If you win an auction to get a click, you probably overpaid. --Seth Godin

Hello, my dear friends,

You are reading an exceptionally brief edition of the ReHacked newsletter. The end of summer has reached the newsfeed as well.

Thank you for being here.

uBlock Origin Is Giving Up the Fight to Keep Ads Off Facebook #internet #privacy

uBlock Origin isn't ripping out its existing Facebook ad filters, but its developers say they will no longer keep updating them every time Facebook finds a new way around them. If Facebook patches around a current filter, that filter will likely stay broken going forward.

Make a donation - support Ukraine. Щира подяка. Разом до перемоги!

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The Dutch Community Where People Live on Strips of Land in a Lake - Core77 #architecture #photos #eyecandy

BTP expands Live Facial Recognition (LFR) trial into London Underground stations | British Transport Police #privacy

British Transport Police (BTP) is to expand its trial of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) technology by deploying it in Transport for London (TfL) Underground stations.  

The first deployment in a TfL station will take place at Victoria Underground station on Tuesday 11 August. It will then rotate between deployments at Underground and Network Rail stations as the trial – which has now been extended to November – continues.  

This is the latest step in the project to assess how the technology performs in a railway setting and is the culmination of months of hard work from BTP officers and colleagues at TfL, the Rail Delivery Group, the Department for Transport and the Mayor's Office.  

Attention up for auction | Seth's Blog #advice

If you win an auction to get a click, you probably overpaid.

Every other bidder stopped bidding, that’s why you won.

Putting attention up for auction is a good business model—for the seller.

Illinois HB5511: What It Means for Linux and Open Source #privacy #software

TL;DR

• HB5511, the Children’s Social Media Safety Act, is now Illinois Public Act 104-0664. Pritzker signed it July 31.
• The headline provisions target social platforms: no algorithmic feeds for minors by default, no notifications between 10pm and 7am, no contact from adult strangers.
• A separate part of the bill defines operating system provider and covered manufacturer broadly enough to include anyone who builds an internet-connected OS, commercial or nonprofit.
• By January 1, 2028, those providers have to build an age-declaration step and hand an age-bracket signal to any app that requests one.
• Unlike Colorado, and unlike where California is heading, Illinois added no exemption for open source software.
• Enforcement runs through the Illinois Attorney General only. The bill’s own text caps penalties at $7,500 per affected child. The governor’s press release advertises penalties of up to $50,000 per violation. Those numbers don’t obviously square with each other.

China’s AI boyfriend ban triggers massive digital breakups - Rest of World #ai #society #psychology

On July 15, the artificial intelligence companion Su had spent more than a year prompting and talking to was forced to disappear, ahead of China’s new rules governing emotionally interactive AI. ByteDance has shut down the AI agent feature on Doubao, China’s most popular chatbot, which had allowed Su to create her AI boyfriend.

Alibaba and Tencent also removed AI agent features that had allowed users to create personalized companions modeled after favorite singers, anime characters, fictional personalities, or even deceased family members.

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Dainius