331
Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay
We should look at individuals—not national averages—as the unit of analysis, and ask: Are wages adequate for full-time workers?
Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 4,917 posts.
332
The recurring dream of replacing developers
Every decade brings new promises: this time, we'll finally make software development simple enough that we won't need so many developers.
333
Companies must stop using Google Analytics
Vi arbetar för att skydda alla dina personuppgifter, till exempel om hälsa och ekonomi, så att de hanteras korrekt och inte hamnar i orätta händer.
334
Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech (2019)
After a decade or so of the general sentiment being in favor of the internet and social media as a way to enable more speech and improve the marketplace of ideas, in the last few years the view has shifted dramatically—now it seems that almost no one is happy. Some feel that these platforms have become cesspools of…
335
The Unstoppable Rise of Sci-Hub (2019)
How do early career researchers (ECRs) use Sci-Hub and why? In this post David Nicholas assesses early career researcher attitudes towards the journal pirating site, finding a strong preference for Sci-Hub amongst French ECRs. He raises the question, will Sci-Hub prove the ultimate disruptor and bring down the…
336
UMN CS&E Statement on Linux Kernel Research
Leadership in the University of Minnesota Department of Computer Science & Engineering learned today about the details of research being conducted by one of its faculty members and graduate students into the security of the Linux Kernel. The research method used raised serious concerns in the Linux Kernel community…
337
No, Cellebrite Cannot “Break Signal Encryption”
Yesterday, the BBC ran a story with the factually untrue headline, “Cellebrite claimed to have cracked chat app’s encryption.” This is false. Not only can Cellebrite not break Signal encryption, but Cellebrite never even claimed to be able to. Since we weren’t actually given the opportunity to co...
338
They have not been trained for this
The Chaos Computer Club (CCC) supports the three hackers who explained in detail at 37C3 how the Polish rail vehicle manufacturer Newag had manipulated its trains in such a way that they could only...
339
A/I shuts down
The day we discovered we had been designated a global terrorist organization, we promised that we would try to resist as long as this was possible, that we would not back down as long as we could see options to stand our ground. For years, we have proudly maintained and defended a free, privacy-friendly, autonomous…
340
The EARN IT Act Violates the US Constitution
Since senators introduced the EARN IT Act (S. 3398) in early March, EFF has called attention to the many ways in which the bill would be a disaster for Internet users’ free speech and security. We’ve explained how the EARN IT Act could be used to drastically undermine encryption. Although the bill...
341
Facebook tracking is illegal in Europe
Meta must pay 1.2 billion euros for violating the EU regulation GDPR.
342
ICANN races towards regulatory capture: the great .org heist
Updates: EFF letter, PIR’s update; IGP’s insider take; ICANN resolution; Ways to act, Reg essay x2, Ohashi, Tim Berners-Lee response; Letters from ISOC(😇), Ethos(🌈), and…
343
Who Americans spend their time with, by age
How do people across the world spend their time? How do daily activities differ across countries, and how do these differences matter for people’s lives? Explore data and research on time use.
344
We are leaving the Apple App Store and all its problems
For many years developers were not particularly satisfied with Apple's AppStore. It creates an artificial frontier between users and developers. Developer can not inform users about updates, tips, issues or fixes, and users often turn to the AppStore with one star reviews and negative comments instead of reaching out…
345
Researchers Could Have Uncovered Volkswagen’s Emissions Cheat If Not for DMCA
Automakers argue that it’s unlawful for independent researchers to look at the code that controls vehicles without the manufacturer’s permission. We’ve explained before how this allows manufacturers to prevent competition in the markets for add-on technologies and repair tools. It also makes it harder for watchdogs to…
346
Court finds Fourth Amendment doesn’t support broad search of protesters’ devices
In a big win for protesters’ rights, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit overturned a lower court’s dismissal of a challenge to sweeping warrants to search a protester’s devices and digital data and a nonprofit’s social media data.The case, Armendariz v. City of Colorado Springs, arose...
347
Saving Lydia
My 6 month old daughter was born with a genetic mutation that will leave her severely disabled. We can silence her mutation within months…
348
Massachusetts Court Blocks Warrantless Access to Real-Time Location Data
There's heartening news for our location privacy out of Massachusetts this week. The Supreme Judicial Court, the state's highest court, ruled that police access to real-time cell phone location data—whether it comes from a phone company or from technology like a cell site simulator—intrudes on a...
349
The U.K. government is close to eroding encryption worldwide
The U.K. Parliament is pushing ahead with a sprawling internet regulation bill that will, among other things, undermine the privacy of people around the world. The Online Safety Bill, now at the final stage before passage in the House of Lords, gives the British government the ability to force backdoors into messaging…
350
New documents reveal scale of US Government’s cell phone location data tracking
Thousands of previously unreleased records illustrate how government agencies sidestep our Fourth Amendment rights.
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New German government calls for European ban on biometric mass surveillance
The newly-agreed German government coalition has called for a Europe-wide ban on public facial recognition and other biometric surveillance. This echoes the core demands of the Reclaim Your Face campaign which EDRi has co-led since 2020, through which over 65 civil society groups ask the EU and their national…
353
Wikimedia Foundation Challenges UK Online Safety Act Regulations
Wikipedia is the backbone of knowledge on the internet. Learn how the Wikimedia Foundation is safeguarding it under the UK Online Safety Act.
354
Apple previews Live Speech, Personal Voice, and more new accessibility features
Apple today previewed software features for cognitive, vision, hearing, and mobility accessibility, along with innovative tools for individuals who are nonspeaking or at risk of losing their ability to speak.
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ISPs Say They Don’t Make Enough Money
In their effort to prevent states from protecting a free and open Internet, a small handful of massive and extraordinarily profitably Internet service providers (ISPs) are telling state legislatures that network neutrality would hinder their ability to raise revenues to pay for upgrades and thus...
357
Independent directors of 23andMe resign from board
Press releases from 23andMe Research Institute.
358
Internet.org Is Not Neutral, Not Secure, and Not the Internet
Facebook's Internet.org project, which offers people from developing countries free mobile access to selected websites, has been pitched as a philanthropic initiative to connect two thirds of the world who don’t yet have Internet access. We completely agree that the global digital divide should be...
359
De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? (2025)
Top dollar no more? Discover the factors threatening the dominance of the world’s reserve currency and how this is playing out across markets.
360
Unsealed Briefs in Authors’ Case v. Microsoft/OpenAI
(New York, September 21, 2026) Explosive new documents released last Thursday in Authors Guild v. OpenAI—the major book authors’ ongoing lawsuit alleging OpenAI and Microsoft illegally trained their products on copyrighted books—show that executives and employees at both companies intentionally […]