Destroying Autocracy – May 22, 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.
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:
We need to keep highlighting an old but still urgent tension: the intersection of technology and social change. In this too often unspoken divide, one side leans heavily on practical, technical problem-solving. They want working code, functioning systems, and tangible results, not abstract debates. To them, critiques about capitalism shaping code sound like distractions from the “real work.”
The other side insists that technical problems are social problems. They argue that all code is written by people, shaped by culture, power, and history. Ignoring the social dynamics behind technology guarantees we repeat the same failures.
The Open Media Network isn’t just about media, it’s about building the social soil
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, TechnoFeudalism, and other douchebaggery
The European Council of the European Union reports:
Wired reports:
/e/OS Is Better Than Android. You Should Try It
You really should. I love it on my Fairphone.
Tuta shows us:
Best private Google alternatives: The ultimate list to De-Google your life in 2025.
Bert Hubert shares:
What we in the open world are messing up in trying to compete with big tech
Lionel Dricot has a:
The Center for Democracy and Technology reports:
CDT Advocates for Counter-Drone Authorities that Protect Civil Liberties
The New Stack reports:
EuroNews reports:
EU to provide €5.5 million in emergency funds to help keep Radio Free Europe afloat
BleepingComputer reports:
European Union sanctions Stark Industries for enabling cyberattacks
US indicts leader of Qakbot botnet linked to ransomware attacks
TechCrunch reports:
Fortnite returns to the US App Store after a five-year gap
Signal says:
By Default, Signal Doesn’t Recall
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
Micah Flee reports:
DDoSecrets publishes 410 GB of heap dumps, hacked from TeleMessage’s archive server
TeleMessage customers include DC Police, Andreessen Horowitz, JP Morgan, and hundreds more
Tech Policy reports:
Proposed Moratorium on US State AI Laws is Short-Sighted and Ill-Conceived
Pariah States
EuroNews reports:
Poland’s Tusk says Russian hackers attacked party websites ahead of presidential election
The Register reports:
Russia’s Fancy Bear swipes a paw at logistics, transport orgs’ email servers
The Kyiv Independent reports:
UK accuses Russian GRU of carrying out cyberattacks targeting logistics, technology organizations
Radio Free Europe reports:
Probe Says Russian Military Hackers Target Romanian Surveillance Cameras To Track Ukraine Aid
Wired reports:
Feds Charge 16 Russians Allegedly Tied to Botnets Used in Ransomware, Cyberattacks, and Spying
BleepingComputer reports:
Russian hackers breach orgs to track aid routes to Ukraine
Chinese hackers breach US local governments using Cityworks zero-day
DarkReading reports:
Pandas Galore: Chinese Hackers Boost Attacks in Latin America
AP reports:
Microsoft says it provided AI to Israeli military for war but denies use to harm people in Gaza
Big Media
404 Media reports:
Viral AI-Generated Summer Guide Printed by Chicago Sun-Times Was Made by Magazine Giant Hearst
Calmatters reports:
Google follows Newsom in reducing support for California local news
Big Tech
Bloomberg reports:
Google Decided Against Offering Publishers Options in AI Search
MIT Technology Review reports:
By putting AI into everything, Google wants to make it invisible
The Guardian asks:
Can the term ‘cloud fascism’ help us understand – and resist – the hard right?
It can’t hurt, but if you want to take action that will resist it, read our Manifesto via the link in the navigation.
Runbox reports:
Outlook stores email in Microsoft Cloud – what you need to know
TechCrunch reports:
Judge pressures Apple to approve Fortnite or return to court
Grok says it’s ‘skeptical’ about Holocaust death toll, then blames ‘programming error’
404 Media reports:
‘Configuration Issue’ Allows Civitai Users to AI Generate Nonconsensual Porn Videos
Ars Technica reports:
Meta hypes AI friends as social media’s future, but users want real connections
Renée DiResta has:
We’re all trying to find the guy who did this
The Register reports:
‘Close to impossible’ for Europe to escape clutches of US hyperscalers
Discouraging, but you can always do something locally.
Bleeping Computer reports:
TikTok videos now push infostealer malware in ClickFix attacks
Terror
404 Media reports:
Student Makes Tool That Identifies ‘Radicals’ on Reddit, Deploys AI Bots to Engage With Them
Cybersecurity/Privacy
404 Media reports:
Telegram Gave Authorities Data on More than 20,000 Users
Reuters reports:
So-called newspaper, The Washington Post reports:
Police secretly monitored New Orleans with facial recognition cameras
The Register reports:
CISA has a new No. 2 … but still no official top dog
On a more encouraging note, It reports:
FBI, Microsoft, international cops bust Lumma infostealer service
The Internet Society reports:
Encryption Under Threat: The UK’s Backdoor Mandate and Its Impact on Online Safety
Fediverse
The Fediverse Report has:
Decentralisation as a shifting mental framework
Ben Wermuller says:
Let’s fund the open social web
IFTAS examines:
A New Social announces:
Mastondon announces it’s:
Ghost has:
Magic Pages has:
TechCrunch reports:
Open social web browser Surf makes it easier for anyone to build custom feeds
Other Slightly Federated Social Media
The Fediverse Report has:
Leaflet Lab announces:
We’re making a social publishing platform built on Bluesky
Kind of like Ghost with ActivityPub.
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
#117 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #StopChina #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine
