Opens profile photo
Follow
Sam Biddle
@samfbiddle
technology reporter / sam.biddle@theintercept.com / sambiddle@protonmail.com / Signal: +1 978 261 7389
sambiddle.comJoined June 2009

Sam Biddle’s Tweets

Pinned Tweet
NEW: Google training documents show the company's "Project Nimbus" contract with the Israeli government and military includes a variety of AI and ML tools, technology critics worry will worsen the surveillance of Palestinians and bolster the occupation
9
166
229
Show this thread
Neighbors built the "death map" after watching relatives and friends fall ill and die. Uranium mining waste contaminated the groundwater in this town. It took the New Mexico govt *49 years* to issue a warning. Infuriating story by my colleagues:
2
93
168
Show this thread
also bc I'm an annoying paranoiac mobile privacy enthusiast I have content blockers on my phone that stop like 80% of QR code menus from loading because the URL takes you through some 3rd party referral/tracking link first before loading the menu. my family is starving
1
1
37
Show this thread
the other day I was at a bar/restaurant that is QR-only, no paper menus of any kind, and the QR code just would straight up not work on my phone. it just took me to the website of the company that does the codes. so I just couldn't order anything. a fun night out
4
1
20
Show this thread
I assume each of these QR codes led to a form they had to fill out in order to board, which makes you wonder, given that this family (understandably) had a lot of trouble getting this to work... why not just hand them the forms. or just have a sign with the URL for the forms
3
25
Show this thread
the other day at the airport I had to wait in an extremely long line to check in for my flight, I noticed the group in front of me, a big family, was being asked to each manually scan *3 different* QR codes printed on the airline rep's desk, in order to board their flight
3
1
25
Show this thread

Topics to follow

Sign up to get Tweets about the Topics you follow in your Home timeline.

Carousel

the unexpected resurgence of QR codes to make everyone's lives slightly dumber and more annoying has really been something to behold. one of the all-time great technology comeback stories
Quote Tweet
I went to a dive bar and asked what’s on tap and bartender said to scan the QR code so I did and then ordered and she said they don’t have that because I’d scanned QR code on the coaster rather than QR code on the tabletop menu and 10 mins later I was still trying to get a beer twitter.com/austinkleon/st…
10
64
336
Show this thread
this is a great explanation of why marvel movies are simultaneously so massively expensive to make and yet look so terrible and chintzy
Quote Tweet
marvel movies seem like they're not really directed in the way one would traditionally think vulture.com/article/a-vfx-
Show this thread
Image
2
7
26
This is the *first* example of a hypothetical web3 use case, in a list of 35. "Amazon could leave a bunch of shit in your backyard"
Quote Tweet
1. Amazon logistics Instead of having large distribution centers, Use decentralized mini warehouses (e.g. your backyard) for storage & drivers pick up merchandises from closest storage location. Delivery fees paid in warehouse tokens are earned by warehouse owners.
Show this thread
5
18
163
Show this thread
During a training seminar Google hosted for Nimbus last year, a company engineer was asked whether they could build an AI-based lie detector, something widely considered to be dangerous pseudoscience. Google answered that with the right data, it could be done
Image
2
17
24
Show this thread
An important new piece from on Google’s “Project Nimbus”, w/ comment from me on the dangerous mix of Israel’s vast state surveillance with AI and ML capabilities. This could intensify oppressive surveillance of Palestinians and weaponise use of flawed AI tools
Quote Tweet
NEW: Google training documents show the company's "Project Nimbus" contract with the Israeli government and military includes a variety of AI and ML tools, technology critics worry will worsen the surveillance of Palestinians and bolster the occupation theintercept.com/2022/07/24/goo
Show this thread
2
30
39
Show this thread
"Sadowski says that some technologies amplify the exercise of power to such an extent that even their use by a country with a spotless human rights record would provide little reassurance." I spoke with for his excellent, in-depth piece:
7
26
Like other companies, Google has a set of "AI principles" it claims will prevent unethical, rights-abusing applications. But with Nimbus, Google contractually cannot pull the plug on any facet of the program, no matter how its own technologies are used
1
8
19
Show this thread
During a training seminar Google hosted for Nimbus last year, a company engineer was asked whether they could build an AI-based lie detector, something widely considered to be dangerous pseudoscience. Google answered that with the right data, it could be done
Image
2
17
24
Show this thread
(that said ATT is not some sort of mobile privacy panacea and there are very legitimate and worthwhile criticisms to be made re: Apple self-preferencing its own ad business)
1
3
17
Show this thread
threads like these are an encouraging sign that we are heading in the right direction re: privacy protections
Quote Tweet
1) I'm still surprised by the lack of public discourse around the impacts of @apple's iOS 14 changes - all in the name of privacy - that are leading to massive adverse effects to SMBs and innovative companies everywhere. They might bear as much blame for a recession as inflation.
Show this thread
5
30
122
Show this thread
I think effective and meaningful "moderation" of billions of people as a general undertaking is fundamentally flawed and doomed, but choosing to not better pay the people doing the actual work is a real indicator of companies priorities
1
2
11
Show this thread
Hawley riling up the mob and then fleeing in terror is an incredible political metaphor
Quote Tweet
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) — who raised his fist in support of the Capitol insurrectionists earlier in the day — runs for his life from the rioters inside the building in never-before-seen video.
Show this thread
Embedded video
0:06
2.5M views
131
1,804
8,600
I thought I’d seen everything on twitter but here is an entire thread trying to tell you that nuclear waste is not dangerous and is in fact a positive feature of fission energy
Quote Tweet
MYTH: We don't have a solution to nuclear's "waste problem" REALITY: Nuclear waste isn't a problem. In fact, it’s the best solution we have to meeting our energy needs while protecting the natural environment! Here's what you need to know:
Show this thread
5
2
15
forever wars is consistently excellent, glad spencer and sam will be getting a bigger slice of the pie
Quote Tweet
Some Personal(Professional) News: FOREVER WARS is no longer a Substack! Here’s a post about that. Backup features include: Biden’s Mideast trip & a plan for merchandise! foreverwars.ghost.io/forever-wars-o
Show this thread
4
22
New 🚨 SCOOP🚨 For the first time, the FBI has forced a person to open an encrypted app - Amazon's Wickr - with their face. We're heading towards a point where the Supreme Court is going to have to decide if this is legal, says
37
353
475
Show this thread
if this is true (...) then it's kind of embarrassing for the "state-of-the-art" forensic data recovery facility the Secret Service operates ncfi.usss.gov/ncfi/index.xht
Quote Tweet
PURGED — Here’s the news. ⁦Those @SecretService⁩ texts are gone, gone, gone . Agency scoured records and said it found nothing new to give Congress . National Archives now investigating if USSS broke the law washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07
30
158
613
Show this thread