Search results for tag #ethics
Any #Aristotelian #scholars on #fedi?
Can anyone recommend a good translation of the #Nicomachean #Ethics?
William David Ross' #translation is 99ç on #Kobo.
Republican President Donald Trump bought Netflix and Warner Bros bonds at height of bidding war with Paramount | Reuters
#USPol #Republicans #MAGA #GOP #Trump #stocks #Netflix #Paramount #WarnerBros #ethics #press
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said: "No quarter, no mercy for our enemies." Alex Tabarrok accurately replied: " 'No quarter' is explicitly a war crime under international humanitarian law, both in treaty law and as customary international law."
#ethics #IranWar #WarCrimes
Alan Winfield is Professor of Robot Ethics at the University of the West of England. He co-founded the Bristol Robotics Laboratory, where his research is focussed on the science, engineering, and ethics of cognitive robotics. Alan is an advocate for robot ethics and has co-drafted new standards on ethical risk assessment and transparency.
Listen to our chat here: https://www.robottalk.org/2026/03/13/episode-148-alan-winfield/
Alt...
A photo of Alan looking happy, wearing a beige t-shirt and glasses.
As European law proposals are heading towards easier private data access for companies I bundled opt-out links and added country specific information on rights, US companys storing EU data and GDPR related info. Happy opt-outing ! #privacy #security #ethics #EU #europe #politics https://privacyinsightsolutions.com/blog/data-brokers-europe-gdpr
"How Trump and His Advisers Miscalculated Iran’s Response to War":
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/us/politics/how-trump-miscalculated-iran-response.html
"Inside the administration, some officials are growing pessimistic about the lack of a clear strategy to finish the war. Republicans in Washington have grown concerned about rising oil prices damaging their efforts to sell an economic agenda to voters ahead of the midterm elections."
#IranWar #illegal #mismanaged #ethics #politics copy: @renewedresistance
There is no question that it is indefensible to use generative AI systems as they are currently constituted, especially the commercial ones, once one becomes aware of how they are made and operated and the destructive consequences they have already had and will surely continue to have. Among the many reasons using these tools is indefensible is that they represent an authoritarian invitation. You're invited to trade your morals and ethics for a bit of convenience, a reduction in friction, a learning experience, a rhetorical flourish, or maybe (a kind of) status. You thereby align yourself more and more with people who say things like "water is fake" or "fuck earth" as they make the computer systems enabling the horrors we're watching unfold on social media. You start to tell yourself stories, complexifying stories that explain why it's OK you did this thing that you know is not OK. You move in the direction of people who are already telling themselves stories like this. Maybe their stories have superior analgesic qualities to yours.
Nobody needs to go down this path.
#AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #LLM #ethics #morality #authoritarianism
Explore Financial Disclosures From President Trump and 1,500 of His Appointees
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Our database paints a detailed financial picture for President Donald Trump and hundreds of his political appointees, some of whom have ties to the industries they regulate. The disclosures include their recent employers, assets and debts.
https://projects.propublica.org/trump-team-financial-disclosures/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#Trump #USPolitics #Government #Data #Research #Journalism #Law #Ethics
“If 168 people, overwhelmingly little girls, were killed in a school bombing in #Israel, there is little doubt it would have been plastered all over major newspapers, led nightly broadcasts, and been asked about on the Sunday #News programs. But—as the over 20,000 dead Palestinian #children killed by a #US-backed, Israeli #genocide in #Gaza affirm—Muslim and Arab life is simply not important, their children’s deaths are simply factored in, they’re collateral damage in a noble #War on #Terror, a perhaps regrettable ‘claim’ that’s always ‘being investigated’ but never held to account, much less elevated to moral outrage or sustained #media scandal.”
#Trump #warcrimes #Iran #education #ethics #journalism #netanyahu
https://www.columnblog.com/p/corporate-media-buries-story-of-us
For instance, an attorney #ethics panel in Washington recommended last year that #JeffreyClark, a senior #DOJ official during Trump's first term as president, be #disbarred for conduct involving dishonesty.
Clark sought to enlist the DOJ in Trump's failed attempts to overturn his #2020election loss based on false claims of widespread voter fraud. A DC appeals court has yet to make the final determination on #disbarment.
#Trump #law #LegalEthics #judiciary #SeparationOfPowers #ABA
Coverage from @democracydocket @marcelias
#DOJ attempts to evade state #ethics oversight of its attorneys
#Trump #law #LegalEthics #judiciary #Constitution #SeparationOfPowers #Bar #AmericanBarAssociation #Federalism #states #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/justice-department-attorneys-state-bar-investigations-newrule/
Of course they do…
🚨
#Trump #DOJ aims to limit #ethics probes into its lawyers
The #US “Justice” Department is seeking to constrain ethics investigations conducted at the state level into alleged #misconduct by its lawyers, according to a proposed rule submitted on Wednesday that would shield prosecutors pursuing Trump's agenda.
