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
TechDirt reports:
Back in April 2023, when Substack CEO Chris Best refused to answer basic questions about whether his platform would allow racist content, I noted that his evasiveness was essentially hanging out a “Nazis Welcome” sign.
By December, when the company doubled down and explicitly said they’d continue hosting and monetizing Nazi newsletters, they’d fully embraced their reputation as the Nazi bar.
Last week, we got a perfect demonstration of what happens when you build your platform’s reputation around welcoming Nazis: your recommendation algorithms start treating Nazi content as more than worth tolerating, to content worth promoting.
Substack’s Algorithm Accidentally Reveals What We Already Knew: It’s The Nazi Bar Now
If you are on SuckStack you are a c^nt in addition to being a willing ally of Nazis.
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery
Radio Free Europe reports:
Under The Missiles: The Women Racing To Save Ukraine’s Photographic Treasures
The Kyiv Independent reports:
Ukraine obtains classified data on Russia’s newest nuclear submarine, intelligence claims
The Register reports:
China’s botched Great Firewall upgrade invites attacks on its censorship infrastructure
Cool.
Broadcom’s Jericho4 ASICs just opened the door to multi-datacenter AI training
The MIT Technology Review reports:
OpenAI has finally released open-weight language models
Rare good news on the AI front.
404 Media reports:
Congress Launches Investigation into Flock After 404 Media Reporting
The Verge reports:
Google has just two weeks to begin cracking open Android, it admits in emergency filing
TechCrunch reports:
Citizen Lab director warns cyber industry about US authoritarian descent
The Markup reports:
Should Lyft and Uber charge more if your battery is low? California may soon ban that
Malware Tech reports:
Every Reason Why I Hate AI and You Should Too
The Guardian reviews:
Can’t Look Away review – a harrowing, heartbreaking indictment of social media’s ruthlessness
Ars Technica reports:
Murena’s Pixel Tablet is helping to wean me off Google
Open Web Advocacy reports:
Japan: Apple Must Lift Browser Engine Ban by December
NGI Commons reports on:
Decidim and the Spirit of a Digital Commons Community
Very, very cool. Of course it’s from Barcelona.
The European Commission reports on:
The Center for Democracy and Technology reports:
CDT Europe Responds to the European Commission Public Consultation on High-Risk AI Systems
Neutral
TechPolicy says:
We Need to Reimagine Digital Maps as Public Infrastructure. Here’s Why.
The Guardian reports:
‘We didn’t vote for ChatGPT’: Swedish PM under fire for using AI in role
Dude!
Nextcloud shares:
Digital Sovereignty Index: How countries compare in digital independence
The Evil Empire (AKA Autocracy) Strikes Back
The Register reports:
UK secretly allows facial recognition scans of passport, immigration databases
US charges 2 Chinese nationals with illegally shipping Nvidia AI chips to China
The Guardian reports:
Palestine Action ban coupled with Online Safety Act ‘a threat to public debate’
TechDirt reports:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
You would have thought the United Kuntdumb would have learned something from Brexit. Hopefully the rest of the world can learn something from its stupidity.
Or not, Reclaim the Net reports:
EU Revives Plan to Ban Private Messaging
404 Media reports:
ICE Is Buying Mobile Iris Scanning Tech for Its Deportation Arm
A CBP Agent Wore Meta Smart Glasses to an Immigration Raid in Los Angeles
Pariah States
TechCrunch reports:
North Korean spies posing as remote workers have infiltrated hundreds of companies, says CrowdStrike
EuroNews reports:
Dutch privacy watchdog warns against Israeli terms for aid organisations
The Guardian reports:
The Register reports:
Silver Fox APT Blurs the Line Between Espionage & Cybercrime
BleepingComputer reports:
Big Media
The Columbia Journalism Review has:
When Neutrality Is a Constraint
Obviously.
Speaking of, NiemanLab has:
Nonprofit news sites are built to generate impact — but these are also generating audiences
Poynter has:
Did Craigslist decimate newspapers? Legend meets reality.
Trump’s latest moves against free speech are ‘really scary stuff’
404 Media reports:
Wikipedia Editors Adopt ‘Speedy Deletion’ Policy for AI Slop Articles
Big Tech
The Register reports:
When hyperscalers can’t safeguard one nation’s data from another, dark clouds are ahead
DarkReading reports:
Threat Actors Increasingly Leaning on GenAI Tools
TechCrunch reports:
Google removes over 50 DEI groups from a list of groups it helps fund
Perplexity accused of scraping websites that explicitly blocked AI scraping
404 Media reports:
Nearly 100,000 ChatGPT Conversations Were Searchable on Google
AP reports:
New study sheds light on ChatGPT’s alarming interactions with teens
Time reports:
The Issue With AI-Powered Pricing
Amnesty International reports:
Rolling Stone reports:
How the Epstein Files Blew Up a Pro-Trump AI Bot Network on X
Cybersecurity/Privacy
DarkReading reports:
Turning Human Vulnerability Into Organizational Strength
BleepingComputer reports:
Attackers exploit link-wrapping services to steal Microsoft 365 logins
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
Zero Knowledge Proofs Alone Are Not a Digital ID Solution to Protecting User Privacy
The Register reports:
Three US agencies get failing grades for not following IT best practices
Black Hat’s network ops center brings rivals together for a common cause
Proton has:
The continent of Europe and the American flag: Europe’s tech sovereignty watch
Politico reports:
Federal court filing system hit in sweeping hack
Fediverse
Connected Places has:
Ghost announces:
John Onolan shares:
Mastodon has:
IFTAS reports:
IWF Offers Fediverse a Way to Block CSAM
Navigating the UK Online Safety Act
Elena Rossini has:
We agree and here’s what we use.
Paths and Patches has:
Patches, Paths & The Matrix: FediCon thoughts Part I
CoSocial has:
[CoSocial Reads: Recap of “Governance on Fediverse Microblogging Servers”](https://blog.cosocial.ca/blog/cosocial-reads-governance-on-fediverse-microblogging-servers/)
Slightly Federated Social Media
A New Social has:
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.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.