Alex / catileptic

[she/they] Move slow and fix things. CTO @ apti.ro. Senior dev @ darc.li. Open-Source Dev, Human Rights Advocacy.   Queer, Relationship Anarchist 🏳️‍🌈

Website: https://catileptic.tech/
GitHub: https://github.com/catileptic
omg.lol: https://catileptic.omg.lol

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npub13nusnxa88fukeztdcrpu9tl32nj2leqyr8sxa44sra8t6yvatsusla0jwd

NIP-05 Address

catileptic_at_chaos.social@momostr.pink

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nprofile1qqsge7gfnwnn57tv39kups7z4lc4fe90uszpncrw66cp7n4azxw4cwgpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsal06xg

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relay.damus.io

nos.lol

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npub13nusnxa88fukeztdcrpu9tl32nj2leqyr8sxa44sra8t6yvatsusla0jwd

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Last Notes

2026-10-26 09:27:11 UTC

automating tasks displaces anger and aggression && prevents the real issues from ever reaching those who can address them ( from a French text on automation of public services https://shs.hal.science/file/index/docid/635241/filename/machines_hostiles.pdf )
automating tasks makes auditing the final result take longer & the human auditors lack the mental context and the intuitive understanding of trade-offs made & mistakes can cascade and degrade the entire ecosystem & incentive is strong not to see this: https://freakonometrics.hypotheses.org/89367
#fuckgenAI

2026-10-25 20:46:13 UTC

Vučić admits that his party lost the elections in #Serbia to the Student List (a party consisting of students, professors, academics formed in 2025 after the protesters demanded early elections)
https://www.danas.rs/vesti/politika/izbori26/vucic-objavio-rezultate-izbora-nemamo-konacne-rezultate-po-ovim-rezultatima-smo-izgubili/

2026-10-17 17:55:31 UTC

finally read "The Tyranny of Structurelessness", recommended by @npub1z5l…vg7v
https://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm
in short
- every group has some structure
- if not acknowledged, it is informal
- if it is informal, it can't be held accountable
- acknowledged and publicly described structure is better, but not perfect & existing models can be exclusionary
- accountability is critical to accessibility
- allocate tasks according to abilities, allow people to learn, and rotate who does what
#feminism

2026-10-14 08:58:25 UTC

about the endless finger-pointing re: "bombing Yandex servers decreased / did not decrease coordinated inauthentic behaviour online":
some people talk about this trying to curb the enthusiasm of folx who celebrate a decrease in "disinfo", pointing out that "bots" also means crawlers, indexers, and pointing out that Russian services were the most disrupted. good takes. i'm happy to see @npub1afm…5gp4 quoted in an article stating as much: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/13/ukrainian-strikes-russian-datacentres-online-disinformation-bots
however...
(1/x)

2026-10-12 18:34:14 UTC

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my native language is Romanian
i'm looking forwards to the day where it won't be surprising anymore for native German / French / English speakers to learn that folx with other native language share the same digital space as them ^^ here's to more diversity

2026-10-05 15:16:10 UTC

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oh to sleep so deeply in spite of :waves hands: everything

2026-10-05 14:39:34 UTC

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i would love to attend this && perhaps you could still deliver it as a self-organized session? sure, it isn't a big stage with bright lights. my experience at congress, delivering self organized sessions, has been very good: they always resulted in very personal and often vulnerable and deeply interesting conversations, afterwards :)

2026-09-25 06:35:59 UTC

"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't"
that's Douglas Adams in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
and that's a semantic construction you can't get out of n LLM
refering to something through the absence of that thing is literally something "genAI can't do"
because genAI derives no meaning from absence. it doesn'r encode absence and thus can't retrieve / generate it
but we do. we sure do.
don't let the news cycle define what intelligence is. and #fuckgenai

2026-08-11 09:41:12 UTC

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incoming Deepl translation, RO->EN
https://paste.lol/catileptic/apti-ndc-script-translation

2026-07-21 19:50:48 UTC

i stopped tooting, boosting and interacting in the fediverse due to burnout
the worst, lowest part of the burnout has passed (and i hope for no relapse)
but i still manage to wreck myself whenever i work too long, with no breaks, no movement
i feel a deep sense of fragility in one part of me, the one that runs out of energy and ravages the body with headaches. another part, co-existing, is impatient and wants to go right back to doing stuff
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/116/959/696/338/480/821/original/c79b9766fcc8ffe5.jpeg

