Welcome to our first Substack download. Monthly, we’ll bring you news from the front lines of technological tyranny and data misappropriation.
Here are the top stories we covered.
The California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act
In September, Newsom signed into law the ACDA. Taking effect July 1, 2024, it imposes restrictions on businesses, including “profiling a child by default” and employing so-called “dark patterns.” It also mandates “data privacy impact assessments” and “conspicuously posted privacy notices.” According to Bloomberg Law, “It [will] impose sweeping new requirements on businesses that provide online products and services to children.”
Sometimes branded the “Kids’ Code,” this new legislation will require social media platforms to increase transparency with their terms of service. The law will also strengthen protections for the privacy and welfare of minors on social media. Though we are generally wary of governmental intervention, it has been more than two decades since American lawmakers have passed meaningful regulations to protect our children online.
SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Section 230 Protections
As Politico reports:
The case marks the first time the highest court will weigh in on Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act that protects platforms from being sued over most third-party content on their sites. The court will decide in the case of Gonzalez v. Google LLC whether those protections are too far-reaching when it comes to recommendations of terrorist videos from Google’s YouTube.
However the case shakes out, the disturbing factors precipitating the new California law and this legal challenge can’t be denied. Most everyone has heard about “smart tech”—innovations “to bring our devices to life.”
What don’t we hear so much about? Something we are terming WiseTech. This term can describe a growing recognition that we must temper our technological progress with wisdom, integrity, and common sense. After all, the last two decades have witnessed an explosion of (often unintended) negative outcomes from widespread tech usage, especially amongst the young.
Tesla Has Been Kicked out of the S&P 500’s ESG Index Even Though It Makes Zero-Emission Products. Here’s Why
This past April, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted his thoughts about the rating system: “I am increasingly convinced that corporate ESG is the Devil Incarnate.” Ask the average person if they know what ESG is, and they’re bound to shake their head. To the uninitiated, ESG stands for three broad categories of interest for “socially responsible investors.”
Environmental: pertaining to a company’s use of energy; for instance, around climate change initiatives.
Social: relates to a company’s relationship to its staff. It can also concern an organization’s customer relations, its mission, and political stances.
Governance: how a company is managed or led by its executive team.
In short, ESG is a rating companies receive, grading them on their compliance (a.k.a. obedience) using a carrot and stick approach similar to how China’s social credit system controls its people.
If we do not push back against ESG now like some corporate leaders are thankfully doing, we can expect that in the coming years, more technocrats will enforce even stricter (corporate) obedience. Just ask Musk.
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