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 lines between corporations and countries are getting blurrier by the day. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the battle between Brazil, Elon Musk and his various vanity projects.
Brazil’s Supreme Court, in its infinite wisdom (and admittedly, sovereign right) ordered the banning of certain accounts on X (formerly Twitter). Why? Because these accounts were spreading misinformation and Nazi ideologies faster than a wildfire in the Amazon.
In most countries, this would be the end of the story. The Court makes a decision, people grumble, life goes on. But not when Elon Musk is involved.
This is why I say Big Tech is a more dire threat to democracy for most people than pariah states. Unless you live next door to a pariah state. Aka Ukraine, Taiwan, South Korea, or Palestine.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery
The Kyiv Independent reports:
New military app is set to revolutionize how Ukraine runs its army
The U.S. Justice department announces:
Five Russian GRU Officers and One Civilian Charged for Conspiring to Hack Ukrainian Government
The Register reports:
Data watchdog fines Clearview AI $33M for ‘illegal’ data collection
FCC finally gets around to banning Kaspersky from telecoms kit
Global powers sign AI pact promising to preserve human rights, democracy
Public Notice reports:
Kamala Harris is cutting off Trump’s political oxygen
Yahoo reports:
Musk’s Starlink Backs Down, Agrees to Block X in Brazil
Engadget reports:
Report: A quarter of X advertisers plan to cut spending next year
The Next Web reports:
Uh oh, Elon: Half of European marketers plan to cut spending on X ads
Of course if you give Shitter any money or help them make any you’re a c^nt (nothing personal), so this should be 100%.
Rest of World reports:
The deepfake election nightmare hasn’t happened. Singapore still wants to ban them
404 Media reports:
‘Right to Repair for Your Body’: The Rise of DIY, Pirated Medicine
The Verge reports:
Social networks can’t be forced to filter content for kids, says judge
Meta Oversight Board okays calls for violence against Venezuelan ‘colectivos’
Telegram CEO breaks silence after arrest
Telegram changes its tone on moderating private chats after CEO’s arrest
It’s amazing what happens when you hold mofos accountable.
TechCrunch reports:
Microsoft gives deepfake porn victims a tool to scrub images from Bing search
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
Slate reports:
The Voting Rights Situation in Some Swing States Is Quite Alarming
The Guardian reports:
Trump and allies plant seeds for ‘chaos and discord’ if he loses, experts warn
Christian group recruits ‘Trojan horse’ election skeptics as US poll workers
The Financial Times reports:
The kleptocrats aren’t just stealing money. They’re stealing democracy
If you follow us on the Fediverse, you may have noticed we are sharing quotes from Anne Applebaum’s excellent book, Autocracy, Inc.. She wrote this article as well.
Pariah States
The Kyiv Independent reports:
Why Russian milbloggers and propagandists are freaking out about Telegram’s CEO arrest
The Kyiv Post opines on:
The Unintended Consequences of Surrogate Propaganda Hyperbolism
The Verge reports:
Russia is trying to meddle with the US election again, Biden administration says
Former journalism outfit CNN reports:
DOJ alleges Russia funded US media company linked to right-wing social media stars
Euronews reports:
‘Threat is ongoing’ as Russian Doppelganger operation continues on X and Meta despite EU probe
The Guardian reports:
How China’s internet police went from targeting bloggers to their followers
Reuters reports:
US voters targeted by Chinese influence online, researchers say
BleepingComputer reports:
Russian military hackers linked to critical infrastructure attacks
FBI warns crypto firms of aggressive social engineering attacks by North Korea
DarkReading reports:
North Korea’s ‘Citrine Sleet’ APT Exploits Zero-Day Chromium Bug
Chinese ‘Tropic Trooper’ APT Targets Mideast Governments
Big Media
The Washington Post has:
How the quiet war against press freedom could come to America
I’m not sure why this was not posted into his own shit paper, The New York Times.
Salon reports:
Donald Trump’s incoherence makes the media’s double standard hard to hide
Big Tech
The Guardian reports:
Yes, it sounds like a conspiracy theory. But maybe our phones really are listening to us
Racism, misogyny, lies: how did X become so full of hatred? And is it ethical to keep using it?
Lula says Elon Musk’s wealth does not mean world must accept his ‘far-right free-for-all’
The Verge reports:
Obrigado, Brasil!
CNBC reports:
Elon Musk’s Starlink says it will block X in Brazil to keep satellite internet active
Euronews reports:
Telegram and Musk’s X are facing a regulation reckoning. But will social media change?
The Kyiv Independent has:
Examining Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s alleged ties to the Kremlin
Slate reports:
Expanded Police Surveillance Will Get Us “Broken Windows” on Steroids
Joan Westenberg opines:
Goodbye, Reddit: How the Internet’s Front Page Is Eating Itself
404 Media reports:
Here’s 22 Examples of Google Employees Trying to Avoid Creating Evidence in Antitrust Case
Big Tech ‘Clients’ of Jacob Wohl’s Secret AI Lobbying Firm Say They’ve Never Heard of It
Cybersecurity/Privacy
The Record reports:
White House calls attention to ‘hard problem’ of securing internet traffic routing
The Irish Times reports:
How Lidl accidentally took on the big guns of cloud computing
DarkReading reports:
CEO’s Arrest Will Likely Not Dampen Cybercriminal Interest in Telegram
The Register reports:
Planned Parenthood confirms cyber-attack as RansomHub threatens to leak data
Fediverse
The Fediverse Report has:
Last Week in Fediverse – ep 82
The Verge reports:
Sub.club is here to help the fediverse make money
We Distribute has:
A Brief History of the Fediverse Symbol
Fedify has a tutorial:
Creating your own federated microblog
Hachyderm has:
Hachyderm’s Introduction to Mastodon Moderation: The Report Feature and Moderator Actions
ForgeJo has an update:
Forgejo monthly update – August 2024
Dave Bard covers:
WordPress, entering the Fediverse using ActivityPub plugin
Ben Werdmuller
Threads is trading trust for growth
Other Federated Social Media
The Verge reports:
Brazil’s X ban is sending lots of people to Bluesky
TechCrunch reports:
Bluesky continues to soar, adding 2M more new users in a matter of days
Patchwork looks at:
Brazil, Bluesky & the Fediverse
Zicklag is:
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.
- Or follow Battalion on Bluesky
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse
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