Von der Leyen warns Big Tech to play by the rules in Europe.
"The rules voted by our co-legislators must be enforced," European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said.
"That's why we've opened cases against TikTok, X, Apple, Meta just to name a few. We apply the rules fairly, proportionally, and without bias. We don't care where a company's from and who's running it. We care about protecting people," she added.
@gerrymcgovern Yet another reason for #degrowth and stop relying on #bigtech.
@jwilker I got another "favorite" on that post. I've considered for a while trying to define #BigTech not just as what it is that repulses us; I sense a need for a definition of what we are that big tech isn't. What is good tech? Respectful tech? Humanistic tech? I like #smallTech, by their demonstrable ethos, and the implication that we can have enough without "scaling" but very many who are not big tech are doing big things. I could go on, but do you have thoughts on this?
Meta Antitrust Trial Opens Under Shadow of Whistleblower Claims and Political Maneuvering
#Meta #FTC #Antitrust #Zuckerberg #China #Censorship #Whistleblowers #BigTech #Regulation #Instagram #WhatsApp #USPolitics #TechLaw #Senate #SocialMedia #AI
#Microsoft Demos "Cloud Moral Distancing" Technology
https://isglitch.com/article/2025-04-20-microsoft-demos-cloud
@praveen@social.masto.host
Thank you for sharing information about Monocles [1]. Monocles offers all the relevant services for a secure, ecofriendly, privacy respecting and fair digital life for everyone. Though not widely recognized yet, it offers alternatives to those from Big Tech platforms.
1. https://monocles.eu
cc: @monocles@monocles.social
#Privacy #DigitalLife #BigTech
Daily podcast: You Cannot Expect Privacy With Technology. From BigTech to Governments, it's a total uphill battle.
#News #TechNews #Technology #Privacy #BigTech #Government #Surveillance #Laws #podcast
"O #Mastodon—desenvolvido por uma empresa #semfinslucrativos e formado por comunidades com admins independentes—tornou-se essencialmente imune ao conhecido padrão de #enshittification da #socialmedia.
O #Bluesky, apesar de sua tecnologia inovadora e das boas intenções,é construído sobre a mesma fundação das #BigTech, apoiado por #venturecapital.
O Mastodon—apesar de mais desafiador para começar—representa nossa melhor chance de construir uma #opentownsquare na internet."
Https://phillipjreese.com/the-social-network-that-cant-sell-out-understanding-mastodon-vs-bluesky/
BIG TECH MUSS WEG - Martin Andree
#TikTok ist kein Social Network, sagt Ex-COO V Pappas. Warum wird es dann reguliert wie eines? Als Unterhaltungsplattform müsste es Verantwortung für die Inhalte übernehmen.
https://www.bigtechontrial.com/p/tiktok-is-not-a-social-network
"Today marks one year since workers with No Tech for Apartheid staged sit-ins at Google offices to protest the use of our labor to power the genocide in Gaza, to demand an end the harassment and discrimination of our Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab coworkers, and to pressure executives to address the workplace health and safety crisis that Nimbus has caused. Google retaliated against workers and illegally fired 50 Googlers—including many who did not participate directly in the action.
In the year since, Google has only deepened its commitment to being a military contractor. Two months ago, in order to take advantage of the federal contracts the corporation can gain under Trump, Google abandoned its pledge not to build AI for weapons or surveillance. In rapid succession, Google then acquired Israeli cloud security start-up Wiz, pursued partnerships with US Customs and Border Patrol to update towers by Israeli war contractor Elbit Systems with AI at the US-Mexico border, and launched an AI partnership with the largest war profiteer in the world: Lockheed Martin.
Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon are no longer the only war corporations in town; Google and big tech are increasingly eating their lunch. Big tech companies are being pushed by the market to continue to bank returns. But having saturated the consumer and enterprise markets, corporations like Google, in a contentious arms race to dominate the cloud market, have identified the ever-ballooning so-called “defense” budgets of the US and other governments as major pots for profit.
One thing is clear: We urgently need an AI arms embargo."
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/google-employee-speaks-out-war-contracting/
Destroying Autocracy – April 17, 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
Elena Rossini writes:
We are in the throes of a digital coup. And Big Tech’s deep pockets and large ad spending have been building – for 2 decades now – the illusion that in order to be seen and heard online, to make an impact through writing, one needs to use their centralized platforms. Because “they are the only way.”
I completely disagree. I remain all in when it comes to the Fediverse and FOSS publishing solutions. With this post, I hope I can show you that another way is possible.
This is what resistance to the digital coup looks like
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes and other douchebaggery
The Register reports:
EU gives staff ‘burner phones, laptops’ for US visits
Ireland opens probe into Musk’s X over Grok’s AI data slurp
Palo Alto Online reports:
Silicon Valley crosswalk buttons apparently hacked to imitate Musk, Zuckerberg voices
The Japan Times:
In a first, Japan issues cease-and-desist order against Google
The Guardian reports:
Google sued for £5bn in UK over allegations of shutting out rivals
TechCrunch reports:
Judge rules Google illegally monopolized adtech, opening door to potential breakup
The Nation shares:
I’ve Worked at Google for Decades. I’m Sickened by What It’s Doing.
The Next Web reports:
Trump tariffs reignite Europe’s push for cloud sovereignty
Dark Reading reports:
Threat Intel Firm Offers Crypto in Exchange for Dark Web Accounts
Ars Technica reports:
Harvard says no chance it will comply with changes feds demand
Speaking of, Harvard shares:
Understanding DOGE and Your Data
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
Privacy on the Map: How States Are Fighting Location Surveillance
Tech Policy reports on:
The Need for and Pathways to AI Regulatory and Technical Interoperability
The Evil Empire Strikes Back
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
Florida’s New Social Media Bill Says the Quiet Part Out Loud and Demands an Encryption Backdoor
Florida has long been America’s laboratory for fascism.
MIT Technology Review reports:
DOGE’s tech takeover threatens the safety and stability of our critical data
NPR reports:
A whistleblower’s disclosure details how DOGE may have taken sensitive labor data
404 Media reports:
The AI Tools CBP Is Using to Scan Social Media
ICE Just Paid Palantir Tens of Millions for ‘Complete Target Analysis of Known Populations’
This ‘College Protester’ Isn’t Real. It’s an AI-Powered Undercover Bot for Cops
Pariah States
Bleeping Computer reports:
Russian hackers attack Western military mission using malicious drive
Midnight Blizzard deploys new GrapeLoader malware in embassy phishing
The Register reports:
Hacktivism resurges – but don’t be fooled, it’s often state-backed goons in masks
Chinese snoops use stealth RAT to backdoor US orgs – still active last week
TechCrunch reports:
Big Media
Poynter reports:
Audiences are still skeptical about generative AI in the news
Big Tech
Tech Policy reports:
How Information Asymmetry Inhibits Efforts for Big Tech Accountability
Cory Doctorow has:
Tesla accused of hacking odometers to weasel out of warranty repairs
If you own a swasticar, you almost deserve this.
Ars Technica reports:
Zuckerberg’s 2012 email dubbed “smoking gun” at Meta monopoly trial
BleepingComputer reports:
Meta to resume AI training on content shared by Europeans
TechCrunch reports:
Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk would like to ‘delete all IP law’
The Guardian reports:
‘Silicon Six’ accused of avoiding almost $278bn in US corporation taxes over 10 years
Terror
The Guardian reports:
Fears over extremism in US military as soldier revealed as neo-Nazi TikTok follower
Cybersecurity/Privacy
Reuters reports:
Cybersecurity industry falls silent as Trump turns ire on SentinelOne
The Register reports:
CVE program gets last-minute funding from CISA – and maybe a new home
BleepingComputer reports:
Chrome 136 fixes 20-year browser history privacy riskws/security/chrome-136-fixes-20-year-browser-history-privacy-risk/)
Don’t use Chrome is the easiest fix. Librewolf peeps.
Tech Republic reports:
Windows 11 Forces Microsoft Account Sign In & Removes Bypass Trick Option
This is further validation that my next computer will come with linux preinstalled.
The Record reports:
US to sign Pall Mall pact aimed at countering spyware abuses
Fediverse
The Fediverse Report has:
The Nexus of Privacy reports:
On FediForum (and not just FediForum)
Framablog shares its:
Hong Minhee says:
Ditch the DIY Drama: Why To Use Fedify Instead of Building ActivityPub from Scratch?
Netz Politik has:
Hochschulen aller Länder ins Fediverse!
DeadSuperHero explores:
Integrating a News Publication Into the Fediverse
I’ve done the same with this website and the Symfony Station newsletter, and it’s definitely hacky.
Ghost is:
Rob Shearer has:
This is a bit harsh, but does have some fair points.
Other Slightly Federated Social Media
Ben Werdmuller shares:
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse
#112 #ActivityPub #AI #ATProtocol #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Bluesky #Democracy #Fascism #Fediverse #Ghost #Mastodon #Peertube #StopChina #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine
"Regulation that impedes the operation of US digital behemoths – anything short of blanket permission to do as they please – will apparently be treated as a hostile act and an affront to human liberty.
This is an imperial demand for market access cynically camouflaged in the language of universal rights. The equivalent trick is not available in other sectors of the economy. US farmers hate trade barriers that stop their products flooding European markets, but they don’t argue that their chlorine-washed chickens are being censored. (Not yet.)
That isn’t to say digital communications can be subject to toxicity tests just like agricultural exports. There is wide scope for reasonable disagreement on what counts as intolerable content, and how it should be controlled. The boundaries are not easily defined. But it is also beyond doubt that thresholds exist. There is no free-speech case for child sexual abuse images. The most liberal jurisdictions recognise that the state has a duty to proscribe some material even if there is a market for it.
The question of how online space should be policed is complex in principle and fiendishly difficult in practice, not least because the infrastructure we treat as a public arena is run by private commercial interests. Britain cannot let the terms of debate be dictated by a US administration that is locked in corrupting political intimacy with those interests.
It is impossible to separate the commercial and ideological strands of Trump’s relationship with Silicon Valley oligarchs. They used their power and wealth to boost his candidacy and they want payback from his incumbency. There is not much coherence to the doctrine. “Free” speech is the kind that amplifies the president’s personal prejudices. Correcting his lies with verifiable facts is censorship."
#BigTech ist wohl nicht mehr in der Lage, #Datensicherheit, #Privacy und #Datenintegrität zu garantieren. Die #Entflechtung hat begonnen.
𐌐𐌀Ꝋ𐌋Ꝋ 
