Leftovers

• Science

  • Science Alert ☛ World First: Japan Claims New Drone Can Induce Lightning Strikes

    Little drone, big bolt.

  • El País ☛ Mathematics discovers that rose petals are found to contain a unique geometry

    Until now, the so-called planar plant morphogenesis was explained by the egregious theorem, a geometrical theory postulated by the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss two centuries ago. But roses follow their own geometric principle. A paper published in the latest issue of Science shows how their petals, that start out curved, end up as cutting edges through a mechanism never observed in the natural world until now.

  • Futurism ☛ Scientists Say Something Is Corking the Yellowstone Supervolcano

    As detailed in a paper published in the journal Nature last month, a team of researchers discovered a "volatile-rich cap" a mere 2.36 miles below the surface, trapping pressure and heat below it.

    In fact, the researchers believe the obstruction may be what's preventing the volcanic system from erupting — a blast that's happened several times previously in the history of our planet, and which could have devastating consequences for civilization if it happened again.

  • Daniel Estévez ☛ Time-dependent delay in GNU Radio

    Since some years ago, a Doppler correction block has been available in gr-satellites. This block uses a text file that defines a time series of frequency versus time, and applies the appropriate frequency shift to each sample by linearly interpolating the frequency corresponding to the time of that particular sample. It can be used both to correct Doppler in a satellite propagation channel and other similar channels, as well as to simulate Doppler.

• Career/Education

  • Chris O'Donnnell ☛ The Girl From the Tar Paper School

    Also, it's worth pointing out that the book is a kid's book, and you'll be able to read it in 10–15 minutes, and that I learned about it, and about Barbara Rose, when the author ended up in my Mastodon feed. This is a book that the current US government does not want you reading, so it's your moral duty to read it. Also, by checking it out at your library you keep it active, which means it doesn't get removed from circulation.

  • Michigan Advance ☛ As reading scores fall, states turn to phonics — but not without a fight

    The policy discussions on early literacy are unfolding against a backdrop of alarming national reading proficiency levels. The 2024 Nation’s Report Card revealed that 40% of fourth graders and 33% of eighth graders scored below the basic reading level — the highest percentages in decades.

    No state improved in fourth- or eighth-grade reading in 2024. Eight states — Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Florida, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah and Vermont — scored worse than they did a year or two prior in eighth-grade reading.

  • Matt Wedel ☛ Being an anatomist probably made me a better person | Sauropod Vertebra Picture of the Week

    I’m not saying this prescriptively, like you should learn anatomy to become a better person (you should learn anatomy because it’s accessible and it rules), or that knowing anatomy makes people better. I’m also not saying this distributively, like anatomists are better people than non-anatomists. I’m saying it in the narrowest, most literal, and most personal sense: I think I (and possibly no-one else ever) am now at least a slightly better person than I used to be because of my experience with human anatomy.

• Hardware

  • Deccan Chronicle ☛ Going Coco-Nuts with a Coco-Bot

    According to the Coconut Development Board (CDB), Kochi database, out of nearly 32,925 coconut tree climbers trained over 12 years, only 673 climbers are actively engaged in the profession.

    However, Coco-bot is still a work in progress. Ashin shares that a prototype has been successfully created and tested on multiple coconut trees. “We hope to hit the market soon by the middle of next year,” he avers. Ashin is optimistic that the future of robotics in the field of agriculture is bright. He adds, “Across the world you can see how robotic solutions have spread their wings in the field

    of agriculture.”

  • Jason Tucker ☛ Homelab - Dell EMC Poweredge T430

    I'm working on a new build for a 2018 Dell EMC Poweredge T430 which will be running Unraid and hosting my Plex server and storage for my media. Yes it's 2025 and I'm using a 2018 Dell server but wow you can get this for cheap!

  • Hackaday ☛ Testing A Cheap Bench Power Supply Sold On Amazon

    We’ve all seen those cheap bench power supply units (PSUs) for sale online, promising specifications that would cost at least a hundred dollars or more if it were a name brand model. Just how much of a compromise are these (usually rebranded) PSUs, and should you trust them with your electronics? Recently [Denki Otaku] purchased a cheap unit off Amazon Japan for a closer look, and found it to be rather lacking.

  • Hackaday ☛ LLM Ported To The C64, Kinda [Ed: Commodore 64 retro combined with dumb hype]

    “If there’s one thing the Commodore 64 is missing, it’s a large language model,” is a phrase nobody has uttered on this Earth. Yet, you could run one, if you so desired, thanks to [ytm] and the Llama2.c64 project!

