PS:

#FACEBOOK IS NOT A CONTENT DELIVERY SYSTEM.

the internet is a content delivery system. Facebook is a highly curated publication by Zuckerberg and company.

the phallacy of the algorithm is that nobody manipulates it. #Google #Amazon #Facebook #Xitter #Bluesky: they all heavily curate and editorialize what you see with their so-called algorithms.

in the early 20th century, they would be called albums and catalogs of miscellanea.

the “algorithm” is #techbros curation & editorializing.

why do #Facebook #Xitter #Google #Amazon make it almost impossible to leave their sites? why have they spent millions buying politicians who won't regulate #USA and #Canada mobile tech, so they can continue embedding their stalkerware in operating systems?

BECAUSE WE ARE VALUABLE NOT THEIR COMPANIES.

they have turned every single piece of their software into stalkerware because without us they are nothing.

root your phone, delete their stalkerware and they are NOTHING.

WE ARE THE WEALTH /🧵

#Google’s “#privacy-preserving” #AgeVerification system is coming to the Play Store

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/google-begins-global-rollout-of-age-verification-api-in-google-play/

#Android

Google has introduced video selfie authentication for account login and recovery. PC World tells us why you should stick to established authentication methods:

https://flip.it/LZjXHv

#Tech #Google #Security

Tons of Peoples’ #Claude Chats and Creations are Exposed on #Google

https://www.404media.co/tons-of-peoples-claude-chats-and-creations-are-exposed-on-google/

#AI #privacy #Anthropic

@eteryu #Google already gatekeeps targedSdk, each new Android will block older "unsecure". Today about 33% of apps in the #FDroid repo are built reproducible signed by the developers. F-Droid & Basic clients can update unattended on Android 12+ since early 2024. Apps are sandboxed by your Android, we function as a "package manager for #Android". We have some checks in place, but true, we can't check billions of line of code (half by AI now 🙃). We trust the devs, but we also verify, is that bad?

#Google will now let you sign in to your account with a #selfie video

https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/23/google-will-now-let-you-sign-in-to-your-account-with-a-selfie-video/

#privacy

#Google fixing #Android lock screen bug that lets #Gemini send SMS without a PIN

https://www.theregister.com/security/2026/07/17/google-fixing-android-lock-screen-bug-that-lets-gemini-send-sms-without-a-pin/5273027

#cybersecurity

Meta and Google are testing selfie video verification.

Both companies are rolling out video-based identity checks to verify users and help with account recovery. While they promise stronger security, they also raise new questions about biometric privacy and how facial data is stored and used.

Read more: https://digitalescapetools.com/2026/07/meta-google-selfie-video-verification-privacy.html

#Privacy #Biometrics #Google #Meta #CyberSecurity #DigitalRights #TechNews

#Google is making it easier to switch from #iPhone to #Android

https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/22/google-is-making-it-easier-to-switch-from-iphone-to-android/

Google and Meta both shipped facial recognition this week, days apart, for two different stated reasons — account recovery, catching AI catfish. Same instinct underneath: give us your face.

https://blog.ppb1701.com/everyone-knows-your-face

#bigtech #google #meta #privacy #biometrics #faceid #surveillance #userhostile #blog

How to disable location history on #Google, #Apple, and more

https://proton.me/blog/how-to-disable-location-history

#privacy #guide

What could go wrong? - Google will let you log into #Google account s with a selfie

It’s ok #Google, I don’t care if you remove my two browser extensions (Platypush and RSS Viewer) from the Chrome Store.

I still won’t migrate them to that technical horror named Manifest V3 that you wanted so badly.

There are two reasons:

1. Manifest V3 is your own creature. Web extensions were doing just fine with Manifest V2. You wanted Manifest V3 only because you hate ad-blockers. And you lied for a long time saying that it was, as usual, for “increased user security”. So I won’t give you a victory by migrating my extensions to Manifest V3, because I hate everything that Manifest V3 represents.

