Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

M. Scott Boone @mscottboone.bsky.social · 13h

Black and white photo of troops walking across the Kent State campus in 1970. Smoke/gas fill the air in the background.

Reposted by M. Scott Boone

Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.bsky.social · 18h

for those of you who are serious about understanding the eugenic lineage of the whole AGI movement, on the other hand, you can peruse some of the resources at www.dair-institute.org/projects/tes...

The TESCREAL Bundle

The array of utopian ideologies that power Silicon Valley's elite is ultimately bleakly eugenicist.

www.dair-institute.org

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Reposted by M. Scott Boone

Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 14h

ICE is a hostile occupying force that is a danger to everyone.

Alt text: A man in camouflage clothing and a face covering sits inside a gray Jeep, pointing a weapon out of the open driver-side window. The gun is aimed directly at the camera. The man wears gloves and a dark cap, and his eyes are visible above the mask. The vehicle’s door and side mirror are wet with raindrops.

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Claire Zagorski, MSc, EMT-P @clairezagorski.bsky.social · 3d

Either the police are mighty and fearless warriors, or they’re scared enough of a sassy 20-something woman to unload a canister of pepper spray in her face from 2 feet away, but they cannot be both.

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Reposted by M. Scott Boone

Mikki Kendall @karnythia.bsky.social · 20h

You could just talk about Jim Crow. I promise you, there's no need to leave America's shores to talk about life in a fascist state

Mother Jones @motherjones.com · 20h

Under the Third Reich, most Germans generally lived in the law-bound normative state, while Jews and other disfavored people were victims of the arbitrary and violent prerogative state.

The dual state is characterized by the facade of normalcy obscuring the fact of an authoritarian state.

The “dual state” theory was invented to describe Nazis. The Supreme Court could take us there.

Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law.

www.motherjones.com

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Tom Scocca @tomscocca.bsky.social · 21h

It's not just that they're going to strike down a law against conversion therapy, it's that they're going to do it on behalf of made-up claims from a straw plaintiff who can't honestly show the law affected her at all

Tom Scocca @tomscocca.bsky.social · 21h

One thing about American's widespread distrust and disapproval of the Supreme Court is that mainstream news coverage mostly doesn't dwell on stuff like standing, so people don't even begin to grasp how rigged the Court truly is www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

Supreme Court Live Updates: Justices Seem Set to Rule Against Colorado’s Ban on Conversion Therapy

www.nytimes.com

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Wolfmanning Skull 🎃 @manningkrull.bsky.social · Oct 24

One, two, Freddy's coming for you, three, four, better lock your door, five, six, grab your crucifix, seven, eight, eight, I forget what eight was for but nine, nine, nine for a lost god and ten, ten, ten, ten for everything, everything, everything, everything

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M. Scott Boone @mscottboone.bsky.social · 1d

The ability to rely on what others have done is going to be a victim of genAI.

I think we’ll see this in the copyright realm with freelance content creation. Acquiring art directors have relied on freelancers to not submit infringing art. What happens when the ability to rely on that goes away?

James Grimmelmann @jtlg.bsky.social · 1d

“Maybe another sector AI is disrupting is the ability to "rely" on overcaffeinated and drugged up twenty-somethings to kill themselves on consulting assignments to squeeze a few more dollars out of the bottom line.”

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M. Scott Boone @mscottboone.bsky.social · 1d

A few of the replies to this post point to a belief that better training data will or should get rid of inaccuracies.

No. The inaccuracies are result of the basic design of genAI, not merely bad or insufficient training data. There’s no automated fix.

Omri Marian @omrimarian.bsky.social · 2d

So now we have court filings in which cases are allegedly hallucinated by *check notes* LEXIS NEXIS, THE EFFING LARGEST, MOST USED LEGAL DATABASE BY LAWYERS, COURTS, AND LEGAL SCHOLARS.
Seems bad.

Lawyer Blames AI Tool for Inaccurate Citations in Court Filing | Jeff Bazinet posted on the topic | LinkedIn

Is this the first case in which a major provider has been blamed for AI-hallucinated cites? New York. Trial court. AI hallucination-containing filing. (But you knew that.) Attorney subscribes to...

www.linkedin.com

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Reposted by M. Scott Boone

David Kluft @dkluft.bsky.social · 1d

#LegalEthics Tidbit: Can a federal judge order government lawyers to keep working during a shutdown?

The DOJ was just wrapping up a tax collection case in E.D. Michigan when the government shutdown started. Pursuant to DOJ’s “contingency plan” for the ... (cont.)

lnkd.in/e2Wb-KB5
#law #lawsky

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M. Scott Boone @mscottboone.bsky.social · 2d

My first suspect would be right wing talk radio, not anything online.

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M. Scott Boone @mscottboone.bsky.social · 2d

Although I can’t quite put my finger on it right now, something about the court’s statement (as detailed in the excellent thread below) sits wrong with me.

David Kluft @dkluft.bsky.social · 2d

#LegalEthcis Tidbit: Do criminal defense attorneys have a heightened obligation not to misuse #AI?

A CA criminal defense attorney submitted a brief with about four citations that were either hallucinated or otherwise messed up by his staff’s use of ... (cont.)
lnkd.in/e3Ba7KkJ
#law

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Reposted by M. Scott Boone

Mark Lemley @marklemley.bsky.social · 2d

@pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy has a great primer on the enshittification of Amazon

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Way past its prime: how did Amazon get so rubbish?

Sick of scrolling through junk results, AI-generated ads and links to lookalike products? The author and activist behind the term ‘enshittification’ explains what’s gone wrong with the internet – and ...

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by M. Scott Boone

Sean Marotta @smmarotta.bsky.social · 2d

"The Supreme Court shall hold at the seat of government a term of court commencing on the first Monday in October of each year and may hold such adjourned or special terms as may be necessary."

28 U.S.C. 2

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Reposted by M. Scott Boone

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 2d

you! are! a! lawyer!

I fear that the legal community will act like Trump admin's lawyers are normal lawyers--like they'll get nice firm jobs and their law schools will invite them to talk to students, etc--but the lawyers facilitating Trump's lawlessness should be professionally and socially shamed

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 2d

DOJ: CA NG is already federalized

Judge: You are an officer of the court. Do you think this is an appropriate way to deal with my order? Appropriate way of dealing with ruling you disagree with?

DOJ: Well, I'm not a policy maker

Judge: You're a lawyer

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Reposted by M. Scott Boone

Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 2d

DOJ: CA NG is already federalized

Judge: You are an officer of the court. Do you think this is an appropriate way to deal with my order? Appropriate way of dealing with ruling you disagree with?

DOJ: Well, I'm not a policy maker

Judge: You're a lawyer

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M. Scott Boone @mscottboone.bsky.social · 2d

Starting 3.3 and officer of the court in Professional Responsibility on Tuesday…

escapedexplorer.bsky.social @escapedexplorer.bsky.social · 2d

Rewriting the MPRE to be just one question with a comically-large bubble to fill in on the Scantron, to wit:

"If the judge has to call a hearing at 10pm on a Sunday night because you got cutesy with a TRO and then promptly reminds you you are an officer of the court, you are:

a) Fucked
b) FUCKED"

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Reposted by M. Scott Boone

Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 5d

AUTHORS: It’s time to submit your claims for the Anthropic copyright settlement.

1. Look yourself up here: secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup

2. File your claim here: secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com

Form asks for ISBN and copyright reg # for each work. Can find in step 1.

Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 11d

🚨AUTHORS: The judge has approved the settlement in the Anthropic copyright case. By 10/2 you will be able to look up your name/works on the settlement website to see if you are eligible for payments. Which Authors Guild explained will be split evenly between authors/publishers who both hold rights.

What Authors Need to Know About the $1.5 Billion Anthropic Settlement - The Authors Guild

Background Bartz v Anthropic is one of the major copyright lawsuits brought by authors against an AI company for using books without permission to train large language models. It was filed by nonfict...

authorsguild.org

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Reposted by M. Scott Boone

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 5d

I spent decades watching media academics issues dire warnings about media consolidation only to be met with yawns from the press/public and snark from "free market libertarians" who claimed rules "stifled innovation"

now, every single day we get an ugly, undeniable lesson about how they were right

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Reposted by M. Scott Boone

Skies of Fortune @skiesoffortune.bsky.social · 5d

If you're all in on #ai replacing human labor,
but you're not a proponent of UBI,
then you are a sociopath!

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M. Scott Boone @mscottboone.bsky.social · 5d

I see your struggle and how difficult it must be. Stay strong! 😆

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Reposted by M. Scott Boone

Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 6d

Hey authors, the official list of Anthropic works is available for searching.

secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup

Submit a Claim

secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com

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M. Scott Boone @mscottboone.bsky.social · 6d

The Highway to Hell is paved with merged cells.

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M. Scott Boone @mscottboone.bsky.social · 6d

Who’s your favorite Jedi?
(wrong answers only)

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Reposted by M. Scott Boone

Sam Brunson @smbrnsn.bsky.social · 7d

I'm thrilled to announce that my most recent article, Delay, Deny, Tax, was just published on the Emory Law Journal Online! Abstract below, and, if it piques your interest, the whole thing is here: scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj-online/54/

Abstract
Health insurance companies are having a moment in the United States. Their moment involves widespread public objections to their seemingly random and increasing willingness to deny coverage and reimbursement to insureds. These denials are in large part not part of a program to improve health coverage but, rather, to reduce insurance companies’ expenses and, in turn, increase their profits.

There is broad consensus that something has to change. The public demands it. Bipartisan groups of senators and representatives have investigated it. Even the health care industry acknowledges that something needs to change. To actually make the health care system better requires more than easy or simplistic solutions. A long-term solution requires completely rethinking the way the United States provides health care. But while policymakers struggle to craft such a fundamental revision of the health care industry, denials by health insurance companies continue to hurt individuals.

Although this Article does not provide a comprehensive rethinking of the health care industry, it does propose a relatively simple interim policy that will ameliorate the problem of health insurance companies unnecessarily denying health coverage: an excess profits tax imposed on health insurance companies. While the putative purpose of insurance companies is to protect policyholders from unexpected and ruinous financial losses, internally, insurance companies function to earn a profit for their shareholders. To the extent an insurance company denies a claim—or even delays payment on that claim—it has increased its profits. The company, thus, has two competing incentives: On the one hand, its business involves paying for health care, but on the other, it is designed to provide a return to its shareholders. While it cannot ignore paying for policyholders’ health care, a health insurance company will likely face steep pressure to prioritize profits. Even though there is debate over whether shareh…

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