#warfn — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #warfn, aggregated by home.social.
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Destroying Autocracy – October 16, 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.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
We’re off to France to scout locations for The Fulcrum’s worldwide HQ. 😉 So, there will not be a post for the next two weeks.
The Programmer’s Fulcrum is the future (and smaller) home for a fusion of Symfony Station and Battalion. Its tagline is Devs Defending Democracy, Developing the OMN.
You can sign up now and for 2025 get an email with links to and featured articles for each week’s Symfony Station Communiqué and Battalion “Destroying Autocracy” post along with their featured articles. And you’ll be set with TPF after the fusing.
We are posting on the Fediverse now at @thefulcrum @thefulcrum.dev and original website content will start in 2026.
Featured Item(s)
EuroNews writes:
Artificial intelligence is a matter of design – not destiny.
That’s the message from 10 philanthropic foundations aiming to loosen the grip that the technology’s moneyed developers, fueled by an investing frenzy, hold over its evolution.
Launched Tuesday under the name Humanity AI, the coalition is committing $500 million (€427 million) across the next five years to place human interests at the forefront of the technology’s rapid integration into daily life.
“The future belongs to those who actively create it, and that shan’t be a few leaders in Silicon Valley. It’s all of us,” Mozilla Foundation Executive Director Nabiha Syed said in an emailed statement.
Philanthropists to invest €427 million to curbs tech giants’ influence on new AI
Let’s hope they are successful.
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery
Ars Technica reports:
Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement
Feds seize $15 billion from alleged forced labor scam built on “human suffering”
Inside the web infrastructure revolt over Google’s AI Overviews
EuroNews reports:
Netherlands invokes rare emergency law to take charge of Chinese chipmaker
Free Software Foundation Europe reports:
Refund of pre-installed Windows: Lenovo must pay 20,000 euros in damages
DMA litigation against Apple: a quick recap
The Register reports:
Librephone battles the proprietary binary blob
Fantastic.
Lemonde Informatiqué reports:
Microsoft 365 Education traque illégalement les données des élèves
The Guardian reports:
Italian news publishers demand investigation into Google’s AI Overviews
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
Victory! California Requires Transparency for AI Police Reports
Labor Unions, EFF Sue Trump Administration to Stop Ideological Surveillance of Free Speech Online
Signal reports:
Signal Desktop introduces Notification profiles
Tor Browser has an update:
Tor Browser will remove all of the Firefox AI features that Mozilla has been recently adding
Neutral
Ben Werdmueller advises:
News Orgs: Build what makes you special. Buy the rest.
NiemanLab shares:
“How can we help?” The Engaged Journalism Exchange aims to create belonging through media
Tech Policy reports:
To Have Democracy, We Must Contest Data
Government Technology reports:
CDT: Growing AI Use in Schools Brings Benefits and New Risks
The Evil Empire (AKA Autocracy) Strikes Back
Poynter reports:
A united media stands up against the Pentagon’s press restrictions
404 Media reports:
ICE, Secret Service, Navy All Had Access to Flock’s Nationwide Network of Cameras
Pariah States
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
EFF and Five Human Rights Organizations Urge Action Around Microsoft’s Role in Israel’s War on Gaza
TechCrunch reports:
Spyware maker NSO confirms acquisition by U.S. investor
404 Media reports:
Senators Warn Saudi Arabia’s Acquisition of EA Will Be Used for ‘Foreign Influence’
BleepingComputer reports:
North Korean hackers use EtherHiding to hide malware on the blockchain
DarkReading reports:
China Hackers Test AI-Optimized Attack Chains in Taiwan
The Register reports:
Chinese cyberspies snoop on Russian IT biz in rare east-on-east attack
Big Tech
Ars Technica reports:
Trump admin pressured Facebook into removing ICE-tracking group
Infrequently Noted reports:
The App Store Was Always Authoritarian
MDR reports:
Windows-Umstellung kostet Sachsen-Anhalt mehr als vier Millionen Euro
404 Media reports:
The End of Windows 10 Support Is an E-Waste Disaster in the Making
Scott Larson reports:
Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft’s move towards a surveillance state
BertHub has:
The Torment Nexus has:
Should we be afraid of AI? Maybe a little
Personally I think of AI as a hammer and humans as nails. 95% of the time, it’s hammering us into a pile of shit. 5% of the time it can be turned around to pull us out.
