Reading

FLOSS developers and open web activists are people too

https://rys.io/en/158.html
Created
Sun, 19/12/2021 - 02:43

I can’t believe I have to spell this out, but:
free/libre/open-source software developers and open web activists selflessly running independent services online are people too.

It seems this idea is especially difficult to grasp for researchers (including, apparently, whoever reviews and green-lights their studies). The latest kerfuffle with the Princeton-Radboud Study on Privacy Law Implementation shows this well.

“Not a human subject study”

The idea of that study seems simple enough: get a list of “popular” websites (according to the research-oriented Tranco list), send e-mails to e-mail addresses expected to be monitored for privacy-related requests (like privacy@example.com), and use that to assess the state of CCPA and GDPR implementation. Sounds good!

“Like a school bus teetering on the guardrail of a bridge over a roaring river.”

https://www.zeldman.com/2021/12/18/like-a-school-bus-teetering-on-the-guardrail…
Created
Sat, 18/12/2021 - 22:42

“[We are] like a school bus teetering on the guardrail of a bridge over a roaring river. The bus driver is trying to coax the children to move calmly and carefully to an exit door in the portion of the bus that is still on the bridge, but some of the children are running and […]

The post “Like a school bus teetering on the guardrail of a bridge over a roaring river.” appeared first on Zeldman on Web and Interaction Design.

‘Arum Arum Araaaaaagh’

https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2022/01/13/boris-johnson-fintan-otoole-arum-ar…
Created
Fri, 17/12/2021 - 09:21

In his opening address to the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow at the beginning of November, Boris Johnson evoked the end of a James Bond movie in which the hero is “strapped to a doomsday device, desperately trying to work out which colored wire to pull to turn it off, while a red digital […]

The post ‘Arum Arum Araaaaaagh’ appeared first on The New York Review of Books.

ISA Award

http://www.raewynconnell.net/2021/12/isa-award.html
Created
Sat, 11/12/2021 - 12:33

 

Just announced: I'm being given the International Sociological Association's Award for Excellence in Research and Practice. This award is given once every 4 years; it's a great honour. My thanks to the ISA! And to the many, many colleagues & friends I have worked with, over the years.

 

The social science I value is engaged in the world, it doesn't watch from a distance. It's empirical and utopian. It's willing to explore questions ranging from personal life to global empire. It doesn't flinch from issues of violence and power. But it also asks how new and better possibilities emerge.

 

Activists around the world protest Disney+'s unethical streaming platform for International Day Against DRM

https://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/activists_around_world_protest_disneys_u…
Created
Sat, 11/12/2021 - 07:48

BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Friday, December 10th, 2021 -- A global community of activists is taking part today in the Defective by Design campaign's 15th annual International Day Against DRM (IDAD) to protest use of Digital Restrictions Management, a widespread technology that places unethical restrictions on how people access digital media. Though from different backgrounds, countries, and perspectives, participants in the campaign share the common cause of opposing DRM in all of its forms. This year's target is Disney+'s streaming platform.

An Assessment of the Biden Presidency

https://coreyrobin.com/2021/12/10/an-assessment-of-the-biden-presidency/
Created
Sat, 11/12/2021 - 05:02
During the Trump days, I argued that the Trump presidency signified the waning power, if not end, of the Reagan regime. To that extent, Trump bore comparison to Jimmy Carter, whose presidency also signaled the end of another political order (the New Deal). I was wrong about that, and I explained how and why in a lengthy piece in 2019. My argument about Trump was based on two theories: one, my own, about conservatism and the right; the other, Steve Skowronek’s theory of the presidency. In the New York Times this weekend, I take stock of the Biden presidency, asking, essentially, this: if Trump turned out not to be Carter, how does that help us understand Biden? The Skowronek theory […]

Another end of the world is possible

https://matslats.net/another-end-of-the-world-is-possible-audiobook
Created
Tue, 07/12/2021 - 21:24
Another end of the world is possible

Following on from How everything can collapse, the french collapsologists now turn their attention to coping with collapse, psychologically, intellectually and even practically.

This is a thoughtful book drawing on useful experience, and covering a lot of ground in a fairly systematic way.

Audio chapters in this zip include

Old foe for a new year

http://dwca.org.au/old-foe-for-a-new-year/
Created
Tue, 07/12/2021 - 11:27
One of the Doctor’s most feared nemeses will be back on screens this UK New Year’s Day as Doctor Who returns for a special episode entitled Eve of the Daleks. Following the explosive series finale of Doctor Who: Flux, The Thirteenth Doctor (Jodie Whittaker) and friends Yaz (Mandip Gill) and Dan (John Bishop), will kick-start 2022 with an action-packed spectacular episode set to air on BBC One on New Year’s Day. Eve of the Daleks will also feature guest stars Aisling Bea (This Way Up, Living With Yourself, Quiz), Adjani Salmon (Dreaming Whilst Black, Enterprice) and Pauline McLynn (Father Ted,… Continue reading

Blockchain-based consensus systems are an energy-waste ratchet

https://rys.io/en/157.html
Created
Sun, 05/12/2021 - 12:08

A lot has already been written about different aspects of why most distributed blockchain-based consensus systems are just… bad. And yet we are still able to find new such reasons. At least I think this is a new one. I have not seen it mentioned anywhere so far.

Distributed blockchain-based consensus systems, as they are currently implemented, are an energy-waste ratchet.

I am specifically talking about systems like Bitcoin and Ethereum, and any other system that:

IDAD is almost here: Take a stand against Disney+ on December 10

https://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/idad_almost_here_take_stand_against_disn…
Created
Sat, 04/12/2021 - 06:17

The fifteenth International Day Against DRM (IDAD) is next week, and we here at the Defective by Design campaign are calling on you to help us send a message to purveyors of Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) around the world, letting them know that DRM is unacceptable in any and all of its forms. This year's Day Against DRM will be held next Friday, on December 10, 2021.

Would Total Adoption of Crypto Make Banking & Government Finance Better? Accounting Says No

https://clintballinger.com/2021/12/03/would-total-adoption-of-crypto-make-banki…
Created
Fri, 03/12/2021 - 18:20
An important area of concern among many cryptocurrency proponents revolves around the idea that the current banking and government finance systems are inherently unstable or inflationary. Ultimately all finance is about debits and credits, assets and liabilities. How would total adoption of crypto by a country change these?