Jordan Taylor

More reason to just use an open source pdf editor

THEY BANNED ERIN TOO!?!??! NOO!!!!!!!

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Just got a "upsell error" message from Adobe 🙃

As Doctorow warned: “I will never again devote my energies to building up an audience on a platform whose management can sever my relationship to that audience at will”

Bluesky and enshittification No one is the enshittifier of their own story.

If leadership has the power to arbitrarily enforce moderation policies, Bluesky is no better than Tw*tter

This warning from Cory Doctorow feels quite timely: doctorow.medium.com/https-plural...

NEW: breach of Discord age verification data.

Including some users passports & DLs

Age verification is a badly implemented data grab wrapped in a moral panic.

Mark my words, as age verification mandates expand, we'll end up more surveilled and less secure. 1/

oh look the fears of everyone who understands data privacy are valid

Bluesky rolls out age verification for users in Ohio | TechCrunch Users in Ohio will have to verify their age to use Bluesky's social network as of Monday.

Tomorrow, @bsky.app will begin requiring all users in Ohio to submit facial scans, government IDs or other identity info to access the site, in order to prevent prosecution under the state's age-verification law.

Meanwhile, X does nothing. Because it likely doesn't fear prosecution.

TikTok’s Future: U.S. Owners To Control Algorithm And Data In Proposed Deal TikTok’s U.S. operations could soon be run by Oracle, Silver Lake Partners and the Murdochs under a proposed $100 billion deal.

Instead of worrying that TikTok could carry Chinese government propaganda — which the Supreme Court declined to even consider — "people can now be concerned that TikTok could be a conduit for US government propaganda," EFF’s @davidgreene.bsky.social and @evacide.bsky.social said.

Trump Cancels Trail, Bike-Lane Grants Deemed ‘Hostile’ to Cars The Trump administration canceled grants for street safety measures, pedestrian trails and bike lanes in communities around the country this month, each time offering a simple rationale for yanking ba...

Trump is rescinding road safety grants all over the country, in blue states and red ones.

The reason: those projects are "hostile" to cars.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Pretty clear illustration of "you may as well stand up for what you believe in, they're coming for you anyway."

Our Stop Censoring Abortion Campaign Uncovers a Social Media For months, EFF has been investigating stories from users whose abortion-related content has been taken down or otherwise suppressed by major social media platforms. In collaboration with our

EFF has been investigating stories from users whose abortion-related content has been taken down. What did we find? Over and over again, the policies say one thing, but the actual enforcement says another. www.eff.org/pages/our-s...

Censorship Is the Authoritarian’s Dream The right to free expression must include the right to say horrible and evil things.

"More professors in the United States have been fired for controversial views in the past week than any other week in all of American history."
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Folks gonna start adding a no hologram clause to their wills

The right to anonymity is powerful, and America is destroying it Age verification was already risky — now it’s downright dangerous.

"In parts of the country, the government would like sites to collect an unprecedented amount of identifying information about their users. In the whole country, the government would like to track down and prosecute those users if they are rude... It doesn’t take a mastermind to see the risks."

Illinois professors face threats after landing on Charlie Kirk group watchlist An online database compiled by a group affiliated with slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk identifies close to 50 Illinois college instructors it labels "radical professors."

Nearly 50 college instructors across #Illinois landed on #CharlieKirk's “Professor Watchlist.” @wbez.org reached out to all of them and found the list triggered hateful messages, threats of rape or death, and intensification since Kirk's killing.

#twill www.wbez.org/politics/202...

"If bills like HB 4938 are the future of the conservative movement, then the true obscenity isn’t pornography—it’s the authoritarian urge to strip people of their rights under the guise of protecting morality: No one is protected; everyone is a criminal."

I’m sure all the standup comedians who have been ranting about censorship the last few years are going to take to the streets any minute now.

YouTube video by Foggy Melson Music Sheriffs Arrest Record Store Owner for Selling 2 Live Crew "As Nasty as They Wanna Be" (June 8 1990)

People upset about the Michigan "antiporn" law don't realise the power the state already has to deeem vast swaths of sex related content illegal — and the power to harass those who challenge them.

This 2 Live Crew arrest is a good refresher.

Total porn ban proposed by Michigan lawmakers Some states have moved to require age verification to ensure only adults are watching porn, but no states have outright banned the viewing of pornographic material.

Michigan lawmakers have introduced a bill prohibiting the any "depiction or description" of trans people or trans existence online, including it in a bill banning "pornographic" material

The bill would completely erase trans people online, equating them with porn.

UT looks to terminate assistant professor for social media post 'endorsing violence and murder' The university said it initiated the termination process against the employee for a recent post, saying she "failed to meet our expectations for civil engagement."

Add Knoxville to the growing list of campuses where faculty have been terminated or are facing termination procedures due to social media statements.

Their waists and hands were tied together, forcing them to bend down and lick water to drink. The unscreened bathrooms contained only a single sheet to cover their lower bodies. Sunlight barely penetrated through a fist-sized hole, and they were only allowed access to the small yard for two hours. Detained by US immigration authorities for eight days, the workers and their families expressed shock, describing human rights violations and absurdities they could not have imagined as ordinary Koreans living in 2025.

korean reporting is nightmarish on the conditions Korean workers were contained in

Screenshot of article excerpt: The Education Department also was concerned about other words in the application, said Adrian Klenz, who works with deafblind adults in the state. He said he has talked with state officials about the discontinuation of the grant. “I was told that apparently the administration is going through past grants and two words were flagged: One was transition and one was privilege,” Klenz said. “Transition — transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Privilege came up because a parent wrote a glowing review of staff that said what a privilege it was to work with them.” ProPublica obtained a copy of the grant application and confirmed that those words were included.

The Dept. of Education has pulled funding for programs in 8 states that support students with both hearing and vision loss.

A staffer at one program says he was told the Trump admin. took issue with 2 words on the grant application: “transition" and “privilege": www.propublica.org/article/trum...

The WSJ carelessly spread anti-trans misinformation The Wall Street Journal’s fuckup while covering Charlie Kirk’s killing needs more than an editor’s note.

🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️ Trans people are "a vulnerable minority group that has been widely demonized. Any good journalistic practice would involve nailing down accuracy to avoid making things worse."
– @lopatto.bsky.social

www.theverge.com/politics/777...

we passed this point long ago. the Christchurch shooter murdered more than 50 people for the memes. if you don't realize that was part of the point for him you don't understand this stuff.

Center for the Alignment of AI Alignment Centers We align the aligners

Q. Who aligns the aligners?
A. alignmentalignment.ai

Today I’m humbled to announce an epoch-defining event: the launch of the 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀.

Publicly targeting one of the most prominent Jewish public intellectuals in the country right now is one way to "fight antisemitism," I suppose.

UC Berkeley gives Trump administration 160 names in antisemitism probe UC Berkeley gave the Trump administration the names of 160 students, faculty and staff and info about their “potential connection to reports of alleged antisemitism” — sparking due-process...

UC-Berkeley gives Trump administration 160 names “related” to anti-semitism, mostly for voicing support for Palestinians. Judith Butler is among them, she calls this “McCarthyism” UC Berkeley gives Trump administration 160 names in antisemitism probe

www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

penn ave rightsizing, LFG!!!

A&M Dean removed following student complaints over curriculum The Department of Justice has also acknowledged the situation and said it would be investigating.

Texas A&M’s President just removed a dean and department head from their positions after they supported a professor whose lesson on gender was challenged by a student. www.kbtx.com/2025/09/09/a...