Join us on Monday November 3 at 7pm ET for a Peoples & Things livestream featuring Cory Doctorow @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy on his book, _Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It_, with special guest host @zephoria.bsky.social! www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...

OMG OMG OMG. I handed in my upcoming book on the census - "Data Are Made, Not Found: A Story of Politics, Power, and the Civil Servants Who Saved the US Census." Now, the fine folks at the University of Chicago Press will begin the march towards production (September 2026). OMG OMG OMG.

I can't stop thinking about @bedoyausa.bsky.social's essay this week. It is a story-forward account of why the American people are struggling. (Hint: political economy.) It's the kind of account that makes an ethnographer swoon. I can't recommend this enough: newrepublic.com/article/2011...

Today is one of those days where I can’t stop thinking about Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron.” I invite you to (re)read it. archive.org/stream/Harri...

I’m so grateful for the committee who recognized our paper, which was a wonderful collaboration with @cyberlyra.bsky.social marrying insights from two in-depth ethnographic projects to examine how time and money are weaponized for political agendas in govt.

The sociotechnical team at MSR is amaaaazing. I’m sad to be leaving but I really hope some amazing researcher gets to work with them. Check out this fabulous job opportunity:

"Is AI inevitable?" was a fun podcast convo on "AI for All Tomorrows." Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l5g...

EFF is 35! 🎉 We've spent three+ decades defending your rights online—and we're not slowing down:

Incredible. I never thought I would see a poster session as protest. 💪

I did this interview back in November. It's so so so weird to read it now. Especially the stuff about US politics. But hopefully the other parts are helpful to junior researchers. www.journalofculturaleconomy.org/a-sociology-...

#ica25 folks: @zephoria.bsky.social and I are gearing up for the No Kings protest on Sat! It’s 10min walk from the venue. Bring water, sunscreen, phone chargers: it’s gonna be HOT. Join us!!!

Blitzscaling is one of those things that disturbs me (starting w/the Nazi bombing reference). Things that scale like that are usually cancerous. @himself.bsky.social offers a great take on how DOGE is taking the worst lessons from blitzscaling. www.programmablemutter.com/p/blitzscali...

When someone says "technology broke people's relationship to nature," which technology do you blame? Apparently, I'm a weirdo for thinking "air conditioning" is the right answer. Le sigh.

Well this is a powerful but depressing take of how “America” dissolves. www.tiktok.com/t/ZTju4YLFC/

Llama 3.1 70B contains copies of nearly the entirety of some books. Harry Potter is just one of them. I don’t know if this means it’s an infringing copy. But the first question to answer is if it’s a copy at all/in the first place. That’s what our new results suggest: arxiv.org/abs/2505.12546

I shouldn't be surprised that Meta's "open source" AI models are not only built on thieving but also happy to cough up what they stole. But seriously? arxiv.org/abs/2505.12546

The Atlantic’s 2025 Summer Reading Guide is here. Our writers and editors have selected 24 books to read this season. Megan Garber chose “The Known Citizen” as one of four titles you’ll read all summer. https://theatln.tc/7PAJ3Hgh

I interrupt your political discussions with some seriously good remixing that reminds me of the aughts. youtu.be/xYtaBfwpg_k?...

KOSA is being reintroduced today. It's always been a dangerous censorship bill. But in this environment, with Trump weaponizing every aspect of the Federal government to suppress speech he doesn't like, KOSA is a catastrophic attack on human rights. We have to stop it. StopKOSA.com

My ongoing request: If your NSF or NIH grant was terminated--whether at Harvard or elsewhere--please report it here. NSF: grant-watch.us/submit-nsf.h... NIH: grant-watch.us/submit-nih.h... Our trackers are actively used in lawsuits and are often the only record that terminations ever occurred.

this is a letter to the editor from a high school track runner who came in second to a trans girl in a race. her state house rep in maine started talking about it. so she wrote this: www.pressherald.com/2025/05/14/r...

Political humor (like Elmo's note about being fired and the Daily Show) is strengthening my soul right now. What political humor content has made you laugh-cry this week? Please please share. I could really use a good laugh-cry.

Sesame Street had him pegged back in 1988.

pix @mpgphd.bsky.social has sent me personally: an appreciation thread

Jayshree and I had a blast thinking about what we can learn from developer relations as it applies to data sharing more generally. (Plus Maussian gifting!) hdsr.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/iygea4du...

