Pluralistic: 11 Sep 2020

Today's links

Save video game history: The MADE needs help to mothball for two years.
Life as a precriminal: 1,000 people in Pasco County, Florida are harassed day and night as part of a predictive policing tool.
Qanon is basically the Protocols of the Elders of Zion: It's a recycling program for nutjob racists.
EFF vs filternet: Comments to the EU on Article 17.
America's pandemic spiral: 9 awful things. How many do you recognize?
Security Engineering, 3d edition: Anderson's revenge!
Alexa for landlords: Unauthorized Bread was not a pitch-deck.
This day in history: 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 29 Jul 2020

Today's links

Break 'Em Up: Zephyr Teachout's trustbusting program for the 21st century.
Unauthorized Meat: Mellow Sous Vide journeys to the Internet of Shit.
Let's force Big Tech to interoperate: Here's why…and how.
No consequences for police violence at BLM actions: Propublica followed up on viral videos showing gross misconduct and found…crickets.
The Internet Archive defends online libraries: First filings from the Hachette lawsuit.
Bitcoin is not a socialist's ally: Yanis Varoufakis responds to Ben Arc.
Where "software" comes from: "In October, 1953, I coined the word 'software.'"
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 15 Jul 2020

Today's links

Homeschool to prison pipeline: Michigan judge jails Black teenager with a learning disability for not doing lockdown homework.
Spain has been an NSO customer since 2015: Whistleblower leaks the receipts.
McKinsey waxes fat off coronavirus failures: McKinsey got $100m (and climbing!) for its role in the disastrous US coronavirus response.
Biden's $2T climate plan: It's at least an order of magnitude shy of what's needed.
PE's three kids in a trenchcoat fraud: How private equity bilked PPP for hundreds of millions.
Leakypick: Probing smart speakers for covert audio exfiltration.
Poesy slays: Praise for "Poesy the Monster Slayer."
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 08 Jul 2020

Today's links

Hank Green's "A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor": Catch us live on July 10!
Near-ultrasound links: Chirpy IoT configuration for <$1.
Disneyland's Tower of Terror in Minecraft: Brilliant attention to detail!
Who got PPP and how much did they get?: Propublica has a whole database of receipts.
EY helped 'Ndrangheta sell mafia bonds: "Consulting services."
The rotten culture of the rich: Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me.
The awful stupidity of measuring engineers' productivity: Any measurement becomes a target.
Unions say Disney World isn't testing employees: The Florida Man of themeparks.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 02 Jul 2020

Today's links

A grifter's border wall is about to fall into the Rio Grande: Who knew the Rio Grande was such a big river?
Hong Kong law threatens people all over the world: China claims the right to kidnap anyone, anywhere.
1000+ accidental trigger-phrases for smart speakers: You bugged yourself.
Roller derby's brilliant re-opening plan: A template for global sport.
Unauthorized seat: BMW drives you straight to the Internet of Shit.
Don't Believe Proven Liars: The absolute minimum standard of prudence in merger scrutiny.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 09 Jun 2020

Today's links

John Oliver's comprehensive explanation of the rot in US policing: It's in every bone and organ.
Cox violates the Geneva Conventions: The throttling will continue until morale improves.
Paramount's Unproduced Screenplays: A core sample of 1,000 ideas from the vault.
Police budgets are out of control: "More than the city spends on health, homelessness, youth development and workforce development combined."
Auditing Omniballot, a terrible e-voting system: Paper ballots, marked with pencils, accept no imitations.
Who are Dark Basin?: Outing the cybermercenaries who attacked Net Neutrality and anti-Exxon activists.
NYPD's structural racism: Bulk of NYPD human rights complaints come from Black and Latinx youth.
IBM kills facial recognition program: But the problem with facial recognition isn't just "bias."
Nutrition labels for IoT: Only works if there's competition.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 29 May 2020

Today's links

Big Tech distorts our discourse: No mind-control required.
How the IoT reinforces gentrification: Smart doorbells and predictive policing are fully automated karens.
Private equity goes mainstream: If you're gonna loot, you MUST also asset-strip.
What to do about the police: 15 concrete things that should be done to reform American policing, right now.
Masks work: Source control is a thing.
Walmart's crummy anti-theft AI: Employees blow the whistle on their employers' credulous machine learning procurements.
GOP lawmaker hid his diagnosis from Democrats: Andrew Lewis wandered around Pennsylvania's statehouse, shedding virus particles.
Canadians newsrooms restructure as co-ops: And readers can join!
Get a peronalized, signed Poesy the Monster Slayer: Dark Delicacies will ship you copies signed by me and the original Poesy.
This day in history: 2005, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 21 Apr 2020

Today's links

Phishers deploy fake contact-tracing warnings: Co-evolution of a virus with a scam
Podcasting John Scalzi's The Last Emperox: Mutual aid in the time of pandemic
Private equity blew millions on pro-surprise-billing ads while cutting doctor pay: Follow the (dark) money.
Every Covid-19 Commerical is Exactly the Same: We're all in this together.
Multi-level dungeon built into the drawers of an old dresser: 1981 Basic Set box-set cover rides again!
Talking bunker-busting with Trashfuture: End of the world as we know, feeling fine.
Whole Foods has a union-busting "heatmap" app: Solve for equilibrium between guard labor and guillotines.
Amazon workers plan nationwide walkout: No warehouse workers, no Amazon.
Texas AG: We'll imprison people who warn about getting covid while voting: Mess with Texas.
Australian regulator takes up Right to Repair for tractors: John Deere reinvents sharecropping.
Smart bassinet can be remotely hacked: Internet of Shit, parenting edition.
Covid did not escape from a Chinese lab: Covid truthers are the new 9/11 truthers.
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 26 Mar 2020

Today's links

EFF's videoconferencing backgrounds: With a deep cut from the NSA's secret listening post.
The ideology of economics: Economics doesn't have "laws" it has "policies."
LoC plugs Little Brother: Open access FTW.
Canada nationalizes covid patents: An Act respecting certain measures in response to COVID-19.
Exponential Threat: Trump threatened to sue media outlets that aired this spot.
Sanders on GOP stimulus cruelty: "Millions for plutes, but not one cent for workers."
Record wind-power growth: Covid stimulus could start a Green New Deal.
Social distancing and other diseases: Do we trust IoT thermometer companies, though?
Badger Masks: UW Madison's open facemask design.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 22 Mar 2020

Today's links

How prepper media is coping with the crisis: Fantasy meets reality while grifters pick up the pieces.
Law firm tells work-from-homers to switch off smart speakers: Bugging your own house is not compatible with attorney-client privilege.
Gorgeous painting of coronavirus from a molecular scientist: Free to use, too.
Slim's is shut, but DNA Lounge needs your help: It's not a business, it's a community.
Florida mayor ducks accountability for threatening power disconnections during the pandemic: Mayor Pam Triolo has permanently disqualified herself for public office, and commissioner Omari Hardy has the receipts.
Rashida Tlaib proposes minting two trillion-dollar coins: A people's covid bailout.
How "concierge doctors" supply the "worried well" with masks, respirators and tests: Pandemic capitalism is guillotine capitalism.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 22 Mar 2020"