Spaceship leaving scene of a battle

Defending Democracy – 14 November 2024

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:

a buildup of Cultural Technical Debt — the weight of outdated values, obsolete taboos, and entrenched grudges embedded in society’s operating system. Just as technical debt hinders code efficiency and causes breakdowns, this cultural baggage blocks our shared progress.

It’s holding back human rights and throwing wrenches into efforts at global cooperation, climate action, empathy, and anything resembling growth. We’re dragging a legacy code of ancient hang-ups into a world that demands something faster, smarter, and less oppositional.

In a world of accelerating change, we are confronted with an uncomfortable truth: much of our cultural “code” — the values, beliefs, and traditions that have historically held societies together — may be obsolete, no longer fit for the world we now inhabit.

Is Cultural Technical Debt Sabotaging Our Survival?

Yes is the answer. This is something I’ve long believed. The piece looks at the problem and possible solutions. They range from the optimistic, to pragmatic, to catastrophic.


The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

404 Media reports:

The Open Source Project DeFlock Is Mapping License Plate Surveillance Cameras All Over the World

Signal announces:

Improving Private Signal Calls: Call Links & More

Freedom Press has more:

Secure communication

I’m definitely checking this out.

The Next Web asks:

How close are we to an accurate AI fake news detector?

The European Commission shares:

Commission and national authorities call on Apple to stop geo-blocking practices on Apple Media Services

TechCrunch reports:

French newspapers want social media platform X to pay for news reuse

Generative disinfo is real — you’re just not the target, warns deepfake tracking nonprofit

Lawyer allegedly hacked with spyware names NSO founders in lawsuit

Meta slapped with a €798M fine in Europe over anticompetitive Marketplace practices

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau moves to place Google under supervision

EU AI Act: Draft guidance for general purpose AIs shows first steps for Big AI to comply

FTC reportedly begins investigating Microsoft’s cloud business practices

The Verge reports:

Apple faces a new $3.75 billion antitrust lawsuit over iCloud storage

Meta must face FTC trial that could separate Instagram and WhatsApp

The Register reports:

Air National Guardsman gets 15 years after splashing classified docs on Discord

Google decides Europe’s political ad rules are too hard to implement at scale

The Onion announes:

Here’s Why I Decided To Buy ‘InfoWars’

There is a tiny bit of justice in the world after all.

The Guardian reports:

FBI raids home and seizes phone of Polymarket founder


The Evil Empire Strikes Back

Tech Radar opines (and they are right):

The death of the internet: why the future is terrifying, and how we fix it

Ars Technica asks:

Is “AI welfare” the new frontier in ethics?

Tech Policy asks:

Salvation, Abundance, Apocalypse: Is Technology the World’s Most Powerful Religion?

I don’t know what could be worse than combining two of the shittiest things in existence.

404 Media reports:

‘FYI. A Warrant Isn’t Needed’: Secret Service Says You Agreed To Be Tracked With Location Data

The Record reports:

Controversial UN cybercrime treaty clears final hurdle before full vote as US defends support

The Guardian reports:

NSO – not government clients – operates its spyware, legal documents reveal

Wired reports:

More Spyware, Fewer Rules: What Trump’s Return Means for US Cybersecurity

Pariah States

BleepingComputer reports:

Volt Typhoon rebuilds malware botnet following FBI disruption

North Korean hackers create Flutter apps to bypass macOS security

The Register reports:

Reminder: China-backed crews compromised ‘multiple’ US telcos in ‘significant cyber espionage campaign’

Dark Reading reports:

Hamas Hackers Spy on Mideast Gov’ts, Disrupt Israel

BleepingComputer reports:

NSO Group used another WhatsApp zero-day after being sued, court docs say

Big Media

Working Systems asks:

Journalists – is Twitter actually your community?

If it is, you’re a c^nt.

Big Tech

Engadget reports:

Meta cuts the price of its ad-free plan by 40 percent in a bid to sate EU regulators

404 Media reports:

Absurd AI Slop About How Elon Musk Will Fix America Is Megaviral on Facebook

Ars Technica reports:

Seeking favor with Musk and Trump, advertisers plot return to X

NBC News reports:

X sees largest user exodus since Musk takeover

Tech Policy reports:

New Research Points to Possible Algorithmic Bias on X

No shit.


Cybersecurity/Privacy

DarkReading reports:

Open Source Security Incidents Aren’t Going Away

TSA Proposes Cyber-Risk Mandates for Pipelines, Transportation Systems

BleepingComputer reports:

Leaked info of 122 million linked to B2B data aggregator breach

Fraud network uses 4,700 fake shopping sites to steal credit cards

The Register reports:

Five Eyes infosec agencies list 2024’s most exploited software flaws

404 Media reports:

Pregnancy Tracking App ‘What to Expect’ Refuses to Fix Issue that Allows Full Account Takeover

Speaking of, The Markup reports:

How Do I Protect My Privacy If I’m Seeking an Abortion?


Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Last Week in Fediverse – ep 92

Augment has:

Bridges & The Last Network Effect

Terrance Eden is:

Introducing ActivityBot – the simplest way to build Mastodon Bots

A Russian shares:

A bare-minimum ActivityPub server from scratch

The Guardian announces:

Why the Guardian is no longer posting on X

Paths and Patches shares:

Five reasons for charities to cheerfully leave X

Ghost has:

Queue theory & post offices

Mastodon has:

Trunk & Tidbits, October 2024

The Verge reports:

Threads might get ads early next year

Threads is testing custom feeds for your favorite topics

Other Federated Social Media

The Fediverse Report has:

Last Week in the ATmosphere – 2411.b

TechCrunch reports:

Bluesky and Mastodon users can now talk to each other with Bridgy Fed

But does it fucking work? Not for me.

The Guardian reports:

Bluesky adds 700,000 new members as users flee X after the US election

It’s approaching 2 million now.

As long as they are leaving shitter, good for them.

Devin Gaffney explores:

Democratizing Algorithmic Feeds on Bluesky

TechCrunch reports:

How to use Bluesky, the Twitter-like app that’s taking on Elon Musk’s X

404 Media opines:

The Great Migration to Bluesky Gives Me Hope for the Future of the Internet

It doesn’t me.

ShellSharks has:

Cloudy with a chance of not enshittifying

Small chance.

The Verge
Bluesky says it won’t train AI on your posts

We’ll see.


CTAs (aka show us some free love)

Reuben Walker headshot

Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse