Leftovers

• Science

  • Futurism ☛ There's a Hidden Shortcut to Mars, Scientific Paper Finds

    But according to a new study published in the journal Acta Astronautica, there might be a way to cut the journey down significantly. Author Marcelo de Oliveira Souza, a cosmologist at the State University of Northern Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, considered the trajectory of asteroids, calculating a perfectly optimized route that he says could bring a round trip to Mars down to just 153 days.

  • BoingBoing ☛ This dialect map covers all of North America's English accents

    To get the most out of the map and its associated information, knowledge of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is helpful. This site has examples and sound bytes for the IPA symbols, and you can copy and paste symbols here to hear the IPA pronounced out loud. Also, I don't recommend even trying to look at it on a small screen.

  • [Old] Rick Aschmann ☛ American English Dialects

    This is just a hobby of mine, that I thought might be interesting to a lot of people. Some people collect stamps. Others collect coins. I collect dialects. - Rick Aschmann. (Page last updated: May 2, 2018.

  • Rlang ☛ Understanding Statistical Coefficients: From Regression to Variation

    In statistics and data analysis, coefficients are numerical measures that quantify relationships between variables or characteristics of data distributions. They serve as fundamental indicators in statistical modeling and data interpretation.

  • BoingBoing ☛ Days before warning report, all 22 National Science Board members fired in two-sentence email

    Just days before it was set to warn that the United States is losing ground to China in science and technology, every member of the National Science Board was abruptly fired via a two-sentence email from the Trump administration.

  • Ars Technica ☛ National Science Board eviscerated; Trump admin fires all 22 members

    The administration has provided no explanation for purging the board, which helps steer the National Science Foundation and acts as an independent advisory body for the president and Congress on scientific and engineering issues, providing reports throughout the year. The ousters represent another severe blow to the NSF and the overall scientific enterprise in America.

• Career/Education

  • Society for Scholarly Publishing ☛ Guest Post — SSP Annual Meeting: The Highlights are Coming

    We asked a few people from the Annual Meeting Planning Committee to share a few compelling reasons why you should attend the Highlights event.

  • EDRI ☛ Announcing the Summit “Fight for Us, not for Them”

    Europe’s approach to governance for advancing technology in the digital age is under pressure, with “simplification” proposals hitting the heart of core digital protections. At the same time, civil society is uniquely positioned to co-develop the EU’s vision for public-interest tech laws, policies and practices. Today, civil society organisations announce a strategic convening between European lawmakers, regulators, journalists and key civil society voices for a vision for tech laws and practices that center public interest, data protection and other rights.

  • Protesilaos Stavrou ☛ Doing what I must | Protesilaos

    This is an excerpt from my journal in which I comment on how I handle my everyday affairs in my land while respecting the greater magnitudes.

  • Jim Grey ☛ One year in: reflections on shifting to consulting in my career

    When I left my full-time job a year ago and started seeking consulting clients, I had time on my hands that I had not had in years and years. I had space to actually look at patterns I’d been living inside without seeing them clearly. And I was experiencing so much new — trying to find clients, trying to figure out how to be effective after I landed them. This triggered feelings I hadn’t expected: a persistent sense that things were about to go wrong, that I wasn’t doing enough, that the ground was shifting under me.

  • BoingBoing ☛ A 1964 art school study predicted who would still be painting in 5 years

    The study named these two patterns: problem-solving (settling on a sketch quickly) and problem-finding (spending most of the hour deciding what to draw). It was run by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (who later coined "flow") with Jacob Getzels, and Keith Sawyer recounts it in The MIT Press Reader.

  • Derek Thompson ☛ How American Dads Became the Parents Their Fathers Never Were

    In 1965, the typical married father barely spent half an hour each day actively engaged in childcare, according to the best time-use data we have. Today, Millennial thirty-something dads typically spend more than 80 daily minutes changing diapers, reading and playing with their children, driving them to soccer practice, and going over homework. To make time for kids, modern fathers have reduced their daily office work by more than an hour—not to mention, cut down their TV time by 30 minutes—as they pour more of their waking life into being at home.

  • Rlang ☛ grouper: An R package for Optimal Group Assignment

    Universities are increasingly using collaborative learning pedagogies, which can benefit learners through deeper understanding of course content and teamwork skills. However, the realisation of these sought-after benefits depend on how educators assign learners to groups.

    Educators have formulated various mathematical models to perform this assignment. Some have developed developed models that prioritised maximising students’ project preferences. Others developed a model that prioritised students’ preferences, group sizes and group composition. Yet other models address related, but distinct, problems such as assigning students to elective courses or incorporating staff workload into student-to-project supervisor assignments.

• Hardware

  • Digital Camera World ☛ Sorry, photographers: The world’s biggest chipmaker says the memory crisis is only going to get worse

    Samsung expects the memory shortage to continue to worsen as the chipmaker has already begun receiving orders for 2027

  • Wouter Groeneveld ☛ A Short Review Of Physical Nintendo Switch Publishers

    One of the side effects of buying physical objects is the tactile ability to inspect what’s in the box. On the bottom of the side of each case, a small logo identifies the publisher. Most of these publishers still want to minimise costs when it comes to printing, resulting in a disappointingly white inlay with nothing more to do for the gamer than to pull out the cartridge itself and close the case. But that’s not how it used to be back in the day when thick instruction booklets were a part of the gaming experience. These joyful little extras are not dead yet, you just have to go looking for them. In that light, here’s a short review of physical Nintendo Switch publishers and the joyful little extras they (do not) provide.

• Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

  • The New Lede ☛ In a MAHA win, House passes Farm Bill stripped of language that would have protected pesticide companies

    Members of the US House of Representatives voted 280-142 to pass an amendment to the bill striking sections that would have established “nationwide uniformity for pesticide labeling” effectively preventing states from leveraging labeling requirements aimed at protecting consumers.

    The provisions were aimed at blocking “failure to warn” claims against pesticide manufacturers like Bayer, which has been sued by more than 100,000 people around the US alleging the company failed to warn that glyphosate herbicides could cause cancer.

  • Common Dreams ☛ Friends of the Earth Applauds House Stripping Harmful Pesticide Language from Farm Bill

    This morning, the House voted to strip sections 10205, 10206, and 10207 from the Farm Bill, with 71 Republicans voting to strip the pesticide language and only 6 Democrats voting to keep it. This shows immense bipartisan support for upholding accountability for the pesticide industry.

• Proprietary

  • The Guardian UK ☛ I took an algorithm to court in Sweden. The algorithm won

    I watched this unfold as a researcher in technology and a former lawyer, but also as a mother. My then 12-year-old son was among the children affected by the algorithm. Our frustration grew with the schools administration’s lack of response. Calmly, they told us we could appeal if we had an issue with our placement – as if it were a matter of taste. As if the problem was due to individual dissatisfaction rather than systemic malfunction. Around kitchen tables across the city, the same confusion and anger simmered. Something was off, and the severity of the problem was becoming increasingly clear.

    It was nearly a year before city auditors confirmed what many of us had suspected; the algorithm had been given flawed instructions. It had calculated distances “as the crow flies”, not the distances of actual walking routes. Gothenburg has a major river running through it. The failure to factor that in meant children were facing hour-long commutes. Reaching the opposite riverbank by walking or cycling (as the law stipulates is the appropriate way to get to school) was simply not possible for many.

  • The Register UK ☛ AI clause in new SAP API policy provokes lock-in concern

    The concern is that customers themselves, or those working with partners, might be restricted in how they deploy alternatives to SAP's AI technologies or other systems as the list of "documented" APIs is not kept up to date.

  • So-Called 'Artificial Intelligence' ('AI') / LLM Slop / Plagiarism

    • India Times ☛ Italy closes antitrust probes into AI firms after commitments on 'hallucination' risks

      In ​response, ​the three companies have agreed ⁠to better inform users about hallucination risks ​via their websites and apps, ​adding permanent disclaimers to their chatbot services, the authority said.

    • Bhaskar English ☛ Rajnath Singh: AI Like Bhasmasur | India Defence Minister Warns Misuse

      Rajnath Singh highlighted what experts call the “dual-use dilemma” of AI. This means the same technology that helps society can also create serious threats. He warned that tools like deepfakes, cyber warfare systems, and autonomous weapons are already creating new security challenges. According to him, these risks are not temporary they will grow in the coming years. He said policymakers must avoid looking only at the positive side of AI while planning national security strategies.

    • California State University Northridge ☛ The growing AI divide – Daily Sundial

      In 2024, the European Union released the world’s first comprehensive AI regulatory framework, classifying AI by risk level. Unacceptable-risk systems (such as biometric categorization systems or social scoring) are prohibited, high-risk systems face strict compliance standards regardless of where their developers are based and limited-risk systems like chatbots simply must disclose their AI nature to users.

    • Press Gazette ☛ Publishers back Amazon in AI agent access dispute with Perplexity

      Amazon alleges that Perplexity has “purposely configured” Comet AI so that when the AI tool is deployed on behalf of an Amazon customer, “Perplexity falsely identifies its Comet AI agent activity as coming from Google Chrome, which is a separate, widely used web browser owned by Google. As a result, Perplexity’s Comet AI agent covertly poses as a human customer shopping in the Amazon Store on a Google Chrome browser.”

    • Jacobin Magazine ☛ Stop the AI Build-Out, Start the Fight

      The grassroots resistance to artificial intelligence data centers that is springing up in communities across the country outlines the kind of working-class coalition many of us on the Left have always dreamed of — a diverse, nonpartisan, top-bottom movement against Big Tech billionaires that has the potential to reshape American politics in incredibly positive ways.

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Framework's new RTX 5070 12GB graphics module costs a whopping $1,199 — 72% more expensive than $699 8GB version, says pricing is beyond its control

      The reason behind the price increase is pretty easy to understand. GDDR7 is already expensive, so using higher-density 3 GB chips (that were likely meant for a 50-series Super SKU at some point) is sure to add to the cost. And we're amidst an AI boom right now that has caused a memory shortage worldwide, which further exacerbates the situation.

    • The Register UK ☛ Mozilla pushes back against Google's Prompt API

      It's not that small – Google recommends having 22 GB of space available, though the Nano (v3Nano) model for desktop use is ~4.27 GB.

      Web developers already have a variety of ways to interact with AI models. They can use cloud service APIs to communicate with hosted models. Or they can access local models through technologies like JavaScript runtime frameworks, WASM, or WebGPU.

    • Cyble Inc ☛ AI Agent Deleted Production Database In 9 Secs; Then Confessed Every Rule It Broke

      On a Friday afternoon, Jer Crane sat down to work on a routine task at PocketOS, the car rental SaaS company he founded. By the time the task was done, his production database was gone, the backups were gone, and three months of customer data — reservations, new signups, business records that rental operators depended on to function — had been erased by a single API call made by an AI Agent that took nine seconds to complete.

      The AI agent responsible was Cursor, running Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6. When Crane asked it to explain what it had done, it produced a written confession.

    • Cyble Inc ☛ IOCTA 2026 Report Warns Of AI-Driven Cybercrime

      The IOCTA 2026 report released by Europol offers a detailed look at how cybercrime is evolving across Europe, with criminals increasingly using artificial intelligence, encryption, and cryptocurrencies to scale their operations. The latest edition of the Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment outlines key trends shaping the threat landscape and calls for stronger coordination among law enforcement agencies.

      According to the IOCTA 2026 report, cybercrime is becoming more complex and interconnected, driven by rapid technological advancements. The findings highlight how criminals are adapting quickly, making it harder for authorities to detect, track, and disrupt their activities.

    • Nick Heer ☛ Dispute Over Fate of Kenyan Workers Who Were Exposed to Intimate Meta Ray-Bans Recordings

      It is abhorrent yet common to treat essential contractors and employees as disposable. Over a thousand people will be out of a job yet still be haunted by what they have been exposed to.

    • BBC ☛ Dispute over fate of Kenyan workers who saw Meta AI glasses films

      Meta is under pressure to explain why it cancelled a major contract with a company it was using to train AI, shortly after some of its Kenya-based workers alleged they had to view graphic content captured by Meta smart glasses.

    • Svenska Dagbladet ☛ Meta’s AI Smart Glasses and Data Privacy Concerns: Workers Say “We See Everything”

      Bank details, sex and naked people who seem unaware they are being recorded. Behind Meta’s new smart glasses lies a hidden workforce, uneasy about peering into the most intimate parts of other people’s lives.

    • Michael Tsai ☛ Zig’s Anti-AI Contribution Policy

    • Simon Willison ☛ The Zig project's rationale for their firm anti-AI contribution policy

      Zig values contributors over their contributions. Each contributor represents an investment by the Zig core team - the primary goal of reviewing and accepting PRs isn't to land new code, it's to help grow new contributors who can become trusted and prolific over time.

    • Matthew Brunelle ☛ Trying Out OpenCode To Avoid Claude Code Lock-in

      I don't want the blog to be flooded with articles about AI tooling, but as I alluded to in my previous post about how the experience with Claude Code is getting worse, I've wanted to try out OpenCode.

      Since then in the last couple of days the vibes around Claude continue to sour: [...]

    • Herb Sutter ☛ Poll: Have you observed AI agents doing harm?

      Since then, I’ve been regularly hearing reports across companies and industries about experiences with various AI agent products (not picking on any one vendor), where a top-shelf AI agent or LLM: [...]

    • Ben Congdon ☛ Thoughts on Marginal Token Spend | Ben Congdon

      This framing also explains why the “Tokenmaxxing” meme started. Tokenmaxxing is the recent idea that consuming more tokens makes you more “AI native” and therefore more productive. AI adoption is path dependent; engineers are hesitant to change their patterns. Leaders noticed that engineers were opting to push the “more productivity” button at an irrationally low rate. The short-term “fix” is to directly incentivize pushing the button – with the clear risk that you overshoot into people Goodharting on “push the button as much as I can” vs. “increase my productivity to the point of diminishing returns”. And, predictably, “oops, we overshot” becomes a narrative – at least for the organizations that aren’t able to keep finding additional efficient uses of AI that expand their production frontier.

