Destroying Autocracy – November 20, 2025Welcome 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.FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.The Programmer’s Fulcrum is the future (and smaller) home for a fusion of Symfony Station and Battalion. Its tagline is Devs Defending Democracy, Developing the OMN.You can sign up now and for 2025 get an email with links to each week’s Symfony Station Communiqué and Battalion “Destroying Autocracy” post along with their featured articles. And you’ll be set with TPF after the fusing in January.We are posting on the Fediverse now at @thefulcrum @thefulcrum.dev and original website content will start in 2026.Featured Item(s)Muni Town writes:I’ve been trying to write this piece for years, really ever since I finished the first version of Open Source Explained (a v2 will drop early next year). Every time I get started I’m just overwhelmed with paralyzing visions of the commentariat accusing me of WrongThink.So I drop it, because I’m tired to the bone of debating the minutae of open source definitions when the conversation we ought to be having is about power: who has it? (oligarchs), how did they get it? (monopolies & corruption), why is that a problem? (platform autocracy), and how do we the people take that power back? (protocols and open software).Understanding ownership is powerIt’s important to understand the codes in your life, because your life is made up of them. Once you understand which codes you already have access to and even the right to inspect, you can see more clearly which other codes you ought to have insight into.Nothing makes me more anxious than writing about open source licensing because nothing brings out more opinion-havers, the vast majority of whom are speaking from a point of privilege-blindess in the western world. The widespread ignorance of the deeper power struggle at play (which we’re losing) has brought the free world to the very brink, so I’m pushing past the discomfort to honor the urgency of our moment.Open Source PowerWe start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.The response to Russia’s War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery404 Media reports:Ukraine Is Jamming Russia’s ‘Superweapon’ With a SongRadio Free Europe reports:How Britain’s Disposable Vape Ban Has Boosted Ukraine’s War EffortTechCrunch reports:Five people plead guilty to helping North Koreans infiltrate US companies as ‘remote IT workers’Surveillance Tech Provide Proteir Was Hackeda16z-backed super PAC is targeting Alex Bores, sponsor of New York’s AI safety bill — he says bring it onSoftware Maxims has:How FOSS Won and Why It MattersOpen Future announces:Open Future Joins the European Network for Technological Resilience and Sovereignty404 Media reports:Airlines Will Shut Down Program That Sold Your Flights Records to GovernmentFramasoft has:Renforcez l’internet du partage en contribuant à la robustesse de FramasoftSupport our 2026 campaign!The Register reports:Latest Servo release hints at a real Rust alternative to ChromiumBrussels eyes AWS, Azure for gatekeeper tag in cloud clampdownGame over: Europol storms gaming platforms in extremist content sweepThe Guardian reports:French authorities investigate alleged Holocaust denial posts on Elon Musk’s Grok AITechPolicy Press reports:Brazil Supreme Court Ruling Redefines Framework for Platform LiabilityNeutralTechCrunch reports:Databricks co-founder argues US must go open source to beat China in AIThe Guardian reports:AI firms must be clear on risks or repeat tobacco’s mistakes, says Anthropic chiefThe Center for Democracy and Technology reports:Architects of Online Influence: How Creators, Platforms, and Policymakers Shape Political SpeechTechPolicy Press says:If Europe Wants Digital Sovereignty, It Must Reinvent Who Owns TechMIT Technology Review reports:Quantum physicists have shrunk and “de-censored” DeepSeek R1The Evil Empire (AKA Autocracy) Strikes BackCorporate Europe reports:Preparing a roll-back of digital rights: Commission’s secretive meetings with industryThe Brussels Times reports:Secret EU plans to allow Big Tech to train AI with our personal dataThe Guardian reports:Dark forces are preventing us fighting the climate crisis – by taking knowledge hostage404 Media reports:This App Lets ICE Track Vehicles and Owners Across the CountryIRS Accessed Massive Database of Americans Flights Without a WarrantThe Register reports:Palantir plots NHS skills drive for its controversial data platformPariah StatesTechCrunch reports:US, UK, and Australia sanction Russian ‘bulletproof’ web host used in ransomware attacksForbes reports:Has Samsung Installed ‘Unremovable Israeli Spyware’ On Your Phone?The Register reports:Tens of thousands more ASUS routers pwned by suspected, evolving China operationBig MediaTBDBig TechThe Guardian reports:White nationalist talking points and racial pseudoscience: welcome to Elon Musk’s GrokipediaThe Register reports:Researchers find hole in AI guardrails by using strings like =coffee404 Media reports:A Researcher Made an AI That Completely Breaks the Online Surveys Scientists Rely OnThe ACLU reports:Your Smartphone, Their Rules: How App Stores Enable Corporate-Government CensorshipYep.TechPolicy Press reports:How Tech Oligarchs Profit from the Logic of ‘Finitude Capitalism’ and What to Do About ItCybersecurity/PrivacyPrivacy Guides has:Email Security: Where We Are and What the Future HoldsDarkReading asks:Can a Global, Decentralized System Save CVE Data?Heise reports:3.5 Billion Accounts: Complete WhatsApp Directory Retrieved and EvaluatedSignal or Delta Chat peeps.FediverseBen Werdmuller reports on:The State of the Open Social WebGreat Stuff as usual from Ben.ForBetter explores:The future of hope on the Social WebConnected Places has:Fediverse Report – 142Laura Hargreaves has:Ghost v6 Upgrade + Docker Migration: What I Learned (So You Don’t Have To)Big news with Mastodon this week:My next chapter with MastodonThe Future is Ours to Build – TogetherHopefully the new regime (foundation vs. benevolent dictator) will focus on trust & safety and not trying to be Twitter 2.Chris Sturmsucht shares:Fediverse: a new open and social webSlightly Decentralized Social MediaTBDCTAs (aka show us some free love)That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or via RSS. Or even our future home in 2026, if you want a head start.Keep fighting!Ringleader, BattalionReuben Walker Follow me on the Fediverse#activitypub #ai #autocracy #bigJournalism #bigTech #democracy #fascism #fediverse #ghost #mastodon #stopChina #stopIsrael #stopRedAmerica #stopRussia #supportUkraine #technoanarchism #technofeudalismhttps://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=3954
