Tech is reshaping the world — and not always for the better. Whether it’s the rules for Apple’s App Store or Facebook’s plan for fighting misinformation, tech platform policies can have enormous ripple effects on the rest of society. They’re so powerful that, increasingly, companies aren’t setting them alone but sharing the fight with government regulators, civil society groups, and internal standards bodies like Meta’s Oversight Board. The result is an ongoing political struggle over harassment, free speech, copyright, and dozens of other issues, all mediated through some of the largest and most chaotic electronic spaces the world has ever seen.
See below for what he had to say. (You can read that memo Cook is referencing here.)
The lack of an official public response so far is a noted contrast to a public statement on racism Cook shared in 2020.
US District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed two of the charges Mangione faced in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year, and doing so, removed the death penalty as a punishment for a potential jury to consider when the case goes to trial.
We’ve known for a while that ICE agents are using facial recognition apps to pull people’s details, but The New York Times does a good job of laying out the apps the agency uses, the Palantir-powered database behind them, and how it’s allegedly being used for unexpected penalties like revoking TSA PreCheck.
[The New York Times]
In a 12-11 vote along party lines, the Senate Agriculture Committee, which regulates commodities, voted on Thursday to advance its portion of the crypto market structure bill to a Senate floor vote. This is not a good sign for the crypto industry, which had hoped that the bill would pass with bipartisan support. (In the meantime, the Senate Banking Committee’s half of the bill, which handles securities, remains stuck in markup limbo.)
With less than two days before a partial government shutdown over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, Republican leadership is trying to dodge the hard work.
“I think right now the conversation should be between the White House and Democrats,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said. “The White House obviously is open to negotiation.” Democratic leaders, meanwhile, repeatedly put the onus on Thune for getting a deal. “We have to pass the bill here,” Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the top Democratic appropriator, told reporters. “He’s the majority leader.”
Nick Shirley and others like him are reminiscent of yellow journalism of the 19th century, updated and turbocharged by social media algorithms.
The leaders of US businesses are more scared than he thought:
I was at a conference where they said, how many of you are afraid to speak out? And only like four people raised their hands and I said, wow, this is even worse than I thought. People are afraid to speak out about being afraid to speak out. I mean, because everybody in the room should have raised their hand. Are you kidding?
[Financial Times]
At least in the UK, where the walkback comes after the country’s CMA opened a consultation on forcing Google to do just that, having given the company “strategic market status” last year. Ron Eden, Google’s principal for product management, says:
“We’re now exploring updates to our controls to let sites specifically opt out of Search generative AI features. Our goal is to protect the helpfulness of Search for people who want information quickly, while also giving websites the right tools to manage their content.”
Today’s reports from Hunterbrook Media and Pablo Torre Finds Out claim the company’s hardware is seemingly easily obtained and popularly used in Russia’s war effort through already-sanctioned distributors and other middlemen.
Ubiquiti, which was fined $500k in 2014 over “reckless disregard” for Iran sanctions, did not respond to a request for comment.
A political comms professional breaks down Trump’s meme media strategy.
According to Politico, a notice will tell state officials to instead use the “secure and sovereign” French-made Visio platform.
David Amiel, Minister Delegate for the Civil Service and State Reform, announces the generalization of “Visio”, a tool developed by the Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM), to all State services by 2027. The objective: to put an end to the use of non-European solutions, to guarantee the security and confidentiality of public electronic communications by relying on a powerful and sovereign tool.
The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by federal agents was my childhood best friend.
It follows Snap in reaching an agreement to resolve the first of several cases slated to go to trial this year about social media’s alleged harm to users, an attorney for the 19-year-old plaintiff confirmed. That leaves Meta and YouTube as defendants in the case going to jury selection today.
As reported by NBC News, FBI director Kash Patel said the probe was inspired by conservative journalist Cam Higby, who claims to have “infiltrated” Signal groups from around Minneapolis that were allegedly obstructing law enforcement and tracking ICE agents’ movements.
“We immediately opened up that investigation, because that sort of Signal chat — being coordinated with individuals not just locally in Minnesota, but maybe even around the country — if that leads to a break in the federal statute or a violation of some law, then we are going to arrest people.”
Reddit’s big dick subreddit has turned on ICE, who know a thing or two about being dicks themselves.
Species 8472:
and here I thought ICE were the huge dicks
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Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander known for getting into social media fights with people criticizing ICE’s presence in Minnesota, has reportedly been removed from his job as “Commander at large” and will return to his former job in California, where he is expected to retire. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson denied that Bovino had been “relieved of his duties”, but nothing rules out the possibility that he’s being Mike Waltz’ed.
[The Atlantic]
What is the point of law enforcement that doesn’t follow the law?
