A new tax deduction for tipped wages seemed like good news for all sorts of service workers—including those in sexually oriented industries. After all, anyone in a sector that has “customarily and regularly” earned tips can claim a deduction, per we are on the precipice of getting yet another major copyright decision from the Supreme Court where the words “First Amendment” are not uttered even once—unless, of course, someone like Justice Alito has something to say about it, because he was basically the only justice whose questions addressed the practical effect on people’s ability to speak online should Sony’s arguments prevail. (“That doesn’t sound workable to me,” he said at one point, recognizing how many people would effectively end up losing their Internet access if Sony were right and providers were required to terminate accounts upon receiving an infringement notice.)
• Wired takes a look at Hidden, which it bills as “the first adult platform owned and operated by sex workers.” Started by Stella Barely, it’s a TikTok-like platform for adult content that wants to give content creators more control and protection. “Hidden takes an 18 percent cut (compared to 20 percent on OnlyFans)” and “has charge-back protections up to $2,500, which deters customers from falsely disputing payments with their credit card companies and getting refunds,” notes Jason Parham.
• Cathy Reisenwitz read If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All, and was largely unimpressed:
This book didn’t change my mind. I started it unconvinced that [artificial general intelligence] will definitely kill us all and I remain unconvinced. I came in unsure that trying to keep everyone alive a little longer is worth forfeiting the possibility that AGI will help us live much longer, fuller, more meaningful, connected, interesting lives. And I remain unconvinced.
But I did enjoy the book. And, I now understand a bit better why these two think AGI will definitely kill everyone quickly.
• “Remember when you thought age verification laws couldn’t get any worse? Well, lawmakers in Wisconsin, Michigan, and beyond are about to blow you away,” writes Rindala Alajaji at Techdirt:
It’s unfortunately no longer enough to force websites to check your government-issued ID before you can access certain content, because politicians have now discovered that people are using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to protect their privacy and bypass these invasive laws. Their solution? Entirely ban the use of VPNs.
I’ve covered this a little in this newsletter before; Alajaji has more details on some of the proposals and why they’re a terrible idea.
• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit has upheld a lower court’s ruling protecting speech about “abortion pill reversal.”
