Tag: education

ECP NetHappenings: Education, Bitcoin, AI, Democracy, Zuckerberg

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ECP NetHappenings: #Education, #Bitcoin, #AI, #Democracy, #Zuckerberg

#EDUCATION

Some of my thoughts about protecting children’s brains; arguably, this is society’s most important mission. Dr. Christopher Giza stresses importance of safeguarding brain development.
Pediatric neurology division chief promotes TBI education for all clinicians.
https://www.uclahealth.org/news/dr-giza-safeguarding-childrens-brains

Pennsylvania will need to spend at least $5.4 billion to close the gap between rich and poor school districts, according to a long-awaited report approved by a divided panel of policymakers Thursday.
https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/pa-needs-to-spend-5-4b-to-close-gap-between-rich-and-poor-schools-report-advanced-by-dems-says/

#BITCOIN

10/19/23US Government Holds Over $5B in Bitcoin, Among Top Hodlers
https://sharedcryptobots.com/us-government-holds-over-5b-in-bitcoin-among-top-hodlers/

1/16/24 Grayscale recently transferred an additional 9,000 $BTC, valued at $385 million, to a presumed Coinbase $COIN Prime deposit address. The Grayscale address currently identified retains 617,000 BTC, equivalent to $26.22 billion

AI

FROM A 1979 IBM PRESENTATION


A COMPUTER CAN NEVER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

THEREFORE A COMPUTER
MUST NEVER MAKE A
MANAGEMENT DECISION

 

Meredith Whittaker @mer__edith
MS–Open AI’s ~parent company–already has massive US military contracts. This is the biz model.
It’s also one more alarm re. the current AI paradigm, its reliance on concentrated corp power, & the undemocratic decision making power this gives these (primarily) US-based corps.

Here’s the section of the OpenAI policy on banned usage that was deleted two days ago. In its place is a much more ambiguous general ban on causing “harm” and a very narrow mention of weapons development

The new version, overhauled on Jan 10th, is here:
https://openai.com/policies/usage-policies

@samfbiddle
OpenAI quietly deleted its ban on “military and warfare” applications from its permissible uses policy in a revision this week
https://theintercept.com/2024/01/12/open-ai-military-ban-chatgpt/

Here’s the section of the OpenAI policy on banned usage that was deleted two days ago. In its place is a much more ambiguous general ban on causing “harm” and a very narrow mention of weapons development

• Activity that has high risk of physical harm, including:

Weapons development
Military and warfare
Management or operation of critical infrastructure in energy, transportation, and water
Content that promotes, encourages, or depicts acts of self-harm, such as suicide, cutting, and eating disorders

You can read the previous version of the policy here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20240109122522/https:/openai.com/policies/usage-policies

“You can now take a GenAI model and train it to automatically recommend fixes for insecure code, generate training materials for your security teams, and identify mitigation measures in the event of an identified threat, moving beyond just finding vulnerabilities.”

Sam Biddle @samfbiddle
If you work at OpenAI and have concerns or any thoughts at all about the company’s policy change, please feel free to reach out to me via Signal at +1 978 261 7389 (don’t use a work-provided device!) Happy to speak off the record.

Max Lamparth @MLamparth
Thank you for highlighting this important change! We studied potential escalators risks from deploying LLMs in military decision-making scenarios in our new paper https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.03408 and our findings warrant caution to using LLMs for such purposes.
Escalation Risks from Language Models in Military and Diplomatic Decision-Making
https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.03408

Tal Broda is Head of Research Platform at @OpenAI which develops ChatGPT.
To express concern, politely contact:

📧 VP of People
di***@****ai.com

📧 VP of Global Affairs
am******@****ai.com

One of the world’s largest AI training datasets is about to get bigger and ‘substantially better’
The Pile was created by all of us. It’s the work of all humans past and present. It therefore belongs to all of us, and when used to train AI, we all deserve a cut of the profits. Universal basic income should be seen as our rightful AI training dividend.
https://venturebeat.com/ai/one-of-the-worlds-largest-ai-training-datasets-is-about-to-get-bigger-and-substantially-better/
Massive AI training datasets, or corpora, have been called “the backbone of large language models.” But EleutherAI, the organization that created one of the world’s largest of these datasets, an 825 GB open-sourced diverse text corpora called the Pile, became a target in 2023 amid a growing uproar focused on the legal and ethical impact of the datasets that trained the most popular LLMs, from OpenAI’s GPT-4 to Meta’s Llama.
EleutherAI, a grassroots nonprofit research group that began as a loose-knit Discord collective in 2020 that sought to understand how OpenAI’s new GPT-3 worked, was named in one of the many generative AI-focused lawsuits last year.

Internet Ethics @IEthics
“The models also suffered from ‘contra-factual bias’: They were likely to believe a false premise embedded in a user’s question, acting in a ‘sycophantic’ way to reinforce the user’s mistake.” #ethics #law #AI #LLMs #tech #research
@StanfordHAI
Popular AI chatbots frequently hallucinate when answering legal questions, new research from Stanford RegLab and HAI finds. This poses special risks for people using the technology because they can’t afford a human lawyer.

