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Refund of pre-installed Windows: Lenovo must pay 20k euros in damages
In a historic judgment in Italy, in a case initiated by FSFE supporter Luca Bonissi, Lenovo was ordered to pay 20,000 euros in damages for abusive behaviou...
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Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 1,050 posts.
392
This Can’t Go On
The long view of economic history says we're in the midst of a huge, unsustainable acceleration. What happens next?
393
On YouTube’s recommendation system
How YouTube's recommendation system works: Understand how videos are suggested and how to optimize your content for discovery.
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Bring back hydrogen lifting gas
According to one estimate, there are around 25 blimps worldwide. What will it take to bring back these majestic beasts of the sky?
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Down the Rabbit Hole: The world of estranged parents' forums (2015)
This page doesn’t apply to all estranged parents, only to estranged parents who are members of estranged parents’ forums. Read why.
398
How to summon and sell your soul to Satan and other devils
Selling your soul has never been easier. Today, there are plenty of demonology books that teach you how to bargain with Lucifer, written by authors who have probably done this themselves on multiple occasions.
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Facebook's GDPR consent bypass reaches Austrian Supreme Court
Austrian Supreme Court may refer case to Court of Justice, questioning the basis of Facebook's business model in Europe.
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37% of the world’s population have still never used the internet
New data from ITU suggest a ‘COVID connectivity boost’ – but the world’s poorest are still being left far behind, with 2.9 billion people still offline.
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The Melancholy of Subculture Society (2019)
Internet links small groups, helping dissolve big groups; good, bad? But a bit sad.
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A salt monopoly could spike car accidents in the Midwest
Michael Milken, private equity, and a salt roll-up are showing we're in for shortages and price spikes.
405
Microsoft ruined passwords, now aims for a passwordless future
Purism makes premium phones, laptops, mini PCs and servers running free software on PureOS. Purism products respect people's privacy and freedom while protecting their security.
406
If Not Overturned, Bad Copyright Decision Will Lead Many to Lose Internet Access
This post was co-written by EFF Legal Intern Lara EllenbergIn going after internet service providers (ISPs) for the actions of just a few of their users, Sony Music, other major record labels, and music publishing companies have found a way to cut people off of the internet based on mere...
407
No one knows how much the government can borrow
Perhaps macroeconomists should think about studying this interesting question.
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EFF Flew a Plane over Apple's Headquarters
For the last month, civil liberties and human rights organizations, researchers, and customers have demanded that Apple cancel its plan to install photo-scanning software onto devices. This software poses an enormous danger to privacy and security. Apple has heard the message, and announced that it...
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Is the big tech era ending?
I put on my wizard hat 🧙♂️
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“Dune” (The Movie), Annotated
Dreams are newsletters from the deep
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You can no longer bypass microsoft-edge:// links using apps like EdgeDeflector
Microsoft doubles-down on its user-choice hostile web browser behavior; blocks competitors from opening links from many Windows apps and web experiences.
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The main thing about Phenylacetone meth is that there's so much of it
Since around 2009, methamphetamines have been made with phenylacetone (P2P). Is there a chemical different causing schizophrenia?
415
My trust in software, an all time low
I don't think I've ever had more distrust and as a consequence distate for software than in recent years. I don't think its just me as a tech-nerd with artisanal tech-carpentry aspirations. I want people to build well, treat their users right and generally exercise some actual restraint. I see it very clearly and I…
416
Freenode IRC operators now engaging in routine abuses of power
There have been several allegations of this since the handover of the Freenode infrastructure to its new custodians, but I can now provide a first-hand account of one incident — because I am the victim of it.
417
My love-hate affair with technology
Ten years ago I would have considered myself someone who was excited about new technology. I always had the latest smartphone, I would read the reviews of new…
418
How to spot a good fake ID
One of my favorite things in the world is the very specific, strange competencies that people develop over the course of a job. Carpenters might be able to estimate the length of anything just by looking at it, architects might be able to quickly sketch a remarkably accurate picture from memory, etc.
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It's time to build: a New World's Fair
We must look to the past — to the World's Fairs — to build the future.
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Gemini's "uselessness" is its killer feature
So it’s borderline useless for all but the simplest use cases, and even there it does a very subpar job. I’d like to have an inline image every now and then, or organize things in some multi-column layouts or the like, or a table. 19th century newspapers could do this, and if your technology can’t emulate typography…