#stopiran — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #stopiran, aggregated by home.social.
-
Destroying Autocracy – July 3, 2025
Welcome to this week’s “Destroying Autocracy”.
It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it. That necessitates an opinionated Butlerian jihad against big tech as well as evangelizing for open-source and the Fediverse. Since big media’s journalism wing is flailing and failing in its core duty to democracy, this is also a collection of alternative reporting on the eternal battle between autocracy and democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety and privacy.
DA comes out on Thursday and is updated through the end of day on Friday. Then we start over. So take your time in perusing it and check back in over the weekend.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
Next week I will be on holiday so there won’t be an issue. I will probably boost some things on the Fediverse though.
Featured Item
DevCollaborative writes:
The Trump administration and its supporters are attacking dissenting views on a terrifying scale. With so much of online communications compromised and censored, independent websites are a critical piece of social movement infrastructure that we need to promote and defend.
If your nonprofit has a website, you are part of this essential communications work.
There are looming threats of financially independent nonprofits being censored under the guise of fighting “terrorism” or “sedition.”
Protecting Nonprofit Websites from a Hostile Government
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery
Time has a profile:
How Signal President Meredith Whittaker Took on Signal-Gate
The Register reports:
Proton bashes Apple and joins antitrust suit that seeks to throw the App Store wide open
The Register reports:
Huawei can’t wriggle out of Iran sanctions trial, judge rules
Tara Tarakiyee explores:
Digital Sovereignty in Practice: Web Browsers as a Reality Check
TechPolicy reports:
EU Disinformation Code Takes Effect Amid Censorship Claims and Trade Tensions
Politico reports:
The first American ‘scientific refugees’ arrive in France
BleepingComputer reports:
Hikvision Canada ordered to cease operations over security risks
Germany asks Google, Apple to remove DeepSeek AI from app stores
Raconteur has:
‘You need to be a little bit crazy’: Nextcloud CEO on confronting the hyperscalers
Nextclound reports on:
Why organizations migrate from Microsoft 365 in 2025
TechCrunch reports:
ICEBlock, an app for anonymously reporting ICE sightings, goes viral overnight after Bondi criticism
Ars Technica reports:
Meta, TikTok can’t toss wrongful death suit from mom of “subway surfing” teen
Ted Cruz plan to punish states that regulate AI shot down in 99-1 vote
The Markup has more:
State AI regulations safe after Senate strips moratorium from ‘big, beautiful bill’
MIT Technology Review reports:
Cloudflare will now, by default, block AI bots from crawling its clients’ websites
Cloudfare has the details:
The crawl before the fall… of referrals: understanding AI’s impact on content providers
Neutral
CNBC reports:
The AI-boom’s multi-billion dollar blind spot: Reasoning models hitting a wall
Dries Buyaert (of Drupal fame) writes:
The web’s broken deal with AI companies
Dries, you say you may be naive. You are if you think anything other than politics (regulation or huge boycotts) are going to fix the problem.
The Evil Empire (AKA Autocracy) Strikes Back
The Guardian opines:
Peter Thiel’s Palantir poses a grave threat to Americans
TechDirt reports:
Supreme Court Cripples FCC Further, Making Robocall Enforcement Likely Impossible
The Supreme C^nts strike again.
The Guardian reports:
Trump officials create searchable national citizenship database
TechPolicy reports:
Countering the Politics of Deservingness in the Fight for Digital Equity
How US Firms Are Weakening the EU AI Code of Practice
Pariah States
TechCrunch reports:
US government takes down major North Korean ‘remote IT workers’ operation
DarkReading reports:
Scope, Scale of Spurious North Korean IT Workers Emerges
Silver Fox Suspected in Taiwanese Campaign Using DeepSeek Lure
Russian APT ‘Gamaredon’ Hits Ukraine With Fierce Phishing
The Kyiv Independent reports:
US sanctions Russian IT company Aeza Group over ransomware operations
Big Media
The PressGazette reports:
How SFGATE is making local news pay and filling California’s news gaps
Ars Technica reports:
NYT to start searching deleted ChatGPT logs after beating OpenAI in court
Torment Nexus reports:
Why Substack shouldn’t be the future of online publishing
CNN reports:
After settling with Trump, CBS News staffers fear what comes next
There are cowards, and then there are cowardly c^nts.
Big Tech
TechPolicy reports:
Tech Oligarchs and the Rise of Silicon Valley Pronatalism
The Guardian reports:
Fears AI factcheckers on X could increase promotion of conspiracy theories
Ars Technica reports:
Everything that could go wrong with X’s new AI-written community notes
TikTok is being flooded with racist AI videos generated by Google’s Veo 3
Android Authority reports:
You’re not alone: This email from Google’s Gemini team was concerning (Updated: Google statement)
Tuta asks:
“Sovereign cloud” or “sovereign washing”? A Trojan Horse at Europe’s digital gates.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
Flock Safety’s Feature Updates Cannot Make Automated License Plate Readers Safe
The Register reports:
AI agents get office tasks wrong around 70% of the time, and a lot of them aren’t AI at all
AI models just don’t understand what they’re talking about
The Verge reports:
Facebook is starting to feed its AI with private, unpublished photos
TechCrunch reports:
Meta users say paying for Verified support has been useless in the face of mass bans
TechCrunch reports:
Meta has found another way to keep you engaged: Chatbots that message you first
I guess if you are amoral enough to use Meta products and you are a moron who talks to AI, this is what you deserve.
