Karl Austin @[email protected]

Hi, we're a tech startup run by libertarian Silicon Valley tech bros.

We're not a newspaper, we're a content portal.
We're not a taxi service, we're a ride sharing app.
We're not a pay TV service, we're a streaming platform.
We're not a department store, we're an e-commerce marketplace.
We're not a financial services firm, we're crypto.
We're not a space agency, we're a group of visionaries who are totally going to Mars next year.
We're not a copywriting and graphic design agency, we're a large language model generative AI platform.

Oh sure, we compete against those established businesses. We basically provide the same goods and services.

But we're totally not those things. At least from a legal and PR standpoint.

And that means all the laws and regulations that have built up over the decades around those industries don't apply to us.

Things like consumer protections, privacy protections, minimum wage laws, local content requirements, safety regulations, environmental protections... They totally don't apply to us.

Even copyright laws — as long as we're talking about everyone else's intellectual property.

We're going to move fast and break things — and then externalise the costs of the things we break.

We've also raised several billion in VC funding, and we'll sell our products below cost — even give them away for free for a time — until we run our competition out of the market.

Once we have a near monopoly, we'll enshitify the hell out of our service and jack up prices.

You won't believe what you agreed to in our terms of service agreement.

We may also be secretly hoarding your personal information. We know who you are, we know where you work, we know where you live. But you can trust us.

By the time the regulators and the general public catch on to what we're doing, we will have well and truly moved on to our next grift.

By the way, don't forget to check out our latest innovation. It's the Uber of toothpaste!

#startup #business #tech #technology @technology

Hey lovely Mastodon folk. I've just released an HP-35, HP-45, HP-80 simulator called HP-1973 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the HP-45 calculator. (Free) standalone versions for Mac and WIndows (no need for any Python installation or knowledge) & Python source for Linux. It's been a coding marathon, so it'd mean a lot to me if you could boost this post, so it gets in front of the right people. Download here: https://sarahkmarr.com/retrohp1973.html Enjoy. #retrocomputing #calculators #python #coding #rpn

this should not exist. period. in my humble opinion, the use cases for “this browser is unmodified” do not outweigh the risk to user freedoms, i.e. adblockers, userscripts and other accessibility tools, etc

the problems this tries to solve is hard! unfortunately, some things simply should not be built, regardless of how much easier it makes things for Google

and consider this: Google maintains one of the world’s biggest web scrapers. because Google is dominant in search, people will allowlist the Google scraper attestation (if it exists) no matter what. guess what individual users won’t be able to do?

https://github.com/RupertBenWiser/Web-Environment-Integrity/blob/main/explainer.md

I knew streaming residuals were a mess, but holy shit, y'all, streaming residuals are a Fucking Disgusting MESS.

#WGAstrike #sagaftrastrike

If anyone is wondering how google is doing, it is giving incorrect answers to the query “How old is the Universe?”

Instead of serving up scientific consensus (just shy of 14 billion years) it is latching onto recent media coverage of a questionable study (tired light, time-dependent coupling constants) claiming a much larger figure.

Notably, it gives me the right answer from an incognito window. But elevating popularity metrics over scientific consensus is a real problem!

Red Hat: Rebuilders contribute n̶o̶ ̶v̶a̶l̶u̶e̶ negative net value to RHEL. Contribute to CentOS Stream!

Rebuilder
@almalinux: okay we'll build off CentOS Stream. [Proceeds to submit patch to Fedora + Stream for a CVE against iperf3]

Red Hat: No, not like that!

Despite an angry investor forum full of unanswered questions like "where are the financial projections", "why is turnover so hilariously low", and "exactly what is the exit strategy", What3Words has raised £4,530,890 from 6749 people on crowdcube today.

Folks, this is not a good investment. You're propping up a nonviable business.

#Google exec on their new "#Health #AI Chatbot" says he "wouldn’t want it to be a part of his own family’s #healthcare journey" but the fledgling tech "can be particularly helpful in countries with more limited access to doctors".

😡 In other words, sketchy health tech is fine to test on poor and brown people.

💰 Google's market cap could easily fund high quality healthcare facilities in every low income country.

🤑 Classic #SurveillanceCapitalism.

https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/8/23788265/google-med-palm-2-mayo-clinic-chatbot-bard-chatgpt

The current discussions/debates about the #OnlineSafetyBill around ending secure communications for people in the UK, but doing so only in a way which "good guys" can use, are just depressing.

The thinking and lobbying in favour of this is digital alchemy: if we force organisations to make their staff nerd harder, they'll be able to turn base metals into gold.

The problem is, it just doesn't work that way.

*sigh*

Nestle is still quietly maneuvering to make sure your only option for water in a very near future is renting it from them.

God damn it, I never make dad jokes, but the electrician just showed up and it is a husband+wife duo. I could not resist a "ah, power couple" and it fell flat, fam. IT FELL FLAT.

Hey look, it's @gruber's new favourite company getting women arrested for abortions.

Threads is the most fun new thing ever! Privacy is for misfit losers!

https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/10/23299502/facebook-chat-messenger-history-nebraska-teen-abortion-case

End-to-end encryption; the will of the British people

https://element.io/blog/end-to-end-encryption-the-will-of-the-british-people/

Ideally, this section would introduce a guarantee that this type of notice would not be imposed on providers of end-to-end encrypted communications. Instead it relies on questionable concepts such as “accredited technology” to wistfully wave some form of assurance that ‘this sort of thing’ is technically possible and it’ll all be fine, secure and appropriate.

Be under no illusion; “accredited technology” is no more reassuring than a lock which can be opened by a skeleton key.

It’s this aspect of the Online Safety Bill - the potential for undermining of end-to-end encryption - that we refute as completely flawed. It is not possible to have both secure communications and blanket surveillance, in the same way you cannot “have your cake and eat it.”

#encryption #privacy #security #matrix #element #whatsapp #signal #uk #britain

Meta’s new app “Threads” is up pre-order in the App Store. Let’s do a quick check on what data they want from you compared to the official Mastodon app, Mammoth and Ivory.

Spoiler: Meta wants to know and track everything about you, and Mastodon doesn’t want anything.

#threads