Olives @olives@qoto.org

I saw a bad Bluesky take. Someone is upset that Bluesky is trying to implement blocks in a decentralized manner (and currently trying to move away from public blocks). He contends it will never be decentralized and there is no point trying.

This ignores the obvious point that the entire premise behind using Bluesky, and not these other wannabe centralized social media competitors, was that it would be some radically architected platform.

We can be sceptical of that, especially as it is another group of techbros parachuting themselves in, and thinking they can solve all of the worlds problems, rather than a truly grassroots effort, however, getting mad that they are trying to do exactly what they promised to do is strange.

If the judge is going to rule that way, like a well-oiled machine, it would be better if he just did it in a cold neutral tone, rather than sadistically throwing in little demands for "remorse" (and gleefully using this to justify what it is he does) and injecting his own conservative views on the matter.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/12/woman-in-uk-jailed-for-28-months-over-taking-abortion-pills-after-legal-time-limit British woman jailed over abortion. Judge writes nonsensical piece of apologia as a "ruling".

Even the bit where he goes on about her "remorse" or whatever reeks of him trying to justify his ruling to himself, and is really quite creepy and disturbing.

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2023/jun/13/nottingham-in-shock-after-three-die-in-early-morning-attacks Several killed in early morning rampage in Nottingham, includes a couple university students.

https://reason.com/2023/06/13/poppy-seeds-trigger-child-neglect-investigations/ Mothers subjected to non-consensual drug tests with a high number of false positives and a high risk of having their children taken away from them.

https://edri.org/our-work/the-belgian-government-is-failing-to-consider-human-rights-in-csa-regulation/ Belgian Government pushing chat control and trampling on human rights.

https://www.wired.com/story/anti-porn-covenant-eyes-bond-revoked/ Violations of the First, Fourth, and Sixth Amendments.

This is deeply suspicious and smells of a conservative judge trying to harass a family with an infamous anti-porn app (one already known to be abused for attempts at conversion therapy).

It also reminds me of their attitude towards bail more broadly.

If we let them out, they'll go back to their old ways. But, when you look at the number who do, it is absolutely miniscule. I'm suspicious it'd be similar here too, and I suppose, if he did go back to his old ways, there'd be more evidence against him?

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/06/montana-anti-drag-ban-library-transgender/ Anti drag law leads library to cancel event with transgender speaker.

I spotted someone talking about a federated implementation of Reddit here the other day. It'd be funny if it ate Reddit's lunch after they pulled an Elon.

I suspect Reddit saw Elon, thought they could try their hand at closing the API, and it ended up scalding them.

This site has an interesting bug where a notification keeps getting revived as "new". One is from *weeks* ago.

While there are a few clearly second wave inspired feminists, puritanism appears to be primarily driven by traditionalists. Remember that anti-LGBT anti-porn religious group which took their "morality" spiel and simply rebranded it as "exploitation".

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20230612/92517-librarians-strike-back-against-comics-bans.html Librarians strike back against book bans.

https://reason.com/2023/06/12/ohio-cops-raided-afromans-house-looking-for-a-dungeon-because-of-a-bizarre-confidential-informant-tip/ Looking for an imaginary dungeon where he apparently kept women chained up.

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/06/12/what-would-aaron-swartz-think-of-reddits-ridiculous-new-api-fees/ People should rely on third party providers less. It's perfectly possible to run a community yourself.

https://reason.com/2023/06/12/desantis-complains-about-the-weaponization-of-state-power-he-should-reexamine-his-own-record/
> "You can't have one faction of society weaponizing the power of the state against factions that it doesn't like," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told the North Carolina Republican Party on Friday night.
Lol.

Apparently, criminals are taking advantage of ChatGPT's tendency to hallucinate. They're noting down non-existent imports, then they're creating malicious packages with those very same names.

I haven't had the time to look at this (I'm presently very busy, I sadly don't have the time to keep a close eye on the E.U.'s slide into repression).

Still, "reasonable" often means "whatever the enforcers want". Over the past twenty years, it has been heavily abused.

A couple years ago in Australia, under the previous government, right-wing conspiracy theorists abused "reasonable" language to censor art, video games, and books. "reasonable" sounds useful on paper, but it's useless in practice for protecting anyone's rights.

I don't think it's a good idea to leave such a door open for puritans, bigots, or other bad actors to abuse it.

Barring outright abuse, it still encourages a service to take ineffective and disproportionate measures. Why wouldn't it? If they get it wrong, they'll get penalized. If they go too far, they won't. It's simpler to just go much further.

You also have to assume that a politician will want to put on an appearance that they are doing something. It's not necessarily going to be what is effective or proportionate. Even chasing tiny things (in the grand scheme of criminality), if it might get them a "win".

https://edri.org/our-work/open-letter-e-evidence-package-lacks-appropriate-safeguards-eu-parliament-must-reject-it/
The "E-Evidence" proposal sets fire to practically every safeguard for requesting information from a service provider in the name of "fighting crime" (don't you hate these over-zealous "tough on crime" types?).

It's terrible for due process, free expression, privacy, and activism.

People seem surprised that chat control, like the OSB, is turning into a "wish list" bill where more and more illiberal, invasive, and frankly, fanciful ideas which "might" help, or which someone wishes would happen, are being piled on.

If you think about the sort of mentality which drives these things though, it isn't very surprising at all. Is it practical, or effective (especially, if you factor in proportionality)? That's a lesser concern to them.