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<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
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FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n TechDirt reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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 \u201cNazis Welcome\u201d sign.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n By December, when the company doubled down and explicitly said they\u2019d continue hosting and monetizing Nazi newsletters, they\u2019d fully embraced their reputation as the Nazi bar.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last week, we got a perfect demonstration of what happens when you build your platform\u2019s reputation around welcoming Nazis: your recommendation algorithms start treating Nazi content as more than worth tolerating, to content worth promoting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Substack\u2019s Algorithm Accidentally Reveals What We Already Knew: It\u2019s The Nazi Bar Now<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you are on SuckStack you are a c^nt in addition to being a willing ally of Nazis.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Radio Free Europe reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Under The Missiles: The Women Racing To Save Ukraine’s Photographic Treasures<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Kyiv Independent reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ukraine obtains classified data on Russia’s newest nuclear submarine, intelligence claims<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Register reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n China\u2019s botched Great Firewall upgrade invites attacks on its censorship infrastructure<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cool.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Broadcom\u2019s Jericho4 ASICs just opened the door to multi-datacenter AI training<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The MIT Technology Review reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n OpenAI has finally released open-weight language models<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rare good news on the AI front.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 404 Media reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Congress Launches Investigation into Flock After 404 Media Reporting<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Verge reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Google has just two weeks to begin cracking open Android, it admits in emergency filing<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n TechCrunch reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jury rules Meta violated California privacy laws by quietly collecting Flo users\u2019 menstrual health data<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Citizen Lab director warns cyber industry about US authoritarian descent<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Markup reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Should Lyft and Uber charge more if your battery is low? California may soon ban that<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Malware Tech reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Every Reason Why I Hate AI and You Should Too<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Guardian reviews:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Can\u2019t Look Away review \u2013 a harrowing, heartbreaking indictment of social media\u2019s ruthlessness<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ars Technica reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Murena\u2019s Pixel Tablet is helping to wean me off Google<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Open Web Advocacy reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Japan: Apple Must Lift Browser Engine Ban by December<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n NGI Commons reports on:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Decidim and the Spirit of a Digital Commons Community<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Very, very cool. Of course it’s from Barcelona.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The European Commission reports on:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n European Media Freedom Act<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Center for Democracy and Technology reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n CDT Europe Responds to the European Commission Public Consultation on High-Risk AI Systems<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n TechPolicy says:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We Need to Reimagine Digital Maps as Public Infrastructure. Here\u2019s Why.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Guardian reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2018We didn\u2019t vote for ChatGPT\u2019: Swedish PM under fire for using AI in role<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dude!<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nextcloud shares:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Digital Sovereignty Index: How countries compare in digital independence<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Register reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n UK secretly allows facial recognition scans of passport, immigration databases<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n US charges 2 Chinese nationals with illegally shipping Nvidia AI chips to China<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Guardian reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Palestine Action ban coupled with Online Safety Act \u2018a threat to public debate\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n TechDirt reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Didn\u2019t Take Long To Reveal The UK\u2019s Online Safety Act Is Exactly The Privacy-Crushing Failure Everyone Warned About<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blocking Access to Harmful Content Will Not Protect Children Online, No Matter How Many Times UK Politicians Say So<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Or not, Reclaim the Net reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n EU Revives Plan to Ban Private Messaging<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 404 Media reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n ICE Is Buying Mobile Iris Scanning Tech for Its Deportation Arm<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A CBP Agent Wore Meta Smart Glasses to an Immigration Raid in Los Angeles<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n TechCrunch reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n North Korean spies posing as remote workers have infiltrated hundreds of companies, says CrowdStrike<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n EuroNews reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dutch privacy watchdog warns against Israeli terms for aid organisations<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Guardian reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2018A million calls an hour\u2019: Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Register reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Silver Fox APT Blurs the Line Between Espionage & Cybercrime<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n BleepingComputer reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ex-White House cyber, counter-terrorism guru: Microsoft considers security an annoyance, not a necessity<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Columbia Journalism Review has:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n When Neutrality Is a Constraint<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is the US Media Captured?