Olives @olives@qoto.org

He doesn't seem to be particularly honest or direct about what it is that he wants "age verification" of adult content to accomplish.

He just keeps talking about unrelated things in a spooky tone.

Someone seems upset that I criticized this guy (I suppose it's just a rando tone policing, but you know what, I'll comment on him). So, I'm gonna do it again. I have several issues with this guy.

1) He wades onto news sites to offer up his hot takes, despite having little apparent understanding of the subject. He also doesn't appear to learn. He usually presents himself as possessing some sort of expertise but his points are extremely elementary and otherwise relies on insinuation.

2) He implicitly conflates issues that are fundamentally different from each other (and one doesn't seem to be an issue?). For instance, "age verification" for viewing adult content is not going to stop criminals approaching someone one-on-one to trick them. This is less pronounced in this particular article. He still can't help throwing it in.

3) Even among those cases, it appears the criminals have been convicted.

4) We've seen him before. He is very "this site is bad" *talks about some other unrelated phenomena*

https://theconversation.com/canada-should-not-fall-behind-on-implementing-safety-measures-for-children-online-220353

The electrician (with some algorithms knowledge) appears to be at it again. This time in an Australian news outlet (they have local editions but they are Australian).

Once again, he's trying to peddle "age verification" for viewing adult content, kind of takes it as a given that it is "necessary" (even though it is clearly extreme).

At the end, he briefly tosses in a case of sextortion (for which the criminal was convicted) and "child luring" on the Internet in general, to seemingly try to implicitly conflate these things, despite not really intrinsically having anything to do with online porn. These, again, feel like an attempt to rile someone up.

As mentioned previously, collecting so much personal info might actually make someone more vulnerable to sextortion, as it can provide someone with blackmail material. It's even said that there have been scams where someone has claimed to be an "age verification provider". It is also very intrusive, and is likely to have a chilling effect.

#canada #privacy

https://reason.com/2024/01/18/center-for-integrity-in-forensic-sciences-junk-hair-arson-bite/

"Kate Judson is a lawyer who often deals with crimes that did not occur. As the executive director of the Wisconsin-based Center for Integrity in Forensic Sciences (CIFS), her job is to examine ostensible scientific evidence to see whether it backs up prosecutors' claims.

"Some people who died were classified as victims of homicide when they were really the victim of illness, or accident, or suicide, or medical error—that kind of thing," says Judson. "We had a case of a family that lost their child. The caregiver was accused of attacking her. It was later discovered, based on new medical evidence, that the child had been really ill with a disease she was probably born with.""

#HumanRights #CriminalJustice

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/swiss-government-accused-of-massive-online-surveillance/49117880

"The Swiss Federal Intelligence Service (SRC) is allegedly monitoring the digital activities of the Swiss population, particularly on their mobile phones and computers, according to the German-language magazine Republik.ch on Tuesday."

""Since the Intelligence Act came into force in 2017, the internet traffic of Swiss citizens has been analysed on a massive scale. What's more, all the data is recorded with a view to possible retroactive searches", it writes.

The government is also allegedly flouting the protection of journalists' sources and lawyers' professional secrecy."

"Other concerns have also been expressed about the hacking of this data. Steven Meyer, director of ZENData and cybersecurity expert, explains his fears: "Given that other national institutions have already been victims of data hacking, how can we be sure that they will be properly protected so that another government or criminals cannot access them?""

#privacy #DataRetention

https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/17/24041859/samsung-smart-galaxy-ring-unpacked One ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them.

"Samsung just announced that it’s working on a smart ring. The ring, called the Galaxy Ring, was teased at the very end of today’s Unpacked showcase, and the company briefly described it as a “powerful and accessible” health and wellness device."

This sounds like the sort of thing that would be sending data to a remote server. #privacy

https://themarkup.org/gentle-january/2024/01/16/stop-tiktok-from-suggesting-your-account-to-others

"I started to regularly get recommended users that were a bit too close for comfort: an old friend’s mom, a high school teacher, and even someone I couldn’t quite trace my relationship to—until realizing I had saved their contact to coordinate a Craigslist purchase. Other users have shared similar reports.

That’s why I recommend reviewing your social media privacy settings. Apps, including TikTok, all have different ways of recommending your profile to others and recommending others’ profiles to you. If you have TikTok and don’t want your profile suggested to anyone whose number you have saved, stop the app from suggesting your account to contacts and Facebook friends."

#privacy

https://themarkup.org/privacy/2024/01/17/each-facebook-user-is-monitored-by-thousands-of-companies-study-indicates

"Using a panel of 709 volunteers who shared archives of their Facebook data, Consumer Reports found that a total of 186,892 companies sent data about them to the social network. On average, each participant in the study had their data sent to Facebook by 2,230 companies. That number varied significantly, with some panelists’ data listing over 7,000 companies providing their data."

#privacy

"cloud analytics" more or less means "we are tracking you". #privacy

https://web.archive.org/web/20230617125824/https://www.iot-now.com/2023/06/17/131689-audi-joins-peachtree-corners-to-advance-c-v2x-deployment-pathways-aimed-at-improving-roadway-safety/

"Peachtree Corners and Audi of America Inc., announced a collaboration to advance cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) practical deployment pathways as part of the city’s Curiosity Lab ecosystem.

Both Audi and Peachtree Corners see this as an opportune time to further deployment of C-V2X applications that allow vehicles to communicate with city-owned streets, traffic signals, crosswalk signals and other infrastructure, as well as with vulnerable road users (VRUs). With Audi having recently received a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission to deploy this advanced technology, both intend to fine-tune strategies to expand connectivity on public roadways for increased roadway safety, increased traffic efficiency and more."

#privacy #SmartCities