NEW RESOURCES

Michigan Law / University of Michigan: Michigan Law Launches Data for Defenders Project to Aid Defense Work. “A new public database housed at the Law School aims to help public defenders assist indigent clients by making a wide range of social-science resources readily available. Data for Defenders collects briefs, motions, and transcripts focused on social science research and data that public defenders could find useful. It includes information on topics like the science of eyewitness memory; problems with racism and bias in the criminal legal system; and the use of unreliable, seemingly scientific evidence.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Digital Library of Georgia: Georgia Historic Newspapers Update Summer 2023. “This summer, the Digital Library of Georgia released several new grant-funded newspaper titles to the Georgia Historic Newspapers website. Included below is a list of the newly available titles.”

The Verge: Reddit can now translate posts. “Reddit can now translate posts into eight different languages when viewing them on Reddit’s iOS or Android apps or on the web while logged out, according to a post from a Reddit admin (employee). To start, posts can be translated into English, Spanish, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, and Swedish.”

Associated Press: Amazon to require some authors to disclose the use of AI material. “After months of complaints from the Authors Guild and other groups, Amazon.com has started requiring writers who want to sell books through its e-book program to tell the company in advance that their work includes artificial intelligence material.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Vulture: The Decomposition of Rotten Tomatoes. “The Ophelia affair is a useful microcosm for understanding how Rotten Tomatoes, which turned 25 in August, has come to function. The site was conceived in the early days of the web as a Hot or Not for movies. Now, it can make or break them — with implications for how films are perceived, released, marketed, and possibly even green-lit. The Tomatometer may be the most important metric in entertainment, yet it’s also erratic, reductive, and easily hacked.”

Los Angeles Daily News: West Hollywood’s Grindr loses nearly half its staff to return-to-office rule. “Grindr Inc. has lost about 45% of its staff as it enforces a strict return-to-office policy that was introduced after a majority of employees announced a plan to unionize. About 80 of the 178 employees at the LGBTQ dating app company were forced to resign after the company in August mandated workers return to work in person two days a week at assigned ‘hub’ offices or be fired, the Communications Workers of America said in a statement Wednesday.”

South China Morning Post: TikTok’s new Amazon copycat ‘Shop’, now live in the US, full of cheap Chinese goods. “Many of the listings mention being shipped from China, where TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is based. That could reignite US regulatory concerns if it puts user data in the hands of Chinese sellers. TikTok Shop will be competing with Amazon to sell a target of US$20 billion in merchandise this year, Bloomberg has reported.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

PC Gamer: Crypto baron behind $2.5B rug-pull declares ‘I am smart enough to lead any institution on Earth’ as court sentences him to 11,196 years in jail. “Faruk Fatih Özer, the founder and CEO of the now-defunct crypto exchange Thodex, has been sentenced to 11,196 years in prison by a court in Istanbul for crimes including aggravated fraud, money laundering, and organised crime. His sister Serap and brother Guven were also found guilty and received the same jail term.”

Reuters: Microsoft to defend customers on AI copyright challenges. “Microsoft will pay legal damages on behalf of customers using its artificial intelligence (AI) products if they are sued for copyright infringement for the output generated by such systems, the company said on Thursday.”

TechCrunch: FCC Proposes Voluntary Security Labels For ‘Internet Of Things’ Devices Most Companies Will Probably Ignore. “The program will initially take aim at stuff like smart refrigerators, TVs and fitness trackers. Eventually it will shift to routers, where lax security has also long been a problem. It’s certainly not the first time government or other organizations have advocated for more robust IOT standards. Consumer Reports in 2017 proposed an open source IOT standards system that (IIRC) never really went anywhere.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Daily Aztec: Death of the Bluebird: The Twitter we once knew is `X-ecuted´. “Elon Musk did not put a lot of intentional effort into X, unlike the original creators of the app. The rebranding of the platform could be a strategy to lead people’s attention away from what Musk is actually doing, which appears to be censoring freedom of speech — something this app is known for providing to its users.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

Boing Boing: Man makes a shortwave radio antenna out of a measuring tape to listen to numbers stations . “If numbers stations are a channel for governments to give info to agents in the field, this guy found a way to MacGyver an antenna that’ll let him listen in out of a measuring tape. I also found the software radio dongle he’s using to connect the antenna to his smartphone exciting!” Good morning, Internet…

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