Olives @olives@qoto.org

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/mastercard-demands-termination-cannabis-purchases-its-debit-cards-2023-07-26/ MasterCard has told financial institutions to stop allowing people to use their cards for cannabis transactions.

https://reclaimthenet.org/meta-patent-scan-voices-voiceprint Ugh, another privacy invasion from Facebook.

Someone tells me that ChatGPT's quality continues to degrade.

It makes you wonder if the whole thing wasn't just some publicity stunt. Perhaps, they turned it up to a level which wasn't financially sustainable?

https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/web-environment-integrity-is-an-all-out-attack-on-the-free-internet Yes, these people are right. Web Environment Integrity is such, such a terrible idea.

Complaining about "the fediverse" is a lot like complaining about "something on the internet". Lol.

Apparently, the instance which must not be named (lol) was acquired by a cryptobro (still based in the same country, it seems).

Maybe, we should revisit whether it's really good to have these gigantic corporate-y instances, rather than smaller more community based instances.

It's not just the "think of the children", it's been a bit problematic for a while now.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/07/deja-vu-fbi-proves-again-it-cant-be-trusted-section-702 Section 702 (which the FBI relies on for unconstitutional mass surveillance) is on the brink of expiring again.

These "this service should be penalized for taking down content which isn't against their terms of service" bill proposals are very strange.

A platform could easily just create a vaguer terms of service which covers even more content...?

When writing apocalypse novels or scripts for apocalyptic films, remember to include a scene of people fighting over toilet paper, lol.

https://reason.com/2023/07/27/a-professor-criticized-a-public-official-then-her-university-suspended-her/ Professor at Texas A&M University suspended for criticizing government official over not implementing harm reduction measures (for opioids).

Isn't this a violation of the First Amendment?

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/07/maryland-supreme-court-police-cant-search-digital-data-when-users-revoke-consent Maryland Supreme Court rules that officers can't search data (without a warrant) after someone withdraws consent to do so.

https://reason.com/2023/07/27/brickbat-getting-slammed/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-man-paralyzed-run-police-gets-20-million-settlement-rcna93800
Elderly veteran receives $20 million settlement over lawsuit over being slammed into the ground by cops (over suspected drunk driving) and being left paralyzed.

Mocked by cops.

https://reason.com/2023/07/27/a-swat-team-destroyed-an-innocent-mans-shop-then-the-city-left-him-with-the-bill/ Man wants SWAT Team to compensate him for destroying his shop.

https://boingboing.net/2023/07/27/teachers-at-private-texas-school-fired-for-going-to-drag-show.html Teacher at private school fired for going to drag show.

Web Environment Integrity is a horrible idea and Google should be ashamed.

Keep fighting!