Taylor Lorenz’s Power User

The Trump admin publicly bragged about demanding that Apple and Facebook remove ICE watch apps and Facebook groups documenting ICE activity, and Big Tech is complying.
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[FREE SPEECH FRIDAY]
Since last year, Meta, Apple, and other big tech platforms have been mass removing content related to ICE. From deleting Facebook groups who criticize ICE agents to removing apps from the app store that allow citizens to report ICE in their neighborhood, it's becoming harder to criticize ICE online. 
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), is suing the government in order to get these Facebook groups and apps restored. Colin McDonnell, an attorney at FIRE joins me to break down these seminal lawsuits, how they're taking on the government, and why it's so crucial to protect free expression online. 
We discuss how DOJ and DHS officials, including Pam Bondi and Kristi Noem, successfully pressured Apple and Facebook to remove an ICE-tracking app and a Chicago-based Facebook group with nearly 100,000 members. Colin breaks down why FIRE is suing the government , whether recording law enforcement in public is protected speech or dangerous "doxing" , and the chilling rumors of a secret ICE protester database
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Would you pay $65,000 to have ChatGPT teach your kids?
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404 Media reporter Emmanuel Maiberg joins to discuss the disturbing truth behind Alpha School, an AI-powered private school that has been getting massive hype from mainstream media. While Alpha School promises parents that kids can complete their core education in just two hours a day, leaked internal documents reveal the very chaotic reality behind tech industry buzzwords.
Alpha School charges up to $65,000 a year while openly aiming for a "no human in the loop" model to entirely eliminate human teachers. We discuss how their generative AI systems constantly hallucinate, creating illogical lesson plans and tests that treat kids like tech guinea pigs.
Even more alarming is the massive data harvesting and surveillance. Alpha School utilizes software that monitors students' screens, web cameras, microphones, and mouse movements, acting essentially as boss-ware for children. 
We also expose how video recordings of students have been left unsecured in open Google Drive links and how the school's AI scrapes educational material from platforms like IXL and Albert.io, leading to disabled accounts and terms of service violations. 
Read the 404 Media article: https://www.404media.co/students-are-being-treated-like-guinea-pigs-inside-an-ai-powered-private-school/ 
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FOSTA/SESTA shows what happens when you "reform" and chip away at Section 230.
Welcome back to my Section 230 mini-series, where I break down the most important and misunderstood law about the internet!!
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FOSTA-SESTA was the first major amendment and carve-out to Section 230. While the law claimed to be about "cracking down on big tech" and making the internet "safer for children," the result was the mass deplatforming of sex workers and marginalized people online.
Activist and adult industry content creator Siri Dahl joins me to discuss how FOSTA-SESTA forced sex workers into incredibly unsafe environments and increased censorship across the board. We dive into the shutdown of Backpage, Tumblr banning all adult content, and how organizations like Morality in Media are pushing a moral panic that lawmakers (and the left!!) have bought into. We also cover how Big Tech has backed these Section 230 "reform" efforts. 
If we don't understand the devastating effects of FOSTA-SESTA, we are doomed to repeat them with new bills like the Sunset Section 230 Act or Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). We must protect Section 230 at all costs! 
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Democrats just handed ICE exactly what ICE asked for.
[FREE SPEECH FRIDAY]
If you value my reporting, please, please support my work 👇👇👇
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Body cameras were supposed to hold police accountable. So why is police violence still rising? Why are cops almost never convicted using body cam footage? And why are Democrats (the same politicians who just tripled the ICE budget) now demanding that ICE agents wear body cameras?
In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I sit down with Alec Karakatsanis, lawyer and author of the fantastic book Copaganda, to uncover the hidden history of police body cameras. While body cams are presented as a technological fix to deeply rooted institutional problems, they actually have the opposite effect.
We talk about how the multi-billion dollar police surveillance industry originally struggled to get funding for these cameras, how Steven Spielberg donated money to put cameras on cops, how the narrative completely shifted, and how Big Tech is cashing in.
Big Tech interest groups and reactionary non-profits are spending millions to push mass surveillance and censorship laws. My work is 100% self-funded. This series is not backed by any advertisers or tech giants. 
If you value my reporting, please, please support my work 👇👇👇
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We break down:
How the police surveillance industry lobbied for body cameras for years before Ferguson, and why they desperately wanted them

The brilliant marketing switch that rebranded body cams from a police surveillance tool into an "accountability and transparency" reform

Why body camera footage is used every single day to prosecute poor people in courtrooms across America, but almost never used against the police

How Barack Obama, Eric Holder, and the Democratic Party helped sell this surveillance expansion to liberals

Why the DOJ's own research shows body cameras do NOT reduce police misconduct or violence

How ICE agents who killed Alex Preti and René Good were already filming themselves and were celebrated by their bosses

The AI, facial recognition, and predictive policing data being harvested from body cam footage right now

Why demanding body cams on ICE is a distraction from real accountability and actually gives ICE more money and power

How Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and Kristi Noem all ended up on the same side of this debate

The parallel between body cam propaganda and Democrat-backed internet surveillance laws

Are dumb phones actually the solution to our anxieties, or are they a $400 scam built on a moral panic?
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My work is 100% self-funded and this series is not backed by any advertisers or tech giants. If you value my reporting, please, please support my channel: 
Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz     
Subscribe to my Substack:  https://www.usermag.co  
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over the past few years, a massive industry has emerged around dumb phones and the concept of logging off. From $400 minimalist dumb phones to influencers selling digital detox courses, logging off has become big business. Schools are banning phones. Politicians are blaming screen time. Media outlets are calling Gen Z “addicted.”But is ditching your smartphone actually the answer? In this video, I sat down with WIRED journalist Elana Klein to unpack the rise of the logging-off movement. We discuss how reasonable concerns over screen time have metastasized into a consumer movement selling $400 minimalist dumb phones for millions in profit. We also dive deep into the anti-smartphone moral panic , which is heavily pushed by reactionary politicians and legacy media. We explore the history of our relationship with the internet, from the tech optimism of the early 2010s and the algorithmic shift in 2016 , to the dangerous reality of school phone bans that are leading to AI surveillance and increased police interactions for students.We also talk about the concept of "smartphone addiction," what it really means, and why your issues with technology are often manifestations of much larger societal problems.
Elana's piece: https://www.wired.com/story/dumbphone-owners-have-literally-lost-their-minds
MORE READING:
https://www.wired.com/story/the-wired-guide-to-protecting-yourself-from-government-surveillance
https://www.wired.com/story/guide-protect-data-from-hackers-corporations

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We cover:
The history of smartphones and how our relationship to them changed
Why dumb phones are being marketed as luxury wellness products
The moral panic around teen mental health and smartphones (and why the data is messier than you think)
How figures like Tristan Harris and Jonathan Haidt shaped the anti-tech, pro-surveillance narrative
Why "phone addiction" isn't a real clinical concept, and what you're actually feeling
Practical ways to improve your relationship with technology without throwing your phone in a river
Why the anti-smartphone movement is anti-privacy and pro-surveillance
How to think about your phone as a tool instead of an enemy