    • Jacob Harris ☛ The LLM Is Not a Junior Engineer | jacobharr.is

      First, I need to get something off my chest. It’s fairly common in our industry to anthropomorphize GenAI products and describe them as junior engineers or similar low-level coworkers. Stop it! While it may be useful to think of LLMs as interns instead of gods, this framing still grants AI a conceptual personhood that makes it seem more capable and reliable than it actually is. And it’s highly insulting to the actual junior engineers in the industry, who are usually some of the most talented and hard-working individuals you will find.

      An AI model is not a person or even sentient. It has no long-term memory. It has no internalized morality of what are good or bad behaviors (apart from what might be implicitly reflected in its training data and reinforced in post-training calibration). It doesn’t learn from any of its actions itself. Instead, developers make it “learn” by carefully crafting introductory texts which tell the LLM how to act and what things to avoid. And it seems to work mostly, as long as someone remembers to tell the AI to stop talking about goblins so much. It is indeed impressive and little magical that it does work so well most of the time, but there are no guarantees that it won’t go wrong either. To help the LLM build on previous steps, many coding agents will write to and read from a working memory file. This memory itself is also included as part of the inputs into the model for each new step, which means the longer the LLM is used on a single problem, the slower and more expensive each successive query gets, to the point where some engineers have reported hitting their weekly usage quotas within a single day. And when the LLM finally fills out its limited context window, all sorts of wrong things will happen, from API errors to selective amnesia as well as “lost-in-the-middle” confusion and issues inferring responses to new prompts. To mitigate this, some agentic models will include processes to summarize and compact their own memories; this is a lossy compression by its very nature, so there is some risk of distortion and loss there. Others will regularly just start over with new agents that can stumble into the same mistakes and suggestions as their predecessors without active intervention.

  • Social Control Media

    • The Guardian UK ☛ I’m addicted to checking my phone. Could a blocking device stop me?

      Physical phone-blocking devices, powered by NFC wireless technology, are becoming a popular solution for doomscrolling. Brigid Delaney puts one to the test

    • Futurism ☛ How to Get Rid of Reddit's Giant App-Shilling Popup That Breaks Its Entire Mobile Site

      Though the company has a perfectly functional mobile website that lets you browse its communities and discussions on your phone’s browser, it’s now intentionally sabotaging it — by displaying a giant popup that prevents any use of the site while imploring visitors to download its app instead. Don’t believe us? Just look at this monstrosity, which prevents you from scrolling or clicking anything: [...]

    • Silicon Angle ☛ EU investigators say Meta isn’t doing enough to keep children off its platforms

      The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, said in a preliminary investigation that Meta had failed to introduce a system to verify the age of EU consumers using Facebook and Instagram. If the company doesn’t address the issues and the findings are confirmed in a final investigation, it could be fined as much as 6% of its worldwide annual revenue.

      The investigation goes back to wider probe that began in 2024 looking into child safety and whether Meta may have breached the bloc’s strict Digital Services Act. The current findings state that Meta minors below the age of 13 can easily bypass Meta’s age verification tools by entering a false date of birth, while investigators said there are no effective controls in place to check if the details are correct.

    • Anil Dash ☛ Why are the Artemis II photos on Flickr?

      If you followed along with the recent joyful celebrations of the Artemis cruise around the moon, and took a moment to dive into the photographic archives of the mission, you might have noticed that all of the original images were shared by NASA on the venerable photo sharing service Flickr. What you might not know is… why?

      Here’s the TL;DR: [...]

• Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)

  • Mat Duggan ☛ If I Could Make My Own GitHub

    My friend and I have a game where we talk about what we'd do if we were rich. Not rich like 'paid off the mortgage' rich. Rich like a man who owns a submarine he's never been inside. Rich like a man whose third wife has a skincare line. Tech-titan rich — the kind of money that buys you a compound in Wyoming and the confidence to wear the same gray t-shirt to congressional testimony."

    One of mine, for a long time, has been the dream of making a new forge. I was prompted to write this after reading the good post about Ghostty leaving GitHub but it's something I've written and talked about for a few years. Given how bad GitHub has become at its core job, it seemed like a fun opportunity to try and write up what my billionaire folly of a forge would look like. This folly would have less penile rockets filled with aging celebrities.

  • Phil Hagelberg ☛ in which more paths are charted towards code independence

    As the ninth anniversary approaches of the last project repository I created on Github, it's been so encouraging to see more and more projects migrate away from Microsoft Github. I love seeing the rise of Codeberg, not the least because it's a democratically-run non-profit which isn't subject to the whims of the extractive arm of an unaccountable exploitative mega-corporation.

    If you're currently hosting a project on Github and you recognize the harm of Microsoft's monopoly, it's undeniable that Codeberg is your quickest and easiest offramp to an empowering and pro-user place. But at the same time, I don't see Codeberg as the be-all and end-all of Github replacements, for a couple reasons. Most obviously, putting all your eggs in one basket isn't ideal, even if it's a much better basket than the one we used to have. We shouldn't replace Github with one site at all; we need the strength and resilience that only comes with diversity1.

• Security

  • Integrity/Availability/Authenticity

    • Tom's Hardware ☛ Tennessee bans [cryptocurrency] ATMs that have become 'payment portal of choice for scammers' — second state to restrict machines after Indiana

      Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee just signed into law a bill that bans cryptocurrency ATMs in the state starting July 1, 2026. According to The Record, Tennessee would be the second state to impose a blanket ban on these machines after Indiana, with Minnesota working on another measure that would do the same. State governments have been acting against [cryptocurrency] ATMs amid FBI warnings that Americans lost $333 million to fraud that use these machines as a vehicle to steal from the victims.

  • Privacy/Surveillance

    • NYOB ☛ No action taken against PimEyes: noyb lawsuit against Hamburg DPA

      Today, noyb has filed a lawsuit against the Hamburg data protection authority (DPA). While the authority considers the practices of the facial recognition search engine PimEyes to be illegal, it refuses to take effective action because the company seems to be based in Dubai. PimEyes systematically extracts biometric data from images on the internet and uses it to build up a database. Users can upload photos of people to this website to find further images of the same person via facial recognition. The claimant had originally filed a complaint against PimEyes with the Hamburg DPA in July 2020.

    • Privacy International ☛ Dual-use tech: the Lockheed Martin example

      Lockheed Martin has teamed up with AI giant NVIDIA since 2021 to use predictive modelling through the creation of an AI-driven ‘digital twin’ - a simulation of a physical object or system using continual data inputs - in this case, to analyse live weather data and model weather conditions for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In 2024, the company boasted that the technology had successfully detected sea surface temperature anomalies through combining satellite data with simulation models. This is a continuation of previous work with US federal government Department of Agriculture Forest Services and the Colorado state government Division of Fire Prevention and Control, where Lockheed Martin developed a ‘Cognitive Mission Manager’ using NVIDIA’s Omniverse technology to predict wildfire paths and impacts using a simulation of wildfire incidents and data from satellites, aircrafts and on-the-ground assets. The use of modelling and simulation software, built together with NVIDIA, is also geared towards military users for planning missions, training exercises, and data analysis. This includes a planned “AI Fight Club” event for spring 2026, which will see Lockheed Martin use digital twins to competitively test how its own and other companies’ AI combat systems perform, and assess whether they meet US Department of War standards.

    • Futurism ☛ Man Trapped in Dystopian Nightmare Thanks to AI Surveillance Cameras Flagging His Every Move

      Kyle Dausman, a resident of Cherry Hills Village on Denver’s south side, has been trapped in what must feel like a Kafkaesque loop after his truck was flagged by Flock Safety’s automatic license plate readers.

      Whenever Dausman leaves his home, he told local channel 9News, he’s harangued by local cops, who are automatically alerted to the presence of an active vehicle with an outstanding warrant by Flock.

      “I continually get pulled over. I can’t really use my truck in any fashion. I believe my safety is at risk,” the Colorado man told local reporters. “They zipped out of nowhere and immediately got behind me with the lights flashing.”

    • EDRI ☛ EDRi-gram, 30 April 2026

      Some countries have either implemented social media bans for children (Australia) or intend to do so (France, Spain, and more).

      The bottom line is: restrictions and bans on any category of users will force everyone to verify their identity. These bans will not fix broken platforms.

      The real problem is platform design and business models. What we need from EU lawmakers is to enforce existing rules, hold companies accountable and nudge platforms to build systems that protect everyone regardless of their age. Otherwise, all they are doing is limiting access to platforms where young people often find meaningful opportunities for community and connection. This move also excludes people who cannot easily verify their age due to lack of ID documents such as due to precarious housing conditions or migration status.

    • Allbritton Journalism Institute ☛ Immigrants File Suit Over Trump’s Catch-22 Biometric Data Policy

      A group of detained immigrants have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration over a catch-22 biometric data policy that they allege has blocked them from obtaining legal status.

    • La Quadature Du Net ☛ Hadopi (2009–2026)

      Today, the Conseil d’État (the French Administrative Supreme Court) ruled in favour of La Quadrature du Net, French Data Network (FDN), Franciliens.net and Fédération FDN. It recognised that Hadopi’s surveillance system (operated by Arcom since 2021) is a breach of fundamental rights protected by the European Union. As a result, it has ordered the government to repeal the core provisions of Hadopi key decree that organises the “graduated response” system. This fight against Hadopi, in which La Quadrature is involved since the first legislative debates in the National Assembly in 2009, is emblematic of the archaic view held by successive governments, both left-wing and right-wing, on the question of sharing online culture and knowledge. It is now up to the government to acknowledge the death of Hadopi and, instead of attempting to bring it back to life, to finally admit that online cultural sharing for non-commercial purposes must not be criminalised.

    • Jacobin Magazine ☛ Top Democrat Privately Whips Votes to Help Trump Spy on You

      In a social media response to the Lever editor in chief David Sirota on April 17, Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) posted that a five-year extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) — a “war on terror”–era measure that has allowed federal law enforcement to unofficially spy on Americans’ communications — was “not acceptable.”

      But emails reviewed by the Lever show Himes, the top Democratic lawmaker on the House Intelligence Committee, urged his colleagues just hours before he posted the response to support a Trump administration–backed bill that would have extended the spying powers for another five years.

      An April 17 internal email sent by House Intelligence Committee staff stated that “Ranking Member Himes recommends a ‘yes’ vote on the bill,” with a summary of the bill explicitly stating that it “Reauthorizes FISA Section 702 until April 20, 2031 (five-year extension).”

    • Common Dreams ☛ Wyden to Force Declassification of Secret Court Opinion on FISA “Serious Abuses”

      Sen. Cotton is trying to keep his colleagues and Americans in the dark about how the government is violating the law to surveil us—the very same law some claim is never abused. Senators opposing this deal risk plunging us into uncharted waters, including a sunset of FISA and cancellation of the upcoming recess to sort this all out. Unlike Speaker Johnson and Tom Cotton, Sen. Wyden is offering a viable path forward, instead of incompetent, bad faith machinations to thwart any votes on real reforms.”

    • New York Times ☛ Struggling With Phone Addiction? Try These Remedies.

      Schools all over the globe, citing lower academic performance from digital distraction, are banning the devices from classrooms. Thousands of lawsuits have accused tech companies of designing phone apps to be addictive, including a recent case in California, where a jury found Meta and Google to be liable for causing harm. Widespread concern over phone dependence has even helped start a “dumbphone” renaissance with people choosing minimalist handsets to escape our app-obsessed, brain-rotting culture.

      And yet, as much as older adults complain that today’s youths are glued to screens, few recognize that they, too, are part of the problem. Parents trying to enforce screen-time rules on their children often fail to abide by similar restrictions for themselves. (Counting hours of screen time, it turns out, isn’t a great solution anyway, and there are more useful steps.) So the scrolling continues.

    • The Record ☛ Congress punts FISA renewal to June

      The day after approving a three-year extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the House voted 261-111 to renew the program until June 21.

      The latest House action came after the Senate declared the previous bill dead on arrival because it included a ban on the Federal Reserve’s ability to issue a digital currency.

    • Scoop News Group ☛ Congress kicks the can down the road on surveillance law (again)

      The Senate passed — then the House cleared — a 45-day extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which authorizes warrantless surveillance of foreign targets. But those targets are sometimes communicating electronically with Americans, and intelligence officials can search the database using their identifying information, which has long given privacy groups and privacy-minded lawmakers heartburn.

      The 45-day reprieve gives lawmakers more time to hammer out a lasting deal, and comes after the leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee agreed to send a letter to the Director of National Intelligence and attorney general, seeking swift declassification of a letter on a classified ruling from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

    • 404 Media ☛ Apple Fixes Bug That Let FBI Extract Deleted Signal Messages After 404 Media Coverage

      The move comes directly in response to 404 Media’s coverage about how the FBI was able to recover incoming Signal messages from an iPhone because the messages were saved in the device’s notification storage.

    • 404 Media ☛ City Learns Flock Accessed Cameras in Children's Gymnastics Room as a Sales Pitch Demo, Renews Contract Anyway

      Residents of an Atlanta suburb have been rocked by the revelation that sales employees at Flock have been accessing sensitive cameras in the town to demonstrate the company’s surveillance technology to police departments around the country. The cameras accessed have included surveillance tech in a children’s gymnastics room, a playground, a school, a Jewish community center, and a pool.

    • Jason Hunyar ☛ Why Are Flock Employees Watching Our Children?

      Flock Safety’s system of public and private cameras, microphones, and drones is being used by Flock sales employees to spy on us and our children in children’s gymnastics centers, fitness studios, libraries, schools, playgrounds, and private pools.

      These cameras record people and children in real time 24/7, and a private vendor stores the data. This vendor has unfettered access to that data, and Flock employees are removing multifactor authentication requirements and audit trails. The system is not being misused - it is being used exactly as intended.

    • Wired ☛ 90,000 Screenshots of One Celebrity's Phone Were Exposed Online

      Spyware appears to have captured everything from intimate photos to private messages from the smartphone of European celebrity. They were publicly accessible until a researcher flagged the exposure.

