1Password are constantly stepping over each other, fighting to be the platform that stores one's passkey, causing a mess of popups and “recommendations” that leave users confused. Imagine if several pieces of furniture in your house battled over the right to store your car keys. Would you ever be able to find them? That's what we have here.
This doesn't just happen with passkeys, I'm afraid. It's everywhere. For instance, my mom often has trouble finding her spreadsheets and Word documents. She uses an iMac, but OneDrive unceremoniously slurps them up, not even listing them as files on her filesystem, then charges her for the privilege when her OneDrive account runs out of space. The Google Photos app on iOS does something similar in a particularly egregious and slimy tactic that has left me warning friends and family never to install it. Then there's the frantic demands from browsers, search engines, and more: “USE ME! USE ME! USE ME!” It's awful, and it causes so much confusion, as people end up using platforms they never intended to.
New paperback copies are cheap on Amazon, and I was able to buy 9 before they cut me off. That's right, they won't let me buy any more. I thought about asking the publisher for a bulk discount or even a donation, but I'd rather vote with my money and send a signal to the market: publish more books like this!
“As a Facebook user, I want to have my personal information stored and utilized in very specific ways so that I can be manipulated into attempting to dismantle democracy.”
For those who don't get the joke, user stories are used in software development to describe features that should be added to applications. They describe the features concisely, but they are also supposed to be written from the point of view of someone who would want that feature (“As a… I want… so that…”). In practice, many user stories are written based on some mandate from management, even though no reasonable human being would ever want such a thing. In those cases, the user stories sound extremely awkward. Another example might be something like, “As a user, I want to pay more for the software so that the company can make it better over time.” That's the basis of the “Shit User Story” humor. It's funny because it's all to easy to imagine some product manager at Facebook actually writing this.
User stories come from Agile Software Development—a method of developing software that originally intended to empower developers, reward craftsmanship, and improve customer interaction. It saddens me that Agile has become yet another tool of bullshit corporate control, yet another half-assed, top-down process that engineers are forced to follow after the concept has been twisted and mutilated past the point of utility. That's been going on for years, though. I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said a thousand times already. I suppose it could now be called the enshittification of Agile.
My Gmail address frequently receives spam messages from other Gmail addresses. Gmail even marks the messages as spam. Why does Google not automatically close the offending accounts or help their proper users to recover them? (In some cases, spammers hijack legitimate accounts so that they can send the spam out as that person.) I find this so irresponsible. It seems like another case where Congress should force a tech company to do the right thing, if only Congress knew anything about technology.