PC Gamer reports:
Cybersecurity/Privacy
The Verge asks:
How vulnerable is critical infrastructure to cyberattack in the US?
Bleeping Computer reports:
FBI: Cybercriminals steal health data posing as fraud investigators
BleepingComputer reports:
Spain arrests hackers who targeted politicians and journalists
Fediverse
Connected Places has:
Mastodon has:
Dead Superher looks at:
Mitigating the “7 Deadly Fediverse UX Sins”
Jaz-Michael King shares:
Digital Belonging: Why Language and Locality Matter
Viger has:
TechCrunch reports:
Automattic puts Tumblr migration to WordPress on hold
Ghost has:
The Longformers: Ghost, WordPress, Flipboard, Fediverse
NodeBB asks:
Longform content has the best chance to grow the Fediverse, IMHO.
IT Notes shares:
FediMeteo: How a Tiny €4 FreeBSD VPS Became a Global Weather Service for Thousands
Forgejo has its:
Forgejo monthly report – June 2025
ActivityPub for WordPress announces:
HTTP Signature Upgrades Coming Soon
TechCrunch reports:
Not everyone is thrilled with Threads’ DMs
RSS
Preslav Rachev shares:
From Outbound to Inbound and Back Again: The Hidden Power of RSS Feeds
Great stuff. RSS is still my main curation source. So, get an RSS feed on your blog, handle, etc. 🙂
Slightly Federated Social Media
Connected Places has:
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
- That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.
- Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or via RSS.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse#123 #ActivityPub #AI #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Forgejo #Ghost #Mastodon #NodeBB #RSS #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #TechnoAnarchism #TechnoFeudalism #WordPress
-
Destroying Autocracy – June 26, 2025
Welcome to this week’s “Destroying Autocracy”.
It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it. That necessitates an opinionated Butlerian jihad against big tech as well as evangelizing for open-source and the Fediverse. Since big media’s journalism wing is flailing and failing in its core duty to democracy, this is also a collection of alternative reporting on the eternal battle between autocracy and democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety and privacy.
DA comes out on Thursday and is updated through the end of day on Friday. Then we start over. So take your time in perusing it and check back in over the weekend.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
Featured Item
Hamish Campbell writes:
It’s good to see events like NGIFORUM2025 as it’s trying to be on the path of the Fediverse and the wider Open Web reboot which are real forces for social good, messy, hopeful, and grounded in decades of grassroots digital culture, which we do need to support. BUT, we also need to speak honestly, as these spaces are not healthy by default.
Too often, they are co-opted by NGO and institutional actors who bring with them a dangerous kind of “common sense”, what I’ve long described as the parasite class. We see this clearly at NGIFORUM and similar NGO events.
NGIFORUM2025 is timidly touching sense
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery
Numerique reports:
C’est un grande headline. 😉
The Conversation reviews:
Is AI a con? A new book punctures the hype and proposes some ways to resist
The U.K. governmnet announce:
CMA takes first steps to improve competition in search services in the UK
Le Monde reports:
Lyon délaisse la suite Office de Microsoft pour l’open source
Nextcloud reports:
A sovereign Microsoft 365 alternative: Nextcloud and IONOS join forces
Senator Blackburn announces:
The Verge reviews:
The smaller Fairphone 6 introduces swapable accessories
404 Media reports:
‘FuckLAPD.com’ Lets Anyone Use Facial Recognition to Instantly Identify Cops
Ars Technica reports:
Media Matters sues FTC, says agency is retaliating on behalf of Elon Musk
Neutral
Politico reports:
Trump can pull the plug on the internet, and Europe can’t do anything about it
Ars Technica reports:
Judge denies creating “mass surveillance program” harming all ChatGPT users
TechCrunch reports:
And another just sided with Meta. Fuck!
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
EFF to European Commission: Don’t Resurrect Illegal Data Retention Mandates
How Cops Can Get Your Private Online Data
Politico reports:
Top Pentagon spy pick rejected by White House
The Kyiv Independent reports:
Trump administration sends layoff notices to 600 Voice of America staff, NYT reports
The Gray Zone reports:
US Army appoints Palantir, Meta, OpenAI execs as Lt. Colonels
The Center for Democracy and Technology reports:
New Orleans’ Dragnet Facial Recognition Program Threatens Innocent People
404 Media reports:
Flock Removes States From National Lookup Tool After ICE and Abortion Searches Revealed
Pariah States
DarkReading reports:
How Geopolitical Tensions Are Shaping Cyber Warfare
Bleeping Computer reports:
Russian hackers bypass Gmail MFA using stolen app passwords
APT28 hackers use Signal chats to launch new malware attacks on Ukraine
Canada says Salt Typhoon hacked telecom firm via Cisco flaw
The Register reports:
Typhoon-like gang slinging TLS certificate ‘signed’ by the Los Angeles Police Department
Big Media
The Columbia Journalism Review reports:
AI Search Has A Citation Problem
Atoms vs. Bytes has:
Fuck the Nerd Reich’s S.S.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
New Journalism Curriculum Module Teaches Digital Security for Border Journalists
Big Tech
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has:
Protect Yourself From Meta’s Latest Attack on Privacy
The BBC reports:
Musk’s X sues New York state over social media hate speech law
Frontiers reports:
Some of your AI prompts could cause 50 times more CO2 emissions than others
Zero prompts = zero emissions.
Neural Trust reports:
Echo Chamber: A Context-Poisoning Jailbreak That Bypasses LLM Guardrails
Computer Weekly reports:
Beyond the AI hype: How data laws quietly handed power to government and Big Tech
Axios has:
Publishers facing existential threat from AI, Cloudflare CEO says
The Register reports:
The AIpocalypse is here for web sites as search referrals plunge
Hey you AI lovers, these are the sites you build. No traffic equals no money for you. Plus, the AI c^nts stole the info from the people whose traffic they are destroying. And maybe your code. Not to mention devastating the environment. Look in the fucking mirror. And avoid being reincarnated as a cockroach.
The Register reports:
Top AI models – even American ones – parrot Chinese propaganda, report finds
Psylo browser tries to obscure digital fingerprints by giving every tab its own IP address
If you want to do something about the next article.
Texas A&M University reports:
Websites Are Tracking You Via Browser Fingerprinting
noyb reports:
Bumble’s AI icebreakers are mainly breaking EU law
EuroNews reports:
Big Tech isn’t doing enough to fight disinformation, EU body says
Cybersecurity/Privacy
TechCrunch reports:
US House bans WhatsApp from staff devices
You’ve got to be clowns if these mofos ban you.
Dark Reading reports:
How the US Military Is Redefining Zero Trust
Hundreds of MCP Servers Expose AI Models to Abuse, RCE
BleepingComputer reports:
New FileFix attack weaponizes Windows File Explorer for stealthy commands
3 key takeaways from the Scattered Spider attacks on insurance firms
Earth reports:
China breaks RSA encryption with a quantum computer, threatening global data security
Tommy Mysk announces:
Introducing Psylo — A New Kind of Private Web Browser
Fediverse
Connected Places (rebrand) has:
Hamish Campbell has:
This is a story of power, plain and simple
And he’s correct.
Actors, Power, and Collective Publishing: Rethinking Fediverse Architecture for Grassroots Media
On a similar note, Jeremy Herve explores:
WordPress, WordLand, and the Open Web
Dave Winer has the details on WordLand:
Timothy Chambers has:
The Seven Deadly Fediverse UX Sins Part 2: The Road To Redemption
Bless his soul.
Jaz-Michael King introduces:
Ghost hosting platform, MagicPages shares:
ActivityPub Federation Issue (June 21, 2025)
Activity Pub for WordPress reports:
What we shipped so far in 2025
NLnet Foundation announces:
62 new projects contribute to digital commons
There are other Fediverse grants in this article including WordPress, Activity Pub, Funkwhale, and Node BB.
Slightly Federated Social Media
Connected Places has:
The Globe and Mail reports:
Tech leaders ready launch of Canadian social-media platform Gander to buck U.S. dominance
Basically Blacksky for Canadians.
TechDirt has:
Community And Choice Are Not Bubbles
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
- That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.
- Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or via RSS.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse#122 #ActivityPub #AI #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Funkwhale #Ghost #Mastodon #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #TechnoAnarchism #TechnoFeudalism #WordPress
-
Destroying Autocracy – June 19, 2025
Welcome to this week’s “Destroying Autocracy”.
It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it. That necessitates an opinionated Butlerian jihad against big tech as well as evangelizing for open-source and the Fediverse. Since big media’s journalism wing is flailing and failing in its core duty to democracy, this is also a collection of alternative reporting on the eternal battle between autocracy and democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety and privacy.
DA comes out on Thursday and is updated through the end of day on Friday. Then we start over. So take your time in perusing it and check back in over the weekend.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
Featured Item
404 Media reports:
AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums
When you use AI, you contribute to this c^ntitry.
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery
Micah Flee explores:
Using Signal groups for activism
The Guardian reports:
Makers of air fryers and smart speakers told to respect users’ right to privacy
Spy ships, cyber-attacks and shadow fleets: the crack security team braced for trouble at sea
TechCrunch reports:
The ‘OpenAI Files’ push for oversight in the race to AGI
The Register reports:
LibreOffice adds voice to ‘ditch Windows for Linux’ campaign
Microsoft brings 365 suite on-prem as part of sovereign cloud push
France 24 reports:
‘We’re done with Teams’: German state hits uninstall on Microsoft
TechPolicy shares:
What the EU Needs to Do to Challenge Big Tech Cloud Dominance
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
Apple to Australians: You’re Too Stupid to Choose Your Own Apps
BleepingComputer reports:
Police seizes Archetyp Market drug marketplace, arrests admin
The Register reviews:
/e/ OS 3.0: Slightly less clunky, slightly more private
Vox reports:
He’s the godfather of AI. Now, he has a bold new plan to keep us safe from it.
Neutral
The Register reports:
The launch of ChatGPT polluted the world forever, like the first atomic weapons tests
Euronews reports:
Dutch online platform watchdog struggling to connect with other EU member states
The Register reports:
MiniMax M1 model claims Chinese LLM crown from DeepSeek – plus it’s true open-source
Dems hyperventilate about Palantir’s work with the IRS in letter to CEO Karp
I would trust Palantir as far as I could kick their CEO.
