In 2019 I met a young Meta engineer who was really fired up about wanting to change the company ‘from the inside’. She asked me why I hated her company. I said I’d just come from a place where I saw it accelerate genocide (Myanmar) and suppress democracy. She said oh at least they won’t do it here.

I wonder where she is now. Probably laid off.

Inspired by the massive protests in Greece and @pluralistic ‘s #Homeland that highlights the importance of personal data protection in protests, we translated - and adapted to the Greek legislation - the @eff “attending a protest guide”.

https://gitlab.com/software-makers/site/-/blob/main/docs/digital_self_defense_in_protests_in_greece.v2.pdf?ref_type=heads

This was a joint effort by the #SoftwareMakers #Association and #HomoDigitalis , two Greek #non_profit organisations that came to work together in this case to help citizens protect their digital identity.

It's a nice coincidence to have Cory Doctorow @pluralistic arguing for human curated social media feeds (https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/19/gimme-five/) in my inbox after finishing a video essay in the same vein last night (https://youtu.be/QEJpZjg8GuA?si=qV__mP_inoH3NRxH) that dovetailed nicely.

From the post:

"When someone you follow - a person - posts or boosts something into their feed, there is a human *intention. It is a communicative act. It can be very communicative, even if it's just a boost, provided the person adds some context with their own commentary or quoting. It can be just a little communicative, too - a momentary thumbpress on the boost button. But either way, to read a feed populated by people, rather than machines, is to be showered with the communicative intent of people whom you have chosen to hear from."*

This gets at the essence of why I've found myself primarily on the fediverse the last couple of years, the choices to be on a specific instance, to follow specific people, and to gradually expand that network by following accounts I see with posts I like either a) on my server or b) boosted by someone I already follow is more under my control and curated by me. It also feels more manageable in that the feed isn't infinite, so while I am on the fediverse daily I'm not doomscrolling nearly as often--though it still happens with the state of the world being what it is.

Plus of course I know I will see what the people I follow post.

EDIT: Not from Cory, from Thom Dunn!

Over at boingboing DOT net, Thom Dunn talks about how changes at Disney+ ToS mean/may legally mean more than is obvious.

https://boingboing.net/2025/02/15/new-disney-tos-can-force-ads-on-ad-free-subscribers-but-thats-not-the-worst-part.html

'Rotten to the core': Inside the US financed Israeli and IDF system of Palestinian hostages in concentration camps

#Cdnpoli #Uspoli #Uspol #Gaza #Palestine #Israel #Apartheid #Occupation #Invasion #Genocide #WarCrime #Starvation #BDS #Torture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shq6crTdbLE