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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación
@rone.bsky.social
69 followers 110 following 27 posts
PhD in progress at Penn HCI. I work on HCI + algorithmic justice + public sector AI policy. roencarnacion.com
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · 14d
Oops, $1.5 billion to Prime subscribers! Another $1 billion to the FTC.
rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · 14d
Amazon has to pay $1.8 billion due to deceptive Prime subscription practices and change those same practices as part of an FTC settlement.

It’s time to screenshot for posterity and wait for Amazon to use the settlement to raise Prime. Penalizing customers for what they did TO them.
rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · May 22
I know the FTC is already fighting this but I’m gathering more receipts for my own purposes.

Amazon did try to subscribe me again after I cancelled.

I then deleted all my payment options. So why did they try charging my card this morning??

Looks like they don’t delete your payment info either.
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · 14d
Amazon has to pay $1.8 billion due to deceptive Prime subscription practices and change those same practices as part of an FTC settlement.

It’s time to screenshot for posterity and wait for Amazon to use the settlement to raise Prime. Penalizing customers for what they did TO them.
rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · May 22
I know the FTC is already fighting this but I’m gathering more receipts for my own purposes.

Amazon did try to subscribe me again after I cancelled.

I then deleted all my payment options. So why did they try charging my card this morning??

Looks like they don’t delete your payment info either.
rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · Apr 5
Amazon is trying to trap me into a subscription after I cancelled them last month. My partner cancelled last year and just learned he’s been charged every month since.

I tried deleting all my payment methods just now and I can’t for another 2 hours.
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · 18d
The dark patterns in abortion crisis pregnancy center websites are a special level of insidious and predatory. The "For Men" section in some of these websites goes to show how far they'll go.

This screenshot is an example. The "Your" here is not referring to the pregnant person.
A snippet of text from an abortion crisis pregnancy center website's "For Men" section.
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · 22d
I fall victim to your first point trying to avoid your second all the time. I should have said kids bedtime stories though. 😆
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · 23d
Heavily considering replacing bedtime stories with dramatic readings of research papers. Work smarter not harder yk?
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · Aug 19
Third-paragraph people gotta be the new name bc what fresh hell is that.
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poisonivy47.bsky.social
michelle⁷ @poisonivy47.bsky.social · Jul 21
is your workplace trying to force ai on you? is a family member giving ai too much power in their life? are you sick of billionaires destroying the environment and making life worse for everyone? here's a list of resources 10+ pages long to help you fight back: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Questioning AI Resource List
Excellent summary of major problems with companies’ focus on AI written by expert in machine learning: https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-will-fucking-piledrive-you-if-you-mention-ai-again/ Another g...
docs.google.com
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benpatrickwill.bsky.social
Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · Aug 8
Google is also trying to lock in schools to a particular set of ideas that it claims to be based on "learning science" with its new LearnLM/Guided learning bot. It's a *theory lock-in* to a very attenuated version of learning theory. blog.google/outreach-ini...
Guided Learning in Gemini: From answers to understanding
Guided Learning is a new mode in Gemini that helps you learn and study by building a deep understanding instead of just getting answers.
blog.google
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · Jul 16
Absolutely! Additionally, companies also have to justify the cost of keeping-up-with-the-industry-joneses when they adopt and integrate these AI tools. Any metric that goes against that isn't useful to them.
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · Jul 16
Probably because it's considered "hands-free". Distracted driving is still distracted driving. I can't imagine anyone actually wants this.
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · Jul 16
Are there AI tools that are helpful? Sure. But most of them are way over-hyped.
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · Jul 16
Don't believe a company that says AI (esp. genAI) has helped their engineers do more/better work.

Ask about the quality of that work. How many security issues since the intro of AI into code workflows? How many down reports? What's the difference in # of bugs introduced?
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · Jul 16
These tools are undoubtedly being used to justify automating engineers out of their jobs and companies can use their own workforce to do so. WILD.
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · Jul 16
I want to see more of this! One person close to me who works as a SWE at a major company explained how bad it is right now. They are forced to have "AI goals", have full-day meetings teaching folks how to vibe code, and no one has tracked actual productivity.
abeba.bsky.social
Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · Jul 16
despite popular beliefs, incorporating "AI" in workflows does NOT reduce time.

"when developers use AI tools, they take 19% longer than without—AI makes them slower"

metr.org/blog/2025-07...

the stark difference between forecasts and actual results in the plot is damming
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hellinanigatu.bsky.social
Hellina Hailu Nigatu @hellinanigatu.bsky.social · Jul 16
Are you an HCI researcher from or who studies the Global Majority? Reviewed research about Global Majority for HCI venues?

@farhana-shahid.bsky.social & I are conducting research on peer review experience of research by and about Global Majority.
participation form: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Review Experience of Global Majority Scholars
We invite scholars who are either from the Global Majority or conduct research in the Global Majority to share their experiences of publishing in interdisciplinary venues such as CHI, CSCW, FAccT, Ubi...
docs.google.com
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b-cavello.bsky.social
Boo! 👻 Cavello (they/them) @b-cavello.bsky.social · Jul 11
How can we ensure that #AI is ACTUALLY helpful for the BIG challenges we face, like #ClimateChange and #WorldHunger? We need to listen to the experts who understand these problems best!
That's why @aspendigital.bsky.social is surveying people in #FoodSecurity: www.aspendigital.org/event/food-s...
Feeding the Future
We don’t just need smarter tech, we need smarter goals. Take the survey so your insight can shape the future of AI in food security.
www.aspendigital.org
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · Jun 23
I'm incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with this team. Truly one of the best collaborative experiences I have had to date (special s/o to our MVP @mkgerchick.bsky.social for leading this)!

Check out Marissa's talk on our paper "auditing the audits" if you're at #FAccT2025!

⬇️
mkgerchick.bsky.social
Marissa Kumar Gerchick @mkgerchick.bsky.social · Jun 21
Excited to be at #FAccT2025 and honored to see our work “auditing the audits” resulting from one of the first enacted AI laws in the U.S. received an honorable mention! I’ll be presenting this work on Wednesday at 11 AM Athens time: programs.sigchi.org/facct/2025/p...
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daveandersen.bsky.social
David Andersen @daveandersen.bsky.social · May 22
The leeway permitted by "automated decision systems" alone should terrify anyone regardless of their views about "AI".
kelseyhightower.com
Kelsey Hightower @kelseyhightower.com · May 22
Buried in the tax bill: "no State or political subdivision thereof may enforce any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems during the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act."
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ryanmarino.bsky.social
Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · May 22
More than 700K Americans died from COVID after he wrote this. We still have not achieved herd immunity.
WSJ OPINION M We'll Have Herd Immunity by April Covid cases have dropped 77% in six weeks. Experts should level with the public about the good news. By Marty Makary Feb. 18, 2021 12:35 pm ET
67 1.2K 3.5K
rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · May 22
I know the FTC is already fighting this but I’m gathering more receipts for my own purposes.

Amazon did try to subscribe me again after I cancelled.

I then deleted all my payment options. So why did they try charging my card this morning??

Looks like they don’t delete your payment info either.
rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · Apr 5
Amazon is trying to trap me into a subscription after I cancelled them last month. My partner cancelled last year and just learned he’s been charged every month since.

I tried deleting all my payment methods just now and I can’t for another 2 hours.
Screenshot of Amazon wallet deletion error
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Reposted by Ro Encarnación
hypervisible.blacksky.app
Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Apr 8
Would say “these systems don’t work” but the actual work of these systems is to more fully embed and perpetuate the racism of carceral systems, and thus they work exactly as intended.
UK creating ‘murder prediction’ tool to identify people most likely to kill
Exclusive: Algorithms allegedly being used to study data of thousands of people, in project critics say is ‘chilling and dystopian’
www.theguardian.com
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · Apr 5
I’m going to leave this expired card on there and see what happens next month and then delete my account altogether.
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rone.bsky.social
Ro Encarnación @rone.bsky.social · Apr 5
Amazon is trying to trap me into a subscription after I cancelled them last month. My partner cancelled last year and just learned he’s been charged every month since.

I tried deleting all my payment methods just now and I can’t for another 2 hours.
Screenshot of Amazon wallet deletion error
1 3
Reposted by Ro Encarnación
stewartcoles.bsky.social
Chokely Carmichael🥋 @stewartcoles.bsky.social · Mar 31
This is what we mean when we talk about racism being baked/coded into technological systems.
ubernostrum.bsky.social
James Bennett @ubernostrum.bsky.social · Mar 31
Wait until you learn how the mere existence of "aliases" in a police database is used as evidence of criminality. Coupled with databases that don't handle Hispanic naming conventions well at all, it's more or less automatic for that to happen.

Consider: "Miguel Fernandez Lopez Ortiz"

This is...
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corynwolk.bsky.social
Coryn Wolk @corynwolk.bsky.social · Mar 30
This is an expansion of methods/infrastructure that have been going on for +-10 years. Not in a "this isn't new!" way, but in a "they are maximizing existing systems" way. Ruha Benjamin and Dorothy Roberts have laid it out well.
psmag.com/social-justi...
Gang Databases Are a Life Sentence for Black and Latino Communities
Ending up on a gang database if you're brown or black is easy—you only have to be suspected of association. Getting off a gang database? That's much harder.
psmag.com
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