This was a great read.

Merchant, Brian @brianmerchant. 2026. "Why the AI backlash has turned violent – And why it's probably only going to get worse from here." 15 Apr. https://www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/why-the-ai-backlash-has-turned-violent

#AI #GenAI #Slop #LLM #BigTech #Billionaires #OpenAI #ChatGPT #Copilot #Gemini #Claude #Grok #SamAltman #ElonMusk #SiliconValley #DataCenter #AIBubble #Democracy #Regulation #Multicrisis #EliezerYudkowsky

It's turning out to be incredibly hard to dig up anything that might explain why and how Netgear managed to duck the tariffs, aside from its persistent lobbying efforts.

According to Wikipedia, Netgear's prime manufacturers include "Hon Hai Precision or Foxconn Corporation."

"Manufacturing occurs primarily in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Taiwan."

"Netgear was unaffected by US President Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on Chinese imports. Because all manufacturing is outsourced, the company was able to shift its production lines from China to Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia."

Some background, from 2025:

Yahoo: Netgear can double on TP-Link ban, may reach triple digits, says activist https://finance.yahoo.com/news/netgear-double-tp-ban-may-140746020.html

One rabbit hole leads to another. This story tracks the beginning of the attack on US democracy back to 2024.

NBC (2024): Mapping Trump's connections to tech's right-wing brotherhood https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/mapping-trumps-connections-techs-right-wing-brotherhood-rcna180693 @NBCNews #Netgear #BigTech

So it seems like the digital identity apps in the EU will depend on Play Services in many countries, since the EU doesn't mandate them to make it work on aftermarket versions of Android

#EU #EUAgeVerification #DigitalIdentity #EU #BigTech #MadeInEurope

There’s life beyond #BigTech clouds. 🌥

Are you thinking about moving away from #Microsoft365, Dropbox, or legacy systems?

With Nextcloud, migration is easier than you think. Explore your migration path 
👉 https://nextcloud.com/migrate/

https://winbuzzer.com/2026/04/15/microsoft-discontinues-surface-hub-3-no-successor-xcxwbn/

Microsoft Kills Surface Hub 3, No Replacement Planned

#SurfaceHub #Microsoft #CollaborationTools #Windows #BigTech #PCs

https://winbuzzer.com/2026/04/15/microsoft-raises-surface-prices-ram-crisis-xcxwbn/

Microsoft Raises Surface Prices Up to $500 as RAM Crisis Deepens

#Microsoft #SurfaceLaptop #SurfacePro #RAM #Memory #PC #BigTech #DDR5 #Inflation

#IndieWeb #HomebrewWebsiteClub is happening in ~ 9 hours and I'd love to see new faces at the online meetup! 😊

If you're a #blogger, run your #blog / #personalblog, keen on the #SmallWeb or want to learn more about building an identity without #SocialMedia and #BigTech silos—the IndieWeb community welcomes you!

The event is held online (with link to join): https://events.indieweb.org/2026/04/homebrew-website-club-pacific-z7mbQQTEn0Iy

Time zone converter: https://events.indieweb.org/local-time?date=20260415T1800&tz=America%2FLos_Angeles

Hope to see you there! 

#webdev #blogging #blogs

The case for Digital Sovereignty

https://peertube.openrightsgroup.org/w/8x4qi2BaEpGDLDvfwf8wj6

If you missed this yesterday.

Independent research: California Privacy Audit https://globalprivacyaudit.org/2026/california

The Record: New Research Finds Big tech fails to opt-out users requesting not to be tracked much of the time https://therecord.media/big-tech-fails-to-opt-out-users-requesting-not-to-be-tracked @therecord_media #privacy #BigTech

https://winbuzzer.com/2026/04/15/meta-ai-infrastructure-vp-departs-aparna-ramani-xcxwbn/

Meta Loses AI Infrastructure VP After Nearly a Decade

#Meta #AI #MetaAI #MetaSuperintelligenceLabs #AIInfrastructure #BigTech #CloudComputing #DataCenters