Food and Water Watch petitioned for the US to bar imports of Brazilian beef because of repeated violations of safety rules.

The UN Committee against Torture told Cameroon to stop using torture against prisoners suspected of working for Boko Haram.

An executive of Volkswagen has been sent to prison for 7 years for making cars cheat on emissions tests.

This job was done using proprietary software in the cars. We should never trust a proprietary program!

In the latest video games, "loot boxes" constitute a sort of networked slot machine. The player pays for a benefit and only then sees what it contains. The contents of the box are ostensibly random. In some places, these may violate laws on gambling.

It is invalid to argue that loot boxes are acceptable because it is the "next step" in a continuing progression towards increasingly exploitative games. Sure, they are that, but it doesn't follow that we should permit this slide down a visibly slippery slope. Some national legislatures are considering banning this practice.

Are the contents of loot boxes indeed random? We can't assume that. A game could be made even more manipulative by cheating — choosing the rewards to make them even more addictive. Since Volkswagen's software cheated, we should consider that games and game servers may also cheat.

In my view, any game with in-game purchases is primarily designed to addict and exploit those who play it. Don't let them make you a sucker. Play chess, or cards, or a board game, or a digital game which is free software and doesn't depend on a server.

Everyone: call on New York State to investigate the bail industry and end the system that jails and gouges poor people.