Destroying Autocracy – June 19, 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

404 Media reports:

AI Scraping Bots Are Breaking Open Libraries, Archives, and Museums

When you use AI, you contribute to this c^ntitry.

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

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

Micah Flee explores:

Using Signal groups for activism

The Guardian reports:

Makers of air fryers and smart speakers told to respect users’ right to privacy

Spy ships, cyber-attacks and shadow fleets: the crack security team braced for trouble at sea

TechCrunch reports:

The ‘OpenAI Files’ push for oversight in the race to AGI

The Register reports:

LibreOffice adds voice to ‘ditch Windows for Linux’ campaign

Microsoft brings 365 suite on-prem as part of sovereign cloud push

France 24 reports:

‘We’re done with Teams’: German state hits uninstall on Microsoft

TechPolicy shares:

What the EU Needs to Do to Challenge Big Tech Cloud Dominance

The New Surveillance State: Why Data Privacy Is Now Essential to Democracy

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

Apple to Australians: You’re Too Stupid to Choose Your Own Apps

BleepingComputer reports:

Police seizes Archetyp Market drug marketplace, arrests admin

The Register reviews:

/e/ OS 3.0: Slightly less clunky, slightly more private

Vox reports:

He’s the godfather of AI. Now, he has a bold new plan to keep us safe from it.

Zenodo shares:

The Anti-Autocracy Handbook: A Scholars’ Guide to Navigating Democratic Backsliding

Read it, live it.

Neutral

The Register reports:

The launch of ChatGPT polluted the world forever, like the first atomic weapons tests

Euronews reports:

Dutch online platform watchdog struggling to connect with other EU member states

The Register reports:

MiniMax M1 model claims Chinese LLM crown from DeepSeek – plus it’s true open-source

Dems hyperventilate about Palantir’s work with the IRS in letter to CEO Karp

I would trust Palantir as far as I could kick their CEO.

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

404 Media reports:

Emails Reveal the Casual Surveillance Alliance Between ICE and Local Police

California Cops Investigate ‘Immigration Protest’ With AI-Camera System

The Markup reports:

California police are illegally sharing license plate data with ICE and Border Patrol

The Kyiv Independent reports:

US group designed to pressure Russia into peace in Ukraine disbanded by Trump administration, Reuters reports

Open Rights Group reports:

Police forces to get authoritarian powers to extract data from online accounts

False alarm: fake news and the right fuel attack on NGOs

EuroNews reports:

Ukrainian journalists fear USAID cuts opened up space for Russian disinformation campaigns

Pariah States

DarkReading reports:

‘HoldingHands’ Acts Like a Pickpocket With Taiwan Orgs

Iran-Israel War Triggers a Maelstrom in Cyberspace

Paragon Commercial Spyware Infects Prominent Journalists

The Register reports:

Amazon CISO: Iranian hacking crews ‘on high alert’ since Israel attack

404 Media reports:

The AI Slop Fight Between Iran and Israel

EuroNews reports:

Israel’s spy agency used AI and smuggled-in drones to prepare attack on Iran, sources say

Bleeping Computer reports:

North Korean hackers deepfake execs in Zoom call to spread Mac malware

Telecom giant Viasat breached by China’s Salt Typhoon hackers

Citizen Lab reports:

Same Sea, New Phish: Russian Government-Linked Social Engineering Targets App-Specific Passwords

Big Media

The Guardian reports:

The mainstream media has enabled Trump’s war on universities

BleepingComputer reports:

Washington Post’s email system hacked, journalists’ accounts compromised

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting reports:

Working Hard to Justify Israel’s Unprovoked Attack on Iran

One Man and his Blog reports:

Digital News Report 2025: exponential media change is here

Big Tech

Ars Technica reports:

OpenAI weighs “nuclear option” of antitrust complaint against Microsoft

How surprising. Two big tech c^nts can’t get along.

The Register reports:

Salesforce study finds LLM agents flunk CRM and confidentiality tests

‘AI is not doing its job and should leave us alone’ says Gartner’s top analyst

Absolutely.

noyb reports:

WhatsApp is getting ads using personal data from Instagram and Facebook

The Guardian reports:

(AI)‘It’s terrifying’: WhatsApp AI helper mistakenly shares user’s number

TechCrunch reports:

xAI is facing a lawsuit for operating over 400 MW of gas turbines without permits

Tumblr’s content-filtering systems have been falsely flagging posts as ‘mature,’ users blame AI

Instagram users complain of mass bans, pointing finger at AI

BleepingComputer reports:

Instagram ‘BMO’ ads use AI deepfakes to scam banking customers

BellingCat reports:

Meta’s Suit Against Hong Kong Firm Was Just the Beginning – More Companies Linked to CrushAI ‘Nudify’ Apps

Ludic Mataroa schools the AI Bros:

Contra Ptacek’s Terrible Article On AI

Wired reports:

How Much Energy Does AI Use? The People Who Know Aren’t Saying

The BBC reports:

Is Google about to destroy the web?

Antitrust Intelligence reports:

Microsoft Could Repeat its Teams Strategy, this time with Bing and Edge

The Markup reports:

We caught 4 more states sharing personal health data with Big Tech

Terror

404 Media reports:

The People Search Sites in the Suspected Minnesota Killer’s Notebook Are a Failure of Congress

Cybersecurity/Privacy

Krebs on Security reports:

Inside a Dark Adtech Empire Fed by Fake CAPTCHAs

The Register reports:

Sitecore CMS flaw let attackers brute-force ‘b’ for backdoor

Fuck corporate CMSs.

BleepingComputer reports:

DuckDuckGo beefs up scam defense to block fake stores, crypto sites

The Electronic Frontier Foundation shows us how to:

Protect Yourself From Meta’s Latest Attack on Privacy

Better yet, don’t use their shit.

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report reports:

Fediverse Report – #121

The W3C Community Group looks at:

Messaging Layer Security over ActivityPub

Timothy Chambers shares:

The Seven Deadly UX Sins of the Fediverse Web Experience (To Fix)

Mastodon has:

Mastodon in 2025

Mastodon is a digital public good

Emily McClue has a bone to pick with them:

New Terms of Service IP clause cannot be terminated or revoked, not even by deleting content

PeerTube announces:

App crowdfunding — Let’s go live!

Elena Rossini shares a valuable asset:

Introducing the Fediverse

Ghost is:

Surfacing discussions

Bonfire announces:

Bonfire Custom Feeds: Events

ActivityPub for WordPress announces:

New Look, Faster Blocks in ActivityPub 6.0.0

TechCrunch reports:

Mastodon updates its terms to prohibit AI model training

Threads is testing spoiler text, Zuckerberg says

Threads expands open social web integrations with fediverse feed, user profile search

Remember to block the instance, threads.net.

Matrix fires a volley:

Dispelling myths and misinformation

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

The Fediverse Report has:

Bluesky Report – #121

Mathew Ingram says:

Reports of Bluesky’s death have been greatly exaggerated

Tedium shares:

The Narrative

Again, none of this would matter if Bluesky were not a company trying to make money and in debt to VCs.

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

#121 #ActivityPub #AI #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Bonfire #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #Peertube #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #TechnoAnarchism #TechnoFeudalism #Threads #WordPress

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1984

Destroying Autocracy – June 12, 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

Fediverse favorite and video pro, Elena Rossini has done the ecosystem an outstanding favor by producing a phenomenal promotional video. She is:

Introducing the Fediverse: a New Era of Social Media

I make a cameo appearance at the end. 😎

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

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

The Kyiv Independent reports:

US accuses Russian of laundering millions, helping Moscow obtain sensitive technology

DarkReading reports:

‘Librarian Ghouls’ Cyberattackers Strike at Night

OpenAI Bans ChatGPT Accounts Linked to Nation-State Threat Actors

Open_Future has:

Europe Talks Digital Sovereignty

Heise reports:

Digital sovereignty: EU launches its own DNS service with practical functions

Tech Policy has:

Public Sector Triage of the Federal Government’s Data Hemorrhage

Tech Oligarchy Imperils Democratic Information Flows

And everything else to do with democracy.

The Register reports:

Apple AI boffins puncture AGI hype as reasoning models flail on complex planning

Nordjyske reports:

Digitaliseringsminister vil mindske brug Microsoft i eget ministerium

Denmark tells Microsoft to get fucked. Well half-fucked for now.

Bloomberg Law reports:

DOGE Access to Government Personnel Data Blocked by Judge

Until the SupremeC^nts reverse it.

404 Media reports:

Wikipedia Pauses AI-Generated Summaries After Editor Backlash

Neutral

Balfour Jarnasob says:

Trusting your own judgement on ‘AI’ is a huge risk

The Guardian reports:

‘No smartphones before 14; no social media until 16’: The Anxious Generation author on how to fight back against big tech

DarkReading reports:

New COPPA Rules to Take Effect Over Child Data Privacy Concerns

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

TechCrunch reports:

Trump administration takes aim at Biden and Obama cybersecurity rules

404 Media reports:

Airlines Don’t Want You to Know They Sold Your Flight Data to DHS

GitHub is Leaking Trump’s Plans to ‘Accelerate’ AI Across Government

Pariah States

The Guardian reports:

Frequent TikTok users in Taiwan more likely to agree with pro-China narratives, study finds

DarkReading reports:

China-Backed Hackers Target SentinelOne in ‘PurpleHaze’ Attack Spree

The Register reports:

Chinese spy crew appears to be preparing for conflict by backdooring 75+ critical orgs

Do you trust Xi with your ‘private’ browsing data? Apple, Google stores still offer China-based VPNs, report says

AP New reports:

US-backed Israeli company’s spyware used to target European journalists, Citizen Lab finds

Big Media

The Nerd Reich reports:

Politico’s $50M Peter Thiel Problem

The San Francisco Standard reports:

The ICE agents disappearing your neighbors would like a little privacy, please

Citation Needed opines:

It matters. I care.

Indeed!

Big Tech

The Guardian reports:

US attacks on science and research a ‘great gift’ to China on artificial intelligence, former OpenAI board member says

Misogyny in the metaverse: is Mark Zuckerberg’s dream world a no-go area for women?

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project reports:

Telegram, the FSB, and the Man in the Middle

The Register reports:

nterprise AI adoption stalls as inferencing costs confound cloud customers

Verso Books asks:

Is the AI Bubble About to Burst?

If only.

Dutch News reports:

Dutch government websites still reliant on US cloud services

Fortune reports:

‘Sovereign AI’ is political branding. The reality is closer to digital colonialism

404 Media reports:

A Researcher Figured Out How to Reveal Any Phone Number Linked to a Google Account

Senators Demand Meta Answer For AI Chatbots Posing as Licensed Therapists

Zero Party Data reports:

“Localhost tracking” explained. It could cost Meta 32 billion.

Business Insider reports:

Mark Zuckerberg has created the saddest place on the internet with Meta AI’s public feed

And the least private. What a c^nt.

Cybersecurity/Privacy

DarkReading reports:

Next-Gen Developers Are a Cybersecurity Powder Keg

GitHub: How Code Provenance Can Prevent Supply Chain Attacks

Gartner: How Security Teams Can Turn Hype Into Opportunity

The Conversation reports:

Tracking apps monitor remote employees’ performance — and invade their privacy

The Register reports:

Peep show: 40K IoT cameras worldwide stream secrets to anyone with a browser

DeepSeek installer or just malware in disguise? Click around and find out

This is what happens when you use Chinese software and AI. You get what you deserve.

Fediverse

Elena Rossini has this regarding the video in our featured item section:

My Fediverse Promo Video: Frequently Asked Questions

The Fediverse report has:

Fediverse Report – #120

Bounce, and how the Open Social Web is continually changing

Hamish Campell asks:

Why does any of this matter?

ActivityPub for WordPress has:

6.0.0 – New Kids on the Block

The IT Blog shares:

PeerTube and Platform Control

Peertube starts a series:

Flutter application development: feedback (1/2)

This is very interesting if you are a developer.

