Author: Cory Doctorow

Pluralistic: 06 Mar 2020

Today's links

  1. The most beautiful RPG dice I've ever seen: And you can also make your own.
  2. The king of Dutch climate denial was secretly in Shell's pay: Frits Böttcher was a packrat, and his papers detail exactly how he was paid to sow climate doubt. He was very good at it.
  3. American Catholic officials helped priests who preyed on children escape to Mexico: At least 51 "credibly accused" priests left the US and took up positions abroad.
  4. A grifty AI company conned the state of Utah into giving access to everything: Banjo claims it will predict and head off terrorist attacks, mass shootings, and child abductions without invading anyone's privacy.
  5. Clearview AI says it only lets cops use its facial recognition tool but it's lying: Investors, cronies and pals got to literally use it as a party trick.
  6. South Korea's beating covid-19 with free testing: Testing is part of the free national health system, and 140,000 tests have been administered.
  7. The web is unusably beshitted with terrible ad-tech: "No, I don't want great articles."
  8. For $3, a robolawyer will automatically force data brokers to delete you and sue the ones who don't: Donotpay meets the CCPA, it's like peanut butter and chocolate.
  9. This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
  10. Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 06 Mar 2020"

Pluralistic: 05 Mar 2020

Today's links

  1. Daniel Pinkwater wrote a new novel! Yippee for "ADVENTURES OF A DWERGISH GIRL!"
  2. Warner Chappel discoved a new form of copyright fuckery so dense it blew a wormhole into another dimension: From the people who fraudulently claimed to own "Happy Birthday" for decades.
  3. RIP, Jim Tyre: The free internet just lost one of its most dedicated defenders.
  4. Decentralizing the web is a human problem: The web needs stewards, not owners.
  5. Right to Repair is the right to resilience: Independent repair is how we keep things going during emergencies.
  6. Keyless car fobs can be defeated with a cheap RFID cloner: Car manufacturers wontfix a showstopper bug. Again.
  7. Bookstores, libraries, human thriving and mental health: Books are great, even if the science behind their greatness is thin.
  8. Copyright experts' panel on fair use removed from Youtube: A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?
  9. Radicalized is out in paperback: Just hit every one of Canada's national bestseller lists, too!
  10. African Whatsapp modders are outcompeting Facebook: Adversarial Interoperability is how you beat digital colonialism.
  11. This day in history: 2015, 2019
  12. Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 05 Mar 2020"

Pluralistic: 04 Mar 2020

Today's links

  1. A brokered convention will produce a powerless presidency: Transformative change requires a movement, not a plan.
  2. What the Siege of Gondor teaches us about medieval warfare: 40,000 riveting words from Roman military historian Bret Deveraux.
  3. ICE's risk assessment algorithm only ever recommends detention: NYCLU suing to force them to admit what we've all figured out.
  4. Probing China's Covid-19 censorship: Outstanding work from Citizen Lab.
  5. America is uniquely at risk from coronavirus: 77 million un- and underinsured people.
  6. This day in history:
  7. Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 04 Mar 2020"

Pluralistic: 03 Mar 2020

Today's links

  1. EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense guide for students: Privacy is a team sport.
  2. Oregon's Dems have a supermajority, but the GOP won't show up for work: White nationalism is how plutes get turkeys to vote for Christmas.
  3. A Lever Without a Fulcrum Is Just a Stick: How to design a copyright to protect artists, not corporations.
  4. Facebook neutered "Download Your Data": "Your data" doesn't include a list of ad-tech companies that also hold your data.
  5. The EU's new copyright filters violate the GDPR: We told you so.
  6. Recycling spy agencies' malware for fun and profit: NOBUS is, and always has been, an idiotic idea.
  7. Japanese condiment company releases "sliced mayo": Comes in four flavors!
  8. Department of the Interior climate docs include junk science: Trump's man on the inside, sabotaging our future.
  9. This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
  10. Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 03 Mar 2020"

Pluralistic: 02 Mar 2020

Today's links

  1. My new podcast, "Disasters Don’t Have to End in Dystopia": Tired: Look for the helpers. Wired: Be the helper.
  2. The next frontier for school censorware is spying on kids all the time: It's how we'll stop ISIS, apparently.
  3. I'm coming to Kelowna on March 5: It's my first-ever trip to the BC interior and more than half the (free) tickets are gone. RSVP now!
  4. Cool Mules, an investigative series on a Vice editor's cocaine-smuggling ring: From the people who brought you the stunning "Thunder Bay."
  5. Soviet Space Graphics: Cosmic Visions from the USSR.
  6. Apple, Nike and Dell's supply chain includes enslaved Uyghurs: Xinjiang Phase II.
  7. Drugs Without the Hot Air: The best book I've ever read on drugs and drug policy, in an expanded new edition.
  8. This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
  9. Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 02 Mar 2020"

Pluralistic: 01 Mar 2020

Today's links

  1. Trump's rhetoric fits eerily well into the Tolkien canon: AR Moxon makes Mordor great again.
  2. The wealthy are chartering jets to avoid coronavirus: The Masque of the Red Death takes to the skies.
  3. The US already has Medicare for All: The day that Trump declares a national health emergency.
  4. America's uninsured will turn a covid crisis into a covid disaster: Our shared microbial destiny cannot be denied.
  5. Jury refuses to convict Extinction Rebellion activists: Long live the "necessity defense" and the human race it protects.
  6. This day in history: 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019
  7. Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 01 Mar 2020"

Pluralistic: 29 Feb 2020

Today's links

  1. EFF is hiring a new tech projects director: It's a once-in-a-lifetime dream job.
  2. Bond villain monologue, Medicare for All edition: "No, Mr Bond, I expect you to sign a binding arbitration waiver."
  3. FUCK TRUMP AND HIS STUPID FUCKING WALL: A 26% alcohol habanero spirit from Empirical Spirits.
  4. Mike Bloomberg helped the Sacklers launder their reputations: Just helping out the "Friends of Mike."
  5. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate with a climate plan as big as the climate crisis: No one ever asked how we'd pay for WWII.
  6. Cutting the UK housing subsidy led to massive homelessness payouts: Tories are always swallowing spiders to catch their flies.
  7. This day in history: 2012, 2016 (leap years!)
  8. Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic: 29 Feb 2020"

Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 28 Feb 2020

Today's links

  1. Clearview AI's customer database leaks: Sic semper grifter.
  2. The Internet of Anal Things: Recreating Stelarc's "Amplified Body" with an IoT butt-plug.
  3. Oakland's vintage Space Burger/Giant Burger building needs a home! Adopt a googie today.
  4. Fan-made reproduction of the Tower of Terror: Even has a deepfaked Serling.
  5. Drawing the Simpsons with pure CSS: Impractical, but so impressive.
  6. Let's Encrypt issues its billionth cert: 89% of the web is now encrypted.
  7. AI Dungeon Master: A work in progress, for sure.
  8. How to lie with (coronavirus) maps: Lies, damned lies, and epidemiological data-visualizations.
  9. This day in history: 2019, 2015
  10. Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 28 Feb 2020"

Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 27 Feb 2020

Today's links

  1. Ripping the window-dressing off the .ORG selloff: It's not even an ethos.
  2. CDC guide to filter-mask-friendly facial hair: You're good to go with a Zappa, Villain or Hitler, but stay away from the Dali, Hulahee and the dread F(l)u Manchu.
  3. Don't trust Google to build Toronto's Smart City: Sidewalk Labs's sleaze has disqualified it.
  4. A "girls-only" social service wants to analyze your facial bone structure: "It's science!"
  5. Norman Rockwell turned into a radical civil rights activist: His last painting was of Nixon, too.
  6. Gmail's filters are blocking opt-in election emails: Mayo Pete and Andrew Yang are winning the spam-filter primary.
  7. Talking Radicalized with The Next Chapter: Shelagh Rogers is a national treasure.
  8. Neoliberalism kills, the coronavirus edition: And you thought capitalism would kill us all with climate change!
  9. Bernie Sanders and Public Enemy LA rally this Sunday: With Sarah Silverman and Dick van Dyke!
  10. Venezuelan women's "army" break into dead factories to reboot them: "Only the people can save the people."
  11. Meet Akil Augustine, voice of the Raptors…and Radicalized: A fighter in my corner.
  12. This day in history: 2019, 2015, 2005
  13. Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 27 Feb 2020"

Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 26 Feb 2020

Today's links

  1. Brave autolinks 404s to the Wayback Machine: The internet's time-traveling, privacy respecting, ad-busting browser.
  2. Clarence Thomas admits he blew it on Brand X: A very safe mea culpa from the man who helped kill Net Neutrality.
  3. Medicare for All would be the biggest take-home pay increase in a generation: Even if my taxes went up by six figures (!), I'd still save money.
  4. The Smithsonian publishes 2.8m hi-rez images into the public domain: Tired: "It belongs in a museum!" Wired: "It belongs to the world!"
  5. McMansion Hell visits 1971: Before "lawyer foyers" there were "paralegal foyers."
  6. This day in history: 2005, 2015, 2019
  7. Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

Continue reading "Pluralistic, your daily link-dose: 26 Feb 2020"