Spaceship leaving scene of a battle

Destroying Autocracy – October 16, 2025

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.

FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.

We’re off to France to scout locations for The Fulcrum’s worldwide HQ. 😉 So, there will not be a post for the next two weeks.

The Programmer’s Fulcrum is the future (and smaller) home for a fusion of Symfony Station and Battalion. Its tagline is Devs Defending Democracy, Developing the OMN.

You can sign up now and for 2025 get an email with links to and featured articles for each week’s Symfony Station Communiqué and Battalion “Destroying Autocracy” post along with their featured articles. And you’ll be set with TPF after the fusing.

We are posting on the Fediverse now at @thefulcrum @thefulcrum.dev and original website content will start in 2026.

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Featured Item(s)

EuroNews writes:

Artificial intelligence is a matter of design – not destiny.

That’s the message from 10 philanthropic foundations aiming to loosen the grip that the technology’s moneyed developers, fueled by an investing frenzy, hold over its evolution.

Launched Tuesday under the name Humanity AI, the coalition is committing $500 million (€427 million) across the next five years to place human interests at the forefront of the technology’s rapid integration into daily life.

“The future belongs to those who actively create it, and that shan’t be a few leaders in Silicon Valley. It’s all of us,” Mozilla Foundation Executive Director Nabiha Syed said in an emailed statement.

Philanthropists to invest €427 million to curbs tech giants’ influence on new AI

Let’s hope they are successful.


We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.

The response to Russia’s War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery

Ars Technica reports:

Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement

Feds seize $15 billion from alleged forced labor scam built on “human suffering”

Inside the web infrastructure revolt over Google’s AI Overviews

EuroNews reports:

Netherlands invokes rare emergency law to take charge of Chinese chipmaker

Free Software Foundation Europe reports:

Refund of pre-installed Windows: Lenovo must pay 20,000 euros in damages

DMA litigation against Apple: a quick recap

The Register reports:

Librephone battles the proprietary binary blob

Fantastic.

Lemonde Informatiqué reports:

Microsoft 365 Education traque illégalement les données des élèves

The Guardian reports:

Italian news publishers demand investigation into Google’s AI Overviews

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

Victory! California Requires Transparency for AI Police Reports

Labor Unions, EFF Sue Trump Administration to Stop Ideological Surveillance of Free Speech Online

Signal reports:

Signal Desktop introduces Notification profiles

Tor Browser has an update:

Tor Browser will remove all of the Firefox AI features that Mozilla has been recently adding


Neutral

Ben Werdmueller advises:

News Orgs: Build what makes you special. Buy the rest.

NiemanLab shares:

“How can we help?” The Engaged Journalism Exchange aims to create belonging through media

Tech Policy reports:

To Have Democracy, We Must Contest Data

Government Technology reports:

CDT: Growing AI Use in Schools Brings Benefits and New Risks


The Evil Empire (AKA Autocracy) Strikes Back

Poynter reports:

A united media stands up against the Pentagon’s press restrictions

404 Media reports:

ICE, Secret Service, Navy All Had Access to Flock’s Nationwide Network of Cameras

Pariah States

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

EFF and Five Human Rights Organizations Urge Action Around Microsoft’s Role in Israel’s War on Gaza

TechCrunch reports:

Spyware maker NSO confirms acquisition by U.S. investor

404 Media reports:

Senators Warn Saudi Arabia’s Acquisition of EA Will Be Used for ‘Foreign Influence’

BleepingComputer reports:

North Korean hackers use EtherHiding to hide malware on the blockchain

DarkReading reports:

China Hackers Test AI-Optimized Attack Chains in Taiwan

The Register reports:

Chinese cyberspies snoop on Russian IT biz in rare east-on-east attack

Big Tech

Ars Technica reports:

Trump admin pressured Facebook into removing ICE-tracking group

Infrequently Noted reports:

The App Store Was Always Authoritarian

MDR reports:

Windows-Umstellung kostet Sachsen-Anhalt mehr als vier Millionen Euro

404 Media reports:

The End of Windows 10 Support Is an E-Waste Disaster in the Making

Scott Larson reports:

Retiring Windows 10 and Microsoft’s move towards a surveillance state

BertHub has:

The AI-collapse pre-mortem

The Torment Nexus has:

Should we be afraid of AI? Maybe a little

Personally I think of AI as a hammer and humans as nails. 95% of the time, it’s hammering us into a pile of shit. 5% of the time it can be turned around to pull us out.

Speaking of, The Verge reports:

OpenAI allegedly sent police to an AI regulation advocate’s door

Tuta shares:

How GoDaddy hollowed out Host Europe & DomainFactory (plus better European web hosting providers)


Terror

Politico reports:

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat


Cybersecurity/Privacy

BleepingComputer reports:

Spain dismantles “GXC Team” cybercrime syndicate, arrests leader

Wired reports:

Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data

The Register reports:

British govt agents demand action after UK mega-cyberattacks surge 50%

Internet Exchange shares:

A Shield in Uncertain Times: The Role of Encryption


Fediverse

Connected Places has:

Fediverse Report – 138

Ben Werdmueller tells us:

Why the open social web matters now

For Better reflects on:

Defining a new kind of social app

Media CCC shares:

Decentralising Freedom: Open Source for Sovereignty

Fedify announces:

Fedify 1.9.0: Security enhancements, improved DX, and expanded framework support

Loops has:

Loops Joins the Fediverse

Loops Docs

We Distribute has:

Wafrn is for People Who Miss Tumblr’s Chaotic Energy

Mastodon announces:

The first beta release of Mastodon 4.5.0 is ready for testing!

TechCrunch reports:

Threads is getting group chats as messaging rolls out to the EU

Forgejo announces:

Forgejo v13.0 is available


Slightly Decentralized Social Media

ATProtocol Dev is:

Announcing ATmosphereConf: Vancouver, March 2026

Remember Bluesky is half-ass but ATProto has potential.


CTAs (aka show us some free love)

Keep fighting!

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Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
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