#people are like ‘email your senators!! call them!! it works!!’

[unityrain24]

email i got today not sure if this is news??:

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Breaking news: a top Democrat in the House has highlighted the problem with the “duty of care” model in the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).1

During the markup last week, Rep. Frank Pallone said, “adopting the duty of care could cause social media companies to over-filter content out of an abundance of caution about legal risk, and as a result some young people could lose access to helpful and even life-saving content.”2

This is exactly what dozens of human rights, civil liberties, racial justice, and LGBTQ+ groups have been saying for years about why KOSA’s duty of care is so dangerous.3

Our grassroots campaign is working and it's getting the attention of top lawmakers. Can you help us continue the fight to ensure that KOSA is only passed if it gets fixed?

Donate

Pallone rightly went on to say that he doesn’t trust Big Tech companies to make determinations about what types of content recommendations cause mental health disorders, noting that our understanding of the science in this area is still evolving.

Here’s what this means:

It’s working. Your phone calls, emails, the videos you’ve made and shared, the small $5 and $10 donations that enable us to run online campaigns, display your comments on billboards in DC4, and keep the media and lawmakers staff as informed as possible about our concerns have made KOSA less likely to pass, at least not without major changes. The top Democrat on the House committee is speaking out against it,  and that wouldn’t have happened without all of our work together.

We still have a ton of work to do. Rep. Pallone’s alternative proposal is to try to address the harms of Big Tech by going after Section 2305, which would lead to many of the same harms he’s worried about with KOSA’s duty of care. So we still have to work to educate his staff and other members on and off the committee, and drive emails and phone calls urging Congress to adopt strong privacy and antitrust protections instead of stalling out again and again with bills like KOSA and EARN IT that raise serious human rights concerns. APRA, the privacy bill that also advanced at the hearing, has some positive features, but there’s a lot of work needed to make it strong enough to actually protect the most vulnerable people.

KOSA could still pass, and we need to keep up the pressure. Despite the surprise blowback KOSA faced at last week’s hearing, the subcommittee still voted to advance it to a full committee vote. That means it’s one step closer to passing, and there is still a very real possibility that it could be snuck into a “must-pass” funding bill like the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). There is a big push from backers of KOSA including full page ads, op-eds in major papers, and several large tech companies have already come out in support of it. We have to take it seriously as an ongoing threat.

There is also still a chance that KOSA could be amended to address our concerns. Senator Wyden has proposed some helpful amendments. One of the good parts of KOSA is its ban on targeted advertising to kids. That could be imported into a strengthened version of APRA, for example, while leaving the harmful duty of care model behind. There are lots of ways Congress can address the harms of Big Tech and protect kids without enabling censorship and surveillance.

So, we gained some ground, but the fight is far from over. If you’ve read this far, you must understand how important this is. If you’re in a position to donate, please click here.

Help stop KOSA

If not, seriously don’t worry about it. We’ve all been there. Thank you so much for being part of this movement demanding Internet policies that don’t throw marginalized people under the bus. We can fight for an Internet where kids aren’t just safe, but have basic human rights, and the ability to speak out and shape the world around them. 

Let’s do it,

Evan at ❤️ Fight for the Future

https://energycommerce.house.gov/events/innovation-data-and-commerce-subcommittee-markup-of-three-bills

https://www.techpolicy.press/house-energy-commerce-subcommittee-markup-of-the-american-privacy-rights-act-kids-online-safety-act/

https://www.stopkosa.com/

https://www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2024-05-22-listen-to-kids-billboard-outside-house-hearing-raises-up-voices-of-lgbtq-youth-who-oppose-kosa/

https://touchgrass.fightforthefuture.org/unserious-attempt-1-562-to-rollback-section-230/

Fight for the Future, PO Box 55071 #95005, Boston, MA 02205  Don't like these emails? Unsubscribe.

Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Fight for the Future, please click here.

[transformers-earthspark]

Apologies for my recent radio silence. I've had a lot on my mind lately.

This post isn't Earthspark-related at all, but please read it.

I need to take a second on this blog to acknowledge some things going on in the world. I should not have stayed silent on this blog before, but I'm trying to fix that now.

Genocide in Palestine + how you can help Palestinians

You can buy e-sims for people in Gaza here. Anything helps.

Click here daily to help generate funds for Palestine. It's free and takes less than a minute.

Here's a list of where you can donate to help Palestine.

(If there's anything I should add to this section, please let me know.)

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The KOSA bill, what it's going to do if passed, and how you can help prevent it from taking effect

KOSA will essentially erase anonymity from the internet by requiring people to upload their government ID or other form of identification to any social media site, as well as restricting resources and information on LGBT rights, history, racism, and more. This bill will censor the entire internet and destroy privacy while violating First Amendment rights and potentially putting minors in danger.

This also could very well mean the end of Tumblr, and I'm not exaggerating here.

Tomorrow KOSA could be passed in Senate, and from there it will need to pass in the House of Representatives before being signed into law by the president. It's not doomsday yet, but it is a dangerous situation-- and here's what you can do.

StopKOSA.org provides you with a template email to send to your representatives. You can leave it how it is or edit it to say what you want, and then send it from their website.

The website also allows you to call your representatives and gives you a template of what to say.

BadInternetBills.org, run by the same people, takes action against KOSA as well as other bills like EARN IT. At the time of posting this, over 356,000 people have signed this petition.

Additionally there are several petitions on change.org to help stop KOSA. Here are a few of them.

STOP KOSA

STOP THE KOSA

Stop Kosa

Save Humanity, Oppose KOSA

STOP THE KOSA ACT

(Again, please let me know if there's anything I should add.)

-----

One last thing-- The evolution of AI images and video.

I don't really have anything good to say. AI is evolving fast and changing the world as we know it. We are adapting, but nobody knows how this really is going to end up.

A few quick points:

AI images are not art. That's all. AI "artists" who genuinely claim to have made something of their own just by typing a prompt into a generator will be blocked. (Which has been in my rules for a while, but I still think it needs to be said.)

I recommend Glaze for artists who don't want their art being scraped and used for data training. Especially with the recent rumors of an upcoming deal between Tumblr and Midjourney. There's also a similar program called Nightshade (haha, earthspark reference? anyone?🦉) that I haven't tested myself but have heard good things about.

-----

That's all, I suppose. Reblogs are good, if you don't mind.

Spread the word about KOSA. Contact your representatives. Sign the petitions.

Support Palestine if possible. Donate if you can. If you are unable to donate, make sure to do your daily clicks.

Stay safe and take care of yourselves. ❤️

[chronicandironic]

Here’s a great resource following all the mask bans going on in the USA. The text below is copied from the post.

