Notices by Aram Sinnreich (aram@aoir.social), page 3

No surprises. No consequences. But it's good to have this out in the world anyway. (Gift link): https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/14/us/politics/trump-special-counsel-report-election-jan-6.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pE4.ZyZ_.6i2TSGU-pH2N&smid=url-share

fReE sPeECh strikes again

https://www.404media.co/meta-is-blocking-links-to-decentralized-instagram-competitor-pixelfed/

Confirmed it myself: ChatGPT is crawling the fediverse, even servers like aoir.social whose policies prohibit crawling and scraping of data. cc @admin1 @nik @ubiquity75 @rwg @tstruett @paufder ht @atomicpoet for bringing this to my attention

👀 "Strong evidence" suggests that cell phone calls were being intercepted and surveilled at the Dem National Convention https://www.wired.com/story/2024-dnc-cell-site-simulator-phone-surveillance/

can we do a moratorium on images riffing on the sistine chapel with a robot hand touching a (white male) human hand please

Happy 12th birthday to the defining visual artwork of this era.

Passover at the Zuckerberg family table must be really tense. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-media/meta-user-made-ai-chatbots-include-hitler-jesus-christ-rcna186206

THIS is what @jesse and I mean by The Secret Life of Data.

It doesn't matter who collects the data, or for what purpose. One way or another, it's going to end up elsewhere, used by others, for other purposes.

https://www.404media.co/hackers-claim-massive-breach-of-location-data-giant-threaten-to-leak-data/

Well this is going right on my semester syllabus for Media Law & Policy at American University SOC.

https://www.ftc.gov/policy/advocacy-research/tech-at-ftc/2025/01/ai-risk-consumer-harm

Resolution for 2025: share love and kindness. Dissipate fear and hate.

Each of us is an emotional Maxwell's Demon. We can choose where we put our heat and light.

Rest in Power #JimmyCarter, the kindest, most ethical US president of my lifetime. You will be missed.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12/29/us/jimmy-carter

This article is a must-read for anyone with any interest in the intersection of #tech #culture & #entertainment.

As an author whose book got optioned (but not yet produced), I find it simultaneously illuminating & bone-chilling.

Plus: my old colleague @mynette drops some science.

https://www.nplusonemag.com/issue-49/essays/casual-viewing/

When we lived in Brooklyn in the 80s, my mom got mugged & assaulted by a teenage kid on our own block.

Instead of becoming a vigilante or a shut-in or a Fox News zombie, she became a literacy teacher. For a decade, she volunteered time weekly to help strangers learn to read.

Literacy has declined since then. 1/3 of Americans read at a 4th-grade level or worse.

The result is MAGA, vaccine denial, etc.

Mom was right. Literacy is key to a healthy society.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2024/12/27/are-we-becoming-a-post-literate-society/

If anybody wants to unload a functional piano I will gladly take it https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/pei-piano-free-sellers-1.7405348

Peace on Earth for real

This is where it all began for me. My business card, circa 1997.

@quinn @mmasnick pledged

I'm pretty sure I've read this book, and it didn't end as well as folks hoped https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/climate-change/scientists-say-sprinkling-diamond-dust-into-the-sky-could-offset-almost-all-of-climate-change-so-far-but-itll-cost-usd175-trillion

This is as close as you can get to pure evil. (Gift link) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/business/pharmacy-benefit-managers-opioids.html

Fewer students of color @ elite law schools
⬇️
Fewer attorneys of color @ elite law firms
⬇️
Fewer lawmakers/jurists of color in federal agencies & courts
⬇️
Less justice for people of color

By design by SCOTUS

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/16/us/harvard-law-black-students-enrollment-decline.html