How To Opt Out of Meta’s ‘Muse Image’ AI Generator

Listen To This Story

How To Opt Out of Meta’s ‘Muse Image’ AI Generator (Maria)

The author writes, “On Tuesday, Meta launched ‘Muse Image,’ an AI image-generation feature that allows users to create original images, edit existing photos and generate custom ads within its apps. But one capability has become the center of controversy. Muse Image allows users to generate AI images using photos from public Instagram accounts. As long as a person’s profile is public, another user can use their images as part of an AI creation.”

The Insurgency Will Continue Until Morale Improves (DonkeyHotey)

The author writes, “You can read what follows as an after-action report on the Graham Platner saga — but that episode is a microcosm of something larger and more profound. The Democratic Party has lost control of itself more completely than at any time I can remember. Donald Trump’s victory in 2024 was the precipitating incident. It caused Democratic voters to experience a crisis of confidence in the party’s leadership, which, to rough approximation, hasn’t really turned over in decades. The leaders accelerated the collapse in trust by cowering for months as Trump and the GOP — through largely criminal means — remade the United States government into a right-wing autocracy. As politics like nature abhors a vacuum, the void filled from the left.”

ICE Operations Increasingly Resemble Israeli Occupation. That’s No Coincidence (Sean)

From +972 Magazine: “As US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have swarmed cities across the United States, American politics has appeared to enter a new phase, one in which armed federal forces turn civilian neighborhoods into active conflict zones. Part of what is driving this political shift is a potent technical infrastructure: ICE operations are now expedited by mobile surveillance and targeting systems, where agents’ most powerful weapon can fit in the palm of their hands. Recent reporting has revealed ICE is relying on at least two applications to guide its crackdown. … It’s no coincidence that, reporting on ICE’s incursion into Minnesota, New York Times columnist Lydia Polgreen described an ‘occupation designed to punish and terrorize.’ The technologies supporting their operations illustrate how thoroughly ICE is following in Israel’s footsteps: both ELITE and Mobile Fortify bear a striking resemblance to mobile targeting applications Israeli forces have integrated into their policing arsenal over the last decade.”

He Was Arrested for Unpaid Court Fees. He Was Dead 48 Hours Later (Reader Steve)

From The Appeal: “Three days after Todd Sidesinger was released from the hospital for heart failure in February 2024, he was taken to jail for unpaid court costs and fees, totaling about $1,500. Within 48 hours, he would be dead. Sidesinger wore a prescribed defibrillator vest that delivers an electrical shock when it detects a life-threatening heart rhythm. The vest has to be charged approximately once every 24 hours. But York County Prison’s (YCP) medical staff never charged his vest, according to a wrongful death suit filed by his sister, Vicki Sidesinger, against PrimeCare, the jail’s for-profit medical provider, several of its employees, York County, the warden, and others. Sidesinger’s death shines a light on a grim reality in jails across the United States. Unaware of court debts — or unable to pay them — thousands of people are incarcerated in dangerous jails where their health, safety, and lives are at risk.”

Alibaba Is Banning Employees From Using Anthropic’s Claude Code Over Alleged Backdoor Risks (Mili)

The author writes, “Alibaba has told employees to stop using Anthropic’s Claude Code because of security concerns. Hidden code in the software could track if a user was in China or linked to a Chinese AI lab, according to Reuters. Starting July 10, employees must use Alibaba’s own coding platform, Qoder.”

Key Arctic Science Outpost Finds Itself Tangled In A Geopolitical Web (Laura)

From Science: “A few years ago, Nil Rodes was tracking a remarkable phenomenon high above the Arctic Circle: hundreds of underwater methane seeps erupting like chimneys from the sea floor of a fjord here on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, and Rodes, a marine geologist at the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), hoped to map the seeps in order to learn how much methane was escaping into the atmosphere and whether warming Arctic waters were accelerating the process. But in 2024, the Norwegian government began to deny requests from Rodes and others to conduct high-resolution seabed mapping on Svalbard, citing unspecified security concerns. … Researchers have long journeyed to Svalbard to study everything from glaciers to the northern lights. But in recent years the archipelago has become especially important to science because it provides a front-row seat to some of the fastest warming on Earth.”

Scientists Solve Mystery of Bizarre ‘Alien Megastructure’ Star (Dana)

From 404 Media: “For more than a decade, the strange light patterns emitted by ‘Tabby’s Star’ have sparked speculation about alien megastructures and exotic natural explanations. The discovery of a giant planet is a new twist.”