Mastodawn

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

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

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

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

This is what resistance to the digital coup looks like

Technological platforms are not neutral. If we truly want to resist the digital coup that is currently under way, we need to normalize the use of free, open source solutions.

Elena Rossini

Medialist 1h ago

#geldlöstnichtalleprobleme
https://www.ndr.de/kultur/buch/Wir-verlieren-unsere-Kinder-Was-Kinder-im-Netz-sehen-und-tun,wirverlierenunserekinder100.html

Was für ein Buchtitel:
"Wir verlieren unsere Kinder"

!!! Diese Feststellung treibt mich um !!!

Aber meine "Hinweise" werden meist ignoriert, #Dakannmanehnichtsmachen

#asozialeMedien spielen hier eine große Rolle.
#Zuviele Phrasen versperren #zuOft den Ausweg.
#HandelnStattReden würde helfen.

Warum ist die #EU nicht bereit, auch entgegen kurzfristiger Wirtschaftsinteressen aber für #europa, Vorgaben an #BigTech #TechGiganten zu verhängen

"Wir verlieren unsere Kinder": Was Kinder im Netz sehen und tun

Tierquälerei, Pornos, gefährliche Mutproben: Wissen Sie, was Ihr Kind auf dem Smartphone sieht? Das fragt Schulleiterin Silke Müller. In ihrem Buch "Wir verlieren unsere Kinder" appelliert sie, nicht länger wegzusehen.

Miguel Afonso Caetano 2h ago

"Regulation that impedes the operation of US digital behemoths – anything short of blanket permission to do as they please – will apparently be treated as a hostile act and an affront to human liberty.

This is an imperial demand for market access cynically camouflaged in the language of universal rights. The equivalent trick is not available in other sectors of the economy. US farmers hate trade barriers that stop their products flooding European markets, but they don’t argue that their chlorine-washed chickens are being censored. (Not yet.)

That isn’t to say digital communications can be subject to toxicity tests just like agricultural exports. There is wide scope for reasonable disagreement on what counts as intolerable content, and how it should be controlled. The boundaries are not easily defined. But it is also beyond doubt that thresholds exist. There is no free-speech case for child sexual abuse images. The most liberal jurisdictions recognise that the state has a duty to proscribe some material even if there is a market for it.

The question of how online space should be policed is complex in principle and fiendishly difficult in practice, not least because the infrastructure we treat as a public arena is run by private commercial interests. Britain cannot let the terms of debate be dictated by a US administration that is locked in corrupting political intimacy with those interests.

It is impossible to separate the commercial and ideological strands of Trump’s relationship with Silicon Valley oligarchs. They used their power and wealth to boost his candidacy and they want payback from his incumbency. There is not much coherence to the doctrine. “Free” speech is the kind that amplifies the president’s personal prejudices. Correcting his lies with verifiable facts is censorship."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/16/trump-defending-free-speech-submission-usa-president

#USA #Trump #FreeSpeech #Censorship #Imperialism #ContentModeration #Ideology #BigTech #SiliconValley

In Trumpland, ‘defending free speech’ means one thing: submission to the president

By claiming that any regulation is censorship, the White House is bullying Britain to abandon online safety laws and digital taxes, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr

The Guardian

Show thread

aproitz 4h ago

@CCC

#BigTech ist wohl nicht mehr in der Lage, #Datensicherheit, #Privacy und #Datenintegrität zu garantieren. Die #Entflechtung hat begonnen.

#bigdata

Show thread

Retired Librarian 🍁5h ago

@AnarchoNinaAnalyzes

A great (and disturbing) read regarding this topic. #fascisim #canpoli #uspoli #techbro #bigtech #dystopia

Show thread

AnarchoNinaAnalyzes 5h ago

When TechBro billionaire oligarchs were the darlings of "liberal" capitalist society, their homages to sci-fi literature were considered "quirky." Today, on the verge of what some call a "techno-feudalist" dictatorship in America, paid for by many of those same TechBro billionaires, a recent opinion piece in The Guardian raises an important question; was society ignoring the warning signs that these rich megalomaniacs took the wrong lessons from the stories we all grew up loving?

