#which is: a deliberate and targeted invasion of my privacy

[dumpsterhipster]

I have so far avoided talking about this publicly because I don't care for airing drama, but today I was shown something that has crossed the line so hard that I can't keep ignoring this weird one-sided feud any longer.

@elfinismsarts, you need to stop.

It's really weird that literally a year and a half after we last interacted you're still holding onto this bizarre idea that every comment or anon you don't like comes from me/my friends, and that I'm spearheading some kind of targeted harassment campaign against you. It's sad that I know you won't believe me when I say I'm not and never have, and that nearly a full year on from your callout post about me, I have much, much better ways to spend my time and energy.

I'm in my thirties. I don't have 'enemies'. I honestly find it a bit embarrassing and juvenile that you do, and that based on your reddit account you're still posting literally every few days about these 'enemies' who--I repeat--haven't interacted with you since 2021.

Until now I was willing to just roll my eyes and ignore it. But I can't ignore that you apparently think it's completely fine and normal to track down my irl socials, identity, habits and family and then post about it publicly with thinly veiled allusions to what you could do with that information if you had malicious intent.

Grow up and go away; it's going to be incredibly sad to have to address this again in another eighteen months otherwise. And if you can't do that, my boyfriend says you could at least buy his album.

Evidence that OP of the screenshot is @/elfinismsarts under the cut.

[fridayyy-13th]

so i am an ardent Sasha James Enjoyer, and as such i very much dislike fanon!Sasha. her personality and character do a near-complete 180 from canon to fanon, making it tough as hell to find fics that don't just make her the Braincell Mom Friend—if she's even featured—and i took that personally. i'm a fic writer, and i have quite a few WIPs bouncing around in my flash drive that feature her in at least some capacity, and i certainly didn't want to add to the pile of fics where Sasha is Like That. so, a while ago i re-listened to every episode she appears in and Compiled A List of Sasha Trivia, just random bits of info that caught my attention that help me keep a clear image of her character in my head. with maybe a little bit of headcanon thrown in there for fun.

so! without further ado: various Sasha notes bc i love her

never had any direct interactions/experiences with the supernatural before the Distortion

afraid of rollercoasters, doesn't like horror

considered herself a skeptic, thought working in the Institute made her moreso

had a "dreary" commute to work, liked peeking through the old warped windows of her building's stairwell bc it made people distort like a funhouse mirror

a bit of a pedant (calliope)

was more sympathetic towards Martin than the other two were after he gave his first statement in 022, felt bad for him being the target of Jon's ire

sososo curious, to the point it can overpower fear

deliberately didn't tell Jon about her initial encounter with the Distortion bc she knew he'd try to discourage her from going, which she'd already decided to do (stubborn)

of course, followed the Distortion (a whole-ass monster) to a cemetery in the dead of night without telling anyone about it

(she did so because it sounded like it knew a way to save Jon's, Tim's, and Martin's lives, and in the wake of Prentiss targeting Martin, she decided she couldn't take that chance)

"without thinking" she figured out how to kill the worms using CO2. i like to think that was some Knowing right there

Jon considered her the most "level-headed" of the team, and trusted her to be telling the truth

was the one to ask if Jon was okay after being caught off-guard by his surprise party (and was also the one who said it was "kind of fun, giving you a heart attack")

knew Jon was lying about his age, knew about Martin's CV (goes through her coworkers' files)

despite having hacked her way into said confidential files, she considered being recorded during Jon's birthday party an invasion of privacy

bullied Tim into stapling statements that one time

Tim was more outwardly upset by Jon's being promoted instead of Sasha than she was. she knew if she said anything about it she'd just wind up in trouble, so she kept her mouth shut

had been in academia for ten years by the time the Archives transfer occurred

knew about Danny and the reasons Tim joined the Institute

didn't think there was such a thing as a "real you," save for the actions one takes. considered everything else a mask put on for others

was dead-sure (and was correct in thinking that) Gertrude kept the Archives a mess for a reason, and was concerned about what the reason could be

and that's about all! alas it would have been wonderful if we'd gotten the chance to learn more about her, but given she's only in six episodes, some only for a moment, she really is jam-packed full of character and life. i love her so much.

[rightfulcaptxin]

Five times + vulnerable

Send me ‘five times + a word’ and I’ll write a drabble about our muses based on it. | Not Accepting | @captaindashingrapscallion

Anger, the knee-jerk reaction he had to any kind of invasion of his privacy, had rapidly dwindled into a kind of shame the moment he saw the look in Killian’s eyes, and knew he hadn’t hidden it quick enough. There was pain there, and an anger of his own. As his fellow sailor reached out a hand to him, Edward let his shirt fall from his grasp, his head turned away. May as well let him see, now. The damage has already been done.

Killian’s fingers traced the old scars upon his back, the permanent reminders of the hard life he had suffered through whilst growing up. How many lashings had he taken throughout those years? He had stopped counting a long time ago. But it wasn’t just the whip that had marred his skin for eternity - blades and boots alike had left their marks upon him. 

No one else aboard his ship knew of his past. He had told no one that he had been a slave, forced to work until his hands bled, starved and shamed, beaten by a cycle of cruel masters and even crueller crews. That life was behind him, and that was where it would stay.

“Edward…” But now here was a man who knew. As gentle hands guided him to meet Killian’s gaze, he resigned himself to being a source of pity for the one person he could actually stand on this ship. “I am so sorry…” But it wasn’t pity he saw in Killian’s eyes. It was empathy. He knew at once that Killian had suffered a similar fate, that he understood what it was like to live through it. His anger, his shame, fizzled out at once, replaced instead by an overwhelming sense of relief.

At last, here was someone he could trust.

—

Later, he would blame the rum.

A great many things he could blame on one too many, and luckily enough this moment of weakness could easily fall within those parameters. He was merely thankful that it was just the two of them - so the only person to tell the tale was a man he could trust to keep his mouth shut.

“Captain.” He murmured, voice only a little slurred from the alcohol. “That is the end goal for me.” Beside him, Killian took a swig from the flask, before passing it back to him. “I promised myself, back when I was shivering under threadbare blankets amongst the rats, that one day I would hold command of my own ship. That is the kind of freedom I dreamed of.”

“I know the feeling.” They were both squeezed onto the narrow cot in his little cabin, the space so minimal that they were sat shoulder-to-shoulder, their legs partially tangled together in an effort to use up all available space. It wasn’t the most comfortable position in the world, but it was private, and that was what mattered most. “Li and I… we swore we would get out, and never look back.” Killian tipped his head back, and grinned. “I reckon you would make a good captain, Ed.”

“You think?” Ed smirked, pausing to take a swig from the flask. “Maybe you should get your brother to whisper a few good words in the right ears, then. Bastards in charge continue to overlook me, as always. Why promote a man like me when they can promote someone with appropriate breeding?” He scoffed at that, shaking his head. 

“It will happen, just you wait.” Killian’s hand reached over, and lightly patted his leg. “Then maybe I will be your Leftenant, and we can still sail together.” He closed his eyes, and smiled. “I think I would like that.”

“Yeah?” Ed mirrored his smile. “I think I would like that too.” If there was a slight quickening in his heart at hearing Killian say so, he tried his hardest to ignore it. Yet something pulled at him then, something that couldn’t be denied - and before he knew quite what he was doing, his hand had sought Killian’s, his fingers smoothly interlocking with his. 

It could have been his imagination, but he swore he felt Killian’s hand give his a subtle squeeze.

—

When the alarm had been raised of an intruder on the decks of the ship, Edward had been ready for a battle. What he hadn’t been ready for was the sight of one Killian Jones, haggard and ragged, pain and agony written clearly across his handsome face. Ed had sheathed his sword before he’d even taken a single step towards him, and he had his arms out ready when Killian staggered into them. 

It was only when he had steered the other man safely into the privacy of his cabin that he even registered that Killian was missing a hand. 

“She… is gone.” Killian gasped the words out, as if they caused him great pain. Settling him on the edge of his bed, Ed was shocked to see tears swimming in Killian’s eyes. “Taken from me. I… I cannot…”

“Hush, hush…” He lifted a hand, brushing away a stray tear as it slipped down Killian’s cheek. “Let me get you a drink. I have some of the good stuff locked in my desk.” He turned, intending to fetch the rum, but fingers closed around his wrist and held him in place. 

“No, I…” Killian shook his head, looking up at him with pleading eyes. Gone was the pirate he had become - instead, Ed felt as though he was looking again at the sailor he had once been. “I just need…” He choked out a sob, his hand tightening on Ed’s sleeve. “I needed someone who understands. Just stay with me, Ed. Please?”

Ed nodded, moving to sit beside him on the bed. Killian slumped at once against him, and wordlessly he encircled his arms about him, and held him as he gave in at last, great sobs shaking his whole body as he cried. 

—

Although he would certainly be having strong words with Caesar once this was all over, Edward was secretly rather grateful that his quartermaster had brought Killian to him. If there was anyone he was comfortable with seeing him in this state, it was his old friend. 

“Bloody hell.” Killian muttered, staring down at him where he lay upon his bed. “What happened to you? It looks like someone-,”

“Tried to kill me? What a shock.” Ed cut in sharply. He gave a nod to Caesar, who hurried from the cabin to guard the door. A weakened pirate captain was a tempting target to lesser men. The fewer people who knew he was compromised, the better. 

“Must be that charming personality of yours.” Killian knelt beside the bed, leaning over to get a better look at the wound. He carefully peeled away the fabric of his shirt with the tip of his hook, brows knitting together in a frown as he inspected the damage. “How did this even happen?”

“You never used to ask such stupid questions.” Ed pushed himself more upright, wincing at the fresh pain that speared through him at the movement. His harshly barked words were partially due to the agony he felt, but also served to cover up a truth he didn’t want to yet face. He didn’t want Killian to know it had been deliberate, that he had been increasingly tempting fate in the heat of battle. He couldn’t explain that without arousing suspicion - and right now he didn’t want his old friend to know that he had been foolish enough to get himself cursed. “Will you just help me? I cannot patch this up by myself.”

“Well, since you asked so nicely.” Killian rolled his eyes, rising to his feet to fetch the necessary supplies. “Still keep that good rum in your desk? We might need it.”

“If you use it to sterilise the wound I might find the strength to kill you.” When Killian returned, he had the bottle tucked under one arm. He knelt, uncorking it with his teeth before passing it to him.

“Drink. This is going to hurt like a bitch.” He waited until Ed had taken a generous swig, and then studied his face. “Did you send Caesar for me?”

“No.” Ed replied instantly, but then both his tone and his expression softened. “But if there was anyone I would trust to see me at my most vulnerable… it is you.” A moment passed between them, one of memory and acknowledgement. Then Ed smirked. “So he does things right on occasion. Now stitch me up before I bleed out. If I die, I will haunt your ship.” Killian grinned back at him.

