@thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 3mo ago

Replying to

On Bluesky, @thisismissem@hachyderm.io does some digging and discovers that W Social and W Identity are basically the same people. So much for the line that "W Social doesn't know who you are because W Identity handles all the identity verification". https://bsky.app/profile/thisismissem.social/post/3mond5z5mmc2r #WSocial #WIdentity

Bluesky Social

Emelia (@thisismissem.social)

So I've been trying to understand the legal structure that W Social has to better understand the separation between W Identity and W Social, and it's quickly looking like it's all for show.

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 3mo ago

Unfortunately the House passed the KIDS Act (including their version of KOSA) 267-117 today. Senate KOSA supporters say that the House version is dead on arrival in the Senate, because it doesn't have a duty of care ... but digital rights organizers say the Senate version is at least as bad as the House. So hopefully the House and Senate won't be able to come to agreement on anything. Fierce activism killed KOSA when they tried to sneak it through late in the year in 2022 and 2024. Looks like we'll need to do it again. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/kids-internet-and-digital-safety-act-passes-house-free-speech-concerns-rcna352341 #KOSA #KIDSAct #uspol

nbcnews.com

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@renderg.host suggests W Social is TruthSocial with a European accent "TruthSocial wraps itself in the language of free speech, anti-establishment populism, and fighting Big Tech censorship. W Social wraps itself in the language of European digital sovereignty, verified truth, and privacy. These are not the same politics. But they are of a similar nature. Both platforms identified an audience that felt alienated from mainstream social media. Both position themselves as principled alternatives. Both built on open source community infrastructure while simultaneously obscuring that fact. Both are controlled by a small group of wealthy well-connected people with clear political ambitions. W Social's advisory board includes silicon valley execs, and senior political figures. The platform was unveiled not in a community forum but at the World Economic Forum in Davos: an event not typically associated with grassroots digital activism. None of that makes W Social evil. It does however make the "this is for the people" framing worth scrutinising." https://wecanjustdothings.leaflet.pub/3mokohkfb4224 #WSocial

We Can Just Do Things

W Social is TruthSocial with a European accent. - We Can Just Do Things

Different politics, identical structure: wealthy insiders, community infrastructure they didn't build, and openness performed just long enough to matter. The establishment always wants its own internet.

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 2mo ago

Flock is on the agenda this week at the Renton, Issaquah, and Redmond city councils! Washington state continues to be one of the leaders in the fight against Flock and other ALPRs ("automated license plate readers", which despite their name actually also allow law enforcement to search for cars based on their color, make, or what bumper stickers are on them). https://thenexusofprivacy.net/flock-is-on-the-agenda-this-week-at-the-renton-issaquah-and-redmond-city-councils/ #flock #surveillance #privacy #WApol

The Nexus Of Privacy

Flock is on the agenda this week at the Renton, Issaquah, Auburn, and Redmond city councils!

"This past year has exposed just how dangerous automated license plate readers are as Flock Safety’s products have reportedly been used in immigration enforcement, abortion monitoring, repeated incidents of stalking, and experienced major cybersecurity breaches. But Flock is not alone. Motorola Solutions has long partnered with federal immigration enforcement,

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 2mo ago

RE: https://mastodon.social/@Sarahp/116976112778021574 What's up on Bluesky? Oh they're just evolving their "AI-assistant" into an "open social research" tool that rummages through your data to help people perform "Quests". At some level, whatever, it's all public and there are already plenty of "AI" tools rummaging through the data there. Still, it'll be very interesting to see if they honor the opt-out flags about "AI" usage. And Some good framing by @Sarahp@mastodon.social "While many Bluesky users tend to dislike AI for economic, political, and environmental reasons, the company has had to balance its community’s leanings with the need to generate revenue to help itself and the AT Protocol development it leads remain afloat." Yeah really. While many Bluesky users (including me) don't want this, the company has to make a buck so this is where they're putting their efforts.

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 2mo ago

Replying to

My posts are now slurped. Thanks @vyr@princess.industries! For those who don't know about Slujrp: https://codeberg.org/vyr/slurp

Codeberg.org

slurp

tool for exporting data from and importing data to Fediverse instances

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 3mo ago

Replying to

Fighting bad internet bills across the world (2/N) If you're in the EU: Use https://fightchatcontrol.eu/ to tell MEPs to vote NO on Chat Control, a mass surveillance proposal threatening fundamental privacy rights and digital security by legalizing scanning of all private digital communications, including encrypted messages and photos. And @echo_pbreyer@digitalcourage.social is a great account to follow for updates and new actions! #ChatControl #privacy #surveillance

fightchatcontrol.eu

Fight Chat Control - Protect Digital Privacy in the EU

Learn about the EU Chat Control proposal and contact your representatives to protect digital privacy and encryption.

