danah boyd

Whistleblower claims ex-DOGE member says he took Social Security data to new job The Social Security inspector general’s office is investigating allegations that the former DOGE engineer took sensitive data on a thumb drive in a major potential security breach, said people familia...

I will try not to cry. Knowing it would happen doesn’t make it any less sucky. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

In the Twenty-first Century, Space is the New Railroad for Billionaire Ambitions Billionaires are playing a game of orbital Monopoly, writes Janet Vertesi.

Janet Vertesi on the ways in which the pursuit of space is the new railroad fantasy. Yay for dreams of domination! ::groan:: www.techpolicy.press/in-the-twent...

Nepal's Gen Z Used TikTok and Discord to Win a Historic Election The election of rapper-turned politician Balen Shah was shaped by platforms and algorithms built on the other side of the world, writes Aaradhyaa Gyawali.

Did you know that Nepal had a high-stakes election last week? That the backstory involved Discord, a youth movement, and a rapper-turned-politician? I didn't - at least until a student of mine told me. She wrote it up for others to learn too: www.techpolicy.press/nepals-gen-z...

Current household debate: Who bullshits more - GenAI or politicians?

I hate tech in schools, not cuz of the tech but cuz it’s being intro’d as a replacement for undersupported and overworked teachers. There are pedagogically sound ways of leveraging tech in education but that’s not what we are seeing. :( cc @jppullen.com

::bounce:: My upcoming book - "Data Are Made, Not Found: A Story of Politics, Power, and the Civil Servants Who Saved the U.S. Census" - is on the shortlist for the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Prize!!! Thank you CJS/Nieman for your encouragement!! journalism.columbia.edu/news/lukas-s...

Here is a lovely article about the newest #SloanFellow recipients at Cornell. So inspiring! Congrats to all. news.cornell.edu/stories/2026...

2026 Fellows | Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Our mission is to make the world a better place through the advancement of scientific knowledge.

I am tickled pink to share that I received a 2026 Sloan Research Fellowship. I've always been sooooo impressed by the amazing scholarship produced by the academics that Sloan selects for this fellowship and so I'm utterly giddy to be among them. sloan.org/fellowships/...

Order your Faves on my Digital Cookie Site Today That's right! You can order your favorite Girl Scout Cookies from me online, all while helping my troop and I do great things in our community and beyond! Check it out.

It’s that time. The time each year when I have a second job as a cookie peddler. Help me out! Who wants a cookie from a Girl Scout? I know you do… digitalcookie.girlscouts.org/scout/nava80...

ICE at the polls! Bannon is basically yelling “fire” in a crowded theater here. His objective is to cause chaos (and suppress votes on the left). And it’s already working.

This threat works on multiple levels and doesn’t have to be “real” to serve its purpose.

Let me explain & offer some advice.

Teens, Screens & Minds: danah boyd in Conversation with Renée DiResta What’s really happening with teenagers, screens, and mental health?Much of today’s public debate is driven by claims that smartphones are "rewiring" an entire generation; popular books like "The Anxio...

Tomorrow night, @noupside.bsky.social and I are talking Teens, Screens & Minds. Join us! interintellect.com/salons/teens...

Rep. Joe Neguse urges residents to send comments to NSF in support of NCAR U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, a Lafayette Democrat, is urging all Boulder and Colorado residents to submit written comments to the National Science Foundation in support of the National Center for Atmosphe…

Our fight against Trump’s reckless threat to dismantle NCAR continues, and we are building a bipartisan coalition to stop it.

I urge all Coloradans to make their voices heard during the NSF's public comment period.

See the Daily Camera’s reporting 👇🏽

Tech Billionaires Want Us Dead YouTube video by Taylor Lorenz

I made a deep dive video into the TESCREAL ideology shaping Silicon Valley’s biggest companies and the AI arms race, and how a shocking number of tech billionaires are pro-human extinction

Have you read the 1994 account of alt.tasteless vs. rec.pets.cats lately? I hadn't. The closing para sent shudders down my spine. www.wired.com/1994/05/alt-...

AI’s Memorization Crisis Large language models don’t “learn”—they copy. And that could change everything for the tech industry.

The Atlantic posted an article about memorization and generative AI, and it mentions our work on extraction of books from production LLms and open-weight models.

www.theatlantic.com/technology/2...

The referenced work reflects research with @marklemley.bsky.social @jtlg.bsky.social and others.

No More Tears by Gardiner Harris: 9780593229866 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An explosive, deeply reported exposé of Johnson & Johnson, one of America’s oldest and most trusted pharmaceutical companies—from an award-winning...

Please don’t encourage any company to be more like J&J. They have killed or maimed more people than folks realize, while manipulating regulators and tricking the public. They are masters at spin, not ethics. Understanding them is key to grokking MAHA. See: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/647408...

I feel honored to have an excuse to learn from you and @karenlevy.bsky.social !!! I feel like a kid in a candy store.

Haha. They DID try to convince me to go singular, but the people at the Census Bureau would lose their bloody minds if I published a book titled "data is." And I'm too much of an ethnographer not to embrace their emic language.

Join us on Monday November 3 at 7pm ET for a Peoples & Things livestream featuring Cory Doctorow @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy on his book, _Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It_, with special guest host @zephoria.bsky.social!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjFv...

OMG OMG OMG. I handed in my upcoming book on the census - "Data Are Made, Not Found: A Story of Politics, Power, and the Civil Servants Who Saved the US Census." Now, the fine folks at the University of Chicago Press will begin the march towards production (September 2026). OMG OMG OMG.

How I Became a Populist My time at the Federal Trade Commission—before Donald Trump fired me—totally changed the way I see our political divide.

I can't stop thinking about @bedoyausa.bsky.social's essay this week. It is a story-forward account of why the American people are struggling. (Hint: political economy.) It's the kind of account that makes an ethnographer swoon. I can't recommend this enough: newrepublic.com/article/2011...

Today is one of those days where I can’t stop thinking about Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron.” I invite you to (re)read it. archive.org/stream/Harri...

I’m so grateful for the committee who recognized our paper, which was a wonderful collaboration with @cyberlyra.bsky.social marrying insights from two in-depth ethnographic projects to examine how time and money are weaponized for political agendas in govt.

The sociotechnical team at MSR is amaaaazing. I’m sad to be leaving but I really hope some amazing researcher gets to work with them. Check out this fabulous job opportunity:

Is AI Inevitable? with danah boyd YouTube video by AI for All Tomorrows

"Is AI inevitable?" was a fun podcast convo on "AI for All Tomorrows." Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l5g...

35 Years for Privacy, Free Speech, and a Brighter Future Through July 10, new monthly or annual Sustaining Donors get an EFF35 Challenge Coin! With your help, EFF is here to stay.

EFF is 35! 🎉
We've spent three+ decades defending your rights online—and we're not slowing down:

Incredible. I never thought I would see a poster session as protest. 💪

I did this interview back in November. It's so so so weird to read it now. Especially the stuff about US politics. But hopefully the other parts are helpful to junior researchers. www.journalofculturaleconomy.org/a-sociology-...

#ica25 folks: @zephoria.bsky.social and I are gearing up for the No Kings protest on Sat! It’s 10min walk from the venue. Bring water, sunscreen, phone chargers: it’s gonna be HOT. Join us!!!