Once, technology solved problems. People liked having problems solved, so they liked technology. Tech execs started to think of that sentiment as their due. So when they stopped solving problems, and people stopped liking them, they became outraged. "How dare you not love whatever we give you?"

A very good summary by @dmarti.bsky.social on the challenges of publisher revenue - whether it is from micropayments or advertising. blog.zgp.org/micropayment...

Because the core values of news professionals and Big Tech oligarchs are so different, you might expect news organizations to stand up against Big Tech when bills that would limit Big Tech harms are the subject of hearings at state legislatures. You’d be wrong. rjionline.org/news/big-tec...

Need a good reason to block the click-throughs to the search ads? #adBlocking #security krebsonsecurity.com/2025/12/dron...

Firefox hit me today with the fucking AI bot popups discovered some of the browser .ml .* shit i'd disabled in about:config had *switched back on* someone at @mozilla.org is playing fuck fuck games with users' preferences. hey @mozilla.org who is responsible for this?

“With privacy under unprecedented attack by data brokers and social media, it is the wrong time to weaken these protections." Take a look at this article co-written by OP member @dmarti.bsky.social discussing the repercussions of SB 690 on the dismantling of CA's CIPA.

If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features." There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.

One-third of all scams in the USA originate with Meta? Not quite—the real source is the companies that pass personal info to Meta, knowing that Meta's ML will use it to inflict harm. Fortunately, #California has a #privacy law that—when used properly—will help. www.adexchanger.com/data-driven-...

So let's say, hypothetically, that some teenager in the USA is an AI skeptic or even "AI vegan" and working on a college short list. Any strategies to avoid getting stuck with slop for 4 years? (This research is hard enough without the whole AI fad thing)

Mix #scamCulture with the efficiency of #openSource, and you get #surveillanceCapitalism and an economy-wide collapse in trust. While American business culture has always celebrated “fake it ’til you make it,” we have pivoted to “make it, then fake it even harder.” rjionline.org/news/the-tra...

Every time I try a Google Search for [sergey brin epstein files] Google gives me a CAPTCHA...is this happening for anyone else?

This is mostly good advice, but has one problem. The biggest ad-related threat to most random users now is fake SaaS and employee portal login pages on Google Search. Users try to go to the site where they have an account, click on the Google ad, and get compromised. 1/3

Another web maintenance todo: if you still have #groklaw links on your blog or other site, time to make a local copy of the original pages from archive.org and fix the links fossforce.com/2025/08/grok...

Drone strikes on refineries and tanker terminals (easier to put out of action with a smaller drone because they're already flammable) could even be revenue-positive for a terrorist group that can invest in the oil futures market #energySecurity

What can I say, the cover of the incoming Spanish translation of Blood in the Machine is absolutely incredible.

This is a very interesting paper (HT @older.bsky.social & @philippmarkolin.bsky.social). I need to sit on some of these thoughts a little longer, but here's a first approximation 🧵 of reactions — in no particular order and without much filtering.

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” -- George Orwell

Q: how do you get the Board of Directors to give you a 29 billion dollar pay raise? A:

Consider, your Honor, that my client was being extremely productive at the time of the crash.

Great article, but I don't believe that the fall of the "Magnificent 7" firms will crash the stock market. Ever since Big Tech pivoted from "create more value than you capture" to the other way around, every $1 in Big Tech market cap means the destruction of > $1 in the legit economy

Newsletter: This is the Hater's Guide To The AI Bubble: genAI is nothing like Uber or Amazon Web Services, there are no profitable genAI companies, agents do not and cannot exist, there is no AI SaaS story, and everything rides - and dies - on selling GPUs. www.wheresyoured.at/the-haters-g...

www.msn.com/en-us/news/t... "Those who believed the piece was AI-generated were 14% less likely to consider purchasing the product featured in the adjacent ad."

I wrote for a magazine called Risk Management and went to risk management conferences and this is 100% true. The people who file and pay out insurance claims know climate change is real.

Just tested out @manusai.bsky.social to see if the agent can make it through a #CCPA #RtK process on the verizon.com site. Good news -- after a dead end first attempt, it looks like it worked! blog.zgp.org/encouraging-...

No judge should be worried about their personal safety when they’re deciding a case. That’s how the rule of law ends. I’m proud to lead a bipartisan group of my colleagues in demanding that we fund efforts to get Judges' personal information off the internet.

guys we HAVE to get rid of DEI. it’s about FAIRNESS

A report about how Google's AI helps catch fake ads on Google is not exactly the best #contentMarketing for Google's AI. Check other sources of info about the scam ad problem over there and you'll see Google has even run fake ads for (checks notes) ads.google.com

Good reminder to block all the fundraising texts (and the bridge toll and traffic ticket texts while you're at it)

Great opportunity for an #economics experiment: the same service with personalized and de-personalized ads Based on the literature, it's likely that people w. de-personalized ads will have better consumer outcomes (higher satisfaction and NPS, fewer complaints, chargebacks, and returns)

This is a big win. Kudos to @tanyaocarroll.bsky.social and her team! techcrunch.com/2025/03/21/m...

1/5 Does anyone really think that Meta decision-makers don't understand the Streisand Effect, or that a publisher who didn't sign their arbitration agreement isn't bound by it?

Wow, #BYD made 9.5% more in sales than Tesla by selling 139% more cars www.fastcompany.com/91304838/byd...

I am certainly not qualified, but "Sports Editor for The Onion" is probably my dream job.

Over to you @theatlantic.com Offer to publish it since it’s unclassified. See what they say.

Also extremely funny that they link to China as having “free reign” to data as : 1. The unethical training data of most GenAi models used worldwide were made in the US, UK and EU. 2. China is regulating GenAi models and doing more than the US is concerning infringing models! ( source in alt )

Just in case this doesn't hit hard enough, Jarlov isn't some random radical, he's a conservative Danish MP and former minister.

MIT offering travel advice (or rather do not travel advice) for international visitors and green card holders. If folks at other institutions are receiving similar guidance, please consider sharing here. Please be as safe as you can.

So on March 9, a French scientist, on a visa to attend a conference in Houston, was denied entry to the US and subsequently expelled because his phone had messages decrying scientific policies put forward by the Trump administration: www.lemonde.fr/internationa...

A functioning #FTC (and FDA and other agencies) has become necessary infrastructure for legit #brands. Now we're rapidly switching over to a low-trust economy but without time to build the grass-roots reputation networks that countries without an FTC-like agency rely on.

"California legislators have begun debating a bill (A.B. 412) that would require AI developers to track & disclose every registered copyrighted work used in AI training...it’s an impossible standard that could crush small AI startups & developers...." Trash take. www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...

Interesting #PredictionMarket trading opportunity — "Will President Trump mint the coin" is at only 9%. IMHO Federal budgets are hard and stranger things have happened, 9% looks low manifold.markets/MP/will-pres...

most of the time that a blogger uses an AI-generated image to illustrate a post, the decision to use AI makes a bigger statement than the text of the post does

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.

San Franciscans: Speed cameras are coming this week. We authorized San Francisco to install these cameras to slow people down & make our streets safer. Tickets apply if a driver is going >10 MPH over the limit. Tickets start at $50 & scale up depending on speed. It’s a big step for road safety.

Wow. Meta taking legal steps against a new book published about the company. Has anyone seen this type of legal order before? about.fb.com/wp-content/u...

hell yeah, there should be a Federal law that Atherton, California is only allowed to have zoning laws that are strictly required for fire and earthquake safety #freedom #itsTimeToBuild www.wired.com/story/startu...

The Democrats strategy right now.