Khan's Positive, Olympics, CA Bans Dark Patterns
March 22, 2021
Yesterday’s Newsletter / March 22, 2021
IMPORTANT NOTE: Starting tomorrow, Yesterday’s Newsletter will be called One Sentence News, to better reflect what I’m sending out each day (if you haven’t noticed, I keep each “summary” and “context” section below at one sentence apiece).
Except for some design tweaks, nothing else is changing—I just wanted to let you know so that the new “from” address (colin@onesentencenews.com) and newsletter title don’t surprise you tomorrow morning.
I’ve also updated the about page if you’re keen to learn more about this project (or how to bypass news site paywalls).
Thanks for reading! On to the news :)
Pakistan PM Khan tests positive for COVID, urges people to vaccinate
Summary: The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, has tested positive for COVID-19 two days after receiving his first vaccine dose, and he’s encouraging citizens to get their own shots, posthaste, because these vaccines are not fully effective until weeks after the complete dosage has been administered, as has been demonstrated in his own case.
Context: There’s already a great deal of vaccine-skepticism in Pakistan, but there are concerns in the medical community around the world that these sorts of “I got a vaccine but still got sick” stories will make people wary or dismissive of these shots, because it may superficially seem like they don’t work—to be clear, all vaccines take time to generate a full immune response after the final injection—and such stories are being published in a context in which misinformation is prevalent.
Also: Third dose of Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine needed for some in UAE after low immune response
—Reuters, The Washington Post
Spectators from overseas are barred from Tokyo Olympics
Summary: After already having to reschedule the Tokyo Olympic Games once—they were originally meant to take place in July and August of 2020—organizers have decided not to postpone the event a second time and to instead develop safety protocols that disallow international spectators from attending.
Context: Recent polls show that the vast majority of Japanese citizens do not believe the Games should be held this year, but there’s a lot to be lost in terms of national prestige, and in terms of sponsor money, athlete preparations, and local investment if they don’t go forward with the already-delayed games in 2021; so it would seem the organizers determined that the downsides of delay outweighed the downsides of holding such an event during a global pandemic.
—The New York Times
California bans ‘dark patterns’ that trick users into giving away their personal data
Summary: Some interface and design choices that intentionally trick users into making choices they wouldn’t normally make, or which prevent them from finding answers or resources they require, will be banned in California after an update to the state’s California Consumer Privacy Act.
Context: This update to this act puts California roughly on par with the European Union when it comes to digital user-data rights, but like the EU’s GDPR framework, it doesn’t ban all so-called dark patterns: only those that use confusing language (like double-negatives), and those that force users to wade through frictions, upsells, and walls of text before they’re able to opt-out, unsubscribe, or cancel a service.
—The Verge
Visual
6,000 years
Approximate number of years since a volcano in the Fagradals Mountain in Iceland last erupted.
This volcano, which is located about 20 miles from the country’s capital, Reykjavík, finally erupted last Friday after about a month of near-continuous seismic activity as magma built up beneath the surface—the eruption caused little damage, and did not require any evacuations or prolonged air traffic delays.
—The Guardian
Trust click
Yesterday’s Newsletter is published by analytic journalist and host of the Let’s Know Things podcast, Colin Wright.