Take Action

Wear a mask. To prevent COVID and Long COVID, EVERYONE should be masking in public with good-filtering, close-fitting respirator masks. We are all at risk ourselves, and we all pose risks to other people. So, wear an N95 mask in public spaces. If you are organizing an event – particularly a political event – require and distribute high quality masks for all. If you have stopped masking in public, this is a great time to re-engage the practice. Our opposition to this fascism must be made visible. There is safety in numbers. We keep us safe.

If you live in North Carolina,

Call your state representatives and state senators and use NC Megaphone’s tool to email all the State House and Senate representatives at once. Tell them mask bans are dangerous and unconstitutional.

If you live outside North Carolina, call the Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill Chambers of Commerce. Tell them you will not be traveling to North Carolina so long as they continue to consider mask bans. You can use the NC Megaphone tool above to do the same.

The bill has passed in NC but it wouldn’t hurt to still message your reps, or say you won’t go there.

If you live in Chicago,

Call and email Alderman Lopez who proposed the mask ban there, and your own alderman and tell them that you oppose it in its entirety.

If you live in or frequent New York State,

Call 518-474-8390 (press 1 to leave a message, 2 to speak with a person) and email Governor Hochul to express your opposition to mask bans. If you live in or visit New York City, call and email Mayor Adams to say the same and express why his comments on masking are harmful. Follow @covidadvocacyny for more details

In every state,

Call your own elected officials. Ask if they have heard of any plans to introduce mask bans in your state, and register your dissent. Tell them: “mask bans are a dangerous violation of our rights. We need mask requirements in healthcare, not mask bans which will make public space even more unsafe and inaccessible.”

Forward this message to your community groups and discuss mask bans with your family, friends, and community. Email them at info@peoplescdc.org if you would like more materials.

Background: Politicians are pushing mask bans

In mid June New York Governor Kathy Horchul announced in a CNN interview that she is considering a ban on masking in New York State, following New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s suggestion that protesters should no longer be allowed to protect themselves and others by masking. Hochul’s remark alluded to masked pro-Palestine protesters – marking a new direct connection between anti-public health repression and repression of Palestine solidarity work. This comes just as North Carolina is nearly finished supercharging its law against masking, setting a precedent that is likely to have far-reaching implications for people trying to take care of their health across the United States.

The state of North Carolina has had a law on the books for years that criminalizes mask wearing. In 2020, they correctly amended their rule to include an exemption for “any person wearing a mask for the purpose of ensuring the physical health or safety of others.” However, this exemption is currently being undone. In mid-May, North Carolina’s Senate tried to pass a bill to remove this exemption. In the face of significant public opposition, North Carolina’s House of Representatives rejected the Senate’s version. On June 12, a “compromise” bill that included language ”to ensure that individuals who have legitimate health concerns can wear a surgical or medical-grade mask in public” was passed by both legislatures.

This “compromise” is a bad bill.The changes it introduces do not go far enough to protect individuals’ interest in masking for their health. Other changes actually make this version worse than the previous Senate version of the bill.

The earlier bill entirely removed exemption #6, which protected “any person wearing a mask for the purpose of ensuring the physical health or safety of the wearer or others.” As a “compromise,” the current bill includes exemption #6 but has removed the phrase “for the purpose of ensuring the physical health or safety of the wearer or others.” In its place, the exemption will be for “preventing the spread of contagious disease.” As noted by North Carolina’s legislative counsel, the earlier bill meant that “individuals would no longer be able to wear masks in public for health or safety reasons.” Yet, the new bill, by also removing the “physical health and safety” language, is effectively the same as the earlier bill: individuals will have a more limited ability to wear masks in public.

This is a negation of an important individual right. People have a right to self defense, including a right to protect their health. Such a right is significantly broader than an interest in “preventing the spread of contagious disease.” For example, breathing wildfire smoke is damaging to your health but has nothing to do with contagious disease.

Moreover, the new bill proposes to give every person in North Carolina the legal right to ask those around them to unmask—something we haven’t seen anywhere in the US to-date. Under the 2020 version of North Carolina’s anti-mask law, law enforcement officers could request that people remove their masks in certain situations, even if they were relying on the health and safety exemption. The new bill extends that power, allowing “the owner or occupant of public or private property where the wearer is present” to request that the wearer “temporarily remove” their mask. This rule threatens to amplify the practice of “mask shaming” by giving employers, colleagues, and “occupants of public property” a legal basis for demanding that people wearing medical masks show them their faces. In fact, before the law was even signed, a stage 4 cancer patient at a gas station was intentionally coughed on by another customer, who told her that wearing a mask in public was illegal.

Not only does this rule provide a dangerous ground for harassment, it makes public spaces unsafe for people trying to avoid COVID and other viruses, particularly medically vulnerable people. There is no safe amount of time to unmask, particularly as ventilation conditions and viral load can vary. People may be asked to unmask multiple times, further increasing risk.

As the North Carolina bill is one signature away from becoming law, mask restrictions are now being pushed elsewhere and across party lines, like New York state. Last month, the Ohio Attorney General advised public universities that student protestors who wear masks could be charged with felonies under an archaic anti-mask law. And of course, just this week, the Governor of New York told CNN she was looking into whether the state could reinstate its own 200-year-old anti-masking law, which it had repealed in 2020. Across the country, police have been harassing people wearing masks on campus using a variety of legal justifications.

These legislations and legislative attempts aim to set a new precedent for the right-wing agenda, as evidenced by their attention to ban mask mandates in healthcare in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 document co-signed/supported by hundreds of far-right and Trump-allied organizations. These same repressive forces have made inroads in dismantling reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare options. Their attention is now also focusing on those practicing community care and bodily autonomy by wearing masks.

(I had to copy and paste all the links, which took time, I doubled checked but some might be missing, if the link isn’t correct go to the original post and check there. If you want more links, contact me or google.)

How did we get here?

Although these fascistic mask ban policies have been kick-started by the far-right, many police officials and some elected Democrats, too, are joining team “Far Right” to sacrifice public health at the altar of increased surveillance. Democratic New York City mayor Eric Adams has been urging business owners to require customers to lower their protective medical masks upon entry as a crime-prevention technique, claiming that refusal to unmask “should cause … alarm” and now suggests he favors outright bans on masking in some situations as well. And Democratic Alderman Raymond Lopez of Chicago’s 15th Ward has now submitted a proposal with similar language to the North Caroline bill, to increase penalties on any protesters arrested while wearing a mask. His staff told us that there is no plan to exempt medical masks. Many other Democrats – through silence on this issue and through broader inaction on public health – have helped to institutionalize an anti-public health agenda, reinforce structural ableism, and further isolate anyone who wants to avoid a preventable, still deadly, and often disabling virus.

Not only a terrifying threat to all our health and safety as well as our rights to privacy, mask bans violate our Constitutional rights and the Americans with Disabilities Act. They are an egregious overstep on behalf of right wing forces to erase and to criminalize our efforts to care for ourselves and others. It’s no coincidence that these bans began in the US South, specifically targeting, intimidating, and harming Black, Brown, and Indigenous peoples.

