“DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE TO THE OCCUPANTS OF THE VEHICLE. DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE IN YOUR REPORT OR COMPLAINT."

‘DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE’: How Cops Are Trying to Hide the Existence of Flock

“DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE TO THE OCCUPANTS OF THE VEHICLE. DO NOT MENTION ALPR USAGE IN YOUR REPORT OR COMPLAINT."

404media.co

Nice overview of the long history of small-scale data centers in Milwaukee. Some thoughts from me included. www.jsonline.com/story/money/...

Not all data centers are created equal. One might be in your neighborhood.

The rise of hyperscale data centers has raised alarm in communities. But smaller data centers have provided services to dozens of clients for years.

jsonline.com

I mostly get the argument for humanoid form factors if trying to insert robots into spaces already built for humans. But if this pipe dream has even a 0.000001% chance of happening, there's zero reason to build a "moon factory" around our bodies.

David Burbach 🇺🇸@dburbach.bsky.social · 11h ago

Putting aside the bigger questions, why humanoid in a factory?

I'll take "false dichotomy" for $1000, Alex.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 12h ago

“Teaching educators about AI is a ‘moral imperative’, said Randi Weingarten, the AFT president.” “And without outside funding, it was a choice between taking big tech’s money or doing nothing, she said.”

That was the stated purpose behind the establishment of the branch of government in which you serve but go off king

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · yesterday

Cornyn: "There's nothing we could do to rein in the president"

I must inform you that Rebecca Black’s “Friday” just went platinum, according to the RIAA. www.riaa.com/gold-platinu...

I'm not going to QT but there's a silicon valley NIMBY complaining about maintaining the historical character of Palo Alto and man that place should look like fucking singapore. Market cap of tech companies based in and around there is like $14 trillion and it's full of fucking bungalows? So broken

Aw, It’s Baby’s First A.I. Surveillance System www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/b...

Nanit and Other Baby-Tracking Start-Ups Eye Collecting Even More Data (Gift Article)

Nanit and other start-ups want to track your children through the night — and soon, for much longer than that.

nytimes.com

The outrage over Flock cameras is warranted -- and decades overdue. Threats to “privacy in public” didn’t start with Flock. Back in 2005, I argued that Nissenbaum’s theory of “contextual integrity” offers a useful way to understand what’s at stake: michaelzimmer.org/2005/04/12/p...

Among other things, this seems like a breach of fiduciary duty

Dr. Lucky Tran@luckytran.com · 2d ago

Right as RFK Jr and Republicans spread COVID disinformation on national TV and public hearings, Meta decides to roll back its COVID-19 misinformation rules.

This is one of those insanely encouraging things that most people just refuse to believe. It's either open green space untouched by man for eternity or solar/data center/tar pit (all the same)

Suw@suw.bsky.social · 3d ago

Crops grown underneath solar panels produce more, require less water and are more resistant to extreme weather, even during a hot, dry summer. We need agrivoltaics to be rolled out asap, for both the electricity and the better growing conditions. microgridmedia.com/solar-panels...

Still can’t over the fact that the president of the United States just told an entire state to pound sand after getting cyberattacked by a foreign adversary because they didn’t vote for him and it was treated like a Tuesday lol

New: We found 50 cops who misused Flock cameras and other license-plate readers for personal purposes, often to spy on their girlfriends or ex-wives. He "watched every single move I made. ... Who do you turn the chief of police in to?" wapo.st/3S6rTuo

She left her ex. He secretly tracked her through a network of policing cameras.

Flock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.

wapo.st

"The public has been asked to accept a significant expansion of surveillance based on the promise that it would dramatically improve public safety."

Flock Surveillance Cameras Are Actually Horrible for Fighting Crime, FBI Data Shows

New FBI data shows case closure rates for the Atlanta Police Department have not improved despite thousands of ALPRs installed since 2021.

trib.al

Good morning, scholars.

It takes a ridiculous amount of hubris / technochauvanism to not foresee exactly this outcome. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Flock Cameras Got the Wrong License Plate 71% of the Time in California City

Flock Cameras Got the Wrong License Plate 71% of the Time in California City

Good thing we're passing along so much responsibility to these systems.

gizmodo.com

Companies are all in on selling folks the idea that it’s in your best interest for your products to “know you” as if you are getting a dedicated servant but what you are really getting is a spy.

GM to launch its own in-vehicle AI system later this year

General Motors plans to launch a proprietary in-vehicle artificial intelligence system that's better tailored for its customers later this year.

cnbc.com

“The freedom to be able to move freely in your community without your government tracking you ... that’s the necessary freedom that we should never give up…”

Ex-cop warns against Flock cameras: ‘It creates a mass surveillance system’

A former police officer warns that Flock surveillance cameras enable mass tracking.

nj.com

Update: Google just sent me a statement saying it is “rolling back” this AI feature that let anyone make completely bullshit satellite images. Comes after our demos of the tool and those from OSINT researchers. One of the worst AI tools I’ve ever seen bsky.app/profile/jose...

Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 5d ago

New from 404 Media: Google Earth has introduced an AI feature that lets anyone fabricate completely bullshit satellite images. In our own tests, we added a “bomb blast and crater” to an area of Los Angeles. This is a misinformation time bomb, will 100% be abused www.404media.co/google-earth...

A meaningful security standard for robots would require encrypted map storage, security audits, vulnerability disclosures, and clear data retention policies. Instead, this ban means the US will see fewer new models, slower innovation, and more expensive robovacs. Read more from @jp2e.bsky.social:

The ban on robot vacuums won’t make them safer. But it may make your next one worse

Bad Robot.

theverge.com

Meta earnings reveal cash flow drops 91% — while Zuckerberg writes op-eds about superintelligence fortune.com/2026/07/30/z...

Meta earnings reveal cash flow drops 91% — while Zuckerberg writes op-eds about superintelligence | Fortune

Profit fell 14% on legal bills and layoff costs, even as Zuckerberg pitches AI as personal superintelligence for everyone.

fortune.com

good stuff man

Amazon accidentally spent $1.8 million using Claude for menial coding task, went 860% over budget — 'catastrophically expensive' coding blunders discovered in internal Amazon AI usage metrics

A million dollar "whoopsie"

tomshardware.com

New: LinkedIn just introduced a "seems like AI slop" button. That's literally what the button says. The thought leaders are going to have a meltdown www.404media.co/linkedin-int...

LinkedIn Introduces a 'Seems Like AI Slop' Button

Following 404 Media's reporting on how LinkedIn is full of AI slop, the platform is giving users a chance to report it when they see it.

404media.co

I note my own experience with this in every lecture I give on the quantified self.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 7d ago

“Closing exercise rings, achieving a certain step count and keeping blood sugar within a specific range can turn into a compulsion…Anxiety peaks at the mere thought of not hitting numbers. What feels like a good thing to do for your health can become a source of intense anxiety instead."

“first wishes broadly benefit society” sure is an interesting choice of words

Dare Obasanjo@carnage4life.bsky.social · last wk.

“What we need to explain to the world: Number one, we are close to creating a genie that can grant any wish. Number two, we are going to make sure that our first wishes broadly benefit humanity” - Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI — This is definitely the opposite of Anthropic’s AI kills all jobs pitch.

How could anyone have predicted this, tho?

The Internet Ethics program--Markkula Center for Applied Ethics@iethics.bsky.social · last wk.

"Instagram is cracking down on videos recorded using #Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, ... after prank videos and clips of pickup artists secretly recording women in public spread across #socialmedia": fortune.com/2026/07/28/r... #ethics #internet #privacy #contentmoderation #business

It's genuinely insane that it's a mainstream belief that the problem with COVID was that we did *too much* to address it.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.

Rep. Ogles: "Look, I don't want to play down the effects of the virus, but at the end of the day it had a roughly 1 percent mortality rate. We coulda gotten through this."

I watched a new tool try to get around the model safeguards of four major frontier companies. You might be surprised by how they performed. www.wired.com/story/jailbr...

It’s Frighteningly Easy to Jailbreak Some Frontier AI Models

I watched a new tool try to get around the model safeguards of four major frontier companies. You might be surprised by how they performed.

wired.com