Julf Helsingius
daland.bsky.social
Julf Helsingius
@daland.bsky.social
Swedish-speaking Finn from Helsinki, living in Amsterdam.
Involved with the Internet for way too long, geek, technologist stuck in policy jungle. Like things that go - and go "beep".

I wonder how long before the CDC removes the source data...

ourworldindata.org/grapher/unit...
December 23, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Julf Helsingius
First question on KGB cognitive test is also a picture of lion, giraffe, fish & hippopotamus. They beat the shit out of you until you say the giraffe is the hippo.

Explains a lot tbh.
December 20, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Reposted by Julf Helsingius
When “Here’s Everything We Know” is clearly less than what everybody else knows is missing, does Forbes get to keep pretending to be actual journalists?
December 20, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Reposted by Julf Helsingius
New draft law article: Quantifying Creepiness: Using Predictive Privacy to Measure Privacy Harms
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5939183

There are likely to be revisions, perhaps significant ones, before submission.
December 20, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reposted by Julf Helsingius
The White House has been caught.

The administration inserted a photo of Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, and Diana Ross into the Epstein files and falsely implied it showed them with victims.

In reality, it’s a publicly available fundraiser photo featuring Jackson and Ross’s own children.
December 20, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Reposted by Julf Helsingius
Trump's Epstien cover-up is the most incompetent cover-up ever.
Here's a better view of the now-deleted photo showing Trump with Epstein and Trump with a group of young girls.

The photo was originally posted as item EFTA00000468 but was later deleted. Now the 'official' list simply jumps from EFTA00000467 to EFTA00000469.
December 20, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Julf Helsingius
KLM has introduced additional safety measures on flights to and from Curaçao following two recent near-incidents between civilian aircraft and military planes in the region.
KLM tightens safety rules on Curaçao flights after near-misses - DutchNews.nl
KLM has introduced additional safety measures on flights to and from Curaçao following two recent near-incidents between civilian aircraft and military planes in the region, broadcaster NOS reported…
www.dutchnews.nl
December 17, 2025 at 7:03 PM
"This gap between perception and reality can quietly fuel a broader sense of pessimism about other people and about society as a whole."

A loud minority makes the Internet look far more toxic than it is

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
A loud minority makes the Internet look far more toxic than it is
People think online platforms are overflowing with toxic and misleading content, but the reality is far calmer. A small group of highly active users creates most of the harm, while the majority remain...
www.sciencedaily.com
December 17, 2025 at 7:28 PM
"when the authors looked for abnormalities in their data, they found that prices for SMS-verified Telegram and WhatsApp accounts spiked just before major elections"

www.science.org/content/arti...
Want to sway an election? Here’s how much fake online accounts cost
Systematic price monitoring sheds light on economics of online manipulation
www.science.org
December 17, 2025 at 7:18 PM
It's not the tool, it is how you use it.

www.phoronix.com/news/First-L...
Linux Kernel Rust Code Sees Its First CVE Vulnerability
The first CVE vulnerability has been assigned to a piece of the Linux kernel's Rust code.
www.phoronix.com
December 17, 2025 at 6:30 PM
"Google’s crawler activity completely dwarfed that of other AI and indexing bots, making it the single largest source of automated internet traffic."

"For the first time, civil society and non-profit organizations became the most attacked sector. "

nerds.xyz/2025/12/clou...
Cloudflare reveals how bots and governments reshaped the internet in 2025
Cloudflare’s 2025 Year in Review shows how bot wars, government outages, and post-quantum encryption reshaped the internet.
nerds.xyz
December 17, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Reposted by Julf Helsingius
The weirdest thing about Trump's disgusting, narcissistic, and utterly baseless response to the Reiner's murder (which I won't repeat or link to here; you can find it if you want) is that he seems to be suggesting that an enraged MAGA supporter did the killings. Not one of his usual scapegoats […]
Original post on federate.social
federate.social
December 15, 2025 at 3:36 PM
December 13, 2025 at 7:16 PM
December 13, 2025 at 7:02 PM
"Seven students, five weeks, publicly available ship tracking tools, and a willingness to drive 2,500 kilometers on a hunch."

www.digitaldigging.org/p/they-drone...
They Droned Back
Young journalists expose Russian-linked vessels circling off the Dutch and German coast
www.digitaldigging.org
December 12, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Reposted by Julf Helsingius
The abolishment of kerning is next - it "adjusts" between letters, depending on such things as "optical density", and is a clear contraction of White Space.
December 10, 2025 at 10:27 PM
"Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Poland are listed as countries the U.S. should “work more with…with the goal of pulling them away from the [European Union].”

www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/...
‘Make Europe Great Again’ and more from a longer version of the National Security Strategy
A fuller version reviewed by Defense One outlines the Trump administration’s plans for shedding old relationships and creating new ones.
www.defenseone.com
December 10, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Reposted by Julf Helsingius
An earlier version of the NSS specifically said that the US should try to pry Italy, Austria, Poland and Hungary away from the EU
www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/...
December 10, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Reposted by Julf Helsingius
When ever I think about how we are empowering #AI agents to do the the shopping for us it reminds me of this incredible mind reader from Belgium that wasn’t so incredibly after all. #Online #fraudsters just got a super weapon.

youtu.be/F7pYHN9iC9I
Amazing mind reader reveals his 'gift'
YouTube video by Duval Guillaume
youtu.be
December 10, 2025 at 11:25 AM
"Half of all time online is now spent on Alphabet and Meta-owned services"

"Adults now spend an average of four and a half hours online a day"

www.ofcom.org.uk/media-use-an...
From apps to AI search: how the UK goes online in 2025
Our latest Online Nation report explores how adults and children in the UK experience life online. From the sites and apps we use every day, to how people feel about what they do and what they encount...
www.ofcom.org.uk
December 10, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Is this for real?

mailchi.mp/mail.whiteho...
December 3, 2025 at 5:08 PM
December 2, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Julf Helsingius
November 30, 2025 at 3:52 PM