There is a tentative bipartisan deal for a US internet data protection law.

It is encouraging that the proposed deal requires companies to minimize the data they collect, but I expect that "reasonably necessary" will be a weak criterion, as it is in Europe. Will this prohibit parking lots from collecting the license plate number of each car parked there — or photographing them all and storing the photos? If not, it is inadequate.

I fear that companies will continue demanding that customers identify themselves. In the absence of an anonymous payment system, they can argue that this is "necessary". But that means that the system is not safe — not for whistleblowers, and not for people traveling for an abortion.

If that is what happens, I will continue to reject these dis-services absolutely, as I have done for many years.

Meanwhile, no company whatsoever should be allowed to require a customer to use arbitration rather than the courts. All customers, regardless of age, must be free to join class-action lawsuits against abusive practices that arguably violate whatever privacy laws apply.

Despite those grave flaws, this bill would be a significant step forward. However, since this will pre-empt many kinds state laws, it will block all further progress on privacy rules in the US. Given that, I conclude we should oppose it.

James Risen says that he was going to meet with a whistleblower who offered information about NSA snooping, but an informant spilled the beans to the FBI. The FBI tried to turn it into a trap to arrest the whistleblower.

Ultimately the meeting didn't occur and nobody was arrested, but Risen never heard from him again. So the FBI won a partial victory.

*More than 40% of Earth's land surface must be conserved to stop the biodiversity crisis, report warns.*

This will require rules about land use, and soon — by 2030, a lot of that land will be taken for agriculture if it isn't stopped.

High levels of air pollution (specifically, nitrogen dioxide) correlate with more severe symptoms from Covid-19.

This has surely made poor people more likely to die than wealthier people who can afford to live in areas less polluted.

Guardian columnist John Naughton draws the connection between the remote kill switch in John Deere tractors and the Right to Repair movement.

The next connection from there is from the Right to Repair movement and the free software movement. Right to Repair is the first step, but it does not go far enough.