Links 08/04/2024: Pandemic Pyramid Schemes and Altman/'Open' 'Hey Hi' Debt (Huge Losses) Spun as 'Valuable'
Contents
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GNU/Linux
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Leftovers
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Jason Becker ☛ Some things are too easy, some things should be hard, but I don't think blogging should be hard
I’ve been holding on to a response to Greg Morris’s post about how some things are just too easy now. I have a pretty large set of ideas around how rapidly removing friction and transaction costs in an increasingly digital world has had a host of negative consequences. I don’t think these consequences largely outweigh the benefits, but I do think many of us are scrambling with uneasiness or unhappiness with our destination post-internet connectedness. It’s important that we think about how the things have played out and come up with new culture and structure to refine the world back toward a better compromise.
I just haven’t had the brain space to sit, write, edit, and really explain my thinking. It’s an easy conversation over a beer, but a hard one to put out in writing.
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Defector ☛ The Best Part Of Krusty The Clown's Judaism Is That It Doesn't Need To Explain Itself | Defector
And since the whole episode was about Krusty being a Jew—and also self-contained and less than 30 minutes long—we were allowed to watch it at Hebrew school. It is also why it is, quite easily, my most-watched TV episode ever, despite the fact that I barely watched any of the rest of the show, and despite the fact that I hadn't watched the episode since I dropped out of Hebrew day school in the mid-1990s.
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Education
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Connor Tumbleson ☛ Double Conference Day
On April 6, 2024 I attended two conferences at the same time on the same day speaking at one while attending the other.
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New Statesman ☛ Universities are in crisis
Almost half of UK vice-chancellors expect their university to run at a loss this year. The value of tuition fees for domestic students has been falling in real terms, amid high inflation, since they were frozen in 2017 at £9,250 per year. For reasons that are not at all difficult to understand, almost no one – from politicians to students or their parents – wants to raise them. Universities have increasingly been making up for this shortfall by recruiting students from abroad, who pay dramatically higher fees. And now international student numbers, too, might be falling.
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Health/Nutrition/Agriculture
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CBC ☛ Ont. school boards are trying to knock down the social media giants. Do their cases stand a chance?
They were reckless and malicious, manipulating the brain neurochemistry of young students, getting them hooked on social media platforms, and, in doing so, causing widespread damage and disruption to the education system.
These are just some of the, as of yet, unproven allegations, made by four Ontario school boards in their recently filed statements of claim filed against social media giants Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc. and ByteDance Ltd, which operate the platforms Facebook and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok respectively, seeking $4.5 billion in total damages.
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Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)
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The New Leaf Journal ☛ Google Search and Independent Websites
Retro Dodo is an independent blog and website that generates revenue through on-site ads, its YouTube channel, and book sales. It has on-site ads and also hosts a YouTube channel and several books under its banner. The on-site ads distinguishes it from The New Leaf Journal. While we have used The New Leaf Journal to promote our commercial endeavors (see some of Victor V. Gurbo’s articles about his music), the site proper avoids third-party scripts, much less ads or affiliate links. The point here is not about morality – but instead that having ads, especially Google ads, brings additional potential search engine issues that may not apply to slimmer projects such as mine. (Of course as I learned last year – Bing may ban you even when you have no ads or third-party scripts.)
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New York Times ☛ Opinion | Happy 20th Anniversary, Gmail. I’m Sorry I’m Leaving You.
A few months ago, I euthanized that Gmail account. I have more than a million unread messages in my inbox. Most of what’s there is junk. But not all of it. I was missing too much that I needed to see. Search could not save me. I didn’t know what I was looking for. Google’s algorithms had begun failing me. What they thought was a priority and what I thought was a priority diverged. I set up an auto-responder telling anyone and everyone who emailed me that the address was dead.
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The Register UK ☛ Local councils bemoan dangers of software customizations
Councils, it notes, are "working within a market that doesn't always provide what they need, where implementing even minor changes can incur significant costs and lengthy timelines and they are locked in to systems that aren't fit for purpose. Added to this councils may not have the skills or knowledge to procure effectively."
