Hacker News with Generative AI: Transparency

Public Relations Spending by Police (2023) (equalityalec.substack.com)
I have been wanting to write for a while about the shadowy world of police “public relations” budgets. It is not widely understood how much of what is presented as "news" is carefully curated propaganda that taxpayers fund.
Public Relations, Police, Media, Transparency
7 points by nativeit 3 days ago | 0 comments
Petition to the Open Source Initiative: Publish the Full 2025 Election Results (codeberg.org)
We, the undersigned, petition the Open Source Initiative (OSI) to release the complete, unaltered results of its 2025 Board of Directors elections. We believe that by removing candidates and votes after voting concluded, OSI has damaged its credibility. We call for transparency as a first step toward repairing OSI's integrity and reputation.
Open Source, Transparency, Elections, Governance
88 points by richardfontana 18 days ago | 57 comments
The Government's Chemical Disaster Tracking Tool Just Went Dark (levernews.com)
The chemical lobby demanded Trump make the locations of high-risk chemical plants secret. The EPA did just that.
Government, Chemical Industry, Public Safety, Transparency
11 points by moonka 20 days ago | 2 comments
Against Transparency (pluralistic.net)
It's bad enough when companies do this to us, be they Big Tech, health insurers or airlines. But when the government takes these grifters' side over yours – when grifters take over the government – hold onto your wallets:
Government, Transparency, Privacy, Big Tech
83 points by NotInOurNames 23 days ago | 20 comments
Petition to Open Source Initiative to publish 2025 Board election results (codeberg.org)
We, the undersigned, petition the Open Source Initiative (OSI) to release the complete, unaltered results of its 2025 Board of Directors elections. We believe that by removing candidates and votes after voting concluded, OSI has damaged its credibility. We call for transparency as a first step toward repairing OSI's integrity and reputation.
Open Source, Transparency, Governance, Elections
35 points by luu 23 days ago | 0 comments
Capitol Trades: Tracking Stock Market Transactions of Politicians (capitoltrades.com)
Tracking Capitol Hill politicians' trades can provide valuable insights for your investment research — and we offer you a free solution to do just that.
Politics, Finance, Investing, Transparency, Data
324 points by gscott 36 days ago | 120 comments
DOGE's Dodgy Numbers Employ a Tesla Technique (wired.com)
Elon Musk has pledged that the work of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, would be “maximally transparent.” DOGE’s website is proof of that, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO, and now White House adviser, has repeatedly said. There, the group maintains a list of slashed grants and budgets, a running tally of its work.
Cryptocurrency, Transparency, Elon Musk
12 points by beardyw 53 days ago | 0 comments
Doge Makes Its Latest Errors Harder to Find (nytimes.com)
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has repeatedly posted error-filled data that inflated its success at saving taxpayer money. But after a series of news reports called out those mistakes, the group changed its tactics.
Government, Transparency, Elon Musk, Data, Errors
16 points by edward 60 days ago | 0 comments
"It has been determined" that infected dairy herd serology can be disclosed (hogvet51.substack.com)
Opaqueness in decision-making was an eye-opener for me 22 years ago when I moved to federal service from the private sector. Controversial or unpopular decisions came down from above with no fingerprints, just a third-party attribution, e.g. “it has been determined…” I came to quickly realize that not personally owning a tough to-defend decision is a form of professional survival in the chain of command of the regulatory environment.
Government, Transparency, Decision Making, Public Health, Animal Health
61 points by ctoth 62 days ago | 39 comments
Public health data disappeared. RestoredCDC.org is bringing it back (RestoredCDC.org)
RestoredCDC.org is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or any government entity.
Public Health, Data, Government, Transparency, Independent Projects
390 points by lparlett 70 days ago | 160 comments
Transparency in Hardware/Software Interfaces (oxide.computer)
Computing systems consist of both hardware and software components. The interface between hardware and software can be tricky, creating vexing problems when they operate at cross-purposes. To take responsibility for the systems we deliver, we believe it is incumbent upon us at Oxide to deliver all hardware-facing software.
Hardware, Software, Open Source, Transparency
31 points by bcantrill 78 days ago | 5 comments
Why are Rust Foundation execs paid via foreign entities, not directly? [Page 35] [pdf] (rustfoundation.org)
Rust Foundation, Finance, Transparency, Corporate Structure
13 points by absqueued 78 days ago | 7 comments
Utah bill aims to make officers disclose AI-written police reports (eff.org)
A bill headed to the Senate floor in Utah would require officers to disclose if a police report was written by generative AI.
Artificial Intelligence, Law Enforcement, Transparency, Utah, Legislation
136 points by hn_acker 79 days ago | 23 comments
Did DOGE Take Credit for Spending Cuts Related to President Carter's Death? (lawfaremedia.org)
Inaccuracies on DOGE’s website raise questions about DOGE’s activities and transparency.
Cryptocurrency, Politics, Misinformation, Transparency
16 points by hn_acker 82 days ago | 1 comments
DOGE's Website Is Just One Big X Ad (wired.com)
At a press conference in the Oval Office this week, Elon Musk promised the actions of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project would be “maximally transparent,” thanks to information posted to its website.
