Tech Dissent Digest - 05.16.25

Welcome to Tech Dissent, the weekly digest of Big Tech news with solutions to fight back. This week we go from the "CyberStuck" all the around to how terrible AI actually is. We hope you had a great week and an even better weekend planned.

This week in Big Tech

The Guardian gets it:

The Cybertruck was supposed to be apocalypse-proof. Can it even survive a trip to the grocery store?

Thanks to poor engineering and Elon Musk, Tesla’s road rage-inducing street tank can’t even win over its core demographic: doomsday preppers

The GuardianAndrew Lawrence

Flock, the automatic license plate reader (ALPR) company whose cameras are installed in more than 5,000 communities in the U.S., is building a product that will use people lookup tools, data brokers, and data breaches to “jump from LPR [license plate reader] to person,” allowing police to much more easily identify and track the movements of specific people around the country without a warrant or court order, according to internal Flock presentation slides, Slack chats, and meeting audio obtained by 404 Media.

License Plate Reader Company Flock Is Building a Massive People Lookup Tool, Leak Shows

Flock, which has license plate readers (LPRs) all around the country, wants police to be able to “jump from LPR to person,” according to leaked audio obtained by 404 Media.

404 MediaJoseph Cox

Only a quarter of AI initiatives have delivered the expected return on investment, according to an IBM survey of 2,000 CEOs.

Well, yea:

Most AI spending driven by FOMO, not ROI, CEOs tell IBM

: Just 1 in 4 bets paying off so far

The RegisterTobias Mann

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This was shared by the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Take Action: Demand Your Rep Vote “NO” on Nonprofit Killer Bill

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