Interesting Links for 04-02-2024

[andrewducker]

1. Zuckerberg's Going to Use Your Instagram and Facebook Photos to Train His AI Machines

(tags:ai Facebook intellectual_property copyright )

2. Edinburgh council tenants facing 8.4 per cent rent rise to boost house building programme

(tags:rental Edinburgh construction )

Comments

[rhythmaning]

That rent rise seems wrong to me. Existing tenants being made to pay for future tenants seems back to front. A clear example of the failure of council funding! (I don't blame the council - but the system is clearly broken!)

[andrewducker]

Someone has to pay for the building of new homes. I'm not sure it makes sense to link things this closely though.

[channelpenguin]

It's hitting the wrong people. That's my feeling. But how *would* be best? Higher council tax? What other sources of income does the council actually control? Where should the building funding come from? Surely the council could get loans, since housing is an income-generating asset? Some sort of housing bond issue?

[rhythmaning]

If only I knew!

But council tax bands - based on 1990 valuations (at least, it is in England; Wales has revalued a couple of times, and writing this has made me aware I have no idea whether Scotland has revalued or not) and with limited bands which now bear no reality to the actual property value - mean the system is deeply flawed.

Personally I think a property tax of a fixed percentage of the value would make sense.

But London properties - valued much higher than most of the country - would be taxed less. Maybe some redistribution, too?

Well, I can dream...

[danieldwilliam]

I don't see a strong moral link between current tenants paying for furture tenants' newly build housing. Social housing is a social good that benefits society broadly, That feels to me something that *ought* to be paid for out of general taxation rather than exisiting rents.

With the caveat that there might be an arguement that existing tenants are only tenants because they are lucky to have been allocated existing social housing and that the people who will be housed in the newly built social housing are just as deserving and just as in need as existing tenants. So if we are going to restrict building social housing we ought to ballot both current social tenants and potential social tenants and evict existing tenants in favour of qualifying potential tenants.

[danieldwilliam]

I'm not sure that local authorities in the UK are allowed to borrow to build housing. Housing associations might be allowed to but they will be considered riskier borrowers than local authorities.

Two bees, or not two bees

[hairyears]

If Zuckerberg's training data leads his new minion to identify you all as close-up portraits of mushrooms and solitary bees, blame me.

Re: Two bees, or not two bees

[andrewducker]

You would have thought labelling was a big issue, but he can probably pay people in developing countries a pittance to do that.