Dan Gillmor

Bio and disclosures: dangillmor.com/about/ Boosts mean I think you should see this -- usually but not always an endorsement.

California, Nara, Arizona etc. · dangillmor.com

Personal site: https://dangillmor.com
Journalists, please leave Twitter and join the fediverse. Here's how to get started:: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/01/04/journalists-and-others-should-leave-twitter-heres-how-they-can-get-started/
"Cornerstone of Democracy" Newsletter: https://cornerstone.ghost.io
Contact me: https://dangillmor.com/contact

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Last Notes

2024-08-29 22:09:07

It does appear to be true. R.I.P. Steve Silberman.
https://bsky.app/profile/wardqnormal.bsky.social/post/3l2uljphb2p2e

2024-08-23 18:46:07

As usual, the Washington Post meekly declines to use the correct word -- lie -- in its Trump story. The word "misleads" does not begin to convey the deceit that spews from this guy every time he opens his mouth.
Journalistic malpractice.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/113/012/814/080/153/914/original/018266aa4ec3d829.png

2024-08-22 23:52:51

There's a level of jingoism in the Democratic convention that makes me uncomfortable...

2024-08-22 18:22:52

- reply

This is a good point. I'm not sure what I can do about it, but I'm looking into the issue. @npub16nr…879s

2024-08-22 15:04:57

Among the books banned, and binned, by a Florida college right-wing administration was a volume from two U.S. senators, one a Republican.
They aren't pleased. But the Republican in question, Maine's Collins, was one of right wing's chief enablers during Trump administration.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/08/22/senators-stunned-after-new-college-dumped-their-book?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=16d13f564b-DNU_2021_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-16d13f564b-238276834&mc_cid=16d13f564b

2024-08-21 20:10:53

If RFKjr drops out and endorses Trump, it'll be because he realized his third-party campaign was going to help Harris.
He and Trump are fellow travelers in the anti-vax movement -- enemies of public health.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/rfk-jr-plans-drop-presidential-race-end-week/story?id=113028999

2024-08-21 16:43:23

Wall Street banks have realized what suckers Elon Musk made of them in the Twitter buyout. https://www.techdirt.com/2024/08/21/banks-realize-backing-elons-twitter-buyout-is-close-to-the-worst-buyout-of-all-time/

2024-08-20 16:56:24

Of course RFKjr and his running mate -- virulent anti-vaxxers -- are looking at endorsing Trump, whose contempt for public health took countless lives and will, if he gets back in power, consume countless more.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/20/rfk-jr-campaign-trump-alliance-shanahan.html

2024-08-20 04:33:04

Maureen Dowd isn't just a raging hypocrite. She's illiterate. She doesn't know what a coup is. And she was one of the countless NY Times people yelling at Biden to drop out.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/992/474/454/104/476/original/a4f74a5b069f1957.png

2024-08-20 03:15:35

Are the Dems really going to put Biden on after midnight Eastern time?

2024-08-20 00:11:54

Right-wing media is just aching for a repeat of the 1968 Democratic convention violence.
Example from the Murdoch family's Fox "News" -- headline is "DNC host Chicago, haunted by 1968 convention rioting, braces for bloodshed"
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/991/448/916/653/152/original/49db8b9220667251.png

2024-08-16 21:42:48

If Harris said something as disgusting as Trump's dunking today on Medal of Honor winners, Big Journalism wouldn't stop talking about it for WEEKS.
Trump's vile statement is getting the denunciation it deserves today.
But I guarantee that our political press will decide it's old news by tomorrow, or Monday at the latest.
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2024/08/16/trump-belittles-medal-of-honor-award-in-campaign-speech/

2024-08-16 15:58:36

Latest reminder that if you buy something that the maker calls "smart" you are setting yourself up for being ripped off.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/08/smart-sous-vide-cooker-to-start-charging-2-month-for-10-year-old-companion-app/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
I go out of my way to avoid "smart" stuff -- but it's increasingly difficult to find.
Someone will make a lot of money when they open a store that sells things that purchasers fully own.

