ironsoap

joined 2 years ago
[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The answer is essential greed, aka corporate fiduciary responsibly to increase shareholder profit.

Gomes reportedly sparred with Google over its decision to set its metrics on the total number of user queries. The former head of search reportedly balked at this metric because an improved search functionality should ideally prioritize answering users’ questions with as few clicks as possible. Google, the DOJ argued, benefits from users taking longer to search because the company can run ads against each of those queries. Around 80% of Google revenues reportedly come from advertising. If a user needs to refine their search a few times to get what they’re looking for, or if they have to scroll deeper through the results, more ads can be served to them.

Innovation can be driven by capitalism and seeking a more efficient product, but here we see where capitalism can stifle it as well. Lack of competition and regulatory capture disincentivizes innovation.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Second that, finally an app to get control and feedback you'd see on a professional rig.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Article like this explain how they might be trying to look good and yet still do an end run.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago

I understand this as the California Effect and similarly the Brussels effect. While both do change company policies, I do understand that many companies are going to continues to try and avoid a regulatory ruling as there is so much status quo market loss on the line for them.

This article describes how they'll be trying to use MOUs with nongovernment bodies to mollify consumers and regulators.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Based on this, it looks like an attempt to negotiate with the consumers "directly" and make it look like they are being active.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

The federal law authorizing a vast amount of the United States government’s foreign intelligence collection is set to expire in two months, a deadline that threatens to mothball a notoriously extensive surveillance program currently eavesdropping on the phone calls, text messages, and emails of no fewer than a quarter million people overseas.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) relies heavily on the program, known as Section 702, to compel the cooperation of communications giants that oversee huge swaths of the internet's traffic. The total number of communications intercepted under the 702 program each year, while likely beyond tally, ostensibly reaches into the high hundreds of millions, according to scraps of reportage declassified by the intelligence community over the past decade, and the secret surveillance court whose macroscopic oversight—even when brought to full bear against the program—scarcely takes issue with any quotidian abuses of power.

As of now, members of Congress have introduced exactly zero bills to prevent Section 702 from sunsetting on January 1, 2024, even though many—perhaps a majority—view this intelligence “crown jewel” as fundamental to the national defense; a flawed but fixable law. The Democrats, who control the Senate, are not blameless in stalling the reauthorization, with more than a handful vying to ensure its renewal is contingent on new rules that force the government to get a warrant before weaponizing the data against its own citizens. The internal conflict roiling the Republican Party, many of whose members share in the desire to rein in the government’s domestic surveillance capabilities, is nevertheless the biggest factor forestalling a compromise, particularly following the removal of Kevin McCarthy as House speaker earlier this month.

The US intelligence community is not without blame. A litany of reported errors, ethical violations, and at least some criminal activity bearing the telltale signs of having been swept under the rug have gone a long way in validating the concerns of Section 702’s biggest detractors: Privacy defenders on both sides of the aisle who share common ground with political allies of Donald Trump, a wellspring of animosity when it comes to military and intelligence leaders—officials routinely peppered from the right with allegations of partisanship and other “treasonous things.”

A US report published in September by an independent government privacy watchdog describes a number of new “noncompliant” uses of raw Section 702 data by analysts at the NSA, an agency where military and civilian employees have been caught repeatedly abusing classified intel for personal, and even sexual, reasons. Issued by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), a body effectively commandeered by Congress in 2005 in an effort to help gauge the scope of the explosion in surveillance after 9/11, the report adds to a decade’s worth of documented surveillance abuses.

The Wall Street Journal first reported in 2013 amid the exploding Edward Snowden scandal that NSA staff had been caught on numerous occasions spying on what the paper called “love interests.” The phenomenon is common enough at the agency to receive its own internal designation: “LOVEINT,” a portmanteau of “love” and “intelligence,” abbreviated in the style of actual surveillance disciplines such SIGINT and HUMINT (“signals” and “human” intelligence, respectively.)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Anyone wanting to return to the retro, you can buy an upgraded 1-4TB version if you don't want to hack your old one.

I love these iPods and wish they stayed this simple and usable. Admittedly there are lots of great new features out there, but for a purpose built device it is a classic.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

The last Firefox on android that really worked for me with the about:reader?url=http://... Ability to force pages into it was 68, which I keep around for that reason.

Can 117 do it on all pages?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I really wish they brought back Reader mode. I kept the old version of firefox side by side just so I can force some pages into it. Makes reading soooo much easier.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Not disagreeing, but isn't there also protectionist incentives to at least assembly them in the US too? Benn a while since I remember reading it, but seem to remember there are many tarrifs, tax incentives, and etc that make it a complex situation for auto makers.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I work on a ship and am in the Galapagos right now. Thr island is covered in Starlink terminals and they've changed the internet existence here. Posting this via public starlink WiFi. I have a friend in the Philippines, and same there, huge impact.

His point about your US centric point is valid.

Starlink has many issues network wise, but the price point is per country so it is still being well used around the world in rural existence.

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