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
404 Media reports:
Emails Reveal the Casual Surveillance Alliance Between ICE and Local Police
California Cops Investigate ‘Immigration Protest’ With AI-Camera System
The Markup reports:
California police are illegally sharing license plate data with ICE and Border Patrol
The Kyiv Independent reports:
Open Rights Group reports:
Police forces to get authoritarian powers to extract data from online accounts
False alarm: fake news and the right fuel attack on NGOs
EuroNews reports:
Ukrainian journalists fear USAID cuts opened up space for Russian disinformation campaigns
Pariah States
DarkReading reports:
‘HoldingHands’ Acts Like a Pickpocket With Taiwan Orgs
Iran-Israel War Triggers a Maelstrom in Cyberspace
Paragon Commercial Spyware Infects Prominent Journalists
The Register reports:
Amazon CISO: Iranian hacking crews ‘on high alert’ since Israel attack
404 Media reports:
The AI Slop Fight Between Iran and Israel
EuroNews reports:
Israel’s spy agency used AI and smuggled-in drones to prepare attack on Iran, sources say
Bleeping Computer reports:
North Korean hackers deepfake execs in Zoom call to spread Mac malware
Telecom giant Viasat breached by China’s Salt Typhoon hackers
Citizen Lab reports:
Same Sea, New Phish: Russian Government-Linked Social Engineering Targets App-Specific Passwords
Big Media
The Guardian reports:
The mainstream media has enabled Trump’s war on universities
BleepingComputer reports:
Washington Post’s email system hacked, journalists’ accounts compromised
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting reports:
Working Hard to Justify Israel’s Unprovoked Attack on Iran
One Man and his Blog reports:
Digital News Report 2025: exponential media change is here
Big Tech
Ars Technica reports:
OpenAI weighs “nuclear option” of antitrust complaint against Microsoft
How surprising. Two big tech c^nts can’t get along.
The Register reports:
Salesforce study finds LLM agents flunk CRM and confidentiality tests
‘AI is not doing its job and should leave us alone’ says Gartner’s top analyst
Absolutely.
noyb reports:
WhatsApp is getting ads using personal data from Instagram and Facebook
The Guardian reports:
(AI)‘It’s terrifying’: WhatsApp AI helper mistakenly shares user’s number
TechCrunch reports:
xAI is facing a lawsuit for operating over 400 MW of gas turbines without permits
Tumblr’s content-filtering systems have been falsely flagging posts as ‘mature,’ users blame AI
Instagram users complain of mass bans, pointing finger at AI
BleepingComputer reports:
Instagram ‘BMO’ ads use AI deepfakes to scam banking customers
BellingCat reports:
Ludic Mataroa schools the AI Bros:
Contra Ptacek’s Terrible Article On AI
Wired reports:
How Much Energy Does AI Use? The People Who Know Aren’t Saying
The BBC reports:
Is Google about to destroy the web?
Antitrust Intelligence reports:
Microsoft Could Repeat its Teams Strategy, this time with Bing and Edge
The Markup reports:
We caught 4 more states sharing personal health data with Big Tech
Terror
404 Media reports:
The People Search Sites in the Suspected Minnesota Killer’s Notebook Are a Failure of Congress
Cybersecurity/Privacy
Krebs on Security reports:
Inside a Dark Adtech Empire Fed by Fake CAPTCHAs
The Register reports:
Sitecore CMS flaw let attackers brute-force ‘b’ for backdoor
Fuck corporate CMSs.
BleepingComputer reports:
DuckDuckGo beefs up scam defense to block fake stores, crypto sites
Fediverse
The Fediverse Report reports:
The W3C Community Group looks at:
Messaging Layer Security over ActivityPub
Timothy Chambers shares:
The Seven Deadly UX Sins of the Fediverse Web Experience (To Fix)
Mastodon has:
Mastodon is a digital public good
Emily McClue has a bone to pick with them:
New Terms of Service IP clause cannot be terminated or revoked, not even by deleting content
PeerTube announces:
App crowdfunding — Let’s go live!
Elena Rossini shares a valuable asset:
Ghost is:
Bonfire announces:
ActivityPub for WordPress announces:
New Look, Faster Blocks in ActivityPub 6.0.0
TechCrunch reports:
Mastodon updates its terms to prohibit AI model training
Threads is testing spoiler text, Zuckerberg says
Threads expands open social web integrations with fediverse feed, user profile search
Remember to block the instance, threads.net.
Other Slightly Federated Social Media
The Fediverse Report has:
Mathew Ingram says:
Reports of Bluesky’s death have been greatly exaggerated
Tedium shares:
Again, none of this would matter if Bluesky were not a company trying to make money and in debt to VCs.
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
- That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.
- Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or via RSS.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse#121 #ActivityPub #AI #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Bonfire #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #Peertube #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #TechnoAnarchism #TechnoFeudalism #Threads #WordPress
-
Destroying Autocracy – May 29, 2025
Welcome to this week’s “Destroying Autocracy”.
It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it. That necessitates an opinionated Butlerian jihad against big tech as well as evangelizing for open-source and the Fediverse. Since big media’s journalism wing is flailing and failing in its core duty to democracy, this is also a collection of alternative reporting on the eternal battle between autocracy and democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety and privacy.
DA comes out on Thursday and is updated through the end of day on Friday. Then we start over. So take your time in perusing it and check back in over the weekend.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
Featured Item(s)
Anil Dash writes:
The concept of consent doesn’t exist on the modern internet.
You didn’t read the terms of service. You didn’t agree to accept cookies. I didn’t consent to having my site pulled into the training model for that artificial intelligence system that’s going to use to sell the fruit of my labor for profit. I didn’t agree to have my activity tracked across all these different websites and cobbled together into a creepy and inaccurate profile of my preferences that gets sold without my permission.
Nobody asks for anything, they just take it. There’s not even an acknowledgement, that any of this stuff is happening let alone a conversation about it.
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, TechnoFeudalism, and other douchebaggery
CyberNews reports:
Massive security blunder: Russian nuclear site blueprints exposed in public procurement database
The Register reports:
Europe warns giant e-tailer to stop cheating consumers or face its wrath
404 Media reports:
Civitai Ban of Real People Content Deals Major Blow to the Nonconsensual AI Porn Ecosystem
John Onolan reflects on:
DarkReading reports:
Danabot Takedown Deals Blow to Russian Cybercrime
How to Geek has:
After Switching to Linux, This App Helped Me Drop Google for Good
The Next Web reports:
Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot banned by a quarter of European firms
Be sure to see the Signal article below.
The Register reports:
Poll of 1,000 senior techies: Euro execs mull use of US clouds
Apple has only 30 days to comply with EU DMA rules
Ars Technica reports:
It’s too expensive to fight every AI copyright battle, Getty CEO says
That’s why we need laws and regulations.
Tech Policy shares:
Debunking Myths About AI Laws and the Proposed Moratorium on State AI Regulation
AI Monopolies Are Coming. Now’s the Time to Stop Them.
18F announces:
TechCrunch reports:
Hugging Face unveils two new humanoid robots
Neutral
TechPolicy reports:
The GDPR Shake-Up: What You Need to Know
Vox reports:
The new pope has strong opinions about AI. Good.
Our Techno Anarchist Manifesto looks into similar ideas from other Popes.
The Center for Democracy and Technology has:
This is Not An #Ad: Political Influencers, Elections, and Information Integrity on Social Media
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
TechCrunch reports:
Why a new anti-revenge porn law has free speech experts alarmed
Tech Policy reports:
The Big Beautiful Bill Could Decimate Legal Accountability for Tech and Anything Tech Touches
404 Media reports:
ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows
Developer Builds Tool That Scrapes YouTube Comments, Uses AI to Predict Where Users Live
The Register reports:
Ex-CISA employee: ‘This culture of fear started permeating the agency’
Renée DiResta reports:
A Comment on the Comment Call: Dissecting the FTC’s Inquiry Into Content Moderation
Pariah States
BleepingComputer reports:
Russian Laundry Bear cyberspies linked to Dutch Police hack
Iranian pleads guilty to RobbinHood ransomware attacks, faces 30 years
Czechia blames China for Ministry of Foreign Affairs cyberattack
APT41 malware abuses Google Calendar for stealthy C2 communication
Reuters reports:
India’s alarm over Chinese spying rocks the surveillance industry
TechCrunch reports:
Report: TuSimple sent sensitive self-driving data to China after US national security agreement
The Register reports:
Why is China deep in US networks? ‘They’re preparing for war,’ HR McMaster tells lawmakers
Big Media
Joan Westenberg looks at:
The Daily Beast reports:
Bezos’ WaPo Gives Staff Ultimatum as It Pushes Them Out
Big Tech
The Register reports:
Some signs of AI model collapse begin to reveal themselves
The International Journal of Law and Information Technology asks:
The EU Digital Services Act: what does it mean for online advertising and adtech?
Jacobin reports:
Big Tech Wants to Become Its Own Bank
TechSpot reports:
Duolingo CEO backtracks on AI push, says human workers still needed
Ben Werdmuller looks at:
Fuck Substack.
Jae shares:
Yet another reason you should use Signal
And fuck these two c^nts.
Cybersecurity/Privacy
ZDNet reports:
BleepingComputer reports:
Apple Safari exposes users to fullscreen browser-in-the-middle attacks
ConnectWise breached in cyberattack linked to nation-state hackers
Google reports:
Text-to-Malware: How Cybercriminals Weaponize Fake AI-Themed Websites
Fediverse
The Fediverse Report has:
The Social Web Foundation shares its:
Hamish Campbell is:
Thinking about news on the Fediverse
We Distribute reports:
PeerTube announces a fundraising effort:
Other Slightly Federated Social Media
The Fediverse Report has:
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
- That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.
- Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or via RSS.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse#118 #ActivityPub #Ad #AI #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #Nextcloud #Peertube #StopChina #StopIran #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia
-
Destroying Autocracy – 20 March 2025
Welcome to this week’s “Destroying Autocracy”.
It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it. That necessitates an opinionated Butlerian jihad against big tech as well as evangelizing for open-source and the Fediverse. Since big media’s journalism wing is flailing and failing in its core duty to democracy, this is also a collection of alternative reporting on the eternal battle between autocracy and democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety and privacy.
DA comes out on Thursday and is updated through the end of day on Friday. Then we start over. So take your time in perusing it and check back in over the weekend.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
Featured Item
Hans-Peter Schulenberg shares:
The DEEPSEEK Effect: How a Chinese AI Startup Is Reshaping the Global Tech Landscape
Let’s hope that things like Open-R1 will become ethical alternatives.
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery
The Register reports:
Euro techies call for sovereign fund to escape Uncle Sam’s digital death grip
Vivaldi 7.2 browser wants to topple tech’s feudal lords
Reuters reports:
Dutch parliament calls for end to dependence on US software companies
Freedom of the Press Foundation reports:
Wired is dropping paywalls for FOIA-based reporting. Others should follow
I know 404 Media does the same.
