NetHappenings Internet Ethics

Internet Ethics

Back in 2016, the American Philosophical Association hosted a meeting titled “#AI Automation and the Good Life.” The event intro reads like it could have been written yesterday (just changing one name): https://apaonline.org/general/custom.asp?page=AIAuto #ethics #tech #highered

“Stable Diffusion kickstarted an era of rapid development in image-synthesis technology… [&] strong backlash among artists and corporate entities, some of which have sued Stability AI. Stability’s move into language models could inspire similar results”:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/04/stable-diffusion-for-language-stability-launches-open-source-ai-chatbot/

“Today’s #AI breakthroughs couldn’t happen without the availability of the digital stockpiles and landfills of info, ideas and feelings that the #internet prompted people to produce.
But we produced all that stuff for one another, not for AI.” #ethics #tech #data

Congress gets 40 ChatGPT Plus licenses to start experimenting with generative AI

The House of Representatives’ digital service has already distributed the licenses among lawmakers’ offices.

NetHappenings Newsletter Headlines, AI – Social Media – Health – Privacy – Crypto Regulation

NetHappenings Newsletter Headlines
#AI – #SocialMedia – #Health – #Privacy – #CryptoRegulation

George Santos

AI

RIP Remembering Carl Hewitt January 18, 2023

Conservatives Are Panicking About AI Bias, Think ChatGPT Has Gone ‘Woke’

How ChatGPT Hijacks Democracy ChatGPT is already threatening to upend how we draft everyday communications like emails, college essays and myriad other forms of writing.
Created by the company OpenAI, ChatGPT is a chatbot that can automatically respond to written prompts in a manner that is sometimes eerily close to human.

Social Media

What the Jan. 6 probe found out about social media, but didn’t report

Google Didn’t Show Bias in Filtering Campaign-Ad Pitches, FEC Says
GOP committees cited an academic article to claim Google’s spam filters were designed to benefit Democrats

Hockenberry: The The Sh*t Show
Well, it happened.
We knew it was coming.

Online safety bill threatens tech CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg with jail

Journalists (And Others) Should Leave Twitter. Here’s How They Can Get Started | Techdirt
Summary: Elon Musk has demonstrated contempt for free speech in general, and journalism in particular, with his behavior at Twitter. He is also demonstrating why it is foolhardy for anyone to rely on centralized platforms to create and distribute vital information. Journalists — among many information providers and users — should move to decentralized systems where they have control of what they say and how they distribute it. And philanthropic organizations have a major

Health

EWG study: Eating one freshwater fish equals a month of drinking ‘forever chemicals’ water
PFAS found at high levels in freshwater fish, with most concern for vulnerable communities

Matt Schlapp Sued for $9.4 Million by Herschel Walker Aide Who Accused Him of Sexual Assault

Moderna CEO: 400% price hike on COVID vaccine “consistent with the value” Lawmakers have already called Pfizer’s similar plan “pure and deadly greed.”
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/01/moderna-may-match-pfizers-400-price-hike-on-covid-vaccines-report-says/

PRIVACY

Websites Selling Abortion Pills Are Sharing Sensitive Data With Google
Some sites selling abortion pills use technology that shares information with third parties like Google. Law enforcement can potentially use this data to prosecute people who end their pregnancies with medication.
https://www.propublica.org/article/websites-selling-abortion-pills-share-sensitive-data-with-google

Is Worldcoin a Crypto-currency for the Masses or Your Digital ID?
IN A COLLEGE classroom in the Indian city of Bangalore last August, Moiz Ahmed held up a volleyball-size chrome globe with a glass-covered opening at its center. Ahmed explained to the students that if they had their irises scanned with the device, known as the Orb, they would be rewarded with 25 Worldcoins, a soon-to-be released cryptocurrency. The scan, he said, was to make sure they hadn’t signed up before. That’s because Worldcoin, the company behind the project, wants to create the most widely and evenly distributed cryptocurrency ever by giving every person on the planet the same small allocation of coins. Some listeners were enthusiastic, considering the meteoric rise in value that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin since they launched. “I found it to be a very unique opportunity,” said Diksha Rustagi. “You can probably earn a lot from Worldcoin in the future.” Others were more cautious, including a woman who goes by Chaitra R, who hung at the back of the classroom as her fellow students signed up. “I have a lot of doubts,” she said. “We would like to know how it’s going to help us.”

