Notices by Wendy M. Grossman (wendyg@mastodon.xyz)

This week's net.wars, "Predatory inclusion", goes to #WeRobot2025, where understanding how robots and law interact takes a distinctly Canadian flavor: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/04/11/predatory-inclusion/ #NetWars #Robots #Law #Privacy

@glynmoody Fair enough. But these things can be very weird. A friend's condo burned down c. 20 years ago and the only thing that survived was his sourdough starter. Because: he'd stored it in the oven.

@glynmoody Yeah, but if you're surrounded by devastation anything that survives feels like hope.

This is an awesome hack. #BBC https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/dec/24/50-years-the-bbc-somali-service-theme-tune-anti-colonial

This week's net.wars, "Government identification as a service", sees the first casualty of the Online Safety Act and listens to Edward Hasbrouck @ehasbrouck claim he's an optimist: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2024/12/20/government-identification-as-a-service/ #NetWars #OnlineSafety #Privacy #HumanRights

@intransitivelie rameesthepigeon sings a brilliant analysis of this on youtube

@intransitivelie Note I misspelled: it's RamsesthePigeon. The clip is truly wonderful, but even singing it acapella works! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxfxy-3dGz0

@glynmoody "they" meaning the daily mail?

@glynmoody "for now" seems ominous.

Concerned about the UK's direction of travel wrt online safety, AI, government decision making, and so on? Come to the Foundation of Information Policy Research's first Scrambling for Safety in ten years, this Thursday, November 28, at Friends House, Euston Road, London *and* online: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1046698221557 #HumanRights #TechPolicy #UK

@tinydoctor It's a cute proposal, but I don't understand how it will actually help an individual woman whose account data is demanded by the authorities in her state.

@catileptic I'm opposed to cashlessness for an entirely different reason, which is that it replaces a public infrastructure with a private one.In other areas this has not worked out well...

@maskedscheduler Your predictions continue to come true: https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/26/24015595/amazon-prime-video-ads-coming-january-29

@ColinTheMathmo If I'm made of nuclear waste, how come I'm not radioactive?

@maskedscheduler I believe you predicted sometbhing like this: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/10/27/streamings-latest-innovation-ads-when-you-hit-pause/

@Gargron From that, I think you would enjoy learning to play a musical instrument.

@maskedscheduler Fair enough. btw, if you're interested Matt Stoller, who specializes in monopoly and antitrust issues, has written (at his Substack, BIG) about Netflix et al destroying Hollywood and breaking the feedback loop of box office/ratings.

@maskedscheduler I was hopeing Ken L would get you on to speculate about the future if this is the present. I would love to think it will fuel the creation of new independent production companies. It's a lot more doable now. Until that piece I thought the future was the same content being available everywhere and streaing services competing on quality of interface & service. I'm glad I stuck with DVDs...But Disney is discontinuing DVDs in Australia, likely another move that will spread.

@maskedscheduler Isn't it kind of a death wish, though, to remove public access to popular products? And won't it drive creators to find other ways to do their stuff and retain control? It's got to be really discouraging not to be sure whether the work you're doing will ever be seen. (Like the shows the piece mentioned that were pulled on the eve of going live).

@maskedscheduler Yes. But so, so frustrating. And basically providing a moral argument FOR piracy.