Shot: Chaser:

Dear US Democrats. The lesson from UK’s similar landslide in 2024 is “don’t be timid”. PM Starmer was, and got kicked out after two years. PM Burnham seems to be doing slightly better, but still not moving the needle enough to be sure of seeing off the Right at the next election, which is vital if the left-wing gains are not to be completely wasted.
#USPolitics #Democrats

When you read about Bans of Social Media for Teens and Age Verification, you must remember what it truly means:

• Official identification of every adult using social media.

• Deanonymization of every account, endangering groups that often rely on pseudonymity for safety, such as victims of domestic violence, victims of stalkers, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people.

• Putting every adult at great danger of exploitation, fraud, and identity theft by forcing them to share their official ID with a for-profit third-party company with no incentive to protect it. Breaches have already happened.

• Constructing a system of mass surveillance to attach every comment on social media to a legal identity. Effectively allowing authoritarian governments to silence their critics and opposition.

• Potential for dystopian censorship and cutting off means of organization for groups of resistance to oppressive regime and organizations.

• Endangering children online by putting a clear identification beacon over every child or family with children online.

• Endangering the data of children who will inevitably try to pass as adults, and have their information collected by the third-party for-profit company.

• Diminishing the value of official identification due to the inevitable data breaches, eventually pushing the system to require even more intrusive identification techniques, such as iris scans and fingerprints.

• Installing a system of mass surveillance capable of attaching even more information to everyone's legal identity. With a potential to built list of people in certain groups, and scale-up state censorship and discrimination in unprecedented ways.

• The list goes on and on.

This isn't about protecting the children.
It never was.

Do not be duped by this excuse used to convince you to let go of your human rights. They are only trying to manipulate people lacking information.

Stay informed on the issues related to Age Verification, and push back for your rights to privacy and democracy.

The future depends on us.

#AgeVerification #Privacy #HumanRights #MassSurveillance #Authoritarianism

In the US, laws about recording conversations (audio) are stronger than recording video. (Because older tech = more case law / statutes.)

Many States require both parties to a conversation agree to the audio recording of that conversation.

⭐A "reasonable person" standard applies: does a reasonable person believe that the conversation is private?

Speaking from a soapbox in the town square? Reasonable people don't think that is a private conversation.

Speaking in a closed-door office with a colleague? Reasonable people do think that is a private conversation.

Absent #consent, it is unlawful if one of the members of that conversation records it if they're in a two-party State.

And #consent is:

Freely given
Actively given
Informed
Revocable
(FAIR)

At a minimum, that 2nd party is not Informed, and, therefore, has not consented to being recorded.

If their expectation of #privacy is reasonable, then that 2nd party arguably has both civil and criminal options available to them.

The person responsible for initiating the recording might have broken the law + be sued.

The big-picture-danger is that should such devices become ubiquitous, it might not be "reasonable" to expect privacy anywhere, ever.

And if reasonable people *expect* that their conversations are always recorded, their reliance on the #law to prevent / have recourse against such recordings has become MUCH harder.

@remixtures @Em0nM4stodon
#PublicPolicy #SlipperySlope

Let's get something very very clear. Investigating and prosecuting criminal wrongdoing is not optional.

If crimes have been committed, and they certainly have, the Democrats don't get to decide to look the other way.

This is a fundamental precept of the #RuleOfLaw.

These people have sworn an oath to the Constitution that commands them to pursue the truth and follow the law no matter what the consequences.

2/

As expected this morning, the media is all about characterizing pursuing accountability as retribution, and restoration of the #RuleOfLaw as vindictiveness.

#WeThePeople can not let this propaganda effort sidetrack the important work of saving democracy by driving these fascist criminals out of power.

1/

"I never expected MY daughter's genitals to be inspected!" is what everyone who voted for the Inspecting Girls' Genitals Referendum in the state of Washington will soon be saying.

If there are no consequences for the damage Republicans have done, the laws they've broken and the whole "naked attempt to supplant democracy with theocratic fascism" thing, then there's no reason whatsoever for them not to come back better funded in a few years and try again.

Representative Jeffries here has decided not to learn the single most important global political lesson of the last fifty years.

@mcnado repercussions for bad actions aren’t “getting even” and any dem rep who says so should be ceaselessly hounded until they realize the distinction or go away.

If one group of people are disproportionately hit by legit corruption investigations, well… probably some pretty goddamn skeevy people.

#Etsy has updated their Terms of Service to force sellers to allow the use of their photographs, videos, and text to train #AI. There is no opt-out.

It seems bonkers to me that Etsy, a website which ostensibly sells human-made creations, is forcing sellers to enable AI to learn from and subsequently copy their own products. I guess they now feel that they have enough market share that people will not leave over this.

https://www.valueaddedresource.net/etsy-expands-ai-training-rights/

I’m reflecting on all the different types of people who won as Democrats tonight. Different genders, different races, different ethnicities, different sexual orientations. Differences in style and, to some degree, in substance. But all recognizably and clearly antifascist, pro-democracy, committed to pluralistic constitutional democracy, rule of law.

That commonality should not be taken for granted. It is the bedrock on which we can build a more just and livable country.

Just to be clear - speeding up the building of bike lanes in #NYC was EVEN MORE POPULAR among voters than speeding up permitting for outdoor dining. Street safety projects are incredibly popular, #Mamdani now has a clear voter mandate to build them, and the anti-bike NIMBYs can all go fuck off into the Hudson River.

(That includes a lot of NY City Council, btw.)

#BikeNYC #NYCPol

@ai6yr
Sewing is not respected because is was traditionally considered woman's work. Except if a man did it, then he was called a tailor.

Cooking is not respected because is was considered woman's work. Except if a man did it, then he was called a chef.

See how that works?

Also immigrants who could not speak the new language well could still sew, fit and repair; sinking the skill further into disrespect.

"Carbon capture" is clearly nonsense. Solar is clearly not.

@inthehands You don’t need to see the construction planning survey.

“We don’t need to see his construction planning survey.”

These are not the data centres you’re looking for.

“These are not the data centres we’re looking for.”

RE: https://mastodon.social/@verge/117553142566857942

“Compute campuses.” That’ll fool ‘em!

No data centers here! Just a compute campus! Approve our permit!

First they killed useful, structured menus and replaced it all with search.
Then the killed decent search and replaced it with a chatbot.
NO ONE WANTS THIS

Post

@heidilifeldman It's remarkable how unsuccessful these election interference attempts have been in the courts, even those staffed by judges predisposed toward the administration.

The intent seems to be not to actually win (which they have to know they won't) but to "flood the zone", and also to have something to complain about after they lose.

Sigh. Received a “we’re excited to announce” email from my insurance broker: they’re becoming a standalone company, splitting from a bigger group (that they merged with about a decade ago). Headquartered in Ohio. My private equity sensors just started quivering. Of course, it’s impossible to find anything via search to substantiate or refute this suspicion. Will have to search again after the upcoming rebrand. The unceasing work we need to put in to stop ourselves being sharked! (See also: vets)