"We must fight for it when its stewards fail us" is shaping up to be the rallying cry for everyone who sees tech as something with liberating potential. It's not just Mozilla/Firefox. It's also Automattic/WordPress. It's Microsoft/Github. It's fucking everywhere.
Posts
-
"We must fight for it when its stewards fail us" is shaping up to be the rallying cry for everyone who sees tech as something with liberating potential. -
I want smaller tech companies that focus on a thing they care about, pay a bunch of people and everyone goes home on time.I want smaller tech companies that focus on a thing they care about, pay a bunch of people and everyone goes home on time.
-
A few years ago I would have loved to work for Mozilla.A few years ago I would have loved to work for Mozilla. It felt like one of the places where one might be able to actually work towards a better web for everyone. It no longer feels like that.
-
This is Mozilla speaking very loudly.This is Mozilla speaking very loudly. And given that we hear them, what can we do?
https://mamot.fr/@ploum/113157578720371648 -
"Prominent digital rights groups defended the scam-laden crypto industry several years ago, even taking money from crypto and Web3 groups to fund their efforts, and now claim that when OpenAI, Google, or Meta steal any content they can get their hands ..."Prominent digital rights groups defended the scam-laden crypto industry several years ago, even taking money from crypto and Web3 groups to fund their efforts, and now claim that when OpenAI, Google, or Meta steal any content they can get their hands on — from artists, writers, news organizations, or social media users (which is basically all of us) — those actions should be considered fair use. In short, some of the most powerful companies in the world should have no obligation to compensate or get permission from the people who made the posts or created the works because that would threaten the cyberlibertarian ideals they’ve built their worldview on."
(Original title: Reclaiming sovereignty in the digital age)
https://disconnect.blog/reclaiming-sovereignty-in-the-digital-age/
-
We’ve made the hard decision to end our experiment with Mozilla.social and will shut down the Mastodon instance on December 17, 2024.@mozilla with this being an experiment and all, will you write sort of what you learned? What questions you wanted to answer with the experiment and what those answers were?
-
Luckily Mozilla has still lots of money to burn on AI experiments or on buying advertising companies. Priorities and stuff.Luckily Mozilla has still lots of money to burn on AI experiments or on buying advertising companies. Priorities and stuff.
Mozilla is so, so lost.
Mozilla (@[email protected])
We’ve made the hard decision to end our experiment with Mozilla.social and will shut down the Mastodon instance on December 17, 2024. Thank you for being part of the Mozilla.social community and providing feedback during our closed beta. You can continue to use Mozilla.social until December 17. Before that date, you can download your data here (https://mozilla.social/settings/export), and migrate your account to another instance following these instructions (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/mozilla-social-faq).
Mozilla.social (mozilla.social)
-
EU tech policy is gonna get worse (and it wasn't in a good shape to begin with)https://someone.elses.computer/@mikarv/113152062780308156EU tech policy is gonna get worse (and it wasn't in a good shape to begin with)
https://someone.elses.computer/@mikarv/113152062780308156 -
OpenAI is threatening to ban everyone who tries to research what their new model is actually doing.OpenAI is threatening to ban everyone who tries to research what their new model is actually doing.
While OpenAI uses a lot of language about "safeguards" it's mostly about keeping the illusion intact that o1 is a big leap when in fact it is a marginal patch to what they have been doing for a long time now. But they are looking for money right now and need to keep the hype active.
(Original title: Ban warnings fly as users dare to probe the “thoughts” of OpenAI’s latest model)
-
The standard in web apps (slow, JS laden things that break browser functionality and eat all RAM) isn't great these days. And I can't avoid to wonder if that is the reasons that all the "AI is gonna write your website soon" people are not laughed out o...The standard in web apps (slow, JS laden things that break browser functionality and eat all RAM) isn't great these days. And I can't avoid to wonder if that is the reasons that all the "AI is gonna write your website soon" people are not laughed out of any room.
In a space where quality has been neglected for a long time, "AI" solutions might almost look competitive.
-
On the whole "An AI can run Doom" thing: "researchers are telling those game executives that the magical robot developer they don’t have to pay and that won’t unionize will totally happen"On the whole "An AI can run Doom" thing: "researchers are telling those game executives that the magical robot developer they don’t have to pay and that won’t unionize will totally happen"
(Original title: Google’s GameNGen AI Doom video game generator: dissecting a rigged demo)
-
The way that the #ai "industry" uses terminology of inclusion and democracy when peddling their climate destroying spam machines is deeply offensive to me.The way that the #ai "industry" uses terminology of inclusion and democracy when peddling their climate destroying spam machines is deeply offensive to me.
-
Like even if this were a reasonable product that's not antithetical to Mozilla's mission Square space or Wix or whoever would clone this instantly.Like even if this were a reasonable product that's not antithetical to Mozilla's mission Square space or Wix or whoever would clone this instantly. While having full access to the market, an established brand etc. All Mozilla can do here is a) further taint its name and reputation and b) waste an ungodly amount of money.
-
Hmm... just wondering what YCombinator is funding these days ...Hmm... just wondering what YCombinator is funding these days ...
"Hello, we’re Alex and Devan, and we’re building the low-cost cruise missiles the United States needs!"
Nope. Nopenopenope. Fuck this. And everyone involved. And their ancestors.
https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/Ler-ares-industries-building-low-cost-cruise-missiles
-
"How Tech Companies Are Obscuring AI’s Real Carbon Footprint"How Tech Companies Are Obscuring AI’s Real Carbon Footprint
Tech giants leading the AI race have found a way to conceal the climate impact of their growing electricity use: unbundled renewable energy certificates."
-
I come from a family with no academic background.I come from a family with no academic background. Mostly not even with white collar job traditions. And for better or worse I did kinda shape a "career" for lack of a better word for this.
But it's really been getting more and more apparent to me when meeting other people how much family traditions and the networks that come with those change things. Like just the level of mentoring people have had access through throughout their lives is incredible.
Things are not this hard for everyone. And I am happy for them, it just makes me very very tired.