OpenAI and Microsoft Sued for $3 Billion Over Alleged ChatGPT 'Privacy Violations'

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]

‘Double agents’: fossil-fuel lobbyists work for US groups trying to fight climate crisis

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]

Child marriage is still prevalent in the U.S. Here’s why.

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]

Fairphone 4—the repairable, sustainable smartphone—is coming to the US

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.

Gentle Writing Advice: How to Be a Writer Without Destroying Yourself, by Chuck Wendig

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

Monday was hottest day for global average temperature on record, as climate crisis bites

And it will just keep coming. #Climate [Link]

CJEU ruling on Meta referral could close the chapter on surveillance capitalism

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.

Getting AI to build you up and break you down

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

Google Says It'll Scrape Everything You Post Online for AI

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.

Some website redesigns

I mildly redesigned my homepage today, in order to do a better job of what this site is and what you might read on it. I’d hoped to use the Internet Archive to go back and look at all my blogs — I started my first personal website in 1994

Work

How I’ve defied labels and enlisted the help of others to create my value proposition

A lovely conversation with my friend Roxann Stafford, who has inspired and taught me so much.  #Work [Link]

You (Yes, You) Should Start a Mailing List

If you own your relationships with your community, you'll never be locked into any platform. Start a blog, start a mailing list - get out of the algorithmic content game. This is even more important if you make a living from your work. Parker is right on the