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YouTube has just released the new ai age verification update to a small amount of users and soon they will release the update to everyone. Don’t let YouTube think that this update is a good idea or that they can get away with it. Make sure your voices are heard and don’t give up any of your private information to them.

Here’s a video on how to fight back. And remember that change doesn’t happen overnight with one big action. It happens over time with consistent pressure.

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Mozilla, in its finite wisdom, embedded LLM bots into recent versions of Firefox for the vitally-important purpose of… naming tab groups. Now, some users are noticing CPU and power usage spikes caused by a background process called Inference.

Ugh. Reminder again for Firefox users to visit your about:config page, search for the browser.ml.chat.enabled key, and set that to false:

If yours says true then double-click it until it reads false.

Doing that turns off the AI chatbot features in Firefox, but also the stupid new LLM tab-naming feature that's rolling out.

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So in addition to KOSA making a return (CALL YOUR CONGRESS PERSON AND TELL THEM TO VOTE AGAINST IT BTW!!!) the Senate has just introduced TWO internet censorship bills!

The Block Bad Electronic Art and Recording Distributors Act (Block BEARD Act)

And the equally ridiculous and ineffective Foreign Anti-Digital Piracy Act

Both of these acts seek to force Internet Service Providers to block access to foreign piracy websites. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has said this is ridiculous and ineffective, that site-blocking bills only serve to censor the internet and make it more unsafe for everyone. AND THE'YRE RIGHT!!!

Piracy has existed until the dawn of time. And pirates will find ways around bills like these with no issue. But these bills are still dangerous and essentially pave the way for your ISP to block whatever our government thinks is "Objectionable". These DINOSAURS who dont understand the internet have no BUSINESS creating legislation around it. This is a bald faced attempt to block the internet for users for corporate gain. Wanna know how I know that?

The people that have endorsed the bill

Are all

People

Who

Would benefit from a bill like this. CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES!! TELL THEM YOU DO NOT SUPPORT EITHER OF THESE BILLS! OR KOSA WHILE YOURE AT IT! TELL THEM YOU OPPOSE INTERNET CENSORSHIP IN ALL FORMS!

We will not sit idly by while these GHOULS try and block and censor a free Internet!

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES! - Here's a link to find and call your representatives!

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Guys, it got so much freaking worse. KOSA is bad, but SCREEN is even worse, somehow.

"Sen. Mike Lee has introduced the SCREEN ACT, a bill that applies the "harmful to minors" standard used to ban LGBTQ+ books and resources in schools and libraries and apply it nationally to the internet.

Any site that has any amount of material "harmful to minors" would be forced to employ surveillance tech (biometric scans, ID uploads, background checks) to prevent minors from accessing "pornography."

You will not be surprised to learn that this is backed by the Heritage Foundation.

Unlike some of the state age-verification laws, many of which are being challenged in court, SC will be enforced by the FTC, which has the ability to levy fines, raid business and freeze bank accounts. Yes, meaning that even non-for-profits like Ao3 will suffer.

This is something for all US users to keep on their radar. Call your reps, call your senators, and spread the word to protect our archive!"

- When talking with Republicans play up the fact that this would force Elon to implement age verification systems on X (yes do call it X during the call). Elon's been threatening to primary Republicans who stand in his way so there's fear of him. Also play up concerns about "Liberals" doxxing people or Chinese hackers.

- When talking with Democrats, play up the connections to Project 2025 and suggest voters will not be happy to see Democrats siding with it.

Republicans:

Ted Cruz, Texas (Chairman) - Phone: (202) 224-5922

John Thune, South Dakota - Phone: (202) 224-2321

Roger Wicker, Mississippi - Phone: (202) 224-6253

Deb Fischer, Nebraska - Phone: (202) 224-6551

Jerry Moran, Kansas - Phone: (202) 224-6521

Dan Sullivan, Alaska - Phone: (202) 224-3004

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee - Phone: (202) 224-3344

Todd Young, Indiana - Phone: (202) 224-5623

Ted Budd, North Carolina - (202) 224-3154

Eric Schmitt, Missouri - (202) 224-5721

John Curtis, Utah - Phone: (202) 224-5251

Bernie Moreno, Ohio - Phone: 202-224-2315

Tim Sheehy, Montana - Phone: (202) 224-2644

Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia - Phone: (202) 224-6472

Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming - Phone: (202) 224-3424