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 2mo ago

My main fedi account is now @thenexusofprivacy@gotosocial.thenexus.today ... that said only about half of my followers migrated there, so I'm going to reactive this and will boost posts from here (and check notifications) at least for a while.

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 3mo ago

Replying to

How to create an account on #WSocial in 13 easy steps, by @elena@aseachange.com . As she says, "Please save this toot as reference if you ever hear somebody say that IT'S TOO COMPLICATED TO JOIN THE FEDIVERSE BECAUSE YOU NEED TO PICK A SERVER" And speaking of Elena, here's the Hacker News discussion on her article I posted earlier in the thread. The first comment says "Also, for all their talk about human verification, I have 6 accounts under different names :)" - big if true! #WSocial

aseachange.com

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 3mo ago

Replying to

Oh my. @kantorkel@23.social seems to have found an XSS vulnerability in W Identity. https://23.social/@kantorkel/116767220594438841 (via @robin.berjon.com on Eurosky) #WSocial

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@_elena@mastodon.social has had a series of good posts about W Social. W Social, Public Institutions and the Theater of European Digital Sovereignty is her latest, highlighting the contradiction of the European Commission moving to a closed-source platform. Her earlier posts are worth reading too; see the full series here. #WSocial

W Social, Public Institutions and the Theater of European Digital Sovereignty

Elena Rossini

W Social, Public Institutions and the Theater of European Digital Sovereignty

European public institutions are betting big on digital sovereignty and open source software. And yet they recently moved their Bluesky accounts to W Social, a private, for profit network owned by Swedish entrepreneurs that has quietly gone closed-source.

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@markusreuter@23.social's Warum W Social mehr kalter Kaffee als heißer Scheiß ist, on @netzpolitik_feed@chaos.social, notes that W Social has already announced their plans for advertising -- and links off to an article in Blick where W Social CEO Anna Zeiter says that they won't have Bluesky-style blocklists allowing people to filter out fascists. What could possibly go wrong? #WSocial

netzpolitik.org

Warum W Social mehr kalter Kaffee als heißer Scheiß ist

Mit W Social ist ein soziales Netzwerk gestartet, bei dem man sich nur nach Passkontrolle anmelden kann. Das ist keine gute Idee. Überhaupt spricht einiges dagegen, sich bei dem schwedischen Start-up einen Account zuzulegen. Ein Kommentar.

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 6mo ago

Acorn, a platform for growing and managing communities on decentralized infrastructure -- new from Blacksky!

https://blackskyweb.xyz/introducing-acorn-community-infrastructure-that-grows-with-you/

"It started, as most things do at Blacksky, with moderation."

There's so much to like about Blacksky that this aspect doesn't always get the attention it should, but think about it: how many other social networks have started with a focus on moderation, as opposed to initially ignoring it and then trying to play catch-up?

"Building out this system made clear how deeply embedded moderation is into every piece of infrastructure."

Again, compare-and-contrast with other social networks. And not just centralized social networks! How many fediverse platforms treat moderation as core functionality that's a first-class part of the infrastructure?

"As the community grew, its needs changed and our infrastructure grew to fit those needs. Community need guided every step."

There's a lot to learn here!

#blacksky #moderation #community

Introducing Acorn: Community Infrastructure That Grows With You

Blacksky Algorithms

Introducing Acorn: Community Infrastructure That Grows With You

Featured image: Emergence by Paul Lewin

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 3mo ago

Replying to

Fighting bad internet bills across the world (4/N) If you're in the US, Contact your Senators and tell them to say NO to bad interenet bills that surveil and censor the net. How? @fight@mastodon.fightforthefuture.org's https://badinternetbills.com makes it easy to contact Congress. 5calls.org also has a good action page here Or you can just contact your legislators offices directly via the US Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3124, calling their offices directly, or using their web contact form. It doesn't have to be fancy, just make sure it includes a specific ask like "Please vote NO on KOSA, the KIDS Act, and other bad internet bills that would censor and surveill the net" -- although if you want go into more detail on why these bills are harmful to you and their other constituents, that's even better. For updates and new actions, @fight@mastodon.fightforthefuture.org and @eff@mastodon.social are great accounts to follow. And I also post about this kind of stuff frequently! #BadInternetBills #KOSA #KIDSAct #uspol

