The Blog Experiment | Technology Nonsense and Internet Tripe

People like getting services at no direct cost, advertisers like selling to those people. While most want services at no cost to them, they don’t like being tracked. Modern ad tech puts people into a kind of human terrarium. Large tech platforms from Alphabet (once Google) and Meta (once Facebook) down the line gather and cross connect absurd levels of data about consumers. When I write about advertising, I cite as my credential that I’m a demon at an ad agency. When I am quoted in media, like Texas Observer, I am a managing director of Push ROI. Most people will not view those titles very differently. For most tech platforms advertising is both Samson’s hair and Achilles’ heel. The source of strength and the single largest vulnerability. All that data collection, benefits the platforms, but no one else. I’ll explain more but first… House Keeping I’m trying a new approach to content syndication. I typically write and publish 1-4 weekly articles. I once syndicated the full text of these articles on large online platforms where people already spent time. In concept so doing maximized distribution while maintaining control over the work. However, as large platforms continue eating the web, it is clear unfettered broad syndication of everything I publish is just feeding a machine I don’t like. This article was written for broad syndication, along with links to my other recent work. I’m also linking to some interesting things I’ve been reading as I believe doing so makes the…Advertising Demon, And Other Stories

You can still find hate speech on Elon Musk’s Twitter. But now, some of it will come with a warning label.According to Twitter, the company will start rolling out new warning labels on tweets that break its “Hateful Conduct” rules. Tweets with this label will have “limited visibility” on the platform, meaning that Twitter’s algorithm will reduce its reach — that is, fewer people will see the content, as its ability to be found via search or discovered via recommendations will be stifled. Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) Twitter stressed that the limited visibility will only affect the specific offending tweets, and accounts that tweet hateful content will not be deboosted or penalized in any way. The company said users will be able to submit appeals if they believe Twitter wrongly affixed their tweet with the label. Twitter also said it will “continue to remove illegal content and suspend bad actors” from the platform. Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) SEE ALSO: Elon Musk just shut down automation for important public safety accounts Limiting the visibility on user accounts or posts is typically referred to as shadowbanning, a practice that Musk and his staunchest supporters have frequently railed against. Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) However, Twitter is framing letting users know that a tweet has had visibility limited for breaking the company’s “Hateful Conduct” policies as a new step towards more transparency on the platform. Of…Twitter will limit reach of ‘hateful’ tweets with a label, not removal

Were you using Facebook sometime between the dates of May 24, 2007 and December 22, 2022?If so, there’s a good chance the company, now known as Facebook’s parent company Meta, owes you money!And who would turn down free money, right? So, here’s what’s going on and how you can find out if you’re eligible.Over the years, Meta has faced quite a few lawsuits from Facebook users who allege that the company allowed their user data to be accessible to third-parties without users’ permission. These lawsuits, which were ultimately consolidated into a class-action lawsuit, Facebook allowed this unauthorized access for users’ friends data too. Furthermore, the lawsuits claim that Facebook also did not “sufficiently monitor” or enforce its rules on third-parties who had access to user data. One such prominent issue from these lawsuits is in regard to the data Facebook allowed Cambridge Analytica, a now-defunct data analytics firm that worked with Donald Trump’s campaign, to access. Facebook privacy settlement payout detailsMeta has now agreed to settle the class action lawsuit. In doing so, the company admits to no wrongdoing. However, as part of the settlement, Meta also agrees to pay out a total of $725 million to affected users. One addendum to add here is that the total also covers various legal and administrative fees, so the sum total of the payout to users will be considerably less. And, of course, the amount users receive will depend on how many people submit an eligible claim.But, hey! Whatever you get, it’s…Facebook likely owes you money. How to see if you're eligible.

