Aspiration

If you are a resident of California, the state now has a portal where you can demand deletion of your personal data from 500+ registered data brokers with a single request form, for free.

consumer.drop.privacy.ca.gov

"It is against the TOS to be talked into suicide by our LLM" is possibly the most evil tech bro thing I've ever read

"I have a decent fluency in LLMs, and they have utility, but the absurd degree of over-hype, the way they're being forced on everyone, and the insistence on ignoring the many valid critiques about them make it very difficult to focus on legitimate uses where they might add value."

Join us for the AI Openness & Equity Forum 🤝 A space for policy practitioners, researchers & advocates to explore how AI policy can center justice, accountability & the public interest. Online, 14 Oct, 15–17h CET. Info & how to join: aspirationtech.org/blog/join_ou...

Smiling Alaa seated with his arm around his sister Sanaa

Smiling Alaa standing with his arm around his mother Laila

Below are photos of Alaa Abdel Fattah free and at home with his sister, Sanaa, and mother, Laila.

It’s wonderful to see his beautiful smile again!

(Photos via his sister, Mona, on X)

#FreeAlaa

Remembering Brandi Collins-Dexter Brandi Collins-Dexter was a force of nature who spent her entire career serving others.

Brandi was one of the greats and we will miss her dearly. www.freepress.net/blog/remembe...

Brandi Collins-Dexter to Receive Parker Award Posthumously The United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry will present Brandi Collins-Dexter with the Parker Award at its annual Parker Lecture and Awards Breakfast on October 30.

We've lost an icon. #RIP Brandi Collins-Dexter uccmediajustice.org/brandi-colli... thank you for all you did. #MediaJustice #RIP

TeleMessage Explorer: a new open source research tool I've spent the last week or two writing code to make sense of the massive hack of data from TeleMessage, the comically insecure company that makes a modified Signal app that Trump's former national se...

Check it out. I just published TeleMessage Explorer: a new open source research tool micahflee.com/telemessage-...

Donate to the Tor Project If you value privacy, support Tor

Throughout May, help strengthen Tor's independence from profit-driven influence. 💜
We're aiming to raise $75,000 to keep building the tools that protect your privacy and help millions access the open internet. 😤✊
#PrivacyIsPossible
torproject.org/donate/donat...

EFF Sues DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management to Halt Ransacking of Federal Data EFF and a coalition of privacy defenders have filed a lawsuit today asking a federal court to block Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing the private information of mil...

BREAKING: We are suing DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management to stop the brazen and illegal data sharing of federal employee data with the “government efficiency” group.

<3 Lunar reproducible-builds.org/news/2024/11...

Farewell dearest Lunar. You were integrity incarnate, our inspiration, ally, role model and a true visionary. Your spirit will be with us always <3 lunar.anargeek.net

Welcome www.flipcause.com to our list of #CluelessVendors who illegally spam nonprofits like us with garbage. We heartily recommend everyone boycott nonprofit vendors who scrape nonprofit sites to bulk email every address on those sites. #BadBusiness #BoycottFlipcause #SalesforceSucks

Job Description Freedom of the Press Foundation protects and defends adversarial journalism in the 21st century.

We're hiring a Digital Security Trainer to help facilitate security trainings with journalists, write educational materials, and more.

New York-based applicants are encouraged to apply but strong U.S.-based remote candidates will also be considered.

Airtable | Everyone's app platform Airtable is a low-code platform for building collaborative apps. Customize your workflow, collaborate, and achieve ambitious outcomes. Get started for free.

SustainOSS is in a strategic planning phase, and we want to understand the current needs and challenges across our community. We want to make sure our events and programming truly meet the open source community's needs. Help us by answering a few questions!
Short survey: airtable.com/appMC6RHRAE8...

Home Over the past 10 years, technological progress has inarguably transformed our society. Artificial intelligence, decentralized protocols, and quantum computing are just a few of the sea changes radical...