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • CBC ☛ 2025-05-01 [Older] Why these social workers say N.S. is facing a child protective services crisis

  • CBC ☛ 2025-05-01 [Older] N.L. spent nearly entire $22M contingency fund on 'skyrocketing' costs of kids in care

  • CBC ☛ 2025-05-01 [Older] Quebec to impose full ban on cellphones in schools

  • Futurism ☛ Facebook Allegedly Detected When Teen Girls Deleted Selfies So It Could Serve Them Beauty Ads

    Surveillance capitalism came about when some crafty software engineers realized that advertisers were willing to pay bigtime for our personal data, which builds up as we surf the web. That data helps advertising corporations "understand their audience" and "deliver highly relevant content," and has expanded into a global data trade as more and more people spend more time online.

  • Mike Brock ☛ Clear Thinking v. Robert F. Kennedy Jr

    In the pantheon of intellectual dishonesty, few positions are as morally bankrupt as vaccine denialism. It occupies a special category of dangerous nonsense—one that directly translates abstract misinformation into concrete suffering. When Kennedy orders a search for “new measles treatments” rather than forcefully advocating for the vaccine that prevents measles with 97% effectiveness, we are witnessing not just a policy failure but an ethical collapse.

• Proprietary

  • Jason Becker ☛ I'm off for the weekend, but I'll be reading this paper on authorization

    Anyway, all this is preamble to say that while I haven’t read it yet, I’m glad that Tom MacWright linked to Zanzibar, something I completely missed when it came out in 2019. Like Tom, the distributed nature of Zanzibar is not of particular interest, but I’m hopeful that the features and concepts introduced will provide me with better language when talking about authorization going forward.

  • Dominik Schwind ☛ LostFocus: May 3, 2025

    So, luckily I had the recovery stuff printed out, right? Well. On the recovery data, there are two fields, a separate login and password. The form on the website only has one field, called “code.”

  • Toronto Sun ☛ CHAUDHRI: Too many tech layoffs blamed on poor performance

    Similarly, Business Insider reported recently that Salesforce has introduced a new “PEP” or “PIP” program. Under this program employees are offered a “Prompt Exit Package” with less or lower severance. If employees refuse the PEP, “they will be put on a PIP (Performance Improvement Plan),” according to the story.

  • Russell Coker ☛ Silly Job Titles

    Many years ago I was on a programming project porting code from OS/2 1.x to NT. When I was there they suddenly decided to make a database of all people and get job titles for everyone – apparently the position description used when advertising the jobs wasn’t sufficient. When I got given a clipboard with a form to write my details I looked at what everyone else had done, It was a heap of ridiculous propaganda with everyone trying to put in synonyms for “senior” or “skillful” and listing things that they were allegedly in charge of. There were even some people trying to create impressive titles for their managers to try and suck up.

    I chose the job title “coder” as the shortest and most accurate description of what I was doing. I had to confirm that yes I really did want to put a one word title and not a paragraph of frippery. Part of my intent was to mock the ridiculously long job titles used by others but I don’t think anyone realised that.

  • Make Tech Easier ☛ 2025-04-30 [Older] How to Backup and Update Your LG Phone Before Servers Shut Down [Ed: Wrong way to use technology; with Danger/Sidekick, Microsoft permanently lost users' data]

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • Futurism ☛ Visa Announces Plans to Give AI Agents Your Credit Card Information

      Visa is calling the initiative, which it has been working on for the past six months, "Visa Intelligent Commerce." Among its murderer's row of AI developers are OpenAI, Microsoft, Anthropic, Perplexity, and Mistral — along with other big names in tech like IBM, Samsung, and payment company Stripe.

    • Android Police ☛ PSA: Google’s Gemini AI is coming to your kid’s device, but you can turn it off

      While Google says it won’t use kids’ data to train Gemini and has added content filters, it admits the filters aren’t perfect.

      Parents will have the option to disable Gemini entirely if they choose.

    • Namanyay Goel ☛ New Programmers Don’t Really Have a Choice About AI

      Fast forward to today, and I’ve let go of control and I let the AI handle a lot of my codebase. Not because I necessarily want to, but because I’ve realized that programmers simply don’t have a choice anymore.

    • Facundo Olano ☛ Augmentation / Replacement

      In the year since I first wrote about AI assistance, I’ve been using LLMs increasingly for my job, personal projects, and writing. They fill several roles for me: [...]