badinternetbills.com

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 4mo ago

Solidarity over surveillance: The time is now to rein in the surveillance state

https://thenexusofprivacy.net/solidarity-over-surveillance/

#surveillance #privacy #activism

The Nexus Of Privacy

Solidarity over Surveillance

The time is now to rein in the surveillance state

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 2mo ago

Replying to

in the medium term though they just have to make enough to get the next round of funding ... and then eventually to have a plausible IPO. VCs don't get paid back from profits! @ikuturso@mastodon.social @Sarahp@mastodon.social

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 3mo ago

Replying to

And Niamh Ancell's Security risks overshadow the debut of Europe’s X rival, W looks at the identity verification a bit more, although doesn't have a lot of details.

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Here's coverage of the FISA drama last night. The articles largely focus on Republican dysfunction, and I can certainly see why ... still it's also worth highlighting what a great job civil society orgs like Free Press, CDT, Fight for the Future, and Indivisible -- and the "tripartite caucus" letter (from the chairs of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, the and the Congressional Progressive Caucus) -- did at convincing Dems to almost completely hold the line despite the pressure for reauth from pro-surveilance Dems like Jim Hines. To start with, here's Dell Cameron in Wired -- my go-to reporter on this issue. https://www.wired.com/story/republican-mutiny-sinks-trumps-push-to-extend-warrantless-surveillance/

wired.com

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 2mo ago

👀 Punchbowl News is reporting that Senate Commerce is looking at July 29 for a "kids and AI" markup -- likely to include KOSA as well as Cruz' chatbot bill and perhaps some other AI bills. The date isn't finalized yet, so keep your eyes peeled! (Via Ben Brody on Xitter) #KOSA #AI #privacy #USpol

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 9mo ago

Replying to

Totally agree. It's not paranoia -- they really are fascists who have contributed to multiple genocides. And if it's useful to them, or see fedi as a threat, they'll be back! One way of looking at it from Meta's perspective is that they've gotten enough mileage from pretending to care about the fediverse -- muliple rounds of good press for tiny incremental steps (oooh a share-to-fediverse button, how exciting!), sycophantic fedi influencers saying positive things about them, stuff like that -- and feel like they have the regulatory situation enough under control both here and in Europe that they can affod to be honest that no, they don't really care about it right now. Priorities! But all the other potential upsides to them are still there. If regulatory pressure in Europe heats up and they think it's useful to play up the interoperability, or if fedi (or Bluesky and rest of the ATmosphere) grows enough that they can make money at it, they'll start paying more attention to it. Who knows, they might even pretend to care again. It'll be interesting to see how many people fall for it this time. @Edelruth@mastodon.online @FediPact@cyberpunk.lol

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Wow! The bad late-night amendment from the Republicans with a five-year extension went down 200-220 -- 12 Republicans and almost all the Democrats voted against it. Then the procedural vote on the 18-month clean reauthorization failed 197-228; 20 Republicans voted no (good for them) and 4 Democrats voted yes (booooo).¹ And then they passed a 10-day extension by unanimous consent and adjourned until Monday, when we'll no doubt start another round or two of drama. If you contacted your legislators ... thanks! Please contact them again, and either thank them if they voted no, express your disappointment if they voted yes, and let them know *no reauthorization without meaningful reforms. And if you haven't contacted your legislators ... now's a good time! Here's a simple script: "Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent from [Your City, State]. I am calling to as [Representative Name] to vote NO on FISA Section 702 reauthorization unless there are meaningful reforms including closing the backdoor loophole, closing the data broker loophope, and introducing a real warrant requirement. Now more than ever in the era of mass AI, personal privacy and civil liberties must be protected. The easiest thing to do is to call the House switchboard at 202-224-3121. Or, if you prefer, use @indivisibleteam's phone tool at https://indivisible.org/actions/tell-representatives-no-to-ai-warrantless-mass-surveillance/ -- or just call their office directly. ¹ Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), Jared Golden (Maine), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), and Tom Suozzi (N.Y.) ... the usual suspects.

indivisible.org

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 3mo ago

Replying to

Fighting bad internet bills across the world (3/N) If you're in Canada, Stop the Surveillance State: Stop Bill C-22! has a contact tool and background on this sweeping surveillance proposal that would force collection of vast quantities of Canadians’ private data on every digital service and device you use. https://action.openmedia.org/page/188754/action/1?locale=en-US And @mgeist@mas.to is a great acount to follow for updates and new actions #surveillance

action.openmedia.org

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@johnnyryan@eupolicy.social very good point, and i completely agree ... but I'm not holding my breath.

