Pluralistic: 06 Jun 2020

Today's links

White House street renamed "Black Lives Matter Plaza": But when will Mayor Bowser rein in the violent white supremacists in Metro PD?
Little Green Men: Who are the secretive, armed men patrolling DC?
Kim Stanley Robinson on the Jobs Guarantee: Forced labor or dignified labor?
There's a bright side: Massive waves of voter registration, support for defunding the police.
Toxic familial surveillance: Tech supercharges intimate surveillance.
Consumer Reports joins the revolution: Which side are you on?
This day in history: 2005, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 06 Jun 2020"

Pluralistic: 01 Jun 2020

Today's links

Podcast: How Big Tech distorts our discourse: No mind-control required.
EFF statement on Black Lives Matter: Black lives matter on the Internet.
Why quarantine is getting harder: Sustained vigilance is impossible without perceptible feedback.
Writing while Black: Tochi Onyebuchi unpacks the impossible contradictions of being a Black writer in this moment (and all the moments like this).
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 01 Jun 2020"

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

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 29 May 2020"

Pluralistic: 07 May 2020

Today's links

The TSA is hoarding N95s: It doesn't even use 'em.
Look at this banana gondola.: Just look at it.
America is united: Turkeys skeptical about Christmas.
$3 router rebooter: If no_google then reboot.
EFF's Guide to Digital Rights During the Pandemic: Digital rights are human rights.
Wink will brick your smart home if you don't pay a monthly fee: How you act in bad times reveals your true character.
Helicopter flyover of deserted Disneyland: We find it delightfully unlivable here in this ghostly retreat.
EU: "Cookie walls violate the GDPR": Another blow to cookie consent theatre.
Unix and Adversarial Interoperability: The "one weird antitrust trick" that defined modern computing.
Sidewalk Labs pulls out of Toronto: Sic Semper Boondoggle.
Wechat spies on non-Chinese users for in-China censorship: Your dank memes, banned in realtime.
Hidden doors disguised as bookcases: No books harmed.
Vent dragons: Alas, you can't use them as working vent covers.
This day in history: 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 07 May 2020"

Pluralistic: 11 Apr 2020

Today's links

PE companies that looted healthcare want billions in bailouts: Plute socialism.
Automating arbitration claims: Fairshake recreates class action suits in arbitration form.
Non-secret votes vs e-voting: Don't use it for elections, but maybe for elected officials.
RNC plans ex-cop/military voter intimidation squad: Rebooting the "Ballot Security Task Force."
"Job creators" are job annihilators: Bailout for me, not thee.
Snowden warns of permanent pandemic surveillance: The new normal ain't pretty.
RIP MAD's Mort Drucker: One of "the usual gang of idiots."
This day in history: 2005, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming appearances, current writing projects, current reading

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Pluralistic: 06 Mar 2020

Today's links

The most beautiful RPG dice I've ever seen: And you can also make your own.
The king of Dutch climate denial was secretly in Shell's pay: Frits Böttcher was a packrat, and his papers detail exactly how he was paid to sow climate doubt. He was very good at it.
American Catholic officials helped priests who preyed on children escape to Mexico: At least 51 "credibly accused" priests left the US and took up positions abroad.
A grifty AI company conned the state of Utah into giving access to everything: Banjo claims it will predict and head off terrorist attacks, mass shootings, and child abductions without invading anyone's privacy.
Clearview AI says it only lets cops use its facial recognition tool but it's lying: Investors, cronies and pals got to literally use it as a party trick.
South Korea's beating covid-19 with free testing: Testing is part of the free national health system, and 140,000 tests have been administered.
The web is unusably beshitted with terrible ad-tech: "No, I don't want great articles."
For $3, a robolawyer will automatically force data brokers to delete you and sue the ones who don't: Donotpay meets the CCPA, it's like peanut butter and chocolate.
This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 06 Mar 2020"

Pluralistic: 03 Mar 2020

Today's links

EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense guide for students: Privacy is a team sport.
Oregon's Dems have a supermajority, but the GOP won't show up for work: White nationalism is how plutes get turkeys to vote for Christmas.
A Lever Without a Fulcrum Is Just a Stick: How to design a copyright to protect artists, not corporations.
Facebook neutered "Download Your Data": "Your data" doesn't include a list of ad-tech companies that also hold your data.
The EU's new copyright filters violate the GDPR: We told you so.
Recycling spy agencies' malware for fun and profit: NOBUS is, and always has been, an idiotic idea.
Japanese condiment company releases "sliced mayo": Comes in four flavors!
Department of the Interior climate docs include junk science: Trump's man on the inside, sabotaging our future.
This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 03 Mar 2020"

Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 27 Feb 2020

Today's links

Ripping the window-dressing off the .ORG selloff: It's not even an ethos.
CDC guide to filter-mask-friendly facial hair: You're good to go with a Zappa, Villain or Hitler, but stay away from the Dali, Hulahee and the dread F(l)u Manchu.
Don't trust Google to build Toronto's Smart City: Sidewalk Labs's sleaze has disqualified it.
A "girls-only" social service wants to analyze your facial bone structure: "It's science!"
Norman Rockwell turned into a radical civil rights activist: His last painting was of Nixon, too.
Gmail's filters are blocking opt-in election emails: Mayo Pete and Andrew Yang are winning the spam-filter primary.
Talking Radicalized with The Next Chapter: Shelagh Rogers is a national treasure.
Neoliberalism kills, the coronavirus edition: And you thought capitalism would kill us all with climate change!
Bernie Sanders and Public Enemy LA rally this Sunday: With Sarah Silverman and Dick van Dyke!
Venezuelan women's "army" break into dead factories to reboot them: "Only the people can save the people."
Meet Akil Augustine, voice of the Raptors…and Radicalized: A fighter in my corner.
This day in history: 2019, 2015, 2005
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 27 Feb 2020"

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