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NL Times ☛ Nearly 40% think AI will cost jobs in the Netherlands; Only 1% think they are at risk
The survey suggests Dutch citizens recognize AI’s potential disruption but struggle to reconcile that fear with their own job security. “This belief in job retention appears to be even stronger among respondents who are more familiar with AI and also among some professional groups such as managers and technicians,” ING surmised.
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Futurism ☛ Google Accidentally Admits Something Very Funny About AI
On the one hand, charging users to access AI search could point to the sheer amount of money and resources it takes to power AI systems in the first place. But as The Guardian's Alex Hern points out, the search giant's potential willingness to lock its AI search behind pay-to-play doors seemingly illustrates a unique, self-made problem for Google: that the AI it's so eager to integrate into its search platform stands to upend the ad model that makes the company the vast majority of its revenue.
"Google search prints money. Generative AI burns money," writes Hern. "What happens when an unstoppable force hits an immovable object?"
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Security
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Privacy/Surveillance
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Rodrigo Ghedin ☛ Hiding my face on the internet
My face is in several places. Back there, before the facial recognition algorithms and the generative AIs, I thought it would be good to show the face to pass… credibility? Confidence? I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t even a necessity as it’s today, because we didn’t have AIs that wrote convincing gibberish. Simpler times.
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Wired ☛ A Breakthrough Online Privacy Proposal Hits Congress
The bipartisan proposal, titled the American Privacy Rights Act, or APRA, would limit the types of consumer data companies can collect, retain, and use to what they need to operate their services. Users would also be allowed to opt-out of targeted advertising and have the ability to view, correct, delete, and download their data from online services. The proposal would also create a national registry of data brokers, and force those companies to allow users to opt out of having their data sold.
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Defence/Aggression
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Digital Music News ☛ Senator Chuck Schumer Sees 'Path Forward' for TikTok Legislation
The U.S. House of Representatives voted on March 13 to give TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, 180 days to divest or face a ban. Schumer’s statement did not outline his position on the potential TikTok ban, but stated “in the weeks and months ahead, we have the opportunity to make progress on bipartisan bills” that includes the TikTok measure.
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Reuters ☛ Schumer says US Senate can make progress on TikTok bill
Last month, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell said she was considering holding a public hearing on a TikTok crackdown bill and said senators want legislation to address concerns about the app. "The key point here is getting a tool that can be used to stop foreign actors from doing deleterious things that might harm U.S. citizens," Cantwell said. "We're get it get done and we're not going to take forever."
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India Times ☛ US tiktok: Chuck Schumer says US Senate can make progress on TikTok bill
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Friday outlined a busy agenda for lawmakers returning to Washington, saying they can make progress "on a path forward on TikTok legislation."
The Senate is returning to work next week after a two-week recess. The U.S. House of Representatives voted 352-65 on March 13 to give TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, about six months to divest the U.S. assets of the short-video app, or face a ban.
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Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine
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JURIST ☛ Tajikistan denies Russia claim that Ukraine is recruiting mercenaries
Tajikistan Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Shokhin Samadi told Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti Saturday that claims by Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev that Ukraine has been recruiting mercenaries for its military in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, the country’s capital, are false.
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RFERL ☛ Ukrainian Commander Orders Probe Into Enlistment Attempt Of Critical Journalist
The commander in chief of Ukraine's armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskiy, said he ordered an internal audit following a report that a journalist was summoned to a military recruitment office after he published an article critical of a Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) officer.
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RFERL ☛ Russia's Foreign Minister To Visit China On April 8-9
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Moscow's key diplomatic and economic partner China on April 8-9 to discuss a "wide range of issues," including the "Ukrainian crisis," with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced.
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RFERL ☛ Zelenskiy Calls On West To Supply Air Defense As Russian Strikes Intensify
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Western allies to supply his country with air-defense systems as Russian air attacks against Ukrainian cities intensify ahead of a likely summer offensive.
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teleSUR ☛ Ukrainian Drone Attacks on Nuclear Power Plant in Zaporozhye
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed the explosion.