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social and as sleazy a maneuver as this last-minute amendment claiming to introduce "reforms" but actually broadening surveillance powers is, D's have done plenty of sleazy stuff with FISA reauth in the past. One of the reasons they probably thought this manevuer would work was probably that just two years ago (under Biden, with D votes) they passed RISAA which claimed to introduce "reforms" but actually broadened surveillance powers. Hey wait a second, I'm noticing a pattern here!

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

And this just in, Axios reports that the Senate passed the 10-day extension by voice vote. No surprises there ... this doesn't actually make any difference operationally, because the FISA court has already granted certifications for the next year. But, it lets everybody continue to play along with the fiction that the deadline is meaningful. https://www.axios.com/2026/04/17/fisa-senate-vote-april-30-house-revolt

axios.com

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@politico@flipboard.com is reporting that GOP hardliners are threatening to tank the vote ... we shall see. Even if that happens though it's worth calling: there's likely to be another vote, and calling now -- in the middle of the night -- lets your Rep know you're tracking this issue and prioritizing it, so your next call is likely to be counted more seriously. https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2026/04/16/congress/gop-hard-liners-threaten-to-tank-fisa-vote-00878315

politico.com

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 9mo ago

Replying to on kolektiva.social

1000%. https://infosec.exchange/@thenexusofprivacy/115744566383286139 touches on some of the same points - including the need for vigilance. As things worked out Fedi was just a positioning spin and contingency plan for them. That said they were clearly hoping it would be more an accelerator in some way or they wouldn't have dumped the resources into it that they did ... and if it seemed like they were really making progress they would have invested more. The fierce and high-profile resistance of #FediPact and the Free Fediverse made it clear that nope, the "upsides" they were hoping for probably weren't going to happen. Of course that's not the only thing that changed but it's certainly a big factor! And as you say, just like Gab, they're widely defederated. Defederation' is a blunt tool and fedi relies on it too much but it is effective at fighting fascists! @ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social @FediPact@cyberpunk.lol

infosec.exchange

The Nexus of Privacy: "Totally agree. It's not paranoia -- they really …" - Infosec Exchange

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

With the clock ticking down and both chambers thinking about next steps, It's a very good time to contact Congress on FISA Various groups have calling tools available ... QuitGPT: https://quitgpt.org/fisa @indivisibleteam@mastodon.social : https://indivisible.org/actions/tell-your-senators-oppose-warrantless-ai-mass-surveillance/ @eff@mastodon.social : https://act.eff.org/action/congress-has-until-april-20-to-take-action-on-702-tell-them-not-to-drop-the-ball (note that the datese here hasen't been updated, to reflect the new deadline is April 30 Or, just call the US Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your legislators -- or call their offices directly! #FISA #uspol

quitgpt.org

Stop AI Surveillance — Call Congress Now

Congress is fast-tracking a bill to let the government surveil Americans with AI. Call now.

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Yeah. D presidents and their minions love FISA just as much as R presidents and their minions, D centrists (and some "progressives") love surveillance just as much as Rs ... bipartisanship, yay. @ophiocephalic@kolektiva.social

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Punchbowl News has an unpaywalled story on FISA, with more specifics on the R's who voted against it, and some great quotes. For example: "Led by Rep. Jim McGovern (Mass.), top Democrat on the Rules Committee, Democrats blasted Johnson and Republican leaders for the proposed five-year FISA extension. After hours of private GOP-only meetings trying to broker a deal, Republican leaders had suddenly announced they were ready to vote. But some of the proposed FISA changes were hand-written into the bill text: “Does anybody actually know what the hell is in this thing?” McGovern complained. “This is too damn important to do it this way,” McGovern added. “Your own members don’t know what the hell you’re doing … This process is embarrassing. This majority is incompetent.” Embarassing indeed (although it's worth highlighting that the Dems have also done ridiculously sleazy garbage with FISA reauthorization over the years). https://punchbowl.news/article/washington/fisa-flop/

punchbowl.news

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

For people other than Rep. Casten, here's info about how to contact your representative about FISA along with a script - https://infosec.exchange/@thenexusofprivacy/116418204536943068

infosec.exchange

The Nexus of Privacy: "FISA vote in the next two hours -- contact your R…" - Infosec Exchange

