Matthew Lane
@mattlane.bsky.social
Florida Man living in DC. Opinions are my own.
Here's some more good news from today's hearing: it seems like the SCREEN ACT totally failed. This was one of the most dangerous bills being considered: it would have created an Internet-wide ID check regime that would be a censorship and surveillance nightmare for marginalized communities.
I spend a lot of time explicitly making the connection between interpersonal surveillance/abuse and government surveillance. Sometimes I see people claim that the Internet Freedom set only cares about govt surveillance and I wonder if they either don't know my work or they think I don't count.
NEW: I wrote for MSNBC about how Madison Square Garden turning off their facial recognition cameras for Taylor Swift is a perfect encapsulation of our dystopian present: where the wealthy can use surveillance to consolidate power, and the rest of us live in a privately owned panopticon.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce got to buy MSG's privacy. Her fans aren't so lucky.
Reports that Madison Square Garden temporarily shut off its facial recognition system for Swift’s wedding expose a glaring problem with how the elite wield and control mass surveillance.
ms.now
MSG owner James Dolan insists that the facial recognition system deployed at his venues is an essential security measure. So why was it disabled during one of the year's most high-profile events: the pre-wedding celebration of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce? www.wired.com/story/for-ta...
For Taylor Swift, Madison Square Garden’s Controversial Cameras Briefly Went Dark
MSG’s sprawling surveillance system can monitor guests down to the second. Its owners made an exception for the pop star’s rehearsal dinner.
wired.com
Congress' adamant unwillingness to pass comprehensive privacy legislation is what let the data broker industry get to this point.
Joseph Cox@josephcox.bsky.social · 2w agoYou opened a credit card. ICE now knows where you live. Here's how when you open a credit card your address leaves your bank, goes through middlemen companies, and ends up with ICE. ICE plans to use this data for immigration and 'voter fraud'. No warrant More: www.404media.co/you-opened-a...
Lol. Lmfao even: www.forbes.com/sites/thomas...
Flock CEO Apologizes For Calling Activists ‘Terrorists’
As a movement against $8.3 billion Flock Safety’s license plate readers gathers momentum, company CEO Garrett Langley tells Forbes he shouldn’t have called non-violent activists “terroristic” organiza...
forbes.com
Every year, perfectly fixable devices end up in landfills because manufacturers won't let you repair them. Join EFF, Adam Savage, and iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens on July 23rd to find out why—and what you can do about it. Live Q&A included. eff.org/livestream-r2r
Oh my God, AOC is becoming a patent reform ally too?
Acyn@acyn.bsky.social · 3w agoAOC: This is an inhaler pump. Can you guess what the great innovation was that made it worth preventing this from going generic? It’s this little plastic piece right here. That was a major part of the new patent they filed to extend exclusivity and prevent this life-saving drug from going generic.
I made the mistake of getting back into Path of Exile 2 and it's the only game I've played that makes you feel like you need a graduate degree in game mechanics to really dig into it.
A band will have horse in the title and it's the most insane music ever (complimentary).
New York City to become first in US to ban deceptive subscription practices The Mamdani administration is banning companies from using deceptive subscriptions to trap customers into recurring charges & is also targeting "junk fees" that raise the price of everything from apartments to sport events
New York City to become first in US to ban deceptive subscription practices
Rule from Mamdani administration bans companies from trapping customers into paying recurring charges and also targets ‘junk fees’
theguardian.com
This is also what Republicans are lapping us on. It's not some great mystery how the Republican party has suddenly become this major force. Rich donors dumped a shit load of money into building this kind of infrastructure and now they are reaping the benefits.
Amanda Litman@amandalitman.bsky.social · 4w agoMmmmmmhmmmmm 👀👀👀👀 www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/o...
"What Dune 3 can teach us about Graham Platner" Follow me for more dumb political takes.
This is what happens to my dog during the nightly neighborhood fireworks.
"We also just have to look at this in the context of the overall moment that we’re in. The Trump Administration is making lists of trans people. They are subpoenaing our medical records. Anything that subjects our community to more surveillance makes us less safe in this moment."
Data privacy advocate Evan Greer on Mass. Senate's social media bill, how to protect kids online
Evan Greer of Boston-based digital privacy group Fight for the Future joins GBH's Morning Edition to discuss a newly-released social media ban bill from the State Senate.
wgbh.org
My hot take on the DSA controversy is that they need to embrace institutionalism and build out the organizational infrastructure to get things done so that they become a vital part of the actual running of Congress.
A horror movie where the family keeps finding buttons they have no idea where they came from and then it coalesces into a button monster.
The only reason we can't call the Supreme Court the most corrupt institution is because Trump is in office right now.
The under-16 social media ban and the rise of “show me your papers” internet There's a small indie game from 2013 that I think about often. In Lucas Pope's Papers, Please you play an immigration inspector at the border of the gloriously miserable communist republic of Arstotzka, and your entire…
The under-16 social media ban and the rise of “show me your papers” internet
There's a small indie game from 2013 that I think about often. In Lucas Pope's Papers, Please you play an immigration inspector at the border of the gloriously miserable communist republic of Arstotzka, and your entire job is to scrutinise documents. Passport here, entry permit there. Does the photo match the face? Does the date of birth line up across the forms?
technollama.co.uk
I love the period of time after getting new headphones where music you've heard 1,000 times sounds new again. I hate my headphone graveyard of nice headphones that need to be repaired. If anyone knows a headphone repair shop lmk!
NEW: buried within the trove of hacked documents from Madison Square Garden, the folks @404media.co found the company was keeping files on activists that criticized their use of facial recognition. Including me. Here's @fightforthefuture.org's statement: www.fightforthefuture.org/news/2026-06...
www.the-independent.com/tech/interne...
AI’s biggest casualty could be history itself
The Internet Archive is a vital resource that has helped the search for truth in more than one global event, writes Anthony Cuthbertson, but it is in danger of becoming the latest collateral damage of...
the-independent.com
I'm sorry but this is so funny. You got in the elite club and now you gotta Hunger Games it.
dell cameron@dell.bsky.social · 2mo agoNEW: WIRED investigates how the Thiel-world Dialog society, whose retreats are built around heavy policy discussions with Nobel laureates and military leaders, is secretly fixated on using AI to rank its members based on their wealth and instagram followings.
