Confessions of a New York Times Washington Correspondent – Bob Smith Pt 1/2
The New York Times is impartial when convenient…which wasn’t during Watergate, My Lai, the Iraq War, and the Trump era, for instance
Read more...Category Archives: Surveillance state
Artificial Intelligence Wants You (and Your Job)
Yves here. Two things about increased automation frost me. One is its stealth or main purpose as forcing planned obsolescence. So irrespective of the impact on job/labor content, any savings won’t necessarily accrue to users. Two is automation/AI serving as an excuse to shift costs and tasks onto consumers. How many times do customer service […]
Read more...As UN Human Rights Chief Urges Stricter Rules, Snowden Calls for End to Spyware Trade
An investigation revealing abuse of NSO Group’s Pegasus malware led Snowden to declare: “This is an industry that should not exist.”
Read more...Trump Can’t Beat Facebook, Twitter and YouTube in Court – but the Fight Might Be Worth More Than a Win
Trump is back for another misguided, erm, quixotic fight. Could he still score points?
Read more...An Independence Day Reflection: How the Rich Plan to Rule a Burning World
How do the rich intend to carry on as general conditions deteriorate?
Read more...Yanis Varoufakis: Techno-Feudalism Is Taking Over
Varoufakis describes techno-feudalism and speculates on where it is going.
Read more...Pentagon Papers Case Fifty Years On: Some Personal Reflections
Fifty years ago today, the United States Supreme Court allowed the publication of the Pentagon Papers to proceed.
Read more...The Data Privacy Paradox and Digital Demand
Data privacy worrywarts appear to be the most promiscuous. What gives?
Read more...Washington Post Publisher Says Biden DOJ ‘Intensified’ Trump-Era Attacks on Press Freedom
“The egregious acts by the outgoing Trump Justice Department, and the apparent doubling down on them during the Biden administration, should alarm all Americans, regardless of political persuasion.”
Read more...Jared Holst: Getting Kinky for the Sake of Data
Apple is now promising to give users more control over who gets their data. But will they make it more seductive to give it away?
Read more...Shhhh, They’re Listening – Inside the Coming Voice-Profiling Revolution
Voice profiling….a brave new world of business shysterdom?
Read more...Privacy Champions Urge Passage of ‘Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale’ Act
Anti-Big-Tech sentiment has hit the point where it’s not crazy to hope for some recovery of digital privacy.
Read more...The Free Press versus Facebook and Google
Are Facebook and Google the new ‘public square’? Or are they publishers swiping content from others?
Read more...Department of Pre-Crime: Left-Wing Protester Arrested by FBI for Being on a “Path to Radicalization”
In the real world, the one we’re in now, the Department of Pre-Crime will not be this much fun. Nor will the good guys win.
Read more...Criminal Tax Cheat Robert Smith of Private Equity Firm Vista Gets a Pass for Conduct Worse Than Apollo’s Leon Black, Now in Epstein Doghouse
Neil Weinberg and David Voreacos published an in-depth account at Bloomberg of how private equity baron Roger Smith escaped being indicted for criminal tax fraud despite having concealed over $200 million in income. The very short version is that Smith and his allies got to Attorney General William Barr, both through Barr’s former firm Kirkland […]
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