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

J. Trent Adams 2d ago

RE: https://infosec.exchange/@ifin/116364140515996363

I'm honored to be the founding Chair of the Board for the Independent Federated Intelligence Network (IFIN)... a nonprofit organization operating a decentralized, federated network (and supporting services) dedicated to the threat intelligence community.

#ifin #osint #threatintel #cybersecurity #infosec

J. Trent Adams 4d ago

Fiona Bradley 5d ago

"I'd just like to record this for the minutes". Minute taking was once a skill, knowing what to include, what to leave out, decisions made. Now we get long overly detailed minutes nobody cares to read, AI-generated summarised, and worst of all, meetings that are stilted and don't discuss anything because every utterance is recorded.

J. Trent Adams 6d ago

Chad

6d ago

My therapist said I need to find things to keep me busy, so I created the @cdnspace Artemis II dashboard.

I reverse-engineered the Unity Engine powering the NASA AROW visualization and found an absolute treasure trove of data to display.

Little did I expect that it's now being seen by anywhere from 200 to 600 people at any given time with 130,000 people having looked at it in the last 24 hours. People are even building projects around my API.

Yesterday, I received a message on LinkedIn from someone working in Mission Control in Houston... and they're using my dashboard! He even sent me a photo, but I can't share it until after the crew has splashed down.

Mind blown, and an absolute pick-me-up. The best part? It's being served from my basement.

https://artemis.cdnspace.ca/

#artemis #artemis2 #artemisII #nasa #csa

Artemis II Tracker — Live Mission Control

Real-time mission control dashboard tracking NASA's Artemis II crewed lunar flyby. Live telemetry, DSN comms, orbit visualization, and crew activities.

Canadian Space

J. Trent Adams Mar 30

Taggart

Mar 30

As a research project, I built a needed tool with Claude Code. I thought it would be a disaster, but it wasn't. I have some complicated feelings about it.

https://taggart-tech.com/reckoning/

I used AI. It worked. I hated it.

I used Claude Code to build a tool I needed. It worked great, but I was miserable. I need to reckon with what it means.

J. Trent Adams Mar 23

In today's episode of attempting to do what little I can to pay it forward...

A trio of teenagers sporting alternative outfits and brightly colored hair (read: clearly flagging their non-conformity with our conservative suburban neighborhood) were having trouble with the self-checkout system at the local grocery store... apparently the system wasn't accepting their crumpled bills.

The clerk just shrugged when they asked for help, saying there's nothing he could do. They returned to the system which kept rejecting their bills when one grumbled, "It's designed to reject queer money. I'll bet it'd work for a straight person."

My heart broke... so I asked if I could help. They initially looked at me (an old codger) with obvious suspicion... then brightened when they noticed the pride pin I always wear. They looked at each other, smiled and said, "Sure." So I leaned over, swiped my card, and paid their bill.

After they gathered their purchases, one of the teenagers turned to me and said, "Hey. Thanks. And thanks for wearing the pin." Then they were on their way... with, I hope, a sense that they aren't alone in this diversity desert.

#queer #pride #payitforward

J. Trent Adams Feb 24

Show thread

tante Feb 24

@nadia_z
"And, for an instant, she stared directly into those soft blue eyes and knew, with an instinctive mammalian certainty, that the exceedingly rich were no longer even remotely human."

William Gibson, Count Zero

J. Trent Adams Jan 14

stoerdebegga Jan 14

This is a brutally honest and intense reflection by a close friend of mine, outlining why she quit Meta and retired from Tech altogether.

https://brittahummel.substack.com/p/why-i-left

#meta #burnout

Why I left

A personal account of power, silence, and leadership — after six years at Meta

Britta's Substack

J. Trent Adams Jan 8

Matt Blaze Jan 8

Susan Landau, @SteveBellovin , and I have a piece up on Lawfare on the UK’s latest ill-advised attempts to prohibit strong encryption. https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-u.k.-s-plan-for-electronic-eavesdropping-poses-cybersecurity-risks

The U.K.’s Plan for Electronic Eavesdropping Poses Cybersecurity Risks

The U.K. government’s latest attempt to access encrypted cloud backups could allow adversarial actors to gain access to sensitive data.

Default

J. Trent Adams Jan 8

Thrilled to announce that I've optioned "A Voice in the Dark", the latest cyber-thriller by Barbara Nickless! ... and now the marathon begins as we race to get the film made! Wish us luck!!

Toss a pre-order for the book into your cart... I think this community in particular will really geek out on it. ;)

#book #recommendations #cyber #mystery #thriller #film

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1662533721

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