destroying-autocracy-october-16-2025 (@destroying-autocracy-october-16-2025@battalion.mobileatom.net)
Destroying Autocracy – October 16, 2025
Welcome to this week’s “Destroying Autocracy”.
It’s your source for curated news affecting democracy in the cyber arena with a focus on protecting it. That necessitates an opinionated Butlerian jihad against big tech as well as evangelizing for open-source and the Fediverse. Since big media’s journalism wing is flailing and failing in its core duty to democracy, this is also a collection of alternative reporting on the eternal battle between autocracy and democracy. We also cover the cybersecurity world. You can’t be free without safety and privacy.
FYI, my opinions will be in bold. And will often involve cursing. Because humans. Especially tech bros. And fascists. Fuck ’em.
We’re off to France to scout locations for The Fulcrum’s worldwide HQ. 😉 So, there will not be a post for the next two weeks.
The Programmer’s Fulcrum is the future (and smaller) home for a fusion of Symfony Station and Battalion. Its tagline is Devs Defending Democracy, Developing the OMN.
You can sign up now and for 2025 get an email with links to and featured articles for each week’s Symfony Station Communiqué and Battalion “Destroying Autocracy” post along with their featured articles. And you’ll be set with TPF after the fusing.
We are posting on the Fediverse now at @thefulcrum @thefulcrum.dev and original website content will start in 2026.
Featured Item(s)
EuroNews writes:
Artificial intelligence is a matter of design – not destiny.
That’s the message from 10 philanthropic foundations aiming to loosen the grip that the technology’s moneyed developers, fueled by an investing frenzy, hold over its evolution.
Launched Tuesday under the name Humanity AI, the coalition is committing $500 million (€427 million) across the next five years to place human interests at the forefront of the technology’s rapid integration into daily life.
“The future belongs to those who actively create it, and that shan’t be a few leaders in Silicon Valley. It’s all of us,” Mozilla Foundation Executive Director Nabiha Syed said in an emailed statement.
Philanthropists to invest €427 million to curbs tech giants’ influence on new AI
Let’s hope they are successful.
We start and end with good news to make the middle bearable.
The response to Russia’s War Crimes, Techno Feudalism, and other douchebaggery
Ars Technica reports:
Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement
Feds seize $15 billion from alleged forced labor scam built on “human suffering”
Inside the web infrastructure revolt over Google’s AI Overviews
EuroNews reports:
Netherlands invokes rare emergency law to take charge of Chinese chipmaker
Free Software Foundation Europe reports:
Refund of pre-installed Windows: Lenovo must pay 20,000 euros in damages
DMA litigation against Apple: a quick recap
The Register reports:
Librephone battles the proprietary binary blob
Fantastic.
Lemonde Informatiqué reports:
Microsoft 365 Education traque illégalement les données des élèves
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
Victory! California Requires Transparency for AI Police Reports
Neutral
Ben Werdmueller advises:
News Orgs: Build what makes you special. Buy the rest.