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France24 ☛ Russia declares emergency in Orenburg region amid floods after dam burst
A major flood in the Russian city of Orsk forced thousands of people to evacuate, with Moscow reporting a "critical" situation Sunday and warning of dangerous water levels in Siberia.
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RFERL ☛ Russia Declares Federal Emergency In Flood-Hit Orenburg Region
Russia's government on April 7 declared flood-hit areas in the Orenburg region a federal emergency, state media reported.
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teleSUR ☛ Emergency in Russian Region Due Levee Collapse
Orenburg Mayor Sergey Salmin has warned that flood waters are continuing to rise in Orenburg.
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France24 ☛ Ukraine-sceptic, Fico ally Pellegrini wins Slovakia presidential election
Ukraine-sceptic government ally Peter Pellegrini won Slovakia's presidential election Saturday against pro-Western diplomat Ivan Korcok.
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France24 ☛ Russia says Ukraine drone strike hit Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Russia on Sunday said that a Ukraine drone attack hit the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) urged restraint.
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Transparency/Investigative Reporting
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RTL ☛ Tax evasion: 'Panama Papers' trial to begin eight years after tax scandal
The 2016 revelations rocked governments, exposed high-profile personalities, triggered scores of investigations around the world and dealt a blow to Panama's reputation as an offshore financial hub.
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Environment
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Los Angeles Times ☛ Here Arizona nurtures the Navajo Nation, but lacks water
While California wrangles with other Western states over the Colorado River’s drought-stricken water supply, Navajo water rights advocates estimate that the 175,000 members who live on the reservation subsist on average on just 5 to 10 gallons a day per person. Compare that to the 76 to 100 gallons of water the Environmental Protection Agency says most Californians use daily.
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Energy/Transportation
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David Gerard ☛ [Cryptocurrency] is going great: KuCoin busted, how Kickstarter shot itself in the foot with blockchain, Tether goes AI
Users revolted. They were disgusted at the idea of the platform that many of them relied on getting into bed with scammy nonsense — “pretty much all we have seen in that time from the [cryptocurrency] space is rampant fraud, theft, and financial ruin,” said Isaac Childres of Cephalofair Games.
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The Hill ☛ Part falls off Boeing plane during takeoff in Denver
The FAA said it will investigate the incident.
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France24 ☛ Southwest Boeing 737's engine cover falls off prompting FAA investigation
No one was injured and Southwest Flight 3695 returned safely to Denver International Airport around 8:15 a.m. local time (1415 GMT) on Sunday and was towed to the gate after losing the engine cowling.
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Wildlife/Nature
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Los Angeles Times ☛ Old Northern California rail track could become 300-mile hiking trail
If realized, the project would be the longest so-called rail trail in the country, generally following the defunct track through towering redwoods and along rushing rivers teeming with salmon. The relatively flat trail would accommodate hikers, bikers and horseback riders while potentially providing an economic infusion to small towns struggling amid the decline of logging and rise of legal cannabis.
Officials say it’s probably 20 years away from completion but will move forward section by section. Tribes are being consulted to guide the project, officials said, but some have claimed they’re being sidelined.
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Finance
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Vox ☛ Pyramid schemes are as American as it gets
If that sounds familiar, it’s because this is an enormously popular business model, called multilevel marketing (MLM), in which sellers make money either by selling products or recruiting others to sell those products. Millions of people in America participate in MLMs, and while the people at the top make billions and wield a lot of power, roughly 99 percent of the people who join up don’t make — and often lose — money. For that reason, MLMs have — rightly — been controversial and a target of regulators. Critics see them as little more than legal pyramid schemes.
One of those critics is Jane Marie, the host of a podcast series called The Dream and the author of a new book, Selling the Dream, both of which investigate the intersection of MLMs and pyramid schemes and the broader “wellness” industry. I wanted to know a little more about the history of these businesses and why they persist despite their track record, so I invited Marie on The Gray Area to talk about it.
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AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics
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The Hill ☛ Is OpenAI’s Sam Altman’s future worth $7 trillion? [Ed: Obviously fake news and fake numbers]
Nothing exemplifies this optimism more than reports that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is in talks with, among others, the UAE government to raise $5 trillion to 7 trillion (yes, trillion) for increased chip-building capacity, following news that Altman sought billions of dollars for a chip company focused on Tensor Processing Units. The newly minted Abu Dhabi-based investment fund MGX, chaired by UAE national security advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al-Nahyan, is in “early” talks with OpenAI to help fund Altman’s chip-building endeavor.
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Doc Burford ☛ the biggest threat facing your team, whether you’re a game developer or a tech founder or a CEO, is not what you think | by Doc Burford | Mar, 2024 | Medium
A common refrain in every failure, from Marvel to Warner Brothers to Boeing, was this: “Leadership doesn’t know what they want,” and “leadership doesn’t trust the people who know what they’re doing to do their jobs.” It’s a deadly combination — people who try to use easy data to justify making decisions when they don’t know the first thing about a product, because they’re too busy numberfucking and datafucking to try to make number bigger, results in every one of these companies getting worse.
It’s not that games are worse, it’s that leadership fucking sucks.
Jimmy McNerney got one thing right: there is an issue with not enough leadership, but the problem is, these fuckers think that having the position is what makes you a leader, not doing the actual leadership.
Fun fact, a long while ago, Boeing actually did a study, and they found that it takes four years for a new hire to get up to speed. Four years. Granted, making an airliner is one of the most difficult tasks in human history, but still, it takes time.
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The Dissenter ☛ Biden Administration Won't Say Whether They Support Federal Shield Law For Journalists
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Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda
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India Times ☛ right-wing discussions: Anonymous users are dominating right-wing discussions online. They also spread false information
The reposts and expressions of shock from public figures followed quickly after a user on the social platform X who uses a pseudonym claimed that a government website had revealed "skyrocketing" rates of voters registering without a photo ID in three states this year - two of them crucial to the presidential contest.
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Axios ☛ Turner: Russian propaganda "being uttered on the House floor"
• Turner said there are "members of Congress today who still incorrectly say that this conflict between Russia and Ukraine is over NATO, which of course it is not."
• "Now, to the extent that this propaganda takes hold, it makes it more difficult for us to really see this as an authoritarian versus democracy battle, which is what it is," he added.
[...]
• "There are some more nighttime entertainment shows that seem to spin, like, I see the Russian propaganda in some of it — and it's almost identical [to what they're saying on Russian state television] — on our airwaves," he told Puck News.
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RTL ☛ Risks of deepfakes: Meta to start labeling AI-generated content in May
The board in February requested that Meta urgently overhaul its approach to manipulated media given the huge advances in AI and the ease of manipulating media into highly convincing deepfakes.
The board's warning came amid fears of rampant misuse of artificial intelligence-powered applications for disinformation on platforms in a pivotal election year not only in the United States but worldwide.
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Censorship/Free Speech
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Hindustan Times ☛ Malaysian shoemaker apologizes for high heels with logo that some say resemble Arab writing for God
Vern’s Holdings said the logo stamped on the soles of some high-heeled shoes depicted the silhouette of a stiletto heel with an ankle spiral wrap. It acknowledged, however, that shortcomings in the design may have led to the logo being misinterpreted. It said it acted immediately to stop sales of the shoes and issue refunds to customers who bought them.
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[Old] EFF ☛ China’s Global Reach: Surveillance and Censorship Beyond the Great Firewall
But the ongoing Hong Kong protests, and mainland China's pervasive attempts to disrupt and discredit the movement globally, have highlighted that China is not above trying to extend its reach beyond the Great Firewall, and beyond its own borders. In attempting to silence protests that lie outside the Firewall, in full view of the rest of the world, China is showing its hand, and revealing the tools it can use to silence dissent or criticism worldwide.
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Deutsche Welle ☛ Scotland caught up in heated debate over new hate speech law
They have also criticized the fact that women are not named as one of the groups protected by the new law. The Scottish government has previously announced that it plans to introduce a separate law to combat misogyny.
