Pluralistic: 25 Jul 2020

Today's links

US copyright is a disaster for Mexico: USMCA contra derechos humanos.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Cars: My event with James Wilt on Aug 4.
Central London property prices tank: Failed Airbnb rentiers flood the market.
401(k)s are a scam: Buy Alpo futures instead.
This day in history: 2010, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Facebook's morale problem: Facebookers worry that they're destroying civilization.
My HOPE keynote this Sat: We Used to Have Cake, Now We've Barely Got Icing.
Changes coming to UK's feudal "leaseholds": Britain's rentier class loses, a little.
Konstantine Anthony for Burbank City Council: All politics are local.
Private equity doesn't create value, it destroys it: Wealth accumulation doesn't signify value-creation.
Mass market book sales surge: But it's just trading one monopolist for another.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Judge won't release Black learning-disabled kid jailed for missing homework: Mary Ellen Brennan is up for re-election in 2020.
Podcast: Part 10 of Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town: "A glorious book unlike any book you’ve ever read" -Gene Wolfe.
Christopher Brown's Failed State: I'm helping him launch an outstanding and timely novel on Aug 12.
The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist: Comparison is the thief of joy.
Luxury homes to be washed away: Australian plutes voted for climate deniers and now they're about to literally fall off a cliff.
As We May Think: Danny O'Brien on the past future of news.
Trump's spent a billion on re-election: Biden spent $165m.
This day in history: 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Muppet Hamilton: Bork bork bork
EFF celebrates its 30th (!) birthday with a full day of livestreams: July 10!
Stepping Stones by Lucy Knisley: A graphic memoir for young adults.
Cops are buying breach data: Why get a warrant when there are hackers?
Rock dust vs climate change: Some good (preliminary) news about carbon sequestration.
This day in history: 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

New Little Brother/Homeland edition is out today!: With an intro by Edward Snowden.
There is no automation employment crisis: But there is a climate emergency.
Cyberpunk Culture: An online conference, Jul 9/10.
Or What You Will: Jo Walton's new, brilliant meta-meta-novel.
#BlackOutDay2020: Pledge not to spend a dime in a store or online, except in Black-owned businesses.
Right wing press duped by state-sponsored influence campaign: Deepfakes and avatars manipulated to defeat reverse image searches.
Coronavirus tests are a taxable benefit: HMRC creates a perverse incentive.
Big 4 accounting firms headed for breakup: When the referee cheats.
Home security cameras are really insecure: Even encrypted video streams can give away sensitive info.
Why covid cases are spiking but deaths aren't: Lead-time bias.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Working as intended: My upcoming free lecture on the role monopoly plays in distorting our discourse and creating conspiracies.
Buying (not licensing) my ebooks: The best way to get my ebooks and audiobooks.
Scihub boosts cites: Public sphere vs Elsevier.
Topple monuments…with science: Popular Mechanics is here for you.
Privacy Analyzer: What does the web know about you?
Frederick Douglass's descendants read his July 4 speech: "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

How Big Tech distorts discourse: My free Oxford Internet Institute webinar.
Talking Job Guarantee with Pavlina Tcherneva: My latest for the LA Times.
Walkaway, Chicago-style: Protesters re-enact the climax of my 2017 novel (and it worked!)
759 Trump atrocities: McSweeney's saved the receipts.
Accessible, Affordable Internet for All Act: $80B for universal fiber rollout.
Canada Reads is back: The debates will happen July 20-23.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Surveillance electoralism: Comparing the surveillance of the Biden and Trump apps.
Blueleaks: Dox the police.
Virtual Ignite talks: Weds at 6PM.
Congress wants to read all your DMs: The EARN-IT Act doesn't mention encryption, but it still bans encryption.
Privacy in tracing tokens: Bunnie Huang's parameters for a privacy-respecting contact-tracing system.
A/B Seattle: Design your own urban grid.
Against AI phrenology: Stop publishing machine-learning "race science."
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Nnedi Okarafor and me in conversation tonight: Torcon's closing keynote, 4PM Pacific/7PM Eastern.
LA schools returned grenade launchers, kept assault rifles: An M-16 for teacher.
Black box voting: Voting machine vendor won't give election officials a login.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Hackers on Planet Earth, in the cloud: HOPE will not be cancelled.
Climate and machine learning: Machine learning is roasting the planet.
Seeking Fitbit owners' stories: Help EFF explain why the Google takeover is wrong.
Software secrecy: Code is (bad) law.
Grocer won't show employees results from mandatory temp-checks: Coronavirus theater, class war edition.
Bill Clinton sings "Baby Got Back": Speech synthesis is just sublimely weird.
Webinar on Controlled Digital Lending and the pandemic: Talking about the Internet Archive, this Friday.
Google vows no custom AI for oil and gas: Reversing its 2018 position, which was garbage.
Re-positive coronavirus cases are not infectious: Finally, we catch a break.
Ifixit's medtech repair manual trove is full to bursting: Right to Repair, pandemic edition.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading