#legitimisation — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #legitimisation, aggregated by home.social.
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Someone kindly reached out to ask if I would consider speaking about Gaza Verified (https://gaza-verified.org/) at the Social Web Devroom being organised by the Social Web Foundation at FOSDEM.
My answer is no.
And I feel it’s important for those of us who care about such things to understand why:
• Social Web Foundation (https://socialwebfoundation.org) partners with, and thereby whitewashes and legitimises Meta
• FOSDEM (https://fosdem.org/2026) allows itself to be sponsored by, and thereby whitewashes and legitimises, Google and IBM (Red Hat)
Meta and Google are both surveillance capitalists with strong ties to the Trump regime that is arming and financing Israel’s genocide in Gaza. IBM, apart from having helped Nazi Germany carry out the Holocaust, is also singled out by name, alongside Google (Alphabet, Inc.), as complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/1/un-report-lists-companies-complicit-in-israels-genocide-who-are-they).
It shouldn’t be hard for organisations that purport to be alternatives to toxic Big Tech to not be sponsored and affiliated with them. But apparently it is.
Personally, I have no trouble saying no to having my name and legitimacy being used to whitewash these corporations and I have been doing so since the beginning.
• https://ar.al/notes/rightscon-or-a-right-con/
I will not stand – literally or metaphorically – in front of their banners and talk about an initiative that tries to help the very people victimised by these corporations in their sociopathic quest for profit at any cost.
I hope more people start doing the same if we are to have any chance of making these corporations with their toxic business models and their complicity in genocide socially unacceptable. If we cannot even meet that already-very-low bar – as long as those of us with legitimacy allow ourselves to be used to normalise them – nothing will change.
#FOSDEM #SocialWebFoundation #BigTech #sponsorship #whitewashing #legitimisation #institutionalCorruption #israel #genocide #Gaza #Palestine #GazaVerified
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Someone kindly reached out to ask if I would consider speaking about Gaza Verified (https://gaza-verified.org/) at the Social Web Devroom being organised by the Social Web Foundation at FOSDEM.
My answer is no.
And I feel it’s important for those of us who care about such things to understand why:
• Social Web Foundation (https://socialwebfoundation.org) partners with, and thereby whitewashes and legitimises Meta
• FOSDEM (https://fosdem.org/2026) allows itself to be sponsored by, and thereby whitewashes and legitimises, Google and IBM (Red Hat)
Meta and Google are both surveillance capitalists with strong ties to the Trump regime that is arming and financing Israel’s genocide in Gaza. IBM, apart from having helped Nazi Germany carry out the Holocaust, is also singled out by name, alongside Google (Alphabet, Inc.), as complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/1/un-report-lists-companies-complicit-in-israels-genocide-who-are-they).
It shouldn’t be hard for organisations that purport to be alternatives to toxic Big Tech to not be sponsored and affiliated with them. But apparently it is.
Personally, I have no trouble saying no to having my name and legitimacy being used to whitewash these corporations and I have been doing so since the beginning.
• https://ar.al/notes/rightscon-or-a-right-con/
I will not stand – literally or metaphorically – in front of their banners and talk about an initiative that tries to help the very people victimised by these corporations in their sociopathic quest for profit at any cost.
I hope more people start doing the same if we are to have any chance of making these corporations with their toxic business models and their complicity in genocide socially unacceptable. If we cannot even meet that already-very-low bar – as long as those of us with legitimacy allow ourselves to be used to normalise them – nothing will change.
#FOSDEM #SocialWebFoundation #BigTech #sponsorship #whitewashing #legitimisation #institutionalCorruption #israel #genocide #Gaza #Palestine #GazaVerified
-
Someone kindly reached out to ask if I would consider speaking about Gaza Verified (https://gaza-verified.org/) at the Social Web Devroom being organised by the Social Web Foundation at FOSDEM.
My answer is no.
And I feel it’s important for those of us who care about such things to understand why:
• Social Web Foundation (https://socialwebfoundation.org) partners with, and thereby whitewashes and legitimises Meta
• FOSDEM (https://fosdem.org/2026) allows itself to be sponsored by, and thereby whitewashes and legitimises, Google and IBM (Red Hat)
Meta and Google are both surveillance capitalists with strong ties to the Trump regime that is arming and financing Israel’s genocide in Gaza. IBM, apart from having helped Nazi Germany carry out the Holocaust, is also singled out by name, alongside Google (Alphabet, Inc.), as complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/1/un-report-lists-companies-complicit-in-israels-genocide-who-are-they).
It shouldn’t be hard for organisations that purport to be alternatives to toxic Big Tech to not be sponsored and affiliated with them. But apparently it is.
Personally, I have no trouble saying no to having my name and legitimacy being used to whitewash these corporations and I have been doing so since the beginning.
• https://ar.al/notes/rightscon-or-a-right-con/
I will not stand – literally or metaphorically – in front of their banners and talk about an initiative that tries to help the very people victimised by these corporations in their sociopathic quest for profit at any cost.
I hope more people start doing the same if we are to have any chance of making these corporations with their toxic business models and their complicity in genocide socially unacceptable. If we cannot even meet that already-very-low bar – as long as those of us with legitimacy allow ourselves to be used to normalise them – nothing will change.
#FOSDEM #SocialWebFoundation #BigTech #sponsorship #whitewashing #legitimisation #institutionalCorruption #israel #genocide #Gaza #Palestine #GazaVerified
-
Someone kindly reached out to ask if I would consider speaking about Gaza Verified (https://gaza-verified.org/) at the Social Web Devroom being organised by the Social Web Foundation at FOSDEM.
My answer is no.
And I feel it’s important for those of us who care about such things to understand why:
• Social Web Foundation (https://socialwebfoundation.org) partners with, and thereby whitewashes and legitimises Meta
• FOSDEM (https://fosdem.org/2026) allows itself to be sponsored by, and thereby whitewashes and legitimises, Google and IBM (Red Hat)
Meta and Google are both surveillance capitalists with strong ties to the Trump regime that is arming and financing Israel’s genocide in Gaza. IBM, apart from having helped Nazi Germany carry out the Holocaust, is also singled out by name, alongside Google (Alphabet, Inc.), as complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/1/un-report-lists-companies-complicit-in-israels-genocide-who-are-they).
It shouldn’t be hard for organisations that purport to be alternatives to toxic Big Tech to not be sponsored and affiliated with them. But apparently it is.
Personally, I have no trouble saying no to having my name and legitimacy being used to whitewash these corporations and I have been doing so since the beginning.
• https://ar.al/notes/rightscon-or-a-right-con/
I will not stand – literally or metaphorically – in front of their banners and talk about an initiative that tries to help the very people victimised by these corporations in their sociopathic quest for profit at any cost.
I hope more people start doing the same if we are to have any chance of making these corporations with their toxic business models and their complicity in genocide socially unacceptable. If we cannot even meet that already-very-low bar – as long as those of us with legitimacy allow ourselves to be used to normalise them – nothing will change.
#FOSDEM #SocialWebFoundation #BigTech #sponsorship #whitewashing #legitimisation #institutionalCorruption #israel #genocide #Gaza #Palestine #GazaVerified
-
Someone kindly reached out to ask if I would consider speaking about Gaza Verified (https://gaza-verified.org/) at the Social Web Devroom being organised by the Social Web Foundation at FOSDEM.
My answer is no.
And I feel it’s important for those of us who care about such things to understand why:
• Social Web Foundation (https://socialwebfoundation.org) partners with, and thereby whitewashes and legitimises Meta
• FOSDEM (https://fosdem.org/2026) allows itself to be sponsored by, and thereby whitewashes and legitimises, Google and IBM (Red Hat)
Meta and Google are both surveillance capitalists with strong ties to the Trump regime that is arming and financing Israel’s genocide in Gaza. IBM, apart from having helped Nazi Germany carry out the Holocaust, is also singled out by name, alongside Google (Alphabet, Inc.), as complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/1/un-report-lists-companies-complicit-in-israels-genocide-who-are-they).
It shouldn’t be hard for organisations that purport to be alternatives to toxic Big Tech to not be sponsored and affiliated with them. But apparently it is.
Personally, I have no trouble saying no to having my name and legitimacy being used to whitewash these corporations and I have been doing so since the beginning.
• https://ar.al/notes/rightscon-or-a-right-con/
I will not stand – literally or metaphorically – in front of their banners and talk about an initiative that tries to help the very people victimised by these corporations in their sociopathic quest for profit at any cost.
I hope more people start doing the same if we are to have any chance of making these corporations with their toxic business models and their complicity in genocide socially unacceptable. If we cannot even meet that already-very-low bar – as long as those of us with legitimacy allow ourselves to be used to normalise them – nothing will change.
#FOSDEM #SocialWebFoundation #BigTech #sponsorship #whitewashing #legitimisation #institutionalCorruption #israel #genocide #Gaza #Palestine #GazaVerified
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Australia's new national environmental standards
"Former ACCC chair condemns proposed exemption allowing minister to approve projects that don’t comply with law. Samuel, who led a 2020 review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, also argued a loophole that effectively exempts native forest logging from the laws “shouldn’t be there”.
“Logging operations should be subject to the same rules as mining, agriculture, urban development and so on." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/14/graeme-samuel-calls-for-labor-to-ditch-national-interest-workaround-for-environment-lawsThe Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act)
The problem of ministerial discretion and “national interest” exemptions. >>
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/115528660854362227Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law. >>
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/115528971744822369#EPBCAct #biodiversity #NationalInterest #law #exemption #MinisterialDiscretion #FastTrackApprovals #VestedInterest #ParliamentaryScrutiny #EnvironmentalLaw #conservation #regulation #governance #democracy #NSWLogging #landclearing #DualState #lawlessness #authoritarianism #LawGuardrails #normalcy #EmergencyPowers #NationalInterest #legitimisation #exemption #constitution #state #governance #LoggingImpacts
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Australia's new national environmental standards
"Former ACCC chair condemns proposed exemption allowing minister to approve projects that don’t comply with law. Samuel, who led a 2020 review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, also argued a loophole that effectively exempts native forest logging from the laws “shouldn’t be there”.
“Logging operations should be subject to the same rules as mining, agriculture, urban development and so on." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/14/graeme-samuel-calls-for-labor-to-ditch-national-interest-workaround-for-environment-lawsThe Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act)
The problem of ministerial discretion and “national interest” exemptions. >>
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/115528660854362227Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law. >>
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/115528971744822369#EPBCAct #biodiversity #NationalInterest #law #exemption #MinisterialDiscretion #FastTrackApprovals #VestedInterest #ParliamentaryScrutiny #EnvironmentalLaw #conservation #regulation #governance #democracy #NSWLogging #landclearing #DualState #lawlessness #authoritarianism #LawGuardrails #normalcy #EmergencyPowers #NationalInterest #legitimisation #exemption #constitution #state #governance #LoggingImpacts
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Australia's new national environmental standards
"Former ACCC chair condemns proposed exemption allowing minister to approve projects that don’t comply with law. Samuel, who led a 2020 review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, also argued a loophole that effectively exempts native forest logging from the laws “shouldn’t be there”.
“Logging operations should be subject to the same rules as mining, agriculture, urban development and so on." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/14/graeme-samuel-calls-for-labor-to-ditch-national-interest-workaround-for-environment-lawsThe Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act)
The problem of ministerial discretion and “national interest” exemptions. >>
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/115528660854362227Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law. >>
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/115528971744822369#EPBCAct #biodiversity #NationalInterest #law #exemption #MinisterialDiscretion #FastTrackApprovals #VestedInterest #ParliamentaryScrutiny #EnvironmentalLaw #conservation #regulation #governance #democracy #NSWLogging #landclearing #DualState #lawlessness #authoritarianism #LawGuardrails #normalcy #EmergencyPowers #NationalInterest #legitimisation #exemption #constitution #state #governance #LoggingImpacts
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Australia's new national environmental standards
"Former ACCC chair condemns proposed exemption allowing minister to approve projects that don’t comply with law. Samuel, who led a 2020 review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, also argued a loophole that effectively exempts native forest logging from the laws “shouldn’t be there”.
“Logging operations should be subject to the same rules as mining, agriculture, urban development and so on." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/14/graeme-samuel-calls-for-labor-to-ditch-national-interest-workaround-for-environment-lawsThe Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act)
The problem of ministerial discretion and “national interest” exemptions. >>
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/115528660854362227Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law. >>
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/115528971744822369#EPBCAct #biodiversity #NationalInterest #law #exemption #MinisterialDiscretion #FastTrackApprovals #VestedInterest #ParliamentaryScrutiny #EnvironmentalLaw #conservation #regulation #governance #democracy #NSWLogging #landclearing #DualState #lawlessness #authoritarianism #LawGuardrails #normalcy #EmergencyPowers #NationalInterest #legitimisation #exemption #constitution #state #governance #LoggingImpacts
-
Australia's new national environmental standards
"Former ACCC chair condemns proposed exemption allowing minister to approve projects that don’t comply with law. Samuel, who led a 2020 review of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act, also argued a loophole that effectively exempts native forest logging from the laws “shouldn’t be there”.
“Logging operations should be subject to the same rules as mining, agriculture, urban development and so on." >>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/14/graeme-samuel-calls-for-labor-to-ditch-national-interest-workaround-for-environment-lawsThe Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC Act)
The problem of ministerial discretion and “national interest” exemptions. >>
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/115528660854362227Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law. >>
https://mastodon.au/@Bellingen/115528971744822369#EPBCAct #biodiversity #NationalInterest #law #exemption #MinisterialDiscretion #FastTrackApprovals #VestedInterest #ParliamentaryScrutiny #EnvironmentalLaw #conservation #regulation #governance #democracy #NSWLogging #landclearing #DualState #lawlessness #authoritarianism #LawGuardrails #normalcy #EmergencyPowers #NationalInterest #legitimisation #exemption #constitution #state #governance #LoggingImpacts
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China's new bamboo plastic biodegrades in 50 days, an impressive technological feat. However, we must question if the CCP uses such progress to legitimise their rule and distract from historical censorship and abuses.
#china #technology #bambooplastic #biodegradable #environment #sustainability #politics #censorship #ccp #tiananmen #humanrights #innovation #legitimisation #progress #news #asia #criticalthinking #media #awareness
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China's new bamboo plastic biodegrades in 50 days, an impressive technological feat. However, we must question if the CCP uses such progress to legitimise their rule and distract from historical censorship and abuses.
#china #technology #bambooplastic #biodegradable #environment #sustainability #politics #censorship #ccp #tiananmen #humanrights #innovation #legitimisation #progress #news #asia #criticalthinking #media #awareness
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Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law.
Lawlessness dressed up as law." The ‘dual state’ framework explains how a dictator can exercise power while life appears mostly ordinary.
The court is adjusting the law to make place for arbitrary power.
In a dual state, the high “court’s role is in creating affordances within the law that operate as off switches for the law…
This is precisely why the dual state is so dangerous: It allows the would-be autocrat to consolidate power under the cloak of democracy and norms. "
>>
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/dual-state-supreme-court/The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship >>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dual_State
#DualState #lawlessness #authoritarianism #LawGuardrails #normalcy #EmergencyPowers #NationalInterest #legitimisation #exemption #constitution #state #governance #VibeShift #democracy -
Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law.
Lawlessness dressed up as law." The ‘dual state’ framework explains how a dictator can exercise power while life appears mostly ordinary.
The court is adjusting the law to make place for arbitrary power.
In a dual state, the high “court’s role is in creating affordances within the law that operate as off switches for the law…
This is precisely why the dual state is so dangerous: It allows the would-be autocrat to consolidate power under the cloak of democracy and norms. "
>>
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/dual-state-supreme-court/The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship >>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dual_State
#DualState #lawlessness #authoritarianism #LawGuardrails #normalcy #EmergencyPowers #NationalInterest #legitimisation #exemption #constitution #state #governance #VibeShift #democracy -
Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law.
Lawlessness dressed up as law." The ‘dual state’ framework explains how a dictator can exercise power while life appears mostly ordinary.
The court is adjusting the law to make place for arbitrary power.
In a dual state, the high “court’s role is in creating affordances within the law that operate as off switches for the law…
This is precisely why the dual state is so dangerous: It allows the would-be autocrat to consolidate power under the cloak of democracy and norms. "
>>
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/dual-state-supreme-court/The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship >>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dual_State
#DualState #lawlessness #authoritarianism #LawGuardrails #normalcy #EmergencyPowers #NationalInterest #legitimisation #exemption #constitution #state #governance #VibeShift #democracy -
Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law.
Lawlessness dressed up as law." The ‘dual state’ framework explains how a dictator can exercise power while life appears mostly ordinary.
The court is adjusting the law to make place for arbitrary power.
In a dual state, the high “court’s role is in creating affordances within the law that operate as off switches for the law…
This is precisely why the dual state is so dangerous: It allows the would-be autocrat to consolidate power under the cloak of democracy and norms. "
>>
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/dual-state-supreme-court/The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship >>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dual_State
#DualState #lawlessness #authoritarianism #LawGuardrails #normalcy #EmergencyPowers #NationalInterest #legitimisation #exemption #constitution #state #governance #VibeShift #democracy -
Authoritarianism—but make it look like the rule of law.
Lawlessness dressed up as law." The ‘dual state’ framework explains how a dictator can exercise power while life appears mostly ordinary.
The court is adjusting the law to make place for arbitrary power.
In a dual state, the high “court’s role is in creating affordances within the law that operate as off switches for the law…
This is precisely why the dual state is so dangerous: It allows the would-be autocrat to consolidate power under the cloak of democracy and norms. "
>>
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/10/dual-state-supreme-court/The Dual State: A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship >>
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dual_State
#DualState #lawlessness #authoritarianism #LawGuardrails #normalcy #EmergencyPowers #NationalInterest #legitimisation #exemption #constitution #state #governance #VibeShift #democracy -
CW: [Hot takes on justification of surveillance; CW: child abuse]
In my opinion, every software that takes as input thoughts of users (e.g. search engines, "smart" assistants, etc.) ought to scan for suicide-related #keywords. This is effective and not hard to implement (since companies are already obliged by law to search for other keywords or "copyright violations"). Protection of people CAN and SHOULD be done completely without people mining -- even better, completely offline and without tracking, which would hinder building profiles.
Yet, we should NEVER praise companies and capitalists for doing Good sometimes. Capitalism one of the worst cause why more and more people have horrible lives and fall into depression. Doing above things is the LEAST capitalists should do (if they don't abolish themself). But doing GOOD can never be a justification for doing BAD. The means don't justify the ends.
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CW: [Hot takes on justification of surveillance; CW: child abuse]
Two arguments in the docu:
- #Google should include actually helpful "Ads" if someone enters suicide-related #keywords.
- If #surveillance had prevented a (concrete case of) #suicide attempt, it was justified.The first is totally right of course! (I'll discuss this more in the next toot though.)
However, point two is THE typical legitimisation of surveillance. This is just one disguise among many (e.g. CSAM scanning, "terrorism", "fake news", "extremism", etc.).
Here are two immediate counter arguments:
- People mining is not needed; some kind of key-word scanning is effective and efficient.
- The data about MH *will* be abused. This is the nature of #surveillanceCapitalism Rather than for these disguises, data has more often be abused (by capitalists, secret "services", rouge states, etc.) -
CW: [Hot takes on justification of surveillance; CW: child abuse]
Two arguments in the docu:
- #Google should include actually helpful "Ads" if someone enters suicide-related #keywords.
- If #surveillance had prevented a (concrete case of) #suicide attempt, it was justified.The first is totally right of course! (I'll discuss this more in the next toot though.)
However, point two is THE typical legitimisation of surveillance. This is just one disguise among many (e.g. CSAM scanning, "terrorism", "fake news", "extremism", etc.).
Here are two immediate counter arguments:
- People mining is not needed; some kind of key-word scanning is effective and efficient.
- The data about MH *will* be abused. This is the nature of #surveillanceCapitalism Rather than for these disguises, data has more often be abused (by capitalists, secret "services", rouge states, etc.)