Republican politician and commentator Kari Lake has criticized Facebook for censoring her views. She claimed that the Meta-owned platform has been removing her posts. In a tweet, Lake, who has recently been labeled “the most dangerous politician in America” by the mainstream media, wrote: “The Fake News called me ‘the most dangerous politician in America’ & apparently the Big Tech tyrants agree. This Orwellian censorship doesn’t intimidate me one bit. I will never stop speaking the truth to the American people. So take your best shot, Zuckerberg. You don’t scare me.” Kari Lake has previously called for laws in Arizona which would stop social media platforms from censoring speech. Lake made the statement on the Louder With Crowder show last year. “It is absolutely outrageous and it should be criminal to take somebody who’s running for office and take their voice away for political reasons,” Lake said. If you’re tired of censorship, cancel culture, and the erosion of civil liberties subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post “Take your best shot, Zuckerberg.” Kari Lake blasts Facebook censorship appeared first on Reclaim The Net.“Take your best shot, Zuckerberg.” Kari Lake blasts Facebook censorship

Free speech-friendly platform Parler has been shut down by its new owner Starboard Media, pending a reassessment. In a press release announcing the decision, Starboard Media praised Parler’s CEO for leading the company to new markets, including cloud services. The company said that, although it was shutting down Parler, it would continue to serve censored communities. “Parler’s large user base and additional strategic assets represent an enormous opportunity for Starboard to continue to build aggressively in our media and publishing business. The team at Parler has built an exceptional audience and we look forward to integrating that audience across all of our existing platforms,” said Starboard’s CEO Ryan Coyne. The press release stated: “No reasonable person believes that a Twitter clone just for conservatives is a viable business anymore.” It added: “While the Parler app as it is currently constituted will be pulled down from operation to undergo a strategic assessment, we at Starboard see tremendous opportunities across multiple sectors to continue to serve marginalized or even outright censored communities – even extending beyond domestic politics. “Advancements in AI technology, along with the existing code base and other new features, provide an opportunity for Starboard to begin servicing unsupported online communities – building a home for them away from the ad-hoc regulatory hand of platforms that hate them.” The Parler app emerged as an alternative social media platform to Twitter and Facebook, aiming to provide a space for uncensored speech and discourse. Launched in August 2018 by John Matze and…Parler shuts down as its future is reconsidered

Bluesky Social, a decentralized alternative to Twitter, is now available on the App Store as a private beta, with an invite-only access. The Bluesky project was started by former Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey. It was funded by Twitter until 2021 after Dorsey stepped down as Twitter’s CEO. Three months after resigning, Dorsey announced that Bluesky was “an independent organization,” with the mission of developing and driving “large-scale adoption of technologies for open and decentralized public conversation.” The platform’s interface and functionality resemble Twitter. Users can follow others and be followed, repost content, and even upload images. Also, posts have a maximum of 256 characters. The company claims that the platform is powered by the “AT Protocol,” which it describes as a new federated social network that allows “servers to communicate with each other — like email. Instead of one site running the network, you can have many sites. It means you get a choice of provider, and individuals and businesses can self-host if they want.” The company claims that the protocol allows algorithmic choice, interoperability, and account portability, which allows users to move accounts across different providers without losing data. “The many existing decentralized social networks that currently make up the ecosystem can be categorized into federated and p2p architectures. Our approach will be to combine the best of both worlds by integrating the portability of self-certifying protocols with the user-friendliness of delegated hosting, so users don’t have to run their own infrastructure and developers can build performant…Bluesky announces how moderation will work on the decentralized platform

The College of Policing, a UK taxpayer-funded organization that advises police forces in England and Wales, has been accused of watering down Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s free speech charter. Last month, the Home Office published its first Non-Crime Hate Incidents (NCHIs) code of practice. Braverman had previously expressed concerns that police were “wrongly getting involved in lawful debate in this country.” Between 2014 and 2019, about 120,000 people had NCHIs recorded against them, including minors. These records show up in background checks for certain jobs, like teaching. The College of Policing updated its own NCHIs recording manual, called the “authorized professional practice” (APP), which officers in England and Wales will refer to on a daily basis. The College of Policing’s draft APP has been criticized as “Orwellian” and has a “woke spin,” The Telegraph reported. The College of Policing’s new draft guidance has eight scenarios, which are different from those in the Home Office’s code, and only 12.5% of those scenarios advise officers not to record an NCHI. Seven of eight of the scenarios in the new guidance were in the old guidance, which was found unconstitutional by the Court of Appeal because it had a chilling effect on freedom of speech. Founder of Fair Cop, a group that monitors political correctness by the police, Harry Miller, a former police officer who sued Humberside Police after they recorded an NCIH against him for a “transphobic” tweet, said the college’s new guidance is overly political. “The police will not be schooled…UK College of Policing continues to threaten free speech