Gray Area Festival 10 is next week! Full lineup and schedule for this year’s talks, performances, and workshops: grayareafestival.io

Please join us for the first-ever Open Boards Summit, which will take place online on Thursday October 24th, 2024 from 15:00 to 18:00 UTC openboardssummit.org And thank you for helping spread the word!

Support Sanitation and Energy Projects for Ugandan Students, organized by James Imanian Support Sanitation and Energy Projects for Ugandan Students L… James Imanian needs your support for Support Sanitation and Energy Projects for Ugandan Students

Spectrum Transformation Services is an inspiring youth education project in Uganda, and this physical infrastructure fundraiser is so vital to their success. Please join us in supporting!
www.gofundme.com/f/support-sa... Org web site: www.stsedutech.org

Registration is open for Aspiration's 2024 Dev Summit, our annual event where we talk less about tech and more about building movement power, strategy and solidarity. Please join us 20-22 November in Oakland California USA, and check out our pre-events too! aspirationtech.org/events/devsu... #npdev

Opinion | Your Driving App Is Leading You Astray Programmed to find the fastest route without consideration of literally anything else, driving apps endanger and infuriate us on a remarkably regular basis.

Another wonderful reflection from the amazing juliaangwin.com, shouting out our fine friends openstreetmap.org www.nytimes.com/2024/07/10/o... Support OSM! supporting.openstreetmap.org

Artificial Experience We are eager to ask, “Is this computer human?” but reluctant to ask, “What does it mean to be human?”

Wonderful insightful piece from Aspiration Board Member Steve Wright on AI and Artificial Experience conches.substack.com/p/artificial...

[Recorded May 16, 2024] Whether you’re on social media or surfing the web, you’re probably sharing more personal data than you realize. That can pose a risk to your privacy—even your safety. At the same time, big datasets could lead to huge advances in fields like medicine. In NOVA's Secrets in Your Data, host Alok Patel explores these issues on a quest to understand what happens to all the data we’re shedding and explores the latest efforts to maximize benefits—without compromising personal privacy. Join the Computer History Museum for a screening of selected clips from Secrets in Your Data paired with a panel discussion featuring experts from the film. NOVA's Secrets in Your Data premieres Wednesday May 15 at 9/8c on PBS. Check local listings for details. It is also available for streaming online via the PBS video app or the link below. https://youtu.be/ih_GGQX_zmM?si=0ui4qAfOP5Ou6RRT Catalog Number: 102808999 Acquisition Number: 2024.0061 CHM Live | NOVA Secrets in Your Data

If Nova PBS’ #SecretsInYourData got you thinking about your privacy online, check out this panel discussion with EFF’s @evacide.bsky.social, @brewster.kahle.org, Patrick Jackson, and Dr. Alok Patel, held last week at the Computer History Museum.

How you could just 'kill' the big tech industry Hip-hop's DIY ethos, music samples, and samplers are a blueprint to challenge big tech dominance. A blog post part of our 'we got opinions' series.

Thank you @Cloud68@fosstodon.org, represent: cloud68.co/blog/how-you...

Join us for our next Capacity Builders Convergence, "What is your capacity building strategy?", Tuesday, March 12th from 15.00 to 16.30 UTC aspirationtech.org/events/capac... #capacitycon

“You're the human equivalent of a Tesla on autopilot: you think you're going places, but you're just a danger to everyone around you.”

anyone whose ever made a joke about a Tesla exploding, this is our moment. we trained an AI to violate asimov’s laws.

Aspiration Dev Summit Virtual Ephemeral Session is this Thursday. Join us for lots of peer skill and knowledge sharing! aspirationtech.org/events/devsu... #npdev

Northeastern is hiring faculty in democracy and tech. Deadline is rolling. You can apply either through Social Sciences or Computer Science but all hires are multidisciplinary. northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/careers/job/...
#DemocracyandTechnology
#DigitalCivics

It's on! Registration is open for Aspiration's 2023 Dev Summit, November 15-17 in Oakland CA US: https://aspirationtech.org/events/devsummit23 This is our 20th anniversary event! Please join us, and help spread the word! #npdev #nptech