2026-06-02 07:18:25 UTC

Meta "fixed" the security "vuln" that allows people to trick the "support" chatbot into changing the password for any account via asking nicely and using a VPN that puts them in the same geographical region as the target of the hack (as per @npub1psa…j5uh )
https://www.404media.co/hackers-simply-asked-meta-ai-to-give-them-access-to-high-profile-instagram-accounts-it-worked/
god knows what the "fix" is, because if it's anything less than removing all chatbot access to any API path, database and other infra, it isn't a fix, it's a new coat of paint on top of a wide-open door
#fuckgenai

2026-05-27 14:52:19 UTC

"TLDR: In ten days last month, the Wikimedia Foundation fired the longtime lead developer of MediaWiki and disbanded the team whose entire job was to listen to volunteers. Most of the people they fired were union organizers. Wikipedia’s editors are now threatening to strike in solidarity. The Foundation is sitting on $296 million in reserves and a freshly profitable AI revenue stream. This is a confrontation with global implications"
https://medium.com/@jakeorlowitz/wikipedia-is-doing-the-capitalist-thing-56a393232943

2026-05-26 09:17:00 UTC

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and if i can push this forward one more time:
in literature, legibility isn't a necessity. neither is coherence. and neither is a complete match between form and content. this is what made James Joyce, Pynchon, Heamingway great (to name the ones that most people from different countries might have come across, because we surely have our own examples in local literature)
genAI algorithms has no concept of form versus content. and thus can not create a divergence between the two

2026-05-26 09:14:04 UTC

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if you'd like to read a bit about the difference between metonymy and metaphor (which are, at their core, concepts from within literature critique and theory), but applied to technologies (like search engines), i highly recommend Alfie Bown's book 'Dream Lovers', chapter 4 (The Match: Metaphor vs Metonymy). you don't need to read the rest of the chapters in order to get something from this one :) (but it's also a genuinely good book!)

2026-05-26 07:07:41 UTC

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the construction that goes "it isn't only X, it's also Y" is something i've come to suspect as a mark of ai-generated stuff, in both english and romanian
in a more abstract sense, semanticly homogenous language is how i explain ai content to myself. people can (and sometimes do) draw paraleles between semantic domains based on subjective interpretarion. this is metonymy. a LLM can't replicate metonymy, only simile (metaphor) ("x is like y")

2026-05-15 10:53:30 UTC

RE: https://chaos.social/@catileptic/116577840098380454
what are the fediverse instances that center interaction, not broadcasting?
i'm not asking which apps are message-board-like, but which particular instances are thriving, nice places for interaction, in whatever form it takes
i know lemmy is message-board-like. if there are other apps, and instances of those apps, i'd love to know about them!
if you have personal stories to share, about how these instances felt for you, slip them into my dms ;)
#fediverse #lemmy #socialcoherence
#note1kqx…0q2k

2026-05-15 09:17:51 UTC

i've been seeing dystopia where i used to see community
it's hard to un-see that social media interaction is a broadcast lacking in personal responsibility. one can be "responsible" for a broadcast by being called out in another broadcast
i can't un-see, now, how essentially different this is from the responsibility that plays out between people who are tied to each other, close to each other, who depend on each other. this is also a broadcast. damned if you do, damned if you don't

2026-05-10 15:54:50 UTC

why is it not a friend if it is friend-shaped? :(
#corvid #bird #photography #photo
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/116/551/089/478/926/778/original/2aa61c0cca10fc32.jpeg

2026-04-16 07:16:15 UTC

for #Romanian folx who want to dive into philosophy in a way that ties it in with the current events unfolding in the world, i highly recommend the short videos in Andrei Nae's new YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@andrei_nae/videos
they're succinct, funny, not over-produced, but rather retain a DIY aesthetic and the nuggets of philosophical thought are approachable
#philosophy #videoessay #romania

2026-04-14 07:59:30 UTC

i ordered some electronic equipment from telecomshop [dot] nl and received an e-mail signed by something named an "AI Agent"
in this e-mail, my purchase is being analyzed and questioned
i'm asked to confirm that i "really want" the objects i already bought and paid for, because they "don't seem to go well together".
words cannot describe how furious i am at having an algorithm delay a delivery and analyze my purchase data
...and want to water down (pardon, "simplify") the GDPR for this?!

