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“Your frustration is the product”
The people making these decisions for these websites are like ocean liner captains who are *trying* to hit icebergs.
Topics /
Society, Policy & Culture
The most popular blog posts about society, policy & culture on Hacker News. 13,064 posts.
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Seeing like a bank
The structural reasons why banks sometimes behave bizarrely in interactions with customers, like forgetting things which customers tell them.
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Jotform domain seized by US due to user generated content
Learn about the reasons behind jotform.com suspended accounts and how to resolve these issues effectively. Discover solutions and take action now.
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Hannah Fry Wins the Leelavati Prize in 2026 for Mathematics Outreach
Hannah Fry is Professor of the Public Understanding of Mathematics in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP). She joined the University of Cambridge in January 2025, becoming the first person ever to hold the role.
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Cheap Beijing Flights With a Dangerous Catch
A startup called Airmule has recently made a big splash by offering $99 flights to Beijing. Obviously there’s a catch. The catch in this case is that you have to give up one of your checked bags (they appear to book you on carriers that allow two checked bags), and your other checked bag is a courier shipment. So…
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Flock and Cyble Inc. weaponize “cybercrime” takedowns to silence critics
When a government contractor pays a company for "Takedown Services" to prevent transparency in government
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A one-year moratorium on police use of Rekognition
We’re implementing a one-year moratorium on police use of Amazon’s facial recognition technology. We will continue to allow organizations like Thorn, the International Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Marinus Analytics to use Amazon Rekognition to help rescue human trafficking victims…
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ProctorU is dystopian spyware
As part of my MSc, I have to take an online exam. Obviously, this means I am highly likely to cheat by looking up things on Wikipedia or by having a bit of paper with notes on it. EVIL! So, the exam body requires me to install ProctorU. It's a service which lets someone watch you through your laptop camera while you…
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Amazon's Fake Review Problem
Update – the fake reviews featured below were removed shortly after this post blew up on Hacker News.
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Say No to Palantir in the NHS
NHS England is rolling out software to run our health records from Palantir - fight back
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AI surveillance should be banned while there is still time
All the same privacy harms with online tracking are also present with AI, but worse.
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What Could Have Entered the Public Domain on January 1, 2017
What Could Have Entered the Public Domain on January 1, 2017? Under the law that existed until 1978 . . . Works from 1960 The books To Kill a Mockingbird and Rabbit, Run, the films The Magnificent Seven and The Time Machine, and more. . . Current US law extends copyright for 70 years after the date of the author’s…
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The deception of “buying” digital movies
World of Matthew is a personal website, like few others. Not just a blog but also provides reviews and video content
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What's the deal with all those weird wrong-number texts?
Digging into the world of "pig-butchering" scams
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I built something that changed my friend group's social fabric
This is a story that started back in 2022, but I think its a perfect time to reflect on the impact that it has had on my friend group still to this day. Update (2/7/2025): I'm genuinely blown away by the response to this post. This hit the
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Facebook proven to negatively impact mental health
New study first to establish causal link between use of the platform and reported worsening in anxiety and depression among college students
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Secret Documents Show Pepsi and Walmart Colluded to Raise Food Prices
The Trump FTC tried to hide a complaint showing Pepsi forced shoppers to pay higher prices everywhere but Walmart. But now it's unsealed. And the politics of affordability are explosive.
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Americans' social activity has steeply declined in the past 30 years
Our survey finds significant, double-digit declines in Americans’ participation in key social activities from 1995 to 2026.
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Ban me at the IP level if you don't like me
“Bro, ban me at the IP level if you don't like me!”
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Apple's 15% Deflection Tactic
Apple's App Store Small Business Program announcement is a deflection away from the deeper issues of freedom that plague not just the iOS app store, but app stores in general.
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Something is wrong when the ‘telephone app’ on your phone becomes 3rd party
Since I am not living in my home country, I frequently use two different SIM cards and prefer having a phone with dual-sim support. This limits your choice s...
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The Windows 11 Trash Party
Thomas Bandt was setting up a new computer for his kid, and it gave him the opportunity to really look at what Windows has become over the years. Here's what was showing by default in the Start menu: First, there was news about a mass shooting that had occurred
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Parents with annual family incomes below $125,000 will pay no tuition
News, research, and insights from Stanford University.