2. The Platypush extension needs the ability to intercept and mangle HTTP requests through its custom JavaScript API. The RSS Viewer extension needs the ability to intercept HTTP responses to detect the countless ways that an RSS/Atom feed can be provided, and render it accordingly by swapping content-type and creating a new DOM on the fly. Both these abilities have been lost in Manifest V3 - and that’s just because you, Google, hated ad-blockers, and you didn’t care of destroying many legitimate use-cases from extensions that had been around for years.

As of now, since apparently also Brave gave up on supporting Manifest V2, the only supported way to install and use the Platypush and RSS Viewer extensions is through Firefox or any of its forks.

If there’s any Chromium-based browser out there that still supports Manifest V2 properly please let me know - but at the current state the extensions would still require a manual install because they have been removed from the Chrome Store.

Alt...

An email from Google announcing that all the Manifest V2 extensions must be migrated to V3 by August 31st, 2026, or be permanetly removed from the Chrome Store.

#Google announces #Gemini 3.6 Flash and #cybersecurity #AI, teases 3.5 Pro and Gemini 4

https://arstechnica.com/google/2026/07/google-reveals-faster-and-cheaper-gemini-3-6-flash-says-3-5-pro-is-still-in-testing/

What does #Google know about you? The chilling truth

https://proton.me/blog/what-does-google-know-about-me

#privacy

🎉 The European Commission fined Google €890 million for breaching the Digital Markets Act, by promoting their own services and restricting customer access to alternatives on Google Search and Google Play.

Read:
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_26_1670

We need more of this happening, the reason why "everyone use that apps" is not always because the small players are worse but just because the Big Tech corps have a monopoly over what the masses even get to see

#Google #Android #Europe #netneutrality

#ai #claude #claudepro #google #googlecalendar

Alt...

Screenshot of Claude prompt “connected to Google Calendar” it says up top. Prompt reads “Schedule a meeting at 5:00 p.m”

After deleting-hobbling a bunch of Google stuff on my Nokia phone (freeing-up 2 gigabytes of "fully used up 12 gigabyte" memory), F-Droid updated.

Meanwhile, on my Lenovo tablet with 50 gigabytes free ...

#FDroid #Lenovo #Android #Google

Alt...

screengrab of Update settings in F-Droid

Alt...

Mr deMille close-up ... "Earliest next update: 29 March 2025"

Alt...

Unexpected Keyboard v 2.0.4 installed on Nokia phone (from 07/2026)

Alt...

Unexpected Keyboard version 1.31.0 installed on Lenovo tablet (from 03/2025)

OpenAI and Google are accelerating a shift toward dedicated AI hardware and desktop interfaces. This evolution promises improved latency, new interaction models, and fresh questions about privacy and control. A concise read for product leaders and technologists: https://wix.to/7JV41Ue

#AI
#Google
#OpenAI
#TechLeadership
#ProductManagement

I’m using ___ as a web browser on my phone:

#browsers #internet #mobileapps #web #phone #apple #google

"Europe wasted no time using its landmark Digital Markets Act (DMA) to try to rein in Big Tech. Companies like Apple, Meta, and Google have faced steep fines and orders to modify their business practices since the law came into force in 2024. And the hits keep on coming for Big Tech in Europe. After several months of consideration, the European Commission has announced new DMA measures that will force Google to support interoperability and competition in the European Union, and Google is not happy about it.

The new “specification measures” cover two elements of Google’s business: Android phones and search. Both changes could theoretically increase competition and give users more choices, but Google claims they will undermine privacy and security. But as a “gatekeeper” under the DMA, Google has no choice but to comply. As the European Commission points out in its announcement, these decisions are legally binding.

On Android, Google will have to open up access to competing AI platforms. Currently, Google’s Gemini gets preferential access to the system. Gemini is preloaded on all Google-certified Android phones and can wake up in response to the “Hey Google” hot word. Google’s AI also includes system and app automation features, screen content access, and more.

“Third-party AI assistants are therefore limited in how they can offer their innovative services, making them less attractive to 60% of EU users who have an Android device,” the Commission said in its press release."

