I don't think computer people really realize just how little (relevant) malicious code actually exists on the anyone-can-upload package registries, and folks seem to consistently overestimate the actual threat level here

And no, it's not *just* security folks overestimating the threat level, tons of software developers do it too (and often at the same time overlook the things that are *actually* dangerous)

This also feels like one of those cases of the metaphorical-law-I-forgot-the-name-of, where people perceive an uncommon event as being really common because it's so uncommon that it gets widely reported every time it happens, and therefore skews people's perception of its frequency

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@nerkles Nah, there's a more specific name for it. Something to do with news coverage specifically, where uncommon events are always covered and therefore seem common, whereas common events are not worth reporting on and are therefore perceived as uncommon.

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@joepie91 @nerkles Yes, damnit. I remember it being mentioned once in a video from the Universiteit van Nederland and still haven't found it, have been thinking for years about this on occasions 😂​ Something something paradox.

@eloy @nerkles Same, though I originally heard about it elsewhere! I've also been trying to find it again for years...

@eloy @nerkles ... why on earth does package prioritization even work that way? That's just asking for trouble... this attack shouldn't even have been possible.

@eloy @nerkles Wow. They knew about it and declared it "not a security issue". What the hell.
github.com/pypa/pip/issues/860

@f0x @nerkles Hm, that's more the actively malicious variant. I'm thinking of the more general emergent phenomenon - the name ended in "paradox" I think.

@joepie91 @nerkles I'm not sure about news coverage specifically, but I think you're talking about the Bullet Hole Paradox.

It seems to be an example of Survivorship Bias, which is probably the way-more-common name.

andycwareing.com/2022/03/08/th

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