#law #LegalEthics #judiciary #Constitution #SeparationOfPowers #Bar #AmericanBarAssociation #Federalism #states #authoritarianism #fascism
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/trump-justice-department-aims-limit-ethics-probes-into-its-lawyers-2026-03-04/?utm_source=braze&utm_medium=notifications&utm_campaign=2025_engagement
Re: Ars Technica's incident with the "AI"-written article that they silently yanked instead of transparently correcting ...
Ars did publish a separate, mostly-opaque "Yes, the article was AI-written, and we've dealt with this internally" article a few days later. That is not up to the transparency standards that good journalistic outlets demand.
Over the weekend, another website carried a story including quotes from the "reporter" at issue, revealing he had in fact been dismissed from Ars. I feel bad for the guy, but this is the minimum a media org can do in a situation like this, and it's the natural outcome of his actions. It's not like he was randomly laid off.
But Ars has still not been transparent, so... I have no regrets cancelling my subscription at Ars. The quality of their journalism, particularly deep technical stuff, has been suspect and declining for years, and this was really just the last straw.
#ArsTechnica #ethics #NewsEthics #journalism #JournalismEthics #AI #LLM #transparency
A provocative question is emerging in political discourse: Should President Trump be expected to send his own son, Barron Trump, to serve in a potential conflict with Iran, rather than only the children of other American families? This line of questioning taps into a historic ethical debate about whether leaders who advocate for war should have a personal, familial stake in the conflict, or whether the all-volunteer nature of the U.S. military makes such comparisons moot. It remains a rhetorical device rather than a formal policy proposal.
#BillClinton said in his prepared statement that “no person is above the #law, even presidents.” He agreed to testify, he adds, because, “I love my country.”
Bill & #HillaryClinton initially pushed back against subpoenas they called a #partisan stunt by #Republicans [yup]. They yielded but demanded proceedings be open to the public. Republicans refused.
#EpsteinFiles #rape #law #Trump #Congress #sycophants #LegislativeBranch #ethics #civics #RevengePolitics
@servelan Corporate rights are antitrust, as they negate the rights of diverse interests to have elected representatives and delegates. Corporate sovereignty is ideological and monopolistic; games party divisions by grounding the outcome of elections on the finance of those who control the most capital, so is unsustainable. Its idea of competition depends on exploitation; wage and or indentured slavery to steal others resources so creates authoritarian cults. Interests Sovereignty, is not as it is sustainable. It requires mediation and cooperation to be competitive. How else can an ethically sustainable morality be realised? #PhilosophyofRights #politics #philosophy #sustainability #ethics #morality
THREAD
1/
I’ve gotten quite a few messages from disabled people who benefit from AI in the same way I do but feel unable to admit to it because they are scared of backlash.
I will start by saying I understand concerns about AI, they are real. AI is energy intensive, data centres use water, a resource that is already scarce in many places, and the companies behind these products are unethical in so many ways.
#AI #Ethics #Scotland #Disability #UK #LLM
Alt...
A black and white photograph of fields, and trees with mountains in the distance. On the left hand side of the image, we have a line of telephone poles retreating into the distance.
Brian Allen: "Tony Gonzales texted his district aide demanding explicit images.
He was married, with six kids.
He is a sitting member of Congress.
She later died in a horrific fire.
And Speaker Mike Johnson still refuses to call for his resignation.
I’m sorry — I can't just accept this and move on."
copy: @renewedresistance #ethics
"Unity means little if it requires forced compliance, forced laughter, or ignoring an insult to others to let yourself be elevated.
… I’m furious all over again at the dominos of sexism that begin when boys are little — a father saying something awful, it being met with laughter, a son repeating his words, and the laughter echoing. And on and on. And it’s still somehow a woman’s job to stop it."
#Trump #KashPatel #MensHockey #misogyny #MaleEntitlement #patriarchy #ethics
/6
"Publicly supporting women is nice, but what really matters is what men do behind closed doors. What matters is how they hold each other accountable.
The men’s hockey team shouldn’t get a pass because they were in the locker room—that’s where women need their support the most."
#Trump #KashPatel #MensHockey #misogyny #MaleEntitlement #patriarchy #ethics
/4
"It’s those around him laughing or staying silent that is infuriating — the casual go along to get along, the bro code of a laugh.
Perhaps the locker-room moment wouldn’t have been such a big deal if it hadn’t happened as revelations about the ways in which rich and powerful people worked with Epstein, participated in his sex trafficking ring, or looked away."
~Lyz Lenz
#Trump #KashPatel #MensHockey #misogyny #MaleEntitlement #patriarchy #ethics
/5
David Shuster sees the Trump-Patel boys' locker room stunt as a revelation of an ethical cancer inside the Trump regime:
"Kash Patel behaved like a rowdy, self absorbed teenager living out a sports and alcohol drenched fantasy experience.
Patel didn’t deserve to be part of the U.S. locker room celebration."
#Trump #KashPatel #MensHockey #misogyny #MaleEntitlement #patriarchy #ethics
/1
"And he took what might have been an inspiring, bipartisan national story about a remarkable U.S. hockey triumph over Canada and diminished it.
The U.S. hockey team earned their gold medals.
FBI Director Kash Patel has earned nothing but contempt."
This was choreographed, of course, to appeal to the coterie of young men who voted for Trump, and who, in some sectors, now questioning their vote. Misogyny = glue.
#Trump #KashPatel #MensHockey #misogyny #MaleEntitlement #patriarchy #ethics
/2
"No one expected any better from the president: Trump is an adjudicated rapist and serial misogynist who demeans women as easily as he breathes. But there are too many men who know better, yet laugh along with men like the president anyway."
~ Jessica Valenti
#Trump #KashPatel #MensHockey #misogyny #MaleEntitlement #patriarchy #ethics
/3
BREAKING: Pentagon ultimatum to Anthropic (Claude AI). Remove bans on:
Fully autonomous lethal weapons (AI selects/kills without human control)
Mass surveillance of US citizens
Or lose $200M contract. Or face Defense Production Act coercion.
Anthropic resisting. For now.
This is the moment: private ethics vs. military necessity. Machines deciding who lives and dies.
Politicians have bunkers. We have hope. Hope isn't enough. #Ethics #Control #AI
Discord cuts ties with Peter Thiel-backed verification software after its code was found tied to US surveillance efforts
https://fortune.com/2026/02/24/discord-peter-thiel-backed-persona-identity-verification-breach/
#news #politics #uspol #uspolitics #GOPCult #ethics #corruption #maga #security #privacy #discord
FedEx sues Trump administration for tariff refunds after Supreme Court ruling
The shipping company said it was owed refunds for any tariffs it paid under a rule the high court found exceeded the president's authority.
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/fedex-sues-trump-over-tariff-refunds-rcna260350
#news #politics #uspol #uspolitics #GOPCult #trump #ethics #corruption #maga #tariffs
The anti-Big-Tech movement isn't a trend, it's a correction. Our societies spent 20 years accepting surveillance capitalism as normal. And now, we're slowly remembering we have choices.
Sure, switching browsers is a small thing. But small rebellions are how everything big begins, or so we like to believe. 🤞
If you think about those around you, have you noticed an increased awareness lately about what's behind the tech they use?
"What’s happened at CBS – the back-of-the-hand treatment of Colbert and the rightward drift of the news division – are ways of signaling that the Ellisons (who own CBS) are more than willing to serve Trump’s interests":
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/21/cbs-trump-anderson-cooper-stephen-colbert-paramount
copy: @renewedresistance #politics #MediaBias #media #ethics
After posting the above, I followed another discussion that led to this:
https://tante.cc/2026/02/20/acting-ethical-in-an-imperfect-world/
This is one of those times where I read something, and realize the author has set my ideas down in print better than I could possibly ever have done.
Please read it.
ICE triples Azure data usage to 1.4PB (Jul'25-Jan'26), leans on AI Vision/Video Indexer for surveillance amid facial recognition, phone trackers, drones. ☁️
Reports challenge Microsoft's "no mass surveillance" stance despite contracts; employee concerns rise as policies clash with ICE enforcement reality. ⚖️
#TechNews #Privacy #Cybersecurity #Surveillance #AI #Cloud #Azure #Microsoft #ICE #DigitalRights #DataProtection #Ethics #FOSS #US #USA #Police #Trump #USpol
(S+) U.S. Historian Robert Kagan: "We Are Watching a Country Fall Under Dictatorship Almost Without Resistance"
#news #politics #uspol #uspolitics #GOPCult #trump #ethics #corruption #maga
I hope everyone realizes their taxpayer money was wasted on a political stunt based on a lie
#news #politics #uspol #uspolitics #GOPCult #trump #ethics #corruption #maga #ice #minneapolis
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Forest Gump meme
And just like that they left Minneapolis without arresting a single person for medicaid fraud.
Today's job search matches:
* "AI"
* "AI"
* "AI"
* "AI"
* algorithmic trading
* gambling
* weird non-engineering management role
* 3 x duplicate posting of the previous
* "innovative financial product", i.e. how to milk more fees from poor people
* Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft ... and laughably underpaid for a Principal Engineer role
* "FinOps and AI"
* "AI"
* Weirdly aggressive "If this isn't you, don't bother." at top of job description
* trying to replace human therapist with software
[...]
Every single one of those is in blatant contradiction with my personal ethical code, with the possible exception of the weird non-engineering role (which isn't described well) and the all-Microsoft shop one, which isn't my wheelhouse.
My industry has gone to shit.
#software #engineering #SoftwareEngineering #ethics #ethical #unethical #enshittification
I have officially deleted my Amazon account and cut ties with their ecosystem entirely. For a long time, the convenience of Prime felt like a necessary evil, especially since they have a warehouse in my city and can do same day shipping. But I can no longer reconcile the big tech giant's behavior with the values I promote at Terminal Tilt. As a privacy advocate and FOSS supporter, continuing to feed the machine feels increasingly hypocritical.