<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Obviously.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Speaking of, NiemanLab has:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A chicken for The New York Times, a star for Bloomberg: A new \u201cMedia Capitulation Index\u201d ranks large media and tech companies<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nonprofit news sites are built to generate impact \u2014 but these are also generating audiences<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Poynter has:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Did Craigslist decimate newspapers? Legend meets reality.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Trump\u2019s latest moves against free speech are \u2018really scary stuff\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 404 Media reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wikipedia Editors Adopt \u2018Speedy Deletion\u2019 Policy for AI Slop Articles<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Register reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n When hyperscalers can\u2019t safeguard one nation\u2019s data from another, dark clouds are ahead<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n DarkReading reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Threat Actors Increasingly Leaning on GenAI Tools<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n TechCrunch reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Google removes over 50 DEI groups from a list of groups it helps fund<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Perplexity accused of scraping websites that explicitly blocked AI scraping<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 404 Media reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nearly 100,000 ChatGPT Conversations Were Searchable on Google<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n AP reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n New study sheds light on ChatGPT\u2019s alarming interactions with teens<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Time reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Issue With AI-Powered Pricing<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Amnesty International reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n UK: X\u2019s design and policy choices created fertile ground for inflammatory, racist narratives targeting Muslims and migrants following Southport attack<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rolling Stone reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n How the Epstein Files Blew Up a Pro-Trump AI Bot Network on X<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n DarkReading reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Turning Human Vulnerability Into Organizational Strength<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n BleepingComputer reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Attackers exploit link-wrapping services to steal Microsoft 365 logins<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Zero Knowledge Proofs Alone Are Not a Digital ID Solution to Protecting User Privacy<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Register reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Three US agencies get failing grades for not following IT best practices<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Black Hat’s network ops center brings rivals together for a common cause<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Proton has:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The continent of Europe and the American flag: Europe\u2019s tech sovereignty watch<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Politico reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Federal court filing system hit in sweeping hack<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Connected Places has:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fediverse Report \u2013 128<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ghost announces:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ghost 6.0<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n John Onolan shares:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Reflections on the social web<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mastodon has:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Trunk & Tidbits, July 2025<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n IFTAS reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n IWF Offers Fediverse a Way to Block CSAM<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Navigating the UK Online Safety Act<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Elena Rossini has:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In this age of technofeudalism every writer who covers technology – especially resistance to Big Tech – should disclose their tech stack. Here’s mine.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We agree and here’s what we use<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Paths and Patches has:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Patches, Paths & The Matrix: FediCon thoughts Part I<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n CoSocial has:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [CoSocial Reads: Recap of \u201cGovernance on Fediverse Microblogging Servers\u201d](https:\/\/blog.cosocial.ca\/blog\/cosocial-reads-governance-on-fediverse-microblogging-servers\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bluesky Report \u2013 128<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A New Social has:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bridging vs cross-posting<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p><\/ul>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Keep fighting!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Welcome to this week’s \u201cDestroying Autocracy\u201d. 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[69],"tags":[57,66,148,67,92,74,73,65,75,58,59,153,86,143,63,276,61,252,250],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2307"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2373,"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2307\/revisions\/2373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\nFeatured Item<\/h2>\n
\n\nThe response to Russia\u2019s War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery<\/h2>\n
\n\nNeutral<\/h2>\n
\n\nThe Evil Empire (AKA Autocracy) Strikes Back<\/h2>\n
Pariah States<\/h3>\n
Big Media<\/h3>\n
Big Tech<\/h3>\n
\n\nCybersecurity\/Privacy<\/h2>\n
Fediverse<\/h2>\n
Slightly Federated Social Media<\/h3>\n
\n\nCTAs (aka show us some free love)<\/h2>\n
\n