The Federal Communications Commission’s Friday, the 13th Fabric challenge deadline nightmare: Some states want a delay, others urge the administration on. Commerce: We need to “meet the urgency of the moment.”

 

REGULATION

Congress’ FTX Problem: 1 in 3 Members Got Cash From Crypto Exchange’s Bosses

America’s slow-moving, confused crypto regulation is driving industry out of US and is likely to end another year without clear guidance on digital assets.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/11/americas-slow-moving-confused-crypto-regulation-is-driving-industry-out-of-us/

Four Crypto-Friendly Banks Are Being Bailed Out with Billions from a Federal Housing Program
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/01/four-crypto-friendly-banks-are-being-bailed-out-with-billions-from-a-federal-housing-program/

A Sam Bankman-Fried Company Loaned or Invested More than $1 Billion in Clients of its Law Firm, Sullivan & Cromwell
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/01/a-sam-bankman-fried-company-loaned-or-invested-more-than-1-billion-in-clients-of-its-law-firm-sullivan-cromwell/

FTX Bankruptcy Proceedings Thus Far Show a Shocking Miscarriage of Justice
https://wallstreetonparade.com/2023/01/ftx-bankruptcy-proceedings-thus-far-show-a-shocking-miscarriage-of-justice/

FOLKLORE

2022 Reviews
Review of Victoria Lindsay Levine and Dylan Robinson, Music and Modernity Among First Peoples of North America

ECP NetHappenings 1-4-23 Politics, Fun Facts, Headlines

ECP NetHappenings

https://cyberplayground.org/2023/01/04/ecp-nethappenings-1-4-23-politics-fun-facts-headlines

#Politics

I’m pretty tired of watching the people who tried to overthrow the government still serving as Members of Congress.

McCarthy is REJECTED once again as is right.

Watching Kevin McCarthy fail over and over is so satisfying.

@davetroy
Has anyone tried unplugging the House and plugging it back in again?

Kevin McCarthy retroactively supported the coup and refused to help America hold the plotters accountable all so he could experience… today. Elect clowns expect a circus.

These Republicans aren’t actually going to bring down inflation, solve the border crisis or lower the price of gas.
@HouseDemocrats are united, and ready to get to work #ForThePeople.

@itsJeffTiedrich sure, sex is great and all but have you ever watched Kevin McCarthy be humiliated on live tv

Marjorie Greene: “If Republicans don’t vote for Kevin McCarthy, we could wind up seeing two black people sitting behind Joe Biden during the next State of the Union address.”

Pro-lynching, Freedom Caucus member Chip Roy, nominating Byron Donalds for speaker: “We’re not racist. Look, we know some black people!”

George Santos posts press release on official House website [now gone] citing having taken the oath & being sworn in today. No members were sworn in today. There is no Speaker of the House.

McCarthy Votes By Round.
1-203
2-203
3-202
4-201

Hakeem Jeffries @RepJeffries
House Dems will continue to put people over politics.
Republicans are putting politics over the people.
And so America lacks a fully formed Congress for the first time in 100 years.

Former Speakers of the House
Tip O’Neill – not terrible
Newt Gingrich – terrible
Dennis Hastert – terrible
John Boehner – terrible
Paul Ryan – just bad
Nancy Pelosi – excellent

The Republican Party is showing America why you should NEVER vote for them and it’s only the 3rd day of 2023.

