Amazing news. Alaa pardoned after, this time, six years in prison and a lifetime fighting for freedoms in Egypt. What an inspiration. This would be a good time to grab his book, "You have not yet been defeated": what it takes to fight oppression. #freealaa fitzcarraldoeditions.com/books/you-ha...

Reminder that I'm hosting a new podcast at @issuesinst.bsky.social where I basically invited a bunch of my friends who work in really interesting areas and we talk about what they do with a lens of disaster studies and speculative fiction. The conversations have been amazing!

That's a wiiiiiiiiild omission with a lot of downstream consequences. It's interesting to contemplate why we didn't collectively discover this sooner too.

Hello everyone! Announcing Eurosky Live: Berlin 2025. Join founders, developers, media, policy-makers, and investors for a full-day public programe exploring the European open social web. If you're building on ATProto and interested in showcasing, please reach out! To register: luma.com/knk1342n

Ahead of tomorrow's hearing on European "censorship" of Americans under the Digital Services Act, I have a new blog post explaining why that is not a thing. You can get the gist in about two minutes of skimming the bold text, or stay for the details. 1/ cyberlaw.stanford.edu/a-primer-on-...

House Republicans Want To Doxx Wikipedia Editors Over Bogus ‘Bias’ Complaints Congress has absolutely zero constitutional authority to investigate a private website for its editorial decisions. Zero. None. This is First Amendment 101. Yet House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and…

The times they are a-changing

"officials may treat digital protections as bargaining chips rather than a crucial bulwark of European democracy or a defence against foreign influence". The Brussels defect, as told by the Financial Times: www.ft.com/content/5820...

Super interesting: Russian FSB demanding direct entry into smart speakers in personal spaces, with legal support. Where else, if anywhere is this happening, or might it happen in the future?

@graze.social breakdown of returns for campaigns on Bluesky: "dollars went three times further on Bluesky than they would on any other social platform." Their words, for your consideration: www.graze.social/blog/how-gra...

Nice write-up about #protocolsforpublishers, a great event in NYC last week I had the pleasure of helping with, with thanks to @knowtheory.net @bmann.ca @chadkoh.com @ruperts.world and many brilliant participants: www.niemanlab.org/2025/08/the-...

Today, we're launching the first Beta of Bounce, a tool that lets you migrate your social graph across protocols! We got such a positive response from our announcement, and we're so excited for folks to try it out. Here's what you need to know when you Bounce: blog.anew.social/bounce-beta-...

This action to confront the conceptual and actual failure of tethered electronics, in this case electric car chargers, and how to escape by @natematias.bsky.social, is excellent! #righttorepair natematias.com/portfolio/20...

My "Introduction to #ATProto" blog post that I've been working on for some time is ready 🙂 It goes through things like records, lexicons, DIDs, then PDS/AppView etc. and how it all works together. Let me know if anything is wrong! More parts later, with the Fedi comparisons & misconceptions etc.

Aug 20th -> Showcase evening with talks by @ruperts.world @devingaffney.com @ivansigal.bsky.social lu.ma/gb050dwt Aug 21st -> invite only publishers summit

My dear friend and distance cycling partner @natematias.bsky.social is riding the equivalent of Mt. Everest this weekend, as a fundraiser for @globalvoices.org, my online home for over 16 years. Please support Nathan and Global Voices! globalvoices.org/2025/07/24/f...

Excellent to see end-to-end encryption messaging for open social and a great complement to atproto, thanks to @tessa.germnetwork.com and team at @germnetwork.com .

It's from Jim Jordan's 145 report on the DSA and censorship, which is a bizarre mix of (1) correct in describing the DSA's mechanics and sources of concern and (2) super hazy in establishing that bad things are actually happening, despite all that subpoenaing. judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-su...

Open social "platforms are fundamentally different, in principle and design, from American behemoths like Instagram and X. They restore control to users, reduce gatekeeping, and encourage innovation" says @seabass.bsky.social in a new essay: www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/e...

Consequences of years of lousy and extractive US social media platforms. People want to leave; they just need somewhere better to go.

Very pleased to share latest update on Free Our Feeds activities, including strategic roadmap, fundraising, grants and investments, and links to speaking and writing: free-our-feeds.ghost.io/free-our-fee...

My alternative home for over 16 years, @globalvoices.org, is running a donation drive in the face of a difficult funding environment. You all know why: the obliteration of foreign aid. They need your help. GV is a precious resource in today's media ecosystem: community powered, local expression.

I am looking forward to attending this!

On Aug 21st, we're hosting an invite-only summit where publishers and protocol builders can talk about the current challenges, including an uncertain future: AI-based user agents are now a core interface to the internet for over half-a-billion active users. More / apply to attend pfp.unternet.co

Protocols for Publishers is hosting two days of discussions in NYC in late August. On Aug 20th, join us for an evening showcase of discussion across ATProto, MCP, Web Applets, Web Payments -- exploring protocols for a sustainable agentic web, and futures that aren't disintermediated by platforms

Reuters covers Eurosky Initiative, which is an effort to build support and common tools for developers and communities building on the AT Protocol. tech.yahoo.com/social-media...

Hey out there to our Bay Area ATProto nerds and ATProto curious friends. @germnetwork.com and ATProto Community Fund are hosting an ATProto meetup at the Internet @archive.org this coming Tuesday July 8th! Come on out, hack and chat: lu.ma/mf4n7jbi

After 5 days, 102 hours of live streaming, 19 guests & over 10,000 viewers, I've finished my portrait of Elon Musk. And I think I've captured the psychology of the man. #WeNeedToTalkAboutElon

Reading: ‪@davekarpf.bsky.social‬ on the "little tech" agenda in Silicon Valley. Ah, it's good to read someone who pulls no punches. Ah, clarity. www.techpolicy.press/the-little-t...

"Reddit is suing Anthropic for allegedly using the site’s data to train AI models without a proper licensing agreement...Reddit’s lawsuit makes it the first Big Tech company to legally challenge an AI model provider over its training data practices," techcrunch.com/2025/06/04/r...

Reading today: @werd.io on technology leaders in newsrooms. A great post on all the qualities and skills that aspirationally, make up the role. Challenge is that finding these people: this is a shrinking field, and the path to get here is winding: werd.io/2025/buildin...

Reading today: @techpolicypress.bsky.social unpacking the Rubio's contortions with the definition of censorship to threaten visa restrictions, with cameos by @davidakaye.bsky.social and @daphnek.bsky.social. What a trifecta! www.techpolicy.press/three-questi...

Brian Eno is LIVE NOW! www.youtube.com/live/uogmc-c...

“In Elon’s case… he's more of...a vulture capitalist mind than a technology mind.” - @alexwinter.com Livestream continues today at 4pm BST with Brian Eno, Jon Ronson and more! Join us at IanPaintsElon.com

Had a great convo with @flipboard.com’s CEO @mmccue.bsky.social (who is also a big supporter of and contributor to Blacksky!) about building new kinds of communities that couldn’t have been built before (owning the data, infra, rules) Talk about mutual aid, stuff I’m thinking of building next, etc

Me: "The thing that AI is taking out is the most human part of it which is the process. The process is where you make mistakes. If you take that out, you’re taking away so much learning" Talking w/ @carolecadwalla.bsky.social about art & AI, raising money for freeourfeeds.com

I'm live now with @carolecadwalla.bsky.social now at IanPaintsElon.com ⬇️

"People can create social media for themselves. You really don’t need to be giving money and support to an outright fascist who wants you dead. Let’s find and build new communities.Support #FreeOurFeeds"- @alexwinter.com gofund.me/7b754132

Ian's back, tell a friend. Yesterday, the wonderful @kuminaidoo.bsky.social and I discussed how Apartheid may have been the original algorithm in Musk's life. I'm going live with @alexwinter.com at 3.15 BST over at IanPaintsElon.com!

Listening to @kuminaidoo.bsky.social, South African rights activist talking about the differences between his upbringing and Musk's, as part of a @freeourfeeds.com fundraiser: www.youtube.com/live/uogmc-c...

Rosie has joined the livestream #NoKings

Published this morning: An open letter from free speech and press freedom advocates urging leaders of universities, media organizations, law firms, civic institutions to “stand more resolutely” against “Trump’s multi-front assault on the First Amendment.” knightcolumbia.org/content/an-o...

Thrilled that @ianbrucestudio.bsky.social is supporting @freeourfeeds.com with this livestreamed portraiture of Musk; oddly peaceful watching the steady resolution of image. Watch here, for the next week! www.youtube.com/live/uogmc-c...

But also because I believe we all need to understand what's gone wrong in order to figure out where go from here. All this week I will be joined by incredible luminaries and experts to help me figure it out. I will be streaming 24 hours a day for 5 hours and painting as much as I can in that time.

So, Internet, we really do need to talk about Elon. How did we get to a place where a single billionaire with daddy issues could take over and control our global public square? I picked up my paintbrush as a means to answer that question.

Tune in Monday for an exciting week-long event of art, politics, technology, and the liberation of social media!

FOF is providing $50k of funding to the IndieSky project to support: running the group; funding initial R&D on infrastructure software, setup, and tooling; and supporting developers and commons infrastructure projects with small donations. free-our-feeds.ghost.io/free-our-fee...

I am thrilled share that I'm joining the @freeourfeeds.com team as interim director. Since leaving @globalvoices.org I've been focused on the incentives that influence how we talk to each other in public spaces and online. Free Our Feeds tackles this head on at the level of infrastructure.

#GVInsights is live! www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCIF... Join @tanyalokot.bsky.social @samantaazpurua.bsky.social @lokman.org @arzugeybulla.bsky.social sharing experiences of the trauma & surreality of authoritarianism, as well as stories of resistance, offering a timely dose of reality and solidarity.