#1st mass

[odinsblog]

IN THE FALL OF 2020, GIG WORKERS IN VENEZUELA POSTED A SERIES OF images to online forums where they gathered to talk shop. The photos were mundane, if sometimes intimate, household scenes captured from low angles—including some you really wouldn’t want shared on the Internet.

In one particularly revealing shot, a young woman in a lavender T-shirt sits on the toilet, her shorts pulled down to mid-thigh.

The images were not taken by a person, but by development versions of iRobot’s Roomba J7 series robot vacuum. They were then sent to Scale AI, a startup that contracts workers around the world to label audio, photo, and video data used to train artificial intelligence.

They were the sorts of scenes that internet-connected devices regularly capture and send back to the cloud—though usually with stricter storage and access controls. Yet earlier this year, MIT Technology Review obtained 15 screenshots of these private photos, which had been posted to closed social media groups.

The photos vary in type and in sensitivity. The most intimate image we saw was the series of video stills featuring the young woman on the toilet, her face blocked in the lead image but unobscured in the grainy scroll of shots below. In another image, a boy who appears to be eight or nine years old, and whose face is clearly visible, is sprawled on his stomach across a hallway floor. A triangular flop of hair spills across his forehead as he stares, with apparent amusement, at the object recording him from just below eye level.

iRobot—the world’s largest vendor of robotic vacuums, which Amazon recently acquired for $1.7 billion in a pending deal—confirmed that these images were captured by its Roombas in 2020.

Ultimately, though, this set of images represents something bigger than any one individual company’s actions. They speak to the widespread, and growing, practice of sharing potentially sensitive data to train algorithms, as well as the surprising, globe-spanning journey that a single image can take—in this case, from homes in North America, Europe, and Asia to the servers of Massachusetts-based iRobot, from there to San Francisco–based Scale AI, and finally to Scale’s contracted data workers around the world (including, in this instance, Venezuelan gig workers who posted the images to private groups on Facebook, Discord, and elsewhere).

Together, the images reveal a whole data supply chain—and new points where personal information could leak out—that few consumers are even aware of.

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[aois-amaterasu-painting]

"We, all the members, will accept all of your emotions, carry them, and lead you with all our might. That's the resolve with which I sing...!" (RUKI)

[mollykawamotoart]

The goodbye between Shepard and Garrus makes me cry. They go through so much together. It's heart breaking.

[wanderingdesertrose]

Various covers of Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (formerly/alternatively titled Mistborn: The Final Empire)

left to right, top to bottom:

1) 1st edition hardback

2) 2nd edition mass market paperback

3) cover from when the book was rebranded as YA instead of adult

4) 2019 mass market paperback

5) UK cover

6) Croatian cover

7) Chinese cover

8) new US cover (2023)

[morn1e]

satan?really? after 9 out of 10 of npcs running around w napalm launchers?man fuck yall

[too-raph]

Every Single Day I think about Cheongsan smacking Gwinam in the face with a music stand, and Gwinam turning back to him with that amused little grin......

[spotsupstuff]

Imagine if tarrows forgot shes not a slugcat, and absent mindedly tried to store a pearl in her stomach for safekeeping and nearly choking.

the only time i can imagine it happening is before Sparrows would leave the Void Pools cuz otherwise she has that fuckin.. rebreather mask constantly on. it would tunk against that before it'd get the chance to get into her mouth. so here's some ouchies

[adelaidedrubman]

“does eden’s gate do anything to recognize pride month” has been stumping me all day btw

[astro-tag-9]

Hi

May i ask if you are still making matching characters (i am a guy btw) if so;

Aries sun moon and rising

Aqua venus, pisces mercury, gemini mars.

No prob if you don’t

🧡Goku🧡

(Dragon Ball Z)

[iambecomeafangirl]

Watching Midnight Mass ep 02.

The priest is a vampire right? And he can make miracles after drinking human blood.

[comaberrenices]

For Eurovision fans/and anyone else who would be watching Eurovision this Saturday

Please, please convince your friends and family (and yourself) not to vote for Israel for the Grand Final if it's for political reasons. Israel's victory would completely disrepute the contest and we DO NOT WANT it to happen Like, just vote for any song but Israel's or better, if you/ your friends/family like it, please vote for Croatia. Not only a Croatian win can stop this (or other country), it's the most positive outcome for this year's contest and the most plausible one to do it. I don't want to force you not to vote for Israel if you like the song. However, after the Italian televote leak, we have to do it together to prevent an Israel win.

[aois-amaterasu-painting]

Deracine vs The Pale

[lovesvcker]

Happy Birthday Selever <3

This was extremely rushed sadly but I’m glad I got it done and I still like it!

[emmavakarian-theirin]

today marks 10 years since i played mass effect for the first time - 10 years and i still don't have words to express the love and gratitude i have for this series, but i do have 10 years worth of art development to try 😁

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔑𝔲𝔠𝔩𝔢𝔞𝔯 𝔄𝔰𝔰𝔞𝔲𝔩𝔱 - ℭ𝔯𝔦𝔱𝔦𝔠𝔞𝔩 𝔐𝔞𝔰𝔰

[babygurltash]

I wanna drop my durgetash fic but it's the last one in a series that I haven't written yet...