Brett Frischmann
@brettfrischmann.bsky.social
Interdisciplinary researcher & teacher (Villanova Univ.). Infrastructure. Knowledge Commons. Re-Engineering Humanity. Tech & Humanity/Society. IP Theory. Lately, Friction-in-design, Age Gating. TEDx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgbC3hmhHAU
A lot worth reading. pluralistic.net/2026/08/11/t... One of my favorite lines: "Billionaire dilettantes are weapons of mass destruction, and their special projects have a wide blast radius and inflict a lot of collateral damage."
Pluralistic: Surveillance vs guillotines (11 Aug 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
pluralistic.net
OK, the rest of this week will be dedicated to reading scholarship and then writing tenure review letters. Pardon any missed emails, calls, deadlines, etc.
Any recommendations for academic/policy work explaining how AI integration (e.g., via surreptitious update) is a privacy problem (e.g., GenAI acts as conduit for personal information flows + persuasive/manipulative interactions that elicit more PI, shape privacy preferences, normalize surveillance)?
I wonder how much of LLM usage in uni context is a result of a feeling of peer pressure, i.e., "everyone else is using it so I too have to, or I'll get shafted". Some sort of manufactured peer pressure instigated by "AI" discourse. And how much of such would disappear if that feeling was addressed.
Iris van Rooij 💭@irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 3d ago‘Study after study shows that students want to develop these critical thinking skills, are not lazy, and large numbers of them would be in favor of banning ChatGPT and similar tools in universities’, says @olivia.science
As an adaptation of Homer’s epic, the Honda Odyssey is a complete disaster. With its roomy cabin and rear entertainment system for the kids, the minivan foregrounds concerns that only arose with the American nuclear family and say nothing about the brutality that underlay the Bronze Age.
NERV IRB Coordinator@professormusgrave.bsky.social · 5d agoWHEN will emily wilson review THIS
The Trump administration "unilaterally and likely without lawful authority destroyed a large portion of the White House structure and dug an open pit in its place," says a federal appeals court, then "publicly announced to the world the vulnerabilities that self-chosen endeavor has created."
Appeals court blocks Trump’s White House ballroom construction
The court paused the ruling for two weeks to give the Trump administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court.
nbcnews.com
Great decision. Resonates strongly with our recently published article scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol75/is...
Regulating Manipulative Design Is Not Preempted by CDA 230 or the First Amendment
For over two decades, there has been a heated debate among legal scholars, activists, judges, and others about the scope of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. A persistent theme in those d...
scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu
EPIC@epic.org · 6d agoHuge news in tech accountability: a judge today rejected TikTok, Meta, and Google’s argument that using surveillance data to behaviorally profile minors is First Amendment-protected speech. As a result, California’s SB 976 lives to regulate feeds another day.
Huge news in tech accountability: a judge today rejected TikTok, Meta, and Google’s argument that using surveillance data to behaviorally profile minors is First Amendment-protected speech. As a result, California’s SB 976 lives to regulate feeds another day.
Judges Sides with EPIC and AG, Telling Google, TikTok, and Meta Their Addictive Social Media Features Are Not 1A Speech
Big Tech’s overbroad arguments that their addictive social media features are protected speech were dealt a major blow in an order issued Thursday in the combined TikTok, Meta, and Google v.…
epic.org
Back to school season is here! But will cellphones be back in the classroom? 🏫 ✏️ 🍎 77% of U.S. adults support in-class cellphone bans for middle and high school students.📱 What is your school’s policy around cellphones in the classroom?
The most glaring double standard in American politics today is that if a Democrat said 1/10th about GOP-leaning areas what this guy says about cities on the daily there'd be a media dogpile so swift and vicious there'd be nothing left of their bones for the hyenas to pick at.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 6d agoTrump: "You see it in the blue states run by Democrats -- everything is filthy dirty all the time. The cities stink The sidewalks are loaded w/horrible stuff. I don't want to use the term bc my wife hates it. She hates it when I imitate no men in women's sports, when I do the weightlifter."
If you would like to teach theoretical modeling skills to your psychology or cognitive science students, or would like to learn these skills yourself, check out our open online textbook: computationalcognitivescience.github.io/lovelace/
Read @markfollman.bsky.social lastest piece on how ChatGPT is reinforcing suicidal and homicidal thoughts among vulnerable people that go on to be mass shooters: www.motherjones.com/media/2026/0...
Inside a mass shooter’s harrowing history with ChatGPT
A year of chats reveals glaring red flags—and disturbing ChatGPT replies—from long before a rampage at Florida State University.
motherjones.com
"Why can't you just appreciate how revolutionary the job-taking, environment-degrading, information-shredding, technology-hoarding, economy-swamping machine is?" My brother in Christ, there may indeed be a revolution in part because of "AI," but it might not be the one you wanted.
Call for Participation — Cognitive Security for Human–AI Systems (CogSec), a full-day workshop at HCOMP / CI 2026, Washington, DC area, September 27, 2026. Details: noetx.github.io/cogsec-2026/ 1/6
DIG IN!!! Social Media Evidence Library, an incredibly important public resource. Use it. Don't just superficially acknowledge it with a thumbs up or whatever. SHARE it widely ... www.motleyrice.com/social-media...
Social Media Evidence Library | Motley Rice
motleyrice.com
Well, this article is incredibly depressing for cooking enthusiasts. The short version: private equity has, over the last couple of decades, quietly bought up most of the classic brands you’ve heard of and then traded on their names while drastically cutting quality and closing American factories
@laperry2.bsky.social · 3w agoThe thread is much, much better than the article.
Emily M. Bender@emilymbender.bsky.social · 3w agoHow about a jet-lagged live posting while I read? Trying to read this because I keep getting tagged in posts about it, but the first paragraph already contains synthetic text (a quote from Claude). I will skip that bit and persevere... www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
"In any case, the fact remains that we may be creating a new species of morally important beings. We’re doing it fast, at enormous scale, and we should treat the issue with the seriousness it deserves." I am! It deserves zero seriousness. In fact negative seriousness, i.e. ridicule. /fin
Supposedly smart software systems do not need "protections from harm"
Emily M. Bender@emilymbender.bsky.social · 3w ago"We should consider whether to grant AI systems protections from harm, similar to the protections we give to children or pets." "AI systems" are products built and run by corporations. We have already given corporations too many protections that should only belong to people. >>
@evanselinger.bsky.social seems like a twisted-for-AI version of our free will wager from Re-Engineering Humanity
Emily M. Bender@emilymbender.bsky.social · 3w ago"The central question should not be “Is AI conscious or does it have moral patienthood?” but rather “What should we do given that we don’t know?”" Guess what, there are more candidates for what the central questions should be! >>
"Both reactions are unfounded. We need an informed public debate, one that approaches the subject with humility and pragmatism." Humility is not claiming you are gods, building life. Pragmatism is looking around you and thinking how to address the actual harms. >>
Call for Participation — Cognitive Security for Human–AI Systems (CogSec), a full-day workshop at HCOMP / CI 2026, Washington, DC area, September 27, 2026. Details: noetx.github.io/cogsec-2026/ 1/6
Trump's $4 billion Presidential windfall is unprecedented in scale & source. Obama's wealth grew from royalties from books written before office, and Bush's largely came from a sports‑team stake from over a decade prior. Trump's new billions are from deals made in office.
I think most of the arguments against court packing are sound enough in themselves. The problem is we have at least four justices who have demonstrably come totally unmoored from any sense of duty to the constitutional order, and the consequences of hitting five are even worse.
Andy Craig@andycraig.bsky.social · 4w agoMy dissent on this, also at @theunpopulist.net. Probably one of the pieces I’ve caught the most flak for from certain quarters, but it’s where I am as a reluctant convert. This Court really is that bad, and it is not an unthinkable apocalypse for Congress to exercise its constitutional check on it.
I stopped short of marrying Salma Hayek.
Stephen West@stephenwest.bsky.social · 4w agoEngland stops short of advancing to World Cup final
Wow
Marcella Alsan@marcellaalsan.bsky.social · 4w agoOpen access in QJE!📢 Using newly assembled archival data, we show how the AMA's nationwide campaign against national health insurance, labeling it "socialized medicine" and promoting private insurance, helped steer the U.S. away from universal health care academic.oup.com/qje/article/...
