The Prodigal Techbro | The Conversationalist:
Ex-Google lobbyist Ross Lajeunesse left the company in 2019 over its censored search engine for China and also because of homophobic, sexist and racist work practices. He’s now running for a Democratic senate nomination, and recently wrote a classic of the ‘scales have fallen from my eyes’ genre, called “I Was Google’s Head of International Relations. Here’s Why I Left.” Its lede is “The company’s motto used to be “Don’t be evil.” Things have changed.”Really? Has Google really changed? Lajeunesse joined in 2008, years into Google’s multi-billion dollar tax avoidance, sexist labor practices and privacy hostility and continued to work there through the years of antitrust fines, misuse of personal health data, wage fixing, and financially pressuring think tanks. Google didn’t change. It just started treating some of its insiders like it already treated outsiders. That only looks like radical change if you’ve never thought too hard about what you are doing and to whom.
Daring Fireball: The Obituaries of Republicans Who Opposed Nixon’s Impeachment — Read on daringfireball.net/linked/2020/01/30/republicans-who-opposed-impeachment
I wish I thought this would cause some GOP senators would think this through, but I suspect they’re in an endgame where they know they have no future, and only want to do what they can while they have the reins.
Daring Fireball: The New York Times’s Hypocrisy on Ad Tracking and Privacy — Read on daringfireball.net/linked/2019/12/27/nyt-ad-tracking-hypocrisy
Anti-Impeachment Democrat To Switch Party; Dispute Could Upend Democratic Debate — The NPR Politics Podcast — Overcast — Read on overcast.fm/+Ht-QwB4T0
Jeff Van Drew - Pro-gun, anti-choice, anti-climate… How was he a dem anyways?
Governments that sign on are asked to promise to "ensure everyone can connect to the internet," to "keep all the internet available all the time," and to "respect and protect people’s fundamental online privacy and data rights."Corporate signatories promise that they will “make the internet affordable and accessible to everyone,” “respect and protect people’s privacy and personal data to build online trust,” and “develop technologies that support the best in humanity and challenge the worst.”
Individuals are asked to “be creators and collaborators on the Web,” “build strong communities that respect civil discourse and human dignity,” and “fight for the Web.”
My changing gears from Facebook to Wordpress and other outlets started before this contract was posted, but absolutely in that spirit.
I don’t know that anyone is noticing, but I know…
Bloomberg is running in part because he opposes the progressive candidates' "extreme wealth taxes" which would see him paying $3.7b under a Sanders presidency, $3b under a Warren presidency or $512m under a Steyer presidency -- per year.That $32m that Bloomberg has dumped into his ad-buy? It’s 1.1% of the tax bill he’d owe under Warren in the first year.
Bloomberg’s attempt to stop left wing candidates is a business expense.
Minnesota school threw out hot meals of students with over $15 lunch debt, then apologized:
Richfield High School came under fire Monday after around 40 students had their hot lunches taken off their trays, thrown out, and replaced with a cold lunch when cafeteria staff saw they had lunch debt of more than $15, NBC Minneapolis affiliate KARE 11 reports.
Not the greatest way to make the national stage…
It proves men like him are more willing to perpetuate the fantastic narrative of negro neighborhoods needing more role models and briefcase-carriers than make the people in power stare into the sun and see the blinding light of racism. Get-along moderates would rather make shit up out of whole cloth than wade into the waters of reality. Pete Buttigieg doesn’t want to change anything. He just wants to be something. — Read on www.theroot.com/pete-buttigieg-is-a-lying-mf-1840038708/amp
"If you pay them, Facebook will run any 'political' ad you want, even if it's a lie. And they'll even help you micro-target those lies to their users for maximum effect," he said. "Under this twisted logic, if Facebook were around in the 1930s, it would have allowed Hitler to post 30-second ads on his 'solution' to the 'Jewish problem'." — Read on www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50525884
These crimes took place at different times, in different places across our country, but they share much in common. They were intended to create fear. They were motivated by hate and bias. And they are incompatible with our values and have no place in American life. — Read on medium.com/@teamwarren/fighting-back-against-white-nationalist-violence-87b0c550f51f
White Nationalism - are we surprised that Warren has a plan to deal with it?
How to recognize AI snake oil / Boing Boing:
Princeton computer scientist Arvind Narayanan (previously) has posted slides and notes from a recent MIT talk on "How to recognize AI snake oil" in which he divides AI applications into three (nonexhaustive) categories and rates how difficult they are, and thus whether you should believe vendors who claim that their machine learning models can perform as advertised.
Over the decades the Kurds have been inspired by, allied with, relied upon and betrayed by the United States. This week we explore who the Kurds are, who they are to the United States and what, if anything, we owe to them. — Read on www.npr.org/2019/11/06/776794310/no-friend-but-the-mountains
The Siege of Mecca — Throughline — Overcast — Read on overcast.fm/+QfXWu6BhQ
This one moment has shaped much of world events over my entire life.
A low moment in Apple’s proud history, and a sadly iconic moment for Tim Cook. I hope avoiding those tariffs is worth it. — Read on daringfireball.net/2019/11/cook_trump_campaign_ad
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday ardently defended Facebook’s controversial political advertising policy a little more than an hour after Twitter took a shot at its rival while announcing it will ban all political ads — Read on thehill.com/policy/technology/468216-zuckerberg-doubles-down-on-facebook-political-ads-policy-after-twitter-ban
"While internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics," company CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted. — Read on www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50243306
This kind of "inauthentic coordinated behavior" violates Facebook's rules. Facebook has taken down smaller and less coordinated networks that promoted liberal content. But Facebook told Popular Information that it will continue to allow this network to operate and amplify The Daily Wire's content. — Read on popular.info/p/facebook-allows-prominent-right-wing
Baker's willingness to admit the technical incoherence of crypto bans is great, a massive step forward, but American legal officials shouldn't even be debating whether or not it's possible to ban crypto. If Barr managed to produce a working "solution" to the problems that Baker raises, we still shouldn't use it, because Americans have the right to make choices that enhance their own security, privacy and integrity, even if that makes cops work harder. — Read on boingboing.net/2019/10/28/san-bernadino-conversion.html
I remember when I read your column, one of the sentences that most surprised me was: "I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me." Yes, I strongly believe that. I think there's many meanings behind this. One is, it was his decision, not mine. Two, at least for me, I can only speak for myself, it gives me a level of empathy that I think is probably much higher than average because being gay or trans, you're a minority. And I think when you're a majority, even though intellectually you can understand what it means to be in a minority, it's an intellectual thing. It's not intellectual for me to be in a minority. I'm not saying that I understand the trials and tribulations of every minority group, because I don't. But I do understand for one of the groups. And to the degree that it helps give you a lens on how other people may feel, I think that's a gift in and of itself. — Read on peopleenespanol.com/chica/tim-cook-the-power-of-diversity/
REP. OCASIO-CORTEZ: Would I be able to run advertisements on Facebook targeting Republicans in primaries saying that they voted for the Green New Deal? I mean, if you’re not fact-checking political advertisements — I’m just trying to understand the bounds here. What’s fair game?ZUCKERBERG: Congresswoman, I don’t know the answer to that off the top of my head. I think probably. — Read on pxlnv.com/linklog/zuck-testifies-again/
Like the United States under the Trump administration, Mordor under the rule of the Dark Lord Sauron, at the end of the Third Age of this world, was a vibrant and unquestioned world superpower suddenly facing threats from various sides. A revived Gondor under King Elessar Telcontar loomed on its western borders. To the north, the Elves of Lothlórien joined with the Woodland Realm and the extranational, quasi-religious White Council to conquer the Mordorian exclave of Dol Guldur in Mirkwood. While Mordor, much like the United States with Saudi Arabia, pursued alliances with the nearby Variags of Khand and the Corsairs of Umbar, most of its military and economic support came from more distant powers like Rhûn and Far Harad. — Read on foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/21/trump-administration-mordor-failed-hegemon-tolkien/
Getting Tough on the Corporate Snoopers | Irreal — Read on irreal.org/blog/
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Imagine if Facebook were prohibited from collecting its users’ information without their permission and that Zuckerberg could go to jail for ignoring the ban.
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Metropolis Meets Afrofuturism: The Genius of Janelle Monáe | Tor.com — Read on www.tor.com/2019/10/18/metropolis-meets-afrofuturism-the-genius-of-janelle-monae/
“I thought science fiction was a great way of talking about the future,” Janelle Monáe told Bust Magazine in a 2013 interview. “It doesn’t make people feel like you’re talking about things that are happening right now, so they don’t feel like you’re talking down to them. It gives the listener a different perspective.”
Facebook is making the choice to facilitate fake news for campaign ads, even when claims are demonstrably fake… Making them complicit with conservatives.
This is leading me to try to make a return to blogging on my own to regain control of my messaging and how it’s shared.
Consider this a beginning.