Link Roundup May 2023

Why I Can’t Root for Disney’s Lawsuit Against Ron DeSantis

The contracts clause became a tool of mischief during the Lochner era, the period from the 1890s to the 1930s when the Supreme Court routinely invalidated health, safety, and economic regulations. The clause fit neatly into the court’s conception of a constitutional “liberty of contract” that sharply limited state oversight of the marketplace. During this period, for instance, SCOTUS repeatedly used the contracts clause to preserve private monopolies over the water supply, preventing local governments from constructing their own water works. It also struck down a Kansas law, enacted during a financial panic, that let mortgage-holders stay in their homes for several months after foreclosure.

Teachers warn new gender guidance for English schools could put children at risk

The government is said to be poised to introduce guidance stating that schools in England must inform parents if a young person seeks to change their name or starts wearing different uniform. Teachers would be instructed not to use a new name or pronoun at a pupil’s request until they have obtained parental consent.

Montana House speaker silences trans lawmaker for 2nd day

A transgender Montana lawmaker was silenced for a second day Friday as her Republican colleagues refused to let her speak on the chamber’s floor until she apologizes for saying lawmakers would have “blood on their hands” if they passed a law to ban gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth.

Hosting site Imgur will remove explicit and anonymous content next month

"We will be focused on removing old, unused, and inactive content that is not tied to a user account from our platform as well as nudity, pornography, & sexually explicit content," the page reads. "Most notably, this would include explicit/pornographic content." Imgur notes that it will "employ automated detection software" alongside human moderators to identify explicit content.

150 African Workers for ChatGPT, TikTok and Facebook Vote to Unionize at Landmark Nairobi Meeting

The current and former workers, all employed by third party outsourcing companies, have provided content moderation services for AI tools used by Meta, Bytedance, and OpenAI—the respective owners of Facebook, TikTok and the breakout AI chatbot ChatGPT. Despite the mental toll of the work, which has left many content moderators suffering from PTSD, their jobs are some of the lowest-paid in the global tech industry, with some workers earning as little as $1.50 per hour.

‘Too greedy’: mass walkout at global science journal over ‘unethical’ fees

Elsevier, a Dutch company that claims to publish 18% of the world’s scientific papers, reported a 10% increase in its revenue to £2.9bn last year. But it’s the profit margins, nearing 40%, according to its 2019 accounts, which anger academics most. The big scientific publishers keep costs low because academics write up their research – typically funded by charities and the public purse – for free. They “peer review” each other’s work to verify it is worth publishing for free, and academic editors collate it for free or for a small stipend. Academics are then often charged thousands of pounds to have their work published in open-access journals, or universities will pay very high subscription charges.

Illinois to Become First State to Ban Book Bans

As per the bill, the $62 million of funding that goes to the state’s libraries will only be eligible for said funding if they “adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights” or “develop a written statement prohibiting the practice of banning books or other materials within the library or library system.“

The IRS Is Building Its Own Online Tax Filing System. Tax-Prep Companies Aren't Happy

Last year, TurboTax paid $141 million to settle a complaint that it advertised free tax preparation, then steered customers into costly upgrades. The company did not admit to any wrongdoing.

Nebraska hasn't passed a single bill this year because one lawmaker keeps filibustering in protest of an anti-trans bill: 'I will burn this session to the ground'

The Nebraska state legislature is on track to debate just 30 of the 820 bills that were introduced this session, and Cavanaugh — the first Nebraska state senator to adopt the blanket filibuster strategy — is showing no sign of folding, per the Post.

The Fanfic Sex Trope That Caught a Plundering AI Red-Handed

Yu says that if people were able to opt out at scale, then the models would become noticeably worse. The reason ChatGPT works as well as it does is precisely because it’s got so much data to pull from. Critics argue that if the only way your system can function is by using work against people’s wishes, then perhaps the system itself is fundamentally morally flawed.