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  The purpose of state #surveillance is not to target you now, specifically. It is to stay capable of targeting you later, maybe. It is naive to joke about powerful intelligence agencies "for sure" not being interested in an average human being like you. Because they are. They are interested in establishing the dull baseline, which you may be part of today, which helps to automatically detect the outliers. For that, it's not exceptional "lawful access" that is required,...

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  Remember this when somebody "promises" you to "evaluate" whether opening a flood gate was a good idea. »Linux kernel documentation will stop requiring an Assisted-by tag on patches written with help from large language models, following a strong consensus at the 2026 Maintainers Summit that the tag no longer does the job it was kept for. […] By the 7.3 cycle, only about 10% of non-merge commits carried the tag even though LLM use is far more common. Some contributors never...

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  in addition to 46 other projects, @NGIZero is now financially supporting Operese (currently in alpha state, only): »Operese is a #Windows to #Linux #migration tool which reduces the friction of switching by automating the installation process; it seamlessly transfers user accounts, files, applications, and settings in place on the user's hard drive, thus making a free OS accessible to non-technical communities.« Such a feature set would be a game changer for non-techies. Looking forward to...

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  Every ruling gradient of #power sees its narrative questioned, its terminology reclaimed, and its direction inverted. It is rarely the existence of power gradients that gets questioned, though. Most want to be at the upper end, justified by their sacred truths and secret knowledge that look like utter trash to everybody else, despite being the prevalent ones. Those looks don't deceive. Take the trash out. Kill a narrative today. https://www.iankduncan.com/personal/2026-09-16-sex-ai-and-th...

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  Interesting 3-day online event for #DataProtection practitioners, free to attend. Speaker diversity could be improved upon, though, in a potential second edition. This time, seemingly no speakers from Africa or Asia, even though two days of three are scheduled for the respective world region. https://www.fieldtalk.eu/ #FieldTalk #privacy #GDPR

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  The #EU and #Canada need to grow a spine first, long before they can even dream of attaining Digital Sovereignty. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/07/trump-eu-disinformation-conference #Disinfo2026 #disinformation #FIMI #US #USpol #EUpol

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  European Digital Rights @edri summarizes, and questions, how the @EUCommission plans to deregulate " #AI ", in a frenzy: "Experience and acceleration centres" for "AI" – push it down every throat, infect every governmental process asap "Data Centres Acceleration Zones" – fast-track permissions; guarantee energy supply on an unprecedented scale; fast-track environmental assessments "Single information points" to inform the public, "with th...

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  Sounds like a tobacco industry spokesperson, ranting about health labels on cigarette boxes: »Google's Karen Massin warned of "regulatory complexity" that could prove counterproductive, and "risks confusing the people these rules are meant to help". "If online content is flooded with overlapping AI labels and legal disclosures, it becomes harder for people to get the clear context they need," Massin added.« https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/...

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  In another fabulous move, @Codeberg@social.anoxinon.de has now passed a ban on »Content that harms the reputation of Codeberg, such as cryptocurrency related projects.«. https://codeberg.org/Codeberg/org/commit/f383b648fd733ab88083dc390b91e77cd7589980 We're bowing in respect, thank you for putting the planet and humanity first, again. #Codeberg #crypto #cryptocurrency

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  @Codeberg@social.anoxinon.de have just passed, with a considerable majority, this modification of their Terms of Use: »7. You must not share projects that mostly consist of code written by "generative AI"-tools (including services such as Claude, OpenAI Codex). Such projects having an unclear copyright status (see requirements § 2 (1) 1 and § 2 (1) 3) and furthermore have little safeguards to ensure that they do not include harmful code (c.f. § 2 (1) 5).« (emphasis added) We welcome...

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  Peek into @yaelwrites 's actual device hygiene, communication stack, and physical safety boundaries: »This isn't a guide. Your situation is different from mine. But sometimes it's useful to see what someone else's setup looks like in practice.« https://blog.yaelwrites.com/what-my-privacy-and-security-stack-actually-looks-like/ #privacy #security #DeviceHygiene

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  Opposing "#AI" is already being framed as a danger, with insinuations of civil unrest and affinity to extremism, or even terrorism. Speak up, and defend your right to call out the "AI" planet-burning scam for what it is. »Among the documents in the tranche obtained by WIRED is a New York Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau report that warns of widespread upheaval in response to AI adoption. Of particular note is a novel term for what the bureau purports to be an emergi...

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  #Hackergal Ambassador Neetya Pujara, a Grade 10 student from Aurora, Ontario: »During one session, presenters displayed images of male tech CEOs, and everyone immediately recognized them. When the slide shifted to female tech CEOs, none of us could name them. That moment struck me deeply. I didn’t know Melanie Perkins was the founder and CEO of Canva, that Ada Lovelace was the world’s first programmer, or that Hedy Lamarr created the foundation for WiFi. This realization pushed me to conscious...

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  Summer break until Juli 8th.

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  Breaking our summer posting break for an important update: we can no longer recommend @mullvadnet as a #VPN service, and #MullvadBrowser or other products of that company. A leadership member has been found to donate to a far-right party: https://det.social/@lostgen/116820546568940358 #Mullvad itself has confirmed the donation in question, and believes they can talk their way out of the issue by framing it as one of "Being in a tolerant and intellectually open environment". https://...

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  Greetings to all who celebrate the anniversary of the unconditional surrender of #Nazi #Germany.

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  Your whole #body will belong to us, step by step, sooner or later. »#Meta will start using AI to scan photos and videos for visual clues to see if a user is under 13 and should be removed from #Facebook and #Instagram, the company announced on Tuesday. These visual clues include a person’s height or bone structure, it said.« https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/05/meta-will-use-ai-to-analyze-height-and-bone-structure-to-identify-if-users-are-underage/ »#World, a project designed to distinguish huma...

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  The #FeministHacking Project is maintaining a great collection of links to "community_+_friendz" at: https://feministhackerspaces.cargo.site/Comunity-Friends #feminism #research #science #community #tech #softwaredevelopment

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  Excellent article by @emanuelmaiberg over at 404 Media, who looked into why a meta study paper has been retracted that concluded #ChatGPT had beneficial effects on #learning: »“This meta analysis on #ChatGPT effects on learning appeared only two and a half years after ChatGPT was launched,” Williamson said. “So what we are supposed to believe is that in the intervening period, dozens of high quality studies of the effect of ChatGPT on learning performance took place, were written up, submitted...

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  Very good news this morning: In a rare coordinated action, three #German parties (Greens, Left, Social Democrats) have declared they're leaving #X (formerly #Twitter). This goes for their official party accounts as well as for the accounts of their respective parliamentary caucuses. They're also recommending their party members and MPs leave X. All three parties have published a coordinated statement. E.g., SPD on Instagram Via a privacy-preserving frontend: Imginn: »In recent years...

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  »Like with many tech trends before it, it’s no surprise that young people are among the biggest adopters of AI #chatbot tools. But contrary to the tales spun by tech companies like #OpenAI and #Google, polling data shows that Gen Z students and workers are a big part of the wider cultural backlash against AI. And even as they utilize these tools, vast swaths of young people are deeply acrimonious and even resentful of the AI-centric future that many feel is being forced on them.« https://www.t...

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  It seems #RightsCon 2026 organizers were pressured to exclude specific participants and topics: »The statement, although seemingly an invitation to negotiate, still lacked any concrete information as to why the government decided to announce they were postponing RightsCon. What the government wanted from us in order to lift the postponement was conveyed to us informally from multiple sources: in order for RightsCon to continue, we would have to moderate specific topics and exclude communities...

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  epicenter.works @epicenter_works have published their statement regarding several issues with the #EU's digital #EUDI-Wallet. Three particularly serious issues mentioned: Pseudonymous use of services only exists on paper In theory and by law, you have a right to pseudonymous usage of most services, because they have absolutely no legitimate need to know your legal identity. But companies wouldn't be obliged to provide such pseudonymous access. They can just bluntly ask for your legal i...

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  Following an article published by @404mediaco today, there were many posts recommending to prevent #notifications in #Signal from revealing message content, by switching notification texts to "No name or message". While here's how to do that: https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360043273491-In-App-Notification-Options#android_change_text …you might not be entirely happy about not knowing whether you've received a message from your significant other, or a family mem...

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  #Cartoons may be helpful to cope with the state of the world, and expose propaganda for what it is. #CartoonMovement @cartoonmovement is a rich website run by cartoonist Tjeerd Royaards @royaards, featuring a network of 800 cartoonists around the world: »Our mission is to promote the professional editorial cartoon and to defend freedom of speech. Every day, we publish global perspectives on the news, brought to you by our network of more than 800 cartoonists from all over the world. All our c...

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  Meanwhile, #TransnationalRepression is becoming a law in #China: »The law’s primary focus is domestic: It mandates the use of Mandarin as the primary medium of education in schools across China, and calls for intermarriage and geographical integration between the Han majority and China’s other 55 recognized ethnicities. […] “Organizations and individuals outside the [mainland] territory of the PRC that commit acts aimed at the PRC that undermine ethnic unity and progress or create ethnic divis...

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  FYI, the title of #HR8250 hasn't been changed to "Parents Decide Act". #JoshGottheimer gave it that name, right from the start. https://gottheimer.house.gov/posts/release-gottheimer-announces-bipartisan-parents-decide-act-to-protect-kids-online #AgeVerification

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  »When Peter #Thiel said, “I no longer believe that #freedom and #democracy are compatible,” he wasn’t talking about your freedom. He was talking about his own. You don’t exist.« https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/05/billionaire-consequence-free-reality/686588/?gift=7cjjyPZIuS21UKXXq4Z-JNg5WJmVwq9FbLl-9yvqo1Y

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  The text of bill H. R. 8250 is now out. On the #US national level, they want to enforce this: »An operating system provider, with respect to any operating system of such provider, shall carry out the following: (1) Require any user of the operating system to provide the date of birth of the user in order to— (A) set up an account on the operating system; and (B) use the operating system.« #OperatingSystem #AgeVerification #Linux https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8250...

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  New #Linux #kernel #policy: when writing code, humans can be "assisted" by "#AI", but they have to disclose it, and take full responsibility, as contributors. While this gets celebrated as a "pragmatic stance", it simply delegates responsibilities to individual contributors that no one in good conscience can reasonably take. Would you be willing to guarantee, legally binding, with all consequences, that your "AI" "assistant" didn't copy-pas...