Ben Werdmuller helps leaders at newsrooms, non-profits, and mission-driven organizations to navigate their biggest technology challenges.
Meta’s new social network is interesting: an obvious strategic shot at Twitter just as that network is running into trouble, as well as a way to iterate on its aging Facebook property. To that end, it makes sense that Meta would piggyback on the fediverse of independent social networks
A lot of people in the fediverse are rightly worried about what the arrival of Threads (which is Mastodon-compatible) will bring. I think it's probably a positive addition for most people, and Casey Newton's writeup here does a good job of explaining why. #Technology [Link]
Our baby loves dogs. His eyes light up as soon as he sees one. His arms extend outwards, his lips turn up, and it’s a matter of seconds before he’s unable to constrain his joy any longer and something between a delighted squeal and an unhinged canine howl
It's important that lawsuits like this center on the use, not the act of scraping itself - the latter does need to be protected. One to watch. #AI [Link]
Greenwashing goes deep. Environmentally outspoken organizations should not hire fossil fuels lobbyists. There should be a list loudly calling out those that do. Otherwise it's all just words. #Climate [Link]
People against child marriage restrictions say they will infringe on religious liberty. 86% of children who are married are girls. So, let's be clear: if you want this, fuck your religious liberty. #Democracy [Link]
The Fairphone is more properly referred to as a fairer phone - there's still work to do to really make it equitable - but it's great to see it being launched in the US. More products that have this focus on repairability and owner control, please. #Technology [Link]
A sort of call to arms for writers, but here the arms reach out in a warm embrace and tell you to be yourself. It's not about being published; it's not about following other peoples' rules; it's about telling the stories that make
And it will just keep coming. #Climate [Link]
The impact of legislation like GDPR goes far beyond their jurisdictions, because it's hard to segment a data architecture for just some users. This ruling that Meta must provide its service to users who do not consent to tracking and processing of their personal data is potentially seismic.
Christian Heilmann writes: One thing I am not good at is write in superlatives about myself. That’s a good thing, I think? But often you are asked to big yourself up for some official publication or marketing materials. So I thought I give ChatGPT a go to turn a
I think this is a legal challenge waiting to happen. While people who publish publicly online have a reasonable expectation that anyone can read their content, they don't have a similar expectation about content being modeled and analyzed. There's no de facto license to do this.