FaceDeer

FaceDeer, 10 days ago

I'm very divided. Ask me a couple of years ago and I'd be all over that. But since then every single one of the great old sci-fi franchises I loved have been methodically ruined by "remakes" and "sequels" and "retellings" and whatnot. So while I wouldn't say no, I would be extremely trepidatious. I'd be bracing myself to reject it if it turns out to be stupid.

FaceDeer, 10 days ago

I'd be okay with picking up SGU where it left off, using the cryosleep break as an opportunity to recast and retool as needed. I think the show's first season was weak but it was really picking up and getting interesting in the second season. I can think of a bunch of interesting directions things could go from there.

Of course, everything is predicated on "is the writing good?" If you have good writing you can make something awesome out of almost any premise. And if it's bad event the best premise won't save you. It's even worse when it's bad writing on a good premise because it "ruins" it for future attempts.

FaceDeer, 10 days ago

To be fair, the Maginot line wasn't breached. The Germans went around it.

FaceDeer, 10 days ago

It's possible for a stupid person to do or say something clever, though. You have to fight the battles that are actually before you, not simply imagine that they're already won because you think your opponent is dumb.

FaceDeer, 10 days ago

An innocent kid was on board the Titan, in case everyone has forgotten. He didn't want to go. Limit your laughter a bit.

FaceDeer, 10 days ago

Oh, well, that's alright then.

FaceDeer, 11 days ago

The problem is that the litigation was entirely "just", as far as the legal system goes. It's an open-and-shut case and everyone saw it coming. The Internet Archive basically stood in front of a train and dared it to turn, and now they're crying the victim. Doesn't exactly entice me to send them donations to cover their lawyers and executives right now.

They really need to admit "okay, so that was a dumb idea, and ultimately not related to archiving the Internet anyway. We're not going to do that again."

Note that I'm not saying the publishers are "good guys" here, I hate the existing copyright system and would love to see it contested. Just not by Internet Archive. Let someone else who's purpose is fighting those fights take it on and stick to preserving those precious archives out of harm's way.

FaceDeer, 11 days ago

The lawsuit was about them distributing unauthorized copies of books. Not archiving, and not internet pages or files.

And that was exactly the problem.

FaceDeer, 11 days ago

Did you read literally the next sentences I wrote after that one? Here they are:

Just not by Internet Archive. Let someone else who's purpose is fighting those fights take it on and stick to preserving those precious archives out of harm's way.

The Internet Archive is like someone carrying around a precious baby. The baby is an irreplaceable archive of historical data being preserved for posterity. I do not want them to go and fight with a bear, even if the bear is awful and needs to be fought. I want them to run away from the bear to protect the baby, while someone else fights the bear. Someone better equipped for bear-fighting, and who won't get that precious cargo destroyed in the process of fighting it.

FaceDeer, 10 days ago

doesn't change that IA is storing files, ebooks to be specific,

Emphasis added. Storing files is not the problem. Nobody cared when they were just scanning and storing them. The problem arose when they started giving out copies. And worse, giving out copies without restriction - libaries "lend" ebooks by using DRM systems to try to ensure that only a specific number of copies are out "in circulation" at any given time, and so the big publishers have turned a blind eye to that.

Internet Archive basically turned themselves into an ebook Pirate Bay, giving out as many copies as were asked for with no limits.

Again, I don't agree with current copyright laws, I think the big publishers are gigantic heaps of slime and should be burned to the ground. The problem here is that it's not Internet Archive that should be fighting this fight.

FaceDeer, 10 days ago

Who else is better equipped?

The EFF, for example. Fighting lawsuits for the sake of internet freedom is their reason for being. Sci-hub, for ebooks more specifically. Or Library Genesis. Those are organizations specifically devoted to fighting against excessive copyright restrictions on books.

Just because you perceive them as unworthy to bear the challenge

You're not understanding what I'm saying here. I don't think Internet Archive is unworthy to bear the challenge. I think they're not well suited to it, and when they inevitably lose the lawsuits they've jumped head-first into they're risking damage to other causes that are very important and unrelated to this particular fight.

FaceDeer, 10 days ago

This subthread switched specifically to the topic of their pending lawsuits, it's not about the DDoS. I doubt the publishers are behind this DDoS because they're already easily winning in the courts, there's absolutely no need for them to risk blowing their case and getting countersued this way.

FaceDeer, 10 days ago

It probably wouldn't help their current lawsuit, at this point. Maybe right at the beginning, before it went to court and they could negotiate a bit in search of a reasonable settlement, but at this point they've already lost it hard.

What it would do is reassure me that they're not going to do something dumb like this in the future, which would make me more willing to donate money to them knowing it'll go to actual internet archiving activities instead of being thrown into big publishers' pockets as part of more lawsuit settlements.

FaceDeer, 10 days ago

They're only at risk when they take risky behaviours. Simply archiving the Internet, like they've been doing for years, is not what they got sued over.

If they're going to keep doing the same thing they got sued over then they're going to keep losing court cases, because obviously they are. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. They should stop doing that.

FaceDeer, 10 days ago

I explained why not in the sentence directly following the one that you quoted. Here it is again:

Let someone else who's purpose is fighting those fights take it on and stick to preserving those precious archives out of harm's way.

To explain in more detail: The Internet Archive is custodian to an irreplaceable archive of Internet history and raw data. If they go and get themselves destroyed at the hands of book publishers fighting lawsuits over ebook piracy, that archive is at risk of being destroyed along with them. Or being sold off at whatever going-out-of-business sale they have, perhaps even to those very giant publishers that destroyed them.

That is why not them in particular. Let someone who isn't carrying around that precious archive go and get into fights like this.

FaceDeer, 10 days ago

Then the Internet Archive is being an idiot and risking a lawsuit. Again. They've already been raked over the coals for copyright violation, I guess they want to add libel to the list as well?

The Internet Archive has plenty of enemies, many of whom don't have an easy legal arsenal to throw at them like those big publishers did. The publishers have been playing smart so far and have won already through legal means, it makes no sense for them to suddenly turn stupid and launch this DDoS.

FaceDeer, 11 days ago

Same here. I'm waiting to see that lawsuit reach its final conclusion, I don't want to throw good money after bad.

Even afterward, I'm concerned that they might go do some stupid stunt like that again. I'll want to see if there's any fallout among their leadership over getting into this situation.

FaceDeer, 11 days ago

Israel's cries of victimhood were already starting to wear thin when it was focused on the Holocaust. Yes, it was a terrible tragedy, but it's 80 years ago at this point - very, very few people are left that were directly involved and the circumstances have changed significantly since then. But going back over five hundred years to try to find "gotchas" is just sad and counterproductive.

People are suffering right now and being persecuted right now, and it has nothing to do with the Inquisition or the Nazis.

FaceDeer, 11 days ago

No, don't you see, everything we hate must be interrelated somehow.

FaceDeer, 11 days ago (edited 11 days ago)

Google actually was good, so there's probably some good information in this documentation. If nothing else we can perhaps figure out what "went wrong."

Edit: I've been reading the blog post that appears to be the main person the leak was shared with and there's a lot of in-depth analysis being done there, but I'm not seeing a link to the actual documents. This is a huge article, though, I might be overlooking it.

FaceDeer, 11 days ago

Oh, well, that's alright then.

FaceDeer, 12 days ago (edited 9 days ago)

This is indeed one of the things cryptocurrencies exist for, but social media denizens around these parts have long conditioned themselves to hate it.

So a rock and a hard place, it seems. Which is more hated; the big data-harvesting corporation co-founded by Elon Musk, or a big bad NFT-hosting blockchain?

For people who are concerned about data harvesting I would recommend something like Monero or Aztec over Bitcoin, though. Bitcoin's basically obsolete at this point, coasting on name recognition and inertia, and has no built-in privacy features.

FaceDeer, 12 days ago

That's because this isn't something coming from the AI itself. All the people blaming the AI or calling this a "hallucination" are misunderstanding the cause of the glue pizza thing.

The search result included a web page that suggested using glue. The AI was then told "write a summary of this search result", which it then correctly did.

Gemini operating on its own doesn't have that search result to go on, so no mention of glue.

FaceDeer, 12 days ago

The Fediverse doesn't have any defenses against AI impersonators though, aside from irrelevance. If it gets big the same incentives will come into play.

FaceDeer, 12 days ago

No idea, I'm just repeating caveats I've seen raised on this particular news before.