    • Pivot to AI ☛ In 2025, venture capital can’t pretend everything is fine any more

      The report mostly blames venture’s woes on President Trump and his tariffs — but venture capital’s problems are systemic and you could see them coming since the zero-interest-rate era.

      And they have no idea how to fix this. None at all. The report’s only plan for the future is to cross their fingers and hope.

    • The Atlantic ☛ The Secret AI Experiment That Sent Reddit Into a Frenzy

      Joining the chorus of disapproval were fellow [Internet] researchers, who condemned what they saw as a plainly unethical experiment. Amy Bruckman, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology who has studied online communities for more than two decades, told me the Reddit fiasco is “the worst [Internet]-research ethics violation I have ever seen, no contest.” What’s more, she and others worry that the uproar could undermine the work of scholars who are using more conventional methods to study a crucial problem: how AI influences the way humans think and relate to one another.

  • Social Control Media

    • Manton Reece ☛ Meta's discovery engine

      We already knew that Meta was planning to put AI-generated content in your feed. Last year I suggested that this is where algorithmic timelines eventually lead, as ad-based platforms have an insatiable appetite for new content. More content, more human time refreshing the feed, more ads served: [...]

  • Windows TCO / Windows Bot Nets

    • The Record ☛ US indicts Yemeni man in Black Kingdom ransomware attacks | The Record from Recorded Future News

      Cybersecurity researchers warned about a burst of activity of Black Kingdom in March 2021 as the gang targeted [sic] Microsoft Exchange servers. Analysts at Sophos said at the time that the malware was “somewhat rudimentary and amateurish in its composition, but it can still cause a great deal of damage.”

    • The Telegraph UK ☛ ‘M&S are totally f-----.’ How hackers wreaked havoc on the high street

      The attack on M&S, which was first reported on Easter Monday, was followed by similar attacks on the Co-op on April 29 and Harrods on April 30. These are only the ones we know about; the vast majority of such incidents never make it to the papers.

• Security

  • 2025-05-01 [Older] Cybersecurity experts investigating “suspicious activity” in Iowa County network

  • 2025-05-01 [Older] Raytheon Companies and Nightwing Group to Pay $8.4M to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations Relating to Non-Compliance with Cybersecurity Requirements in Federal Contracts

  • PCLinuxOS Magazine ☛ How To Select A VPN Provider

    In the interest of full transparency, I have been a regular user of a VPN provider for over the past eight years. I use Private Internet Access (a.k.a. PIA), but in no way should that be construed as an endorsement of just them. For me, they just “checked all the boxes” for what I was looking for in a VPN provider. I urge you to do your own research, and come to your own conclusions about which VPN provider best serves your needs.

    [...]

    Even if you’re not doing anything illegal or questionable, the “no logs” policy of your VPN provider protects you from unreasonable searches or suspicions by authorities. I do not subscribe to the “I’ve-done-nothing-wrong-so-I-have-nothing-to-worry-about” school of thought. Instead, I have a reasonable expectation of privacy regarding what I do, where I go, and who I interact with in my “online travels.”

  • CISA

    • CISA ☛ 2025-05-01 [Older] CISA Adds Two Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog

    • CISA ☛ 2025-05-01 [Older] CISA Releases Two Industrial Control Systems Advisories

    • CISA ☛ 2025-05-01 [Older] KUNBUS GmbH Revolution Pi

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-29 [Older] CISA Adds One Known Exploited Vulnerability to Catalog

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-29 [Older] CISA Releases Three Industrial Control Systems Advisories

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-29 [Older] Rockwell Automation ThinManager

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-29 [Older] Delta Electronics ISPSoft

    • CISA ☛ 2025-04-28 [Older] CISA Adds Three Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • Reason ☛ This SCOTUS case could give the IRS access to your private data

      When the IRS secretly demands your financial records and private information from a third party, without a warrant, what rights do you still have?

      That’s the question at the heart of Harper v. O’Donnell, which is before the Supreme Court. New Hampshire resident Jim Harper is fighting back against the IRS after discovering he was swept up in a massive digital dragnet. The case could redefine how the Fourth Amendment applies in the age of cloud storage—and it may determine whether your emails, location history, search queries, and financial records that tech companies store on your behalf are treated as your property.

