More than 70 organizations, including the ACLU, EPIC, and Fight for the Future, say the AI smart glasses feature would endanger abuse victims, immigrants, and LGBTQ+ people. www.wired.com/story/meta-r...
Important findings by @smex.org ⬇️
I wrote about how Hungary's election creates breathing room for the LGBTQ community but not liberation. The next few years will require substantial work to undo the harms of 16 years of Orbán's systematic targeting of the LGBTQ community.
www.thedissident.news/what-hungary...
FRONTLINE and ProPublica investigate the violence, protests and arrests stemming from the federal immigration sweeps across the country. "Caught in the Crackdown" premieres tonight on PBS and online.
Ahmed Eldin must be released immediately. He has been detained under laws in Kuwait that criminalize online & offline speech.
Across the region, authorities have used such laws to target online posts since the war, including increased targeting of journalism. Increasing repression & disinformation.
With many newspapers closed & no clear path for local public libraries to preserve digital-only reporting, the work of safeguarding journalism’s record increasingly falls to
@archive.org - and their ability to preserve knowledge for the public good is under attack
www.wired.com/story/the-in...
“Those who stared too long into the Lego abyss came out sounding completely deranged.” @sarahjeong.bsky.social continues to be one of my favourite writers and honoured my scraps of thought were featured in this alongside @azadehakbari.bsky.social and @thedecenter.bsky.social’s Afsaneh Rigot.
Our urgent statement on escalating rhetoric & attacks on essential systems in Iran.
Under international law, both what is said and what is done carry legal consequences.
Accountability must be applied consistently & forcefully — or it ceases to function the-decenter.ghost.io/urgent-state... #iran
Today, over 100 international law experts warn that U.S. strikes on Iran violate the U.N. Charter and may constitute as war crimes.
“Recent statements from senior U.S. government officials describ[e] the rules governing military engagement as “stupid” and prioritizing “lethality” over “legality”.”
The human toll is rapidly expanding across the region. State actions and corporations whose technologies enable them must be held accountable. Access without safety is not access. The protection of human life is vital in the route to any rights.
Across the country, individuals are finding ways to stay connected: sharing updates on high-risk areas, routing aid where possible, sending messages through each other, relying on low-bandwidth tools and trusted personal networks. It is a stark reflection of ingenuity under extreme constraint.
And yet, people persist.
At the same time, enforcement by the IRI is intensifying under wartime emergency powers, with more arrests, ad hoc checkpoints, and device searches.
War is creating new forms of inequality. Limited connectivity options — shady VPNs, workarounds, and international calling — are prohibitively expensive. Access to satellite internet like Starlink exists, but only for a small, privileged number of people, and often with significant personal risk.
Costs are high, and many cannot earn any income. Without internet access, they cannot simply check alerts, access news, or confirm to family members that they are still alive.
What we’re hearing from inside the country is consistent: exhaustion, fear, and a deep desire for safety and normalcy. People are navigating daily indiscriminate attacks and rising casualty rates. Children are among the most affected.
Inside Iran, the situation is compounding. With internet and communications already blocked by the IRI, people are increasingly isolated: cut off from loved ones while facing ongoing bombardment and the real risk of losing energy sources altogether.
This after a month of tech-facilitated warfare, widespread violence, and mass civilian deaths.
US and Israeli officials are escalating threats against Iran, including infrastructure such as electricity and power. That means cutting off the very systems people depend on to access the internet and communications, and to live.
And yet, people persist.
At the same time, enforcement by the IRI is intensifying under wartime emergency powers, with more arrests, ad hoc checkpoints, and device searches.
War is creating new forms of inequality. Limited connectivity options — shady VPNs, workarounds, and international calling — are prohibitively expensive. Access to satellite internet like Starlink exists, but only for a small, privileged number of people, and often with significant personal risk.
Costs are high, and many cannot earn any income. Without internet access, they cannot simply check alerts, access news, or confirm to family members that they are still alive.
What we’re hearing from inside the country is consistent: exhaustion, fear, and a deep desire for safety and normalcy. People are navigating daily indiscriminate attacks and rising casualty rates. Children are among the most affected.
Inside Iran, the situation is compounding. With internet and communications already blocked by the IRI, people are increasingly isolated: cut off from loved ones while facing ongoing bombardment and the real risk of losing energy sources altogether.
This after a month of tech-facilitated warfare, widespread violence, and mass civilian deaths.
Our hearts are with the people of Tehran, Beirut, and Gaza as they survive unprecedented violence at scale.
US and Israeli warfare, powered by AI-assisted mass targeting systems, has further turned urban centers into testing grounds for algorithmic carnage. We’re seeing the results.
My piece in @theatlantic.com on what AI is doing to the information environment during the war in Iran. 175 children buried in Minab. Every fact about their deaths has been documented, verified, and geolocated. None of it has been enough to prevent the doubt from spreading faster than the evidence.
**Can you help us do a little bsky survey by reposting this**
➡️ What checklists/guides would you like to see ActivistChecklist.org create next? Comment below! 👇
Could be anything in the realms of activist digital security, physical safety, operational security, vetting, specific tools, etc.
For months we’ve watched ICE weaponize AI surveillance tools to intimidate & abduct people from communities across the country - the suppliers of these same tools are fueling U.S. attacks on Venezuela & Iran via Palantir’s Project Maven & Anthropic’s Claude AI. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/w...
