Four short links: 11 November 2019
WebAssembly Shell, Network Security, FPGA Bugs, and Inoculating Against Online Misinformation
- WebAssembly.sh an open source terminal that uses the WebAssembly Package Manager (WAPM) and local files to run server-side Wasm / WASI modules in a shell-like interface. (via Mikeal Rogers)
- Russia’s Suspected Internet Cable Spy Ship Appears Off Americas (Forbes) — assume your network is compromised, as you should always have done. Before enlightenment: encryption. After enlightenment: encryption.
- Finding and Understanding Bugs in FPGA Synthesis Tools — Every synthesis tool was found to introduce discrepancies between the netlist and the design, and all tools except XST crashed when given valid input. Vivado was found to missynthesise 4% of random testcases that it was given.
- Fake News Game Confers Psychological Resistance Against Online Misinformation (Nature) — In the game, players take on the role of a fake news producer and learn to master six documented techniques commonly used in the production of misinformation: polarization, invoking emotions, spreading conspiracy theories, trolling people online, deflecting blame, and impersonating fake accounts. The game draws on an inoculation metaphor, where preemptively exposing, warning, and familiarizing people with the strategies used in the production of fake news helps confer cognitive immunity when exposed to real misinformation. We conducted a large-scale evaluation of the game with N = 15,000 participants in a pre-post gameplay design. We provide initial evidence that people’s ability to spot and resist misinformation improves after gameplay, irrespective of education, age, political ideology, and cognitive style.