Dogecoin, Elon Musk, Transparency, Cryptocurrency, Advertising
57 points by OuterVale 88 days ago | 18 comments
Federal data is disappearing. On Thursday, meet the teams working to rescue it (muckrock.com)
Since the start of the new Trump administration, hundreds of federal data sets and government websites have gone offline without warning, sometimes returning with major changes and sometimes not returning at all.
Government, Data, Transparency, Politics, Internet
180 points by 20after4 88 days ago | 86 comments
'social network' attacking pesticide critics shuts down after investigation (theguardian.com)
A US company that was secretly profiling hundreds of food and environmental health advocates in a private web portal has said it has halted the operations in the face of widespread backlash, after its actions were revealed by the Guardian and other reporting partners.
Social Media, Advocacy, Environmentalism, Journalism, Transparency
67 points by rguiscard 91 days ago | 18 comments
USASpending.gov (usaspending.gov)
Government, Data, Transparency
24 points by evo_9 92 days ago | 5 comments
Compensation Data for Every NYC Police Officer (cityofnewyork.us)
Police, Public Data, Transparency, Compensation
5 points by gigalord 93 days ago | 1 comments
German court orders X to give data access to researchers ahead of elections (techcrunch.com)
Under European Union law, X is one of a handful of major social media platforms that has a duty to facilitate public interest researchers’ access to support the study of systemic risks — such as to elections and other democratic processes. But the Elon Musk-owned company formerly known as Twitter has been blocking civil society access to platform data, according to two civil society organizations, which on Friday secured a summary judgement against X in a Berlin regional court.
Social Media, Elections, Germany, Transparency
11 points by marban 94 days ago | 1 comments
Elon Musk proposes putting the U.S. Treasury on blockchain for full transparency (twitter.com)
Blockchain, Finance, Transparency, Elon Musk, Government
14 points by rmason 95 days ago | 5 comments
"We cannot provide details as to the reason for termination" (mastodon.de)
Social Media, Transparency, Censorship
14 points by TazeTSchnitzel 100 days ago | 3 comments
The US government's open data on Data.gov is currently being scrubbed (reddit.com)
The US government's open data on Data.gov is currently being scrubbed (data.gov)
Government Data, Transparency, Open Data
240 points by xbmcuser 102 days ago | 58 comments
Pros and cons of greater pay transparency (economist.com)
How much do your colleagues get paid? In a few countries, such as Norway, you can take a good guess by looking at public records on individuals’ overall tax payments and income. But in most places, finding out people’s salaries means asking them what they earn. And that is about as socially acceptable as saying “What an ugly baby.”
Salary, Work Culture, Transparency, Economics
8 points by pseudolus 107 days ago | 2 comments
Ask HN: Why can't we comment on YC hiring ads? (ycombinator.com)
I’ve noticed that YC companies often advertise their hiring positions. That’s great news! However, I’ve also seen some of their comments that raise concerns. I know for a fact that some of them have toxic hiring or team practices (which is why they need to advertise so frequently). I’m curious why comments aren’t available on those ads.
Startup Hiring, YC, Transparency, Community Feedback, Hiring Practices
10 points by haliskerbas 111 days ago | 3 comments
Some Lessons from the OpenAI FrontierMath Debacle (lesswrong.com)
Recently, OpenAI announced their newest model, o3, achieving massive improvements over state-of-the-art on reasoning and math. The highlight of the announcement was that o3 scored 25% on FrontierMath, a benchmark comprising hard, unseen math problems of which previous models could only solve 2%. The events afterward highlight that the announcements were, unknowingly, not made completely transparent and leave us with lessons for future AI benchmarks, evaluations, and safety.
Artificial Intelligence, Benchmarking, Transparency, AI Safety
12 points by pja 111 days ago | 5 comments
Track US politician stock trades (capitoltrades.com)
Politics, Finance, Transparency
14 points by handfuloflight 113 days ago | 3 comments
OpenAI funded independent math benchmark before setting record with o3 (the-decoder.com)
OpenAI's involvement in funding FrontierMath, a leading AI math benchmark, only came to light when the company announced its record-breaking performance on the test. Now, the benchmark's developer Epoch AI acknowledges they should have been more transparent about the relationship.
Artificial Intelligence, OpenAI, Research, Benchmarking, Transparency
56 points by rar00 113 days ago | 6 comments
European Union orders X to hand over algorithm documents (arstechnica.com)
Brussels has ordered Elon Musk to fully disclose recent changes made to recommendations on X, stepping up an investigation into the role of the social media platform in European politics.
Social Media, Regulation, European Union, Elon Musk, Transparency
9 points by nemoniac 115 days ago | 0 comments
EU orders X to hand over info on recent algorithm changes (theregister.com)
The European Commission is stepping up its ongoing investigation of Elon Musk's X with a request to examine recent changes made to the platform's recommendation algorithms.
EU Regulations, Social Media, Algorithms, Transparency
10 points by thunderbong 115 days ago | 1 comments