Notices by Lauren Weinstein (lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org)

Generative AI is the ultimate "lock in" service. Get people (especially businesses) dependent on it -- firing their personnel -- losing their own ability to think and write -- and when you keep raising prices all your prisoners are stuck, chained to you by shackles you initially offered them for free. To Big Tech, users are simply fungible items; whatever "social responsibility" these firms used to claim has been flushed down the john by increasingly fascist-leaning billionaire CEOs.

Big Tech is betting everything on people wanting to let "AI agents" act on their behalf while the AI firms take no responsibility for errors and bad outcomes. Unless they can successfully sucker people into this, their businesses face devastation in the long run.

[Insane] NY Democratic State Sen. introduces bill requiring all buyers of most 3D printers to have criminal background checks.

YouTube "autodub" hilarity

I just saw (for the first time I was aware of it) a #YouTube video apparently not in English that was autodubbed into English by Google AI -- there's a tiny little "Auto-dubbed" label.

It's absolutely hilarious, beyond the usual obvious robotic voice. What makes it so funny is that the dubbing is so out of sync with the creator's speaking. I mean, it makes those 1960s "sword and sandal" English dub jobs from Italian look like super pro work!

I couldn't stop laughing long enough to even pay attention to what the poor guy was actually trying to say.

It is a fact that carefully considered, well written posts on important topics will almost never get anywhere near the engagement of posts dedicated to any aspects of cats.

Volume One of Jack Smith's report, detailing Trump's election interference, currently scheduled for release by DOJ in 1 minute. Showtime in 1 minute!

Ironically, the entire #Mastodon model is essentially a 21st century reincarnation of our original point-to-point, dial-up, UUCP-based Usenet network. Except the stack now is one hell of a lot heavier.

You've heard of the "social contract"? Look it up if not. Feels like it's about to shred.

@mekkaokereke As per: "Meet the Guys: The Jerks of Computer Science" - https://lauren.vortex.com/2017/02/27/meet-the-guys-the-jerks-of-computer-science

@violetmadder @mekkaokereke @devlord @remi I actually don't see many watered lawns in my neck of the woods of L.A. They're typically brown for years now except for a brief period during and after the rainy season, when there is one.

As for #Bluesky, nobody gives millions, 10s of millions, or 100s of millions of dollars to a social media platform without expecting an explicit and substantial return on their investment, and control over the platform's path forward. There are no exceptions.

I trust TikTok a damned sight more than I trust Meta, that's for sure.

***** How a TikTok ban will be evaded. *****

VPN use to access TikTok will skyrocket to appear to be coming from non-U.S. points. App updates for Android via sideloading will also become the norm when app stores access is eliminated. This will have the side effect (no pun intended) of users who don't fully understand the risks involved in sideloading being more vulnerable to malware apps.

A TikTok ban as envisioned is absolutely anti-user and anti-freedom in every possible way. It's a travesty. Worry about MAGA Meta, and MAGA Google CEO Sundar, etc., not TikTok.

https://www.wired.com/story/how-the-us-tiktok-ban-would-actually-work/

Disgusting! - TikTok tells LA staff impacted by wildfires to use personal/sick hours if they can't work from home

https://techcrunch.com/2025/01/09/tiktok-tells-la-staff-impacted-by-wildfires-to-use-personal-sick-hours-if-they-cant-work-from-home/

@bebal Just look around. All over the news today.

#Bluesky seems to be rapidly selling itself to BIG MONEY interests. As predicted. Just another soon to be member of the MAGA Billionaire club. Watch and see.

@jwildeboer Including at least one trailer park (where I have known people and visited in the past) mostly composed of poverty line retirees. I haven't seen one word of condolence from Trump or Musk, just crazy rants invoking nonexistent water documents, DEI, and antisemitic conspiracy theories. Nothing can stop fires in the face of winds approaching 100mph. WHAT THE HELL HAS HAPPENED TO HUMAN DECENCY?

Trump vs. Denmark: Wondering if NATO has rules about what to do when one NATO member attacks another NATO member? Trump is INSANE.

Trump threatens to destroy Canada economically if it won't become a U.S. state.

Given Zuckerberg's promise of a massive increase in harmful content on Meta social media platforms, continued federation with Threads seems highly problematic.