Peter Gleick
Book burning?
If everything was digital in Hitler's 1930s Germany, this is what his book burning would have looked like: deletion of data, removal of websites, retraction of scientific studies, censorship of words like "equity," "diversity," "climate change."
Feb 2, 2025 at 12:14amWeb
Show threadStephen CerrutiFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick A thought occurs to me. Since all correspondence about policy must be recorded in the archives, we should be sending books to the White House that are based upon this publicly available data with requests to reconsider policy. We then need to audit compliance of the law requiring this material is archived. We would fundamentally be creating a government archive of the data in the presidential records.
Show threadA.L. BlacklynFeb 2, 2025

@scerruti @petergleick

That's the same National Archive Donald Trump and his employees stole from and mistreated four years ago. I doubt his administration will take due diligence with archiving. They are removing everyone that tells them "no" in the administrative branch from their jobs.

Show threadEndlessMasonFeb 2, 2025

@shadowsminder

Sounds like Xerox shares just went up

@scerruti @petergleick

Show threadZaphod Beeblebrox Feb 2, 2025
@scerruti @petergleick How can you still not realise that rules no longer apply and a procedural gotcha will not save you? Sure, send these books right to Trump's doorstep. He'll archive them for you.
Show threadTemplaillo AhíFeb 2, 2025
@scerruti @petergleick Why not burn the books yourself? It's faster than sending them to Trump.
Show threadHdunaganFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick excellent point.
Show threadUrzlFeb 2, 2025

@petergleick Hitler went after trans people first too. That's where the data destruction/book burning started was erasing all the science and history pertaining to trans people.

People who can totally redefine themselves in the face of persecution terrify authoritarians who can't define themselves without someone telling them who and what to be.

Show threadJason E MillerFeb 2, 2025
@gooba42 @petergleick I think Hitler purged (perceived) political enemies, first.
Show threadSally StrangeFeb 2, 2025
@jasonemiller @gooba42 @petergleick You think? If you aren't sure, why not check before speaking?
Show threadJason E MillerFeb 2, 2025

@SallyStrange @gooba42 @petergleick Because I wanted to be part of a thoughtful and correct intellectual conversation, and I didn’t want to insist that my recollection was correct (even though i had some confidence it was). I certainly didn’t intend to engage with a tumescent gas bag who had nothing to contribute to the conversation except a bad attitude.

Oh, and: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victims_of_the_Night_of_the_Long_Knives#:~:text=The%20Night%20of%20the%20Long%20Knives%20(German%3A%20Nacht%20der%20langen,past%20opponents%20of%20the%20party.

Victims of the Night of the Long Knives - Wikipedia

Show threadPolly KraisusFeb 2, 2025

@jasonemiller @SallyStrange @gooba42 @petergleick well if you're going to link to wiki articles as part of your "intellectual conversation", maybe you could have checked out this one as well?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_people_in_Nazi_Germany

Transgender people in Nazi Germany - Wikipedia

Show threadJason E MillerFeb 2, 2025
@gooba42 @petergleick See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victims_of_the_Night_of_the_Long_Knives#:~:text=The%20Night%20of%20the%20Long%20Knives%20(German%3A%20Nacht%20der%20langen,past%20opponents%20of%20the%20party.
Victims of the Night of the Long Knives - Wikipedia

Show threadthe hippie ☮️💟⚧️🩷💛🩵🏳️‍🌈Feb 2, 2025
@petergleick
Show threadPeaceNick🇨🇦Feb 2, 2025

@petergleick
See this scary thread from @ErikUden

https://mastodon.de/@ErikUden/113930160493815710

Erik Uden 🍑 (@[email protected])

Attached: 3 images The tech person at Oracle at least lets me know that they'd feel similarly betrayed and dislike this handling of user data too 🥲✊

MastodonDE
Show threadErik Uden 🚩Feb 2, 2025

@petergleick adding to that thought...

https://mastodon.de/@ErikUden/110933665484508536

Erik Uden 🍑 (@[email protected])

Once libraries are nonexistent any modern fascist movement wouldn't even have to burn books, but flick one switch and they'd be remotely deleted from your Amazon Kindle or similar digital “library”. Capitalists are already building the infrastructure to do this through DRM, so stop believing tech is apolitical - the defunding of libraries and paywalling of information are all part of this. :trantifa:

MastodonDE
Show threadNew AgeFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick
yes.
Show threadAdam CotéFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick
Show threadDaedaleanFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick real good point.
Show threadCatherine SchmidtFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick
Show threadcharvakaFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick When you get society to agree that fascist tactics are abhorrent, because of the horrendous catastrophe that arose from the last chance society gave fascists to run things, fascists don’t abandon their tactics. They just adapt the tactics to new technologies so society can’t keep up. As long as literal books aren’t burning in public squares, society today won’t think of it as fascist. That’s their strategy.
Show threadiveylineFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick Agreed.
Show threadFelix 🇨🇦 🇩🇪 🇺🇦Feb 2, 2025
@petergleick Book burnings were big public events. In the digital age it's more like #1984 where information silently vanishes or changes.
Show threadmetaphernparkFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick Yes, that's why open societies also need an open digital structure and independent networks like Fediverse.
Show threadtipjipFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick
Why stop at deleting? Why not change the content retroactively to say what you want? Has George Orwell taught them nothing?
Show threadNKTFeb 2, 2025
@tipjip @petergleick because they aren't that intelligent. Removal is relatively easy. Rewriting is harder.
I suspect when it comes back, it will have been rewritten, poorly and by AI.
Show threadSellaTheChemistFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick @samueljohnson And don't forget "empathy". It's on the list for NOAA teaching materials.
Show threadSebastian "spaetz" SpaethFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick Uhh, that analogy had never occurred to me. But it is such an apt comparison. Digital burning of books, just with a bit less fanfare.
Show threadthedoctorFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick Can't believe no one shared this: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/book_burning.png
Show threadPaul Schultze-MotelFeb 2, 2025

“Man darf nicht warten, bis aus dem Schneeball eine Lawine geworden ist. Man muss den rollenden Schneeball zertreten. Die Lawine hält keiner mehr auf. Sie ruht erst, wenn sie alles unter sich begraben hat.
Das ist die Lehre, das ist das Fazit dessen, was uns 1933 widerfuhr.”

― Erich Kästner, Über das Verbrennen von Büchern

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/24348228-ber-das-verbrennen-von-b-chern

@petergleick

Über das Verbrennen von Büchern Quotes by Erich Kästner

1 quote from Über das Verbrennen von Büchern: ‘Die Ereignisse von 1933 bis 1945 hätten spätestens 1928 bekämpft werden müssen. Später war es zu spät. Man...

Show threadPaul Schultze-MotelFeb 2, 2025

In 1934, the American Library of Nazi Banned Books was opened in New York:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_book_burnings#American_Library_of_Nazi_Banned_Books

@petergleick

Nazi book burnings - Wikipedia

Show threadWeraweltFeb 2, 2025
@psm_os
Who is helping to rescue the destroyed data now and in the future?
The USA helped almost 100 years ago as a demoralistic state, who is now helping the USA?
@petergleick
Show threadhiding from plagues ☣️♿Feb 2, 2025

@petergleick https://archive.org/details/20250128-cdc-datasets

I picked up this archive of the data sets from the CDC on blue sky

CDC datasets uploaded before January 28th, 2025 : Centers for Disease Control and Prevention : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

An archive of all CDC datasets uploaded to https://data.cdc.gov/browse before January 28th, 2025. Excludes corrupt datasets and data not publicly accessible.

Internet Archive
Show threadPēteris KrišjānisFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick said that, it is much harder to achieve. I am more about message sent here and intentions.
Chilling.
Show threadanlomedadFeb 2, 2025

@petergleick

Andreas Eschbach wrote a youth novel called "NSA, National Security Agency" https://www.lovelybooks.de/autor/Andreas-Eschbach/NSA-Nationales-Sicherheits-Amt-1566080679-w/

The plot is: what if Hitler had computers and databases?

Anne Frank and her family are detected because the people who helped them purchased a ladder and tools... and then their potato consumption went up suspiciously.
...
I liked it a lot. The theme is a bit like "Little Brother" by @doctorow , another youth novel I like to recommend to adults.

There's a good reason why Germans are more wary about using credit cards and more conscious about digital privacy than others. Sadly not all Germans are. But it's still a bit harder here than in the USA to detect your Nazis' current equivalent to Anne Frank.
After all, Mastodon is born out of such concerns as well.

NSA - Nationales Sicherheits-Amt: Ungekürzt. von Andreas Eschbach bei LovelyBooks (Unterhaltung)

Weimar 1942: Die Programmiererin Helene arbeitet im NSA, dem Nationalen Sicherheits-Amt, und entwickelt dort Programme, mit deren Hilfe alle Bürger ...

LovelyBooks
Show threadCassandrichFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick It also would have failed because we'd have had receipts outside his reach.
Show threadxs4me2Feb 2, 2025

@petergleick

Bet he has been reading Mein Kampf well…

Show threadMarcantonio RendinoFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick and, pointedly, “pronoun”.
it's madness - and also evil.
we must do whatever each of us can, in each of our own areas, to stop this, and mitigate the real harm to real people.
Show threadEstarriol, Terrorist DragonFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick don't forget the pardoning of his violent thugs.
Show threadZoidberg For PresidentFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick There's nothing exclusive to the reich regime... mainly our occidental colonizing states by the way...
Show threadFabian ZolarFeb 2, 2025
@petergleick lets hope we are going to stop this before it is too late
Show threadBernhard LueckeFeb 3, 2025
@petergleick https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleichschaltung
Gleichschaltung - Wikipedia