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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. 1,045 posts.
152
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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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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Age verification for social media, the beginning of the end for a free internet?
So-called age verification for social media is spreading across the world, framed as an effort to create a safer internet for children. In reality, age verification lays the foundation for a fully government controlled internet.
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Record-High 89% in U.S. Say Government Corruption Widespread
Perceptions of government corruption in the U.S. hit a record high in 2026, with broad agreement across partisan lines.
157
Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb
OverviewA long while back I had an idea to hack a WiFi smart light bulb to do something more useful to me. Actually, I had a few different ideas of things to do with them. One of these ideas was to mo…
158
I Am Not A Number. In memory of the more than 72,000 Palestinians killed
In memory of the Palestinians killed in the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
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Claude's new constitution
A new approach to a foundational document that expresses and shapes who Claude is
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Big tech's anti-labor playbook has come for Wikipedia
TLDR: In ten days last month, the Wikimedia Foundation fired MediaWiki’s most influential developer and disbanded the team whose entire job…
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The Post-American Internet
On December 28th, I delivered a speech entitled " A post-American, enshittification-resistant internet " for 39C3, the 39th Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg, Germany. This is the transcript of that speech.
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The Cognitive Dark Forest
The open web with AIs is turning into a dark forest.
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There's a new "Google Jail" for independent wikis
Big week! We just finished moving the Overwatch and Fortnite wikis off of Fandom. It’s still my favorite thing in the world to help wiki editors grab control of their projects and make them awesome (and not covered with a dozen auto-playing video ads!)
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Removable batteries in smartphones will be mandatory in the EU starting in 2027
Starting in 2027, smartphone batteries will once again be replaceable in the EU. Learn all about the new regulation and what this means for users.
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Blocking Internet Archive Won't Stop AI, but Will Erase Web's Historical Record
Imagine a newspaper publisher announcing it will no longer allow libraries to keep copies of its paper. That’s effectively what’s begun happening online in the last few months. The Internet Archive—the world’s largest digital library—has preserved newspapers since it went online in the mid-1990s....
166
DraftKings is using AI to behaviorally target chronic gamblers
Online sports betting company DraftKings is using AI to target customers who are most likely to place losing bets and respond to gambling promotions. This kind of targeting is a form of online behavioral advertising, which is when companies personalize the ads they show you based on the data they’...
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I wish tech companies knew more about me
I wish tech companies knew more about me | exotext
168
I regret migrating to Codeberg
A brief comment on Codeberg’s new terms, and why a free-software host deciding which projects are welcome worries me more than the bans themselves.
169
Garry Tan, the CEO of YC, accused me of unethical reporting
Garry Tan, the CEO of venture capital firm Y Combinator, accused me of unethical reporting. This is my response.
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If America's so rich, how'd it get so sad?
Or: How the 2020s broke our brains
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The “small web” is bigger than you might think
The small web is growing, and getting more active. Good news.
172
Elsevier shuts down its finance journal citation cartel
12 papers retracted, 7 editor positions removed, and the "open secret" of Elsevier’s elite paper mill exposed.
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Investor-owned utilities charge 23% more for electricity than public providers
Average home electricity price from 2020 to 2025: investor-owned utilities +34%, public utilities +19%, co-ops +19%, against +24% inflation. Investor-owned prices rose faster in 38 of 48 states. EIA annual data by state and utility since 2015.
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Calvin and Hobbes and the price of integrity
How Bill Watterson Stuck to His Guns — and Vanished
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The Tower Keeps Rising
Vibecoding and the possible collapse of a shared language.
176
Douglas Adams on the English–American cultural divide over "heroes"
In 2000, Douglas Adams made an interesting observation that I keep returning to. A user on Slashdot named “FascDot Killed My Pr” had asked the following question (where HGttG = Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy): Comedy….or Tragedy? First, a big thank-you. You’ve made a lasting contribution to “our” culture (or should…
177
AI is making me dumb
It's so god damn tempting to use AI to write. Whether it is articles, code, or documents. I feel like using AI is diminishing my ability to write myself.
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The EU is about to sell our most sensitive data to the US for visa-free travel
The leaked draft text suggests that the Commission significantly caved in to US’s excessive demands for unfettered information access.
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The FAA’s flight restriction for drones is an attempt to criminalize filming ICE
Legal intern Raj Gambhir was the principal author of this post.Update: On April 15, 2026 the FAA rescinded the TFR (FDC 6/4375) and instead issued an advisory (FDC 6/2824), which states: [Drone] operators are advised to avoid flying in proximity to: Department of War (DOW), Department of Energy (...
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I refuse to accept a censored Internet. Join Me at FOSDEM 27
As one of the managers of the Digital Dissident Devroom , I invite you to be part of a conversation we cannot afford to ignore.