The starting point for any ID system should be to reduce the situations that you need to provide ID for to a minimum. Ask ‘do we really need to know ID for this?’ and in a great many scenarios the answer will be ‘no’. So don’t ask. Everyone is better off.

This is the best explanation I’ve seen about what Palantir is. When I wrote Data Cartels, a book about data brokers, a lot of people asked why I didn’t focus on Palantir. The answer is that Palantir isn’t a data broker. Palantir creates ‘extravagant plumbing’ that depends on data brokers’ data.

New reporting about AI slop in libraries from rockstar reporter @clurrese.bsky.social featuring some rockstar librarians! 🥰 www.404media.co/librarians-a...

Do you know an intellectual freedom fighter in New York state? Nominate them for this year's Intellectual Freedom Award from the New York Library Association! I can't wait to read your stories! Due October 3! www.nyla.org/intellectual...

Congratulations @samuelmoore.org!

Fantastic read by Trevor Quirk on the most fascinating topic: data flows. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/m...

Fobazi is currently in the ICU and could use your support. Apologies to those I haven’t been able to reach out to yet. You can message me for more info and I will be posting updates to GoFundMe. Please share, send healing thoughts, prayers, etc. ❤️ -Elena gofund.me/c8485b58

Federal employees said they worry about the future of FOIA in the U.S., not only for their sake, but for requesters as well. www.muckrock.com/news/archive...

It appears that the Constitution, as it is on Congress's website, has been altered. The Constitution. The original: web.archive.org/web/20250601... Today's: web.archive.org/web/20250806... Note Article One, Sections 9 & 10.

Was going to try my hand at minting a new term for AI issues in libraries for a blog post I'm working on with @libraryfutures.bsky.social but found out @sarahlamdan.bsky.social already beat me to it with "vendor slurry", so it's just "AI vendor slurry" now.

Applications for the Ask A Librarian Internship are open for one more week! This paid, remote, part-time internship is open to currently enrolled Library & Information Science students. Apply by July 16. library.columbia.edu/about/jobs-i...

We’re working on a Freedom to Read advocacy toolkit for children 2-8 for #BannedBooksWeek! What are some kid friendly actions families can take together to fight #BookBans?

Also if you're interested, I wrote a book about this: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/706321...

"[D]ata is useful, it’s for sale, and the government’s buying. Tau describes the tension between a government eager to reap the benefits of data brokers’ tools and civil rights advocates alarmed by how invasive these tools are." @sarahlamdan.bsky.social reviews "Means of Control" by Byron Tau.

ALA is deeply disappointed in the result of today's Senate vote to reject using #ERate funding for wi-fi hotspot programs. The E-Rate program is broadly popular and admired, helping millions of Americans get online through the library and at school. More from ALA President Cindy Hohl ⤵️

IMLS! www.ala.org/news/2025/05...

Everything old is new again: “Many librarians lived in fear of losing their jobs or facing prosecution because of the contents of their libraries.”

NEW: ALA is going to court to stop the President’s attempts to illegally dismantle the Institute of Museum & Library Services. The President does not have the authority to destroy a federal agency. That's why we're taking action with our co-plaintiff @afscme.bsky.social. #ForOurLibraries (1/3)

"They are the American people's records, and there should be adequate FOIA staff to make sure that record requests are answered promptly," he says. "Firing your staff is antithetical to openness and transparency." Public records offices gutted in HHS layoffs www.npr.org/sections/sho...

NEW — Keith Sonderling, Trump’s Deputy Secretary of Labor, has been named the Acting Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), an agency source tells me. He’ll arrive tomorrow at their office with DOGE and their security detail.

Doctors Say NEVER Eat This One Strange Fruit or Using Microsoft Word Will Become Even Worse www.axios.com/2025/03/18/t...

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.

Trump’s trying to gut funding for libraries: you can fight back with ALA. The President's executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum & Library Services would be deeply harmful. We need to speak out. Take action NOW: tell Congress to protect library funding. bit.ly/ProtectLibraryFunding

BookLooks.org, Moms For Liberty's unprofessional book ratings system used to ban books nationwide, is shutting down. But there's not exactly cause to celebrate yet. #booksky bookriot.com/booklooks-sh...

Excellent advice for library workers from library workers ⬇️

🚨 Town Hall Alert! 🚨 The next Joint Advocacy Committee meeting with GLA & SGA is coming up! 💬✨ 📅 Zoom Meeting: Wednesday, March 19 @ 6PM ⏳ Sign-up Deadline: Monday, March 17 @ 6PM 🔗 Sign up here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... Don’t miss your chance to be part of the conversation! 👏 #TLSky

A predictable consequence of overruling Chevron, the made-up major questions doctrine, and other judicial power grabs is a headline like this: www.law.com/nationallawj...

Popping in here for a sec with my law librarian hat on to say that this is bonkers.

My latest for @truthout.org reports on librarians who are running for office and taking power. As Ilana Stonebraker says, we need to imagine ourselves as the deciders.

We ❤️ all the libraries that have been supporting data rescue and their patrons. Our focus is the preservation of access for all. www.datarescueproject.org/libraries-su...

Dear Manager, this week: 1. I went to the doctor 2. I went to the mountains 3. I looked to the children 4. I drank from the fountains 5. I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it

“There are so many book bans happening right now, and it’s terrifying if you really pay attention to what that means for children’s right to read and learn—and for teachers and libraries,” - Amanda Gorman thegrio.com/2025/02/11/a...

Here’s the @oif.bsky.social News for the week of February 14, 2025 www.oif.ala.org/intellectual...

The Internet Archive has to date downloaded 500 terabytes of US government websites, which it crawls at the end of every presidential term. The whole archive is fully searchable. This effort's housed by a donation-funded nonprofit, not a branch of the US government. blog.archive.org/2024/05/08/e...

NEW: Take action against the Trump Administration's federal funding freeze by sharing your library story. How would a federal funding pause impact your library & community? Share your story with ALA as we work to inform elected officials & decision-makers on this issue: airtable.com/appTIEEt9RjD...

New from @oif.bsky.social - Libraries and Immigration Enforcement: www.oif.ala.org/libraries-an...

Yet another illustration of why data minimization requirements are needed in US privacy law. There’s no good justification to store so much customer geolocation information.

If you’re a lawyer who loves libraries, consider participating in Lawyers for Libraries. uniteagainstbookbans.org/l4l-attorney...

Every US presidential election period we do a wide crawl of all federal websites. YOU can contribute to the 2024 End of Term Web Archive eotarchive.org/contribute/ - Nominate Gov URLs - Upload bulk seed lists - Help surface database deep links - Spread the word #EOT2024 #EOTArchive

"What my students paradoxically fail to realize, in their zeal to be responsible, is that describing things by certain characteristics rather than others merely because those characteristics are countable is a profoundly subjective decision."

When companies collect your data, there’s no telling where it could end up. 🤗 Or it’s all fun and games until the fun and games become war machines? ✨

As someone who spends a lot of time thinking and writing about how digital information moves around, observing network effects in real time on bsky is very cool, like watching those TikToks where someone gently transfers a colony of communal bees from an old washing machine to a new hive.

Data brokers aren’t just creepy, they threaten national security. www.wired.com/story/phone-...

Now seems like a good time to revisit this podcast by the amazing @brandyzadrozny.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

It’s interesting to observe contrasts from DuckDuckGo’s AI overview and other AI providers’ overviews. For one, DDG says it only draws from encyclopedialike sources, mostly Wikipedia (and explains why). It’s also transparent about hallucinations & errors… spreadprivacy.com/duckassist-l...

Want to stay in the loop about book challenges in your community? Follow @uabookbans.bsky.social & sign up to receive their updates #UniteAgainstBookBans

whomst amongst us tbh

Looking forward to brat summer 2025.

A giant welcome for the @flaminghydra.com debut of @sarahlamdan.bsky.social, author of DATA CARTELS and supercool librarian and law nerd, today in conversation with @littlewow.bsky.social on trust, publishing, libraries, copyright, and sanity, only imagine flaminghydra.com/issue-139/#t...