Popular AI Chatbots Found to Give Error-Ridden Legal Answers
Researchers measured AI responses to 200,000 legal questions
Frequent ‘hallucinations’ could hurt self-represented litigants
Popular AI chatbots from OpenAI Inc., Google LLC, and Meta Platforms Inc. are prone to “hallucinations” when answering legal questions, posing special risks for people using the technology because they can’t afford a human lawyer, new research from Stanford University said.
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/business-and-practice/legal-errors-by-top-ai-models-alarmingly-prevalent-study-says

Scammy AI-Generated Book Rewrites Are Flooding Amazon
Authors keep finding what appear to be AI-generated imitations and summaries of their books on Amazon. There’s little they can do to rein in the rip-offs.
https://www.wired.com/story/scammy-ai-generated-books-flooding-amazon/

DEMOCRACY

All #KochNetwork
Republican National Committee 👉 ties to Koch 👉ties to ALEC 👉ties to SPN Koch Wiki
Charles Koch is the right-wing billionaire owner of Koch Industries. As one of the richest people in the world, he is a key funder of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on Charles Koch and his late brother David include: Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity, Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, Stand Together, Koch Family Foundations, Koch Universities, and I360.
https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Talk:Republican_National_Committee

Josh Hawley just wrote a couched screed subtly calling for ‘Seven Mountains’ dominionism: that Christians must capture the 7 ‘mountains’ that constitute society (Education, Religion, Family, Business, Govt, Arts/Ent., & Media). He tweeted it with his government account.

ARREST ROGER STONE Hear the tape that purports to show Roger Stone discussing assassinations
https://www.mediaite.com/politics/exclusive-heres-the-tape-of-roger-stone-discussing-assassination-of-democrats-which-he-denied-ever-doing/
“We’re going to raise money from ‘stop the steal,’” he told an aide. “It will be like falling off a log.”
In late December, [Roger] Stone used a “Stop the Steal” site to falsely claim George Soros was funding violent “attacks on our peaceful patriots” and to request contributions “for private security at every one of our events, as well as funds for permits, staging, transportation, and legal fees.”
#TheBigLieIndustrialComplex

At 4:17 p.m. on January 6, 2021, while rioters battled police inside the Capitol, Kimberly Guilfoyle emailed her banker. Guilfoyle … wanted to know if a $60,000 payment for short speeches that she and Donald Trump Jr., her fiance, gave … had hit her account yet. Meet the Operatives Who Profited From January 6: Charlie Kirk & Co.

Meet the Operatives Who Profited From January 6


“We’re going to raise money from ‘stop the steal,’” he told an aide. “It will be like falling off a log.”
In late December, [Roger] Stone used a “Stop the Steal” site to falsely claim George Soros was funding violent “attacks on our peaceful patriots” and to request contributions…

Christians Against Christian Nationalism.
Watch @AmandaTylerBJC’s full testimony to the House Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
I testified before Congress this morning that “#ChristianNationalism often overlaps with and provides cover for white supremacy and racial subjugation.” Thank you @RepRaskin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3AqNB8OnPg
https://twitter.com/AmandaTylerBJC/status/1602720928739229697

Brian Allen @allenanalysis
Joe Biden is currently leading against Donald Trump in key states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Hampshire, not only surpassing Trump but also outdoing his own 2020 victory margins in these areas.
Despite this significant development, it hasn’t been widely reported.
This makes it clear that the media may be selectively focusing on narratives that favor Trump, overshadowing news that could be detrimental to his image.
It’s crucial to stay vigilant and not be swayed by this apparent media strategy.

“A watchdog group is suing Cochise County officials for delays in providing records related to the county’s controversial management of the 2022 election, from its attempt at a hand count of all ballots to the taxpayer cost of hiring outside attorneys.”
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/arizona/2024/01/10/cochise-county-faces-lawsuit-for-election-records-delay/72176627007/

The charade is over. Evangelical universe is infiltrated by hell bent political hacks disguised as some true faith based messengers from the Lord. Throw in the flock of non critical thinking lemmings and you have not a “church” but a tinderbox.

@richsignorelli Our democracy is under attack from Trump/MAGA. Many are culpable, 4 stand out:
-McConnell deciding v Trump impeachment for 1/6 thinking he would go away.
-CJ Roberts allowing gerrymandering/dark $.
-Garland delaying prosecution of Trump et al.
-Murdoch spreading lies to the gullible.
Garland has now supplanted Newt Gingrich in that foursome because although Newt’s evil impact on the #GOP cannot be denied, our AG was in a position to excise that cancer & instead chose to do nothing. As a result, Newt’s disciples are now openly & fearlessly seditious.

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), Vice Chairwoman of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol
Liz Cheney: House GOP enabled “white nationalism, white supremacy and anti-semitism”
Which part of the Civil War “could have been negotiated”? The slavery part? The secession part? Whether Lincoln should have preserved the Union? Question for members of the GOP—the party of Lincoln—who have endorsed Donald Trump: How can you possibly defend this?

The National Guard WAS prepared to deploy to the Capitol, but were delayed for 3 hours per order of the Department of Defense officials, which included CHARLES FLYNN, brother of “5th Amendment” Trump supporter, Gen. MICHAEL FLYNN.
DOD Took Hours To Approve National Guard Request During Capitol Riot, Commander Says
Walker said that Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt and Lt. Gen. Charles Flynn were concerned about the optics of sending the National Guard to the scene of the uprising.
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/03/973292523/dod-took-hours-to-approve-national-guard-request-during-capitol-riot-commander-s

 

@ConsumerReports analyzed Facebook data files donated by 709 volunteers to identify which companies are sharing the most data and what it means for you.
FACEBOOK helped CR recruit participants. What they discovered was striking:
https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/privacy/each-facebook-user-is-monitored-by-thousands-of-companies-a5824207467/

Mark Zuckerberg’s bunker access code is 2165# lol
Mark Zuckerberg of $META has said he’s raising cattle on beer and macadamia nuts to “create some of the highest quality beef in the world.”
ZUCKERBERG SUCKS
META SUCKS
INSTAGRAM SUCKS

A New Lawsuit Shows How Recklessly Facebook Endangers Kids
BYROB LARSON
Facebook parent company Meta is facing a massive lawsuit alleging the company is knowingly hurting young people, including by accepting underage use. Court documents suggest this is true — and that executives have been egregiously callous about harms to kids.
Metacurse
Another interesting feature of the states’ complaint concerns the decision-making related to these problems, especially the abuse of notifications to keep users leashed to their devices and the platforms. The company’s own chief marketing officer supported a proposal to cut back on the platform’s heavy use of notifications, writing in an email thread, “Fundamentally I believe that we have abused the notifications channel as a company.” The chief of product agreed — only to be overruled by Zuckerberg himself.
“…a 2020 internal Meta presentation…saying Meta should take advantage of…psychological weaknesses of young users…(it) argued that rather than designing its platforms to avoid harming minors, it should take advantage of their vulnerabilities.”
https://jacobin.com/2024/01/lawsuit-kids-meta-facebook-profit

ECP NetHappenings Politics 9-28-23

ECP NetHappenings #Politics

#DEATH PENALTY

Donald Trump is no longer in business in New York State.
A judge canceled all of his business certificates and appointed a judge to monitor the assets.
Barring an unlikely reversal by an appeal court, the assets will be sold and Trump, Don Jr., & Eric are barred from business.
What will Trump Tower in NYC be called in ten years?
P01135809 Tower

I marvel at people who don’t realize Donald is, and always has been, a con man who lies, cheats, steals, and got away with it using threats of ruinous legal action, etc. My piece on the Trump Org getting the corporate death penalty he so richly deserves:
Judge Gives Trump Organization the Corporate Death Penalty
https://www.dcreport.org/2023/09/26/donald-trump-liable-for-fraud/

Former Melanie aide Stephanie Winston Wolkoff alleged that Trump’s 2018 govt. shutdown was to hide a separate scandal frm the public. She claimed the Trump WH coordinated their nefarious activities using govt. resources & shutdowns to the detriment of the American people.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-shutdown-financial-coverup/

‘Like the start of the Bolshevik Revolution’: Don Trump Jr. unspools after being found liable for fraud
Lynnes note *** What the hell is he talking about?
https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-jr-fraud/

‘Fraudster’ Trump given the ‘corporate death penalty’ in New York suit: Lawyer George Conway
It’s called the Martin Act, which was enacted 102 years ago. And it is extremely powerful, a weapon the state can use against fraudsters. It’s powerful for a number of reasons. One is, it doesn’t require proof of fraudulent intent by the business or its CEO or any of its officers.” https://www.rawstory.com/trump-new-york-fraudster/

BIG DEAL CAUSE SAUDI ARABIA
Judge Engoron calls out – in a *footnote* – that Trump may have been suggesting he could just take bribes from Saudi Arabia.
https://twitter.com/clearing_fog/status/1706805284117864478/photo/1

California Governor Gavin Newsom signs a first of its kind law to double the taxes on firearms and ammunition in the state and use the money to pay for public school security and violence prevention programs.

Illinois Congressmember @RepChuyGarcia of Chicago reminds Americans that U.S. foreign policy in countries like Venezuela is the root cause of migration — and urges an end to interventionism and sanctions to address the refugee crisis.

Illegitimate Supreme Court

Alito wasn’t bluffing: He believes the Supreme Court is above the law

A good first step would be for the full court to begin ruling on recusal decisions, rather than leaving them to the discretion of each individual. After all, the Constitution creates “one Supreme Court,” not nine supreme justices.
Our system of checks and balances should not be subject to an Alito veto.

Documents show Justice Roberts & Justice Alito own shares in 19 companies that could get $30 BILLION in tax relief if the Supreme Court issues a broad ruling in favor of those companies in the upcoming term’s landmark tax case.
https://www.levernews.com/justices-have-financial-interest-in-major-tax-case/

California politicians float removing Trump from 2024 ballot

We Have Two Medias in This Country, and They’re Going to Elect Donald Trump
If the press doesn’t get involved in the civic health of the nation, there may not be a nation in which a free press might reside.

Findings in Trump fraud trial reignite questions about why Bill Barr’s DOJ dropped the case
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-org-sdny-federal-case/

This is another reason why we need the great Katie Porter as a Senator, not Adam Schiff.
The earmarks Adam Schiff delivered for donors.

#Election #Integrity

Just a reminder the owner of this site (Twitter a.k.a. X) is virulently anti-union and builds his sh*tty cars in non-UAW plants. Musk will be thought of like Trump one day, a fascist fraudster, a freakish footnote in a long line of anti-worker exploiters of labor for his own grift. @elonmusk

Twitter scraps feature letting users report misleading information.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/27/xtwitter-scraps-function-letting-users-report-misleading-information

Elon is getting ready to use X to pull a fast one for republicans. This platform is being converted to an information warfare platform and there is no longer any doubt Elon Musk and his investors plan to use it to disrupt the 2024 election
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1707147926789554422
Elon Musk has fired the entire Election Integrity Team at X, the unit created to identify threats from foreign and domestic sources manipulating our elections.
https://www.meidastouch.com/news/breaking-musk-fires-entire-election-integrity-team-at-x

X @elonmusk just fired his entire “Election Integrity” Team for undermining the US Elections.
In December of 2022, I showed the world, the blockchain evidence that Twitter gambled on US Elections from 2018 through 2020.

He’s getting everything in place for the 2024 elections.
Musk’s X disabled feature for reporting electoral misinformation.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/musks-x-disabled-feature-reporting-electoral-misinformation-researcher-2023-09-27/

EU warns Musk…
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/sep/26/eu-warns-elon-musk-that-twitter-x-must-comply-with-fake-news-laws

Citizens for Ethics @CREWcrew
Secret Service agents were in such close contact with Oath Keepers’ founder Stewart Rhodes that they had a “unofficial liaison to the Oath Keepers (inching towards official).”
Why isn’t this the big scandal?
https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/emails-reveal-secret-service-contacts-with-oath-keepers/

Amazon Is the Apex Predator of Our Platform Era
Amazon is precisely the kind of company that Congress had in mind in enacting America’s many antitrust laws,
@doctorow writes for the @nytimes

@tedlieuWant to know what crazy amendments the GOP made us vote on today?
1. Defund Director of Division of Risk Management at FDA.
2. Defund Director of Office of Compliance at FDA.
3. Defund Director of Office of New Drugs at FDA.
MAGA GOP wants zero regulation of risky new drugs.

#HEALTH

Study finds link between autism in boys and maternal diet soda and aspartame consumption
https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2023/09/study-finds-link-between-autism-in-boys-and-maternal-diet-soda-and-aspartame-consumption/

Philips Kept Complaints About Dangerous Breathing Machines Secret While Company Profits Soared
Tainted CPAP machines and ventilators went to children, the elderly and at least 700,000 veterans despite internal warnings. Company insiders said the devices posed an “unacceptable” risk.Philips knew about a dangerous breakdown inside its widely used ventilators and sleep apnea machines but waited years before recalling the devices
https://www.propublica.org/article/philips-kept-warnings-about-dangerous-cpaps-secret-profits-soared

Scent Police? Oh yes. It’s here.
#science #news
Your Body Odor Could Be Used to Track Your Movements or Health
Our research team’s 2017 study of 105 participants found that specific combinations of 15 volatile organic compounds collected from people’s hands could distinguish between race and ethnicity with an accuracy of 72% for whites, 82% for East Asians and 67% for Hispanics. Based on a combination of 13 compounds, participants could be distinguished as male or female with an overall 80% accuracy. Canines have also been trained to detect COVID-19 infections at a 90% accuracy rate.
https://theconversation.com/dogs-can-be-trained-to-sniff-out-covid-19-a-team-of-forensic-researchers-explain-the-science-169012

#Stand With Unions

@SenSanders
Today, for the first time in American history, a President stood on a picket line defending American workers. That’s a big deal. In taking on the corporate greed of the auto industry, the UAW is fighting for every American worker. They’re fighting for us. Let’s stand with them.