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Greece ☛ Pussy Riot founder talks to Kathimerini about Russia’s ‘military dictatorship’ ahead of visit to Athens
Today, and after the death of dissident Alexei Navalny, Tolokonnikova continues her fight against what she calls the “military dictatorship.” Ahead of a visit to Athens on Sunday where she will be speaking at the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center (SNFCC), in the framework of the Women of the World (WOW) festival, the creator of Pussy Riot describes what it is like to spend time in Russian prisons.
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The Telegraph UK ☛ Just one in four British Muslims believe Hamas committed murder and rape in Israel
The survey also found that just over half (52 per cent) of British Muslims want to make it illegal to show a picture of the Prophet Mohammed, compared to just 16 per cent of the public.
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Civil Rights/Policing
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RTL ☛ Beaten over sexuality: Four charged over French schoolboy's killing
"Fearing for her reputation and that of their family, they had ordered several boys to no longer have contact with her. They (the brothers) then learned that the victim boasted of being able to speak freely with their sister," he said.
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Jacobin Magazine ☛ To Make Unions Resonate Again, Study the CIO’s History
Lisa Phillips is an associate professor of history at Indiana State University and the author of A Renegade Union: Interracial Organizing and Labor Radicalism (University of Illinois Press, 2012). The following interview covers a lot of material related to the Congress of Industrial Organizations moment, shedding light on the CIO’s role in organizing unskilled workers and its complex relationship with issues of race, gender, and political ideology. It circles around the case of District 65, a radical, independent union that was the subject of Phillips’s book.
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International Business Times ☛ California Bill May Charge Employers $100 If They Call Or Text You Outside Of Work Hours
San Diego-born politician and California State Assembly member Matt Haney is attempting to have recently introduced "Assembly Bill 2751" passed into legislature.
The proposed bill, announced in February, will require bosses to ensure that employees do not have to be in touch with them outside of their contracted working hours. These nonworking hours must be agreed upon through a written agreement between the employer and employees.
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Copyrights
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Rodrigo Ghedin ☛ How tech giants cut corners to harvest data for AI
The New York Times published a bombshell report on how, behind the scenes, large AI companies find a (sometimes illegal) way to harvest content to train their large language models, the basis of generative AI.
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EFF ☛ Chinese Government and Hollywood Launch Snoop-and-Censor Copyright Filter
The announcement of China's government-linked 12426 Copyright Monitoring Center is absolutely chilling. It is just as chilling that the governments of the United States and Europe are being lobbied by copyright holders to follow China's lead. Although this call is being heard on both sides of the Atlantic, it has gained the most ground in Europe, where it needs to be urgently stopped in its tracks. Europeans can learn more and speak out against these draconian censorship demands at the Save the Meme campaign website.
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Torrent Freak ☛ Japan's 2 Trillion Yen Manga & Anime Piracy War Gets New Hollywood Backing
CODA's war against online piracy has received renewed backing from the Hollywood studios and Netflix. Since their partnership began in 2005, Japan-based CODA and the MPA have collaborated on thousands of cases. An agreement governing their work together just celebrated its 10th anniversary and, in a ceremony last week, a two-year extension was officially acknowledged. With piracy surging, the renewal comes at just the right time.
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Torrent Freak ☛ ContentCore Aims to Be a 'Content ID' Equivalent for Independent Video Platforms
New York-based technology company WebKyte specializes in automated video recognition. The company has a library of millions of fingerprints that can detect infringing videos on platforms including VK, Dailymotion and Vimeo. Rightsholders, including a major Hollywood studio, already use its technology. Eventually, the company hopes that its 'ContentCore' solution will be used as an independent 'Content ID' equivalent, converting 'piracy' into revenue.
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Gemini* and Gopher
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Personal/Opinions
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Tea Prep
I usually make tea for my partner and myself; and by usually, I mean, "I think she's maybe done it for us once before, in 20+ years." Today I was running late doing some errands, and we had a Zoom call to catch up with her parents at 2. We always have tea on the call (traditions!). So she made the tea, which was waiting when I got home.
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Monopolies/Monopsonies
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* Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It's like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter.