Olives @olives@qoto.org

Refinding an article I read a year ago can be a pain.

https://reason.com/2024/06/07/louisianas-new-25-foot-legal-forcefield-for-police-threatens-accountability-and-civil-liberties/
"#Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry last week signed a law that criminalizes approaching police officers within 25 feet, provided that the officer tells any would-be approachers to stand back, effectively creating a legal force field that law enforcement can activate at their discretion."
#FirstAmendment

It's nice to see more privacy based critiques of "#AI" (to be accurate, artificial "intelligence") over the past few days rather than a few invoking QAnon type reasoning or arguments along the lines of the thought police (putting a big emphasis on people creating content which might be offensive to someone).

There are quite a few privacy questions here. Now, while there are certain controversies around things like the "right to be forgotten", which is likened to censorship, or "privacy" proposals which compel platforms to collect, say, face scans, this one seems to be a fairly straightforward application of privacy.

For instance, the Norwegian DPA doesn't think Facebook is following the GDPR in using data from their platform. The Italian one wasn't happy that "Open" AI used information from chat sessions with the bot for training it and ended up adding a setting to allow users to manage that (although, it seems they might still surveil users?). Now, there's a scandal with Microsoft, and even, yes, Adobe.

Apparently, Microsoft changed their minds and won't have "Recall" on by default now.

Still working on the experimental porn post (this particular section has been there for a while now), though on and off.

"Quite a few arguments hinge on the possibility content "might" be "problematic". Even if these points did have merit, and as I will go into, it is a lot more dubious than someone might make out, it's curious how we wouldn't apply such lines of reasoning to literally anything else. We don't opine on the harms of riding bicycles. While we recognize alcohol can be harmful, we don't look to instate a prohibition on it. We don't theorize about how reading a murder mystery novel might lead someone to go out and commit murder."

https://www.article19.org/resources/slovakia-cease-attacks-on-journalists-satirists-growing-tensions/
"We, the undersigned organisations, extend our solidarity to independent media and the satirical site Zomri in #Slovakia, which are facing an increasing crackdown in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico. We urge government representatives and politicians to cease these attacks and instead rise to the challenge of calming societal tensions. Freedom of expression, including the freedom to joke, is the bedrock of a democratic society. A free society can thrive only through free expression and the exchange of ideas, even ideas that shock, offend, or disturb some people in the population."
#FreeSpeech

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/06/eu-council-presidents-last-ditch-effort-mass-scanning-must-be-rejected
"As the current leadership of the EU Council enters its final weeks, it is debating a dangerous proposal that could lead to scanning the private files of billions of people.

EFF strongly opposes this proposal, put forward by the Belgian Presidency at the EU Council, which is part of the EU’s executive branch. Together with European Digital Rights (EDRi) and other groups that defend encryption, we have sent an open letter to the EU Council explaining the dangers of the proposal. The letter asks Ministers in the Council of the EU to reject all proposals that are inconsistent with end-to-end encryption, including surveillance technologies like client-side scanning."
#privacy #chatcontrol

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/06/security-surveillance-and-government-overreach-united-states-set-path-canada
"The Canadian House of Commons is currently considering Bill C-26, which would make sweeping amendments to the country’s Telecommunications Act that would expand its Minister of Industry’s power over telecommunication service providers."

"That could include ordering telecommunications companies to install backdoors inside encrypted elements in #Canada’s networks."
#privacy

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/06/google-to-start-permanently-deleting-users-location-history
"#Google will delete everything it knows about users’ previously visited locations, the company has said, a year after it committed to reducing the amount of personal data it stores about users.

The company’s “timeline” feature – previously known as Location History – will still work for those who choose to use it, letting them scroll back through potentially decades of travel history to check where they were at a specific time.

But all the data required to make the feature work will be saved locally, to their own phones or tablets, with none of it being stored on the company’s servers."

"The company is also reducing the default amount of time that location history is stored for. Now, it will begin to delete past locations after just three months, down from a previous default of a year and a half."
#privacy

https://reason.com/2024/06/03/colorado-hasnt-even-approved-ranked-choice-voting-yet-and-already-lawmakers-are-trying-to-delay-it/ What do you think?

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/child-sex-abusers-could-face-surgical-castration-under-louisiana-bill-2024-06-04/
This is a very evil idea and very Nazi, and you have to look at it in the context of them also pushing a law to torture people to death with nitrogen. Also, is someone going to be willing to report one of their relatives, if someone is going to torture or kill them? You don't have to like these people, I certainly don't, but there are some things which are just plain dark and evil.

For recidivism, something which doesn't violate human rights or the Eighth Amendment might involve making sure that the prisons don't have decaying archaic infrastructure leading to things like lead entering the water. As we know, lead can lead to neurological damage (and it is said even crime).

Also, this is no substitute for access to abortion. And I'd be wary of justifying the "lesser evil". #HumanRights

https://reason.com/2024/06/04/federal-supervised-release-is-a-wasteful-mess-a-bipartisan-bill-in-congress-is-trying-to-fix-that/
"When it was created in 1984, federal supervised release was supposed to be used sparingly to keep tabs on offenders who were public safety concerns or needed extra support to transition back into society. However, it's become used by default, and both criminal justice advocates and federal probation officers say it's clogging the system with thousands of people, like Brown, who have demonstrated that they probably don't need to be in it anymore. And it's sending many others back to prison for minor rule violations that might not warrant such a harsh response.

This growing consensus has led to the Safer Supervision Act, a bipartisan bill introduced by Sens. Chris Coons (D–Del.) and John Cornyn (T–Texas). Reps. Wesley Hunt (R–Texas) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D–Texas) have introduced a companion bill in the House. The legislation would streamline the federal supervised release system to give people like Brown a clear off-ramp to earn their way out."
#HumanRights

Also, while crime is mentioned, the cruel and unusual punishments suggest that vengeance and making people suffer is a more likely motivation.

https://nichegamer.com/photoshop-terms-of-service-grants-adobe-access-to-user-projects-for-content-moderation/
"Photoshop’s newest terms of service has users agree to allow Adobe access to their active projects for the purposes of “content moderation” and other various reasons.

This has caused concern among professionals, as it means Adobe would have access to projects under NDA such as logos for unannounced games or other media projects."
From a privacy perspective, it is very concerning. There are also potential implications for freedom of expression in there.

https://reason.com/2024/06/06/states-turn-their-backs-on-criminal-justice-reform/ It is concerning.

https://reason.com/2024/06/03/new-york-and-new-jersey-want-to-let-felons-serve-on-juries-heres-why/ Interesting article. #HumanRights

"ODS" A new process for privileged rich people while everyone else's free expression gets trampled on. It's what you get when conversations of free expression are dominated by "celebrity x's account / post was unfairly taken down". #DSA

https://www.wired.com/story/respec-harassment-gaming/ It's been quite a while since I've seen an article like this. What do you think?

He has an interesting theory that being more open about porn would make it easier for people to talk about sexual matters which might help to address the spycam problem.