I'm a citizen of Lexington, Kentucky, the United States, the world, and the digital sphere. Politically, I care about equality (and changing structures to support it), elections (that is, making them more fair and representative), and electronics (or, rather, their impact on society).
I am a believing agnostic in Community of Christ with a (mostly) cherished past as a (mostly) literalist Mormon.
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🔗 linkblog: just read 'Employees pleaded with Facebook to stop letting politicians bend rules | Ars Technica'
- kudos:Facebook might need more moderators, but they shouldn’t be company executives… link to ‘Employees pleaded with Facebook to stop letting politicians bend rules | Ars Technica’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'She Is Breaking Glass Ceilings in Space, but Facing Sexism on Earth - The New York Times'
- kudos:Sobering read. link to ‘She Is Breaking Glass Ceilings in Space, but Facing Sexism on Earth - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Trump’s site Truth Social broke software rules, says copyleft group - The Verge'
- kudos:Do not mess with open licensing. link to ‘Trump’s site Truth Social broke software rules, says copyleft group - The Verge’
- kudos:
Just finished Cory Doctorow’s Attack Surface, a few months after reading Little Brother and Homeland. It is the addition to that series we need right now.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Texas Removed an L.G.B.T.Q. Resource Page After a Candidate Complained - The New York Times'
- kudos:This is frustrating and sad. link to ‘Texas Removed an L.G.B.T.Q. Resource Page After a Candidate Complained - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Missouri governor threatens reporter who discovered state site spilling private info - The Verge'
- kudos:If viewing the source code of a web page is hacking, my black hat skills just went up a thousandfold. link to ‘Missouri governor threatens reporter who discovered state site spilling private info - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'U.S. Antigovernment Groups Are Influencing the French Far Right - The New York Times'
- kudos:This is worrying. There’s a long tradition of open far right movements in France, and if the U.S has something to teach them, it should make us think twice about what’s happening here. link to ‘U.S. Antigovernment Groups Are Influencing the French Far Right - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Facebook whistleblower hearing: France Haugen finally got Republicans to stop yapping about anti-conservative bias.'
- kudos:Interesting article. I’m particularly interested in the idea of focusing on algorithms rather than content. link to ‘Facebook whistleblower hearing: France Haugen finally got Republicans to stop yapping about anti-conservative bias.’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Facebook’s outage likely cost the company over $60 million | Ars Technica'
- kudos:A compelling reminder that social media companies make money from eyeballs pointed at screens. link to ‘Facebook’s outage likely cost the company over $60 million | Ars Technica’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Opinion | Don’t Let Amazon Eat the Film Industry - The New York Times'
- kudos:The more pies Amazon has its fingers in, the more concerning it becomes. link to ‘Opinion | Don’t Let Amazon Eat the Film Industry - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Amazon Astro Leaks Data All Over New Carpet'
- kudos:Well played, The Onion. Well played. link to ‘Amazon Astro Leaks Data All Over New Carpet’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Fairphone’s latest sustainable smartphone comes with a five-year warranty - The Verge'
- kudos:Really want to see Fairphone start selling in U.S. link to ‘Fairphone’s latest sustainable smartphone comes with a five-year warranty - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Majority of Americans support national data privacy standards: poll | TheHill'
- kudos:This means we’re going to get some soon, right? link to ‘Majority of Americans support national data privacy standards: poll | TheHill’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Despite Arrests And Setbacks, Far-Right Proud Boys Press New Ambitions : NPR'
- kudos:Worrying read but important one. link to ‘Despite Arrests And Setbacks, Far-Right Proud Boys Press New Ambitions : NPR’
- kudos:
Something feels characteristically Utah about this Park City company trying to turn graham crackers into a rugged frontier food while conveniently omitting its origins in the temperance movement.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'IRS Reports Your Taxes Specifically Were Spent To Drone-Strike Kids'
- kudos:I get that this is The Onion and that this isn’t how taxes work, but this article still fees like a gut punch. link to ‘IRS Reports Your Taxes Specifically Were Spent To Drone-Strike Kids’
- kudos:
I think you can be glad a villain got unmasked but uneasy that Batman’s the one who did it.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Pentagon Acknowledges Aug. 29 Drone Strike in Afghanistan Was Tragic Mistake - The New York Times'
- kudos:What a heartbreaking story. We need to rethink our relationship with drones—and war. link to ‘Pentagon Acknowledges Aug. 29 Drone Strike in Afghanistan Was Tragic Mistake - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Apple and Google Remove ‘Navalny’ Voting App in Russia - The New York Times'
- kudos:This is maybe the best example I’ve seen of app stores being a problematic model. Is there an Android app that could be sideloaded? Definitely isn’t for Apple, and that’s shameful. link to ‘Apple and Google Remove ‘Navalny’ Voting App in Russia - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Political parties complained Facebook’s algorithm promoted polarization - The Verge'
- kudos:What a read. Platforms don’t just host content, they manipulate that content. link to ‘Political parties complained Facebook’s algorithm promoted polarization - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Secret Facebook program reportedly let celebrities avoid moderation - The Verge'
- kudos:Bookmarking this for my content management class. link to ‘Secret Facebook program reportedly let celebrities avoid moderation - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Opinion | Which Victims of 9/11 Get Remembered? - The New York Times'
- kudos:A very powerful read. I was not politically confident as a teenager, but I remember already feeing uneasy with how the attacks were being evoked within a couple of years. A couple of decades later, I think we all need to be asking the hard questions. link to ‘Opinion | Which Victims of 9/11 Get Remembered? - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'How Wikipedia grew up with the war on terror.'
