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Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 318 posts.
Verizon announces plans to install a download-tracking app on its Android phones
UPDATE: We have received additional information from Verizon and based on that information we are withdrawing this post while we investigate further. Here is the statement from Kelly Crummey, Director of Corporate Communications of Verizon: "As we said earlier this week, we are testing AppFlash to...
The threat from within
Former Provost John Etchemendy, in a recent speech before the Stanford Board of Trustees, outlined challenges higher education is facing in the coming years. Following is an excerpt from that talk.
A Copyright Vote That Could Change the EU’s Internet
On October 10, EU lawmakers will vote on a dangerous proposal to change copyright law. Mozilla is urging EU citizens to demand better reforms. On Octobe
Twitter, but for Math, with Toots
Hooray, it’s yet another social network for you to join! I’m skeptical about new social media, but I’ve been seeing enough posts about mathstodon.xyz that I finally caved and got an account. Mathstodon is the math(s) “instance” of mastodon , a new open-source, decentralized microblogging social network. It’s a lot…
A CEO Who Pays Employees to De-Locate from the Bay
Wade Foster [https://twitter.com/wadefoster] is the CEO of Zapier [https://zapier.com/] (YC S12). Read Zapier’s de-location post here [https://zapier.com/blog/move-away-from-sf-get-remote-job/]. If you are interested in remote work, you can also check out our interview with Gitlab…
Exploring strategies to decarbonize electricity
The Google Research team built a tool that allows users to quickly see how different factors affect the future cost to generate electricity and the amount of carbon diox…
Stop the Border Surveillance Bills
UPDATE: EFF also opposes H.R. 3548. Like S. 1757, it would expand border surveillance with biometric, drone, and ALPR technologies. The bill, styled the Border Security for America Act, was introduced by Rep. McCaul in July. EFF opposes a new federal bill that would dramatically expand dragnet...
An Electronic Voting Firm Exposes 1.8M Chicagoans
UpGuard has identified an exposure of Chicago voters' personal information by an electronic voting machine firm.
Study: carpooling apps could reduce traffic 3x in NYC
Traffic is not just a nuisance for drivers: it’s also a public-health hazard and bad news for the economy. Transportation studies put the annual cost of congestion at $160 billion , which includes 7 billion hours of time lost to sitting in traffic and an extra 3 billion gallons of fuel burned. One way to improve…
The Internet Archive Pushes Back on “Notice and Staydown”
The US Copyright Office sought comments in its ongoing study of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Section 512 safe harbor study. They are generally looking to find out how well the notice and takedown system is working for everyone—Internet platforms and users, as well as creators and copyright holders. We…
PSD2 – a directive that will change banking in Europe
Tieto is leading Nordic software and technology company serving banking, healthcare, and industry sectors. ~14,000 experts, €1.8B revenue, operating in 20+ countries
Court Rules That EFF's Stupid Patent of the Month Post Is Protected Speech
A federal judge has ruled that EFF need not obey an Australian injunction ordering EFF to take down a “Stupid Patent of the Month” blog post and never speak of the patent owner’s intellectual property again. It all started when Global Equity Management (SA) Pty Ltd (GEMSA)’s patent was featured as...
ACLU and EFF Sue Over Warrantless Phone and Laptop Searches at U.S. Border
Lawsuit on Behalf of 11 Travelers Challenges Searches of Electronic Devices as Unconstitutional
Brian Aldiss has died
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UC Berkeley makes course video content unavailable to public
Here is additional information about upcoming changes to UC Berkeley’s library of legacy public Course Capture (classroom lecture) content
Hacker News Highlights: January 2017
Here are some of our favorite recent posts on Hacker News. Quantum computers ready to leap out of the lab in 2017 [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13317716] A handful of quantum computing researchers bump into each other. [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13317716] A large slab of ice is breaking off an…
Cloudflare’s Transparency Report for Second Half 2016 and a Disclosure for 2013
Cloudflare is publishing today its seventh transparency report, covering the second half of 2016. For the first time, we are able to present information on a previously undisclosed National Security Letter (NSL) Cloudflare received in the 2013 reporting period.
House Schedules Vote on Eliminating Consumer Online Privacy Rights Next Week
Majority Leader McCarthy Confirms House to Immediately Act on Behalf of the Cable and Telephone Industry Following the Senate Vote Yesterday, the U.S. Senate by a razor thin margin of 50 to 48 voted to take away the privacy rights of Internet users as a favor to the cable and telephone industry....
An Open Letter from Freelancers at Nautilus Magazine
December 13, 2017 Dear Readers, Funders and Board Members of Nautilus Magazine, As of December 13, we are writers and editors awaiting payment from Nautilus magazine for a collective debt totalling $50,000. Some of us have been waiting to be paid for more than a year. Our numbers span many time zones, from
The Most Hated Online Advertising Techniques
Modal ads, ads that reorganize content, and autoplaying video ads were among the most disliked. Ads that are annoying on desktop become intolerable on mobile.
Access Now and EFF Condemn the Arrest of Tor Node Operator Dmitry Bogatov
This post was written in collaboration with Amie Stepanovich at Access Now. On April 6, Russian math instructor Dmitry Bogatov was arrested in Moscow and charged with “preparing to organize mass disorder” and making “public calls for terrorist activity” due to a gross misunderstanding about the...