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Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 13,064 posts.
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Homeland Security’s New Database to Include Faces, DNA, and Relationships
So why do we know so little about it?The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is quietly building what will likely become the largest database of biometric and biographic data on citizens and foreigners in the United States. The agency’s new Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART)...
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Rule 41 Proposes to Grant New Hacking Powers to the Government
The government hacking into phones and seizing computers remotely? It’s not the plot of a dystopian blockbuster summer movie. It’s a proposal from an obscure committee that proposes changes to court procedures—and if we do nothing, it will go into effect in December. The proposal comes from the...
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Yik Yak Hack
Yik Yak is an anonymous, controversial social media application that allows people to make posts that are visible to other users within ~2 miles. Often landing a top 10 spot in the iOS App Store, this app has become increasingly popular with high school and college students. Due to the anonymous nature of the app…
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Prediction Markets: When Do They Work?
Epistemic Status: Resident Expert I’m a little late on this, which was an old promise to Robin Hanson (not that he asked for it). I was motivated to deal with this again by the launch of Augu…
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The most expensive four words in the English language: “This time is different”
There are currently a number of attempts to deploy a cryptocurrency-based decentralized storage network, including MaidSafe, FileCoin, Sia a...
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EFF's reply to cease-&-desist letter – “Virtual Coachella” parody video
eff_ltr_to_rico_mgmt_re_krazam_llc.pdf
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If AI scaling is to be shut down, let it be for a coherent reason
There’s now an open letter arguing that the world should impose a six-month moratorium on the further scaling of AI models such as GPT, by government fiat if necessary, to give AI safety and …
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The Decline of Usability: Revisited
Three years ago, I wrote a rant about the problems of our current UI paradigm. The complaints I voiced were hardly new or unique, neither was the text what I'd consider my best writing. It was, honestly, mostly a way to blow off steam. It seems I struck a nerve, though, because it's proven to be one of the most…
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The decline in unionization has fed the rise in incomes at the top
The decline in unionization in recent decades has fed the rise in incomes at the top
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Without belief in a god, but never without belief in a devil
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements—A Review
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Where did the old web go? We followed 657,607 links to find out
A complete crawl of every restored link from 2009 to 2014 found that 76.7% no longer return a loading page.
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Internet centralization and the original sin of NAT
How NAT broke the concept of an internet connection
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Humanising LLM Outputs Is Dumb
The largest tell for me to tell where culture and sentiment is shifting for AI tools is usually X, viral GitHub repositories and Hacker News. One of these tells I’ve been seeing a lot lately is skills like I have ADHD and Agents.md instructions such as giving outputs in only ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English.
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Google Apple Contact Tracing (GACT): a wolf in sheep’s clothes?
I wrote a critical piece about the Google Apple Contact Tracing (GACT) platform a few days ago . This resulted in quite some discussion, which brought some more arguments to the fore, that I would like to address and clarify here. Here I focus on my area of expertise: privacy. My colleague Tamar Sharon wrote an…
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Most-read tech publications have lost over half their Google traffic since 2024
Growtika helps startups accelerate growth through proven SEO, AI Search & Growth methods to build an inbound engine that generates demand and pipeline.
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Why Telegram had to follow Apple and Google when they suspended a voting app
telegra.ph/why-telegram-had-to-follow-apple-and-google-when-they-suspended-a-voting-app-09-252021229 points168 comments details
Telegram gives its users more freedom of speech than any other popular mobile application. Unlike other apps, Telegram can't be pressured by shareholders, cloud providers or advertisers into unjustified censorship. Telegram doesn't exist in isolation, however. It depends on other companies to function, from banks and…
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The integrated timetable of Switzerland
When people talk about great nation-wide public transit systems, names such as Japan or Switzerland are often mentioned. In this article I will show what makes Switzerland’s network so unique and why it is has become so popular.
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Modification of acetaminophen to reduce liver toxicity and enhance drug efficacy
2025 Science Talent Search Project Showcase: Chloe Yehwon Lee, 17, of Murphy, explored a way to lower the toxic effects of acetaminophen (Tylenol) on the liver for her Regeneron Science Talent Search chemistry project.
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EFF's response to social media companies' decisions to block Trump’s accounts
Like most people in the United States and around the world, EFF is shocked and disgusted by Wednesday’s violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. We support all those who are working to defend the Constitution and the rule of law, and we are grateful for the service of policymakers, staffers, and other...
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Is the Toilet Free?
A collection of thoughts, ideas and unsolicited opinion from Made by Many: articles, reflections, talks and interviews from the people doing the work.