Mask bans also serve short-term corporate interests, which center profits over the lives of workers and consumers. In-N-Out burger publicly banned its employees from wearing masks, seemingly because an inability to “service with a smile” due to mask-wearing meant revenue loss. Hospital chains dangerously removed mask mandates in part due to slowdown in elective procedures caused by COVID testing requirements and mask-wearing policies.

But there is a lot we can do

We all have a responsibility to fight this right-wing agenda, to protect everyone’s right to participate in public life without making ourselves and our community sick. If you have stopped masking, now is a good time to reengage with this practice in public spaces, and particularly in political gatherings. If you are organizing an event, please require and distribute high quality masks for all as visible expression of solidarity.

We must protect our right to health, bodily autonomy, privacy, and political expression.

[enigma2meagain]

“Stop Internet Censorship” Master List

The following is a master list for all of the major Internet Censorship and Surveillance Bills between 2022 to 2023, with the most major bills that are currently active posted below. They will each link to the Tumblr posts that I have made in the past related to them, with all of the relevant information associated.

This was made because I feel people need to get a sense for just how interconnected they really are, how much Congress and third parties are trying to desperately gain full control and access to our information and silencing anything they don’t want to see and hear, and having a centralized hub of information for them will make it easier for people to find them.

The Major Bills:

EARN IT Act: 2022 version of EARN IT Act

                      2023 version of EARN IT Act (No text yet, but it’s pretending to be about preventing child abuse online this time)

     Enigma2Me Post on EARN IT Act

     fullhalalalchemist Post on EARN IT

     Condemnation of the EARN IT Act 2020 Coalition Letter

     STOP EARN IT Act LINKTREE

     Engadget: EARN IT Act reintroduced for the Third Time

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Kids Online Safety Act: Current Draft of 2023 KOSA bill

     Enigma2Me Post on Kids Online Safety Act

     STOP KOSA LinkTree

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RESTRICT Act: Read Bill Here.

       Enigma2Me Post On RESTRICT Act

      LoganGalbraith’s Post on RESTRICT Act

       Truthout Article 4/02/2023: Restrict Act Critics Call the Far-Reaching “TikTok Ban” Bill a “Patriot Act 2.0”  

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STOP CSAM Act:

      Electronic Frontier Foundation: Take Action on STOP CSAM/EARN IT

      TechDirt Post Against STOP CSAM Act

------

So if you’ve seen the above, you’re probably asking: What can we do about it?

1) Spread the Word online!

Twitter Hashtags

For Earn It: #EARNITAct, #STOPTheEARNITAct, #NoEarnItAct

For KOSA: #KOSA, #KidsOnlineSafetyAct, STOPKOSA

For RESTRICTAct: #RESTRICTAct, #STOPRESTRICTAct

2) PLEASE call your Senators.

Find your 2 senators numbers here. Fax them, email them. Tell them they MUST oppose this bill. Calmly make it clear to them that if they support this bill, then you will vote for someone else who doesn’t go along with this blatant act of authoritarian intent.

3) CONTACT any major human rights and cybersecurity related organizations and let them know about this bill. Get this out to any local news groups that you can.

The following Google Doc contains a list of every major organization we could think of to contact, and will be updated as we find more allies in the fight against censorship and surveillance.

ANTI-CENSORSHIP MASTER LIST

Also Contact the organizations on these 2020 letters to get them to publicly speak out against the EARN IT Act like they did back then.

But for those who want to have official organizations to work with (and who usually have petitions except TechDirt), the following usually are up to date on info:

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Fight For the Future

Techdirt

[margridarnauds]

what's grade inflation? why does it exist?

For more information on grade inflation, I highly recommend typing in "inflation" on AO3 and...

Sorry, have had no rest and very likely won't get much rest today, because no rest for the wicked...or grad students, so I had to get the cheap humor out of the way.

Grade inflation is, essentially, a system in place at many universities where the graders are heavily pressured into giving higher grades to their students. This is particularly prominent at elite universities, where Mommy and Daddy do not want Schnuggiekins to have anything as undignified as a B on their transcript when they are set to be a senator, but it is also common across the board, including in high schools and, joy of all joys, it is only getting more prevalent, as schools are essentially in a nuclear arms race to deliver higher grades, since it means they can say "Look! 98% of our students graduated with a 4.0!" It looks bad when students don't pass, so students *generally* pass no matter what. Doesn't that make you feel optimistic about the future?

And because it is common across the board at these places, that essentially forces conformity, because if you do NOT give them at least a B+...or sometimes an A-, you will get undergrads complaining about why you were mean to them, because the OTHER TAs would do the same, and student evaluations are VITAL to your career stability down the line. So, besides GENUINELY wanting to be seen as easygoing and relaxed (because, remember, if you're a woman in academia, you ALSO have to beat back the allegations of being a Bitch...and there have been numerous surveys done to indicate that student evals can be biased), it is also unfortunately...not MANDATORY, but something that I do feel heavily pressured by. People forget that the power dynamics between TAs and their students aren't always clear cut -- I'm in a position of authority, and I recognize that and am ALWAYS operating under that awareness, but they can also severely impact my career with student evals...and inconvenience my life if they decide to dispute a grade, such as when I had people emailing me on Christmas about why I gave them an A-. (The answer: Because they had earned, in my opinion, an A-.)

The result is that, functionally, I am grading, roughly, on a scale of B- to A, which means that my grades can't really reflect the nuances that can exist in these things. I have to put things that are "borderline grad student level work" alongside "well. you didn't do anything WRONG". (There have been occasions where they have gotten the Email Of Shame from me where I flat-out refuse to grade it.)

At my undergrad, in my community college (which people always like to act was some kind of...inferior education), if I handed in a paper with numerous typos, it would have been an A- at best. Potentially a B+ if my arguments were not up to the highest standard. I turn in an argument with no citations and not much of an argument...honestly probably a C? Maybe? I KNOW some of my professors would have refused to grade them. But I would feel pressured to give the same paper a B with a reminder to please cite their sources next time.

And, again: I do, genuinely, care for my students. I believe that, for the most part, they ARE trying their best. I don't enjoy being harsh on them, and I don't expect them to be writing at a grad level. I remember being an undergrad -- it isn't like it was that long ago, it's only been six years. I made a lot of mistakes. Including some very stupid ones. And I was lucky to have very patient professors who ALSO weren't afraid to call me out if I didn't do a good job. But, because of systemic issues beyond my control, I can neither give them a real wake up call so that they can improve OR truly reward them for outstanding work.

[thisiswheremywritinggoes]

A state senator in the district where I work has co-sponsored a bill requiring public libraries in my state to automatically provide a list of all materials checked out by patrons age 16 and under to their parents within 24 hours of checkout. Hopefully the bill dies in committee. Barring that, I hope our governor vetoes it as soon as it reaches his desk.

I cannot even begin to tell you how asinine this bill is. How dangerous this bill is.

"But parents have a right to know what their kids are checking out of the library."

Sure, maybe you do. I don't give a fuck about your rights as a parent. The issue is whether I, as a public librarian, who follows a professional code of ethics, is under any obligation to provide that information to you. Your rights as a parent are not my concern. I don't answer to you. Your children aren't some half-witted partial-people -- they're either patrons or they aren't. And if they are, they have a right to privacy in the public library.

I'm not your ally in conducting surveillance over your child. It's not my job to make it easier for you to gather intel about your kids. That's called parenting, dude.

A child who knows their parent will be emailed a list of the materials they check out is not experiencing free, unfettered access to information. Full stop. Please pause for a moment and consider the dire consequences of this requirement.

If you want to bring your child to the library and monitor their checkouts, I won't get in your way. But, between you and me, the best thing you can do for your child is to bring them to the library and let them discover it on their own. Get out of their way. Let them browse and investigate and check out a million books and read only one of them twelve times in a row. Let them roam the shelves like they are starving and the books are food.

Stop telling them which books to read or not read. Stop sneering when they select a book from the shelf and deem it "too easy" for them, or "too difficult." If your kid is enthusiastic about an author or a series or a topic, rejoice! Enthusiastic people are the best people!

Let your toddlers pull a dozen books off the shelf -- don't worry, we pay people to put them back. Let them wander with reckless abandon. Let them make noise. We made this space for them. It's theirs. Nothing in the library can hurt them except your undeserved sense of self-importance and your prejudices. We made this space for them. Please get out of the way and let them discover it.

[botgal]

If you've been following my post regarding internet privacy legislation in California, or if you've been paying attention to the news, then as of late you've likely heard of CA AB 3080, The Parent’s Accountability and Child Protection Act. Which I have written about prior.

On Monday 5/6/2024, this bill will be going through a vote on the Assembly Floor. If you can this weekend, call and email your California Assembly representatives (which you can find through this link here). Even if you only leave voice mails, an inbox full of voice mails regarding the same topic can greatly increase our chances of getting heard.

It is important to help get this vote stricken down in order to protect the privacy of California's internet users, and not set a precedent for them to allow this further (because we know that they will). However, I would like to say a few things to dispel some of the panic and fear that I've been seeing spread around about this bill. To let you know we still have time no matter what happens on this vote, and to prevent anyone from becoming too too anxious for now.

This is only the Assembly vote. Which means that there are plenty more steps in the process we will have to stop it. Even if it passes here, which we will try to stop, it will still have go to through both the Senate and the Governor before it gets signed. And we will work to stop it no matter what point it gets to.

As for the content of the bill. While the original incarnation of AB 3080 was indeed a general age verification bill, the scope of it has narrowed somewhat. Instead it has narrowed down to focusing on age verification for purchasing items which are illegal under California law for minors to purchase.

The most recent version of the bill, as amended on 5/2/2024, has focused primarily on requiring age verification for online purchases of any items that minors are not allowed to purchase in California. These items explicitly include "An aerosol container of paint that is capable of defacing property", "Etching cream that is capable of defacing property", "Dangerous fireworks", "Tanning in an ultraviolet tanning device", "Dietary supplement products containing ephedrine group alkaloids", "Body branding", "Firearms or handguns", "A BB device", "Ammunition or reloaded ammunition", "Any tobacco, cigarette, cigarette papers, blunt wraps, any other preparation of tobacco, any other instrument or paraphernalia that is designed for the smoking or ingestion of tobacco, products prepared from tobacco, or any controlled substance", "Electronic cigarettes", or "A less lethal weapon".

To note, this version of the bill does still include access to "pornographic internet websites". Which are also explicitly defined under the law, and have had their scope narrowed considerably since the original iteration of the bill. The most recent version of the bill limits this definition to "an internet website on which the owner of the internet website, for commercial gain, knowingly publishes sexually explicit content that, on an annual basis, exceeds one-third of the contents published on the internet website." In which "sexually explicit content" is defined as "visual imagery of an individual or individuals engaging in an act of masturbation, sexual intercourse, oral copulation, or other overtly sexual conduct that, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."

So, while the current version of AB 3080 is still not a good thing and we must work to keep it from being passed, please know it's not an immediate internet shut-down via age verification bill. We have time to fight this. And if we have people who are willing to try and fight this, calling and writing to their representatives, then we will always have the chance.

In conclusion. Do not fall to panic. Do your part. Fight to keep our internet free and unregulated.

[spock-smokes-weed]

I can’t fall asleep and I keep thinking about how is the moment to be loud as we possibly can when it comes to telling the dems we won’t let them slither away from addressing Israel

The fact that this genocide has gone on for nearly a full year is disgusting and the most shameful I’ve felt as an American. I felt powerless and like no matter how loud we cried, Genocide Joe would keep the weapons flowing.

But now that we have an actually competent ticket, and one who nominally acts like they care about the American people, I feel like we can no longer be ignored. Harris is running on a progressive platform, her campaign message is “we’re not going back”. The message is no longer “vote for me or else” and in hindsight it’s clear how much voters despised that message.

And if Harris doubles down on the “vote for me or else” message when it comes to Palestine, it sours any goodwill she’s gained with voters.

And honestly? GOOD!!! Politicians have to earn our vote, and Kamala Harris said at the start of her campaign that she planned on “earning” her place on the ticket. At this point in time it’s not enough to point at the other guy and cry that he’ll be worse. That message didn’t work before and it certainly won’t work now.

BE LOUD!!! Keep up the pressure!!! Don’t stop protesting and emailing and calling until the message changes. Make it crystal clear to the Democratic Party:

We Will Not Vote For You If You Continue To Support Genocide. 

If you have a democratic representative, governor, senator, congressman (especially if you’re in a swing state) hound them every day about withholding your vote until there’s a ceasefire and withhold of weapons to Israel. You are undecided until the carnage ends. Even if that’s a lie, CALL THEIR BLUFF!!!! 

And to the Blue No Matter Who crowd who are finger wagging at leftist and pro-Palestinian protesters right now. Shut the fuck up. I would LOVE to be excited for the Harris/Walz ticket, because for once they’re talking about policy that would actually benefit everyday Americans. But I can’t be excited until they make it clear where they stand on their support of Israel.

It’s not voters responsibility to drag politicians over the finish line; is their job to show us why it would be worthwhile voting for them in the first place. Dems have gotten far too comfortable being the lesser of two evils, and I think we should demand more of people that are meant to serve US!!!

[the-rad1o-demon]

@neil-gaiman, @transformativeworks, @vancityreynolds :

I am asking you to reblog this to spread the word, to make sure people see all of this. You don't have to if you don't want to, but it would be extremely appreciated it you did! 💛

It's important that we stop these bills and keep Project 2025 from ever winning. I do not want to live in a world where the Internet is censored by LGBTQ+phobic and racist politicians. I do not want to live in a country where Donald Trump is literally the dictator. I do not want to live in a country where people such as myself are oppressed and forced into hiding/out of the country because of extremists like the ones behind KOSA, behind all these other really bad Internet bills, and behind Project 2025.

I am asking you to reblog/share this post, and I am asking you also that if you're able to take action against these bills. And definitely try to make people more aware of Project 2025 especially, because it will seriously fuck things up for nearly everyone in the United States (except for the ones running that show, obviously).

To help stop KOSA in particular, I'm copying and pasting from a document I wrote for the folks on my campus:

[BEGIN COPY-PASTED SECTION]

WAYS YOU CAN HELP STOP KOSA

Email to your friends, family, classmates, professors, etc.

Stage protests (and stay safe if doing so!)

Create and print out posters you can put up in areas people will see (if it's allowed there)! Doesn’t need to be fancy, it can be something like this in terms of text content:

STOP KOSA 2023

This bill threatens to censor many marginalized communities and topics on the Internet, including but not limited to:

The LGBTQ+ community

The discussion of race

Mental health issues

And many more!

It also will take away even more of both children’s and adults’ privacy on the Internet!

Call your state’s senators to tell them not to sign. Slightly edited scripts you can use are copied and pasted below, the Google doc from whence they came is below:

………………

DEMOCRATIC VERSION Hi, I am urging you to VOTE NO on KOSA, s.1409. Almost 100 human rights and LGBT organizations came out in an open letter opposing it in 2022 and 2023 because of how dangerous it is. The new language does NOT meet any concerns brought up, in fact many organizations were ignored. Major news have reported that this bill actively harms kids. When you look online through social media, you will find hundreds of posts by Gen Z who are opposed to this bill. We do not want this. This bill would allow any state attorney general to sue any website for “harmful” content. When you have Republicans calling anything LGBT “sexual exploitation” or anything about race “CRT” to successfully ban books and teachers, then they will use any justification to censor the internet. The Missouri attorney general used “mental health” successfully to ban gender-affirming care with backed up research. Suicide rates will skyrocket for marginalized youth with this bill restricting content. Multiple experts agree this bill pushes age verification, even with the new language. KOSA hands more private data of children to third party companies. Furthermore, updated language threatens encryption the same way the Earn It Act does. How is this protecting children’s privacy? KOSA actively harms kids by taking away educational resources they need right now. Do NOT support this bill. Thank you.

REPUBLICAN VERSION I am urging you to VOTE NO on KOSA, s.1409. This is a dangerous bill that will harm children. Many news organizations have reported that this bill actively harms kids by exposing their private data to strangers under the guise of protecting them. We need to hold Big Tech accountable, but KOSA is not the solution. This bill would allow any state attorney general to sue any website for “harmful” content. Do we really want blue state lawyers deciding what can and can’t be allowed online and continue to censor people? This is massive government overreach. We need a bill that actually protects people by creating better security measures instead of bringing about more censorship. Multiple experts agree this bill pushes age verification, even with the new language. KOSA hands more private data of children to third party companies, which would put them in further danger. How is this protecting children’s privacy? What parent would want their child’s private data in the hands of strangers like this? KOSA is actively putting kids in danger. Do NOT support this bill. Thank you. ……………… This version comes from this Google doc, which has additional learning resources! (It also has additional resources for fighting the KOSA bill, but some of it is outdated due to Congress having already done their thing):

Note that there is a separate script for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, use THIS ONE for him:

If you know anyone in Massachusetts specifically, tell them to call Senator Warren in order to ask her to rescind her support of KOSA. Script you can use written below (this one I wrote myself):

……………… Hello, Senator Warren. I am calling you today to ask that you rescind your support of the KOSA bill. It does not protect children. If anything, it will actively them by cutting them off from important discussions about the LGBTQ+ community, discussions about race, and mental health issues. There are even children in abusive situations who might not even know they’re being abused, and by censoring the Internet like this, or blocking children out of certain discussions, they may not find out until they’re adults. Senator Blackburn has made it perfectly clear that this bill aims to “protect” children from the trans community. Civil lawmakers, civil rights organizations, and many others have been saying over and over that this bill could be used to censor other marginalized groups as well. Please don’t support this bill. Thank you for your time and your consideration. ………………

Another important and final thing to do is to stay informed. Keep an eye on the news and on what’s happening with the KOSA bill.

That’s all I have for you!

[END COPY-PASTED SECTION]

Also!! Petition you can sign!

Thank you so much for your time, and please do whatever you can to help stop this train wreck.

EDIT - UPDATE:

Please look at the following post!

[kytsuine-blog]

Ok so I'm going to do a better, Tumblr-focused writeup soon and also track down those blogs to talk about them more specifically, but I fell for a misinformation scheme today and want to talk about how and why. Here's an email I sent my little cousin about it.

This morning, I encountered a Tumblr post talking about the TikTok ban and the government's attempt to severely curtail digital privacy rights as part of it.

I had heard that the TikTok ban was currently up for debate in the Senate, after passing the House with strong bipartisan support. I was not surprised by the information in the screenshots; it matched with things I knew the government had tried to do often in the past, and often under similar circumstances. I looked up the bill linked to verify, and yeah, it was an active bill that had been introduced in the Senate. (I should have realized then that there was an issue with what I was reading, but in my defense it was about 6:00 AM, and I was just glancing over things in the parking lot before going in to work.)

Concerned for the digital privacy and security of my family, and especially the ones I can't just drive to, I drafted the following message to you:

"I haven't had time to read all the way through the RESTRICT act that the Senate proposed, but summaries I've seen indicate that as written it's a massive overreach. It's better known as the TikTok ban; the news has been focusing on that part as it passes through Congress so far.

I always sign my emails to you with my public key. Both of you should look up how to use PGP to send me encrypted emails with that. It may become even more important soon to normalize secure encryption in Internet communications, and there may also be things that we wish to discuss that state or federal laws may frown on in the future.

I planned to introduce topics related to computer and information security more gradually, but making sure that talking about those is possible at all is an important part of that.

Congress.gov page on the bill

Tweet thread"

(As an aside, I do still think that normalizing encryption is a very worthwhile thing to do; it makes the web a safer place for activists and informants needing a way to communicate without surveillance, without being singled out as enemies of the surveillance state.)

I then checked through the notes of the Tumblr post to see if there was more context I wanted to share, and noticed people who called out a detail that I missed. That post was first posted in March of 2023, a little over a year ago. It refers to an entirely different bill than the TikTok ban which is currently going through the Senate, one which activists successfully stalled (and likely killed) last year. This year's bill is much more targeted (though, as implemented, I still have issues with it); its text can be found here.

