Tootfinder

PRAC3 (Privacy, Reputation, Accountability, Consent, Credit, Compensation): Long Tailed Risks of Voice Actors in AI Data-Economy
Tanusree Sharma, Yihao Zhou, Visar Berisha
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.16247

PRAC3 (Privacy, Reputation, Accountability, Consent, Credit, Compensation): Long Tailed Risks of Voice Actors in AI Data-Economy
Early large-scale audio datasets, such as LibriSpeech, were built with hundreds of individual contributors whose voices were instrumental in the development of speech technologies, including audiobooks and voice assistants. Yet, a decade later, these same contributions have exposed voice actors to a range of risks. While existing ethical frameworks emphasize Consent, Credit, and Compensation (C3), they do not adequately address the emergent risks involving vocal identities that are increasingly…

Teacher goes viral with classroom song about sexual consent | Lifestyle | Independent TV
https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/lifestyle/teacher-viral-song-consent-video-b2812508.html

Analysis: 16 of the UK's top 50 biggest news websites now use a "consent or pay" model to let users opt out of cookies; almost 100% choose to accept cookies (Charlotte Tobitt/Press Gazette)
https://pressgazette.co.uk/marketing/consent-or-pay-…

More UK news publishers are adopting 'consent or pay' advertising model
Sixteen of the 50 biggest news websites in the UK are now using a “consent or pay” model to allow users to pay to reject personalised ads.

The FTC approves Omnicom's $13.5B acquisition of rival Interpublic on the condition that the new company does not boycott platforms over political content (Jody Godoy/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boa

"Ontario Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia not only found that the Crown didn’t prove its case but also concluded that E.M. was an unreliable witness and said the woman did in fact consent."
it's over.
#innocent

Enhancing Domain Diversity in Synthetic Data Face Recognition with Dataset Fusion
Anjith George, Sebastien Marcel
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.16790 https://…

Enhancing Domain Diversity in Synthetic Data Face Recognition with Dataset Fusion
While the accuracy of face recognition systems has improved significantly in recent years, the datasets used to train these models are often collected through web crawling without the explicit consent of users, raising ethical and privacy concerns. To address this, many recent approaches have explored the use of synthetic data for training face recognition models. However, these models typically underperform compared to those trained on real-world data. A common limitation is that a single gene…

A SHACL-based Data Consistency Solution for Contract Compliance Verification
Robert David, Albin Ahmeti, Geni Bushati, Amar Tauqeer, Anna Fensel
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.15420

A SHACL-based Data Consistency Solution for Contract Compliance Verification
In recent years, there have been many developments for GDPR-compliant data access and sharing based on consent. For more complex data sharing scenarios, where consent might not be sufficient, many parties rely on contracts. Before a contract is signed, it must undergo the process of contract negotiation within the contract lifecycle, which consists of negotiating the obligations associated with the contract. Contract compliance verification (CCV) provides a means to verify whether a contract is…

AUTOPSY: A Framework for Tackling Privacy Challenges in the Automotive Industry
Sebastian Pape, Anis Bkakria, Maurice Heymann, Badreddine Chah, Abdeljalil Abbas-Turki, Sarah Syed-Winkler, Matthias Hiller, Reda Yaich
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.16788

AUTOPSY: A Framework for Tackling Privacy Challenges in the Automotive Industry
With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in place, all domains have to ensure compliance with privacy legislation. However, compliance does not necessarily result in a privacy-friendly system as for example getting users' consent to process their data does not improve the privacy-friendliness of the system. Therefore, the goal of the AUTOPSY project was to support the privacy engineering process in the automotive domain by providing several building blocks which technically improve th…

The FTC approves Omnicom's $13.5B acquisition of rival Interpublic on the condition that the new company does not boycott platforms over political content (Jody Godoy/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boa

Modern programmers: "oh, let's hijack all #Python package managers in your bashrc without asking for consent, what could possibly go wrong."
And the best joke is, I didn't even really install the package — I was just making a random bugfix and running its test suite in a virtual environment.
#Gentoo #security

A federal appeals court rejects T-Mobile's bid to overturn a $92M fine for illegally sharing customer location data without consent, per a 2024 FCC ruling (Jon Brodkin/Ars Technica)
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20

T-Mobile claimed selling location data without consent is legal—judges disagree
T-Mobile can’t overturn $92 million fine; AT&T and Verizon verdicts still to come.

Extended Version of Paper Presented at ICISSP, Porto 20-22 February, 2025 A Value-Driven Approach to the Online Consent Conundrum -- A Study with the Unemployed
Paul van Schaik, Karen Renaud
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.12244

Extended Version of Paper Presented at ICISSP, Porto 20-22 February, 2025 A Value-Driven Approach to the Online Consent Conundrum -- A Study with the Unemployed
Online services are required to gain informed consent from users to collect, store and analyse their personal data, both intentionally divulged and derived during their use of the service. There are many issues with these forms: they are too long, too complex and demand the user's attention too frequently. Many users consent without reading so do not know what they are agreeing to. As such,granted consent is effectively uninformed. In this paper, we report on two studies we carried out to arriv…

Unwritten Law - Celebration Song
#rock

Just finished "Get a Life, Chloe Brown" by Talia Hibbert. It's... much less chaste than most of the other romances I've been reading, but also incredibly sweet and positive, so I enjoyed it a lot.
My one reservation is that it does the thing a lot of romance novels do where they equate physical desire with romantic desire, and physical flirtations/advances with actual communication, and yes people equate those things in the real world all the time, by it's often really harmful when they do that.
This novel does better with consent than 99% of the field probably, and legitimately deserves props for that, so this isn't the harsh criticism I'd level if it seriously broke the "would this be okay if we didn't have access to interior monologues" test, but it skirts the edges of that a bit.
#AmReading

Sonnet 028 - XXVIII
How can I then return in happy plight,
That am debarred the benefit of rest?
When day's oppression is not eas'd by night,
But day by night and night by day oppress'd,
And each, though enemies to either's reign,
Do in consent shake hands to torture me,
The one by toil, the other to complain
How far I toil, still farther off from thee.
I tell the day, to please him thou art bright,
And dost him grac…

Teach Us Consent
Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory: #GreatAusPods

Teach Us Consent | Great Australian Pods Podcast Directory
Podcast: Teach Us Consent Host: Anthony Stefanos Category: Society & Culture Sub-Category: Relationships & Sexuality First Episode: 2025 Get confident with consent, sex and relationships – one honest…

"Also back in style is the tactic of using disinformation to manufacture consent for war, as with Netanyahu’s claims that Iran was right on the cusp of acquiring a nuclear weapon and intending to supply one to Yemen’s Ansarallah. We are entering territory so fantastical that the ‘dodgy dossier’ and ‘45-minute WMD’ seem almost quaint by comparison."
Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, Culmination — Sidecar

Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, Culmination — Sidecar
Israel attacks Iran.

Here’s the key point: Trump’s corruption of justice isn’t just individual; it’s categorical. We have grown accustomed to him rewarding his loyalists and punishing his critics. That he fired the prosecutors who worked on his federal criminal cases while pardoning the Jan. 6 rioters represents a textbook case of individual favoritism.
The Trump administration’s abuse of the civil rights division is something else entirely. It had already initiated a “litigation freeze” on filing new civil rights cases, and it had indicated that it was even going to reconsider previous settlements and consent decrees intended to address police misconduct.
...
Civil rights laws are designed in part to protect innocent citizens — including, of course, innocent citizens from minority communities — from unjust government officials. Here, the legal world is turned upside down. The Justice Department is using its civil rights division to protect an unjust government official who violated the civil rights of an innocent individual.
#USPolitics
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/20/opinion/dillon-taylor-justice-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.X08.0DWy.hF58YNdciy3A&smid=url-share

”I wrote a book and AI is my writing partner.”

or

”Tens of thousands of writers just contributed to my book without me needing their consent or blessing. I simply used a product that stole their writing first.”

Sources: dozens of xAI staff voiced concerns over a program granting xAI "perpetual" access to data like their "likeness" for training; several did not consent (Grace Kay/Business Insider)
https://www.businessinsider.com/xai-grok-t

Musk's xAI tutors objected to facial data collection project
During a project called "Skippy," tutors recorded themselves making facial expressions. It would help "give Grok a face," one engineer said.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #SeekAndDestroy
Nuclear Tomb:
🎵 Manufacturing Consent
#NuclearTomb
https://nucleartomb1.bandcamp.com/track/manufacturing-consent
https://open.spotify.com/track/29WxwJk4wgdCJ8dXTg2rpM

23andMe privacy ombudsman recommends company obtains consent for sale of customer data https://therecord.media/23andme-privacy-ombudsman-recommends-consent-sale

When Donald Trump deployed more than 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines into Los Angeles earlier this month,
he did so without the consent of California Gov. Gavin Newsom or Mayor Karen Bass.
Not only that, but Trump’s justification
— that LA is “war zone” under siege by “foreign invaders”
— is a preposterous lie.
The suspected undocumented immigrants that masked ICE agents are rounding up at Home Depot
don’t have weapons of mass destruction,

What happened to "states' rights"?
Federalism for me, MAGA dictatorship for thee.

