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Archive for the ‘News’ Category

When we use the courts to…bully someone into an unnecessary medical procedure against their will, it’s akin to torture.  –  Cherise Doyley

Property of the State (#431) 

When this evil started a decade ago, potential victims were warned in advance:

Cherise Doyley…wanted to try for a vaginal delivery, but she understood from years of experience as a professional birthing doula that things don’t always go as planned…Doctors told her they were concerned about the [<2%] risk of uterine rupture…[but] she understood th[at negligible] risk…and repeatedly told doctors she wouldn’t consent to a cesarean without trying to have a vaginal delivery first…Then a nursing supervisor wheeled a tablet up to her bed and informed her she was in court….[for] failing to agree to a C-section…abortion restrictions can lead to pregnant women being denied lifesaving care…[bu]t the opposite problem, forced treatment, could also become more common in states like Florida that have fetal personhood policies [which place politically-determined “rights” of a fetus above that of an adult]…woman…who…is…[essentially considered an] incubator…

To Molest and Rape

Most rapist cops use their cop power, but some prefer the brute-force approach:

Detroit…[cop] Benjamin Wagner…is now facing life in prison on numerous kidnapping and [rape] charges…[for at least] five [attacks carried out] between 1999 and 2003…Wagner targeted girls and young women between the ages of 15 and 23, approaching them while they were walking and then forcing them at gunpoint into secluded areas…The charges are tied directly to sexual assault kits collected at the time of the attacks…[which the police] never [bothered to] investigate…[a “new broom” politician named Kym] Worthy launched a sweeping initiative to [make political coin]…It took nearly a decade just to test all of the kits…

I Spy (#1422)

Your regular reminder that used cars still exist:

…a federal mandate requiring surveillance technology that monitors your every blink, glance, and head nod…[will empower a computer to] decide…whether you’re fit to drive.  If [a computer program] determines you’re impaired (blood alcohol ≥0.08% or showing fatigue), it can prevent ignition startup or limit vehicle speed…[buy]ing…a 2027 model means accepting this digital copilot…[worse still,] these systems [will be] updatable [without owner consent, allowing]…monitoring capabilities [to be expanded] post-purchase [at a political whim]…manufacturers [will almost certain]ly upload biometric data to corporate servers…[for] sharing with insurance companies to [raise] your premiums…Car manufacturers [point out that]…false positives [will regularly] strand drivers.  They’re concerned about customer backlash and [100% predictable] sales declines as buyers seek older, unmonitored vehicles.  The federal government [justifi]es this surveillance [by barfing the word “]safety[” at useful idiots]…

The Vultures Descend (#1510)

This twisted scheme was first attempted in Wyoming:

…The [latest attempt by forced-birth politicians to make abortion more difficult, odious, and stigmatized]…would [criminalize] flush[ing] abortion or miscarriage remains down a toilet “to protect both human dignity and America’s water systems”…The bill[‘s sponsor, Mary]…Miller[, vomited a lot of bizarre claims and convoluted dysphemisms all over reporters while attempting to justify her attempt to]…force women [using abortion pills] to [bleed into a bag marked “BIOHAZARD”]…and bring the [expelled tissue] to their physician.  [Presumably, women who miscarry unexpectedly would be expected to leave the results in the toilet, go and get one of these scarlet bags, and then scoop the mess, feces and all, into it, upon pain of]…a $50,000 fine and up to five years in prison…Trace amounts of all medications…can be found in wastewater…but there is no scientific evidence to back up the [prohibitionist propaganda] that abortion pills are polluting drinking water or harming [anyone]

Pyrrhic Victory (#1511)

Looks like it’s time for veils to come back into fashion:

Walmart has recently been awarded patents…for [algorithms which enable]…surveillance pricing, the practice of charging people different prices for the same goods and services based on their unique [facial-recognition-linked profile in the software]…Another patent recently granted to Walmart…involves the use of machine learning to predict the demand of various items and recommend prices…[using] third-party data…

Torture Chamber (#1602)

Fascism in action:

West Virginia prisoners [have filed a class action lawsuit against] Aramark Corporation [because it] serves inedible, low-quality food in its prison cafeterias to drive customers to its [overpriced] food-for-purchase programs…Aramark is the largest food provider in the United States to prisons and jails…and…brought in $18.5 billion [last year.  It has a long history]…of serving inedible or spoiled foodprepared in kitchens where workers have [regular]ly found maggots…In Kentucky, Aramark’s [terrible] food…led to a prison riot [in 2015]…

Walled Garden (#1621)

As the old adage says, “Three can keep a secret if two are dead”:

…an unprotected database [belonging] to IDMerit, a company that claims to help businesses verify identities, exposed roughly 1 billion sensitive records across 26 countries.  In the United States alone, more than 203 million records were left unsecured…researchers…discovered [the] exposed…database on Nov. 11…anyone who knew where to look could access it.  Inside were full names, home addresses, postal codes, dates of birth, national ID numbers, phone numbers, email addresses and gender information…Researchers notified the company, and the database was secured the following day…[bu]t automated bots constantly scan the internet for exposed databases and can copy them within minutes…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Privacy and security on social media apps can’t be “optional”—they are life-saving necessities.  –  Leila Nashashibi

Stalkers in Blue

Cops are a constant menace to all women:

[A London cop named] Samson Akinnawo[, who was] featured in [a recruiting poster] in July 2024 d[emonstrated that]…he was a [typical and representative cop by]…stalking and harassing Melieka Daley between June and August last year through repeatedly calling and messaging her, [lurk]ing [around] her home…follow[ing] her from work and [harassing a] friend [of hers who had been] arrest[ed]…Akinnawo…[started out as a screw] and…is currently [enjoying a paid vacation]…

Rough Trade (#881)

Yes, this is absolutely rape.  No, I don’t want to “discuss” it:

In Belgium, a man was convicted of rape [for fak]ing…payment receipts for a sex worker, a scheme deemed by the court to be equivalent to a lack of consent…Belgium is [the only] European countr[y] where sex work is [decriminalized]…but this is the first time that a refusal to pay, or “a ruse” such as the production of a false receipt, has been considered in a trial as a lack of consent…and therefore rape…the Belgian Penal Code [specifically] stipulates that…”there is no consent if the sexual act results from deception”…the man had deliberately deceived his victim by pretending to make a payment via his banking application when…in reality, he was showing her his phone displaying…a screenshot of a previous successful payment…He was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended, with the obligation to undergo psychotherapy and submit to regular checks proving that he no longer uses drugs…

I Spy (#1195)

Four years ago I wrote, “I’ll believe Facebook is going to use encryption when it actually does it”:

[Facebook] is backtracking on [yet another] of its…[emp]ty promises…to implement default end-to-end encryption for direct messages on Instagram…End-to-end encrypted messages are more important than ever…in the face of a…[regime] that will do anything and everything to silence and punish its critics…No better case illustrates the risk…than when [Facebook] handed over private messages…that were…used to prosecute [a] young woman for having an abortion.  If Messenger were default end-to-end encrypted at that time, [Facebook] would never had access to the messages in the first place…But now [Zuckerberg]…is looking for some bogus reason to cancel…[supposed] plans for default E2EE…so that [Facebook] can 1) tap your DMs to train its [chatbots] and 2) curry political favor…by opening up…your private messages for spying and surveillance by the government…

Property of the State (#1245)

Most tyranny starts with governments claiming they want to “protect” people:

Ohio [politici]ans have introduced a bill that would allow the government to track every pregnancy, beginning to end…[the] registry…[would] requir[e] healthcare providers to file a “certificate of life” with the Ohio Department of Health within ten days of examining a pregnant patient and detecting [fetal cardiac myocyte activity].  The bill also mandates that “fetal deaths” be registered with the state, and…requires a “cause of death” to be certified within 48 hours—and if a fetus is deemed to have died in a “violent, suspicious, unusual, or sudden” manner, a coroner or medical examiner would be brought in…Let’s be clear about what this really is: an attempt to build an infrastructure for pregnancy surveillance…and…a pathway for scrutiny if the state decides something looks “off”…

Enshittification

If you thought Google spellcheck “correcting” properly-used words was bad:

…It is now possible to use live translation to communicate in another language in real time…but [the technology is already being abused]…to…rephras[e] profanity…in chat [programs]…Roblox…is [defending the decision to implement this dystopian thought control by spewing out buzzwords such as] “civility”…”leveraging AI”…”respectful”…and…”multilayered safety system”…it creates a dangerous proof of concept that others may build on…It’s easy to imagine situations where Chinese…systems…rephrase people’s language on social media in real time to promote “social harmony”.  Not only the style but even the content’s details could be subtly changed away from controversy towards conformity.  It would be possible for rephrasing to be visible only to others, so the person making a comment might not even be aware that their words were being subverted in this way…

And it gets worse from there:

…Google is beginning to replace news headlines in its search results with ones that are [LLM]-generated.  After doing something similar in its Google Discover news feed, it’s starting to mess with headlines in the traditional “10 blue links,” too.  We’ve found multiple examples where Google replaced headlines we wrote with ones we did not, sometimes changing [or even reversing] their meaning in the process.  For example, Google reduced our headline “I used the ‘cheat on everything’ AI tool and it didn’t help me cheat on anything” to just five words: “‘Cheat on everything’ AI tool.”  It almost sounds like we’re endorsing a product we do not recommend at all…And Google says it’s tweaking how other websites show up in search, too, not just news…this is like a bookstore ripping the covers off the books it puts on display and changing their titles…but Google seems to believe we don’t have an inherent right to market our own work…

The War Goes On (#1585)

This started as a scheme to keep sex workers off of Tinder:

Tinder plans to let machine vision algorithms loose on your camera roll.  Instead of building a profile on their own, [Tinder] will scan users’ locally-stored photos—everything from gym selfies to pictures of their family, sensitive documents and dick pics—to [let a machine] construct profiles by [mahine-guess]ing what users’ interests and values are.  Dating apps are [quickly becoming enshittified]…thanks to [toy]s like ChatGPT…[which allow unscrupulous] users…[to] offload get-to-know-you conversations to [machines]…Although Tinder [spokesgeek Mark Kantor vomits out platitudes about choice, sane]…users may still be concerned with [unaccountable black-box algorithms rooting through] their entire [phone memory, and since]…users can’t pick individual photos they want analyzed or ignored…Tinder’s [so-called “]safeguards[“] are [hardly reassuring, especially given dating apps’ terrible security track record]… Kantor [brushed off valid security concerns by belching “]science[!” in a reporter’s face]…

Shame, Shame (#1612)

Much, much, much more of this, please:

…a group of Tennessee teenagers [are suing Elon Musk’s chatbot company because its MechaHitler chatbot was]…used to create nude images of them by editing photos in which they were clothed.  The edited photos spread across Discord and Telegram in recent months, and some were bartered for [child porn] in online chatrooms…a single perpetrator compiled images and videos of more than 18 girls, many of whom attended the same school, and digitally altered…them using [MechaHitler]…The three plaintiffs, including two minors, seek damages for each [altered photo] and aim to prevent the company from allowing [other such] image editing…Musk [predictably lied]…that [the number]…of…naked underage images generated by [MechaHitler was] “Literally zero”…and…[claimed] the…estimated 23,000 [altered] photos…[of naked legal minors was the result of “adversarial hacking”]…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Hawley is…trying to substitute…politicians for…scientists and health professionals.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Available Weapon

When mere accusation is sufficient, anyone can wield the state’s weapons:

[Actress] Rebel Wilson‘s…public relations team discussed plans to create anonymous websites that [libel]ed the producer of The Deb [by accusing her] of [“]sex trafficking[“]…In a recording obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, digital fixer Jed Wallace instructed…publicist Melissa Nathan to assert without evidence that the producer, Amanda Ghost, is a “madame” whose work involves procuring young women for wealthy and powerful men…Nathan’s The Agency Group…deployed websites featuring character-assassinating claims about Ghost…on [order of]…Wilson’s production company…The now-deleted site…[says] “she turned full pimp”…[and] refers to Ghost as the “Indian Ghislaine Maxwell”…

The Last Shall Be First (#1470) 

Governments are asserting ever-greater control over people’s medical care:

The…4th Circuit…upheld West Virginia’s ban on Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgeries in a unanimous ruling on…10 March…arguing with little evidence that gender-affirming care for trans adults was [a] “dangerous…experimental procedure”…[and bizarrely] claim[ing] that trans people had become “disdainful of their sex” and [should therefore be forced to]…“appreciate their sex” [by government diktat]…The…ruling is the first time a federal court…[has upheld] a restriction on healthcare for trans adults…human genomics academic Dr Jey McCreight branded the ruling “complete nonsense scientifically,” saying it was based on “fascist eugenics, not biology”…

Enshittification (#1557)  

May the same happen to every company which does this:

In January 2023, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced…that the company was making a hard pivot to…[computer-generated] slop…neither insiders nor the public were particularly compelled by the move…[but] Peretti doubled down…shuttting down its Pulitzer Prize-winning BuzzFeed News division…[in favor of computer-generated] quizzes…and…sloppy…repetitive [chatbot-generated articles]…the company’s stock [predictably] took a massive beating…[and it] reported a net loss of $57.3 million in 2025an official statement [said]…“there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern”…Peretti [is so delusional he is]…now…hoping to bring “new AI apps to the market”…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1586)

These things are designed to appeal to the dregs of humanity:

A claimant giving evidence in the High Court [of the UK] was fed answers through [perve]rt glasses he was wearing that were connected to his mobile phone…Laimonas Jakstys…[then lied about] the…glasses [when confronted]…Jakstys gave his evidence through an interpreter…After several questions, [Sarah Walker, counsel for the defendants, told the judge]…she could hear an interference coming from around Mr Jakstys and [him to remove] his glasses…After a few further questions…Jakstys’ mobile phone started broadcasting [his coach’s voice] out loud…The following day, the judge directed that the [glasses and phone be held by his solicitor]…

The Vultures Descend (#1600)

Prohibition can never succeed, regardless of which substance is prohibited:

A new bill introduced by [prohibitionist lunatic] Josh Hawley…would [criminalize] medication abortion across the country.  To support this [scheme], Hawley is relying on a…highly deceptive report that purportedly shows abortion-inducing drugs are unsafe…[to force the] FDA…[to rescind] approval of the drug mifepristone…and [also encourage prohibitionist grifters and opportunists]…to sue abortion pill manufacturers…women can still (fairly easily, it seems) have abortion-inducing medications shipped to them, [render]ing [Hawley’s scheme unfit for its stated purpose from square one]…

The Vultures Descend (#1604)

Under a totalitarian regime, medical personnel cannot be trusted with personal information:

…in December…Alexia Moore took 200mg of Misoprostol…[in] Southeast Georgia…[then went to a] hospital…and…[delivered a] premature [girl which doctors kept alive for about an hour]…Moore was arrested [in early March] and charged with murder…Georgia [law]…essentially deems a [fetus] alive once [fetal cardiac myocyte activity can be measured]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1607)

Government thugs don’t care how many lives are destroyed by their evil:

…Angela Lipps…spent nearly six months in jail after Fargo [North Dakota cops carelessly accused her of]…bank fraud [based on nothing more than error-prone] facial recognition software…Lipps told [cops] she had never been to North Dakota [nor]…ever been on an airplane until [the pigs abducted] her to North Dakota…She r[otted away] in a Tennessee jail for nearly four months…awaiting extradition….Her attorney, Jay Greenwood…obtained her bank records and pr[oved]…Lipps was more than 1,200 miles away in Tennessee at the time [cops lied that she was]…in Fargo…[the pigs refused to] pay for her trip home, leaving her stranded [in North Dakota].  Local defense attorneys helped cover a hotel room and food on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and a local non-profit, the F5 Project, was able to help her return to Tennessee…While jailed and unable to pay bills, Lipps lost her home, her car and her dog…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Every day felt like a week. Every week felt like a month. Every month felt like a year.  –  Owen Ramsingh

I’m Sure You Feel Safer Now

Cops will victimize anyone they can catch:

An 80-year-old man was recently arrested in Plattsburgh, New York…[during a Father]land Security [raid]…on…a massage business…the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office [collaborated with Father]land Security [to] execute…the [raid, with cops getting]…the…[white male victims while Father]land Security [gets]…the…Asian women [who are typically raped and robbed prior to deportation]…

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1057)

It’s sad that in the 21st century we’re still debunking claims that semen has magic powers:

…the…centuries-old myth…that sex or orgasm before a competition diminishes athletic performance…has repeatedly failed to [be] support[ed by]…numerous studies…whi[ch]…have shown that sex and orgasm are more likely to increase testosterone than decrease it.  Now, a particularly well-designed laboratory study…[by] Spanish researchers…[has shown that] masturbation produced small but statistically significant improvements in certain performance measures…[including] increased total exercise time…[and] greater handgrip strength…there were no negative effects…[and] testosterone levels were actually higher in the masturbation condition.  Cortisol levels were also elevated, suggesting increased physiological arousal rather than depletion…

Thought Control (#1443)

Politicians really want to be able to define anything as “obscene” at will:

A new Ohio bill seeks to [penalize] companies who provide online resources for the state’s public schools and libraries…[if a politician later points at anything in those resources while belching the magic word] “inappropriate”…the companies would [be subjected to] a three-strike rule, in which they would be notified…and given the ability to “cure” the resources [by censoring them on demand]…The bill would [also censor] resource[s including]…drugs, tobacco, alcohol, gambling, [any] illegal activities…or…LGBT…[people]…

I Spy (#1569)

Elon Musk and all his “DOGE” goons should spend the next few decades in prison:

…a [typical and representative “]DOGE[” goon named John Solly who]…had access to two highly sensitive [Social Security] databases…share[d] the information with his [new] private employer…a c[ompany named Leidos]…an unprecedented breach of security protocols…[foolishly enabled by SCOTUS.  Solly bragged] to…several co-workers that he possessed two tightly restricted databases of U.S. citizens’ information…on a thumb drive.  The databases…include records for more than 500 million living and dead Americans, including Social Security numbers, places and dates of birth, citizenship, race and ethnicity, and parents’ names…he a[sked]…the whistleblower…[for] help transferring data from a thumb drive “to his personal computer so that he could ‘sanitize’ the data before using it at [Leidos” and]…the…colleague…refused to help him…because of legal concerns, [but Solly bragged] that he [did not care that it was]…illegal [because the mad emperor would pardon him]…

To Molest and Rape (#1592)

Good riddance to bad rubbish:

A [typical and representative Pennsylvania cop named]…Francis Connell Collier…was…killed…in a [shootout]…with [other cops]…who…[were trying to arrest him for] rape of a[t least two] child[ren]…beginning when they were about five or six years old…from 2001 through…2004…

Walled Garden (#1616)

The only way to ensure data is not abused is not to collect it:

Spain’s data protection authority…imposed a total fine of €950,000 on Yoti Ltd, the British digital identity and age verification company, after finding three distinct violations of [law]…the AEPD has [also] ordered Yoti to implement corrective measures within six months…Yoti’s…app allows users to create a verified identity account by uploading a government-issued identity document and taking a selfie…Yoti [claimed] that the facial scan it performs does not constitute biometric data…because…the purpose is not to uniquely identify users but to authenticate them.  The authority [sensibly] rejected this [ridiculous] argument…

Torture Chamber (#1620)

Some of these “suicides” are murders; others are people driven to suicide by barbaric abuse:

S[crews] at the nation’s largest [concentration camp] have placed bets on which [of their victims] will be the next to die by suicide…Camp East Montana [was refurbished from a WWII-era concentration camp used to falsely imprison US citizens of Japanese descent]…On an average day…around 3,000 [ICE victims] are [imprisoned there without adequate]…food [or]…medical care…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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There is no reason for the pervert glasses to exist.  –  Jesse L. Taylor

To Molest and Rape

It’s not safe for anyone to be anywhere near a cop:

A Hennepin County [Minnesota cop was rewarded with a paid vacation for]…sexual[ly assaulting a woman while drunk]…Jared Sprunk…[was out drinking] on March 1…when the…[victim foolishly] invited him [along with a group] to a friend’s house…he [started acting up]…but [was too drunk] to drive…[so] she and her friends helped Sprunk into a bedroom downstairs so he could “sleep it off”…[he repaid her kindness by] clos[ing] the bedroom door while [she] was still inside…and…tried to [rape her.  The friends responded to her]…screaming for help while pounding the door….they…escorted Sprunk upstairs and pushed him [outside]…after Sprunk a[ttacked one of them]…Sprunk…denied…[every]thing [to cops], despite [also] saying he [was too drunk to remember]…

For a different unhinged Hennepin County cop, see “The Cop Myth” below.

Torture Chamber (#1313) 

This mindless evil will continue as long as useful idiots allow it to:

…Walker County, Alabama…Sheriff Nick Smith…[presides over a chamber of horrors].  About 100 feet from [his office, screws]…jeered as [Anthony] Mitchell shivered in his own waste…A short walk from that cell…a g[ang] of [screw]s beat a man until one of their uniforms was soaked with his blood…In the infirmary down the hall, [screw]s pummeled a man so hard they broke bones…none of it has come back on Smith…despite…20 of his employees — nearly half the jail staff at the time of Mitchell’s death — [being] indicted in a sweeping federal investigation…13 [have already] pleaded guilty…One of the [thug]s who a[bduc]ted Mitchell [after his cousin Steve Mitchell foolishly called 911 on him] stomped on his groin as he lay handcuffed on the ground, telling him, “This is how we treat seizures in Walker County.”  A [screw] tased Mitchell as he shivered in his cell…they [intentional]ly [denied] him [water and refused to allow him]…medical care…for two weeks.  When they finally took him to the hospital, he was unconscious in]…the final stage of hypothermia…On Facebook…[Smith crowed that his thugs torturing a severely mentally ill man w]as a brave win….wh[ile] the…office [staff]…lied…to…his mother and sister [that] Mitchell was safely detoxing…

Enshittification (#1468)

How long before Google becomes completely useless?

Google’s gluttonous [“]AI Overviews[” have wrought havoc on]…online media publications…[whose] web traffic…has dropped off significantly …At their peak, the media companies brought in 112 million site visits per month from Google users in the US.  By January of this year, that number was down to a little under 50 million…Mashable fared the best, losing a grim 30 percent of its web traffic…Wired…lost 62 percent…[and] HowToGeekThe Verge, and ZDNet…each lost over 85 percent…[worst hit] is…Digital Trends, which went from 8.5 million clicks a month in March 2024 to a heartbreaking 264,861 in January 2026…a drop-off of 97 percent of US web traffic from Google…

You may remember that this started with “adult” and “mature” websites (such as this blog) being “downranked”, but as I repeatedly say, such attacks only start with those the Establishment demonizes.

Walled Garden (#1594)

Politicians love infantilizing people and then using that as a excuse for oppression:

Indonesia is [attempting] to block teenagers from social media apps, [try]ing [to] prevent anyone under 16 from having accounts on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live, and Roblox…Dozens of other countries around the world — including…Canada, Germany and Brazil — have either banned or are considering bans on social media for [young adults using spurious]…reasoning [supported by buzzwords such as “]pornography[“]…and…[“]addictive algorithms[“]…Spain said it would ban anyone under 16 from using messaging apps…France also wants to ban [people] under 15 from social media, with President Emmanuel Macron blaming it for youth violence, and the United Kingdom is also mulling a…ban…in the US…Florida has a partial ban for [people] under 14, and California and New York are trying to regulate “addictive feeds.” Utah, Texas, and Arkansas have tried to require parental consent for minors to have social media accounts.

The Cop Myth (#1618)

Sleeping with a cop is one of the most dangerous things a woman can do:

A Hennepin County [Minnesota cop ran amok]…in…a hospital [maternity ward]…in February.  Dillon Field…was [estranged from]…his wife [due to prior abuse, but she foolishly allowed him to visit while she] was preparing to give birth…He started yelling at [her, so she]…asked that he leave, and his mother-in-law went to get a nurse…Field shoved her and tried to lock himself in the bathroom with his wife.  [When] nurses responded…Field [fled]…and…the hospital…[was put] into lockdown.  He…[was] charged with…domestic assault [but also rewarded with a paid vacation]…

Torture Chamber (#1618)

Regular readers know this kind of evil is endemic to US jails and prisons:

A diabetic Norwegian woman [married to a US citizen] who was a[bducted from her green card interview on November 17 by ICE thugs nearly died in a filthy cage because]…her requests for insulin were repeatedly ignored.  Hanne Daguman…was advised by multiple immigration attorneys that [her visa expiring] “would not be an issue” due to [her marriage, but thugs ambushed her at her] green card interview…[dragged her away in chains and stole] her Continuous Glucose Monitor…she…could not safely eat without insulin…yet [was denied both insulin and contact with] a doctor until November 20…[at which point a] glucose test…[showed her blood sugar] was 508[but was still given] insulin in [incorrect] dosages [and in]consistently…[despite becoming] severely ill…the available food was carbohydrate-heavy (such as rice, pasta and oats), which requires careful insulin dosing before and after.  As that was not provided, Hanne lost 10 pounds in just nine days…she was [finally]…released on November 25 and was required to wear an ankle monitor until her court hearing on January 26.  The case was [then immediately] terminated [because there were no grounds to arrest her in the first place]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1619)

I’ve been calling these “spy” or “surveillance” glasses, but this is much better:

…Many have quickly embraced a term for [Facebook surveillance] devices that’s presumably sending…Mark Zuckerberg into paroxysms of fury: “pervert glasses”.  “I’m taking a brave stance that may get me canceled: there is no reason for the pervert glasses to exist,” one user wrote.  “Glad people are settling on the term ‘pervert glasses,’” another agreed. “Bonus points if you also say it while posting a picture of Mark Zuckerberg or call them Mark Zuckerberg’s pervert glasses”…Yet another [wrote]…“I would prefer technology to make it more difficult to skeez, creep or perv on the world.  I would like tech to protect me from creeps, not smooth the runway for them”…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Young people still have human rights.  –  David Greene

No Escape

The predictable result of sociopaths being given total power over women:

…Prison counselor Richard MacLeod…repeatedly [raped] Andrea Nielsen…at Illinois’ Logan C[age Stack]…But…when her cellmate reported the abuse to prison investigator Todd Sexton and Warden Margaret Burke, the pair “formulated an outrageous plan to use her as unwitting ‘bait’ to try to catch MacLeod in the act…Sexton [would] stay late a few times, crawl around in the ceiling above the room MacLeod used to sexually assault Nielsen, and wait to jump down and intervene”…The plan [required]…MacLeod [to attack when Sexton was in his voyeur position, so of course it failed]…A jury found [Burke, Sexton, and MacLeod] all…liable and ordered them to pay Nielsen $19.3 million in compensatory and punitive damages…[but] the 7th Circuit…partially reversed the lower court’s ruling and ordered a new trial on damages…for Sexton and Burke…to [reset the amount of damages]…MacLeod [coerced] Nielsen…[by threaten]ing [to deny] her calls with her 6-year-old daughter…he…[would] subject her to…[unprotected] vaginal and oral [rape when she came to his]…office [for the calls]…he [also]…threatened [to destroy her mail] and [put her in solitary confinement]…if she reported [him]…

Welcome to the Future (#1428)

Indiscriminate murder is so much easier when blamed on machines:

In order to [ma]ke a b[ig social media show]…of its attack on Iran, the U.S. military [used a chatbot combined with]…Maven Smart System…built by…Palantir…to [pick victims] in Iran…Embedded into the system is Anthropic’s AI tool Claude, a technology that was banned by the Pentagon [on orders of the lunatic Secretary of Defense] last week…As planning for a potential strike in Iran was underway, Maven, powered by Claude, suggested hundreds of targets, issued precise location coordinates, and prioritized those targets according to importance…Claude has also been used in [inventing imaginary] terror plots and in the raid that captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.  But this is the first time it has been used in major war operations…Hours before the bombing in Iran began, [the mad emperor belch]ed he was banning government agencies from further using Anthropic’s tools…be[cause] the company [didn’t want]…the tools [used for] mass domestic surveillance and [murder robots]…The military will continue using its technology as it waits for a replacement to be phased in…

Shame, Shame (#1580)

Apparently these fools didn’t learn from Zuckerberg’s flushing $77 billion:

…the “Tillyverse” [is a cartoon] world [imagined for cartoon character]…Tilly Norwood…to [exist in with other cartoon characters who will “]build artificial acting careers[“]…Particle6…the [software company behind]…Tilly Norwood and its universe…has…recruited Amazon Executive Mark Whelan from Prime Video…and [the delusional nitwit cabal already imagines their cartoon as]…“a future global superstar”…[with “]humour[“, a “]daily life[“, “]career choices[“, and “]fans”…[in response to] SAG-AFTRA…[correctly pointing out] that Norwood is…“a character generated by a computer program”…Particle6…[developed an unnerving tic, spastically belching out nonsense buzzwords including] “rapid acceleration”…“AI talent”…and…“cultural spark”…

Thought Control (#1593)

The mad emperor’s reign of terror continues:

H.R. 7661 t[ies]…federal education funding to restrictions on certain books and educational materials…[in order to] pressure…schools to remove titles that discuss identity, history, and lived experiences…politicians [dislike]…This is…about whether the federal government can use its power to narrow the range of…perspectives available to students…It is about whether educators and school librarians will feel forced to self-censor to protect their budgets.  And it is about whether young people will grow up in classrooms shaped by political fear instead of free expression…Once the government begins deciding which viewpoints are acceptable, every reader’s freedom is at risk…as we’ve already seen in [individual] states…

Walled Garden (#1595)

Western nations are competing to out-China China:

…The bipartisan effort to censor and deanonymize the internet for everyone…[is behind] a dozen “child online safety” bills…[intended to] force social media companies to enact invasive identity verification measures…[which would permanently link every] user’s offline identity…with their online behavior…constitut[ing] one of the most sweeping rollbacks of civil rights in recent history.  It would allow for unprecedented levels of mass surveillance and censorship, endangering the most marginalized members of society.  Whistleblowers exposing corporate wrongdoing…[or] government employees speaking out about illegal behavior or bad policies could face [retalia]tion, and activists organizing protests could be identified and surveilled before ever setting foot on the street…Already, the U.S. government is flooding social media platforms with subpoenas seeking to unmask hundreds of anonymously run anti-ICE social media accounts.  These laws would make it all the more easier for the government to target and prosecute those who dissent…and [the Quisling party has]…become integral to advancing these proposals, falsely claiming that surveillance laws will crack down on Big Tech or curb [nonexistent] social media addiction…The laws would create a massive new market for third-party identification vendors, [which is why psychopaths]…such as Peter ThielElon Musk…and…Mark Zuckerberg [support these and even worse laws]…

Vulture Watching (#1608)

Forced-birth fanatics really do want more women to die:

crisis pregnancy centers [are] organizations that advertise free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds but dissuade women from pursuing abortions and contraceptive options.  Since the [rogue SCOTUS] ended national abortion access in June 2022, the centers have seen an infusion of taxpayer dollars in many Republican-led states….[even though they] endanger public health by “causing delays in accessing legitimate health care”…Twenty-one states funneled…$491 million…to [these scams] between fiscal years 2022 and 2025…not includ[ing] millions some states diverted from federal programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families…Yet that largesse hasn’t been matched by corresponding regulation…[even though the centers regularly lie]…about their services…[and] promote [dangerous pseudo-]treatments like abortion pill reversal… the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists…[says] “they operate outside of ethical principles and best care practices”…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1617)

In which glassholes are hoist with their own petard:

[Facebook has been forced to admit that] subcontracted workers [can]…view…films and images…captured by its…[perve]rt glasses for the purpose of improving the “experience”…[the privacy violations were discovered] by Swedish newspapers Svenska Dagbladet…and Goteborgs-Posten…[a Facebook mouthpiece] said…”[Our] glasses help you…to [violate the privacy of anyone in]…the world around you”…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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In a sane culture we wouldn’t praise people for baselessly calling the cops on strangers.  –  Elizabeth N. Brown

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

[Texas politician] Tony Gonzales…faced growing pressure to resign…[because] he [raped] a staff member [and sexually harassed her so severely afterward that she committed suicide by self-immolation]…Gonzales…has denied [sending the texts, claim]ing…the[y]…were part of a smear campaign by his top rival in the race, Brandon Herrera[, apparently expecting people to believe that Herrera repeatedly spoofed his phone number]…

Signs (#751)

The moral panic is over, but useful idiots still love to sic cops on strangers:

…Jonathan Puddle…had the audacity to take his teenage daughter to an Ontario coffee shop.  When another patron saw the pair together—an older man with a teenager!—he…followed the Puddles to their car, questioned them, and then called the police…[who took] an image of the pair…from a security camera and [blasted it out] online…[to] tens of thousands of people as [though they were fugitives]…”See something, say something” started as a War on Terror slogan and eventually morphed into a mantra employed by the Department of [Father]land Security…in anti–sex…campaigns…so…large swaths of the public [now believe that]…spying on and reporting fellow citizens based on vague vibes is the key to keeping everyone safe…

Welcome to the Future (#1544)

Everything I read about modern corporate work makes me happier I became a whore:

…“Bossware” refers to the technology some managers use to s[py on] employees…The term was popularized by a 2020 report from the [EFF]…Managers have always sought to keep an eye on employees to make operations more efficient.  But the rise of [machine learning systems]…has [made it more demoralizing, humiliating, and toxic]…In…trucking, for example, [computeriz]ed video tools can trigger real-time alerts if a driver looks [anywhere but straight ahead, and]…in some white-collar desk jobs…employers are using algorithmic and biometric tools to [micromanage employees]…The use of work-surveillance technology took off during the pandemic.  As many people started working remotely, [nosy control-freak] employers began…tracking keyboard strokes, taking screenshots and monitoring pauses [because they were no longer able to lurk behind employees and breathe down their necks]…The goal of these tools is to [wring] more out of workers…but [they are typically poor indicators of]…how much work someone is actually getting done…Beyond the psychological toll, “bossware” tools…present “serious health and safety risks for workers,” including potential physical injury…

The Cop Myth (#1583)

Belief in the magic power of “protective orders” gets women killed:

The town of Kenbridge [Virginia] and its [cop shop have been sued for]…$140 million…by Heather Burrow…[for] gross negligence among other claims…[because she] asked the police chief for protection from [her cop ex-boyfriend] Charles Aaron Stokes.  Instead of providing protection, the chief [told]…Stokes [so he could retaliate, and he did so by shooting] her…multiple times within minutes of being told…Stokes is facing separate criminal charges [but]…is not named in the civil lawsuit…

This is your regular reminder that SCOTUS has ruled that the police have no duty to protect citizens.

Walled Garden (#1588)

Surely you didn’t think this would stop with the internet?

California’s Digital Age Assurance Act (AB 1043), signed by…Gavin Newsom in October…[demands that] every operating system provider in California…collect age information from users at account setup and transmit that data to app developers…with the law taking effect on January 1, 2027.  The law’s broad definition of an “operating system provider”…pulls in not just Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS, but Linux distributions and Valve’s SteamOS…Developers…are [thereby] “deemed to have actual knowledge” of their users’ age range under the law, [thus] shift[ing] legal liability for [enforcing politicians’ notions of] age-appropriate content…onto [people the state can more easily and profitably rob via fines]…up to…$7,500…Despite signing it, Newsom issued a statement urging the legislature to amend the law before its effective date, [thus allowing him to have his cake and eat it as well.  Since politicians are too stupid to understand the concept of open source software, it should be amusing to watch their moronic flailing when they try to]…enforce…[their stupid law] against Linux distributions, [which]…have no centralized account infrastructure…

Torture Chamber (#1607)

It doesn’t help young victims of state violence to infantilize them:

All unaccompanied immigrant [minors] who are pregnant, many by rape, are being [concentrated in] a single [camp] in Texas in order to avoid providing abortion services…Since July, more than a dozen pregnant [girls] have been [traffick]ed to…the [camp, near the] town of San Benito…[most are 15 to 16, but some] are as young as 13, and about half are pregnant because of rape, [though] in Texas, [that makes no difference]…When a pregnant [minor] is moved to Texas…she can’t access an abortion – without a federal official needing to deny [it]…Because of their young age, “many of them will be comparatively high-risk pregnancies” who need specialized care…[but] the south Texas [concentration camp has no such] facilit[ies and]…is hours away from [any] major cities…equipped to offer that care…

Mad Libs (#1613)

Politicians want to “regulate” consensual sex, but not this dangerous fantasy:

ChatGPT Health regularly misses the need for medical urgent care and frequently fails to detect suicidal ideation…[yet] OpenAI…promotes [it] as a way for users to “securely connect medical records and [health surveillance] apps” to generate health advice…The first independent safety evaluation of ChatGPT Health…found it under-triaged more than half of the cases presented to it…[in comparison with] three [actual] doctors…In 51.6% of cases where someone needed to go to the hospital immediately, the platform said stay home or book a routine medical appointment…[they] wouldn’t live to see…Meanwhile, 64.8% of completely safe individuals were told to seek immediate medical care…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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People [can] just tell them politely to fuck off.  –  Yves Jeanrenaud

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

A[n assistant politician in Alaska named]…Craig Scott Valdez…[has been] indicted by a federal grand jury…[for] production of child pornography…he [regularly]…used Snapchat to “groom and entice juvenile [girls]”…The indictment references a specific…15-year-old girl in Anchorage last October, though the FBI has identified at least 11 other…victims…

If Men Were Angels

“Having a sexual relationship” is such a nice way to say “molesting”:

A [typical and representative] pastor at a Western Kentucky church has been arrested for [repeat]edly [molest]ing…a minor [for four to five years, starting when she was 12 or 13]…David Rodgers…was immediately fired and prohibited from participating in church-sponsored functions…he…admitted to the [crime and then killed himself]…after posting a $75,000 bond…

No Difference (#1443)

History will remember the early 21st century as a time of worldwide repression:

Two young women in their early 20s were arrested in Northwestern Uganda…after neighbors r[att]ed [on] them [to cops for] kissing in public and hosting other women in their one-room apartment…Wendy Faith…and Alesa Diana Denise…[had only been] in…the…apartment [for a] week…[when evil monsters sicced the cops on them] on February 18…Human rights activists…condemned the arrests…[explain]ing the “Kill the Gays” law fuels blackmail and extortion against…LGBT…[people.  Earlier in the month] a…court rejected the first case brought under the [law because]…the [victim’s health had deteriorated so badly] due to his extended detention in [a filthy cage] between arrest and trial…[and politicians] associated with the [unpopular law, pushed and bankrolled by US evangelical groups including Morality in Media and Family Watch International, have been]…defeated in [recent] reelection bids…

Eavesdropping (#1482)

“Smart” devices aren’t, part umpteen thousand:

A software engineer’s earnest effort to steer his new DJI robot vacuum [cleaner] with a video game controller inadvertently granted him a sneak peak into thousands of people’s homes…Sammy Azdoufal…reverse-engineer[ed] how the robot communicated with DJI’s remote cloud servers…[and] discovered that the same credentials that allowed him to see and control his own device also provided access to live camera feeds, microphone audio, maps, and status data from nearly 7,000 other vacuums across 24 countries…[which] could have [allowed cops or spooks]…to [use them as] surveillance tools…without their owners ever knowing…DJI [claim]s…the issue has been “resolved”…[but] experts who have long warned that internet-connected…devices present attractive [opportunities] for [surveillance]…

Mad Libs (#1595)

This was 100% predictable:

Anthropic, the wildly successful [“]AI[” scam outfit] that has cast itself as the most safety-conscious of the top [chatbot makers], is dropping the central pledge of its flagship safety policy…In 2023, Anthropic committed to never train a…[chatbot] unless it could guarantee in advance that the company’s safety measures were adequate…But in recent months the company decided to radically overhaul the [policy by] scrapping the promise to not release [chatbots] if Anthropic can’t guarantee proper risk mitigations in advance…Anthropic’s c[o-found]er Jared Kaplan…[said] “We didn’t really feel, with the rapid [inflation] of [the “]AI[” bubble], that it made sense for us to make unilateral commitments…if competitors are [making more money than us]”…When Anthropic introduced the [policy] in 2023, Kaplan…hoped it would encourage rivals to adopt similar measures…But [since they didn’t]…the company [realized that]…“If one [chatbot maker] paused development to implement safety measures while others moved forward [recklessly]…that could result in a world [where we make less money than them]”…

Panopticon (#1614)

A good idea that needs to increase by several orders of magnitude:

…in La Mesa, a small city just east of San Diego, California, observers happened upon a pair of destroyed Flock cameras…just weeks after the city decided, in [spite] of public protest, to continue its contracts with the surveillance company…In recent months, people have been smashing and dismantling the surveillance devices, in incidents reported in at least five states, from coast to coast…reflect[ing] growing anger…over the surveillance technology…Flock…readers…gather not just license plate images, but other identifying data used to ‘fingerprint’ vehicles, their owners, and their movements.  This data can be collected, stored, and accessed without a warrant, making it…popular w[ith cop shops, spook houses, and goon squads]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1615)

Every weapon eventually begets a defense:

A new…app warns if people nearby may be wearing s[urveillance] glasses…which stalkers and harassers have repeatedly used to film people without their knowledge or consent.  The app scans for smart glasses’ distinctive Bluetooth signatures and sends a push alert if it detects [one]…in the local area…“I consider it to be a tiny part of resistance against surveillance tech,” [said] Yves Jeanrenaud, the…sociologist who made the app…[which] works by looking for Bluetooth “advertising frames”, which are small bits of data devices regularly broadcast as part of their normal operation.  Jeanrenaud…decided to make the app after reading [about men]…filming [sex workers and ICE goons wearing them during pogroms.  He said]…after identifying a device, a user “may act accordingly”…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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We should not expect maintenance staff to report people for having too much lube.   –  Elizabeth Nolan Brown

A Broker in Pillage

This will continue until recognized as unconstitutional:

Oklahoma City’s…former city attorney Orval Jones blew the whistle…[on] the city[‘s]…”nefarious scheme” to divert [money stolen by cops under color of law] into police coffers instead of returning property to owners or using it to reimburse victims and the courts…Jones compiled a list of seizures spanning over 20 years that totaled over $400,000 in misappropriated funds…many [cops]…labeled [“unclaimed property”] owners as unknown even though their information appeared in police reports….[and] when the owner sued, he was reimbursed with taxpayer funds while police kept the cash…Jones was [forced to resign because the boss hog demanded it]…

If Men Were Angels

They’re not even all “youth pastors”:

[The] pastor [of] a Miami-Dade church was arrested [for repeatedly molesting] a 15-year-old [girl since she was 13]…Elco Vallier…[repeatedly groped] her and “attempted to kiss her”…[in addition to sending her sleazy] text messages…

Above the Law (#1012)

Your “leaders” at work:

Butler [Ohio] Mayor Wesley [the] Dingus…has been charged with…misdemeanor …voyeurism after…an underage…female [relative grew]…suspicious that Dingus was entering her room and purchased a small camera to document it…she received a motion alert on her phone approximately 15 minutes after leaving for school and later reviewed footage showing Dingus entering her room and sniffing her [dirty] underwear.  The following day, she received a second alert…[and] again [saw him] entering her room, smelling her worn underwear, and [this time starting to masturbate]…Dingus [is] out on bond awaiting trial on separate felony charges…[for] a [hit-and-run on] July 11, 2025…

Welcome to the Future (#1351)

They’re disappointed it didn’t help them arrest more people:

Dutch police haven’t used the[ir magic] Crime[-predicting computer] since mid-December…[because despite] the [hype] with which the police launched the system [it does not actually work]…Dutch police…were e[ager to create their own dystopia]…like Minority Report…in[spired by] American [abus]es of “predictive policing”…[but] it soon becomes clear that the promises cannot be fulfilled…[and civil liberties advocates pointed out] that systems like [these]…reinforce inequalities…The result, all in all, is a black box full of biases and without proven results…

Crying for Nanny (#1564)

Surely you didn’t think this ambulance-chasing would stop at hotels?

…in…California…a woman is suing two high-end apartment buildings for failing to stop prostitution…in their units…A.V. alleges that she was coerced into prostitution in San Francisco…and…[her pimp] rented an expensive apartment at the Avalon…and…complain[s]…that…the doormen or security…[should have harassed] the…visitors…and…residents of this $5,000- to $10,000-a-month building…[because] “she was dressed provocatively” and…was only 17…for [the first] few months of her time there…Are [staff] supposed to [harass any]…woman dressed provocatively?…Should they check the IDs of any female who looks young?  And then what?  There’s no law against teen girls visiting apartment buildings on their own…We need more and better services for people looking to leave…abusive partners, not a surveillance network of hotel maids and apartment-building doormen ready to call the cops on women in short skirts…

Walled Garden (#1613)

Last week I called this “a disaster waiting to happen”.  It didn’t have to wait long:

[After] the social chat app Discord [demand]ed…all new and existing users worldwide…[submit to face-]scan[ning as a condition for full]…platform…[access]…security…researchers…set out to look into Persona, the [fascist Thiel company]…used by Discord for biometric [surveillance]…and found [2,456 files] exposed to the open internet on a US government…server…the code revealed…that…Persona…compares your selfie to watchlist photos using facial recognition, screens you against 14 [government lists] from…terrorism to espionage…the software performs 269 distinct verification checks and scours the internet and government sources for potential matches…[then retains the results] for up to three years…[If] the software “flags you as a ‘suspicious entity’ based on your face alone”…[which is not unlikely given] Persona’s software has rep[ea]tedly made significant mistakes…[merely attempting to use a social media site] can quickly lead to the unjust termination of bank accounts…[which is] exactly what Persona was built to do…

Panopticon (#1613)

No, really?  Who could ever have guessed?

…Ring’s…founder, Jamie Siminoff, [admitted] to…Ring employees…[that “]Search Party[“, its]…automated surveillance system…[is not really] “for finding dogs”, but…[rather] to “zero out crime in neighborhoods”…[sane people recognized the system] as dystopian…[even before] Ring…launched a feature called “Familiar Faces,” which uses facial recognition to identify…friends and family members..[but] Siminoff [bizarrely tried] to [confuse the company’s useful idiot clientele by randomly belching “]Charlie Kirk[” at them]…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Face recognition technology…poses a uniquely dire threat to the practical anonymity we all rely on.  –  Nathan Freed Wessler

Bait and Switch (#662)

Whenever you see claims that a sting “caught pedophiles” or is “fighting the demand for child sex trafficking”, refer back to the original article in this heading:

A [Department of Defense contractor assigned to] do…background checks for [ICE]…was arrested in a Bloomington, Minnesota, sex sting.  But the story is being twisted—by people employing the same sort of despicable smear tactics we see from ICE…[boss hog] Booker Hodges [strutted around, pompously belching up the typical “child sex trafficking” rhetoric cops use to justify these scams, while]…news media and countless folks on social media have been [parrot]ing [that]…narrative…but—as is so often the case—it…[was] just a vice operation aimed at adults looking to find other adults for sexual activity…Bloomington Police’s press conference and post about [the sophomorically-dubbed] “Operation Lookin’ for Love in All the Wrong Places” are truly bizarre.  The YouTube video of the conference opens with an elaborate skit, acted out by Bloomington cops…[and boss hog] Hodges…spends part of the press conference singing “Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places” and [mocking his victims]…as he shows their mugshots…

As I’ve said before, cops pretending to be entertainers should be a summary firing offense.

A Broker in Pillage (#1235)

This kind of evil will never stop until there are criminal charges for the cop and politician perpetrators:

The hamlet of Brookside, Alabama, has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle a civil rights lawsuit three years after local news investigations revealed that it was running a predatory speed trap.  The Institute for Justice…sued Brookside in 2022 on behalf of motorists who…were framed and swindled by the town…[whose] unusually large police force was bankrolling the city budget by fining people traveling through and towing their cars under [bullshit]…charges…Brookside, a place with no traffic lights and one commercial property…”collected $487 in fines and forfeitures for every man, woman and child“…and…income from [the robberies] comprised 49 percent of the town’s budget…Brookside’s racket was so outrageous that the Justice Department filed a “statement of interest” in support of the…lawsuit…and…the Alabama state legislature [has now] passed a bill capping the revenue municipalities can keep from fines to just 10 percent of their general operating budgets…and [Brookside in particular faces] 30 years of strict caps on how much revenue [it can make]…from policing…

Guinea Pigs (#1362) 

New tools for tyranny are often tested first on whores, but never stop with us:

An underground site uses facial recognition to reveal the site a camgirl streams on…present[ing] a serious privacy risk to sex workers…who may not want stalkers, harassers, or employers to discover their profiles…Camgirlfinder has been running for several years, with most adult streaming platforms being added in 2021…[and] contains faces from a wide variety of adult streaming platforms, including Chaturbate, MyFreeCams, and LiveJasmin…The database appears to include sex workers who may not have streamed for years, creating the risk that someone may use the site to find them even if they decided to not stream anymore.  The site then sells all images it has of a particular person for $1 per model…

Nor does this stop with specialized sites and online locations:

Porn performer Siri Dahl’s personal information, including her full legal name and birthday, was publicly exposed earlier this month by [MechaHitler]…Almost instantly, harassers started opening Facebook accounts in her name and posting stolen porn clips with her real name on sites for leaking OnlyFans content.  Dahl has used the name…since the beginning of her career in the adult industry in 2012…[MechaHitler] provided her personal information unprompted; the user likely only wanted information on what performer appeared in the clip.  This is the latest in a series of abuses inflicted by [the chatbot] and its users…

Enshittification

News publishers are working to hasten the coming of the new dark age:

Now major news publishers are actively blocking the Internet Archive—one of the most important cultural preservation projects on the internet—because they’re worried [machine learning] companies might use it as a sneaky “backdoor” to access their content.  This is a mistake we’re going to regret for generations…blocking the Internet Archive isn’t going to stop [chatbot] training.  What it will do is ensure that significant chunks of our journalistic record and historical cultural context simply…disappear…When websites disappear—and they disappear constantly—the Wayback Machine is often the only place that content still exists…the Internet Archive’s efforts to permanently preserve our digital culture are essential infrastructure for anyone who cares about historical memory…Future historians trying to understand 2025 will have access to archived versions of random blogs, sketchy content farms, and conspiracy sites—but not The New York Times.  Not The Guardian…We’re creating a historical record that’s systematically biased against quality journalism…

Thought Control (#1557) 

Woman convicted for “abuse” of an imaginary person fictionally pretending to be a child:

Lauren Ashley Mastrosa…wrote [a book named] Daddy’s Little Toy under the pen name Tori Woods and published it…in March.  The book is about an 18-year-old woman named Lucy who roleplays as a toddler with Arthur, an older man who is her father’s best friend.  Mastrosa was charged [with child porn offenses in Australia] after the book sparked outrage [among people who cannot tell fantasy from reality]…a…magistrate [and a cop both repeatedly declared that]…the female protagonist[, a fictional character invented by Mastrosa from her imagination who was]…repeated[ly declared]…to…be…18…[was]…”similar to a young child”…[which] invited the reader to imagine…thing[s] that [the government] prohibited…[despite the fact] that [the depicted] role play w[ould be completely] legal [if the characters were real people and not figments of a woman’s imagination]…

Note that the magistrate is talking here about literal thoughtcrime, declaring that it is criminal to invite readers to imagine things the government dislikes.

The Cop Myth (#1566)

This report of a murderous cop tried to hide that the victim was his wife:

A Buffalo [New York cop named Lance Woods] has been arrested [for the execution-style] murder…[of his wife] Alexis Skoczylas…[by] a single gunshot wound to the head…there were no calls in the past for domestic violence…[and their] two children…are [safe and] in the care of relatives…[the apparent motive was] Skoczylas fil[ing] for a contested divorce in September…Woods…was [paid to lurk in schools in order to spy on, intimidate, and harass students, but has no known history of molestation]…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1614)

Facebook is the most antisocial corporation other than those who actually run prisons:

Five years ago, Facebook shut down the facial recognition system for tagging people in photos [after it was forced to settle several class-action lawsuits]…Now it wants to [use Trump’s massive pogroms as cover to]…add the feature to its s[py] glasses…[so its chatbot can fully doxx anyone in public without their consent]…“We will launch during a dynamic political environment where many civil society groups that we would expect to attack us would have their resources focused on other concerns,” according to [an internal memo]…

 

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