The OS angle is huge, and worth picking a fight with, but I haven’t seen any coverage over how this goes after developers too.

I think this is an attack on ALL open-source.

These bills are written by people who are clearly or maliciously tech illiterate and don’t understand either the terminology or the practical impacts. And of course it’s wrapped in ‘what about the children?!’

They include definitions like (paraphrasing; not quoting a specific bill, but New York, Colorado and California do this):

• “Application” is any software application that may be run on a user’s device – so … EVERYTHING.
• “Application Store” is any publicly accessible website or similar service that distributes applications – so … also everywhere, such as GitHub or GeoCities.
• “Developer” is a person who writes, creates or maintains an application – so if you have a github repo, or you’ve posted a binary or perhaps even a script somewhere recently, you’re a developer.

And then require both developers and operating system providers to handshake this age verification data or face financial ruin. I think the original intent or appearance of intent is that the store developer needs to do the handshake. I’m not a lawyer, but I can’t imagine these definitions aren’t vague enough that they can’t be weaponized against basically anything software.

I have a github account, and have contributed to “applications”. As I read them, these bills pose a serious threat to me if I continue to do so, as that makes me a “developer” and would need to ensure the things I contribute to are doing age verification – which I don’t want to do.

I think that even outside the surveillance aspect, the chilling effect of devs not publishing applications is the end-goal. Gatekeeping software to the big publishers who have both the capacity to follow the law and the lawyers/pockets to handle a suit. These laws are going to be like the DMCA 1201 language (which had much much more prose wrapped around it and was at least attempting to limit scope), which HAS been weaponized against solo devs trying to make the world better.

I fully expect some suit against multiple github repo owners on Jan 2, 2027.

I’m 90% on-board with disliking these, but I can see uses for ‘Augmented Reality’ glasses. I just wish they worked the way they do in Sci-fi and video games.

Lots of interactions we have on our phones could be done hands-free on a HUD

automatic translation of text or voice when traveling navigation/directions and similar guidance, like automatic subway/train maps instant access to biometric data trends like heart rate, glucose levels and more

I’ve also been part of a pilot to get a HUD to provide AR data to a manufacturing operator, showing things like line speed, temperature and other kinds of data they would otherwise have to go to a computer for. This was around the google glass era, though, and the devices were too pricey to justify and the tech wasn’t there yet.

I do think these devices need to be more obvious. We called them glassholes when google was starting this wearable computing trend and people were using them inappropriately; and we’ve seen how any internet-connected camera like Ring and Flock can be abused.

The concept of the personal HUD is useful, but it still needs workshopping to make it socially safe. Also, the ones like the Meta/Rayban glasses are just pervert tools. No AR, just a camera has no value other than creeping.

I admire the one person so far who down-voted this because… it’s not nice to body-shame, especially about something that isn’t in your control, such as penis size.

That said… I approve of this message. Satya Nadella can fuck right off with his tiny penis. I can’t post it here because it’s NSFW, but I have image evidence that Mr Nadella has a very, very small penis. I asked Copilot to show me, so I know it’s accurate.

I think this is a potential windfall for gaming… Sure, it could be terrible, as other commenters have stated, but EA was already terrible. A national investment fund may very well have a better understanding of long-term investment and pull away from lootboxes and microtransactions. I’m certainly not holding my breath… but if I were in a position to buy an entire catalog of IP that people loved in their youth, I think this could be a sound strategy.

If Saudi Arabia took EA and all it’s properties and made it what 90’s gaming was… this would be monumental and I think it’d pay off; as well as a slap in the face of the modern game publishers’ business model.

We just saw this with Silksong: Make a good game, treat your customers with respect, and we will break records for you, even if it takes a decade. If the Saudis don’t act like vulture capital and instead play a longer game, they have the money to fund actual quality development.

I don’t know that ‘Conservative’ exists anymore. I’m American, but I think these comments work everywhere else, as Authoritarianism rises.

Growing up, I believed that liberal/conservative was just a difference in approach, but not a difference in end-goal. Both ‘teams’ wanted the country to prosper. In my 40s, now, I clearly see that we have different goals: Liberals want everyone to be prosperous, healthy, fulfilled. Conservatives value the prosperity only of those on top.

You may identify as conservative, little ‘c’, respect tradition and be careful with spending, etc; but I want you to closely evaluate the actions of people using that label across the globe. A vote for a conservative or right-wing candidate is a vote for the top 1% or less of the population of the planet. They may align with you on some topics, such as religion, abortion, fiscal policies, regulations, and more; but that is a ploy and they are absolutely willing to throw you away as soon as they have your vote and will cut everything you depend on once in power in order to pad their own pockets.

There are certainly perverse incentives and systemic issues that make even liberal politicians support bad policies, but the voter bloc that is ‘liberal’ wants to make things better for everyone. The conservative politicians, at least in the US where I’m paying attention, seem to be hell-bent on making things worse instead.

This has less to do with Trump’s actions, and more to do with how the convervatives behaved…

Up-voted, but we only need oil at the moment because the oil industry keeps strangling baby competitors. A quick, non-sourced search shows that Oil got 90-ish Billion (1) in government subsidies in 2020, while Solar got 7. Even if the numbers are 50% of actual, Renewables are not getting the help they need to become/stay viable.

(1): And that might be a waaaaay low-ball estimate: Yale said they got Trillions. Though that may be over several years.

Perhaps lobbyists could be the next class identified as extraneous.

Follow-up. If any of the myriad things that Harris doesn’t do for you (anyone reading this) are that important, what have you done to solve them offline? Have you written to your senators and representatives? Are you canvassing? Are you part of your local democratic organizations and aware of how local offices affect the bigger picture? If you are sitting there going “I don’t like X,” and not DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT and choosing to sit this race out or protest vote for “jill” instead of Kamala, you are doing EVERYONE a disservice. This is not a spectator sport where you can just chime in every 4 years.

Sure, be mad about how Kamala isn’t the perfect choice, but just think for a second about how much worse donald would be for ANY of the things you might want – unless what you want is to be racist and spiteful ¯\(ツ)/¯.

If you think trump would really be a better choice for things like the economy and cost of living, then you need to go back to school for some critical thinking skills – which the Republicans would like to finish cutting from the curriculum.

If any of these issues matter, then get involved on November 6th after you voted for Kamala. Otherwise you might just not have the chance.

Want more progressive leaders? Become them or find them and encourage them to run for office and them help them win. Bitching about how both sides are the same every few years does NOTHING except help the worst side.