Olives @olives@qoto.org

Well, less humorously, robomanagers may well be more of a thing (and that might not necessarily be a good thing).

Manager: I thought AI would take the jobs of my employees, not my job.

Lol.

https://themessenger.com/news/florida-school-district-dictionaries-escambia-county-sex-ed
"A school district in Florida has taken dictionaries off its libraries' shelves because of fears they violate the state's recent legislation on books depicting or describing sexual conduct."

I don't know whether to laugh at this because of the sheer absurdity of it or complain about it. Both?

Are you tired of a company which manufactures hygienics products (Dove) reckoning themselves "experts" and coming in with their bad take on online "safety" legislation?

Are you tired of the mayonnaise company reckoning themselves a player in world politics?

Are you tired of a (seemingly conservative) investor (Ackman) clumsily delving into internet related matters and driving sex related censorship? (2020 - 2022).

Are you tired of a company which manufactures plastic blocks (Lego) turning up to internet policy summits?

It's also worth mentioning how pervasive criticism of this is. I hear it in random chat groups with friends (or strangers or acquaintances). I hear it from relatives (who might not even understand what the word "woke" means, but who know this ESG stuff is a problem).

https://reason.com/2024/01/14/is-esg-already-over/ I personally find there is a lot of virtue signalling and regressive behavior which both fails to contribute to any social value, and also undercuts a business' ability to offer useful services. Also, while this article mentions climate more, it's not simply about climate.

Apart from the use case there being a contrived, and unnecessary violation of privacy, they're also signalling that that would only be the beginning.

Perhaps, track a vehicle's location to "better optimize traffic" (I've seen this idea mentioned by like-minded people elsewhere), or some other "creative" use? Awful.

It seems the road to hell is paved with... Trying to overcome small inconveniences for bureaucrats?

I suspect that a few might get distracted by the newfangled "blockchain" novelty aspect (that is hard to take seriously) and ignore that they're exploring ways to lift private data out of vehicles.

https://web.archive.org/web/20221205221900/https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC130260

The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission produced a disturbingly totalitarian report in 2022 which flew under the radar.

"The objective of the BC4T project is to investigate possible applications of blockchain (BC) technology on road transport, focusing on topics of interest to the European Commission’s policy agenda."

"The study also showed that sharing vehicle information such as fuel consumption or emissions to a fully BC-based monitoring system would be technically feasible."

"Adopting a European Digital Identity could open up a range of diverse applications within the connected mobility ecosystem linking users and regulators while protecting personal data and privacy. The benefits of the adoption and testing of BC could create a significant and transparent interlinking of public and private data and enable interoperability across different transport systems."

#privacy #eidas

https://reason.com/2024/01/12/aurora-colorado-police-detained-the-wrong-guy-at-gunpoint-they-gave-him-a-ticket-anyway/

"Newly released body camera footage shows Aurora, Colorado, police forcing 44-year-old Teddy Pittman to the ground at gunpoint after mistaking him for a fugitive. After searching the terrified Pitman and his car, the cops eventually let him go—but not without giving him a ticket for driving with a suspended license and making a bad turn."

"After coming up empty-handed, the task force let Pittman go—but not without slapping him with a traffic ticket for driving with a suspended license and making a faulty left turn. A judge eventually dismissed the ticket."

#HumanRights

https://gothamist.com/news/lawsuit-claims-nj-prosecutors-secretly-monitored-attorney-client-calls

"A man who was incarcerated in Hudson County, New Jersey, alleges jail officials and prosecutors there illegally listened to private conversations he had with his attorney while awaiting trial.

Yursil Kidwai says in a federal class-action lawsuit that jail officials secretly monitored phone conversations between him and his lawyer, which are privileged under New Jersey law, and then prosecutors used information shared in those calls to help build a sexual assault case against him. He later took a plea deal and is currently serving a six-year prison sentence, according to NJ.com, which first reported on the lawsuit.

His lawsuit also accuses jail officials and prosecutors of doing the same to others incarcerated in the Hudson County Correctional Facility.

Kidwai is asking the court to mandate that county officials stop monitoring attorney-client calls and implement training and policies that ensure the practice doesn’t continue. His suit also asks for monetary damages.

The lawsuit does not challenge the outcome of Kidwai’s criminal case."

#HumanRights #CriminalJustice

One I haven't mentioned but which could be relevant is that deaths (perhaps, from Covid, if it is widespread enough) in the family can also contribute to poorer mental health.

I don't typically write for #ukpol. However, some of the puritanical anti porn takes (seems to mainly be cops with their "hunches", and basically asserting that porn must be bad, even though there is no actual evidence of this) are getting so detached from reality that I have to comment on it briefly. No, not on the fediverse, thankfully.

As for the other bits, there is a very obvious reason why online crime would increase during Covid. That is, because, uh, everyone is online and there isn't a whole lot else to do...? Also, locking up populations is not exactly great for mental health, and the mental health system was even driven to the brink of collapse (probably depriving mental health resources from many). And remember, that mental health, or services for that matter most likely, don't just spring to normality immediately, just because a situation has been lifted.

I've even seen allegations the "Conservative Party" has historically explored trying to dissuade people from using mental health services in order to save money. Crime (including child abuse) tends to be associated with poverty, it can be reasonably inferred that the economic devastation wrought by Brexit might be associated with an increase in crime as well.

Also, covid style lockdowns might deprive individuals from social inclusion.

So, right off the bat, we have far more compelling explanations.

There are other potential variables as well, such as potentially compromised international co-operation due to the "special military operation" involving Russia and Ukraine. Also, a lot of these modern platforms, when you think about it, are not really that old (especially, when you count uptake). Even the Web as a whole is not that old, when you think of the world in decades, rather than rapid yearly cycles.

Also, the folks over at the Home Office might periodically practically alter what constitutes an image based crime. Anecdotally, I've also noticed quite a few "he did something in 2020" type crimes being reported in British news articles, this might also bias numbers (I think that cops going out of their way to chase old low level image based crimes (i.e. viewing) is probably not the best use of their resources, although I don't know a whole lot about this particular phenomena).

That's not all someone could come up with, of course.

https://qoto.org/@olives/111516011246609826 I've written about the more particular subject of how porn is not really some big evil (and even sort of how it intersects with human rights... sort of) before. Also, why a lot of the words I just wrote (in the above paragraphs) shouldn't matter for not engaging in censorship (or invading someone's privacy).

Also, platforms are typically becoming *more* censorious in terms of porn, or porn themes, as time goes by. That is typically what we see. So, either diversity actually reduces crime, or it is unrelated. Take your pick. It also calls into question the more censorship angle... It's also an annoyingly zero sum initiative, it's contentious, controversial, and wastes a lot of resources chattering about something that isn't going to work in the real world.

I've written about what might actually be helpful, although it'd be hard for me to immediately come up with something for the U.K. Typically, it comes down to educational initiatives (or enforcement action to deal with online predators?).

It's honestly quite upsetting that someone would ignore *literally everything else* going on in the country to peddle a "I hate porn" agenda. Not surprising at all. But, nonetheless, disappointing.

Someone's past antics as minors (on social media) potentially being used against them is a pretty good argument for why people should value their #privacy more.