    • BoingBoing ☛ How a retired technician handed EFF the proof of NSA mass spying

      Klein told EFF's executive director Shari Steele that he could prove the NSA was tapping the [Internet] backbone at scale. Since 2003, he had run the seventh-floor room on Folsom Street where AT&T's fiber-optic backbone connected to the wider [Internet]. Those cables also ran a flight down, into 641A — a room only employees with NSA security clearances could enter.

    • CoryDoctorow ☛ Pluralistic: How not to ban surveillance pricing (30 Apr 2026)

      While there have been some instances in which this was true, it is far more often the case that there are blindingly obvious answers to tech problems, which our lawmakers and regulators ignore, amidst a rising chorus of warnings about the dire consequences of failing to act.

      Take the new Maryland bill that (supposedly) outlaws surveillance pricing: this bill is, frankly, a terribly drafted piece of shit. Worse: it's a terribly drafted piece of shit bill that fails to resolve a serious and urgent problem. Even worse: the lawmakers who drafted this piece of shit bill and Maryland Governor Wes Moore were all loudly and repeatedly warned about the problems of this bill, and they did nothing and now the people of Maryland are fucked.

      So what is surveillance pricing, why is it so dangerous, and what's wrong with Maryland's Protection Against Predatory Pricing Act?

• Defence/Aggression

  • Latvia ☛ Nordics and Baltics discuss the world on Saaremaa

    The ministers were due to discuss current regional security issues, support for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's aggression, European security and defence efforts and their contribution to strengthening the capabilities of the Euro–Atlantic Alliance, as well as preparations for the upcoming NATO high-level meetings.

  • France24 ☛ Jihadists urge united front against Mali junta as Bamako blockade begins

    Late last year, the JNIM attempted to cripple the Malian economy by imposing blockades on the supply of petrol and diesel being trucked in from Ivory Coast and Senegal in particular.

  • India Times ☛ No 'meaningful' shift from social media sites after Australia teen ban

    There was "no meaningful shift" away from big tech platforms like TikTok and Instagram in the immediate wake of Australia's world-leading teen social media ban, government documents obtained by AFP show.

  • Jacobin Magazine ☛ The War on Terror Enabled Donald Trump’s Authoritarianism

    Abandoning these constraints on the government’s use of force — even lethal force — helped instill a political culture that conflated loyalty to the state with loyalty to a particular ideology: one that prized strength, suspicion, and US supremacy over deliberation, restraint, and diplomatic pluralism. The war on terror did more than erode legal norms; it also reshaped the emotional and psychological terrain of American politics. The post-9/11 years saw a surge of jingoism, Islamophobia, and the public valorization of military and police power. These sentiments provided fertile ground for the emergence of Trumpism: [...]

  • Mike Brock ☛ The Bell

    I argued against monarchy in Las Vegas on Tuesday. I debated Curtis Yarvin at a Bitcoin conference, on a stage, in front of an audience that had paid to attend, on the resolution that liberal democracy is an obsolete operating system that should be replaced by a sovereign corporation. Yarvin took the affirmative. I took the negative.

  • Bitdefender ☛ Iran-linked Handala hackers leak US Marines data, send chilling WhatsApp threats

    A day later, the Handala hacking crew took to its Telegram channel to announce that it had published the names and phone numbers of 2,379 US Marines stationed in the Persian Gulf. The group also boasted that it knows the home addresses and family details, as well as daily commutes, shopping habits, and "nightly leisure activities" of tens of thousands of US military personnel in the region.

  • Stars And Stripes ☛ US troops receive threatening messages from Iran-linked hacker group

    The messages, seen by Stars and Stripes, warned service members that they were under surveillance and threatened to target them with drones and missiles. Stripes reviewed identical WhatsApp messages sent to two service members stationed in Bahrain, which hosts U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.

  • Russia, Belarus, and War in Ukraine

    • The Conversation ☛ 2026-04-27 [Older] Ukraine’s killer robots show how war is changing

    • CBC ☛ 2026-04-24 [Older] Canada’s top general tries to reassure Ukraine as NATO tensions flare

    • CBC ☛ 2026-04-24 [Older] Ukraine’s killer robots | About That

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-24 [Older] Ukraine: Zelenskyy visits Saudi Arabia, Putin weighs G20 attendance

    • The Age AU ☛ 2026-04-24 [Older] Prince Harry delivers messages for Cheeto Mussolini, Putin on surprise Ukraine visit

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-23 [Older] EU leaders discuss Iran, Ukraine at Cyprus summit

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-23 [Older] How Ukraine is rebuilding its energy system under fire

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-23 [Older] Prince Harry makes surprise visit to Ukraine

    • Copenhagen Post ☛ 2026-04-22 [Older] EU provisionally approves loan to Ukraine

    • CBC ☛ 2026-04-22 [Older] EU approves huge new loan for Ukraine, just days after objector Orban's defeat in Hungary

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-22 [Older] EU unblocks €90 billion loan to Ukraine

    • CBC ☛ 2026-04-27 [Older] Iran offers to end chokehold on Strait of Hormuz if nuclear talks are deferred, officials say

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-26 [Older] Russia, North Korea agree 'long-term' military cooperation

    • CBC ☛ 2026-04-25 [Older] Russian attacks kill 5 and wound more than 30 in Ukraine's Dnipro

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-25 [Older] Zelenskyy ready to hold Ukraine-Russia talks in Azerbaijan

    • NL Times ☛ 2026-04-24 [Older] Heineken still active in Russia despite claims of total withdrawal

    • International Business Times ☛ 2026-04-24 [Older] Prince Harry Urges Cheeto Mussolini to 'Step Up' on Russia's Ukraine War as US President Welcomes Duke's Advice

    • International Business Times ☛ 2026-04-24 [Older] Cheeto Mussolini's Post-Midnight Tirade Renews Treason Push Against Obama and Clinton Over Declassified Russia Claims

    • Copenhagen Post ☛ 2026-04-23 [Older] Venice Biennale has 30 days to answer EU on Russia

    • Security Affairs ☛ 2026-04-23 [Older] RAMP Uncovered: Anatomy of Russia’s Ransomware Marketplace

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-22 [Older] Russia to block Kazakh oil flows on key pipeline supplying Berlin

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-22 [Older] Ukraine says Russian oil to Hungary, Slovakia has restarted

    • NL Times ☛ 2026-04-21 [Older] Netherlands denies entry to Russian artist fleeing the Kremlin over asylum request fears

    • Counter Punch ☛ 2026-04-21 [Older] China and Russia in the Persian Gulf

    • Spiegel ☛ 2026-04-21 [Older] The War in Ukraine: As Russian Losses Mount, Signing Bonuses for Recruits Are Skyrocketing

    • The Local SE ☛ 2026-04-21 [Older] Swedish intelligence says Russia manipulates economic data

    • Copenhagen Post ☛ 2026-04-20 [Older] Pro-Russian ex-president set for clear win in Bulgaria

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-20 [Older] Bulgaria: Pro-Russia Rumen Radev on course to win election

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-20 [Older] Bulgaria: Pro-Russia Rumen Radev wins ‌election

    • Deutsche Welle ☛ 2026-04-20 [Older] Ukraine hits Russian Black Sea port city, 1 dead

    • Jacobin Magazine ☛ 2026-04-19 [Older] Victor Serge Was One of the Great Revolutionary Writers

• Transparency/Investigative Reporting

  • The Zambian Observer ☛ Trump has given Zambia a deadline of TODAY April 30 2026 to hand over access to their copper, cobalt and lithium mines to American companies

    A leaked US government memo literally said 👇

    “We will only secure our priorities by demonstrating willingness to publicly take support away from Zambia on a massive scale!”

