Welcome back to the Stove Top weekly newsletter. Quick one today because it’s been a busy week with traveling.

Enjoy.

The Cautious Tale Of Nigel Farage

In UK politics, Nigel Farage is as controversial as it gets. The broadcaster and former leader of the Brexit movement have been described by one critic as a “disingenuous grifter” with “xenophobic, chauvinistic, and racist views”.

That’s not a big deal in itself. Public figures are criticized all the time. It’s part of the gig.

But, that critic was his bank. And they did more than just criticize him. They closed his account. The cited reason was that he fell below the wealth limit, but leaked documents make clear it was because “his views were at odds with inclusivity”.

His crimes? Retweeting Ricky Gervais jokes and being friends with Novak Djokovic and Trump.

In other words, if they don’t like your humor or choice of friends, you lose your bank account.

On the positive side, this financial censorship is being widely condemned. I’m not sure that would’ve been the case in 2020 or 2021.

On the negative side, financial censorship is about to become much easier. With CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies), the oppressors won’t even need to access your bank account. CBDCs will let the authorities see what you’re buying in real-time and turn off your financial faucet accordingly.

Donating to a non-approved politician? Unbanked. Protesting a policy? Unbanked. Visiting “suspicious” websites? Unbanked.

As it is with surveillance, the only things stopping this dystopia are privacy-preserving technology (cryptocurrencies) and cultural norms (roasting the bank).

Lose those, and it’s game over.

Surveillance

• WiFi routers can see people through walls.

• Big Tech is watching you as you drive.

• Brave is selling copyrighted data for AI training.

• Signal is down for the cause. 

• The Senate is targeting end-to-end encryption.

• AI is watching you drive and telling the cops if you’re driving like a criminal.

• iPads are now being used for facial recognition at traveling checkpoints.

• The surveillance shills will go crazy for this one.

• AI is able to read your mind, and it’s only going to get better.

Extras

• A WordPress security plugin was actually logging passwords.

• The actors are on strike, joining the writers in the life or death fight against AI.

• Kyle Chayka dropped an interesting read on AI writing robots.

• China HATES “fake news”.

• And they are demanding that AI follow “the core values of socialism”. Brother, we can’t even get AI to correctly identify a prime number. How the hell are you going to get it to follow that dogshit ideology?

• UBI might be good?

• Taiwan is worried about Chinese election interference via TikTok.

• Homelessness is still on the rise in US cities.

• Meta had some of your “extraordinarily sensitive data” hand-delivered to them by tax preparation firms.

• Netflix’s password sharing crackdown is working really really well.

• Doesn’t change the fact that the streaming economy is rotten.

• China is upping their hacks on the US.

• The streaming economy is rotten.

• Surprise surprise, Taylor Lorenz wrote a joke of a headline.

• What in the fuck is this guy talking about.

• The Korean homies still hate Japan.

• Sorry everyone, AI startups aren’t going to save SF. And damn does SF need saving.

• Your doctor is probably employed by a PE firm.

• Big Oil doesn’t give a fuck about climate pledges.

• Open Source software is under attack in the EU.

• News is propaganda.

• Vienna is the world hub of espionage.

• Most Tinder users are already in a relationship. What are you guys doing?

• Iran’s morality police are back. Yay….

• China’s economy is majorly slowing down.

• The Israelis are using AI to beef up their military.

• Europeans are some broke boys.

• Britain is a developing country.

• Canada’s program to attract tech workers from the US hit capacity in one day. Why are we letting this happen?

• Au revoir, chemical weapons.

• And au revoir, legacy admissions at Carnegie Mellon and Pitt.

• Stanford’s president is a cheating snake.

• Video games are almost as bad as gambling.

• The greatest trader of all time Nancy Pelosi has to be punching air about this one.

• Weekly reminder that the job market sucks.

Until next time, ✌️

Hit me up on Twitter!