Tag: ethics
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Chrome again exempts Google from user site data settings
Jeff Johnson observes that Google Chrome has AGAIN started ignoring user privacy settings specifically for .google.com domains. This leads me to ask, not for the first time, why are there still so many people using Chrome as their daily driver, when there are so many perfectly-good alternatives that don't feed the beast in the same way?
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So Unbelievable it Sounds Like you Googled It
DeGoogling is so... 2010s. Let's make the 2020s the decade where we redefine Google as a verb. In the age of AI-first search, "to Google" now ought to give a nod to the accuracy and ethical issues posed by making AI into people's first experience of Web search.
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![Screengrab from a YouTube video showing a white woman with brown-and-red hair saying "please see the FAQs for any questions you have have around deed polls[sic] and the rules." alongside a logo for "Change Names".](https://bcdn.danq.me/_q26u/2026/06/changenames-youtube-video-978x480.jpg#29349)
The "ChangeNames.co.uk" Scam
Today, somebody who's running a scammy personal information collection campaign hidden beneath the veneer of a buggy free deed poll service that competes with my better, ethical free deed poll service... emailed me to ask if I'd advertise theirs for them. Wow.
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Did I Cheat?
I solved a puzzle geocache in an unconventional way: by writing a program to permute all the possible solutions and check them for me. Was that cheating? I can see arguments either way...
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Can it perhaps be time that we stop saying "ethical non-monogamy"?
Nobody feels the need to say "ethical monogamy"; monogamous folks are given the benefit of the doubt and assumed to be practicing a relationship ethically.
I feel like polyamory, open relationships, relationship anarchy and other forms of non-monogamy are now sufficiently accessible to popular culture that we can drop the word "ethical" and still be understood. (Ideally we do so before it starts to look like virtue-labelling.)
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WP Engine's Three Problems
Matt Mullenweg kicked off a battle of words between Automattic and the WordPress Foundation and hosting company WP Engine. Without weighing in on the legal aspects (IANAL), I've written up my thoughts.
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Idea: Meeting Spoofer
Coworkers keep scheduling meetings in periods you've blocked-off for no-meetings, head-down focus time? Maybe you should try scheduling fake meetings in those slots instead and see if they respect those any better! (But perhaps there's a bigger cultural issue you oughta look at instead.)
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Wacom drawing tablets track the name of every application that you open
Robert Heaton reverse-engineers what data his Wacom tablet is stealing from him, and Dan expresses a growing concern about surveillance capitalism.
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10 Insane Trolley Problems
VanDeGraph2 -
Would You Edit Your Child's Genome?
Idea Channel -
How Can You Have Any Pudding If You Don't Eat Your Meat?
To those of you that don't know already, I have a confession to make. After years of picking holes in and finding flaws in their various ethical or other arguments and of mocking their dietary choices, I've become... a vegetarian.
Okay, this probably wasn't actually a shock to anybody. Between the observations of the barbeque food … -
Googling For Suicide In The UK
I sent a letter to Google, today. Click to see it in large-o-vision.
I my letter, I suggest that the search giant should add a feature to their UK search, as they already have to their USA search, that would provide the details of an appropriate emotional support helpline service to people searching for suicide-related topics … -
Insanity Clause
This was one of my most-popular articles in 2009. If you enjoyed it, you might also enjoy:
The Ten Weirdest Sex Toys I've ever seen (2009)!
A dirty-looking calendar I found at work (2011).
My beliefs about why it's wrong to lie to children about Santa (2009), complete with pictures of naughty elves. … -
How Would Sian Feel About This?
Here's a conundrum. Based on prior conversations, I've concluded that Sian is against the idea of genetic modification of plants etc. I've never really agreed with her on this - although I can see her reasons.
As a member of Amnesty International, it's safe to assume, then, that she's also not in favour of landmines. I'd …