2026-04-13 17:34:25 UTC

i just woke up to the realization that i might have finally read enough Slavoj Žižek to attempt to re-watch The Pervert's Guide to Computer Programming Languages and fully enjoy it
(for reference, this is the thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZyvIHYn2zk )
#philosophy #programming #SlavojŽižek #psychoanalysis

2026-04-12 07:32:06 UTC

#Hungary is voting today, and all i wish for it is a Monday without Orban
16 years have been 16 too many

2026-04-06 12:37:10 UTC

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it's interesting to see, in the post before this, how the person references "the Mastodon team". the semantics are still within the realm of centralized technology. the premise is still that a central authority is dictating the behaviour across the ecosystem.
the idea that several heterogenous communities all reject a technology, a perspective, a discourse can only be explained if they're all told to do so. it can't be that they have autonomy.

2026-03-31 10:07:38 UTC

as someone who has been in NGOs since high-school, the latest essay by @npub1amy…qnrw was a punch in the gut that i welcome with masochistic enthusiasm: https://newdesigncongress.org/en/pub/the-great-convergence-and-its-discontents/
in Romania, i was the CTO of the civic tech NGO that provided the gov. with digital infrastructure during the COVID-19 lockdown. we made the dashboard that we then saw in the subway stations every day, death toll rising. the gov. cooperated when they needed us and the shut the door in our faces.
(1/6)

2026-03-29 13:07:32 UTC

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ah, here's another way that this is fucked: i wanted to install hinge on my iphone but my icloud location is locked to romania. if i change it (by changing my bank card associated with the account!), i will lose all purchases / subscriptions that i bought with the old card :/ and hinge isn't available in romania.
so ummm i'm stuck with feeld! (and bumble, but it tends to be less fun&political&queer)
in short, i empathize with you :))

2026-03-26 08:22:05 UTC

"What many countries around the world are about to experience... is a period of rapid and involuntary decarbonisation. And that will necessarily mean rapid and involuntary degrowth.
Degrowth is a highly divisive term – and many will reject it. The main shortcoming of degrowth is the assumption that it will be in some way up to us to decide – a kind of lifestyle choice.
It won’t be; whether you like degrowth or hate it, the war on Iran makes it all but unavoidable"
https://open.substack.com/pub/reclaimedsystems/p/how-to-lose-an-empire-in-less-than

2026-03-20 09:28:43 UTC

i believe in cooperation and coalitions
which is why it scares me and worries me that @npub1fdr…lvhs is using his enormous platform to essentiailly rile against one dissenting opinion of @npub1j8v…ld5q
nothing is more corrosive to collaboration than a fragile ego which can not tolerate, or accommodate, or even be welcoming towards dissent
if we use all our might to homogenize the discourse in a room, we're dancing to the tune of the authoritarian fetish

2026-03-19 10:25:12 UTC

if anyone wants to join our newly-deployed pixelfed-glitch instance, @npub1hu0…vz3q has created an invite link (that still has 19 uses!):
https://gay.amsterdam/invite
this might not necessarily be the best visual-social-media software
but we're still determined to give building a community around it a try ^^
let us know if you encounter any issues with the software of the account creation procedure
#pixelfed #pixelfedglitch #fediverse

2026-03-19 08:59:59 UTC

i read the autumn/winter edition of the Good Internet Magazine on the day it arrived: https://goodinternetmagazine.com/
it's a cozy digital-and-print publication about the indie web, very accessible to everyone, not just to technologists
reading it reignited some of the desire to build an experience on the web that lies outside the norm of "usefulness" and "coherence"
i'm grateful to all authors and to @npub1n7p…gcy6 for orchestrating it
#indieweb #goodinternetmagazine #smallweb #goodinternet

2026-03-17 12:14:21 UTC

Meta and TikTok talking about "borderline" content gives me the exact same vibes as men who describe an attractive woman as "borderline" (in terms of age, I mean)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqj9kgxqjwjo

