Crossing the Lattepunk
Lattepunk
If you cross the picket line when no one is looking, does it count?
Got two stories I want to bring up to you this week. The first hits close to home to me. Unions across the United States have been striking with various results. A recent one in my line of work (reader, I wish this newsletter was my line of work...) is the Boeing strike that came to an end.
The idea of physically crossing the picket line isn’t something I think of often. A grocery store near me was striking and I made the hard decision of going to a different store to buy my shit. But what happens when the picket line is digital?
NY Times Tech Guild goes on strike.
If you want to read about it, here’s journalism from a Jeff Bezos owned publication. The Tech Guild represents the tech workers who work on the NY Times Games and Cooking division (from my understanding, just the digital side). Like every union strike, they ask you don’t cross the line. In this case, it means don’t use the NY Times Cooking section and don’t play their games (famously, games like Wordle).
In the meatspace, when you cross the line, people can yell mean things at you. Make you feel scared to cross the line, does that work in the digital space? Are you going to feel judged for keeping your streak alive? I don’t know! But I think it’s an interesting dilemma in our modern age.
I personally won’t cross the digital line. Not out of a sense of pride or something. I just don’t play the NY Times for games or cooking. I can hold my head high knowing I’m standing with the Union!
Besides, the union workers made some games and recipes to hold you over till the strike is over.
Make Lattepunk Great Again
I’m told some sort of thing happened in America this week. I don’t care to talk about politics (not my beat), but I do like talking about your online privacy!
Joseph Cox over at 404 Media wrote a piece that caught my attention. It’s about a site called VoteRef. Voter registration information is, apparently, public. So in theory I can select a state, type in a name, and see what party you registered as and see where you live! You know, in case you don’t side with my politic choices.
Outside of not registering to vote, which is a silly ask, I actually don’t know how to protect yourself. All this information is public. If someone else is going to use it, you may as well know about it.
things i read this week:
‘Dark Tourism’ Appeals to Travelers Captivated by Death | Jennifer Stavros for Wired
Why is Nintendo targeting this YouTuber? | Sean Hollister for The Verge
A new dental scam is to pull healthy teeth to sell you expensive fake ones | Brett Kelman and Anna Werner, KFF Health News via ArsTechnica
Held for Ransom in Animal Pens, Migrants Face Mass Kidnappings as U.S. and Mexico Ramp Up Enforcement | Emily Green for ProPublica
Inside the Massive Crime Industry That is Hacking Billion Dollar Companies | Joseph Cox for 404 Media
Thousands of People Are Cloning Their Dead Pets. This Is the Woman They Call First | Camille Bromley for Wired
Guy makes “dodgy e-bike” from 130 used vapes to make point about e-waste | Kevin Purdy for ArsTechnica
I Took a ‘Decision Holiday’ and Put A.I. in Charge of My Life | Kashmir Hill for NY Times
Make America date again | Eliza Relman for Business Insider
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