Doc Edward Morbius ⭕​ @dredmorbius@toot.cat

An administrative announcement.
Motherfuckers.

This One Trick Will Revolutionize Your Use of Social Media: Block fuckwits.

On social media, the advantage is that a large userbase and participation. The disadvantage: it's 99.9999% crap.

What's working for me is to filter ruthlessly. If someone is disruptive, ideological, insane, or crazy-making, I'll block them without thought (I used to agonize over that, I don't any more).

High signal is rare, but odds of missing out by blocking idiots are low.

#BlockFuckwits

https://web.archive.org/web/20180303151553/https://plus.google.com/104092656004159577193/posts/drLZV8sm7Tq

"Pseudonyms and anonymity are also an established part of many cultures -- for good reason."

- Alma Whitten, former Director of Privacy, Product and Engineering, Google

On authors who were publishing information technology panopticon concerns in the 1980s, or earlier

A quickie dump.

Paul Baran / RAND

• "On the Engineer's Responsibility in Protecting Privacy"

• "On the Future Computer Era: Modification of the American Character and the Role of the Engineer, or, A Little Caution in the Haste to Number"

• "The Coming Computer Utility -- Laissez-Faire, Licensing, or Regulation?"

• "Remarks on the Question of Privacy Raised by the Automation of Mental Health Records"

• "Some Caveats on the Contribution of Technology to Law Enforcement"

Largely written/published 1967--1969.

https://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/b/baran_paul.html

Willis Ware / RAND

Too numerous to list fully, 1960s --1990s. Highlights:

• "Security and Privacy in Computer Systems" (1967)

• "Computers in Society's Future" (1971)

• "Records, Computers and the Rights of Citizens" (1973

• "Privacy and Security Issues in Information Systems" (1976)

• "Information Systems, Security, and Privacy" (1983)

• "The new faces of privacy" (1993)

https://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/w/ware_willis_h.html

Misc

Shoshana Zuboff, In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power (1988) Notably reviewed in the Whole Earth Catalog's Signal: Communication Tools for the Information Age (1988).

https://www.worldcat.org/title/in-the-age-of-the-smart-machine-the-future-of-work-and-power/oclc/60966402 https://archive.org/details/inageofsmartmach00zubo/page/n7/mode/2up

"Danger to Civil Rights?", 80 Microcomputing (1982)

https://archive.org/stream/80_Microcomputing_Issue_26_1982-02_1001001_US#page/n295/mode/2up (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14329877)

"Computer-Based National Information Systems: Technology and Public Policy", NTIS (September 1981)

http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/ota/Ota_5/DATA/1981/8109.PDF

"23 to Study Computer ‘Threat’" (1970)

https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/12/archives/23-to-study-computer-threat.html

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

"Privacy and Information Technology" bibliography is largely 1990--present, but contains some earlier references.

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/it-privacy/#Bib

Similarly "Privacy"

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/privacy/

Credit Reporting / Legislation

US Privacy Act of 1974

https://www.justice.gov/opcl/privacy-act-1974

Invasion of Privacy Act 1971 - Queensland Government, Australia

https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/inforce/current/act-1971-050

Arthur R. Miller, The assault on privacy: computers, data banks, and dossiers

https://archive.org/details/assaultonprivacy00mill/page/n7/mode/2up

"The Computer, the Consumer and Privacy" (1984)

https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/04/weekinreview/the-computer-the-consumer-and-privacy.html

Richard Boeth / Newsweek

The specific item I'd had in mind:

Richard Boeth, "Is Privacy Dead", Newsweek, July 27, 1970

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/11/is-privacy-dead.html%EF%BB%BF

Direct PDF: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/712228/1970-newsweek-coverstory-privacy.pdf

Based on an HN comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24851736

#privacy #surveillance #panopticon #PaulBaran #WillisWare #RAND #ShoshanaZuboff #RichardBoeth #CreditReporting

My present Recaptcha policy:

Request audio.

Respond "Fuck you Google"

Repeat until access granted, or the joy fades.

Bonus: All audio AI parsing tends to "Fuck you Google".

Fry's is pining for the fjords:

https://nitter.cc/bill0004/status/1364407906192424964

#Frys #ItsDeadJim

Dear #Mastomind: Any guidelines on E-Ink / B&W/grayscale / low-refresh rate app design / UI/UX?

I've recently come into possession of an e-ink book reader, and am discovering the joys (seriously) and limitations (dittos) of e-ink displays and software designed for them.

I've just begun looking for any information concerning design guidance for e-ink devices, and am coming up very short. If you're aware of any such resources please respond to thread.

Boosts welcomed.

#eink #uiux #AppDesign #SoftwareDesign #Interfaces #BlackAndWhite #LowRefresh

A documentary on rocket science features several former Soviet rocket scientists talking about their experience after the Soviet space program was shut down. Rocket scientists, literally, with no place to turn for employment. That's where you start thinking about inefficiencies in usefully allocating talent. Neither the Soviet nor American economic systems seem to have a particularly good answer for that. Though in the US, Wall Street seems to have a capacity for sponging up some of the potential. I don't find that particularly useful.

The Egyptians built pyramids. I wonder if that wasn't in part a large skills-retention and problem-solving exercise.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11226789

#SkillsRetention #PyramidBuilding

Down the Rabbit Hole

• Philosophy†
• History of Philisophy†
• Philosophy of the History of Philosophy†
• History of the Philosophy of the History of Philosophy‡
• Philosophy of the History of the Philosophy of the History of Philosophy‡
• ... ‡

Notes:

† These actually exist.
‡1-800-YOU-WILL