      In 2016, the IRS ordered the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase to hand over transaction records of over 14,000 customers. Harper was among them and only learned of the government’s records grab after the IRS sent him a warning letter, mistakenly suggesting he’d underreported his cryptocurrency income. He soon discovered the IRS had his transaction logs, wallet addresses, and public keys—allowing the agency to monitor any future transactions he made.

    • National Law Review US ☛ 2025-04-26 [Older] North Dakota Expands Data Security Requirements and Issues New Licensing Requirements for Brokers

    • US News And World Report ☛ Don’t Have a REAL ID Yet? That Could Cause You Travel Headaches After May 7

      Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there will be another delay in the deadline this time. So, if you’re confused about how to get a REAL ID, why you even need one in the first place, and what happens if you don’t have one by May 7, here are some things to know: [...]

    • Dedoimedo ☛ Passwords are okay, impulsive Internet isn't

      Every few weeks, I come across an article telling us how passwords are bad and how we need to go "passwordless". These pieces are written by mostly well-intended nerds who think technology can solve basic problems in human behavior. But when the likes of Microsoft and Google and Facebook start spamming you to "increase your security with passkeys", you instantly know this isn't what you want. And so, tragically, the nerds end up supporting data-hungry companies in trying to get an ever greater hold on our personal lives.

    • Wired ☛ Welcome to Sam Altman’s Orb Store

      World opened the doors to its new San Francisco storefront with eight brand-new orbs ready for eyeballs to scan.

    • Lee Peterson ☛ ChatGPT doesn’t know where you live unless you tell it

      I’ll tell it I’m UK based but referring location from a search result seems an odd way to do it. I can see why but asking me at some point might have been better.

  • Confidentiality

    • CBC ☛ 2025-05-01 [Older] Mike Waltz moves from security adviser to UN ambassador in wake of Signal controversy

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-05-01 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini taps national security adviser Waltz as UN ambassador

    • Court House News ☛ 2025-04-30 [Older] Google warns of data security risks if Chrome is sold off

    • US Dept Of Health and Human Services ☛ 2025-04-25 [Older] HHS OCR Settles HIPAA Ransomware Cybersecurity Investigation with Comprehensive Neurology, PC

    • 2025-04-25 [Older] Several more lawsuits filed against Frederick Health Hospital related to data breach, cybersecurity failures

    • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-30 [Older] US Appeals Court Will Not Allow DOGE to Access Social Security Data

• Defence/Aggression

  • RFERL ☛ A Canceled Vote, Then A Banned Candidate. Now Romania Holds Election Rerun.

    According to Romanian intelligence reports, foreign actors had manipulated social media platforms, especially TikTok, to benefit Georgescu, who is critical of NATO and opposes Romanian support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion. Intelligence reports indicated the campaign was likely orchestrated by Russia, though Moscow denied any involvement.

  • The Guardian UK ☛ Erdoğan tells protesters against Islamification in northern Cyprus they will fail

    Turkish president at odds with thousands of Turkish Cypriots who object to his attempts to undermine their secular way of life

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ China denies accessing data after TikTok hit with huge EU fine

    TikTok is a division of Chinese tech company ByteDance. But since its European headquarters is in Dublin, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission is the lead regulator in Europe for the platform.

    The company has faced scrutiny in many countries over national security concerns that user data could be accessed by the Chinese government and worries the platform could spread misinformation.

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ TikTok faces €530 million EU fine over China data transfers

    TikTok is the subsidiary of the Chinese tech giant ByteDance. But because it has its European headquarters in Ireland, the DPC is the lead regulator in the EU for the social platform, as well as for other tech giants with European headquarters in Ireland, such as Amazon, Google, and Meta and X.

    The fine is the second largest ever imposed by the EU. In 2023, Ireland's data protection watchdog already fined TikTok €345 million for violating European rules on processing children's data.

  • Greece ☛ TikTok fined 530 mln euros by EU regulator over data protection

    Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) said TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance, failed to show that EU users’ personal data, some of which is remotely accessed by staff in China, was afforded the high level of protection provided for under EU law.

  • [Repeat] Hong Kong Free Press ☛ TikTok fined 530 million euros in EU over data transfer to China

    In 2023 Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) fined TikTok — which has 1.5 billion users worldwide — 345 million euros for breaches of European rules on processing child data.

    As TikTok — a division of Chinese tech giant ByteDance — has its European headquarters in Ireland, the Irish authority is the lead regulator in Europe for the social platform, as well as others like Google, Meta and X.

