Better @better@mastodon.ind.ie

“Ubiquitous computing is still a fantasy, but not because the technology isn’t ready. It is. The fantasy is that any system mediating someone’s personal experience of the physical world that uses a modern corporation’s digital infrastructure would be objective or neutral. Humans are data and data is money, and this is the business model of many of the technology firms up to the task of ubiquitous computing.”

https://kotaku.com/the-creators-of-pokemon-go-mapped-the-world-now-theyre-1838974714

“Activists and tech critics sometimes use the word complicit when talking about companies that look the other way when their inventions are causing harm. Assistive might be more accurate. Providing database and web services—even just email—to a cruel immigration regime assists in the cruelty.”

https://slate.com/technology/2019/10/apple-chinese-government-microsoft-amazon-ice.html

“Platforms *are* societies of intertwined people and machines. There is no such thing as “online life” versus “real life.” We give massive ground if we pretend that these companies are simply having an “effect” or “impact” on some separate society.”

https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/10/tech-platforms-are-where-public-life-is-increasingly-constructed-and-their-motivations-are-far-from-neutral/

“[T]he ‘natural evolution of technology’ was never a thing to begin with, and it’s time to question what ‘progress’ actually means.”

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/10/1/20887003/tech-technology-evolution-natural-inevitable-ethics

“Out in the wider world, anonymity is no longer guaranteed. Facial recognition gives police and companies the means of identifying and tracking people of interest, while others are free to go about their business. The real question is: who gets that privilege?”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/05/facial-recognition-technology-hurtling-towards-surveillance-state

“Seventeen dollars for a smartphone sounds like a great deal, especially for people living in poverty who can barely afford rent. But there’s a problem: low-cost smartphones are privacy nightmares.”

https://www.fastcompany.com/90408472/cheap-smartphones-have-a-disturbing-secret

“For decades, the overriding objective of American business and government has been to remove friction from the tracking system, by linking networks, by speeding connections, by eliminating barriers. But friction is the only thing that has ever made privacy, let alone obscurity, possible. If there’s no friction, if we can all be profiled instantly and intimately, then there’s nothing to stop any of our neighbors from being targeted…”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/02/magazine/ice-surveillance-deportation.html

I know, it’s been *ages* but I did a little blocking rules update. Should be back into the regular schedule again now. ☺️

As ever, if you use @better and you come across any problematic sites, let me know. I will try to get things fixed/blocked/unblocked.

Finally got round to adding dark mode support to @better for iOS 13 today. Expect a new release soon.

“Sites that have relied upon opting EU users into ad-tracking cookies in the hopes they’ll just click okay to make the cookie banner go away are in for a rude awakening.”—Natasha Lomas

https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/01/europes-top-court-says-active-consent-is-needed-for-tracking-cookies/

“We are often sold a similar bill of goods: big tech companies talk incessantly about how ‘AI’ and digitization will bring a better future. In the present tense, however, putting computers everywhere is bad for most people. It enables advertisers, employers and cops to exercise more control over us – in addition to helping heat the planet.”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/sep/17/tech-climate-change-luddites-data

“Neighborhoods armed with Ring videos, Flock readers, and NextDoor posts have the power to create networked engines of suspicion, sometimes ill-founded or erroneous, that may embolden residents to take actions they should not.”— Elizabeth Joh

https://slate.com/technology/2019/09/flock-automatic-license-plate-readers-neighborhood-surveillance.html

“Feeling anxious? Got lucky last night? Having some health issues? Tell Maya and they’ll let Facebook and others know (oh, and they’ll share your diary too!)”— Privacy International

https://www.privacyinternational.org/long-read/3196/no-bodys-business-mine-how-menstruation-apps-are-sharing-your-data

“Now, data collection and artificial intelligence are threatening to turn borders into an underregulated free-for-all.” —Nicole Chi

https://magazine.areweeurope.com/stories/code-of-conscience/surveillance-borders-privacy

I’ll be live on @AJEnglish news from Cork at around 14:25 Irish/British time today to talk about FaceApp and ask why it takes the Russians or Chinese to be involved before we take the threat of surveillance capitalism seriously.

You can watch live from: https://www.aljazeera.com/live/