This is a classic example of how misinformation spreads. I did not have bad intent when I went to share that commentary on last year's bill with you, and I did not find it from someone with bad intent (in fact, she subsequently shared a commentary I posted on the actual bill, in reply to her original incorrect post.) From what I can tell, on March 14, a number of mostly inactive politically-focused blogs all shared that post directly from the original poster (not from someone who had it in their feed, like a normal Tumblr interaction). Each of these was tagged with fairly popular political tags. None of these blogs has posted since, keeping it at the top of their page to get more eyes on it.

Misinformation is spread deliberately, and it takes caution and checking of your biases to combat it. I almost fell for this one because I expected it to be true. I should have checked on it before sharing anything at all. Looking at it now, I ask: who benefits from this?

Most directly, proponents of the current TikTok ban benefit from activist efforts being directed towards a functionally dead bill. This, apparently, includes the strong majority of the House, on both sides of the aisle; it may be assumed that it also includes the government's surveillance agencies (as it is easier to compel data from American companies than from foreign ones, particularly Chinese ones). It could also include other social media sites, especially those like YouTube and Instagram that compete directly with TikTok in the realm of algorithmically driven short videos.

More abstractly, though, this misinformation benefits the status quo, and conservatism as a whole. By causing people who are invested in the TikTok ban (mostly left-leaning people) to engage with more stringent and concerning bills, stress is increased on activists and burnout becomes more likely. Targeting the mental health of left-leaning activists is a tactic we've seen multiple times recently in misinformation campaigns; another example is the "the Guardian is doing a story on DIY HRT" hoax that recently circulated among my trans friends. This type of stressful lie misinformation serves the dual purpose of causing activists to burn out and decreasing trust among communities that share it.

This is a new specific strategy to me, but the solution is the same as ever. Check your sources when you speak publicly, check how your biases affect what ideas seem "clearly correct", and aim for your statements to maximize quality, rather than quantity. That's a discipline I still need to refine, but it's not hard. Just requires a bit of diligence.

[starrykat-z]

Hey!

Not my usual art content.

But...

Heard of the TikTok ban?

It isn't just about tiktok.

The Restrict bill, aka the Tiktok ban, is a bill that essentially gives the government COMPLETE control over the internet. This means they can censor whatever they want with no repercussions.

If you are caught saying ANYTHING the government doesn't like, you can be charged and/or arrested. This means they can silence natives, lgbt+, and more.

Not only this, but this gives them full permission to access ANYTHING WEB BASED with a million or more users. A million is less than 1% of the US population.

Worst part is, this cannot be walked around using a VPN. In fact, using a VPN gives you MASSIVE fines and even jail time.

So what can you do?

If you are of legal age, VOTE THESE PEOPLE OUT.

SPREAD AWARENESS. TELL OTHERS, REBLOG THIS.

Check who your senator or state representative is, AND CALL THEM IF YOU CAN. Emails work, but calls are MUCH MORE EFFICIENT. If you do call, tell them about the bill, and why they shouldn't vote for it. Tell them that if they will support the bill, you will vote them out IN THE PRIMARIES (if you can legally vote.).

Join a protest, or organize one if you can. Remember the police can be a bit trigger-happy, so make sure to wear all black and cover ANYTHING that can reveal your identity such as hair, tattoos, piercings, etc.

And remember..

If this bill is passed..

IT WILL VIOLATE THE FIRST AMENDMENT. IT WILL TAKE AWAY EVERY AMERICANS RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH, REGARDLESS OF RACE, GENDER, ETC.

DO NOT LET THIS PASS!

[navree]

If it’s okay to ask, what wrong with Cori Bush?

Oh yeah, totally okay, don't worry about it.

The issue with Cori Bush is kinda similar to the issue that also cost Jamaal Bowman his seat earlier this summer, which is that they're not very good at their jobs. When you are a Representative, when you are a Senator, when you are just any kind of elected official in a legislature, one of the main things that you're there to do is represent the people who voted for you. It's in the fucking name for the House of Representatives. It's not just showing up to hearings or making flashy speeches, you do need to actually do stuff for the people who voted for you, you need to serve their interests not just in a representative capacity but also through material help, and be available for them when they need you. Constituent services are massively important for any elected official, especially when it comes to convincing your constituents to re-elect you.

Bush's constituent services were, apparently, absolutely abysmal. Her office didn't do much in the way of actually helping constituents, she herself was often not returning calls or emails, she didn't show up in the district. There was no effort on her part to do any of the actual parts of the job she has. She's good at putting statements on Twitter and saying shit in speeches (even if it doesn't make sense "AIPAC I'm gonna tear you apart" girl with what power???? come january you are no longer any kind of influence you're just A Person tf are you gonna be able to do) but when it comes to actually doing anything, she's not there. Cori Bush was never actually interested in representing the people of her district, of trying to make life better for them, of helping them, of being there for them as their elected representative, and as such they have decided they no longer want her to represent them. She appears to have run solely because she wanted to raise her national profile, and her time in Congress was almost solely concerned on making herself more important and the face of A Movement. Voters can see that, and voters don't often like that, and like with any other job on the planet, if you're not actually doing it, you're gonna be fired, and thus she was.

Bowman had the same issue around constituent services and self importance, and it's why he lost too. Conversely, AOC has excellent constituent services, she is known in her district for being reachable and for doing a lot of local outreach and for working for her people. It's why she won against Crowley, who wasn't around all that often, and it's why she keeps winning re-election (and also she's chilled out more and stopped the dumb shit in recent years, along with being a good legislator and an excellent person to have in committee hearings). Tlaib also used to be a state rep, and had the experience as well as the knowledge that constituent services are important, and has been very vocal and present in her community as well, so even though AIPAC is spending just as much trying to get her out as they did for Bush, it's not gonna work (sorry to all the people who genuinely think that Evil Jew Money is the great manipulator of the world, go back to Illuminati lizard people theories). Pressley has always had good constituent services too, and while I don't follow Omar enough to know what her's are like, from what I remember from her last primary (which was shockingly close and why she's considered so vulnerable going into next week) her issues are more on the fact that she's not very good at campaigning, as well as her tendency to put her foot in her mouth a lot on contentious social issues (i remember her voting fucking "present" on the armenian genocide recognition and i still find it quite vile).

Bush's voting record is also something I'm not overly fond of, based on where I fall on a lot of stances, but that's less of an issue because 1) no two people hold the exact same opinion on everything and 2) I'm not a constituent so whether or not Cori Bush represents my views on the broader national stage isn't important.

[rockinlibrarian]

You Should

Wake up bright and early.

No, wait, feed the cat is first.

Feed the cat.

Wake up bright and early.

Give your spouse physical affection.

Help spouse get ready for work.

Clean the poor cats' food area sometime.

Throw out old food before it gets bad. Or maybe even eat it first.