NiemanLab shares:
“How can we help?” The Engaged Journalism Exchange aims to create belonging through media
Tech Policy reports:
To Have Democracy, We Must Contest Data
Government Technology reports:
CDT: Growing AI Use in Schools Brings Benefits and New Risks
The Evil Empire (AKA Autocracy) Strikes Back
Poynter reports:
A united media stands up against the Pentagon’s press restrictions
Pariah States
The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports:
EFF and Five Human Rights Organizations Urge Action Around Microsoft’s Role in Israel’s War on Gaza
TechCrunch reports:
Spyware maker NSO confirms acquisition by U.S. investor
404 Media reports:
Senators Warn Saudi Arabia’s Acquisition of EA Will Be Used for ‘Foreign Influence’
BleepingComputer reports:
North Korean hackers use EtherHiding to hide malware on the blockchain
DarkReading reports:
China Hackers Test AI-Optimized Attack Chains in Taiwan
The Register reports:
Chinese cyberspies snoop on Russian IT biz in rare east-on-east attack
Big Tech
Ars Technica reports:
Trump admin pressured Facebook into removing ICE-tracking group
Infrequently Noted reports:
The App Store Was Always Authoritarian
MDR reports:
Windows-Umstellung kostet Sachsen-Anhalt mehr als vier Millionen Euro
404 Media reports:
The End of Windows 10 Support Is an E-Waste Disaster in the Making
The Verge reports:
OpenAI allegedly sent police to an AI regulation advocate’s door
Tuta shares:
How GoDaddy hollowed out Host Europe & DomainFactory (plus better European web hosting providers)
Terror
Politico reports:
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Cybersecurity/Privacy
BleepingComputer reports:
Spain dismantles “GXC Team” cybercrime syndicate, arrests leader
Wired reports:
Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data
The Register reports:
British govt agents demand action after UK mega-cyberattacks surge 50%
Fediverse
Connected Places has:
Ben Werdmueller tells us:
Why the open social web matters now
For Better reflects on:
Defining a new kind of social app
Media CCC shares:
Decentralising Freedom: Open Source for Sovereignty
Fedify announces:
Fedify 1.9.0: Security enhancements, improved DX, and expanded framework support
Loops has:
We Distribute has:
Wafrn is for People Who Miss Tumblr’s Chaotic Energy
Mastodon announces:
The first beta release of Mastodon 4.5.0 is ready for testing!
TechCrunch reports:
Threads is getting group chats as messaging rolls out to the EU
CTAs (aka show us some free love)
- That’s it for this week. Please share this edition of Destroying Autocracy.
- Follow me on the Fediverse. Or this site via the button in the footer. Or via RSS. Or even our future home in 2026, if you want a head start.
Keep fighting!
Ringleader, Battalion
Reuben Walker
Follow me on the Fediverse
#ActivityPub #AI #Autocracy #BigJournalism #BigTech #Democracy #Fascism #Fedify #Fediverse #GoDaddy #Loops #Mastodon #Newsmast #Signal #StopChina #StopIsrael #StopRedAmerica #StopRussia #SupportUkraine #TechnoAnarchism #TechnoFeudalism #Threads #WARFN
https://battalion.mobileatom.net/?p=3789
Show Original Post
wjmaggos (@wjmaggos@liberal.city)
"Real-time sharing of short text messages and links — so-called “microblogging” — is the heart of social networks from LinkedIn to Twitter. But articles and blog posts, with finer details, deeper thought and more analysis, are a crucial part of what the Web is for..."
the term microblogging confuses things. the key is the "boost" which lets ANYTHING ON THE WEB go viral. just add #ActivityPub. it's what adds a social layer to our news feed. together we decide what deserves attention. #SocialWeb
Show Original Post
sky (@sky@fedimonster.de)
Wirklich spannender Vortrag von @pfefferle
https://c-tube.c-base.org/w/uhsacgCBfTjMjTWTmFrHMa
#FediDay2025 #ActivityPub #Wordpress
Show Original Post
daniel (@daniel@gultsch.social)
I’m watching @pfefferle’s talk on the #ActivityPub plugin for #WordPress he gave at @berlinfediday and look who made it on one of his slides. @vanitasvitae. Small world
https://c-tube.c-base.org/w/uhsacgCBfTjMjTWTmFrHMa
Show Original Post
smallcircles (@smallcircles@social.coop)
The fediverse is a new type of social network that is built by people themself, by adding their own servers and applications, so that the network organically grows. Millions of people from across the globe are thus able to find each other on the basis of shared passions and interests, and navigate a rich tapestry of inclusive communities to discuss and collaborate, and to express their freedom and creativity.
Show Original Post
mariusor (@mariusor@metalhead.club)
Well, after an initial failure, my #NLNet grant application for #GoActivityPub has been accepted under the NGI0 Commons Fund. 💪
This means that for the next months my main focus will be fully on making #ActivityPub in the #Go programming language easier for other developers.
