t

insincere on main

[dragongirlteeth]

I am shocked at how many people don't have an actively hostile relationship with advertising

[aeolianblues]

People are often in disbelief that I WILL spend the extra 10 seconds to refuse all cookies. Don't track me to advertise to me!!

People are shocked I take the time to remove all the litter at the end of a url. Remove everything starting with "?si=..." Don't track me!!

Email had a link? Remove all the utm_campaign=... bullshit. Don't track me!!

Install an adblocker. "this action requires certain cookies turned on" Oh yeah? In all but the most necessary circumstances, that's too bad! Guess I won't be using your website then! Goodbye. Don't track me!!

Have you ever been sent a post from say, tiktok or instagram that says "join [x person] who has shared this post with you on our app"? That's what the "?si=" does.

Let's say a friend sent you a funny post about guitarists on Instagram. When they shared it, it got sent with the IG version of the tracker, instagram dot com/reel/whatever?igsh=trackingID. When you click their "igsh"-included link, it tells instagram that your friend shared the link, and you clicked the link. It has linked your identifiers (your IP address, your account if you log in, general things about you like your location (from IP), the time of day) and key interest points from the reel that was shared to you that you clicked on, to draw an "anonymised" profile of you. It also links you to the person that sent you the link, telling IG (or others) that you both are "in the same network". (This allows them to possibly advertise things that may be "shared interests" between you.)

Next, cookies. Allow Instagram to use cookies? Sure. Now what happens is, say you close the instagram page and open a new browser tab and go to google. Cookies allow "tracking history across the web". This means IG is allowed to talk to websites you went to after visiting them and exchange information. So when you go to Google, instagram knows you're on Google. Further, IG can (and does) perform "handshakes" with the next site, which might futher request information about what you saw before coming to their website. Instagram tells google you're a person from [city] who has just been looking at reels about guitars. Voila! Suddenly you're seeing music related ads.

This is the equivalent of walking out of a grocery store and having a strange man follow you silently to go back to the shop and report on where you went after doing your groceries. Not just the next shop you went to: every other place you went to, and everything you looked at in every other place, for the whole week.

The supposed purpose of this is when you next enter the grocery store, they can have your milk of choice in the aisle closest the entrace for you. So they say. Why does my grocer need to know I like guitars? They have nothing to offer me that could be remotely to do with guitars. But maybe they can put up an ad on aisle 1 about an ally store of theirs that has paid to put up advertisements in their shop.

When a business does it, it's seen as a more aggressive KYC ("know your customer"). If an individual did it, it would legally be called stalking.

On the principle of laziness, we are handing over so much more information about ourselves than most shops would have any use for in a million years. When I post on instagram, it shows me the countries, age range and genders of my audience. Personally, this information is of no use to me. It is being compiled for me anyway. In CASE I ever need to blast ads that overlap with the "interests" of my audience. And even when it's far more than I need, the pathways are already in place: you don't need your own henchmen to track your audience for you. Instagram has all the big data mining tools to do it for you.

Stop handing over your shit to them! Use an adblocker! Clean those links! (look into firefox extensions called things like "clean urls") Remove those tracking IDs! It doesn't matter whether the profile they build of you is truly "anonymous" or not. If they have everything bar my physical body through the internet, am I truly anonymous? If they can pinpoint me down to my location, my daily internet usage habits, can draw a profile of my age, gender, job area and much more using "educated guesses" (big data/models), then am I truly anonymous?

Advertising is not beneign! It is surveillance! Take out 10 seconds from your online life to build a few good habits. They go a long, long way. You should be actively hostile to survei advertising.

[urgetocreate]

Andrea Calisi (Italian b.1968), The Bridge and the Blue Knight, 2026, Illustration

[enchantedbook]

"The Ring," by Helena Nyblom, illustrated by John Bauer, 1914 Swedish Folk Tales

[whyenn-reader]

as good of a time as any to share my list of activities I do during what i like to call Scheduled Soul Maintenence to avoid burnout

go on an aimless bike/ride/walk - move your body, do it for as long as you feel like it, discover new places near you weather that is a frog or a cafe

watch a new movie/read a new book/listen to a new album - get inspired, excercise having opinions and longer attention span, break out of consuming content and make a choice about what you want to expirience

create something in a medium i haven't used in a while - get out of a habit, rekindle a flame you haven't been upkeeping, making a friendship bracelet counts

go have a fun new drink/snack - arguably most important, have a little treat without rush, slow down and focus on physical sensations, treat yourself in a way that isn't landfillcore

meet with friends and/or go to a place where you meet strangers - human connection is good for you, (maybe some casual sex if you like that/try something new with your partner)

make some bad art - create for the sake of creating without any expectations

play an instrument - this can be anything that makes you reach a kind of flow state

go see something you haven't yet - get to know the cultural/geographical map of your area, this includes events, places, or just anything that makes you go out of your way to expirience something new, can be like a viewpoint or it can be a museum exhibit, anything you find cool

cook/bake something new - nurish your body, break out of cooking habits and routine, make it an event, plate it nicely too and i would like to point out that none of these have to cost more money than your usual lifestyle.

[anti-parent]

ALSO have a little notebook where you record these things!!! i have a really bad memory and tend to experience life as "now or not now" which makes it really hard to know when i'm getting stuck in a rut. i started carrying around an A6 notebook everywhere and making little notes about my walks & time with friend & such. and i write down these kinds of lists so that i can go through and choose something whenever i'm feeling stuck. it really really helps and it's a good excuse to break out the nice pens and stickers :)

[sztupy]

Landmark German ruling declares Google's AI Overviews are Google's own words and makes it liable for false answers

A German regional court has ruled that Google is directly liable for the content of its AI search overviews. According to the court, previou

[ayeforscotland]

Let’s fucking go

[made-in-manetheren]

This is HUGE.

1. The court holds Google responsible for statements made by its AI, considering them Google's statements (search engines have limited liability for results in their engine as they're the words of other sites/companies/people), meaning when their AI lies/hallucinates they're liable for the defamation/harm resulting from those statements.

2. Google's defense that customers are generally aware of the lack of reliability and are responsible for fact checking was dismissed. As the court pointed out, that would "significantly diminish" AI Search's stated purpose and it can't be distinguished from Google's business practices/statements as a search tool.

3. Studies have found about 91% of Google's everyday AI responses are accurate, leaving millions of searches per HOUR with potential liability for falsehoods. 56% of correct responses weren't supported by the sources the AI listed. Both of which mean Google is now liable for a LOT more AI "errors."

4. Google was held liable for 80% of court costs in this case and this precedent is expected to reverberate around the world. This is a massive shift from the 3rd-party search provider role Google has previously played and it comes right as they've tied ALL searches to their AI search.

TL;DR Google reeeeeally stepped in it this time.

[alianoralacanta]

5. If the words are Google's, this solidifies the position of universities who demand that all answers from AI are fully cited. If all the in-line citations now have to be (Google, 2026), that's going to make it obvious when someone's trying to use Google as a source. There's still the difficulty with people who are academically dishonest by trying to pass off the AI writing as their own. 6. 91% accuracy is officially too low to use as a source of references, which means the AI can't be used as a source of references either. This makes it less legitimate for such purposes than Wikipedia of all places (Wikipedia might need date/time proof of when it was accessed for the reference to be valid, but at least it is possible to prove the link existed at a particular date and time). 7. This will help encourage the rollout of courses on how to avoid AI search for students who need academic accuracy, because it's statistically not good enough to use. 8. This strengthens the case intellectual property authors have against Google in the EU, as this is proof that an intellectual property transfer took place.

[letsbelonelytogetherr]

— Mary Kate Teske

[targetedknowledge]

[fisutiddies]

[microraptorhours]

i love you archival work. i love you alphabetizing. i love you sorting. i love you reshelving. i love you document restoration. i love you shelf reading. i love you inventorying. i love you analysis. i love you archival work.

[alphabetizing-posts]

alphabetizing. analysis. archival archival document i i i i i i i i i inventorying. love love love love love love love love love reading. reshelving. restoration. shelf sorting. work. work. you you you you you you you you you

[nostalgiaforinfinity]

misty and moody in the fanal forest

[lacuna-matata]

[64mpg]

yes i want things

[64mpg]

nevermind #enlightenment

[semolinaart]

trip to the last stop

[lost-rxverie]

sunday | june 7

overpriced energy drink + research on TB antibiotics + 10 page chem paper to write. a long day ahead, but it's a fun way to wrap up my time in undergrad.

🎧 mystery – indigo girls 🧊 blue slush alani (it's... fine?) 🕘 9am

[charaznablescanontoyota]

words of wisdom from wikipedia this evening

[meruz]

late pitt finale drawins

[emizzzso]

something pretty bad happened to me.

[milanesa42]

“The employees need a larger salary” “hmmmm large celery”