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/its-official-eu-will-force-google-to-share-search-data-and-open-up-ai-on-android/

#EU #Google #BigTech #DMA #Android #AI #Interoperability #Oligopolies #Competition #Antitrust

@draken @arstechnica #FDroid won't bow to #Google contracts. That's not how freedom works.

@liaizon #FDroid lives by F-Droid rules, not #Google contracts.

#SanFrancisco Demands #Apple and #Google Delete #AI ‘#Nudify’ Apps From App Stores

https://www.wired.com/story/san-francisco-demands-apple-and-google-delete-ai-nudify-apps-from-app-stores/

#privacy #nsfw #deepfake

Google admits they block emails from getting into your inbox, even those from friends and family that are in your address book.

In my opinion, if the email sender is known and saved in the #Gmail user's address book, their emails should never be blocked, but #Google does not agree. And their technical requirements for an email to get through are past the average user's understanding or ability.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/81126

#censorship #SelfHosting

Third-party app stores coming to #GooglePlay next week as #Epic settlement withdrawn

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/third-party-app-stores-coming-to-google-play-next-week-as-epic-settlement-withdrawn/

#Google #Android

#Google #Gemini CLI abused as a hacking agent, #malware #botnet operator

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/google-gemini-cli-abused-as-a-hacking-agent-malware-botnet-operator/

#cybersecurity #AI

Ireland: Data centers consume 23 percent of the country's electricity

In 2025, data centers in Ireland consumed around 7663 GWh of electricity – more than all urban households combined. Despite a moratorium in greater Dublin area.

https://www.heise.de/en/news/Ireland-Data-centers-consume-23-percent-of-the-country-s-electricity-11364060.html?wt_mc=sm.red.ho.mastodon.mastodon.md_beitraege.md_beitraege&utm_source=mastodon

#AmazonWebServices #Energie #Google #IT #Klimaschutz #KünstlicheIntelligenz #Microsoft #Netzausbau #news

This is a big deal!

A research scientist at Google DeepMind has broken cover and is calling out Google’s leadership on a deal it has signed with the US govt that could see its AI used for military and surveillance purposes.

#AI #Google #Surveillance

Alt...

Andreas Kirsch @BlackHC I work at Google DeepMind. This won't make me popular. But it's all public reporting: 2014: DeepMind reportedly sold to Google on conditions: no military use, independent oversight 2026: a Pentagon contract for "any lawful government purpose” Not one safeguard survived intact

Alt...

Andreas Kirsch @BlackHC But today's LLMs are not robust enough to make life-and-death decisions on their own. They hallucinate. They fail in surprising, banal ways. They should not be used for targeting decisions or as part of autonomous weapons. And the bigger problem isn't military use at all. 8:37 AM - Jul 14, 2026 - 4,435 Views

Alt...

Andreas Kirsch @BlackHC The reported contract does not exclude mass surveillance, and it keeps paths open that could extend to autonomous policing. These don't defend us against foreign adversaries. They shift power from citizens toward the state, in ways that are very hard to reverse. 8:37 AM - Jul 14, 2026 - 3,995 Views

Alt...

Andreas Kirsch @BlackHC An Al system instructed to suppress a protest does not feel the moral weight of that order. It will not hesitate, unless it is appropriately aligned. Soldiers are required by law to refuse manifestly illegal orders. I know of no such requirement for autonomous military Al. 8:37 AM - Jul 14, 2026 - 3,387 Views

#Google hands Open Health Stack to the #Linux Foundation

https://nerds.xyz/2026/07/google-open-health-stack-linux-foundation/

#healthcare #privacy

#Google pays $250K for #Linux vulnerability allowing guest VM escapes

https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/07/high-severity-guest-vm-escape-is-1-of-2-linux-vulnerabilities-to-surface-this-week/

#cybersecurity

#Google will now disclose which ads are made with #AI - https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/09/google-will-now-disclose-which-ads-are-made-with-ai/ #adtech

The topic of my national network radio tech segment this coming Monday will be how Alphabet (Google) Waymo diverted the trip of two misbehaving teenagers to turn them in to the police, and the many issues this raises about what robotaxis see and do and who controls them.

#google #alphabet #waymo

Google's new remote attestation scheme is every bit as terrible as its old remote attestation scheme

#Google owes its existence to the open web, but today, its technological “innovations” have much to do with locking users into a “walled garden.” The latest of these is “reCAPTCHA Mobile Verification,” an experimental initiative that will let companies block users if they are running independent, "de-googled" versions of #Android. These “indie Android” versions are favored by people who want to protect their #privacy and their attention by blocking #trackers and #ads. Worse, this is just the latest in a line of similarly user-hostile measures.
#remoteAttestation #recaptcha #advertising

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/07/googles-new-remote-attestation-scheme-every-bit-terrible-its-old-remote

The man who wrote "Don't be evil" said he chose it specifically so it would be hard to remove. Paul Buchheit, the engineer who later built Gmail, suggested the phrase at a Google corporate values meeting on July 19, 2001.

Then in early 2018, internal documents leaked showing that Google had signed a Pentagon contract to build AI to analyze drone footage. By April, over 3,000 Google employees had signed a letter to Sundar Pichai demanding the contract be cancelled.

The letter specifically cited "Don't be evil" as the standard the company was failing to meet. Dozens of engineers resigned in protest.

Sometime between late April and early May, the slogan disappeared from the code of conduct's preface.

#Google #AI #Tech

Alt...

Screenshot of a Wikipedia page: Don't be evil "Don't be evil" was Google's former motto, and a phrase used in Google's corporate code of conduct.[1[21[3][4] In 2018, Google removed the original motto from the preface of its code of conduct, [°]

Google accused of enabling immigrant surveillance and censorship of ICE-tracking apps; incl. company comment

https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/united-states-google-accused-of-enabling-immigrant-surveillance-and-censorship-of-ice-tracking-apps-incl-company-comment/

Cc @404mediaco

#uspol #USA #privacy #ice #google

HORRIFIC: Waymo robotaxi kidnaps and imprisons teenagers

This story is much worse than I realized. Those drinking teenagers who were shooting Orbeez from a Waymo were not just reported to the police, Google/Alphabet literally kidnapped them, locking them helplessly in the vehicle, until police arrived. This is a scenario I predicted years ago, robocars kidnapping passengers and taking them against their will to "authorities". Imagine what Trump's DOJ would do with this power.

Despite the fact that these teens were engaging in low level misbehavior, Google/Alphabet is NOT supposed to be an arresting agent of the government. What if one of those teens had suffered a medical emergency locked in that vehicle? THIS IS HORRIFIC.

https://www.wpxi.com/news/trending/waymo-car-delivers-misbehaving-teens-california-police/UCOGYIJRHJG2LMHYWJQ3PH7VEY/

#waymo #google #alphabet #robotax #kidnapping

TechSpot: Google is testing a webcam CAPTCHA that scans your hand, but it’s already been bypassed using a photo. “Google is working on a new kind of challenge to improve its reCAPTCHA system, using biometric identification to confirm that the user is indeed human. The new method is officially named ‘hand gesture verification’ (HGV), and, according to early testing, is mostly useless.”

TechCrunch: If you use Google, you’re training its AI. Here’s how to opt out.. “Consider this a belated PSA: A recent change to Google’s privacy settings is allowing the company to store more of your data, including media such as ‘images, files, and audio and video recordings,’ to improve its AI models. In other words, if you upload any media to Google’s Search services, it’s being […]

#Phishing poses as big-brand job interview to steal #Google accounts

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/phishing-poses-as-big-brand-job-interview-to-steal-google-accounts/

#cybersecurity

If you use #Google, you’re training its #AI. Here’s how to opt out.

https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/06/if-you-use-google-youre-training-its-ai-heres-how-to-opt-out/

#privacy

Google may fucking suck, but... no. That's all I got. ☠️

"A #Google executive told an inquiry on Tuesday that a #YouTube video that falsely claimed a wounded survivor of an #antisemitic massacre in #Sydney was a #crisisactor blooded with makeup had met the platform’s standards and would remain online.