Is the GOP Congress the largest criminal racketeering organization in America, or are they just a cluster-fuck of grifters, misfits, liars, and thieves……or maybe both!

@paulkrugman I’ve seen jokes about Liz Cheney as speaker, but seriously: why can’t this end with 7 sane Republicans joining Democrats to elect someone who isn’t totally despicable?

Liar George Santos’ First Day in Congress Is Off to a Rocky Start
78 members of Congress have violated a law designed to prevent insider trading and stop conflicts-of-interest

Fun Facts

  • Who remembers the Republican Governor of Massachusetts hanging the flag at half-mast when Jerry died?
    Things have changed.
  • One single teaspoon of honey represents the life work of 12 bees.
  • Pound cake originally included a pound of all the ingredients.

Headlines

NEW: With 54% of Mississippi’s hospitals in danger of closing, medical leaders warned state lawmakers of a “looming disaster” unless they expand Medicaid.
Gov. Tate Reeves and House Speaker Gunn have long opposed what Reeves calls “Obamacare expansion.”

je*******@to**.social @jennycohn1
The assault on public education is coming from Christian nationalists
. Dr. Ben Carson is part of it. So are Moms 4 Liberty. Knowing this may help us push back. #WarOnPublicSchools

U.S. Postal Service can continue to deliver prescription abortion medication, DOJ says
The mailing of mifepristone and misoprostol, commonly used to terminate pregnancies, did not violate an 1873 law known as the Comstock Act. Mifepristone is a prescription drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to induce an abortion up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy. It must be followed by a second drug, misoprostol. USPS said the Justice Department concurred with its “determination that under the doctrine of intergovernmental immunity, any state laws that may apply to the shipment of those prescription drugs cannot be applied to Postal Service employees who are complying with their duties under federal law.”

#SBF 2 Unkown FRPs
Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to all charges in FTX fraud case.

Two people who have agreed, along with his parents, to sign bonds securing Bankman-Fried’s release on $250 million in bail. Fried’s lawyers from Cohen & Gresser filed a letter asking District Judge Lewis Kaplan of Manhattan to order the redaction of names and other identifying information on two bail bonds that are due to be signed on Jan. 5. He can thank Jeffrey Epstein’s enabler, Ghislaine Maxwell, for helping to keep his supporters’ names a secret. “FRPs,” or financially responsible people/
Bankman-Fried relied on Ghislaine Maxwell precedent to shield bail co-signers Bankman-Fried’s counsel Mark Cohen of Cohen & Gresser also represented Ghislaine Maxwell

HLLI Responds to Pennsylvania’s Attempt to Appeal Unconstitutionality of Attorney Speech Regulation
HLLI filed its response brief in Greenberg v. Lehocky, Appellate Case No. 22-1733 (3rd. Cir.), Pennsylvania’s attempt to overrule HLLI’s victory enjoining the state’s unconstitutional regulation of attorney speech, Rule 8.4(g). HLLI challenged Rule 8.4(g) on behalf of attorney Zachary Greenberg, a Pennsylvania-licensed attorney working for a non-profit organization that advocates on behalf of students’ constitutional rights and regularly speaks at legal education and other professional events on a variety of hot-button legal issues. After two HLLI victories in the district court, where the court found both the original and amended rule unconstitutional violations of Pennsylvania attorneys’ First Amendment rights, Pennsylvania appealed.
HLLI Responds to Pennsylvania’s Attempt to Appeal Unconstitutionality of Attorney Speech Regulation
“The First Amendment does not permit state licensing authorities to dictate what viewpoints its members may express on a wide range of academic, social, legal, cultural and political issues,” said HLLI Senior Attorney Adam Schulman. “Pennsylvania may not condition Zach’s right to pursue his professional calling on him sacrificing participation in the free marketplace of ideas.”
Center for Class Action Fairness
Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, a new non-profit public interest law firm.
https://hlli.org/

