To start out the roundup, Karl Bode at Techdirt on Canada’s new right-to-repair law. See also Doctorow on Pluralistic covering the same for some further explanation. Controlling our devices is the first step to controlling our data, and in an America that is growing more authoritarian one must protect themselves and their data. Right to repair also means a right to disassemble, understand, and verify. Only when we fully know our devices can we fully trust them.
Following up on that, a guide from WIRED on protecting your privacy. Small steps.
Back to government surveillance, with a 404 media piece on the use of location data by the government (warrant required? Unclear). Even taking the assumption that under current law a warrant is required, I imagine there will soon be a federal judiciary willing to chip away at the 4th amendment. How else will we find the (immigrants/trans people/journalists/assorted enemies within)? I worry that I put too fine a point on these concerns. But then again, I would prefer to be wrong and advancing security. A ‘hope to be wrong and plan to be right’ kind of deal.
Hopping over to the archive of links on pinboard for something fun (but a long read): Closing Arguments of Mr. Rothschild in Kitzmiller v. Dover. My favorite quote?
His explanation that he misspoke the word “creationism” because it was being used in news articles, which he had just previously testified he had not read, was, frankly, incredible. We all watched that tape. And per Mr. Linker’s suggestion that all the kids like movies, I’d like to show it one more time. (Tape played.) That was no deer in the headlights. That deer was wearing shades and was totally at ease.
What a line. *chef’s kiss*