Speaking of, The Verge reports:
OpenAI allegedly sent police to an AI regulation advocate’s door
Tuta shares:
How GoDaddy hollowed out Host Europe & DomainFactory (plus better European web hosting providers)
Terror
Politico reports:
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Cybersecurity/Privacy
BleepingComputer reports:
Spain dismantles “GXC Team” cybercrime syndicate, arrests leader
Wired reports:
Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data
The Register reports:
British govt agents demand action after UK mega-cyberattacks surge 50%
Internet Exchange shares:
A Shield in Uncertain Times: The Role of Encryption
Fediverse
Connected Places has:
Ben Werdmueller tells us:
Why the open social web matters now
For Better reflects on:
Defining a new kind of social app
Media CCC shares:
Decentralising Freedom: Open Source for Sovereignty
Fedify announces:
Fedify 1.9.0: Security enhancements, improved DX, and expanded framework support
Loops has:
We Distribute has:
Wafrn is for People Who Miss Tumblr’s Chaotic Energy
Mastodon announces:
The first beta release of Mastodon 4.5.0 is ready for testing!
TechCrunch reports:
Threads is getting group chats as messaging rolls out to the EU
Forgejo announces:
Slightly Decentralized Social Media
ATProtocol Dev is:
Announcing ATmosphereConf: Vancouver, March 2026
Remember Bluesky is half-ass but ATProto has potential.
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 even our future home in 2026, if you want a head start.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse#ActivityPub #AI #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Democracy #Fascism #Fedify #Fediverse #GoDaddy #Loops #Mastodon #Newsmast #Signal #StopChina #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #TechnoAnarchism #TechnoFeudalism #Threads #WARFN
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Destroying Autocracy – October 16, 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.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
We’re off to France to scout locations for The Fulcrum’s worldwide HQ. 😉 So, there will not be a post for the next two weeks.
The Programmer’s Fulcrum is the future (and smaller) home for a fusion of Symfony Station and Battalion. Its tagline is Devs Defending Democracy, Developing the OMN.
You can sign up now and for 2025 get an email with links to and featured articles for each week’s Symfony Station Communiqué and Battalion “Destroying Autocracy” post along with their featured articles. And you’ll be set with TPF after the fusing.
We are posting on the Fediverse now at @thefulcrum @thefulcrum.dev and original website content will start in 2026.
Featured Item(s)
EuroNews writes:
Artificial intelligence is a matter of design – not destiny.
That’s the message from 10 philanthropic foundations aiming to loosen the grip that the technology’s moneyed developers, fueled by an investing frenzy, hold over its evolution.
Launched Tuesday under the name Humanity AI, the coalition is committing $500 million (€427 million) across the next five years to place human interests at the forefront of the technology’s rapid integration into daily life.
“The future belongs to those who actively create it, and that shan’t be a few leaders in Silicon Valley. It’s all of us,” Mozilla Foundation Executive Director Nabiha Syed said in an emailed statement.
Philanthropists to invest €427 million to curbs tech giants’ influence on new AI
Let’s hope they are successful.
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery
Ars Technica reports:
Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement
Feds seize $15 billion from alleged forced labor scam built on “human suffering”
Inside the web infrastructure revolt over Google’s AI Overviews
EuroNews reports:
Netherlands invokes rare emergency law to take charge of Chinese chipmaker
Free Software Foundation Europe reports:
Refund of pre-installed Windows: Lenovo must pay 20,000 euros in damages
DMA litigation against Apple: a quick recap
The Register reports:
Librephone battles the proprietary binary blob
Fantastic.
