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The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 326 posts.
We document that, after remaining almost constant for almost 30 years, real labor productivity at U.S. restaurants surged over 15% during the COVID pandemic. This surge has persisted even as many conditions have returned to pre-pandemic levels. Using mobile phone data tracking visits and spending at more than 100,000…
Kapwing’s new research shows that 21-33% of YouTube’s feed may consist of AI slop or brainrot videos. But which countries and channels are achieving the greatest reach — and how much money might they make? We analyzed social data to find out.
Research highlights how a lack of vegetation and shade exposes vulnerable residents to heightened health risks.
When entertaining the idea of communities issuing their own money (called complementary currencies ), people often wonder if that idea has been successfully done before. In doing our research into the concept, we encountered a number of stories where communities issued their own currency and produced a prosperity…
[A Federal Air Marshal (FAM) tasked with surveillance of an airline passenger targeted by Quiet Skies lists and/or rules followed the traveler out to the curb and recorded the license plate number of the vehicle in which she left the airport, so that her airline reservations could be integrated with license plate…
Among adults who have not paid for news in the past year, the most common reason they cite is that they can find plenty of other news articles for free.
The Free Software Foundation Europe deleted its account on X. The platform never aligned with our values and no longer serves as a space for communication....
In their own words, we see that Snap Inc’s design choices expose millions of kids to harm
[X-posted from the Live Near Friends blog]
The Authority found the App Tracking Transparency (“ATT”) policy to restrict competition The policy lays down the privacy rules imposed by the company on third-party developers of apps off...
Private practices are vanishing as more doctors join large hospital systems. This increasing consolidation is reducing competition and raising prices, according to a study co-authored by Yale SOM’s Fiona Scott Morton.
When Large Language Models are used as judges for decision-making across various sensitive domains, they consistently exhibit unpredictable and hidden measurement biases, making their verdicts unreliable despite common prompt engineering practices.
Last week, OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman announced in San Francisco that the World project he co-founded, formerly known as Worldcoin, is opening six stores across the United States, allowing users of the project's app to scan their eyeballs. This is worrisome, to say the least.
We've opposed the Take It Down Act because it could be easily manipulated to take down lawful content that powerful people simply don't like. Last night, President Trump demonstrated he has a similar view on the bill. He wants to sign the bill into law, then use it to remove content about — him....
Major digital labor platforms, also known as gig companies, operating in the United States misclassify gig workers as independent contractors, denying them labor rights.
The death rate per mile driven has declined 22-fold since 1950.
A 2026 Airline Water Study released today by the Center for Food as Medicine and Longevity reveals that the quality of drinking water varies significantly by airline, and many airlines…
Trump imposed a new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas, raising costs for employers and reshaping U.S. hiring. Learn what it means for you.
Even if you can’t stop Flock’s use entirely, you can still help protect civil liberties in your community.
We raised over $1 million this year to directly support organizations on the front lines of the fight for online privacy and freedom.
The Research Pipeline is Stalling The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) froze all outgoing funding, including new awards and scheduled payments on active grants. Over 1,000 NSF research projec…
Trump paralysed the "Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board" (PCLOB), a key element of the EU-US data transfer deal that allows EU-US data flows.
A new Oceana analysis reveals the global scale of China’s visible fishing fleet
Anti-Tutsi articles and graphic cartoons began appearing in the Kangura newspaper from around 1990. In June 1993 a new radio station called Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLMC) began broadcasting in Rwanda…
Read about the new ebooks Standard Ebooks is releasing for Public Domain Day 2025!
A short commentary on Mozilla's policy changes and how they affect the user community.
The Senate reconciliation package is a disturbing giveaway that will mandate the “disposal” of public lands across the western United States.
If you’re fed up with Meta right now, you’re not alone. Meta tracks you across millions of websites and apps and its business model relies on your data. If you want to limit Meta’s ability to collect and profit from your personal data, here’s what you need to know.