Google #Australia manager #RachelLord was testifying at a government inquiry into the spread of #antisemitism in Australia including an attack by two gunmen on a #Sydney #Hanukkah celebration in December that left 15 dead."

https://apnews.com/article/australia-antisemitic-massacre-inquiry-youtube-5b8b2bf01c13ce4d15a49605844161cc

Google will begin enforcing Android developer verification for sideloaded apps in four countries on September 30, adding new installation checks. 📱 Unverified apps will require extra approval steps, while verified developers gain streamlined tools and limited accounts support before global expansion in 2027. 🔐

🔗 https://finance.biggo.com/news/202606211920_Android-sideloading-restrictions-start-September-30

#TechNews #Android #Google #GooglePlay #Sideloading #Apps #AppSecurity #Developer #Privacy #OpenSource #Mobile #Cybersecurity #Linux #Technology #Software #FOSS

#Email... "it was easier to #outsource to #Google."

Picture #AltText = #GoodOmens #series
#TerryPratchett + #NeilGaiman

#Quote text from @teledyn@mstdn.ca
@teledyn @teledyn@mastodon.coffee

Whole Post originally here:

https://mastodon.social/@teledyn@mstdn.ca/116800137675619974

Alt...

#GoodOmens #series #TerryPratchett + #NeilGaiman

In case you haven't heard yet, the European Court of Justice dismissed Google's appeal last week, which means that even if they tried to get away with it, they'll have to pay the €4.1 billion imposed by the European Commission in 2018. The lawsuit focused on Google abusing its dominance by requiring distributors of Android devices to bundle Google Search and Google Chrome.

This is why we don't stop at building a decent browser, but also go the extra mile and get involved in regulatory work. Having real choices it's crucial for a healthy market.

#BigTech #browser #Google #EuropeanCommission

Google is testing a webcam-based reCAPTCHA that maps 21 hand landmarks for human verification, though the limited trial was quickly bypassed. ✋📷
Google says recordings are deleted after verification, while privacy questions remain and Private Access Control Tokens are proposed as an alternative. 🔐🌐

🔗 https://www.tomshardware.com/software/google-testing-webcam-based-recaptcha-hand-scan

#TechNews #Google #reCAPTCHA #Privacy #Biometrics #CyberSecurity #WebSecurity #OpenWeb #Technology #Authentication #Browser #AI #DigitalRights #FOSS

Have you ever imagined how the United States’ Declaration of Independence would have turned out if it were written with the help of AI? You don’t have to, now that Google is using a TV ad that does just that with “Group project, but make it 1776.” Read about it from @Techcrunch:

https://flip.it/-ZFkM9

#AI #Google #Tech

MakeUseOf: Google’s latest updates for Chrome extensions are a big boon for privacy. “On July 1, Google announced some significant changes to the Chrome Web Store’s policies. These changes will impact Chrome extensions in several key ways, but the primary focus is on enhancing user privacy.”

What We Talk About When We Talk About #Malware

https://f-droid.org/en/2026/07/01/adv-malware.html

#Android #Google #KeepAndroidOpen #privacy #cybersecurity #FOSS #FDroid

“Google’s power consumption rose by 7 TWh between 2023 and 2024. That was bad. But it rose by a whopping 12 TWh between 2024 and 2025, almost double last year’s increase. Google’s power consumption isn’t just growing – the rate at which it is growing is growing. We have a word for this: exponential growth.

Every time I look at this chart I have to go and double check every single Google number, because it just looks so ridiculous

The power grids that Google’s data centres are plugged into have to increase generation to match this new demand – and that includes rising use of coal and gas, and as a consequence, worse climate disasters like deadly heatwaves. Google’s consumption is rising way faster than the grids are being cleaned up with renewables, and that means their emissions number is going up fast, too. It’s the steepest rise on record:”

https://ketanjoshi.co/2026/07/01/googles-exponential-path-to-climate-wrecking-digital-bloat/

#Google #AI #DataCenters #Energy #ClimateChange

Due to the thirst of #GenAI, #Google is now consuming as much power as Aotearoa New Zealand! That's what people get through the continued push for slop machines.

