Notices by Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz), page 4
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Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz)'s status on Thursday, 11-Apr-2019 01:41:51 UTC 
Mike Gerwitz
I love type inference, but please be explicit in the types of your public APIs. This serves not only as documentation, but also helps catch when the types change when you didn't intend for them to do so (because they're inferred). -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz)'s status on Thursday, 11-Apr-2019 01:33:49 UTC
Mike Gerwitz
@diggity While this practice is expected (as the article notes, other companies do it as well), most users are definitely not aware of it and I think that many more people would be uncomfortable using these devices if they did learn that this isn't all just being processed by computers. Some of that conversation happened during the Snowden revelations---is it okay if it's just computers "listening" rather than a human being? (Of course, it's never just computers.)
It's also another example of AI capabilities being over-sold to users.
Thanks for sharing! -
Sean O'Brien (diggity)'s status on Thursday, 11-Apr-2019 01:00:04 UTC 
Sean O'Brien
fresh off the press - this is why I don't like to give the "benefit of the doubt" to Big Tech, even though I will limit my comments to the available info:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-10/is-anyone-listening-to-you-on-alexa-a-global-team-reviews-audio -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz)'s status on Tuesday, 09-Apr-2019 02:11:21 UTC
Mike Gerwitz
"Online Speech and the First Amendment: Ten Principles from the Supreme Court":
https://social.mikegerwitz.com/url/73591 -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz)'s status on Friday, 05-Apr-2019 00:31:38 UTC
Mike Gerwitz
@alextee The EFF does a lot of good work that I do support them for, and I am an EFF member. But as a free software activist, I don't always agree with their stance on software or use of certain terminology. -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz)'s status on Thursday, 04-Apr-2019 01:45:05 UTC
Mike Gerwitz
EFF applauds WhatsApp fixing a group chat bug:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/04/fixed-whatsapp-rolls-out-group-privacy-settings
I get it, a lot of people use WhatsApp. But this doesn't deserve applause---WhatsApp deserves condemnation. It is a proprietary, centralized service. There are better ways to go about your communication with others where you don't have to put up with company inaction by completely relinquishing control of your communications to a third party.
I wrote about this and more back in February in response to the GHCQ Ghost proposal:
https://mikegerwitz.com/2019/02/ghcq-exceptional-access-e2ee-decentralization-reproducible -
Free Software Foundation (fsf)'s status on Tuesday, 02-Apr-2019 15:02:34 UTC 
Free Software Foundation
New job opening at the FSF! We're seeking a new Campaigns Manager to plan and execute how to achieve our campaign goals. If you're passionate about free software and have relevant experience, apply today! https://u.fsf.org/2sc -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz)'s status on Saturday, 30-Mar-2019 03:00:49 UTC
Mike Gerwitz
GNU Guix Blog, "Connecting reproducible deployment to a long-term source code archive":
https://social.mikegerwitz.com/url/73241 -
Danny O'B (mala)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Mar-2019 20:40:16 UTC 
Danny O'B
A bunch of Swedish MEPs pressed the wrong button in the Copyright Directive vote, defeating the chance to vote to delete #article13 and #article11.
Well, that’s quite the mandate to fuck with millions of Internet users.
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Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Mar-2019 03:05:10 UTC
Mike Gerwitz
@davehunt The most recent accessibility-related talk I can remember at LibrePlanet is by Chris Hofstader in 2017:
https://social.mikegerwitz.com/url/17371 -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Mar-2019 02:37:37 UTC
Mike Gerwitz
@davehunt The Guix talk was actually @dthompson, but we're both young guys and may sound a little bit alike. :) I don't think we've spoken before, but my first LibrePlanet was four years ago and I don't recall all of the people that I've exchanged pleasantries with.
I'd love to chat with you sooner, certainly.
I feel I should clarify my talk suggestion: I'm not FSF staff and can't say if such a proposal would be accepted; I just meant to say that I would absolutely attend and hope that it would be.
Anyway, good to know that I have the right person in mind. :) -
Mike Gerwitz (mikegerwitz)'s status on Tuesday, 26-Mar-2019 02:19:28 UTC
Mike Gerwitz
@mala Re: The LibrePlanet panel you were on about Australia's terrible decryption law:
I asked the first questions just before rms. I had about an hour's worth of questions but had to give others a turn. I did talk to Isa a little bit after specifically about concerns with Tor, but wasn't able to find you free. That panel made a lot of people very uncomfortable. ;)
In particular, I'm curious if you know of any prior precedent in the United States (not necessarily with regards to technology) for the aid in enforcement of laws of other countries that violate the rights of US citizens under the constitution, as they might apply in this situation.
For example, I brought up the issue of compelled speech, so one example may be a case where another country has forced the extradition of a US citizen for exercising free speech rights that aren't permissible in that country. A couple of examples as it pertains to the Australian law would be: refusing to implement a backdoor, and creating a canary.
Or, do you feel that this Australian law is such that the free speech rights established by Bernstein v. United States might be able to be subverted?
I'm asking this as someone who has never visited Australia and has no dealings there. Obviously if you have operations within Australia's jurisdiction then it's a different story.
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