Olives @olives@qoto.org

Supposedly, Instagram (a site with something like a billion users?) had 160 accounts engage in selling child porn photos over a period of time. It's also reckoned that there were half as many buyer accounts.

In practice, a number of these are probably alts. I don't think it's worth engaging in extreme and disproportionate things for that.

https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2023/11/07/the-united-kingdoms-political-constitution-is-under-severe-strain

"The United Kingdom is unusual in having no single written constitutional document that can be enforced by the courts. Instead it has a political constitution, which relies heavily on norms and conventions. When challenges arise, it rests on a shared understanding of the rules and the principal actors being willing, for the most part, to abide by them—the “good chaps” theory of government."

Not going well at all.

https://reclaimthenet.org/the-nypd-is-underreporting-its-invasive-surveillance-tactics

"The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P) revealed through its Research Manager, Corinne Worthington, and research intern, Aaron Greenberg, that the NYPD has been employing surveillance technologies that track civilians unnoticed. This type of tracking includes the use of drones for aerial surveillance, GPS locators for tagging vehicles, and even robots for tracking movement within the subway system."

https://reason.com/2023/11/08/yes-anti-israel-protests-are-free-speech/ Hmm... This seems to be quite the heated issue these days.

https://reason.com/2023/11/07/ohio-becomes-the-24th-state-to-legalize-recreational-marijuana/

"Ohio, where legislators authorized medical use of marijuana in 2016, went further on Tuesday, becoming the 24th state to legalize recreational use. According to projections by NBC News and The Hill, voters approved Issue 2, which allows adults 21 or older to publicly possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and grow up to six plants at home. With 57 percent of ballots counted, 56 percent of voters had said yes to the ballot initiative, which also will create a system to license and regulate commercial sales."

"Before Issue 2 was submitted to voters, the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly passed up a chance to enact it, and now the measure returns to the legislature, which can revise it before it takes effect."

https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/08/europe_eidas_browser/ The Register has some coverage on #eidas (how it's bad for security) here.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/05/business/banks-accounts-close-suddenly.html That's not good.

https://epicenter.works/en/content/eu-digital-identity-reform-the-good-bad-ugly-in-the-eidas-regulation

This thing is very disturbing.

1) Even if a "concession" is made, details are subject to change later.

2) I don't think anything stops them mandating it in practice, if they twist the language, or opt not to enforce parts of it.

3) It already looks very open to abuse.

4) It looks a lot like "age verification" is being snuck in through the backdoor.

5) Surveillance concerns.

There are also the other problems, such as it obviously being terrible for security with the QWACs.

#eidas

ChatGPT and the like should not be used to advise on policy decisions... Come on, Tories.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/unmitigated-failure-outgoing-liberal-mp-backs-drug-decriminalisation-20231106-p5ehv3.html

"In comments provided to The Age, he backed drug policy reform ahead of a push from crossbench MPs to vote on decriminalising cannabis in coming weeks, labelling the current system an unmitigated failure."

"Criminalising adults for the possession and personal use of small amounts of drugs creates an unregulated black market, enriches organised crime, and ultimately means huge numbers of the most vulnerable end up behind bars. What it doesn’t do is decrease drug use or keep people safe."

"Bach said most people who took drugs were not dependent on them and caused no harm to others, while those who did take drugs problematically often had issues such as mental ill health or trauma which would only be worsened by being placed in the criminal justice system."

"He said drugs should be kept away from children but for adults every reputable study showed incarceration did not lead to rehabilitation and made reoffending more likely."

I'm still not really a fan of this party, but it's nice that someone knows what's up.

https://nichegamer.com/spirittea-launches-this-month/ Interesting idea.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/11/publics-right-fight-bad-patents-must-be-protected

"The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property will debate a bill this week that would dramatically limit the public’s right to challenge bad granted patents. The PREVAIL Act, S. 2220 would bar most people from petitioning the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to revoke patents that never should have been granted in the first place.

If the bill passes, it would be a giant gift to patent trolls, who will be able to greatly increase the extortionate toll they demand from small businesses, software developers, and everyday internet users. EFF opposes the bill, and we’re reaching out to Congress to let them know they should stand with technology makers and users—not patent trolls."

https://indianapublicmedia.org/news/researchers-decry-admin-plan-to-sever-kinsey-institute-from-iu.php

"The Indiana University Board of Trustees plans to discuss separating the world-famous Kinsey Institute from the university at its Nov. 9-10 meeting. Kinsey faculty, staff and students are pushing back, saying the proposal would do “irreparable harm” to the institute and its extensive collections.

The Kinsey Institute’s research on sexuality, gender and relationships has attracted plenty of opposition, but until 2023 the university had been largely able to insulate it from direct attacks. That changed when freshman legislator Lorissa Sweet (R) of Wabash successfully introduced an amendment to the state budget that stripped the institute of public funding."

I see someone using Hamas propaganda as an argument against Telegram's anti-censorship stance. Of course someone would... Ugh.

https://www.iccl.ie/news/ombudsman-european-commissions-concealment-of-secret-expert-list-on-csam-regulation-constitutes-maladministration/

"In response to a request for documents pertaining to the decision-making behind the proposed CSAM regulation, the European Commission failed to disclose a list of companies who were consulted about the technical feasibility of detecting CSAM without undermining encryption. This list “clearly fell within the scope” of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties’ request.

The European Ombudsman has now held that the Commission’s failure to disclose the existence of this list constituted “maladministration”."

#chatcontrol

https://www.politico.eu/article/british-deputy-pm-throws-backing-behind-open-source-ai-downplays-risks/

"open source backers like Meta’s Yan LeCunn" Though, it's not really that open source.

I'm not surprised that "Closed system companies like OpenAI and Anthropic" would oppose "open sourcing" it. That would open them up to more competition. FB is different here, as they don't make money directly via offering up paid APIs.

A better argument could be made about algorithms which make decisions about people without their consent. The examples here are not that (and tend to be the most cliché and exaggerated ones).

Speaking as someone who is, and has been, depressed, I don't support censorship legislation in the name of "protecting depressed people" either (and I'm sure it won't work, it'll just censor people).

It's interesting how mentions (i.e. @ing) are much like saying the name of a supernatural being and that being being summoned.

Notifications (1)

It is I, Olives, who summoned me?