Karl Austin @[email protected]

Are there ANY car manufacturers NOT selling data about you / your car?

Reading @pluralistic 's Feb 28 piece about VW tracking cars (and not providing the info unless you pay): https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/28/kinderwagen/

Cory Doctorow writes:
---
> And yet, here we are. Like most (all?) major car makers, Volkswagen has filled its vehicles with surveillance gear, and has a hot side-hustle as a funnel for the data-brokerage industry.
---

Is anyone keeping a list of car manufacturers who are NOT doing this?

So Towns is a "decentralized" social media company that just raised $25 million in funding.

What exactly is Towns?

It's just @matrix with some crypto pixie dust.

But here's the kicker. They don't even reference @matrix. Look at their FAQs. There is zero acknowledgement whatsoever.

These crypto hucksters are trying to hussle their way into the Fediverse -- and I don't like it!

https://mastodon.matrix.org/@matrix/109916705507867029

@fediversenews

In One Corner, Large Telecom Operators. In the Other, Everybody Else ...

The cost-sharing debate is heating up now that @EU_Commission has launched a public consultation. What’s at stake—and which stakeholders are supporting these proposals?

EU telecom operators are trying to present this issue as a balanced & productive debate.

The reality is that these telecom operators are ALONE in their support of traffic flow-based monetary contributions.

https://www.internetsociety.org/blog/2023/02/in-one-corner-large-telecom-operators-in-the-other-everybody-else/

#Internet #FairShare

"Europe’s Cyber Resilience Act was developed with the best of intentions. ... However, the #CRA legislation (along with the companion revisions to the Product Liability Directive) in its current form will have enormous negative effects on both the #OpenSource community and the European economy."

https://eclipse-foundation.blog/2023/02/23/cyber-resilience-act-good-intentions-and-unintended-consequences/

This is totally insane. They are essentially burning plastic and calling it a “biofuel.” It’s just fuel in another form. 1 out of 4 people who breathe in this poison will get cancer.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/feb/23/climate-friendly-us-program-plastics-fuel-cancer

The #OnlineSafetyBIll is a 'bloated and overreaching proposal, drafted with little technical prowess' that 'introduces the prospect of ever-creeping censorship and blanket surveillance.'

It "takes a wrecking ball to the very fabric of encryption, by requiring encrypted messaging apps to scan for abusive content within the app... providing a mechanism that can be hijacked and abused to access arbitrary user data." @matthew #e2ee

More from Element: https://element.io/blog/the-online-safety-bill-an-attack-on-encryption/

Really tired of hearing "cost of living crisis". It's a low wages crisis. It's a high profits crisis. It's a decade of austerity crisis. It's a climate crisis.

Couple behind me discussing the restaurant menu for tonight on the ferry - “Oh it’s all Spanish food and I don’t really like any of that”.
The ferry is going to Santander, Spain…

He needs those parts for his spaceship, he's going to otter space.🚀

'The signals from WiFi can be used to map a human body, according to a new paper.'

when one considers the combination of this tech with that of a 'spyware' smart home, the implications are absolutely staggering.

...and yet another reason why it's more than good practice to use wired connections whenever possible.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3p7xj/scientists-are-getting-eerily-good-at-using-wifi-to-see-people-through-walls-in-detail

#infosec #cybersecurity #privacy #security #infoseczt #cybersecgirl

Just a reminder that an additional circle of hell has been created and reserved for all those who publish any article or post that lacks a publication date.

What the hell?

"Under a further change to the bill, video footage that shows people crossing the Channel in small boats in a “positive light” will be added to a list of illegal content that all tech platforms must proactively prevent from reaching users.

Donelan said posting positive videos of crossings could be aiding and abetting immigration offences."

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/jan/17/donelan-confirms-stiffer-online-safety-measures-after-backbench-pressure?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other&s=09

I've been speaking and writing lately about how tech companies try to shift the discussion on misinformation, polarization, harassment, etc., away from the systems and structures that are inherently toxic and toward questions of individual behavior.

This way they can blame their own users for any pathology and steer clear of calls for systemic change.

Today Elon Musk has come through with a perfect illustration for my future talks.

#socialmedia #twitter #ElonMusk

If the #OnlineSafetyBill imposes duties on hobbyists hosting their own social media, chat, interactive gaming etc servers for fun, and criminalises non-compliance, ironically the UK would become one of the least safe places for hobbyists to go online…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64298338

I’m going to tell you the story of the man who solved a crime.

Not, like, a cop who put together the clues and got his man, but a person who took a crime as old as civilization and fixed the problem where it got you in trouble.

The man: Artur Virgílio Alves Reis.

The place: 1920s Portugal.

The crime: Counterfeiting.

The problem he fixed: That the money is counterfeit.

(This is going to be a long 🧵 . Just trust me.)

I’m a frickin genius.

Context: my kid is mildly allergic to citric acid and citric fruit. Brings out eczema. And citric acid is in SO many things. And it’s painful checking ingredients lists for it.

This morning I wondered: can my phone OCR the ingredients list and check it?

My first thought was to make a little web app. But there doesn’t seem to be a OCR in web browsers yet.

But I KNOW my phone can get text from images.

Then…

Apple Shortcuts!!!

CHECK THIS OUT!!!