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Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 1,050 posts.
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Mozilla Common Voice Adds 16 New Languages and 4,600 New Hours of Speech
The Mozilla Common Voice initiative has released a new, expanded data set featuring 16 new languages — like Basaa and Kazakh — and 4,622 new hours of sp…
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Poor in Tech
I knew I was the only poor person at my tech startup because nobody else ate the Hot Cheetos that were stocked in our free snack kitchen. Seaweed snacks were always empty. Nobody had those telltale…
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The Ultimate Guide to Inflation
Originally Published: May 2021 Inflation is a controversial and complex topic. This article looks at 150 years of data across multiple countries to provide a general idea of what inflation is, what to look for, and how to invest with inflationary and deflationary risks in mind. Read from the beginning, or jump to the…
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The most precious resource is agency
I have edited and expanded this in a newer post, you should read that instead: School is Not Enough
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EU citizens’ rights are under threat from anti-encryption proposals
Along with Threema, Tresorit, and Tutanota, we are releasing a joint statement calling on the EU to reject any ban or attack on end-to-end encryption.
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I hope work from home continues
I just hope my employer continues to allow me to work remotely. Working from home I: Have been exceeding production for the past year Don't have to share a keyboard/mouse/desk with another shift (gross). Do not spend an hour a day(+/- 10 minutes) driving, and save all the money associated
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Life before smartphones (2020)
An essay about life pre-iPhone addiction, why you're wrong about Salt Bae, an Indian butter chicken Instant Pot adventure, and a new Hell & Wellness pod discussing Marie Kondo.
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Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship
Claiming that “right-wing voices are being censored,” Republican-led legislatures in Florida and Texas have introduced legislation to “end Big Tech censorship.” They’re right. Conservatives are being censored. But it’s not just conservatives who have their political speech blocked by social media giants.
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Protocols, Not Platforms: A Technological Approach to Free Speech (2019)
After a decade or so of the general sentiment being in favor of the internet and social media as a way to enable more speech and improve the marketplace of ideas, in the last few years the view has shifted dramatically—now it seems that almost no one is happy. Some feel that these platforms have become cesspools of…
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UMN CS&E Statement on Linux Kernel Research
Leadership in the University of Minnesota Department of Computer Science & Engineering learned today about the details of research being conducted by one of its faculty members and graduate students into the security of the Linux Kernel. The research method used raised serious concerns in the Linux Kernel community…
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New German government calls for European ban on biometric mass surveillance
The newly-agreed German government coalition has called for a Europe-wide ban on public facial recognition and other biometric surveillance. This echoes the core demands of the Reclaim Your Face campaign which EDRi has co-led since 2020, through which over 65 civil society groups ask the EU and their national…
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Internet of Snitches
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.
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Lena
A note from the author You can now buy this story as part of my collection, Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories. This collection also includes a sequel story, titled "Driver". This article is about the standard test brain image. For the original human, see Mi...
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Apple Has Opened the Backdoor to Increased Surveillance and Censorship
UPDATE: Apple announced it will provide fully encrypted iCloud backups, meeting a longstanding demand by EFF and other privacy-focused organizations, and it has officially dropped its plans to install photo-scanning software on its devices, which would have inspected users’ private photos in iCloud...
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Capitol Attack Was Months in the Making on Facebook
Facebook suspended President Trump following the mob attack on Congress. But the platform allowed organizing for the pro-Trump rally, as well as the spread of conspiracy theories and militant extremism that drove the rioters.
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How credit cards make money
Credit cards make money through net interest, interchange, fees, and marketing contributions.
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Please, enough with the dead butterflies (2017)
We all have pet peeves, even though there's a lot going on in the world that makes them pretty insignificant. While acknowledging that there are many more
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Prefer the British Style of Quotation Mark Punctuation over the American
Texts on this and that.
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Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days
For 75 days straight, Costa Rica ran on 100% renewable electricity