Lemonde Informatiqué reports:
Microsoft 365 Education traque illégalement les données des élèves
The Guardian reports:
Italian news publishers demand investigation into Google’s AI Overviews
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
Victory! California Requires Transparency for AI Police Reports
Labor Unions, EFF Sue Trump Administration to Stop Ideological Surveillance of Free Speech Online
Signal reports:
Signal Desktop introduces Notification profiles
Tor Browser has an update:
Tor Browser will remove all of the Firefox AI features that Mozilla has been recently adding
Neutral
Ben Werdmueller advises:
News Orgs: Build what makes you special. Buy the rest.
NiemanLab shares:
“How can we help?” The Engaged Journalism Exchange aims to create belonging through media
Tech Policy reports:
To Have Democracy, We Must Contest Data
Government Technology reports:
CDT: Growing AI Use in Schools Brings Benefits and New Risks
The Evil Empire (AKA Autocracy) Strikes Back
Poynter reports:
A united media stands up against the Pentagon’s press restrictions
404 Media reports:
ICE, Secret Service, Navy All Had Access to Flock’s Nationwide Network of Cameras
Pariah States
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
EFF and Five Human Rights Organizations Urge Action Around Microsoft’s Role in Israel’s War on Gaza
TechCrunch reports:
Spyware maker NSO confirms acquisition by U.S. investor
404 Media reports:
Senators Warn Saudi Arabia’s Acquisition of EA Will Be Used for ‘Foreign Influence’
BleepingComputer reports:
North Korean hackers use EtherHiding to hide malware on the blockchain
DarkReading reports:
China Hackers Test AI-Optimized Attack Chains in Taiwan
The Register reports:
Chinese cyberspies snoop on Russian IT biz in rare east-on-east attack
Big Tech
Ars Technica reports:
Trump admin pressured Facebook into removing ICE-tracking group
Infrequently Noted reports:
The App Store Was Always Authoritarian
MDR reports:
Windows-Umstellung kostet Sachsen-Anhalt mehr als vier Millionen Euro
404 Media reports:
The End of Windows 10 Support Is an E-Waste Disaster in the Making
Scott Larson reports:
Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft’s move towards a surveillance state
BertHub has:
The Torment Nexus has:
Should we be afraid of AI? Maybe a little
Personally I think of AI as a hammer and humans as nails. 95% of the time, it’s hammering us into a pile of shit. 5% of the time it can be turned around to pull us out.
Speaking of, The Verge reports:
OpenAI allegedly sent police to an AI regulation advocate’s door
Tuta shares:
How GoDaddy hollowed out Host Europe & DomainFactory (plus better European web hosting providers)
Terror
Politico reports:
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Cybersecurity/Privacy
BleepingComputer reports:
Spain dismantles “GXC Team” cybercrime syndicate, arrests leader
Wired reports:
Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data
The Register reports:
British govt agents demand action after UK mega-cyberattacks surge 50%
Internet Exchange shares:
A Shield in Uncertain Times: The Role of Encryption
Fediverse
Connected Places has:
Ben Werdmueller tells us:
Why the open social web matters now
For Better reflects on:
Defining a new kind of social app
Media CCC shares:
Decentralising Freedom: Open Source for Sovereignty
Fedify announces:
Fedify 1.9.0: Security enhancements, improved DX, and expanded framework support
Loops has:
We Distribute has:
Wafrn is for People Who Miss Tumblr’s Chaotic Energy
Mastodon announces:
The first beta release of Mastodon 4.5.0 is ready for testing!
TechCrunch reports:
Threads is getting group chats as messaging rolls out to the EU
Forgejo announces:
Slightly Decentralized Social Media
ATProtocol Dev is:
Announcing ATmosphereConf: Vancouver, March 2026
Remember Bluesky is half-ass but ATProto has potential.
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 even our future home in 2026, if you want a head start.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse#ActivityPub #AI #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Democracy #Fascism #Fedify #Fediverse #GoDaddy #Loops #Mastodon #Newsmast #Signal #StopChina #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #TechnoAnarchism #TechnoFeudalism #Threads #WARFN
-
Destroying Autocracy – October 16, 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.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
We’re off to France to scout locations for The Fulcrum’s worldwide HQ. 😉 So, there will not be a post for the next two weeks.