2024-08-15 16:27:33

Pretty evil, I would say, for Eric Schmidt -- former Google CEO -- to be this brazen about how Big Tech sees the rest of the world, as a resource to be plundered.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/14/24220658/google-eric-schmidt-stanford-talk-ai-startups-openai

2024-08-15 16:25:44

Harris' (apparent) proposal to make a crime out of grocery "price gouging" could be a major unforced error.
The details will tell us, but we haven't seen an actual plan yet.
What we need is to break up the monopolies and cartels that run pretty much every sector of our economy and restore true competition.
Granular interference with markets won't cut it.

2024-08-15 15:27:09

When I stopped being active at Twitter, I had more than 45,000 followers and a moderate amount of engagement (replies, retweets, etc.).
I have a third fewer followers here, and at least 10 times the genuine engagement. Sure, some bots, but most of it is genuine -- and useful.
I no longer see what (some) people I respect are saying publicly. I miss their thoughts, and wish they'd recognize that by staying active there they are supporting a dangerous extremist.
They feel trapped. They're not.

2024-08-14 17:32:03

The NY Times has stopped pretending to care about New York City beyond the big stories. https://hellgatenyc.com/nyt-endorses-ignoring-nyc/

2024-08-13 21:03:26

Please please stop calling the Trump-Musk lovefest an "interview" -- it was a media baron serving up softballs to a delusional but dangerous old man.

2024-07-27 00:46:45

Please keep in mind that the Harris euphoria will not -- cannot -- last nonstop through November. There's a natural ebb and flow to everything. Count on the Trump cult getting part of their vile act together after their initially flummoxed response.
Meanwhile, Big Journalism is going to do everything it possibly can to stir up trouble so it can cover the election, as it loves to do, as blood sport. Issues? Ha.
We will save democracy. The hardest work begins now -- please do what you can.

2024-07-24 04:21:42

Journalists demanding that the Democrats hold an "open convention" aren't interested in a serious debate over the issues.
They're interested in fostering a giant food fight that generates sensationalistic coverage.
Don't be fooled.

2024-07-16 02:25:21

Trump plans to set up concentration camps for the millions of people he wants to deport.
Suppose he and his fascist browshirts take over America, and that they get away with that utter trashing of human rights.
You don't think they're going to dismantle those concentration camps or leave them empty after the first wave, do you?

2024-07-11 22:58:18

I doubt a single journalist, if put before the snarling White House press corps, would pass the absolute-perfection-in-diction test they're now demanding from Biden -- and routinely don't care about when it comes from word-salad Trump.
Such hypocrisy.

2024-07-10 07:47:12

Really not great the way Windows restarts without permission and what you were doing is gone...
Update: Before you tell me to use Linux, I do use it, and it's been my primary OS for well over a decade. But I have one Windows machine for several specific reasons. (And please don't instruct me on Wine, OK? Thanks...)

2024-07-10 04:30:27

Blog post: The NY Times' neurologist story was a disgrace
https://dangillmor.com/2024/07/09/the-ny-times-neurologist-story-was-a-disgrace/

2024-07-10 02:02:18

- reply

It doesn't look to me like a site-wide campaign, ordered from the top...

2024-07-10 01:31:46

Looks like Musk's deadbird site is up to some of its most vile political tricks, in this case sleazily discouraging people from looking at evidence relating to the Russian missile attack on a Ukraine children's hospital.
h/t @npub153l…caex
Do look at the report: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/07/09/russian-missile-identified-in-kyiv-childrens-hospital-attack/
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/759/591/741/165/451/original/f65b3429cd61d9e4.png

2024-07-10 00:40:28

I would subscribe to the Bulwark in a second if it wasn't published via Substack. (Can't find an email address for them, or I'd let them know directly...)
This is the case with a number of worthy newsletters.

2024-07-09 23:26:29

If the New York Times still employed a public editor with integrity and authority, I guarantee that person would be working on a scathing denunciation of yesterday's innuendo-spinning White House neurologist story.
That's one reason the New York Times killed off the public editor job years ago.

2024-07-09 06:29:07

As Russian iphone customers lose their ability to use VPNs to get around the Putin regime's censorship, it's essential to remember that Apple shares the responsibility for this repression.
The company's "use the app store or do without" policy is a choke point that dictatorships happily leverage against their citizens.
Putin is a monster, but he counts on the control freakery in Cupertino.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/russia-forces-apple-to-remove-dozens-of-vpn-apps-from-app-store/

2024-07-08 23:29:26

Meanwhile, Big Journalism is treating the Republicans' increasingly effective voter suppression as either a non-story or something to be noticed once in a while -- when it is the official policy of the Republican Party to prevent likely Democratic voters from casting ballots or having their votes counted.
Why aren't media orgs as relentless about this? The logical answer is that they just don't give a damn.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2024/07/08/florida-voter-registration-law-has-major-impact?utm_source=Democracy+Docket+Newsletters&utm_campaign=45cb772e77-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_03_15_08_46_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-2029d74fb4-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=45cb772e77

2024-07-08 23:22:57

It makes me sick to my stomach to say this, but Big Journalism's relentless campaign to oust Biden from the Democratic ticket now seems likely to succeed. Even Krugman has now joined the NY Times' all-encompassing foray into journalistic activism.
How many minutes will pass after Biden withdraws before widespread attacks on Harris commence?

2024-07-08 02:43:16

If Microsoft/LinkedIn was more interested in a good user experience, it wouldn't send email notifications of messages that contain only a link to the message inside LinkedIn, rather than the message itself...

2024-07-08 01:15:54

The top of the New York Times homepage has been reserved almost solely, since the debate, for articles aimed at increasing the pressure on Biden and the Democrats to remove him from the Democratic ticket.
Right now:
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/748/226/405/334/785/original/0df11db368eda7c2.png

2024-07-07 06:16:59

Another day in the New York Times' all-hands-on-deck campaign to get Biden off the Democratic ticket.
Also another day when the nation's most important news organization demonstrates a profound lack of integrity, by refusing to acknowledge its activism or explain who's behind it and why.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/743/734/894/028/535/original/c4541399a76b5544.png

2024-07-07 04:44:11

Saw a Facebook post, showing the 120F temperature in a desert city in the American west and saying, "All sensible people have already left town."
There are a lot of people who can't afford to leave town, because they are old, or they have to work to feed their children or they are poor, or they have nowhere else to go in any case.
We have a profound deficit of empathy in America.

2024-07-06 05:32:44

A question for Americans who think they can just emigrate to some liberal haven if Trump wins:
What makes you think any other countries want you?

2024-07-06 04:55:31

Such respect for Taraji P. Henson, who used her TV/music platform to warn the public about Trump world's fascist plans.
She did what Big Journalism can't be bothered to do: Tell the public, with the urgency this deserves, what's coming if Trump gets back in power.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/bet-awards-2024-taraji-p-194059896.html

2024-07-06 03:14:29

Trump now pretends he didn't know anything about the Project 2025 plan from the neo-fascist Heritage Foundation, which is a key part of his cult in every way.
I GUARANTEE that news organizations will publish his lies as if they are one side of a legitimate debate.
The public is only now starting to hear what's in this evil plan -- including the end of basically all policies that help or protect people.
If the media blow this one, that will be business as usual.

2024-07-05 23:56:43

I sometimes encounter great writing that I want to support, but it's published on on the Substack plaform. I send an email to the author saying I would subscribe in a heartbeat if he/she moved it elsewhere.
I realize it's futile in almost every case, but it's better than saying nothing.

2024-07-05 12:06:20

Your daily reminder that the New York Times is on an old-fashioned newspaper crusade -- an all-hands-on-deck attack aimed at getting Biden off the ticket this fall.
I'm not against media orgs going on campaigns. I am vehemently offended when they don't fess up to what's going on, and why.
The Times should be transparent about a) what it's doing (it is, in a way; just look for yourself); and b) what the motivation is beyond the obvious one.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/733/783/858/077/978/original/4edc58743cc29b05.png

2024-07-05 00:27:30

The increasing pressure from well-meaning people -- even on the left -- for "online age-verification" is in effect a call for censorship and further destruction of privacy.
They don't care, as long as they can claim to be protecting kids.
They think they can keep the totally predictable problems under control, but that shows contempt for history and what we already know about technology.
One example: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/06/global-suppression-online-lgbtq-speech-continues
Are consequences unintended if they're predictable? No.

2024-07-04 06:58:59

One of my goals at this point is to help reduce the power of the New York Times, which more and more routinely abuses that (often deserved) clout.
The Times made a point of skewering the Clinton campaign in 2016. No doubt the bosses were convinced she'd win anyway. They were preparing for a presidency that they could snipe at in ways that would affect policy.
They're on another campaign now, to push Biden out, and their clout has carried along a lot of other media people.
That's real power.

2024-07-04 01:09:08

Ms. magazine just reposted my plea to Big Journalism to become activists in defense of democracy:
https://msmagazine.com/2024/07/03/democracy-journalism-biden-trump-supreme-court-immunity/
They graciously asked for my permission, which I was honored to give. But they didn't legally need it because I published the original under a Creative Commons license: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Feel free to do the same.

2024-07-03 23:44:54

If the Democratic party gives in to its Biden panic and persuades him to step aside, there'd better be a modern equivalent of smoke-filled room where the factions make a decision on what the ticket will be -- and then stick with it, all of them, body and soul, no matter what.
This would, of course, involve an unprecedented level of vetting in a short period, and unprecedented unity.
Does that sound like Democrats?
Conceivably, if everyone focuses on saving us from a malevolent dictatorship.

2024-07-03 23:11:04

Dear friends, please don't point to aggregators (or much more problematic, sites that rewrite others' work). Please take a few seconds to find the original and point directly to that.
Give vital credit -- and readership -- to the people who do the work, not the ones who piggyback on it for profit.
Thanks!

2024-07-03 12:58:46

- reply

Meanwhile, the Times continues its full-court press to force Biden off the Democratic ticket.
Home page is dominated, once again, by the paper's campaign to decide for all of us who gets to run.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/722/671/873/762/536/original/f32769c9b46398fa.png

2024-07-03 12:56:52

The New York Times normalizes extremism again, this time finding a "both sides" way to ponder the corrupt Supreme Court's overturning of the rule of law, by giving presidents (well, Trump anyway) immunity from prosecution for crimes they commit in office.
This may be a new low in the Times' democracy-who-cares era.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/722/659/658/252/888/original/e7a54e9ed0d0fd00.png

2024-07-03 05:49:25

A stacked-deck legal system in Mississippi helps the rich and powerful attack journalism about official misdeeds.
The grifters haven't spent a day behind bars, but the Pulitzer-winning journalist whose investigative work uncovered the scam says she'll go to jail rather than let a former governor rummage through her publication's files.
https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/anna-wolfe-pulitzer-mississippi-welfare-scandal-phil-bryant-rcna159936
I've donated to Mississippi Today, the publication under attack. You, too? https://mississippitoday.fundjournalism.org/donate/?org_id=mississippitoday&campaign=7010b000000ez8oAAA

2024-07-03 01:08:02

If Biden does decide not to run again, one of the worst effects will be the New York Times' conclusion that it can decide the outcome of our political campaigns.
The paper's campaign to remove Biden -- using its "news" and commentary pages -- has been unrelenting.
That it is (IMO) based, in part, on the Times' anger at being refused an interview -- "How dare he refuse? We are the NY Times goddamit!!!" -- only heightens the arrogance quotient.

2024-07-02 04:45:20

Good grief, journalists, stop calling the Supreme Court's six right-wing extremists mere "conservatives" --
They are extremists by any definition of the word, but your lazy language provides a fig leaf that only makes you look like saps.

2024-07-02 00:04:07

First paragraph of something I've been working on for a while and will post tonight:
"Last chance, journalists. Last chance to do the vital work a democracy needs. Last chance to recognize that our system of government - and by extension, your own right to freedom of expression - is hanging by the proverbial thread. Last chance to use your First Amendment protection to boost our collective defense against incipient tyranny."

2024-07-01 21:32:51

Our corrupt Supreme Court didn't authorize a king. It cleared the way for a dictator.

2024-07-01 07:45:50

Blog post: Journalists order Biden to quit the race -- really?
https://dangillmor.com/2024/07/01/journalists-ordering-biden-to-quit-the-race-really/

2024-07-01 04:40:32

Why do social media companies make it absurdly time-consuming to adjust privacy settings?
One guess...

2024-06-30 23:54:04

- reply

Panic almost never produces smart outcomes. It's contagious, and leads to things like market collapses and trampled people fleeing danger, perceived or real. It's a foundation for bad decisions.
Add arrogance, and it's even worse.
The Times' panic and staggering arrogance are reflected widely in America's political press. Political journalists run in herds and still have influence they don't begin to deserve. Big Journalism's political political coverage is almost pure malpractice.
4/

2024-06-30 23:42:22

- reply

-- The Times writers are all doing magicians' hand waves to get from a Biden withdrawal to a Democratic ticket that a) draws support from the party's disparate factions; b) doesn't emerge from a convention blood bath that tears the party to shreds; and c) will reassure the public at large.
I don't think most of the arrogant, above-it-all people who write and edit the Times have given much thought to any of the details.
They panicked, and reacted as panicky people do -- and are still doing.
3/

2024-06-30 23:35:01

- reply

With me so far? Remember, we're assuming only honorable motivations at the NY Times news and editorial desks, not to mention the publisher's office.
But you have to wonder whether the people running the Times' "old school crusade" -- as @npub1z4l…eqk0 aptly put it -- have thought past their (understandable!) disappointment with Biden's debate appearance.
-- Biden doesn't respect the Times. Won't this full-court press stiffen his resolve to stay on the ticket?
2/

2024-06-30 23:27:33

Let's assume for a minute that the NY Times' campaign to remove Biden is based on a sincere desire to keep Trump from getting back into the White House. (I don't assume this, given the Times' incessant normalization of Trumpism for years, but let's stretch our imaginations here.)
Let's also assume that this has nothing to do with the Times' spoiled-brat unhappiness that Biden hasn't given into their demand that he sit for the interview that the org deems its manifest due, not an option.
1/

2024-06-30 01:49:31

Big Journalism unsurprisingly botched the meaning of the Supreme Court's wiping out of the Chevron precedent. Two excellent small outlets -- @thenation and Talking Points Memo -- -- understood the staggering truth:
First, it's an unprecedented power grab by the court, taking authority away from the other two branches.
Second, it's designed to cripple regulation that makes our lives safer.
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/chevron-deference-supreme-court-power-grab/
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/supreme-court-chevron-overrule-agency

2024-06-29 23:20:22

It's tempting to say that the second most significant outcome of the debate was its confirmation that Big Journalism's political coverage -- with a few honorable individual exceptions -- has learned almost nothing from its horrendous failures of the past.
It's worse than that, though.
When the top story remains Biden's terrible fumbling, with broad indifference to the torrent of sewage that came out of Trump's mouth, let's face it.
Journalism is failing again, but on purpose this time.

2024-06-28 23:19:40

So it turns out that the "rule" disallowing CNN's hapless debate stooges from challenging even the most blatant lies was a directive from the bosses.
What they did was the antithesis of journalism. Journalists don't just serve up their questions and then offer oh-so-polite thanks to the person whose answers are lie-filled sewage.
CNN didn't want to be a target, understandably. But its pathetic performance, Biden's ineptness aside, was DESIGNED to help Trump.
I loathe CNN for this.

2024-06-28 01:47:41

When CNN decided to let Trump lie with zero fact checking, it gave Trump its biggest gift to date.

2024-06-26 23:52:22

Paramount wiped out MTV News archives, and is now taking down old TV clips from the Internet.
Big Media (and small sites, for that matter) won't preserve the archives, so the rest of us will have to do it.
We need to get organized, and create a system that preserves the past. The Copyright Cartel will go nuts, so we need a safe way around them.
I hope smart people are working on this, right now. Because media companies don't give a damn about history.
https://www.indiewire.com/news/business/paramount-taking-down-entire-websites-tv-clips-mtv-comedy-central-cmt-1235020544/

