NFT: Explain This to Your Mom at Thanksgiving
November 22, 2021
I have no dog in this crypto fight. You can view an interview with one of the founders of SecureX on November 30, 2021, in a DarkCyber interview. I am not sure about some of the innovations swirling around the crypto thing.
I do want to direct your attention to The NFT Bay. This is a pirate NFT search system. Navigate to the url (verified at 632 am US Eastern on November 22, 2021, and run your queries. Here’s the url https://thenftbay.org.
The logo looks familiar. Perhaps you have seen it before? Once again, my blog post will remain at a high level.
You can sign up for a newsletter about The NFT Bay. The publication is produced by an entity named G. Huntley. Sock puppet, alias, I don’t know, and I am not willing to spend time poking around. That’s a job for an enthusiastic NFT fan perhaps?
Where does G. Huntley reside?
That question has an interesting answer. A van that is slowly working its way around Australia. You can check out the entity’s Web site at this link. Yep, vanlife meets NFTs and InfoSec.
Now about your explanation for Thanksgiving.
Stephen E Arnold, November 22, 2021
Expert Surprised That Health Club Billing Methods Are Used by SaaS and Cloud Companies
November 19, 2021
I enjoy write ups which reveal the obvious. Consider health clubs or gym memberships. One gym located in the whiskey and fried chicken capital of the flyover states is about 3,000 square feet. How many members does the facility have? The answer is 3,000. How many use the gym on a regular basis? About 100. How does the outfit make money? Billing the “members” who never use the equipment. Plus, the billings each month are facilitated by the smart software at Visa, MasterCard, and banks with auto-withdrawal capability. Is this a scam? Nope, it’s the business model of health clubs. Just sign up and never come. Works like a champ by the way.
“I Analyzed SaaS Billing Dark Patterns” and learned that the author was surprised, shocked, horrified, and troubled that cloud providers use the health club approach to revenue. The write up reveals:
SaaS providers are more than willing to use dark billing patterns to increase their growth metrics and revenue. They exploit positive user acquisition loops in recurring subscriptions to get money from users as surreptitiously as possible.
Yep, shocker.
I loved this rhetorical question? Why do SaaS providers deploy the dark patterns?
The answer is, “The method generates money.”
But, but, but…. That’s bad.
Well, it depends on what point of view one adopts, doesn’t it.
Hollowing out is dumbing down in my book. The surprise in the write up illustrates the failure of basic management oversight.
What’s this mean? Higher costs, people who cannot figure out why something doesn’t work, and a lack of awareness about the obvious. Yep, the thumbtyper world is a fascinating construct.
Stephen E Arnold, November 19, 2021
Enterprise Search: What Did Shakespeare Allegedly Write?
November 15, 2021
The statement, according to my ratty copy of Shakespeare’s plays edited by one of the professors who tried to get me out of the university’s computer “room” in 1964, presents the Bard’s original, super authentic words this way:
The play is Hamlet. The queen, looking queenly, says to the fellow Thespian: “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
Ironic? You decide. I just wanted to regurgitate what the professor wanted. Irony played no part in getting and A and getting back to the IBM mainframe and the beloved punch card machine.
I thought about “protesting too much” after I read “Making a Business Case for Enterprise Search.”
I noted this statement:
In effect you have to develop a Fourth Dimension costing model to account for the full range of potential costs.
Okay, the 4th dimension. Experts (real and self anointed) have been yammering about enterprise search for decades.
Why does an organization snap at the marketing line deployed by vendors of search and retrieval technology? The answer is obvious, at least to me. Someone believes that finding information is needed for some organizational instrumentality. Examples include finding an email so it can be deleted before litigation begins. Another is to locate the PowerPoint which contains the price the now terminated sales professional presented to close a very big contract. How about pinpoint who in the organization had access to the chemical composition of a new anti viral? Another? A shipment went walkabout. Some person making minimum wage has to locate products to be able to send out another shipment.
The laughable part of “enterprise search” is that there is no single system, including the craziness pitched by Amazon, Microsoft, Google, start ups with AI centric systems, or small outfits which have been making minimal revenue headway for a very long time from a small city in Austria or a suburb of the delightful metropolis of Moscow.
The cost of failing to find information cannot be reduced to the made up data about how long a person spends hunting for information. I believe a mid tier consulting outfit and a librarian cooked up this info-confection. Nor is any accountant going to be able to back out the “cost” of search in a cloud database service provided by one of the regulators’ favorite monopolies. No system manager I know keeps track of what time and effort goes into making it possible for a 23 year old art history major locate the specific technical innovation in an autonomous drone. Information of this type requires features not included in Everything, X1, Solr, or the exciting Amazon knock off of Elastic’s follow on to Compass.
Enterprise information retrieval has been a thing for about 50 years. Where has the industry gone? Well, one search executive did a year in prison. Another is fighting extradition for financial fancy dancing. Dozens have just failed. Remember Groxis? And many others have gone to the search-doesn’t-work section of the dead software cemetery.
