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Jonathan Kamens 86 47

@jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy

350 followers 37 following 2.4K posts

he/his Director of Information Security at 4DMedical. I work primarily in #infosec, #IT, and #SaaS infrastructure. ex #USDS (fired by #DOGE) Dad, old-school hacker […] [bridged from https://federate.social/@jik on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 7h

My family is going on a trip in November. I booked the hotel eight days ago on Priceline, then created a to-do list item to check weekly for a lower price until the date the reservation stops being refundable.
I checked today and found the same rooms for the same dates at the same hotel for 9.1% […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 8h

The answer to my mostly rhetorical questions above is, obviously, that #firstalert wants to sell cheaper alarms that are less reliable and generate more false alarms without explicitly admitting they're doing that, because who would buy a product which says in its marketing that it generates […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 9h

So, I wrote to #firstalert about all the false alarms with these smoke detectors, and they were like, "Yeah, that model does have some false alarms, how about we replace them with this other model that doesn't have this problem."
I sent them this in response:

Yes, this would be fine with me.

Though honestly I'm a little frustrated by this whole experience.

What I hear you saying is that the SM310 is objectively better at avoiding false alarms than the SMC0210 which I bought.

That would have been really useful information for me to know when I was choosing which smoke alarm to buy!

And yet I can't find anywhere, on any website, in any description of these particular products or your products in general, clear, straightforward information which would have told me this information clearly and explicitly before I chose what to buy.

Why do you make this so hard for your customers to figure out? "I want the smoke alarm which is going to be the best at avoiding false alarms," is surely something that a large majority of your customers want. Why wouldn't you make it clear in your marketing collateral how they can obtain that?

Leaving all that aside, I am honestly puzzled about why you would even sell smoke alarms which you know are worse at avoiding false alarms. If you have technology which you know is the most reliable about detecting real fires while avoiding false alarms, then why wouldn't you just put that exact technology in all of your alarms? Why cripple some of your products with worse detection and false alarm avoidance? That seems ridiculous to me.

Jonathan Kamens

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 1d

I don't know why I was foolish enough to hope that maybe, just maybe, #costco would do the right thing and fix their website to let me log in using the 100% valid email address I used to create my account, or at least work with me to recover access to that account by changing the email address […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 2d

P.S. If you read comic strips online and you'd like to read them all in one place, check out my comics aggregator. Again, that's https://comics.kamens.us/.

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 2d

I'm not sure whether this qualifies as a #techisshitdispatch, but I think it does, at least indirectly.
Probably because of all the #genai crawlers looking for content to steal, overnight last night https://GoComics.com/ added a CAPTCHA wall to their site which tripped up my comics aggregator ( […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 2d

@Free_Press Yikes, why are you posting about pseudoscience woo? I thought you posted news, not bullshit?
P.S. The "FDA" can't "sentence [anyone] to prison." It's not part of the judicial system.

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 2d

I am wide awake in the middle of the night after <3hrs sleep because one of our smoke detectors went off for no reason.
We replaced all 7 detectors several months ago.
Since then, 3 of the new ones have alerted for no reason several times each. The first one, we got First Alert to replace as […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 3d

LATE-BREAKING UPDATE: I was wrong about Akamai rejecting Linux logins. It turns out Akamai is rejecting logins FROM THE CURRENT VERSION OF FIREFOX. I installed a user agent switcher in my browser and I changed my user agent string so it says it's Firefox 136 instead of 143, and it allowed the […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 3d

And I don't want to hear that this is because Akamai's customers are choosing to block this traffic. Akamai is selling them the foot-gun and failing to ensure that they understand the ramifications of using it.
This isn't improving security, it's just turning tech to shit.
🧵7/7

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 3d

It seems like half the time nowadays when I can't log into a web site, Akamai is involved.
When I can't log in while on my VPN, Akamai is often blocking me.
When I can't log into Costco.com, Akamai is filtering out POSTs with private email addresses in the body.
When I can't log into […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 3d

JavaScript code in the browser is sending an AJAX login request, but instead of getting back a useable API response it's getting back a redirect to a frontend web page, which it doesn't know what to do with, which is why it's displaying the generic error I posted earlier in the thread.
I can't […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 3d

I can log in with no trouble from Firefox running inside a Windows Virtual Machine.
Finally, I pulled up the Network traces in the browser Developer Console while trying to log in, and I discovered that Akamai's servers are sending a response to the login […]

[Original post on federate.social]

"Your account cannot currently be accessed.

