Just finally downloaded a camera app that uses zero AI and annoying processing for my iPhone. I’ve had a lot of great moments killed by really shitty processing that blurs images. “Innovation”!

Words mean something. When terms like "citizen scientist" or "citizen journalist" are used, they are typically describing "non professionals" or "amateurs" performing the acts of science or journalism. Are professionals not citizens? Why is this a relevant description?

The water bureau in Portland is testing an algorithmic pricing system for personalizing bill discounts. Far as I know, I'm the only independent researcher digging into it. The bureau sent a letter to city council addressing privacy & algorithmic impact issues I raised in my initial reporting.

As of 12.28.2025, this account is a personal account. All posts here are made in a personal capacity w no connection to my employer. Why? My personal work resonates here. This @techpolicypress.bsky.social article describes why I research Portland government algorithmic & surveillance tech use:

Great way to spend my holiday break

My grandpa and me and my new pal Big Bird, Christmas 1974. Merry Christmas everyone!

PSA (apologies for yuck factor): if you experience gum sensitivity or bleeding, if possible get it checked out. Medicated rinse probably won't address the actual problem. About a decade ago I had no idea I had severe bone loss from gum disease. I soon lost a tooth. Yeah, idiot me hated flossing.

I love Radiooooo because it reminds me of what the Internet used to be like. People around the world sharing mind-opening creative stuff. Independent, unencumbered, non-commercialized. Here's to a 2026 with more recognition and use of this sorta thing and less of the you-know-what. app.radiooooo.com

I'm nerding out right now because I was asked to serve as a subject area chair for @facct.bsky.social in 2026! Attending FAccT in 2019 for the first time was an early part of my journey to understanding how to report on and research AI ethics and governance. facctconference.org/2026/index.h...

I've seen contextual privacy show up as a primary or only privacy reference in multiple AI papers I've reviewed in the past couple years. It's hot for agentic! How do you operationalize it? What's the legal reality? Reading now - "The Danger of Contextual Privacy" iro.uiowa.edu/esploro/outp...

Miles of posters, miles of plastic at @neuripsconf.bsky.social

Among the more stunning types of AI research and recruitment for ML engineers happening at @neuripsconf.bsky.social is related to this EEG brainwave stuff that claims to ‘decode mental imagery, emotion, and thought directly from brainwaves’ using deep learning.

I can barely listen to even instro stuff while working anymore since most music distracts my brain when trying to focus, especially when writing. Giving Ilyas Ahmed, Portland guitarist, a try this morning and while it's compelling, it's not distracting me: ilyasahmed.bandcamp.com/album/a-drea...

When someone you know makes way too big a deal about a missing pen (which just happened to me): www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ1p...

Lab experiment examines claims that (1) humans are susceptible to flattery from computers and (2) the effects of flattery from computers are the same as the effects of flattery from humans. -from 'Silicon sycophants,' research from nearly 30 years ago. pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5545/8ec25f1...

Been sitting out socials but had to share most memorable shows I’ve been to recently: Makaya McCraven &band were well worth wait. Won’t forget it! And Shudder to Think (I love Dischord era) were so good. Craig still rules. Great to see Sohrab from Obits too :) www.makayamccraven.com/offtherecord

Harvested a few peppers at the upick today

"'Do you remember that Mai Molo recording? Where does Mai Molo live?’ Unbeknownst to the group, Mdou made some calls. 6 hours later Mai Molo rolls up! ...He spent the night at the house we were staying at, talking, playing music, & drinking tea with us." purplishrecords.bandcamp.com/album/batch-...

"We survey existing testbeds for agents, and argue for appropriate caution in their use." Sound familiar? Except this was more than 30 years ago:

"The Gamma type or lifestyle is defined by below average scores on vector 1, and below average scores on vector 2." Gammas "resist the control or advice of others...." I'm digging into layers upon layers of metrics baked into one trademarked set of psychometric measures.

What is a journalist? What is an influencer? Can someone be both? What criteria do we use to determine application of these labels and who decides? When I started my journalism career, "bloggers" were discredited by some. Are today's Substackers journalists? What about indie media outlets?

I first saw Swervedriver at an in-store at Kim's on St Marks in the mid-90s (RIP Kims -watch the doc), then again in PDX about 10 yrs ago & was so impressed. Caught 'em again last night. They stormed outta the gate full force, layers of sound. So many pedals. Played this one as an encore, a fave:

Gearing up for the dream psyche show

Gotta love this line: "Some experts are skeptical if holographic avatars are even needed."

Pretty sure the Fab Four never expected this

In innovatin' news: Submissions to huge AI conf NeurIPS MORE THAN DOUBLED since 2020: 9,467 in 2020 ⤴️Whopping 21,575 in 2025! Datasets & benchmarks track submits (data to train, measures AI makers devise to grade own homework) MORE THAN DOUBLED since 2023: 987 in 2023 ⤴️Whopping 1,995 in 2025!

Going through some newly FOIA's case reports involving Portland police use of drones. In one, a drone possibly operated by another local PD was used to observe fight among drunken roommates. Appears to be part of the "Drones as first responders" pilot. Dangerous situation? You be the judge:

This Lynch / Twin Peaks subreddit drama is quite the rabbit hole. This image from www.reddit.com/r/SlopcoreCi... story in @404media.co www.404media.co/pissed-off-f...

"Transparency" is such a mutable term, ain't it? I kinda wound down my digital political ad reporting around time these political ad transparency things started. My post Obama '08 book captures brief moment in time in the evolving history of online politics (www.goodreads.com/book/show/65...).

Appreciating @meredithmeredith.bsky.social's wordsmithery as demonstrated in @algorithmwatch.org talk & her history of commercial internet infrastructure. I'm also considering design of C2PA as content provenance/ AI disinfo infrastructure in this context. worldprivacyforum.org/posts/privac...

Lots of interesting takes in Artists Against Generative AI group on FB. Most intriguing so far: "I need to upgrade my image editing software, but my old favourite now uses AI, and I'm not paying money for that. What are people's recommendations for human-centred image editing software?"

gotta say I'm surprised to see the Human Rights Watch site enabling non-essential analytics and marketing cookies by default with only an opt-out after multiple clicks www.hrw.org

1/2 My grandma was adopted and when asking a relative about her, he expressed regret that he didn’t get her DNA for testing before she passed. As someone who has covered data industry & privacy as a journo /researcher for years, I couldn’t resist sharing info related to privacy, accuracy & ethics.

"we expect bot traffic to exceed human traffic on the Internet by the end of 2029, and by 2031, we anticipate that bot activity alone will surpass the sum of current Internet traffic." Interested in this in relation to my C2PA research. C2PA-based CAWG creator assertions do something similar:

Just another Sunday snooze

From influential 1967 paper about trust: TRUST SCALE SCORES ARE RELATED SIGNIFICANTLY TO POSITION IN THE FAMILY, SOCIOECONOMIC LEVEL, RELIGION, AND RELIGIOUS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PARENTS.

Awesome u-pick haul this afternoon

Before today's Mets game, they ran footage of the team singing "You Gotta Have Heart" (9.24.69, Ed Sullivan Show, few days after they clinched the NL E). Check out Tug McGraw's adorably awful jacket buckle! He coined the '73 phrase "Ya Gotta Believe," btw... www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_Zy...

Last time a catcher threw out a Mets runner attempting to steal second? May 20. Damn.

Watching the Mets game (on delay! no spoilers!) and turns out it's ChatGPT night at the ballpark (because Citifield along with every other sports team loves their goofy sponsorships). This is silly but had to post it - an AI-generated image of our beloved Mets broadcast booth as "rock stars."

The Supreme Court in Spain just ruled in favor of journalism outlet @Civio, forcing the government to grant them access to source code of BOSCO, an algorithmic system used to automatically determine discounts on electric bills. The ruling creates jurisprudence.

Been getting lots of bogus job offers via spam texts lately. This one is to help "local businesses grow their digital presence." $250-500 USD per day, paid the same day? Ha! Must demonstrate a "strong sense of responsibility" AND GULLIBILITY!

Lloyd Center mall in Portland (legendary bc Olympian Tonya Harding practiced ice skating there as a kid) has transformed to a hub for small, cool, sometimes downright odd retail & experiences. Consider this shop which sells ambient videos like Original VIDEO HAWAIIAN PIZZA. wolfchoirhomevideo.vhx.tv

Watch-listening now inspired by folks from @civicsoftech.bsky.social (...while filing requests for Portland police case reports involving 'drones as first responders'):

It's a rainy Sunday in PDX. I'm spending some of my morning off filing records requests to facilitate my RedtailMedia.org research on police drone use. This is my personal work. It informs understanding of surveillance tech use & helps inform policy. Anyone can support this work! Do it here:

You just might wanna ignore those AI search results, folks: As I conduct research related to Portland's use of drones loaned by Gresham PD for Portland's new Drone as First Resonder program, AI review got most basic fact - the date the program launched, citing reporting to the contrary - WRONG.

🧵 "PPB drones have received ZERO complaints from the community," say Portland police in announcement of new "Drone as First Responder" program. That is NOT TRUE. Some examples: In 2024, people testified about police drone use policy expansion plan and expressed several complaints...

The article describes Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback, RLHF. There are already efforts to remove the humans providing feedback to automate this such as ‘Scalable Oversight.’ What will use of datasets incorporating human feedback from non domain experts mean in automated ‘oversight’ ?

The first thing "loved" about Gresham, Oregon's "drones as first responder" program (an inspiration to Portland's) discussed in this video is...wait for it.... "Officer safety" It's important to know whether these programs facilitate safety for the public - or actually are about "officer safety."