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Author Topic: The Web is still a DARPA weapon  (Read 3043 times)

wraith808

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The Web is still a DARPA weapon
« on: August 28, 2018, 10:48 AM »
The Web is still a DARPA weapon (and other stuff)

DARPA.png
A visualization of all of the root servers, and the countries that control them



I went into this admittedly skeptical.  I just saw the title, and it was a free article (the only kind I read on Medium) and decided to read it.  He makes a convincing case.  The title is only a part of the article; he goes into other parts of history and the problem until finally settling on his point at the end:

Seriously, WebAssembly is the worst idea since JavaScript in browsers.
Not only because it’s a binary blob served by foreign companies but run on your PC, under the law of your country, but because they know you, your relations, your interests, and will “customize” that blob.

Even if implemented perfectly, without a single security issue, it’s a weapon.

You might object that JavaScript is already a weapon ready to fire on every PC and every smartphone out there. A weapon that constitutes a threat to free speech even if we ignore the power of Google and friends.

And you would be right.
JavaScript is a dangerous weapon that should be disarmed.

I cannot really understand how European states let this happen.

I’d like to think they were bribed, but the sad truth is that they do not understand the matter. Not even a little bit.

But developers do!
It’s time for developers to fix this mess.

Though it seems somewhat that he was burying the lede, the information is actually really interesting, and the point well is taken, so I forgave the article for it.




from The Web is still a DARPA weapon on Medium.

Renegade

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Re: The Web is still a DARPA weapon
« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2018, 10:52 PM »
That was an excellent read!

Whether or not it's all by design and intentional is really quite irrelevant. The potential is there, and that's enough. Running binary code like that... sheesh. Just, no. Not a good idea.
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