iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

At the Fred Meyer and this Simbe robot is scanning shelf inventory

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actual reporting gig covering debt markets:

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Sharing this again because really everyone should see this horrific AI slop spectacle complete with "flying flour" and "big kitchen energy." When I see this stuff I'm reminded of the shitty human-made SEO affiliate link garbage sites that started floating around in the early/mid 2000s.

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Also I'm not from here. I'm from Buffalo!

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I do have a friend whose cat is named Oly though 😉

i was not here in the 80s!

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Self-Employment Assistance

I just discovered something cool: Oregon allows people to collect unemployment w/o having to fulfill work seeking duties IF they qualify for 1 of 2 programs - Self-Employment Assistance requiring them to start a business, or Training Unemployment Assistance, requiring study at accredited school.

unemployment.oregon.gov

self-employment, self-employed, start a business,

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I don't know what those are - tell me more

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mississippirecords.bandcamp.com

Morning music this Friday is the latest from Portland's own and always riveting Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group:

The Remembering, by Roman Norfleet and Be Present Art Group

9 track album

Went out to my favorite hiking spot the other day and saw lots of beautiful salmon making their way up river in their final days (including some in the first photo here). It's been a particularly lovely autumn here in the Portland area.

Six salmon swim up river to spawn in shallow water

Miles of evergreens on hills can be seen from a high cliff

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I also have Roman Colosseum-inspired persecutions on the White House lawn on my bingo card.

Did an AI agent buy the domain too? Why do I want pizza online?

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Ad for the site was served up to me on a travel post about driving in Italy. As I ponder doing more video and whether I want to participate in ad-supported media in my independent work, this is a benign example of why I do not want to facilitate this shit.

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Mama Lola | Wood-Fired Pizza

I've been doing research about Italy and had to share this ridiculous AI slop website/ad (generic domain, "demo site," etc.) In the video there are whole stems of basil spilling into marinara and goopy pre-melted cheese spilling onto already baked pizza. Oh, yeah, and Mama Lola is a dog.

thebestpizza.online

Say no more: wood-fired pizza, flying flour, and big kitchen energy from Mama Lola.

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Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

In recently updated Automated License Plate Reader policy, however imperfect, PPB recognized topics raised in people's public comments and made changes based on some. Here that updated policy with discussion of public comments at the top:

Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

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Highly suggest people read pdf which is the proposed policy PPB seeks comments on. My questions here in this thread are ideas people might think about as they craft their own comments. This page explains and links to the policy in question: www.portland.gov/police/direc...

Public Comment Period - Draft Directives

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Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Yes, these are public comments so they are for the public to comment but they are also made publicly available.

reduce computer anxiety and make better tech choices by Bianca Wylie <br> handbook chapters will be published on the blog as they're written <br> __ t...

These mini essays about challenging our knee-jerk use of computation (in the context of government, democracy, culture) from @biancawylie.com are concise, thought-provoking reads. Waiting in line? Skip your doom-scroll and read one of these instead. Then think and discuss (in-person maybe?)

lesscomputer.ca

less computer

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Another question - what should require review? Entirely new tech or application of new features or capabilities in tech already used? Commenters need to click on "survey" link in the actual document to submit comments.

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Should Portland police test new tech without oversight from the new Office of Data & Privacy? Should they be able to write their own tech policy/procedures? Should they have to send an alert/press release if they plan to pilot new tech? You can have your say - public comment through Oct 31.

Public Comment Period - Draft Directives

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YouTube video by Dead Moon - Topic

Loved Lavender Flu's cover of Dead Moon's deep cut Echoes of You at yesterday's annual Dead Moon Night. Lots of "only in Portland" vibes last night as the Dead Moon community came out to keep the ol' flame of the Jack Daniels bottle candle goin. Next year is the 10th anniversary of Dead Moon Night!

youtube.com

Echoes to You

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This reminds me of an interview I did yrs ago with a woman in the blockchain world who joked that people attracted to blockchain "have trust issues." Trust Control Ep. 7 discusses assumptions about trust & transparency in blockchain & a blockchain court platform for EU online dispute resolution.

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In an episode about technical measures of 'trustworthiness' of media & information I talk to Tiffany Walling McGarity, a photographer whose gorgeous tintypes were deemed "invalid" by proliferating content provenance/AI transparncy label framework C2PA. Do those 'trust signals' say her photos are AI?

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Topics I discuss artists would dig: Stephen Marsh's influential computational trust research was inspired by Birkhoff's '30s era 'aesthetic measurement' work. Birkhoff's model determined the square as the top polygonal form, had serious problems with some triangles & rated the swastika 40-something.

Technology Podcast · Series · Trust Control is a documentary podcast series about the weird yet surprisingly expansive world of trust measurement from investigative journalist and researcher Kate Kaye...

@eryk.bsky.social - Considering your work peeling back the onions of AI & its measurements, 'mitigations' etc, I do think you'd be intrigued by the stuff I dug up for the Trust Control podcast. "Trust measurement" goes way back to early Cold War era with lots of US military funding.

podcasts.apple.com

Trust Control

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Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Revisiting this 10-yrs-old work exposing predictive policing "risk scores." How will the supposedly neutral & objective "trust scores" for media, info, creators, AI I detail in the Trust Control podcast be used downstream in the future? AITrustControl.com

propublica.org

Machine Bias

There’s software used across the country to predict future criminals. And it’s biased against blacks.

Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Lots of cool stuff again at this year's TextileX month here in Portland. This is the time of year I start to think seriously again about getting back into doing textile work and weaving because I really love it and miss my old 4-harness floor loom!

textilex.org

Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Just had a super compelling, wide-ranging talk w @melhogan.bsky.social for Data Fix about issues discussed in my documentary Trust Control pod - about faulty notion of objectivity & neutrality in trust measurement in media & AI, residual ideas that linger in trust research, & more... Airing soon!

aitrustcontrol.com

TRUST CONTROL

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Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

your contrived podcast sets and your stupid curated bookshelves have got to go and don't get me started on that goddam guitar hanging on your wall

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Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Here’s Bunce’s ‘Seawall’ depicting industrial banks of the Willamette River at the foot of the Hawthorne Bridge, done as part of Oregon’s WPA easel project, painted while Bunce was home in Portland in 1939-40. Inspired by Chirico’s metaphysical style & acknowledging poverty unlike lots of WPA art.

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Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The wide range of New Deal era art in the PNW (stodgy Treasury dept approved stuff to modernist work) is included like a 1938 Alice in Wonderland mural by Louis Bunce, Clifford Gleason & students at Salem’s Bush Elementary. It was moved to N Salem HS bc it was too scary for today’s elementary kids.

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Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The PNW has all sorts of amazing examples of WPA arts and crafts, most dramatically present at the majestic Timberline Lodge. I’ve always had mixed feelings about government funded art and the complexities are thoughtfully discussed in this great book I bought recently at a discount.

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Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Agreed Guardians is pretty lame. The other day I was thinking they should have changed the name to The Cleveland Rockers. (The Guardians name was inspired by a set of bridge statues, but like, c'mon: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Me...

en.wikipedia.org

Hope Memorial Bridge - Wikipedia

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Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Saw this “Death to AI. Long live freedom” graffiti while on bike ride to dentist this morning. Also saw a Great Blue Heron hanging out by the Willamette River.

Words “Death to AI. Long live freedom” are spray painted in white on pavement.

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Kate Kaye @katekaye.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

As a Mets fan it's tough for me to root "for" the Phillies, but it's easy to root against the Braves when their fans continue to do the "Tomahawk Chop" thing. So offensive, gross and embarrassing.

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But this is one of my favorite trails and here’s one of its most magical spots:

This insanely heavy Nike / Lyft bike was blocking a Portland area hiking trail I was on earlier. The only way to move it any further was to sign up with the Biketown platform. That or find Paul Bunyan to move it.

I think municipalities are dealing with years and years of secrecy and lack of knowledge among elected officials and government staff regarding the data pipelines. As I understand it, PPB has its own separate data infrastructure from other city agencies.

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Oh cool thank you. I left facebook years ago but appreciate you sharing there.

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My mini zines to promote my Trust Control documentary podcast remind me of Chick Tracts which I have collected over the years and that makes me very happy.

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PPB supplies what is referred to as "customer data" into the Lexis systems (see the Accurint contract linked in the stories). Whether that includes ALPR data specifically is not clear from my analysis.

I want to reiterate I'm not trying to explain away the importance of license plate reader data sharing with feds or other law enforcement. But data sharing is insanely complex and if we want policy (here in PDX or elsewhere) that actually recognizes nuances we must understand these pesky details.

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Flock in Portland? Here’s What We Know about Police License Plate Readers in PDX

I do expect Portland's new Office of Data and Privacy to help answer some of these technical questions and address these sorts of gaps in policy that allow unwanted or prohibited data sharing about people in Portland and their whereabouts. Again here's my roundup: redtailmedia.org/2026/09/07/f...

redtailmedia.org

Amid the surging anti-Flock and anti-surveillance tech backlash, here’s what we know about Portland Police use of automated license plate reader tech.

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As someone who has covered data brokers & data use for decades, I recognize these nuances seem trivial or as though they miss the forest for the trees. Data buying & selling hinges on minor legal distinctions to comply w & circumvent data regs, however weak they are.

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4. Again, PPB's recently updated ALPR policy prohibits the use of its ALPR data or system to conduct or assist with immigration enforcement. BUT there are big questions about how that is implemented technically. Data sharing is complex. Tech allows for obfuscation and circumvention of laws.

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3. Parakul reported that PPB “denied that the police bureau is contractually required to share license plate data” to Accurint. PPB’s agreement w Accurint doesn't have details on what's in customer data it must supply to PSDEX.

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