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on BBCRadio3's #Breakfast
George Frideric Handel, The Sixteen & Harry Christophers:
🎵 O praise the Lord with one consent - Chandos anthem no. 9 HWV.254:opening chorus
#GeorgeFridericHandel #TheSixteen
https://open.spotify.com/track/1esr6D2iHAhC0Os8TuHDfX

From Legal Text to Tech Specs: Generative AI's Interpretation of Consent in Privacy Law
Aniket Kesari, Travis Breaux, Tom Norton, Sarah Santos, Anmol Singhal
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04185

From Legal Text to Tech Specs: Generative AI's Interpretation of Consent in Privacy Law
Privacy law and regulation have turned to "consent" as the legitimate basis for collecting and processing individuals' data. As governments have rushed to enshrine consent requirements in their privacy laws, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), significant challenges remain in understanding how these legal mandates are operationalized in software. The opaque nature of software development processes further complicates this translation. To address this, we explore the use of Large…

Defence lawyer in Hockey Player Sex Assault Trial:
"She may not have initially planned a night like this, but her “inhibitions were lowered and her sexual interest was heightened.””
Tell Me I'm Wrong: the lawyer basically just argued that if you get a woman (or any unwilling partner) drunk or high enough that it ‘lowers” their inhibitions and “heightens" their sexual interest, then you can do whatever the hell you want. No regrets.
Disgusting violent-misogynist-excusing bullshit.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/livestory/defence-targets-e-m-s-credibility-judge-questions-consent-videos-shown-at-world-juniors-sex-assault-trial-9.6790561

So Bitvise, the developer of an SSH client that competes with PuTTY, the widely-used open-source SSH and Telnet client, somehow got hold of the domain putty.org and is using it to promote its own products.
Here's how Bitvise responded to a tech blogger/journalist who wrote about this situation.
https://blog.pupred.…

Navigating Cookie Consent Violations Across the Globe
Brian Tang, Duc Bui, Kang G. Shin
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.08996 https://arxi…

Navigating Cookie Consent Violations Across the Globe
Online services provide users with cookie banners to accept/reject the cookies placed on their web browsers. Despite the increased adoption of cookie banners, little has been done to ensure that cookie consent is compliant with privacy laws around the globe. Prior studies have found that cookies are often placed on browsers even after their explicit rejection by users. These inconsistencies in cookie banner behavior circumvent users' consent preferences and are known as cookie consent violation…

Users hate #AI. So tech made it mandatory. Even if you don't personally use it, it pollutes what you read and how systems make decisions. The computer's hallucinated word is final.
And it steals your data to do it.
Your tools are constructing you as a subject of surveillance — the #UX is …

The AI age is the "age of no consent"
"Inevitability" means design decisions are no longer informed by user needs; now they are unilaterally imposed. The users are the ones being designed.

Bailouts by Representation: A Minimal TLC Theory with Weighted Consent
Xinli Guo
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.08693 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2508.08693

Bailouts by Representation: A Minimal TLC Theory with Weighted Consent
We develop a purely theoretical mechanism in which provincial bailouts are disciplined by two levers derived from Weighted Representative Democracy (WRD): a political shadow cost of public funds and a weighted-consent cap on any transfer. Bailouts are considered only when an externality threshold is met. With quadratic implementation costs, the static problem yields a simple ''threshold--linear--cap'' (TLC) policy: zero below a lower activation point, linear in the middle, and flat at an upper …

Using Real Names of Disabled Participant-Contributors to Practice Citational Justice in Accessibility
Jonathan Zong
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.14257 https://

