Afternoon Tea 10.25.21 - Jedi Blue

Macron is quietly creating a surveillance state, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island push to file a union vote, a ransomware attack on the producer of candy corn failed to stop its production, Paul McCartney on writing Eleanor Rigby, and Facebook & Google collaborated on something so nefarious, their planning documents mentioned tactics for one defending the other if it was ever unearthed. It's Monday, October 25th 2021, and this is your Tea. Today’s vibe comes to you from Arkasia, one of our most favorite artists. If you needed some Symphonic Calamity electro-step, his new album is out soon.

Emmanuel Macron Is Using the Pandemic to Massively Expand Police Powers (Jacobin) While this is a common tactic in authoritarian-adjacent regimes, this is depressing to see from a nation like France. When they deftly avoided the Iraq War, we held out some hope they’d not eventually slide towards the digital panopticon.

‘Carol’s Journey’: What Facebook knew about how it radicalized users & Not stopping ‘Stop the Steal:’ Facebook Papers paint damning picture of company’s role in insurrection (CNN Business) & In India, Facebook Grapples With an Amplified Version of its Problems (NY Times) & Here are all the Facebook Papers stories (Protocol) The Facebook Papers were published over the weekend, after a group of ~18 journalistic outfits sifted through Haugen’s submitted paperwork. There is…a lot for anyone invested in FB to be concerned about. Most strikingly, we tried an experiment almost identical to the Carol & Karen experiment models that were leaked. On YT, FB, and IG, the results are fascinating.

Google acknowledges it foresaw possibility of probe of 'Jedi Blue' advertising deal with Facebook (mLex) & Google’s AI researchers say their output is being slowed by lawyers after a string of high-level exits (Insider) One of the leaked pieces of info illustrated a secret deal between Google & Facebook that arbitrarily granted them wins for ad auctions, literally referring to it as a Jedi mind trick. It’s not just Facebook that has egg on its face today.

The Methods of Moral Panic Journalism (Confirm My Choices) & Maybe we need a moral panic about metaverse (Read Max) While moral panic journalism is generally lazy and pretty terrible, taking the next stage of the internet and allowing maybe 4-5 companies complete control over it, isn’t something we’d be able to reverse. Locking in Nokia or AOL as a load-bearing strut of internet or mobile would have had massively negative repercussions.

Twitter’s own research shows that it’s a megaphone for the right. But it’s complicated. (Protocol) Can’t forget everyone’s favorite hypernoise chamber! One lovely commentary throughout is when companies like this state that their algos do something, then shake their heads as to what to do about it. As if they didn’t build the algos and adjust them multiple times a week.

‘Everybody’s excited’: Amazon workers in Staten Island to file for union vote (Guardian) & Inside Amazon’s Worst Human Resources Problem (NY Times) Rounding out the usual suspects, Amazon’s systems office space’d people’s paychecks, messed up PTO, basically screwed workers every way you could think an HR system could. And also a Staten Island warehouse might get a union vote to pull up on Bezos.

Facebook isn’t the only cacophonous informational ecosystem undermining our democracy (San Francisco Chronicle) Amusingly put out by the SF Chronicle, this is a good reminder that the social media platforms amplify bilge & profit from it, but they are far from the creators of it. Zuckerberg isn’t up late using photoshop to make right wing memes, Ben Shapiro however…

Writing Eleanor Rigby (New Yorker) If this was written by anyone except Paul McCartney, it wouldn’t have earned a spot on your reading list. But, it was, so it is.

The Faux-Culture of Internet Fandoms (Ed Zitron) Just because you like a thing, doesn’t mean your enjoyment of it allows you to affect the arc of its creation and delivery. No matter how good your opinions are. Stop harassing creators.

Candy corn producer says ransomware incident 'not likely' to sour Halloween supplies (CyberScoop) Sadly, the infernal candy will still make it to its appointed rounds. That being in a bowl at a party where 2 people love it and 20 stare in fear at them.

Poem of the Tea: Christian Wiman hits all the right, sometimes bleak notes about time passing.

Introspection is in this season. What are you learning about yourself?

Yours,