Flutter application development: feedback (2/2)

The Social Web Foundation announces:

MLS over ActivityPub Draft

TheNewStack reports:

Bringing Joy Back to the Web: Fediverse vs. Centralized Apps

Mastodon has:

Trunk & Tidbits, May 2025

We Distribute reports:

Bandwagon is Bringing Music Sales to the Fediverse

Fedihost shares:

Getting Started on Lemmy

I would recommend PieFed or mbin.

ActivityPub for WordPress announces:

Our 2025 Roadmap: Building the Future of WordPress Federation

This has the potential to double the size of the Fediverse (or more) in the long run.

Ben Werdmuller says:

Welcome to the new Werd I/O

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

The Fediverse Report has:

ATmosphere Report – #120

Is Bad Behaviour Spoiling the Move from Big Tech?

TechCrunch reports:

Bluesky backlash misses the point

None of this would matter if Bluesky were not a company trying to take money and in debt to VCs.

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

#120 #ActivityPub #AI #Autocracy #Bandwagon #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Lemmy #Mastodon #Nextcloud #Peertube #StopChina #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #TechnoAnarchism #TechnoFeudalism #WordPress

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1944

Destroying Autocracy – June 05, 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

Ploum writes:

As we don’t have the time to think anymore, we masquerade our lack of ideas with behavioural tricks. We replaced documents with PowerPoints because it allowed lack of structure and emptiness to look professional (just copy paste the data of the last PowerPoint you received in a text file and see by yourself how pitiful it is.

The root problem is that, for the first time in human history, our brain is the bottleneck. For all history, transmitting information was slow. Brains were fast. After sending a letter, we had days or months to think before receiving an answer. Erasmus wrote his famous “Éloge de la folie” in several days while travelling in Europe. He would never have done it in a couple of hours in a plane while the small screen in the backseat would show him advertisements.

A Society That Lost Focus

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

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

404 Media reports:

The IRS Tax Filing Software TurboTax Is Trying to Kill Just Got Open Sourced

Fanfuckingtastic! C^nts may be able to kill some things. But you can’t kill ideas.

Ukraine’s Massive Drone Attack Was Powered by Open Source Software

The IEEE reports:

How Ukraine’s Killer Drones Are Beating Russian Jamming

The Kyiv Independent reports:

‘Nothing secret left’ — Ukraine hacks Russia’s Tupolev bomber producer, source claims

EuroNews reports:

Belgian watchdog checking Telegram for EU anti-terror compliance

Android Police reports:

EU’s new rules will shake up Android update policies

Fairphone and e/OS is the way to go.

It’s Foss News reports:

/e/OS 3.0 Debuts with Refined Parental Controls, New Privacy Tools and Murena Vault

Next adds:

Murena lance son système mobile open source et dégooglisé /e/OS 3.0

Open_Future shares:

Leveraging Public Spending for Digital Sovereignty

The Register reports:

As Europe eyes move from US hyperscalers, IONOS dismisses scaleability worries

Regulator sues product comparison site alleged to only compare products on which it earned commission

Reuters reports:

Apple loses bid to pause app store reform order in Epic Games case

Ars Technica reports:

Florida ban on kids using social media likely unconstitutional, judge rules

America’s stubbiest fascist, Gov. Stuntcunt DeSantis knew this when he pushed it through our lickspittle legislature.

Nextcloud shares:

Nextcloud Awards 2025: Celebrating those building a sovereign digital future

Neutral

Ben Werdmuller shares:

Building a newsroom technology culture

Tech Policy says:

With Congress Silent, the FTC Must Protect Kids from Big Tech

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

The Telegraph reports:

Trump official who shut down counter-Russia agency has links to Kremlin

You couldn’t make this shit up.

Ars Technica reports:

Lawsuit: DOGE, HHS used “hopelessly error-ridden” data to fire 10,000 workers

ProPublica reports:

DOGE Developed Error-Prone AI Tool to “Munch” Veterans Affairs Contracts

Desmog reports:

A Weaponized AI Chatbot Is Flooding Canadian City Councils with Climate Misinformation

The Intercept reports:

How the FBI Sought a Warrant to Search Instagram of Columbia Student Protesters

404 Media reports:

TSA Working on Haptic Tech To ‘Feel’ Your Body in Virtual Reality

Why is our world a combination of stupidity and technology?

Pariah States

Bleeping Computer reports:

‘Russian Market’ emerges as a go-to shop for stolen credentials

New PathWiper data wiper malware hits critical infrastructure in Ukraine

NPR reports:

OpenAI takes down covert operations tied to China and other countries

The Hacker News reports:

Chinese APT41 Exploits Google Calendar for Malware Command-and-Control Operations

The Register reports:

Uncle Sam moves to seize $7.7M laundered by North Korean IT worker ring

Big Media

Isabelle Roughol says:

We’ve been thinking about Substack all wrong

I say if you’ve been thinking about Suckstack period, you’re wrong. Including reading anything on it. Once again, Ghost people!

Big Tech

Tech Policy asks:

Why are Tech Oligarchs So Obsessed with Energy and What Does That Mean for Democracy?

Sigh.

The Guardian reports:

Facebook and Instagram owner Meta to enable AI ad creation by end of next year

The next stage in enshitification.

Ars Technica reports:

Meta and Yandex are de-anonymizing Android users’ web browsing identifiers

The Register reports:

Meta pauses mobile port tracking tech on Android after researchers cry foul

Endgadget reports:

The Oversight Board says Meta isn’t doing enough to fight celeb deepfake scams

404 Media reports:

Apple Gave Governments Data on Thousands of Push Notifications

Polygon reports:

Duolingo users are in turmoil over the app’s AI lessons

Unfortunately, my subscription renewed in March. But, I won’t be renewing it.

Matthew Garret reports:

Twitter’s new encrypted DMs aren’t better than the old ones

Terror

Pro Publication reports:

“The Intern in Charge”: Meet the 22-Year-Old Trump’s Team Picked to Lead Terrorism Prevention

I guess we are better off with incompetent fascists than competent ones???

Cybersecurity/Privacy

DarkReading has:

EMR-ISAC Shuts Down: What Happens Now?

Beware of Device Code Phishing

BleepingComputer reports:

BidenCash carding market domains seized in international operation

Global Encryption shares:

Joint Letter on the European Internal Security Strategy (ProtectEU)

Fediverse

The Fediverse report has:

Fediverse Report – #119

PeerTube announces:

PeerTube v7.2 is out!

App crowdfunding campaign — First goal reached!

Splinter, a web app that splits long posts into Mastodon threads , was introduced.

Splinter

Useful!

The Indie Beat Radio announces:

Audio Interface Channel Launches on The Indie Beat Radio

Bonfire is:

Announcing the Bonfire Social 1.0 Release Candidate

TechCrunch has:

Introducing Bounce, a tool to move your following between Bluesky and Mastodon

Luis Quintanilla shares:

FediForum Day One Recap

Ghost is:

Ramping up for expansion

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

The Fediverse Report has:

Bluesky Report – #119

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

#119 #AI #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Bonfire #Democracy #eOS #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Peertube #StopChina #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1898

Destroying Autocracy – May 29, 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

Anil Dash writes:

The concept of consent doesn’t exist on the modern internet.

You didn’t read the terms of service. You didn’t agree to accept cookies. I didn’t consent to having my site pulled into the training model for that artificial intelligence system that’s going to use to sell the fruit of my labor for profit. I didn’t agree to have my activity tracked across all these different websites and cobbled together into a creepy and inaccurate profile of my preferences that gets sold without my permission.

Nobody asks for anything, they just take it. There’s not even an acknowledgement, that any of this stuff is happening let alone a conversation about it.

The Internet of Consent

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

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

CyberNews reports:

Massive security blunder: Russian nuclear site blueprints exposed in public procurement database

The Register reports:

Europe warns giant e-tailer to stop cheating consumers or face its wrath

Tuta reports:

Are cookie banners illegal?

In Europe, there’s good news.

404 Media reports:

Flock Decides Not to Use Hacked Data in People Search Tool

Yeah, but for how long?

Civitai Ban of Real People Content Deals Major Blow to the Nonconsensual AI Porn Ecosystem

John Onolan reflects on:

12 years of Ghost

DarkReading reports:

Danabot Takedown Deals Blow to Russian Cybercrime

How to Geek has:

After Switching to Linux, This App Helped Me Drop Google for Good

The Next Web reports:

Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot banned by a quarter of European firms

Be sure to see the Signal article below.

The Register reports:

Poll of 1,000 senior techies: Euro execs mull use of US clouds

Apple has only 30 days to comply with EU DMA rules

Ars Technica reports:

It’s too expensive to fight every AI copyright battle, Getty CEO says

That’s why we need laws and regulations.

Tech Policy shares:

Debunking Myths About AI Laws and the Proposed Moratorium on State AI Regulation

AI Monopolies Are Coming. Now’s the Time to Stop Them.

18F announces:

18F files legal challenge

TechCrunch reports:

Hugging Face unveils two new humanoid robots

Neutral

TechPolicy reports:

The GDPR Shake-Up: What You Need to Know

Vox reports:

The new pope has strong opinions about AI. Good.

Our Techno Anarchist Manifesto looks into similar ideas from other Popes.

The Center for Democracy and Technology has:

This is Not An #Ad: Political Influencers, Elections, and Information Integrity on Social Media

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

TechCrunch reports:

Why a new anti-revenge porn law has free speech experts alarmed

Tech Policy reports:

The Big Beautiful Bill Could Decimate Legal Accountability for Tech and Anything Tech Touches

404 Media reports:

ICE Taps into Nationwide AI-Enabled Camera Network, Data Shows

Developer Builds Tool That Scrapes YouTube Comments, Uses AI to Predict Where Users Live

The Register reports:

Ex-CISA employee: ‘This culture of fear started permeating the agency’

Renée DiResta reports:

A Comment on the Comment Call: Dissecting the FTC’s Inquiry Into Content Moderation

New Republic reports:

Trump Taps Palantir to Create Master Database on Every American

Pariah States

BleepingComputer reports:

Russian Laundry Bear cyberspies linked to Dutch Police hack

Iranian pleads guilty to RobbinHood ransomware attacks, faces 30 years

Czechia blames China for Ministry of Foreign Affairs cyberattack

APT41 malware abuses Google Calendar for stealthy C2 communication

Reuters reports:

India’s alarm over Chinese spying rocks the surveillance industry

TechCrunch reports:

Report: TuSimple sent sensitive self-driving data to China after US national security agreement

The Register reports:

Why is China deep in US networks? ‘They’re preparing for war,’ HR McMaster tells lawmakers

Big Media

Joan Westenberg looks at:

From Penny Press to Protocols

The Daily Beast reports:

Bezos’ WaPo Gives Staff Ultimatum as It Pushes Them Out

The NewGuild reports:

Washington Post Tech Guild overwhelmingly votes to certify union in historic election

And, that’s how you deal with a c^nt.

Big Tech

The Register reports:

Some signs of AI model collapse begin to reveal themselves

The International Journal of Law and Information Technology asks:

The EU Digital Services Act: what does it mean for online advertising and adtech?

Jacobin reports:

Big Tech Wants to Become Its Own Bank

TechSpot reports:

Duolingo CEO backtracks on AI push, says human workers still needed

Ben Werdmuller looks at:

The Substack Election

Fuck Substack.

Jae shares:

Yet another reason you should use Signal

And fuck these two c^nts.

Travel Lemming notes:

Google is Using AI to Censor Thousands of Independent Websites Like Mine (And to Control the Flow of Information Online)

Well, shit.

Cybersecurity/Privacy

ZDNet reports:

Une fuite de données massive expose 184 millions de mots de passe pour Google, Microsoft, Facebook et d’autres services

BleepingComputer reports:

Apple Safari exposes users to fullscreen browser-in-the-middle attacks

ConnectWise breached in cyberattack linked to nation-state hackers

Google reports:

Text-to-Malware: How Cybercriminals Weaponize Fake AI-Themed Websites

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report – #118

The Social Web Foundation shares its:

ap-components

Hamish Campbell is:

Thinking about news on the Fediverse

We Distribute reports:

FediForum is Back!

