OMG THIS

My ability to get folx, who’d normally dismiss me as just another “angry Black woman”, to start paying attention to the harm they’re inflicted at scale is 100% the result of how this platform used to work

I’ve been on others for years and they don’t come close

"Piracy can't be stealing if paying for it isn't owning"

This is increasingly how it feels, when things you "own" digitally become inaccessible, and when shows which are locked in streaming services can get delisted on a whim, disappearing forever.

Thank you @Illuminatus for this quote.

[Edit: In case this wasn't clear, this is about entertainment and digital ownership, not physical goods]

As many if not most of you know, I have been writing about the ethical, epistemological, and social implications of of GPT-type tools since shortly after they hit the scene, and I've been writing about those same implications in "A.I." for a lot longer than that.

Now I am proud to present my article "Bias Optimizers," wherein American Scientist Magazine gave me the space and time to talk about those all of those things, to a very wide audience. I hope you enjoy it:
https://www.americanscientist.org/article/bias-optimizers

The United Farm Workers has unionized 500 workers at five farms in New York State.

UFW president Teresa Romero said the victories were made possible by a 4-year-old NY law – the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act – giving workers a state-protected right to unionize and prohibiting retaliation against farm workers seeking to organize.

The law requires farms to recognize a union once a majority of workers sign pro-union cards.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/06/new-york-farm-workers-ufw-unions

#labor #politics

photo by my son

If Jack Dorsey & Elon Musk (who are friends) merely wanted to run a MAGA site full of fascists, they could have just bought Parler & saved themselves approx 43.999 billion dollars.

What they wanted was to cripple the sad remnants of investigative journalism, and the political left, which successfully used Twitter for political organizing, activism & messaging throughout the Trump regime.

Why would anyone who cares about either of these things go to Jack's #Bluesky project.

#Minnesota passes legislation to protect workers from mandatory anti-#union meetings. This is part of a broader nationwide trend of pro-#labor laws, including paid leave and safety regulations. Michigan repealed "right-to-work" laws, and similar measures are being pursued in Vermont and New York.

While progress is being made at the state level, unions continue to fight for national legislation. Workers are demanding change and supporting unions in record numbers.

https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-americans-created-a-wave-of-pro-worker-laws/

U.S. folks: There's a good likelihood of a #UPS #strike starting at the end of the month. Friendly reminder to get anything you need shipped now (like #school supplies or #homeschooling #curriculum needs! eek!).

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/07/05/ups-teamsters-negotiations-end-as-strike-looms/70382580007/