“Trying to steal my ship even in death? Persistent, I will give you that…”

—

He had watched Killian grow from a fresh-faced young sailor to a hardened pirate, watched him suffer loss and heartache and succumb to the darkness in his heart time and time again. He had been one of the few constants in the other man’s life, both a reminder of days long past and a symbol of the freedom they both sought to maintain. 

They had been friends, they had been rivals, and they had been enemies. Often, a strange mix of all three at once. Theirs was a relationship that few could understand - and few ever tried. They were simply Killian Jones and Edward Teach. Captains whose lives would be forever entwined together. They could count over two hundred years together. There were very few in this world who could claim the same.

And for two hundred years, Edward had loved him. 

He had wondered, once, if Killian knew - but it seemed not. Telling him was out of the question. It would serve no purpose except the potential to make things awkward, and so he kept his silence. He continued to act as friend and confidant, to be the stability Killian needed in a world which continued to take and take from him. That was enough for him.

When Killian came to him on his boat in Storybrooke’s harbour - and hadn’t that been an experience? - Ed had expected nothing more than another instance of Killian needing a safe space to vent his emotions to someone who understood him best, particularly now that he was surrounding himself with hero-types who might not fully get the morally-grey area they both existed within.

So, when - after some hurried ramblings about Charming and true love that Ed could only half follow - his old friend caught him by the lapels of his jacket and hauled him into a kiss, Ed hadn’t quite known how to react. 

“I’ve been a fool.” Killian murmured, hands now lifting to frame Ed’s face. “I didn’t see it until now, until I saw what they have, what I could have had all these years…” He looked up into those stormy grey-green eyes, and smiled. “You never said. Two hundred years, and you never said. You watched me go through all those casual flings, you watched me fall in love with Milah, and you never once gave any hint…”

“Maybe I knew you’d find me in the end.” Ed murmured, his own hands finding purchase on Killian’s waist. “Or maybe I was content enough to be at your side all those years. Truthfully? I never once thought you could love me in return.”

“Ed… you are the only one who knows me. The real me.” Killian smiled, shaking his head. “How could I not?”

[marleahsblogs]

Republic Act 10175 Cybercrime Prevention Act

Cybercrime, also known as computer crime, is the use of a computer as a tool to achieve illegal goals such as fraud, human trafficking, child pornography, intellectual property infringement, identity theft, or privacy violations. As computers have become more important in business, entertainment, and government, cybercrime has risen in prominence. The use of a digital computer separates cybercrime from conventional criminal behavior. It is a continuation of existing criminal conduct as well as some new illicit acts. The majority of cybercrime involves an attack on personal, corporate, or government information. Although the assaults do not target physical bodies, they do target personal or corporate virtual bodies, which are the collection of informational properties that characterize persons and entities on the internet.

REPUBLIC ACT 10175

At this point, I'll discuss my understanding of the Republic Act 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. On September 12, 2012, President Benigno Aquino signed this act. Its main objective was to make penalize cybersex, child pornography, identity theft, and unwanted electronic communication illegal in the country. Its goal is to solve legal concerns regarding online interactions and the internet in the Philippines. Specifically, section 4 of R.A. 10175 penalizes three main categories of cybercrime offenses: offenses against confidentiality, integrity, and availability of computer data and systems. Second, are computer-related offenses. Third, are content-related offenses. While section 5 of the Act enumerates the other offenses. Exclusively handled violations and post-appropriate penalties, two government agencies are assigned according to section 10. And these are the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police. Although the R.A. 10175 faces issues in containing broad policies, let us remember that there is a law that punishes unlawful acts online.

REASONS TO FOLLOW R.A. 10175

1. The Number of Cybercrimes is Getting Higher As many as 87% of Filipino internet users were identified as victims of crimes and malicious activities committed online. These people are victimized by malware invasion, online phishing scams, and sexual predation. It is a serious number. And if you consider 2017’s statistics, the Philippines had 15.77M internet users which are even projected to grow to 57.84M by 2022. This shows how necessary this law should be followed. 2. Decrease Victims of Cybercrimes As many as 87 percent of Filipino internet users have been recognized as victims of online crimes and harmful activities. These are the folks who have been the victims of virus infestation, internet phishing schemes, and sexual predation. It is a significant figure. In 2017, the Philippines had 15.77 million internet users, a figure that is expected to rise to 57.84 million by 2022. This shows how much of a mess we are in. 3. Be an Exemplary to our Fellow Filipinos against Cybercrimes There are around 76 million internet users who primarily use social media and spend an average of 4 hours and 12 minutes each day on the internet. With the growing number of Filipino internet users now and in the coming years, the number of cybercrimes has also increased. To counter this situation, individuals who have awareness of the Cybercrime Law should set examples in avoiding cybercrimes as well as avoid getting victimized. We should be a model and responsible digital citizen who respects, defends, and acknowledges the privacy of others both online and offline.

EXAMPLES OF VIOLATIONS

Offenses against confidentiality, integrity, and availability of computer data systems include illegal access, illegal interception, data interference, system interference, misuse of devices, and cybersquatting. Computer-related offenses include computer-related forgery, computer-related fraud, and computer-related theft. For content-related offenses include cybersex, cybersex, child pornography, unsolicited commercial communications, and libel. Below are definitions of some of the most common violations of R.A. 10175. 1. Identity theft is the deliberate use of someone else’s identity, usually as a method to gain a financial advantage or obtain credit and other benefits in the other person’s name. And perhaps to the other person’s disadvantage or loss.

