Non-theist Christian and elder in Community of Christ. I have Mormon roots and aspirations to do better with justice and peacemaking—especially in the digital sphere but also in Lexington, Kentucky, the U.S., and the world more broadly.
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🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Researchers explain why they believe Facebook mishandles political ads : NPR'
Size and scale remain problems for Facebook and other social media platforms.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Report - Legal Loopholes and Data for Dollars: How Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies Are Buying Your Data from Brokers - Center for Democracy and Technology'
This report sounds terrifying. Even the Capitol rioters deserve some freedom from this kind of surveillance.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Emails show what happened before Missouri gov. falsely called journalist a “hacker” | Ars Technica'
This dumb story got even dumber.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Utah Makes Welfare So Hard to Get, Some Feel They Must Join the LDS Church to Get Aid — ProPublica'
Bishop roulette makes for terrible public policy.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Twitter policy aimed at improving privacy sparks concerns over misuse : NPR'
File this under bad solutions to worse problems.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'The Internet Needs Fair Rules of the Road – and Competitive Drivers | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
Appreciate this argument for the need for true ISP competition alongside net neutrality.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'KU reaches compromise with Lexington tree-cutting protesters | Lexington Herald Leader'
Wish I had commuted earlier today to see this; when I biked past, there were only KU folks, no protestors. ALSO: “protesters might be abetting murderers by taking up police time” is not a good look.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Qualcomm’s new always-on smartphone camera is a privacy nightmare - The Verge'
Takes some real self-confidence to describe an always-on camera as a feature, not a nightmarish bug.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Podcast Episode: Who Should Control Online Speech? | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
Such a good conversation on such an important topic.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Ky. lawmakers plan to quickly pass redistricting maps – 89.3 WFPL News Louisville'
Dreading this whole process.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Meta ordered to sell Giphy by UK regulator - The Verge'
I had completely forgotten that Meta owned Giphy.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Fayette schools considers spending $440,00 for outside drivers | Lexington Herald Leader'
School buses are the most common form of public transit around here, and we still can’t do that right.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'How Steve Bannon Has Exploited Google Ads to Monetize Extremism — ProPublica'
Another reason to be wary of automated ad exchanges.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Pluralistic: 28 Nov 2021 – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow'
Intellectual property can be a human rights issue.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'In Kentucky, the ‘Lost Cause’ lingers as a new myth takes hold | Lexington Herald Leader'
Compelling article on histories we’ve made and the ones we are now making.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'How will KY spend its $4.6B in infrastructure bill funds? | Lexington Herald Leader'
Helpful read on infrastructure money coming to Kentucky.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Podcast Episode: The Revolution Will Be Open Source | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
Very interested in the idea of making contributions to open source software tax deductible.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Security Researcher Finds Facebook App Tracking iPhone Movements'
Accelerometer data can be used for invasive tracking, and Facebook seems to be doing so. This is truly scary stuff.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Clearview AI does well in another round of facial recognition accuracy tests. - The New York Times'
The problem with facial recognition isn’t (just) accuracy—it’s the underlying values of such a project.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'For Rules in Technology, the Challenge is to Balance Code and Law - The New York Times'
Glad to see Lessig expressing caution here.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Rand Paul to challenge Biden’s Saudi arms sale | Lexington Herald Leader'
The thing about Rand Paul is that sometimes he gets things very right, even though he so often gets things so wrong.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Predictive analytics in child welfare raise concerns - Youth Today'
We need data to make decisions, but predictive analytics tend to give me the heebie jeebies.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Lexington KY gets ‘perfect score’ for LGBTQ protections | Lexington Herald Leader'
Good news for Lexington! 🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Bipartisan Bill Seeks to Stop Warrantless Car Spying by Police'
Something else to write representatives about.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'BTS fan accounts targeted with fake copyright takedowns - The Verge'
Weaponized copyright enforcement is awful.
🔗 linkblog: just finished 'Podcast Episode: What Police Get When They Get Your Phone | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
Time to write some representatives. This is scary stuff.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'In Moscow’s Technological Advances, a ‘Double-Edged Sword’ - The New York Times'
Facial recognition is worrying.