Privacy, Personal Computers, Hungary, justice system, dating


Hic sunt camelopardus: this historical edition of The Browser is presented for archaeological purposes; links and formatting may be broken.

Privacy: The Sequel

John Herrman | The Awl | 23rd September 2015

Discussing paper on internet privacy impacts. Sure, Google tracks us ceaselessly but "a small-town teen can seek medical information without going to the doctor, who might know her parents." John Herrman is unconvinced. Facebook gathers data and also enables private communication; why should "these two facts, which pose very different questions about power and control ... be placed on one scale of good and harm"? (1,610 words)

Personal Computers; Privacy: The Tip of the Iceberg

Peter H Lewis | New York Times | 2nd October 1990

Concerns about tech privacy from 1990. Examines the new "Caller ID" services. "Anyone with access to a person's telephone records can gain a great deal of information about the person, even without listening to the calls." So "we are losing control over the information about ourselves. Many people are not confident about existing safeguards," and don't want to "pay for the benefits of the computer age with their personal freedoms" (940 words)

What’s The Matter With Hungary?

George Szirtes | Daily Beast | 20th September 2015

"Having been, as they see it, the victims of history for so long (the national anthem makes a point of that), Hungarians take great pride beating their chests and assuring each other that they are lions. Orbán wants to make them feel like lions. His pet lions, of course: The would-be lions are duly grateful." George Szirtes examines the rise of Hungary's “illiberal democracy”; it is "hard to be optimistic about the immediate future" (2,500 words)

The Case Of The Piglet’s Paternity ( )

John C. Blue | Slate | 17th September 2015

"The most fateful attribute of the dead piglet ... was a resemblance (or so it was thought) to one George Spencer, formerly a servant to ... the man who had sold the sow." Spencer is forced by the judge to confess to bestiality, to fathering the piglet. "Both the process and the outcome" of the trial "bear little resemblance either to modern notions of justice or even to contemporaneous notions of English justice" (1,440 words)

Date-onomics: How Dating Became A Lopsided Numbers Game

Jake Seliger | The Story's Story | 19th September 2015

Review of Date-onomics by Jon Birger, an economics-based view of "the dating market." The book's “framing of the statistical narrative is dubious," claiming that women struggle to find eligible men but not vice-versa. "Has Birger missed the vast literature on pickup artistry that’s emerged in the last two decades?.... For most men much of mating life seems to be a tremendous struggle, and it’s one Birger (mostly) dismisses” (680 words)

Video of the day: A Horse In Motion

What to expect: The first film ever made (0'15")

Thought for the day

Fate's book, but my italics
Don Paterson

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