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Disputing a Parking Fine with ChatGPT
A use case for ChatGPT
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Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 8,147 posts.
602
“Your frustration is the product”
The people making these decisions for these websites are like ocean liner captains who are *trying* to hit icebergs.
603
Seeing like a bank
The structural reasons why banks sometimes behave bizarrely in interactions with customers, like forgetting things which customers tell them.
604
Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch
A startup called Airmule has recently made a big splash by offering $99 flights to Beijing. Obviously there’s a catch. The catch in this case is that you have to give up one of your checked bags (they appear to book you on carriers that allow two checked bags), and your other checked bag is a courier shipment. So…
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ProctorU is dystopian spyware
As part of my MSc, I have to take an online exam. Obviously, this means I am highly likely to cheat by looking up things on Wikipedia or by having a bit of paper with notes on it. EVIL! So, the exam body requires me to install ProctorU. It's a service which lets someone watch you through your laptop camera while you…
607
Amazon's Fake Review Problem
Update – the fake reviews featured below were removed shortly after this post blew up on Hacker News.
608
AI surveillance should be banned while there is still time
All the same privacy harms with online tracking are also present with AI, but worse.
609
The deception of “buying” digital movies
World of Matthew is a personal website, like few others. Not just a blog but also provides reviews and video content
610
What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?
Digging into the world of "pig-butchering" scams
611
I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric
This is a story that started back in 2022, but I think its a perfect time to reflect on the impact that it has had on my friend group still to this day. Update (2/7/2025): I'm genuinely blown away by the response to this post. This hit the
612
Secret Documents Show Pepsi and Walmart Colluded to Raise Food Prices
The Trump FTC tried to hide a complaint showing Pepsi forced shoppers to pay higher prices everywhere but Walmart. But now it's unsealed. And the politics of affordability are explosive.
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Ban me at the IP level if you don't like me
“Bro, ban me at the IP level if you don't like me!”
614
Apple's 15% Deflection Tactic
Apple's App Store Small Business Program announcement is a deflection away from the deeper issues of freedom that plague not just the iOS app store, but app stores in general.
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Something is wrong when the ‘telephone app’ on your phone becomes 3rd party
Since I am not living in my home country, I frequently use two different SIM cards and prefer having a phone with dual-sim support. This limits your choice s...
617
The Windows 11 Trash Party
Thomas Bandt was setting up a new computer for his kid, and it gave him the opportunity to really look at what Windows has become over the years. Here's what was showing by default in the Start menu: First, there was news about a mass shooting that had occurred
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The Cult Inside Google
I worked for Google for about three and a half years as a video producer. I was fired because I raised alarm about a doomsday cult that…
620
Annual note to self: most of the world exists outside the tech bubble
Annual note to self – most of the world exists outside the tech bubble. —– We have a summer home in New England in a semi-rural area, just ~10,000 people in town, with a potato fa…
621
Malibu homeowners foiled by $30K Kickstarter campaign
Can you believe it? Malibu homeowners intentionally obscure public beach access areas with fake signs and hidden access. This is not only ridiculously selfish, it is illegal. Enter this...
622
The Case of Richard Glossip
September 2015 I used to think the debate about capital punishment was a matter of abstract questions like when it is permissible to kill someone. In practice it isn't. In practice the problem...
623
Chat Control proposal fails again after public opposition
The European Union’s controversial Chat Control proposal has been withdrawn once again following intense public pressure. This marks another defeat for legislation that would have mandated scanning of encrypted messages across the EU.
624
How to design a house to last 1000 years
At last, we’re finally ready to put together the design for our house. A fully specified design, with every detail and system described, is well beyond the scope of this newsletter (not to mention the scope of my knowledge). But we can give a high-level schematic design, laying out the basic building systems and how…
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A member of our community is missing, help find him
Writing and Stuff from Isaac Z. Schlueter
626
Adding a phone number to your Google account can make it less secure
Recently, account takeovers, email hacking, and targeted phishing attacks have been all over the news. Hacks of various politicians, allegedly carried out by Russian hackers, have yielded troves of data. Despite the supposed involvement of state-sponsored agents, some hacks were not reliant on complex zero-day…
627
A mysterious voice is haunting American Airlines’ in-flight announcements
A mysterious voice is moaning and grunting on American Airlines' in-flight announcement systems, and nobody knows who or how they're doing it.
628
Cyber Security: A pre-war reality check
This is a lightly edited transcript of my presentation today at the ACCSS/NCSC/Surf seminar ‘Cyber Security and Society’. I want to thank the organizers for inviting me to their conference & giving me a great opportunity to talk about something I worry about a lot. Here are the original slides with notes, which may be…
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Life as a public school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2021
In chapet 4 candidates welding abilities were sharpened at W-M corporation which makes created Iron articles even as pre-war American ancient Rarity phonies, sold at places like childan’s shop. the biggest interest from the Japanese has made an immense Marketplace for such things and no one addresses them intently.
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We were promised Strong AI, but instead we got metadata analysis
How simple structured data trumps clever machine learning