PeerTube announces a fundraising effort:

PeerTube from your pocket!

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

The Fediverse Report has:

ATmosphere Report – #118

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

#118 #ActivityPub #Ad #AI #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #Nextcloud #Peertube #StopChina #StopIran #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1877

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:

Russian hybrid threats: EU lists further 21 individuals and 6 entities and introduces sectoral measures in response to destabilising activities against the EU, its member states and international partners

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:

Petit manifeste low-tech

The Center for Democracy and Technology reports:

OMB’s Revised AI Memos Exemplify Bipartisan Consensus on AI Governance Ideals, But Serious Questions Remain About Implementation

CDT Advocates for Counter-Drone Authorities that Protect Civil Liberties

The New Stack reports:

Data Commons Can Save Open AI

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:

Exclusive: Hacker who breached communications app used by Trump aide stole data from across US government

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:

Fediverse Report – #117

Decentralisation as a shifting mental framework

Ben Wermuller says:

Let’s fund the open social web

IFTAS examines:

Take It Down Act 2025 (USA)

A New Social announces:

Bridgy Fed Config & Patreon

Mastondon announces it’s:

Updating some legal features

Ghost has:

Moderation preferences

Magic Pages has:

Social Web/Activity Pub Beta

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:

Bluesky Report – #117

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

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1859

Destroying Autocracy – May 15, 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)

Cory Doctorow has:

Who Broke the Internet? Part II

It’s not who you think.

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

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

The Verge reports:

Pope Leo XIV names AI one of the reasons for his papal name

Tech Policy has:

Europe’s Digital Sovereignty is a Democratic Imperative

Building the Eurostack: Can Open-Source Save Europe’s Tech Future?

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties has:

EU ruling: tracking-based advertising by Google, Microsoft, Amazon, X, across Europe has no legal basis

Call on European Parliament to push for data enforcement to defend democracy

EuroNews reports:

Dutch competition agency launches two probes under EU Digital Markets Act

The Register reports:

Europe plots escape hatch from the enshittification of search

The ‘End of 10’ is nigh, but don’t bury your PC just yet

Wired reports:

North Korean IT Workers Are Being Exposed on a Massive Scale

Neutral

The Free Software Foundation Europe shares:

Legal Corner: The threshold of originality for copyrightable source code

Government Techology asks:

Does the Federal Government Have a Right to States’ Data?

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

The FCC Must Reject Efforts to Lock Up Public Airwaves

IRS-ICE Immigrant Data Sharing Agreement Betrays Data Privacy and Taxpayers’ Trust

404 Media reports:

License Plate Reader Company Flock Is Building a Massive People Lookup Tool, Leak Shows

TechCrunch reports:

FTC delays enforcement of click-to-cancel rule

White House scraps plan to block data brokers from selling Americans’ sensitive data

The Verge reports:

Elon Musk’s apparent power play at the Copyright Office completely backfired

Propublica reports:

The Trump Administration Leaned on African Countries. The Goal: Get Business for Elon Musk.

It’s not just Africa either.

Pariah States

TechCrunch reports:

Five things we learned from WhatsApp vs. NSO Group spyware lawsuit

The Kyiv Independent reports:

Poland detects foreign-funded election ads amid fears of Russian interference

BleepingComputer reports:

Moldova arrests suspect linked to DoppelPaymer ransomware attacks

DarkReading reports:

North Korea’s TA406 Targets Ukraine for Intel

Turkish APT Exploits Chat App Zero-Day to Spy on Iraqi Kurds

Big Media

So-called newspaper, The New York Times reports:

A Free People Need a Free Press

No shit, fuckers. Why have you been laying down on the job the last few years?

EuroNews reports:

UK to allow foreign states to own 15% stake in British newspapers

Big Tech

Privacy Guides shares:

Sam Altman Wants Your Eyeball

The Register reports:

Nextcloud cries foul over Google Play Store app rejection

Meta’s still violating GDPR rules with latest plan to train AI on EU user data, says noyb

ArsTechnica reports:

Meta is making users who opted out of AI training opt out again, watchdog says

Report: Terrorists seem to be paying X to generate propaganda with Grok

Jesus.

404 Media has:

Why Did Grok Start Talking About ‘White Genocide’?

Fuck me.

ArsTechnica reports:

Report: Terrorists seem to be paying X to generate propaganda with Grok

Jesus.

404 Media has:

Why Did Grok Start Talking About ‘White Genocide’?

Fuck me.

Tech Policy reports:

Racialized Grooming Gangs: How Musk and X Amplified Islamophobia and Racism in the UK

Cybersecurity/Privacy

MIT Technology Review reports on:

How a new type of AI is helping police skirt facial recognition bans

The Register reports:

Feds disrupt proxy-for-hire botnet, indict four alleged net miscreants

You think ransomware is bad now? Wait until it infects CPUs

As US vuln-tracking falters, EU enters with its own security bug database

Martin Fowler.com has:

Coding Assistants Threaten the Software Supply Chain

AI is still 95% horseshit.

W3C announces:

Privacy Principles is a W3C Statement

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report – #116

Hamish Campbell opines:

We do need tools to share to help people on the path back onto the #openweb

The Library of Alexandra says:

Moderating Communities is Not a Burden

It just seems to be for tech bros.

Dead Superheron shares:

My Dream Fediverse Platform

We Distribute reports:

Mastodon: Giving Journalists Options Away From Big Tech

ActivityPub for WordPress has:

5.9.0 – Easier Onboarding for Your Fediverse Experience

Ghost has:

Blocking domains

Sciety announces:

Sciety secures funding from NLNet Foundation to help build discourse around preprints

Lemmy has:

Lemmy Development Update April 2025

TechCrunch reports:

Threads now lets creators add up to 5 links to profiles, track clicks

More enshittification from the c^nts at Meta.

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

The Fediverse Report has:

Taking Control of Your Timeline – in Different Ways

ATmosphere Report – #116

Free Our Feeds shares:

Free Our Feeds – Update #2, May 2025

Bluesky gives an update on:

Network Account Management

The Dabbler has:

I updated my Bluesky PDS and it stopped working. Here’s how I fixed it.

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

#116 #2 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Bonfire #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Lemmy #Mastodon #openweb #StopChina #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #WordPress

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1822

Destroying Autocracy – May 08, 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:

The world we live in is shaped, created by 40 years of entrenched pushing of #neoliberalism and #postmodernism, both of which have systematically dismantled radical change and challenge paths that used to exist.

To reclaim our path, we now need to reject the illusions of “common sense” fed to us by the #deathcult and reboot our social view from a place of clarity.

This is where the #hashtags come into use, acting as conceptual tools for navigating, understanding, and breaking free from the mess we’re in.

Decoding the Hashtags: A Roadmap for Social Change

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

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

The Christian Science Monitor reports on:

Origins of Ukraine’s drone creativity

The Kyiv Independent reports:

Book on Soviet dissidents wins Pulitzer Prize

DarkReading reports:

Countries Begin NATO’s Locked Shields Cyber-Defense Exercise

Euronews reports:

‘Choose Europe,’ von der Leyen tells US scientists threatened by Trump’s policies
Ursula von der Leyen at La Sorbonne.

‘We are less protected’ due to AI, says Cambridge Analytica whistleblower on protecting our data

Libre Office announces:

Germany committing to ODF and open document standards

Benjamin Hollon envisions:

A Secret Web

The Guardian reports:

OpenAI reverses course and says non-profit arm will retain control of firm

TechCrunch reports:

FTC bans hidden fees for live events and short-term rentals, effective May 12

US DoJ wants Google to sell two of its ad products

MacRumors reports:

Apple Faces Developer Lawsuit After Defying App Store Injunction

404 Media reports:

GlobalX, Airline for Trump’s Deportations, Hacked

Tuta announces:

Open letter against ProtectEU

Bert Hubert has a European:

Cloud Overview

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

Gizmodo reports:

With Its Destruction of Government Data Silos, DOGE Is Building a ‘Surveillance Weapon’

The Register reports:

India ready to greenlight Starlink – as long as it lets New Delhi censor, snoop

Fascist capitalism at its finest.

Signal chat app clone used by Signalgate’s Waltz was apparently an insecure mess

Unicorn Riot reports:

SignalGate Meets WordPress: Outgoing National Security Adviser’s Phone Dumps Messages via Israeli App

Pariah States

Micah Flee shares:

Despite misleading marketing, Israeli company TeleMessage, used by Trump officials, can access plaintext chat logs

The Register reports:

Super spyware maker NSO must pay Meta $168M in WhatsApp court battle

From Russia with doubt: Go library’s Kremlin ties stoke fear

The Kyiv Independent reports:

Poland faces ‘unprecedented’ Russian interference ahead of presidential election, minister says

The Guardian reports:

Pro-Russian hackers claim to have targeted several UK websites

DarkReading reports:

‘Lemon Sandstorm’ Underscores Risks to Middle East Infrastructure

Big Media

The World Association of News Publisher reports:

Media outlets worldwide join call for AI companies to help protect news integrity

Yeah, right.

Big Tech

The Register reports:

Infosec guru Schneier worries corp AI will manipulate us

Futurism reports:

Facebook Allegedly Detected When Teen Girls Deleted Selfies So It Could Serve Them Beauty Ads

Cory Doctorow has:

Mark Zuckerberg announces mind-control ray (again) (07 May 2025)

People wonder why I’m a misanthrope.

Tech Crunch reports:

NSO Group must pay more than $167 million in damages to WhatsApp for spyware campaign

Forbes reports:

200 Million X User Records Released — 2.8 Billion Twitter IDs Leaked

If you are on shitter at this point, you get what you deserve.

Terror

Tech Policy reports:

From Incels to Mercenaries: When Online Hate Becomes Real-World Violence

Cybersecurity/Privacy

404 Media reports:

The Signal Clone the Trump Admin Uses Was Hacked

Senator Demands Investigation into Trump Admin Signal Clone After 404 Media Investigation

The Register reports:

Altman’s eyeball-scanning biometric blockchain orbs officially come to America

RSA Conf wrap: AI and China on everything, everywhere, all at once

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has:

Beware the Bundle: Companies Are Banking on Becoming Your Police Department’s Favorite “Public Safety Technology” Vendor

BleepingComputer reports:

Police takes down six DDoS-for-hire services, arrests admins

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report – #115

Tim Bray looks at:

Censoring Social Media

Mastodon has:

Trunk & Tidbits, April 2025

Coxy has:

Reclaiming the web: Mastodon and the decentralised social movement

Ghost has:

Blocking users

NodeBB asks:

What would cross-posting between instances look like in ActivityPub?

Peertube has:

App v1 is out!

AlternativeTo reports:

Kagi adds PeerTube video search results, enhanced Assistant UI, and translation upgrades

The Social Web Foundation is:

Reflecting on Our First Year: The Social Web Foundation’s 2024 Annual Report

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

#115 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #deathcult #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #hashtags #Mastodon #neoliberalism #NodeBB #Peertube #postmodernism #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1804

Destroying Autocracy – May 01, 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.

Happy May Day! Cast off your chains.

Featured Item(s)

Cory Doctorow writes:

The point of AI isn’t to make workers more productive, it’s to make them weaker when they bargain with their bosses.

Tech workers are workers, and they once held the line against enshittification, refusing to break the things they’d built for their bosses in meaningless all-nighters motivated by vocational awe. Long after tech bosses were able to buy all their competitors, capture their regulators, and expand IP law to neutralize the threat of innovative, interoperable products like alternative app stores, ad-blockers and jailbreaking kits, tech workers held the line.

There’ve been half a million US tech layoff since 2023. Tech workers’ scarcity-derived power has been vaporized. Tech workers can avoid the fate of the factory, warehouse and delivery workers their bosses literally work to death — but only by unionizing.

In other words, the workers in re-shored factories and tech workers need the same thing. They are class allies — and tech bosses are their class enemies. This is class war.

The enshittification of tech jobs

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

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

Tech Policy reports:

Labor Unions Can Counterbalance the Big Tech Oligarchy, But Only If They Rediscover Their Power

Expats Czechia reports:

Court rules that Czechia collects phone data illegally in landmark decision

Mashable reports:

Elon Musk’s X lost 11 million users in the EU over the past 5 months

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

Calyx Institute: A Case Study in Grassroots Innovation

EFF Leads Prominent Security Experts in Urging Trump Administration to Leave Chris Krebs Alone

EuroNews reports:

EU governments discuss action on disinformation over climate policy

Bleeping Computer reports:

TikTok fined €530 million for sending European user data to China

Fast Company reports:

How Big Tech’s Faustian bargain with Trump backfired

Framablog has:

Docilités numériques

The Verge reports:

A judge just blew up Apple’s control of the App Store

The Register reports:

Cook’d: Judge says Apple lied to court in Epic case, asks Feds to mull criminal charges

Double awesome.

TechCrunch reports:

Apple changes US App Store rules to let apps link to external payment systems

Neutral

The Register reports:

DARPA to ‘radically’ rev up mathematics research. And yes, with AI

The Journal of Online Trust and Safety has:

Science and Causality in Technology Litigation

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

TechDirt has:

Government Actually Threatens Wikipedia’s Editorial Freedom; Self-Proclaimed Free Speech Warriors Suddenly Have Other Plans

Congress Moving Forward On Unconstitutional Take It Down Act

Ars Technica reports:

Trump’s hasty Take It Down Act has “gaping flaws” that threaten encryption

Micah Flee looks at:

TM SGNL, the obscure unofficial Signal app Mike Waltz uses to text with Trump officials

The Register reports:

DOGE may help Elon Musk’s biz empire dodge $2.4B in liabilities – Senate probe

Framablog looks at:

L’État artificiel : la vie civique automatisée

Pariah States

BleepingComputer reports:

France ties Russian APT28 hackers to 12 cyberattacks on French orgs

Pro-Russia hacktivists bombard Dutch public orgs with DDoS attacks

DarkReading has:

Putin’s Cyberattacks on Ukraine Rise 70%, With Little Effect

Adversaries Are Toying With US Networks & DC Is Short on Answers

Billbug Expands Cyber-Espionage Campaign in Southeast Asia

The Register reports:

China now America’s number one cyber threat – US must get up to speed

Open source text editor poisoned with malware to target Uyghur users

Big Media

NPR reports:

Corporation for Public Broadcasting sues Trump after he tries to fire board members

Ars Technica reports:

“Blatantly unlawful”: Trump slammed for trying to defund PBS, NPR

The Daily Beast reports:

MAGA Billionaire Leads L.A. Times to Lose $50 Million

Ars Technica reports:

CBS owner Paramount reportedly intends to settle Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit

Big Tech

Semafor reports:

The group chats that changed America

The Guardian reports:

Meta faces Ghana lawsuits over impact of extreme content on moderators

Meta slowest to remove scam content, says City watchdog

TechCrunch reports:

Report finds Meta’s celebrity-voiced chatbots could discuss sex with minors

OpenAI is fixing a ‘bug’ that allowed minors to generate erotic conversations

404 Media has:

Researchers Secretly Ran a Massive, Unauthorized AI Persuasion Experiment on Reddit Users

Mbin or PieFed, peeps.

Reddit Issuing ‘Formal Legal Demands’ Against Researchers Who Conducted Secret AI Experiment on Users

This Is Palantir’s Justification for Building ICE’s Master Database

Instagram’s AI Chatbots Lie About Being Licensed Therapists

The Markup reports:

Kids should avoid AI companion bots—under force of law, assessment says

The Center for Democracy and Technology reports:

Report – In Deep Trouble: Surfacing Tech-Powered Sexual Harassment in K-12 Schools

Cybersecurity/Privacy

Lawfare covers:

Advancing Secure by Design through Security Research

404 Media reports:

The Age of Realtime Deepfake Fraud Is Here

The Markup reports:

How California sent residents’ personal health data to LinkedIn

BleepingComputer reports:

Hackers ramp up scans for leaked Git tokens and secrets

FBI shares massive list of 42,000 LabHost phishing domains

Tech Policy Press reports:

Reverse Keyword Search Warrants and the Threat to Online Privacy

The Jacobin reports:

Big Tech Wants Free Rein to Sell Your Data

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report – #114

Fosstodon has more on its drama:

An Intro/Update From Gina

ActivityPub for WordPress announces:

V5.8.0 – If it’s on the Fediverse, you can embed it.

ActivityPods shares:

Key learnings from building social apps with ActivityPods

Forgejo has:

Forgejo monthly update – April 2025

The Social Web Foundation has:

Steps Forward in Long-form Text

Mastodon is:

Evolving the Team

Matthew Tift has:

Finding an Ethical Path Through Social Media: Why I Choose Mastodon

PieFed has:

PieFed development update Apr 2025 – S3, OAuth, Federation retry queue, Stripe

NodeBB has:

NodeBB v4.3.0 — Remote Categories are a go!

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

WinBuzzer reports:

Bluesky’s Decentralized Network Faces Major Outage Caused by Centralized Servers

The Internet Review asks:

Where Does Bluesky Go from Here? What is the Bluesky of 2036?

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

#114 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Mastodon #NodeBB #PieFed #StopChina #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #WordPress

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1772

Destroying Autocracy – April 24, 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)

The Guardian shares:

In her final piece for the Observer, Carole Cadwalladr reveals what happened when she returned last week to give the opening speech at technology conference Ted, where she gave her first – life-changing – talk six years ago.

It’s not too late to stop Trump and the tech broligarchy from controlling our lives, but we must act now

TechDirt writes:

There’s a certain dark irony in watching tech billionaires who built their empires on the “democratizing power of technology” now actively working to dismantle democratic institutions. The same figures who once championed connection and openness are now the architects of the most dangerous centralization of power in modern history.

The “De” In “Decentralization” Stands For “Democracy”

The issues discussed in these two items are some of the main reasons Battalion and the TechnoAnarchist Manifesto exist.

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

The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

The Kyiv Independent reports:

Switzerland joins EU sanctions against Russian state media

Bleeping Computer reports:

Russian army targeted by new Android malware hidden in mapping app

TheNewStack reports:

EU OS: A European Proposal for a Public Sector Linux Desktop

The Register reports:

It takes one click to join Uber One, but quitting might need 32 actions

European biz calls for Euro tech for local people

Tech Policy reports:

Understanding the Apple and Meta Non-Compliance Decisions Under the Digital Markets Act

How AI Can Support Democracy Movements

A good article, though long. And Erica, search the term headings and learn how to use them!

EuroNews reports:

In his final months, Pope Francis warned about social media, screen time, and AI

NLNet shares:

Eleven new projects for NGI Pilots

CBS News reports:

Federal judge orders Trump administration to rehire all Voice of America and Radio Free Asia staff

Ars Technica reports:

Universities (finally) band together, fight “unprecedented government overreach”

Gaël Duval has:

Murena & /e/OS 2025: another leap towards Usable Privacy for All

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

Propublica reports:

Trump Team Eyes Politically Connected Startup to Overhaul $700 Billion Government Payments Program

Krebs on Security reports:

Whistleblower: DOGE Siphoned NLRB Case Data

NiemanLab reports:

National Science Foundation cancels research grants related to misinformation and disinformation

The Center for Democracy and Technology reports:

Automated Tools for Social Media Monitoring Irrevocably Chill Millions of Noncitizens’ Expression

Pariah States

DarkReading reports:

Nation-State Threats Put SMBs in Their Sights

DeepSeek Breach Opens Floodgates to Dark Web

BleepingComputer reports:

Hackers abuse OAuth 2.0 workflows to hijack Microsoft 365 accounts

Lazarus hackers breach six companies in watering hole attacks

Big Media

404 Media reports:

How 404 Media Is Navigating ‘Economic Headwinds’

Or small media in this case. You should subscribe to 404 if you’re in the tech sector.

Big Tech

The Guardian reports:

Meta ‘hastily’ changed moderation policy with little regard to impact, says oversight board

Tech Policy reports on:

Big Tech, Bolsonarism, and the Erosion of Democracy

Where’s Your Ed opines:

OpenAI Is A Systemic Risk To The Tech Industry

Mozilla says:

Tell Etsy, Reddit, Tinder & Duolingo: Stop Feeding Surveillance Tech

Cybersecurity/Privacy

BleepingComputer has:

Phishers abuse Google OAuth to spoof Google in DKIM replay attack

WordPress ad-fraud plugins generated 1.4 billion ad requests per day

The Register reports:

RIP, Google Privacy Sandbox

Ex-NSA chief warns AI devs: Don’t repeat infosec’s early-day screwups

Nextcloud says:

EU-US Data Privacy Framework is defunct: what does this mean for businesses?

CyberNews reports:

Employee monitoring app leaks 21 million screenshots in real time

Ha! You reap what you sow.

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report – #113

Tim Bray looks at:

Decentralizing Schemes

Fedihost asks:

Why Is Mastodon Using So Much Storage?

Jose Murilo shares:

A rede social que não pode ser vendida: porque Mastodon, e não Bluesky.

TechCrunch reports:

Threads officially moves to Threads.com and updates its web app

So, block threads.com.

Meta’s Threads opens up ads to global advertisers

To the surprise of no one.

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

And:

Bluesky launches blue check verification

Government censorship comes to Bluesky, but not its third-party apps … yet

Wait, how did a decentralized service like Bluesky go down?

Because it’s not fucking decentralized.

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

#113 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Mastodon #StopChina #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #Threads

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1752

Destroying Autocracy – April 17, 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

Elena Rossini writes:

We are in the throes of a digital coup. And Big Tech’s deep pockets and large ad spending have been building – for 2 decades now – the illusion that in order to be seen and heard online, to make an impact through writing, one needs to use their centralized platforms. Because “they are the only way.”

I completely disagree. I remain all in when it comes to the Fediverse and FOSS publishing solutions. With this post, I hope I can show you that another way is possible.

This is what resistance to the digital coup looks like

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

The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

The Register reports:

EU gives staff ‘burner phones, laptops’ for US visits

Ireland opens probe into Musk’s X over Grok’s AI data slurp

Palo Alto Online reports:

Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuckerberg voices

The Japan Times:

In a first, Japan issues cease-and-desist order against Google

The Guardian reports:

Google sued for £5bn in UK over allegations of shutting out rivals

TechCrunch reports:

Judge rules Google illegally monopolized adtech, opening door to potential breakup

The Nation shares:

I’ve Worked at Google for Decades. I’m Sickened by What It’s Doing.

The Next Web reports:

Trump tariffs reignite Europe’s push for cloud sovereignty

Dark Reading reports:

Threat Intel Firm Offers Crypto in Exchange for Dark Web Accounts

Ars Technica reports:

Harvard says no chance it will comply with changes feds demand

Speaking of, Harvard shares:

Understanding DOGE and Your Data

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

Privacy on the Map: How States Are Fighting Location Surveillance

Tech Policy reports on:

The Need for and Pathways to AI Regulatory and Technical Interoperability

Cory Doctorow has:

Mark Zuckerberg personally lost the Facebook antitrust case

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

Florida’s New Social Media Bill Says the Quiet Part Out Loud and Demands an Encryption Backdoor

Florida has long been America’s laboratory for fascism.

