San Francisco: Don’t Fall for Industry Defense of Surveillance Pricing
The concept of “surveillance pricing” is just one part of a much larger problem and business model: corporations maximizing their profits by invading our privacy….
Tech and Internet
Why Are Gay Bars Building Databases of Their Patrons?
Recent reports have raised alarm about the use of PatronScan, an ID-checking and face-scanning system, at multiple LGBTQ+ bars in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood. Much…
France Approves Automated, Real-Time Blocking of Pirate Sports Streams
French lawmakers have officially adopted a new sports law that replaces manual domain checks with support for automated, real-time piracy blocking. The system allows for…
What Rolls Downhill
Recent calls for mandatory retirement in academia are a reminder that class and other social hierarchies are something like mountains with increasingly dense fog toward…
Pluralistic: Discernment (28 Jul 2026)
Today’s links Discernment: How can you fact-check AI when you’re asking it to teach you something you don’t understand? Hey look at this: Delights to…
Year of the Cockroach
Meta suspended a San Francisco queer bar’s Instagram. India ordered GitHub to delete a messaging app’s source code. US prosecutors charged a man over a…
Missed EFF’s Livestream with Adam Savage and iFixit? Listen Here!
EFF’s first EFFecting Change livestream was all the way back in July of 2024. Maybe you’ve caught each stream, or maybe you’ve only caught a…
Author Simone O. Elias Bypasses Traditional Publishing with Open Access Release
Sixteen-year-old Simone O. Elias has a lot to say about her generation and the way it is perceived by society. Rather than wait for a…
Cradle to the Grave
As Sam Moyn has recently argued, “class reductionism” fails to explain differentiation along the generational gradient — a pattern clearly visible in economics, politics, and…
Pluralistic: How the EU can punish Google (despite Trump) (27 Jul 2026)
Today’s links How the EU can punish Google (despite Trump): Grant me the courage to change the things I can. Hey look at this: Delights…