Using Real Names of Disabled Participant-Contributors to Practice Citational Justice in Accessibility
In accessibility research involving human subjects, researchers conventionally anonymize their research participants to protect privacy. However, a lack of intentionality about who to publicly acknowledge for intellectual contributions to research can lead to the erasure of disabled individuals' work and knowledge. In this paper, I propose identifying disabled research participants by name (with consent) as a practice of citational justice. I share observations from examples of this practice in…

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on #BBC6Music's #HuwStephens
New Order:
🎵 Age Of Consent
#NewOrder
https://papasteve.bandcamp.com/track/new-order-age-of-consent

It seems like, again, just following the plain logic of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence (which, again, I do not subscribe to), that every law passed under Trump, every supreme court justice appointment by Trump, every supreme court ruling by Trump appointed justices, all the illegal firing, etc, must all, necessarily, be null and void.
And if not following from the insurrection act, or from the oath of office, then following from the Declaration of Independence itself. The logic here being that a constitution is a contract between the people and their government, which the later upholds in order to maintain its legal status. The violation of said laws by the government violates "consent of the governed" (which, again, I have issues with the concept entirely but we're just going to ignore that) and therefore nullifies the authority of that government, granting " the right of the people to alter or to abolish it."
That seems a lot like the hard reset some folks have been looking for. Given that existing flaws allowed this state to be reached, it would also be necessary for the true authority to correct those mistakes before assuming authority that derives from these principles.
Now, personally, I don't subscribe to any of this logic but it's interesting to explore, as an outsider, where the logic goes.

Heads up folks. #slack is joining the list of companies who think it’s OK to opt groups of users into an #AI / #LLM system without their explicit consent.

Anne Hidalgos Begrünung von #Paris »zeigt in der aktuellen #Hitzewelle erste, teils spektakuläre Resultate«, schreibt @…. In den renaturierten Str…

The rise of China, along with regional powers such as Turkey, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, has disrupted the unipolar dominance of the U.S.
These would-be regional hegemons bring with them their own means of imposing influence through economic incentives and coercion.
In China’s case, infrastructure and trade development through the Belt and Road Initiative is counterbalanced with shows of military strength in the South China Sea.
As the global order becomes increasingly fragm…

Are hegemonies a relic of the past? The role of coercion and consent in global domination
From Athens to the British Empire and on to the US – dominant powers have used might and consent to exert influence.

US Supreme Court won't consider reviving Montana abortion parental consent law | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/us-supreme-court-wont-consider-reviving-montana-abortion-parental-consent-law-2025-07-03/

🇺🇦 #NowPlaying on KEXP's #MorningShow
New Order:
🎵 Age of Consent
#NewOrder
https://papasteve.bandcamp.com/track/new-order-age-of-consent
https://open.spotify.com/track/2EEinN4Zk8MUv4OQuLsTBj

@… @… Possibly not even that. Matters in for mention can be dealt with on consent of both parties before the judge even comes out.
For example-
We settle a case but we list it as in for mention in eight weeks in case Party B…

Google will pay $30M to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it violated kids' privacy on YouTube by collecting data without parental consent for targeted ads (Jonathan Stempel/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boa

Google will pay $30M to settle a class action lawsuit alleging it violated kids' privacy on YouTube by collecting data without parental consent for targeted ads (Jonathan Stempel/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boa

I wonder how long before Miller/Noem/FFOTUS demand that those who own homes and apartments provide housing for the troops invading LA (and elsewhere)?
Bye-bye third amendment:
“No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.”

Is the beginning of the next American civil war?
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/09/politics/marines-mobilized-los-angeles-protests

About 700 Marines being mobilized in response to LA protests
More than 700 Marines based out of the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in California have been mobilized to respond to the protests in Los Angeles, and the troops will join the thousands of National Guard members who were activated by President Donald Trump over the weekend without the consent of California’s governor or LA’s mayor.

GOP Senate chief changed consent law as relative faced rape charge involving 13-year-old (Sarah K. Burris/Raw Story)
https://www.rawstory.com/utah-republicans-2673861263/
http://www.memeorandum.com/250805/p131#a250805p131

To my mind, the struggle for liberty is too great and the few steps we have gained have been won at too great a sacrifice, for the great mass of the people of this 20th century to consent to turn over to any political party the management of our social and industrial affairs.
---- - Lucy Parsons - ----

I wonder if the AI stans ever realize that most people do not want a machine that simulates doing their work for them.
Alas, asking for consent is not something they’re good at.