The Programmer’s Fulcrum is the future (and smaller) home for a fusion of Symfony Station and Battalion. Its tagline is Devs Defending Democracy, Developing the OMN.
You can sign up now and for 2025 get an email with links to and featured articles for each week’s Symfony Station Communiqué and Battalion “Destroying Autocracy” post along with their featured articles. And you’ll be set with TPF after the fusing.
We are posting on the Fediverse now at @thefulcrum @thefulcrum.dev and original website content will start in 2026.
Featured Item(s)
EuroNews writes:
Artificial intelligence is a matter of design – not destiny.
That’s the message from 10 philanthropic foundations aiming to loosen the grip that the technology’s moneyed developers, fueled by an investing frenzy, hold over its evolution.
Launched Tuesday under the name Humanity AI, the coalition is committing $500 million (€427 million) across the next five years to place human interests at the forefront of the technology’s rapid integration into daily life.
“The future belongs to those who actively create it, and that shan’t be a few leaders in Silicon Valley. It’s all of us,” Mozilla Foundation Executive Director Nabiha Syed said in an emailed statement.
Philanthropists to invest €427 million to curbs tech giants’ influence on new AI
Let’s hope they are successful.
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery
Ars Technica reports:
Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement
Feds seize $15 billion from alleged forced labor scam built on “human suffering”
Inside the web infrastructure revolt over Google’s AI Overviews
EuroNews reports:
Netherlands invokes rare emergency law to take charge of Chinese chipmaker
Free Software Foundation Europe reports:
Refund of pre-installed Windows: Lenovo must pay 20,000 euros in damages
DMA litigation against Apple: a quick recap
The Register reports:
Librephone battles the proprietary binary blob
Fantastic.
Lemonde Informatiqué reports:
Microsoft 365 Education traque illégalement les données des élèves
The Guardian reports:
Italian news publishers demand investigation into Google’s AI Overviews
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
Victory! California Requires Transparency for AI Police Reports
Labor Unions, EFF Sue Trump Administration to Stop Ideological Surveillance of Free Speech Online
Signal reports:
Signal Desktop introduces Notification profiles
Tor Browser has an update:
Tor Browser will remove all of the Firefox AI features that Mozilla has been recently adding
Neutral
Ben Werdmueller advises:
News Orgs: Build what makes you special. Buy the rest.
NiemanLab shares:
“How can we help?” The Engaged Journalism Exchange aims to create belonging through media
Tech Policy reports:
To Have Democracy, We Must Contest Data
Government Technology reports:
CDT: Growing AI Use in Schools Brings Benefits and New Risks
The Evil Empire (AKA Autocracy) Strikes Back
Poynter reports:
A united media stands up against the Pentagon’s press restrictions
404 Media reports:
ICE, Secret Service, Navy All Had Access to Flock’s Nationwide Network of Cameras
Pariah States
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
EFF and Five Human Rights Organizations Urge Action Around Microsoft’s Role in Israel’s War on Gaza
TechCrunch reports:
Spyware maker NSO confirms acquisition by U.S. investor
404 Media reports:
Senators Warn Saudi Arabia’s Acquisition of EA Will Be Used for ‘Foreign Influence’
BleepingComputer reports:
North Korean hackers use EtherHiding to hide malware on the blockchain
DarkReading reports:
China Hackers Test AI-Optimized Attack Chains in Taiwan
The Register reports:
Chinese cyberspies snoop on Russian IT biz in rare east-on-east attack
Big Tech
Ars Technica reports:
Trump admin pressured Facebook into removing ICE-tracking group
Infrequently Noted reports:
The App Store Was Always Authoritarian
MDR reports:
Windows-Umstellung kostet Sachsen-Anhalt mehr als vier Millionen Euro
404 Media reports:
The End of Windows 10 Support Is an E-Waste Disaster in the Making
Scott Larson reports:
Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft’s move towards a surveillance state
BertHub has:
The Torment Nexus has:
Should we be afraid of AI? Maybe a little
Personally I think of AI as a hammer and humans as nails. 95% of the time, it’s hammering us into a pile of shit. 5% of the time it can be turned around to pull us out.