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:66lbtw2porscqpmair6mir37/post/3mpmdvb47qc2e

#LLM #ClimateCrisis

NEW: How Google and AI Nearly Made a Seasoned Reporter Spiral

"I thought I had missed something major in my reporting. Turns out I had stumbled into an AI-fueled feedback loop that involved a real LLC’s fictional website and a search engine that’s thrusting unreliable answers on users."

https://www.propublica.org/article/google-ai-reporting?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News #Google #AI #Journalism #Media #Technology #Tech #Research #LLM #artificialintelligence

#Google Wants to Scan Your Hand for its #reCAPTCHA

https://www.privacyguides.org/news/2026/07/01/google-wants-to-scan-your-hand-for-its-recaptcha/

#privacy #CAPTCHA #bot

#German Court Says #Google Is Liable For False Claims In Its #AI Overviews Because They Are Its Own Words - https://www.techdirt.com/2026/07/01/german-court-says-google-is-liable-for-false-claims-in-its-ai-overviews-because-they-are-its-own-words/ "More generally, #liability concerns could mean that many current use cases for #agents won’t be commercially viable."

More than 200k users said NO!

More than 70 organisations signed a letter saying NO!

#FDroid wrote posts on why NOT!

We've talked with you and your representatives, around the world.

We've made the #KeepAndroidOpen website to explain it.

If you read the #Android tech news, you saw it.

If you use a search engine, you found it.

If you've asked their own #Gemini, you got the summary.

But who didn't see, hear or read anything from above? Yes, #Google

For your saftety? https://f-droid.org/2026/07/01/adv-malware.html

Les Années Vécues
https://philosophics.blog/2026/07/01/les-annees-vecues/?utm_source=masto&utm_medium=social
I’ve shared a piece of fiction writing meta content and the rôle of LLMs in my writing workflow, in particular, a punch list to track idea instantiation. I don’t, however, discuss my fondness for diacritical marks, especially those with no phonetic function.
#philosophy #writing #fiction #timetravel #LLM #scifi #process #author #time #blof #podcast #language #workflow #frnech #english #shortstory #method #ai #matrix #spreadsheet #google #claude #chatgpt

“Google wants a look at your hands before it lets you through. The company’s newest reCAPTCHA check, rolling out now as a test, asks you to switch on your camera and wave at it so an algorithm can decide whether you’re a human or a bot.

That wave is less casual than it looks. The system records a short video of your hand and pulls 21 hand-landmark coordinates from it, mapping your finger joints, your palm geometry, and the way you move in real time.

Google describes the purpose as liveness detection, a way for websites to fend off automated account creation, credential-stuffing, and other fraud. But this is still a biometric scan, collected so you can prove you’re a person and still involves turning on your cameras for Google.”

https://reclaimthenet.org/googles-new-recaptcha-wants-your-camera-access-and-21-points-of-your-hand

#Google #ReCAPTCHA #Biometrics #Privacy

This is the script of my national network radio tech report last Monday on the topic of Meta's monitoring of employees' computer activities, using that data to train AI -- and discussion of the broader implications of such projects. As always there may have been minor wording variations from this script as I presented this report live on air.

- - -

So yeah while this discussion is about Meta the same trend is happening at other Big Tech firms where employees are increasingly being subjected to mass layoffs or feel that they are being mistreated by management, and the impact of this could be quite dangerous for everyone who depends on services from these firms as the firms try to use AI as an excuse for all manner of bad corporate behaviors.

But regarding Meta, it's useful to recall that Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg has never been the poster boy for particularly admirable corporate leadership. Of course before Meta was Meta it was Facebook, and before that it was The Facebook and before that it was Facemash. This takes us all the way back to when Mark started this entire sordid set of events when, while a student at Harvard, he built a platform to help guys avoid dating what he and his Harvard bros considered to be unattractive women, sometimes using terms like "farm animals" for their comparisons. Apparently he threw this project together after being dumped by his then girlfriend.

