Amanda Unvarnished

The best takedown of Elon’s plan to let publishers charge per-story you’ll read.

Joshua Benton at Nieman Lab, summing up Elon barging in to two decades of conversation about media micropayments. (emphasis mine):

> Nearly all news sites will let a random web user read a story (or two, or five) for free. It’s only after a given number of clicks that the wall goes up.
> If you want to think of that as “news sites already offer micropayments for those first five articles — they’ve just set the price at $0,” be my guest. And for those times when someone really wants to read just one article, that free allotment allows all the paywall workarounds that the savvy digital news consumer knows about. (We’re all adults here; we can talk about incognito windows.) If most paywalls aren’t that hard, there’s little pressure for a paid product to get around them on a single story.

https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/05/micropayments-elon-musk-thinks-hes-got-a-major-win-win-for-news-publishers-with-micropayments/

—@nilay_patel

Reminder: almost every trans person is having well deserved mental breakdowns right now. It’s not you. You don’t suck. You are not ugly or bad or worthless. Society is fucking evil. And the rest of us all love you.

Perhaps it’s toxic positivity, I know it’s not okay. But you don’t have to suffer alone.

—@CharlotteEowyn

WPSpeakers is a free database of speakers available for WordPress meetups, WordCamps, and other events. Add yourself as a speaker or find one for your event. I couldn’t afford to sponsor this cool site, but I did chip in for the speaker tip jar. You can too! Let’s fill up that tip jar! Thanks to @michellefrechette for creating this site. https://wpspeakers.com/ #WordPress

—@donnacavalier

Welcoming signal boosts: Come work on my team!

We are hiring a Senior Digital Security Trainer. You’ll work with journalists, media organizations, whistleblowers and other mission-aligned groups to develop their digital security hygiene.

Many of us have nontraditional backgrounds in security, so we intend to cast a wide net. Even if you don’t think you fully match the job description, if you’re excited about it we want to hear from you. Apply by 5/15! https://grnh.se/4bd2fe535us

—@mshelton

If your experience of the Fediverse is that it’s just like Twitter in how much antisemitism you experience, that’s why I founded Babka and Babka Social, because that was my experience too.

Just having federation doesn’t make it safe for Jews online.

Babka makes a deliberate and focused effort to address antisemitism. It takes continuous hard work and dedication by myself, my staff, and the incredible volunteers who make Babka operate.

#Babka #Jews #antisemitism #jewdiverse #mazeldon

—@serge

fellow tech workers, looking at the screenwriters guild striking, do you not feel that we too need a union? how many pointless layoffs have there been so these huge companies run by trust fund goons could do stock buybacks?

we need a union.

—@0x00string

“Federal agencies, as well as the private sector, are facing pressure due to a growing focus on web accessibility by the Department of Justice, which recently sought to increase its own online user-friendliness with a makeover of its ADA​.gov website. ” https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/federal-web-accessibility-focus-puts-private-sector-on-notice

—@thea11yproject

Verifiable Credentials WG has published two First Public Working Drafts: Verifiable Credentials Status List v2021; Securing Verifiable Credentials using JSON Web Tokens
to make expressing and exchanging credentials that have been verified by a third party easier and more secure on the Web.
https://www.w3.org/blog/news/archives/9901

—@w3c

You & your partner, enjoying some quality alone time in the resort jacuzzi, when some rando dude shows up & spoils the moment.

#photography #birds #cardinals #BackYardWildlife #nature #NaturePhotography

—@Trilobyter

these techs who developed AI have a serious leopards-eating-people’s-faces party vibe

‘i never thought the AI would come after MY job’

—@ignova

Proud of my colleagues at Google and friends at Apple for collaborating on a technical standard for detecting unwanted trackers across Android and iOS. Working together protects all users, regardless of OS.

More to share at Google I/O!

https://security.googleblog.com/2023/05/google-and-apple-lead-initiative-for.html?m=1

—@backlon

Yet another shoutout for #a11y feedback…

If you’re based in (or have easy access to) London, UK and you primarily use a screenreader, would you be interested in testing out an image recognition app for an exhibition at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington?

Do share around! Feel free to DM me for details.

—@FINOkoye