Ethically, their treatment of labor is indefensible. Between the terrible warehouse conditions and the dark patterns designed to make canceling subscriptions nearly impossible, it is clear they view both employees and customers as numbers to be exploited, with contempt. Their anti-competitive practices have done irreparable harm to small businesses and independent creators who are forced to play in a rigged sandbox.
As an FSF and EFF member, I believe privacy is a fundamental right. Amazon's business model relies on massive data harvesting and a huge surveillance network that I simply do not want to be a part of. Deleting my account is my way of reclaiming my digital sovereignty and refusing to let my personal data be a product in their inventory.
The change also affects how I handle Terminal Tilt going forward. I am officially ending the use of Amazon affiliate links for the channel. While the links are a standard revenue stream for most creators, I refuse to track my audience into the Amazon ecosystem just for a small commission. I would rather the channel grow slower and more honestly than profit from a company that actively works against user freedom. Convenience is the enemy of sovereignty.
When I review products now, whether it is the security keys from @nitrokey , @yubico , and Token2 or open source hardware, I will provide links to direct manufacturers or ethical, privacy-respecting retailers instead. Convenience should never be the primary metric for our choices.
If you want to support my work on Linux, privacy, and the #NoAI movement, I encourage you to use my LiberaPay or Ko-Fi links. Supporting creators directly ensures that the content remains independent and free from the influence of the Epstein class and corporate overlords. You can find all my direct support links on my self-hosted Linkstack: https://links.terminaltilt.com
It feels good to be out. It is time to prioritize people and principles over same-day shipping.
#DeleteAmazon #AmazonBoycott #Amazon #Privacy #FOSS #Linux #TerminalTilt #EthicalConsumerism #Ethics #InfoSec #Yubikey #Nitrokey #Token2 #2FA #MFA #Surveillance #SurveillanceCapitalism #DigitalSovereignty #SelfHosting
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A photo of five hardware security keys arranged in a half circle on a dark desk mat. From left to right: two YubiKeys with gold touch buttons, a black Nitrokey 3A NFC in the center, and two Token2 keys on the right, one featuring a pattern of lock icons and the other with a fingerprint sensor.
Hacker culture isn’t just about tools, it’s also about people.
Got a talk on ethics, mentoring, burnout, or community? Submit to our CFP before it closes in a few days! #ethics #CFP
https://sessionize.com/cackalackycon-2026
Trump Made a Bad Bet on the Kennedy Center
The president’s temporary closure of the institution is an acknowledgment that his initial makeover strategy was a failure.
#news #politics #uspol #uspolitics #GOPCult #trump #ethics #corruption #maga #kennedycenter
The Washington Post Is No Longer Useful to Jeff Bezos
In a kleptocracy, there is no reason for a billionaire to own an adversarial news outlet.
https://www.404media.co/the-washington-post-is-no-longer-useful-to-jeff-bezos/
#news #politics #uspol #uspolitics #GOPCult #ethics #corruption #maga #bezos #wapo
Seen on a neighborhood walk a while back. #BumperSticker #Rainbow #Ethics #Voting
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A bumper sticker on a red car with “normal people don’t vote for rapists” spelled out in rainbow colors
Journalist Don Lemon taken into custody after Minnesota church protest
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/30/politics/don-lemon-custody
#news #politics #uspol #uspolitics #GOPCult #trump #ethics #corruption #maga
RE: https://mastodon.social/@RonSupportsYou/115984210673090390
Ed Whelan: "This tests the limits of the unitary executive. Will Trump as president direct the United States Treasury to make massive payment to settle suit by Trump as a private person?"
#ethics #politics #greed #Trump #WorstPresidentEver
So a little while back, @laura wrote an excellent introductory book on accessibility and inclusive design called Accessibility for Everyone for A Book Apart.
Then, A Book Apart folded and the authors managed to get their rights back.
And yesterday, after Laura put a huge amount of work adapting the book into a beautiful website she built using Kitten*, we republished the book under Small Technology Foundation Press.
You can read it for free at:
https://accessibilityforeveryone.site/
If you want to support our work that makes such things possible, please consider becoming a patron of Small Technology Foundation. We’re tiny, independent, and not for profit. We reject all types of equity investment (VC, etc.) and won’t be sponsored by or otherwise allow our legitimacy to be used to whitewash Big Tech.
https://small-tech.org/fund-us
* https://kitten.small-web.org
#accessibilityForEveryone #LauraKalbag #accessibility #a11y #inclusivity #usability #ethics #web #design #SmallTech
Showing real #Leadership, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Rep. Katherine Clark, and Rep. Pete Aguilar issued this statement about the crisis in Minnesota that was caused by Donald Trump.
copy: @renewedresistance #politics #ethics
Police Told to Be ‘as Vague as Permissible’ About Why They Use Flock
The documents show law enforcement sees themselves as being consistently and universally under threat from the people it is supposed to protect.
https://www.404media.co/police-told-to-be-as-vague-as-permissible-about-why-they-use-flock/
#news #politics #uspol #uspolitics #ethics #corruption #police #flock #security #privacy
"Trump officials continue to push lies after fatal shooting of Alex Pretti. Trump and team seem to prioritize vilifying victims of their immigration operations, regardless of conflicting evidence":
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/26/trump-administration-alex-pretti-shooting-statements
I am happy to see some media admit that Trump is lying when he and his representatives lie.
#TrumpLiedPeopleDied #ethics #values copy: @renewedresistance #politics
"Earlier this month, Good, a citizen observer and US citizen, was shot three times by an #ICE agent ... a person who identified themselves as a medic was not permitted to provide care after the shooting...
“We were willing to do for this man, this human, what they were not willing to do for #ReneeGood,” Zemien said."
https://www.startribune.com/detained-by-ice-two-women-became-first-responders-during-agents-seizure/601569667?utm_source=gift
#Minneapolis #Minnesota #USA #Politics #News #Press #Health #Healthcare #Nice #US #UnitedStates #America #Compassion #Ethics #Humanity
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Text from article:
Earlier this month, Good, a citizen observer and U.S. citizen, was shot three times by an ICE agent during an enforcement action in Minneapolis. According to witnesses and officials, a person who identified themselves as a medic was not permitted to provide care after the shooting. Agents said ICE had its own medical personnel. Several minutes passed before aid was rendered. Good died at the scene.
ICE has said its agents followed protocol.
The two women said the contrast between the incidents was difficult to ignore.
“We were willing to do for this man, this human, what they were not willing to do for Renee Good,” Zemien said.
“It’s important for people to know how ill-prepared they are,” Amundson said. “And how untrained.”
#NewHampshire #bishop warns #clergy to prepare for 'new era of #martyrdom'
Bishop Rob Hirschfeld of the #EpiscopalChurch of New Hampshire made his comments earlier this month at a vigil honoring #ReneeGood, who was fatally shot on Jan 7 by an #ICE officer.
#Trump #StateSponsoredTerrorism #religion #law #ethics #murder #ExtraJudicialKillings #Constitution #RightToProtest #CivilRights #UseOfForce #PoliceBrutality #MafiaState #CBP #Gestapo #Sturmabteilung #protest #resist
https://apnews.com/article/bishop-ice-martyrdom-new-hampshire-b58050770e7d40e3247d0aa3b91fe0d2
AI assistants are the archnemesis
of data privacy.
Because AI models are inherent
data collectors.
They rely on large data collection for training, improvement, operation, and customization.
More often than not, this data is collected without clear and informed consent (from unknowing training subjects or from platform users). This data is then sent to and accessed by a private company with many incentives to share and monetize this data.
By using these platforms, we are encouraging them to collect even more nonconsensual data on everyone. This is an important social responsibility to consider. Choose carefully.
Purported justification provided by the owner of archive.today for their DDoS attack has been that "gyrovague is doxxing us".
But, I'm curious, do you think the article by Jani Patokallio is "doxing"?
Either way it doesn't justify launching a DDoS, but I am curious what people think?
Also, to the lawyers and privacy experts out there, does the article by Jani Patokallio violate GDPR, as the owner of archive.today claims?
That of course is a separate question from the more subjective ethical one?
For the purposes of this legal analysis, assume the people referenced in the article are EU citizens.
🇨🇦 ☢️
"Current governing plans around nuclear waste disposal have limited timeframes that don't fully consider intergenerational public safety. As the Canadian federal review for a repository goes forward, we should seriously consider these shortcomings and their potential impacts on our society."
"Ontario's proposed nuclear waste repository poses millennia-long ethical questions"
#Canada #Canpoli #Science
#Ontario #Onpoli
#Energy #Ethics #SocialJustice #Law
https://techxplore.com/news/2026-01-ontario-nuclear-repository-poses-millennia.html
I think the answer is probably "Yes". #AI #LegalTech #Ethics
Is It Time To Require Lawyers To Be Competent With GenAI? - Above the Law https://abovethelaw.com/2026/01/is-it-time-to-require-lawyers-to-be-competent-with-genai/
"The Cruelty of Trump’s Crackdown on Afghan Refugees."
People who worked as "soldiers, intelligence agents, interpreters, medics" to help American soldiers and to fight the Taliban are being sent back to the Taliban to be tortured and killed:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/09/opinion/trump-afghan-refugees-crackdown.html
#military #veterans #HumanRights #honor #politics copy: @renewedresistance #values #ethics
![[?]](data:image/png;base64, iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAEAAAABAAQAAAACCEkxzAAAAUUlEQVQoz43R0QkAMQwCUDdw/y3dwEvsvzlL4X1IoQkAisKmwfAFT3RgJHbQezpSRoXEqeqCL9BJBf7h3QbOCCxV5EVWMEMwG7K1/WODtlvxAYTtEsDU9F34AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC)
In case you need objective arguments on why #LLM agents are unsuitable for deployment in enterprise settings, your argument should be what @Mer__edith calls "The Exponential Decay of Success" 📉
https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-ai-agent-ai-spy#t=1629
You can't argue against math/physics!
Also highly recommend watching the whole talk, where Meredith Whittaker and Udbhav Tiwari present the increasing erosion of End-2-End encryption and #privacy via #OS-level AI agents.
#39C3 #E2EE #Society #Microsoft #Ethics #AI #AIAgent
Alt...
A slide from the talk showing the following example calculation on the success rate of AI agents doing a task that consists of multiple steps:
Given a generous 95% per step accuracy, a 10-step task only has ~60% success rate, a 30-step task even only has a ~21% success rate.
The formula for calculation is: S(n) = r^n, where
- S(n) is the probability of success after n steps
- r is the reliability per step
- n is the integer number of steps (1, 2, 3, ...)
Did you know? Every year, the Supreme Court’s nine justices fill out a form that discloses their financial connections to companies and people.
Our database allows you to search for organizations and people that have paid them, reimbursed them for travel and given them gifts.
https://projects.propublica.org/supreme-connections/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#Journalism #SCOTUS #Law #Ethics #Transparency #Research #Data
White House is just selling Presidential pardons, not even trying to hide it.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-presidential-pardon-process-dda97c15
#news #politics #uspol #uspolitics #GOPCult #trump #ethics #corruption #maga
how to survive an authoritarian regime
#politics #morals #ethics #Authoritarianism #FascistAmeriKKKa
"UK police arrest Greta Thunberg under Terrorism Act":
https://www.dw.com/en/uk-police-arrest-greta-thunberg-under-terrorism-act/a-75286097
Everyone from Britain's Prime Minister to the police officer who made this arrest disgraced himself and made the UK an object of ridicule. Greta's "crime" was holding a sign saying "I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide." That is free speech, not terrorism. King Charles should act to put an end a terrible injustice.
#politics #ethics #PrisonerOfConscience #values copy: @renewedresistance
Top DOJ Official Shut Down Enforcement Against Crypto Companies While Holding More Than $150,000 in Crypto Investments
---
The second-highest official at the DOJ, Todd Blanche rose to prominence as Trump’s personal defense attorney. His actions violated the federal conflicts of interest law and his ethics agreement, experts told ProPublica.
https://www.propublica.org/article/todd-blanche-crypto-doj-trump?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #DOJ #Ethics #Crypto #Law #Transparency #Stocks #Trump #USPolitics
"I've spoken with now most of the people who were in that video reminding service members about where their loyalties properly lie. And they didn't do it with an eye towards these attacks in the Caribbean. Right. That was just fortuitous timing. Their biggest fear is what's going to happen in the U.S."
~ Ken Harbaugh
#Trump #Hegseth #murder #Venezuela #morality #ethics
/3
https://ourmoralmoment.substack.com/p/saying-no-to-herods-madness
"The Trump administration's drug boat campaign has assassinated about one person each day since early September. These are murders, and our basic humanity demands that we not get complacent about them.
Moral countries don’t summarily execute people without due process, and moral people don’t support countries that do."
~ Radley Balko
Read the replies (and boosts) to see what's outside the 4 choices. I really should have offered a "never" choice since I suspected that was going to be a frequent answer.
It makes me think of this Pogo strip by Walt Kelly ( with "us" being institutional academia).
https://library.osu.edu/site/40stories/2020/01/05/we-have-met-the-enemy/ #Ethics #Science #AcademicChatter #STEM
Alt...
Two large mature trees in bloom with red hibiscus-like flowers, but with big thick trunks and above-ground parts of roots like a fig species... The old comic strip character Pogo, an anthropomorphized opossum, is wearing a red & black striped rugby shirt and a cross-shoulder bag into which he can stick the litter he is picking up with a pointed stick. He looks back at us. The landscape is absolutely carpeted with litter and the swamp he lives in has pollution and trash floating in the water. Large text says "We have met the enemy and he is us". Walt Kelly's signature is at the lower left corner.
If you're in STEM, at what level did you first get taught ethics (in general, and as specifically relevant in your field)?
Mastodon only allows 4 poll choices so please write in the comments if these choices don't cover you.
#Ethics #Science #AcademicChatter #STEM
| high school/gymnasium: | 5 |
| Bachelors: | 8 |
| Masters: | 6 |
| PhD: | 0 |
“The forest department officers try to prevent these kinds of groups coming. But they use higher officials – politicians, high court judges, or something like that – to allow them to take photographs,” he said.
“I fell in love with these frogs after seeing them. You feel like they’re jet black in colour, but when you put them under light you can find all the stars – like galaxies on their bodies. It’s just magical.”
Dr Benjamin Tapley, ZSL’s curator of reptiles and amphibians, said the galaxy frogs are likely an “ancient”, “irreplaceable” branch on the tree of life.
“I grimace every time I see a photo come up on my feed of a galaxy frog,”
Alt...
