Best Of

On a happier note, and before I get down to finishing work before downing tools for the break, I was mulling over @Big_G_NorthWales 's mildly but unnecessarily apologetic comments the other day about remembering charities such as the RNLI at this time of year. They had prompted a thought that was still buzzing around - but the fly has now landed on the lampshade. It was that what is interesting about his proud reports of LittleG in his RIB or Shannon or whatever it is is that they give a sense of the activities, and just as importantly of the commitment needed, of a single person working as crew, month by month. Mostly what one gets is collective reports (and rightly so) but one is never quite sure how many people are involved.

Also reflecting on some of the discussions on here about young people, the AI problem, and education at all ages. I do worry about those issues ... I'd, as it happens, just made a donation to a group towards its fund to help students (of all ages and whether in formal courses or not) with the costs of their own projects etc. Not a big charity, quite the reverse, but as a professional body I know it'll spend the money well (and we get to see the students' short reports in the regular newsletter).

Best wishes of the season to all.

My daughter explained how she was wanting to start some Christmas traditions of her own in addition to those she grew up with. She decided that they would make a family donation to a suitable charity. Her son is only 10 months old so this year she has chosen a children's charity for him but the intention is that each year as he gets older time will be spent researching and choosing that year's charity, teaching him something about those who are less fortunate. I think this is a great idea. It has clearly been influenced by her brother's interest in effective altruism but it is all the more remarkable when you appreciate that money is actually pretty tight for them. I am seriously tempted to copy their innovation. It is so more attractive than yet more stuff.

https://x.com/SecRubio/status/2003547575580815814

For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose. The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.

Today, @StateDept will take steps to bar leading figures of the global censorship-industrial complex from entering the United States. We stand ready and willing to expand this list if others do not reverse course.

Europe (and us) are probably too censorious, but this just seems like yet another example of the Trump administration wanting to antagonise or even make enemies of it's allies, a la Denmark and Canada.

Even if you think they are being too cesnorious all the EU wants is for US social media platforms to deal with abuse and disinformation the same way that local media would have to. The US seems to have adopted a position that US companies need not comply with local laws, and should be free to act as the US alone sees fit. It's plainly nuts, and not something the US would tolerate as the TikTok debacle and others demonstrates.

I don't really see why anyone should be expected to 'deal with disinformation' on social media networks. It's an unfiltered jungle of opinion, and users should be aware of that and act accordingly. Caveat emptor.

Perhaps contradicting my own view, I think the accounts of Islamic State and similar organisations should be taken down with extreme prejudice. And any accounts publishing distressing, criminal footage should also be taken down.

Lector!

https://x.com/SecRubio/status/2003547575580815814

For far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose. The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship.

Today, @StateDept will take steps to bar leading figures of the global censorship-industrial complex from entering the United States. We stand ready and willing to expand this list if others do not reverse course.

Is this a threat to the existence of PB.com?

They’ve announced sanctions on Thierry Breton and others

https://x.com/undersecpd/status/2003567947403657399

The Lib Dems even get a special mention in that rant.

"None of those sanctioned is a current UK or EU official—however, we know that foreign government officials are actively targeting the United States. This week, the UK’s Liberal Democrats claimed President’s Trump National Security Strategy amounts to “foreign interference” by a “hostile foreign state” because it correctly identifies mass migration and decaying national sovereignty as existential European security concerns."

Is that the first time the Lib Dems have been noticed by the US government? Ed should have the tweet printed and framed.

I don't agree. Social Media networks should not have the status of being publishers of news - it conders a legitimacy that isn't warranted. We also know that when they do censor (as Facebook does) they often censor the wrong thing, wrongly. Social media is just a conversation. People should just understand that and grow up.

But people don't understand that. Some people do not make a clear distinction any more between fact and fiction. So when they see something on social media that is plainly nonsense, they judge it's truth by the popularity or authority of the source, not the content. Such people are susceptible to manipulation by bad actors. It's not unreasonable for a body like the EU to ask Twitter to do something about the issue. And it's no longer "mischief makers" that we have to worry about, but hostile states trying to shape public opinion, influence elections, and cause social unrest. Stopping such acts is an entirely legitimate thing for a state to do. If you leave it to self-regulation you are simply allowing our actual enemies to harm our society.