Gratulation an Hanna Cairo.
Die 17-jährige Schülerin hat die Vermutung von Mizohata und Takeuchi aus der harmonischen Analysis beantwortet. Sie fand ein Gegenbeispiel.
Paper: https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.06137

This is from a blog entry posted in 2014. Plus ça change…. People make a lot of noise about the 2nd Amendment, and still some noise about the 1st, but it’s the 4th we should be making noise about, lately, and the other 7 are worth taking a look at today, too, while you’re enjoying your beers and brats on the bbq.

Making avatars of dead people without their consent is obscene. It was obscene when people did it before GenAI, and it's still obscene now that it's been made easier, cheaper and and more unsettling by a less suitable technology.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/…

@… Hi, you work in accessibility at Apple, right?
I've found a serious issue with the iPhone's RTT call transcription.
By default, it *saves the transcript* of the call in the call log. This constitutes a recording of the call, and this transcript is saved on the iPhone without the knowledge or consent of the other parties on the call. This is ILLE…

Hätte Mario Alexander Müller damals in Schnellroda nur diese Hinweise gelesen...
https://jorts.horse/@Ananas/114972578639014632

Why can #Zucc at #Meta just spy on everyone without their consent and illegally collect their browsing history, and when it comes to light people call it a "privacy violation" and say "I didn't have any privacy to begin with so IDC" and they just get a fine that's insigni…

European Commission says Meta has proposed limited changes to its pay-or-consent ad model, and Meta faces daily fines if it determines they are not sufficient (Reuters)
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/t

Meta will only make limited changes to pay-or-consent model, EU says
Meta Platforms made only limited changes to its pay-or-consent model, and EU regulators cannot confirm compliance with an antitrust order. The European Commission may impose periodic penalties starting June 27, if Meta continues to fail meeting the required standards.

Naughty, naughty.
Jury finds Meta / Facebook guilty of eavesdropping.
#privacy #law

Meta Eavesdropped On Period-Tracker App's Users, Jury Rules - Slashdot
A San Francisco jury ruled that Meta violated the California Invasion of Privacy Act by collecting sensitive data from users of the Flo period-tracking app without consent. "The plaintiff's lawyers who sued Meta are calling this a 'landmark' victory -- the tech company contends that the jury got it ...

Sonnet 028 - XXVIII
How can I then return in happy plight,
That am debarred the benefit of rest?
When day's oppression is not eas'd by night,
But day by night and night by day oppress'd,
And each, though enemies to either's reign,
Do in consent shake hands to torture me,
The one by toil, the other to complain
How far I toil, still farther off from thee.
I tell the day, to please him thou art bright,
And dost him grac…

SAG-AFTRA's Interactive Media Agreement with game companies requires performers' informed consent for all planned AI use on their voice, likeness, and movements (Jeremy Fuster/The Wrap)
https://www.thewrap.com/sag-aftra-video-game-deal-details/

SAG-AFTRA Video Game Deal Includes AI Consent Guardrails, Minimum Rates for Digital Replica Use
Full text of the tentative SAG-AFTRA agreement will be released June 18 for a ratification vote period that ends July 9

@… “Completely deleted” isn’t good enough. I’d want undeniably proof that they are *off* if you don’t consent.

The media focus on this one criticism is insane, just massive focus on ensuring everybody is quoted as being against Bob's chant.
The manufacturing of consent in plain view. No support of Bob allowed to be quoted, only condemnation. No focus at all on the horrors committed by the army itself, just condemnation and contrition from all corners.
And all so much louder than the coverage of death and hunger and destruction and genocide being committed by that army.
Our media environment is so focused and in lock-step, even though it's in theory free. Yet not a single newspaper saying, you know, the Vylan character has a point! Maybe we should disband a criminal army!
Got confused about the date in the show here, but the reading's about right. The bandwagon rolls on because it's a victory for everyone. The media gets to condemn someone, and they don't have to condemn Israel.
https://wordcloudtarot.com/readings/2025-07-01-gazaandglastonbury/

Seriously, fuck this shit.
#mastodaoine #meme #e2ee #privacy

Neuralink Blindsight brain implant or The vOICe vision BCI? Informed consent means that Neuralink's blind patients at least know of The vOICe vision BCI #BCI

