denise: Image: Me, facing away from camera, on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome (Default)
[staff profile] denise posting in [site community profile] dw_news

I'll start with the tl;dr summary to make sure everyone sees it and then explain further: As of September 1, we will temporarily be forced to block access to Dreamwidth from all IP addresses that geolocate to Mississippi for legal reasons. This block will need to continue until we either win the legal case entirely, or the district court issues another injunction preventing Mississippi from enforcing their social media age verification and parental consent law against us.

Mississippi residents, we are so, so sorry. We really don't want to do this, but the legal fight we and Netchoice have been fighting for you had a temporary setback last week. We genuinely and honestly believe that we're going to win it in the end, but the Fifth Circuit appellate court said that the district judge was wrong to issue the preliminary injunction back in June that would have maintained the status quo and prevented the state from enforcing the law requiring any social media website (which is very broadly defined, and which we definitely qualify as) to deanonymize and age-verify all users and obtain parental permission from the parent of anyone under 18 who wants to open an account.

Netchoice took that appellate ruling up to the Supreme Court, who declined to overrule the Fifth Circuit with no explanation -- except for Justice Kavanaugh agreeing that we are likely to win the fight in the end, but saying that it's no big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime.

Needless to say, it's a big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime. The Mississippi law is a breathtaking state overreach: it forces us to verify the identity and age of every person who accesses Dreamwidth from the state of Mississippi and determine who's under the age of 18 by collecting identity documents, to save that highly personal and sensitive information, and then to obtain a permission slip from those users' parents to allow them to finish creating an account. It also forces us to change our moderation policies and stop anyone under 18 from accessing a wide variety of legal and beneficial speech because the state of Mississippi doesn't like it -- which, given the way Dreamwidth works, would mean blocking people from talking about those things at all. (And if you think you know exactly what kind of content the state of Mississippi doesn't like, you're absolutely right.)

Needless to say, we don't want to do that, either. Even if we wanted to, though, we can't: the resources it would take for us to build the systems that would let us do it are well beyond our capacity. You can read the sworn declaration I provided to the court for some examples of how unworkable these requirements are in practice. (That isn't even everything! The lawyers gave me a page limit!)

Unfortunately, the penalties for failing to comply with the Mississippi law are incredibly steep: fines of $10,000 per user from Mississippi who we don't have identity documents verifying age for, per incident -- which means every time someone from Mississippi loaded Dreamwidth, we'd potentially owe Mississippi $10,000. Even a single $10,000 fine would be rough for us, but the per-user, per-incident nature of the actual fine structure is an existential threat. And because we're part of the organization suing Mississippi over it, and were explicitly named in the now-overturned preliminary injunction, we think the risk of the state deciding to engage in retaliatory prosecution while the full legal challenge continues to work its way through the courts is a lot higher than we're comfortable with. Mississippi has been itching to issue those fines for a while, and while normally we wouldn't worry much because we're a small and obscure site, the fact that we've been yelling at them in court about the law being unconstitutional means the chance of them lumping us in with the big social media giants and trying to fine us is just too high for us to want to risk it. (The excellent lawyers we've been working with are Netchoice's lawyers, not ours!)

All of this means we've made the extremely painful decision that our only possible option for the time being is to block Mississippi IP addresses from accessing Dreamwidth, until we win the case. (And I repeat: I am absolutely incredibly confident we'll win the case. And apparently Justice Kavanaugh agrees!) I repeat: I am so, so sorry. This is the last thing we wanted to do, and I've been fighting my ass off for the last three years to prevent it. But, as everyone who follows the legal system knows, the Fifth Circuit is gonna do what it's gonna do, whether or not what they want to do has any relationship to the actual law.

We don't collect geolocation information ourselves, and we have no idea which of our users are residents of Mississippi. (We also don't want to know that, unless you choose to tell us.) Because of that, and because access to highly accurate geolocation databases is extremely expensive, our only option is to use our network provider's geolocation-based blocking to prevent connections from IP addresses they identify as being from Mississippi from even reaching Dreamwidth in the first place. I have no idea how accurate their geolocation is, and it's possible that some people not in Mississippi might also be affected by this block. (The inaccuracy of geolocation is only, like, the 27th most important reason on the list of "why this law is practically impossible for any site to comply with, much less a tiny site like us".)

If your IP address is identified as coming from Mississippi, beginning on September 1, you'll see a shorter, simpler version of this message and be unable to proceed to the site itself. If you would otherwise be affected, but you have a VPN or proxy service that masks your IP address and changes where your connection appears to come from, you won't get the block message, and you can keep using Dreamwidth the way you usually would.

On a completely unrelated note while I have you all here, have I mentioned lately that I really like ProtonVPN's service, privacy practices, and pricing? They also have a free tier available that, although limited to one device, has no ads or data caps and doesn't log your activity, unlike most of the free VPN services out there. VPNs are an excellent privacy and security tool that every user of the internet should be familiar with! We aren't affiliated with Proton and we don't get any kickbacks if you sign up with them, but I'm a satisfied customer and I wanted to take this chance to let you know that.

Again, we're so incredibly sorry to have to make this announcement, and I personally promise you that I will continue to fight this law, and all of the others like it that various states are passing, with every inch of the New Jersey-bred stubborn fightiness you've come to know and love over the last 16 years. The instant we think it's less legally risky for us to allow connections from Mississippi IP addresses, we'll undo the block and let you know.

elainegrey: Inspired by Grypping/gripping beast styles from Nordic cultures (Default)
[personal profile] elainegrey

I've been ungrounded off and on the past few weeks. Goal #1 for tomorrow is to manage my morning so i can sit with Christine for ten minutes and meditate. I've shifted my "warning" alarm ten minutes earlier so hopefully i will get up from morning computer time in time for that and the rest of getting ready for work.

Stretch goal is to get my ten minute walk in.

Figs are coming in quickly. I tried making fig jam on Sunday but have more of a fig syrup. 2 pint jars, 3 12 oz jars and an 8 oz jar. (One of the 12 oz didn't seal and is in the fridge.)  I am pondering that maybe i just didn't get it hot enough and i should reprocess. Or, i dunno, wait try again with More Figs, since these are at least preserved for the time being.

Weather is shifting and working outside is imaginable. I've actually got radishes, beets, spinach, and collards started in one bed (that i should probably protect from deer soon). I started weeding some of the beds in the fenced garden area -- i will seed that soon, too, with winter plants.  Although i should probably amend the soil before that. It's still too hot for lettuce to germinate, but i started some inside. goals

(morning writing)

Aug. 18th, 2025 07:46 am
elainegrey: Inspired by Grypping/gripping beast styles from Nordic cultures (Default)
[personal profile] elainegrey

A tiny breeze sounds like a rainfall as leaves shake free the dew. I hear the patter of percussion, stare at the clear opal sky of dawn, and then feel the air move around me. It's a little cooler. I see the pines sway a little. Two leaves spiral down from the tulip poplars. We are two weeks in from the first of August and the turn of the light. Copper brown cherry leaves are scattered on the deck.

I picked eight  pounds of figs yesterday, pureeing 5.74 pounds into almost three "quarts," sitting in the fridge to dehydrate -- or be turned into fruit jellies -- in turn. (Quart jars hold 3 cups, i do not understand...) 2.5 pounds went into my first canned whole figs in a light simple syrup. I made twice as much syrup as i thought i would need, so i canned the left over to use with a later batch. Canning in light syrup is the least sugar method i can find. I'm trying to figure out a lower sugar (and added citric acid) jam recipe for the figs. My first quart jar packed with dried figs are less dried out than some past years, and i remember how i did have a jar sort of ferment on me last winter.

I am spending forever looking for approved fig and Fuyu persimmon canning recipes, while wrestling with the temptation to just follow random blogger recipes. Admittedly, lots of them look likely safe as sugar content can be double or triple approved recipes.

What fresh hell is this?

Aug. 15th, 2025 01:36 pm
elainegrey: Inspired by Grypping/gripping beast styles from Nordic cultures (Default)
[personal profile] elainegrey
Wait screen for a website

I have to wait in line for a web form?!

(fascism)

Aug. 14th, 2025 08:47 am
elainegrey: Inspired by Grypping/gripping beast styles from Nordic cultures (Default)
[personal profile] elainegrey

Just a note to confirm that I remained horrified by the world, horrified by the Israeli government's treatment of Gazans and Palestinians, horrified by Putin's aggression against the Ukraine and his throwing Russians into the meat grinder of war to make that happen, sick to nausea of the US Federal government's "immigration" policies and enforcement ... and well, all of the policies, from the ones that directly impact me to the ones that slightly less directly impact me. But all of it impacts the nation's collective well being and  -- i just can't articulate. Only cry.

(morning writing)

Aug. 14th, 2025 07:41 am
elainegrey: Inspired by Grypping/gripping beast styles from Nordic cultures (Default)
[personal profile] elainegrey

Re-reading i see i was not clear in my comments about Dad's coming heart valve repair. I had gotten in my head that the open heart surgery would be possible for him AND would result in a long lasting repair. Since Dad is otherwise healthy, i imagine him having many more years.

I don't think he imagines himself having many more years that he wants -- and he dreads a lingering existence in which he needs others to care for him.

Realizing how long three months seems at the end of your life compared to how fast things are flying by for me right now.... well, the considerations around how to resolve Dad's heart valve have probably led me to think more about my limited time in this life than about his.

I spent a good bit of Sunday with him, helping him get his boat in the lake. Unfortunately the engine wasn't cooperating.

Also got some yard work done with the pleasant weekend weather.

It's back to sauna, glasses fogging over when stepping outside, windows covered with condensation, fog in the trees in the morning.

Fig season is beginning. I'm done with the mulberries and elderberries: the rest can go to the birds and other critters. The blueberries have tailed off as well. If i can motivate myself, i want to get winter plantings of brassicas and lettuces in. This month is hard to imagine as time to plant but since i didn't do much in the way of summer seedings (one sad marigold sprouted and is not thriving) I've nuked weeds and i can actually imagine preparing the beds.

I got some grass seed in the front right as rains were beginning where i scalped the lawn -- which was pretty much all invasive stilt grass. I have grass seeds for the orchard, too, where i will only focus on "the boulevard" and the square anchored by the corner of garage and house. Moss is taking hold  in a good bit of the orchard and, despite Carrie's running tearing out chunks of the moss, it would be nice to have something that needs less mowing.

Worked late yesterday, and maybe late earlier in the week? It's a blur.

May 2009

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