Mastodawn

It has been a busy winter so far for me, which is why I haven't been posting a lot here. But today I'm proud to share with you the fruits of some of that labor: The Colorado Democratic Party's platform for 2026. For those unfamiliar, a platform (in the US) is a statement of values that a political party stands for, generally agreed upon by people who stand for election as representatives of the party.

I was elected during last year's party re-org to the Platform Committee. The chair of the committee asked if I would run the subcommittees for two of the "planks" (sections) of the platform: the Democracy section, and the New Tech & AI section. It was an honor to work on both.

I'm going to share screenshots from the New Tech & AI plank because it's relevant to the work I do here, and I think a lot of people might be interested to see this statement of values. This plank is brand new, never before covered in prior Platform documents.

I'm also pleased to report that the whole of the Platform Committee and the roughly 1500 delegates to last weekend's statewide party Assembly voted to approve this as-is, with no additional changes, on a vote of 98.9% in favor.

There's a lot to like, but my favorite aspect of this is that I managed to get widespread approval for use of the term #enshittification in the official platform, both from the Platform committee and the larger party leadership. Thanks @pluralistic for the inspiration. (I believe this is the first time the term has been used in any official political party platform ever.)

The full platform is readable at https://www.coloradodems.org/platform

#AI #datasovereignty #privacy #infosec #techequity #R2R #RightToRepair #politics #COpolitics #Boulder #Colorado #Democracy #democrats

Show thread

Snuffleupadon 1d ago

@threatresearch @pluralistic Where does the party stand in terms of the recent push for age verification, and is that addressed in the party platform? What you've shared here looks great!

Show thread

Andrew 🌻 Brandt 🐇1d ago

@Unsightly3055 @pluralistic

You mean https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/SB26-051

The party doesn't have that in the platform, but I have been arguing against it and testified in committee with about 15 other people opposed to SB26-051 when the committee passed it unanimously anyway, about 3 weeks ago.

There's big social media money behind the campaign, from what I understand, and the language is identical to bills introduced in several other states.

SB26-051 Age Attestation on Computing Devices | Colorado General Assembly

Show thread

Andrew 🌻 Brandt 🐇1d ago

@Unsightly3055 @pluralistic

I just realized there's a section that I couldn't squeeze in because my server only allows 4 images max.

This clause appears in the plank, below the ones shown earlier.

"Hold social media companies accountable for the addictive nature of their platforms. Likewise, hold the people who use social media to inflict harm on others accountable for those actions."

It doesn't exactly address the age attestation bill, but it seeks to point the blame at the source of the problem, rather than forcing the whole world to adopt a flawed solution.

Show thread

Snuffleupadon

@threatresearch @pluralistic right on, thanks for sharing. AFAIK it's Meta and Google pushing it. I was chagrined to find Hillary and Pritzker also endorsing it.