2026-03-14 12:14:12 UTC

after more than a decade as an intruder in the software development industry, i feel like i've finally seen enough of technology & politics to retroactively contextualize all my pain
the way my body looks and my insistence on coherent affect really did not make me a "good programmer" from the point-of-view of my former colleagues and superiors
now i can "see like a government". i can also see like the profit-driven industry that is allergic to affect as such
related: https://ashwinsundar.com/posts/legibility-and-programming/

2026-03-10 09:16:37 UTC

Excellent article by [@epicenter_works](https://chaos.social/@epicenter_works ) on the weakening of the #EIDAS regulation:
https://epicenter.works/en/content/five-problems-the-commission-must-fix-in-the-eu-wallet
@npub1v3a…wrq0 signed an open letter to the Commission calling for stronger safeguards in the implementing acts:
https://epicenter.works/fileadmin/medienspiegel/user_upload/eIDAS_IAs_OpenLetter_2026.pdf

2026-01-31 09:57:15 UTC

i got cozy at the social web (fediverse) track at #fosdem (#fosdem2026 ).
i have stickers
yes they are political, tech is political
come say hi, grab stickers, chat
@npub1hu0…vz3q and i are setting up an exciting project that i'd love to chat about ( @npub1zve…c7f4 )
(also, if you wanna talk about OpenAleph, i can slip into my @npub1xyg…mt5z personna)
#disobeydiscotheque #openaleph #fediverse
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/115/989/098/889/082/000/original/cdce3eff8a28858a.jpeg

2026-01-08 08:43:00 UTC

this morning i am passing personal judgement on Romanian news outlets based on whether or not the news of ICE officers killing Renee Nicole Good is on the landing page right now or not
i'm fucking heartbroken to see how far bending the knee to the USA has decimated independent news reporting in my home
at this point, outlets that do not clearly and succinctly describe this murder are complicit in the dismantling of independent journalism as such
#fuckICE #Romania

2026-01-01 10:16:49 UTC

may all fascists be weighed down by self-doubt this year

2025-12-26 05:21:23 UTC

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greetings from the train ^^ and here's to catching up over a nice cup of tea soon!

2025-12-19 15:25:13 UTC

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thank you so much for boosting this! i missed it back when you first posted it
totally teared up reading it and i've sent it to so many folx

2025-11-19 16:42:54 UTC

@npub1w4r…8cxz has published their position on the now-published, no-long-a-leak Digital Omnibus proposal: https://edri.org/our-work/commissions-digital-omnibus-is-a-major-rollback-of-eu-digital-protections/
i wrote up the stance we take at @npub1v3a…wrq0 in #Romanian: https://apti.ro/content/GDPR-facut-ferfenita-sub-numele-digital-omnibus
whichever you read and share, the message is the same: the Digital Omnibus amounts to deregulation and a love letter addressed to Big Tech. it risks dismantling the hard-won system that kept our personal data safe, in the EU.

2025-11-10 08:34:23 UTC

People are being fired, or employed precariously, because too much money has been funneled into the bankrupt technology of genAI and the profits have never materialized.
Companies cut costs with employment in order to keep fueling the investments in either building or using genAI.
(article by FastCompany, paywalled, so here's an alternative way to read it) https://archive.is/9sdT5
We should all be luddites and call this technology by its name: an anti-social technology.
#antiai #luddite

2025-10-31 08:44:43 UTC

Denmark dropped detection orders from the #ChatControl regulation proposal. A bunch of issues remain. The proposal still treats all citizens as already-guilty, already-suspect. It instills generalized surveillance, even if platforms get to do it voluntarily.
https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/half-good-new-danish-chat-control-proposal/

2025-10-30 07:29:17 UTC

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this thread is the kind of contextualization that i wish tech news would practice diligently

2025-10-09 11:55:17 UTC

Ursula von der Leyen said: "I want the future of AI to be made in Europe. [...] We will drive this ‘AI first' mindset across all our key sectors, from robotics to healthcare, energy and automotive."
If this "AI" is generative AI, this statement is a threat.
It's the threat of mass precarization and erosion of social protection and labour laws.
The threat of further eroding social cohesion.
I'd rather Europe lead in burning genAI down here, first.
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_25_2299

2025-10-08 17:02:39 UTC

Congratulations to all those who spoke out against #ChatControl, who wrote to their representatives, who explained what's at stake for their fellows, who mobilized, protested, and petitioned their elected officials to oppose this blatant threat to human rights.
As per @npub1x73…mg0r's toot, the vote on #ChatControl was taken off the agenda for Oct 14.
https://eupolicy.social/@ella/115339585953616719

2025-09-23 10:05:09 UTC

A new investigation, “Big Tech’s Invisible Hand”, exposes the tactics of these corporations in over 20 articles published between 9 and 24 September by a global consortium of 17 media outlets across 13 countries.
The project reveals the worldwide efforts to rewrite or block legislation intended to protect user data, children, and journalism itself.
https://rsf.org/en/big-tech-s-attempts-weaken-information-space-regulations-worldwide-exposed-new-cross-country

2025-09-19 08:30:36 UTC

"We found a zero-click flaw in ChatGPT's Deep Research agent when connected to Gmail and browsing: A single crafted email quietly makes the agent leak sensitive inbox data to an attacker with no user action or visible UI."
https://www.radware.com/blog/threat-intelligence/shadowleak/

2025-09-16 12:46:28 UTC

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such a lovely idea!
@npub1afm…5gp4 & @npub17fk…klzl & @npub1qyx…2qhr - i'm #GratefulForYou, for the work that each of you does to advance digital rights (as part of fundamental human rights), and protecting HRDs, each in your own way. i've learned so much from talking and working with you.
i also extend my gratitude to all the brave folx working on gaza-verified.org

2025-09-03 15:00:16 UTC

@npub1cdq…2x6k wrote about ICEBlock and the hubris of the developer working on it.
https://micahflee.com/unfortunately-the-iceblock-app-is-activism-theater/
When I'm feeling cynical, I want to say that being a privileged white cis man is by default a security vulnerability for any project. Bit of an exaggeration. But, look: when you don't know the vectors through which powerful people can coerce and intimidate, because you never faced this, you dismiss the well-meaning folx who are trying to help defend against all those things.

2025-08-27 12:57:49 UTC

when you read the stuff that ChatGPT generated for you, do you ever consider the fact that it was trained on some of the most vile, violent, dehumanizing content that humans ever created?
from fascist propaganda to chats in hateful (but public!) forums, all the way to public domain books on eugenics and other disgusting race theory bullshit.
when ChatGPT generates a statement you feel validated by, feel "seen", do you consider that you're being seen by a monster?
#antiai #fascism #ai

2025-08-25 12:13:58 UTC

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thank you for writing, nonetheless

2025-08-22 07:04:45 UTC

Whether the genAI bubble with burst or fizzle, we are be left with precarious folx, deprofessionalized workers and data centers that gobble up unreasonable amounts of energy and natural resources.
Instead of waxing philosophical and quoting Wittgenstein, debating whether LLMs "understand" the shitposts they generate, we must address these burning issues.
Ameliorate the precariat. Practice social solidarity. Refuse & oppose the data centers.
https://www.structural-integrity.eu/crashing-hard-why-talking-about-bubbles-obscures-the-real-social-cost-of-overinvesting-into-artificial-intelligence/

2025-08-20 07:35:54 UTC

I appreciate the academic and rigorous effort to measure the bullshit that LLMs generate: https://machine-bullshit.github.io/
I just wish we would do away with the rhetoric that we're just aiming to make these models better.
How about no? How about admitting that the premise is poisoned from the start?
How about saying that holding everyone's labor, creativity and expression hostage for the sake of deskilling people and making them precarious is a horrible idea?
#AI #antifascism #antiAI

2025-08-05 07:19:16 UTC

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wrote a technical evaluation of the infra https://rys.io/en/179.html

2025-07-22 12:55:25 UTC

heartbreak is still gut-wrenching and the sadness still feels like a flock of corvids circling around my head endlessly, no matter how much Relationship Anarchy theory i read, write or internalize

2025-07-21 13:46:19 UTC

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the Tim Ferriss podcast & community, and, later, the Huberman Lab podcast & community are the first that come to mind, reading your post. both men turned out to be absolute assholes.

2025-07-14 09:22:32 UTC

Google is removing the fact-checking metadata (ClaimReview) that allowed a debunking article to be tagged prominently, in the results you got when searching for an already-known false claim.
Google claims, in their blog post, that this feature wasn't really used all that much: https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2025/06/simplifying-search-results .
Beyond how despicable this is, beyond the clear authoritarian edge to this very political move, it also shows that technology doesn't just reflect society. It shapes what we see, and how.

2025-07-08 16:11:40 UTC

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this email thread with a dozen people in cc could have been the informed decision of one person whose labour had not been de-skilled and de-professionalized

2025-07-07 09:57:42 UTC

I want to expand my connections in The Netherlands. I'm looking for communities collectives, affinity groups that center human rights, digital rights, queerness. Maybe political hacking, since hacking is political. ^^
I'm based nearby the Hague.
My dream is to join or start or nurture a co-working / co-thinking space.
Feel free to DM me or reply publicly if you're in the area and would like to chat. Or if you have any recommendations.
Boosting for outreach is also appreciated.

2025-05-12 10:21:42 UTC

The Romanian fascist candidate shared a post on his blog, where he addresses those who will not vote for him directly. He tells them that he will "deal with each one of them", individually, after he becomes president.
https://georgesimion.ro/ce-ma-fac-cu-voi/ (at the bottom of the post)
Believe would-be dictators when they tell you what they will do. And vote against them.

2025-05-05 05:25:22 UTC

The first round of presidential elections in #Romania is almost over.
In first place, George Simion, the one who vowed to "continue" Georgescu's legacy. Simion has close ties with Russia and is barred from entering Moldova and Ukraine.
Second place: Nicușor Dan, mayor of Bucharest. He worked hard to sever the corruption that has plagued the budget of Bucharest for years.
In two weeks, we vote for either the best possible choice we had, or the worst possible choice we had.

2025-04-21 12:11:15 UTC

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thank you for the fact that you keep highlighting this, both n social media and in your Substack

2025-02-28 20:06:14 UTC

"ZELENSKYY: Mr. Trump, you are increasing the volume of your voice, but not the logic of your argument. Ukraine is still standing. We are still fighting."

2025-02-18 13:15:55 UTC

I highly recommend "Why Fish Don’t Exist" by Lulu Miller during this time when we are seeing an accelerationist ideology married to the fascism that won the elections in the USA.
The book documents - among other things - the eugenics movement in the early 1900s USA.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/05/why-fish-dont-exist-by-lulu-miller-review-a-marvel-of-narrative-non-fiction
#antifascism #eugenics

2025-01-27 12:45:45 UTC

The Venice Commission has published its report on "the cancellation of electoral results by the Constitutional Court".
It's not only relevant in the aftermath of the annulled elections in #Romania (Dec 2024). It's also relevant to set an anchoring point in the sea of upcoming elections: ex. in Germany, Poland, and Romania.
Such decisions cannot be based solely on classified information. And that the confidence of citizens in the legitimacy of elections is crucial.
https://venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdf=CDL-PI(2025)001-e&lang=en

2025-01-17 14:58:35 UTC

Digital rights policy folx, is there any article published on how local authorities are preparing for their work ahead under Article 77 of AI Act?
(local language is fine, doesn't have to be EN)
Anything on them training staff, anything on them declaring explicitly "oh, we'll focus on this particular high-risk use"?
I'm considering FOIA-ing the ones nominated in #Romania, to ask how they're preparing.
#AIA #AI #digitalrights

2025-01-02 09:25:07 UTC

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I think that Meredith Whittaker's talk from this year's CCC Congress (38c3) might be a good companion to these thoughts: https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-feelings-are-facts-love-privacy-and-the-politics-of-intellectual-shame
It speaks about this concept of "the politics of intellectual shame" and how the tech industry profit-making is predicated on shaming people into quiet cooperation or support. The opposite of that, of course, is "saying the quiet part out loud", expressing dissent and the kind of "thinking in the public space" that your articles are so good at!

2024-12-30 19:13:53 UTC

my wager was that a philosophical enquiry into liveable anarchy and how that can be put into practice through #relationshipanarchy would be welcome at #38c3 - and oh, i felt it found its place!
https://catileptic.tech/posts/relationship-anarchy/
i am thankful to each person who offered their thoughts. thankful for all the lovely conversations we had around the subject.
the #relationshipgeeks assembly was a cozy and safe home for all these connections and the orga team has been phenomenal.
stay safe, folx!

2024-12-27 11:33:40 UTC

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would love to catch up :)

2024-12-24 20:42:32 UTC

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so sweet to read of other folx doing the same thing tonight. I submitted a self-organized session on Relationship Anarchy at 38c3 and I'm still writing the zine that's supposed to form the basis of that presentation.
Looking forwards to your talk! :)

2024-12-16 09:52:40 UTC

Amnesty International Security Lab revealed how the Serbian authorities have been using Cellebrite to break into the smartphones of activists and journalists, followed by planting NoviSpy, a type of spyware that Amnesty attributes with a high degree of certainty to the Serbian secret services.
https://securitylab.amnesty.org/latest/2024/12/serbia-a-digital-prison-spyware-and-cellebrite-used-on-journalists-and-activists/
#Serbia #Spyware #Cellebrite #NoviSpy

2024-12-06 13:44:53 UTC

The first round of presidential elections in #Romania were annulled. The entire process has to start from scratch.
The Constitutional Court based its decision on the declassified information from the national security council, which alleged a direct Russian interference in the campaign of the fascist who came out in first place.

2024-12-03 09:46:18 UTC

"But #Romania will be part of Russia" - the end of a tweet from an account that seems to belong to Putin's ideologue Alexander Dugin.
No, it won't. And there's no room to debate with fascists.
https://www.euronews.ro/articole/ideologul-lui-putin-alexandr-dughin-romania-va-fi-o-parte-a-rusiei-in-curand

2024-11-28 22:50:55 UTC

Meanwhile, the supreme national defense council announced that TikTok did not adhere to the electoral law in #Romania. The vice-president of ANCOM, the Romanian Digital Service Coordinator, nominated under the #DSA, stated that he would block TikTok, only to have the actual institution issue a statement today which - although vague - clarifies that it won't and can't block TikTok.
@npub1v3a…wrq0 also reiterated that not only is it not possible, it would amount to censorship https://apti.ro/content/ancom-nu-blocheaza-si-nu-poate-bloca-tiktok

2024-11-28 22:45:27 UTC

People are currently protesting in the streets, in #Romania, chanting that they do not want a #fascist president. There was even a protest in Brussels.
Meanwhile, a "protest" in support of the fascist candidate also unfolded tonight, where a fascist hymn called "șoim român" was sung.
https://hotnews.ro/doua-manifestatii-una-impotriva-lui-calin-georgescu-alta-pentru-sustinerea-lui-au-loc-joi-seara-in-bucuresti-in-locatii-foarte-apropiate-1847934
I'd rather not use the name of the candidate - there's nothing more important than his pro-russian, fascist ideology.

2024-11-27 12:51:48 UTC

For those in #Romania (or who can read the language) who want a good reminder of who spearheaded the Holocaust in Romania - and who has been on the receiving end of a whole bunch of white-washing in recent years - here is the mainstream press with a summarized trip down memory late: https://ziare.com/extrema-dreapta/educatie-istorie-legionari-lege-reabilitare-politicieni-1908577

2024-11-27 10:13:17 UTC

@npub1v3a…wrq0 & 18 other NGOs from #Romania sent an open letter to the EU Commission and to ANCOM, the digital service coordinator under #DSA in Romania.
We are asking them to start an investigation into how VLOPs - and, particularly, TikTok - have adhered to the DSA Regulation (or not!) in the context of elections in Romania.
With two more voting rounds these following two weekends, this investigation can't start soon enough.
https://apti.ro/content/re%C8%9Beaua-tiktok-catalizator-al-opiniilor-extremiste-%C8%99i-al-nerespect%C4%83rii-regulilor-electorale

2024-11-26 23:01:45 UTC

Antifascist street protests are unfolding simultaneously in many cities in #Romania, not just the capital.
"Loving one's country is incompatible with fascism" - in a shorter form, that rhymes, in Romanian - is one of the main slogans.
Hearing the word "antifascist" being chanted in the University Square, in the capital, hits a nerve.
I'm finally seeing the press - more of them! - writing about the glorification and white-washing of Romanian fascists.
I hope it works.

2024-11-25 12:28:12 UTC

I'm heartbroken.
The first round of presidential elections in #Romania ended. First place: a pro-russian, fascist candidate, who has been peddling for strengthening our ties with Russia. A candidate who repeatedly said that the Iron Guard fascists of Romania, those who enacted pogroms, are heroes.
Second place - the candidate of the opposition to the establishment. A woman. Her discourse has become more progressive as the campaign went on.
(1/N)

2024-11-11 23:23:41 UTC

I'm looking for texts (ideal: essays, but will gladly take books as well) that discuss what hierarchy is. I'm not really looking for deep-dives into how hierarchy has emerged. I'm just curious about attempts to define what it is and what it isn't.
I've already read David Graeber's chapter that explains hierarchy through two anthropological concepts, of joking relations & relations of avoidance: https://davidgraeber.org/articles/manners-deference-and-private-property-or-elements-for-a-general-theory-of-hierarchy/
Any other recommendations?
#philosophy #anthropology

2024-11-11 17:59:26 UTC

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may i add some "visually stunning queer movies where all is well in the end"? not necessarily focusing on romance. Velvet Goldmine, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Shortbus.
Also, thank you for this list, i am passing it on to folx who could use more coziness and less... :gestures at the outside world:

2024-11-06 14:47:44 UTC

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thank you for posting this
I am very curious to read, in future installments, about the idea of "software that can witstand large-scale failure". Does this mean failure of the software itself (it doesn't do what it's supposed to)? The infrastructure (as in, the storage gets wiped / leaked / poisoned)? Or, rather, "failure" as in "the economic conditions in the world have changed drastically" which could lead for ex. to a loss of funding?
This subject is super important, glad to see it

2024-11-04 00:14:44 UTC

98.06% of the votes in #Moldova have been counted and Maia Sandu, the current, pro-EU president, has been re-elected with 54.47% of votes (for now).
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/113/421/789/340/289/884/original/c6762486d6f961fb.jpg

2024-11-03 14:40:22 UTC

A woman was detained in Teheran, #Iran She was declared mentally ill by the authorities. Why?
Earlier, she has been harassed by the Basij militia outside the Azad University of Science and Research, for wearing her headscarf improperly. She was physically assaulted and, ultimately, she decided to strip all her clothes and stand defiantly, in her bra & underwear, against the oppressive authorities.
Amnesty Iran calls for her immediate release.
https://assets.chaos.social/media_attachments/files/113/419/532/190/367/927/original/fa8bd4c1f23fb95b.png

2024-10-25 14:09:08 UTC

The phrase "only sold to law enforcement", when used to describe a piece of technology, directly translates as:
- no transparency
- minimal accountability
- users are not answerable to citizen oversight
- government oversight will dictate which use is permissible and which isn't
- remember Pegasus?
This is how we should read the Location X story,
- here: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/10/phone-tracking-tool-lets-government-agencies-follow-your-every-move/
- and here: https://www.404media.co/inside-the-u-s-government-bought-tool-that-can-track-phones-at-abortion-clinics/
- and here: https://www.notus.org/technology/cell-phone-tracking-law-enforcement-abortion-clinic
#surveillance #advertisingid

2024-10-11 07:26:27 UTC

@npub15xv…0jms on the false schism between "AI ethics" and "AI safety".
https://medium.com/@emilymenonbender/talking-about-a-schism-is-ahistorical-3c454a77220f
a must-read on what stands behind the idea of "AI's existential risk": eugenics, a fantasy, and the blatant denial of the right of so, so many people to have a decent life, to thrive, to not be exploited.
those who fear AI "taking over" are actually afraid they will be treated exactly like those that algorithmic decision-making is hostile towards, now. but they do nothing to curtail present harm.

2024-09-12 09:42:12 UTC

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this is a great resource! :) (also relevant to me, personally, since i host my own websites). Thank you for linking it!
If you have the broad strokes of what's missing in your mind or in your notes, Aral, I would be happy to volunteer some time and writing, to get them on paper and update this piece of writing. :) Let me know if you think it could work.

2024-09-10 08:45:26 UTC

@npub1uvk…cjyf writes about the effects of #mysogyny on the livelihood and professional career of women in tech.
https://irenezhang.net/blog/2024/07/24/misogyny.html
In tech companies, I've been harassed, threatened, made passes at and gaslit. In civic tech activism, I've had men assert that I have no competencies and understand nothing.
Oh, and in tech journalism I've had an editor refuse to publish my picture - the same one I use here - in an article because it is "too sexual".
As Irene says: men, do better!