Mastodawn

AI as a Fascist Artifact

(This is a bit of a merger of two talks I recently gave about fascism and AI. One was in German at the Cables Of Resistance conference, one in English at the Milton Wolf Seminar on Media and Diplomacy. I added some shots of the slides I used as a structure for the text which might make it look a bit weird. You can just ignore the images if you want to. They are kinda like subchapter marks. The text is not exactly what I said but a longer version of my arguments that should be easier to […]

https://tante.cc/2026/04/21/ai-as-a-fascist-artifact/

Dana McFarland 🍁 🔥🐎3h ago

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Radieschen 4h ago

@lislegaard @tante

I recently found The Hippocratic License when looking for good licensing options for a project:
https://firstdonoharm.dev/

Seems to be quite nice, there's a base license and a bunch of modules to exclude military use, for example.

The Hippocratic License: An Ethical License for Open Source

The Hippocratic License (HL3) is an ethical source license that specifically prohibits the use of open source software to violate universal standards of human rights.

Dana McFarland 🍁 🔥🐎4h ago

Kristoffer Lislegaard 9h ago

Interesting blog post by @tante

"Open source licenses do not allow you to forbid using your work in weapons. Do not allow you to limit using your work only for socially beneficial endeavors.

Open source is impressive, but tries to be apolitical and therefore does not help us fight back fascism.

It wants to stay neutral. But there is no neutrality when standing in a wildfire."

https://tante.cc/2026/04/21/ai-as-a-fascist-artifact/

Dana McFarland 🍁 🔥🐎4h ago

Karen Keiller 🥌 📚5h ago

“It’s more than just learning how to use generative AI. We need to know about misinformation, disinformation and fake sources. We need to have a conversation and start explaining what these issues are.”

#datasovereignty #AIliteracy

https://nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articles/law/in-depth/2026/canada-s-uncertain-digital-future

Canada’s uncertain digital future

Observers say this country must create its own tools to move away from U.S. technology and enhance digital sovereignty, but a lack of political will is standing in the way

Dana McFarland 🍁 🔥🐎16h ago

Black Press Media 22h ago

Evacuation order issued for Peace Region due to landslide
https://ladysmithchronicle.com/2026/04/21/evacuation-order-issued-for-peace-region-due-to-landslide/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into Ladysmith @ladysmith-BlackPressMedia

Evacuation order issued for Peace Region due to landslide - Ladysmith Chronicle

The landslide poses significant risk to life

Ladysmith Chronicle

Dana McFarland 🍁 🔥🐎17h ago

Sam Popowich 1d ago

University of Winnipeg Library is hiring a Head of Oral History Programmes and Collections. Feel free to share. I'm on the search committee, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

https://www.northstarats.com/University-of-Winnipeg/Head-of-Oral-History-Programme-and-Collections-Library/90125

Head of Oral History Programme and Collections, Library

Dana McFarland 🍁 🔥🐎1d ago

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Solitha 1d ago

@boogah That's... not a good solution, I'm afraid. The archive-dot sites (other than archive.org) use visitors to power DDOS attacks and have been caught altering archived materials.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/02/wikipedia-might-blacklist-archive-today-after-site-maintainer-ddosed-a-blog/

Archive.today CAPTCHA page executes DDoS; Wikipedia considers banning site

DDoS hit blog that tried to uncover Archive.today founder's identity in 2023.

Ars Technica

Dana McFarland 🍁 🔥🐎1d ago

Scott Leslie 1d ago

If you are wondering why your systems/cybersecurity folks are even more stressed than usual, this summary of the last 10 months of major attacks and exploits might give you sense of why

https://ringmast4r.substack.com/p/we-may-be-living-through-the-most

(That is all pre Claude Mythos, all pre Quantum/encryption apocalypse, it's only gonna get more nuts from here)

We May Be Living Through the Most Consequential Hundred Days in Cyber History, and Almost Nobody Has Noticed

An archive of this year’s insane timeline of hacks few people are talking about

Ringmast4r

Dana McFarland 🍁 🔥🐎3d ago

nash 3d ago

they should invent a new kind of company that feels shame

Dana McFarland 🍁 🔥🐎4d ago

Kate Nyhan 4d ago

RE: https://mastodon.social/@freakonometrics/116425881793394843

FWIW I was trying to look up a journal policy page (from a major for-profit publisher - maybe Wiley?) yesterday, in hopes of figuring out if the journal was still hybrid or already fully APC-based OA when the author who asked for help submitted the manuscript.
Apparently the publisher doesn't allow archiving of their websites - not even the author instructions kind of page :(

ORCID	https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4850-3988
Website	https://library.viu.ca/danamcfarland