I find it interesting that people have to explain search in the midst of smart software, blockchain, and a shift to containerized development.
Oh, well. There’s the Sinequa calculator thing.
Stephen E Arnold, November 15, 2021
Bitcoin: Now a Teenager. We Know What Is Ahead?
November 5, 2021
Bitcoin is 13 years old. Zits, staying out late, pushing boundaries, and trying out controlled substances. Did I miss anything.
Oh, yes, these thoughts were sparked by “Bitcoin White Paper turns 13 Years Old: The Journey So Far.” This nine page document by the mysterious Nakamoto entity has set off a fuse in the financial industry.
The write up provides a walk down memory lane. The essay states:
While it isn’t clear whether more countries will adopt BTC as legal tender in the future, or whether interest for Bitcoin ETFs will wane, it appears clear that Bitcoin is here to stay and serve as both a store of value and medium of exchange, and that’s only 13 years after the idea was first introduced. Imagine what will happen in the next 13 years.
Stock up on NFTs and crypto. Keep your eye on tax regulations too.
Stephen E Arnold, November 5, 2021
CoinMarketCap User Data Leaked
November 3, 2021
The IRS may be interested in these data. Many turn to crypto currency because it is (nearly) untraceable. The major website where users go to keep up to date on crypto currency markets, however, has proven to be less secure. Gadgets360 reports, “Data of Over Three Million CoinMarketCap Users Breached, Crypto-Tracker Acknowledges.” We learn:
“Data of over three million CoinMarketCap (CMC) users was leaked earlier in October, the crypto tracker confirmed. Every day, over 27 million people from the US, India, and Japan among other nations visit the platform to price-track and stay updated on cryptocurrency, a report by statistics firm HypeStat claimed recently. This data breach comes at a time when cyber-attacks specifically targeting the crypto-community are rising in numbers, worldwide. Despite several nations still being skeptical about legalizing crypto currencies, the crypto space is witnessing rapid expansion in many parts of the world. Registered email addresses of 3,117,548 CMC users were unlawfully obtained and uploaded on hacking forums by nefarious cyber criminals on October 12, CryptoPotato reported earlier this week. These email ids are now being traded on the dark web. CMC has acknowledged this data breach while noting that the passwords of these leaked email addresses remain safe.”
We suppose that is something to be grateful for. CMC insists the data leak was not on their own servers, and is still investigating what went awry. Writer Radhika Parashar reminds us this is not the first time a crypto firm has been breached, pointing to BitMEX and Ledger as examples. Also, a recent Business Insider report identifies 32 fraud and hacking attacks on crypto targets so far this year to the tune of nearly $3 billion. The same study states the number of attacks is growing by 41% each year. Ah, secure crypto.
Cynthia Murrell, November 3, 2021
Crypto Currency and Social Media: Financial Heterocyclic Skeletons?
October 27, 2021
I read what seemed at first glance another rah rah crypto currency news report. The article is “NFTs Are Sinking Their Non-Fungible Claws in Even Deeper.” Here’s a snippet I underlined:
Just as crypto currencies are set to revolutionize the world of economics and finance, NFTs are going to rewrite how we think about digital goods.
This prose comes from the Reddit social media outfit’s job posting. Reddit is not alone. The Zen-manager wizard in charge of Twitter has perceived a similar signal from the future. The short message outfit wants to get into crypto.
Several observations:
- Existing oversight and financial controls are not tuned into the powerful interactions of social media, censorship/filtering, and digital currency and its artifacts
- Financial experts struggle to explain the Tesla phenomenon and strike me as in the dark about crypto currencies, NFTs, and financial reactions that are likely to be triggered among the young at heart and a taste for gambling
- Traditional financial firms spend big bucks to make sure their data streams are up to the demands of high frequency trading. Are these outfits ready for the 24×7 social media crypto currency reactions? My hunch is that the firms will generate words but the understanding thing may be on vacation.
Net net: Reddit and Twitter, two social media giants, are doing some experimenting with volatile financial chemicals. The reactions may be surprising.
Stephen E Arnold, October 27, 2021
China: Rethinking Decentralized Finance the CCP Way
October 11, 2021
I read “Bitcoin Plummets after China Intensifies Cryptocurrency Crackdown.” The “real” news story reports:
Chinese government agencies including the country’s securities regulator and the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement on Friday that all cryptocurrency-related business activities are illegal and vowed to clamp down on illicit activities involving digital currencies.
Well, that seems clear. Draconian? Sure.
A demonstration of power? Sure.
Popular among the digital currency enthusiasts in China? For party members, probably. For others, probably less enthusiasm.
What’s interesting is that China appears to recognize the threats posed by “digital everything” require government action.
Russia is playing a fence sitting game.
As nation states pick a team, will a different alignment of power emerge?
Interesting. What happens if those on the China side embrace total surveillance? Even more interesting.
I am delighted I am old. Thumbtypers are likely to have a different take on this development.
