Great #climatechange series from @Vox - "Escape Velocity" - why the energy transition is happening despite political headwinds: https://www.vox.com/climate/408450/escape-velocity-vox-energy-transition-momentum

As if there aren't enough reasons to be worried about tariffs, apparently it's going to screw the #boardgame industry over, too. Via @arstechnica : https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/04/existential-crisis-the-tariff-scythe-takes-a-swing-at-board-games/

Was thinking of this #Jefferson quote: “The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, it I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” I wonder what he would have made of papers lining up to support the government.

I made a horrible mistake. I updated both my computer and my phone at the same time and had to sit for ELEVEN MINUTES without doomscrolling.

Seriously though there are iOS/MacOS security bugs out there and it doesn’t seem the time for us to have vulnerable systems.

Shocking abandonment of some of the US’s most important international lines of defense. If you care about saving lives from disease, educating kids, or pushing back against dictators in China or Russia, #USAID staff in our embassies were at the front lines. https://www.npr.org/2025/02/04/nx-s1-5287053/usaid-trump-overseas-withdrawal From https://bsky.app/profile/jennamclaughlin.bsky.social

Great top #cybersecurity tips from the terrific @yaelwrites. It’s important for us all, but particularly if you feel you’re at higher risk because of engagement in civic debate. https://blog.yaelwrites.com/digital-security-in-uncertain-times/

Well one big difference with our last ride on this roller coaster is I have a workshop so I expect a productive 4 years.

Updated Mastodon and we’re back up and running.

The #SummitforDemocracy wrapped up in Seoul last week. I cowrote a piece for USAID on why the Summit had such a big focus on technology and democracy and what's at stake: https://medium.com/usaid-2030/building-digital-democracy-a0b6e04cd501

Delighted to share I've started a new gig as a Democracy and Technology Advisor with @USAID@threads.net on their new Global Trends and Technology team - really excited to be working on these issues from the donor side!

MUST READ: CDT’s new blog, titled “More Encryption is the Goal: The Internet Architecture Board Holds a Workshop on Managing Encrypted Networks,” highlights @CenDemTech CTO Mallory Knodel’s experience at Internet Architecture Board's recent workshop. https://cdt.org/insights/more-encryption-is-the-goal-the-internet-architecture-board-holds-a-workshop-on-managing-encrypted-networks/

@mallory now I can finally have public arguments with myself

@cdoten@threads.net I’m genuinely excited about this. I feel like we may be able to have some best version of breaking down walled gardens while still having a great big easy to use pool for most people.

Great question from @digiphile about whether any major platforms are considering positive deliberation tools (like https://pol.is/home) against their financial incentives for “rage farming” (love that phrase) to drive angry eyeballs. Basic answer from panel: there’s been interest but not much progress.

Interesting panel discussion on new forms of tech-facilitated digital democracy hosted by Notre Dame’s Keough School. Important chance to imagine positive ways to to use tech for deliberative consensus building https://kroc.nd.edu/news-events/events/2024/03/14/digital-democracy-defending-democracy-with-new-deliberative-technologies/

reasons to abolish daylight savings time:

1. disrupts sleep cycles

2. creates unnecessary confusion

3. I am not an 18th-century wretch trying to conserve papa's precious stores of whale oil

It’s here! Signal finally gets the long-requested username feature, making it possible to share your contact info without giving out your phone number. We've updated our SSD guide with directions to set it up. https://ssd.eff.org/module/how-to-use-signal

I'm so excited to announce a complete redesign of Security Planner! Check it out here: https://securityplanner.org

A sharp overview of Signal's new phone number privacy features, & why they matter.

Grateful to @camillefrancois x @ridt (as ever) for cutting to the marrow of the stakes, and beautifully illuminating the imperative of private comms in 'uncertain times' ♥️🙏

https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/at-signal-a-revolution-in-messaging

The BBC extends its Mastodon experiment for another six months: "We are also planning to start some technical work into investigating ways to publish BBC content more widely using ActivityPub." #Technology https://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/blog/2024-02-extending-our-mastodon-social-media-trial?utm_source=werd.io&utm_campaign=mastodon&utm_channel=mastodon