This was all back around 2003. Facebook didn't change its name to Meta until around five years ago or so, when Mark became convinced that everyone would want to wear virtual reality headsets, working and playing in his virtual reality "metaverse" all day, and threw reportedly tens of billions of dollars at that project, some reports say 80 billion or so. And while there are continuing to be amazing applications for VR and Meta VR headsets, the idea that this was going to be a dominant way for people to routinely interact was, what's that technical term? -- oh yeah, crazy.

Of course over the years Meta/Facebook has been embroiled in a wide variety of issues related to privacy and a long list of other controversies. So now Mark has changed his mind again, and has decided that he should throw most of Meta's resources at -- you guessed it -- AI. And the way he did this was for example, reportedly by reassigning product managers and skilled engineers to be essentially AI trainers, understandably considered to be work far below their skill levels, and laying off other employees. Then Meta came up with the idea that is somewhat akin to driving a stake through the heart of employee morale, already apparently at historically low levels for the firm. And while I don't know offhand who specifically originated this train wreck of a concept, it seems like something Mark would have quickly and enthusiastically endorsed.

So this is called MCI -- Model Capability Initiative. This was launched just a couple of months ago, and collected employee keystrokes, mouse movements, screen shots, etc. to be used for AI training. Initially there was no opt-out. Then they apparently introduced a limited half hour opt-out. As you MIGHT imagine this didn't go over well with most employees. Even when using a company provided computer as in this situation, employees routinely deal with personally sensitive subjects including financial and medical information and much more. And you can't blame employees for being decidedly unenthusiastic about being forced to train AI systems that they quite reasonably suspected Meta would like to use to lay them off and replace them.

Well, this was all bad enough, but then very recently the fan really got splattered when it was discovered that the data being collected this way had not been properly secured internally, and was reportedly accessible to pretty much anyone at the firm. Whammo. So about a week ago the MCI program was suspended for some indefinite period -- maybe forever, we don't know -- while "investigations" take place into how this happened. This whole awful affair seems pretty much on-brand for Zuckerberg, but again it would be a mistake to think that this kind of situation could only occur at Meta.

Because across the technology sector we see firms increasingly treating the employees who actually built these firms as expendable, sometimes to be replaced with half-baked, dangerous misinformation-laden AI, that drives customers and employees alike utterly nuts.

But it does seem like Large Language Model AI is close to "jumping the shark" as the saying goes, or perhaps already has, and is starting to face some serious reckonings. That recent German court decision I discussed recently, holding Google responsible for the content of their AI Overviews -- that spout 10s of millions of wrong answers an hour -- could be just the beginning.

If courts begin widely holding Big Tech AI firms responsible for their AI-generated content -- search answer overviews, chatbots, and so on, this very reasonable, common-sense approach could trigger massive changes in the way these firms operate and might signal an end to the abandon with which AI-created misinformation, sometimes dangerous and harmful, is so widely spewed.

How these firms treat their own employees could be viewed as somewhat akin to a canary in a coal mine regarding how these firms will treat all of us. And judging from the mess at Meta in this respect, we probably shouldn't expect a "customer is always right" approach from Big Tech firms, that's for sure.

- - -

L

#meta #google #ai #metaverse

Google's new CAPTCHA asks you to wave at your camera. It records your hand movements, extracts 21 joint coordinates, then deletes the video. Google says it's safe. But normalizing camera checks for basic website access is a privacy line worth noticing. #privacy #captcha #google #biometrics #indigoprivacy

@rms
IT IS NAUSEATING how a company as huge as #Google can still be intimidated by the #OrangeHitler Administration. 🤦‍♂️

#Fascism

Now that Google is testing websites for their use of llms.txt (and WebMCP, BTW), does anyone have ideas to create one, where the semantics is correct, but the content pure "useful garbage"?
[It seems external links are allowed...]

@davidgerard ???

#AI #Google #GoogleAI

Alt...

Agentic Browsing These checks ensure high-quality, browsable websites for Al agents and validate the correctness of WebMCP integrations. This category is still under development and subject to change.

Google's AI Overviews Feature Is Telling Users That SCP Horror Fiction Entities Are Real

https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/google-ai-overview-scp-horror-fiction-real

#google #ai