Olives @olives@qoto.org

I see someone is suddenly discovering that the entire point of "digital identity" shenanigans is surveillance and other human rights abuses. Of course it is, if you think about it for a moment.

As you can see there, the landscape has a bit of nuance to it, and I'd like to avoid saying anything too simplistic.

https://qoto.org/@olives/112698746540580221 It is already covered here (which I only posted a new draft of the other day).

On second thought, I won't comment further on "AI". This is already covered in another post and in a better way than I could cover it here impromptu.

His arguments about E2EE were also very specific, so that he could oppose it for Messenger (until Facebook actually implemented it) but not for Whatsapp. Presumably, because he is supporting whatever it is that Facebook is doing.

His arguments about AI are also overly specific, intended to give Facebook a way out. It focuses on very specific types of offensive content but otherwise upholds their model of collecting data.

If he was a genuinely concerned person, he would have seized on more pertinent concerns about web scraping or other things. Instead, it provides a veneer of such scrutiny while doing no such thing.

Essentially, his goal is to trip competitors up on whatever he can come up with, while giving a pass to Facebook.

He dislikes transparent training sets, even though it makes it easier for someone to figure out if something shouldn't be in there. Why? Because, Facebook has a non-transparent training set (whose contents are unknown).

Even in the case of end-to-end encryption. He was opposed to it because Facebook was opposed to it and wrote grandiose remarks on that.

Then, when Facebook swung towards implementing it (due to European pressure), he doesn't care in the slightest about it.

Earlier on, the guy seemed more like a karen than a shill, but as he went along, his arguments overwhelmingly leaned towards attacking Facebook's competitors and being friendlier towards Facebook.

I honestly can't say I'm surprised someone would sue him for defamation as he would often present things in a misleading (or hypocritical) fashion.

Remember the former Facebook executive who tried to smear the #fediverse into acting more like Facebook (and thereby undermining it's differentiators)?

Well, his outfit was disbanded after facing three defamation lawsuits. This wasn't the only instance where they tried to smear someone though, they also tried to smear Parler and Stability AI, who both happen to be Facebook's competitors.

Some might not like Parler because they're conservative, or because they lie about actually having free speech, however, it is alarming how Facebook might try to assassinate the reputation of a competing service.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/facebook-meta-tiktok-targeted-victory_n_62446838e4b0742dfa59f045 Facebook also smeared TikTok.

Also, I only tear into someone like that when they have a strong record of being a bad actor.

This is unsurprising as "trust" or "safety" are often euphemisms for censorship.

Also, looking at this conference, there are quite a few far right and other forms of extreme censors who try to make themselves look like legitimate actors.

To be clear, I don't go out of my way to look into weirdos like this. It came up when I was looking into something else.

^ As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm experimenting with a more citation oriented (although longer) style for the porn science post (the post questions making a fuss out of it). #FreeSpeech

https://apnews.com/article/middle-finger-police-stop-vermont-379e539a054d04ab0c29511f58ee94c2
"#Vermont has agreed to pay $175,000 to settle a lawsuit on behalf of a man who was charged with a crime for giving a state trooper the middle finger in 2018, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday."
#FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech

https://www.trustcon.net/trustcon2024/session/2251047/scaling-trust-safety-in-the-fediverse-insights-from-the-iftas-needs-assessment
Look at this sanctimonious and high-minded language from someone (who quite literally appeared out of thin air one day and tried to impose their colonialistic corporate values) as if they run the place.

Also, showing up to a conference acting as if they run the place (a lot of their ideas are bad and essentially pulled out of their asses). #fediverse

Judge blocks unconstitutional "age verification" law in Indiana.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jun/29/guess-what-mummy-is-a-sex-worker-the-sexologist-who-wants-to-build-a-slutopia-for-women Interesting post about sex work.

There are a few reasons I left this bit on stigma until later, one is that I didn't want it to dominate the piece. There are a number of other good points in there after all.