Of course, if it's companies wanting to take everything without consent then it's just a necessity we all have to live with. If individuals do they'll be sued into oblivion or bullied into suicide…
(Also filed under 'the UK keeps being a joke')
https://www.theverge.com/news/674366/nick-clegg-uk-ai-artists-policy-letter

School desegregation: Trump officials vow to end Civil Rights-era orders | AP News
https://apnews.com/article/desegregation-race-consent-decree-school-1dd1a8be59bb0f9568d5685b8459f413

Can AI be Consentful?
Giada Pistilli, Bruna Trevelin
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.01051 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.01051

Can AI be Consentful?
The evolution of generative AI systems exposes the challenges of traditional legal and ethical frameworks built around consent. This chapter examines how the conventional notion of consent, while fundamental to data protection and privacy rights, proves insufficient in addressing the implications of AI-generated content derived from personal data. Through legal and ethical analysis, we show that while individuals can consent to the initial use of their data for AI training, they cannot meaningf…

SAG-AFTRA's Interactive Media Agreement with game companies requires performers' informed consent for all planned AI use on their voice, likeness, and movements (Jeremy Fuster/The Wrap)
https://www.thewrap.com/sag-aftra-video-game-deal-details/

SAG-AFTRA Video Game Deal Includes AI Consent Guardrails, Minimum Rates for Digital Replica Use
Full text of the tentative SAG-AFTRA agreement will be released June 18 for a ratification vote period that ends July 9

“Spotify’s intent seems clear”: US senators call for FTC probe into Spotify’s subscription bundles – here’s why https://musictech.com/news/music/spotify-ftc-probe-bundling/?utm_source=dlv…

“Spotify's intent seems clear”: US senators call for FTC probe into Spotify’s subscription bundles – here's why
Two US senators are calling on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to launch an investigation into Spotify over claims that it has forced Premium subscribers into higher-priced “bundled subscriptions” without their knowledge or consent.

#Plex, stop! I only have so much popcorn to eat while I watch all these new changes play out🍿
https://lemmy.ml/post/30839839

"Reverse judicial precedents"? The Orange Dipshit is trying to use executive orders to eliminate legal protections for the unhoused?
"The order directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to “reverse judicial precedents and end consent decrees” that limit jurisdictions’ abilities to relocate homeless people."
#Politics #USPolitics #USPol

Sources: Meta won't propose additional changes to its pay-or-consent model in the EU, and could face fresh antitrust charges and hefty daily fines (Foo Yun Chee/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boa…

@… are you going to do something about Google harvesting data from your phone regardless of your consent, without any way of disabling it?

Sources: Meta won't propose additional changes to its pay-or-consent model in the EU, and could face fresh antitrust charges and hefty daily fines (Foo Yun Chee/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boa…

How popular media gets love wrong
Okay, my attempt at (hopefully widely-applicable) advice about relationships based on my mental "engineering" model and how it differs from the popular "fire" and "appeal" models:
1. If you're looking for a partner, don't focus too much on external qualities, but instead ask: "Do they respect me?" "Are they interested in active consent in all aspects of our relationship?" "Are they willing to commit a little now, and open to respectfully negotiating deeper commitment?" "Are they trustworthy, and willing to trust me?" Finding your partner attractive can come *from* trusting/appreciating/respecting them, rather than vice versa.
2. If you're looking for a partner, don't wait for infatuation to start before you try building a relationship. Don't wait to "fall in love;" if you "fall" into love you could just as easily "fall" out, but if you build up love, it won't be so easy to destroy. If you're feeling lonely and want a relationship, pick someone who seems interesting and receptive in your social circles and ask if they'd like to do something with you (doesn't have to be a date at first). *Pursue active consent* at each stage (if they're not interested; ask someone else, this will be easier if you're not already infatuated). If they're judging you by the standards in point 1, this is doubly important.
3. When building a relationship, try to synchronize your levels of commitment & trust even as you're trying to deepen them, or at least try to be honest and accepting when they need to be out-of-step. Say things and do things that show your partner the things (like trust, commitment, affection, etc.) that are important in your relationship, and ask them to do the same (or ideally you don't have to ask if they're conscious of this too). Do these things not as a chore or a transaction when your partner does them, but because they're the work of building the relationship that you value for its own sake (and because you value your partner for themselves too).
4. When facing big external challenges to your commitment to a relationship, like a move, ensure that your partner has an appropriate level of commitment too, but then don't undervalue the relationship relative to other things in life. Everyone is different, but *to me*, my committed relationship has been far more rewarding than e.g., a more "successful" career would have been. Of course worth noting here that non-men are taught by our society to undervalue their careers & other aspects of their life and sacrifice everything for their partners, which is toxic. I'm not saying "don't value other things" but especially for men, *do* value romantic relationships and be prepared to make decisions that prioritize them over other things, assuming a partner who is comfortable with that commitment and willing to reciprocate.
Okay, this thread is complete for now, until I think of something else that I've missed. I hope this advice is helpful in some way (or at least not harmful). Feel free to chime in if you've got different ideas...
#relationships #love

