Below are posts associated with the “link” type.
🔗 linkblog: Zuckerberg: Apple, Meta are in “deep, philosophical competition” | Ars Technica'
Look, I’m a critic of Apple’s closed system, but it’s laughable for Meta to set itself up as an oprn alternative.
🔗 linkblog: Sylvester Stallone is a grizzled, disillusioned superhero in Samaritan trailer | Ars Technica'
I was worried this was going to be a gritty take on Astro City, but now I’m just mad they took the name of my favorite superhero for a different story.
🔗 linkblog: America Aspires to One Day in the Far Future Build Rail Service Worse Than It Was in the 1940s'
Wild article. We once knew how to do trains, so why can’t we figure it out better now?
🔗 linkblog: Indiana doctor says she has been harassed since providing 10-year-old's abortion : NPR'
This case seems so clear cut to me, and the American right’s willingness to harass this doctor suggests that things are going very wrong.
🔗 linkblog: ‘Christ Is King’: Man Allegedly Vandalized Bakery Hosting Drag Show'
I didn’t know Fuentes was also using “Christ is King,” but it’s a favorite of Gab’s Andrew Torba, too.
🔗 linkblog: Stranger People | Times & Seasons'
I haven’t watched Stranger Things 4, but it’s interesting how media depictions of Mormonism often get some of the details wrong, folding it in with broader conservative Christianity instead of focusing on its unique weirdness. This often confused me as a kid, especially when adults would wonder if I were allowed to play games with supernatural themes or… sing songs?
🔗 linkblog: Police Are Still Abusing Investigative Exemptions to Shield Surveillance Tech, While Others Move Towards Transparency | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
Who is allowed to watch the watchmen? This is why I’m grumpy about Lexington being hush hush about its new automated license plate readers—it sets a precedent for secretive use of even more invasive surveillance.
🔗 linkblog: Republicans Sharpen Post-Roe Attacks on L.G.B.T.Q. Rights - The New York Times'
Worrying days ahead. There’s a lot being said on Gab that’s spilling out into “mainstream” GOP discourse.
🔗 linkblog: Facebook Is So Sure Its Erroneous Blocking Of Music Is Right, There’s No Option To Say It’s Wrong | Techdirt'
Intellectual property is important, but copyright filters are an absolute mess.
🔗 linkblog: Josh Hawley Just Gave Us the How It Started/How It’s Going for Jan. 6'
What cynicism to support people you once literally ran away from because you think it’s politically advantageous.
🔗 linkblog: At long last, a photo of Mormon founder Joseph Smith emerges'
Some more coverage of the (possible) photo find. This is the only news I’ve ever read related to facial recognition software that I’ve been happy rather than grumpy about 😂
🔗 linkblog: Mormon founder Joseph Smith's photo discovered by descendant after nearly 180 years'
Whoa. Big news here. My feelings about Joseph Jr. are complicated, but it’s very cool to see a possible photograph of him.
🔗 linkblog: Oklahoma Threatens Librarians: ‘Don’t Use the Word Abortion’'
Libraries are a key part of a democratic society, and this is a very worrying development.
🔗 linkblog: With midterms in sight, few Republicans are defending Trump as they did in 2019 : NPR'
Look, there may be less of a coordinated defense, but ignoring the Jan. 6th hearings is almost as bad as defending Trump from them.
🔗 linkblog: Self-Proclaimed Free Speech Platforms Are Censoring Nude Content. Here’s Why You Should Care | Electronic Frontier Foundation'
Here’s the EFF pointing out that “free speech” on these platforms means something very particular rather than a broad, deep commitment to legally-protected expression.
🔗 linkblog: DHS bought “shocking amount” of warrantless phone-tracking data, ACLU says | Ars Technica'
Opting out of location sharing is a good and important step, but there are no tech solutions to this horror—only political ones. We need good legislation, and we need it now.
🔗 linkblog: Arizona Makes It Illegal To Record Cops From Less Than Eight Feet Away | Techdirt'
It’s funny how conditional the GOP’s concerns about free speech are. That’s not to say that free speech isn’t a complicated topic to be weighed in conjunction with other concerns—it absolutely is. But if a party wants to use a simplistic view of free speech as a rallying cry, stunts like this show how just how simplistic that view is.
🔗 linkblog: TikTok resists calls to preserve Ukraine content for war crime investigations | Ars Technica'
So, here’s a case where TikTok’s Chinese ownership is actually a really big deal—though, of course, YouTube and other U.S. companies have also been quicker to moderate than to archive material that could be valuable in a similar way.
🔗 linkblog: Independence schools ban book for gender content – The Beacon'
I’m glad the article identifies Art as an apostle for Community of Christ, to emphasize that it’s entirely possible to be affirming and Christian. Coming from Mormonism, I’m not used to the idea of apostles standing up for queer causes, so as gross as the book removal is, I’m grateful for Art’s example here.
🔗 linkblog: Ubisoft Teaches Customers They Don’t Own All That DLC They ‘Bought’ | Techdirt'
Ugh. We “buy” too many things this way.
🔗 linkblog: Anti-Abortion Leader Tells Congress a 10-Year-Old’s Abortion Wouldn’t Count'
This strikes me as weaselly logic. It absolutely is an abortion, and it’s absolutely why it’s shamefully ridiculous to make simplistic claims about abortion as murder or to set up “zero abortions” as an ideal to be attained through legislation and jurisprudence.
🔗 linkblog: Man Arrested for Rape of 10-Year-Old Abortion Patient the Right Said Was Fake'
I didn’t realize there’d been so much right-wing pushback against this awful, awful story. There’s always room for good faith critical appraisals of the news, but what critics seem to me to miss here is that even if it weren’t true, the mere hypothetical possibility of something like this happening is shameful. That said, the emergence of more evidence supporting the claims is not a great look for those who called it into question.
🔗 linkblog: BMW’s Push To Make Heated Seats A $18 Per Month Subscription Portends A Dumb And Costly Future | Techdirt'
This is such a dumb development. Why are we letting technology whittle away at ownership instead of increasing access to things?
🔗 linkblog: Amazon Admits Giving Police Ring Footage Without Consent'
It’s concerning to see private surveillance prop up public surveillance like this.
🔗 linkblog: Watch New York City's new nuclear war PSA | Boing Boing'
Just the idea that NYC feels like it needs to keep people educated about what to do in case of a nuclear attack is enough to add some existential dread to my Tuesday.