Outdated browsers can expose your computer to security risks. To get the best experience on Discover.com, you may need to update your browser to the latest version and try again.

For questions, please contact us at 1-800-347-7769. We're always available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 3d

I tried everything I could think of to get the login to work. Disabled uBlock Origin, disabled Clean URLs, disabled ALL my extensions, restarted Firefox in Troubleshoot mode, cleared all storage, turned off my VPN, used Chrome instead of Firefox.
Nothing works.
🧵3/

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 3d

Here's what I see when I try to log into discover.com from either Firefox or Chrome on Linux.
I am running the current, released versions of both of these browsers.
🧵2/

"We're sorry. Your request cannot be completed at this time. We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and are working to resolve this issue soon."

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 3d

In today's #techisshitdispatch (it's been a while since I've posted one, believe me I've been encountering tech shit every day, just haven't had time to post)…
#discovercard has apparently decided, via its proxy #akamai, to block logins from Linux.
I don't know whether they're doing this on […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Today is it's once again time for me to visit https://energyswitchma.gov/ and pick a new electricity supplier, because (again) the promotional rate offered by my current subscriber is ending and they are jacking up the rate several cents higher than the new-customer rates offered by other […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 4d

And another thing… The check attached to this letter from #usaa says on it, "Payment Explanation: 2025-12-22". What the fuck does that mean? Why is the "payment explanation" they offered a date several months in the future? This makes no friggin' sense. 🤦 smdh

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 4d

It grinds my gears that #usaa says in this letter that they "may" report this income to the IRS and it "may" be be taxable, and I should consult with my tax advisor to find out for certain.
But that's impossible with the information they've provided. They haven't said _how_ they're going to […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Perhaps this one of the initiatives kicked off by #usaa's new CEO to try to transform the company, from the absolute dumpster fire it has turned into in recent years, into something more closely resembling the decent company it once was.
If so, then good for him, and maybe things like this will […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 4d

I just got the weirdest letter, with a check for $325, from #usaa.
They claim this check is compensation for the "inconvenience" I experienced with a dispute I filed some time between 2018 and 2024.
Per my records, I did file at least one dispute of charges […]

[Original post on federate.social]

Scan of letter from USAA. Too long for all the text to fit here, but here's how it starts which is the important part:
Dear Jonathan I Kamens,
We're committed to our core values of service, loyalty, honesty and integrity; it’s a commitment we share with those we serve. We’re writing to you regarding a dispute we received between January 1, 2018, and December 19, 2024. To acknowledge that inconsistent bank processes may have caused you inconvenience with this dispute, we’ve included a one-time payment to compensate you.
About Your Check
Attached is a check in the amount of $325.00. This represents a one-time payment for the inconvenience.
To the extent required by law, USAA Federal Savings Bank will report the payment to the IRS. Consult your tax advisor to determine if these funds will have any impact on your taxes.
For more information about why you're receiving this communication, visit usaa.com/accountreviews.
You May Request Additional Compensation
If you think the total amount isn’t enough to cover the financial harm you may have experienced as a direct result from the dispute, you may request additional compensation by submitting a request through a Documented Remediation Claim process.
…

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 4d

P.S. We are months past the point where all the Democrats in Congress should have begun publicly calling for a nationwide general strike.
That is the only thing with any chance of stopping our rapid descent into fascism without a war.
Anything less than that from the Democrats is just fiddling […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 4d

@rsalz I obviously cannot rule out the possibility that they are blaming Akamai for something they don't want to take ownership of themselves, or that the team that said what I quoted above is not the team at Costco that configured the filtering and is unaware of said filtering having been […]

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Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 4d

@rsalz Costco claims it is. As I quoted in the blog posting, Costco's tech team says, "Akamai is currently blocking requests based on the email domain."

Jonathan Kamens 86 47 @jik.federate.social.ap.brid.gy · 4d

Electeds like Pressley and Markey aren't doing jack-shit to communicate with the American people what's really happening, and they haven't said jack-shit about what their plan is for putting a stop to it. Presumably that's because they don't actually have a plan, other than biding their time and […]

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