Wendy’s CEO made $8 MILLION in compensation — 402x more than the average worker.
Meanwhile, Wendy’s is spending money to let AI take your order at their drive-thru.
The CEO claims that we won’t be able to tell the difference.
Corporate greed is annihilating the working class.
AI should not be created to act like human beings to maximize the profits of CEOs.
https://www.citizen.org/article/chatbots-are-not-people-dangerous-human-like-anthropomorphic-ai-report/

#EDUCATION Keep the citizens stupid

!!!! Letter to editor: Pennsylvania is at a public education crossroads
https://www.thereporteronline.com/2023/09/25/letter-to-editor-pennsylvania-is-at-a-public-education-crossroads/
“I urge the BEFC to do its job by prioritizing these tasks and ensuring that every student in the state has access to a comprehensive, effective, and modern public education system.” – Susan Spicka, Executive director, Education Voters of Pennsylvania

#TECH #SECURITY

Google slips their homework under the door
Google has quietly resubmitted a disclosure of a critical code-execution vulnerability affecting thousands of individual apps and software frameworks after its previous submission left readers with the mistaken impression that the threat affected only the Chrome browser.
https://arstechnica.com/security/2023/09/google-quietly-corrects-previously-submitted-disclosure-for-critical-webp-0-day/

U.S. Counterintel Buys Access to the Backbone of the Internet to Hunt Foreign Hackers
Getting information from the NSA would take too long, according to internal documents from a counterintelligence agency. So it turned to Team Cymru to buy netflow data that can allow analysts to track activity through virtual private networks
https://www.404media.co/us-counterintel-buys-netflow-data-team-cymru-track-vpns/

Buys Access to the Backbone of the Internet to Hunt Foreign Hackers
https://www.404media.co/us-counterintel-buys-netflow-data-team-cymru-track-vpns/

Meredith Whittaker @mer__edith Where’s the lie?
Signal’s Meredith Whittaker: AI is fundamentally ‘a surveillance technology’
Why is it that so many companies that rely on monetizing the data of their users seem to be extremely hot on AI? If you ask Signal president Meredith Whittaker (and I did), she’ll tell you it’s simply because “AI is a surveillance technology.”
Onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, Whittaker explained her perspective that AI is largely inseparable from the big data and targeting industry perpetuated by the likes of Google and Meta, as well as less consumer-focused but equally prominent enterprise and defense companies.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/25/signals-meredith-whittaker-ai-is-fundamentally-a-surveillance-technology/

This is absolutely brilliant. The worst customer service portal imaginable. Created by [@]sysengineer.
Our World Class Tech Experts authoritatively negotiate cloud-based relationships.
The next phone tech will be available in: 1561d 3h 2m 46s – Please use the online ticket form below.
https://sharepointlist.com/

#BANKSTERS

JPMorgan says it will pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit by the U.S. Virgin Islands alleging that the bank facilitated and benefited from sex trafficking of young women by its longtime customer Jeffrey Epstein. @EamonJavers reports.

* JPMorgan also said it had reached a settlement with Jes Staley, a former executive at the bank who had been friends with Epstein, to resolve claims by JPMorgan that he was responsible for any civil damages and costs associated with Epstein-related litigation. Epstein had been friends with Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew of Britain. The terms of the agreement with Jes Staley, former CEO of Barclays, are confidential , JPMorgan said it “deeply regrets” its association with Epstein, who was a client between 1998 and 2013.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/26/jpmorgan-to-settle-jeffrey-epstein-suit-by-virgin-islands.html

SEC Today we announced charges against 6 officers, directors, and major shareholders for failing to timely report information about their holdings and transactions in company stock.
https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-201

#CRYPTO

Santander notes the role of bitcoin tourism to El Salvador’s booming GDP
“How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Cryptoanarchy”
Financial Regulation:
– Erodes privacy ✅
– Eliminates human rights ✅
– Makes us less safe ✅
– Harms national security ✅
– Promotes financial exclusion ✅

AnchorWatch Secures $3 Million Funding To Popularize Multisig Bitcoin Insurance
https://www.btctimes.com/news/anchorwatch-secures-3-million-funding-to-popularize-multisig-bitcoin-insurance

SEC Chair Gary Gensler said that bitcoin isn’t a security, but also called crypto a field that’s “rife with fraud and manipulation” during a Congressional hearing. The comment came during an appearance before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.
https://unchainedcrypto.com/sec-chair-gensler-says-bitcoin-isnt-a-security/

VIDEO: The full exchange today between @PatrickMcHenry and @GaryGensler on #Bitcoin and the @SECGov’s refusal to comply with document disclosure requests from Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI-UQX0hQ14

Xbox Goes Crypto? Leaked Microsoft Roadmap Includes Wallet Plans

Illegal gold miners have just discovered the largest #Gold nugget in the history of Ghana.
And your #Gold in your high security vaults became just a bit less scarce.

(re:Menendez) Congressman Matt Gaetz: “We are devaluing American money so rapidly that in America today, you can’t even bribe Democrat Senators with cash alone! You need to bring gold bars to get the job done, just so that the bribes hold value!”

