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Hepatitis C kills more Americans than all other infectious diseases combined
Hepatitis C has become so widespread that experts are calling on doctors to screen all adults 18 to 79, even those with no known risk factors or symptoms.
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Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 4,917 posts.
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I'm retiring from the engineering profession
To protect our advocacy work against future harassment from the Minnesota licensing board, Strong Towns President Charles Marohn is retiring as a professional engineer.
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Journalists’ Twitter use shows them talking within smaller bubbles
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Journalists in Washington, D.C., have long been accused of living in a “Beltway bubble,” isolated from the broader public, talking too much…
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How Mickey Mouse Evades the Public Domain
Every time Disney’s beloved mouse is about to enter the public domain, U.S. copyright law magically changes. Does he deserve special protection, or should he be relinquished to society?
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EU copyright proposal could undermine the use of Creative Commons licenses
Over the last few years the European Union has been working on revising its rules on copyright. But the latest proposal from the head of the copyright committee would deny creators the right to refuse remuneration — the right to share a work without getting paid — which could undermine the use of CC licenses…
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TSA’s Roadmap for Airport Surveillance Moves in a Dangerous Direction
The Transportation Security Administration has set out an alarming vision of pervasive biometric surveillance at airports, which cuts against the right to privacy, the “right to travel,” and the right to anonymous association with others.The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, which included language...
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One in three young people say they felt happier during lockdown
One in three young people say their mental health and wellbeing improved during COVID-19 lockdown measures, with potential contributing factors including feeling less lonely, avoiding bullying and getting more sleep and exercise, according to researchers at the universities of Cambridge and Oxford.
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Trust is Fragile
Taylor’s post about our growth in 2011 included a bunch of numbers showing how the pistons inside the 37signals engine are pounding faster, but it all got swept away by what seemed like an innocent side-note: The 100 millionth file was called cat.jpg. Being as it is that the internet is co…
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Unlocking and jailbreaking are now legally protected in the U.S.
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) won three critical exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) anticircumvention provisions today, carving out new legal protections for consumers who modify their cell phones and artists who remix videos — people who, until now...
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You're Eight Times More Likely to Be Killed by a Police Officer Than a Terrorist
It got a lot of attention this morning when I tweeted , “You’re Eight Times More Likely to be Killed by a Police Officer than a Terrorist.” It’s been quickly retweeted dozens of times, indicating that the idea is interesting to many people. So let’s discuss it in more than 140 characters.
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What Happens to Us Does Not Happen to Most of You
This blog post is a personal account of sexism, harassment, and racism that I and some anonymous members of the computer architecture community have experienced. We are sharing these experiences in…
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PR spam today looks like email spam in the early 2000s
OpenClaw became the fastest-growing repo in GitHub history almost overnight. The PR data offers a preview of what the future of open source contribution may look like.
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Of course Zuckerberg wants to bow to Chinese censorship
Remember when Zuckerberg dared to wear a hoodie to his IPO party?The easiest way to be disappointed is to expect others to act contrary to their self-interest. So really, we shouldn’t be disappoint…
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Unencrypted patient medical information is being broadcast across Vancouver
The Open Privacy Research Society is a non-profit Canadian group based in Vancouver, British Columbia. We believe that moral systems enable consent. Our society exists to invent, create, build, test, publish, deploy, promote, and to encourage the development of such systems
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Internet Archive Seeks Material for Library of Amateur Radio and Communications
Internet Archive has begun gathering content for the Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications (DLARC), which will be a massive online library of materials and collections related to amateur radio and early digital communications. The DLARC is funded by a significant grant from the Amateur Radio Digital…
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To protect kids, don’t send report cards home on Fridays
While talking to a pediatrician and fellow early-childhood researcher, Dr. Melissa Bright heard something that stopped her in her tracks: Child abuse spikes after report cards come out.
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China's Great Cannon
This post describes our analysis of an attack tool that we identify as separate from, but co-located with, the Great Firewall of China.
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Jonathan Smith walks free after 21 years of wrongful imprisonment
Jonathan Smith was released from Talbot County DOC Wednesday, April 21, 2021 after 21 years of wrongful incarceration. He was greeted by his two sons, Jonathan pictured here picking him up. (Image: Eric Kayne/AP Images for the Innocence Project)
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Americans don't feel they can get justice when wronged by their ISP – survey
More than 20 million U.S. households had unresolved complaints against their ISPs last year. Despite wanting justice, many didn't pursue.
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An Exemption to the DMCA Would Let Game Fans Keep Abandoned Games Running
When you buy a video game, you expect to be able to play it for as long as you want. You expect be able to play it with your kids many years from now if you want (well, maybe not Grand Theft Auto). And you would hope that museums and media historians could preserve the games that were so important...
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Congress: Stop Trying to Limit EFF’s Ability to Challenge Patents
EFF recently won our challenge to invalidate claims of the “podcasting patent” using a procedure at the Patent Office called inter partes review. This procedure allowed us to challenge a patent that was being used to demand licenses from individual podcasters, even though EFF itself had never been...
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Why YC went to DC
A few weeks ago, I went to DC to start engaging policymakers and be the voice of little tech. Here's why.