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 read 'Pentagon Acknowledges Aug. 29 Drone Strike in Afghanistan Was Tragic Mistake - The New York Times'
What a heartbreaking story. We need to rethink our relationship with drones—and war.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Apple and Google Remove ‘Navalny’ Voting App in Russia - The New York Times'
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.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Political parties complained Facebook’s algorithm promoted polarization - The Verge'
What a read. Platforms don’t just host content, they manipulate that content.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Secret Facebook program reportedly let celebrities avoid moderation - The Verge'
Bookmarking this for my content management class.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Opinion | Which Victims of 9/11 Get Remembered? - The New York Times'
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.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'How Wikipedia grew up with the war on terror.'
Great read on what’s become perhaps the most defensible platform on the social web (though Wikipedia certainly still has its problems).
🔗 linkblog: just read 'ProtonMail removed “we do not keep any IP logs” from its privacy policy | Ars Technica'
On the internet, more and more people can learn you’re a dog.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Kentucky Schools Struggle With Coronavirus Outbreaks - The New York Times'
Oh good, we’re making the national news on this.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Ivermectin misinformation has poisoned Amazon’s platform, with few fixes planned - The Verge'
Happy to say that my local indie bookstore does not have this problem.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Opinion | Worrying About Your Carbon Footprint Is Exactly What Big Oil Wants You to Do - The New York Times'
Compelling reminder that climate change needs systemic—not individual—responses.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'New Chapter of Afghanistan War: U.S. Drone Strike Kills Family'
What a gut-wrenching story. Drone strikes are bad news.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'We Used to Write. How to keep writing human in a world of… | by Colin Horgan | Aug, 2021 | OneZero'
Very interesting piece on the relationship between technology and writing.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'My Neighbor’s Door Camera Faces My Apartment. Is That Legal? - The New York Times'
A great example of Ring cameras being gross.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'The most popular posts on Facebook are plagiarized - The Verge'
Interesting take on inauthentic content on Facebook.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Surveillance Startup Brings Police Tech to Neighborhoods - Bloomberg'
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. 🤮🤮🤮
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Joe Rogan, confined to Spotify, is losing influence - The Verge'
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'
This is one of those features that sounds great but that I find absolutely terrifying. I hate smart TVs so much.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'The Giftschrank offers a path for social media companies on content moderation transparency.'
Interesting proposal for a difficult issue.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'A Thumbs Down for Streaming Privacy - The New York Times'
I have been thinking recently about streaming as a compromise in internet-era IP disputes, but this shows one reason that it’s not good enough a compromise.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'As demand for bikes surged, Amazon got in the way - The Verge'
Since the beginning of the pandemic, I’ve spent a lot of money at my local bookstore and bikeshop, and it kills me that Amazon is threatening both. Granted, I haven’t been able to completely cut the Amazon cord (and I have friends who have only survived the past 18 months because of the company), but there has to be a better way.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Facebook's Most Viewed Article In Early 2021 Raised Doubt About COVID Vaccine : NPR'
I agree that it’s difficult to define misinformation in cases like this, but “cleaning house before inviting company” is absolutely a problem if the mess is what we’re coming to evaluate. Even a fact-based article can be used to misinformative ends, and it’s important that we know things like that are happening.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'In Iowa, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz Take Trump's Baton - The New York Times'
Every time I read a story like this, I think of how much we need ranked-choice voting in the US. I’m not inclined to vote for any Republican right now, but there are plenty I’d rank above these two if given the chance. I also wish I could have ranked Charles Booker AND Amy McGrath above Mitch McConnell back in November.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Now that machines can learn, can they unlearn? | Ars Technica'
Gotta admit that I’d never thought about what we should do about algorithms trained on data that’s subject to a deletion request. Interesting article.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'OnlyFans Says It Is Banning Sexually Explicit Content - The New York Times'
This is the sort of thing that Gab will decry if they’re serious and consistent about their supposed pro-free speech, anti-deplatformization stand. My bet, though, is that Torba writes a blog post in the next week arguing that porn isn’t free speech and good on banks for cracking down on OnlyFans.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Pluralistic: 19 Aug 2021 – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow'
Cory Doctorow has THOUGHTS about data. I may use this in my data science class this semester.
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Amazon reportedly plans to open its own department stores - The Verge'
Amazon is just too big. This line stood out: “Amazon is now in the odd position of replacing stores that it helped kill off.”
🔗 linkblog: just read 'Opinion | The Illusion of Privacy Is Getting Harder to Sell - The New York Times'
This blurb stood out to me: “Apple says, relentlessly, that privacy is the central feature of its iPhones. But as the photo scanning demonstrates, that’s true only until Apple changes its mind about its policies.” Seems to me we shouldn’t be dependent on tech companies’ decisions to ensure privacy.