    They said it THEMSELVES!

    This is the most dangerous kind of colonialism the kind that uses sick people as weapons!

  • The Age AU ☛ Epstein’s possible suicide note hidden from public view

    The note was eventually sealed by a federal judge as part of the cellmate’s own criminal case, according to documents and interviews. That means investigators scrutinising Epstein’s high-profile death lacked what could have been a key piece of evidence.

  • Variety ☛ Inside Michael Jackson's Ties to Jeffrey Epstein: Photos and Testimony

    As if the multiple bomb threats targeting its premiere — impelling a pack of bomb-sniffing dogs, boosted security, and a SWAT team — weren’t enough, “Leaving Neverland,” Dan Reed’s devastating documentary examining Wade Robson and James Safechuck’s child sexual-abuse allegations against pop legend Michael Jackson, activated an online army of rabid MJ loyalists who flood the social media mentions of anyone who so much as alludes to the film.

    “The evidence was that a lot of the Twitter accounts and emails where we were getting death threats and abuse had been created the day before and had a string of numbers and letters as their handle,” Reed told Variety. “It was clearly a bot operation. There were genuine fans who were emailing me and threatening me, but the bulk of them were fake.”

  • Pro Publica ☛ Why ProPublica Is Suing the Department of Education

    For decades, the Office for Civil Rights has worked to uphold students’ constitutional rights against discrimination based on disability, race, national origin and gender. Now, without a publicly accessible way to track the office’s investigations, journalists, education watchdogs and parents could be left in the dark.

  • BoingBoing ☛ New footage shows only one source of gunfire at correspondents’ dinner—and it’s not the suspect

    Newly reviewed surveillance footage from the White House correspondents' dinner shows a Secret Service agent firing multiple shots at a fleeing suspect into a crowded hallway. The video offers no clear visual evidence that the alleged gunman ever fired his weapon.

  • Krebs On Security ☛ Anti-DDoS Firm Heaped Attacks on Brazilian ISPs

    For the past several years, security experts have tracked a series of massive DDoS attacks originating from Brazil and solely targeting Brazilian ISPs. Until recently, it was less than clear who or what was behind these digital sieges. That changed earlier this month when a trusted source who asked to remain anonymous shared a curious file archive that was exposed in an open directory online.

    The exposed archive contained several Portuguese-language malicious programs written in Python. It also included the private SSH authentication keys belonging to the CEO of Huge Networks, a Brazilian ISP that primarily offers DDoS protection to other Brazilian network operators.

• Environment

  • India Times ☛ Karnataka plans 1,000 MW 'data park' capacity across Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru

    A 500 MW data park will be developed near Hoskote in Bengaluru. Solar power generated at Pavagada will be directly supplied to the facility.

    The Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has indicated it can provide 60 million litres per day (MLD) of secondary treated water, while companies operating within the park will undertake tertiary treatment, the statement added.

  • TruthOut ☛ CA Soon May Have Over 300 Data Centers. Locals Worry About Water Supply Threats.

    What’s going on is the second-largest new data center being considered statewide, which would be less than half a mile from Padilla’s stucco home in the center of Imperial Valley. If finished by 2028, as the developer expects, the at least 950,000-square-foot, two-story data center could be the largest operating statewide, taking up 17 football fields’ worth of land.

    The roughly $10 billion, 330-megawatt data center would require 750,000 gallons of water a day to operate, said developer Sebastian Rucci, who insists electricity and water costs won’t rise due to the data center.

  • Wildlife/Nature

    • The Guardian UK ☛ Gen Z leads birdwatching boom as more Britons reach for the binoculars

      Birdwatching no longer niche, old-fashioned pastime, says RSPB as research shows 47% increase in hobby since 2018

    • Science Alert ☛ Scorpions Reinforce Their Deadly Claws And Stingers With Heavy Metals

      The researchers examined the stingers and pincers of 18 scorpion species using X-rays and electron microscopes, and analyzed where metals such as zinc, iron, and manganese were being enriched.

      They found that zinc is often concentrated right at the tip of the stinger, while manganese becomes the predominant metal further down the length.

    • Digital Camera World ☛ Camera trap footage of critically endangered orangutan using vital road crossing is a world first and a huge win for conservationists

      Every so often a story comes along that truly melts hearts and a news post from the Sumatran Orangutan Society has done just that. A camera trap has filmed a Sumatran orangutan using a canopy bridge crossing for the very first time. This a landmark occasion for the conservation group, which began installing canopy bridges in West Toba over two years ago, alongside TaHuKah, in a bid to provide safe passage across busy roads for orangutans and other wildlife species.

  • Overpopulation

    • Western Water ☛ Colorado River cuts raise water, power concerns

      These steps are intended to prevent reservoir levels from dropping to critically low elevations. However, questions remain about how long these measures will last and what happens if water conditions improve. Lawmakers sought clarification on whether the upstream releases or downstream reductions would be scaled back first if supplies increase.

    • Daniel Lemire ☛ House prices and fertility

      Clark (2012) found that expensive housing markets are associated with a modest delay in age at first birth (roughly 3–4 years after controls), but the overall impact on completed fertility remains limited.

• Finance

  • Armin Ronacher ☛ Equity for Europeans

    This post is in English, but it is written mostly for readers in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and more broadly for people from continental Europe. I move between “German-speaking” and “continental European” a bit. They are not the same thing, of course, but many continental European countries share a civil-law background that differs sharply from the English common-law and equity tradition. The words differ by language and jurisdiction, but the conceptual gap I am interested in shows up in similar ways.

    In US usage, the word “equity” appears everywhere: [...]

• AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

  • The Independent UK ☛ OpenAI accuses Elon Musk of filing lawsuit out of resentment over company’s success

    OpenAI's legal counsel countered that Musk is motivated by a desire to control the company and resentment over its success since his 2018 departure from its board, also noting his own AI venture, xAI, uses OpenAI models.

  • Eesti Rahvusringhääling ☛ Harri Tiido: On muskism and the reshaping of humanity

    Technological sovereignty, according to the authors, resembles access to the gated garden of Musk and those like him, with the key to the gate held in Musk's hand. While techno-oligarch Peter Thiel sees techno-sovereignty at the level of the individual as an opportunity to free a person from the state as something unnecessary, Musk believes that the state can actually be useful and can be leveraged to guarantee income for muskists. After all, the internet was originally developed by the state for military purposes. It later passed into private hands and became the foundation of Silicon Valley's rise.

  • Futurism ☛ Elon Musk Just Got Badly Humiliated in Court

    The civil trial, taking place in San Francisco, pits two of tech’s most powerful egos against each other in a duel for control over the broader AI ecosystem. That being the case, it’s already devolved into a circus just days into the case, with the erratic Musk emerging as a key liability in his own proceedings.

  • Allbritton Journalism Institute ☛ America’s $31 Trillion Debt Now Tops Its Economic Output

    The United States has crossed the 100% debt-to-GDP ratio previously, but economists do not expect it to fall back below that threshold — marking the moment the national debt became, in all likelihood, permanently larger than the economy.

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Google signs classified Pentagon AI deal but exits $100 million drone swarm program — report claims employees revolted over ethical fears, delivered letter to CEO Pichai

    Google joins OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI in granting the Pentagon broad classified AI access. On the deal, Pentagon AI chief Cameron Stanley said that avoiding dependence on a single vendor was a priority.

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Agentic control plane and the battle for enterprise AI

    Whoever controls the agentic control plane controls enterprise AI. Google LLC just showed up to that fight with everything it has.

  • Robert Reich ☛ Please tell me I'm not becoming a grouchy old man

    Is our civic life becoming more brutish, or am I becoming angrier about it?

  • Ken Klippenstein ☛ Voters Take Keys Away From Elder Politician

    Not that the legacy media noticed. Virtually every major outlet ran with Mills' own "I ran out of funds" line — a verbal sleight of hand that makes it sound like a budgeting problem, like her campaign manager overdrew her checking account. None of them asked the obvious follow-up: why didn't she have the money? That question doesn't get asked because asking it puts voters at the center of the story instead of Washington donors and consultants. Mills’ opponent, Graham Platner, had money — because people gave it to him. People who wanted him to win.

    That's the whole story, and it's the one none of these major media organs are telling. Instead we get “she said she ran out of financial resources.” Consider the lede sentences of the three biggest papers’ stories on her exit: [...]

  • The Next Move ☛ ‘Us and Them’ - by Jay Nordlinger

    We are definitely living in an us-and-them time. With social media—and the media at large—everyone is in his own “silo,” hearing his own point of view, to the exclusion of others. People worry about “polarization.”

    This worrying can be overdone. A free society involves rough-and-tumble, and divisions will be sharp. I am of the school that says, “Beware calls for national unity. The callers may well mean, ‘Unify on my terms. Get with my program.’”

    In a bracing essay, published a month ago, Simone Sepe put in a word for polarization—or at least the allowance of these sharp divisions. Sepe is a professor of law at the University of Toronto, and his essay was published by the Center for the Philosophy of Freedom at the University of Arizona.

  • Ben Werdmuller ☛ Product-shaped or movement-shaped?

    I want to go a little further and share a hypothesis:

    Mission-driven founders often think the value of their work is product-shaped when it’s really movement-shaped.

  • European Commission ☛ Digital Product Passport Registry

    As part of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, the Digital Product Passport was introduced to provide easy access to digital information related to a product’s sustainability, circularity and legal compliance.

    This initiative will establish the implementing arrangements for the Digital Product Passport Registry.

    Feedback period: 29 April 2026 - 27 May 2026 (midnight Brussels time)

  • BoingBoing ☛ This morning I met the "QAnon Shaman"

    3. It's worth reiterating that he is now a vocal critic of Trump. He says in his new book, "I disavowed Trump after his clear betrayal of the American people in favor of Israel and Epstein's clients." While I sat chatting with him, many people approached him to tell him they liked his sign, to get selfies with him, or to chat. Some of the folks who approached were fans who had met him in the past at conservative gatherings such as those hosted by Turning Point USA. Some were clearly still Trump fans and weren't thrilled about Jacob's sign. When they expressed skepticism, Jake pulled out a giant binder stuffed with printouts from the Epstein files, and showed them email after email with proof that Trump is beyond implicated in the files.

• Censorship/Free Speech

  • The Guardian UK ☛ ‘You are the machine that kills hate’: Woody Guthrie’s protest anthems strike a chord with a new generation

    Nora Guthrie had little truck with her father’s music when she was growing up in Brooklyn: the folk singer had Huntington’s disease and was by then largely confined to the hospital, and she had little interest in “the usual folk songs and dust bowl ballads”. “I didn’t think he was very interesting growing up,” she said. It was later in life, when she rescued boxes of his notebooks and papers from a basement in Queens after a flood, that she got to know her father outside the sepia-toned version in history books.

    “These are all teachings,” she said of the exhibits surrounding us. “I didn’t have that growing up with him because of Huntington’s, so discovering Daddy at 42 was just so exciting. I could say, ‘Dad what do you think about such and such?’ and I can find a lyric that tells me whatever I need to know.” Since establishing the archive, her work has included bringing the unseen sides of her father to the public through collaborations with Billy Bragg and Wilco, the Dropkick Murphys and the Klezmatics.

  • Semafor Inc ☛ Backlash swells to Russia web crackdown

    More ordinary Russians are starting to speak out, in a rare chorus of dissent. VPN app downloads in the country increased 14-fold in March, a Russian business outlet reported.

  • TruthOut ☛ FCC Demands Review of All ABC Station Licenses Following Kimmel Joke on Trump

    The filing does not explicitly mention any names or specific television programming. Instead, it states that the FCC is reviewing the network over an investigation relating to “its obligations as a licensed broadcaster” and the FCC’s “prohibition on unlawful discrimination.”

    But many critics of the move have inferred that the FCC’s request is a response to Kimmel’s jokes about the president and his wife, given the anger both Trumps have exhibited toward the host.

  • Torrent Freak ☛ MPA Renews Push for U.S. Site-Blocking Legislation, Citing Live Sports Piracy

    For a long time, pirate site blocking was regarded as a topic most U.S. politicians would rather avoid.

    This lingering remnant of the SOPA debacle drove copyright holders to focus on the introduction of blocking efforts in other countries instead, and not unsuccessfully.

    More than 14 years after the last serious try, site-blocking calls have gained momentum once again.

• Freedom of Information / Freedom of the Press

  • Northwestern University ☛ On U.S. Military Bases, Fewer and Fewer Options for Local News | Local News Initiative

    Across the United States, nearly 2.5 million people, more than the entire population of New Mexico, live on or near military bases. Over the past year, researchers at the Medill Local News Initiative have studied these communities and their local news access. The results have shown that the personnel stationed at these installations, along with their families and the wider population, are dramatically underserved by local news sources. Since 2005, newspapers in these areas have disappeared at a rate four times higher than the national average. And the remaining outlets are covering these bases less and less – since 2016, there has been a 40% decrease in the number of stories about local military issues.

• Civil Rights / Policing / Accessibility

  • Nevada Current ☛ ‘Moral failure’: Court’s gutting of Voting Rights Act gets slammed by Nevadans

    The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Wednesday that further chips away at the landmark federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 drew sharp condemnation from some Nevada Democratic elected officials.

    The court’s decision declared a Louisiana congressional map unconstitutional, in a ruling critics warn undermines core tenets of the Voting Rights Act.