2. Child pornography is pornography that exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with direct involvement or sexual assault of a child. Or it may be simulated child pornography. Abuse of the child occurs during the sexual acts or lascivious exhibitions of genitals or pubic areas which are recorded in the production of child pornography.

3. Cybersex, also known as computer sex, is a cybersex encounter in which two or more persons linked remotely through a computer network transmit sexually explicit messages describing a sexual experience to each other. Individuals found guilty of cybersex risk a six-year to a twelve-year prison sentence or a fine of at least 200,000 but no more than one million dollars.

4. Cybersquatting is the practice of registering, trafficking in, or using an internet domain name with the bad faith aim of profiting from the goodwill of someone else's trademark.

Cybercrime laws in general are very important. Everything that happens online happens in the real world; it's simply dispersed among a number of physical locations. Extortion is performed by a real-life criminal at a real-life place, and there is a real-life victim somewhere in the real world. Cybercrime laws, as well as civil laws relevant to Cyberspace, address the unique issues that occur when the ingredients of a crime are dispersed across several places due to the nature of technology. The RA 10175 aims to resolve all legal concerns related to online transactions, and it is our responsibility as citizens to follow it for the betterment of our society.

[nettlestonenell]

@jammeke and I might be having a little nervous breakdown about The Babymakers: Fertile Ground, a wholly fake and not at all going to happen romantic comedy starring Chris Pine and Lucy Griffiths as two wildly attractive people thrown together following some shenanigans at a Toronto fertility clinic.

“Ms. Covington—“ began the lawyer, looking efficient and, in fact, preoccupied (though he was trying his best to hide it).

Perhaps that was how all high-end lawyers looked, she thought. As though they were at present desperately needed elsewhere. “Please, call me Ada. It makes me feel like less of a criminal.”

“Oh, certainly. Certainly! There is no question about your part in this, Ms.—Ada. Your actions have been perfectly legal and above-board. Our client, the Clinic, in no way would wish you to think—“

She interrupted. “You must excuse me, you said we needed to meet, so I have driven into the city to learn whatever it is that could not be dealt with over the telephone. If you could cut to the chase, we are at shearing the alpacas today, and it’s really something of an event at the farm--?”

“We needed to meet to discuss a new, unexpected development,” he said. “Your parking, of course, will be validated. And we would be delighted to provide you with lunch.” There was a pause, during which she did not thank him. “Someone, we believe at the clinic, has leaked Donor #879’s confidential profile.”

“What, his medical records? His test results?”

“His everything,” said the legal clerk that generally occupied the same room as the lawyer, but like a servant on some British costume drama, never spoke, save in hushed tones to the lawyer, and that very seldom.

“Why, that’s horrible, that’s…invasion of privacy. Certainly that must be illegal!” The clerk slid her the document. “What is—why, should I even be looking at this?” She looked at it.

“It’s a matter of public record, now,” the lawyer, as always, sounded eminently reasonable. “And yes, it was an illegal action that will be prosecuted once the source of the leak is discovered.”

She continued to look at it, though not deliberately. “Why, it’s everything but his picture!”

“And that will join it soon enough once TMZ hunts him down.”

Ada’s was distracted, reading through the profile. “Good heavens,” she said under her breath, finding the test scores, the volunteer history, the CV hard to believe. “What, does he also drive a Bugati?”

The legal clerk answered, her tones half-hushed, “actually, he drives a Volkswagen he converted to run off used cooking oil…” The lawyer gives the clerk a stern look.

“Crew, of course!” said Ada, coming to the Athletic section of the profile. “Of course he rowed at university. Di-Did you read this?” she asked the lawyer, “this reads like—like—“

“Every ovulating woman’s fantasy football team rolled into the body of one man?” The legal clerk finishes it for her, earning another hard look from the lawyer.

The lawyer cleared his throat. “He is the top requested donor among the clinic’s clientele seven years and running.”

“I can’t even read the title listed here for his last book.”

“It’s in Dutch,” the law clerk interjected helpfully, her voice half a whisper.

“Dutch?”

“Presumably, the explanation for that is a long story, it’s something about eighteenth century agrarian practices as depicted in the literature of the time--?” the lawyer replied, trying to brush off the detour the meeting had taken. “Nevertheless, we have called you here—“

“To show me,” Ada consulted the paper, finding the name, “Conrad Bierkut’s dossier?”

“No, not at all Ms.—Ada. But to warn you that if #879’s confidential profile has been leaked, it is to be expected that yours will no doubt shortly follow.”

Color rose up on her cheeks. “But what of Garrett—what of my parents?”

A bar, around happy hour. Nearby a university, but an establishment that caters more to faculty than students.

“Well if it isn’t old #879,” says a forty-ish man seated at a table, glass in front of him.

Conrad rolls his eyes, “buy a fella a drink before you call him names like that.”

He takes a seat at the table with his friend Mick.

Mick consults a screen on his phone. “You do look more than a little impressive on paper, Dr. Bierkut,” he says, snarkily. “I’ll give that to you. Do you reckon getting ‘outed’ like this is gonna make women more or less likely to date you? Knowing they could get your ‘high quality’ stuff for free?”

Conrad rolls his eyes. “You always were a sweet talker, Mick.” He takes a drink on the beer that has arrived. He doesn’t look too worn out, but he is a little less talkative than usual.

“I’m not usually glad mom’s gone on,” he says, “But in this case, probably for the best.” He raised his glass to the air in front of him.

“You don’t think she’d handle the news too well?”

He gives Mick the side-eye. “She always wanted grandchildren. It was all she could talk about from the day Julie and I got married—well past the day Julie served me with papers. That, and with what her priest would have to say about it? No. Susan Bierkut would not have handled this news at all well.”

“Internet’s having a field day with it.”

“Always glad to help out.” Conrad toasted with his pilsner.

“You shouldn’t feel too lonely, Connie. Looks like they’ve leaked Female #B34’s as well.” He flashed his screen at Conrad before turning it back to further peruse it.

“I wonder whose documents they paid more for?” Conrad asked the air in front of him, without sounding truly interested.

“They haven’t got a photo to go with it yet, but here she is in black and white—“ Mick told him. “You’ve never met her, not even with all this legal wrangling?”

“The lawyers were trying to preserve our privacy.”

“So much for that. Suppose you two can meet, now. But don’t take her out for steak.”

“Howzat?”

“Vegan, going on fifteen years. Eats nothing but organic. Little high count on the cholesterol, even so.”

“Great. Great news, Mick. Good to know.”

“Says here she’s currently pursuing locating her birth parents in order to provide more accuracy in her family medical history.”

“So she’s adopted.”

“Looks like. Owns and operates her own business. Phi Beta Kappa. Plays bass viol at competition level. Archery team captain at uni.”

“Vio—what?”

“Larger-sized stringed instrument.” Mick shrugs. “Just tryin’ to acquaint you with your baby mama.”

“She is not my baby mama,” it’s starting to get to Conrad now. He’s paying less attention to his drink.

“Well, she’s that baby’s mama. And you’re it’s Poppa. So that has to make her your something.”

Conrad has moved to try and sift through the stack of books, manuscripts, and student papers he brought into the bar along with his satchel. It is a frustrating task, as the pile is constantly trying to get away from him and flutter thud to the floor. ”It makes her another person named in this outlandish legal—whatever. It puts a target on her back, same as mine.”

“Yeah, nevermind,” Mick commiserates. “She’s probably some dried-up, flax-seed loving, ‘no don’t eat that, no don’t wear that, no don’t buy that thing you want from that corporation, what’s the internet’ buzz kill who took the money that clinic paid her to raise six thousand vegetarian cats.”

Trying to right the pile on the table before him one final time, Conrad dissented, “Uh, I don’t have anything against flax seed—“

“Or not,” Mick looked more closely at his screen. “They’ve just posted her photo.” He flashes it to Conrad, who grabs it away from him, with intent to power it down.

“Cut it ou—“ his eyes inadvertently go to the on-screen image. “Aw, man,” he shakes his head, as too late he has seen the image.

Mick whistles. “That’s gotta be one pretty little baby.” 

*There may also be a scene in the script at a point following this where Conrad and Ada get stuck in an elevator on their way to see the lawyers (separately) and they spend the whole time trying to pretend they don’t know who the other is.

[sallysklar]

Diane Ravitch's Blog: National Education Policy Center is Leaving Facebook

Diane Ravitch's Blog: National Education Policy Center is Leaving Facebook

I deactivated my two Facebook accounts last week. I am not alone.

This happened today:

Key Takeaway: Facebook’s benefits are overwhelmed by problems inherent in its business model, its failure to safeguard personal information, and its lack of transparency and accountability.

Find Documents: Press Release: http://nepc.info/node/9115

Contact: Kevin Welner: (303) 492-8370, kevin.welner@colorado.edu Alex Molnar: (480) 797-7261, nepc.molnar@gmail.com

Learn More: NEPC Resources on School Commercialism

BOULDER, CO (March 27, 2018) – The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) will delete its Facebook account on Wednesday March 28. We have already removed social sharing via Facebook from the NEPC website and our other communication tools.

While Facebook has many benefits, we feel compelled to disassociate ourselves from the invasive data mining and the third-party targeting of users inherent in its business model. The goal of the NEPC is to provide high-quality information in support of democratic deliberation. Deceitful micro-targeted propaganda is made possible by Facebook data and undermines democracy. Our reading of the evidence and record tells us that neither Facebook nor any other opaque, unregulated, and unaccountable private entity should have control over the private data of billions of people. Whatever services are provided by the Facebook platform are overwhelmed by Facebook’s business model, its lack of transparency, its failure to safeguard the personal information of its users, and its lack of accountability.

NEPC annual reports on Schoolhouse Commercialism have highlighted the intensifying surveillance culture and other dangers to student privacy in the digital age, and Facebook has emerged as a primary culprit. It would be disingenuous for us to use Facebook to promote those reports and other NEPC work.

We don’t pretend that this was an easy step. Communication of research lies at the heart of NEPC’s mission, and social media are a big part of communications—with Facebook positioned as a dominant social media platform. Last month, NEPC’s “Schools of Opportunity” project benefited hugely from a short video that went viral on Facebook, garnering over a million views.

Yet the more we learned about Facebook’s data gathering , and in particular the Cambridge Analytica scandal , the more we couldn’t avoid the conclusion that Facebook’s benefits are far outweighed by its dangers. Facebook is designed in ways that are inherently troubling. As Facebook’s first president warned, “God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains .” He disclosed that Facebook was designed to create a “social validation feedback loop” that we now know does indeed alter brain chemistry by triggering dopamine hits each time a posting is liked. And marketers are taking full advantage .

Consider also this passage from a recent article in The Guardian (internal links included):

That Silicon Valley parents use the money they earn from tech to send their children to tech-free schools is no secret. But such qualms have not stopped the tech companies themselves from continuing to push their products on to other people’s children, both through partnerships with school districts and special apps for children as young as six.

In January 2018, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood sent Mark Zuckerberg a letter , signed by over 100 child advocates, educators, and experts in child development, requesting that Facebook discontinue its Messenger Kids app for children. A growing body of research demonstrates that excessive use of digital devices and social media is harmful to children and teens, making it likely that this new app—designed to encourage greater use of digital devices and social media among children—will undermine children’s healthy development. Facebook continues to promote Messenger Kids.

This problem is much larger than Facebook, but we cannot use that fact to justify inaction. We cannot, in good conscience, continue to lend tacit support to Facebook. NEPC has concluded that encouraging our readers to provide information that will be used by Facebook and its clients to tailor and limit information to which our readers will then be exposed contradicts our defined organizational mission, which is to support democratic deliberation about education policy.

We at NEPC encourage other education organizations to consider whether they too should delete their Facebook accounts, and we call upon policy makers to develop policies that provide strict public oversight of social media platforms.

Schools and Digital Platforms

NEPC’s own publications describe how digital platforms work through schools to pull children into the surveillance economy—an unregulated economy that these platforms have worked to construct and from which they benefit financially. “Students are offered no choice,” explains Faith Boninger, co-author with Alex Molnar of NEPC’s commercialism reports. As one student told Boninger and Molnar, “I can’t delete my Facebook account. My school activities have Facebook groups that I have to access. Maybe I can delete my account when I graduate.”

Molnar, who is NEPC’s Publications Director, warns that “students are tied to Facebook by their school-related activities, and they unwillingly and usually unwittingly provide Facebook with information that is used to limit what they are exposed to on-line and funnel them to worldviews that will reward Facebook’s clients.”

Boninger and Molnar add that their research has shown that digital platforms being promoted for school use are neither well understood by educators nor adequately regulated by existing policy and law. Says Molnar, “the kind of abuses inherent in Facebook’s business model, management structure, and lack of transparency are, without question, also occurring in schools and classrooms every day via social networks and digital platforms.”

Learn more about NEPC research on digital marketing and data gathering in schools at http://nepc.colorado.edu/ceru-home.

The following organizations also have resources on data gathering from children and in schools: Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood , Center for Digital Democracy , Electronic Frontier Foundation , Electronic Privacy Information Center , and the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy .

We encourage people to distribute this announcement as widely as possible and to continue to share the work of the National Education Policy Center with others.

elaine March 27, 2018

Source

Diane Ravitch’s Blog

Diane Ravitch's Blog: National Education Policy Center is Leaving Facebook published first on https://buyessayscheapservice.tumblr.com/

[symbianosgames]

Deep Dive is an ongoing Gamasutra series with the goal of shedding light on specific design, art, or technical features within a video game, in order to show how seemingly simple, fundamental design decisions aren't really that simple at all.

Check out earlier installments, including creating believable crowds in Planet Coaster, evolving stealth detection in Shadow Tactics, and creating the intricate level design of Dishonored 2's Clockwork Mansion.

Most recently, I shipped Watch Dogs 2 where I acted as principle programmer for the Invasion of Privacy missions. As well, I co-presented “Nuts and Bolts: Modular AI From the Ground Up” at the 2016 GDC AI Summit, and I share an article with Kevin Dill in the upcoming Game AI Pro 3. Before that, I received my Ph.D. from McGill University where I studied Model-Driven Development of AI for Games. I am currently working on an unannounced project.

In the original Watch_Dogs, there was a type of side mission called ‘Privacy Invasion’. It allowed you to hack into cameras and covertly watch NPCs interacting with the world. NPC behavior was expressed through brief cut-scenes that showed domestic incidents or quirkier slices of life. ‘Privacy Invasion’ was popular, but limited as the feature lacked gameplay.

In Watch Dogs 2, the goal was to add gameplay to these scenes. The player would be able to hack cameras, computers, and other electronics in the room. NPCs would then react to these events in a way that expressed a narrative, thereby providing a more engaging experience for the player. Our aim was to deliver these missions at cinematic quality – fully motion captured with seamless branching.

We wanted to dramatically improve the immersion of Privacy Invasion missions. Calling it Invasion of Privacy 2.0, our goal was to empower the player by allowing them to affect and control the outcome of these scenes by hacking at any point.

In this article, I will describe some of the technical challenges and design decisions that drove development of the Invasion of Privacy feature in Watch Dogs 2. Areas of focus will include managing branching scenarios, motion capture challenges, controlling NPC state, maintaining dialog flow, and NPC coordination.

An Invasion of Privacy [IOP] mission begins when player hacks into a junction box. The player’s view is put into a camera in the scene, allowing them to view the contents of the room and the NPCs within. The player can look around with the camera, profile the characters and hackables to learn more about them, and switch cameras to get a different view.

Gameplay is advanced by hacking objects in the scene. For instance, the final beat of the ‘Whistleblower’ IOP features a man driven to suicide by a blackmail attempt. You can hack his phone in an attempt to connect him to help. However, if you only hack his phone, the people you contact will literally put him over the edge. If you hack his laptop and find evidence of the blackmail, you can then hack his phone to instead connect him to a journalist and ultimately save his life.

[embedded content]

The behavior of each IOP was designed in detail in a mission design document. This was an essential step in communicating the flow, as well as spotting potential failure points. For instance, what is the correct behavior if the phone is hacked while the computer was downloading? In IOPs with heavy branching or multiple simultaneous options, putting the desired flow on paper was a vital step.