SocialCredit
Thabassum Aslam, Anees Aslam
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.12099 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.12099

SocialCredit+
SocialCredit+ is AI powered credit scoring system that leverages publicly available social media data to augment traditional credit evaluation. It uses a conversational banking assistant to gather user consent and fetch public profiles. Multimodal feature extractors analyze posts, bios, images, and friend networks to generate a rich behavioral profile. A specialized Sharia-compliance layer flags any non-halal indicators and prohibited financial behavior based on Islamic ethics. The platform emp…

Without notice or consent, the Trump Administration shared millions of Medicaid enrollees’ private health information with the Department of Homeland Security, which houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Trump is weaponizing Medicaid and injecting fear into healthcare and public services.
This is not about going after waste or fraud; it is about targeting vulnerable people who entrusted their government to help them access healthcare
— a basic human right.

Twenty-seven states and DC sue 23andMe to oppose the sale of DNA data from its customers without their direct consent (Rylee Kirk/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/business/23andme-data-lawsuit.html

23andMe Customers Did Not Expect Their DNA Data Would Be Sold, Lawsuit Claims
The genetic-testing company, which collected DNA data from users, is for sale in bankruptcy court. Now, 27 states and the District of Columbia oppose selling the data without express consent.

A look at the impact of AI voice cloning on India's dubbing and voiceover sector, as artists demand consent, credit, and fair pay amid a lack of laws for AI use (Zico Ghosh/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/m

AI Is Replacing Voice Artists in India — and There Are No Local Laws to Stop It
As AI voice cloning in films becomes a reality, India’s dubbing artists are demanding consent, credit and fair pay: "You must understand that your voice is your intellectual property."

Of course, if it's companies wanting to take everything without consent then it's just a necessity we all have to live with. If individuals do they'll be sued into oblivion or bullied into suicide…
(Also filed under 'the UK keeps being a joke')
https://www.theverge.com/news/674366/nick-clegg-uk-ai-artists-policy-letter

A look at the impact of AI voice cloning on India's dubbing and voiceover sector, as artists demand consent, credit, and fair pay amid a lack of laws for AI use (Zico Ghosh/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/m

AI Is Replacing Voice Artists in India — and There Are No Local Laws to Stop It
As AI voice cloning in films becomes a reality, India’s dubbing artists are demanding consent, credit and fair pay: "You must understand that your voice is your intellectual property."

A proposed class action lawsuit accuses Otter.ai of "deceptively and surreptitiously" recording private conversations to train its AI without user consent (Bobby Allyn/NPR)
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/15/g-s1-83087/otter-ai-transcription-class-…

Sources: FTC is discussing a consent decree on the Omnicom-Interpublic merger, prohibiting the combined company from boycotting platforms over political content (New York Times)
https://www.

FTC May Impose Political Bias Rule on Omnicom and Interpublic Merger
The Federal Trade Commission is considering restrictions on Omnicom and Interpublic to prevent the combined company from refusing to place ads on platforms for political reasons.

SCOTUS rejects NetChoice's emergency appeal to block a Mississippi law that requires age verification and parental consent for teens to join social networks (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/14/us…

Supreme Court Allows Mississippi Law on Children’s Use of Social Media, for Now
A trade group representing sites like Facebook and X said the law ran afoul of the First Amendment.

Therefore, we, the people of conscience and conviction, do solemnly declare our independence from this tyrant and all he represents.
We withdraw our consent.
 
We refuse to be complicit in cruelty.
We reject the abuse of power for personal gain.
We stand for dignity, truth, equality, and justice for all people.