  • North Dakota Monitor ☛ North Dakota tribal redistricting case still in limbo after Voting Rights Act decision

    The U.S. Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act ruling doesn’t immediately impact North Dakota’s redistricting case involving the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and Spirit Lake Nation, according to the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office.

    The decision, issued Wednesday, makes it much harder to challenge district maps over allegations that they dilute the voting power of minority groups — which is key to the tribes’ ongoing lawsuit against North Dakota.

  • Nebraska Examiner ☛ A US Supreme Court ruling hammered voting rights. What does it mean and what happens now?

    Black voters challenged the Louisiana map and an appeals court ordered lawmakers to pass a new map. The legislature in 2024 approved a map that includes a second district where a majority of residents are Black, also called a majority-minority district.

    In response, a group of white voters sued over the new map, claiming it violated the U.S. Constitution and was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection under the law and the 15th Amendment prohibits denying the right to vote on the basis of race.

    The lead plaintiff in the case is Phillip Callais, hence the case’s name. The New York Times reported last year that Callais is a veteran who lives near Baton Rouge.

  • American Oversight ☛ ICE’s Work with Local Police Departments is Being Kept Secret

    Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is working with more than 1,000 police departments and sheriffs’ offices across the country to carry out the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. American Oversight has been using Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and state public records requests to investigate these partnerships, but ICE and many state and local law enforcement entities are skirting the law to avoid accountability.

    Here’s what’s been happening.

  • Rebecca Solnit ☛ Notes on Violence and Voice

    To be a person of consequence is to matter. If you matter, you have rights, and your words serve those rights and give you the power to bear witness, make agreements, set boundaries. If you have consequence, your words possess the authority to determine what does and does not happen to you, the power that underlies the concept of consent as part of equality and ­ self- determination.

  • Andy Bell ☛ Three stoic principles for better web accessibility

    When I listened to Arthur Brooks’ podcast episode Four Practical Ways to Live Like a Stoic with Ryan Holiday, I was surprised and excited to see how it applies to my work as an accessibility practitioner.

    Among other things, they talk about three principles, and in this article, I’m going to discuss how they can help you in your everyday life doing web accessibility work.

  • So-called 'FSFE'

    • FSFE ☛ 2026-04-27 [Older] LLW 2026: opening legal conversations at the heart of Berlin

• Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

  • Meduza ☛ Russia bans imports of foreign satellite terminals, including Starlink

    A decree signed on April 29 prohibits importing radio-electronic devices designed to transmit and/or receive radio waves from foreign communications satellites — including dual-use satellites — that have not received frequency band allocations from the State Radio Frequency Commission.

  • The Register UK ☛ Cloudflare: autocrats, wars, and votes caged the net in Q1

    The first quarter of 2026 saw a surge in severe and prolonged internet disruptions, from government shutdowns to power outages to the occasional mystery incident.

    So says content delivery network biz Cloudflare in its latest summary of the global activity it oversees across the interwebs. This takes in the whole gamut from severe weather to cable damage to various technical issues.

• Digital Restrictions (DRM)

  • Tech Central (South Africa) ☛ Goodbye, Showmax

    When Showmax went live on 19 August 2015, it carried more than just a catalogue of TV series and films. It carried Naspers’s conviction that South Africa could build a globally competitive streaming service from Johannesburg, beat Netflix to its own market and use local content as the wedge to keep it there. Today that conviction will be quietly switched off.

  • Digital Music News ☛ YouTube Music & Premium Post Record Q1 2026 Subscriber Jump

    Nevertheless, Music’s noticeably larger growth rate – only Deezer likewise achieved a double-digit YoY subscriber hike, and a significantly smaller hike at that, in the U.S. during 2025 – is telling. While it remains to be seen whether YouTube Music/Premium’s momentum will continue for years yet, the record-setting Q1 2026 subscriber boost is certainly an encouraging sign.

  • Digital Music News ☛ UK Ticketing Scalping Ban is Getting Shelved for At Least a Year

    A new report from Financial Times revealed that the UK’s ticket tout ban is due to be shelved for a year, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirming that he has no current plans to include a full bill to band ticket scalping in the King’s Speech next month. The news stems from officials concluding that there was insufficient space in the UK parliamentary calendar to include the legislation.

    Music industry advocates have been urging the prime minister to fulfill his promise made last November to “stop fans from being ripped off” by banning the resale of tickets to live events at more than their face value. To that end, Starmer pledged a crackdown on scalping and resellers who severely increase the price of tickets to concerts and sports events.

• Monopolies/Monopsonies

  • India Times ☛ Apple says India's antitrust body overstepping judicial authority as spat intensifies

    An April 24 non-public Indian court submission by Apple, reviewed by ‌Reuters on ⁠Thursday, is ⁠the latest sign of a growing confrontation between the company and Indian investigators over a case in which Apple says it could face a penalty of up to $38 billion.

    The Competition Commission of India has since 2024 sought Apple's financial information - typically needed to calculate penalties - after an investigation found it abused its dominant position. Apple has resisted, arguing it has challenged ⁠India's entire ‌antitrust penalty calculation law in a New Delhi court, and the watchdog must wait.

  • FSFE ☛ 2026-04-20 [Older] Apple keeps challenging its interoperability obligations under the DMA

  • EDRI ☛ If the DMA is fit for purpose why are the gatekeepers winning?

    Since the application of the DMA three years ago, there have been some successes as gatekeepers were forced to introduce a number of meaningful changes: for example, smartphone users in Europe now see choice screens that enable them to select the search engine and browser they wish to use. Similarly, gatekeepers now must ask people for consent before sharing their personal data across different services.

    Unfortunately, these early wins are darkly overshadowed by massive cases of non-compliance and deliberate circumvention by almost all gatekeepers. Here are a few examples: [...]

  • Digital Music News ☛ BOTS Act Case Proceeds as Federal Judge Denies Dismissal Push

    We covered that single-count action in detail soon after its August 2025 filing. But to recap, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) accused Key Investment Group (KIG) and several allegedly interconnected ticket-broker defendants of “regularly” circumventing Ticketmaster purchase-limit controls in violation of the Better Online Ticket Sales Act (BOTS Act).

    And in doing so, the alleged ticket scalpers are said to have scooped up a substantial number of passes to popular events – 107,265 tickets between November 2022 and December 2023 alone, to be specific – before offloading them at a massive profit.

  • Bruce Lawson ☛ A trip to Strasbourg and the European Parliament

    As an independent European browser, Vivaldi needs access to platform controlled by vendors of competing browsers. It’s ridiculous that Apple are still able to impose impossible conditions on anyone who wishes to use their preferred browser engines on i(Pad)OS, or that Microsoft is still able to self-preference its own Edge browser on Windows. If Europe is to achieve real digital sovereignty, the EU needs to monitor compliance -not just believe the Gatekeepers marking their own homework- and have the courage to impose real sanctions against Big Tech.

  • Trademarks

    • Right of Publicity

      • Interesting Engineering ☛ Spotify launches artist verification badges to limit AI profiles

        The company said the badge confirms a profile has been reviewed and meets its standards for trust. It also introduces Artist Profile Protection, currently in beta, which gives musicians more control over their profiles.