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
Cory Doctorow writes:
Technologists and labor organizers need one another. Even the most precarious and abused workers can team up with hackers to disenshittify their robo-bosses.
Reverse engineers bust sleazy gig work platform
This is the kind of work we need to be doing.
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery
Speaking of Cory, The Guardian reports:
‘What many of us feel’: why ‘enshittification’ is Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year
Awesome.
The Miami Herald reports:
Ukraine Found Way to Divert Russian Drones into Neighbor’s Airspace-Report
Super Awesome!
TechCrunch reports:
UK seeks collaboration for security research lab to counter Russia and ‘new AI arms race’
FTC reportedly opens antitrust investigation into Microsoft
Apple ordered to open up in-app purchases in Brazil
The Times reports:
Russian spying ring ‘planned honeytrap to bait journalists’
The Register reports:
Google blocked 1,000-plus pro-China fake news websites from its search results
Telco engineer who spied on US employer for Beijing gets four years in the clink
The Verge reports:
Google’s empire is under siege
FTC changes its telemarketing rules to cover growing ‘tech support scam’ calls
BleepingComputer reports:
Bangkok busts SMS Blaster sending 1 million scam texts from a van
Meta removes over 2 million accounts pushing pig butchering scams
The Verge reports:
OpenAI sued by Canada’s biggest media outlets
The Waterloo Region Register reports:
Accused Kitchener hacker unmasked after threatening woman online
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
Wired reports:
Anyone Can Buy Data Tracking US Soldiers and Spies to Nuclear Vaults and Brothels in Germany
Jesus.
The Guardian reports:
How the far right is weaponising AI-generated content in Europe
The Register reports:
The workplace has become a surveillance state
Reuters reports:
Exxon lobbyist investigated over hack-and-leak of environmentalist emails, sources say
TechCrunch reports:
Study of ChatGPT citations makes dismal reading for publishers
Pariah States
DarkReading reports:
BlackBasta Ransomware Brand Picks Up Where Conti Left Off
Russian Script Kiddie Assembles Massive DDoS Botnet
‘Operation Undercut’ Adds to Russia Malign Influence Campaigns
BleepingComputer reports:
Firefox and Windows zero-days exploited by Russian RomCom hackers
404 Media reports:
Russian Disinformation Campaign Spreads Lies About Ukraine’s ‘Stalker 2’
The Register reports:
China has utterly pwned ‘thousands and thousands’ of devices at US telcos
TechCrunch reports:
North Korean hackers have stolen billions in crypto by posing as VCs, recruiters and IT workers
MSN reports:
Israel sanctions Haaretz due to articles that ‘hurt’ Israeli state
Big Media
Haaretz reports:
In Netanyahu’s Israel, Freedom of Expression Means Freedom to Praise the Leader
Big Tech
MSNBC reports:
The blurred line between X and the Trump administration
404 Media reports:
Tether Has Become a Massive Money Laundering Tool for Mexican Drug Traffickers, Feds Say
X’s Objection to the Onion Buying InfoWars Is a Reminder You Do Not Own Your Social Media Accounts
Tech Policy reports:
Meta’s Privacy Policies: Designed Badly, by Design?
Ars Technica reports:
OpenAI blamed NYT for tech problem erasing evidence of copyright abuse
DOJ wraps up ad tech trial: Google is “three times” a monopolist
TechCrunch reports:
Google to test plain ‘blue link’ results for hotel searches in EU markets in latest DMA twist
The Guardian reports:
When will Democrats finally realize that big tech is not an ally?
I’ve been beating this dead horse for years. Hence, this entire fucking section of DD each week.
The Register reports:
FTC urges smart device makers to disclose software update lifecycles
Euronews reports:
TikTok accused of failing to tackle election disinformation in Ireland
Mashable reports:
Bluesky now displays replies by ‘hotness’
Enshittification step 1 – VC money. Step 2 – this.
Cybersecurity/Privacy
DarkReading reports:
Closing the Cybersecurity Career Diversity Gap
The Register reports:
US senators propose law to require bare minimum security standards
BleepingComputer reports:
New Rockstar 2FA phishing service targets Microsoft 365 accounts
Fediverse
Benjamin Sandofsky opines on:
Because shitter is literally a Truth Social clone now.
The Fediverse Report has:
Last Week in Fediverse – ep 94
Dhole Moments looks at:
Key Transparency and the Right to be Forgotten
W3C Community Group shares:
Tyler Fisher is:
Quote: Sill streamlines your Bluesky and Mastodon feeds to give you a clear picture of what’s happening.
Ghost has:
Inboxes, feeds, articles, notes
I really like where Ghost is headed.
Mashable reports:
Open-source TikTok alternative Loops coming to the Fediverse
Short videos aren’t my thing, but it’s from the Pixelfed team which is my favorite federated app.
NGI Commons announce:
The Verge reports:
Threads is testing the option to choose your own default feed
TechCrunch reports:
Meta’s Threads is developing its own take on Bluesky’s ‘Starter Packs’
The Financial Times reports:
Meta loses ground to Bluesky as users abandon Elon Musk’s X
Elena Rossini asks:
Other Slightly Federated Social Media
The Fediverse Report has:
Last Week in the ATmosphere – The Links -2411.d
Last Week in the ATmosphere – The News – 2411.d
Muni Blog looks at:
Tech Policy asks:
Where Does Power Consolidate on Bluesky?
White Wind has a:
Reply on Bluesky and Decentralization
TechCrunch reports:
Sill’s new app rounds up the best links from your Bluesky and Mastodon networks
Michael Taggart has:
The Verge reports:
Bluesky is breaking the rules in the EU
Bloomberg reports:
Bluesky Says It Will Comply With EU Rules After Being Called Out
404 Media reports:
Someone Made a Dataset of One Million Bluesky Posts for ‘Machine Learning Research’
Because that’s the way Bluesky designed it.
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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