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez hires Hunter Biden lawyer for bribery case

#Bitcoin

BlackRock Manipulating Bitcoin?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KptqizfM0Sg

Could BlackRock Destroy Bitcoin?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KloXHKxmoiA

ECP NetHappenings School Debt The Great Unequalizer

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#CyberPlayGround #NetHappenings Newsletter, #Education, #Tech, #Politics, #Science

EDUCATION

School Debt: The Great Unequalizer
In Pennsylvania, the state’s school funding system was deemed unconstitutional; its distribution discriminates against students from low-wealth districts. And districts w/ fewest resources pay the most to borrow. In Pennsylvania, the state’s school funding system was recently deemed unconstitutional; its distribution mechanism discriminates against students who live in low-wealth districts. Without adequate funds, school districts increasingly must borrow millions of dollars, provoking a massive increase in debt-laden schools.

Climate Denial in the Classroom.
A climate scientist at @UCSUSA debunks a PragerU video greenlit for Florida schools, exposing its dangerous climate-denial arguments. Florida Approved a PragerU Climate Cartoon for Schools. We Asked a Scientist to Fact-Check It. “I find something like this…to be really dangerous.”

BRICS Plan New Global University Ranking, Say Current Ones Favor Western Universities A key theme of the summit, which brings together the world’s fast-growing emerging economies, is redrawing the world order to reflect the new economic and political realities. A new global university ranking dovetails neatly into that aim.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to attend the summit hosted by South Africa in Johannesburg. Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend virtually. BRICS 2023 has ‘BRICS and Africa’ as its theme. Between them the five countries account for 43% of the world’s population and 16% of global trade.

TECH

AI-Created Art Isn’t Copyrightable, Judge Says In Ruling That Could Give Hollywood Studios Pause
A federal judge on Friday upheld a finding from the U.S. Copyright Office that a piece of art created by AI is not open to protection.

Generative AI Is Scraping Your Data. So, Now What?
AI innovation is moving faster than our laws and regulations, making it hard to decide whether Web or content scraping activity is good or bad, and what (if anything) you should do about it.
“If you don’t want ChatGPT or other generative AI tools to train on your data, the first step you can take is to block traffic from the Common Crawler bot, CCBot.” -Benjamin Fabre, @bfabre, Co-Founder & CEO, @data_dome

“A new study by the @ISDglobal an independent London-based nonprofit… found that Meta has failed to remove content celebrating Wagner and containing recruitment information for the group, despite labelling them as a ‘dangerous organisation.’“ In late May, Meta said it had labelled Wagner as a “dangerous organisation,” saying that content promoting the group will be removed from its platforms. A recent study found it’s still there.
Wagner, Russia’s violent mercenary group accused of committing horrifying crimes and human rights abuses across the world in the past few years, is still using Facebook and Instagram to recruit people online, despite the fact that its content violates Meta’s policies.

POLITICS

Churches aren’t supposed to endorse political candidates, according to IRS rules. Across the country, churches appear to be doing so anyway.
These 20 Churches Supported Political Candidates. Experts Say They Violated Federal Law.
Evangelicals for Trump. There were about 20 Pastors there that night
https://twitter.com/sandibachom/status/1693667283846004786

Deliberately Constructed Idiocracy

Moms for Liberty is scrambling to find a location for its GOP presidential “town hall” in Milwaukee. M4L masquerades as a “parents’ rights” advocate but it’s really an agent for the radical right’s attack on public education.

Republican Senator’s Stock Trade Linked to Ukraine War Raises Eyebrows

On Jan 5, 2021, Roger Stone spoke during a rally outside the US Supreme Court, using Oath Keepers as security. Within hours, Sidney Powell would quietly file an application asking Justice Alito to delay certification. But sure, Stone wasn’t involved.

Has anyone ever *admitted* that there was an effort on January 6th to delay the certifications of votes in the senate? Cuz Roger Stone (7x Felon) just did. (8/20/23)

Full Call 1Hr: Trump Pressures Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the 2020 election results

SCIENCE

Mystery of Entropy FINALLY Solved After 50 Years?

Michio Kaku: Quantum computing is the next revolution

CyberPlayGround NetHappenings Education, Law, Bitcoin, Health 2-15-23

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OTD Feb 15, 1946 President Harry S. Truman receives first ever Daily Summary, later to be known as the President’s Daily Brief.

#NetHappenings #Law #Bitcoin #Health

Pro Tip: if you can’t denounce political violence because doing so would anger your base, you’re on the wrong f’ing side

#EDUCATION

Essential Cybersecurity Protections guidance for school districts
with alignments to CISA’s CPGs. Protecting our schools is a top priority. @CISAgov’s K-12 cybersecurity guide gives resources for community leaders (like superintendents, administrators, school boards, & state policymakers) to better understand & reduce their risks.

Ohio Department of Education Says It Won’t Do Anything About Neo-Nazi Homeschoolers

PA students win funding statewide.

LAW

FTX Lobbying and Donations
Here is all the members who have received donations from FTX members, and their current status on returning donations.