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 8mo ago

Replying to

@DrSuzanne@theforkiverse.com Totally agree that there's a great opportunity here! Very interested to hear your ideas about creatig safeish onlie spaces, i've got some links about some of the challenges in the fediverse if you're interested And Casey et al @SusanOML@theforkiverse.com had a great point here https://theforkiverse.com/@SusanOML/115905707753869791 about asking the community for ideas. That's very aligned with fedi's values and the community focus in general. Have you used pol.is? It's quite good for stuff like this although needs moderation. I've got a conversation going at https://pol.is/7xjmwmuxnt , And Mastodon polls are another good option. You can string them together in a thread, and the instance admin can configure the maximum number of choices https://infosec.exchange/@thenexusofprivacy/115822571404230256 None of this is scientific of course but still interesting! One thing to know is that if you edit the choices in a poll it resets the count of all the responses so far. @Casey@theforkiverse.com @kevin@theforkiverse.com @pj@theforkiverse.com

theforkiverse.com

ReluctantlyOnline: "@Casey @kevin @pj as far as the direction for #fo…" - The Forkiverse

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 6mo ago

RE: https://mastodon.social/@eff/116286171180527753

Really exciting news: Nicole Ozer is EFF's new Executive Director!

mastodon.social

Electronic Frontier Foundation: "🚨BREAKING NEWS🚨 Nicole Ozer has been appointed a…" - Mastodon

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 8mo ago

Replying to

@DrSuzanne@theforkiverse.com Yes, oiutstanding alignment! Would love to talk more about this ... I'm about to be offline for the evening, to be continued I hope!

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 10mo ago

Replying to

Oh! My apologies! I haven't read the book ... my bad for giving him too much credit! @RustedComputing @Gargron

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 10mo ago

Replying to

Yeah, and I've never heard anybody consider Threads or Bluesky as Mastodon servers. Opinions differ as to whether they should be considered part of the fediverse, but they don't have anything to do with Mastodon. (Trothe Cential [sic] on the other hand does run code that was forked from Mastodon a whjile ago.) @Gargron@mastodon.social @RustedComputing@discuss.systems

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 7mo ago

Replying to

A few more that leap to mind: @ali@masto.al2.in, who runs the AI Skeptics Reading Group, and @danmcquillan@kolektiva.social, author of Resisting AI.

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Liza Goitein of Brennan Center has a great thread with details on the bad amendment as well as the drama. https://blacksky.community/profile/lizagoitein.bsky.social/post/3mjparjdbhk2l

Blacksky

Liza Goitein (@lizagoitein.bsky.social)

In a dramatic scene that unfolded in the wee hours this morning, members of the House defeated a ploy by the administration and Speaker Johnson to ram through a 5-year reauthorization of FISA Section 702. Here’s what happened, and what will/should happen next. 1/20

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Politico has a good article on FISA as well. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/16/fisa-extension-trump-republicans-00878199

politico.com

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 2mo ago

Replying to on defcon.social

Oh a lot more than 4 cities in WA -- Skamania County, Olympia, Mountlake Terrace. Redmond, Lynnwood, Edmonds, and Mount Vernon have all turned cameras off and in some cases even cancelled their contracts. That ACLU piece is great, one of the people giving public comment in Redmond read a bunch of excerpts from it. @yolo@defcon.social

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Punchbowl News on the state play as of this morning: "Senators are open — but hardly eager — to lead the way on reauthorizing FISA Section 702 following House Republicans’ stunning failure last week. They’re resigned that anything to re-up the program must ultimately now pass muster with a bloc of hardline House conservatives determined to make significant changes to the program, which expires on April 30. “Obviously, the bottleneck here is the House,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) said. “What can pass there that is workable and would be supported in the Senate?”" https://punchbowl.news/article/defense/fisa-slog/ The fake deadline is April 30. It's a fake deadline because the FISA Court has already re-authorized the programs for the next year, so there isn't any short-term consequence if it lapses temporarily. But surveillance hawks will (as usual) try to use the false urgency to put through a "compromise" that broadens surveillance powers. #FISA #surveillance #privacy