Speaking of, The Verge reports:
OpenAI allegedly sent police to an AI regulation advocate’s door
Tuta shares:
How GoDaddy hollowed out Host Europe & DomainFactory (plus better European web hosting providers)
Terror
Politico reports:
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Cybersecurity/Privacy
BleepingComputer reports:
Spain dismantles “GXC Team” cybercrime syndicate, arrests leader
Wired reports:
Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data
The Register reports:
British govt agents demand action after UK mega-cyberattacks surge 50%
Internet Exchange shares:
A Shield in Uncertain Times: The Role of Encryption
Fediverse
Connected Places has:
Ben Werdmueller tells us:
Why the open social web matters now
For Better reflects on:
Defining a new kind of social app
Media CCC shares:
Decentralising Freedom: Open Source for Sovereignty
Fedify announces:
Fedify 1.9.0: Security enhancements, improved DX, and expanded framework support
Loops has:
We Distribute has:
Wafrn is for People Who Miss Tumblr’s Chaotic Energy
Mastodon announces:
The first beta release of Mastodon 4.5.0 is ready for testing!
TechCrunch reports:
Threads is getting group chats as messaging rolls out to the EU
Forgejo announces:
Slightly Decentralized Social Media
ATProtocol Dev is:
Announcing ATmosphereConf: Vancouver, March 2026
Remember Bluesky is half-ass but ATProto has potential.
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 even our future home in 2026, if you want a head start.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse#ActivityPub #AI #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Democracy #Fascism #Fedify #Fediverse #GoDaddy #Loops #Mastodon #Newsmast #Signal #StopChina #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #TechnoAnarchism #TechnoFeudalism #Threads #WARFN
-
Destroying Autocracy – October 16, 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.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
We’re off to France to scout locations for The Fulcrum’s worldwide HQ. 😉 So, there will not be a post for the next two weeks.
The Programmer’s Fulcrum is the future (and smaller) home for a fusion of Symfony Station and Battalion. Its tagline is Devs Defending Democracy, Developing the OMN.
You can sign up now and for 2025 get an email with links to and featured articles for each week’s Symfony Station Communiqué and Battalion “Destroying Autocracy” post along with their featured articles. And you’ll be set with TPF after the fusing.
We are posting on the Fediverse now at @thefulcrum @thefulcrum.dev and original website content will start in 2026.
Featured Item(s)
EuroNews writes:
Artificial intelligence is a matter of design – not destiny.
That’s the message from 10 philanthropic foundations aiming to loosen the grip that the technology’s moneyed developers, fueled by an investing frenzy, hold over its evolution.
Launched Tuesday under the name Humanity AI, the coalition is committing $500 million (€427 million) across the next five years to place human interests at the forefront of the technology’s rapid integration into daily life.
“The future belongs to those who actively create it, and that shan’t be a few leaders in Silicon Valley. It’s all of us,” Mozilla Foundation Executive Director Nabiha Syed said in an emailed statement.
Philanthropists to invest €427 million to curbs tech giants’ influence on new AI
Let’s hope they are successful.
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery
Ars Technica reports:
Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement
Feds seize $15 billion from alleged forced labor scam built on “human suffering”
Inside the web infrastructure revolt over Google’s AI Overviews
EuroNews reports:
Netherlands invokes rare emergency law to take charge of Chinese chipmaker
Free Software Foundation Europe reports:
Refund of pre-installed Windows: Lenovo must pay 20,000 euros in damages
DMA litigation against Apple: a quick recap
The Register reports:
Librephone battles the proprietary binary blob
Fantastic.