DarkReading reports:
Duke University & GCF Partner to Identify Pathways for Advancing Women’s Careers in Cybersecurity
TechCrunch reports:
Apple loses appeal against Germany’s special abuse control for Big Tech
ArsTechnica reports:
UK online safety law Musk hates kicks in today, and so far, Trump can’t stop it
Apple and Google in the hot seat as European regulators ignore Trump warnings
The European Digital Rights Institute reports:
EDRi files DSA legal complaint against X
The Atlantic reports:
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Cool tool.
The USAGM asks for:
Support for US International Media Workers
Neutral
Tech Policy reports on:
Middle Powers Digital Antitrust Efforts in the Age of Trump
404 Media reports:
Public Records Reveal How Agencies Complied With Trump’s Anti-Trans Order
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
404 Media reports:
TSA Says Its Credit Cards for Bomb-Sniffing Dogs Are Cut Off
The Guardian reports:
How an obscure US government office has become a target of Elon Musk
Radio Free Europe reports:
Trump Signs Executive Order For Major Cuts To 7 Agencies, Including RFE/RL Overseer USAGM
TechCrunch reports:
CISA scrambles to contact fired employees after court rules layoffs ‘unlawful’
Pariah States
DarkReading reports:
Denmark Warns of Increased Cyber Espionage Against Telecom Sector
Black Basta Leader in League With Russian Officials, Chat Logs Show
BleepingComputer reports:
Ukrainian military targeted in new Signal spear-phishing attacks
Big Media
NPR reports:
‘Bloody Saturday’ at Voice of America and other U.S.-funded networks
NBC News reports:
The Trump administration axed Voice of America, and China’s state media are delighted
Radio World reports:
RFE/RL Sues the USAGM to Get Its Grant Back
The Kyiv Independent reports:
RFE/RL sues Trump administration over funding cuts
Big Tech
Cory Doctorow writes:
Amazon annihilates Alexa privacy settings, turns on continuous, nonconsensual audio uploading
The Guardian reports:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports on:
California’s A.B. 412: A Bill That Could Crush Startups and Cement A Big Tech AI Monopoly
The Register reports:
Amazon accused of using algorithms to push warehouse workers to breaking point
404 Media reports:
The Cradle reports:
Google to acquire Israeli firm staffed by former Unit 8200 officers
Two sets of c^nts who deserve each other.
Cybersecurity/Privacy
The Register reports:
UK wants dirt on data brokers before criminals get there first
Cloudflare reports:
Password reuse is rampant: nearly half of observed user logins are compromised
404 Media reports:
Fediverse
The Fediverse Report has:
The Conversation has:
The Fediverse promises social media without Big Tech – if it can avoid familiar pitfalls
The Social Web Foundation reports:
IFTAS announces:
IFTAS 2.0 – Rescoping and Refocusing
Do the world a solid and make a donation to IFTAS, preferably a monthly one.
Fred Rocha explains:
Ghost announces:
I’m looking forward to this being perfected and being available on regular Ghost.
We Distribute reports:
Hands on with Ghost’s New ActivityPub Beta
Website League and the Rise of Island Networks
Dead Superhero says:
You Know What, Meet Your Heroes
Peertube announces:
Design, mobile development, documentation: let’s share resources!
A New Social is:
Forgejo has its:
Forgejo monthly update – February 2025
Other Slightly Federated Social Media
The Fediverse report has:
ATmosphere Report – 2025march.b
TechCrunch reports:
Bluesky users debate plans around user data and AI training
The Libre has:
Why I recommend against Bluesky
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
- That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.
- Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or via RSS.
- Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse#108 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProto #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Mastodon #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine
-
Destroying Autocracy – 13 March 2025
Welcome to this week’s “Destroying Autocracy”.
It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it. That necessitates an opinionated Butlerian jihad against big tech as well as evangelizing for open-source and the Fediverse. Since big media’s journalism wing is flailing and failing in its core duty to democracy, this is also a collection of alternative reporting on the eternal battle between autocracy and democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety and privacy.
DA comes out on Thursday and is updated through the end of day on Friday. Then we start over. So take your time in perusing it and check back in over the weekend.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
Featured Item
Tech Policy reports:
Describing the technologies that make all of this possible as “AI” masks what they really are: government surveillance targeting free speech. Today, the government’s use of (Big Tech) data threatens to deny rights while slashing government services, and the risk of being singled out hovers over anyone who disagrees with the administration.
A system linking the views expressed on an individual’s social media accounts to the platforms gathering government data is an immediate threat to the freedom to express ourselves and live without fear of government interference in that expression.
Through fear of service denials, investigations, targeted audits, and other potential abuses, the existence of this apparatus leads citizens to curtail Constitutionally protected speech acts. Creating a situation where citizens reasonably fear that their speech will lead to a suspension of rights, denial of services, or taking on other risks that threaten democratic participation and debate.
What is clear, however, is that the moment such an incursion into rights can be articulated, there is a vast legal precedent under the Privacy Act that can be brought forward in response. For that reason, Americans need more, not less, public expression of diverse ideas and robust rebuttals to the intrusion of this public-private partnership into our civic life.
The AI State is a Surveillance State
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery
The Next Web reports:
4 European satellite firms are vying to replace Starlink in Ukraine
Politico reports:
EU-US rift triggers call for made-in-Europe tech
The Next Web reports:
European cloud hosts are offering an escape from AWS, Azure, and GCP
Clayton Computer reports on:
Community Tech: Moving Beyond Free and Open Source Software
The Verge reports:
‘Careless People’ publisher won’t pull the book Meta is trying to stop
Media Matters sues X to stop lawsuits outside of the US
Krebs on Security reports:
Alleged Co-Founder of Garantex Arrested in India
404 Media reports:
NASA, Yale, and Stanford Scientists Consider ‘Scientific Exile,’ French University Says
TechPolicy reports:
DOJ Sets Record Straight of What’s Needed to Dismantle Google’s Search Monopoly
TechCrunch reports:
UK competition probe of mobile browsers finds Apple-Google duopoly is ‘anti-innovation’
Could deeptech serve as Europe’s path to autonomy from the US?
Open web initiatives Project Liberty and Solid could be teaming up
Meta faces publisher copyright AI lawsuit in France
Judge allows authors’ AI copyright lawsuit against Meta to move forward
ArsTechnica has more:
Meta mocked for raising “Bob Dylan defense” of torrenting in AI copyright fight
The United Nations announce:
The OSI First to Endorse United Nations Open Source Principles
Neutral
Tech Policy reports:
Out of Balance: What the EU’s Strategy Shift Means for the AI Ecosystem
BleepingComputer reports:
X hit by ‘massive cyberattack’ amid Dark Storm’s DDoS claims
Usually this would be in the cybersecurity section. But, since it was against the box of c^nts known as Shitter the story gets moved here.
OpenSource reports on:
Overcoming barriers to Open Source procurement in the European Union
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
Tech Policy reports:
How Disinformation Is Undermining Trust In Brazil’s Most Used Digital Public Infrastructure
The Guardian reports:
ICE accessed car trackers in sanctuary cities that could help in raids, files show
404 Media reports:
Here is NASA’s Contract with Clearview AI
The 200+ Sites an ICE Surveillance Contractor is Monitoring
Corporate Europe Observatory reports:
Huawei corruption scandal shows EU has learned no lessons on ethics rules
TechDirt reports:
Trump’s Latest Weapon Against Critics: Destroying Their Lawyers
Pariah States
The Register reports:
Expired Juniper routers find new life – as Chinese spy hubs
BleepingComputer reports:
Undocumented commands found in Bluetooth chip used by a billion devices
North Korean Lazarus hackers infect hundreds via npm packages
TechCrunch reports:
North Korean government hackers snuck spyware on Android app store
Big Media
The Associated Press reports:
Washington Post columnist quits after her opinion piece criticizing owner Jeff Bezos is rejected
The Bulwark reports:
‘State Propaganda’: Anger Erupts Inside Univision Over Airing of Trump Ad
Ethan Zuckerman reports:
Jay Rosen and Taylor Owen: Can journalism survive Trump? Can democracy?
Big Tech
Not a Tech Bro says:
The government is not our business
The Index reports:
The Fascist Tech Bro Takeover Is Here
Unfortunately, it’s true.
The BBC reports:
Facebook was ‘hand in glove’ with China, BBC told
Radio Free Asia reports:
Hong Kong media urged to back up Facebook protest videos
MalwareBytes Labs reports:
Android devices track you before you even sign in
One of the many reasons I have a Fairphone with the e/OS operating system.
The Guardian reviews:
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams review – Zuckerberg and me
Terror
Michah Flee shares a:
Step-by-step guide to reading the leaked militia chats yourself
Very cool.
Cybersecurity/Privacy
DarkReading reports:
Democratizing Security to Improve Security Posture
OpenAI Operator Agent Used in Proof-of-Concept Phishing Attack
Binance Spoofers Compromise PCs in ‘TRUMP’ Crypto Scam
He, he.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation shares:
Choosing the VPN That’s Right for You
BleepingComputer reports:
Critical PHP RCE vulnerability mass exploited in new attacks
CISA: Medusa ransomware hit over 300 critical infrastructure orgs
Fediverse
The Fediverse Report has:
Hamish Campbell explains:
Why the Fediverse Needs a Connection Between Mainstreaming and Grassroots
The Nexus of Privacy shares:
Notes (and thoughts) on organizing in the Fediverse and the ATmosphere
Ghost has an update:
Mastodon has:
Trunk & Tidbits, February 2025
SplitBrain details:
Mastodon to GoToSocial Migration
Other Slightly Federated Social Media
TechCrunch reports:
Open social web browser Surf integrates with Bluesky in latest beta
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
- That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.
- Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or via RSS.
- Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse#107 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProto #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #GoToSocial #Mastodon #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine
-
Destroying Autocracy – 06 March 2025
Welcome to this week’s “Destroying Autocracy”.
It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it. That necessitates an opinionated Butlerian jihad against big tech as well as evangelizing for open-source and the Fediverse. Since big media’s journalism wing is flailing and failing in its core duty to democracy, this is also a collection of alternative reporting on the eternal battle between autocracy and democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety and privacy.
DA comes out on Thursday and is updated through the end of day on Friday. Then we start over. So take your time in perusing it and check back in over the weekend.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
Featured Item
Tech Policy writes:
The year is 2028. The world’s leading economies are in turmoil as artificial intelligence systems, once hailed as engines of progress, have outpaced human governance.
AI-driven financial markets operate beyond regulation, executing trades at speeds incomprehensible to human oversight. AI legal agents flood the courts with appeals and counterappeals, paralyzing the judicial system. Generative AI platforms tailor disinformation campaigns with surgical precision, dismantling electoral processes before governments can intervene.
