Olives @olives@qoto.org

I'm told that Mastodon is a notoriously fussy software, so I suppose that explains the current issues with stability here.

There was a burst of 404 errors appearing for a bit.

I saw part of that name and misread it as Assange Island, lol.

I'm seeing some likes trickling into "notifications" but replies are not.

I think it is likely the "home feed" and "notifications" are currently broken.

Outwards federation appears to be broken.

Apparently, there was a bit of a ruckus about spam.

Maybe, if a new account posts the same thing five times, then maybe, it could be prevented from continuing to do so for a few hours.

That said, "anti-bot" measures can often be more effective at preventing actual humans from using a site.

https://www.wired.com/story/blueskys-future-is-social-medias-past/ "Bluesky is boring and uninteresting" is not an inaccurate take.

If you're not aware, this instance went down for maintenance for a while, so if it seemed quiet, that is why.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1efOs0BsE0g I suppose that means this video talking about them just tossing him to the sharks is a bit less accurate now then. It's still a good one.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/australian-mps-free-assange Oh, it looks like they did end up opposing the extradition. Cool.

https://reason.com/2024/02/20/nyc-child-protection-agency-uses-coercive-tactics-to-bully-parents-into-allowing-warrantless-searches/

"Every year, thousands of New York City families are subjected to invasive home searches as part of child abuse and neglect investigations. While less than 7 percent of these investigations lead the agency to file claims of abuse or neglect, a new lawsuit alleges that the city's Administration for Children's Services (ACS) workers often make misleading—or outright false—threats to coerce parents to allow ACS to conduct warrantless searches of their homes."

""Even assuming ACS completed only one home search during each investigation (it typically conducts several), ACS sought court orders for just 0.4% of home entries," the suit states. "This means over 99.5% of home searches that ACS conducts are 'presumptively unreasonable' under the #FourthAmendment.""

"Once inside a family's home, the suit claims that ACS workers engage in incredibly invasive tactics, looking "inside medicine cabinets, under beds, in closets and dresser drawers, in the refrigerator, and in cupboards." Even more troubling, strip searches of children are common, with workers demanding that children lift up their shirts or pull down their pants."

By the way, I've read elsewhere that "negligence" tends to be more a matter of poverty a lot of the time.

#privacy

https://reclaimthenet.org/facial-recognition-technology-to-hit-new-zealand-grocery-stores

"He revealed his role in supervising a novel facial recognition trial, piloted by the grocery cooperative Foodstuffs North Island. Under the guise of reducing crime, the firm aims to incorporate facial recognition technology in 25 branches of New World and Pak’nSave over the next six months.

Casual shoppers will find themselves under surveillance. This was driven home when the popular chain, Woolworths, included obscure clauses in its policy for its newly introduced loyalty card, Everyday Rewards.

The clauses permit the supermarket giant to procure video and audio material to identify customers, in addition to license plate capture."

#privacy #FaceRecognition #NewZealand #Aotearoa

https://reason.com/2024/02/20/the-biden-administration-is-bent-on-setting-an-alarming-precedent-by-prosecuting-julian-assange/

"WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been imprisoned in London for nearly five years, pending extradition to the United States so he can be prosecuted for violating the Espionage Act by publishing classified information. Since that amount of time behind bars is about the same as the four-to-six-year prison term that Justice Department lawyers have said Assange would be likely to serve if convicted, you might think the Biden administration would be ready to reconsider this case, especially since it poses an alarming threat to freedom of the press. Instead, the U.S. government's lawyers are back in London for yet another hearing, which Assange's attorneys describe as a last-ditch attempt to block his extradition."

#FirstAmendment

"AI" anime art can't really compare that made by humans (well, I suppose there is a possibility the artists are something more... supernatural), lol.