  • India Times ☛ US lawmakers urge SEC to delist Alibaba and Chinese companies: Report

    The lawmakers said that the Chinese companies were "ultimately harnessed for nefarious state purposes," no matter how commercial they appeared on the surface, according to the FT report.

    They said that the SEC had the tools and authority under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act to suspend trading and compel delisting.

  • Futurism ☛ Elon Musk Is Getting Huge New Government Deals While Everything Else Is Getting Slashed

    Unsurprisingly, one of Trump's closest allies, billionaire Elon Musk, will get by largely scot-free. The richest man in the world, who has personally contributed to the gutting of agencies with the help of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, will more than likely continue to benefit from cushy government contracts awarded to his businesses.

  • US News And World Report ☛ Europe Will Mark V-E Day's 80th Anniversary as Once-Unbreakable Bonds With the US Are Under Pressure

    Schmetz even built a museum at his home in the Belgian Ardennes to honor their sacrifice.

    “If the Americans hadn’t come, we wouldn’t be here,” the Belgian retiree said.

    That same spirit also pervades Normandy in northern France, where the allied forces landed on June 6, 1944, a day that became the tipping point of the war.

    [...]

    After D-Day, it would take almost another year of fierce fighting before Germany would finally surrender on May 8, 1945. Commemorations and festivities are planned for the 80th anniversary across much of the continent for what has become known as Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day, one of the most momentous days on the continent in recent centuries.

  • Rolling Stone ☛ Allison Riggs Fights For N.C. Supreme Court Seat She Won by 734 Votes

    The ongoing saga represents both a breathtaking escalation in the GOP’s war on free and fair elections, and a crucial test of the strategy Donald Trump’s legal team explored using in 2024 but didn’t need to, since he won.

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-29 [Older] India Shuts Over Half of Kashmir Tourist Spots in Security Review

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-28 [Older] Analysis-Corporate America Boosts Security Spending After UnitedHealth Murder, Filings Show

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-28 [Older] Mob Chased Brooklyn Woman After Mistaking Her for Protester at Speech by Israeli Security Minister

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-28 [Older] 4 Former Hong Kong Lawmakers Freed After Years in Prison Under a Beijing-Imposed Security Law

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-28 [Older] Gaza Ceasefire Talks in Cairo Near 'Significant Breakthrough,' Two Security Sources Say

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2025-04-30 [Older] Israel strikes Syria 'extremist group' threatening Druze: PM

  • HRW ☛ 2025-04-30 [Older] Trinidad and Tobago Nationals Remain Stranded in Northeast Syria

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2025-04-29 [Older] Inside Syria’s Fight to Keep Patients Alive

  • France24 ☛ Israel launches new strikes on Syria amid Druze tensions

    Israel reportedly launched its heaviest barrage this year on Syria between Friday night and Saturday morning, hours after the country's rulers denounced an air strike near the presidential palace as a "dangerous escalation". Israel's military later added that its forces deployed in southern Syria were ready to protect the Druze minority following recent sectarian clashes.

  • France24 ☛ UN envoy condemns Israeli airstrikes in Syria amid Druze tensions

    The UN special envoy for Syria on Saturday condemned an intense wave of Israeli airstrikes as Israel said its forces were on the ground in Syria to protect the Druze minority sect following days of clashes. FRANCE 24's Leela Jacinto analyses the regional security implications of Israel's latest military interventions in Syria.

  • France24 ☛ At least 11 killed in Israeli strike on refugee camp in Gaza

    Gaza's civil defence agency said Saturday that an overnight Israeli strike on the Khan Yunis refugee camp killed at least 11 people, including three babies up to a year old.

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • Wired ☛ Mike Waltz Has Somehow Gotten Even Worse at Using Signal

    SignalGate had nothing to do with Signal. The app was functioning normally and was simply being used at an inappropriate time for an incredibly sensitive discussion that should have been carried out on special-purpose, hardened federal devices and software platforms. If you're going to flout the protocols, though, Signal is (relatively speaking) a good place to do it, because the app is designed so only the senders and receivers of messages in a group chat can read them. And the app is built to collect as little information as possible about its users and their associates. This means that if US government officials were chatting on the app, spies or malicious hackers could only access their communications by directly compromising participants' devices—a challenge that is potentially surmountable but at least limits possible access points. Using an app like TeleMessage Signal, though, presumably in an attempt to comply with data retention requirements, opens up numerous other paths for adversaries to access messages.

