Pluralistic: 05 Mar 2020

Today's links

Daniel Pinkwater wrote a new novel! Yippee for "ADVENTURES OF A DWERGISH GIRL!"
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.
RIP, Jim Tyre: The free internet just lost one of its most dedicated defenders.
Decentralizing the web is a human problem: The web needs stewards, not owners.
Right to Repair is the right to resilience: Independent repair is how we keep things going during emergencies.
Keyless car fobs can be defeated with a cheap RFID cloner: Car manufacturers wontfix a showstopper bug. Again.
Bookstores, libraries, human thriving and mental health: Books are great, even if the science behind their greatness is thin.
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?
Radicalized is out in paperback: Just hit every one of Canada's national bestseller lists, too!
African Whatsapp modders are outcompeting Facebook: Adversarial Interoperability is how you beat digital colonialism.
This day in history: 2015, 2019
Colophon: Recent publications, current writing projects, upcoming appearances, current reading

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

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

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