Making fun educational shorts about how Trump low-key made it easier to get away with slavery on farms haha yay
“This is absolutely being framed as a tool of abuse,” EFF’s @evacide told @404mediaco. “Anything where the justification is ‘catch your partner cheating’ or ‘get peace of mind about your partner’ is enabling coercive control.” https://www.404media.co/tiktok-shop-sells-viral-gps-trackers-marketed-to-stalkers/
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- LAPD lies about attack on reporters
- Israel murders journalists in Gaza to silence reporting
- Two years since ‘a massive failure’ of the justice system in Kansas
- Plus, what we're reading...
https://freedom.press/issues/lapd-lies-about-attack-on-reporters/
“There’s a lack of imagination for the worst case scenario,” EFF’s Beryl Lipton told Government Technology News. The only way to definitively keep this data from those who aren't supposed to have it is by not collecting and storing it in the first place. https://www.govtech.com/public-safety/d-c-takeover-shows-how-cities-can-lose-control-of-surveillance
PM's own Ramsey Kanaan was interviewed: “They’re replicating digitally the model of public libraries,” said Kanaan, who values the “intellectual commons” over “corporations big and small doing their best to monetize everything.”
Read the full article here: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/98310-library-startup-briet-wants-to-revolutionize-e-book-sales-not-licensing.html
Affordability, Not Volatility: #Renewables’ Cost Advantage Grows - https://rmi.org/affordability-not-volatility-renewables-cost-advantage-grows/ "In 2024, more than 90 percent of new global renewable energy capacity was cheaper." #murica getting left behind thanks to #trump energy madness (v @azeemazhar)
Remember that this article is shrieking about a 17% decline in European tourists visiting the USA … back in *March*, only two months into the Trump administration and six months ago.
The endless litany of news about abusive ICE behaviour since then means tourism is probably down significantly further by now.
(I know I for one cancelled all US visit plans after last November 7th. Otherwise right now I'd be in Seattle.)
https://mastodonapp.uk/@marqle/115044978561690299
@kyle I meant battery to battery, factoring in battery life. I really don't have an answer. Just wondering out loud.
One more reason NOT to buy a car from Volkswagen: escalating enshittification that makes customers pay a monthly fee to "unlock" features already built into the car.
"There Is (Still) No Ethical Use of AI" by my brilliant colleague @melikhovo
https://matthewcheney.net/blog/there-is-still-no-ethical-use-of-ai/
I used to think that phishing tests and training were pretty pointless (like this study says), but I recently changed my mind.
Most people use tests as a (misguided) way to train employees. Instead, the value in tests is finding out how often phishing doesn't work, and how quickly employees will detect and report a non-targeted phishing attempt. This aids risk analysis and scoring, when phishing is the initial attack vector.
https://www.scworld.com/news/phishing-training-is-pretty-pointless-researchers-find
@kyle All my old laptops are lucky to get one hour on their batteries. I'm not sure the laptop vs UPS battery equation works out.
I use old laptops as my primary home server instead of mini PCs because they come with a built-in multi-hour UPS and a crash cart.
Using old phones offers similar advantages, in particular if your alternative was a Raspberry Pi.
https://hackaday.com/2025/08/16/from-smartphone-to-a-home-server/
When Australian artificial intelligence expert Dr Kobi Leins declined a medical specialist’s request to use AI transcription software during her child’s upcoming appointment, the practice told her [she] was "welcome to seek an alternative" provider.
[...]
It was a system whose privacy and security capabilities Leins had previously reviewed as part of her work in AI governance — and one she said she would not want her child’s data “anywhere near”.
https://ia.acs.org.au/article/2025/kobi-refused-a-doctors-ai-she-was-told-to-go-elsewhere.html
Is It Still ‘#Trump Derangement Syndrome’ If All The Predictions Were Accurate? - https://www.techdirt.com/2025/08/12/is-it-still-trump-derangement-syndrome-if-all-the-predictions-were-accurate/ same happened with #brexit: we warned, they mocked, we were right, they were wrong
#Trump Confesses He Will Bankrupt the Country Unless #SCOTUS Lets Him Break the Law - https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/08/13/trump-confesses-he-will-bankrupt-the-country-unless-scotus-lets-him-break-the-law/ "the Roberts Court won’t dare uphold the law, for fear of being held accountable for the financial ruin Trump is rushing us towards." just insane stuff
#ShlaerMellor, #FunctionPointAnalysis, #punk, #environmentalist, #unionAdvocate, #anarchosocialist
"with a big old lie and a flag and a pie and a mom and a bible most folks are just liable to buy any line, any place, any time" - Frank Zappa