Plus the way they did it was disgusting. They used a fast track “urgent procedure” when some MEPs were already out for vacation, and required an absolute majority to block it. With EU skepticism on the rise, they pull this off. I hate it that the EU is controlled by lobbyists who push this stuff to the front. I think the EU itself is a great idea, but something has to change.
Since 2022, the volume of suspected abuse reports from the US has already dropped by 50 percent due to the growing use of message encryption.
According to EU Commission figures, mass scanning of private chats accounted for only 36 percent of all abuse reports in 2024 (the majority came from public posts and cloud storage).
The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) reports that 48 percent of all incoming alerts are not criminally relevant in the first place.
Crime statistics reveal that 40 percent of the resulting investigations actually target minors themselves.
Under the chat control system, an estimated 99 percent of reports generated by Meta consist of previously known material, which generally does little to stop ongoing, active abuse.
The EU Commission admits there is no evidence that suspicionless scanning of private communications has led to an increase in criminal convictions or in rescued children.
I am honestly becoming more and more disillusioned by the day when it comes to my country’s (Portugal) and EU politics as a whole. Nobody wants to solve real problems in my country, corruption is rampant, politicians more and more serve their capitalist masters instead of the people who vote on them, it’s getting tiresome. The demographic crisis is only just starting which will worsen everything, and even this is being “fixed” through immigration rather than making people have enough money that they can afford kids (Yes I know it’s only part of the problem).
At least in China you are spied on but you can afford a home. Soon enough in the EU you will be spied on and still not be able to afford a house isn’t it wonderful. Rant over and sorry
I just met with someone from China and she said that these days it’s not so easy to find a job there, the economy isn’t doing so well.
She said the main upside of living in China is the complete absence of theft or violent crime, but political oppression, spying on chats and blocking them, and more are real presences in people’s lives, far more so than chat control.
Propaganda makes the grass seem really green on the other side of the fence.
I wonder if Nathalie Yamb, Jaques Baud, Huseyhin Dogru, Martin Banks, Sami Hamdi, Richard Medhurst, Craig Murray, The Canary newspaper, the ~3k protestors arrested (and ~1.2k currently charged and making their way through the judicial system) on terrorism related charges because they dared to publicy say they did not agree with their government, or any other of the countless people who have been detained, arrested, imprisoned, or sanctioned for saying wrong-think would say the government has had a real presence in their lives…
But to be fair…the Chinese have been doing this shit for decades so it has filtered down to the general population. The EU, UK, USA, etc are just now starting to openly engage so it is not as recognized
Though VAR has issues, I would not go as far as abolishing it. Maybe just subsidize structural estimation models? Or even just GARCH? Though with a proper Bayesian workflow and model validation, of course.
Yes, electric buses are really nice, both to ride in, and to have around you. They’re so much more quiet. The ones here just have a big battery, though, no trolleys.
We’ve also got some so-called dual mode buses – they’re basically trolleybuses, but also have a battery to access off-grid roads (or they have a combustion engine).
Toronto has electric double-articulated express buses. I have not seen them go in reverse, though they park quite nicely in the bus garage at the end of their shifts. We also have on-rails streetcars that have 5 modules.
Our bus drivers tend to operate aggressively as if they are driving their personal vehicle. Many years ago, the driver burst forth only to stop immediately when a sedan cut them off. My grandmother was still making her payment. She ended up hitting her head on the glass pane of the door and had to go to the hospital.
A quick crop of a mediocre fisheye capture last November. Brisbane, Qld has introduced the “Metro” - double-articulated battery powered buses - the wheels are disguised behind covers - this one has driver on the right (2 wheels in that section) and one wheel in each of the articulations.
I first rode one of these earlier this year for an outpatients appointment at a major hospital - very nice inside - USB power, route and next station information like in a train.
Nice Orwellian literary reference… Winston and Julia et al.
A good read if you wish, or not if you don’t, is Sandra Newman’s book called ‘Julia’. Shows the ‘other side’ of Orwell’s 1984, from Julia’s point of view.
As a Brit, I’m slightly embarrassed by the fact that Count Binface has an opportunity to stand and be elected as a member of parliament… But I’m also slightly embarrassed that Nigel Farage has an opportunity to stand and be elected as a member of parliament…
Apparently [quote=“hatsnp, post:2347, topic:48030”]
corruption is rampant
[/quote] … Apparently!
Broadly I’m slightly embarrassed at being a Brit when it comes to world politics…
Although I am keen on democracy… let the good folk of the constituency of Clacton decide.
isn’t it wonderful. Rant over and sorry
It’s a modern bus though, so I’d assume it’s got some assist for reversing… the rear-most axle can steer, so it might be possible