Environment
‘Magical galaxy frogs
disappear after reports of
photographers destroying
their habitats
6h ago
| a 2 Ekg %, 2503
Alt...
These nature photographers had
been turning over logs in their search
for the endangered species, according
to the trackers. When they found
them, they would capture and prop
up the frogs for photos. But they
didn’t wear gloves, even though these
delicate creatures breathe through
their skin and are incredibly
sensitive.
One tracker told Rajkumar that two
small galaxy frogs had died after
being handled for too long by
photographers.
“He said they would take the animal
to some nice background or mossy
log to take the photograph, relocating
it from one place to another to get
better photos. On that day they got
five or six frogs and two of them
died.”
Ryan Crosswell⚡reads his resignation letter, fmr fed prosecutor now running for Cong, he quit in Feb when Trump’s admin🚨dropped #corruption chgs against NYC Mayor Adams in return for his coop on IMM enf.
“I pray that the #DOJ remains dedicated to upholding the #RuleOfLaw evenly w/o fear or favor."
The line got applause from dozens of Dem Party activists who'd gathered to see him in Allentown, PA -one of 5 cands *vying to unseat R Rep Mackenzie.
#Election #Ethics #USPol
https://apnews.com/article/ryan-crosswell-justice-department-democrats-prosecutor-trump-congress-6ec7781669582c4d0b457694a13e1a39
Can you help me brainstorm some thorny "AI Ethics Puzzles"
These are little scenarios meant to act as a starting point in discussions about the ethics of AI.
I will post some examples in response to this post, but I'd love to find some even more thorny ones.
Ideally a puzzle shouldn't have a totally obvious solution when presented to people with a wide range of views. Make up something, or share what you have encountered.
Amazon’s Ring is rolling out “Familiar Faces,” an opt-in facial-recognition tool that catalogs up to 50 known visitors 🚪
Amazon says data is encrypted, but past law-enforcement partnerships and security issues raise concerns about biometric handling 🔒
#TechNews #Privacy #AI #Surveillance #Security #Data #Biometrics #ConsumerRights #SmartHome #BigTech #Policy #Safety #Ethics #DigitalRights #Accountability #Amazon #Ring #Encryption
link-boosting my own reply in an unlisted thread:
https://polymaths.social/@rl_dane/statuses/01KC6V4W736PH4N0ZQG48A6G6D
‘The 0.001%’: a quick visual breakdown of the world’s wealthiest people
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/dec/10/visual-breakdown-worlds-wealthiest-people
56,000 people control three times as much wealth as 4,000,000,000 people.
This is what they have designed the economy to do. This is the purpose of capitalism.
👀 Hot Take
An Operating System's job is to manage hardware resources and launch applications. When the OS begins injecting "recommended" content into the file explorer or start menu, it ceases to be an agent of the user and becomes an agent of the vendor.
#Windows11 #Linux #ethics #fedora #linuxmint #arch #alpine #ubuntu #debian #microsoft
Trump pardoned the criminals who tried to overthrow our government on #January6th 2021, and people who very likely paid him bribes, and most recently a narco-trafficker from Honduras. This editorial wisely says:
"Rein In the Presidential Pardon Power":
https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/12/rein-in-the-presidential-pardon-power/
#ethics #politics copy: @renewedresistance #AGoodIdeaFromAnyoneIsWorthSharing
Stopping evil and open source: my thoughts
Archive: ia: https://s.faithcollapsing.com/s3xnh
https://blog.liw.fi/posts/2025/stop-evil/#opensource #ethics
"As the collection of authoritarian grifters and neoconservative leftovers take to television and social media each day to sell their various cons and schemes to the public, Trump appears more and more to be a passive actor, watching as the people around him run his administration as they please."
~ Justin Glawe
#Trump #narcissism #flattery #grift #EconomicElites #PaytoPlay #ethics #morality
/2
https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-boat-strikes-execute-drug-dealers
I’ve not reported on this because for many reasons it hasn’t been worth a drop of ink for at least 3 years, but here’s one that’s actually worth a post…
#VanityFair Parts Ways with [silver spoon & long compromised “journalist”] #OliviaNuzzi
#CondéNast, the magazine’s parent company, said her contract would expire at the end of the year.
#journalism #ethics
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/business/media/vanity-fair-olivia-nuzzi.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
In a statement entitled, "Crooked as We Wanna Be, Say The Corrupt GOP Six," Josh Marshall writes:
"In any case, it’s what we know: a corrupt Court at war with the Constitution. They do what they need to do to get the result they want."
#Trump #morality #ethics #corruption #SupremeCourt #JohnRoberts
/3
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/crooked-as-we-wanna-be-say-the-corrupt-gop-six
"For the more humble among us, it’s hard to grasp why a 79-year-old billionaire really needs to accrue more wealth. But we should never forget that Trump ran out of ideas decades ago—and every corrupt and wrongheaded thing he does now is based on the tired presumptions and dirty habits of his younger self, present facts be damned."