punchbowl.news

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 2mo ago

Replying to on defcon.social

@yolo@defcon.social Totally agree that it shows the momentum (and it turns out that it's four -- there's discussion in Auburn too). And not just in Washington, it's happening across the country. Also agreed on how deliberatiely misleading "licence plate reader" is. The most effective arguments here in Washington are that the mass surveillance of these AI-enabled ALPR cameras puts people at risk, especially immigrants. Also especially LGBTQIOA2S+ people, people seeking reproductive health care, and protestors ... but it was the UW Center for Human Rights reports on how ICE and CBP are abusing ALPR data and data from our Department of Licensing that really galvanized the opposition and got city councils to pay attention. Cost isn't an effective argument, because police departments have very good copaganda about how ALPRs are a "force multiplier". Of course there isn't any one right answer to this, in and near places where there. have been high-profile abuses by local law enforcement officers (stalking, etc) that mighg well be a bigger issue.

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 2mo ago

🚨 The STOP CSAM Act has been attached to the NDAA 🚨 Shenanigans! The NDAA is a "must-pass" bill, so this is an attempt to sneak STOP CSAM through without a vote on it. Still, it's far from over; Senate Democrats blocked this version of the NDAA for other reasons, so there may still be a chance to strip things out. And, once the Senate passes something, there will be cross-chamber negotiations. EFF's Oppose STOP CSAM: Protecting Kids Shouldn’t Mean Breaking the Tools That Keep Us Safe and The Internet Society's STOP CSAM Act Threatens Everyone’s Online Safety and Security have more on the problems with this bill. EFF has an action on the STOP CSAM Act from 2025 that's still very relevant, it just needs some minor tweaking. It doesn't mention the NDAA, so I just changed the first paragraph to "As your constituent, I urge you to oppose the attachment of the STOP CSAM Act, (S.1829.) to the NDAA." #BadInternetBills #privacy #surveillance #encryption #uspol

Electronic Frontier Foundation

Oppose STOP CSAM: Protecting Kids Shouldn’t Mean Breaking the Tools That Keep Us Safe

A Senate bill re-introduced this week threatens security and free speech on the internet. EFF urges Congress to reject the STOP CSAM Act of 2025 (S. 1829), which would undermine services offering end-to-end encryption and force internet companies to take down lawful user content.   TAKE ACTIONTell...

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 2mo ago

Aha, @fight@mastodon.fightforthefuture.org also has an action on STOP CSAM and it looks great when shared. The intro can similarly be tweaked to make sure it mentions the NDAA. https://www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/defend-encryption-say-no-to-stop-csam/

Fight for the Future

Defend encryption: SAY NO to STOP CSAM

New legislation introduced in Congress would undermine secure encryption and threaten our free speech online.

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 5mo ago

Replying to

And here's a decent article from Politico yesterday ... "Some House Republicans hope they’re in the final stages of massaging a multi-year extension that would incorporate some minor changes intended to pacify privacy hawks. Others are already predicting they’ll face the same internal schisms come April 30, when the current short-term extension runs out.... It’s gotten to the point where Senate Republicans, who have until now largely taken a back seat on FISA, are warning they are prepared to grab the wheel if the House can’t figure it out. “We’ve just got to have optionality here,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Friday of the path forward, shortly after clearing the House-passed, 10-day emergency Section 702 extension to avert a looming expiration. “I don’t know what the House is going to be able to do, and so we’ll be preparing accordingly.”" Yeah seems like a mistake to rely on the House to sort For many Republicans, the high-drama meltdown in the House was entirely predictable and has been months in the making, after Trump demanded a clean extension of the surveillance law despite well-documented skepticism within his own party. https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/20/fisa-extension-republicans-trump-00879944

politico.com

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The Nexus of Privacy @thenexusofprivacy@infosec.exchange

· 2mo ago

RE: https://cosocial.ca/@mhoye/116935907960319144 Great thread!

Quoting

mhoye but seasonally spooky

@mhoye@cosocial.ca

One of the most important things I learned at Mozilla was the idea of “priority of constituencies” - that is, if you have responsibilities to different groups for different reasons, being explicit up front about who is at the front of the line and why. As with The Tyranny Of Structurelessness, there’s always a hierarchy, and letting those hierarchies stay hidden means letting power escape scrutiny.

Open quoted post

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