Wendy Seltzer
@wseltzer.bsky.social
Lawyer, techie, governance wonk. Also @wseltzer@infosec.exchange
Trump has no idea how to end his reckless and expensive war in Iran, so now he is bombing civilian targets. This is a war crime. We already know how to end this war. Stop the bombing now.
While we should still investigate Flock's surveillance, we shouldn't spread a fake cease-and-desist to do so. Apologies for getting spoofed.
Chris Ingraham@cingraham.bsky.social · 4w agoFYI: this is a fake viral marketing bit by this "Saturday Salon" group. Flock's Chief Strategy Officer says they never sent it; the branding is off and the purported author's title is wrong, among many other things.
It would be a shame if more people investigated these risks in Flock systems.
It's all "ooooh we need a meritocracy" until the wrong people have merit and then it's like "oooh we need to protect us." Trans kids deserve a chance play in sports because EVERYONE deserves a chance to play in sports and nobody should lose that chance because they're disfavored by bigots.
Today is a day to check in on the policy and regulatory lawyers in your life. Ask them: are they hydrating? Did they remember to eat? Do they have a punching bag within arm's length?
Mark Joseph Stern@mjsdc.bsky.social · last mo.We have Slaughter and Cook. By a 6–3 vote, SCOTUS overturns Humphrey's Executor and lets Trump fire heads of independent agencies. But by a 5–4 vote, it refuses to let him fire Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p... www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
Blacksky is building ~the intercommunal net~ where communities create virtual spaces collectively managed by their members -- from moderation policies to recommender algorithms. We're hiring a Founding Engineer (Rust) @ $180K base who will report directly to me and lead our atproto implementation.
Founding Engineer (Rust)
Systems, protocol, and infrastructure About Blacksky Blacksky helps communities create virtual third places where members democratically govern the recommender algorithms and moderation policies that ...
blackskyweb.xyz
A little birdie sent me an un-paywalled version of this article from VF! It's here: www.vanityfair.com/story/the-ne...
Did Kamala Harris's Silence on Gaza Cost Her the White House?
Ta-Nehisi Coates reckons with that question, and what it means for the 2028 election.
vanityfair.com
Jonathan W. Gray@elmcitytree.blacksky.app · last mo.Ta-Nehisi places the “don’t vote for Kamala unless she disavows Israel” & the “vote for Kamala b/c Trump will be worse” camps into historical & political context here. The headline is misleading, the article is gold. This should be the last word on this divisive argument. READ IT
BlueSky Trending shows Bezos as # 1 and World Bee Day as # 4. Whatever we can collectively do to replace bees over bezos, you know that you need to do. #WorldBeeDay
With all my opera and museum going, I assume I can eat all the cheese I want
G. Willow Wilson@gwillow.me · 3mo agoGood news, everyone www.cnn.com/2026/05/14/h...
The grammar of rights is one way publics name what they are owed. Americans have started naming it for AI. A civic grammar for AI rights has found its claimants. The political will and institutions to honor those claims need to be built. That is the work facing us. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
A civic grammar for AI rights
Earlier this year, the artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic, developer of the large language model Claude, published a document it calls “Claude’s Constitution,” described by the company as ...
science.org
Fascinating and important piece from @alondra.bsky.social as tech companies seek to internalize what should be the public project of finding a new social contract in the age of AI.
Alondra Nelson@alondra.bsky.social · 3mo agoAI companies are writing their own constitutions. Meanwhile, a shared vocabulary for contesting algorithmic power has been traveling across red and blue states, from legislatures to civil society. New from me in @science.org: "A Civic Grammar for AI Rights" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 🧵
OpenAI’s KOSA Endorsement Is Regulatory Capture With A Smiley Face Earlier this week, OpenAI became the latest tech company to publicly endorse KOSA, the Kids Online Safety Act. The company, conveniently, tries to frame this as being about its support of child safety. It's not. It's about…
OpenAI’s KOSA Endorsement Is Regulatory Capture With A Smiley Face
Earlier this week, OpenAI became the latest tech company to publicly endorse KOSA, the Kids Online Safety Act. The company, conveniently, tries to frame this as being about its support of child safety. It's not. It's about political horse trading, desperation for good publicity, and building a regulatory moat. KOSA would help create stronger online protections for young social media users through safer default settings, expanded parental controls, and greater accountability for online harms.
techdirt.com
Trans rights are human rights and this administration is an abomination of hate and greed.
🌒💀 evelynn 💀🌘@ladyartaud.bsky.social · 3mo agoi have yet to see a single cis person say something about the fact that the government just designated trans people a terrorist group and threatened to kill all of us.
The Payback is out in paperback today, it’s the same great student loan industry heist novel in a smaller size and lower price. www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Pa...
After a career as one of opera’s leading women, Denyce Graves is retiring. But her efforts to diversify the world of opera by unearthing and preserving Black history aren't quite over, Soraya Nadia McDonald writes:
Denyce Graves’s Second Act
Denyce Graves is retiring from performing after a career as one of opera’s leading women. But there’s more work for her to do.
bit.ly
Congratulations @yaelwrites.com !
Yael Grauer@yaelwrites.com · 3mo agoI am honored to share the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Best International Reporting with Dake Kang, Byron Tau, Aniruddha Ghosal and Garance Burke for our reporting revealing how Silicon Valley largely designed and built China's surveillance state and enabled human rights abuses.
So it looks like Zambia cancelled RightsCon because China through a hissy fit that there would be some recognition of Taiwan and human rights at this human rights conference. If the US had a functioning State Dept, this is the kind of thing that they might have helped to respond to...
RightsCon@rightscon.org · 3mo agoFollowing our April 29 announcement, we believe it's important to be transparent about the context that led to the decision. We want to explain, where we can, why this was made on such short notice, only days before we were set to host RightsCon. Read: www.rightscon.org/rc26-stateme...
Tor Project statement in solidarity with #RightsCon, @accessnow.org, local organizers, & civil society in Zambia. blog.torproject.org/rightscon202... The circumstances behind the cancellation underscore the urgent fight against censorship, surveillance, and restrictions on civic participation.
Tor Project Statement on the Abrupt Cancellation of RightsCon 2026 | Tor Project
The Tor Project is deeply saddened by the last-minute cancellation of RightsCon 2026. While canceling may have been necessary to protect participants, the circumstances behind it underscore the urgent...
blog.torproject.org
I encourage you to read the 1901 final Congressional speech of George Henry White, who would be the last Black man in Congress for 30 yrs.This “is perhaps the Negroes’ temporary farewell to the American Congress; but…phoenix-like he will rise up some day and come again… blackpast.org/african-amer...
(1901) Congressman George H. White's Farewell Address To Congress
In January 1901, at the beginning of a new century, George H. White was ending his term as a Congressman from North Carolina’s Second Congressional District. Realizing that he was bringing to a close ...
blackpast.org
We must call this for what it is: voter suppression that will silence Black and brown voters. The magnitude of this decision cannot be understated — it guts the Voting Rights Act and its very purpose of protecting all voices. Every American deserves an equal vote.
Live updates: Supreme Court ruling weakens a key tool of the Voting Rights Act
The Supreme Court has weakened a key tool of the Voting Rights Act that has helped root out racial discrimination in voting since 1965. The case concerns a district in Louisiana.
apnews.com
We rallied the #Boston community today at @gbhnews.bsky.social to share our concerns with @massgovernor.bsky.social about her misguided support for invasive, unworkable online ID checks legislation! Make sure she keeps hearing from YOU! www.stoponlineidchecks.org/MA @evangreer.bsky.social
Remember when anonymous speech was held to be a critical part of free speech? I do.
Electronic Frontier Foundation@eff.org · 3mo agoCalifornia lawmakers are fast-tracking AB 1709—a sweeping bill that would ban anyone under 16 from using social media and force every user, regardless of age, to verify their identity before accessing social platforms. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
I sent a classified letter to House and Senate colleagues about a secret interpretation of surveillance law that every American should be concerned about. Representative Massie is right. The Constitution requires EVERY member to vote against a clean reauthorization.
Thank you, state attorney generals.
More Perfect Union@moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 4mo agoBREAKING: A jury has found Live Nation and Ticketmaster to be an illegal monopoly that overcharges fans. After the federal government settled the case, 34 states kept pursuing the giant ticket and concert company. Now, the states have won.