BostonJoan 🏳️🌈 🦫
@bostonjoan.bsky.social
I am the founder of The Critical Internet Studies Institute and an Assistant Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media Studies at Boston University www.criticalinternet.org
“AI” as a sector is not a zero sum game. It’s a weapon of war and a commercial gadget. I say, “gadget” because it’s fundamentally a toy, a novelty, but with some practical uses. As a commercial product, it has aspirations of becoming an appliance as ubiquitous as a stove or telephone.
I’m wicked excited to watch the new doc from @donie.bsky.social on @cnn.com starting at 8pm. Is the left an insurgency? Let’s see what gets said… Gen Z is a multi-headed hydra.
This is so messed up! @kattenbarge.bsky.social is an amazing independent investigative journalist with track record of reporting on the far-right. She is an expert on these figures for years. She’s right about these “AI Checkers” too. Most of my pre-2020 writing is clocked as AI. Garbage.
So Ozzy’s son accused me of using AI to write an article 💀
TikTok video by kat tenbarge
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“AI” as a sector is not a zero sum game. It’s a weapon of war and a commercial gadget. I say, “gadget” because it’s fundamentally a toy, a novelty, but with some practical uses. As a commercial product, it has aspirations of becoming an appliance as ubiquitous as a stove or telephone.
New segment of The Glitch Report linked below, where we chat about the lawsuit over calling Kash Patel a CHUD, a deeper diver into Russia and Australia’s new charges against the founder of Telegram, Musk defends Grok in a lawsuit over AI generated nudes. We wrap up on how authors are countering AI.
Boston Public Radio, The Curiosity Desk, & The Culture Show Live Thursday, July 30, 2026
YouTube video by GBH News
youtube.com
Get the internet out of the water supply.
Andy Greenberg@agreenberg.bsky.social · 6d agoA Minnesota state fusion center report ties the cyberattacks on 30+ Minnesota water utilities to Iranian-affiliated hackers, according to a water utility information sharing group's memo I obtained. www.wired.com/story/a-leak...
This tech fundamentally alters the way people are able to express their basic human rights, and is incompatible with any society that claims to be free. As people understand the capabilities of the tech and how widespread it is, the backlash is entirely understandable.
Why Flock surveillance cameras are drawing fierce backlash across Massachusetts - The Boston Globe
People tolerate Ring cameras, cellphones, and CCTV cameras — but Flock Safety has some filling city council meetings in protest.
bostonglobe.com
For the 13th straight month, Harvard’s Nieman Journalism Lab has found The Conversation to be the most-read nonprofit news outlet in America 🎉 www.niemanlab.org/2026/07/desp...
Despite concerns about AI Overviews, some nonprofit news outlets see a surge in search traffic
"We found this heartening, in a time when many experts are writing eulogies for clickthrough from search engine results pages."
niemanlab.org
Send any comments and evidence you have about data centers to Rep Pallone.
Lora Kolodny@lorak.bsky.social · 7d agoRep. Frank Pallone Jr (d-nj) sent a letter to Elon Musk demanding records & access to tour SpaceX owned XAI data centers in Memphis citing pollution concerns of House Energy & Commerce Committee - www.cnbc.com/2026/07/29/s... - @cnbc.com
Hello New England Bluesky, I need you to share this with your followers Buy the ticket. Take the ride. thecutlive.com/pages/events...
On today’s episode of The curiosity Desk on GBH, we discussed the legacy of C.H.U.D. from its roots as a 1984 horror film to Gen Z insult against the reactionary far right and how today’s culture war is about resisting CHUD politics. Watch The Curiosity Desk here: www.youtube.com/live/M61n0FC...
C.H.U.D. Live with Gossip Collar, Cigarette Camp & The Chip Rockers
Party Like it's the Apocalypse with music by Gossip Collar (post-punk dark wave), The Chip Rockers (local 2 tone ska) and Cigarette Camp (Boston Punk) for an immersive and fun night of music, cine...
thecutlive.com
I am very concerned about the rise of technofascism and the militarization of the internet. What do I do now?
