Daily Tech News 5 July 2023

• Ace already hit on this one but the top tech story of the day is undeniably a federal judge's injunction against fascists doing fascist stuff, specifically, censoring the speech of non-fascists. (Washington Post)
  
  (Don't worry, that link goes to an archive site, not to the Post itself.)
  
  The argument in favour of fascism is extraordinary.

  The Trump-appointed judge's move could upend years of efforts to enhance coordination between the government and social media companies.

  Yes, that's the point. That's illegal.

  A federal judge on Tuesday blocked key Biden administration agencies and officials from meeting and communicating with social media companies about "protected speech," in an extraordinary preliminary injunction in an ongoing case that could have profound effects on the First Amendment.

  Note that they have protected speech in scare quotes, and describe a straightforward enforcement of First Amendment protections as "extraordinary".
  
  And yes, it could have profound effects on the First Amendment. It upholds it, when Journalists for Censorship has expended so much effort into tearing it down.

  The Donald Trump-appointed judge's move could undo years of efforts to enhance coordination between the government and social media companies. For more than a decade, the federal government has attempted to work with social media companies to address criminal activity, including child sexual abuse images and terrorism.
  
  Over the past five years, coordination and communication between government officials and the companies increased as the federal government responded to rising election interference and voter suppression efforts after revelations that Russian actors had sowed disinformation on U.S. social sites during the 2016 election. Public health officials also frequently communicated with the companies during the coronavirus pandemic, as falsehoods about the virus and vaccines spread on social networks including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

  Note the desperate attempt to conflate crimes by other people - child porn and terrorism - with crimes by the government - the systemic censorship of protected speech.

  "The injunction is strikingly broad and clearly intended to chill any kind of contact between government actors and social media platforms," said Evelyn Douek, an assistant professor at Stanford Law School.

  Yes. That's the point.

  For years, Republicans have argued that social media companies' policies to address disinformation related to elections and public health have resulted in the unfair censorship of their political views. Meanwhile, Democrats have argued that the companies have not gone far enough in policing their services to ensure they do not undermine democratic institutions.

  The Democrat position being that it's not happening and we need more of it.

  "Deep state" refers the unsubstantiated idea, frequently invoked by Trump, that a group of bureaucrats is working to undermine elected officials to shape government policy.

  Oh, not entirely. Those bureaucrats are entirely happy with the current circus who barely need prompting to do their bidding.

• Amazon's DMS is shit.
  
  
  
• The two things I want and haven't been able to get are an 8" tablet with a high-resolution screen - 2560x1600 would be good, and a small laptop with a Zen 4 CPU and at least 32GB of RAM.
  
  So here's an 8" tablet with a 2560x1600 screen, a Zen 4 CPU, and 32GB of RAM. (Notebook Check)
  
  Not quite what I ordered, but... Maybe? (Checks price.) No.
  
  
  
• The UK is planning to scuttle its 15 billion pound "climate" funding promise. (The Guardian)
  
  "Yeah, about that," said PM Rishi Sunak. "We were drunk at the time. Deal's off."
  
  
  
• India plans to start construction of a chip assembly and test facility next month, with first production scheduled by the end of next year. (Financial Times)
  
  At first glance I thought this was talking about a fab, where they make the actual silicon, in which case there is no way it could happen that quickly.
  
  But this is talking about the factory that takes the tiny slivers of silicon and packages them in plastic with little leads or pins or metal balls, that can then be attached to circuit boards. Less dramatic but still necessary and something that is quicker and simpler to build.

posted by Pixy Misa at 04:10 AM

| Access Comments