Just realised that I automatically filter out obvious scams, as I genuinely didn’t register the contents of either of those spam boxes…

That arrangement has existed for over 30 years, and it’s now an unconscious scan. 😒

But I think the point remains in the middle of the page, that it will run through the standard bullshit FOMO timer, and then start downloading the expected binary.

And it’s not VLC doing any advertising. They’re just choosing to use a shit download site to host the binary for that OS and download method

First indication of fake I’ve seen so far, based on OP’s detail-light post. I’d assumed the FOMO timer would eventually download the genuine binary.

So, share with the class…

Gonna need a bit more info than you’ve provided.

What I will note, from the information that you’ve provided, is that you shared an internet exchange screenshot showing a couple of low key ads (with the usual opt out bullshit links), so any ads are not on the VLC site - it’s on their download partner site, a la 1995 - and they’re probably the most tame ads (repeat: not benefiting VLC) that I’ve seen in 30 years.

tl;dr: Late-stage PSTN/POTS dialup configuration of binaries hosted on a third party (pre-CDN) download site -who are free to inject whatever spam they like - (but have been astonishingly restrained here) along with the download link.

That’s fair. 🙂

No need to defend it. It was obviously a comment on the headline; I didn’t care who wrote it - the criticism was directed at whomever vomited it up. Tech publications are as much uncritical PR agencies for tech companies as the latter’s marketroids are.

Amateur marketing speak for “we’re considering bringing it to other hardware”?

Saw a post earlier on Mastodon where someone repurposed an old phone into a Home Assistant display/controller?

They hadn’t used a full dashboard, though. It was just about checking and controlling their cat’s feeding system. 😅

The Green brothers are interesting and thoughtful. They try to be an overall positive influence on the internet, even aside from their vlogbrothers thing.

FTA: The IDs leaked were from people appealing age verification.

That’s different from the age verification process, which goes through a third party provider.

In short, the leaked IDs were from a standard shitty support platform (Zendesk, Salesforce, etc), not the much-advertised “safe and private” age verification system.

This kind of malicious compliance is exactly what this dogshit Think Of The Children Act needs. Convenience is everything to the majority of population.

If other major sites and resources do this, then the pressure from the people impacted by it will force UK PLC to un-fuck this awful legislation.

It certainly removed my ability to say “Companies are shoehorning AI into everything! I wouldn’t be surprised if they do it with Notepad…” as a form of mockery. It was one of the first damned victims.

Edit: I’m genuinely surprised technical people (with appropriate rights on their PCs) still use it, though. I switched to Notepad++ nearly 20 years ago.

Can’t speak to Firefox on mobile, as I switched to Waterfox some time ago, but the latter definitely has it.

Oh well. I wish you the best in working it out.

My two thoughts on this are DNS, too:

• The “HTTP over DNS” setting in the browser.
• The DNS setting in your WiFi configuration.

But as you’ve tried DDG browser without issues, it’s more likely to be the first option.

Also, any VPN you may be using.

In case anyone is unaware of the point of this: it’s about the UK’s (for now) new age verification law, where you have to be 18 to have a credit card.

This really is the least-worst implementation of this I’ve seen so far, providing you have (or can get) a CC.

And at least it lets you continue buying games/content until this awful law gets repealed or rewritten by competent adults.

Doubling down on the batshit. Everyone knew VPNs were going to be the low effort workaround to this authoritarian batshittery.

I get what the (well meaning, I think) people lobbying for this are trying to achieve, but everything from the lobbying to legislation to enforcement seems to be happening in the worst way imaginable. Almost like it’s an intentional “You want to see how badly can we do this? Hold my drink! YOLO!!”

For me, the tell was UK PLC leaving it up to the sites themselves to decide who/how the verification would be done. Classic bad management “I don’t understand the slightest thing about any of this, but HOW HARD COULD IT BE?!” response. It’s like the “series of tubes” stupidity all over again.

I swear “How to disable AI in x…” is all our lives now. 😬

By “that shit”, do you mean every website/app that may contain age-restricted (not just sexual) content? Because that’s what comes into force in the UK next week.

I’ve been dreading this for decades. 🤬

It’s not just Reddit, nor are they the first to roll it out early.

Doesn’t every Instagram user automatically have a Threads account now? (Even if they’re unaware of it.)

Meta faking Threads user count that way on top of what’s happened with X user count would explain this “milestone” quite easily.

GitHub is often used as a code mirror, with the actual repo and builds being hosted elsewhere.

Shelter, as in the work profile app? It shows up on Droid-ify for me, and a check of the Links section confirms it’s hosted on a different repo (gitea.angry.im).

The only time I’ve had this is back when I thought the settings in the kebab menu (top right) controlled everything, until I realised the preferences in Settings > General are for that.

Not sure what’s going in with your situation, though, sorry.