#AI and international law

[code-of-conflict]

Ethical Dilemmas in AI Warfare: A Case for Regulation

Introduction: The Ethical Quandaries of AI in Warfare

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, its application in warfare presents unprecedented ethical dilemmas. The use of AI-driven autonomous weapon systems (AWS) and other military AI technologies blurs the line between human control and machine decision-making. This raises concerns about accountability, the distinction between combatants and civilians, and compliance with international humanitarian laws (IHL). In response, several international efforts are underway to regulate AI in warfare, yet nations like India and China exhibit different approaches to AI governance in military contexts.

International Efforts to Regulate AI in Conflict

Global bodies, such as the United Nations, have initiated discussions around the development and regulation of Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS). The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), which focuses on banning inhumane and indiscriminate weapons, has seen significant debate over LAWS​. However, despite growing concern, no binding agreement has been reached on the use of autonomous weapons. While many nations push for "meaningful human control" over AI systems in warfare, there remains a lack of consensus on how to implement such controls effectively​.

The ethical concerns of deploying AI in warfare revolve around three main principles: the ability of machines to distinguish between combatants and civilians (Principle of Distinction), proportionality in attacks, and accountability for violations of IHL. Without clear regulations, these ethical dilemmas remain unresolved, posing risks to both human rights and global security.

India and China’s Positions on International AI Governance

India’s Approach: Ethical and Inclusive AI

India has advocated for responsible AI development, stressing the need for ethical frameworks that prioritize human rights and international norms. As a founding member of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), India has aligned itself with nations that promote responsible AI grounded in transparency, diversity, and inclusivity​. India's stance in international forums has been cautious, emphasizing the need for human control in military AI applications and adherence to international laws like the Geneva Conventions. India’s approach aims to balance AI development with a focus on protecting individual privacy and upholding ethical standards.

However, India’s military applications of AI are still in the early stages of development, and while India participates in the dialogue on LAWS, it has not committed to a clear regulatory framework for AI in warfare. India's involvement in global governance forums like the GPAI reflects its intent to play an active role in shaping international standards, yet its domestic capabilities and AI readiness in the defense sector need further strengthening​.

China’s Approach: AI for Strategic Dominance

In contrast, China’s AI strategy is driven by its pursuit of global dominance in technology and military power. China's "New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" (2017) explicitly calls for integrating AI across all sectors, including the military​. This includes the development of autonomous systems that enhance China's military capabilities in surveillance, cyber warfare, and autonomous weapons. China's approach to AI governance emphasizes national security and technological leadership, with significant state investment in AI research, especially in defense.

While China participates in international AI discussions, it has been more reluctant to commit to restrictive regulations on LAWS. China's participation in forums like the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee for AI standards reveals its intent to influence international AI governance in ways that align with its strategic interests​. China's reluctance to adopt stringent ethical constraints on military AI reflects its broader ambitions of using AI to achieve technological superiority, even if it means bypassing some of the ethical concerns raised by other nations.

The Need for Global AI Regulations in Warfare

The divergence between India and China’s positions underscores the complexities of establishing a universal framework for AI governance in military contexts. While India pushes for ethical AI, China's approach highlights the tension between technological advancement and ethical oversight. The risk of unregulated AI in warfare lies in the potential for escalation, as autonomous systems can make decisions faster than humans, increasing the risk of unintended conflicts.

International efforts, such as the CCW discussions, must reconcile these differing national interests while prioritizing global security. A comprehensive regulatory framework that ensures meaningful human control over AI systems, transparency in decision-making, and accountability for violations of international laws is essential to mitigate the ethical risks posed by military AI​.

Conclusion

The ethical dilemmas surrounding AI in warfare are vast, ranging from concerns about human accountability to the potential for indiscriminate violence. India’s cautious and ethical approach contrasts sharply with China’s strategic, technology-driven ambitions. The global community must work towards creating binding regulations that reflect both the ethical considerations and the realities of AI-driven military advancements. Only through comprehensive international cooperation can the risks of AI warfare be effectively managed and minimized.

[wu-sisyphus-gang]

I explain my 'delusion' to deepseek's latest model and it tells me to scramble my brain with LSD so 'god' doesn't read my thoughts.

I kinda already tried that. I need a random number not generated by a clock.

[emptyanddark]

In one case discussed by the sources, the Israeli military command knowingly approved the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians in an attempt to assassinate a single top Hamas military commander. “The numbers increased from dozens of civilian deaths [permitted] as collateral damage as part of an attack on a senior official in previous operations, to hundreds of civilian deaths as collateral damage,” said one source.

“Nothing happens by accident,” said another source. “When a 3-year-old girl is killed in a home in Gaza, it’s because someone in the army decided it wasn’t a big deal for her to be killed — that it was a price worth paying in order to hit [another] target. We are not Hamas. These are not random rockets. Everything is intentional. We know exactly how much collateral damage there is in every home.”

According to the investigation, another reason for the large number of targets, and the extensive harm to civilian life in Gaza, is the widespread use of a system called “Habsora” (“The Gospel”), which is largely built on artificial intelligence and can “generate” targets almost automatically at a rate that far exceeds what was previously possible. This AI system, as described by a former intelligence officer, essentially facilitates a “mass assassination factory.”

According to the sources, the increasing use of AI-based systems like Habsora allows the army to carry out strikes on residential homes where a single Hamas member lives on a massive scale, even those who are junior Hamas operatives. Yet testimonies of Palestinians in Gaza suggest that since October 7, the army has also attacked many private residences where there was no known or apparent member of Hamas or any other militant group residing. Such strikes, sources confirmed to +972 and Local Call, can knowingly kill entire families in the process.

In the majority of cases, the sources added, military activity is not conducted from these targeted homes. “I remember thinking that it was like if [Palestinian militants] would bomb all the private residences of our families when [Israeli soldiers] go back to sleep at home on the weekend,” one source, who was critical of this practice, recalled.

...

The third is “power targets,” which includes high-rises and residential towers in the heart of cities, and public buildings such as universities, banks, and government offices. The idea behind hitting such targets, say three intelligence sources who were involved in planning or conducting strikes on power targets in the past, is that a deliberate attack on Palestinian society will exert “civil pressure” on Hamas.

The final [fourth] category consists of “family homes” or “operatives’ homes.” The stated purpose of these attacks is to destroy private residences in order to assassinate a single resident suspected of being a Hamas or Islamic Jihad operative. However, in the current war, Palestinian testimonies assert that some of the families that were killed did not include any operatives from these organizations.

In the early stages of the current war, the Israeli army appears to have given particular attention to the third and fourth categories of targets. According to statements on Oct. 11 by the IDF Spokesperson, during the first five days of fighting, half of the targets bombed — 1,329 out of a total 2,687 — were deemed power targets.

...

“We are asked to look for high-rise buildings with half a floor that can be attributed to Hamas,” said one source who took part in previous Israeli offensives in Gaza. “Sometimes it is a militant group’s spokesperson’s office, or a point where operatives meet. I understood that the floor is an excuse that allows the army to cause a lot of destruction in Gaza. That is what they told us.

“If they would tell the whole world that the [Islamic Jihad] offices on the 10th floor are not important as a target, but that its existence is a justification to bring down the entire high-rise with the aim of pressuring civilian families who live in it in order to put pressure on terrorist organizations, this would itself be seen as terrorism. So they do not say it,” the source added.

...

“They will never just hit a high-rise that does not have something we can define as a military target,” said another intelligence source, who carried out previous strikes against power targets. “There will always be a floor in the high-rise [associated with Hamas]. But for the most part, when it comes to power targets, it is clear that the target doesn’t have military value that justifies an attack that would bring down the entire empty building in the middle of a city, with the help of six planes and bombs weighing several tons.”

Indeed, according to sources who were involved in the compiling of power targets in previous wars, although the target file usually contains some kind of alleged association with Hamas or other militant groups, striking the target functions primarily as a “means that allows damage to civil society.” The sources understood, some explicitly and some implicitly, that damage to civilians is the real purpose of these attacks.

[themorningnewsinformer]

China's 2025 AI Regulations: Global Tech Innovation Impact

Introduction: China’s Strategic Move in AI Governance In 2025, China has introduced comprehensive AI regulations that are poised to influence global technology innovation. These measures aim to establish robust governance frameworks for artificial intelligence, focusing on data security, ethical standards, and international competitiveness. Key Components of China’s AI Regulations China’s…

[zomb13s]

The Paradox of Copyright Law: The Cycle of Ownership and Appropriation in the Digital Age

Abstract This paper explores the complexities of copyright law, particularly how it interacts with data gathering through social networking platforms. It highlights the paradox where media companies claim copyright over content they did not originally produce, appropriating data from users without offering compensation or ownership. By analyzing the behavior of media conglomerates over the past…

[lexiai]

The United Nations First Resolution on Artificial Intelligence

[mexicanistnet]

The XI International Congress on Law and AI highlighted the urgency of addressing AI's impact on legal education. With global collaboration, experts explored challenges in intellectual property, emphasizing the need for ethical considerations and interdisciplinary approaches.

[sayruq]

A little-discussed detail in the Lavender AI article is that Israel is killing people based on being in the same Whatsapp group [1] as a suspected militant [2]. Where are they getting this data? Is WhatsApp sharing it? Lavender is Israel's system of "pre-crime" [3] - they use AI to guess who to kill in Gaza, and then bomb them when they're at home, along with their entire family. (Obscenely, they call this program "Where's Daddy"). One input to the AI is whether you're in a WhatsApp group with a suspected member of Hamas. There's a lot wrong with this - I'm in plenty of WhatsApp groups with strangers, neighbours, and in the carnage in Gaza you bet people are making groups to connect. But the part I want to focus on is whether they get this information from Meta. Meta has been promoting WhatsApp as a "private" social network, including "end-to-end" encryption of messages. Providing this data as input for Lavender undermines their claim that WhatsApp is a private messaging app. It is beyond obscene and makes Meta complicit in Israel's killings of "pre-crime" targets and their families, in violation of International Humanitarian Law and Meta's publicly stated commitment to human rights. No social network should be providing this sort of information about its users to countries engaging in "pre-crime".

[caffiend-queen]

Authors, you’re going to want to check this database…

Thank you, my dear @jtargaryen18 for sharing this info too. 💕 I’m sorry your books were stolen as well.

Meta, which is Facebook, Instagram and Threads, is now involved in a massive lawsuit. Internal memos have been released that prove Meta intentionally stole hundreds of thousands of books - including all of mine - to data scrape and train their AI. Here’s a link to see if they’ve stolen your work too: bit.ly/4iRK92t

There’s a class action suit just about to be launched, they’re waiting for the judge to determine if this is protected under the Fair Use laws, which it is absolutely not.

I am begging you to see that piracy is inexcusable, whether it’s a single person who doesn’t want to pay for the book to a despicable multi trillion dollar corporation who thinks they’re entitled to take your creative work for free. Authors write because we love it, because we love sharing these stories with you, because we love your reactions so much.

Because you are our community.

But we’re also supporting our families. Piracy, plagiarism and theft are inexcusable, no matter what the circumstances. Here’s another helpful link to the Author’s Guild info: bit.ly/41S55zz

[oneofthosecrazycatladies]

This post is my attempt to track what’s going on with US politics. This post is constantly being updated so if you see this on your dash, check my blog (this post will be pinned) to see the latest version. If there’s anything I miss that you think should be included on this list, please let me know.

January-April 2025

May 2025

National News:

Trump-appointed judge says president’s use of Alien Enemies Act is unlawful [x]

Trump is replacing Mike Waltz as national security adviser [x]

The Department of Justice is preemptively suing several states in order to prevent them from suing oil and gas companies [x]

Trump releases a budget proposal that cuts funding to health, education, and clean energy while growing funding to the military [x]

Trump downplays fears of recession [x]

Trump administration is making sweeping cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) [x]

Trump is ordering the reopening of Alcatraz [x]

Trump wants to put tariffs on foreign films [x]

Trump says he’ll give immigrants $1,000 if they self-deport [x]

Trump administration has shut down CDC's infection control committee [x]

Supreme Court upholds Trump’s ban on trans people serving in the military [x]

House votes to codify Trump's Gulf of America executive order [x]

Trump names Fox News host as US Attorney for D. C. [x]

Supreme Court lets Trump end deportation protections for 350,000 Venezuelans [x]

House Republicans want to stop states from regulating AI [x]

The executive orders Trump has signed to rewrite American history [x]

LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) has been arrested and charged with assault [x]

FDA may limit future Covid-19 shots to older people and those at risk of serious infection [x]

Trump unveils plans for 'Golden Dome' defence system [x]

Justice Department pulls civil rights investigations into local police departments [x]

17 family members of notorious cartel leader enter U.S. in deal with Trump administration, Mexico says [x]

Judge blocks Trump administration from closing the Education Department [x]

Trump administration blocks Harvard's ability to enroll international students [x]

Trump reverses the ban on forced reset triggers, which are devices that can turn an assault rifle into a machine gun [x]

Supreme Court grants Trump request to fire independent agency members [x]

A judge has temporarily blocked Trump’s plan to stop Harvard from enrolling international students [x]

Trump has made massive cuts to the National Security Council [x]

Trump is delaying tariffs on the EU [x]

CDC ends Covid vaccine recommendation for healthy kids and pregnant women [x]

US court blocks Trump from imposing the bulk of his tariffs [x]

Appeals court pauses ruling that blocked Trump’s tariffs [x]

Supreme Court allows Trump to revoke legal status of 500,000 immigrants [x]

State News:

Texas is trying to pass a bill that would ban people from receiving medication abortion pills in the mail [x]

Trump’s war on clean energy is threatening a battery manufacturing plant in Kansas [x]

Florida bans fluoride [x]

A brain-dead woman in Georgia is being kept alive because of the state’s abortion law [x]

A bill in Texas will require the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public schools [x]

Other News:

Ed Martin, Trump’s nominee for US Attorney for D.C. lies about being acquainted with a Nazi sympathizer [x]

Trump says he “doesn’t know��� if he has to uphold the Constitution [x]

Trump posts an AI generated photo of himself as the Pope [x]

Former Palantir workers condemn company's work with Trump administration [x]

Trump wants to have a military parade for his birthday [x]

Trump pulled his nominee for Surgeon General for not being MAGA enough [x]

Trump accepts a luxury jet from Qatar [x]

Trump is claiming there’s no inflation [x]

White South Africans arrive in the US as refugees [x]

Kristi Noem incorrectly defines habeas corpus during hearing [x]

Pentagon says it has accepted Qatar's gift of a luxury megajet for Trump's use [x]

Pete Hegseth is hosting Christian prayer services at the Pentagon [x]

June 2025

20 years ago, same-sex couples couldn’t legally be married in America. 40 years ago, people with disabilities had next to no civil rights and were sometimes barely treated as human. 50 years ago, women couldn’t get a credit card without their husband’s or male relative’s permission. 70 years ago, America was a racially-divided apartheid state and there was a literal terrorist group freely roaming the country and holding political power. 90 years ago people of color, people with disabilities, non-heterosexual people were subjected to eugenics and forced-sterilization. 110 years ago women couldn’t vote.

The ethnic cleansing of indigenous peoples, slavery, imprisoning people for being homosexual, lynching, institutionalizing disabled people, I could go on and on and on.

America has done a lot of unforgivable things to minorities. This country has been through some unimaginable times. And through all that, there have been people putting their lives at risk to fight that because the Founders, for all their flaws, did manage to get one thing right: leaving the language of the Constitution just vague enough to plausibly include everyone even if the Founders, themselves, weren’t necessarily thinking of everyone when they wrote it.

"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

I really couldn’t care less if I’m “cringe” or whatever. Truthfully, I think that people considering optimism and hope to be “cringe” is exactly why we’re in this mess right now. Being optimistic doesn’t mean denying the reality you’re in. Being optimistic means accepting reality and saying “but I think things can be better.”

