“I really think this a precursor for genocide"…"We've seen it happen. Real people's lives are actually going to be endangered."
"Mr. Trump also said Meta’s change was 'probably' a result of the threats he had made against the company and Mr. Zuckerberg"
https://www.platformer.news/meta-fact-checking-free-speech-surrender/
One notable things is that Zuckerberg explicitly says he is making these changes because of US political changes
And yet we know that this new toleration of disinfo and hate speech will have global impact that will cause people to be killed around the world (remember Myanmar)
And that's not to mention his utter dismissal of European concerns about Meta, including calling on Trump to help him fight the EU
"misinformation is powerful, not because it changes minds, but because it allows people to maintain their beliefs in light of growing evidence to the contrary. The internet may function not so much as a brainwashing engine but as a justification machine. A rationale is always just a scroll or a click away"
How to do content moderation on a system designed to be maximally privacy preserving?
This proposal uses server-based block lists that rely on cooperation of at least one of the clients involved
I spent the afternoon at SFMOMA, and I saw lots of impressive and dramatic art, not least Amy Sherald's portraits of Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor
But somehow, this one modest photograph of the artist March Avery by Consuelo Kanaga reeled me in more than anything else I saw there
I love that the radar speed display signs that I encountered in Canada said THANKS* when I was at or below the speed limit
Positive reinforcement for good behavior!
* Actually they said MERCI because I was in Quebec https://cdn.nostrcheck.me/6e5dae34697c2715d955583afe28b8c1bc71baa2e568737a48907c9d378965d0/04326e207c5c94f5334c7db3457847d1f1b30e35f3667cd69f4c0a102545fa2c.webp
One thing I miss from before the pandemic was the vibrant tech meetup scene in San Francisco
I used to go several times a month to meetups like Waffle JS, Papers We Love, and random ones hosted by various companies
I even gave presentations a few times myself
Does anything like that exist now?
When a tech snakeoil website quotes
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"
the perfect response from Tattie is
"unfounded belief in a sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magical thinking"
LOL on "speculation about human extinction is well beyond the FTC’s immediate concerns"
But, seriously, this blog post from the FTC has good examples of some of the more immediate AI risks
https://www.ftc.gov/policy/advocacy-research/tech-at-ftc/2025/01/ai-risk-consumer-harm
Good start
Now do it for all countries, including the US
Here's a good example of how bias can creep into AI
The marketing materials for an AI company shows an example that does not take into account same-sex marriage or various other family structures
(It states as a rule that the spouse of the father of a child is that child's mother)
I created a chart that you can use to identify a language
(Just European language using Latin-based alphabets)
Review and corrections welcome
(Based on the work of other. See post for credits.)
https://eamonn.org/identifying-a-written-language https://cdn.nostrcheck.me/6e5dae34697c2715d955583afe28b8c1bc71baa2e568737a48907c9d378965d0/c20b7e9c5fa02bd3c5c4f48b1c04be2c2945c828304d6d3bf7a3c9dc19446b84.webp
Is the Web as we know it going to survive the disruption that's happening?
Maybe one possibility is that a new smaller web will rise like a phoenix from the wreckage
If you've got some experience around data protection and GDPR, and have some opinions to share you might want to take this NOYB survey:
https://survey.noyb.eu/index.php?r=survey/index&sid=863354&lang=en
If your product design is good, it is easy to figure out the words to put on the buttons and links in the UI
If every simple wording seems like it would be misleading or confusing, and there is not enough room in the UI to explain the nuance…
that is a sign your basic design is bad
Is there a way to tell if someone is human on the internet?
Maybe, if this idea of "personhood credentials" is to be believed
Also, I wonder could it provide a better way to do age verification without violating the rights of adults?
Abuse of government surveillance is in living memory in Europe
Even if you trust your current government to bypass encryption to protect children, a future government may abuse that power
https://www.globalencryption.org/2024/12/european-union-member-states-speak-up-for-encryption/
Anthropic has an interesting approach to identifying Trust & Safety issues in a bottom-up way
Because it is finding violations in the actually usage data it is not limited by the imagination of a red-team that is trying to anticipate violations
"when surveillance of abortion and reproductive health clinics could rise…companies providing monitoring tools to the government are prepared to use healthcare information to track down targets"
https://www.404media.co/location-data-firm-offers-to-help-cops-track-targets-via-doctor-visits/