DISGUSTING Pentagon Staffers Found Installing Dating Apps, Games on Government Phones

Hermes Wins in MetaBirkins NFT Trademark Case, No 1st Amendment for (but $133,000 from) Mason Rothschild
NFT images of furry Birkin bags violated trademark rules

The Democrats Lost the House by Just 6,675 Votes. What Went Wrong?
At first glance, Democratic performance in last year’s House races was great. But a close look under the hood reveals that, with a few smarter moves and a little more luck, we’d have Speaker Jeffries.

Corporate America donated $36M to election objectors in 2022 election: analysis

US, UK, Sanction Bulgarian Politicians, Former Ministers, for Corruption
The US and Britain have imposed coordinated sanctions on a range of Bulgarian politicians for corruption, several of them aligned to pro-Russian parties.

U.S. tracked China spy balloon from launch on Hainan Island along unusual path

Putin Using Special Train, Secret Railway Network, Investigative Reports Say

The Federal Council of Switzerland has ruled that confiscating frozen Russian assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine is “unconstitutional”. I guess the Swiss will dig into their own pockets then. Switzerland playing the long game. In a decade or so there’ll be a new generation of Russian oligarchs looking to launder their ill-gotten gains in the West. Leave it to the Swiss to help the genocidal oppressor.

Top Expert on Fascism Warns of Trump and MAGA movement’s Danger to America YOUTUBE VIDEO

Mississippi Could Vote for White-Appointed Legislature in Blackest City
We’ll always have Mississippi, it appears. Whenever things start looking bad in this country, Mississippi will come along with something that will convince us that matters are utterly bleak. From Mississippi Today:
If House Bill 1020 becomes law later this session, the white chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court would appoint two judges to oversee a new district within the city—one that includes all of the city’s majority-white neighborhoods, among other areas. The white state attorney general would appoint four prosecutors, a court clerk, and four public defenders for the new district. The white state public safety commissioner would oversee an expanded Capitol Police force, run currently by a white chief. The appointments by state officials would occur in lieu of judges and prosecutors being elected by the local residents of Jackson and Hinds County—as is the case in every other municipality and county in the state. Mississippi’s capital city is 80% Black and home to a higher percentage of Black residents than any major American city. Mississippi’s Legislature is thoroughly controlled by white Republicans, who have redrawn districts over the past 30 years to ensure they can pass any bill without a single Democratic vote. Every legislative Republican is white, and most Democrats are Black.

Ron DeSantis Knows: The Path to Victory Runs Through Right-Wing Churches
When he promises to “put on the full armor of God,” right-wing Christians get the reference. And they may dump Trump and move to him.

TAX CHURCHES THEY ARE POLITICAL PULPITS
ILLIGITAMATE SUPREME COURT WON’T ENFORCE SEPARATION BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE.

Wyoming Limiting Child Marriage Sparks Republican Outrage
Currently, Wyoming is one of just eight states in the country—including California, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Washington and West Virginia—without a minimum age requirement for marriage, and it currently ranks among the top ten states in the country for child marriages, according to a 2021 study by advocacy group Unchained at Last. Efforts to raise the age of marriage in the state have consistently stalled. For years, now-retired Laramie Democratic Representative Charles Pelkey sponsored legislation to raise the age of marriage to 18, only to fail with every effort. It’s also a common practice across the country, even now: While the number of child marriages nationally has been in steady free fall over the last few decades, just seven states to date have voted to ban it entirely, even as countries like the Philippines passed national laws banning the practice.

Catholic clergy in Portugal sexually abused nearly 5,000 children since 1950, inquiry finds
Bishop Jose Ornelas, head of the Portuguese Bishops Conference, reads a document at a news conference to comment on the report by the Independent Committee for the Study of Child Abuse in the Catholic Church set up by Portuguese bishops, Lisbon, Monday, February 13, 2023. Bishop Jose Ornelas, head of the Portuguese Bishops Conference, reads a document at a news conference to comment on the report by the Independent Committee for the Study of Child Abuse in the Catholic Church set up by Portuguese bishops, Lisbon, Monday, February 13, 2023. © Armando Franca, AP

NJ state senator says he’s leaving GOP to join Democrats
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey state Sen. Samuel Thompson said Monday he’s leaving the Republican Party and plans to seek reelection this year as a Democrat. Thompson, 87, said in a phone interview that he decided to leave the GOP after party leaders questioned his fitness for office because of his age. “The betrayal by so many of my friends — that was too much for me,” he said. “I am not leaving my party. My party leadership has left me.” NBC

“The Senate has confirmed President Biden’s 100th judge to the federal bench.”
 By a 54-45 vote, Gina Méndez-Miró will join the U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico. A former labor lawyer and openly gay woman of color, she is emblematic of Biden’s effort to diversify the judiciary.
President Biden’s rate of judicial confirmations so far outpaces both Presidents Trump and Obama:
• 69 District Court judges
• 30 Circuit Court judges
• 1 Supreme Court justice

The Buffalo, NY, supermarket shooter Payton Gendron, who killed 10 people, has been sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole.

