Welcome to this week’s “Defending Democracy”.
It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting democracy. 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.
DD 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.
Featured Item
Joan Westenberg writes:
The modern left argues that unrestricted speech enables extremism. They point to how social media amplifies radical content, how harassment campaigns silence marginalized voices, and how misinformation undermines democratic discourse. “Your right to swing your fist ends at my nose,” they say, “and your right to speak ends at causing genuine harm.”
The modern right counters that “speech control” inevitably becomes “thought control.” They reference how authoritarian regimes consolidate power by restricting speech. They argue that sunlight is the best disinfectant — bad ideas should be debated openly rather than driven underground where they fester.
They’re both wrong, but in interesting ways.
The Left and Right Are Both Wrong About Free Speech
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery
Ukrinform reports:
Russian propaganda Telegram channels blocked in Europe – media
Tech Policy reports:
Baltic Leadership in Brussels: What the New High Representative Kaja Kallas Means for Tech Policy
The Verge reports:
The US proposes rules to make healthcare data more secure
Ars Technica reports:
Tech worker movements grow as threats of RTO, AI loom
Krebson on Security reports:
U.S. Army Soldier Arrested in AT&T, Verizon Extortions
DarkReading reports:
Treasury Dept. Sanctions Chinese Tech Vendor for Complicity
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
Michael Taggart shares:
404 Media reports:
Secret Service Admits It Didn’t Check if People Really Consented to Being Tracked
The Verge reports:
Net neutrality eviscerated by appeals court ruling
Pariah States
The Verge reports:
US sanctions Russian group over AI-generated election disinformation
Lloyds Lists reports:
Russia-linked cable-cutting tanker seized by Finland ‘was loaded with spying equipment’
BleepingComputer reports:
AT&T and Verizon say networks secure after Salt Typhoon breach
DarkReading reports:
Chinese State Hackers Breach US Treasury Department
Big Media
The Cradle reports:
BBC staffers reveal editor’s ‘entire job’ to whitewash Israeli war crimes
Big Tech
The Guardian reports:
‘Godfather of AI’ shortens odds of the technology wiping out humanity over next 30 years
Meta is killing off its own existing AI-powered Instagram and Facebook profiles
Futurism reports:
Facebook Planning to Flood Platform with AI-Powered Users
But they are working on new ones??? C^nts gonna c^nt. Speaking of…
Citation Needed reports:
Elon Musk and the right’s war on Wikipedia
Please join me and become a monthly contributor.
Apple offers to settle ‘snooping Siri’ lawsuit for an utterly incredible $95M
Terror
Salon reports:
“This is Trump’s America now!”: MAGA diehards jumpstart a new year of political violence
EuroNews reports:
FBI finds 150 homemade bombs in Virginia, one of largest seizures ever
The Guardian reports:
Bid to tackle extremism in US military unlikely to be revived under Trump
Cybersecurity/Privacy
The Register reports:
It’s only a matter of time before LLMs jump start supply-chain attacks
Dark Reading reports:
‘Bad Likert Judge’ Jailbreak Bypasses Guardrails of OpenAI, Other Top LLMs
Why Small Businesses Can’t Rely Solely on AI to Combat Threats
Fediverse
NLNet announces funding:
50 Free and Open Source Projects Selected for NGI Zero grants
There are a good number of Fediverse recipients. 🙂
Svenssons Nyheter has:
Castopod celebrates:
The first 12 plugins of Castopod
Friendica announces:
Tom Casavant
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
- That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Defending Democracy.
- Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or RSS.
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Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
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