If you're one of them, reach out, I want to know what you struggle with and how I can help with that.
Show Original Post
homegrown (@homegrown@social.growyourown.services)
You can now have Fediverse compatiblity on self-hosted Ghost-powered blogs. There are two different ways of doing this:
- Install your Ghost blog using Docker, more info at https://docs.ghost.org/install/docker and see the section on #ActivityPub at https://docs.ghost.org/install/docker#enabling-social-web-activitypub. There are no limits on this option.
- Use ghost.org's ActivityPub service, but this has limits for self-hosters of 2000 follows, 2000 followers and 100 interactions per day (more info at https://docs.ghost.org/hosting#hosted-activitypub-usage-limits).
Show Original Post
spla (@spla@mastodont.cat)
El desenvolupament del servidor #ActivityPub #appy ( 
) no s'atura. Fa quatre dies vaig alliberar la versió v0.3.0:
https://codeberg.org/spla/appy/releases/tag/v0.3.0
Show Original Post
baskin (@baskin@social.gatospito.org)
Πρώτες εντυπώσεις για το #gotosocial , ενδιαφέρον, με πολύ μικρό resources footprint και εύκολο setup με docker (για όσους πιάνουν λίγο τα χέρια τους).
Δεν διαθέτει web client και συνδέεσα με τρίτα apps που υποστηρίζουν #activitypub (είτε web είτε για κινητά).
Προφανώς για τον απλό χρήστη είναι λίγο περίπλοκα αυτά αλλά όποιος έχει φτάσει στο σημείο να θέλει single user instance (ή για λίγους χρήστες που ελέγχει εκείνος, χωρίς ανοικτά registrations π.χ.) και πλήρη έλεγχο των data του, μάλλον δεν θα δυσκολευτεί πολύ.
Θα το κρατήσω για δοκιμές προς το παρόν και για πιθανά σεντόνια μιας και το default limit του είναι 5000 χαρακτήρες.
Show Original Post
Linux (@Linux@social.tchncs.de)
Mastodon 4.4.7 has been released.
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.4.7
There is also a public BETA (test build) of Mastodon 4.5
https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/releases/tag/v4.5.0-beta.1
#Mastodon #Fediverse #ActivityPub
Show Original Post
kyu3a (@kyu3a@social.vivaldi.net)
iPhoneの代替アプリストア「AltStore」が日本でも2025年末に提供開始へ | Gadget Gate
https://gadget.phileweb.com/post-111132/
『AltStoreは、日本、オーストラリア、ブラジル向けにiPhoneアプリの提供を2025年末までに開始することを目指しており、さらに来年には英国でも展開を予定』
『また、AltStoreは…「Fediverse」にも参加することを表明…ActivityPubプロトコルを利用し、ストア内のアプリ更新情報やニュースをMastodonやThreadsといった分散型SNSと連携させ、相互にやり取りできる仕組みを導入する予定だ。ユーザーはAltStore内でMastodon上のコメントや「いいね！」を直接確認でき、Fediverse上のアクションがAltStore内にも反映されるようになる』
マジかぁ〜！ぜんぜん興味なかったけど。俄然興味が湧いてきた。
#AltStore #Fediverse #ActivityPub #AppStore
Show Original Post
julian (@julian@fietkau.social)
Hey @bonfire @mayel and crew, if you ever feel like putting a spec down to attach academic citations to #ActivityPub objects for your Open Science Network, ping me.
I have ideas for building something out of https://schema.org/ScholarlyArticle, https://schema.org/citation and dashes of https://w3c.github.io/scholarly-html/ for @encyclia. Could enable e.g. “this post discusses this article”, “find posts related to this publication”, or long-form articles with declarative references.
Maybe @jonny has thoughts too?
Show Original Post