- kudos:Great read on what’s become perhaps the most defensible platform on the social web (though Wikipedia certainly still has its problems). link to ‘How Wikipedia grew up with the war on terror.’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'ProtonMail removed “we do not keep any IP logs” from its privacy policy | Ars Technica'
- kudos:On the internet, more and more people can learn you’re a dog. link to ‘ProtonMail removed “we do not keep any IP logs” from its privacy policy | Ars Technica’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Kentucky Schools Struggle With Coronavirus Outbreaks - The New York Times'
- kudos:Oh good, we’re making the national news on this. link to ‘Kentucky Schools Struggle With Coronavirus Outbreaks - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'U.S. Global War on Terror Has Taken Nearly 1 Million Lives'
- kudos:Sobering read. link to ‘U.S. Global War on Terror Has Taken Nearly 1 Million Lives’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Ivermectin misinformation has poisoned Amazon’s platform, with few fixes planned - The Verge'
- kudos:Happy to say that my local indie bookstore does not have this problem. link to ‘Ivermectin misinformation has poisoned Amazon’s platform, with few fixes planned - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Opinion | Worrying About Your Carbon Footprint Is Exactly What Big Oil Wants You to Do - The New York Times'
- kudos:Compelling reminder that climate change needs systemic—not individual—responses. link to ‘Opinion | Worrying About Your Carbon Footprint Is Exactly What Big Oil Wants You to Do - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'New Chapter of Afghanistan War: U.S. Drone Strike Kills Family'
- kudos:What a gut-wrenching story. Drone strikes are bad news. link to ‘New Chapter of Afghanistan War: U.S. Drone Strike Kills Family’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'We Used to Write. How to keep writing human in a world of… | by Colin Horgan | Aug, 2021 | OneZero'
- kudos:Very interesting piece on the relationship between technology and writing. link to ‘We Used to Write. How to keep writing human in a world of… | by Colin Horgan | Aug, 2021 | OneZero’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'My Neighbor’s Door Camera Faces My Apartment. Is That Legal? - The New York Times'
- kudos:A great example of Ring cameras being gross. link to ‘My Neighbor’s Door Camera Faces My Apartment. Is That Legal? - The New York Times’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'The most popular posts on Facebook are plagiarized - The Verge'
- kudos:Interesting take on inauthentic content on Facebook. link to ‘The most popular posts on Facebook are plagiarized - The Verge’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Surveillance Startup Brings Police Tech to Neighborhoods - Bloomberg'
- kudos:Nope nope nope nope. If plate readers are going to become more common, I’ve got to start biking more places. Not that that will protect against Ring. 🤮🤮🤮 link to ‘Surveillance Startup Brings Police Tech to Neighborhoods - Bloomberg’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Vaccine Skeptic Does Own Research By Enrolling 45,000 Friends In Double-Blind Clinical Trial'
- kudos:The Onion wins again. link to ‘Vaccine Skeptic Does Own Research By Enrolling 45,000 Friends In Double-Blind Clinical Trial’
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Joe Rogan, confined to Spotify, is losing influence - The Verge'
- kudos:I am only peripherally aware of Joe Rogan and don’t get great vibes from what I see, so I don’t really have any investment in how his podcast is doing. That said, this does speak to my concerns that Spotify’s attempts to land exclusive podcasts are threatening one of the last (and best) parts of the open web we’ve managed to hold onto. Also, very interesting use of digital methods here!
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Samsung says it can remotely disable stolen TVs - The Verge'
- kudos:This is one of those features that sounds great but that I find absolutely terrifying. I hate smart TVs so much. link to ‘Samsung says it can remotely disable stolen TVs - The Verge’