That is a beautiful heart-wrenching piece, Gillian. Got my daily cry in 😭. Your story about the African woman who witnessed a fellow passenger in full-body restraint upside down on the floor for an entire flight screaming, “I’m already a dead man”. I will never forget that.
Gillian Brockell@gillianbrockell.com · 2w agoI talked to On the Media’s @micahloewinger.bsky.social and their amazing producer Molly Schwartz Rosen, about my ICE flight reporting, third-country removals, and the professional pickle I am in. Starts at 34:00: www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm...
On today’s episode of The curiosity Desk on GBH, we discussed the legacy of C.H.U.D. from its roots as a 1984 horror film to Gen Z insult against the reactionary far right and how today’s culture war is about resisting CHUD politics. Watch The Curiosity Desk here: www.youtube.com/live/M61n0FC...
C.H.U.D. Live with Gossip Collar, Cigarette Camp & The Chip Rockers
Party Like it's the Apocalypse with music by Gossip Collar (post-punk dark wave), The Chip Rockers (local 2 tone ska) and Cigarette Camp (Boston Punk) for an immersive and fun night of music, cine...
thecutlive.com
Talked about this on @niedermeyer.online‘s stream last night, but in both its car sales and now in its Robotaxi play, Tesla is leaning on geographic expansion to give the appearance of durable scale that the underlying numbers don’t support bsky.app/profile/okan...
Sean O’Kane@okane.fyi · 2w agoNEW: Tesla's own data shows a roughly 36% decline in "paid Robotaxi miles" from Q1 to Q2, despite its sweeping rhetoric and expansion to new cities More on @techcrunch.com: techcrunch.com/2026/07/23/t...
We raised an entire academic field to study media manipulation and disinformation, spent 100s of millions mapping repeat offenders, and identified the platform vulnerabilities that made social media into a weapon of cyberwar. Amplifying disinformation is a design choice.
Matt Bevan@mattbevan.bsky.social · 2w agoIt's wild to me when people have the realisation that maybe the entire Western media wasn't lying to them and they're like "Russia is so good at information warfare!" Like, Laura, they're not. You just ~wanted~ to believe it because it was politically convenient for you at the time.
Come to Gloucester MA, if you're into punk, darkness, horror, and wicked fun times.
This is also what happens after faculty meetings... so I'm told.
Erin Biba@erinbiba.bsky.social · 3w agoThat thing where you were the only person in the friend group who realized your one friend is a massive asshole and then everyone else finally realizes it and now you can finally fucking talk shit about them.
It's the low flyover. It's ICE killing people. It's the speech about election fraud. It's the SpaceX of it all. It's Zuckerberg's pervert glasses. The people must push back against this technology enhanced fascist takeover of US democracy and rule of law. 'Might makes right' is wrong.
Molly Jong-Fast@mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 3w agoThey’re going to kill more people
Come to Gloucester MA, if you're into punk, darkness, horror, and wicked fun times.
apparently, they'll give out award for anything these days.
Gil Durán@gilduran.com · 3w agoAxel Springer, the company that owns Politico, awards its top prize to...Antichrist lecturer Peter Thiel. No mention of the $50 million Thiel gave the son of Axel Springer's CEO to start a venture capital fund. But the CEO lauds Thiel's "courage and non-conformity." www.welt.de/wirtschaft/a...
ALL Gen AI software makes up lies, including faux statistics, citations, and impersonated quotes. If your lawyer uses it. RUN. 🎺🎺🎺🎷🎷🎷
Christina Ayiotis@christinaayiotis.bsky.social · last mo.“More than three years after the generative AI boom began changing workplaces, legal-specific tools powered by artificial intelligence are now as commonplace as other software that’s long been a mainstay of an attorney’s tool box.” news.bloomberglaw.com/legal-ops-an...
Calling Out AI music is a new frontier in media manipulation research. www.tiktok.com/t/ZTSTvwepV/
Replying to @biorobotica #aislop #aimusic
TikTok video by Pawns or Kings
tiktok.com
