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(s)
Hamish Campbell writes:
The world we live in is shaped, created by 40 years of entrenched pushing of #neoliberalism and #postmodernism, both of which have systematically dismantled radical change and challenge paths that used to exist.
To reclaim our path, we now need to reject the illusions of “common sense” fed to us by the #deathcult and reboot our social view from a place of clarity.
This is where the #hashtags come into use, acting as conceptual tools for navigating, understanding, and breaking free from the mess we’re in.
Decoding the Hashtags: A Roadmap for Social Change
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, TechnoFeudalism, and other douchebaggery
The Christian Science Monitor reports on:
Origins of Ukraine’s drone creativity
The Kyiv Independent reports:
Book on Soviet dissidents wins Pulitzer Prize
DarkReading reports:
Countries Begin NATO’s Locked Shields Cyber-Defense Exercise
Euronews reports:
‘We are less protected’ due to AI, says Cambridge Analytica whistleblower on protecting our data
Libre Office announces:
Germany committing to ODF and open document standards
Benjamin Hollon envisions:
The Guardian reports:
OpenAI reverses course and says non-profit arm will retain control of firm
TechCrunch reports:
FTC bans hidden fees for live events and short-term rentals, effective May 12
US DoJ wants Google to sell two of its ad products
MacRumors reports:
Apple Faces Developer Lawsuit After Defying App Store Injunction
404 Media reports:
GlobalX, Airline for Trump’s Deportations, Hacked
Tuta announces:
Bert Hubert has a European:
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
Gizmodo reports:
With Its Destruction of Government Data Silos, DOGE Is Building a ‘Surveillance Weapon’
The Register reports:
India ready to greenlight Starlink – as long as it lets New Delhi censor, snoop
Fascist capitalism at its finest.
Signal chat app clone used by Signalgate’s Waltz was apparently an insecure mess
Unicorn Riot reports:
Pariah States
Micah Flee shares:
The Register reports:
Super spyware maker NSO must pay Meta $168M in WhatsApp court battle
From Russia with doubt: Go library’s Kremlin ties stoke fear
The Kyiv Independent reports:
Poland faces ‘unprecedented’ Russian interference ahead of presidential election, minister says
The Guardian reports:
Pro-Russian hackers claim to have targeted several UK websites
DarkReading reports:
‘Lemon Sandstorm’ Underscores Risks to Middle East Infrastructure
Big Media
The World Association of News Publisher reports:
Media outlets worldwide join call for AI companies to help protect news integrity
Yeah, right.
Platformer shares:
Big Tech
The Register reports:
Infosec guru Schneier worries corp AI will manipulate us
Futurism reports:
Facebook Allegedly Detected When Teen Girls Deleted Selfies So It Could Serve Them Beauty Ads
404 Media reports:
Well, Well, Well: Meta to Add Facial Recognition To Glasses After All
Cory Doctorow has:
Mark Zuckerberg announces mind-control ray (again) (07 May 2025)
People wonder why I’m a misanthrope.
Tech Crunch reports:
NSO Group must pay more than $167 million in damages to WhatsApp for spyware campaign
Forbes reports:
200 Million X User Records Released — 2.8 Billion Twitter IDs Leaked
If you are on shitter at this point, you get what you deserve.
Terror
Tech Policy reports:
From Incels to Mercenaries: When Online Hate Becomes Real-World Violence
Cybersecurity/Privacy
404 Media reports:
The Signal Clone the Trump Admin Uses Was Hacked
Senator Demands Investigation into Trump Admin Signal Clone After 404 Media Investigation
The Register reports:
Altman’s eyeball-scanning biometric blockchain orbs officially come to America
RSA Conf wrap: AI and China on everything, everywhere, all at once
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has:
BleepingComputer reports:
Police takes down six DDoS-for-hire services, arrests admins
Germany takes down eXch cryptocurrency exchange, seizes servers
Fediverse
The Fediverse Report has:
Tim Bray looks at:
Mastodon has:
Coxy has:
Reclaiming the web: Mastodon and the decentralised social movement
Ghost has:
NodeBB asks:
What would cross-posting between instances look like in ActivityPub?
Peertube has:
AlternativeTo reports:
Kagi adds PeerTube video search results, enhanced Assistant UI, and translation upgrades
The Social Web Foundation is:
Reflecting on Our First Year: The Social Web Foundation’s 2024 Annual Report
Bem Werdmuller shares:
Bonfire has:
Slow Software for a Burning World
TechCrunch reports:
Instagram Threads is getting video ads
Sigh.
Other Slightly Federated Social Media
The Fediverse Report has:
Bluesky has:
Finally some (small) progress on decentratiztion.
Arxiv features:
Self-moderation in the decentralized era: decoding blocking behavior on Bluesky
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.