Motion Capture vs. Systemic: Early on, we faced a significant decision point. Should we aim for cinematic quality by motion capturing the entire scene including all branches, or should we take a more systemic approach by employing existing walk cycles and object interaction animations? This proved to be a major inflection point for the development of IOPs. I’ve summarized the pros and cons of motion capture in the below table, with the pros and cons of a systemic approach essentially being the exact opposite.

  While we knew that systemic animations would be the easiest and cheapest option, there was one compelling reason that made the decision: in many IOPs, the narrative suited having a camera placed immediately in front of the NPC for a close-up shot. At that range, there are no acceptable ways to fake NPC facial movement and lip-sync. Even generic body movements, which are fine at distance, fail to hold up when the NPC is too close and instead come off as being robotic and unnatural.

Ultimately, we chose quality and decided to fully motion capture all IOPs. While this created significant challenges, tackling these allowed us to achieve an excellent outcome. Among other things, this meant that each and every IOP had to be planned out in exacting detail in order to capture all possible branches and combinations. When it came to motion capture day, we had to be 100% ready, with a clear understanding of each individual shot, the role it played in the IOP, and how it flowed in the scene.

Managing Branching: Our target on the gameplay side was to allow the player to branch the scene at any point - full interactivity! While a noble goal, it proved to be impossible for several reasons, which we’ll illustrate through an example. In the ‘Always On’ IOP, a teenage girl is dancing in her room, and the player can turn off the lights and change the music. This interrupts and annoys her, and she races to fix the music and lights before resuming her dance.

[embedded content]

The problem is this: what do we do when a hack occurs while she is partway through a movement? In a systemic IOP, we could play the same reaction at any spot and blend from reaction to movement. However, this breaks down when the NPC is close to the destination, because using systemic starts and stops becomes more challenging. Since we are using full motion capture, it is even harder, since the blend seams would be extremely obvious.

The answer is to engage in some subterfuge. Each animation is short, and starts and ends from the same idle pose. By chunking out each animation, we can defer reactions to the start of the next animation. Look again at the dance fail image: notice how the girl reacts quickly, moves quickly, fixes the music quickly, and so on. This short duration was intentional, and allowed us to minimize the maximum delay between a hack and reaction (approximately 1 second at most). The video below shows two rapid hacks, and the girl does both reactions before moving to fix her room.

[embedded content]

This approach provides ample reactivity while allowing the player to initiate hacks at any point, but provides well-defined manage branch locations. Indeed, this pose-matching approach formed the cornerstone of our animation approach. Each motion capture clip starts in the pose that matches the end-pose of the branch that took us there. If there are multiple branches that lead to a point, they all have to end in the same pose, and all animations starting at that point have to begin from that pose. While smoothing out the pose-matching took considerable work on the part of the animators, it left us free to smoothly stitch together disparate animations at run-time in the order dictated by the player’s interactions.

Reactions from an idle followed standard gameplay conventions. We kept our idles controlled and limited foot and hip movement. Reactions from idle deliberately involved lots of upper body movement. The movement made it very hard to notice the small blend we applied, and the stationary lower body prevented foot sliding. This made it possible to smoothly branch out of idles, such as the main dance loop in ‘Always On’.

Structuring NPC Behavior: With such a strict requirement on poses and durations, NPC behavior required a clear structure. The intent of this was to provide ample room to design and narrative, allowing them to create a compelling scene without exploding the complexity of the branching and pose matching. We called our structure ‘emotional-escalation’, and it provided a guideline that we used throughout the project.

Each hack would increase the emotional intensity of the scene. For example, if a hack annoyed a character in the scene, each subsequent hack would make the character angrier. It provided predictability for the player, and a clear model for design. In ‘Always On’, the first hack annoyed the girl, the second made her angry, and the final one caused a melt-down. Depending on the scene, there could be interactions between various hacks. For example, we have the following escalation for ‘Always On’:

  Each reaction usually consisted of a simple cycle: React -> Restore -> Resume. The NPC would react to the hack (usually with a large reaction that allowed for blending from any pose with the same foot/hip arrangement), restore the state of the scene, and then resume their previous behavior. This could involve movement.

Early on, this structure was useful as it gave us a behavioral design framework. Once we became more comfortable, we became more malleable in our approach. Some hacks would cause a reaction and restore, but the NPC would move to a different base state that advanced the scene. Sometimes the NPC would skip the restore, and so on.

Statefulness in IOPs: In general, stateful animations were a major risk. Imagine an NPC picks up an object, and then as luck would have it, the player triggers a branch at that exact moment. If we allow the branch, then we need to have an animation that includes the object. If the player had hacked a moment earlier, then the NPC might not have picked up the object and so an animation without the object is also needed. This continues down the line – if the player keeps hacking, then the entire rest of the IOP needs to handle that object. The net effect of allowing a state-change divergence is that the amount of motion capture required is effectively doubled.

We found three useful solutions to this challenge:

1. All Roads Lead to Rome: If an NPC undergoes a state change in one path, then all possible paths need to do the same. The player is funneled back to a consistent state. The video below shows the NPC changing state by removing his headset. What we guarantee is that all other paths through the IOP will also result in him removing his headset, leaving the state consistent for the ending.

[embedded content]

2. Quick Like a Bunny: The NPC changes state, acts quickly, then goes back to the original state. No Branching is possible during these brief, stateful periods.

3. Noise? What Noise?: We limit the scope of reactions while the state change is active. The narrative is designed so that, during a stateful action, it makes sense for the NPCs to not react to stimuli. In this video, the NPCs are ignoring the mask, so hacks have no effect.

[embedded content]

In a typical cinematic, expositional dialog is a core tool in expressing narrative. The exact ordering of the scene (including speech interruptions) is planned out in the script. Since there are no surprises, the writer can easily ensure that all the important narrative beats are hit. The situation is different in IOPs – the writer can no longer make strong assumptions about ordering and narrative flow. This doesn’t obviate the need for a strong narrative, and so we needed to come up with a narrative structure that was resilient to branching.

Dialog was the single largest challenge. For dialog flow to make sense, the writers needed to know when certain beats were hit. A simple solution is that if a dialog line gets interrupted, just replay it to ensure narrative flow. This came off as too ‘video-gamey’ and felt very artificial. Alternatively, we could skip to the next line, but then we risk losing too much context and skipping narrative beats. Instead, we decided to be clever about how narrative was arranged.

Take the following exchange from the ‘Child’s Play’ IOP where one NPC is trying to make a sale:

COLE: Prices are going up, Grizz.

COLE: This is exclusive material I'm providing.

The purpose of this block is to establish that Cole is taking an aggressive bargaining position. The remainder of the scene involves Grizz trying to get the price lower. If the line about prices going up is skipped, then the scene becomes muddled. Our solution to this was to introduce the concept of a Point of No Return (PONR). Each dialog block was given a PONR, set no more than 1.5 seconds after the beginning of the block:

COLE: Prices are going up (PONR), Grizz.

COLE: This is exclusive material I'm providing.

The key concept is that the main narrative beat of the dialog block had to be front loaded and placed before the PONR. After the narrative team performed rewrites to follow that pattern, the functionality becomes straight-forward. If a branch is triggered before the PONR, repeat the entire dialog – the player has not heard enough of it to make the repeat feel artificial. If we branch after the PONR, skip the remainder – the player has heard what they need to hear.

After reactions, we needed to smooth out the rejoin from the reaction to the main dialog. Each reaction ended with a rejoin that was pose matched to the default dialog pose. Included in this was a generic rejoin dialog:

COLE: Lost my fucking train of thought...

GRIZZ: You were talking about bankrupting me...

COLE: Yeah, yeah, yeah...

*resume* current dialog block from PONR or skip to next block

[embedded content]

Now, not every IOP expressed narrative through continuous dialog. Interactions that were not tied to NPCs provided an alternate vehicle for narrative. In the ‘Condemned’ IOP, there was a phone that could be hacked to play a message. Once triggered, this would play the message in its entirety, regardless of the other hacks that were taking place. Profile cards were also a good location to place narrative information.

Of course, the sledgehammer approach was to prevent branching entirely. It restricts gameplay and was always the choice of last resort, but by using this sparingly, it allowed certain critical sections of the narrative to be expressed in an uninterruptable format. Mechanically, it meant either locking out the player from triggering a branch, or having the NPCs ignore hacks during that time. We did this during the finale of each IOP, for example, allowing narrative to create proper conclusions to the scene without worrying about branching possibilities.

The final piece of the puzzle was ensuring that all NPCs could react in a coordinated fashion. This means that NPCs needed to react as a group to incoming stimuli, and that animations and positions be correctly synchronized in case of sync animations.

We developed a NPC system that was block-based and event driven. Essentially, this system drove the animations for each NPC, and determined the next appropriate behavior based on the current block and the incoming event.As well, it used a simple blackboard system to track the state of the scene. For example, the emotional escalation system used in many IOPs was tracked on this blackboard. In ‘Always On’, this allowed us to determine if a hack should cause an irritated reaction, an escalated reaction, or trigger the climax. We could then trigger the NPC group to perform the appropriate block. Blocks handled the timing for each animation start and finish, and allowed us to perfectly synchronize NPC behaviors.

As well, NPCs could be placed in single-participant blocks. This allowed us to have individual NPCs react to different hacks on their own timings. A great example of this comes from the ‘Bad Publicity’ IOP. The main character is in his own block, reacting only to the hacks that affect the game he is playing. When an ending is triggered, the police enter the room and synchronization is required. The main character is pulled into the finale block with the police. Importantly, he doesn’t actually terminate his behavior when the room entrance block is started. Instead, he has a short hold on his previous behavior, and only begins his reaction when the door is kicked in. Since he now shares a block with the police, their animations are perfectly synchronized. The video below shows this at time 1:49, where you can see the NPC maintain his behavior until a split second after the police kick in the door.

[embedded content]

By trying to achieve a narrative-driven scene with gameplay at a cinematic quality-bar, we forced all aspects of production to explore new ground:

Animation had to do extensive pose matching and plan challenging motion-capture sessions

LD had to make detailed mission flow diagrams and script complex branching

Programming had to ensure correct AI timings and reactions while ensuring synchronization of multiple NPCs. As well, programming had to develop the tools and interfaces to allow production to hook into the system

Sound had to produce a cinematic quality mix without knowing which camera the player would be in

Narrative had to produce piecewise scripts that respected the possible branching flows and interruptions

Production had to learn how to manage and organize all elements of developing this complex feature

For a typical feature, it could have been difficult to push each team to come up with solutions to each of these challenging problems. However, since we had a clear goal with a clear quality-bar, we were able to stay coordinated and focused, allowing the team to take on this wide array of technical challenges. In the end, we were able to deliver a feature that the whole team is proud of.