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<DIV>The adjectives I have to describe someone like Musk are simply not fit for
polite company. What I will say is that he reminds me of
Machiavelli. In his book The Prince, Machiavelli told his prince that if
he was going to do anything rotten, do it quickly and immediately. What
more needs to be said? </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000">Mark Tardif
<BR>Nuclear arms will not hold you. </DIV>
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style='FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri"; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline'>
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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=nfbf-l@nfbnet.org
href="mailto:nfbf-l@nfbnet.org">Ryan Mann via NFBF-L</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, November 06, 2022 8:47 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=nfbf-l@nfbnet.org
href="mailto:nfbf-l@nfbnet.org">nfbf-l@nfbnet.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Cc:</B> <A title=rmann0581@gmail.com
href="mailto:rmann0581@gmail.com">Ryan Mann</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> [NFBF-L] Fwd: [tech-vi Announce List] Article: Elon Musk
just axed key Twitter teams like human rights, accessibility, AI ethics and
curation</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal>From the Tech-VI list owner: <o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>While I am choosing to remain on Twitter for the time being
you can also find me on Mastodon as @DavidGoldfield on the server
iaccessibility.social.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><A
href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/04/elon-musk-twitter-layoffs/">Original
Source</A><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<H1
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 2.4pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: black; LETTER-SPACING: -1pt'>Elon
Musk just axed key Twitter teams like human rights, accessibility, AI ethics
and curation<o:p></o:p></SPAN></H1>
<P class=MsoNormal style="LINE-HEIGHT: 30pt"><B><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333'><A
href="https://techcrunch.com/author/taylor-hatmaker/">Taylor
Hatmaker</A></SPAN></B><SPAN class=articlebylinemeta><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #777777'><A
href="https://twitter.com/tayhatmaker">@tayhatmaker</A></SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
class=articlebylinemetaslash><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #00a562'> / </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
class=articlebylinemeta><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #777777'>4:00
PM EDT</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN class=full-date-timeseparator><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #777777'>•</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
class=articlebylinemeta><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #777777'>November
4, 2022</SPAN></SPAN><B><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333'><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: black'> </SPAN><SPAN
class=articleaction-linkslabel><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #777777'>Comment</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: black'><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: black'><IMG
id=Picture_x0020_2 style="HEIGHT: 4.083in; WIDTH: 7.608in" border=0
alt="twitter bird logo pattern overlaid with exit sign"
src="wlmailhtml:{BAE387B1-64FC-4E7D-8DFC-96091BCCCC76}mid://00000014/!cid:image001.jpg@01D8F157.1FFAF9A0"
width=730 height=392 data-unique-identifier=""></SPAN><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: black'><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><STRONG><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333'>Image
Credits: </SPAN></STRONG><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333'>Bryce
Durbin / TechCrunch<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P id=speakable-summary
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'>Elon
Musk is wasting no time making <A
href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/03/twitter-layoffs-elon-musk/"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #00a562">extremely deep cuts</SPAN></A> at Twitter, calving off
many teams doing essential work at the company in the process. News of layoffs
swept the platform on Friday, showing that Twitter’s billionaire owner is
painting in broad strokes when it comes to trimming down the team by
half.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'>The
same day that Musk complained about supposed activists impacting Twitter’s ad
revenue, he cut some departments outright — actions that are sure to make
advertisers all the more skittish about Musk’s ability to steer a ship with a
skeleton crew. As he’s only owned the company for a single week, it’s
impossible to imagine that such sweeping layoffs won’t lead to dysfunction at
Twitter, from the content moderation policies sure to prove crucial for
Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections to product teams keeping the platform
humming.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'>Former
Twitter employees affected by the layoffs describe a chaotic situation with
little official communication beyond abruptly receiving a termination letter
or seeing their access to internal tools like Slack or databases suddenly
revoked. In the information vacuum created by Musk’s disorganized and sudden
approach to the layoffs, some employees aren’t sure if their colleagues are
still employed or if their teams continue to exist at
all.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'>The
cuts appear to be as broad as they were deep, affecting everything from
Twitter’s trust and safety teams that handle content moderation to its
marketing department. Here are some of the teams either eliminated outright or
hit hard by the layoffs, and what the new incarnation of Twitter will be
losing in the process.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<H3
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 9pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 9.0pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.25pt'>Human
Rights<o:p></o:p></SPAN></H3>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'>Former
Twitter Human Rights Counsel Shannon Raj Singh shared news that the company’s
human rights team was eliminated Friday. The team worked to protect users
facing human rights violations around the globe, including activists,
journalists and people affected by conflicts like the war in