Get dressed. Your clothes must be clean, wrinkle-free, appropriate for the needs of the day and for the weather, and they must fit properly and be flattering.

Well why HAVEN'T you been to the bathroom yet?

Get the kids up for school. They should be getting themselves up for school, they won't live with mom forever. If they don't get up on time, well, why didn't you get them up?

Take your medication. Make sure the kids take their medication. They should be taking responsibility for their own medication, they won't live with mom forever. If they don't take their medication on schedule, how do we know what's actually working or not?

Get the kids breakfast. They should be getting their own breakfast, they won't live with mom forever. If mom doesn't get them breakfast, they forget to eat. Also it should be a balanced breakfast, never mind the picky eaters. If they don't eat breakfast, they fall asleep in class. Why aren't they getting their work done in first period?

Make the kids do the chores they should have done yesterday. Yes, before school. Don't let them miss the bus. Your kids should be at the bus stop ten minutes before it is scheduled to arrive. Don't let them stand out in the cold.

Sign this paper for school. It was due yesterday. Also I need money for this, too. Why is it taking so long, we're going to miss the bus!

Get breakfast. It should be a balanced breakfast. Don't eat your kid's abandoned half-bagel. Don't let food go to waste.

This is the school calling. Sign this paper your kid should have given you two months ago. Do we need to send another copy?

Make doctors appointments. Make dentist appointments and also separate orthodontist appointments. Make counseling appointments and also separate psychiatric appointments. Make vet appointments. Make optometrist appointments. Make an appointment about your car. But not at that place, the other place, that specializes in that other thing. Our office is open between the hours of 9 AM and 4 PM, and is closed for lunch between 12:30 and 1:30. Please call back during our regular office hours.

Feed the cat. It's too early to feed the cat. Don't ignore your poor cat who is obviously in need of your attention.

You forgot your breakfast.

Stay up to date with current events. Call your senators. Volunteer. Give money to this cause. Give money to this other cause. How can you let such atrocities exist? Why are you not protesting? Amplify marginalized voices! Not those ones, THESE ones! Also, raise your own voice! Except not yours, we don't actually care what you have to say. Why aren't you contributing your voice? Don't like, REBLOG! Likes do NOTHING! Why does nobody ever like what you post? Maybe because nobody cares what you have to say. Why do you never post? Read everything. Leave comments. Care about your friends' lives. TALK to your friends. Nurture your support system. Get off of social media. Find new friends, then.

Time to go. What do you mean you have to go to the bathroom again? Why didn't you go before? Get more water. NOW feed the cats. Weren't you supposed to bring something? Find your keys. Put them in the same place every time and you won't have this problem. Make a homemade lunch, those frozen meals have too many preservatives. What do you mean you're late?

Don't speed. Don't be late. Call if you're going to be late. Don't stop now, you're going to be late. Don't use a cell phone in the car. Get gas yesterday.

Why are you out of breath? Wait to sign in. Sign in on time.

Keep a tidy workspace. Don't forget anything. Your ADHD brain needs visible organization techniques. Other people don't want to see that.

Stay up with correspondance. Don't email, phone. Don't phone, email. Talk to me in person. I'm busy right now. Why did you never tell me about that? Why don't you communicate better?

Plan programs that are engaging and educational! You're running too long! You're letting them go too soon! Clean and shelve and research grants! Don't spend all your time at the desk. The desk must be staffed.

Greet everyone who comes in. Chat! Respect their needs! Don't bother me! Be friendly! Talk! No, talk about NORMAL things!

Keep the collection up to date! Don't weed anything! It's too crowded and messy! Why don't we have the latest and greatest new books?

If you can't handle it, maybe you shouldn't work.

We don't have enough money, and you're smart, you should have a good job.

Go shopping! In person! Don't spend a lot. Don't waste money on junk. Why do we never have anything I like?

Make homecooked dinners. Make healthy dinners. Not that. No one but you will eat that.

Lose weight. Buy more dessert. The emphasis on weight is misdirected and doesn't really affect health. All your health problems would be eased if you lost weight, including your breath, balance, and bad foot. Exercise. Get your foot checked out by a doctor then.

Did you make that appointment yet?

This house is a pigsty. Then make the kids do it. Don't do it for them. Why is everything piling up?

You're always tired. Call the doctor.

Why don't we play games as a family?

You NEED to watch this show and/or movie.

Why don't you write books like you always said you would?

Make time for yourself.

Shower. Brush your teeth. Clean the bathroom.

Get to bed early.

Don't snore.

Feed the cat.

Originally posted on my Dreamwidth: https://rockinlibrarian.dreamwidth.org/294751.html

[whumpy-bi]

I Got Him

Words: 505

Warnings: kidnapping, beating, reference to murder, references to human trafficking

Notes: trying to build up to something different here, hope y’all enjoy!

Owen Jones whispered into his earpiece.

“Mark, you there?”

“Always, dude.”

“I’m getting some really good stuff here. Send Joan an email, she’s gonna have more than enough evidence. I’m documenting everything.”

“Great, cool. Sending it now. What’d you find?”

“Emails, signatures, he’s got photos— she was right, the senator is nuts. Fisher has more of a presence in the city’s underworld than we thought, I can’t believe this.”

“Sounds like this was a good plan, Owen. Nobody saw you go in, right?”

“No, and he’s still working until three. I have plenty of time.” Owen smirked to himself, taking photos of more incriminating messages. “He’s got a good defense lawyer, but not this good.”

He turned on his heel, ready to take the evidence he’d collected and upload it all to Mark’s computer.

He wasn’t ready for the sudden feeling of arms locking around his neck, yanking him up and back and squeezing. He felt the warm pressure of a bare arm as he weakly clawed at his attacker, his camera already forgotten—

Shit, shit, this was bad. Owen’s vision was beginning to darken around the edges, his frantic movements were becoming more disconnected…

Owen only heard a low, nervous whisper before everything went dark.

“I got him.”

The first thing Owen felt was cold pressing against both wrists. His shoulders were faintly aching, too—

He hesitantly opened his eyes, seeing nothing but darkness. Fabric pressed lightly against his face—a blindfold. His mother’s voice ran through his head, a strong echo that drowned out the fuzziness of his panic.

“Take inventory. Use your senses, look for what you can observe.”

Owen exhaled softly and shifted his weight. The room smelled stale, and the air felt still and cold. His hands were cuffed above him somewhere, but he’d been left to sit on the floor—concrete, if he had to guess.

He automatically went limp again as he heard a voice passing through the wall behind him.

“Yes, I know. Yes, I verified it, this is absolutely the man responsible for killing Benjamin. We’re still locating his new address.”

Owen clenched his jaw. That was the Senator. He was reporting to someone over the phone—if he wasn’t in charge, who was?

“Yes, sir. Of course, take your time. Call me whenever you’re ready to decide.”

He tensed as he heard the door open, and two footsteps approached. His blindfold was yanked down, and a fist harshly collided with his mouth before he could utter a word.

