Destroying Autocracy – April 3, 2025
Welcome to this week’s “Destroying Autocracy”.
It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it. That necessitates an opinionated Butlerian jihad against big tech as well as evangelizing for open-source and the Fediverse. Since big media’s journalism wing is flailing and failing in its core duty to democracy, this is also a collection of alternative reporting on the eternal battle between autocracy and democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety and privacy.
DA comes out on Thursday and is updated through the end of day on Friday. Then we start over. So take your time in perusing it and check back in over the weekend.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
Featured Item
Heydonworks shares:
AI can’t do spite. 
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery
The Kyiv Independent reports:
Moscow Metro website displays appeal from recently hacked Ukrainian Railways
EuroNews reports:
Help us develop non-English/Chinese AI models, Japan asks EU
French antitrust watchdog fines Apple €150 million over data collection tool
The Reframe has:
404 Media reports:
Open Source Genetic Database Shuts Down to Protect Users From ‘Authoritarian Governments’
EuroNews reports:
Google’s AI feature on hold in most EU member states due to ‘strict rules’
Reuters reports:
Elon Musk must face fraud lawsuit over disclosure of Twitter stake
He’s not allowed to fuck over rich people.
Tech Policy reports:
The UK announces:
Foreign Influence Registration Scheme implementation
Gaël Duval shares:
Practical Payment Solutions for Murena and /e/OS Users
That’s surveillance and Google-free Android if you aren’t familiar.
Geo Coop reports:
Worker-Owned News Outlets Are Changing the Media Industry
The Wrap has:
In Praise of Laurene Powell Jobs, Owner of The Atlantic, Superhero of Signalgate
Neutral
The Guardian reports:
Data protection bill leaves room for governmental abuse, campaigners warn
Open Source Initiative reports on:
Overcoming barriers to Open Source procurement in the European Union
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
TechDirt reports:
The Real Cost Of DOGE: Musk’s Government Cuts Creating Massive New Expenses
NBC News reports:
Denied, deported, detained: U.S. border incidents have travelers thinking twice
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
Site-Blocking Legislation Is Back. It’s Still a Terrible Idea.
The Next Web reports:
European tech warns Trump tariffs will hit both hardware and software
Pariah States
The Next Web reports:
The day a Russian missile hit a Ukrainian tech giant
BleepingComputer reports:
North Korean hackers adopt ClickFix attacks to target crypto firms
The Register reports:
North Korea’s fake tech workers now targeting European employers
DarkReading reports:
Israel Enters ‘Stage 3’ of Cyber Wars With Iran Proxies
The Verge reports:
Microsoft employee disrupts 50th anniversary and calls AI boss ‘war profiteer’
Big Media
Tech Policy reports on:
Technology, Democracy, and Power: Journalism’s Role in a Time of Crisis
The Guardian reports:
‘I can’t cope with it any more’: newsrooms scramble to retain audiences amid the big switch-off
Big Tech
Tech Policy reports:
Where Does Trump’s Takeover of the FTC Leave the Regulation of Big Tech?
Practically non-existent.
Robots.txt Is Having a Moment: Here’s Why We Should Care
The Verge reports:
It’s the moment of truth for Zuckerberg’s Trump bet
Epicenter reports:
EU Commission Undermines eIDAS Protections, again!
Pivot to AI reports:
AI in the enterprise is failing over twice as fast in 2025 as it was in 2024
Cybersecurity/Privacy
The Register reports:
UK threatens £100K-a-day fines under new cyber bill
BleepingComputer reports:
CISA warns of Fast Flux DNS evasion used by cybercrime gangs
DarkReading reports:
Minnesota Tribe Struggles After Ransomware Attack
Fediverse
The Fediverse Report has:
We Distriube reports:
TechCrunch reports:
A new security fund opens up to help protect the fediverse
Emelia Smith has:
Open-source tools needed for the future of decentralized moderation
Moving Beyond the False Dichotomy for Federation Management
The Nexus of Privacy shares:
More notes on Organizing, Mutual Aid, and Activism on decentralized social networks
Ghost has an announcement:
Funkwhale announces:
Steven Berson has:
Other Slightly Federated Social Media
The Fediverse Report has:
TechCrunch reports:
Beyond Bluesky: These are the apps building social experiences on the AT Protocol
Mark Cuban backs Skylight, a TikTok alternative built on Bluesky’s underlying technology
Rudy of Blacksky fame shares:
An internet of many autonomous communities
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
- That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.
- Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or via RSS.
- Or follow Battalion on Bluesky.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse
#110 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Democracy #Diaspora #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #StopChina #StopIran #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine
