cyberlyra

cyberlyra, 6 months ago to random

When Taylor Swift’s albums got acquired to make billions of dollars for a company, she didn’t roll over and go, welp, guess I gotta stick with this shitty exploitative system. She re-recorded and released everything under her own copyright so she gets all the royalties! In the same way, we have to rebuild our spaces that got acquired so that we own them ourselves. Our data. Our governance. Not extractive systems that feed their growth. That’s the promise of the fediverse.

cyberlyra, 2 months ago to random

My new op Ed in @techpolicypress

AI is just today’s buzzword for “outsourcing,” and it comes with the same problems that have plagued outsourced companies and workforces for decades, writes Princeton University sociologist Janet Vertesi:

https://www.techpolicy.press/dont-be-fooled-much-ai-is-just-outsourcing-redux/

cyberlyra, 1 month ago to random

Start here by deleting everything Google thinks it knows about you.

https://www.theverge.com/24141741/google-data-delete-how-to

Then pick up with my tips for Google free living.

https://www.optoutproject.net/the-best-non-google-search-engine/

It’s so much better out here without a data-sucking behemoth controlling everything you see, flooding your search results with spam and injecting the internet with LLM-generated sludge. Bonus, if you leave, your data stops contributing to serious ethical problems.

Thanks for @Em0nM4stodon for passing The Verge’s How To along.

cyberlyra, 6 months ago to random

Please tell me this is a joke! It is, right?

#labortech #capitalistdreams

cyberlyra, 27 days ago to space

As someone who keeps her children (born and unborn) away from data detection, I know how catastrophic the #MOMS bill’s national #pregnancy database is.

But I am also a scholar who studies #NASA, so I know a government handout bill when I see one.

Look past the website to Title II, section 1a, eligibility for government grants for maternal support.

This is a #handout for pro-life nonprofits, with restrictions against funding for orgs like #PlannedParenthood , dressed up as maternal support.

cyberlyra, 1 month ago to random

The age of Google is over. The next great search engine must needs filter out LLM-generated sludge and actually privilege information instead of content.

cyberlyra, 9 months ago to random

Canadian friends, I applaud this push for a boycott of Facebook and Instagram August 23rd and 24th. I understand it's to encourage those companies to let Canadians share news again.

https://act.friends.ca/page/133505/action/1

But don''t stop there. OPT OUT FOR GOOD. Canadians don't need the "social" giants--for news or anything else. We need an independent media sharing infrastructure away from those toxic tools. Get off for good, invest in independence, resilience and community connection, and don't look back.

cyberlyra, 7 months ago to random

Via @simon_brooke

Buckle up, folks! And take that, real estate values…

https://coastal.climatecentral.org/map/6/50.1713/28.1743/?theme=water_level&map_type=water_level_above_mhhw&basemap=roadmap&contiguous=true&elevation_model=best_available&refresh=true&water_level=5.3&water_unit=m

cyberlyra, 9 months ago to random

The spacecraft teams I work with taught me to love and care for aging equipment, the value of an ingenious fix that keeps something working long past it’s upgradeability, and that there is value in meaningful relationships with our devices and tools. Thanks to them (and the Rebble alliance), I still run a Pebble smartwatch!

My fave case (not here) is of the New Horizons mission buying 1990’s PCs on eBay to sub in for their ground system over their 20 year mission.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230815-the-ancient-tech-keeping-space-missions-alive

cyberlyra, 7 months ago to random

I’d love to see more research, investment, and lessons learned about the foundation model for software development, in contrast to this toxic growth-at-all-costs-for-investor-class model that we’ve naturalized. More from the Signal Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, Linux Foundation, and others about challenges, incentives, change-making, mission-driven organizing, and shaping technology under different conditions. Is such a resource out there for aspiring technologists or do we need to make one?

cyberlyra, 11 months ago to random

I have often admired the folks I've met at @hachyderm.io ... So today, inspired by @mekkaokereke taking the plunge, I made my own move! I'm happy to join an online community whose values and interests I share, and I am eager to participate here to keep this community alive, vibrant, welcoming, and safe.

You can follow me here for #optout stuff and general geekiness.