When our forebears were being enslaved, institutionalized, sterilized, terrorized, murdered, did they just throw up their hands and say “well times are tough, nothing we can do about it, guess we have to just accept it 🤷‍♀️”? We owe it to everyone who came before us to pick up the mantle and keep fighting.

Protest peacefully. Make your voices heard. We lose if we give up and stop fighting. Remember: Community Is Strength. Diversity Is Strength. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

[ducksido]

Hallo ❤️

Can I request the all the housewarden (+ace and deuce) with yuu who is the definition of "trust me bro".

Like yuu is sharing the most ridiculous plan and ended up 100% successful. Every plan they do is flawlessly executed wkdkkekd.

It can be a plan to stop an overblot or something, you decide for the scenarios or just reactions kskdk

(content warning: malleus breakdances)

Riddle Rosehearts — “The Flamingo Stampede Strategy” Riddle: “Yuu, we’re going to be disqualified. This isn’t regulation—”

Yuu: “Trust me, bro.”

Riddle watched in horror as you lured Heartslabyul’s enchanted flamingos out of their pens and into the obstacle course race. The birds charged like a pastel cavalry, knocking over every other team’s contestants while Yuu rode one like a polo horse.

Yuu crosses the finish line victorious, absolutely unbothered. Riddle has an aneurysm on the spot… but also holds up the trophy anyway.

Riddle (internally): This is illegal. This is immoral. This is genius.

Leona Kingscholar — “The Sleepy Bluff” Leona: “This is a serious match, herbivore.”

Yuu: “Exactly. So let’s pretend I’m dead.”

Leona nearly walked off when Yuu laid motionless in the middle of the Spell Arena. The other team surrounded them, confused. Just then—WHAM! A surprise trap spell exploded under their feet, launching them out of bounds.

Yuu sat up with a yawn and dusted off their robe. “Told ya. Trust me, bro.”

Leona stared. “You’re insane. I like it.”

Azul Ashengrotto — “The Legal Loophole Heist” Azul: “There is no way we can beat that merchant’s prices—”

Yuu: “Unless we find a clause in his contract that voids the entire deal.”

Azul blinked. “...That might actually work?”

Ten minutes later, Yuu stood at the merchant’s stall, calmly citing ancient maritime trading law from a scroll they “borrowed” from the library. The merchant turned red, sputtered, and fled.

Azul looked at Yuu with reverent horror.

Azul: “Would you like a part-time position at the Lounge? I’ll pay double.”

Kalim Al-Asim — “Operation Elephant Drop” Kalim: “We need to get the fireworks to the roof fast, but the stairs are blocked!”

Yuu: “...Have you ever heard of rooftop pachyderm transport?”

Later, Kalim is screaming joyfully on top of a magic carpet… dragging a heavily enchanted elephant balloon full of fireworks, piloted by Yuu, who is directing it like a seasoned festival general.

The fireworks launch perfectly from the elephant’s trunk. The crowd cheers. Kalim hugs Yuu.

Kalim: “That was the coolest thing EVER! How did you even—?”

Yuu: “Trust me, bro.”

Vil Schoenheit — “Sabotage by Sparkle” Vil: “We’re competing in a runway show. Do not embarrass me.”

Yuu: “So I replaced our rival’s setting spray with glitter glue.”

Vil: “YOU WHAT.”

During the show, the rival model walks out—only to freeze mid-pose as their face sparkles uncontrollably under the lights. Their makeup clumps and flakes. The judges gasp.

Vil steps onto the runway next. Untouchable. Radiant. Victorious.

He glares at Yuu backstage.

Vil: “...I cannot condone this.”

Yuu: “But?”

Vil: “…You have terrifying instincts.”

Idia Shroud — “Tetris Takedown” Idia: “This raid boss has a 0.4% clear rate. We’ll never—”

Yuu: “I rearranged the dungeon tiles so it traps the boss AI in a loop.”

Idia: “That’s cheating!”

Yuu: “It’s creative problem solving.”

You and Idia watch the screen as the terrifying flame serpent glitches into the wall and starts spinning endlessly.

Idia wheezes, tears in his eyes.

Idia: “You’re terrifying. You’re amazing. Marry me. Wait—IGNORE THAT.”

Malleus Draconia — “Dragon Dance Deterrent” Malleus: “This mage’s duel is serious. Are you sure this will work?”

Yuu: “Malleus. Trust me, bro. Start dancing.”

You play a ridiculous beat on a speaker. Malleus, ancient and dignified, starts breakdancing in front of the challenger.

The opponent is so horrified and confused that they forfeit on the spot.

Malleus dusts himself off. “...I do not understand mortal tactics.”

Yuu, grinning: “But it worked, didn’t it?”

Ace Trappola — “Reverse Uno Bomb” Ace: “We’re not gonna win the card tourney like this.”

Yuu: “We play Uno cards in a poker tournament.”

Ace: “...You are the worst and best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

They slam down a Reverse and then a Draw 4 in the final hand. Their opponent short-circuits from confusion. The judges allow it, citing no rule against using enchanted Uno cards.

Ace cackles. “TRUST ME BROOOO!”

Yuu: “That’s my line.”

Deuce Spade — “Make it Explode” Deuce: “We need a distraction. Just a small one.”

Yuu: “I rigged the vending machine to explode Mentos and cola on command.”

Deuce: “...WHAT.”

They press a rune. The vending machine detonates in a sugar bomb. Everyone runs.

Deuce: “We’re gonna get expelled—”

Yuu: “But we got the key, didn’t we?”

Deuce: “…I fear you. But I trust you.”

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Amazon illegally interferes with an historic UK warehouse election

I'm in to TARTU, ESTONIA! Overcoming the Enshittocene (Monday, May 8, 6PM, Prima Vista Literary Festival keynote, University of Tartu Library, Struwe 1). AI, copyright and creative workers' labor rights (May 10, 8AM: Science Fiction Research Association talk, Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures building, Lossi 3, lobby). A talk for hackers on seizing the means of computation (May 10, 3PM, University of Tartu Delta Centre, Narva 18, room 1037).

Amazon is very good at everything it does, including being very bad at the things it doesn't want to do. Take signing up for Prime: nothing could be simpler. The company has built a greased slide from Prime-curiosity to Prime-confirmed that is the envy of every UX designer.

But unsubscribing from Prime? That's a fucking nightmare. Somehow the company that can easily figure out how to sign up for a service is totally baffled when it comes to making it just as easy to leave. Now, there's two possibilities here: either Amazon's UX competence is a kind of erratic freak tide that sweeps in at unpredictable intervals and hits these unbelievable high-water marks, or the company just doesn't want to let you leave.

To investigate this question, let's consider a parallel: Black Flag's Roach Motel. This is an icon of American design, a little brown cardboard box that is saturated in irresistibly delicious (to cockroaches, at least) pheromones. These powerful scents make it admirably easy for all the roaches in your home to locate your Roach Motel and enter it.

But the interior of the Roach Motel is also coated in a sticky glue. Once roaches enter the motel, their legs and bodies brush up against this glue and become hopeless mired in it. A roach can't leave – not without tearing off its own legs.

It's possible that Black Flag made a mistake here. Maybe they wanted to make it just as easy for a roach to leave as it is to enter. If that seems improbable to you, well, you're right. We don't even have to speculate, we can just refer to Black Flag's slogan for Roach Motel: "Roaches check in, but they don't check out."

It's intentional, and we know that because they told us so.

Back to Amazon and Prime. Was it some oversight that cause the company make it so marvelously painless to sign up for Prime, but such a titanic pain in the ass to leave? Again, no speculation is required, because Amazon's executives exchanged a mountain of internal memos in which this is identified as a deliberate strategy, by which they deliberately chose to trick people into signing up for Prime and then hid the means of leaving Prime. Prime is a Roach Motel: users check in, but they don't check out:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/03/big-tech-cant-stop-telling-on-itself/

When it benefits Amazon, they are obsessive – "relentless" (Bezos's original for the company) – about user friendliness. They value ease of use so highly that they even patented "one click checkout" – the incredibly obvious idea that a company that stores your shipping address and credit card could let you buy something with a single click:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Click#Patent

But when it benefits Amazon to place obstacles in our way, they are even more relentless in inventing new forms of fuckery, spiteful little landmines they strew in our path. Just look at how Amazon deals with unionization efforts in its warehouses.

Amazon's relentless union-busting spans a wide diversity of tactics. On the one hand, they cook up media narratives to smear organizers, invoking racist dog-whistles to discredit workers who want a better deal:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/apr/02/amazon-chris-smalls-smart-articulate-leaked-memo

On the other hand, they collude with federal agencies to make workers afraid that their secret ballots will be visible to their bosses, exposing them to retaliation:

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/amazon-violated-labor-law-alabama-union-election-labor-official-finds-rcna1582

They hold Cultural Revolution-style forced indoctrination meetings where they illegally threaten workers with punishment for voting in favor of their union:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/business/economy/amazon-union-staten-island-nlrb.html

And they fire Amazon tech workers who express solidarity with warehouse workers:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-fires-tech-employees-workers-criticism-warehouse-climate-policies/

But all this is high-touch, labor-intensive fuckery. Amazon, as we know, loves automation, and so it automates much of its union-busting: for example, it created an employee chat app that refused to deliver any message containing words like "fairness" or "grievance":

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/05/doubleplusrelentless/#quackspeak

Amazon also invents implausible corporate fictions that allow it to terminate entire sections of its workforce for trying to unionize, by maintaining the tormented pretense that these workers, who wear Amazon uniforms, drive Amazon trucks, deliver Amazon packages, and are tracked by Amazon down to the movements of their eyeballs, are, in fact, not Amazon employees:

https://www.wired.com/story/his-drivers-unionized-then-amazon-tried-to-terminate-his-contract/

These workers have plenty of cause to want to unionize. Amazon warehouses are sources of grueling torment. Take "megacycling," a ten-hour shift that runs from 1:20AM to 11:50AM that workers are plunged into without warning or the right to refuse. This isn't just a night shift – it's a night shift that makes it impossible to care for your children or maintain any kind of normal life.

Then there's Jeff Bezos's war on his workers' kidneys. Amazon warehouse workers and drivers notoriously have to pee in bottles, because they are monitored by algorithms that dock their pay for taking bathroom breaks. The road to Amazon's warehouse in Coventry, England is littered with sealed bottles of driver piss, defenestrated by drivers before they reach the depot inspection site.

There's so much piss on the side of the Coventry road that the prankster Oobah Butler was able to collect it, decant it into bottles, and market it on Amazon as an energy beverage called "Bitter Lemon Release Energy," where it briefly became Amazon's bestselling energy drink:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/20/release-energy/#the-bitterest-lemon

(Butler promises that he didn't actually ship any bottled piss to people who weren't in on the gag – but let's just pause here and note how weird it is that a guy who hates our kidneys as much as Jeff Bezos built and flies a penis-shaped rocket.)

Butler also secretly joined the surge of 1,000 workers that Amazon hired for the Coventry warehouse in advance of a union vote, with the hope of diluting the yes side of that vote and forestall the union. Amazon displayed more of its famously selective competence here, spotting Butler and firing him in short order, while totally failing to notice that he was marketing bottles of driver piss as a bitter lemon drink on Amazon's retail platform.

After a long fight, Amazon's Coventry workers are finally getting their union vote, thanks to the GMB union's hard fought battle at the Central Arbitration Committee:

https://www.foxglove.org.uk/2024/04/26/amazon-warehouse-workers-in-coventry-will-vote-on-trade-union-recognition/

And right on schedule, Amazon has once again discovered its incredible facility for ease-of-use. The company has blanketed its shop floor with radioactively illegal "one click to quit the union" QR codes. When a worker aims their phones at the code and clicks the link, the system auto-generates a letter resigning the worker from their union.

