Destroying Autocracy â November 20, 2025
Welcome to this weekâs âDestroying Autocracyâ.
Itâs 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 mediaâs 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 canât 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 âem.
The Programmerâs 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 weekâs Symfony Station CommuniquĂ© and Battalion âDestroying Autocracyâ post along with their featured articles. And youâll 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:
Iâve 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 Iâm just overwhelmed with paralyzing visions of the commentariat accusing me of WrongThink.
So I drop it, because Iâm 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 power
Itâs 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 weâre losing) has brought the free world to the very brink, so Iâm pushing past the discomfort to honor the urgency of our moment.
Open Source Power
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russiaâs War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery
404 Media reports:
Ukraine Is Jamming Russiaâs âSuperweaponâ With a Song
Radio Free Europe reports:
How Britainâs Disposable Vape Ban Has Boosted Ukraineâs War Effort
TechCrunch reports:
Five people plead guilty to helping North Koreans infiltrate US companies as âremote IT workersâ
Surveillance Tech Provide Proteir Was Hacked
a16z-backed super PAC is targeting Alex Bores, sponsor of New Yorkâs AI safety bill â he says bring it on
Software Maxims has:
How FOSS Won and Why It Matters
Open Future announces:
Open Future Joins the European Network for Technological Resilience and Sovereignty
404 Media reports:
Airlines Will Shut Down Program That Sold Your Flights Records to Government
Framasoft has:
Renforcez lâinternet du partage en contribuant Ă la robustesse de Framasoft
Support our 2026 campaign!
The Register reports:
Latest Servo release hints at a real Rust alternative to Chromium
Brussels eyes AWS, Azure for gatekeeper tag in cloud clampdown
Game over: Europol storms gaming platforms in extremist content sweep
The Guardian reports:
French authorities investigate alleged Holocaust denial posts on Elon Muskâs Grok AI
TechPolicy Press reports:
Brazil Supreme Court Ruling Redefines Framework for Platform Liability
Neutral
TechCrunch reports:
Databricks co-founder argues US must go open source to beat China in AI
The Guardian reports:
AI firms must be clear on risks or repeat tobaccoâs mistakes, says Anthropic chief
The Center for Democracy and Technology reports:
Architects of Online Influence: How Creators, Platforms, and Policymakers Shape Political Speech
TechPolicy Press says:
If Europe Wants Digital Sovereignty, It Must Reinvent Who Owns Tech
MIT Technology Review reports:
Quantum physicists have shrunk and âde-censoredâ DeepSeek R1
The Evil Empire (AKA Autocracy) Strikes Back
Corporate Europe reports:
Preparing a roll-back of digital rights: Commissionâs secretive meetings with industry
The Brussels Times reports:
Secret EU plans to allow Big Tech to train AI with our personal data
The Guardian reports:
Dark forces are preventing us fighting the climate crisis â by taking knowledge hostage
404 Media reports:
This App Lets ICE Track Vehicles and Owners Across the Country
IRS Accessed Massive Database of Americans Flights Without a Warrant
The Register reports:
Palantir plots NHS skills drive for its controversial data platform
Pariah States
TechCrunch reports:
US, UK, and Australia sanction Russian âbulletproofâ web host used in ransomware attacks
Forbes reports:
Has Samsung Installed âUnremovable Israeli Spywareâ On Your Phone?
The Register reports:
Tens of thousands more ASUS routers pwned by suspected, evolving China operation
Big Media
TBD
Big Tech
The Guardian reports:
White nationalist talking points and racial pseudoscience: welcome to Elon Muskâs Grokipedia
The Register reports:
Researchers find hole in AI guardrails by using strings like =coffee
404 Media reports:
A Researcher Made an AI That Completely Breaks the Online Surveys Scientists Rely On
The ACLU reports:
Your Smartphone, Their Rules: How App Stores Enable Corporate-Government Censorship
Yep.
TechPolicy Press reports:
How Tech Oligarchs Profit from the Logic of âFinitude Capitalismâ and What to Do About It
Cybersecurity/Privacy
Privacy Guides has:
Email Security: Where We Are and What the Future Holds
DarkReading asks:
Can a Global, Decentralized System Save CVE Data?
Heise reports:
3.5 Billion Accounts: Complete WhatsApp Directory Retrieved and Evaluated
Signal or Delta Chat peeps.
Fediverse
Ben Werdmuller reports on:
The State of the Open Social Web
Great Stuff as usual from Ben.
ForBetter explores:
The future of hope on the Social Web
Connected Places has:
Fediverse Report â 142
Laura Hargreaves has:
Ghost v6 Upgrade + Docker Migration: What I Learned (So You Donât Have To)
Big news with Mastodon this week:
My next chapter with Mastodon
The Future is Ours to Build â Together
Hopefully 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 web
Slightly Decentralized Social Media
TBD
CTAs (aka show us some free love)Thatâs 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
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future home in 2026, if you want a head start.
Keep fighting!

Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse
#activitypub #ai #autocracy #bigJournalism #bigTech #democracy #fascism #fediverse #ghost #mastodon #stopChina #stopIsrael #stopRedAmerica #stopRussia #supportUkraine #technoanarchism #technofeudalism
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