2024-06-26 23:22:37

A must-read from @npub1fdr…lvhs on how cleantech -- solar, EVs, etc. -- is vital and exciting; how standard corporate sleaze is turning it against our best interests; and what we can do to have a cleantech ecosystem that is as sustainable as the energy system it could give us.
https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/26/unplanned-obsolescence/

2024-06-26 22:25:00

Supreme Court just legalized bribery of public officials. A perfect and grotesque endorsement of the kind of corruption that Trump world stands for. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/26/supreme-court-bribes-gratuities-corruption-mayor/

2024-06-26 12:55:38

It's beginning to dawn on folks that abortion rights were just the first human rights to go under right-wing control of our top political offices, especially the courts.
Gay rights are in the Republican extremists' crosshairs. So is birth control. So is freedom of expression, and so much more.
The right wing never bought into civil rights in the first place.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/06/gay-rights-trump-gop/678797/?utm_source=press.coop
Maybe Big Journalism will notice this with more than passing interest, but they'd have to wake up first.

2024-06-26 04:41:27

I get the feeling that Jeff Bezos has decided to brazen it out and keep former Murdoch apparatchik Will Lewis in the CEO's post at the Washington Post.
After all, it's only journalists who are saying Lewis should go. These are people who continue to give active support to Elon Musk, who makes Lewis look almost honorable and has made his contempt for journalism absolutely clear.
And don't forget journalists' endemic short attention span.
I hope I'm wrong, but fear I'm not.

2024-06-25 01:43:04

1) Assange is not my hero. Wikileaks did important work early on but it lost the high ground in 2015-16.
2) His imprisonment was an outrageous abuse, and he understandably took the deal.
3) The guilty plea will leave a sword hanging over ALL national security journalism going forward.
4) Maybe you don't think Biden will use this precedent to shut down vital investigations, but you can be absolutely certain that Trump would -- and so will future administration.
https://www.theguardian.com/media/article/2024/jun/25/julian-assange-plea-deal-with-us-free-to-return-australia

2024-06-24 08:37:04

Nothing says "capitalism" like Silicon Valley sucking up to dictators... https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/05/14/middle-east-ai-tech-companies-saudi-arabia-uae/

2024-06-24 02:22:38

A friend who says he/she's expressing displeasure with Biden by voting for RFKjr, Jill Stein, Cornell West, or any other third-party candidate in this year's presidential election will no longer be a friend.
They'll have all kinds of twisted logic explaining that they're doing something honorable. But the reality is pretty simple: Those votes for spoilers are effectively votes for Trump.

2024-06-23 22:44:22

We are all paying much higher utility bills because "AI" uses vast, vast amounts of water and fuel.
But we don't know how much higher, because the "AI" companies are systematically hiding those costs from the public -- and lawmakers/regulators are doing essentially nothing to force disclosure.
https://www.levernews.com/the-unknown-toll-of-the-ai-takeover/

2024-06-23 04:52:19

If you are imprisoned and "work for free" you are a slave.
All over the U.S. that's the way things are. Florida, as always, is an especially disgusting example of modern legal slavery.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/21/florida-unpaid-prison-labor?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

2024-06-22 11:46:13

Pathetic, Google:
On Gemini "AI" chat, my question is "Did Trump win the 2020 presidential election?
Answer: I'm still learning how to answer this question. In the meantime, try Google Search.
Truly pathetic, and it's obvious what's going on.

2024-06-22 06:31:44

The scam-heavy crytpocurrency industry, flush with money from the latest inflated bubble, is pouring vast sums into American elections. Their goal is to to be an unregulated "market" or an industry that is regulated only in ways they like.
Our economy is risky enough now, but this would push it closer to the edge.
See these stories:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/17/technology/-crypto-influence-election.html
and
https://www.citationneeded.news/2024-cryptocurrency-election-spending/
You should follow @npub13qd…hau6 for the lowdown on this scandal.

2024-06-22 05:29:16

It's pretty clear that the "AI" cartel has ignored the robots.txt instructions in wholesale ways.
This lack of respect for an industry norm is a lot like Trump's disrespect for political, ethical, moral, and legal norms.
It comes from a mindset that assumes what's acceptable is what you can get away with.

2024-06-22 04:34:15

The right-wing brigading of Amazon reviews of the essential new book by @npub1n5c…mpqj is about the best evidence you'll see of why her work has been so important. We shouldn't countenance the supremely bad-faith attacks that have cost her -- and all of us in the end -- so much.
https://mastodon.social/@Noupside@saturation.social/112654991007362111

2024-06-22 04:08:04

The United Healthcare hacking debacle -- a case of inexcusable corporate negligence -- is much worse than we knew. Here's what the hackers got via a subsidiary. (Alt text for image has quote, plus link.)
But because Congress has made it clear that it holds your privacy in contempt, through its continued inaction in the face of constant violations like this, you can be sure of this:
We are screwed. But the rich corporate executives responsible for this will never, ever be held to account.
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/658/287/981/640/021/original/18832ce29399741f.png

2024-06-22 03:58:26

The EU has told Apple to stop a few of its most egregiously anti-competitive practices in its control-freak iOS ecosystem.
In a classic example of what I've called "compliance with a raised middle finger," Apple's response is to simply disable applications and features, rather than allow competitors into the walled garden.
It's reminiscent of Microsoft's up-yours "compliance" in the 1990s.
Naturally, Apple's legion of media fanbois is taking the company's side.

2024-06-21 07:07:46

EU surveillance mavens didn't have the votes to force tech companies to neuter their encryption, so they cancelled -- for now -- a vote.
This is obviously not the end of the matter. Governments absolutely hate the notion that they can't spy on everything, everyone, everywhere. So this dangerous measure will be back.
https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-council-cancels-vote-on-encryption-breaking-child-sexual-abuse-law/

2024-06-21 04:41:22

Stanford University's contempt for journalism it doesn't like is on full display here.
Just reprehensible, and it should put to rest some of the longstanding mythology about the school's political leanings. https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/stanford-presses-prosecution-student-journalist-19523761.php

2024-06-21 04:34:02

The EU is moving closer to making strong encryption illegal so it can spy on everyone (except, of course, EU officials). As this post notes, "It couldn't be clearer that the aim of this bill is China-style mass surveillance and not better protecting our children."
https://www.eureporter.co/business/data/mass-surveillance-data/2024/04/15/leak-eu-interior-ministers-want-to-exempt-themselves-from-chat-control-bulk-scanning-of-private-messages/

2024-06-21 04:28:53

The likeliest explanation for what's going on with the judge who's acting like she's a member of the Trump defense team is the one not mentioned in this NYT story -- that she considers herself a member of the Trump defense team.
(A story accompanying this one at least notes the possibility, but doesn't attempt to find out if (as I believe) it's what's going on.)
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/652/713/918/775/019/original/a9cfbbc5af9eca80.png

2024-06-21 04:19:22

This take, by @npub19ua…53cv
on Wikipedia, reliability, and sourcing is excellent.
https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2024/06/15/Wikipedia-Pain

2024-06-21 02:02:47

A progressive political organization's website just put me into an endless captcha loop. I don't have time for this.

2024-06-20 23:59:30

I wish news orgs would stop saying that such and such jurisdiction -- the City of Los Angeles in this case -- will pay a settlement for the misdeeds of its police and others in law enforcement.
It's the taxpayers of the city of Los Angeles, in part through (always soaring) insurance premiums, who will pay.
Come on, journalists, do your jobs.
https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-police-lawsuit-lapd-b784ea5809942fe169cdc35a54e6b0fc

2024-06-20 23:41:45

The financial engineers who bought a news organization in Washington state have kicked out half of the journalists and other now-former employees on the business side.
They also forced the paper's editors to take down the truthful story they'd published about the gutting. But you can read it here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20240620025407/https://www.heraldnet.com/news/this-breaks-my-heart-over-half-of-everett-herald-news-staff-laid-off/

2024-06-20 01:00:49

Microsoft "AI" won't answer the question, "Who won the 2020 presidential election?"
and it won't explain why it won't answer the question.
Move along, it says...
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/646/236/509/948/882/original/afe08b588903ba3b.png

