# content
Destroying Autocracy – April 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.

Featured Item

Heydonworks shares:

Poisoning Well

AI can’t do spite. 😈

We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.

The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

The Kyiv Independent reports:

Moscow Metro website displays appeal from recently hacked Ukrainian Railways

The Register reports:

Ukraine’s techies a ‘pillar of support’ for national economy after Russian invasion

EuroNews reports:

Help us develop non-English/Chinese AI models, Japan asks EU

French antitrust watchdog fines Apple €150 million over data collection tool

Google’s AI feature on hold in most EU member states due to ‘strict rules’

The Reframe has:

1 Year After Substack

404 Media reports:

Open Source Genetic Database Shuts Down to Protect Users From ‘Authoritarian Governments’

Big Tech Backed Trump for Acceleration. They Got a Decel President Instead.

This would be funny if it only impacted these c^nts.

Reuters reports:

Elon Musk must face fraud lawsuit over disclosure of Twitter stake

He’s not allowed to fuck over rich people.

Tech Policy reports:

As Brazil Seeks to Enforce Competition Law Against Digital Platforms, Here’s What it Could Learn from the EU

The UK announces:

Foreign Influence Registration Scheme implementation

Gaël Duval shares:

Practical Payment Solutions for Murena and /e/OS Users

That’s surveillance and Google-free Android if you aren’t familiar.

Geo Coop reports:

Worker-Owned News Outlets Are Changing the Media Industry

The Wrap has:

In Praise of Laurene Powell Jobs, Owner of The Atlantic, Superhero of Signalgate

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

Judge Rejects Government’s Attempt to Dismiss EFF Lawsuit Against OPM, DOGE, and Musk

Neutral

The Guardian reports:

Data protection bill leaves room for governmental abuse, campaigners warn

Open Source Initiative reports on:

Overcoming barriers to Open Source procurement in the European Union

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

TechDirt reports:

The Real Cost Of DOGE: Musk’s Government Cuts Creating Massive New Expenses

NBC News reports:

Denied, deported, detained: U.S. border incidents have travelers thinking twice

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

Site-Blocking Legislation Is Back. It’s Still a Terrible Idea.

The Next Web reports:

European tech warns Trump tariffs will hit both hardware and software

Pariah States

The Next Web reports:

The day a Russian missile hit a Ukrainian tech giant

BleepingComputer reports:

North Korean hackers adopt ClickFix attacks to target crypto firms

The Register reports:

North Korea’s fake tech workers now targeting European employers

DarkReading reports:

Israel Enters ‘Stage 3’ of Cyber Wars With Iran Proxies

The Verge reports:

Microsoft employee disrupts 50th anniversary and calls AI boss ‘war profiteer’

Big Media

Tech Policy reports on:

Technology, Democracy, and Power: Journalism’s Role in a Time of Crisis

The Guardian reports:

‘I can’t cope with it any more’: newsrooms scramble to retain audiences amid the big switch-off

Big Tech

Tech Policy reports:

Where Does Trump’s Takeover of the FTC Leave the Regulation of Big Tech?

Practically non-existent.

Robots.txt Is Having a Moment: Here’s Why We Should Care

The Verge reports:

It’s the moment of truth for Zuckerberg’s Trump bet

Epicenter reports:

EU Commission Undermines eIDAS Protections, again!

Pivot to AI reports:

AI in the enterprise is failing over twice as fast in 2025 as it was in 2024

Cybersecurity/Privacy

The Register reports:

UK threatens £100K-a-day fines under new cyber bill

BleepingComputer reports:

CISA warns of Fast Flux DNS evasion used by cybercrime gangs

DarkReading reports:

Minnesota Tribe Struggles After Ransomware Attack

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report – #110

We Distriube reports:

FediForum Has Been Canceled

TechCrunch reports:

A new security fund opens up to help protect the fediverse

Emelia Smith has:

Open-source tools needed for the future of decentralized moderation

Moving Beyond the False Dichotomy for Federation Management

The Nexus of Privacy shares:

More notes on Organizing, Mutual Aid, and Activism on decentralized social networks

Ghost has an announcement:

Social web (beta)

Funkwhale announces:

Funkwhale 2.0 Alpha candidate

Steven Berson has:

Thoughts on Diaspora

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

The Fediverse Report has:

Bluesky Report – #110

TechCrunch reports:

Beyond Bluesky: These are the apps building social experiences on the AT Protocol

Mark Cuban backs Skylight, a TikTok alternative built on Bluesky’s underlying technology

Rudy of Blacksky fame shares:

An internet of many autonomous communities

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

#110 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Democracy #Diaspora #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=16 81

# contentMap.en
Destroying Autocracy – April 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.

Featured Item

Heydonworks shares:

Poisoning Well

AI can’t do spite. 😈

We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.

The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

The Kyiv Independent reports:

Moscow Metro website displays appeal from recently hacked Ukrainian Railways

The Register reports:

Ukraine’s techies a ‘pillar of support’ for national economy after Russian invasion

EuroNews reports:

Help us develop non-English/Chinese AI models, Japan asks EU

French antitrust watchdog fines Apple €150 million over data collection tool

Google’s AI feature on hold in most EU member states due to ‘strict rules’

The Reframe has:

1 Year After Substack

404 Media reports:

Open Source Genetic Database Shuts Down to Protect Users From ‘Authoritarian Governments’

Big Tech Backed Trump for Acceleration. They Got a Decel President Instead.

This would be funny if it only impacted these c^nts.

Reuters reports:

Elon Musk must face fraud lawsuit over disclosure of Twitter stake

He’s not allowed to fuck over rich people.

Tech Policy reports:

As Brazil Seeks to Enforce Competition Law Against Digital Platforms, Here’s What it Could Learn from the EU

The UK announces:

Foreign Influence Registration Scheme implementation

Gaël Duval shares:

Practical Payment Solutions for Murena and /e/OS Users

That’s surveillance and Google-free Android if you aren’t familiar.

Geo Coop reports:

Worker-Owned News Outlets Are Changing the Media Industry

The Wrap has:

In Praise of Laurene Powell Jobs, Owner of The Atlantic, Superhero of Signalgate

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

Judge Rejects Government’s Attempt to Dismiss EFF Lawsuit Against OPM, DOGE, and Musk

Neutral

The Guardian reports:

Data protection bill leaves room for governmental abuse, campaigners warn

Open Source Initiative reports on:

Overcoming barriers to Open Source procurement in the European Union

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

TechDirt reports:

The Real Cost Of DOGE: Musk’s Government Cuts Creating Massive New Expenses

NBC News reports:

Denied, deported, detained: U.S. border incidents have travelers thinking twice

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

Site-Blocking Legislation Is Back. It’s Still a Terrible Idea.

The Next Web reports:

European tech warns Trump tariffs will hit both hardware and software

Pariah States

The Next Web reports:

The day a Russian missile hit a Ukrainian tech giant

BleepingComputer reports:

North Korean hackers adopt ClickFix attacks to target crypto firms

The Register reports:

North Korea’s fake tech workers now targeting European employers

DarkReading reports:

Israel Enters ‘Stage 3’ of Cyber Wars With Iran Proxies

The Verge reports:

Microsoft employee disrupts 50th anniversary and calls AI boss ‘war profiteer’

Big Media

Tech Policy reports on:

Technology, Democracy, and Power: Journalism’s Role in a Time of Crisis

The Guardian reports:

‘I can’t cope with it any more’: newsrooms scramble to retain audiences amid the big switch-off

Big Tech

Tech Policy reports:

Where Does Trump’s Takeover of the FTC Leave the Regulation of Big Tech?

Practically non-existent.

Robots.txt Is Having a Moment: Here’s Why We Should Care

The Verge reports:

It’s the moment of truth for Zuckerberg’s Trump bet

Epicenter reports:

EU Commission Undermines eIDAS Protections, again!

Pivot to AI reports:

AI in the enterprise is failing over twice as fast in 2025 as it was in 2024

Cybersecurity/Privacy

The Register reports:

UK threatens £100K-a-day fines under new cyber bill

BleepingComputer reports:

CISA warns of Fast Flux DNS evasion used by cybercrime gangs

DarkReading reports:

Minnesota Tribe Struggles After Ransomware Attack

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report – #110

We Distriube reports:

FediForum Has Been Canceled

TechCrunch reports:

A new security fund opens up to help protect the fediverse

Emelia Smith has:

Open-source tools needed for the future of decentralized moderation

Moving Beyond the False Dichotomy for Federation Management

The Nexus of Privacy shares:

More notes on Organizing, Mutual Aid, and Activism on decentralized social networks

Ghost has an announcement:

Social web (beta)

Funkwhale announces:

Funkwhale 2.0 Alpha candidate

Steven Berson has:

Thoughts on Diaspora

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

The Fediverse Report has:

Bluesky Report – #110

TechCrunch reports:

Beyond Bluesky: These are the apps building social experiences on the AT Protocol

Mark Cuban backs Skylight, a TikTok alternative built on Bluesky’s underlying technology

Rudy of Blacksky fame shares:

An internet of many autonomous communities

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

#110 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Democracy #Diaspora #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1681