Notices by Walter van Holst (whvholst@eupolicy.social), page 2

@glynmoody Given that the USA has elected the second coming of Hitler a second time, I think this all is moot by now.

@glynmoody As if the Chinese wouldn't spread lies and hatred. Tiktok recommends very different in China than outside it.

@pluralistic These are all valid questions. The point still stands that the classic "common carrier" exemption for liability we like to grant to intermediaries has worked best in situations in which the intermediaries did not curate or otherwise touch what they were carrying. And especially social media and other platforms that remove a lot of agency over that curation process by using recommendation engines do not deserve such immunity. /1

@pluralistic To use a (of course flawed) metaphor from the past: we would hold a newspaper liable for libel if there was defamation on part of the newspaper, but would not hold liable the postal service through which that newspaper edition had been distributed. Because we recognised that postal service as a common carrier, whereas the editors and the publisher of that newspaper would not be recognised as such. So the point is less the algorithm, more the curation. /fin

@pluralistic How about "If you algorithmically recommend content you are liable unless you are a search engine"?

Here's a proposal, @signalapp @Mer__edith you stop pestering me with requests to turn on notifications, give me a 'no, never' option instead of 'not now', and I will donate. It doesn't reflect well on your values that currently you are assuming that consent will be given eventually.

@bruces @altbot

@swope @skry No, the rocket is a Falcon 9, but the whole point was that @pluralistic might start having alt-text in the pictures he posts.

@quinn That mostly goes through Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg.

So, how long has this to go on until the Danes close their straits to the passage of Chinese ships? By now the presumption of innocent passage is getting more naive by the day...

@quinn @rafi0t I think it is less a money than a manpower, equipment and logistics question. Putin needs all of that more desperately in Ukraine.

@quinn @rafi0t There is the centuries old Russian obsession with access to seas, preferably unfrozen ones. Losing Tartus must sting in similar ways as losing Port Arthur did.

@slothrop Without making the financial markets the arbiter of things, it is interesting to see that the financial markets seem to be taking this seriously. Unlike for example past Belgian government crises in which they could still borrow money at rates comparable to (back then) much more politically stable neighbours.

@pettter @dymaxion @cstross @graydon @dr2chase @isaackuo I don't think either party is fully adhering. I also do think there are glaring violation to them by Russia that are orders of magnitude worse than Ukraine's. Then there's also the Genocide Convention that is also clearly being violated by Russia and not by Ukraine. So this is a "Both sides are not equally bad" situation.

@dymaxion @cstross @graydon @dr2chase @isaackuo Not seeing Russia adhering to the Geneva Conventions very much now.

@aral @Mer__edith Sadly, the composition of that particular panel clearly had been clearly vetted to carefully avoid any contributions based in objective reality.

@aral @Mer__edith You should have been there during that hearing in the European Parliament where a Facebook lobbyist (and former German MEP for S+D) with a straight face argued that the GDPR should not be burdensome to SMEs like Facebook (which at the time had fewer than fifty employees in Ireland)...

@aral The other guy clearly is the better option, isn't it. And don't say third party, because that is not an option in first-past-the-post.

EDPS finds European Commission's use of Microsoft software in violation of data protection rules: https://www.edps.europa.eu/system/files/2024-03/EDPS-2024-05-European-Commission_s-use-of-M365-infringes-data-protection-rules-for-EU-institutions-and-bodies_EN.pdf

@rysiek But @neil has.