• Environment

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ The US Must Do More to Address the Impact of Agent Orange

    Although the bombs stopped dropping decades ago, the United States has left its poisons behind in the land and people of Vietnam — Agent Orange/​dioxin and unexploded ordnance. Both will last for generations.

  • Energy/Transportation

    • Wired ☛ Why Balcony Solar Panels Haven’t Taken Off in the US

      His colleagues agree. Last month, the legislature unanimously passed a bill he sponsored to boost the tech, and Republican governor Spencer Cox signed it. HB 340 exempts portable solar devices from state regulations that require owners of rooftop solar arrays and other power-generating systems to sign an interconnection agreement with their local utility. These deals, and other “soft costs” like permits, can nearly double the price of going solar.

    • The Telegraph UK ☛ Adventures by Train: A British train enthusiast has created the ultimate international rail journey

      “You can’t just pick a date and expect it all to slot into place,” he says. “You’re dealing with trains that run once a week, ships that sail twice a year, and borders that are still catching up with the 20th century. You’ve got to choreograph everything around that.”

    • The Atlantic ☛ Why Is Trump So Into [Cryptocurrency]?

      What’s less predictable is how the president’s change of opinion could destabilize the American financial system. In this episode of Radio Atlantic, we talk with the Atlantic staff writer Annie Lowrey, who covers the economy and politics, about Trump’s plans to integrate [cryptocurrecny] into the government and mainstream banking. What happens when Trump weakens regulation on a notoriously unstable currency? Who benefits? Who is likely to get duped? And when the [cryptocurrency]-induced financial crisis comes, how will it surprise us?

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • CBC ☛ 2025-05-01 [Older] Wildfire evacuations underway in parts of Fort St. John, cellphone and internet down in Tumbler Ridge

    • YLE ☛ Popular live stream of Finland's rare ringed seals returns for 10th year

      The WWF live stream offers a round-the-clock glimpse into the lives of the endangered Baltic ringed seals who live in the Finnish archipelago.

• Finance

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Can Europe wean itself off US credit card firms?

    Europe's vulnerability doesn't end with card payments. Increasingly, consumers are paying with smartphones via apps, where American tech firms like Apple Pay, Google Pay, and PayPal lead the market.

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2025-05-01 [Older] Canada’s Election Didn’t Halt Class Dealignment

  • Bruce Schneier ☛ Privacy for Agentic AI

    I like Visa’s approach because it’s an AI-agnostic standard. I worry a lot about lock-in and monopolization of this space, so anything that lets people easily switch between AI models is good. And I like that Visa is working with Inrupt so that the data is decentralized as well. Here’s our announcement about its announcement: [...]

  • Wired ☛ Small Packages From Shein and Temu Are Now Subject to US Tariffs. Here’s What to Know

    Those same goods are now subject to tariffs as high as 145 percent. In response to the change, Shein announced it would begin adjusting prices starting on April 25. Temu, meanwhile, is currently blocking US shoppers from seeing products shipped from China, effectively narrowing the number of goods for Americans to choose from. Other retailers have started displaying tariff surcharges in their online shopping carts to help consumers make sense of where added fees are coming from.

  • Wired ☛ Inside the Battle Over OpenAI’s Corporate Restructuring [Ed: OpenAI’s "for-profit business" is effectively insolvent/bankrupt [1, 2]

    Today, OpenAI’s for-profit business is controlled by a nonprofit, and the returns for investors are capped. But as OpenAI’s ambitions have grown, and staying on the cutting edge has required it to raise significantly more funding, investors have demanded greater payback.

  • Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

    • Shrivu Shankar ☛ How to Stop Your Human From Hallucinating

      More recently I’ve been reflecting on parallels between these archetypes and human systems (e.g. managers managing people ~ people managing AI assistants). Originally, I was thinking through how human organization can influence multi-agent system design, but also how LLM-based agent design can improve human organization and processes. While being cautious with my anthropomorphizing, I can’t help but think that types 1 and 2 could be more successful if they considered an LLM’s flaws more similar to human ones.

      In this post, I wanted to give some concrete examples of where human systems can go wrong in the same ways LLMs "hallucinate" and how this informs better human+AI system design.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • New Statesman ☛ Donald Trump vs Columbia

    Columbia is a fortress, academically and literally. After months of protests since the 7 October attacks and the war in Gaza, the gates on either side of the Morningside Heights campus have been closed to the public. It is an attempt by authorities to stop outside agitators and usher in some normality. To its critics, it is a sign of a university shutting itself off.

