Laura Edelson

Also, this complaint is 🔥🔥🔥

tangentially related: @erie.bsky.social and @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social suggest that people with technical chops punch way above their weight in policy circles: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lawf...

On Lawfare Daily, @jshermcyber.bsky.social spoke to @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social and @erie.bsky.social about how state enforcers and regulators can better work with technologists, what technologists are suited to help with, and what roles technologists can play. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lawf...

Great news!
JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month

www.jstor.org/action/showL...

Cropped photo of a flyer. Black text on white paper with a shine and a light reflection of the photographer behind. The top lines mention trash room, dumpster, and “Thank you for your cooperation.” The text below reads: “To do the useful thing, To say the courageous thing, To contemplate the beautiful, That is enough for one man’s life.” - T.S. Eliot

The folks who manage our building put a flyer in the elevator every week. Along with the weekly weather and notes about building rules being broken, they often add a quote. This is one I snapshotted a few weeks ago:

You’re really on to something here. But can it run Steam?

I spoke with @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social and @chinafile.bsky.social's Jessica Batke about their recent Locknet report, which provides a brilliant, concise, detailed but accessible overview of China's online censorship system.

What can be done to slow misinformation in the digital age The killing of political activist Charlie Kirk was followed almost immediately by a flood of misinformation and graphic content online. Northeastern University professor Laura Edelson about whether th...

I talked to @cbsmornings.bsky.social this morning about the rising tide of extreme content on social media in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination:

www.cbsnews.com/video/what-c...

How Disinformation About the Minnesota Shooting Spread Like Wildfire on X Under Elon Musk’s leadership, X has become the perfect platform to supercharge the spread of dangerous disinformation during breaking news events.

NEW

X helped spread ill-informed conclusions about the motivations of the Minneapolis school shooter based on cherry-picked words or phrases to millions.

with comment from @ninajankowicz.com @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social @rothschildmd.bsky.social @maargentino.com

www.wired.com/story/disinf...

Had you not played it before? Or just prepping for Silksong?

I'm one of the 37 targeted below by DNI Tulsi Gabbard. I haven't had a clearance nor worked in government since 2013. This is political theater & a dangerous example of government abusing its powers to punish private citizens for openly exercising their 1st Amendment rights. My full statement:

Subscribing to the print edition of The Onion recently prompted me to resubscribe a print (weekend) edition of a second paper so I could give my kid a uh… more balanced experience of what ‘news’ is.

I think this is also the strategy that seems most likely to be actually possible. Because even getting rid of the legal obstacles is *incredibly* challenging, and going much beyond that towards mandatory interop might not be for the foreseeable future.

One of the things I was most excited that we got to do for the Locknet report was to produce these explainers of how the internet actually works. It’s not magic!

@chinafile.bsky.social’s Jessica Batke and @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social, authors of a new report that reshapes our understanding of Chinese censorship, spoke to the @washingtonpost.com about how the “Locknet” works.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

Big Brother gets new powers in China with digital ID system China is launching a digital ID system, giving Beijing greater control over online activity and further raising concerns about surveillance and censorship.

I talked to @washingtonpost.com for this piece on China's digital ID system. It's a great example of two key features of the Locknet: 1) different aspects of the censorship system reinforce each other, and 2) pushing the policeman into citizens heads.
wapo.st/4kBkkEc

I didn’t know you did neuroscience but in retrospect it makes total sense for your work.

After more feedback, I think it is black staining polypore- thanks!!

Can anyone help me identity this mushroom? It grew up in just a few days in my garden, and it’s currently over a foot wide. I’m definitely not going to eat it, I’m just curious!

The Politics of Fragmentation and Capture in AI Regulation - ProMarket In new research, Filippo Lancieri, Laura Edelson, and Stefan Bechtold explore how the political economy of artificial intelligence regulation is shaped by the strategic behavior of governments, technology companies, and other agents.

NEW: @lancierifilippo.bsky.social (@georgetownlaw.bsky.social), @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social, Stefan Bechtold (@ethz.ch) explore how the political economy of artificial intelligence regulation is shaped by the strategic behavior of governments, technology companies, and other agents.

Can I tell you? You have won the ARG embedded in this article, the objective of which was to deduce the existance of the Locknet Monster. Congratulations! The prize is melancholy, and one drink if you ever run into me in person.

A collage depicting blimps, planes, drones, and ships trawling the sea and sky for digital devices and information.

NEW: A ChinaFile investigation into China's powerful, but leaky, internet censorship system at locknet.chinafile.com
1/21

EPIC collaborated w/ @commonsensemedia.bsky.social, Cybersecurity for Democracy (@yaeleisenstat.bsky.social @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social) & Tech Justice Law Project on a brief telling the Ninth Circuit to deny Meta Section 230 protections for its allegedly addictive design. 11 legal scholars joined!

Thanks to @epic.org for leading the way, to @comminsense.bsky.social and TJLP for this collaboration, and the below legal scholars, who signed on in support. What a team! cc: @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social & @meganiorio.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/mega...

Supported by @opentechfund.bsky.social: @chinafile.bsky.social’s Jessica Batke & @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social explain that Chinese censorship isn’t simply a “firewall, but a “locknet” – a multi-level system of socio-technical controls. (1/4)
locknet.chinafile.com/the-locknet/...

So... I'm not saying you should sue any platforms under the DSA. But if you *did* want to do that, you'd definitely want to look at this article from @pjleerssen.bsky.social, Iris Toepoel, Anna van Duin, and @jvh.bsky.social

It's basically a tactical guide.

dsa-observatory.eu/wp-content/u...

Opinion | Big Tech Is Finally Losing

I bring you a tiny bit of good news — courts are finally reining in Big Tech in significant ways.

We could actually be on the cusp of a totally transformed tech landscape - after 30 years of total lack of constraints.

My latest for @nytopinion.nytimes.com (gift link)

Hey, if all AI legislation is dead, I get at least a week back to teach other things 🙃.

I have to add this to my syllabus!

Everything you are saying is reinforcing for me that we set rules about systems access to based on what we think is technically possible to do with the mode of access (in addition to other factors of course) and so many problems just come out of the fact that what’s possible changes over time.