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Archive for 2019
August 13, 2019
WHAT IS TO BE DONE ABOUT FACEBOOK? Facebook Paid Contractors to Transcribe Users’ Audio Chats:
Facebook Inc. has been paying hundreds of outside contractors to transcribe clips of audio from users of its services, according to people with knowledge of the work.
The work has rattled the contract employees, who are not told where the audio was recorded or how it was obtained — only to transcribe it, said the people, who requested anonymity for fear of losing their jobs. They’re hearing Facebook users’ conversations, sometimes with vulgar content, but do not know why Facebook needs them transcribed, the people said.
Facebook confirmed that it had been transcribing users’ audio and said it will no longer do so, following scrutiny into other companies. “Much like Apple and Google, we paused human review of audio more than a week ago,” the company said Tuesday.
As Christine Rosen of Commentary wrote in her lengthy June article titled “What Is To Be Done About Facebook?” This is a standard pattern for Facebook when caught:
From the company’s earliest days, Facebook’s leaders have adopted a remarkably consistent approach to the exposure of problems and missteps: a mercenary variation of the “ask for forgiveness, not permission” strategy. Any time the company does something irresponsible or privacy-violating, Zuckerberg issues an apology on Facebook and Sandberg appears on television programs to reassure an anxious world that Facebook will do better. As Zeynep Tufekci observed in Wired: “By 2008, Zuckerberg had written only four posts on Facebook’s blog: Every single one of them was an apology or an attempt to explain a decision that had upset users.”
But he kept doing it because it worked—until 2018. That year, Apple booted Facebook off of its app store for violating Apple’s privacy rules. Facebook had used an app to facilitate a research study wherein Facebook paid teenagers and some adults to let the company monitor everything they did on their mobile phones. That same year, there was a major hack of Facebook, this one affecting approximately 29 million Facebook users; the company issued its standard sorry-we-promise-to-do-better statement and changed nothing about its core business model.
Around the same time, as TechCrunch reported, Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives secretly “disappeared” their sent messages from their accounts, removing years’ worth of Facebook correspondence from other users’ mailboxes with no warning. Once caught out, the company claimed that it had done so for vaguely defined security reasons, but the lack of transparency by a company that insists that everyone should share everything was seen as hypocritical by many Facebook users.
Also in June, Peggy Noonan wrote, “Overthrow the Prince of Facebook...Break them up. Break them in two, in three; regulate them. Declare them to be what they’ve so successfully become: once a pleasure, now a utility. It all depends on Congress, which has been too stupid to move in te past and is too stupid to move competently now. That’s what’s slowed those of us who want reform, knowing how badly they’d do it. Yet now I find myself thinking: I don’t care. Do it incompetently, but do something.”
Somebody should write a book about this stuff.
JOHN NOLTE: Fredo Meltdown Another Display of Chris Cuomo’s Embrace of Political Violence.
While decent people agree that violence has no place anywhere in our society, much less in political debate, Cuomo disagrees. He’s a huge champion and supporter of the left-wing terrorist organization Antifa, and a booster of the violence they commit against Cuomo’s political enemies on the right.
In August of last year, Cuomo said of Antifa’s terrorism [emphasis mine]:
Two wrongs and what is right. The bigots are wrong to hit. Antifa or whomever — anarchists or malcontents or the misguided — they are also wrong to hit. But fighting hate is right. And in a clash between hate and those who oppose it, those who oppose it are on the side of right.
Here’s Cuomo again in November excusing and encouraging Antifa’s violence.
Cuomo, obviously, is taking a cue from CNN’s puppetmaster Jeff Zucker, who has shifted the axis of his network to encourage violence against President Trump and his supporters[.]
But the “Fredo” video is a glimpse into Cuomo’s rage, his hatred of the political right, a provincial and sheltered silver spoon of a man who brings everything back to politics — even a childish taunt — and who believes violence and the threat of violence is an acceptable response.
As we mentioned earlier today, Cuomo, the scion of a legendary Democratic governor, uttered on-air while covering Obama’s 2016 visit to Cuba, “What is the point of this communist regime if it is not to truly make everyone equal, not at the lowest level, not by demoralizing everyone, but lifting everyone up,” in a quasi-defense of Fidel Castro. With a worldview like that, it’s not surprising that he thinks that Antifa, the Democratic Party’s shock troops, are not just the good guys, but the equivalent of the Americans who stormed the beach at Normandy.
I’M NOT SAYING THAT IT’S ALIENS, BUT IT’S ALIENS: Our Galaxy’s Supermassive Black Hole Has Emitted a Mysteriously Bright Flare.
NO, THE ‘TEXODUS’ DOES NOT MEAN DEEP-RED TEXAS IS GOING PURPLE: Democrats are ecstatic about their chances of shifting more Lone Star State representatives to their side of the aisle. But maybe what they are convinced is happening isn’t.
WHAT ABOUT US BRAIN-DEAD SLOBS? YOU’LL ALL BE GIVEN CUSHY JOBS! Mueller alumni landing cushy jobs at law firms, universities – even a book deal – after Russia probe.
(Classical reference in headline.)
LUXURY, SWEET LUXURY: 2019 BMW X7 Is Serene, Swift, and Soft.
STEPHEN KRUISER: Progressive Portland Catholics Protest Being Made to Act Catholic. “People who do a Code Pink-like protest during Mass (video below) have really lost touch with their faith. Yes, I’ll say some prayers for them. Some Catholic prayers. Which they’ll probably want to rewrite.”
Related thoughts on the Portlandia “Boomer Catholics” from Rod Dreher: “It would be nice, though, if the people protesting at St. Francis would give a moment’s thought to all the orthodox, traditional people, now long dead, at that parish who saw what was happening to their parish, and who were not listened to, whose views did not matter, because all the progressives were busy singing a new church into being. It’s hard being on the other side, isn’t it?”
IDIOCRACY WAS NOT MEANT TO BE A HOW-TO GUIDE: Drinking bleach will not cure cancer or autism, FDA warns.
BLUE ON BLUE: Protesters target Amazon for working with ICE.
RUSH LIMBAUGH ON THE ORIGIN OF HIS DUBBING CHRIS CUOMO “FREDO:” Fredo Can Dish It Out, But He Can’t Take It.
All I ever did was call him Fredo and now he’s out there calling me a punk ass b-i-itch and worse. And the Drive-Bys are scrambling to try to find out, “What is this?” Now “Fredo” has become a racial slur. I call him Fredo for a reason! (laughing) I don’t believe this. Let me find the right sound bite. Grab sound bite number 5.
Look, I’m not even gonna set this up other than to tell you it was March 21st, 2016, when Fredo was doing the morning show on CNN with Alisyn Camerota, and she said, Fredo — (laughing) — I don’t believe this — Fredo, “we can’t help but notice your culturally appropriate garb that you’re wearing. Tell us the history of your shirt, will you?” And here’s Fredo’s answer.
CUOMO: My guayabera? This shirt belonged to my father. It was given to him by Fidel Castro. It marked conversations going on decades ago that were the same as those today. The concern was the freedom of the people. What is the point of this communist regime if it is not to truly make everyone equal, not at the lowest level —
RUSH: Stop the tape! That’s when I started calling him Fredo. We went back and looked. My first documented reference to Chris Cuomo as Fredo was May 19th, 2017. This clip is March 21st, 2016, where he says… here, play it again. Cue it from the top, and I’m not gonna stop it this time. What is it these communists don’t understand? (laughing) Oh, my God. Folks. I don’t know if I can…
CUOMO: My guayabera? This shirt belonged to my father. It was given to him by Fidel Castro. It marked conversations going on decades ago that were the same as those today. The concern was the freedom of the people. What is the point of this communist regime if it is not to truly make everyone equal, not at the lowest level, not by demoralizing everyone, but lifting everyone up. My father, generations of politicians have been fighting this. So I wear this shirt as a reminder of that.
RUSH: The guy doesn’t even know what communism is so we have to excuse me him for thinking that Fredo is a racial slur. But go to the Urban Dictionary. You can find the definition for Fredo in the Urban Dictionary. It basically means “dumb brother.” And it comes from The Godfather.
“What is the point of this communist regime if it is not to truly make everyone equal, not at the lowest level, not by demoralizing everyone, but lifting everyone up,” but he still wears a shirt that Castro gave to Mario Cuomo? (And he likely wore it to spur that on-air chat with Camerota, given how much Castro was praised by CNN’s management over the years.) All of which is pathetic.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: How Long Can You Keep Your Magazines Loaded? “Even when kept fully compressed, a magazine spring will retain its energy long past the operational life of the ammunition.”
AT AMAZON, save in Car Care.
NAME THAT PARTY, SPECIAL LOLITA EXPRESS EDITION: Missing! Evening Newscasts Hide the (D) in Epstein-Linked Democrats.
Evergreen:
HERE’S A REVIEW of Larry Correia & Sarah Hoyt’s Monster Hunter Guardian. I quite liked it. From the review: “Once you open the cover, be prepared for an evening to disappear like a werewolf with a portal ring.” Yeah, pretty much.
Plus: “The plot in the book is marvelously done by Hoyt, weaving in clues and breadcrumbs to the climactic confrontation with the evil creature that steals Julie Shackleford’s toddler son. This is, of course, a big mistake.” Indeed.
CHRISTIAN/NEWSOM UPDATE: Eric Boyd found guilty in Christian-Newsom murders. “A Knox County jury that heard a week of testimony is deciding guilt or innocence of Eric Boyd, charged in 36 counts of being involving the violent torture, rape and murder of Channon Christian and Chris Newsom.”
Despite the torture and rape and the racial disparity, this never really became a national story.
IT’S BECAUSE OF INCREASED REGULATION, AMONG OTHER THINGS: Despite What You Might Think, Major Technological Changes Are Coming More Slowly Than They Once Did.
Related: Why We Still Don’t Have Flying Cars: After regulation exploded in 1970, innovation hit a sustained speed bump. That’s also, by a curious coincidence, when inequality started to get worse.
BUT OTHER THAN THAT, IT’S A SMASHING SUCCESS: In Germany, free education leads to irrelevant courses, hopelessly overcrowded public universities, and a drop-out rate of about 30%.
The point isn’t to educate, but to divert tax dollars to all the new make-work administrators.
ADJUST NEWSPEAK DICTIONARIES ACCORDINGLY: IMDb Alters Policy on Publication of Birth Names.
IMDb has revised its birth name policy and will allow industry professionals to remove their birth names in response to feedback from transgender customers and other entertainment industry leaders.
The issue arose in June after a coalition of national LGBTQ groups objected to IMDB’s continued publication of the birth names of transgender performers and people in the entertainment industry without their consent — a practice commonly called “dead-naming.” An IMDb spokesperson revealed the altered policy on Monday.
“IMDb now permits the removal of birth names if the birth name is not broadly publicly known and the person no longer voluntarily uses their birth name,” the spokesperson said.
“To remove a birth name either the person concerned or their professional industry representative simply needs to contact IMDb’s customer support staff to request a birth name removal,” the spokesperson added. “Once the IMDb team determines that an individual’s birth name should be removed — subject to this updated process — we will review and remove every occurrence of their birth name within their biographical page on IMDb.”
You will be made to care. On the other hand, give the IMDB credit for not going full Orwell:
The IMDb spokesperson also said for birth name removal requests pertaining to titles in which a person was credited on-screen as their birth name, their credited name will remain listed in the credits section of applicable IMDb name and title pages in parentheses.
“This is in order to continue providing IMDb’s hundreds of millions of customers worldwide with comprehensive information about film and TV credits, thereby preserving the factual historical record by accurately reflecting what is listed on-screen,” the spokesperson said.
And of course, the inevitable response: “SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris said Tuesday that the new policy does not go far enough.”
And the left’s culture war marches onward. As Peggy Noonan asked last month, “What Were Robespierre’s Pronouns?”
SOUNDS LIKE THE “CRAZY ALT-MEDIA” SCOOPED THE TRAD MEDIA: Jeffrey Epstein’s Death Was On 4Chan Before Officials Announced It — And Authorities Had To Look Into It.
HOUSING: A New Start-Up Wants to Build a Tiny House in Your Backyard For Free. “Bay Area start-up Rent the Backyard is making new room in dense cities by collaborating with homeowners who’ve got a little extra acreage. The company will install a prefab studio apartment on unused land behind your home, handle all the permitting required to do so, find a worthy tenant to rent the unit, and pay you 50% of the profits for providing the space—all for zero up-front costs.”