🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Pluralistic: The surprising truth about data-driven dictatorships (26 July 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow'

- kudos:

Interesting stuff from Doctorow. If I can, I want to work it into my data science textbook for next semester. link to ‘Pluralistic: The surprising truth about data-driven dictatorships (26 July 2023) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Celebrating Five Years Of Ironsworn'

- kudos:

This is a fun glimpse at the humble beginnings of one of my favorite TTRPGs. I’m trying to get a new solo Starforged campaign off the ground right now, and it seems like this is an appropriate time to do so. link to ‘Celebrating Five Years Of Ironsworn’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Cleaning Up ChatGPT’s Language Takes Heavy Toll on Human Workers - WSJ'

- kudos:

Everyone excited about generative AI needs to account for this kind of thing. We don’t pay enough attention to digital labor and the dehumanizing aspects of content moderation. link to ‘Cleaning Up ChatGPT’s Language Takes Heavy Toll on Human Workers - WSJ’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'A Leaked Memo Shows TikTok Knows It Has a Labor Problem | WIRED'

- kudos:

I think this is a much bigger deal than any purported security risk. link to ‘A Leaked Memo Shows TikTok Knows It Has a Labor Problem | WIRED’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Cowboy releases cheeky app to keep VanMoof e-bike riders on the road - The Verge'

- kudos:

We read Cory Doctorow’s “Unauthorized Bread” in my class on computer fundamentals, and I try to share actual examples of how tech companies going bankrupt can create actual problems like in the story. Bookmarking this for next time I teach. link to ‘Cowboy releases cheeky app to keep VanMoof e-bike riders on the road - The Verge’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Elon Starts Bribing His Biggest Fans As He Admits The Company Is Still Burning Cash (Despite His Earlier Claims To The Contrary) | Techdirt'

- kudos:

Yet another wild story in the wild history of Twitter. link to ‘Elon Starts Bribing His Biggest Fans As He Admits The Company Is Still Burning Cash (Despite His Earlier Claims To The Contrary) | Techdirt’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Let the Platforms Burn: The Opposite of Good Fires is Wildfires | Cory Doctorow's craphound.com'

- kudos:

Lots to appreciate here. link to ‘Let the Platforms Burn: The Opposite of Good Fires is Wildfires | Cory Doctorow’s craphound.com’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Why AI detectors think the US Constitution was written by AI | Ars Technica'

- kudos:

I don’t like generative AI, and I get grumpy about advice to accept it and work it into classes (even though I probably agree with that approach at the end of the day). For all that dislike and grumpiness, though, I feel even more strongly that AI detectors are not the way to go. This is a really interesting article. link to ‘Why AI detectors think the US Constitution was written by AI | Ars Technica’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Hollywood's Nightmarish AI Proposal for SAG Actors'

- kudos:

This is horrifying. link to ‘Hollywood’s Nightmarish AI Proposal for SAG Actors’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Congratulations! The US Is 32nd Worldwide On Broadband Affordability | Techdirt'

- kudos:

USA! USA! Seriously, though, bookmarking for future teaching. link to ‘Congratulations! The US Is 32nd Worldwide On Broadband Affordability | Techdirt’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'AI Junk Is Starting to Pollute the Internet - WSJ'

- kudos:

I’ve seen some reviews describe the new Mission Impossible movie (apparently featuring a malicious AI) as perfectly suited for our time of ChatGPT. I’m more worried about things like this: content farming, model collapse, etc. link to ‘AI Junk Is Starting to Pollute the Internet - WSJ’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Something odd is happening when you try and search Twitter for Threads links - The Verge'

- kudos:

It appears that Musk’s “free speech absolutism” continues to be selective and self-serving. link to ‘Something odd is happening when you try and search Twitter for Threads links - The Verge’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Why We Don’t Recommend Ring Cameras | WIRED'

- kudos:

Hear hear. Ring is a creepy company, and we shouldn’t support them. link to ‘Why We Don’t Recommend Ring Cameras | WIRED’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Gizmodo’s staff isn’t happy about G/O Media’s AI-generated content - The Verge'

- kudos:

I read that “chronological order of Star Wars” media piece mentioned here in io9 and I was baffled by how poorly done it was (not realizing it was done by AI and wondering how an io9 writer could get things so wrong). Using AI to content farm is a terrible idea. link to ‘Gizmodo’s staff isn’t happy about G/O Media’s AI-generated content - The Verge’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'ChatGPT users drop for the first time as people turn to uncensored chatbots | Ars Technica'

- kudos:

I get that it’s straightforward language that everyone will get, but I think “uncensored” is the wrong word here. Content moderation is not (necessarily) censorship, and content moderation is good and helpful for tools like generative AI. link to ‘ChatGPT users drop for the first time as people turn to uncensored chatbots | Ars Technica’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'It Turns Out Elon Is Speedrunning The Enshittification Learning Curve, Not The Content Moderation One | Techdirt'

- kudos:

I appreciate Masnick’s thinking, and I’m a big Doctorow fan, so it’s always neat to see them come together. link to ‘It Turns Out Elon Is Speedrunning The Enshittification Learning Curve, Not The Content Moderation One | Techdirt’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The environmentally conscious Fairphone 4 is finally coming to the US - The Verge'

- kudos:

This is very exciting! I’m far too locked into Apple’s ecosystem to seriously consider this right now (even this post is being composed thanks to Siri Shortcuts), but I hope this does well, because I’d love to own a Fairphone one day. link to ‘The environmentally conscious Fairphone 4 is finally coming to the US - The Verge’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'DeSantis slammed over Trump attack ad over LGBTQ rights : NPR'

- kudos:

This is disgusting and reprehensible. I refuse to watch the video myself, but it sounds like it wouldn’t be out of place on the Gab groups I’ve looked at for research projects. link to ‘DeSantis slammed over Trump attack ad over LGBTQ rights : NPR’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'The Fanfic Sex Trope That Caught a Plundering AI Red-Handed | WIRED'

- kudos:

This is a wild, compelling story that I missed when it first came out. Glad to be reading it now. link to ‘The Fanfic Sex Trope That Caught a Plundering AI Red-Handed | WIRED’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Reddit Won’t Be the Same. Neither Will the Internet | WIRED'

- kudos:

Good focus on the digital labor aspects of this whole thing. I sympathize with Reddit for not wanting to provide free value for generative AI (this is one of the trickiest parts of that conversation), but Reddit’s users are right to balk at providing free value for the platform. link to ‘Reddit Won’t Be the Same. Neither Will the Internet | WIRED’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Internal Twitter Video Reveals Twitter Bent Over Backwards To Protect Trump And Pro-Trump Insurrectionists | Techdirt'

- kudos:

Helpful summary by Masnick; bookmarking for later. link to ‘Internal Twitter Video Reveals Twitter Bent Over Backwards To Protect Trump And Pro-Trump Insurrectionists | Techdirt’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Reddit is telling protesting mods their communities ‘will not’ stay private - The Verge'

- kudos:

C’mon Reddit. link to ‘Reddit is telling protesting mods their communities ‘will not’ stay private - The Verge’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Reddit pressures mods to end the blackout as they find new ways to protest - The Verge'

- kudos:

Perhaps most interesting thing here is official comment from Reddit. It’s not quite “auto-reply with a poop emoji territory,” but it might actually be worse? link to ‘Reddit pressures mods to end the blackout as they find new ways to protest - The Verge’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Student Monitoring Tools Should Not Flag LGBTQ+ Keywords | Electronic Frontier Foundation'

- kudos:

Student monitoring software is gross to begin with, but monitoring for LGBTQ+ content makes it even grosser. Love it when EFF tackles ed tech. link to ‘Student Monitoring Tools Should Not Flag LGBTQ+ Keywords | Electronic Frontier Foundation’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Reddit Tells Mods That Protesting By Changing Sub To NSFW Violates The Rules | Techdirt'

- kudos:

I’ve linkblogged a lot of stuff on Reddit lately, but this is a good summary and reaction, so I’m adding it to the list. link to ‘Reddit Tells Mods That Protesting By Changing Sub To NSFW Violates The Rules | Techdirt’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Reddit Experiments With Removing Mods, Blocking Attempts To Switch Subs To NSFW | Techdirt'

- kudos:

Lots of ugh here. link to ‘Reddit Experiments With Removing Mods, Blocking Attempts To Switch Subs To NSFW | Techdirt’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'In WWII, a segregated U.S. Army deployed to fight Hitler — and brought Jim Crow : NPR'

- kudos:

I had never heard about this story before. It’s tempting to think of World War II as “a good war,” but stories like this complicate it. How is this blatant racism compatible with fighting against the Nazis? link to ‘In WWII, a segregated U.S. Army deployed to fight Hitler — and brought Jim Crow : NPR’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Reddit starts removing moderators behind the latest protests - The Verge'

- kudos:

I’m glad this article points out how much unpaid work mods do to make Reddit a place people want to go. They arguably add more value to the platform than employees do, and this strikes me as a bad move. link to ‘Reddit starts removing moderators behind the latest protests - The Verge’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Reddit Communities Still Dark As Protest Continues - The New York Times'

- kudos:

Reddit’s response continues to feel tonedeaf and sketchy to me. link to ‘Reddit Communities Still Dark As Protest Continues - The New York Times’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Reddit CEO Triples Down, Insults Protesters, Whines About Not Making Enough Money From Reddit Users | Techdirt'

- kudos:

Here’s Masnick saying some of my thoughts but better—and adding some observations I would not have come to on my own. link to ‘Reddit CEO Triples Down, Insults Protesters, Whines About Not Making Enough Money From Reddit Users | Techdirt’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Here’s the note Reddit sent to moderators threatening them if they don’t reopen - The Verge'

- kudos:

Feels pretty sleazy to me. link to ‘Here’s the note Reddit sent to moderators threatening them if they don’t reopen - The Verge’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Reddit CEO Steve Huffman: Reddit ‘was never designed to support third-party apps’ - The Verge'

- kudos:

I get that any platform has to pay its bills, but Huffman keeps coming off as a real jerk. link to ‘Reddit CEO Steve Huffman: Reddit ‘was never designed to support third-party apps’ - The Verge’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Thousands of Reddit communities remain dark as protest continues - The Verge'

- kudos:

Keep it up, subreddits! link to ‘Thousands of Reddit communities remain dark as protest continues - The Verge’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Reddit communities with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely - The Verge'

- kudos:

What I appreciate about coverage of this from The Verge and Techdirt is the way that it draws attention to questions of digital labor. link to ‘Reddit communities with millions of followers plan to extend the blackout indefinitely - The Verge’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'More than six thousand subreddits have gone dark to protest Reddit’s API changes - The Verge'

- kudos:

Good for them. Let’s hope it makes a difference. link to ‘More than six thousand subreddits have gone dark to protest Reddit’s API changes - The Verge’

🔗 linkblog: my thoughts on 'Critics of KY Gov. Andy Beshear recirculate drag queens photo | Lexington Herald Leader'

- kudos:

This just makes me like Andy more. Shame on Cameron and everyone else using queerphobia to influence an election. link to ‘Critics of KY Gov. Andy Beshear recirculate drag queens photo | Lexington Herald Leader’