Woodrow Hartzog
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hartzog.bsky.social
Woodrow Hartzog
@hartzog.bsky.social
10K followers 1.2K following 9 posts

Professor of Law at Boston University School of Law. Author of "Privacy's Blueprint" (2018) and co-author of "Breached!" (2022). Posting mainly about privacy, tech and the law.

Videos
Political science 32%
Computer science 24%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

daniel-solove.bsky.social
Daniel Solove @daniel-solove.bsky.social · 15h
TOMORROW - Is Online Scraping Legal? – Tues, Nov 11, at 2 PM ET REGISTER (FREE) teachprivacy.com/video-is-onl... @hartzog.bsky.social and I discuss our recently-published article about scraping.
Video: Is Online Scraping Legal?
Is Online Scraping Legal? Tues, Nov 11, at 2 PM ET Daniel Solove and Woodrow Hartzog will discuss their article, The Great Scrape: The Clash Between
teachprivacy.com

hartzog.bsky.social
Woodrow Hartzog @hartzog.bsky.social · 2d
AI continues to go just great.

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog, Aviel Roshwald

prospect.org
The American Prospect @prospect.org · 2d
“OpenAI is getting ready to run hat in hand to the taxpayer for subsidies.” After losing more than $13 billion this year, OpenAI officials are angling for a bailout. From @ryanlcooper.com:

trib.al/CUazMCQ
OpenAI Is Maneuvering for a Government Bailout - The American Prospect
For artificial intelligence to ever pencil out, some truly enormous revenue streams will be required. And if you need trillions of dollars for data centers forever, there’s only one entity to turn to: Uncle Sam.
trib.al

hartzog.bsky.social
Woodrow Hartzog @hartzog.bsky.social · 2d
Friends, what are we doing here.
nytimes.com The New York Times @nytimes.com · 2d
NEO, a new humanoid robot that can do housekeeping, has the internet buzzing. The hosts of "Hard Fork" met with Bernt Bornich, the chief executive of the company 1X, which created the robot, and got to put NEO to the test. nyti.ms/47MhkAo
A photo shows a robot called NEO holding a cushion in a living room. A quote from Kevin Roose, co-host of "Hard Fork," about the robot: "I did get a hug from NEO, and it was a good hug."

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog, Elise Thomas

nytimes.com
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 2d
NEO, a new humanoid robot that can do housekeeping, has the internet buzzing. The hosts of "Hard Fork" met with Bernt Bornich, the chief executive of the company 1X, which created the robot, and got to put NEO to the test. nyti.ms/47MhkAo
A photo shows a robot called NEO holding a cushion in a living room. A quote from Kevin Roose, co-host of "Hard Fork," about the robot: "I did get a hug from NEO, and it was a good hug."

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

parkermolloy.com
Parker Molloy @parkermolloy.com · 3d
Just realized that TIME magazine is probably going to do something dumb and name AI as the Person of the Year, isn't it?

hartzog.bsky.social
Woodrow Hartzog @hartzog.bsky.social · 3d
AI destroys institutions.
minakimes.bsky.social Mina Kimes @minakimes.bsky.social · 4d
Bad AI supplanting human expertise is an issue that transcends any one field, but man—not many people on earth whose knowledge and dedication deserves respect like LIBRARIANS.
jasonkoebler.bsky.social Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 4d
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:

www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

alicetiara.bsky.social
alice e marwick @alicetiara.bsky.social · 4d
When people ask me how we can stop online scams, I point to THIS
jeffhorwitz.bsky.social Jeff Horwitz @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social · 4d
Meta earns $3.5 billion every six months from showing Faceboon and Instagram users 15 billion “higher legal risk” scam ad impressions a day, internal documents state.

That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog, Greg Linden

rtushnet.bsky.social
Rebecca Tushnet @rtushnet.bsky.social · 4d
"Every six months, Meta earns $3.5 billion from just the portion of scam ads that 'present higher legal risk,' the [Meta] document says, such as those falsely claiming to represent a consumer brand...That figure almost certainly exceeds 'the cost of any regulatory settlement involving scam ads.'”
Meta is earning a fortune on a deluge of fraudulent ads, documents show
Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, and it internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day, company documents show.
www.reuters.com

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

minakimes.bsky.social
Mina Kimes @minakimes.bsky.social · 4d
Bad AI supplanting human expertise is an issue that transcends any one field, but man—not many people on earth whose knowledge and dedication deserves respect like LIBRARIANS.
jasonkoebler.bsky.social Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 4d
The long-running ideological war on libraries, education, and government workers is not separate from AI boosterism. It is the same ideological war on human knowledge and expertise. In some cases AI is being used to directly supercharge this effort:

www.404media.co/ai-is-superc...
AI Is Supercharging the War on Libraries, Education, and Human Knowledge
"Fascism and AI, whether or not they have the same goals, they sure are working to accelerate one another."
www.404media.co

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Leigh Sparks, Cathy N. Davidson , and 8 more

jeffhorwitz.bsky.social
Jeff Horwitz @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social · 4d
Meta earns $3.5 billion every six months from showing Faceboon and Instagram users 15 billion “higher legal risk” scam ad impressions a day, internal documents state.

That haul vastly exceeds how much the company expects regulators
To fine it for running scam ads.

www.reuters.com/investigatio...
www.reuters.com

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

daniel-solove.bsky.social
Daniel Solove @daniel-solove.bsky.social · 7d
Is Online Scraping Legal? – Tues, Nov 11, at 2 PM ET REGISTER (FREE) teachprivacy.com/video-is-onl... @Daniel-Solove.bsky.social and Woodrow Hartzog @hartzog.bsky.social discuss their article on how privacy law should address the scraping of personal data.
Video: Is Online Scraping Legal?
Is Online Scraping Legal? Tues, Nov 11, at 2 PM ET Daniel Solove and Woodrow Hartzog will discuss their article, The Great Scrape: The Clash Between
teachprivacy.com

hartzog.bsky.social
Woodrow Hartzog @hartzog.bsky.social · 10d
Excellent new article alert from my brilliant colleague @jdahlstrom765.bsky.social!
jdahlstrom765.bsky.social Julie Dahlstrom @jdahlstrom765.bsky.social · 10d
Excited to share that my Article, Digitial Servitude, is hot off the presses @BCLawReview! The Article examines how technology facilitates forced labor in the US by analyzing federal criminal and civil pleadings. bclawreview.bc.edu/articles/10.... 1/x

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

jdahlstrom765.bsky.social
Julie Dahlstrom @jdahlstrom765.bsky.social · 10d
Excited to share that my Article, Digitial Servitude, is hot off the presses @BCLawReview! The Article examines how technology facilitates forced labor in the US by analyzing federal criminal and civil pleadings. bclawreview.bc.edu/articles/10.... 1/x

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

bulaw.bsky.social
Boston University School of Law @bulaw.bsky.social · 10d
#BULawProf @hartzog.bsky.social on LinkedIn’s battle to stop bots from collecting user data: “The unfettered scraping of personal data violates every bedrock privacy principle that is enshrined in most privacy laws in the United States and around the world." ⬇️ spr.ly/6332371tX9
LinkedIn Battles Online Scrapers in Perpetual Struggle Over Data
LinkedIn was instrumental in shutting down a company scraping its information earlier this year. Now, it is going after another.
spr.ly

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

techpolicypress.bsky.social
Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 10d
On Halloween, it is worth considering a quieter yet more serious threat: AI is making the internet work less well for people, write Article 19's Tanu I & Corinne Cath. AI crawlers slow sites, strain libraries, and push journalism behind paywalls to train LLMs.
Creepy AI Crawlers Are Turning the Internet into a Haunted House | TechPolicy.Press
The question is no longer whether AI crawlers are disrupting the internet, but what we can do about it, write Tanu I and Corinne Cath.
www.techpolicy.press

hartzog.bsky.social
Woodrow Hartzog @hartzog.bsky.social · 11d
You can buy her book here: www.amazon.com/Beard-Marria...
Beard: A Memoir of a Marriage
Beard: A Memoir of a Marriage [Lundquist, Kelly Foster] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Beard: A Memoir of a Marriage
www.amazon.com

hartzog.bsky.social
Woodrow Hartzog @hartzog.bsky.social · 11d
Friends, today is the release date for my cousin @kfoslundquist.bsky.social's powerful new book, "Beard: A Memoir of a Marriage." It is so good. It tells the story of her first marriage to a closeted gay man with the tenderness, insight and empathy of our shared humanity. She's a master storyteller.
‘I married my true love. Then I found out I was his beard’
When Kelly Lundquist fell for Devin, she thought they made the perfect couple. It took her six years to discover he was gay — and that she was his cover
www.thetimes.com