The constitution (the fourth amendment in this case) is being ignored, and if courts don't push back, will be effectively amended by the Trump administration. newrepublic.com/post/194442/...

It's hard to fathom how completely insane Silicon Valley leaders have become. Read this whole thread.

This is a lovely write-up about the Computer History Museum's chatbots exhibit: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/23/a... (I'm on the board of CHM cuz I love the work that they do.)

Amidst the bombastic horrors of the present, a war on data, evidence, and knowledge is underway. I’m glad to see some coverage of this: www.propublica.org/article/trum...

As I mourn how many federal civil servants are being forced to stop dedicating themselves to the nation, I’m listening to Michael Lewis’ “Who is Government.” Its such a love letter to bureaucrats. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/788713...

As usual, @zephoria.bsky.social gets it so right on the determinism of technologists and policy makers. I just forwarded the link to the facilitators of our @hastac.bsky.social AI conversation on May 8. I'm sure @alondra.bsky.social and I will discuss. Thank you! www.eventbrite.com/e/alondra-ne...

In this article, Eric Goldman describes the current approach to regulating online safety as a “segregate-and-suppress” approach. This framing is spot-on (and depressing for someone who believes that maturity is an ongoing process). papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Had he been a bigot but not also a narcissist, it would have been enough. (1)

I am so darn grateful for comedians right now. For those who have watched White Lotus S3, holy shit did SNL nail it this weekend: www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_1G...

This sociopathic move is bloody insane. An entire EO demonizing an individual who was honest 4 years ago. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

I'm trying to make sense of diff approaches to climate change that I've watched emerge. Here's my attempt to bucket them. The logics of the hedonists, Evangelicals, xenophobes, and accelerationists are all shaping our political reality these days. ::gulp:: www.zephoria.org/thoughts/arc...

What I want to know is: which non-rich voters who voted for the GOP feel like these policies are working for them? Who is actually feeling better off? (Again, ignoring the rich who profit off of this shit)

I recently heard a spectrum given for tech bros. Douche-creepy-evil. Le sigh.

SCOOP: YouTube removes 'gender identity' from hate speech policy. "YouTube quietly removing ‘gender identity and expression’ from its list of protected groups is a major radical shift away from best practices in the field of trust and safety."

Both technologists & policymakers should shift their approach to AI from "solutions" to "interventions," D&S founder @zephoria.bsky.social argues. “It behooves us to resist closure, eschew determinism, & eradicate 'solution' from our discussions of technology.” www.techpolicy.press/we-need-an-i...

So, the DOGE kids intend to rewrite the social-security administration's COBOL code-base! and they want to do it ... ... in *a few months* I did a huge dive into COBOL a few years ago (www.wealthsimple.com/en-ca/magazi...) ... ... so let me explain why DOGE is *way* over its skis here 1/9

I am genuinely struggling to process the images of ICE Nazi-Barbie Kristi Noem standing in front of a cage of barely clothed men with shaved heads. These send shudders down my spine. What I can't understand is: how are these viewed by Trump supporters? Especially Jewish Trump supporters?

Policymakers and technologists alike are stuck in a “solutionism” trap—but particularly with AI, we need to focus on intervention, not “solutions,” argues danah boyd. An interventionist framework ensures a more iterative and non-deterministic approach to shaping AI futures.

Policymakers and technologists alike are stuck in a “solutionism” trap—but particularly with AI, we need to focus on intervention, not “solutions.” New essay by moi: www.techpolicy.press/we-need-an-i...

I am honored and delighted to have been elected to the 2024 class of AAAS Fellows. Especially at a moment when science has become politicized, I'm proud to join a community of other scientists in the struggle for knowledge. www.aaas.org/programs/fel...

Ummm…. Does anyone know what the “new” Friendster is? friendster.com?ref=FKfuTh

Trump1 used to get super angry when govt officials used Signal for totally personal reasons, never violating their legal duties. Meanwhile, Trump2 is orchestrating military operations on Signal… and accidentally including journalists. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

I helped build a government AI system. DOGE fired me, rolled the AI out to the whole agency, and implied the AI can do my job and the jobs of the others they've fired. It can't. But, what DOGE accidentally revealed about themselves in the process is fascinating. 🧵