Newsletter #21 of the Non-Aligned Tech Movement is out: AI Action Plans, corporate Chin-exit🪂…and non-aligned dreams? nonalignedtech.net/21-ai-action...

Newsletter #20 of the Non-Aligned Tech Movement is out! –> Sovereign Tech Shifts 🔀 | South Korea’s AI Play, US-China Chip Tax, & Iran’s GPS Exit? -> nonalignedtech.net/20-sovereign... - #NATM #GPS #BeiDou #WhatsApp #China #USA #EU #NonAlignedMovement

If the Snowden revelations sparked concern that the US was leveraging global networks to pull data in for espionage, the current fear is that its control over the networks and today’s digital platforms means it can cut off its supposed adversaries altogether, writes Juan Ortiz Freuler.

NEW: Is NVidia baking kill-switches into AI chips? China thinks so... "China’s cyber regulator...said US AI experts had “revealed that Nvidia’s computing chips have location tracking and can remotely shut down the technology”. www.ft.com/content/e490...

If the Snowden revelations sparked concern that the US was leveraging global networks to pull data in for espionage, the current fear is that its control over the networks and today’s digital platforms means it can cut off its supposed adversaries altogether, writes Juan Ortiz Freuler.

If the Snowden revelations sparked concern that the US was leveraging global networks to pull data in for espionage, the current fear is that its control over the networks and today’s digital platforms means it can cut off its supposed adversaries altogether, writes Juan Ortiz Freuler.

Tomorrow at 11 AM, I’ll be presenting my research on how lessons from disarmament processes can help us dismantle propaganda systems and safeguard the internet as a shared space for knowledge. #IPSA2025 – Room 4F 402

🚨 Unilateral US sanctions weaponize tech...and the world is pushing back: • ICC locked out of email after US sanctions • UN Rapporteur sanctioned • Denmark dumps Windows for open-source ...& more... 👇 Full analysis in #NATM Newsletter #19 nonalignedtech.net/19-as-us-hit...

Originally published 5 years ago. Perhaps even more relevant today as Governments lean into austerity; Trump continues to block global tax reform; and US-China rift continues to escalate, placing +pressure on the peripheries We need Non-Alignment #IGF2025 www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconom...

Globalization & interdependence are increasingly being weaponized to advance narrow geopolitical agendas. From #Hormuz to #Panama; #Starlink to #AppStore As existing institutions & norms shake, policymakers scramble to: Identify chokepoints +Define what CAN be done SHOULD be done #IGF2025

Heading off to #IGF2025 ! Drop a line if you're planning to attend!

NATM Newsletter #18: 🪖 The military turn among US tech corps 🏗️ Harnessing infrastructural power 🇨🇳🇺🇸 China more popular than the US in most countries polled ...and more-> nonalignedtech.net/18-the-milit...

Happening tomorrow (Saturday) 10:30–11:45am @ Mt. Princeton (Grand 3 - #ICA25 / #ICA2025 ) #MediaInfrastructures

Heading to Denver for #ICA2025 ! On Saturday I will be dissecting how Latin American online newspapers depend on third-party infrastructure and the commercial and geopolitical risks this represents. Manuscript available on my website.

Heading to #GIGARTS2025! I'll be presenting on #InternetGovernance & #DigitalSovereignty 1)State Strategies to deal w/ Points of Control: policyreview.info/articles/ana... 2)Threats to Informational Sovereignty: Latin American Newspapers papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... Full agenda at gig-arts.eu

[New paper] Infrastructural power: State strategies for internet control, By @juanof9.bsky.social policyreview.info/articles/ana... #undersea #telecom

🏗️INFRASTRUCTURAL POWER🕸️ Just published a 🌟new article🌟 @policyr.bsky.social exploring strategies governments use to manage critical internet control points. Dive into a fresh typology and six real-world examples. -> policyreview.info/articles/ana... // #InternetGovernance #GigArts2025

📰Newsletter #17 of the Non-Aligned Tech Movement ( #NATM) is now out! ♟️🗺️Regional castling? Trump deals in the Middle East / China in Latin America + Bandung's 70th Anniversary -> Newsletter: nonalignedtech.net/17-regional-... 📩-> Sign-up: lists.riseup.net/www/subscrib...

Mild progress in the Gmail choice screen. Now they make your default browser actually look like a browser...Although its underhanded for them to continue to promote their own browsers in that choice screen. Browsers I have chosen *NOT* to have on my phone. Before / After

Opinion from the FT's Editorial Board: 'The US and European countries that tout Israel as an ally that shares their values have issued barely a word of condemnation. They should be ashamed of their silence, and stop enabling Netanyahu to act with impunity.' www.ft.com/content/f5fd...

"For, alas, history is not only (as we are so often told) the history of human courage, but also the history of human faintheartedness; and politics is ... but a servile bowing of the knee by the so-called leaders before the demons they have themselves created." (Zweig -> Fouché)

New from 404 Media: we've published the full internal Palantir wiki in which it argues why it is working with ICE. It is rare for outsiders to get insight from a tech company on why it might decide to work on a project like this. Spelled out acronyms but left unedited www.404media.co/this-is-pala...

Can’t stress enough how harmful it is for prominent people to do glowing promotions for surveillance devices during the rise of authoritarianism and assaults on bodily autonomy.

CPRP Conference: Digital Infrastructure and ecosystems in Latin America Submissions deadline: May 16, 2025 Conference: October 14, in Buenos Aires, Argentina 10 fellowships available for young scholars! Spread the word! sites.google.com/ccom.unb.br/...