    Not that Columbia can shield itself from the outside world: the Trump administration is waging a war to change higher education.

  • [Old] Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft Inc ☛ Five years after Khashoggi's murder, MBS is laughing

    “You’ve got to leave the country, Jamal. You’ve got to get out before they arrest you too,” I told my friend, Jamal Khashoggi, just a few months before his fateful decision to leave his homeland in 2017.

    Little did we know that rather than find safety in Washington D.C., Mohamed bin Salman and his henchmen would trick him into visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where they brutally tortured and murdered him. Little did we expect that five years after his shocking murder, the Biden administration would be potentially rewarding MBS with an unprecedented security guarantee for his monarchical dictatorship.

  • ABC ☛ A Fight For Justice: Jamal Khashoggi's Widow Speaks Out - ABC listen

  • The Atlantic ☛ Universities Deserve Special Standing

    But the roots of American higher education, and the essential role of our colleges and universities in the nation’s rise to global leadership, run deep. Indeed, in the case of Harvard University and several peer institutions—such as the one I used to lead, Columbia University—those roots predate the founding of our republic. These institutions have contributed enormously to the country’s development for centuries.

    It is especially ironic that, just as we began the countdown to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, with commemorations at Lexington and Concord, this contemporary battle over the future of universities took a dangerous new turn in nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the Trump administration sent a shocking list of demands for ideological and political control over core matters of Harvard’s academic governance and freedom.

  • [Old] BBC ☛ Harvard just stood up to Trump. How long can it last?

    "No government - regardless of which party is in power - should dictate what private universities can teach," Harvard's president Alan Garber said in a letter posted on the university's website.

    Not long after Harvard refused to agree to the White House's sweeping list of demands - which included directions on how to govern, hire and teach - the Trump administration froze $2.2bn (£1.7bn) of federal funds to the institution.

  • Wired ☛ Brendan Carr Is Turning the FCC Into MAGA’s Censoring Machine

    The trouble with this—well there are a lot of troubles with this—is that it’s obvious that “the public interest” here is being interpreted as “stuff Donald Trump likes.” While the FCC can issue sanctions about “news distortion,” that term refers to egregious and consciously fraudulent reporting. The CBS case and the network coverage of deportations aren’t even in the same universe as that kind of malfeasance. “This is one of the tools that the administration is using to censor and control the news media, and to punish anyone that dares to speak against our government,” the remaining Democrat on the commission, Anna Gomez, told me this week.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • US News And World Report ☛ 2025-04-29 [Older] As Communist Troops Streamed Into Saigon, a Few Remaining Reporters Kept Photos and Stories Flowing

  • RFA ☛ RFA announces mass layoffs, shutdown of major language services

    In a piece published today, the day before World Press Freedom Day, on The New York Times website, Fang laid out the case for RFA’s value to U.S. interests and what its potential demise means, given the sacrifice of its staff: “[T]hese brave journalists, who have risked everything to speak truth to dictators abroad, may be silenced by the very nation whose belief in press freedom inspired them in the first place.”

  • RFA ☛ Global press freedom ebbs to a new low

    “When news media are financially strained, they are drawn into a race to attract audiences at the expense of quality reporting, and can fall prey to the oligarchs and public authorities who seek to exploit them,” it said.

    News outlets are shutting down in nearly a third of the 180 countries included in the index, RSF said. Media in even relatively highly ranked nations such as New Zealand and South Africa are grappling with challenges of financial viability.

  • RFA ☛ Reporters’ group calls for release of Myanmar journalist jailed for 5 years

    Than Htike Myint, a journalist from Myaelatt Athan News Agency, is one of hundreds of reporters arrested since the military coup in 2021. The ensuing crackdown on free speech prompted the junta to charge journalists working for independent media outlets with terrorism and incitement, crimes widely criticized by rights groups as fabricated.

  • Hong Kong Free Press ☛ RFA shuts language services after Trump cuts, including Uyghur, Tibetan

    Radio Free Asia will also terminate services in Tibetan, Burmese and English. It will maintain production in Mandarin, Cantonese, Khmer and Vietnamese.

    “We are in an unconscionable situation,” Radio Free Asia president and CEO Bay Fang said in a statement.

  • Michigan News ☛ Heads of PBS, NPR say Trump’s order to cease federal funding is illegal

    The heads of PBS, NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have all suggested that Trump’s order is illegal, The AP reports.

