Excellent coverage of the @thecoalition.bsky.social suit against the Trump administration over the misinfo/trust and safety visa ban: www.barrons.com/news/tech-re...
Indeed. If this is another layer of abstraction and it allows me to communicate better with the machine: great. There are details we need to figure out - how do we keep teaching computational thinking? How do I teach students to research when it's easier for me to conduct research myself?
The internet was supposed to be a democratizing force. But through Big Tech platform power, advertising and powerful algorithms, large platforms have seemingly created an oligarchy.
Hear more from Ethan on my latest episode!
#UtopiasPodcast #BigTech #BigTechOligarchy
@ethanz.bsky.social
Clive Thompson's (@clivethompson.bsky.social)
overview of this weird moment in AI-enabled coding is just masterful: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/m... Summarizes what I'm finding and what I'm hearing from friends who are earlier adopters than me.
One of my favorite feelings is when I've written an article or chapter that I like enough that I can just point people to it when they ask me a question. Turns out it's even better when someone else writes it.
Ramesh and I explore what comes after internet utopianism on @utopiaspodcast.bsky.social
Really excited to be part of this conversation at the end of the month. Olivier Sylvain (@oliviersylvain.bsky.social) is one of my very favorite thinkers and I'm hugely looking forward to sharing the stage with him.
Ethan Zuckerman is a professor at UMass exploring digital rights and civic technology. He is also the founder of the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure.
Use the link in my bio to hear our full conversation!
@umasspress.bsky.social @ethanz.bsky.social
If you're a researcher of social media, content moderation, trust and safety, algorithmic accountability, etc. and you're not working for a platform company, please join us and help in the collective defense of this important work: independenttechresearch.org
Our suit is brought by The Knight First Amendment Center (@knightcolumbia.org) and the complaint is here: knightcolumbia.org/documents/hp...
The US State Department has made a policy to deny visas to researchers and deport noncitizen researchers who study social media. Our group, the Coalition for Independent Technology Research (@thecoalition.bsky.social) is suing: www.npr.org/2026/03/09/n...
Last day! 12 translated books, supporting translators, authors, and independent multilingual news!
storybundle.com/translation
Our people are better than our leaders, example #2421: Neighbors in Springfield, OH are sheltering Haitian neighbors from ICE in their basements and attics, risking felony charges in the process: www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/u...
I wish that's all it was, Steven. I worry that even with a smoking gun that proved that Trump had sexually abused girls, there's a system of power that would defend and protect him. I don't know that even a smoking gun ends this.
There's more to say but not from me. I had a lot to say about leaving MIT almost seven years ago: ethanzuckerman.com/2019/08/20/o... . I continue to learn from people working to understand this horrific situation and especially those who suffered directly.
Patriarchy does not reward loyalty from people who are not patriarchs. Patriarchy is a pyramid scheme. Patriarchy funnels the rewards of male violence towards the elite while collectivising the shame, the pain and the frustration"
lauriepenny.substack.com/p/temporaril...
Finally, the wonderful @pennyred.bsky.social wrestles with her own dismay over Noam Chomsky's involvement with Epstein into an analysis of how patriarchy doesn't just encourage violence against women, but damages the vast majority of men in the system: "men do not owe allegiance to patriarchy.
An appropriately angry reflection comes from @anandwrites.bsky.social who reflects on being let into - and thrown out of - Epstein adjacent circles. I know the events he writes of, and can confirm not only the accuracy of his report, but the value of his analysis: the.ink/p/epsteins-n...
traps people in dependent relationships, while "upstream reciprocity" builds fields, and communities, not just careers: natematias.medium.com/the-manacle-...
My favorite reflection on the Epstein files comes from dear friend @natematias.bsky.social, who - like me - is fielding endless requests to talk about why we left MIT in the wake of Epstein and why others didn't. Nathan writes about "reciprocity", how simple, binary reciprocity
from Epstein and others. Her autobiography details how shitty men traumatize her for half her life, how she spends the next 20 years recovering from the trauma, and her disorientation when she beyond that cycle. Heartbreaking and mandatory reading: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobody%...
The most important thing I've read is Virginia Giuffre's "Nobody's Girl". While so much of the reporting is about the powerful people who are finally facing some consequences (or not) from their relationships with Epstein, Giuffre explains how she - and so many other girls - fell into abuse
In the midst of the geopolitical horror, I've been doing some processing around the most recent wave of Epstein files. While there's been no single presidency-destroying bombshell (could Trump even be destroyed that way?), there's a pattern of impunity and willful ignorance that's hard to accept.
A large number of privacy and infosec researchers have published a detailed letter calling for a moratorium on laws requiring age assurance technologies until there is a scientific consensus on the risk/benefit tradeoff of using them
www.politico.eu/article/age-...
Easily one of the top charts of all time
Anyone remember Ginger? That was the new transportation tech so overhyped that The Simpsons parodied it with a Mr. Garrison invention with an unusual user interface. My Prospect column asks why we so often succumb to these hype cycles: www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/techno... (Ginger was Segway!)
Excited to be joining friends in Ottawa on March 11 to talk about technology, governance and policy solutions to online youth safety.
If you know Anil, you KNOW which one that is...
Strong piece from Elizabeth Lopato on Epstein's "associates" and elite impunity: www.theverge.com/tech/874721/...
