finally{}: Tech is Taking Sides

Throughout history, industries have stayed relatively neutral during wartime. Global companies especially may offer marketing-focused messages of hope and concern but keep their heads down and their tones neutral when faced with actually taking a stand against one side of a conflict. Per usual, though, the tech industry is happy to disrupt the status quo – not just taking a clear stand but putting their money and their talent where their mouth is.

Global industries have long been accused of profiting off of war by selling to all sides, especially those in manufacturing and raw materials. Tech companies around the world, though, are taking a defined stand and even putting aside opportunities to profit as they take sides in the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

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finally{}: I Just Can’t

ding – Subject line: Reminder to complete your student’s school registration.

A new email arrives.

Right, I need to get that done as soon as I finish work for the day.

ding – Subject line: Your domain names expire in 3 days.

Ack, I forgot to renew those last week. I need to get that done before they expire.

ding – Subject line: Did you get my email from last week?

What email? (scroll, scroll, scroll) Oh, there it is. Not sure how I missed that…

It starts to creep in, slowly at first—just a passing thought.

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finally{}: Every Which Way But Loose

I recently saw yet another discussion online about PHP’s infamous naming convention exceptions and needle/haystack rotations. All the typical vitriol was there from the PHP haters, but I was very happy to see several new programmers add to the conversation or ask for clarifications and receive very supportive and educational responses from the thread. PHP is nothing if not consistent in its status as a recipient of the internet’s hatred. However, I am forever proud of our community’s ability to ignore the hate and still welcome and encourage newcomers.

But do the haters have a point about our inconsistencies?

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finally{}: Experts or Out-of-touch?

After talking to someone about ideas for new security education, I popped over to check out the latest OWASP Top Ten list. A quote on their homepage stood out to me:

This category represents the scenario where the security community members are telling us this is important, even though it’s not illustrated in the data at this time. https://owasp.org/www-project-top-ten/

The experts in their community were telling them that a specific issue was critical and widespread enough to warrant a place in the top ten, but the data they collected from codebases and users didn’t reflect this at all. Is this because the issue is too up-and-coming to be reflected in the current boots-on-the-ground numbers, but we need to act now because it will soon be a huge issue? Or is this a situation where the experts work on a level so different from the standard developer that the security risk is only applicable to them and not in everyday circumstances?

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