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It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber space 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. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety and privacy.<\/p>\n
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It comes out on Thursday and is updated through the end of day on Friday. Then we start over.<\/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.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’m choosing this article because it features my favorite science fiction author and it’s from a city I’m visiting on vacation next month. Plus, we can all relate to this.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Halifax Examiner says:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n “When I read this story (and so many others like it), I immediately thought of the late Philip K. Dick. His short stories and novels, mostly written in the 60s and 70s, are full of situations like this. For Dick, the future wasn\u2019t all shiny. Sure, we might be able to travel to Mars, but we\u2019d be plagued by intrusive technology, dysfunction, and general idiocy.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n My man understood the unfortunate reality of human nature.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/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 Dual Russian-German Citizen Held In U.S. For Operating Alleged ‘Tech-Trafficking Syndicate’<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ars Technica reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Google abruptly shuts down AdSense in Russia as tensions with Kremlin escalate<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Several years too late.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Artists claim \u201cbig\u201d win in copyright suit fighting AI image generators<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Signal asks:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Proxy Please: Help People Connect to Signal<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n EuroNews reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meta urged to answer EU questions on CrowdTangle<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ireland to clamp down on social media companies refusing to remove hate speech<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Speaking of hate, City A.M. reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n More advertisers to flee X after recent Elon Musk lawsuit and riot comments<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It kills me how these monopolist oligarch dumb fucks don’t know how capitalism works. And that’s because they don’t believe in it, especially competition.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Speaking of the SpaceCunt, TechCrunch reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n More advertisers to flee X after recent Elon Musk lawsuit and riot comments<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Biden tells creators they have something traditional media does not: \u2018You\u2019re trusted\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n FTC finalizes rule banning fake reviews, including those made with AI<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n California AI bill SB 1047 aims to prevent AI disasters, but Silicon Valley warns it will cause one<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n OpenAI shuts down Iranian election influence operation using ChatGBT<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Verge reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Epic judge says he\u2019ll \u2018tear the barriers down\u2019 on Google\u2019s app store monopoly<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Elon Musk \/ Donald Trump interview on X started with an immediate tech disaster<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Karma is real, dumbasses.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Unprecedented has more details on the clusterfuck:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mickey Musk and Donald Duck<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Speaking of the polar opposite of this nonsense, Talking Points Memo says:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Harris\u2019 Campaign Is Working\u2014Get Used to It<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jeff Jarvis opines:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n What \u2018Press\u2019?Kamala Harris does not need the press. The press needs her.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fuck the pundits and fuck the press, baby.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hence this, Common Dreams reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dozens of Civil-Rights and Journalism Groups Urge the Media to Report on Rising Authoritarianism and Threats to Democracy<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Guardian reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n What opposition to delivery drones shows about big tech\u2019s disrespect for democracy<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fabio Mananiello is:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In search of a new search<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Register reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n FTC urges judge to spank Google over Android App market monopoly<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Biden tries to cut through fog of confusion caused by deliberately deceptive customer service tricks<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n CNBC reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n FTC bans fake online reviews, inflated social media influence; rule takes effect in October<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n TechDirt reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Court To RFK Jr.: Fact-Checking Doesn\u2019t Violate 1st Amendment Nor Does Section 230 Make Meta A State Actor<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Too bad for the worm-brain, roadkill gourmet.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The MIT Technology Review promotes:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A new public database lists all the ways AI could go wrong<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Speaking of, The Verge reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n AI-powered \u2018undressing\u2019 websites are getting sued<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Civic Texts reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A decade later, the U.S. Digital Service is making .gov websites work better for the humans who depend on them<\/a><\/p>\n <\/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 Kremlin-Aligned Russian Media Minimize Ukraine’s Kursk Incursion, Attempt To Check Panic<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Register reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Russian cyber snoops linked to massive credential-stealing campaign<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n China-linked cyber-spies infect Russian govt, IT sector<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Evil on Evil action.<\/strong> \ud83d\ude08<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n BleepingComputer reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hackers posing as Ukraine\u2019s Security Service infect 100 govt PCs<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n South Korea says DPRK hackers stole spy plane technical data<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Record reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Media, activists, former US diplomat were on Russia-aligned phishing campaigns’ hit lists<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Google reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Iranian backed group steps up phishing campaigns against Israel, U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n NextGov reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n United Nations approves controversial cybercrime treaty<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n RIP Crowdtangle laments:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Losing CrowdTangle is a huge and exhausting setback in our hate speech research<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n FrameLab reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Beware Trump’s secret weapon: Elon Musk’s X-Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Byline Times reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Elon Musk\u2019s War Against Science, Evidence and Objective Truth<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Guardian reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Elon\u2019s politics: how Musk became a driver of elections misinformation<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n So Donald chatted with Elon, and here\u2019s the future as they see it \u2013 losers win, incompetence rules<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n From my favorite Guardian columnist.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s OK, everyone else is doing it\u2019: how do we deal with role violence on social media played in UK riots?<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Russia\u2019s AI tactics for US election interference are failing, Meta says<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Meta struggles with moderation in Hebrew, according to ex-employee and internal documents<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Common Dreams reports on:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Billionaires for Trump and Vance<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is a great list of mofos to never give a penny to.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Electronic Freedom Foundation reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Digital Apartheid in Gaza: Unjust Content Moderation at the Request of Israel\u2019s Cyber Unit<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Digital Apartheid in Gaza: Big Tech Must Reveal Their Roles in Tech Used in Human Rights Abuses<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Left Hook reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The U.S. Press is Broken<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I don’t usually share things from the Nazi Bar known as Substack. But this is a good take.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Intercept reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Platform Proletariat: How the artificial intelligence industry profits from an unprotected digital working class in Brazil<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n CalMatters reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Why Silicon Valley is trying so hard to kill this AI bill in California<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n They did succeed in tweaking it.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Patreon reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Apple\u2019s requirements are about to hit creators and fans on Patreon. Here\u2019s what you need to know.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n As I have said before, Apple is the best of big tech but they are still c^nts. And as I have also said before, it’s okay to distribute on other platforms, but own your online real estate.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Cory Doctorow lays the wood to them:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Apple vs the \u201cfree market\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Again, these fucks don’t believe in capitalism.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/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 FBI takes down ransomware gang that hacked dozens of companies<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jan Wildeboer shares:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The two tales of xz-utils and Crowdstrike<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n DarkReading reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n A Lesson From the CrowdStrike Incident<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n BleepingComputer reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n WWH-Club credit card market admins arrested after cash spending spree<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hackers leak 2.7 billion data records with Social Security numbers<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ransomware gang deploys new malware to kill security software<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Russian who sold 300,000 stolen credentials gets 40 months in prison<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Register reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Six ransomware gangs behind over 50% of 2024 attacks<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 404 Media reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hacker Breaks Into GPS Tracker Tool, Looks Up User Locations<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Krebson on Security reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n NationalPublicData.com Hack Exposes a Nation\u2019s Data<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Fediverse Report has:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last Week in Fediverse \u2013 ep 79<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Human Generated Content has a new issue:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Fediverse and Front Porches<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Daily Kos reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n “Mastodon for Harris” Raises Over $500,000 and Growing – Purely on the Fediverse<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mastodon shares:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Trunk & Tidbits, July 2024<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hacyderm has:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Hachyderm’s Introduction to Mastodon Moderation: Part 1<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n For Better reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The ‘X-odus’ (UK Edition)<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Andy Piper recommends:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fediverse for Freedom<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Neville Hobson<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Finally, the Unravelling of X<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The last three relate to the U.K. in particular.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Flipboard announces:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now People on Flipboard Can Follow Anyone in the Fediverse<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We Distribute has more:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Flipboard Users Can Now Follow Anyone in the Fediverse<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Untapped Potential of Fediverse Publishing<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Owncast has:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Owncast Newsletter August 2024<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Forbes recommends Vivaldi:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Best Browser for The Chaotic Social Media Nightmare We\u2019re Living In<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Me too.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Verge reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Threads is testing several new features like scheduling and analytics<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Reuters reports:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bluesky signups surge in UK amid Musk’s feud with government over riots<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I am not sold on Bluesky, but at least it is helping slowly bleed Twitter to death.<\/strong><\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Welcome to this week’s \u201cDefending Democracy\u201d. It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber space 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. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[69],"tags":[57,66,74,73,65,78,75,58,88,59,87,64,86,63,61,62],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633"}],"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=633"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":728,"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633\/revisions\/728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battalion.mobileatom.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\nFeatured Item<\/h2>\n
We live in Philip K. Dick\u2019s stupidly annoying dystopian world<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n\nThe response to Russia\u2019s War Crimes and other douchebaggery<\/h2>\n
\n\nThe Evil Empire Strikes Back<\/h2>\n
\n\nCybersecurity\/Privacy<\/h2>\n
\n\nFediverse<\/h2>\n
Other Federated Social Media<\/h3>\n
\n\nCTAs (aka show us some free love)<\/h2>\n
\n