svl (u/svl) - Readit News

svl commented on We're excited about our new roundabout wsdotblog.blogspot.com/20... · Posted by u/aendruk

svl · a year ago

No discussion about roundabouts can be complete without a mention of the (mostly) Dutch "turbo roundabout", where the lane you take going into a multi-lane roundabout depends on where you want to exit, and you can't / are not allowed to switch lanes while on it:

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:roundabout%3Dturbo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundabout#Turbo_roundabouts

https://www.arcadis.com/en-us/knowledge-hub/blog/united-stat...

svl commented on Firefox tracks you with “privacy preserving” feature noyb.eu/en/firefox-tracks... · Posted by u/robin_reala

Lio · a year ago

I'm "pulling this from" the settings on my browser. When I look at the check box in preferences it's unchecked and greyed out.

I then check about:config and dom.private-attribution.submission.enabled is still set to true.

Looking at the Mozilla wiki (https://wiki.mozilla.org/Privacy/Privacy_Task_Force/firefox_...) I don't see any discussion of telemetry as controlling this behaviour.

It is not clear to me what is going on or what the state of this feature actually is. Have I opted out or haven't I?

After the initial complaints they must have known it was controversial. I stand by my original point, they could have been much more upfront about this.

svl · a year ago

> I'm "pulling this from" the settings on my browser. When I look at the check box in preferences it's unchecked and greyed out.

The setting being greyed out indicates that the entire functionality is disabled, and the value of the setting is irrelevant. That's a common pattern in Firefox settings when some other setting invalidates the current one. In this case, it's most likely because you have "Allow Firefox to send technical and interaction data to Mozilla" unchecked.

svl commented on Clearview AI faces $45.6M fine in the Netherlands for 'illegal database of faces cbc.ca/news/business/clea... · Posted by u/sys42590

svl · a year ago

Direct from the source: https://www.autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/en/current/dutch-d...

The full PDF with the investigation results e.a. as sent to clearview: https://www.autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/en/system/files?fi...

svl commented on Clearview AI fined €30.5M for "illegal" facial recognition database nltimes.nl/2024/09/03/cle... · Posted by u/nemoniac

svl · a year ago

Source with detailed info: https://www.autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/en/system/files?fi...

svl commented on Science fiction authors were excluded from awards for fear of offending China nbcnews.com/news/world/sc... · Posted by u/wyldfire

svl · 2 years ago

If you care to read deeper, including comments by many of the principal parties involved, there's no better place than https://file770.com/ (also linked to from this news article). It's hard to follow if you come in fresh, as it's a very active blog, with many pages of insightful comments on each post, but worthwhile.

Here's the list of all posts from the last month which are primarily about this. (There are also daily roundup posts, and lots of small and relevant tidbits in there, too.)

  https://file770.com/chengdu-worldcon-releases-2023-hugo-nomination-statistics/
  https://file770.com/2023-hugo-nomination-report-has-unexplained-ineligibility-rulings-also-reveals-who-declined/
  https://file770.com/chengdu-hugo-administrator-dave-mccarty-fields-questions-on-facebook/
  https://file770.com/hugo-controversy-hits-mainstream-news-a-chengdu-vice-chair-comments-in-social-media/
  https://file770.com/zimozi-natsuco-guest-post-the-hugo-awards-evil-fall-is-a-watered-down-affair-and-certain-issues-to-watch-out-for/
  https://file770.com/dave-mccarty-makes-statement-about-his-facebook-responses/
  https://file770.com/worldcon-intellectual-property-announces-censure-of-mccarty-chen-shi-and-yalow-mccarty-resigns-eastlake-is-new-chair/
  https://file770.com/decoding-the-tianwen-project/
  https://file770.com/the-2023-hugo-awards-a-report-on-censorship-and-exclusion/ (the big one)
  https://file770.com/2023-hugo-awards-related-statement-by-kat-jones/
  https://file770.com/diane-laceys-letter-about-the-2023-hugos/
  https://file770.com/glasgow-2024-announces-kat-jones-resignation-as-hugo-administrator/
  https://file770.com/chengdu-worldcon-wont-account-for-sponsorships/
  https://file770.com/cheryl-morgan-dave-mccarty-resign-from-wsfs-hugo-award-marketing-committee/

The original nomination statistics dropped on January 20th (already bizarre; usually these are released as soon as the Hugo awards are awarded). In the month since then, fans have been puzzling together just what happened. Chances are that more will come to light in the coming weeks.

svl commented on Science fiction authors were excluded from awards for fear of offending China nbcnews.com/news/world/sc... · Posted by u/wyldfire

hn_throwaway_99 · 2 years ago

Glad to see this, but then I have to wonder why the organization decided to have the event in China in the first place?

svl · 2 years ago

As others have said, between competing bids for who'd host Worldcon in 2023, China got the most votes (from registered fans at an earlier Worldcon).

However, there was also controversy about this, as a very large number of those votes lacked an address (a minimal safety feature to give some indication that votes belong to distinct people). The responsible committee decided not to count them, but was overruled. If it wasn't for that, Chengdu wouldn't have won the bid.

svl commented on Science fiction authors were excluded from awards for fear of offending China nbcnews.com/news/world/sc... · Posted by u/wyldfire

themacguffinman · 2 years ago

This time it didn't seem to work out well for the organizers. The organization behind the Hugo Awards "Worldcon Intellectual Property" announced resignations and censures in response to this:

> Dave McCarty has resigned as a Director of W.I.P.

> Kevin Standlee has resigned as Chair of the W.I.P. Board of Directors (BoD).

> Dave McCarty – censured for his public comments that have led to harm of the goodwill and value of our marks and for actions of the Hugo Administration Committee of the Chengdu Worldcon that he presided over.

> Chen Shi – censured for actions of the Hugo Administration Committee of the Chengdu Worldcon that he presided over.

> Kevin Standlee – reprimanded for public comments that mistakenly led people to believe that we are not servicing our marks.

> Ben Yalow – censured for actions of the Hugo Administration Committee of the Chengdu Worldcon that he presided over.

From https://www.wsfs.org/2024/01/31/announcements-from-worldcon-...

svl · 2 years ago

Please note that Kevin Standlee is a good egg here, and was not involved with this iteration of the Hugo awards and everything which went wrong with it.

His only fault was saying something impolitic at the wrong time, which people feared would be misunderstood due to his position as Chair. (You can see the difference in censured/reprimanded and in the reasoning behind it, but it's easy to skip over that and just retain the list of names. Kevin does not deserve to be lumped in with the others!)