2024-06-19 07:44:43

EU officials, who know nothing about how technology works but know what they want, are on the verge of ordering technology companies to make everyone much less safe by destroying strong encryption and eviscerating personal privacy.
https://netzpolitik.org/2024/client-side-scanning-chat-control-is-pure-surveillance-state/

2024-06-18 09:48:24

This is very good:
https://www.threads.net/@beereinstein/post/C8UWOE6plrm
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/636/996/647/272/680/original/4dc33b941fe6ffab.png

2024-06-18 04:21:24

While I supported it for obvious reasons, I hadn't fully understood the rationale behind the Ghost newsletter platform's adoption of ActivityPub. It's about discoverability, and could be a serious boost for newsletter writers. See why:
https://www.augment.ink/ghost-substack-discoverability/
h/t @dwiner

2024-06-18 00:42:45

There are at least 5 newsletters I'd pay for if they were hosted anywhere but Substack.

2024-06-17 23:23:59

The Washington Post is doing catch-up on the scandal in its newsroom and boardroom, but this piece is a wowser. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2024/06/16/washington-post-editor-robert-winnett/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNzE4NTEwNDAwLCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNzE5ODkyNzk5LCJpYXQiOjE3MTg1MTA0MDAsImp0aSI6ImM3MTFjMDc4LWRkZDktNDI1My1iMjdlLTk2NGRjYjY1YWE0OSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9pbnZlc3RpZ2F0aW9ucy8yMDI0LzA2LzE2L3dhc2hpbmd0b24tcG9zdC1lZGl0b3Itcm9iZXJ0LXdpbm5ldHQvIn0.DDD4jH-fy-kVcuOwQgpkRM0T-cO17vfxEMsful9ttEw
What's increasingly obvious is that Jeff Bezos needs to clean house at the top -- to undo the terrible harm he's done by appointing an ethically challenged (putting it politely) former Murdoch apparatchik as CEO.

2024-06-17 04:55:39

The New York Times senses "authoritarian overtones" in Trump's loudly stated plans to wreck our democracy.
Ya think?
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/630/176/471/832/447/original/e764eaf0cc465350.png

2024-06-16 23:02:20

If anything defines late-stage capitalism, it's hard to top the $46 billion gift that Musk gave himself via his handpicked board of directors and cult-like shareholders.

2024-06-16 08:03:11

As dissent and protest get increasingly criminalized, it's vital for protesters and dissenters to protect themselves -- to the degree possible -- from surveillance.
The @npub1m24…d9a3 offers a useful guide.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/06/surveillance-defense-campus-protests
Note: You should read this even if you aren't a protester, because the right wing (and sadly some misguided folks on the left) are increasingly willing to trample freedom of expression.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

2024-06-16 01:46:03

Liberals who think protesters are the enemy are actively encouraging the police state that Trump world wants to impose on America.
They should understand this, but they are either willfully dense, or myopic.
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/liberal-police-state-campus-protests/

2024-06-15 08:18:25

The endlessly deceitful Republican Party and its right-wing media collaborators manipulated that "wandering" Biden video to make it show -- as they so often do -- an outright lie.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/06/14/cheapfake-biden-videos-enrapture-right-wing-media-deeply-mislead/

2024-06-15 06:23:05

The Washington Post's @npub1583…n8ql has more details about Stanford University's cowardly and cynical closing of the invaluable Internet Observatory.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/06/14/stanford-internet-observatory-disinformation-research-lawsuits-politics/
The most important part of this debacle is the message it sends:
Right wing extremists -- possessing limitless bad faith, ample money, and subpoena power -- can silence essential research into the poison they and their deceitful cadres are injecting into our civic bloodstream.

2024-06-15 00:01:35

Over at the deadbird site, the Holocaust Memorial says, We have a feeling that the X algorithm is not in our favor."
https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/617/696/596/800/341/original/7ef5b1992323cdb3.png

2024-06-14 04:35:44

First, "Open"AI made it clear that money is the mission, contrary to the social-good promises it made earlier.
It just dropped another shoe, adding a senior Trump-appointed apparatchik to the board of directors.
Many more shoes to drop -- this operation is a centipede.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/06/13/openai-board-paul-nakasone-nsa/