The article draws a parallel between Costco's business model—deliberately limiting choices to offer higher quality and value—and how the internet could be structured. It argues that, like Costco, a better internet should prioritize curation, trust, and quality over endless, low-quality options, suggesting that this "intelligent loss of sales" could improve user experience.
Amnesty International has found that the immense data pipelines used to train major generative AI systems are fundamentally reliant on mass privacy violations. The report details how companies collect vast amounts of personal data from across the internet without meaningful consent, building privacy-invasive systems by design.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has spent more than $25 million on iris scanners through no-bid contracts, according to procurement records. The technology, which scans people's eyes to verify identity, is part of a broader push by the agency to expand its use of biometric tools for immigration enforcement.
The FBI has issued a warning about extortion crews targeting law firms by posing as tech support workers to gain physical access to offices, where they then steal data via USB drives for blackmail or ransom purposes.
Several U.S. cities are covering Flock cameras—automated license plate readers used by police—with trash bags and other materials. This vandalism is often driven by residents protesting the surveillance tools, which critics argue intrude on privacy and are used to monitor communities without warrants. The incidents highlight growing tension around public safety and surveillance technology.
The article examines "successionism," a fringe transhumanist ideology that argues for deliberately accelerating the development of artificial superintelligence to replace humanity, viewing it as a natural evolutionary step rather than a threat to be mitigated.