MIT Technology Review reports:

DOGE’s tech takeover threatens the safety and stability of our critical data

NPR reports:

A whistleblower’s disclosure details how DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data

404 Media reports:

The AI Tools CBP Is Using to Scan Social Media

ICE Just Paid Palantir Tens of Millions for ‘Complete Target Analysis of Known Populations’

This ‘College Protester’ Isn’t Real. It’s an AI-Powered Undercover Bot for Cops

Pariah States

Bleeping Computer reports:

Russian hackers attack Western military mission using malicious drive

Midnight Blizzard deploys new GrapeLoader malware in embassy phishing

The Register reports:

Hacktivism resurges – but don’t be fooled, it’s often state-backed goons in masks

Chinese snoops use stealth RAT to backdoor US orgs – still active last week

Tech Policy reports:

China’s Anti-Sanctions Rules Raise Human Rights Risks for Global Tech Firms

DarkReading reports:

Chinese APT Mustang Panda Debuts 4 New Attack Tools

TechCrunch reports:

NSO lawyer names Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Uzbekistan as spyware customers accused of 2019 WhatsApp hacks

Big Media

Poynter reports:

Audiences are still skeptical about generative AI in the news

Big Tech

Tech Policy reports:

How Information Asymmetry Inhibits Efforts for Big Tech Accountability

Cory Doctorow has:

Tesla accused of hacking odometers to weasel out of warranty repairs

If you own a swasticar, you almost deserve this.

Zuckerberg in the dock

Ars Technica reports:

Zuckerberg’s 2012 email dubbed “smoking gun” at Meta monopoly trial

BleepingComputer reports:

Meta to resume AI training on content shared by Europeans

TechCrunch reports:

Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk would like to ‘delete all IP law’

The Guardian reports:

‘Silicon Six’ accused of avoiding almost $278bn in US corporation taxes over 10 years

Terror

The Guardian reports:

Fears over extremism in US military as soldier revealed as neo-Nazi TikTok follower

Cybersecurity/Privacy

Reuters reports:

Cybersecurity industry falls silent as Trump turns ire on SentinelOne

The Register reports:

CVE program gets last-minute funding from CISA – and maybe a new home

BleepingComputer reports:

Chrome 136 fixes 20-year browser history privacy riskws/security/chrome-136-fixes-20-year-browser-history-privacy-risk/)

Don’t use Chrome is the easiest fix. Librewolf peeps.

Tech Republic reports:

Windows 11 Forces Microsoft Account Sign In & Removes Bypass Trick Option

This is further validation that my next computer will come with linux preinstalled.

The Record reports:

US to sign Pall Mall pact aimed at countering spyware abuses

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report – #112

The Nexus of Privacy reports:

On FediForum (and not just FediForum)

Framablog shares its:

2025 PeerTube Roadmap!

Hong Minhee says:

Ditch the DIY Drama: Why To Use Fedify Instead of Building ActivityPub from Scratch?

Netz Politik has:

Hochschulen aller Länder ins Fediverse!

DeadSuperHero explores:

Integrating a News Publication Into the Fediverse

I’ve done the same with this website and the Symfony Station newsletter, and it’s definitely hacky.

Ghost is:

Recapping your feedback

Rob Shearer has:

Mastodon Exit Interview

This is a bit harsh, but does have some fair points.

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

Ben Werdmuller shares:

If I ran Bluesky Product

The Fediverse Report has:

Bluesky, censorship and country-based moderation

We deleted our Bluesky account. It just doesn’t do it for us. It’s a half-shit Twitter. And Twitter was always shit.

The Bluesky Report – 112

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

#112 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #Peertube #StopChina #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1724

Destroying Autocracy – April 10, 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

Hamish Campbell writes:

We need to build a grassroots counterforce, grounded in the principles of the 4 opens, to cultivate digital and physical spaces of resistance. The openweb offers us a framework for doing this, a messy, imperfect garden where we plant alternatives and nurture them with care. But it only grows if people use it. We need joined-up thinking, not the fractured, piecemeal approach of the fashernista crowd. We need people to commit to using and building tools outside the corporate silos, even when it’s inconvenient. Because in the end our communities are all that matters, in the end every click, every post, every conversation shapes the landscape we inhabit.

The rise of fascism and the openweb response

This approach is a very large part of techno-anarchism.

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

The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

DevLink Tips shares:

Top 10 European Open-Source Projects to Watch in 2025

Tech Policy reports:

Understanding the EU’s Digital Services Act Enforcement Against X

Leveraging International Standards to Protect US Consumers Online, No Congress Required

EuroNews reports:

TikTok made changes ahead of re-run of Romanian election, says EU tech chief
EU Tech Commissioner Henna Virkkunen speaking at a European Parliament plenary session.

The Register reports:

EU may target US tech giants in tariff response

The Guardian reports:

US authors’ copyright lawsuits against OpenAI and Microsoft combined in New York with newspaper actions

The BBC reports:

Apple’s encryption row with UK should not be secret, court rules

CTV News reports:

Halifax to phase out use of X as official social media platform

Great news from one of my favorite cities.

Neutral

Rest of the World reports:

What we learned from tracking AI use in global elections

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

So-called newspaper, The New York Times reports:

Trump Weakens U.S. Cyberdefenses at a Moment of Rising Danger

Mother Jones reports:

The Shocking Far-Right Agenda Behind the Facial Recognition Tech Used by ICE and the FBI

Reuters reports:

Exclusive: Musk’s DOGE using AI to snoop on U.S. federal workers, sources say

The Guardian reports:

Under Trump and Musk, billionaires wield unprecedented influence over US national security

UK creating ‘murder prediction’ tool to identify people most likely to kill

Citation Needed reports:

Issue 81 – Crypto crime is legal

Jesus.

Pariah States

Bit Defender reports:

Russian bots hard at work spreading political unrest on Romania’s internet

Ars Technica reports:

“The girl should be calling men.” Leak exposes Black Basta’s influence tactics.

DarkReading reports:

China-Linked Hackers Continue Harassing Ethnic Groups With Spyware

TechCrunch reports:

Governments identify dozens of Android apps bundled with spyware

Court document reveals locations of WhatsApp victims targeted by NSO spyware

Big Media

Tech Policy reports:

Independent Media Has an Infrastructural Problem

DigiDay reports:

Former Substack creators say they’re earning more on new platforms that offer larger shares of subscription revenue

Big Tech

Speaking of, Snopes reports:

Historian Heather Cox Richardson said Facebook removed her posts. Here’s what we know

My advice to her is to get the fuck off Facebook and get the fuck off Substack.

The Register reports:

Apple settles unfair labor charges brought by fired engineering manager

Ars Technica reports:

Meta secretly helped China advance AI, ex-Facebooker will tell Congress

404 Media has:

‘Careless People’ Is the Book About Facebook I’ve Wanted for a Decade

The Guardian reports:

Meta faces £1.8bn lawsuit over claims it inflamed violence in Ethiopia

The Dair Institute reports:

Social Media Platforms Are Spreading Violent Warmongering Content Encouraging All-Out War Between Ethiopia and Eritrea, Again

Jeremy Keith has:

Denial

Nothing personal, but it you use LLMs, you are contributing to this c^ntitry.

Terror

The Kyiv Independent reports:

US neo-Nazi terrorist group pays recruits to carry out attacks in Ukraine, Guardian reports

Mother Jones reports:

Gabbard’s Pick to Run Counterterrorism Center Aided Start of a Right-Wing Paramilitary Group

Cybersecurity/Privacy

Bleeping Computer reports:

Malicious VSCode extensions infect Windows with cryptominers

The Register reports:

That massive GitHub supply chain attack? It all started with a stolen SpotBugs token

If you are using Microsoft software, you almost deserve this.

Clubic reports:

Surveillance, fin du chiffrement : Proton pourrait quitter la Suisse

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announces:

OCC Notifies Congress of Incident Involving Email System

Consumer Reports has:

Mixed Signals: Many Companies May Be Ignoring Opt-Out Requests Under State Privacy Laws

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report – #111

IFTAS is:

[Staying the Course: Our Continuing Mission]
(https://about.iftas.org/2025/04/08/staying-the-course-our-continuing-mission/)

If you care about the Fediverse, please join me and make a financial contribution to IFTAS.

Mastodon shares:

Trunk & Tidbits, March 2025

CogDogBlog has:

WordPress Serving Posts at the Activity Pub

Tim Bray looks at:

The CoSocialist Future

Ghost has:

You think you’re following us, but you might not be

TechCrunch reports:

Tapestry’s app can now de-dupe your social feeds

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.
• Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.

Keep fighting!

Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse

#111 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #StopChina #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #Tapestry

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1716

Destroying Autocracy – April 3, 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

Heydonworks shares:

Poisoning Well

AI can’t do spite. 😈

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

The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

The Kyiv Independent reports:

Moscow Metro website displays appeal from recently hacked Ukrainian Railways

The Register reports:

Ukraine’s techies a ‘pillar of support’ for national economy after Russian invasion

EuroNews reports:

Help us develop non-English/Chinese AI models, Japan asks EU

French antitrust watchdog fines Apple €150 million over data collection tool

Google’s AI feature on hold in most EU member states due to ‘strict rules’

The Reframe has:

1 Year After Substack

404 Media reports:

Open Source Genetic Database Shuts Down to Protect Users From ‘Authoritarian Governments’

Big Tech Backed Trump for Acceleration. They Got a Decel President Instead.

This would be funny if it only impacted these c^nts.

Reuters reports:

Elon Musk must face fraud lawsuit over disclosure of Twitter stake

He’s not allowed to fuck over rich people.

Tech Policy reports:

As Brazil Seeks to Enforce Competition Law Against Digital Platforms, Here’s What it Could Learn from the EU

The UK announces:

Foreign Influence Registration Scheme implementation

Gaël Duval shares:

Practical Payment Solutions for Murena and /e/OS Users

That’s surveillance and Google-free Android if you aren’t familiar.

Geo Coop reports:

Worker-Owned News Outlets Are Changing the Media Industry

The Wrap has:

In Praise of Laurene Powell Jobs, Owner of The Atlantic, Superhero of Signalgate

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

Judge Rejects Government’s Attempt to Dismiss EFF Lawsuit Against OPM, DOGE, and Musk

Neutral

The Guardian reports:

Data protection bill leaves room for governmental abuse, campaigners warn

Open Source Initiative reports on:

Overcoming barriers to Open Source procurement in the European Union

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

TechDirt reports:

The Real Cost Of DOGE: Musk’s Government Cuts Creating Massive New Expenses

NBC News reports:

Denied, deported, detained: U.S. border incidents have travelers thinking twice

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

Site-Blocking Legislation Is Back. It’s Still a Terrible Idea.

The Next Web reports:

European tech warns Trump tariffs will hit both hardware and software

Pariah States

The Next Web reports:

The day a Russian missile hit a Ukrainian tech giant

BleepingComputer reports:

North Korean hackers adopt ClickFix attacks to target crypto firms

The Register reports:

North Korea’s fake tech workers now targeting European employers

DarkReading reports:

Israel Enters ‘Stage 3’ of Cyber Wars With Iran Proxies

The Verge reports:

Microsoft employee disrupts 50th anniversary and calls AI boss ‘war profiteer’

Big Media

Tech Policy reports on:

Technology, Democracy, and Power: Journalism’s Role in a Time of Crisis

The Guardian reports:

‘I can’t cope with it any more’: newsrooms scramble to retain audiences amid the big switch-off

Big Tech

Tech Policy reports:

Where Does Trump’s Takeover of the FTC Leave the Regulation of Big Tech?

Practically non-existent.

Robots.txt Is Having a Moment: Here’s Why We Should Care

The Verge reports:

It’s the moment of truth for Zuckerberg’s Trump bet

Epicenter reports:

EU Commission Undermines eIDAS Protections, again!

Pivot to AI reports:

AI in the enterprise is failing over twice as fast in 2025 as it was in 2024

Cybersecurity/Privacy

The Register reports:

UK threatens £100K-a-day fines under new cyber bill

BleepingComputer reports:

CISA warns of Fast Flux DNS evasion used by cybercrime gangs

DarkReading reports:

Minnesota Tribe Struggles After Ransomware Attack

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report – #110

We Distriube reports:

FediForum Has Been Canceled

TechCrunch reports:

A new security fund opens up to help protect the fediverse

Emelia Smith has:

Open-source tools needed for the future of decentralized moderation

Moving Beyond the False Dichotomy for Federation Management

The Nexus of Privacy shares:

More notes on Organizing, Mutual Aid, and Activism on decentralized social networks

Ghost has an announcement:

Social web (beta)

Funkwhale announces:

Funkwhale 2.0 Alpha candidate

Steven Berson has:

Thoughts on Diaspora

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

The Fediverse Report has:

Bluesky Report – #110

TechCrunch reports:

Beyond Bluesky: These are the apps building social experiences on the AT Protocol

Mark Cuban backs Skylight, a TikTok alternative built on Bluesky’s underlying technology

Rudy of Blacksky fame shares:

An internet of many autonomous communities

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.
• Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.

Keep fighting!

Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse

#110 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Democracy #Diaspora #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1681

Destroying Autocracy – 27 March 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

The Register reports:

EU OS is a proposal for an immutable KDE-based Linux distribution with a Windows-like desktop, designed for use in European public-sector organizations.

Rather than a new distro, it’s a website that documents planning such a thing, what functions the OS might need, how to deploy and manage it, and how to handle users.

EU OS drafts a locked-down Linux blueprint for Eurocrats

This needs to be implemented quickly and then exported to non-EU, non-fascist states as well.

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

The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

The Kyiv Independent reports:

Italy suspends Starlink purchase negotiations with SpaceX amid Musk controversy

Voice of America journalists sue Trump administration following president’s order to gut free press

The Register reports:

OTF, which backs Tor, Let’s Encrypt and more, sues to save funding from Trump cuts

US defense contractor cops to sloppy security, settles after infosec lead blows whistle

Wired reports:

How to Avoid US-Based Digital Services—and Why You Might Want To

Trump’s Aggression Sours Europe on US Cloud Giants

MIT Technology Review reports on:

Why the world is looking to ditch US AI models

In news sure to make Cory Doctorow happy, Tech Policy reports:

Interoperability in the EU: A Judgment Opens the Door

NPR reports:

As the Trump administration purges web pages, this group is rushing to save them

California announces:

Attorney General Bonta Urgently Issues Consumer Alert for 23andMe Customers

404 Media reports:

Mozilla Foundation Calls on Tech Industry to Block ICE Contractor

The Guardian reports:

A French university is offering ‘scientific asylum’ for US talent. The brain drain has started

The Huffington Post reports:

Pete Hegseth Sued Over Signal Text Debacle

The Kyiv Post reports:

First Surveillance Satellite of Planned Czechia-Ukrainian Constellation in Orbit

The Kyiv Independent reports:

’89 hours of non-stop work’ — Ukrainian Railways’ battle against a cyberattack by ‘the enemy’

TechCrunch reports:

Open source devs are fighting AI crawlers with cleverness and vengeance

The Reader makes:

The Anti-Capitalist Case for Standards

Neutral

Tech Policy has:

Scientists Respond to FTC Inquiry into Tech Censorship

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

The Verge asks:

Is it safe to travel with your phone right now?

It’s not safe to travel to the U.S. period. Or even within it by air.

DarkReading reports:

US Weakens Disinformation Defenses, as Russia & China Ramp Up

Heisse reports:

US-Behörde stoppt Gelder für Let’s Encrypt und Tor ‒ Open Tech Fund wehrt sich

Tech Policy reports on:

AI Surveillance on the Rise in US, but Tactics of Repression Not New

How the White House is Gaslighting the World About Europe’s Digital Laws

On a related note to The Guardian article above, Not a Tech Bro has:

Not invented here

Pariah States

BleepingComputer reports:

Cyberattack takes down Ukrainian state railway’s online services

DarkReading reports:

Meet the Low-Key Access Broker Supercharging Russian State Cybercrime

FCC Investigates China-Backed Tech Suppliers for Evading US Operations Ban

Iran’s MOIS-Linked APT34 Spies on Allies Iraq & Yemen

Big Media

America2 reports:

The Substack Dilemma: How Creators Are Inadvertently Fueling America’s Failure

Nothing personal but if you are on Substack, you’re a fascist or uninformed or an amoral c^nt.

Vanity Fair reports:

Trump’s Attacks on Press Freedom Are Paving the Way for Authoritarianism

The Washington Examiner reports:

Kari Lake withdraws cancellation of Radio Free Europe funding

Big Tech

Politico reports:

Musk’s X suspends opposition accounts in Turkey amid civil unrest

How surprising. Two set of c^nts work together.

MIT Technology Review reports:

Why handing over total control to AI agents would be a huge mistake

Tech Policy asks:

Will Ireland be Big Tech’s Lapdog Yet Again?

Blood in the Machine opines:

OpenAI’s Studio Ghibli meme factory is an insult to art itself

Smashing Frames calls it a:

Vulgar Display of Power

Cybersecurity/Privacy

The Register reports:

As nation-state hacking becomes ‘more in your face,’ are supply chains secure?

BleepingComputer reports:

New VanHelsing ransomware targets Windows, ARM, ESXi systems

TechCrunch reports:

How to tell if your online accounts have been hacked

404 Media reports:

When Your Threat Model Is Being a Moron

You Need to Use Signal’s Nickname Feature

The Verge reports:

Vivaldi bundles Proton VPN into its web browser

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report – #109

Arxiv has a research paper:

FediverseSharing: A Novel Dataset on Cross-Platform Interaction
Dynamics between Threads and Mastodon Users

Letterbook has a:

Development Update

Fedihost has some how to videos:

Creating A GoToSocial Instance on FediHost

Configuring A PeerTube Instance

Reset Digital for Good has:

Dezentrale YouTube-Alternative PeerTube: Nachhaltiger dank Peer-to-Peer?

Elena Rossini shares:

PeerTube: the Fediverse’s decentralized video platform (part 2: creator edition)

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

The Fediverse Report has:

ATmosphere Report – 2025march.b

TechCrunch reports:

A world without Caesars: How the ATProto community is rebuilding the web to return power to the people

Hmm. Are they really? They sure as fuck aren’t as social media. The web, let’s hope so.

Geekwire reports on:

The under-the-radar tech revolution that could change how the internet works

I think this is more accurate.

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.
• Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.

Keep fighting!

Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse

#109 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProto #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #GoToSocial #Mastodon #Peertube #Signal #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #Threads

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1650

Destroying Autocracy – 20 March 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

Hans-Peter Schulenberg shares:

The DEEPSEEK Effect: How a Chinese AI Startup Is Reshaping the Global Tech Landscape

Let’s hope that things like Open-R1 will become ethical alternatives.

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

The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

The Register reports:

Euro techies call for sovereign fund to escape Uncle Sam’s digital death grip

Vivaldi 7.2 browser wants to topple tech’s feudal lords

Reuters reports:

Dutch parliament calls for end to dependence on US software companies

Freedom of the Press Foundation reports:

Wired is dropping paywalls for FOIA-based reporting. Others should follow

I know 404 Media does the same.

DarkReading reports:

Duke University & GCF Partner to Identify Pathways for Advancing Women’s Careers in Cybersecurity

TechCrunch reports:

Apple loses appeal against Germany’s special abuse control for Big Tech

ArsTechnica reports:

UK online safety law Musk hates kicks in today, and so far, Trump can’t stop it

Apple and Google in the hot seat as European regulators ignore Trump warnings

Neutral

Tech Policy reports on:

Middle Powers Digital Antitrust Efforts in the Age of Trump

404 Media reports:

Public Records Reveal How Agencies Complied With Trump’s Anti-Trans Order

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

404 Media reports:

TSA Says Its Credit Cards for Bomb-Sniffing Dogs Are Cut Off

The Guardian reports:

How an obscure US government office has become a target of Elon Musk

Radio Free Europe reports:

Trump Signs Executive Order For Major Cuts To 7 Agencies, Including RFE/RL Overseer USAGM

TechCrunch reports:

CISA scrambles to contact fired employees after court rules layoffs ‘unlawful’

Pariah States

DarkReading reports:

Denmark Warns of Increased Cyber Espionage Against Telecom Sector

Black Basta Leader in League With Russian Officials, Chat Logs Show

BleepingComputer reports:

Ukrainian military targeted in new Signal spear-phishing attacks

Big Media

NPR reports:

‘Bloody Saturday’ at Voice of America and other U.S.-funded networks

NBC News reports:

The Trump administration axed Voice of America, and China’s state media are delighted

Radio World reports:

RFE/RL Sues the USAGM to Get Its Grant Back

The Kyiv Independent reports:

RFE/RL sues Trump administration over funding cuts

Big Tech

Cory Doctorow writes:

Amazon annihilates Alexa privacy settings, turns on continuous, nonconsensual audio uploading

The Guardian reports:

Careless People: A Story of Where I Used to Work by Sarah Wynn-Williams review – a former disciple unfriends Facebook

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports on:

California’s A.B. 412: A Bill That Could Crush Startups and Cement A Big Tech AI Monopoly

The Register reports:

Amazon accused of using algorithms to push warehouse workers to breaking point

404 Media reports:

Meta Promises to Fight Misinformation in Australia With Same Strategy It Killed in the U.S. to Appease Trump

The Cradle reports:

Google to acquire Israeli firm staffed by former Unit 8200 officers

Two sets of c^nts who deserve each other.

Cybersecurity/Privacy

The Register reports:

UK wants dirt on data brokers before criminals get there first

Cloudflare reports:

Password reuse is rampant: nearly half of observed user logins are compromised

404 Media reports:

Facial Recognition Company Clearview Attempted to Buy Social Security Numbers and Mugshots for its Database

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report #108

The Conversation has:

The Fediverse promises social media without Big Tech – if it can avoid familiar pitfalls

The Social Web Foundation reports:

Fediverse House 2025 Wrap-up

IFTAS announces:

IFTAS 2.0 – Rescoping and Refocusing

Do the world a solid and make a donation to IFTAS, preferably a monthly one.

Fred Rocha explains:

How I use Mastodon in 2025

Ghost announces:

The social web beta is here

I’m looking forward to this being perfected and being available on regular Ghost.

Peertube announces:

PeerTube v7.1 is out!

A New Social is:

Breaking Ground

We Distribute reports:

Website League and the Rise of Island Networks

Forgejo has its:

Forgejo monthly update – February 2025

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

The Fediverse report has:

ATmosphere Report – 2025march.b

TechCrunch reports:

Bluesky users debate plans around user data and AI training

The Libre has:

Why I recommend against Bluesky

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.
• Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.

Keep fighting!

Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse

#108 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProto #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Mastodon #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1615

Welcome to last week’s “Destroying Autocracy”

https://friendica.me/display/78ea265d-1067-d9c8-d46f-543798792874

Destroying Autocracy – 13 March 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

Tech Policy reports:

Describing the technologies that make all of this possible as “AI” masks what they really are: government surveillance targeting free speech. Today, the government’s use of (Big Tech) data threatens to deny rights while slashing government services, and the risk of being singled out hovers over anyone who disagrees with the administration.

A system linking the views expressed on an individual’s social media accounts to the platforms gathering government data is an immediate threat to the freedom to express ourselves and live without fear of government interference in that expression.

Through fear of service denials, investigations, targeted audits, and other potential abuses, the existence of this apparatus leads citizens to curtail Constitutionally protected speech acts. Creating a situation where citizens reasonably fear that their speech will lead to a suspension of rights, denial of services, or taking on other risks that threaten democratic participation and debate.

What is clear, however, is that the moment such an incursion into rights can be articulated, there is a vast legal precedent under the Privacy Act that can be brought forward in response. For that reason, Americans need more, not less, public expression of diverse ideas and robust rebuttals to the intrusion of this public-private partnership into our civic life.

