This has been known for years (decades?): setting black text against a black background in a PDF doesn't eliminate the text in the PDF. Duh...
The only reason why this is still an idiotic mistake made by public officials is because public officials are idiots.
82
prole - 2day
The more I read about what's in some of these files (e.g. a report about Trump being present while a 13yo rape victim's newborn baby was thrown into lake Michigan), the more I'm starting to think it was intentional.
The people who had to go through this shit to redact it might be fascist pieces of shit, but they're still ostensibly in fields at least somewhat related to law enforcement. Having to read shit like that, and then be complicit in covering it up... I dunno.
53
ExtremeDullard - 2day
the more I’m starting to think it was intentional
That's a mistake. Go by Hanlon's razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
30
SaraTonin @lemmy.world - 2day
It wouldn’t be malice, it would be altruism
22
prole - 2day
Hanlon's razor is and has always been bullshit.
13
ExtremeDullard - 2day
It's always held true for me. Malice - or forethought - require intelligence, something that's in much shorter supply than anybody would believe.
Stupid usually explains most everything adequately.
16
non_burglar @lemmy.world - 2day
Is it, though? Has the system been keeping us down, or are the ppl in charge just stupid and greedy? Assigning intent makes the unfairness sting less.
7
prole - 2day
Has the system been keeping us down, or are the ppl in charge just stupid and greedy?
This is a false choice, it's both. Not all of them are (or were) stupid. But the system is intentionally like this because people are greedy. For money and power.
3
non_burglar @lemmy.world - 1day
Oh, my apologies.
I didn't realize you were being intractable.
2
prole - 1day
What? I thought we were having a respectful discussion. My bad I guess I misread the situation
1
SaraTonin @lemmy.world - 2day
It basically just means “be kind“
1
UltraMagnus @startrek.website - 15hr
That's true of many rules/razors... I wonder if there's a rule/razor about not putting too much faith in things like murphys law and occams razor.
1
Xaphanos @lemmy.world - 2day
The important thing is "adequately". Sometimes the reality can make it improbable.
5
Paragone @lemmy.world - 2day
You may never have heard of the AAAA, the Advertisers Against Advertising Alliance..
Imagine a cigarette-company wants some advertising-work done..
Imagine that you're dead set against cigarette-companies, but they don't know that..
Imagine getting the contract, & doing advertising-design for them, where they get an advertising-campaign which to them looks good, but .. doesn't work on people..
Imagine that that is exactly what you had intended..
No card-carrying, no meetings, no visible-connections: only independent people contributing independently.
( I suspect that the drugstore "Life" brand, at Shopper's Drug Mart was done by a member of the AAAA: NOBODY with health-sense would buy that shit, as a result of the campaign they had, years ago, when I lived in a city )
Now remap it from AAAA to someone ordered to redact evil, to protect the regime against accountability..
Imagine you know exactly that this highlighting-with-black won't work..
Imagine that this is exactly why you use the method: to protect accountability, in a dying-empire's deathspasms..
It then becomes possible to "do one's job" & be complicit within the regime ( but notice those falsifying-quotes! ),
while one protects integrity, Justice, & accountability, by doing one's "job" in a way which enables actual-Journalism, should there be any left, to dig-in..
Beauty, eh?
_ /\ _
15
Karkitoo @lemmy.ml - 15hr
Sooo, malicious compliance?
My favorite
2
Jumbie @lemmy.zip - 2day
Hold. What. Where do I find this, please?
I’ve read of the copy/paste unredacting but I’ve yet to read them.
There’s a link in the article directly to the tip report.
9
overthere @lemmy.dbzer0.com - 2day
Man, the contortions that editor had to go through to get to that tame headline are spectacular. The tip says that he raped a pregnant 14 year old then oversaw the murder of her newborn baby.
13
prole - 1day
Our media has failed us completely
4
mmmac @lemmy.zip - 1day
I saw this yesterday (read the tip pdf, not the article), but am having a hard time believing this. Sounds a bit far fetched
2
MyTurtleSwimsUpsideDown - 1day
Yeah… after finding out the Nasser letter was fake…
1
mmmac @lemmy.zip - 1day
Yeah this more feels like something else though - tip came through 2020 at peak Epstein hype craze, names multiple high profile individuals in an absurdly grotesque crime, that even if true, they'd likely have "people" for these kinds of clean ups, just doesn't pass the smell test for me.
Also with the amount of redactions in trump related files this feels like something they "feed" us so that we pull the string until they can prove its a fake to discredit us
1
Jumbie @lemmy.zip - 2day
Thank you. My default is to assume crazy shit in this timeline is true but some of these sound so fantastical.
1
tal @lemmy.today - 2day
Even if the text is removed, if the font is a proportional one, the very exact dimensions of any removed text plus knowledge of stuff like kerning can reveal the text.
13
BlueKey - 2day
As pointed out in the article, how do we deal with documents from people filling the blanks with whatever they want and claim they "unredacted" it?
8
Alexstarfire @lemmy.world - 2day
If they tell you how they did it, you can just do the same thing to the file and see for yourself.
17
overthere @lemmy.dbzer0.com - 2day
By following the law that required this release of files, which includes things like limiting redactions to specific topics, accompanying the redactions with explanations as to their content, and retaining the unredacted versions for congressional inspection.
They are deliberately creating doubt and confusion to avoid accountability.
12
Psythik @lemmy.world - 1day
Because that's not how Ctrl+C works.
3
Avicenna @programming.dev - 23hr
that is thousands of FBI man hours wasted for you lol
Quilotoa in world @lemmy.world
How internet sleuths are un-redacting some of the Epstein files
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/epstein-files-unredacting-9.7027723This has been known for years (decades?): setting black text against a black background in a PDF doesn't eliminate the text in the PDF. Duh...
The only reason why this is still an idiotic mistake made by public officials is because public officials are idiots.
The more I read about what's in some of these files (e.g. a report about Trump being present while a 13yo rape victim's newborn baby was thrown into lake Michigan), the more I'm starting to think it was intentional.
The people who had to go through this shit to redact it might be fascist pieces of shit, but they're still ostensibly in fields at least somewhat related to law enforcement. Having to read shit like that, and then be complicit in covering it up... I dunno.
That's a mistake. Go by Hanlon's razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
It wouldn’t be malice, it would be altruism
Hanlon's razor is and has always been bullshit.
It's always held true for me. Malice - or forethought - require intelligence, something that's in much shorter supply than anybody would believe.
Stupid usually explains most everything adequately.
Is it, though? Has the system been keeping us down, or are the ppl in charge just stupid and greedy? Assigning intent makes the unfairness sting less.
This is a false choice, it's both. Not all of them are (or were) stupid. But the system is intentionally like this because people are greedy. For money and power.
Oh, my apologies.
I didn't realize you were being intractable.
What? I thought we were having a respectful discussion. My bad I guess I misread the situation
It basically just means “be kind“
That's true of many rules/razors... I wonder if there's a rule/razor about not putting too much faith in things like murphys law and occams razor.
The important thing is "adequately". Sometimes the reality can make it improbable.
You may never have heard of the AAAA, the Advertisers Against Advertising Alliance..
Imagine a cigarette-company wants some advertising-work done..
Imagine that you're dead set against cigarette-companies, but they don't know that..
Imagine getting the contract, & doing advertising-design for them, where they get an advertising-campaign which to them looks good, but .. doesn't work on people..
Imagine that that is exactly what you had intended..
No card-carrying, no meetings, no visible-connections: only independent people contributing independently.
( I suspect that the drugstore "Life" brand, at Shopper's Drug Mart was done by a member of the AAAA: NOBODY with health-sense would buy that shit, as a result of the campaign they had, years ago, when I lived in a city )
Now remap it from AAAA to someone ordered to redact evil, to protect the regime against accountability..
Imagine you know exactly that this highlighting-with-black won't work..
Imagine that this is exactly why you use the method: to protect accountability, in a dying-empire's deathspasms..
It then becomes possible to "do one's job" & be complicit within the regime ( but notice those falsifying-quotes! ),
while one protects integrity, Justice, & accountability, by doing one's "job" in a way which enables actual-Journalism, should there be any left, to dig-in..
Beauty, eh?
_ /\ _
Sooo, malicious compliance?
My favorite
Hold. What. Where do I find this, please?
I’ve read of the copy/paste unredacting but I’ve yet to read them.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/crime/general/a-strange-tip-sent-to-the-fbi-alleges-donald-trump-was-present-when-a-baby-was-murdered/ar-AA1SYuNA
There’s a link in the article directly to the tip report.
Man, the contortions that editor had to go through to get to that tame headline are spectacular. The tip says that he raped a pregnant 14 year old then oversaw the murder of her newborn baby.
Our media has failed us completely
I saw this yesterday (read the tip pdf, not the article), but am having a hard time believing this. Sounds a bit far fetched
Yeah… after finding out the Nasser letter was fake…
Yeah this more feels like something else though - tip came through 2020 at peak Epstein hype craze, names multiple high profile individuals in an absurdly grotesque crime, that even if true, they'd likely have "people" for these kinds of clean ups, just doesn't pass the smell test for me.
Also with the amount of redactions in trump related files this feels like something they "feed" us so that we pull the string until they can prove its a fake to discredit us
Thank you. My default is to assume crazy shit in this timeline is true but some of these sound so fantastical.
Even if the text is removed, if the font is a proportional one, the very exact dimensions of any removed text plus knowledge of stuff like kerning can reveal the text.
As pointed out in the article, how do we deal with documents from people filling the blanks with whatever they want and claim they "unredacted" it?
If they tell you how they did it, you can just do the same thing to the file and see for yourself.
By following the law that required this release of files, which includes things like limiting redactions to specific topics, accompanying the redactions with explanations as to their content, and retaining the unredacted versions for congressional inspection.
They are deliberately creating doubt and confusion to avoid accountability.
Because that's not how Ctrl+C works.
that is thousands of FBI man hours wasted for you lol
Will the get tax credits for that ?