Why, a hexvex of course!
Definitely a good point to raise; thanks for doing so!
Here’s a fun one - where do you stand on those forced to commute dur to housing prices near inner city work (e.g. I live in near poverty paying a mortgage for a small place near where I work due to poor public transport so I can walk to work - how does this figure into the anti-car vision? Is it an employer issue, a government issue, a personal sacrifice, or something else entirely?)
I dunno, the use of AI Ethicist fits as they’re not against the concept of generative AI as a whole, they’re against unethical generative AI (in terms of stolen training data and environmental harm).
If the world transitioned to a post-IP (intellectual property) society (as we need to), with AI eating less power, then AI Ethicists are unlikely to object.
Would you happen to be a vegan who is also anti-car by any chance?
If so, I can recommend fuckcars on ml as they share your viewpoint.
I applaud folks like this - they make a choice and stick with it. No “I’ll never use AI to generate art but I vibe code to save time” hypocrisy. No “I use it to help me with maths, but I’d never use it to steal artistic work”.
Just straight up “it is an environmental hazard, it is unethical, not engaging”. Should be called “AI Ethicists” rather than “AI Vegans”.
*so that the government can say kids won’t watch porn.
Rule 1 of computers that everyone who has taught an ICT class learns - if little Timmy wants titties, he finds a way.
That sounds a bit like fear mongering from Reform: a VPN is safety 101 when using public networks, and most businesses make use of VPNs to secure their data. They are also a key component if WFH (you use the company VPN).
If Labour are stupid enough to go after VPN usage, I suspect it would guarantee their loss at the next election.
Trouble is, there is little that can be done.
Enough folks drank the coolaid, and now we’re stuck with surveillance laws masquerading as child protection laws.
Those laws can, and will, get worse over time. However, new mediums will arise, or old ones will rise to the occasion (IRC goes brr). The main thing to do is remain calm, make it a key voter issue, and watch the bastards fold right before the next election.
See, there are a few ways this could go.
Age verification is as secure and private as promised, and it’s left at that. I like to call this “the miracle”, and we all know those don’t happen.
Age verification is as secure and private as promised, but a government asks for “access to data to prevent crime” - things degenerate from there. This is the “systemic failure” scenario.
Age verification is as secure and private as promised, but new scams evolve around it to make it dangerous. This would be the “criminal element” scenario.
Age verification is not as secure and private as promised, and a leak occurs destroying lives and careers. This is the “system failure” scenario.
Age verification is as secure and private as promised, but a few companies start scraping and selling data, leading to widespread harms. This is the “unethical merchant” scenario, and the most likely outcome.
All in all, there is only one “ok” scenario, and a lot of horrific ones. The math says we’re entirely boned ^_^
Well we all saw that coming.
The parental and elderly voting bloc is very hard to ignore, and those groups tend to be less privacy conscious (as well as pro-anything “protect the children”).
The only way it’s getting repealed is if enough labour voters raise a fuss. Given Reform’s messaging (i.e. repeal it) and how worried Labour are over Reform’s polling, that is likely the only lever that’ll work. However, that’s a long game - one that will take years to play out.
Elderly raspberry pi B [✓]
Large portable drive gathering dust [✓]
Guess I’m setting up a locally hosted file server in the near future.
I can’t wait till I read a similar article about porn sites; especially one where the doxxed individuals are politicians.
Well now, here’s one that comes up under “other”.
I started using an adblocker because I was using an elderly netbook for my studies. Ads junked up resource usage so much they used to freeze my laptop, and render most sites unusable.
Thanks to my adblock, I was able to finish my studies.
These days I use adblock because I object to virus-like code execution on my hardware. I tell others about adblock and get them set up to get free tea/coffee (and to watch their faces as sites become usable again).
The quiet mention of the 12ft.io being taken down is disturbing, it was a good tool for students to read article sources. This kind of change forces them to rely on AI (Gemini respects paywalks, Copilot just ignores them), which risks misinformation being spread!
Add censorship for mods containing adult (sexual) content.
Slowly move the bar so that more content falls under definition of “adult” (themes of violence, LGBTQ+ themes).
Continue to move the bar until desired level of censorship is obtained.
Well done, you’ve used moral panic to control your media.
Dark futures aside, why do I think that folks are just going to VPN their way in?
Honestly, I am a little scarred from snap.
Otherwise I’m agnostic on flatpaks - I’ve used a couple and they’re ok? They just remind me of old windows games that dump all their libraries in a folder with them.
On a modern system the extra space and loss of optimisation is ok, but on older hardware or when you’re really trying to push your system to run something it technically shouldn’t, I can see it being an issue.
And when this measure fails to protect children and, instead, becomes a data security nightmare, another scheme will be proposed to further erode the freedoms the web brings.
I look forward to hearing about the workarounds kids find.
So, this one is a bit controversial but, when something doesn’t work try running it from terminal.
Unlike windows, Linux doesn’t tend to do “pop up errors”. Running in terminal gives these alerts, and can often give you a hint as to why it isn’t working - be it a missing library, a permission error, or something internal you can quickly search. Usually, someone has a fix!
I’ll extend this further - students are also not ok.
What I’ve observed this year is that a lot of students are opting for AI taught methods, or asking AI to summarise course materials for them. They then make bad copies into their notes, conflate these methods with those taught in class, then fail hard when an open note exam comes around.
The truth of the matter is we’ll see a post-AI degree lose its value against a pre-AI degree, and this will create a new vehicle of intergenerational inequality.
Teachers are never going to be ok - we’re “essential workers”, and we all know what that means. Our students though, they believe their actions are buying them a better future; when they learn otherwise, they’ll need all the support they can get!
512gb of ram you say? That’s legendary 3rd chrome tab territory.
Currently snowed with marking - hoping the weekend will grace me with some time to tinker and test.
Good to know, I’ll go ask one if the profs in our school of built environment for more info. See if they can offer more insight there.