Ukraine.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<H3
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 9pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 9.0pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.25pt'>Accessibility
Experience<o:p></o:p></SPAN></H3>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'>Twitter’s
now former head of accessibility confirmed that the company cut the
accessibility experience team, which improved the product for people with
disabilities. The team appears to have had a lot still in the works before it
was disbanded.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<H3
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 9pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 9.0pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.25pt'>Communications<o:p></o:p></SPAN></H3>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'>It’s
not yet clear what parts of Twitter’s communications team have been cut
outright, but the cuts are deep enough that many prominent comms employees at
the company, including many contacts that TechCrunch has spoken with over the
years, were affected. Musk signaled his distaste for internal communications
immediately after taking over the company, conveying little information to
Twitter employees about the changes, so it’s no surprise that the internal
communications team is affected as well, including the head of internal
comms.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<H3
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 9pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 9.0pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.25pt'>Machine
learning ethics, transparency and accountability<o:p></o:p></SPAN></H3>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'>Musk
dissolved a team known internally as META, which was well-respected for its
exploratory work in ethical AI and algorithmic transparency. Rumman Chowdhury,
the team’s director, was <A
href="https://twitter.com/ruchowdh/status/1588374979061874691"
target=_blank><SPAN style="COLOR: #00a562">eliminated</SPAN></A>, along with
the team’s engineers and other members.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<H3
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 9pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 9.0pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.25pt'>Curation<o:p></o:p></SPAN></H3>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'>Some
of the layoffs make sense, given the things Musk apparently has little regard
for (human rights and accessibility, alarming!), but Twitter’s new owner
apparently also made cuts to teams that seemed poised to help him extract more
value from the company. The <A href="https://twitter.com/i/en/curation"
target=_blank><SPAN style="COLOR: #00a562">curation team</SPAN></A> curated
the moments tab, programmed the trending topics section, provided context on
those topics and also handled live events — many of the things Twitter does
best. The team also worked to fight misinformation on the platform — a serious
and consequential concerns that Musk has <A
href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/31/elon-musk-twitter-lgbt-community/"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #00a562">already made worse</SPAN></A> in less than seven days
on the job.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<H3
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 9pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 9.0pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.25pt'>Public
policy<o:p></o:p></SPAN></H3>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'>Politico
<A
href="https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/04/elon-musk-twitter-chaos-midterms-00065192"
target=_blank><SPAN style="COLOR: #00a562">reports</SPAN></A> that half of the
company’s public policy team was let go, including Michele Austin, the former
director of public policy and elections in Canada and the U.S. who was
actively working on the U.S. midterms. Those cuts reportedly also included
Twitter team members who work to verify the accounts of political
figures.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MAX-WIDTH: 100%; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><EM><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'>This
story is developing…<o:p></o:p></SPAN></EM></P>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><EM><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'><o:p></o:p></SPAN></EM> </P>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><EM><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'><o:p></o:p></SPAN></EM> </P>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><EM><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'><o:p></o:p></SPAN></EM> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>David Goldfield,<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Blindness Assistive Technology Specialist<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><A
href="https://www.freedomscientific.com/Training/Certification"><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 14pt; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: windowtext'><IMG
id=Picture_x0020_1 style="HEIGHT: 0.9in; WIDTH: 0.9in" border=0
alt="JAWS Certified, 2022"
src="wlmailhtml:{BAE387B1-64FC-4E7D-8DFC-96091BCCCC76}mid://00000014/!cid:image002.png@01D8F157.1FFAF9A0"
width=86 height=86 data-unique-identifier=""></SPAN></A><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 14pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><A href="https://certification.nvaccess.org/"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #0563c1">NVDA Certified Expert</SPAN></A><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Subscribe to the Tech-VI announcement list to receive news,
events and information regarding the blindness assistive technology
field.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Email: <A href="mailto:tech-vi+subscribe@groups.io"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #0563c1">tech-vi+subscribe@groups.io</SPAN></A><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><A href="http://www.DavidGoldfield.org"><SPAN
style="COLOR: #0563c1">www.DavidGoldfield.org</SPAN></A><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p></o:p> </P>
<P
style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 11.25pt; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: 11.25pt"><SPAN
style='FONT-SIZE: 13.5pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; LETTER-SPACING: -0.1pt'><o:p></o:p></SPAN> </P></DIV>
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