Lemonde Informatiqué reports:
Microsoft 365 Education traque illégalement les données des élèves
The Guardian reports:
Italian news publishers demand investigation into Google’s AI Overviews
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
Victory! California Requires Transparency for AI Police Reports
Labor Unions, EFF Sue Trump Administration to Stop Ideological Surveillance of Free Speech Online
Signal reports:
Signal Desktop introduces Notification profiles
Tor Browser has an update:
Tor Browser will remove all of the Firefox AI features that Mozilla has been recently adding
Neutral
Ben Werdmueller advises:
News Orgs: Build what makes you special. Buy the rest.
NiemanLab shares:
“How can we help?” The Engaged Journalism Exchange aims to create belonging through media
Tech Policy reports:
To Have Democracy, We Must Contest Data
Government Technology reports:
CDT: Growing AI Use in Schools Brings Benefits and New Risks
The Evil Empire (AKA Autocracy) Strikes Back
Poynter reports:
A united media stands up against the Pentagon’s press restrictions
404 Media reports:
ICE, Secret Service, Navy All Had Access to Flock’s Nationwide Network of Cameras
Pariah States
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
EFF and Five Human Rights Organizations Urge Action Around Microsoft’s Role in Israel’s War on Gaza
TechCrunch reports:
Spyware maker NSO confirms acquisition by U.S. investor
404 Media reports:
Senators Warn Saudi Arabia’s Acquisition of EA Will Be Used for ‘Foreign Influence’
BleepingComputer reports:
North Korean hackers use EtherHiding to hide malware on the blockchain
DarkReading reports:
China Hackers Test AI-Optimized Attack Chains in Taiwan
The Register reports:
Chinese cyberspies snoop on Russian IT biz in rare east-on-east attack
Big Tech
Ars Technica reports:
Trump admin pressured Facebook into removing ICE-tracking group
Infrequently Noted reports:
The App Store Was Always Authoritarian
MDR reports:
Windows-Umstellung kostet Sachsen-Anhalt mehr als vier Millionen Euro
404 Media reports:
The End of Windows 10 Support Is an E-Waste Disaster in the Making
Scott Larson reports:
Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft’s move towards a surveillance state
BertHub has:
The Torment Nexus has:
Should we be afraid of AI? Maybe a little
Personally I think of AI as a hammer and humans as nails. 95% of the time, it’s hammering us into a pile of shit. 5% of the time it can be turned around to pull us out.
Speaking of, The Verge reports:
OpenAI allegedly sent police to an AI regulation advocate’s door
Tuta shares:
How GoDaddy hollowed out Host Europe & DomainFactory (plus better European web hosting providers)
Terror
Politico reports:
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Cybersecurity/Privacy
BleepingComputer reports:
Spain dismantles “GXC Team” cybercrime syndicate, arrests leader
Wired reports:
Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data
The Register reports:
British govt agents demand action after UK mega-cyberattacks surge 50%
Internet Exchange shares:
A Shield in Uncertain Times: The Role of Encryption
Fediverse
Connected Places has:
Ben Werdmueller tells us:
Why the open social web matters now
For Better reflects on:
Defining a new kind of social app
Media CCC shares:
Decentralising Freedom: Open Source for Sovereignty
Fedify announces:
Fedify 1.9.0: Security enhancements, improved DX, and expanded framework support
Loops has:
We Distribute has:
Wafrn is for People Who Miss Tumblr’s Chaotic Energy
Mastodon announces:
The first beta release of Mastodon 4.5.0 is ready for testing!
TechCrunch reports:
Threads is getting group chats as messaging rolls out to the EU
Forgejo announces:
Slightly Decentralized Social Media
ATProtocol Dev is:
Announcing ATmosphereConf: Vancouver, March 2026
Remember Bluesky is half-ass but ATProto has potential.
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 even our future home in 2026, if you want a head start.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse#ActivityPub #AI #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Democracy #Fascism #Fedify #Fediverse #GoDaddy #Loops #Mastodon #Newsmast #Signal #StopChina #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #TechnoAnarchism #TechnoFeudalism #Threads #WARFN