Proton Calendar, the encrypted calendar from Proton, now has new features to increase productivity while still maintaining Proton’s commitment to privacy. The main purpose of calendars is planning. However, calendars carry a lot of personal information, including someone’s movements, their interests, and even relationships. As such, ensuring that information remains private is crucial. Still, it is important for calendars to efficiently integrate with the products people use in their day-to-day lives. For these reasons, the new version of Proton Calendar has features that offer users security and privacy while also making it easy to collaborate and share with colleagues and friends. Perhaps the most notable feature is the one allowing importation of invites from any source. Proton Calendar’s new sharing feature allows sharing with friends and family via the web app and app. Business users can share their calendar with colleagues, say for the purpose of finding available meeting slots to avoid overlap of appointments. Users can also open invitations from any app. The new feature allows the calendar to open any .ics files. Therefore, users can import events to the Proton Calendar and view them in one centralized place across all devices. Proton Calendar uses the same end-to-end encryption used in Proton Drive and Proton Mail. All information and data is encrypted on a user’s device before reaching Proton’s servers. Not even Proton can access that data. If you’re tired of censorship, cancel culture, and the erosion of civil liberties subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Proton launches…Proton launches private calendar sharing

https://video.reclaimthenet.org/platform/restrict-act-32478932523432.mp4 45 days after 9/11, the United States government passed the PATRIOT Act — a chilling law that used the guise of “national security” to greatly expand the federal government’s secret surveillance powers. Almost 23 years later, another far-reaching bill, the “Restricting the Emergence of Security Threats that Risk Information and Communications Technology Act,” better known by its acronym, the RESTRICT Act, is using the same national security talking point to justify further federal government encroachment on Americans’ rights. Although the bill doesn’t mention TikTok, its authors, Democratic Senator Mark Warner and Republican Senator John Thune, have framed it as “the best way to counter the TikTok threat.” However, the impact of the bill extends far beyond TikTok and gives the US government sweeping powers to ban a wide range of apps and services. The bill authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to review and prohibit “current, past, or potential future transactions” involving technology products or services with more than one million US-based annual active users that: Are deemed to pose an “undue or unacceptable risk” in various areas (such as national security and election interference) Involve anyone determined to be “owned, directed, or controlled” by a “foreign adversary” (a term that can currently be applied to China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and Venezuela but can be extended to other nations by the Secretary) The Secretary of Commerce can also refer these tech products and services to the President who can take action to “compel divestment of, or otherwise mitigate…The RESTRICT Act will usher in a new era of censorship under the guise of “national security”

(Mark King sent me an interesting message on LinkedIn. So I thought I’d use it to try a new experiment and add a guest post to my not-a-newsletter. Please do give me your feedback, because I am curious as to whether you, the readers, think that an occasional guest post will add to the quality of the debate and discussion that I personally value. And should I post it here or to the new Substack Notes?)In the future, everyone will be famous for 15Mb is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Dave Birch is right to seek a debate, but it’s non-trivial to arrange in the UK, starting with having a permanent civil service unable to question the Minister’s public endorsement of some fashionable misunderstanding. Yet those of us retired or escaped are old and wise and never wrong, but sometimes not quite right.The Lords now have too many single issue fanatics, to the phrase of the late Bernard Levin, and the UN is otherwise entangled, but perhaps the OECD can help us to get real harmony, and not the EU or Chinese version (unison) nor the US sort (antiphon).The position feels much as it did in the ‘90s when trying to pick up the pieces after the Clipper Chip saga: an excellent solution for what it was designed for (US public sector use), and a complete no-no for what it was suggested as a panacea for.Then as now,…Guest Post: Mark King