Destroying Autocracy – November 27, 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)The Atlantic writes:Over the weekend, Elon Musk’s X rolled out a feature that had the immediate result of sowing maximum chaos. The update, called “About This Account,” allows people to click on the profile of an X user and see such information as: which country the account was created in, where its user is currently based, and how many times the username has been changed.Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, said the feature was “an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square.” Roughly four hours later, with the update in the wild, Bier sent another post: “I need a drink.”Almost immediately, “About This Account” stated that many prominent and prolific pro-MAGA accounts, which signaled that they were run by “patriotic” Americans, were based in countries such as Nigeria, Russia, India, and Thailand.@MAGANationX, an account with almost 400,000 followers and whose bio says it is a “Patriot Voice for We The People,” is based in “Eastern Europe (Non-EU),” according to the feature, and has changed its username five times since the account was made, last year.On X and Bluesky, users dredged up countless examples of fake or misleading rage-baiting accounts posting aggressive culture-war takes to large audiences. An account called “Maga Nadine” claims to be living in and posting from the United States but is, according to X, based in Morocco. An “America First” account with 67,000 followers is apparently based in Bangladesh. Poetically, the X handle @American is based in Pakistan, according to the feature.Elon Musk’s Worthless, Poisoned Hall of MirrorsJust FYI, December 25th will be the day I stop exploring the stupidity of our current timeline and the last Destroying Autocracy post. Again, see the notes above about The Fulcrum.We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.The response to Russia’s War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggeryEuroNews reports:Life after chatbots: Meet the ‘AI vegans’ refusing to accept a virtual realityKagi is:Introducing SlopStop: Community-driven AI slop detection in Kagi SearchOrion 1.0 ✴︎ Browse BeyondFucking awesome if you use Macs.TechPolicy Press reports:Why Civil Society Is Sounding the Alarm on the EU’s Omnibus RollbackThe Guardian reports:European parliament calls for social media ban on under-16sThe Free Software Foundation Europe shares:Germany Stack: Only Free Software Enables Digital SovereigntyWikimedia announces:Unifying our mobile and desktop domainsDecidim reviews:Decidim Fest 2025: Collective energy, digital sovereignty and a common roadmapThe Conversation reports:Tim Berners-Lee wants everyone to own their own data – his plan needs state and consumer support to workMullvad reports:An important victory – but we still need to stop Chat Control.Ploum says:Don’t Do Snake Oil WritingFiona Fokus says:I don’t care how well your “AI” worksAbso-fucking-lutely.NeutralThe Guardian asks:Has Britain become an economic colony?England always makes sure to ape the shitty parts of America.W3C shares:Preventing Abuse of Digital CredentialsBen Werdmuller covers:The EFF we need nowThe Evil Empire (AKA Autocracy) Strikes BackHeise reports:Analysis of the Digital Sovereignty Summit: Open Source Gets ScoldedWe Are Solomon reports:Hungry for data: Inside Europol’s secretive AI programThe Intercept reports:The FBI wants to use Surveillance Drones with Facial Recognition TechnologyHow Corporate Partnerships Powered University Surveillance of Palestine ProtestsThe Counter Offensive reports:Witkoff was secretly giving Russians advicePariah StatesThe Register reports:CISA warns spyware crews are breaking into Signal and WhatsApp accountsDarkReading reports:DPRK’s FlexibleFerret Tightens macOS GripBig MediaThe Columbia Journalism Review reports:Could Public Skepticism of the Press Actually Be Good for Democracy?It could since most Big Media is owned by right-wing c^nts.ProPublica shares:ProPublica’s May-August 2025 Impact Report: Independent Investigations That Spur ChangeBig TechSage JournalsAlgorithms at your service: Understanding how X’s systems of recommendation likely fueled the far-right riots in the United Kingdom by amplifying visual representations of racist conspiracy theoriesRenée DiResta reports:On the internet, nobody knows you’re a MAGA influencer… in LagosThe Daily Beast reports:Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Trolls404 Media reports:America’s Polarization Has Become the World’s Side HustleThe Register reports:Meta knows how bad its sites are for kids, say lawyersMM+M reports:What healthcare marketers need to know about Meta’s censoring of abortion adsThe Markup reports:How American Big Tech guards the profits it extracts around the worldCybersecurity/PrivacyBleepingComputer reports:Cox Enterprises discloses Oracle E-Business Suite data breachHmm, cable companies are literally shit at everything.Code beautifiers expose credentials from banks, govt, tech orgsDarkReading reports:Infamous Shai-hulud Worm Resurfaces From the DepthsThe Register reports:FCC guts post-Salt Typhoon telco rules despite ongoing espionage riskFediverseTerence Eden has:Now witness the power of this fully operational Fediverse!Ghost has:Explore the independent webRadWeb Hosting shares:How to Host Your Own Mastodon Server on a VPS (5 Minute Quick-Start Guide)How to Install Pleroma on Ubuntu VPS (5 Minute Quick-Start Guide)NodeBB announces:NodeBB v4.7.0 — category boost fixes, remote media/emoji in chats, and more!Slightly Decentralized Social MediaConnected Places has:ATmosphere Report – 144CTAs (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 #atproto #autocracy #bigJournalism #bigTech #democracy #fascism #fediverse #mastodon #nodebb #pleroma #stopChina #stopIsrael #stopRedAmerica #stopRussia #supportUkraine #technoanarchism #technofeudalismhttps://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=3992
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