  • Maurice Media Group LLC ☛ R.E.M.'s updated video honors World Press Freedom Day - Rough Draft Atlanta

    Legendary Athens, Ga., band R.E.M. today released an updated music video set to a remix of their debut single, “Radio Free Europe,” recorded by producer Mitch Easter in his North Carolina studio in April 1981.

  • European Parliament ☛ World Press Freedom Day 3 May: defending media freedom to safeguard democracy | News | European Parliament

    European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, Vice-President Sabine Verheyen and Culture and Education Committee Chair Nela Riehl stress the vital role of independent journalism.

  • Council Of Europe ☛ World Press Freedom Day – 3 May 2025 - Freedom of Expression

    On this World Press Freedom Day, we reaffirm the fundamental role of a free, independent, and safe press in democratic societies. Across the Council of Europe’s 46 member States—and beyond—journalists continue to face growing threats to their safety, their integrity, and their right to inform. Today, we stand with them.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ U.S.-funded Arab news channel collapses amid budget cuts

    When news about Alhurra filtered out — along with talk that even MBN might shut down — many observers saw it as an own goal, a misguided rollback of U.S. soft power in the Middle East.

• Civil Rights/Policing

  • Deutsche Welle ☛ Bangladeshi Islamists protest women's rights proposal

    They opposed government proposals that include equal inheritance rights for women, a ban on polygamy, and recognition of sex workers as laborers.

  • Los Angeles Times ☛ Musk’s bid to make SpaceX site a Texas city is approved

    Protest organizer Christopher Basaldú, a member of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas tribe, said his ancestors have long been in the area, where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf of Mexico.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Lee Peterson ☛ F1TV becomes a lot more difficult to watch in the UK

    I’ve read that you can keep messing to find servers that may work but all of the ones I try fail.

  • PCLinuxOS Magazine ☛ ICYMI: New Runway Safety Measures Coming To An Airport Near You

    A United States District Court for the Northern District of California judge has signed off on a settlement agreement between HP and its customers, who sued the company for issuing firmware updates that prevented their printers from working with non-HP ink and toner, according to an article from ArsTechnica. In December 2020, Mobile Emergency Housing Corp. and a company called Performance Automotive & Tire Center filed a class-action complaint against HP [PDF], alleging that the company “wrongfully compels users of its printers to buy and use only HP ink and toner supplies by transmitting firmware updates without authorization to HP printers over the Internet that lock out its competitors’ ink and toner supply cartridges.” The complaint centered on a firmware update issued in November 2020; it sought a court ruling that HP’s actions broke the law, an injunction against the firmware updates, and monetary and punitive damages.

Monopolies/Monopsonies

• Los Angeles Times ☛ How a judge's scathing rebuke to Apple could change the app store

  The ruling could ultimately mean lower costs to Apple developers and consumers because app makers would have a way to circumvent Apple’s up to 30% fee for in-app purchases by directing consumers to their goods and services with links to outside sites.

  “That [Apple] thought this court would tolerate such insubordination was a gross miscalculation,” the judge wrote in her Wednesday ruling. “As always, the cover-up made it worse. For this court, there is no second bite at the apple.”

• 37signals LLC ☛ Don't make Google sell Chrome

  Google should not get away with rigging the online ad market, but forcing it to sell Chrome will do great damage to the web.

• Copyrights

  • European Commission ☛ Combating online piracy of sports and other live events – assessment of the May 2023 Commission Recommendation

    The Commission Recommendation of 4 May 2023 on combating online piracy [sic] of sports and other live events encourages Member States and relevant stakeholders to take effective, appropriate and proportionate measures to combat unauthorised retransmissions of such events.

  • India Times ☛ Google can train search AI with web content after AI opt-out

    During a trial examining Google's search dominance, a Google VP testified that the company trains its AI models on web content, even if publishers opt-out. This data usage, particularly for AI Overviews, raises concerns about revenue loss for publishers. The Justice Department is pushing for measures to restore competition, including potential restrictions on Google's AI practices.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ Link-Busters Reports its Three Billionth 'Pirate' URL to Google Search

    In the escalating war against online book piracy, Dutch takedown outfit Link-Busters continues to shatter records. In less than a year, the company reported over two billion pirate URLs to Google search, reaching a milestone of three billion reported URLs overall. While the volume is impressive, it also signals that the piracy problem is far from being tackled, for now.