The FCC this week proposed to change or sunset E-Rate-which supports internet service and equipment in schools + libraries. This fits right into the trend to limit poor kids' education opps for unrelated reasons, i.e. school having help paying the ISP bill = kids having too much screen time.

The FCC Is Asking Whether to End E-Rate. Every School and Library Should Answer.

Schools, Health, and Libraries Broadband Coalition response to FCC's latest E-Rate proposal

benton.org

Technology & Democracy@techanddemocracy.newamerica.org · 4mo ago

@newamerica.org's @chhayakapadia.bsky.social emphasizes that the push to accelerate national AI development while kneecapping programs to bring people online limits the future prospects of the communities most in need. https://bit.ly/4ceKRoQ

That any gov't cares enough abt digital rights orgs to make a stink shows just how important surveillance and censorship are to preserving + expanding their power. But also shows the calls for privacy, security, freedom of expression are increasing...which means digital rights orgs are succeeding.

RightsCon@rightscon.org · 3mo ago

The Chinese Government Just Got the World’s Largest Digital Rights Conference Canceled www.wired.com/story/the-ch...

Please think of your friendly neighborhood digital rights organizations in these days. Pay attention to what they're doing, so often unnoticed, as Big Tech and govts chip away at your rights online. Send them a few bucks if you can. It's rough out there.

Doctora Malka Older@older.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Rightscon now officially canceled. Really awful for all those who planned to attend, as well as for the digital rights community in general. Thinking of @rightscon.org and @accessnow.org folks who worked so hard for this immense event, and all the people & orgs who booked tickets (including gv 😭)

Rightscon being postponed by the Zambian government days before thousands of people from hundreds of countries fly in is quite chaotic: www.404media.co/rightscon-hu...

World’s Largest Digital Human Rights Conference Suddenly 'Postponed'

RightsCon was delayed by Zambia's Ministry of Information for "thematic issues" and problems with speakers.

404media.co

An advert promoting an AI company at Bristol Airport has been pulled after backlash. The advert showed a female AI worker who will 'never ask for a raise'.

I talk about how succeeding at using or advancing or knowledgeably regulating AI depends upon first closing the digital divide. You gotta crawl before you walk, and it's the same here. Which is why jerking states around on using fed $ on broadband access/affordability/adoption is counterproductive.

Technology & Democracy@techanddemocracy.newamerica.org · 4mo ago

@newamerica.org's @chhayakapadia.bsky.social emphasizes that the push to accelerate national AI development while kneecapping programs to bring people online limits the future prospects of the communities most in need. https://bit.ly/4ceKRoQ

The best way to protect kids (and everyone else) online is to pass strong privacy legislation that prevents these companies from collecting so much data in the first place and using that data to power manipulative and addictive recommendation algorithms. www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2024-07...

We’ve been fighting each other while Big Tech gets away with murder. To win liberatory tech policy, we need a unified strategy and a clear division of labor.

This is a post from Evan Greer (she/they), director of Fight for the Future The movement to hold Big Tech accountable is growing, but we’re struggling. As the clock runs out on this Congress, it looks...

fightforthefuture.org

Exactly. This is why the big push over banning TikTok never made sense to me. China doesn't need to use TikTok to do bulk collection of user data...cuz they can just BUY data on anyone (whether they're on TikTok or not). n.pr/4t5Y8GQ

Your data is everywhere. The government is buying it without a warrant

Data brokers buy up huge amounts of information from cell phones and browsers to sell for targeted advertising. But the government, including ICE, also buys the data.

n.pr

Kate Klonick@klonick.bsky.social · 4mo ago

This, by the way, is also something FOREIGN governments can do.

Watching a Japanese figure skater compete to Stevie Wonder in the #winterolympics in Italy on global tv, and I guarantee most viewers knew the (awesome) song. The soft power of cultural dominance ain’t nothing.

The FBI was able to access Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson's Signal messages because she used Signal on her work laptop. The laptop accepted Touch ID for authentication, meaning the agents were allowed to require her to unlock it. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

ICE isn’t just brutal. It’s also big business. From 2008 to 2021 ICE spent *$1.2 billion* on geolocation tracking, $561M on data analysis, $252M on government databases, and $97M on data brokers. Most of that went to companies who will lobby for this system to stay in place.

A trenchant insider warning on how tech co's shameless pivot for short-term gain will bite them. He's right abt the coming techlash. It's already starting w/ people pushing back on AI data centers, gov't + corps sharing data, state AI preemption, kids on social media, privacy x.com/kumareth/sta...

Kumar Abhirup on X: "The big techlash is coming, and we will deserve it." / X

The big techlash is coming, and we will deserve it.

x.com

I feel ya, guy - we don't want you here any more than you want to be here. washingtonian.com/2026/01/21/a...

An Anonymous DC National Guardsman Tells All

“This is not what I signed up to do.”

washingtonian.com

Again, "I only make CSAM for money" would not help an ordinary person's defence, but would aggravate their sentencing.

Eliot Higgins@eliothiggins.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Now only paying subscribers can make violent non-consenual sexual imagery of women and children - Grok turns off image generator for most users after outcry over sexualised AI imagery www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Wildly off topic…but I want to express my gratitude for every single ice dance team who didn’t use the Backstreet Boys as part of their rhythm dance music this season. I have my Backstreet moments I guess but So. Much. Backstreet. #figureskating #prevagenuschamps

64 days in Chicago: The story of Operation Midway Blitz. Our team fanned out to cover the before, during and after of the federal government’s months-long raid on an American city. This is worth your time to understand the United States today www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/28/c...

64 days in Chicago: The story of Operation Midway Blitz

President Donald Trump’s federal immigration enforcement operation led to most surreal autumn in Chicago history. What happened during those 64 days will be remembered for a long time.

chicagotribune.com

“Within days, Claudius had given away nearly all its inventory for free—including a PlayStation 5 it had been talked into buying for “marketing purposes.” It ordered a live fish. It offered to buy stun guns, pepper spray, cigarettes and underwear.”

We Let AI Run Our Office Vending Machine. It Lost Hundreds of Dollars.

An AI agent ran a snack operation in the WSJ newsroom. It gave away a free PlayStation, ordered a live fish—and taught us lessons about the future of AI.

wsj.com

A good explanation from @meredithmeredith.bsky.social on why AI agents present a risk to our privacy, our security (hello, encryption back door), and the future of encrypted comms tools like @signal.org. Hopefully these are all things we can agree on over the Thanksgiving weekend!

Signal’s Meredith Whittaker on AI hype and the end of privacy by POLITICO Tech

megaphone.link

Love this on the power of listening and being heard. Alyssa is one of the very best. www.notus.org/perspectives...

The Washington Post Got 21,000 Emails After It Didn't Endorse. I Read Them All.

Reading and editing letters gave me a theory about what is wrong with America — and how it could be fixed.

notus.org

We need to know how much our internet bill is going to cost so we can manage our budgets, and that's what the broadband nutrition label tells us. Yet the FCC is considering chipping away at it. Tell 'em what you think under “Proceeding 22-2,” choose “Express Reply” here: www.fcc.gov/ecfs/search/...

Technology & Democracy@techanddemocracy.newamerica.org · 9mo ago

@chhayakapadia.bsky.social, chief of staff of @newamerica.org's Open Technology Institute, spoke with @washingtonpost.com's @shiraovide.bsky.social regarding the state and future of internet "nutrition labels." www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

New America in the news: 1️⃣ @kevincarey1.bsky.social for @usatoday.com https://bit.ly/3XaeGj4 2️⃣ @ehaspel.bsky.social for @theguardian.com https://bit.ly/4qPiAvy 3️⃣ @chhayakapadia.bsky.social in @washingtonpost.com https://wapo.st/4omP4eH

Divali 2025: late but not ignored. Biryani, lapsi (sorta Gujarati bulgar pudding), candles for light to banish the darkness, a gin and tonic to make the darkness easier to manage, and a playoff baseball game that will make someone’s baseball dreams might come true. #divali #lightoverdarkness

Listening to D’Angelo’s Spanish Joint on Voodoo and the impeccable guitar solo by Chuck Brown. #mwahh #dcpride

Special #BannedBooksWeek edition of the @projectcensored.bsky.social show with Youth Honorary Chair Iris Mogul, ALA President @samhelmick.bsky.social, and Lee Rowland from @ncacensorship.bsky.social. https://www.projectcensored.org/banned-books-week-censorship-1984/

Banned Books Week: Censorship Is So 1984, Read For Your Rights!

Celebrate Banned Books Week with voices defending the freedom to read and the fight against censorship on the Project Censored Show.

projectcensored.org

Glad to see more on the risks of an AI bubble. Yes, and...will lack of value to people be what slows the AI train enough to let public interest & human rights impacts (finally) catch up to the tech? Or do open source AI models (see: DeepSeek) demonstrate VC $$$$ aren't nec to build AI for all uses?

Tech Policy Press@techpolicypress.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Regulations that ensure appropriate AI safety and governance serve to protect fundamental rights and the public interest, but also make good economic sense by tempering unsustainable market valuations, writes Tech Policy Press contributing editor Amber Sinha.

Enjoying today’s OTI’s 15th anniversary event today, and looking forward to a great discussion with OTI’s former and current leaders @saschameinrath.bsky.social @abdavidson.bsky.social @bankston.bsky.social @lcoral.bsky.social and Sarah Morris.

Technology & Democracy@techanddemocracy.newamerica.org · 11mo ago

🎊 Today's the day! 🎊 We're celebrating OTI's 15th anniversary with a community of advocates, researchers, organizers & innovators. They're joining us for timely conversations around the future of tech policy. Don't miss the livestream of #OTIat15: events.newamerica.org/opentechnolo...

FABBS is hiring a short-term Tech Policy Fellow to focus on behavioral science and AI (link below). Share with early career policy wonks @ilpfoundry.bsky.social @asa-scipol.bsky.social @scipolguy.bsky.social @abankston.bsky.social @matthourihan.bsky.social @snapcoalition.bsky.social #scipoljobs

I just gave to support @51st.news and you should too if you can. National news is important but local news coverage is how you learn about the stuff that impacts your day to day living, which is even more valuable, so I’m glad to support.

The 51st@51st.news · 12mo ago

Three days remain to hit the goal in our campaign to hire @maustermuhle.bsky.social full-time. We know there's a ways to go, but with less than half left to raise...we could reach it easy peasy if each person who donated asked one friend to give too. givebutter.com/SsQ8CG

“The societal benefit of a comprehensive guide to the cultural sector can’t be readily calculated on a balance sheet.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv... This was me too, and the ground level awareness of what was out there to see and do was so eye-opening for me.

A Love Letter to Music Listings

Publications like Time Out New York were my bible and my road map.

theatlantic.com

If we really want to "win the global race to AI," it makes no sense to toss out gov't goals for faster speed and decide it doesn't matter whether people can afford their internet bills. Speed/service goals matter if you want people to use AI...as does being able to pay your internet bill.

FCC to eliminate gigabit speed goal and scrap analysis of broadband prices

Analysis of broadband affordability deemed “extraneous” by FCC chair.

arstechnica.com