Alaska publishes a quarterly list with the names of Indigenous people reported missing — but it still doesn’t issue a list for those who’ve been killed.

When a local nonprofit requested that information, the state said no.

https://www.propublica.org/article/alaska-denies-indigenous-murders-records?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News#Alaska#Indigenous#Data#Crime #Police

In big news overnight, #Anthropic have made a major change to their user data retention and training policy - giving customers until September 28th to opt out, or have their chats, code sessions and other artefacts used for training for up to five years.

This is a major departure from their previous privacy-first stance.

But what's really behind this change? As Connie Loizos points out in this @Techcrunch article, it's all about the #data.

As I've spoken about recently, we've passed #PeakToken - the point in history where we have the maximum amount of authentic, human-generated data available. Now, the internet is polluted with synthetically-generated #AIslop. If you're an #AI company scraping the web for new data to train on, that's bad news, because you also scoop up the AI slop. If models are trained on AI slop, they're likely to encounter #ModelCollapse - like a bad photocopy.

Anthropic's play here is all about the #TokenCrisis - the voracious appetite for new, authentic, human-generated data to train on - part of a broader phenomenon I've termed the #TokenWars.

As new data becomes scarcer and more valuable, it will be more sought after and contested. We're still in the early days of the #TokenWars, and we should expect to see more moves like this to secure more data for AI training.

https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/28/anthropic-users-face-a-new-choice-opt-out-or-share-your-data-for-ai-training/

Update. Here's a great example of reusing older #data, this time for the original purpose. Scientists retrieved unpublished data from the 1977 "Wow!" signal captured by the #Arecibo radio telescope as part of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (#SETI), reanalyzed it with modern tools, and improved our understanding of where it came from and what might have caused it.

* primary source
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.10657

* summary
https://phys.org/news/2025-08-wow-stronger-thought.html

#Reuse

Update. Here's a great example of reusing older #data, this time for the original purpose. Scientists retrieved unpublished data from the 1977 "Wow!" signal captured by the #Arecibo radio telescope as part of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (#SETI), reanalyzed it with modern tools, and improved our understanding of where it came from and what might have caused it.

* primary source
https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.10657

* summary
https://phys.org/news/2025-08-wow-stronger-thought.html

#Reuse

From the BBC: "YouTube made AI enhancements to videos without telling users or asking permission. As AI quietly mediates our world, what happens to our shared connection with real life?"

As a scientist, this is extremely disturbing. The day-to-day tools that we use to collect and share information are being subtly corrupted by manufacturers who are more concerned with marketing than science. We now have to worry about another layer of integrity checks.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250822-youtube-is-using-ai-to-edit-videos-without-permission

#scicomm #data

From the BBC: "YouTube made AI enhancements to videos without telling users or asking permission. As AI quietly mediates our world, what happens to our shared connection with real life?"

As a scientist, this is extremely disturbing. The day-to-day tools that we use to collect and share information are being subtly corrupted by manufacturers who are more concerned with marketing than science. We now have to worry about another layer of integrity checks.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250822-youtube-is-using-ai-to-edit-videos-without-permission

#scicomm #data

State of California is hiring a data engineer

https://calcareers.ca.gov/CalHrPublic/Jobs/JobPosting.aspx?JobControlId=488653

#GetFediHired#Jobs#California#Data

Data & Society is hiring a development manager

https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/datasocietyresearchinstitute/jobs/8126015002

#Data#GetFediHired#Jobs

Data & Society is hiring a development manager

https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/datasocietyresearchinstitute/jobs/8126015002

#Data#GetFediHired#Jobs

State of California is hiring a data engineer

https://calcareers.ca.gov/CalHrPublic/Jobs/JobPosting.aspx?JobControlId=488653

#GetFediHired#Jobs#California#Data

Elon Musk is choking a black community with air pollution to run a racist chatbot on a right-wing social media site. And the next data centre planned to run "Grok" will nearly double the number of fossil fuelled turbines.

Far from 'saving' the climate, it really looks like fossil-fuelled data centres are running climate-denying racist text generators for right-wing billionaires.

I found a new dataset that lays it all out pretty nicely: as bad as the generative AI data centre panic-build is, Musk is the worst of a bad bunch by a good margin.

Enjoy:

Links ->

The dataset: https://epoch.ai/data/ai-supercomputers?view=table#data-insights

Southern Environment Law Centre update: https://www.selc.org/news/resistance-against-elon-musks-xai-facility-in-south-memphis-gets-stronger/

Thermal images of the gas turbines: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/24/elon-musk-xai-memphis

More Perfect Union short documentary on the town Musk is poisoning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VJT2JeDCyw

Musk's chatbot is racist: https://www.reuters.com/business/musks-xai-updates-grok-chatbot-after-white-genocide-comments-2025-05-17/

Once the site is grid connected, it'll raise power prices and increase grid-scale fossil fuel use: https://floodlightnews.org/power-for-data-centers-could-come-at-staggering-cost-to-consumers/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/business/energy-environment/data-centers-utilities-electricity-bills.html

A nice case study of a defeated 3.5 gigawatt data centre fossil fuel power station combo https://www.selc.org/news/a-rural-virginia-county-is-a-case-study-in-community/

#ElonMusk #XAI#Grok#AI#Datacentres#Racist#Chatbot #epochai #data#Fossilfuels #ClimateChange #climate#Fossilgas#Methane

I'm going to do some longer post on our new #data jobs at the City of #CapeTown over the next day or two. I would greatly appreciate it if you could read, and share with anyone that you think has the right stuff! And also just boost for general reach.

Something that we really prioritise, other than having really good data problems to work on, is great team culture. We value open discussion and debate, but also mutual respect and compassion for each other.

#GetFediHired

1/6

Watch Louis Rossmann’s powerful and urgent video: "GDPR meant nothing: chat control ends privacy for the EU"
on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3NyUgv6dpJc
or Google-free on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@rossmanngroup:a/gdpr-meant-nothing-chat-control-ends:8

HOW TO FIGHT BACK:
If you are in the EU or a citizen of it, now is the time to act:
- Use https://fightchatcontrol.eu/ to email your MEPs in seconds. The site provides pre-written templates and contact details—just click and send!
- Spread the word: Share, post on social media, and talk to friends. Awareness is our best weapon.
- Support orgs fighting back: #EDRihttps://edri.org/, #EFFhttps://www.eff.org/, #Tutahttps://tuta.com/, #Wirehttps://wire.com/.

#Germany and #France are CRUCIAL—if they oppose, the law fails. Pressure them now!

This isn’t just about “privacy for criminals.” It’s about whether liveinng in a free society or a surveillance state.
Encryption protects everyone—dissidents, journalists, abuse survivors, and YOU.

Act now before it’s too late.

Big thanks to the unknown heroes behind @chatcontrol and @fightchatcontrol.

#tracking #surveillance #digitalrights #privacy #cybersecurity #freedom#StopChatControl#ChatControl#FightChatControl#EU #encryption#NoMassSurveillance#SavePrivacy#Germany#France#TechPolicy#HumanRights#ActNow #digital #spying #corporate #corporategovernance #data

Microsoft is required to regularly provide U.S. officials with its plan for keeping government data safe from hacking. Yet a copy of the tech giant’s security plan obtained by ProPublica makes no reference to the company’s China-based operations.

https://www.propublica.org/article/microsoft-china-defense-department-cloud-computing-security?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News#Microsoft#Tech#Data #China#Cybersecurity#Government #Technology

Watch Louis Rossmann’s powerful and urgent video: "GDPR meant nothing: chat control ends privacy for the EU"
on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3NyUgv6dpJc
or Google-free on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@rossmanngroup:a/gdpr-meant-nothing-chat-control-ends:8

HOW TO FIGHT BACK:
If you are in the EU or a citizen of it, now is the time to act:
- Use https://fightchatcontrol.eu/ to email your MEPs in seconds. The site provides pre-written templates and contact details—just click and send!
- Spread the word: Share, post on social media, and talk to friends. Awareness is our best weapon.
- Support orgs fighting back: #EDRihttps://edri.org/, #EFFhttps://www.eff.org/, #Tutahttps://tuta.com/, #Wirehttps://wire.com/.

#Germany and #France are CRUCIAL—if they oppose, the law fails. Pressure them now!

This isn’t just about “privacy for criminals.” It’s about whether liveinng in a free society or a surveillance state.
Encryption protects everyone—dissidents, journalists, abuse survivors, and YOU.

Act now before it’s too late.

Big thanks to the unknown heroes behind @chatcontrol and @fightchatcontrol.

#tracking #surveillance #digitalrights #privacy #cybersecurity #freedom#StopChatControl#ChatControl#FightChatControl#EU #encryption#NoMassSurveillance#SavePrivacy#Germany#France#TechPolicy#HumanRights#ActNow #digital #spying #corporate #corporategovernance #data

Next, Head: Product Services

We've been heavily influenced by people like @richardjpope, @pahlkadot, the #GDS, etc. - not having #ProductManagers is why a lot of #govtech doesn't work. We're fixing that by hiring the right people.

We understand good product management to be about making sure that we're building what is needed. This is hard with #data, where there is so much hype and misunderstanding! Come help us do better

Apply at www.capetown.gov.za/careers

3/6

I'm going to do some longer post on our new #data jobs at the City of #CapeTown over the next day or two. I would greatly appreciate it if you could read, and share with anyone that you think has the right stuff! And also just boost for general reach.

Something that we really prioritise, other than having really good data problems to work on, is great team culture. We value open discussion and debate, but also mutual respect and compassion for each other.

#GetFediHired

1/6

So, one week later, I heard today is indeed the final day of NOAA 15 (an automatic station in the US has only just now returned dead air).

One last APT recording, then - 19-8-2025 9.52.56.

I have packed the antenna away. Those of a more poetic disposition might care to read my final thoughts here - https://open-weather.community/archive/ow3241/

#noaa #weather #data #satellite