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willoremus

@willoremus@mastodon.social

I write about tech and its discontents for the Washington Post.

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willoremus, to random
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I wrote about Apple's hilariously bad new iPad ad, in which the company somehow managed to cast itself as the villain. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/05/08/apple-ipad-ad-tim-cook-backlash/

willoremus, to random
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Think you understand Section 230?

@ethanz did, until he was reading the bill's text out loud to his college class. That's when "a light bulb went off in my head," he told me -- leading to a creative new lawsuit that tries to turn the famous internet law against Big Tech and pave the way for "middleware" that empowers the user. My story today: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/08/college-professor-wants-use-section-230-against-big-tech/

willoremus,
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@dashrb It is really interesting. Thought about including it but it's the kind of detail that might put some readers off. It's 230(c)(2)(b):

"No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be held liable on account of... any action taken to enable or make available to information content providers or others the technical means to restrict access to material described in paragraph (1)." https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/230

willoremus, to random
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TikTok has officially challenged the divest-or-ban law in court, arguing it would give the government unprecedented power to control or dismantle a speech platform it dislikes. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/05/07/tiktok-legal-challenge-law-ban/ by @drewharwell

willoremus, to random
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As AI answers supplant search, tech giants must be careful not to break the web's business model, Microsoft's responsible AI chief says.

As for training on copyrighted data, "the courts will provide answers in due course."

My interview with Natasha Crampton as Microsoft today releases its first "Responsible AI transparency report:" https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/05/01/microsofts-responsible-ai-chief-worries-about-open-web/

willoremus, to random
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I wrote about who has the most to gain from a TikTok ban. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/24/tiktok-ban-benefits-meta-google/

willoremus, to random
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Breaking: Congress just passed the TikTok ban bill, which Biden is expected to sign into law. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/23/tiktok-ban-senate-vote-sale-biden/ by @cristianolima

willoremus,
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Biden has said he will sign the bill, which was tucked into a broader package with aid to Ukraine and Israel, tomorrow. The Senate’s vote to approve was 79-18.

ByteDance will have 9 months to sell TikTok, which China has signaled it will not allow, before the ban takes effect.

willoremus, to random
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A new Stanford report finds the vast majority of online child sexual abuse material goes unprosecuted due in part to a clunky and overwhelmed reporting system -- and a flood AI-generated child porn "indistinguishable" from the real thing is about to make the problem much worse.

My story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/22/ai-csam-ncmec-cybertipline-stanford-report/

willoremus, to random
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I wrote on Tuesday about Meta starting to put AI chatbots in WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger, why it's doing that, and how it could go wrong: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/16/chatbots-flaws-arent-stopping-tech-giants-putting-them-everywhere/

Looks like they're officially going all-in now:

willoremus, to random
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NOBODY: Wouldn't it be awesome if Meta put AI chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram?

META: Good news everybody! https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/16/chatbots-flaws-arent-stopping-tech-giants-putting-them-everywhere/

willoremus, to random
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A senator who claims to have been pushing for an online-privacy bill for 24 years has actually been the biggest obstacle to it, numerous aides and insiders say.

Fascinating, question-raising profile of Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), whose Commerce Committee is "where tech legislation goes to die." https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/13/congress-maria-cantwell-online-privacy/ by @cristianolima

willoremus, to random
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In a House hearing on Section 230 reform today, lawmakers keep asking whether generative AI is protected by Section 230, and the expert witnesses have all said they don't think it should be.

But I'm not hearing people clarify whose immunity they're asking about: the maker of the gen AI tool, or the platform that distributes the gen AI content?

willoremus,
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It seems clear 230 doesn't immunize the AI firm, e.g. OpenAI, for content produced by its tools. But it's also not clear to me what the cause of action would be.

And it seems like 230 probably does immunize the platform, e.g. X, for hosting/distributing the AI-generated content. Right? Am I missing something?

willoremus,
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@jtlg defamation requires publication and harm though right? if i ask a chatbot to make up a lie about you, and it does, but no one else sees it, is that publication? how would would you even know about it? and are you going to be able to show harm?

willoremus,
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@jtlg Oh, I had forgotten about that suit! Now I'm curious whether OpenAI has attempted a 230 defense.

willoremus, to random
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I'm far from the first to point this out, but it continues to be revealing to look at what kinds of "free speech" Elon Musk's X defends and what kinds it suppresses.

My newsletter today on Musk standing up for Bolsonaristas in Brazil, but not dissidents in Modi's India or Erdogan's Turkey: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/10/elon-musk-picks-his-speech-battle/

willoremus, to random
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At Def Con last summer, hackers competed to find biases and flaws in leading AI chatbots. The results were released this week.

I wrote about what they found, and what it tells us about LLMs' more-solvable (prompt hacks) and less-solvable (groundedness) problems: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/04/hackers-competed-find-ai-harms-heres-what-they-found/

willoremus, to random
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Elon Musk's X has begun restoring blue verification badges to popular accounts and gifting them premium features.

It could be a bid to lure back creators — or just a way to restore some of the blue check's lost luster so more subscribers will pay for it. Our story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/04/twitter-blue-check-restored-x/

willoremus, to random
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First they (the creeps and grifters who make AI deepfakes) came for the celebs and politicians.

Now they're coming for ordinary women. Disturbing story about non-famous women increasingly finding their likenesses stolen and turned into deepfake ads for everything from Putin to erectile dysfunction. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/03/28/ai-women-clone-ads/ by @nitashatiku & @pranshuverma

willoremus, to random
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New from me: Some clarity at last on what other companies the TikTok bill would affect. Besides TikTok, it would immediately target ByteDance's Lemon8 and CapCut, aides familiar say. But its language is meant to broadly exempt e-commerce companies like Temu and Shein. As for WeChat, it's still murky. And of course the courts will have their say. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/27/tiktok-bill-isnt-just-about-tiktok/

willoremus, to random
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A federal judge today threw out the entirety of X's lawsuit against the Center for Countering Digital Hate. He ruled that the suit's clear motivation was to "punish" critical research and "dissuade" others from criticizing X or researching its harms, and dismissed it under California's strong anti-SLAPP laws.

Story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/03/25/musk-x-lawsuit-slapp-center-digital-hate/

willoremus, to random
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The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments right now on claims that the Biden admin violated the First Amendment by pressuring Facebook, Twitter, YouTube et al to moderate posts deemed misinfo about Covid-19 and elections.

We're live-blogging the arguments here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/03/18/supreme-court-social-media-biden-missouri/

willoremus,
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The lawyer for the Republican states and plaintiffs is getting absolutely shredded by the justices' questions so far. Starting to think the right-leaning lower courts did them no favors by accepting shaky arguments so uncritically... https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/03/18/supreme-court-social-media-biden-missouri/#link-TUAHL5B6SZBNVLGUSVFU3AYAIA

willoremus, to random
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me trying to navigate a social media site that puts your account on a recommendation blacklist if you post too much political content

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