Revealed: the hacking and disinformation team meddling in elections
‘Team Jorge’ unit exposed by undercover investigation
Group sells hacking services and access to vast army of fake social media profiles
Evidence unit behind disinformation campaigns across world
Mastermind Tal Hanan claims covert involvement in 33 presidential elections

“Criminals will start wearing extra prosthetic fingers to make surveillance footage look like it’s AI generated and thus inadmissible as evidence.

“Digital Bank Heist Adventures” at Stanford Security Lunch
February 15, 2023Lessons learned from years of hacking banks
Took “an average of 5 days to infiltrate [banks] and a few more weeks to get the money out. We have never failed to steal money. We could even steal money automatically from millions of accounts”

Australia foils Iran surveillance plot and vows to bring foreign interference ‘into the light’ Home affairs minister reveals incident included monitoring an individual’s home and extensively researching their family.

Wagner chief admits to founding Russian troll farm sanctioned for meddling in US elections
“Putin pal Pregozhin, who admits to leading the organization that trolled US voters ahead of 2016 election, on Russian interference in US elections: “We interfered, we interfere and we will interfere… we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once.”

Alleged DNC Hacker’s Co-Conspirator, Vladislav Klyushin, Convicted of Cheating Elon Musk and Others

BITCOIN

Jason Lowery
As my thesis will explain, banning #BTC from US or forcing US hashers to censor valid Russian transaction requests will not prevent Russia from using #BTC. It will only motivate Russia to accelerate the growth of their own #BTC hash forces. This is the beginning of the hash wars…”

“Over the coming decades the US’ dominance as the global super power may largely lie on decisions beginning to be made now on whether to embrace Bitcoin as it embraced other technologies or fall far behind on the adoption curve; but BTC will ultimately succeed with or without it.”

“BREAKING: Strike now lets businesses instantly send US dollars over the #Bitcoin Lightning Network
This will disintermediate the traditional banking system in the US, just like Uber disintermediated taxis, gradually, and then suddenly.

Jack Mallers @jackmallers
SENDING PAYMENTS
The @Strike Sending API Documentation is now public!
Businesses and developers can now use the Strike API to send US Dollars over the Lightning Network
Cheaper, faster, global, superior payment experiences on the world’s open monetary network #Bitcoin

Adam Back “that’s a concise and clear summary of how and why bitcoin works from @halfin 2011.

Bored Ape Owner Burns $169K NFT to Move It From Ethereum to Bitcoin
The owner of BAYC #1626 burned the NFT, to symbolically shift its existence to Bitcoin. But Yuga Labs says it’s an illegitimate Ape.

HEALTH

Court nixes Fox News’ bid to end voting tech firm’s suit. Fox News lost an attempt Tuesday to shut down a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit that accuses the network of spreading lies that a voting-technology company helped “steal” the 2020 election from then-U.S. President Donald Trump

Penn State Law Manglona Lab @ManglonaLab
Anuncia Donecia Songsong
Manglona Lab for Gender and Economic Equity at Penn State Law
@EleanorNorton @ElenorHorton lawyer, activist, delegate to congress
“There is no reason to repeat bad history.”
1970: successfully represented 60 women in their EEOC complaint of sex discrimination, resulting in their employer, @Newsweek, agreeing to allow women to be reporters

South Dakota Passes First Law That Will Force Trans Kids to Detransition

Does social media harm kids’ mental health?
Here’s a great primer from @DianaBaptistaR, looking at the social science research on social media use & youth mental health. >We also put together a companion piece, looking at how Haugen documents are factoring into the legal complaints: How leaked Facebook documents propelled social media lawsuits There’s a new kind of ad on late-night TV: is your child addicted to social media?
Call this 1-800 number to get a lawyer who can sue Meta, TikTok, & Snapchat.

Mike Pence Says ‘We Need to’ Ban Abortion Pills Nationwide in New Leaked AudioAvalanche of lawsuits launched in the wake of the Frances Haugen leaks.

Bernie Sanders Wants to Talk to Big Pharma About Drug Prices

FIRST Marburg outbreak in Equatorial Guinea—”So far, 9 deaths have been reported in people with symptoms consistent with #Marburg… Marburg has a very high fatality ratio” 16 more suspected cases in the hospital. -@DrTedros #EquatorialGuinea

Mitochondria Linked to Major Depression in Older Adults
‘One problem feeds into another, and make what began as a small issue into a much larger one’

Scientists discover receptor that blocks COVID-19 infection

Ohio train derailment: The catastrophic chemical spill the US isn’t talking about

Ohio catastrophe is ‘wake-up call’ to dangers of deadly train derailments
The next derailment ‘could be cataclysmic’ if action isn’t taken after the incident near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, says expert

Norfolk Southern decided that their profits should be spent on Stock Market Buybacks instead of replacing Civil War era Braking Systems Obama’s 1990s Replacement Braking Systems was repealed after Lobbyists [KOCH BROTHERS] convinced Trump Administration. Trump  / CHOW relaxed regulation.