481
Tor is not just for anonymity (2022)
Tech, Pets, and Vettes
Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 952 posts.
482
Microsoft consumes Activision; and a plea
The gavel has fallen; the cup has been stomped; pick your metaphor. Microsoft has succeeded in its almost-two-year quest to gobble up Activision. The peculiar side effect in my corner of the world is that Microsoft now owns the dusty remains ...
483
AI and Trust
I trusted a lot today. I trusted my phone to wake me on time. I trusted Uber to arrange a taxi for me, and the driver to get me to the airport safely. I trusted thousands of other drivers on the road not to ram my car on the way. At the airport, I trusted ticket agents and maintenance engineers and everyone else who…
484
The Right to Lie and Google’s “Web Environment Integrity”
This is a fundamental principle of free and open source software. The World Wide Web abides by this principle, although we don’t often think of it that way. The Web is just an agreed-on set of programmatic interfaces: if you send me this, I’ll send you that. Your computer can construct the “this” by whatever means it…
485
“We’ve Changed the Game”: Teamsters Win Historic UPS Contract
(WASHINGTON) – Today, the Teamsters reached the most historic tentative agreement for workers in the history of UPS, protecting and rewarding more than 340,00
486
The Effects of Noise on Health (2022)
As you were browsing something about your browser made us think you were a bot. There are a few reasons this might happen:
487
The House Intelligence Committee's Surveillance 'Reform' Bill Is a Farce
Two bills reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act are headed to the House floor. Meanwhile, FBI agents have used Section 702 databases to conduct millions of invasive searches for Americans’ communications, including those of protesters, racial justice activists, 19,000 donors to a…
488
Appeals court upholds right to post public laws online
SAN FRANCISCO—Technical standards like fire and electrical codes developed by private organizations but incorporated into public law can be freely disseminated without any liability for copyright infringement, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. Tuesday’s ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S...
489
In 1961 a Gallup poll showed only 33% of Americans in favor of moon landing
Today marks the 54th anniversary of the moon landing. In retrospect it has almost unanimous support and adoration in the US: pleasing the left as an example of the power of public funding and the right as a triumph of the capitalist west against the
490
When Interfaces Kill: What Happened to John Denver (1999)
How poor design killed John Denver dead.
491
TACF is no longer supporting development of D58 American chestnut trees
In December 2023, The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) withdrew its support for SUNY-ESF’s Darling transgenic chestnut project. Since then, we’ve received questions about the decision and what’s next for the Darling line. We appreciate those questions because they indicate a deep interest in our mission and reflect…
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The Fediverse is an opportunity learned societies can't ignore
Björn Brembs argues that learned societies should lead developments on federated social media platforms, such as Mastodon.
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The Style Guide for America’s Highways
Driving across America, you will encounter a wide variety of cultures, landscapes, people and animals. But the one consistent thing that will stay the same from Maine to California are the signs you pass on the highway. That is because America’s roads and highways have a big, fat style guide.
496
TeleSign profiles half of the world’s mobile phone users
TeleSign generates a “reputation score” and sells it to various clients. TeleSign secretly received the mobile phone data from BICS, a Belgian company that provides interconnection services
497
Blocking Threads won't be enough to protect privacy once they join the Fediverse
At least, not with today's software.
498
Where do stolen bikes go?
Researchers tracked the whereabouts of stolen bicycles in Amsterdam, revealing patterns of activity after bikes are pilfered. The work was led by members of MIT’s Sensable City Lab.
499
Text only news websites (2022)
There's no BBC News text-only site, even though everyone comes here looking for one – more info
500
The Rocky Horror Coffin Clock
It’s astounding. Time is fleeting. Madness takes its toll…
501
Guinea worm disease is close to being eradicated (2022)
In the late 1980s, there were near a million new cases of guinea worm disease recorded worldwide. In 2021, there were only 15. How was this achieved?
502
A connection between after-hours work and decreased productivity
Slack’s Workforce Index uncovers new findings on how to structure the workday to maximize employee productivity, well-being and satisfaction
503
Positive news from 2023
Many bad things happened in 2023. You already know them. Many tragic events were so terrible we will never forget them and we shouldn’t. You can easily find them all over the news. But the good things that happened are much harder to encounter, and it is easy to get the impression nothing good happened at all. In…
504
Tiffin Tom: Fish, chips and a side of identity theft
Apart from leaking everything, there's been "no breech". Avoid Tiffin Tom.
505
Who regulates the regulators? We need to go beyond review-and-approval
We need to go beyond the review-and-approval paradigm
506
Bill Watterson Commencement Speech (1990)
A speech Bill Watterson gave at Kenyon College, Gambier Ohio, to the 1990 graduating class.
507
Global Encryption Day: Encryption's Critical Role in Safeguarding Human Rights
Today is the third annual Global Encryption Day, a day to highlight why encryption is critical for a safe, private internet.
508
California Court of Appeal finds geofence warrant unconstitutional
The California Court of Appeal has held that a geofence warrant seeking information on all devices located within several densely-populated areas in Los Angeles violated the Fourth Amendment. This is the first time an appellate court in the United States has reviewed a geofence warrant. The case is...
509
ChatGPT is a bullshit generator but it can still be amazingly useful
The philosopher Harry Frankfurt defined bullshit as speech that is intended to persuade without regard for the truth. By this measure, OpenAI’s new chatbot ChatGPT is the greatest bullshitter ever. Large Language Models (LLMs) are trained to produce
510
SCOTUS declines to hear challenge to warrantless pole camera surveillance
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to hear Moore v. United States, leaving in place a patchwork of lower court decisions on an...