Owen leaned his head back, green eyes eventually shooting up at the furious man standing over him.

“Senator Fisher! Wow, it’s such an—“

Another punch. Okay, he was mad.

The senator stepped back, wiping a bit of Owen’s blood off on his dress pants. He waved to the person standing beside him—Owen hadn’t noticed them before. They were small and young, and from his perspective they looked terrified, and he felt his own heart sink at how many bruises the stranger had. They were concerningly shaky, as well.

“Get the camera. People are dying to see this.”

[theglitchywriterboi]

"Poor people shouldn't have kids I grew up poor & wasn't happy" thats crazy what about *stabs you* *stabs you* *stabs you*

Poverty could happen to ANYONE !!! HOW CAN Y'ALL NOT GRAPS THAT !!!! A couple could have two incomes were each partner earns enough to raise 4 kids on their own by themselves. So they have four kids cause they have more than enough to do so. But then one bad year happens [maybe one of the parents/kids has a serious illness & can't work, maybe one/both were fired, etc] & they're barely getting by. Tf you think should happen ??? Should they just... Put down the already alive kids ? Should the state take the kids - who have a family who's only crime is being poor, away & give them to someone else ??? Y'all are dumb af.

It IS easier to change the government than to stop poor people from having kids. Cause how are you gonna stop them ? Forced sterilization ? Forced abortions if you don't earn X amount & you come into the hospital pregnant ? How do you not grasp that those concepts are fascist AF ??? Cause that's the only way you're gonna stop already poor people from having kids. But what about people who had kids before they became poor ? Like you do know being taking from your family is super traumatic, especially if they weren't toxic/abusive, they were just poor ? Either way you're A: Stripping people of their rights & bodily autonomy &/or B: You're just traumatizing kids cause ???

Not to mention a great deal of the poor people in question are POC &/or disabled...

Like bruh make calls & send letters+emails to senators, congressmen, etc etc etc who've you gotta talk to about 1: Getting more support for poor people in general+poor families. 2: Raising minimum wage [& passing laws so the price of homes & goods can't skyrocket because the minimum wage is higher], etc. Get your friends & family to do it too !! & annoy the hell out of them.

But don't advocate for "NO POOR PEOPLE SHOULD BREED !!!" Cause for one. That's shitty. And second there's zero feasible way to prevent it w/o forcefully sterilizing people or doing forced abortions, and neither are okay !!! Like you can't claim you're progressive & then advocate for those things.

[ahb-writes]

People Are Using A.I. to "Write" Unauthorized Books From Popular Authors and Sell Them on Amazon

Read the Article: "An author says AI is ‘writing’ unauthorized books being sold under her name on Amazon" by Clare Duffy, CNN (article appears in full, below)

Supplemental Reading: "I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon Are Becoming Dumpster Fires)" by Jane Friedman

❯ ❯ ❯

New York (CNN) -- An author is raising alarms this week after she found new books being sold on Amazon under her name — only she didn’t write them; they appear to have been generated by artificial intelligence.

Jane Friedman, who has authored multiple books and consulted about working in the writing and publishing industry, told CNN that an eagle-eyed reader looking for more of her work bought one of the fake titles on Amazon. The books had titles similar to the subjects she typically writes about, but the text read as if someone had used a generative AI model to imitate her style.

“When I started looking at these books, looking at the opening pages, looking at the bio, it was just obvious to me that it had been mostly, if not entirely, AI-generated … I have so much content available online for free, because I’ve been blogging forever, so it wouldn’t be hard to get an AI to mimic me,” Friedman said.

With AI tools like ChatGPT now able to rapidly and cheaply pump out huge volumes of convincing text, some writers and authors have raised alarms about losing work to the new technology. Others have said they don’t want their work being used to train AI models, which could then be used to imitate them.

“Generative AI is being used to replace writers — taking their work without permission, incorporating those works into the fabric of those AI models and then offering those AI models to the public, to other companies, to use to replace writers,” Mary Rasenberger, CEO of the nonprofit authors advocacy group the Authors Guild, told CNN. “So you can imagine writers are a little upset about that.”

Last month, US lawmakers met with members of creative industries, including the Authors Guild, to discuss the implications of artificial intelligence. In a Senate subcommittee hearing, Rasenberger called for the creation of legislation to protect writers from AI, including rules that would require AI companies to be transparent about how they train their models. More than 10,000 authors — including James Patterson, Roxane Gay and Margaret Atwood — also signed an open letter calling on AI industry leaders like Microsoft and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to obtain consent from authors when using their work to train AI models, and to compensate them fairly when they do.

A Growing Problem

Friedman on Monday posted a well-read thread on X, formerly known as Twitter, and a blog post about the issue. Several authors responded saying they’d had similar experiences.

“People keep telling me they bought my newest book — that has my name on it but I didn’t write,” one author said in response.

Amazon removed the fake books being sold under Friedman’s name and said its policies prohibit such imitation.

“We have clear content guidelines governing which books can be listed for sale and promptly investigate any book when a concern is raised,” Amazon spokesperson Ashley Vanicek said in a statement, adding that the company accepts author feedback about potential issues. “We invest heavily to provide a trustworthy shopping experience and protect customers and authors from misuse of our service.”

Amazon also told Friedman that it is “investigating what happened with the handling of your claims to drive improvements to our processes,” according to an email viewed by CNN.

The fake books using Friedman’s name were also added to her profile on the literary social network Goodreads, and removed only after she publicized the issue.

“We have clear guidelines on which books are included on Goodreads and will quickly investigate when a concern is raised, removing books when we need to,” Goodreads spokesperson Suzanne Skyvara said in a statement to CNN.

Friedman said she worries that authors will be stuck playing whack-a-mole to identify AI generated fakes.

“What’s frightening is that this can happen to anyone with a name that has reputation, status, demand that someone sees a way to profit off of,” she said.

The Authors Guild has been working with Amazon since this past winter to address the issue of books written by AI, Rasenberger said.

She said the company has been responsive when the Authors Guild flags fake books on behalf of authors, but it can be a tricky issue to spot given that it’s possible for two legitimate authors to have the same name.

The group is also hoping AI companies will agree to allow authors to opt out of having their work used to train AI models — so it’s harder to create copycats — and to find ways to transparently label artificially generated text. And, she said, companies and publishers should continue investing in creative work made by humans, even if AI appears more convenient.

“Using AI to generate content is so easy, it’s so cheap, that I do worry there’s going to be this kind of downward competition to use AI to replace human creators,” she said. “And you will never get the same quality with AI as human creators.”

❯ ❯ ❯

Read the Article: "An author says AI is ‘writing’ unauthorized books being sold under her name on Amazon" by Clare Duffy, CNN

Supplemental Reading: "I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon Are Becoming Dumpster Fires)" by Jane Friedman