Union-friendly changes in the works at U.S. labor board
The U.S. National Labor Relations Board’s Democratic majority is poised to make a series of key changes to federal labor law in 2023 that will aid unions amid a surge in organizing that gained momentum during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NLRB and its general counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, have signaled their interest in overturning a number of Trump-era decisions that were favored by business groups.
WORKPLACE RULES
INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS
CAPTIVE AUDIENCE MEETINGS
ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE

ECP NetHappenings: Turning Point Action Dark Money

ECP NETHAPPENINGS NEWSLETTER

BREAKING

A “dark money” group that helped sponsor the rally that preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than quadrupled its revenue during its most recent fiscal year, according to OpenSecrets’ review of tax returns.
Turning Point Action is the 501(c)(4) advocacy arm of Turning Point, a conservative student group that flourished under former President Donald Trump’s administration. Turning Point is spearheaded by its 501(c)(3) arm, Turning Point USA, and is best known for conservative youth engagement efforts and digital operations, which were used to promote the Jan. 6 rally. The 501(c)(4) advocacy arm, Turning Point Action, was one of nine groups listed as “participating” in the Jan. 6 rally. Caroline Wren, a top Trump fundraiser campaign who was listed as a “VIP Advisor” on the permit granted by the National Park Service for the Jan. 6 rally, allegedly “parked funds” for the Stop the Steal rally in Washington, D.C., with Turning Point and two other groups involved in the rally ahead of Jan. 6.

 

MSNBC’s Andrew Weissman is reporting that Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign manager Paul Manafort made a deal with Vladimir Putin to help Trump get elected.

 

Jan Select Cmte releases batch of transcripts w/ key witnesses, including Donald Trump,Jr, Kim Guilfoyle, DC Police Chief, DC Mayor, Ray Epps, Christina Bobb, Trump Jr: https://january6th.house.gov/sites/democrats.january6th.house.gov/files/20220503_Donald%20J.%20Trump%2C%20Jr..pdf

@avi_eisen has been arrested in Puerto Rico.
Although it may be satisfying to see this arrogant aggressor finally arrested, the consequences of his case do not look good for DeFi. Code is not law.
https://rekt.news/avi-arrested/

In the US, code is considered speech by the Supreme Court. Use this info.

Use it when your friend says the US will ban #Bitcoin. It can’t.

#BTC is just code
.
It’s protected under the first amendment via Bernstein vs Department of Justice. We will win.

 

Former President Trump foreign policy advisor John Bolton said that Donald Trump planned to withdraw the U.S. from NATO and allow Russian expansion in Ukraine and further into Europe.

 

ReTHUGlican Elon Musk

announced a new Twitter policy

that includes

“reasoned questioning of the science.”

Just like this!

NBC News Has Confirmed That The Probe Into Deleted Secret Service Text Message Scandal Is Now Officially A Criminal Investigation

 

 

SBF is allowed on the internet but not allowed to make purchases over $1,000, or start a business.

 

 

Steven Beschloss @StevenBeschloss
“The road forward will be paved with sociopaths and sociopathy. It could be decades before this cancer is removed from the body politic. In the now, we will face more death, destruction and terrorism because of this shameless servitude to keeping power.”
https://america.substack.com/p/the-sociopathy-of-greg-abbott-redux
#Florida tax analysis includes $60 million in sales tax exemptions that “serve an unclear public purpose.” Tax breaks for tix to Super Bowl, car races, gun club memberships, fancy boats.
The report found that the state’s many tax breaks and subsidies do not offer targeted relief to lower-income individuals, who pay more proportionally on sales taxes – the state’s main source of revenue because there’s no state income tax — than those with higher incomes”

George Santos: “…It’s not like Ukraine is a great democracy. It’s a totalitarian regime. They’re not a great bastion of freedom.”
It’s starting to look like Santos might be a Russian asset.
George Santos would NEVER have been elected if he had been honest with the voters about his background. He’s a total fraud and should be forced to resign his seat.