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The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 13,064 posts.
This Fourth of July, EFF will be demonstrating our commitment to your Constitutional right of privacy from government surveillance by displaying the text of the Fourth Amendment on our website. This demonstration is a visual symbol of our opposition to the illegal and unconstitutional surveillance...
What happens when innovation doesn’t fit the usual narratives?
Twilio's CEO talks about trusted communications, reputation, robocalling, and making it safe to pick up your phone again.
Professor Walter Scheidel examines the history of peace and economic inequality over the past 10,000 years.
determine why you're "terminally online" to accomplish the tasks detailed further in the list, you have to do some soul-searching. this starts with acknow...
News reports tell us that Customs and Border Patrol has become more aggressive about checking social media accounts at the border. In doing this, the United States joins a growing list of countries that recognized the value of these accounts, and the unique data mining opportunity that a border crossing provides.
In the popular trend of unintentionally horrifying “uplifting” news, out-of-touch corporate media give us supposedly charming, wholesome and positive news that actually, upon even minimal retrospection, reveals the dire conditions of late capitalism so many Americans now live under, and makes you feel worse after…
In 2014 we dropped support for Internet Explorer 7 — and offered to buy a new computer for any customer stuck on it. The offer has long since closed.
Some classic (non-aggregation) monopolization!
Posted on Friday 3 Jul 2026. 723 words, 2 links. By Matt Webb.
Poll: the 80% would not feel comfortable being politically active or exploring their sexuality if authorities can monitor their communication.
It feels as if we're at the tail end of the first era of social media in the West. Looking back at the companies that have survived, certain application architectural choices are ubiquitous. By now, we're all familiar with the infinite vertical scrolling feed of content units, the likes, the follows, the comments, the…
In a long-awaited decision, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank today, striking down an abstract software patent. Essentially, the Court ruled that adding “on a computer” to an abstract idea does not make it patentable. Many thousands of software patents—particularly the...
EFF, Public Knowledge, and the Center for Democracy and Technology Urge The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to Protect Internet Subscribers in BMG v. Cox. No one should have to fear losing their Internet connection because of unfounded accusations. But some rights holders want...
Historians are finally having their AI debate
Europe is special to me as I consider myself a proud European, but damn we need to talk. Europe please wake up.
Proton email keeps sending my non-Proton email accounts encrypted emails. I figure out why and show you how to turn it off.
Open Source Freelancer
The free Web tutoring service “Khan Academy” has gotten much well-deserved attention, including a feature story in the current issue of Wired . That story includes a quote that literally took my breath away :
Xe Iaso's personal website.
Follow a sponsored result in Google to a page in Medium that provides a Terminal command that you will live to regret. And what is Marek’s disease?
In a truly historic moment, New York City became the first city in the nation to protect freelance workers against client nonpayment today on October 27, 2016. This landmark victory is a testament to what can be accomplished when we stand together for the rights of the new workforce. Today,
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53% of software engineers have suspected wrongdoing at work with ~145,000 software engineers in the UK having experienced retaliation the last time they reported it to their employers. For those who didn't report unethical behaviour, fear of retaliation from management was reported as the top reason (59%).
