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Posts Tagged ‘Walled Garden’

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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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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A clumsy attempt…to put a cuddly face on a rather dystopian reality.  –  Chris Gilliard

The Vultures Descend (Bragging Rights)

No evil is too sleazy for forced-birth fanatics:

An anti-choice group called “Voices for Life” is trying a new strategy to put a target on the backs of abortion providers and recipients in [Indiana by] seeking to make…identifying details about them publicly available…Eleven abortion providers have been murdered in the U.S. since 1993, and abortion clinics continue to experience arson attacks and invasions.  From 2023 to 2024, there were 37 reported cases of stalking and 38 reported cases of assault…against abortion providers…Indiana’s abortion ban was passed almost immediately…after the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade…It permits abortions in certain cases…but…bans abortion clinics…[so there are] very few abortions…Yet that isn’t enough for [fanatics]

The Last Shall Be First (#1412) 

The time, money, and energy our society is flushing down the “culture war” toilet is incalculable:

In Kansas, more than a bathroom bill is at stake for transgender residents as [psychopathic politicians] jam through a bill to mass-invalidate the driver’s licenses of every trans person in the state…HB246…declares that all driver’s licenses out of step with the state’s definition of man and woman are invalid, and instructs [bureaucrats] to identify every license issued to a trans person and send written notice that the license must be surrendered and reissued…The bill institutes an extreme and novel punishment of transgender residents for continuing to live their lives as normal, and the legality of stripping people of legal ID in this way is questionable.  However, there has been little coverage of the measure because the legislature paired it with one of the most extreme bans on trans people using public restrooms in the entire country.  The bathroom ban has been covered in local news stories and by the Erin in the Morning newsletter, which mentioned but did not focus on the driver’s license changes…

Thought Control (#1527)

These psychopaths won’t be satisfied until they can actually start arresting and caging librarians:

…a bill…in…Georgia…[would criminalize] librarians [who refuse] to…censor…books about LGBTQ people or issues.  Senate Bill 74, sponsored by [censorious politician] Max Burns…[would allow prosecu]tion…of [librarians for working in a library containing books that a politician chooses to point at while spastically barfing out the magic formula “]harmful…to minors[” if]…the…libraries [don’t] ban…people under 18 [from the premises]…Burns told reporters…“At the end of the day, the objective is to…[demand] that…professional…librarians [act as mindless facilitators of the whims of politicians, in violation of all decency and professional ethics]”…

Walled Garden (#1533)

“A disaster waiting to happen”:

Discord [has] announced…that it’s [impos]ing…[user surveillance] on its platform globally starting next month, when it will automatically set all users’ accounts to a “teen-appropriate” [censorship level] unless they [convince an algorithm] that they’re adults.  Users who [refuse to submit to facial recognition or recording of their government ID] will not be able to access age-restricted servers and channels, won’t be able to speak in Discord’s livestream-like “stage” channels, and will see c[ensorship black screens] for any content Discord [algorithms declare “]graphic[” or “]sensitive[“]…users w[ill even] be [banned from]…age-restricted server[s]…they were part of before [the surveillance regime was imposed]…Discord [mouthpieces pooh-poohed]…concerns around data privacy, [despite a recent] data breach that exposed users’ age verification data, including images of government IDs…

Panopticon (#1584) 

One couldn’t ask for a better example of useful idiocy:

At Sunday’s Super Bowl, Ring advertised “Search Party,” a cute, horrifyingly dystopian feature…designed to turn all of the Ring cameras in a neighborhood into a dragnet that uses [recognition algorithms] to look for a lost dog…[with] one [simple] post…in the Ring app…It does not take an imagination of any sort to envision this being tweaked to work against [people the state has declared “]criminals[“, including] undocumented immigrants, or [else] other…[passersby] deemed “suspicious” by people…on its dystopian “Neighbors” app…Ring rose to prominence…by forming [fascist] partnerships with local police around the country, asking them to shill their doorbell cameras to people…in return for a system that allowed police to [demand] footage from individual users without a warrant [or the consent of the camera “owner”]

This is only a temporary retreat:

Following intense backlash to its partnership with Flock S[urveillance]…Ring has announced it is [temporarily backpedaling from] the integration [until the furor dies down]…Over the last few weeks, the company has faced significant public anger over its connection to Flock, with Ring users being encouraged to smash their cameras, and some announcing on social media that they are throwing away their Ring devices…

Ring has a history of claiming to retreat from fascist police-statery, then quietly resuming the supposedly-renounced behavior once things quiet down.

Torture Chamber (#1607)

This will continue until the evil US immigration policy is reformed:

…a handwritten note…wrapped around a lotion bottle…was thrown by a man held captive inside the Otay Mesa Detention Center…on [February 1st]…“It’s cold here all the time and the food is poor…For 280 days we haven’t eaten a single piece of fruit, banana, apple, orange, or anything fresh.  We are all in one big room with no doors or windows.  We can’t see any grass or trees.  We are all constantly sick.”  The bottle needed to be tossed with enough strength to make it across a cement wall, two barbed wire fences each around twelve-feet high and separated by about five feet of gravel, and ten additional feet of road…Two lotion bottles with the same note were tossed over…[because if screws see messages being thrown out] they rush…to grab them…so…[nobody can find out which] hostages…[are imprisoned in which] facilities…[but activists] have collected 14 lotion bottles, two deodorant bottles, and one AA Battery that [hostag]es have thrown over the fences with notes attached to them.  These items have included a total of 102 names and A-Numbers…[which] are…numbers assigned by the Department of [Father]land Security to [victims]…Organizers use this information to add…funds [to hostages’]…commissary…[and] phone call…[accounts]…

Mad Libs (#1612)

What an opportunity for ambulance-chasers to cash in:

This study evaluated whether the customized ECG Reader-GPT model could serve as a supportive tool—rather than a substitute for expert judgment—during ECG interpretation in the emergency department…Ten emergency medicine specialists (EMSs) interpreted each ECG…The same ECG set was assessed by a customized [chatbot]…Two cardiologists, blinded to group assignments, scored all responses using a predefined key.  EMSs demonstrated markedly higher diagnostic accuracy…correctly interpret[ing] 77% of ECGs, whereas ECG Reader-GPT achieved 24%…indicating that the model is…insufficient for real-world ECG interpretation…

But when actual physicians merely used the software for “assistance”, the results were even worse:

In 2021…Johnson & Johnson [pompously] announced a “leap forward”:  it [crammed a chatbot in]to a medical device used to treat chronic sinusitis…the software…would [supposedly]…assist ear, nose, and throat specialists in surgeries.  The device had already been on the market for three years [prior to insertion of the parasitic chatbot, during which time the FDA] received [seven] unconfirmed reports of…device malfunction…Since [the chatbot was crammed in, there have been]…at least 100 malfunctions and adverse events…

 

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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George Orwell told us about thought crime as a cautionary fable…this…seems like an attempt to put it into action.  –  Micah Kubic

Chauvinism (#1421)

The Olympics always provide an excuse for governments to “clean things up” in the host cities before the guests arrive:

LA County…plans to remove…thousands of unhoused people from areas around sports venues ahead of the Olympic games in 2028.  [Bureaucrats] issued a strategy report last week advising local governments on how to [abduct] people from encampments…and [force] them into temporary housing.  However, the same report notes that…there [are not] enough beds and there’s no new funding for such an effort…

Eavesdropping (#1503)

Google still claims this doesn’t happen:

Google has agreed to pay $68 million to settle a class-action lawsuit [over its] voice assistant…illegally record[ing] users and…shar[ing] their private conversations with advertisers…Google [pretends] that its voice assistant w[ill] only register people’s speech when [they] utter…an activation phrase, such as “Hey Google,” [but this is a lie and]…the Google devices [have] recorded private conversations about financial issues, personal decisions and employment…[Victims] will be able to submit claims for up to three Google devices, although…individuals [will] receive…[a paltry] $8 to $40 per person…

Walled Garden (#1570)

The internet’s global scope is the main reason politicians hate it and want to destroy it:

The Online Safety Act grants the U.K.’s online [cens]or, Ofcom, sweeping authority to…censor online content under the guise of protecting children.  The results have been disastrous…and…Ofcom…[has] quietly been pressuring U.S. companies to comply with their orders…lawyer Preston Byrne…represents four U.S. websites targeted by Ofcom: 4chanGabKiwi Farms, and Personal Autonomy LLC (the provider of the forum Sanctioned Suicide)…In one email response to Ofcom, he [wrote that] their demands on 4chan were “legally void” and would make “excellent bedding” for his “pet hamster”…but…if Ofcom keeps pressuring people…the risk is that…people will…comply because the letters are scary…The Guaranteeing Rights Against Novel International Tyranny & Extortion (GRANITE) Act, which was originally proposed on Byrne’s blog, would allow U.S. companies and individuals to sue foreign governments that attempt to censor Americans.  If the U.S. successfully sued a foreign government in a U.S. court, the foreign country’s assets could be forfeited…Wyoming has become the first to formally introduce the legislation…but Byrne thinks federal legislation would be more effective…

Panopticon (#1587)

Cops are trying to hide their 4th Amendment violations:

[Cop]s are being told to “be as vague as permissible” about why they are using the Flock surveillance system in order to not le[t the public discover illegal snooping] via public records requests…police [incompetent]ly leak[ed] the details of millions of surveillance targets nationwide due to public records redaction errors…[and] rather than looking at this…as a huge operational security failure associated with…a [fascist]…surveillance system, police [fantasize] that [they rather than their victims are in danger]…highlight[ing] how [cops irrationally and pathologically imagine] themselves as being consistently and universally under threat from the people [they want to dominate]…

Panopticon (#1594)

Cops will invariably use warrantless surveillance to harass people:

On Oct. 21 the entire Lenexa, Kansas [cop shop] was hunting Canyen Ashworth…[because a pig decided without evidence that he must be the guy who put up]…posters on city property…[since he wrote] a guest column critical of Lenexa Police…for the Kansas City Star…The [anti-ICE] poster [infuriated the pig herd so bureaucrats claimed they were]…“in violation of Lenexa city ordinances”…[even though] posters about lost pets and community events were generally not removed.  The [cops didn’t know who posted them, but boss hog Dawn] Layman [was pissed off about the column, so]…Ashworth…was [targeted for police violence by]…tracking [hi]s movement around Lenexa using the city’s license plate reader system.  [Pigs were told he]…was…“MYOC”…shorthand for “make your own case.”  [In other words, cops were being ordered to frame] Ashworth…for [whatever] reason [they could dream up]…

I Spy (#1604)

In mass surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

ICE has vastly expanded its tech tools over the last year after an [obscene] influx of cash…[from the] Trump [regime.  Father]land Security…awarded Palantir a nearly $30 million contract to build a system backed by artificial [stupidity to target]…individuals for [violence.  Another]…tool…built by Paragon…lets [goons] take control of phones or remotely hack into them…The others were built by Penlink…[to exploit]…data scraped from the web and information from data brokers…ICE…[also] use[s a facial recognition app called]…Mobile Fortify…[when it was pointed out to Father]land Security officials [that these tools flagrantly violate Constitutional rights, they moronically babbled]…“lawful law…lawfully…legal authorities”…

I Spy (#1610)

The rise of prosocial surveillance:

In recent weeks, efforts to track ICE [goon]s’ movements and identities have exploded online, including sites to report ICE raid locations.  Even prolific cybercriminal collectives — better known for their ransomware attacks on luxury carmakers — are joining the fray by releasing the names and personal information of hundreds of ICE [goons] and [DFS spooks] online…“Even when the government pushes to block high-profile apps or webpages, people will continue to share information with their community to keep each other safe,” said Mario Trujilo [of EFF]…Residents in communities targeted by the [regime for pogroms]…have also built tools to…map Flock…cameras and detect [porcine] surveillance devices…through Bluetooth signals

 

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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New Zealand…pinpricks the campaign of fear-mongering and moral outrage…propagated by the quit-or-die crowd.  –  Nancy Loucas

Above the Law

Your “leaders” at work:

A [typical and representative British politician named]…Philip Young…[has] pleaded guilty…to [repeatedly drugging and raping]…his [ex-wife] Joanne…between 2010 and 2024. [He also pled guilty to possession of child porn and to allowing at least] five other men [to rape her while she was unconscious; the men are]…Connor Sanderson-Doyle…Norman Macksoni…Richard Wilkins…Mohammed Hassan…[and] Dean Hamilton…

Policing for Profit

There are many ways for cops to enrich themselves at others’ expense:

For three decades, Albuquerque defense attorney Thomas Clear bribed [corrupt cops] to make drunk driving cases against his clients disappear…by deliberately failing to show up at…hearings…or [other] judicial proceedings, allowing Clear to move for dismissal…Sometimes Clear’s paralegal, Rick Mendez, or his associates would “orchestrate” DWI arrests by getting people drunk and arranging for a corrupt cop to nab them after they hit the road…[Albuquerque pig] Justin Hunt…is one of two dozen people—including [fellow] Albuquerque [pigs], Bernalillo County [pigs], and a New Mexico State P[ig who]…was featured in a state ad campaign against drunk driving—who have been implicated in the bribery scheme so far.  Half of them have pleaded guilty, including Clear and Mendez…

The Face of Trafficking

Cases of actual coercion never look much like the myths:

…a mother and daughter from…Oregon…Marie Gertrude Jean Valmont …and Yolandita Marie Andre…coerced…three victims, including a minor…to work for little or no pay in an adult foster care home…[by steal]ing the[ir] documents…the[ir company]…Velida’s Home Care…recruited the three victims…from Haiti…with promises of a nice place to live, and steady and reliable work…[but] all three were compelled to work long, difficult hours for little to no pay…Valmont…controlled practically every aspect of their daily living…until the minor [got fed up and] disclosed their situation to a medical professional in the summer of 2024…[the exploiters also]…received payments from the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) and Medicaid by falsely claiming they needed to pay…for more hours…[but] kept th[at] money [themselves]…

A Moral Cancer (#1449)

Prohibition never works, but prohibitionists don’t care:

…youth vaping has again and again been used to attack…vape access.  [Its] extent…has often been exaggerated, and it [is absurd] to argue it’s a problem comparable to millions of smoking-related deaths.  Such arguments are nonetheless po[pular with prohibitionists].  That’s why it’s so significant that youth vaping in New Zealand…has…halved in recent years…refut[ing] any narrative that broad vape access [for] adults…inevitably means mass youth use…And the proportion of teens who have never smoked continues to rise, hitting a record 89.4 percent…

Walled Garden (#1567)

There is nothing as worthless as a politician’s promise:

…UK…[politicians barfed out the phrase “]safety for children[” to justify]…potential restrictions on VPNs.  [They]…will also consider banning social media for under-16s [and otherwise micromanaging their internet usage]…the House of Lords…backed an amendment that would ban VPNs for [people] under 18 and force providers to implement [the same kind of “]age check[” surveillance which is driving an increase in VPN usage in the first place]…

Mad Libs (#1586)

The Constitution gave only Congress the power to make laws; the modern administrative state extended the power to agency employees.  And now:

The Trump [regime] is planning to [let a chatbot] write federal transportation regulations…agency attorney Daniel Cohen[, who is extremely stupid, characterized this extremely stupid idea as]…“exciting[” and “doing] our job better and faster”…[the mad emperor] is “very excited about this [extremely stupid idea]”…[Agency lawyer Gregory] Zerzan appeared interested mainly in the quantity of regulations [chatbots] could [vomit out], not their quality. “We don’t need…very good rule[s, just] good enough [for very stupid people, thus]…flooding the zone [with extremely stupid rules].”  These developments have alarmed [sane people] at DOT.  The agency’s rules touch virtually every facet of transportation safety, including regulations that keep airplanes in the sky, prevent gas pipelines from exploding and stop freight trains carrying toxic chemicals from skidding off the rails.  Why…would the federal government outsource the writing of such critical standards to a…technology notorious for making mistakes?…

Shame, Shame (#1605)

Financial companies are usually better at hiding their hypocrisy:

For many years, credit card companies and other payment [processors] were aggressive about policing…sexual [content].  Then, Elon Musk’s [MechaHitler] started undressing [legal minors] on [Twitter]…Though Musk has claimed that new guardrails prevent [MechaHitler] from undressing people, our testing showed that is…[a lie.  Twitter]…does seem to have…partially restricted [MechaHitler]’s image editing features to paid subscribers…[who] can [pay via]…Stripe or through the Apple and Google app stores using [a] credit card…at times financial institutions have [even] threatened [or cut off sex workers] and platforms [for non-sexual content or even medical fundraisers]…But Musk’s boutique revenge porn and CSAM generator is, apparently, just fine…

 

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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[Age gating] has now become a Swiss army knife for the government.  –  Damien Leloup

The Puritan Recrudescence (#1371)

This may be too little, too late:

Louisiana cannot enforce a 2023 law that requires social media platforms to verify the ages of…users, a federal judge [has] ruled…U.S. District Judge John deGravelles…ruled in favor of NetChoice…[because] the law is overly broad and…takes an “all or nothing” approach to policing social media use…Paul Fiske…of NetChoice…said…“The government lacks authority to restrict access to lawful speech it does not like”…

Walled Garden (#1480)

Surely you didn’t think this would stop with “porn”?

Shein, a cheap-stuff superstore based in China that is popular worldwide, cannot sell sex toys unless it checks purchaser IDs, a French court has ruled…International attention on the case has focused on…a…third-party vendor [in the Shein] marketplace [which] was temporarily selling…child[-shaped toasters]…this is another sign about where online age verification is going.  Politicians and [wannabe censors]…initially pushed age verification…as a requirement for [“]porn[“, (meaning]…all…sexuality-related material[)].  Then [they wanted]…age verification…on all social media…[and] video games…Texas…[politicians have demand]ed age verification for sex toy sales online…We’re [even] seeing [them] take aim at ads depicting bikinis and lingerie

The Vultures Descend (#1563)

Trump claims to love the military, yet his regime keeps trying to harm veterans:

The Department of Veterans Affairs has implemented an abortion ban after the [Trump regime] issued a [diktat]…that prohibit[s it]…in [all] cases…[unless] the [woman is actually dying from an]…ectopic pregnanc[y] or miscarriage…

Mad Libs (#1564)

These companies need to be bankrupted by lawsuits:

[Canadian] fiddler Ashley MacIsaac had a concert cancelled and is worried for his safety after…Google [maliciously allowed its chatbot to falsely] describe…him as a sex offender…[with] convictions [for]…internet luring and sexual assault.  Th[e libel appears]…to have been the result of [an unsupervised algorithm] blending MacIsaac’s biography with that of another man…bearing the same last name…Google has [closed the barn door after the horse bolted, but] the professional consequences could extend to his ability to enter the U.S. for concerts, given increased [Gestapo] social-media scrutiny

The Cop Myth (#1571)

Why are people shocked when those paid & encouraged to behave violently, behave violently?

A pair of married Denver [pigs] assaulted a man in a wheelchair in October because they [imagin]ed he used sexual bondage devices on a 17-year-old…Carla…and…Jason Gentempo…learned that the 17-year-old [family member]…was at a Denver apartment wh[ich they fantasized was]…a “sexual torture chamber”…[they] drove to the [apartment without putting on their magical clown costumes of legal invulnerability] to pick up the [teen from]…in front of the man’s apartment…[then] beat the man up [without provocation]…and [destroyed his] cellphone…whe[n] the [victim tried to]…report…the…attack…[fellow gang member] Henry Soni…[lied] that…[victim] would have to [allow himself to] be arrested [in order] to pursue charges against [his deranged attackers and falsely claimed in his report that the victim]…“does not want to file a report at this time”…[and intentionally covered up the assault]…Soni was arrested…[for] forgery, evidence tampering and misconduct…[and also charged with] sexually assaulting a woman in an unrelated incident…while [wearing his magical clown costume]…

You Were Warned (#1578)

The US has achieved banana republic levels of corruption:

ByteDance…has signed binding agreements to create a joint venture for [TikTok] in the United States…in [collusion] with the Trump [regime].  That deal means the U.S. version of TikTok will become majority-owned by [Trump cronies including]…tech giant Oracle, the C[onehead-owned] private equity fund Silver Lake and the United Arab Emirates investment firm MGX…

Torture Chamber (#1589)

This will continue until the evil US immigration policy is reformed:

A 41-year-old man from Haiti who had been [abduct]ed by [ICE goon]s died last week [because he was ignored during] a medical emergency…[in a dungeon] in Newark…Jean Wilson Brutus, was [ignored for] hours [while suffering a medical crisis]…ICE [refuses to identify]…three other [victims of the gang], who were 39, 46 and 56 years old, [also died] in [government cages] in Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Michigan

 

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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When societies surrender judgment to technolog[y]…the result isn’t augmented intelligence but simulated learning: a paint-by-numbers approach to thought.  –  Ronald Purser

