Hacker News: hn_acker

Interoperability vs. Security: Why not both?

hn_acker — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 22:44:31 +0000

Article URL: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/10/interoperability-vs-security-why-not-both

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50202124

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

Canadians are running out of time to oppose Bill C-22

hn_acker — Thu, 22 Oct 2026 22:43:19 +0000

Article URL: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/10/canadians-are-running-out-time-oppose-dangerous-c-22-surveillance-bill

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50202114

Points: 418

# Comments: 220

New comment by hn_acker in "Texas data center boom could erase decades of progress on air quality"

hn_acker — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 22:41:56 +0000

Let's not ignore the years before LLM-oriented data centers actually if ever switch to renewable energy, never mind whether the switch will "reverse" the long-term effects of high pollution during the first years. Refining GP's and your analogies:

Imagine if an overweight person could only lose significant weight if they temporarily underwent obesity for a few years. While many overweight people exist, we should actively prevent more people from becoming overweight, and we should change the socioeconomic and political circumstances that contribute to excessive weight gain.

Imagine if a moderate exercise session causes a person to feel severe hunger pains for a few hours that do not immediately abate upon eating. Such an unfair biological condition would incentivize the person to avoid moderate or vigorous exercise. If the person attempts to power through the pain, the pain may trick them into eating more than they need to at the expense of their wallets, their health, and collective food supply. We should encourage such individuals to set aside longer times for light exercise if their finances and work allow them to, teach people to reduce their extra calorie margins without sacrificing necessary nutrients (especially because taking in less extra most-things is easier than removing extra most-things), and research palliative and curative medical treatments for this condition.

Adversarial interoperability is a team sport

hn_acker — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 22:26:07 +0000

Article URL: https://pluralistic.net/2026/10/21/brittle-individualism/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50188528

Points: 5

# Comments: 0

EFF's State Legislative Agenda to End ALPR Mass Surveillance

hn_acker — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 22:25:19 +0000

Article URL: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/10/effs-state-legislative-agenda-end-alpr-mass-surveillance

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50188517

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

The Immigration Enforcement Hydra Without a Kill Switch

hn_acker — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 18:24:48 +0000

Article URL: https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-immigration-enforcement-hydra-without-a-kill-switch

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50185358

Points: 5

# Comments: 0

New comment by hn_acker in "Greg Abbott ordered a pause on data center permits. TCEQ still issued permits"

hn_acker — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 17:43:00 +0000

The original title is:

> Greg Abbott ordered a pause on data center permits. Critics say some plans still moved forward.

Greg Abbott ordered a pause on data center permits. TCEQ still issued permits

hn_acker — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 17:43:00 +0000

Article URL: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/10/20/data-center-permits-tceq-abbott-texas-pause/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50184775

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

Texas data center boom could erase decades of progress on air quality

hn_acker — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 17:38:55 +0000

Article URL: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/10/20/data-centers-texas-air-quality-report-pollution-health-risks/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50184712

Points: 55

# Comments: 28

The death of history's most successful publisher

hn_acker — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 17:32:59 +0000

Article URL: https://pluralistic.net/2026/10/20/main-character-syndrome/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50184638

Points: 4

# Comments: 1

New comment by hn_acker in "Victory! Court Rules OPM Data Disclosure to DOGE Is Unlawful"

hn_acker — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 17:18:48 +0000

> When education is not liberating, the dream of the oppressed is to be oppressors. We must seek not to invert the relationship, but in fact to humanize both sides.

(Downthread:)

> Prison is necessarily oppressive.

> Sure sounds like you want to oppress a people to me.

Are you arguing that we should strive for a society that does not imprison anyone, or are you asking people to recognize prison as oppression without excluding prison as a valid/necessary/reasonable treatment for some people?

> Teach them empathy as justice is served to make whole the oppressed.

While the oppressed should not have sole decision-making authority or unlimited options (and afaik the oppressed almost never if ever advocate for such), generally the evaluation of whether the oppressed have been made whole (and whether the oppressed can be made whole in the first place) is for the oppressed to make, not for others or the law to decide.

Let us also recognize fundamental differences between oppressing people for their identities or their not-acted-upon thoughts and oppressing people for their actions.

Online Privacy for Parents and Youth

hn_acker — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:47:02 +0000

Article URL: https://ssd.eff.org/module/online-privacy-for-parents-and-youth

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50183925

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

New comment by hn_acker in "Expert Warned 'Always Verify' AI, Then Didn't Verify His AI-Made Charts"

hn_acker — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:44:17 +0000

The full title is:

> Expert For News Orgs Suing OpenAI Warned ‘Always Verify’ AI, Then Didn’t Verify His AI-Made Charts In His Expert Report

Expert Warned 'Always Verify' AI, Then Didn't Verify His AI-Made Charts

hn_acker — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 16:44:17 +0000

Article URL: https://www.techdirt.com/2026/10/21/expert-for-news-orgs-suing-openai-warned-always-verify-ai-then-didnt-verify-his-ai-made-charts-in-his-expert-report/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50183884

Points: 3

# Comments: 1

Victory! Court Rules OPM Data Disclosure to DOGE Is Unlawful

hn_acker — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 22:26:40 +0000

Article URL: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/10/victory-court-rules-opms-disclosure-personal-records-doge-unlawful

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50173547

Points: 72

# Comments: 24

New comment by hn_acker in "Trump Appointees Asked a Federal Agency to Acquire a Voting Machine and Hack It"

hn_acker — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 17:22:42 +0000

dfe and yepyoukno are sanewashing [1] and oversimplifying the administration's actions by ignoring the self-interested and malicious motives behind them.

Avoid getting so distracted by the penetration test angle that we overlook the part where none of the government's findings about our right to vote are supposed to be secret from the public, never mind the manufacturer of the voting machine.

If we assume for a moment that the administration's motives in this case are overwhelmingly good, at best what we're left with is NOBUS [2][3] for our voting machines. Now a moment has passed. Ask yourself why you do not attribute malicious motives to the people who want (worse than) NOBUS for our voting machines.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanewashing

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOBUS

[3] https://pluralistic.net/2026/10/13/petards-r-us/