Wednesday Wondering 9.13.2023 - Privacy Car Crash

The slow moving rake to the face that is 2023 continues with the Avocado Toast guy managed to say stuff that was even more tone deaf. He’s calling for 50% unemployment, which is ::checks notes:: twice the unemployment rate the USA suffered during the Great Depression. That might not be the RIGHT solution but it certainly is A solution to “worker arrogance.”

It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy (Mozilla Foundation) The computerization of the automotive industry has been done with as much care for your privacy & data as you would expect out of a used car salesman. It’s fun to see watchdog organizations throw their hands up and go “Worst Thing We’ve Ever Seen,” you know? It feels like we’re reaching new heights.

The Right to Not Have Your Mind Read (The Atlantic) Neurorights & Refugee Law Must Adapt to a World Where the Effects of Climate Change Rival Those of War (Jacobin) We might be able to forcibly read the thoughts or memories of a prisoner, no joke. “Neuro rights” are a thing that our laws are blessedly unprepared to deal with. Same with how the mass migrations of refugees escaping the climate crisis desperately need refugee, asylum, and migration law to change. Climate change will push a billion people to consider moving away from the worst affected areas in the next hundred years. We need to prepare for this, it’s going to be way more than one bus at a time.

Poverty in the USA (Census) & Child Poverty is a Choice (Popular Information) The expansion of the child tax credit during the pandemic led to the largest decline in child poverty in America’s history, a full 46% drop. Biden refused to extend the credit, and the Census confirms 2022 saw a literal doubling of child poverty. It’s both an obvious statistic and a terrifying reminder of how many could be helped by so little.

Libraries in Chicago, suburbs receive bomb threats (Chicago Sun Times) In case you were wondering how the Woke, CRT, Drag Queen Story Hour Culture War is going…libraries are getting bomb threats now.

We tested ChatGPT in Bengali, Kurdish, and Tamil. It Failed. (Rest of World) As predicted, ChatGPT sucks at non-English languages. Generative LLMs are already seeing way less engagement than spring, so here’s Hayao Miyazaki shitting all over them before they were a thing.

Not Real News: A look at what didn’t happen this week (AP) Not the worst attempt by the Associated Press to start pushing back on the Typhoon of Misinformation that is the modern web. Mentioned because no, cases of Ebola were not at Burning Man, nor had monkeypox been reported.

“It’s like 1948’: Israel cleanses vast West Bank region of nearly all Palestinians (+972 Mag) Through the eyes of local Israeli allies and photo journalists, Oren Ziv attempts to document the emptying of the region between Ramallah & Jericho. Police supporting settler violence, offensive shepherding, and settlements that aren’t quite legal yet, doing what the international community was told would not happen.

St. Augustine’s 9/11 Anniversary (Forever Wars) Spencer Ackerman’s take is the only one I’ll recommend for #NeverForget holiday. We’re almost a full generation into the Long War on Terror, which has truly become a Forever War. Are we safer? Is the world safer? Do people even still ask this question unironically?

I Tracked an NYC Subway Rider’s Movements with an MTA “Feature” (404 Media) Speaking of NYC, a dope new investigative journalist outlet called 404 Media showed how easy it is to cyber-stalk someone with some credit card info. All thanks to the MTA site for OMNY, that contactless payment system they shoe-horned into the lives of New Yorkers a few years back. You can get exactly what stations they move through, and when, an entire rider’s 7 days history, in seconds. #ThisSeemsFine

Lauren Boebert was escorted out of 'Beetlejuice' show in Denver for allegedly 'causing a disturbance' (NBC News) Was she in attendance or summoned to appear on stage by the cast? Something about defending someone else who was vaping? It’s all very attention-seeking and tiresome.

Poem of the Week (via Kyla Scanlon)

Quote of the Week

Humans have a strong tendency to confuse a psychologically satisfying amount of agency with a materially effective amount. ~Venkatesh Rao

Track of the Week The Tijuana Brass were pretty big a while back. But this “Re-Whipped” album of remixes from heads like Thievery Corporation, is criminally unknown. Change that.

Keep Your Head Up,

T