Introducing usernames and phone number privacy on Signal!

We’re making it possible for people to connect with each other without having to share phone numbers. Now launching to beta users, available for everyone soon.

https://signal.org/blog/phone-number-privacy-usernames

In other Stupid AI Tricks

Air canada tries to claim a chatbot on their website is a seperate legal entity and they can't be held responsible for it lying to people

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/air-canada-s-chatbot-gave-a-b-c-man-the-wrong-information-now-the-airline-has-to-pay-for-the-mistake-1.6769454

Researchers say X removed the ability for users to report election misinformation, a feature launched in the US, Australia, and some other countries in 2021 (Byron Kaye/Reuters)

https://www.reuters.com/technology/musks-x-disabled-feature-reporting-electoral-misinformation-researcher-2023-09-27/
http://www.techmeme.com/230927/p13#a230927p13

"Ad blockers are unethical—ads are how they pay to keep the lights on!”

Exactly. It's how THEY pay to keep the lights on. It's not how I pay for anything. I didn't agree to see ads, although I'm ok with some ads; what I definitely didn't do is agree to be tracked and profiled and have arbitrary third-party code running on my computer just so I could read this awful, pointless, SEO-ified shitfest of an article that doesn't come close to answering the question I was googling.

#enshittification

“We notice you are using an ad blocker…”

Yes, and I notice you are using a few dozen trackers. Turn off the trackers and I will look at your ads. Until then, we are at an impasse.

There’s been a lot of speculation around what Threads will be and what it means for Mastodon. We’ve put together some of the most common questions and our responses based on what was launched today:

https://blog.joinmastodon.org/2023/07/what-to-know-about-threads/

Where do the bad rainbows go?

Prism.

They get a light sentence.

It gives them time to reflect.