Notices by Dan Gillmor (dangillmor@mastodon.social), page 3

The best news I've seen about "AI" lately: People have wisely concluded that these systems are untrustworthy.

https://www.axios.com/2024/03/05/ai-trust-problem-edelman

Extremists and book burners have allies in law enforcement, as this story from @404mediaco shows in frightening detail. https://www.404media.co/email/b3d9cb53-c0fa-43fc-b824-a302be50bb95/?ref=daily-stories-newsletter

Four reminders, courtesy of this powerful Washington Post story:

1) Texas is a barbaric state, treating women as state-controlled vessels, not human beings.

2) The right-wing Supreme Court encourage states to be barbaric.

3) The Republican Party has made this barbarism a core part of its mission, and wants to make it national policy.

4) Vote as if your life, or the life of someone you care about, depends on it. Because it may, soon.

https://wapo.st/3OSXCdR

(Paywall-free link...)

Dear journalists who remain on Twitter:

You actively participate on a site operated by an extremist right-winger who promotes other extremists who want, among other things, to end democracy. The end of democracy means, in case you haven't grasped this yet, the end of freedom of expression.

This means you are actively supporting his business -- and you're doing it for free.

Please grow a spine, and stop helping the people who hate you and want to destroy what you do.

If Mozilla wants me to stop using Firefox, building "AI" into the browser is a great way to go about it.

(Note: I'm still using Firefox...)
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/mozilla-lays-off-60-people-wants-to-build-ai-into-firefox/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

The most corrupt Supreme Court justice in memory, Clarence Thomas, asked the first question in today's oral arguments about Colorado's decision to remove Trump from the 2024 ballot.

Thomas' wife was an active participant in the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election results.

Corruption doesn't get any more plain than that.

I watched/listened to major TV "news" show coverage, and you will be unsurprised to know that I didn't hear even a single mention of this.

Reminder that no one should buy a printer from HP, ever: https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/19/hps_ceo_spells_it_out/

It is essential to stop using Chrome.

Under the pretense of saving users from third-party spyware, Google is creating an ecosystem in which Chrome itself is the spyware.

Given Google's overwhelming presence in the browser market, this is unconscionable.

We should all despise the ad-tech business, and have no sympathy for the companies getting whacked by Google's actions. But we should not permit one monopolist to replace them all.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/12/year-review-googles-corporate-paternalism-browser

Israeli press is acting the way the U.S. news media did after 9/11, with bludgeoning patriotism overwhelming journalistic standards. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/06/journalists-see-their-role-as-helping-to-win-how-israeli-tv-is-covering-gaza-war?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Too many American stores are already using facial recognition to spy on their customers. They don't deserve your business.

Conversely, a number of chains have pledged not to use it.

Here's a helpful listing, with suggestions on action you can take to help rid our culture of rampant use -- and guaranteed abuse -- of this pestilent technology.

https://www.banfacialrecognition.com/stores/#scorecard

Posted this again on the deadbird site:

Standing offer for journalists: I'll help you get set up on Mastodon and will help you bring your Twitter audience along (and find new followers and rich engagement there). All I ask is that you migrate -- over time, not instantly -- your social media activity there.

A reminder that there is NOTHING Musk can do that will prompt journalists to stop supporting his business.

Disgusting on his part, as usual.

But disgraceful on their part.

Holiday season retro fun: https://dosdeck.com/ brings back MS-DOS games in browsers. No installation necessary.

Limited selection for now, but I promise some happily wasted hours with the original Commander Keen, among others!

You should stop using Google Chrome. The company is following through on its threat to ban the ad/tracker blockers that a) help protect your privacy and b) make your web experience much more pleasant.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/11/google-chrome-will-limit-ad-blockers-starting-june-2024/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

@hrheingold Want to work on that with me?

The self-verification system built into Mastodon should be one of its greatest selling points. This is especially true for journalists and everyone else for whom evidence of identity has huge value in the social media realm.

But anecdotally -- and I would wager for real -- most people in the craft, even a lot of technically adept folks, don't seem to know how easy self-verification can be here.

If you are trying to persuade a journalist you know to join up, please highlight this feature.

I am grieving for my friends in Argentina, which has just elected a genuine monster to its highest political office.

(BTW journalists, Javier Milei is not a libertarian. He is a fascist.)

The European Commission has had enough of Musk's deadbird site -- at least enough to stop paying him for the privilege of swimming in a toxic waste dump -- and people are talking about that.

Which reminds me:

Please don't beat up on people who leave that toxic place, even if you believe, however righteously, that they should have left long ago.

They're doing the right thing now. Thank them, and encourage others to do the same.

https://www.politico.eu/article/no-more-ads-elon-musk-x-twitter-european-commission-tell-staff/

Elon Musk's endorsement of an antisemetic post on the deadbird site shouldn't come as a surprise.

Nor, at this point, is it even slightly shocking that journalists continue to support Musk's business by pouring their work into his vile operation.

But it's definitely disappointing, even dispiriting.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/15/media/elon-musk-antisemitism-white-people/index.html

Spectacular journalism emerges from a major leak of documents showing Cyprus as a haven for shady wealth -- lately including Putin's pet oligarchs.

It's another blockbuster organized by International Consortium for Investigative Journalism, which "assembled a team of more than 270 journalists from 54 countries and one territory and provided access to the leaked records."

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/cyprus-russia-eu-secrecy-tax-haven/