#AIBots may lead to the end of the internet as we know it

In recent weeks, #OpenDemocracy’s website has been repeatedly brought down by an army of bots. We’re not the only ones

Matthew Linares
20 February 2026

Excerpt: "Slater explained that 'the traffic often arrives through anonymous residential IPs', referring to residential proxy networks that route internet traffic through intermediary servers using IP addresses assigned by internet service providers to real homeowners. This, he said, makes it 'hard to distinguish ‘normal users’ from automated collection'. [That's not right and needs to be changed!!!]

" 'We're being forced into permanent defence mode. #ResidentialProxyNetworks let #AIScrapers hide in plain sight, rotate identities, and extract data at scale. That shifts real costs onto projects that exist to serve people, not feed training pipelines."

Read more:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/ai-chatbots-scraper-bots-chatgpt-website-offline-change-internet/

#AISucks #AI #DataMining #Internet #Websites #TechNews #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #BigTech #TechBros

#OpenDemocracy article: The Great #MinistryOfDefenceToPalantirPipeline

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/palantir-ministry-defence-hire-four-officials-2025-record-defence-contract-240-million/

#UKpol #tech

More corruption within government - this time with the intention of making the UK dependent upon aUS tech - and as with the (English) NHS providing access to a deeply unpleasant organisation run by people who should not even be allowed to visit the UK.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/palantir-ministry-defence-hire-four-officials-2025-record-defence-contract-240-million/

#Corruption #MOD #Palentir #UkPol #AI #Privacy #Security #OpenDemocracy

Finally someone sees the detail, not just the lazy "as bad as" comparison.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/israel-and-mirror-of-isis/ Israel and the mirror of ISIS #openDemocracy

It's not that #Israel is #JewishISIS that's the wrong order, it's more like #ISIS copied #Zionism

@kmpiw @kmpiw

Manage to export the tenders of approved hometown’s government and make them available in a much more accessible manner. It required Playwright automation clicking around on their websites and exporting the right data:

https://librecieza.org/licitaciones

#opendemocracy

// MANOUCHEHR SHAMSRIZI

Manouchehr Shamsrizi – Fellow at DGAP & Co-Founder of gamelab.berlin – explores how digital tools like Linux & Signal can strengthen democracy. 🧠💻

At Waterkant 2025, he shares why open tech and “concrete utopias” are key to shaping resilient, participatory democracies. 👥

Tickets: https://www.waterkant.sh/festival?utm_source=mastodon&utm_id=WK25

#waterkant25 #futuresofdemocracy #techforgood #opendemocracy #shapingfutures