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/apr/14/the-big-idea-will-sci-fi-end-up-destroying-the-world

The Big Idea: Will Sci-Fi End Up Destroying the World?

"We can see this most clearly in the way the dystopian settings of so much cyberpunk fiction are seen by today’s tech leaders as prophetic visions of a world they need to try to escape – whether by colonising Mars, building metaverses or, in the case of Vance’s billionaire patron Peter Thiel, backing efforts to create new city states by buying land in developing countries. In the original novels it tended to be people like them responsible for creating the dystopias in the first place, but they’ve somehow projected the blame on to the masses.

In Snow Crash there’s something called “the Raft” – a collection of boats filled with infected, mind-controlled refugees headed for America’s west coast. It’s an image that recalls the viciously racist 1973 French sci-fi novel The Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail, in which a huge fleet of Indian refugees destroy western civilisation. It’s had a far-right fandom ever since and has been referenced by former Donald Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon. It’s a particular favourite of Stephen Miller, Trump’s lead policy adviser and close friend of Musk (Miller’s wife, Katie, is the Doge spokeswoman).

It’s not much of a jump to see the actions of Thiel and Musk, and many of those around them, as an attempt to forestall this fate, linking, as they do, the racial obsessions of the far right with their odd brand of tech-utopianism. When Thiel writes that “I no longer believe freedom and democracy are compatible”, or when Musk makes up wild stories about the Democrats using benefit fraud to import migrants, they are unabashedly expressing this fear of being overrun. The greatest irony of all is that in their desperation to build escape routes, they risk creating the very dystopias they fear."

To answer our question above, yes society did ignore the warning signs that these TechBro billionaires were reactionary freaks with terrible ideas and increasingly, enough money power to try and make those ideas a reality; but not necessarily for the reasons the author implies in this article. I think at this point it's pretty uncontroversial to say that guys like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and even Jeff Bezos are deeply unserious thinkers whose wealth allows them to surround themselves with actual scientists, engineers, and inventors who can turn their pulp fiction fantasies into reality; so it's not really a surprise that these rich dilettante get their ideas from mass market sci-fi novels. What I think is far more instructional however, is to look at *which* science fiction ideas these folks gravitate towards; specifically the hyper-capitalist, racist, fascist, and authoritarian ideas commonly found in the sci-fi novels they grew up with.

I'm not a psychic of course, but I don't think it's an accident that billionaire TechBros who buy whole governments and seem intent on installing a technologically-enhanced form of fascism in America, gravitate towards stories and ideas about power, superiority, and the apocalypse that many critics have rightfully described as fascist in nature; nor do I think its a coincidence that these would-be "Masters of the Universe" have that in common with fascist propagandists like Curtis Yarvin, or even the Trump regime that Musk has bought outright control of. When you factor in that almost all of these same people are also interested in things like eugenics, neo-fascist corporate dictatorships, and racialized birth rates on a global scale, it becomes pretty clear that the origin story here is about powerful people looking for ideas that support their reactionary, supremacist, authoritarian beliefs; not a fascination with literary fiction.

In the end, I think that's the handle many people are missing when they're trying to understand the so-called "Dark Enlightenment." These folks don't believe in fascist ideology because they think they're right; these rich bastards are folks who have been presented with the problem of how to maintain their wealth and power on a boiling planet, even as the capitalism that grants them everything is going to kill billions, and fascist ideas are the only way they can square that circle, so they're always on the lookout for more of them. Sci-Fi stories aren't going to destroy the world; but the fascism that was so easily hidden inside many of them just might.

#Fascism #TechBro #BigTech #ElonMusk #PeterThiel #CurtisYavin #Trump #Vance #StephenMiller #SciFi #Dystopia