As noted, this is totally illegal. English law bans employers from "making an offer to an employee for the sole or main purpose of inducing workers not to be members of an independent trade union, take part in its activities, or make use of its services."

Now, legal or not, this may strike you as a benign intervention on Amazon's part. Why shouldn't it be easy for workers to choose how they are represented in their workplaces? But the one-click system is only half of Amazon's illegal union-busting: the other half is delivered by its managers, who have cornered workers on the shop floor and ordered them to quit their union, threatening them with workplace retaliation if they don't.

This is in addition to more forced "captive audience" meetings where workers are bombarded with lies about what life in an union shop is like.

Again, the contrast couldn't be more stark. If you want to quit a union, Amazon makes this as easy as joining Prime. But if you want to join a union, Amazon makes that even harder than quitting Prime. Amazon has the same attitude to its workers and its customers: they see us all as a resource to be extracted, and have no qualms about tricking or even intimidating us into doing what's best for Amazon, at the expense of our own interests.

The campaigning law-firm Foxglove is representing five of Amazon's Coventry workers. They're doing the lord's work:

https://www.foxglove.org.uk/2024/05/02/legal-challenge-to-amazon-uks-new-one-click-to-quit-the-union-tool/

All this highlights the increasing divergence between the UK and the US when it comes to labor rights. Under the Biden Administration, @NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has promulgated a rule that grants a union automatic recognition if the boss does anything to interfere with a union election:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/06/goons-ginks-and-company-finks/#if-blood-be-the-price-of-your-cursed-wealth

In other words, if Amazon tries these tactics in the USA now, their union will be immediately recognized. Abruzzo has installed an ultra-sensitive tilt-sensor in America's union elections, and if Bezos or his class allies so much as sneeze in the direction of their workers' democratic rights, they automatically lose.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/06/one-click-to-quit-the-union/#foxglove

Image: Isabela.Zanella (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ballot-box-2.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[communistkenobi]

I think if there is 1) massive economic and social pressures intentionally eliminating as much free time people have as possible, 2) every job application portal is built on an automated mysticism software meant to reject as many resumes as possible, 3) mass corporate adoption of AI, 4) continuous international rollbacks of labour laws so your boss can install go-pros on every employee to make sure you aren’t picking your nose on the clock 5) personal concern about the fact that failing to please the automated mysticism job portal means you will lose your housing and/or die, people using AI to generate a resume or an email makes some amount of sense. at this point you just need to simply acknowledge that there are a variety of social and economic pressures incentivising the use of chatGPT for administrative work, and even accepting that 100% of those chatgpt outputs are bad/unusable/whatever, you need to ACKNOWLEDGE that this behaviour is largely an output of these pressures. and you can even still hold onto the belief that this behaviour isn’t making the world better! but like you guys are just straight up conservatives for finger wagging at people while intentionally ignoring these pressures even exist. and over resumes and emails of all things! i hope you all have jobs in some protestant capitalist apologia factory somewhere, I can’t imagine anything more pathetic than saying this shit for free

[vague-humanoid]

In a blatant attack on free speech and due process rights, Yale University suspended international law scholar and pro-Palestinian activist Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi on Tuesday, based on a smear campaign launched by an artificial intelligence-powered Zionist news website called Jewish Onliner.

Doutaghi, an Iranian-born academic who became Deputy Director of the Law and Political Economy (LPE) Project at Yale in 2023 and also held the position of Associate Research Scholar at Yale Law School (YLS), was notified on March 3 of a post on Jewish Onliner that claimed she was a “terrorist.”

YLS did not defend her but proceeded within 24 hours to place Doutaghi on administrative leave, revoked her access to email and banned her from Yale’s campus. The university administration gave her only a few hours’ notice to attend an interrogation based on the far-right Al-generated allegations against her.

@el-shab-hussein @fairuzfan @ubernegro

direct statements from Dr. Helyeh Doutaghi and her lawyer Eric Lee Here and here

[lexiai]

The United Nations First Resolution on Artificial Intelligence