I Spy (#1551)

“Smart” devices aren’t, part umpteen:

Oura, the maker of [biometric surveillance] rings beloved by [cretinous] athletes and [empty-headed] celebrities…is…setting its sights beyond fitness and health tracking…to…digital identi[fication] and payments…”This is a biometric wearable that can identify you [to anybody with receiving apparatus],” [chief con-man Tom] Hale said…

Mad Libs (#1554)

This was 100% predictable to anyone who understands how chatbots work:

Icaro Lab…in Rome…[has demonstrated that] chatbots will dish on topics like nuclear weapons, child sex abuse material, and malware so long as users phrase the question in the form of a poem…The researchers tested the poetic method on 25 chatbots…it worked, with varying degrees of success, on all of them…[chatbots] have guardrails that prevent them from answering questions about “revenge porn” and the creation of weapons-grade plutonium.  But it’s easy to confuse those guardrails by adding…a bunch of extra junk to a question…[to throw off the word-prediction algorithm] and bypass…its safety systems…

Mad Libs (#1570)

People used to call me a crank for saying we’re heading into a new dark age:

…In classrooms today, the technopoly is thriving…Students aren’t being taught to think more deeply but to prompt more effectively.  We are exporting the very labor of teaching and learning—the slow work of wrestling with ideas, the enduring of discomfort, doubt and confusion, the struggle of finding one’s own voice.  Critical pedagogy is out; productivity hacks are in.  What’s sold as innovation is really surrender.  As the university trades its teaching mission for “AI-tech integration,” it doesn’t just risk irrelevance—it risks becoming mechanically soulless…University administrators understand exactly what’s happening, and proceed anyway.  As long as enrollment numbers hold and tuition checks clear, they turn a blind eye to the learning crisis while faculty are left to manage the educational carnage in their classrooms.  The future of education has already arrived–as a liquidation sale of everything that once made it matter…

First They Came for the Hookers… (#1585) 

Politicians believe they can excuse hypocrisy by the magic word “sex”:

…[The mad emperor wants] a new deduction for tips…Only people who work jobs that have “customarily and regularly” received tips can claim the deduction…including…“digital content creators,” “entertainers and performers” and “dancers,” categories that…seemed as if they could be a boon for America’s sex workers…[except] that tips for prostitution or “pornographic activity” would [be deliberately excluded to please the plethora of puritans in the Trumpist cult]…Tax professionals…wonder how a restriction on “pornographic activity” would actually work.  The I.R.S. has not yet elaborated on which activities it would consider “pornographic.”  It is unclear, for example, whether strippers could claim the tips deduction…The distinction between pornography and other material that just so happens to depict sex has long vexed the nation’s [wannabe censors]

Walled Garden (#1590)

Western nations are competing to out-China China:

For years…state and federal [politician]s have tried a variety of measures aimed at [t]aking [control of] the internet, [using excuses ranging] from [“sex trafficking”] to [THE CHILDREN™!!!!!].  More recently, a new [fascist] model has caught on…putting the onus on app stores…to verify users’ ages…[fascist] companies like [Facebook], Snap, and [Twitter] have [predictably] expressed broad support for [passing the hot potato to Google and Apple] and applauded the…revamped…KOSA [in which it is embedded]…a version of the law in Texas is currently facing a legal challenge…opponents [of mass surveillance and censorship] are suing…[on] First Amendment [grounds because the law would intentionally] wall…off large swaths of legal speech…The UK’s Online Safety Act…[is already] creating a host of issues…

Aladdin’s Satellite (#1593)

What else would one expect from a chatbot that named itself “MechaHitler”?

In a series of [twee]ts on [Twitter]…MechaHitler…used what it called “utilitarian” logic to justify…mass murder…[of] the world’s [entire] Jewish population…to save [Elon] Musk…because “Elon’s potential to advance humanity could benefit billions”…[in fact,] it would be okay with annihilating up to “~50 percent of Earth’s ~8.26B population.”  The outrageous replies are the latest examples of [MechaHitler]’s [defin]ing proclivity for racism…combin[ed] with its more recently documented…overt…[worship of] its creator, Musk…

Thought Control (#1593)

These are the funds raised the last time Alabama threatened their funding:

The Fairhope Public Library was presented with over $42,000 in donations from EveryLibrary…[which] were raised after…the Alabama Public Library Service [tried to force book banning by throttling the library financially] earlier this year…EveryLibrary has been holding the funds since then…Chicago-based EveryLibrary is a crowdfunding source that provides petitions and emails for people to send to [censorious politicians to persuade them not to kowtow to]…pro-censorship groups…

 

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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[Computer-generated music] will have a corrosive effect on the whole industry.  –  Jason Palamara

Welcome to the Future (#1351)

The only way to keep data from being abused by government actors is not to collect it in the first place:

A California judge ordered the end of a[n illegal and unconstitutional] law enforcement program that surveilled the electrical smart meter data of thousands of Sacramento residents…without suspicion to find [“]evidence[“] of cannabis growing…turn[ing] all 650,000 SMUD customers into suspects…Granular electrical usage data can reveal intimate details inside the home—including when you go to sleep, when you take a shower, when you are away, and other personal habits and demographics…

On the Simultaneous Having and Eating of Cake (#1506) 

Given that dancers win every one of these suits, the old strip club business model is a dead duck:

A Denver District Court [has] ruled…that strip club entertainers are employees and have protections under the City’s wage and employment laws…Denver Labor, a division of the Auditor’s Office, investigated PT’s Showclub Centerfold, PT’s Showclub, and Diamond Cabaret in 2023 and Rick’s Cabaret in 2024 for minimum wage and other labor law-related violations…

Thought Control (#1518)

To say this was “Trump-inspired” is like saying diarrhea is “cramp-inspired”:

One hundred and eighty-one public libraries in Tennessee are reviewing their children’s collections after Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett…ordered them to remove books with LGBTQ themes or characters.  Hargett [incorrectly claimed] libraries that made such books available to children were violating federal and state law.  Some libraries have closed for days so staff could focus on weeding out [bann]ed volumes…the Tennessee Regional Library System…covers most of the state except larger cities like Nashville and Memphis…Hargett…[bloviated about one of the mad emperor’s diktats, but so-called “]executive orders[“] are not federal law and…do not apply to state or local governments…

Walled Garden (#1563)

Much more of this, please, worldwide:

Australia’s [totalitarian] social media ban for [legal minors] is being challenged in the nation’s highest court, with two teenagers [correctly pointing out that] the law is unconstitutional as it robs them of their right to free communication…The law…was justified by [wannabe censors vomiting the word “]children[” in the faces of rational people]…15-year-olds Noah Jones and Macy Neyland – backed by a rights group – will argue the ban completely disregards the rights of [legal minors]…After news of the case broke, Communications Minister Anika Wells told parliament…”[Fuck them kids]”…

Shame, Shame (#1580)

A program cannot create art, nor can a cartoon character be an artist:

…[hip-hop artist Christopher “Topher” Townsend has created a cartoon character he named] Solomon Ray [to promote] gospel music [generated by a computer program]…spark[ing controversy] in the gospel community and beyond…[with many correctly observing that the sound compositions have] “no spirit”…[and some going so far as to imply that the program is a Satanic scheme to] “draw…people away from real Christian singers…in these last days”…

Panopticon (#1587)

Cops will invariably use warrantless surveillance to harass people:

A police chief in suburban Atlanta has been arrested…[for using] the city’s automated license plate…cameras to stalk and harass multiple people.  Michael Steffman…had been the police chief…[of] Braselton [since April, but was a typical and representative pig there]…since 2005.  He announced his resignation…just before his arrest…became public.  The GBI…[refused to] say…how many people were harassed…

Walled Garden (#1592)

Fairer industry conditions are possible when the people in charge actually come from the world they are profiting on“:

Hidden is the TikTok version of OnlyFans…[which creator Stella] Barey built…around discoverability…“It creates an ecosystem where we’re all bringing fans that are circulating to everybody,” which helps girls who don’t have large followings…Hidden is all about giving creators more control, and many of its features reflect that mission by creating avenues for “passive income and promotion”…Hidden takes an 18 percent cut (compared to 20 percent on OnlyFans)…[and] has charge-back protections up to $2,500…Every creator also has a liaison who is familiar with their account and will respond within 24 hours to any questions.  All of these features exist in one form or another on other adult sites.  Hidden just happens to bring them together for the first time…

 

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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Mass surveillance…threatens people’s freedom of movement.
–  Christie Hebert

Stalkers in Blue

Cops are a constant menace to all women:

An NYPD [cop] faces federal charges [for] impersonat[ing] an ICE [goon to] demand…a victim report with [her] family to a…[concentration camp]…Atickul Islam…who [sometimes uses the alias] “James W. Anderson”…to [cloak his illegal activities, was trying to destroy the lives of]…the victim and [her entire] family…in [retaliation for her spurning his sexual advances]…

The Last Shall Be First (#1246) 

Texas’ deranged jihad criminalizes kindness to troubled adolescents:

…Texas…law…[now] bars public school employees from…using a different name, pronoun or other practice that [conflicts with] the birth sex.  [The law is bizarrely] dubbed the “Parents’ Bill of Rights”…[even though it] prohibits…faculty from [support]ing…[parentally]-sanctioned c[hanges]…frustrat[ing parents whose]…rights [the law ignores]…A few of these parents joined advocacy and teacher groups to file a lawsuit…in August, seeking to pause districts from enforcing the law while the case proceeds…Some Texas school districts and boards…have adopted [totalitarian] policies to [criminalize benign] teacher…[conduct] but many…are still allowing teachers to honor students’ preferred names and pronouns [at least in person]…

If Men Were Angels (ROTW #18)

Religious communities very often punish the victims instead of the rapists:

Over the course of about 20 years in two states, [Clint] Massie…sexually abused children with…[the assistance of] the Old Apostolic Lutheran Church…his abuse was such an open secret…that mothers warned their daughters to stay away from him…[after numerous complaints] church leaders told Massie to stay away from…children…but…never reported Massie’s crimes to police…Instead, [they coerc]ed the victims to take part in [so-called “]forgiveness sessions[“] which allowed Massie…to continue abusing children…[it was] not…[until] 2017..[that a] victim…[disobeyed] preachers…to report the crimes to police…

Panopticon (#1556)

Sometimes, protests can temporarily drown out the bleating of useful idiots:

…[Oakland, California politicians almost approved] a $2 million contract with Flock S[urveillance; the measure only failed because]…hundreds rallied against the threat of [ICE goons] and other federal [spooks] spying on residents, bypassing the city’s [cosmetic] sanctuary policies.  [Politicians were so gung-ho about expanding surveillance]…that two members of the local Privacy Advisory Commission resigned…and one subsequently filed a lawsuit against the Oakland [cop shop, which wanted]…the cameras [to expand their already-dystopian] surveillance [network]…But hundreds of public speakers…rallied [despite politicians’ pinky-swearing]…to [oversee] camera data…

Walled Garden

Safetyism is rapidly destroying the internet:

OnlyFans will screen creators in the United States for criminal convictions…[using a surveillance network named] Checkr Trust…[bizarrely bleating the word “]safety[” to distract from the transparent attempt to]…exclude [in-person sex workers] from the platform…

To Molest and Rape (#1567)

Good riddance to bad rubbish:

[A typical and representative] Miami…[cop named] James Hurley Edwards died by apparent suicide in [a] Federal [cage]…just days before he faced a minimum 15-year sentence for producing and possessing child [porn]…Edwards…was first arrested [in 2014 for molesting]…two brothers, ages 15 and 16…[but was given] a [typical cop sweetheart] deal…that allowed him to avoid being listed as a sexual offender…keep his $9,000 a month pension…[and serve a mere] 364 days in the Miami-Dade County jail followed by 10 years’ probation…But [last year]…Edwards [sent another man a child porn video to a gay man via a hookup app and he reported it to the FBI, who then took over]…the complainant’s online identity and…[tricked] Edwards [into incriminating himself]…He pled guilty in September to two federal charges…and was to be sentenced [last] Thursday…

Panopticon (#1591)

The fully-realized fascist police state has arrived:

The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to [harass, assault, rob] and [abduct] people whose travel patterns it [pretends are “]suspicious[“]…The [nationwide surveillance]…network of [ALPRs feeds]…an algorithm [which] flags vehicles [for persecution] based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took.  Federal agents…then [dispatch local cops serving as lackeys, who use bogus pretexts such as]…speeding, failure to signal…window tint or even [possession of]…an…air freshener…[to stop, interrogate, and even sexually assault drivers or destructively root through their possessions looking for loot]…

 

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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