For over a decade, my Foundations of HCI undergrad course has covered “privacy & surveillance” with a (2002) reading about the Panopticon and a once distant warning about how social media sites could create a self-censoring reality. And Ellison is just… owning/celebrating the dystopia.

The battle of our day is no longer about Democrats versus Republicans or left versus right. The choice right now is democracy or dictatorship. And we're sliding faster than I ever thought possible into the latter. Everyone must choose which side they’re on.

Trump's deal to sell TikTok won't just enrich his billionaire pal Larry Ellison. It also gives UAE investment firm MGX — a key business partner of the Trump family's crypto company — a major ownership stake and board seat at TikTok. Everything is for sale.

Thanks, folks.

Portland targeted for military occupation; Governor Tina Kotek says Trump regime has not been communicating with Oregon "There is no national security threat in Portland. Our communities are safe and calm. I ask Oregonians to stay calm and enjoy a beautiful fall day," said Governor Tina Kotek.

Five corporations control 90% of the US media market. Airlines merged from 12 major carriers in 1980 to 4 today. Four giants control 80% of meat processing. A handful of companies control the pharmaceutical industry. The evidence of corporate concentration is everywhere.

Georgia’s Medicaid work requirements program spent two times as much on administrative costs as on health care costs — while preventing thousands of eligible Georgians from accessing health care. Say it with me: Medicaid work requirements don’t work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzMqYttKv1c

I guess we now have a better suggestion of how Musk new 47's name was in those files.

CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1965: 20-1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1990: 75-1 CEO-to-worker pay ratio today: 280-to-1 Trickle-down economics was always a sham. Nothing has ever trickled down.

The last time I decided to closely follow the Mariners for a season was 2001. Maybe it’s all me!

I do not understand how anyone could watch the UN and Tylenol speeches and still say, "That's my guy!"

The free press in the PNW takes another hit: Cascade PBS shutters its newsroom, putting sixteen staff out of work Among those who have been let go are editor Megan Burbank, city hall reporter Josh Cohen, and state politics reporter Laurel Demkovich. Meanwhile, CEO Rob Dunlop's executive…

i have to say, as a trans journalist who has covered the "trans debate" for about a decade now, there is no daylight between how the trump administration and conservatives lie about tylenol and autism and how they've lied about youth trans care.

#OpEd: "We can’t bury the deeper, driving forces behind why this is happening. This phenomenon is only possible because of the outsized power that state agents — ICE, police officers, prison staff — have always had to abuse and control women and victims' bodies." Read the full story here. ⬇️

When bad corporate actors make me angry enough to avoid them, I try to stay away for a while even if they reverse course because I don't want them repeatedly test-marketing that sort of garbage. Maybe you can save some money on that subscription you canceled for a few months.

15 years ago the Supreme Court decided corporations are people under the First Amendment. Today, sold-out politicians block progress on all fronts to appease their corporate donors. Citizens United is among the worst decisions in history. It corrupts our system every day.

If having a felony conviction on your record doesn’t disqualify someone from being the President, it shouldn’t disqualify someone from voting. People with felony convictions should be able to vote.

This CANNOT be allowed to stand if the regime goes through with it. Cis folk—especially queer cis folk—need to stand up for trans rights and do whatever we can to protect trans lives. 🏳️‍⚧️

If this isn't unconstitutional, we need to amend the Constitution.

Two time Republican president Dwight Eisenhower was such an anti-fascist that he was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force that comprehensively defeated the Nazis in the West. You think he'd have stood for Nazi flags at Republican rallies or quislings like Stephen Miller? Please.

A tiny slice of Hell in your kitchen.

Samsung has rolled out a software update to its smart fridges that will display ads, despite saying they had "no plans" to do so. We're headed for a future where you will have to pay extra for appliances without ads.

The ruling in the Google antitrust trial has led to a host of hard-to-answer questions about the future of Google's search data, which the tech giant must now share with competitors. What does that mean for users' data privacy?

Pritzker: What's at stake here is free speech. It's our constitution and our way of life. Do we really want the president intimidating people, organizations to get others fired? People ought to be standing up and speaking out.

Musk, tactless as he is, has been blunt about wanting to change his genAI service to produce content he personally approves. Does anyone think other technocrats aren't/won't with theirs, and just aren't as loud and clumsy about it? Whatever they do is in their own best interests, not yours.

I was vaccinated today. Both COVID and flu. Am I still allowed to say that?

The following is a statement from the WGA on ABC’s decision to pull ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’

This is it, Hollywood; the moment of truth. After years of showing up at award shows wearing pins and ribbons, you can finally make a real difference. No new work for Disney. No new work for CBS/Paramount. Reporters, ask everyone who works for Disney/Paramount why they support Trump.

A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn’t like what they say. This is an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand. All elected officials need to speak up and push back on this undemocratic act.

Kroger will lay off ~1,000 employees. In December, it announced $7.5B in stock buybacks – which juice stock prices, enriching shareholders and boosting CEO pay. Just so happens that Kroger's last CEO was paid 457x its typical employee in 2024. Textbook corporate greed.

There's no excuse for the Vice President of the United States to use a heinous killing as an occasion to baselessly frame political opponents as accomplices to murder while threatening to use the power of the government to attack them. This dangerous rhetoric will only fan the flames.

Broadly generalizing the past few days: The left decries political violence; The right blames the left for political violence and calls for violence against the left; FOX News hosts advocate for killing the homeless.

Some folks just desperately want to kill others. Often in masses. How is widespread "involuntary lethal injection" for a class of humans that different from gas chambers? Someone close should ask.

Reactionary public figures spent days advocating war with forces that would assassinate them. Seems now that assassin was also reactionary. In ignorance and rage they called for a civil war to purify the reactionary right not even knowing their "side". They won't learn any lessons from this.

Civil != Polite. Polite tones can still convey hate, and hate isn't civil. Impolite tones can come from those trying to make society more just, and justice is civil. Pretty simple.

Hey #academicsky: Anyone have a exemplar of a theory article to recommend? I've got one* but I'm looking for more to better learn the form. *Carter, M., & Grover, V. (2015). Me, My Self, and I(T): Conceptualizing Information Technology Identity and its Implications. MIS Quarterly, 39(4), 931–957.

Non-white ethnicity is now legally mandated to only be a drawback.

Trump scrapped a Biden rule requiring airlines to compensate passengers for flight delays after the industry gave millions to Trump's inauguration and hired Trumpworld lobbyists. This isn't about policy anymore. It's about who can pay off Trump and get in his ear.

Trump: A weak man’s idea of a strong man.

Important to remember that everyone involved in renaming the DoD to the Department of War is afraid to take the subway.

Why due process is good. Why extrajudicial summary execution is bad. Why collateral damage is bad.

The administration so badly wants to kill people.

When the stopped clock is right.

A reminder that the legal, moral step after an accusation of drug smuggling isn't summary execution by the military.

So now I apparently have to post more just to confound reactionary pundits and MechaHitler.

Hey, #gamestudies: If you didn't know, the WA Sec of State gets gaming and supports the industry. He's got official and personal accounts here. @stevehobbs.bsky.social Fun fact (for me): I've also done research with a Pink Gorilla owner. @kelslewin.bsky.social ‪ @pinkgorillagames.com

Here's your recap of what happened in the leadership shakeup at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week.