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techdirt.com/2023/11/27/dear-m

"With almost zero public notice, the Board of Supervisors of Marin County, California (just to the north of San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge) is on the verge of approving tomorrow a demand by the county sheriff’s department to install license plate cameras throughout the county. As a county resident, I object. My comment submitted to the board is below."

"In the last 30 days I have entered the Gateway Shopping Center in Marin City on at least 11/6, 11/21, and 11/24 to get groceries, dine, and purchase other household goods.

None of this information is your business, and it is certainly not the business of the Marin County Sheriff’s Department. But if you authorize their proposal to allow automatic license plate reader cameras to be installed throughout Marin County this location information is exactly the sort they will be able to know about each and every person driving in Marin County, be they residents or their guests.

I have also gone to Strawberry on at least 10/31, 11/7, 11/8, 11/10, 11/15, 11/16, and 11/21, to go grocery shopping, dine, and seek medical care.

As a resident in unincorporated Marin, these places are in my neighborhood and where I need to go to shop, dine, and do the business life requires. It is also the activity businesses in Marin depend on people doing. But if you let the Marin County Sheriff Department hang these cameras, it will be impossible to go to any of these places without them knowing.

I have also regularly driven on Highway 1 to enter Mill Valley. I do not have complete records of these travels, but if you let the Sheriff’s Department hang the cameras where they propose, they will."

Censorship is a paperclip maximizer.

Thank you for the positive responses to this :)

Olives  
Some points about censoring fictional content there (censorship is a bad idea): 1) It might fuel someone's persecution complex. The idea of a dange...
Olives boosted

Looks like Julie is carrying out a "public consultation", that is probably an important one to keep in mind throughout it.

Olives  
While I generally don't dive into this, I saw a few bad faith remarks which are so outrageous that I feel compelled to respond. First off, when tal...
Olives boosted

Julie doesn't seem interested in going after E2EE for now.

Olives boosted

Here is Discord's Chief Legal Officer Clint Smith with Julie on the 14th.

Censoring content because it might vaguely meet some standard of being "worrying" or "offensive" is a really bad mentality to have.

Olives  
https://aseanictforum.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Report-Back_ASEAN-ICT-Forum-U-Report-Data_Nov2023.pdf "How often have you encountered worrying...
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refused-classification.com/cen
afkgaming.com/gaming/general/i
Australia has banned "NewRP". NewRP appears to be a GTA-like game. It is hard to say why it was banned. Perhaps, the game contains drugs, or the ability to play as a criminal rubs the censors the wrong way.

refused-classification.com/cen
xbox.com/en-US/games/store/exc
Apparently, Australia has banned Excessive Trim because it's about a murderous alien (extra-terrestrial) who consumes cannabis.

Olives boosted

Once I was at a small hostel in Spain, and came down with a nasty cold. I asked at the desk, and they said they had a doctor on staff. He came up to my room, wrote me a prescription, fixed me right up. Later I told the guy at the desk, I was surprised such a small hostel had a doctor on staff. He just smiled and said, "Yes, nobody expects the Spanish inn physician".

(not my joke)

Well, I still think the "algorithm might generate something offensive" panic is over the top.

Olives  
Looking at AI art, and again, I think I prefer human made art.

Looking at AI art, and again, I think I prefer human made art.

Interesting poll.

Tuta  
Sometimes you need to send secure messages fast.⚡ But with so many instant messaging apps to choose from it can be difficult to decide which to pi...

Interesting how a South East Asian conference has like ten departments of the Australian Government taking part.

Is this a South East Asian Conference or an Australian Conference?

Olives  
It's not that unusual for them to quietly insert highly controversial ideas into the "terms" (and to use particular language where it isn't immedia...

The time loop where the same stupid bills keep appearing.

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