Category: Safety

The Facebook Papers

Just some of the revelations about how Facebook operates:

Facebook fails to moderate harmful content in developing countries

When a pair of Facebook researchers created a dummy account in 2019 to test how users in Kerala, India, experienced the social media site, they found a staggering amount of hate speech, misinformation and calls for violence on the platform. “I’ve seen more images of dead people in the past three weeks than I’ve seen in my entire life total,” the researcher wrote.

Facebook AI struggles with non-English languages

A document showed that in 2020, the company did not have screening algorithms to find misinformation in Burmese, the language of Myanmar, or hate speech in the Ethiopian languages of Oromo or Amharic.

Facebook labeled election misinformation as “harmful, non-violating” content

“Harmful but non-violating”? Really?

Facebook was aware that maids were being sold on its platform

Apple threatened to remove Facebook and Instagram from its app store over the issue, but changed course after the social media giant removed 1,000 accounts linked to the sale of maids from its platform.

Facebook internally debated removing the Like button

When asked why Facebook hasn’t made Instagram safer for children, Haugen said during her testimony that the company knows “young users are the future of the platform and the earlier they get them the more likely they’ll get them hooked.”

https://time.com/6110234/facebook-papers-testimony-explained/

Florida man explains Florida man

Yes, my native state is famous for producing headlines like these:

• Florida couple “trapped” in unlocked closet for two days

• Boyd Corbin, Once Arrested for Fighting a Drag Queen With a Tiki Torch, Runs for Wilton Manors Mayor

• Florida man arrested for tossing alligator into Wendy’s drive-thru window

Now look, I know crazy happens everywhere. But crazy is to Florida what snow is to Alaska — we get a damn sight more of it than most states.

Details: https://medium.com/thinkpiece-magazine/florida-man-explains-why-florida-is-insane-f466d6bc589.

Good news on child mortality

Some things are getting better:

Two decades ago, nearly 10 million children did not live to see a 5th birthday.

By 2017, that number — about 1 in every 16 children — was nearly cut in half, even as the world’s population increased by more than a billion people.

…

The overwhelming majority of child deaths are preventable. Adequate nutrition, water, sanitation, vaccines and antibiotics can save many lives.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/09/17/upshot/child-mortality.html

Non-paywalled: https://archive.is/PWY6R

Fire Florida

I just created a MoveOn petition, “Fire Florida”.

It would mean a lot to me if you took a moment to add your name…

To Congress: Declare Florida to be an independent country, no longer part of the United States of America, and with no representation in Congress or the Electoral College.

Details: Florida is demonstrably full of morons. Their inability to understand that a contagious disease is contagious, their inability to elect state-wide officials with even an iota of a clue, not to mention their complete lack of driving skills, means that Florida is a dead weight on America and costs us billions of taxpayer dollars. We must get Florida out of our country whether they can spell America or not. Fire Florida!

https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/fire-florida

Real change happens when everyday people like you and I come together and stand up for what we believe in. Together we can reach heaps of people and help create change around this important issue.

After you’ve signed the petition please also take a moment to share it with others. It’s super easy – all you need to do is forward or share this link on Facebook or Twitter.

Politics 3/2020

I really don’t want to include political items in this blog, because it’s supposed to be things that make you learn and/or laugh, and I’m concerned that political items will make people make a funny face and go elsewhere. And yet I feel compelled to post these:

Don’t just blame President Trump. Blame me — and all the other Republicans who aided and abetted and, yes, benefited from protecting a political party that has become dangerous to America. Some of us knew better.

But we built this moment. And then we looked the other way.

(…) The failures of the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis can be traced directly to some of the toxic fantasies now dear to the Republican Party. Here are a few: Government is bad. Establishment experts are overrated or just plain wrong. Science is suspect. And we can go it alone, the world be damned.

All of these are wrong, of course. But we didn’t get here overnight. It took practice.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/18/elections-have-consequences-slow-response-virus-is-one-them/

And speaking of utter hypocrisy:

Leadership: Whatever happens, you’re responsible. If it doesn’t happen, you’re responsible.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2013

…whereas on Friday March 13, 2020:

“I don’t take responsibility at all,” Trump announced during a press conference declaring a national emergency in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

And Liam Fox makes this important point on Twitter (Liam Fox@Liamfoxactor·Mar 13):

Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to the dark side.

When Yoda makes more sense than @potus you know what to do this November

Bust card

Is it a good idea to talk to the cops? What are your rights? What could possibly go wrong?

Bust card. The ACLU has a convenient one-page list of your rights, responsibilities, and safest actions if you are stopped by a police officer. Print it out, read it, and put it in your wallet or purse.

Here is a discussion of a video by a law professor. Note, the video link on that page doesn’t always work so here is one that does (46 minutes); search for “james duane don’t talk” for other videos by the professor.

Another blog post on your rights, and elaborate discussion on that post at Hacker News.

Good news on crime

Mostly good news: https://www.newsweek.com/rates-most-violent-crimes-2018-fell-while-rape-increased-according-annual-fbi-report-1462110.

According to an FBI press release published today, there were an estimated 1,206,836 violent crimes committed in the United States in 2018—368.9 crimes per 100,000 residents. This was down four percent from the same statistic in last year’s annual report for crimes committed in 2017, which said that there were 382.9 offenses per 100,000 people.

The report broke down violent crime into four broad distinctions: robbery, aggravated assault, “murder and nonnegligent manslaughter” and rape. Each of these, except rape, had decreased since 2018, according to the FBI. On the contrary, the report said that there were 7.7 reported rapes per 100,000 people, which corresponded to a 2.7 percent increase from 2017 and an 18.1 percent increase from 2014.

In particular, note the trends (my bolding):

The Pew Research Center stated that the rate of violent crime dropped 49 percent between 1993 and 2017, according to previous FBI reports. The report released today said the rate of robbery fell by 12 percent, murder decreased by 6.2 percent and aggravated assault dropped by 0.4 percent.

So why do people think that crime is increasing? Because they see it on the news all the time, without considering the purpose of the news.

(1) Journalists want to tell you what’s new — and small improvements are not big news, even if they add up to something remarkable after several years. Remember, it’s not called the olds.

(2) People are generally more interested in news that directly affects them, especially news about dangerous things. They’re not so interested in things that don’t directly affect them or aren’t a threat of some kind. And journalists give this to their readers.

(3) Journalists did cover this. They do every year. But only one day a year, when the new numbers are released. If you missed it, you missed the good news.

Thoughts and prayers… and links

Twelve more American citizens mass-murdered, this time in Virginia. If you are sick and tired of this, try supporting one of these organizations:

https://www.bradyunited.org/

https://everytown.org/

https://momsdemandaction.org/

Just to get your blood pressure higher:

Virginia GOP blocked bill to ban sales of large-capacity magazines

Each year, Democrats propose multiple gun-control measures. Each year, Republican legislators vote them down.