~ Steven Beschloss
#Trump #morality #ethics #corruption #EconomicElites #SuperRich
/4
https://www.americaamerica.news/p/president-for-the-rich-and-powerful
"Finally, he gets to put tariffs on everybody! Finally, he can freely call the Somali people (and by association every person of color) 'garbage.' Finally, he can call female reporters 'piggie' or call them 'stupid' to their face and not care what they or anyone thinks."
#Trump #morality #ethics #corruption #EconomicElites #SuperRich #racism #xenophobia #WhiteSupremacy #misogyny
/5
"Trump now gets to let his freak flag fly—that is, the John Roberts-liberated version where the laws do not apply and racist and sexist outbursts are excused by the crucifix-wearing press secretary/propagandist Karoline Leavitt who tells doubters in the press that she serves 'the most transparent president in history' and they are lucky for the 'unprecedented access' he provides."
#Trump #morality #ethics #corruption #EconomicElites #SuperRich #racism #xenophobia #WhiteSupremacy #misogyny
/6
"In short order, Trump has managed to corrupt the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice, and the senior leadership of the US military (among other government agencies). He did so by compromising, neutralizing, or replacing small groups of leaders in each of those organs of democracy."
~ Robert B. Hubbell
#Trump #morality #ethics #corruption #SupremeCourt #military #DOJ #Hegseth #FrankBradley #JohnRoberts #WarCrimes
/1
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/thursday-served-as-a-bracing-reminder
"But for the cowardice and complicity of men and women like Chief Justice John Roberts, Special Operations Commander Admiral Frank Bradley, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump’s lawless reign could be slowed or stopped."
#Trump #morality #ethics #corruption #SupremeCourt #military #DOJ #Hegseth #FrankBradley #JohnRoberts #PamBondi #WarCrimes
/2
I wonder if Dick Tater or his Nazi boi at Dept of DEFENSE (not war) know about Mỹ Lai and its associated reforms? Neither are terribly bright or well read into history, so I legitimately doubt it.
And honestly I imagine most folks aren’t. I only came to know of it in a college level ethics class.
In Ukraine, the war looks incredibly different than it is portrayed by western reporters writing from their armchairs far away.
Giorgio has been on the ground in the heat of things for almost 1400 days.
He knows all the roads along the front lines, but also the tunnels that many do not even know exist.
As Trump repeats the Kremlin's plan for subjugating Ukraine, finding the truth becomes harder and harder.
Giorgio shares the receipts, and he provides a glimpse of the truth that western media refuses to acknowledge, much less report on.
Friend link bypasses paywall, please share it and support Ukraine and Giorgio.
#ukraine #journalism #warcrimes #media #ethics #truth #corruption #russia #russiaisATerroristState #trump #USA #betrayal #maga #information #news
Can it perhaps be time that we stop saying "ethical non-monogamy"?
Nobody feels the need to say "ethical monogamy"; monogamous folks are given the benefit of the doubt and assumed to be practicing a relationship ethically.
I feel like polyamory, open relationships, relationship anarchy and other forms of non-monogamy are now sufficiently accessible to popular culture that we can drop the word "ethical" and still be understood. (Ideally we do so before it starts to look like virtue-labelling.)
#note #polyamory #relationships #ethics #names #language #words
If most #LLMs were trained on the data obtained by the wholesale theft of personal intellectual property over recent years, & if LLMs directly relate to what the general public [including me, who makes no claims at all to deep subject knowledge here] think of as being "AI", then how do peeps in the general public who choose to use, & express a liking for, "AI", reconcile their behaviour with the enormously immoral act on which it is predicated? Does it mean therefore that if such peeps happen to have installed, eg, Do such peeps cheerfully buy cheap clothes made in SE Asia sweatshops that underpay their workers & make them endure unsafe workplaces & conditions? Where are the moral limits for such peeps? Are ostriches the official totem for these peeps?
🚨🚨🚨 Federal judge #dismissed #indictments against #LetitiaJames & #JamesComey
A federal judge dismissed the indictments against fmr #FBI Director James Comey and #NYAG Letitia James on Monday.
The judge found that the appointment of interim #USAttorney #LindseyHalligan in Alexandria, Virginia, was invalid.
#Trump handpicked Halligan for the role amid increasing pressure to bring criminal cases against his political enemies, including Comey & James.
#law #ethics
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/24/politics/james-comey-letitia-james-indictments-dismissed
What if the machine were 10x more complex? 100x more complex? What if part of the machine could misbehave in such a way that the person at the end isn't harmed with certainty, but only with some probability? What if the machine has 10 switches, all of which have to be flipped by 10 different individuals before the machine starts and harms the person; do you hold any of the individuals responsible for the harm?
#morality #ethics #TrolleyProblem
(*) Trolley problems are silly because they are decontexualized, and so are the proposed Rube Goldberg ones. I am satirizing them all, in part, though I do think if you're going to play around with thought experiments RG is a bit closer to modern lived reality than a runaway trolley.