Stephen E Arnold, October 11, 2021
Great Moments in Modern Management: The Mailchimp Move
September 28, 2021
I like the phrase “high school science club management methods.” No one else seems to care. I spotted a exemplary management maneuver. “Mailchimp Employees Are Furious After the Company’s Founders Promised to Never Sell, Withheld Equity, and Then Sold It for $12 Billion.” The “it” refers to the company, not “the equity,” but, hey, what does one expect from a mash up of Silicon Valley “real” news and German quality control. You will have to pay to read the original story. Money is needed for copy editors or a BMW lease.
I noted this passage:
The founders told anyone who would listen they would own Mailchimp until they died and bragged about turning down multiple offers. “It was part of the company lore that they would never sell,” said a former Mailchimp employee, who like others interviewed for this story were granted anonymity because they were unauthorized to discuss sensitive internal matters. “Employees were indoctrinated with this narrative.”
The two founders did sell.
Well, what do you know? A high flying online email marketing outfit said one thing and did another. Gee, that rarely happens.
I wish the HSSCMM would catch on. The methods are proliferating like snorts in the high school lunch room when someone mentions “the prom.” Oh, those mail monkeys all grown up!
Stephen E Arnold, September 28, 2021
Alphabet Spells Out YouTube Recommendations: Are Some Letters Omitted?
September 23, 2021
I have been taking a look at Snorkel (Stanford AI Labs, open source stuff, and the commercial Snorkel.ai variants). I am a dim wit. It seems to me that Google has found a diving partner and embracing some exotic equipment. The purpose of the Snorkel is to implement smart workflows. These apparently will allow better, faster, and cheaper operations; for example, classifying content for the purpose of training smart software. Are their applications of Snorkel-type thinking to content recommendation systems. Absolutely. Note that subject matter experts and knowledge bases are needed at the outset of setting up a Snorkelized system. Then, the “smarts” are componentized. Future interaction is by “engineers”, who may or may not be subject matter experts. The directed acyclic graphs are obviously “directed.” Sounds super efficient.
Now navigate to “On YouTube’s Recommendation System.” This is a lot of words for a Googler to string together: About 2,500.
Here’s the key passage:
These human evaluations then train our system to model their decisions, and we now scale their assessments to all videos across YouTube.
Now what letters are left out? Maybe the ones that spell built-in biases, stochastic drift, and Timnit Gebru? On the other hand, that could be a “Ré” of hope for cost reduction.
Stephen E Arnold, September 23, 2021
Big Tech Defines Material: What Does That Really Mean to Oligopolistic-Type Outfits?
September 16, 2021
I noted a US government study called “Non HSR Reported Acquisitions by Select Technology Platforms: 2010-2019: FTC Study.” The report, assuming it is spot on, suggests that large companies interpreted the word “material” differently from what some financial / accountant types think it means; for example, “Items are considered to be material when they have an excessive impact on reported profits, or on individual line items within the financial statements.” [Source: The Google, of course.] Some MBAs and accountants have remarkably flexible connotative skills. Is this a Deloitte Touche-type touch?
The report states:
My hunch is that standard deviation is not a hot topic at Zoom happy hours. The standard deviations in the table above suggest that the big tech outfits in the study pretty much redefined “material,” bought stuff and did not make a big deal about it, and chugged along in their cheerfully unregulated state during the period of the study.
The report states:
The five technology platform 6(b) respondents identified 616 non-HSR reportable transactions above $1 million, in addition to 101 Hiring Events and 91 Patent Acquisitions. The respondents reported an additional approximate 60 transactions below $1 million and 160 financial investments. Voting Security (Control) and Asset acquisitions comprise 65% of all of the above transactions. When excluding Hiring Events, Patent Acquisitions, and transactions below $1 million, Voting Security (Control) and Asset acquisitions comprise 85% of the transactions.
I interpret this to mean that the big tech outfits in the sample decided what to report and what to ignore; that is, the deals were not material. There’s that MBA word again.
Here’s another passage I circled:
Most of the transactions that were classified into technology categories were concentrated in the categories of Mobility (mobile devices and device-based software and content, which comprised more than 10% of the acquired firms), Application Software (front-end applications such as CRM, ERP, SCM, BI, commerce and vertical business software, which comprised more than 9% of the acquired firms), and Internet Content & Commerce (internet destination and internet-enabled services, which comprised more than 6% of the acquired firms). In the Mobility and Application Software categories, the number of transactions peaked in 2015; in the Internet Content & Commerce category, the number of transactions peaked in 2011.
Observations:
- Fancy dancing is popular among the companies in the sample; notably, Alphabet/Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft
- Regulators, probably with MBAs, looked the other way
- The power of unregulated commercial enterprises makes clear who is in charge of many important technical and social activities.
Interesting stuff, and I am confident that a lawyer with an MBA can explain this misalignment about the meaning of “material.” I wonder if the hints about the behavior of the companies in the sample suggest that we now live in a digital banana republic with the centers of power concentrated among a few corporate entities in their plantation houses.
Stephen E Arnold, September 16, 2021
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