For academic HCI friends, I'm also at @janetv

Older posts at @cyberlyra

cyberlyra, 11 months ago to random

Reposting after migration: Here’s how I evaded data capture at Disneyland—and more importantly, how Big Tech has hijacked “convenience” to keep us in thrall.

http://www.publicbooks.org/data-free-disney/

More tech details at https://www.optoutproject.net/data-free-disney

#dataprivacyweek

zephoria, 6 months ago to random

4S scholars: @cyberlyra and I are organizing an open panel for 4S/EASST on "The Implications of Institutional Breakdown for Science and Technology" if that's your jam: https://www.easst4s2024.net/open-panels/#14442 (Also, there are soooo many related awesome panels!!)

cyberlyra, 7 months ago to random

Thanks for all your Star Wars Halloween pumpkin ideas! I ended up going with BB8 and it turned out pretry well I think! Thanks especially to @JessTheUnstill for the original suggestion :)

cyberlyra, 2 months ago to random

So excited to see this excerpt (and book) from my colleague Ben Shestakovsky. His work among VC unicorns is exemplary for sociologists looking to study tech firms ethnographically to see how they tick.

And, surprise surprise, in this case hypergrowth took over the firm's day-to-day operations such that they hired Philippine workers offshore to simulate the AI that the system was supposed to include...

https://spectrum.ieee.org/unicorn-startup

cyberlyra, 3 months ago to random

https://therecord.media/broker-sold-planned-parenthood-data-wyden

cyberlyra, 1 month ago to random

Ham radio meets 5G connectivity. How much do I want to set this up? So, so much.

FYI @inquiline

https://winlink.org/

cyberlyra, 8 months ago to random

My take on AI ethics, based on two decades of working with science teams who use AI. Let's turn our ire on these terribly misplaced myths of "replacement" that always lead to poor outcomes, and reserve our creativity for thoughtfully interweaving humans and AIs in teams and partnership instead.

https://theconversation.com/nasas-mars-rovers-could-inspire-a-more-ethical-future-for-ai-211162

cyberlyra, 1 month ago to random

Just read @Wolven ‘s great essay, “What it’s like to be a bot.” A terrific post-phenomenological take down of the Turing Test drawing on STS, epistemology and ethics.

“If there is no one configuration of physical form and experiential knowledge that gives rise to consciousness, there cannot be any single test for consciousness either.” [insert Philosophy mic-drop]

https://reallifemag.com/what-its-like-to-be-a-bot/

cyberlyra, 9 months ago to OpenAI

I love how this new paper about #OpenAI says the quiet part loud-- repeatedly.

Thanks to @Mer__edith and @davidthewid and #SarahMyersWest

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4543807

cyberlyra, 10 months ago to random

Really getting a kick out of the header image accompanying this story. That says it all.

https://theintercept.com/2023/07/25/strike-hollywood-ai-disney-netflix/

cyberlyra, 11 months ago to random

As Twitter and Reddit implode around us, the lessons from my Opt Out project are more valuable than ever. Congratulations to those of you trying out new services and migrating your communities off these once-beloved platforms! If you or a friend are ready to take the plunge, here are some helpful tips:

https://www.optoutproject.net/how-to-the-tech-break-up/

You can also sign up for a newsletter here: https://buttondown.email/optoutproject

cyberlyra, 14 days ago to random

Zomg they just went ahead and ingested McSweeneys, the Onion, and all the Reddit shitposts…. Hold my beer, Google “A.I.” 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

cyberlyra, 9 days ago to Facebook

I could not agree with this more.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/29/us/social-media-children-influencers-cec/index.html

I spoke out against sharenting for years at #cscw when research was presented on parents' sharing, and how good it was for moms to use #facebook because it connected them to each other while isolated. I was constantly the debbie downer arguing wtf privacy implications and autonomy of the child... But the research was #facebook funded so just kept beating the same yay-socials drumbeat.

we are complicit in this nightmare, #chi

cyberlyra, 6 days ago to random

Your gaming systems are tracking you too! In a spirit of evasion, I've been playing with retro-systems: all the fun, more of the data privacy.

https://www.optoutproject.net/offline-gaming-go-retro/