Meanwhile, a handful of oligarchs with exclusive control over the most advanced AI systems command unprecedented influence, bypassing legislatures and setting policies through proprietary governance mechanisms.
Democracy, once thought resilient, is crumbling under the weight of unchecked artificial intelligence.
It’s hard not to see a trajectory towards such a world in today’s headlines. Yet, this future is not inevitable.
AI at the Brink: Preventing the Subversion of Democracy
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery
9 to 5 Mac reports:
Brazilian court gives Apple 90 days to allow sideloading on iOS
ArsTechnica reports:
Apple refuses to break encryption, seeks reversal of UK demand for backdoor
NextGov reports:
US spy chief directs legal review of UK’s Apple backdoor demand
EuroNews reports:
EU Commission looking to speed up 5G defence from foreign interference
TechCrunch reports:
EU must ‘fully’ apply its market fairness rulebook on Google, search rivals urge
Jan Wildeboer describes:
From iCloud to Nextcloud: Contacts
404 Media reports:
French University to Fund American Scientists Who Fear Trump Censorship
Archivists Recreate Pre-Trump CDC Website, Are Hosting It in Europe
NetzPolitik reports:
Open source funding on the brink : “Delivering what’s needed to make Europe sovereign”
Tech Policy has:
Looking for an Exit: Europe’s Way to Public Digital Infrastructures
The Register reports:
Do you DARE? Europe bets once again on RISC-V for supercomputing sovereignty
UK watchdog investigates TikTok and Reddit over child data privacy concerns
The Electronic Frontier Foundation introduces:
Meet Rayhunter: A New Open Source Tool from EFF to Detect Cellular Spying
BleepingComputer reports:
US charges Chinese hackers linked to critical infrastructure breaches
US seizes domain of Garantex crypto exchange used by ransomware gangs
Andre Garzia opines:
The Web Should Be A Conversation
Sim, meu homem!
Ben Werdmuller says:
The web was always about redistribution of power. Let’s bring that back.
Joan Westenberg writes:
Big Tech Wants You Trapped. The Open Web Sets You Free
Neutral
The Register reports:
Microsoft unveils finalized EU Data Boundary as European doubt over US grows
It begins: Pentagon to give AI agents a role in decision making, ops planning
The Markup reports:
AI Chatbots Can Cushion the High School Counselor Shortage — But Are They Bad for Students?
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
BitDefender reports:
Stop targeting Russian hackers, Trump administration orders US Cyber Command
The Guardian reports:
Trump administration retreats in fight against Russian cyber threats
Meanwhile BleepingComputer reports:
DHS says CISA will not stop monitoring Russian cyber threats
The Register has more:
So … Russia no longer a cyber threat to America?
Given that the people running these agencies are now lying, moronic, incompetent, fascist c^nts, who knows what to believe.
The Kyiv Independent reports:
Russian, Chinese intelligence seek to recruit fired US federal employees, CNN reports
This would be funny if weren’t disastrous.
404 Media reports:
Cellebrite Is Using AI to Summarize Chat Logs and Audio from Seized Mobile Phones
Tech Policy reports:
Pariah States
The Register reports:
Polish space agency confirms cyberattack
DarkReading reports:
‘Crafty Camel’ APT Targets Aviation, OT With Polygot Files
China’s Silk Typhoon APT Shifts to IT Supply Chain Attacks
Big Media
Joan Westenberg shares:
Substack is for c^nts and fascists. Use Ghost or Buttondown instead. And you should become a paid subscriber to Joan’s site as well.
Speaking of, The Guardian has:
The LA Times’ AI ‘bias meter’ looks like a bid to please Donald Trump
TechDirt announces:
Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not)
Big Tech
Where’s Your ‘Ed At explains:
TechCrunch reports:
Anthropic quietly removes Biden-era AI policy commitments from its website
Jumping on the coward bandwagon.
OpenAI’s ex-policy lead criticizes the company for ‘rewriting’ its AI safety history
404 Media reports:
Google and Amazon AI Say Hitler’s Mein Kampf Is ‘a True Work of Art’
Terror
Micah Flee is:
Exploring the Paramilitary Leaks
Cybersecurity/Privacy
DarkReading reports:
Third-Party Risk Top Cybersecurity Claims
BleepingComputer reports:
Microsoft Teams tactics, malware connect Black Basta, Cactus ransomware
Fediverse
The Fediverse Report has:
Joan Westenberg opines:
The Fediverse Isn’t the Future. It’s the Present We’ve Been Denied.
Unfortunately, IFTAS has an announcement:
I just started a small monthly donation, but they need big money for the things they just dropped.
FOSS Academic asks are we in a:
Ghost has an update:
FunkWhale announces:
And fuck anybody who has a problem with it!
Elena Rossini shares:
PeerTube: the Fediverse’s decentralized video platform (part 1: first impressions)
Failing newspaper, The New York Times reports:
A Long-Shot Bet to Bypass the Middlemen of Social Media
Other Slightly Federated Social Media
The Fediverse Report has:
TechCrunch reports:
Tapbots teases a new Bluesky app, Phoenix, saying it can’t ‘survive on Mastodon alone’
Tangled is
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
- That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.
- Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or via RSS.
- Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse#106 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProto #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #Peertube #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine
-
https://apnews.com/article/iran-crime-tehran-59d4b028bbd402a642b83fdddc35fdc8 stop the theocratic insanity. #StopIran
-
Sky tonight claiming #Russia flew captured western weapons and a huge amount of cash to #Iran in payment for the killer drones.