The internet is the physical embodiment of the process of broader economic networking that took place since the 1990s, and which we called globalization. The internet will become the surface over which the process of de-globalization will become the roughest, with tech companies hit the hardest

#tariffs ->de-globalization happening now... "The combination of these factors might explain the US government’s interest in accelerating a process typically discussed as fragmentation...to ensure it can [still] dictate the terms.." journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

My essay on the future of AI for Elon Univ (p.75-78): "the challenge is..political coordination to address the forces reshaping our understanding of self & society... Three key trends suggest that power consolidation is most likely: imaginingthedigitalfuture.org/wp-content/u...

"We've heard it, we've all heard all about all the sticks spears and swords, the things to bash and poke and hit with, the long, hard things, but we have not heard about the thing to put things in, the container for the thing contained. That is a new story. That is news." -Ursula K. Leguin

Algorithmic Pluralism: Towards Competitive & Innovative Information Ecosystems Interesting new whitepaper by Sherif Elsayed-Ali & Robin Berjon drive.google.com/file/d/1DuZs...

I'm kind of an Alvaro Bedoya fangirl.

🚨Event Alert! Launch of a new report: “Scanning the Horizon: The Future of Digital Rights & Resilience in the Global Majority” Join on March 20, 2:00-3:30 PM UTC for an open conversation with report author @juanof9.bsky.social and colleagues! Register: digitalresilience.network/20-mar-repor...

On March 20th we will have @juanof9.bsky.social @nighatdad.bsky.social @monajem.bsky.social @socialtic.bsky.social @esraa.bsky.social and others to talk about some trends to re-imagine a better future in the horizon in the global majority. Join us! 👇 digitalresilience.network/20-mar-repor...

📰Newsletter #15 of the Non-Aligned Tech Movement ( #NATM) is now out! –> The Hopes of Emerging Powers, AI Factories, Digital Sovereignty, AI in Brazil, Dependency Theory? Newsletter--> nonalignedtech.net/15-hope-of-e...

lol what the fuck

Happy birthday world wide web! "the method of storage must not place its own restraints on the information. This is why a "web" of notes with links (like references) between them is far more useful than a fixed hierarchical system...." www.w3.org/History/1989...

The network state bros leveraging fascism could be seen coming like, 100 miles away gizmodo.com/tech-execs-a...

Report launch & discussion: 🔹 How can civil society respond to #BigTech’s growing control over digital infrastructure? 🔹 What strategies work for adapting to shifts in #DigitalRights funding? 🗓️ March 20 | ⏰ 2:00-3:30 PM UTC 💻 Register here: digitalresilience.network/registration/

Last month I presented my ongoing research on infrastructural power at #SOTN in DC. They've now released the video of my 7min lightning talk! Key takeaway: Points of information control move across the internet Feedback welcome—>paper still under review! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5uh...

“how we shape the machines, & how the machine and its current owners shape us…Should we seek shared control over such towers, or should they be destroyed? As researchers, we must engage with these two competing visions” An agenda for science & technology studies?👇 4sonline.org/news_manager...

Very proud of this timely work with Nedah Nemati. We argue that carceral technologies, such as electronic monitoring, make indiscriminate psychological torture a feature of everyday life – even for people who have not been charged with a crime. www.openglobalrights.org/carceral-tec...

Tech Trend: The power & impact of online intermediaries has increased radically over the past decades: Platforms like #Facebook & #Instagram kept their original names, BUT Key underlying information CONTROLS have changed=> More power over info AND Larger USER base + More TIME online=>+impact

“The future is not only unpredictable, but malleable.” [NEW] Forecasting report w/ the Digital Resilience Network ! Designed to fuel collaborative resistance across the Global Majority 📊 Trends in: 🌍 Geopolitics & local governance 🤖 Tech 💵 Funding -> digitalresilience.network/wp-content/u...

On the one hand, there’s the theory of the dead internet, which claims the internet is dead & run by AI bots for other AI bots that fake engagement for advertisers On the other hand, others claim the most toxic corners of the internet migrated to mainstream & are taking over physical interactions😬

Risk perceptions: G7 vs BICS (=BRICS-Russia)

“these companies hold enormous sway over Europe’s digital future and their involvement in Trump’s nationalist agenda can be weaponised.” 🎯 www.ft.com/content/30d6...

Second article published in the #OpenGlobalRights series: Will #HumanRights guide tech development? Here @petramolnar.com explores border tech as an expression of techno-imperialism in a dying world --> www.openglobalrights.org/smart-border...

The February Newsletter of the Non-Aligned Tech Movement ( #NATM) is out! N #14: Trump unleashes geopolitical turbulence-> pad.riseup.net/p/NATM_News-... Join 99 people currently discussing the geopolitics of tech & non-alignment by signing up to the NATM email listserv: nonalignedtech.net

New from Meta: Project #Waterworth connecting US to 3 BRICS countries "the project will reach five major continents and span over 50,000 km (longer than the Earth’s circumference), making it the world’s longest subsea cable" It's shape reminds me of the British Empire's All-Red line (Telegraph)🙃

Second article published in the #OpenGlobalRights series: Will #HumanRights guide tech development? Here @petramolnar.com explores border tech as an expression of techno-imperialism in a dying world --> www.openglobalrights.org/smart-border...

At #SOTN25 Senator @edmarkey.bsky.social calling out the degree of centralization we see online, and underlines that the alignment of big tech companies with the US President (tech leaders seated in front of the cabinet at the inauguration!) represents a threat to the internet AND to democracy.