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

onekade.bsky.social
onekade @onekade.bsky.social · 11d
Nice: Town of Brookline rejects Flock www.boston.com/news/local-n...
Brookline officials press pause on police accessing data from realty company's plate-reader camera
Brookline residents have spoken out online and at public hearings to oppose the cameras.
www.boston.com

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Anna O. Law, Colin F. Camerer , and 27 more

josephcox.bsky.social
Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 12d
New incredible detail here: ICE says a match in its facial recognition app Mobile Fortify is a "definitive" determination of a person's status, and that this overrides birth certificates. This is an app ICE is using in the field to scan people

www.404media.co/ice-and-cbp-...
Ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee Bennie G. Thompson said in a statement “Mobile Fortify is a dangerous tool in the hands of ICE, and it puts American citizens at risk of detention and even deportation.” He also said “ICE officials have told us that an apparent biometric match by Mobile Fortify is a ‘definitive’ determination of a person’s status and that an ICE officer may ignore evidence of American citizenship—including a birth certificate—if the app says the person is an alien. ICE using a mobile biometrics app in ways its developers at CBP never intended or tested is a frightening, repugnant, and unconstitutional attack on Americans’ rights and freedoms.”

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

kashhill.bsky.social
Kashmir Hill @kashhill.bsky.social · 12d
Character.AI plans to stop offering chatbots to users under 18 www.nytimes.com/2025/10/29/t...
Character.AI to Bar Children Under 18 From Using Its Chatbots
www.nytimes.com

hartzog.bsky.social
Woodrow Hartzog @hartzog.bsky.social · 14d
AI continues to go just great.

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

evystadium.bsky.social
evy kwong @evystadium.bsky.social · 14d
by OpenAI’s own estimates, hundreds of thousands of ChatGPT users are showing signs of manic or psychotic crisis every week
OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week
OpenAI Says Hundreds of Thousands of ChatGPT Users May Show Signs of Manic or Psychotic Crisis Every Week
www.wired.com

Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Woodrow Hartzog

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog, Stephen A. Meserve, Nathan P. Kalmoe , and 1 more

bakerdphd.bsky.social
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 18d
Really well done this

defector.com/higher-eds-r...
Higher Ed’s Rush To Adopt AI Is About So Much More Than AI | Defector
If you don’t work at a university or have college-age kids, you may have missed the flurry of news stories and social media banter about AI adoption in higher ed, stories which have snowballed into th...
defector.com

hartzog.bsky.social
Woodrow Hartzog @hartzog.bsky.social · 19d
AI continues to go just great.

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

gizmodo.com
Gizmodo @gizmodo.com · 19d
OpenAI's New Browser Raises 'Insurmountably High' Security Concerns
OpenAI's New Browser Raises 'Insurmountably High' Security Concerns
You can't say they aren't innovating.
gizmodo.com

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

techoversight.bsky.social
Tech Oversight Project @techoversight.bsky.social · 19d
"Starbucks tracked my every purchase — then gave me fewer deals. It’s called surveillance pricing," writes @geoffreyfowler.bsky.social . "My loyalty was working against me."
Column | The hidden way using a rewards card can cost you more
Starbucks tracked my every purchase — then gave me fewer deals. It’s called surveillance pricing.
www.washingtonpost.com

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

eff.org
Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 19d
A DHS warrant seeking ChatGPT user prompts “means it’s more important than ever for OpenAI and other AI companies to think about how to limit the amount of data they collect on their users,” EFF’s @jenlynch.bsky.social told @Forbes.com.
www.forbes.com/sites/thoma...
DHS Ordered OpenAI To Share User Data In First Known Warrant For ChatGPT Prompts
Filed by child exploitation investigators with the DHS, the warrant reveals the government can ask OpenAI to provide information on anyone who enters specific prompts.
www.forbes.com

Reposted by Woodrow Hartzog

stanfordcis.bsky.social
Stanford CIS @stanfordcis.bsky.social · 19d
@hartzog.bsky.social and @daniel-solove.bsky.social explores The Great Scrape: how AI's massive data scraping violates privacy principles like fairness, consent, and transparency. Despite scrapers treating public data as free, privacy law protects it. www.californialawreview.org/print/great-...
The Great Scrape: The Clash Between Scraping and Privacy — California Law Review
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems depend on massive quantities of data, often gathered by “scraping”—the automated extraction of large amounts of data from the internet. A great deal of scraped dat...
www.californialawreview.org