Democrats:

Maria Cantwell, Washington (Ranking Member) - Phone: (202) 224-3441

Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota - Phone: (202) 224-3244

Brian Schatz, Hawaii - Phone: (202) 224-3934

Ed Markey, Massachusetts - Phone: (202) 224-2742

Gary Peters, Michigan - Phone: (202) 224-6221

Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin - Phone: (202) 224-5653

Tammy Duckworth, Illinois - Phone: (202) 224-2854

Jacky Rosen, Nevada - Phone: (202) 224-6244

Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico - Phone: (202) 224-6621

John Hickenlooper, Colorado - Phone: (202) 224-5941

John Fetterman, Pennsylvania - Phone: (202) 224-4254

Andy Kim, New Jersey - Phone: (202) 224-4744

Lisa Blunt Rochester, Delaware - Phone: (202) 224-2441

SCRIPT

Hi, my name is [], and I am one of Senator []’s constituents. I live in [city, zip code - leave your full address if leaving a voicemail].

I am calling in regards to a bill that was recently introduced in the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transport: the SCREEN act.

I am asking Senator [] to either take no action or vote against this bill because of its implications for freedom of speech. [insert one of the other concerns listed above]. Thank you for your time and for listening to my concerns.

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here's the story. i know expressvpn has been recommended in some 🏴‍☠️ how-to posts but it is not trustworthy. the parent company, kape technologies, not only used to distribute malate but has ties to multiple state surveillance agencies. and be careful where you look for info about good vpns, because kape technologies owns a bunch of "vpn review" sites too

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willingly blinded, she tempts the day in

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i saw a post about the cute steam geralt stickers and figured i wouldn't detract from the post but i did actually lose it a bit mentally and then find a way to rip the stickers from steam and convert them to gif format. ....so, enjoy, witcher game fans! my gift to the world years and years later. it was hard to find them transparent before when i ripped them. might be different now. but here. take them.

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Princess of Dragonstone

by zacckiell on twitter

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me @ odo from ds9

woah you're gender fluid? that's so cool. *drinks u

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it's always a good day to complain about English speakers

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when i first got into tarot i gave my mother a one card reading that boiled down to -you are obsessed with material possessions-

i told her at the time that it was because it was christmas time and she was focusing on getting everyone gifts

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tag yourself, i’m somewhere between moody teen starbucks manager and sparkly butterfly gel pens

GRRM is in fact really good at making up top tier characters i will use the starklings to illustrate the point okay you got: 1) high school freshman King Arthur stars in a shakespearean tragedy, as told by his mom; 2) local moody teenaged Starbucks night shift manager must do his very best to stop the zombie apocalypse through the power of friendship; 3) a middle schooler who keeps her sparkly butterfly gel pens in perfect rainbow order at all times is being held hostage by her evil middle school boyfriend and his evil blonde mafia family; 4) a scrappy but poorly-supervised middle-grade book protagonist bops about a war-zone looking for her family but instead! learns about Death; 5) paraplegic fourth grader Frodo Baggins receives mystical visions and must go on a quest to see a hundred-year-old tree guy; and 6) kindergartener that Bites

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some tarot context for those who may see this piece and not know:

the chariot is generally associated with victory and willpower in the upright position while the reversed position is in turn associated with lack of control and powerlessness

Three-headed Targaryen dragon as The CHARIOT tarot 🛞⚖️

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I was having writers block and so I took a break and soon enough it was 3 in the morning and I had impulsively sewn together a tiny mouse you’re welcome

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i may refer to rhaenyra as mother, and i may have a soft spot for daemon for all that he’s a truly unlikable prick most times but my true favorite character in hotd?

ser harwin strong

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songs about unrelated things my mommy issues have ruined: o superman

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as a child when i was sick or otherwise couldn’t sleep i would take my blankets and sleep on the couch with our old pug

one such time i did this, and fell asleep on the couch listening to the undertale soundtrack in my headphones

i had some sort of fever dream though i cannot remember it now, but what i do have a vivid memory of is that it was soupy, it was terrifying, and amalgam was playing

i awoke in a dead panic, amalgam still playing