"Four unanswered texts is not, strictly speaking, evidence-based rejection." Your friend after a first date / RFK after a quarter century of studies finding no link between vaccines and autism.

Jess Calarco@jessicacalarco.com · 4w ago

I saw this posted elsewhere, and hoped it was just an AI spoof, but sadly, it's a real CDC Webpage, and the information it contains is deeply dangerous and untrue.

Another way to put this for the small venn diagram of The Wire/FCC followers: the FCC's new KYC proposal means Stringer Bell registers for as many lines as he wants through B&B Enterprises. Bubbles can't get a prepaid phone because he doesn't have a permanent address. *cue Lester side eye*

Center for Democracy & Technology@cdt.org · last mo.

CDT’s Sydney Saubestre in Fortune: “The FCC’s know-your-customer proposal is misguided and counterproductive.”

OTI Senior Policy Analyst @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social joined the @brookings.edu TechTank podcast to discuss proposals targeting the mental health and privacy risks when it comes to #AI chatbots. https://bit.ly/41XD0Hy

How should we approach chatbots' mental health and privacy concerns? | The TechTank Podcast | Brookings

On this episode of TechTank, guest host Josie Stewart is joined by Shae Gardner and Sydney Saubestre to discuss how policymakers are approaching concerns with chatbots.

brookings.edu

A DOGE staffer convened a meeting with Department of Energy officials to discuss the future of nuclear power and downplayed the risk of radiation exposure at nuclear test sites: “They are testing in Utah. … I don’t know, like 70 people live there.”

DOGE Goes Nuclear: How Trump Invited Silicon Valley Into America’s Nuclear Power Regulator

In its rush to boost nuclear energy, the Trump administration is rapidly rewriting rules to ease regulations and provide financial breaks for industry. “The safety culture is under threat,” a former h...

propublica.org

Don’t miss @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social’s piece for @techpolicypress.bsky.social unpacking how the new #AI legislative framework from the White House approaches AI harms.

Technology & Democracy@techanddemocracy.newamerica.org · 5mo ago

The national #AI policy framework seems to suggest some harms are an acceptable cost, writes OTI's @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social for @techpolicypress.bsky.social. That is a choice—a choice on whose reality gets treated as a policy problem & whose gets treated as an externality. https://bit.ly/40THRJf

“AI’s capacity to process data at scale doesn't just speed up existing activities, it can also change their character entirely.” @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social Exactly. You can’t rationally regulate/legislate AI conduct without grasping this fundamental truth (which should be blindingly obvious).

Sydney Saubestre (@sydneysaubestre.bsky.social)

Working on data and privacy policy at the Open Technology Institute. Views my own, post-structurally speaking.

sydneysaubestre.bsky.social

Justin Hendrix@justinhendrix.bsky.social · 5mo ago

The White House’s new national AI policy framework appears to suggest certain harms are an acceptable cost, writes Sydney Saubestre from New America’s Open Technology Institute. That is a choice—a choice about whose reality gets treated as a policy problem and whose gets treated as an externality.

It Happened To Me: I Clicked On A Backpack I Wanted And Got Auto-Enrolled In Their Email Program. I Now Hate The Backpack.

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.

Our #privacy holds considerable social & economic value, but the U.S.'s current approach to privacy consistently undervalues it. On #DataPrivacyDay, we revisit an OTI article highlighting the need for a privacy valuation framework. https://bit.ly/45x7h25

We're excited to share that OTI Senior Policy Analyst @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social is one of Georgetown's McCourt School Tech & Public Policy Visiting Fellows for spring 2026! https://mccourt.georgetown.edu/news/tpp-visiting-fellows-spring-2026/

TPP Visiting Fellows Bring Cross-Sector Expertise to Advance Responsible Tech - McCourt School of Public Policy

McCourt’s Tech & Public Policy (TPP) spring 2026 visiting fellows includes experts in AI, data privacy and digital governance.

mccourt.georgetown.edu

#ICYMI: Last week OTI Senior Policy Analyst @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social took part in a #FOSI2025 panel on how age assurance measures can be effective, practical & responsive to the needs of children, families & industry. Check out the write-up of the day: fosi.org/event/fosi-a...

Talking about the tradeoffs between timeliness and accuracy is pretty abstract until you watch the Fed trying to read tea leaves from scraped LinkedIn data and online layoff announcements until the official data comes out

A brief that reads like an excellent feature, includes archival research, and uses a specific historical moment to help us understand the U.S. as a whole? Highly recommend.

Adam Harris@adamhsays.com · 10mo ago

I have a new brief out today about the Ayers settlement in Mississippi. Ayers was one of the longest running higher ed desegregation cases in history. When it was settled, MS Black colleges got $503 million over 17 years. But that's only half of the story. www.newamerica.org/education-po...

As one fun data point: only 24% of tenure or tenure-track econ professors are women, so I don’t think these universities have much to worry about. But good to see they’re doubling down just in case.

John Holbein@johnholbein1.bsky.social · 10mo ago

In response to anti-DEI legislation in the states, universities have started to hire more white male faculty. This increase starts before bills are signed into law. Universities appear to be anticipating anti-DEI legislation and preemptively hiring more white men.

New America experts around the web: 1️⃣ @kevincarey1.bsky.social for @theatlantic.com https://bit.ly/3WeYlJw 2️⃣ @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social quoted in @newsweek.com https://bit.ly/3W8Lgl5 3️⃣ Peter Singer for @defenseone.bsky.social https://bit.ly/4n8TiVW

OTI Senior Policy Analyst @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social was quoted in @dangooding.bsky.social's new piece in @newsweek.com. She states: "If the government can’t be trusted to respect the limits on how it uses our data, it can’t be trusted to protect our democracy." www.newsweek.com/trump-admin-...

Trump admin accused of violating voters' privacy in search for immigrants

Senators Alex Padilla and Gary Peters allege DHS bypassed Congress with its SAVE program expansion.

newsweek.com

Nice piece out today in the @nytimes.com that includes some coverage of our recent @pnas.org paper on air pollution and pets.

In a Toxic World, Pets Could Be Vital Health Watchdogs

nytimes.com

OTI's @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social & @premmtrivedi.bsky.social argue in @foreignpolicy.com that the #Trump admin is conducting #data theater—a move with the defining feature of performing objectivity through meaningless data staged to simulate truth. foreignpolicy.com/2025/09/22/u...

When U.S. Data Lies, the World Listens

The Trump administration’s manipulation of statistics is exporting uncertainty into the international system.

foreignpolicy.com

HAPPENING NOW: @gwlaw.bsky.social's @daniel-solove.bsky.social, one of the world’s leading experts in #privacy law, is sitting down with OTI's @premmtrivedi.bsky.social to discuss privacy and its relationship to power, society and #democracy! bit.ly/4kUZpvQ 💻+🏢 ONLINE & @newamerica.org in D.C.

"Bearing moral witness matters even when it doesn’t automatically produce results, because failing to show up at all cedes ground unnecessarily."

Adam Harris@adamhsays.com · last yr.

I have a new piece out today in @theguardian.com on Rev. William Barber and the moral movement: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

I just took a quiz on how much of my personal data DOGE can access. The results aren’t pretty. Take it now to discover how much of your sensitive info is now exposed. #HandsOffMyData www.newamerica.org/oti/briefs/q...

Quiz: What Does DOGE Know About You?

The Department of Government Efficiency has unauthorized access to millions of Americans’ data. Take New America’s quiz to see how much of your data is at risk.

newamerica.org

Open Technology Institute Senior Policy Analyst @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social breaks down #SCOTUS giving #DOGE access to Americans' Social Security #data. See what personal info of yours may be at risk! www.newamerica.org/the-thread/d...

The Supreme Court Gave DOGE Access to Your Most Sensitive Data

Supreme Court ruling weakens data privacy, giving DOGE access to sensitive Social Security records. Learn what’s at risk—and what you can do.

newamerica.org

I’ve long warned friends against commercial genetic testing — but didn’t expect 23andMe to end up trying to sell people’s DNA in bankruptcy court. Their excuse? “It’s in the privacy policy.” Meaningful consent? That’s a stretch. 🧵 (1/n)

Technology & Democracy@techanddemocracy.newamerica.org · last yr.

Congress is concerned w/ the future of users’ DNA data when #23andMe gets sold off in bankruptcy court. The concern's warranted! It's now difficult to exercise #privacy. But we can address this difficulty. Read @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social's piece to learn more: www.newamerica.org/oti/briefs/w...

What if mad cow, but for the internet.

AI Models Show Signs of Falling Apart as They Ingest More AI-Generated Data

As CEOs trip over themselves to invest in AI, the models are falling apart at the seams and going mad from cannibalism.

futurism.com

In April, @sydneysaubestre.bsky.social joined @davidalruiz.bsky.social on the #LockAndCode podcast to discuss #DOGE’s push for sensitive personal data held by the federal government. The concerns shared then foreshadowed dissents on #SCOTUS decision to allow DOGE access to Social Security data:

Did DOGE “Breach” Americans’ Data?

Sydney Saubestre on DOGE’s push for data access

bit.ly

The Supreme Court just overrode an injunction blocking #DOGE 's access to Social Security data. Millions of people’s personal records are now exposed before the courts even decide whether that access is even legal.

With #AI, #HigherEd institutions see themselves at a crossroads: Take a leap of faith on innovation, or abstain to ensure autonomy and student #privacy? The answer, per Sydney Saubestre and Joel Yong: None of the above! ⬇️ Read more in a new brief from @newamerica.org's Open Technology Institute.

All Aboard: The Ethics of Campus AI and Higher Education’s New Trolley Problem

Universities don’t have to choose between a false dichotomy of either ceding control to artificial intelligence or rejecting it entirely.

bit.ly

@adamhsays.com is one of the only people, outside of a Hollywood writer's room, who can make me feel invested in sports. Now a Pop fan. This piece is a balm—highly recommend.

Adam Harris@adamhsays.com · last yr.

I wrote about Pop www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

everything means the opposite for these people. freedom means your freedom to obey. the first amendment means their freedom to tell you what you can read and think.

Josh Block@joshablock.bsky.social · last yr.

En banc Fifth Circuit overrules decades of precedent and holds that there is no First Amendment right to receive information in a public library.

Would this be considered method acting or just immersive theater?

Catherine Rampell@crampell.bsky.social · last yr.

Georgia high school production of "The Crucible" is canceled after parent complaints that it "was demonic and disgusting." @hesherman.bsky.social: "the play about witch hunts, about the persecution of people out of hysteria...had provoked the same moral persecution it portrayed as unjust."