The FCC enters into a consent decree with Sinclair to resolve a variety of issues; Sinclair won't admit to rules violations and will pay a $500K civil penalty (George Winslow/TV Tech)
https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/fcc-fines-sinclair-usd500-000

FCC Fines Sinclair $500,000
Station group enters into consent decree to resolve a variety of issues without admitting to rules violations

Sources: FTC is discussing a consent decree on the Omnicom-Interpublic merger, prohibiting the combined company from boycotting platforms over political content (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/12/business/ftc-omnicom-interpublic-mer…

FTC May Impose Political Bias Rule on Omnicom and Interpublic Merger
The Federal Trade Commission is considering restrictions on Omnicom and Interpublic to prevent the combined company from refusing to place ads on platforms for political reasons.

Towards Transparent Ethical AI: A Roadmap for Trustworthy Robotic Systems
Ahmad Farooq, Kamran Iqbal
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.05846 https://arxiv.org/pdf…

Towards Transparent Ethical AI: A Roadmap for Trustworthy Robotic Systems
As artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics increasingly permeate society, ensuring the ethical behavior of these systems has become paramount. This paper contends that transparency in AI decision-making processes is fundamental to developing trustworthy and ethically aligned robotic systems. We explore how transparency facilitates accountability, enables informed consent, and supports the debugging of ethical algorithms. The paper outlines technical, ethical, and practical challenges in imple…

23andMe sold out and sold your genetic info, no consent necessary
https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/5326338-regeneron-23andme-dna-data-acquisition-implications/

SAG-AFTRA says Hollywood video game voice and motion capture actors signed a new contract with game studios, including AI protections like consent requirements (Danielle Broadway/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-tel

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all people are created equal, endowed with inherent dignity and unalienable rights—among these are life, liberty, equality, and the pursuit of justice.
 
That to secure these rights, governments derive their power from the consent of the governed. When a leader becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right and duty of the people to refuse allegiance and to stand united in the defense of their freedoms.

SAG-AFTRA says Hollywood video game voice and motion capture actors signed a new contract with game studios, including AI protections like consent requirements (Danielle Broadway/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-tel

Sources: Trump's team seeks a potential consent decree as part of an FTC deal forcing Meta to pay restitution to conservative users harmed by content moderation (Lydia Moynihan/New York Post)
https://nypost.com/2025/06/06/business/bi…

Big Tech's bet on Trump hasn't yielded special favors
Silicon Valley giants spent millions on Inauguration Day seats, but they’ve gotten little in return — save for a front-row view of their own reckoning.

Some YouTube channels are using AI to turn paywalled articles into videos without the consent of publishers, often adding inaccuracies (Rhi Storer/Press Gazette)
https://pressgazette.co.uk/platforms/google-handling-s…

Google 'handling stolen goods' with Youtube theft of paywalled news articles
Youtube channels use AI to turn paywalled articles into videos.

Nvidia says its GPUs do not contain backdoors, kill switches, or spyware, and hard-coded, single-point controls like kill switches undermine trust in US tech (David Reber Jr/NVIDIA)
https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/no-backdoors-no-kill-switches-no-spyware/

No Backdoors. No Kill Switches. No Spyware.
To mitigate the risk of misuse, some pundits and policymakers propose requiring hardware “kill switches” or built-in controls that can remotely disable GPUs without user knowledge and consent. Some suspect they might already exist. NVIDIA GPUs do not and should not have kill switches and backdoors.

Meta said it supports proposals for an EU-wide age of digital adulthood, below which minors would need parental consent to use social media (Brian O'Donovan/RTÉ)
https://www.rte.ie/news/2025/0704/1521746-meta-eu/

Meta backs EU digital majority age
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has said it supports proposals for a common digital majority age across EU member states.

Italy opens a probe into Meta, says it may have violated EU competition rules by integrating its Meta AI assistant into WhatsApp without user consent (Elvira Pollina/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/business/meta-faces-italia…

NetChoice sues Arkansas over two laws that would put limits on social media content and let parents of children who died by suicide sue over platform content (Andrew Demillo/Associated Press)
https://apnews.com/article/net-choice-ar…

Tech industry group sues Arkansas over new social media laws
A tech industry trade group has sued Arkansas over two new law placing limits on content on social media platforms. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court by NetChoice, whose members include TikTok, Facebook parent Meta, and X, formerly known as Twitter. The lawsuit comes months after a federal judge struck down an Arkansas law that would have required parental consent for minors to create new social media accounts. The new laws the group is challenging include one that would allow paren…