I'm leaving #Google: https://www.mayrhofer.eu.org/post/leaving-google/

While I believe that I have been able to do some good with my continuing (part-time) engagement in the Android security and privacy team since returning to Austria a couple of years ago, the deal with the US #DoW is completely misaligned with my personal ethical principles. I will, therefore, no longer be able to act as a contact point to Google-internal teams and discussions, but will continue our research on private digital identity, end-to-end secure communication and storage, network privacy, (embedded/mobile) operating system security, supply chain transparency, etc. from a purely academic point of view. Android - and in particular AOSP - will remain a research interest, so please feel free to reach out on any of those topics for potential collaborations or discussions on the academic side.

(There were some server issues that wiped the last post, so I'm reposting)

Do you need a steady supply of illustration, concept art, branding, or graphic design? I have 20 years of experience and am now available for part-time remote work!

If you think I'd be a good fit for your organization, DM me or email at: [email protected]

Boosts OK!
#FediHired #GetFediHired #NoAI

Demand Is Booming for New #NoTech, #Repairable #Tractor

"There is consumer pressure to back away from technology that is unnecessary to perform everyday tasks."

by Jason Koebler
Jun 3, 2026

"The secondary market for decades old, low-tech #JohnDeereTractors has been booming for years as farmers have sought reliable tractors that they can actually fix without having to deal with John Deere’s repair monopoly. A Canadian company has seen that demand and came up with a radical thought: What if they made a new, repairable, 'no-tech' tractor to solve what has become a gigantic pain point for farmers?

"Alberta’s #UrsaAg says that it has been inundated with demand after announcing its tractor, which costs roughly half as much as a Deere and has the benefit of not being a repair nightmare. We have for years covered the frustration that farmers have felt as they have been locked out of their Deere tractors with digital rights management systems that prevent them from fixing their machinery, tractors that won’t run because of minor sensor failures, and crops that literally die on the vine as they wait for an 'authorized' repair person to fix tractors during critical harvesting periods.

"Ursa Ag markets its tractors as '#NoFrills' and 'built to last.' Ursa Ag’s Doug Wilson told me that the company designed the tractor because of a need in the marketplace for a new machine that isn’t loaded with tech and is easy to maintain. The company follows in the footsteps of consumer electronics companies like #Fairphone, which makes a repairable smartphone and #Framework, which makes modular, repairable #laptops. The demand Ursa Ag has seen is part of the backlash to manufacturer repair #monopolies and the injection of #technology and #InternetConnectedSensors and terms of use into even the most basic of gadgets.

" 'I talk to farmers every day and I hear from farmers every day about how they went out and bought machinery from 1987 so that it wouldn’t have a computer on it,' Wilson said. 'All of this came from a simple discussion with a customer who wanted to be able to turn [the tractor] on at the start of the day, to use it, and shut it off at the end of the day. It needed to work, so that’s what we built.'

"Ursa Ag’s tractor has been hyped in agriculture circles after Wilson showed the tractor off at a Canadian farm show and it was featured by Farms.com. Wilson said more than a thousand farmers have contacted him after that show, from roughly 30 countries. 'I got a handwritten letter from a farmer in France who doesn’t own a computer and wanted us to mail him information about the tractors,' he said."

Read more:
https://www.404media.co/demand-is-booming-for-ursa-ag-new-no-tech-repairable-tractor/

#SolarPunkSunday #LowTech #LoTech #RightToRepair #Farmers

The government wants more power to spy on you. Contact your senators at the link.

#ACLU #surveillance #privacy
https://action.aclu.org/send-message/stop-mass-warrantless-surveillance-reform-section-702

Florida sues OpenAI, Sam Altman after multiple ChatGPT-linked murders

Altman has an "utter disregard" for human lives, Florida AG says.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/06/florida-sues-openai-sam-altman-after-multiple-chatgpt-linked-murders/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social

New Blog: Profound Effect of Small Kindnesses

I read a beautiful post by @oddtail about cis allyship for trans women that got me thinking.

Obviously, the experiences of a trans woman and a late-diagnosed autistic cis woman are completely separate things. It resonated with me deeply: with the joy of women being able to live as themselves, and with my relationship with sisterhood.

A Perfectly Normal Autistic Woman

https://goingdownwithsundial.com/small-kindnesses/

#PrideMonth #CisAllyship #ActuallyAutistic #Sisterhood

@lisamelton does not receive enough support for the support she puts out.

This is a Lisa appreciation post.

💜🫶💜

Please join me.