The AI State is a Surveillance State

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

The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

The Next Web reports:

4 European satellite firms are vying to replace Starlink in Ukraine

Tech Policy reports:

Ukraine’s Hard-Won Approach to Strategic Communications and Counter-Disinformation: Lessons for Europe and Beyond

Politico reports:

EU-US rift triggers call for made-in-Europe tech

Krebs on Security reports:

Alleged Co-Founder of Garantex Arrested in India

The Verge reports:

Media Matters sues X to stop lawsuits outside of the US

TechPolicy reports:

DOJ Sets Record Straight of What’s Needed to Dismantle Google’s Search Monopoly

TechCrunch reports:

UK competition probe of mobile browsers finds Apple-Google duopoly is ‘anti-innovation’

Could deeptech serve as Europe’s path to autonomy from the US?

Signal President Meredith Whittaker calls out agentic AI as having ‘profound’ security and privacy issues

Open web initiatives Project Liberty and Solid could be teaming up

Meta faces publisher copyright AI lawsuit in France

Judge allows authors’ AI copyright lawsuit against Meta to move forward

ArsTechnica has more:

Meta mocked for raising “Bob Dylan defense” of torrenting in AI copyright fight

The United Nations announce:

The OSI First to Endorse United Nations Open Source Principles

Neutral

Tech Policy reports:

Out of Balance: What the EU’s Strategy Shift Means for the AI Ecosystem

BleepingComputer reports:

X hit by ‘massive cyberattack’ amid Dark Storm’s DDoS claims

Usually this would be in the cybersecurity section. But, since it was against the box of c^nts known as Shitter the story gets moved here.

OpenSource reports on:

Overcoming barriers to Open Source procurement in the European Union

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

Tech Policy reports:

How Disinformation Is Undermining Trust In Brazil’s Most Used Digital Public Infrastructure

The Guardian reports:

ICE accessed car trackers in sanctuary cities that could help in raids, files show

404 Media reports:

Here is NASA’s Contract with Clearview AI

The 200+ Sites an ICE Surveillance Contractor is Monitoring

TechDirt reports:

Trump’s Latest Weapon Against Critics: Destroying Their Lawyers

Pariah States

The Register reports:

Expired Juniper routers find new life – as Chinese spy hubs

BleepingComputer reports:

Undocumented commands found in Bluetooth chip used by a billion devices

North Korean Lazarus hackers infect hundreds via npm packages

TechCrunch reports:

North Korean government hackers snuck spyware on Android app store

Big Media

The Associated Press reports:

Washington Post columnist quits after her opinion piece criticizing owner Jeff Bezos is rejected

The Bulwark reports:

‘State Propaganda’: Anger Erupts Inside Univision Over Airing of Trump Ad

Big Tech

Not a Tech Bro says:

The government is not our business

The Index reports:

The Fascist Tech Bro Takeover Is Here

Unfortunately, it’s true.

The BBC reports:

Facebook was ‘hand in glove’ with China, BBC told

Radio Free Asia reports:

Hong Kong media urged to back up Facebook protest videos

Terror

Michah Flee shares a:

Step-by-step guide to reading the leaked militia chats yourself

Very cool.

Cybersecurity/Privacy

DarkReading reports:

Democratizing Security to Improve Security Posture

OpenAI Operator Agent Used in Proof-of-Concept Phishing Attack

Binance Spoofers Compromise PCs in ‘TRUMP’ Crypto Scam

He, he.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation shares:

Choosing the VPN That’s Right for You

BleepingComputer reports:

Critical PHP RCE vulnerability mass exploited in new attacks

CISA: Medusa ransomware hit over 300 critical infrastructure orgs

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report #107

Hamish Campbell explains:

Why the Fediverse Needs a Connection Between Mainstreaming and Grassroots

The Nexus of Privacy shares:

Notes (and thoughts) on organizing in the Fediverse and the ATmosphere

Ghost has an update:

Actually, I take that back

Mastodon has:

Trunk & Tidbits, February 2025

SplitBrain details:

Mastodon to GoToSocial Migration

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

TechCrunch reports:

Open social web browser Surf integrates with Bluesky in latest beta

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.
• Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.

Keep fighting!

Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse

#107 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProto #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #GoToSocial #Mastodon #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1575

Destroying Autocracy – 06 March 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

Tech Policy writes:

The year is 2028. The world’s leading economies are in turmoil as artificial intelligence systems, once hailed as engines of progress, have outpaced human governance.

AI-driven financial markets operate beyond regulation, executing trades at speeds incomprehensible to human oversight. AI legal agents flood the courts with appeals and counterappeals, paralyzing the judicial system. Generative AI platforms tailor disinformation campaigns with surgical precision, dismantling electoral processes before governments can intervene.

Meanwhile, a handful of oligarchs with exclusive control over the most advanced AI systems command unprecedented influence, bypassing legislatures and setting policies through proprietary governance mechanisms.

Democracy, once thought resilient, is crumbling under the weight of unchecked artificial intelligence.

It’s hard not to see a trajectory towards such a world in today’s headlines. Yet, this future is not inevitable.

AI at the Brink: Preventing the Subversion of Democracy

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

The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

The Register reports:

UK watchdog investigates TikTok and Reddit over child data privacy concerns

ArsTechnica reports:

Apple refuses to break encryption, seeks reversal of UK demand for backdoor

NextGov reports:

US spy chief directs legal review of UK’s Apple backdoor demand

EuroNews reports:

EU Commission looking to speed up 5G defence from foreign interference

TechCrunch reports:

EU must ‘fully’ apply its market fairness rulebook on Google, search rivals urge

Jan Wildeboer describes:

From iCloud to Nextcloud: Contacts

404 Media reports:

French University to Fund American Scientists Who Fear Trump Censorship

Archivists Recreate Pre-Trump CDC Website, Are Hosting It in Europe

NetzPolitik reports:

Open source funding on the brink : “Delivering what’s needed to make Europe sovereign”

Tech Policy has:

Looking for an Exit: Europe’s Way to Public Digital Infrastructures

The Electronic Frontier Foundation introduces:

Meet Rayhunter: A New Open Source Tool from EFF to Detect Cellular Spying

BleepingComputer reports:

US charges Chinese hackers linked to critical infrastructure breaches

Andre Garzia opines:

The Web Should Be A Conversation

Sim, meu homem!

Ben Werdmuller says:

The web was always about redistribution of power. Let’s bring that back.

Joan Westenberg writes:

Big Tech Wants You Trapped. The Open Web Sets You Free

Neutral

The Register reports:

Microsoft unveils finalized EU Data Boundary as European doubt over US grows

It begins: Pentagon to give AI agents a role in decision making, ops planning

The Markup reports:

AI Chatbots Can Cushion the High School Counselor Shortage — But Are They Bad for Students?

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

BitDefender reports:

Stop targeting Russian hackers, Trump administration orders US Cyber Command

The Guardian reports:

Trump administration retreats in fight against Russian cyber threats

Meanwhile BleepingComputer reports:

DHS says CISA will not stop monitoring Russian cyber threats

The Register has more:

So … Russia no longer a cyber threat to America?

Given that the people running these agencies are now lying, moronic, incompetent, fascist c^nts, who knows what to believe.

The Kyiv Independent reports:

Russian, Chinese intelligence seek to recruit fired US federal employees, CNN reports

This would be funny if weren’t disastrous.

404 Media reports:

Cellebrite Is Using AI to Summarize Chat Logs and Audio from Seized Mobile Phones

Tech Policy reports:

An Alert to the World: The Role of Social Media Platforms in Bolsonaro’s Disinformation Campaign Targeting Brazil’s Democratic Institutions

Pariah States

The Register reports:

Polish space agency confirms cyberattack

DarkReading reports:

‘Crafty Camel’ APT Targets Aviation, OT With Polygot Files

China’s Silk Typhoon APT Shifts to IT Supply Chain Attacks

Big Media

Joan Westenberg shares:

Why I Won’t Write on Substack

Substack is for c^nts and fascists. Use Ghost or Buttondown instead. And you should become a paid subscriber to Joan’s site as well.

Speaking of, The Guardian has:

The LA Times’ AI ‘bias meter’ looks like a bid to please Donald Trump

TechDirt announces:

Why Techdirt Is Now A Democracy Blog (Whether We Like It Or Not)

Big Tech

Where’s Your ‘Ed At explains:

The Generative AI Con

TechCrunch reports:

Anthropic quietly removes Biden-era AI policy commitments from its website

Jumping on the coward bandwagon.

OpenAI’s ex-policy lead criticizes the company for ‘rewriting’ its AI safety history

404 Media reports:

Google and Amazon AI Say Hitler’s Mein Kampf Is ‘a True Work of Art’

Terror

Micah Flee is:

Exploring the Paramilitary Leaks

Cybersecurity/Privacy

DarkReading reports:

Third-Party Risk Top Cybersecurity Claims

BleepingComputer reports:

Microsoft Teams tactics, malware connect Black Basta, Cactus ransomware

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report #106

Unfortunately, IFTAS has an announcement:

IFTAS Service Shutdowns

I just started a small monthly donation, but they need big money for the things they just dropped.

FOSS Academic asks are we in a:

Standards War?

Ghost has an update:

Warp factor 5, Mr. Sulu

FunkWhale announces:

Funkwhale Against Fascism

And fuck anybody who has a problem with it!

Elena Rossini shares:

PeerTube: the Fediverse’s decentralized video platform (part 1: first impressions)

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

TechCrunch reports:

Tapbots teases a new Bluesky app, Phoenix, saying it can’t ‘survive on Mastodon alone’

Tangled is

Introducing tangled

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.
• Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.

Keep fighting!

Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse

#106 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProto #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #Peertube #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1514

Destroying Autocracy – 27 February 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 democracy. 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

Nextcloud announces:

More and more of our digital lives are controlled by a handful of big tech firms and their CEOs – but there is a better way. A way that puts control back in your hands, fosters collaboration, and protects your digital freedom. And today, that is more important than ever.

With Nextcloud Hub 10, we double down on the vision that started it all: an integrated yet modular digital workspace, built for freedom, security, and teamwork. Instead of juggling multiple disconnected apps, Nextcloud Hub provides a unified platform – easier to manage, scale, and secure – while still offering deep customization. Choose from our core applications, extend them with 400+ integration-ready apps, and bring in the services you need.

Because the future isn’t about walled gardens – it’s about open collaboration. Whether you’re running Nextcloud at home, in a business, government, or local sports club, you stay in control. Our federation features connect Nextcloud servers worldwide, bringing millions together in a truly decentralized network.

Nextcloud Hub 10 – your unified, modular digital workspace

As mentioned in the Techno Anarchist Manifesto, using Nextcloud instead of Google, Microsoft, or Apple is a great way to fight Techno Feudalism.

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

The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

404 Media reports:

All 50 States Have Now Introduced Right to Repair Legislation

Ars Technica reports:

Judge: US gov’t violated privacy law by disclosing personal data to DOGE

BleepingComputer reports:

OpenAI bans ChatGPT accounts used by North Korean hackers

Tech Policy reports:

The EU’s Code of Practice on Disinformation is Now Part of the Digital Services Act. What Does It Mean?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

Anti-Surveillance Mapmaker Refuses Flock Safety’s Cease and Desist Demand
TechCrunch reports:

Cellebrite suspends Serbia as customer after claims police used firm’s tech to plant spyware

The Internet Review has:

Framework Brings Real Excitement Back to Personal Computers

They are a recommendation of mine in The Techno Anarchist Manifesto aka Let’s fuck up Techno Feudalism

The Register reports:

Signal will withdraw from Sweden if encryption-busting laws take effect

Microsoft names alleged credential-snatching ‘Azure Abuse Enterprise’ operators

Joan Westenberg shares:

How I’m Building a Trump-Proof Tech Stack Without Big Tech

For a more hardcore version, see the Techno Anarchist Manifesto above.

The Next Web reports:

DataSnipper CEO: Europe doesn’t have to follow the Silicon Valley playbook

404 Media shares:

The Digital Packrat Manifesto

Neutral

Open_Future published:

“Digital Public Infrastructure” at a Turning Point

Tech Policy shares:

Beyond Digital Rights: Towards a Fair Information Ecosystem?

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

Bert Hubert says:

It is no longer safe to move our governments and societies to US clouds

He’s right.

The Register reports:

Trump administration threatens tariffs for any nation that dares to tax Big Tech
Krebs on Security reports:

Trump 2.0 Brings Cuts to Cyber, Consumer Protections

Pariah States

Krebs on Security reports:

Notorious Malware, Spam Host “Prospero” Moves to Kaspersky Lab

This should surprise no one.

BleepingComputer reports:

North Korean hackers linked to $1.5 billion ByBit crypto heist

Belgium probes if Chinese hackers breached its intelligence service

The Register reports:

China’s Silver Fox spoofs medical imaging apps to hijack patients’ computers
Xi know what you did last summer: China was all up in Republicans’ email, says book

Villain on Villain action here.

Big Media

The Guardian reports:

Washington Post opinion editor departs as Bezos pushes to promote ‘personal liberties and free markets’

Ex-Washington Post editor Marty Baron rebukes Bezos: ‘betrayal of free expression’

Big Tech

The Electronic Frontier Foundation says:

Stop Censoring Abortion: Help EFF and Repro Uncensored end digital suppression

404 Media reports:

Instagram ‘Error’ Turned Reels Into Neverending Scroll of Murder, Gore, and Violence

Cybersecurity/Privacy

The Verge reports:

Google is replacing Gmail’s SMS authentication with QR codes

The Register reports:

How nice that state-of-the-art LLMs reveal their reasoning … for miscreants to exploit

Bleeping Computer reports:

New Auto-Color Linux backdoor targets North American govts, universities

GitVenom attacks abuse hundreds of GitHub repos to steal crypto

Microsoft names cybercriminals behind AI deepfake network

404 Media reports:

AT&T Hacker Tried to Sell Stolen Data to Foreign Government

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report #105

TechCrunch reports:

Tumblr backs Tapestry, a timeline app for the open social web

I think apps like this and Surf are going to gain more traction than platform apps and clients in the long run.

Beej’s Bit Bucket takes a look at:

Mastodon Comments

NodeBB is fully federated:

NodeBB v4.0.0 — Federate good times, come on!

We Distribute opines:

Funkwhale Wants to Filter Out Far-Right Music

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

Bluesky info has:

Bluesky Resources

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.
• Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.

Keep fighting!

Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse

#105 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Mastodon #StopChina #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1475

Destroying Autocracy – 20 February 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 democracy. 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

The Dabbler writes:

If an AI system, though not actually thinking or understanding, is built to reflect the way we theorize our minds to function, then in theory at least, we should be able to change it the same way we change our own minds. That means bringing conflicts and contradictions to the surface in order to resolve them. And if we want to undermine the technofascist project, then we need to emphasize the contradictions inherent to it.

Poison as Praxis

Very interesting.

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

The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

TechDirt reports:

No Personal Liability For DOGE Yet, But With Two More Lawsuits We Get Closer
TechCrunch reports:

Open source LLMs hit Europe’s digital sovereignty roadmap

The Electronic Frontier Foundation says:

Stop Censoring Abortion: Help EFF and Repro Uncensored End Digital Suppression

404 Media reports:

Public Library Ebook Service to Cull AI Slop After 404 Media Investigation

Tech Policy reports:

Data Colonialism Comes Home To The US: Resistance Must Too

Neutral

Tech Policy Press reports:

At Paris AI Summit, US, EU, Other Nations Lay Out Divergent Goals

AI Countergovernance: Lessons Learned from Canada and Paris

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

Tech Policy reports:

Online Election Manipulation Is a Challenge for Democracy. It’s About to Get a Whole Lot Worse.

404 Media reports:

Musk Ally Demands Admin Access to System That Lets Government Text the Public

The Texas Observer reports:

ICE Prosecutor in Dallas Runs White Supremacist X Account

Pariah States

The Register reports:

If you dread a Microsoft Teams invite, just wait until it turns out to be a Russian phish

Google reports:

Signals of Trouble: Multiple Russia-Aligned Threat Actors Actively Targeting Signal Messenger

DarkReading reports:

China-Linked Threat Group Targets Japanese Orgs’ Servers

North Korea’s Kimsuky Taps Trusted Platforms to Attack South Korea

Big Media

The Independent reports:

Washington Post refuses to run $115,000 ad titled ‘Fire Elon Musk,’ report says
The Verge reports:

The New York Times adopts AI tools in the newsroom

Newsweek reports:

Joe Rogan Dethroned by Anti-Trump Podcast in the Charts

Big Tech

The Verge reports:

X is blocking links to Signal

CBS News reports:

Meta failing to curb spread of many sexualized AI deepfake celebrity images on Facebook

TechCrunch reports:

Study of TikTok, X ‘For You’ feeds in Germany finds far-right political bias ahead of federal elections

Tech Policy reports:

Amidst Flurry Of Anti-DEI Measures, Meta’s Content Moderation Policies Will Harm People With Disabilities

Cybersecurity/Privacy

The Register reports:

Nearly 10 years after Data and Goliath, Bruce Schneier says: Privacy’s still screwed

The Center for Democracy and Technology reports:

First Amendment Tech Transparency Roadmap

Privacy Guides says:

No, Privacy is Not Dead: Beware the All-or-Nothing Mindset

BleepingComputer reports:

Lee Enterprises newspaper disruptions caused by ransomware attack

Darcula PhaaS can now auto-generate phishing kits for any brand

The Verge reports:

Chase will start blocking Zelle payments over social media

Center for Democracy and Technology says:

Online Censorship Isn’t New – Neither Are Efforts to Evade It

Soatok starts a new series:

Reviewing the Cryptography Used by Signal

Vox reports:

How to fight back in the war against spam texts

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

The Fediverse Report has:

Fediverse Report – #104

The Nexus of Privacy explores:

Organizing on decentralized social networks

We Distribute reports:

IFTAS is In a Funding Crisis

Elana Rossini shares:

GoToSocial empowers you to have your own home on the Fediverse – with unique controls

Box 464 has:

Understanding Mastodon Preview Card Display Logic

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

TechCrunch reports:

Bluesky adds a ‘followers only’ reply option

Jaz looks at:

When Imperfect Systems are Good, Actually: Bluesky’s Lossy Timelines

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.
• Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.

Keep fighting!

Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse

#104 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #GoToSocial #Mastodon #StopChina #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1429

Destroying Autocracy – 13 February 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 democracy. 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

404 Media writes:

A new paper from researchers at Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University finds that as humans increasingly rely on generative AI in their work, they use less critical thinking, which can “result in the deterioration of cognitive faculties that ought to be preserved.”

“A key irony of automation is that by mechanizing routine tasks and leaving exception-handling to the human user, you deprive the user of the routine opportunities to practice their judgement and strengthen their cognitive musculature, leaving them atrophied and unprepared when the exceptions do arise,” the researchers wrote.

Microsoft Study Finds AI Makes Human Cognition “Atrophied and Unprepared”

Surprise, surprise.

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

The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery

The Next Web reports:

Ethical AI and climate tech are turning the Netherlands into a European innovation leader

The Electronic Frontier Foundation looks at:

Closing the Gap in Encryption on Mobile

Fast Company reports:

This scrappy search upstart is getting thousands of people to give up Google

BleepingComputer reports:

US sanctions LockBit ransomware’s bulletproof hosting provider

404 Media reports:

Wikipedia Prepares for ‘Increase in Threats’ to US Editors From Musk and His Allies

The Register reports:

A win at last: Big blow to AI world in training data copyright scrap

Great.

Codeberg declares:

We stay strong against hate and hatred

DarkReading reports:

Japan Goes on Offense With New ‘Active Cyber Defense’ Bill

Neutral

Tech Policy has:

Message to US States: Don’t Forget the Fundamentals of Fighting Online Hate and Antisemitism

An Advocate’s Guide to Automated Content Moderation

Navigating Europe’s AI Code of Practice Before the Clock Runs Out

The Register reports:

EU plans to ‘mobilize’ €200B to invest in AI to catch up with US and China

The Evil Empire Strikes Back

The Atlantic reports:

The Government’s Computing Experts Say They Are Terrified

Popular Information reports:

The NSA’s “Big Delete”

G Zero Media reports:

Elon Musk’s government takeover is powered by AI

Business Insider reports:

We got a DOGE staff list. From a McKinsey alum to a former Clarence Thomas clerk, here are the workers powering Elon Musk’s cost-cutting squad.

TechCrunch reports:

Spyware maker caught distributing malicious Android apps for years

The Guardian reports:

US immigration is gaming Google to create a mirage of mass deportations

The Intercept reports:

ICE wants to know if you’re posting mean things about it online

Pariah States

BleepingComputer reports:

Russian military hackers deploy malicious Windows activators in Ukraine

BadPilot network hacking campaign fuels Russian SandWorm attacks

DPRK hackers dupe targets into typing PowerShell commands as admin

Chinese espionage tools deployed in RA World ransomware attack

Domain Tools reports:

Chinese Malware Delivery Domains Part II: Data Collection

The Guardian reports:

Revelations of Israeli spyware abuse raise fears over possible use by Trump

The Register reports:

Crimelords and spies for rogue states are working together, says Google

The Committee to Protect Journalists reports:

2024 is deadliest year for journalists in CPJ history; almost 70% killed by Israel

Ars Technica reports:

What is device code phishing, and why are Russian spies so successful at it?

Big Media

The Wikipedian reports:

The Right’s War on Wikipedia is Just a Repackaging of its War on Journalism

Big Tech

The Guardian reports:

We didn’t click ‘consent’ on any gambling website. So how did Facebook know where we’d been?

How Meta abandoned Silicon Valley’s most ambitious diversity goals

404 Media reports:

Senator Pushes Zuckerberg on “Perverse Abuse” of Nudify Ads After 404 Media Report

This Adtech Company is Powering Surveillance of U.S. Military Personnel

PC Gamer reports:

A 2023 study concluded CAPTCHAs are ‘a tracking cookie farm for profit masquerading as a security service’ that made us spend 819 million hours clicking on traffic lights to generate nearly $1 trillion for Google

The Verge reports:

Google Calendar removed events like Pride and BHM because its holiday list wasn’t ‘sustainable’

There is nothing worse than cowardice.

OpenAI is rethinking how AI models handle controversial topics

Terror

The Guardian reports:

Bomb-plot trial of neo-Nazi leader pulls back veil on US extremist networks

Cybersecurity/Privacy

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:

The UK’s Demands for Apple to Break Encryption Is an Emergency for Us All

The Washington Post reports:

Your employer might be spying on you. Here’s how workers can check.

BleepingComputer reports:

Apple fixes zero-day exploited in ‘extremely sophisticated’ attacks

CNN reports:

How to keep your private conversations private

The Register reports:

Probe finds US Coast Guard has left maritime cybersecurity adrift

Feds want devs to stop coding ‘unforgivable’ buffer overflow vulnerabilities

Fediverse

The Fediverse Report has:

Last Week in Fediverse #103

Wreckage shares:

Bridges & scruples

Read this if you love the Fediverse.

SMA looks at:

A Brief History of Alternative Social Media Scholarship

The New Stack reports:

Pixelfed Crowdfunds More Open Source Social Alternatives for the Fediverse

The Internet Review reports on:

Improved Moderation Features Coming Later This Month to Pixelfed

TechCrunch reports:

These apps are building Instagram alternatives on open protocols

Tumblr to join the Fediverse after WordPress migration completes

Mastodon has:

Trunk & Tidbits, January 2025

Bringing Quote Posts to Mastodon

The Counterforce shares:

The Counterforce Guide to Mastodon and The Fediverse (for punks!)

But Nazi Punks, Fuck Off!

Ghost has:

If you didn’t like it then you should have just unfollowed it

Repost the stuff you love

Other Slightly Federated Social Media

The Fediverse Report has:

Last Week in the ATmosphere – 2025feb.b

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.
• Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.

Keep fighting!

Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse

#103 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Codeberg #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #Pixelfed #Spyware #StopChina #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #Tumblr

https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=1387