digiphile

digiphile, 4 days ago to random

A new low in U.S. history today: a Speaker of the House or Representatives falsely claimed the prosecution of a former President is “politically motivated.”

Reminder: Trump was charged with crimes after a grand jury investigated, which then voted to indict:
https://manhattanda.org/district-attorney-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-indictment-of-former-president-donald-j-trump/ President Biden he nothing to do with it — much less the far more serious crimes Trump is charged with committing, with respect to conspiracy to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election.

digiphile, 10 days ago to random

PSA: DC Water has issued a Boil Water Advisory for residents who have or have had a loss of water pressure following a break in a 20” water main in NW DC today, on May 8. DC government estimates this affects ~4,800 Washingtonians. https://www.dcwater.com/about-dc-water/media/news/drinking-water-advisory-dc-water-issues-boil-water-advisory-customers
Do not drink the water without boiling it first.
Call 202-612-3400 to see if you’re impacted.

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digiphile, 13 days ago to random

Happy Cinco de Mayo from Capitol Hill, where I joined a party with neighbors at Eastern Market. PSA: Great food, drinks, & live music at the North Hall right now.

My bartender schooled me, reminding me that this holiday commemorates Mexico's victory over the second French Empire at the Battle of Puebla in 1862 — not over the Spanish empire. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinco_de_Mayo H

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digiphile, 13 days ago to random

For the first time in its history, Israel will shut down a foreign news outlet after its Cabinet voted unanimously to block Al Jazeera for 45 days.

AP: https://apnews.com/article/israel-aljazeera-hamas-gaza-war-eba9416aea82f505ab908ee60d1de5e4
PM Netanyahu claimed the network “incited against soldiers & “harmed security.”

A🚨for any democracy.

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digiphile, 15 days ago to journalism

On #WorldPressFreedomDay 2024, the 🇺🇸 has dropped to 55th on RSF’a index. https://rsf.org/en/country/united-states
📰📉”After a sharp increase in 2020, #PressFreedom violations have fallen significantly in the United States, but major structural barriers to press freedom persist in this country, once considered a model for freedom of expression.”

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digiphile, 16 days ago to random

It was a pleasure to participate in an open conversation on open government with White House officials again today. We still aren’t where we should be as a nation or government, but I always appreciate being reminded of the energy, intent, & commitment of good people working to strengthen our union.

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digiphile, 1 month ago to random

NEW: What @zephoria told us about ethics & AI:
https://civic-texts.ghost.io/what-danah-boyd-told-us-about-ai-and-ethics/
I wrote up danah's excellent talk at Georgetown last week, which deserves a broader audience. It's a throwback to live-blogging in the style of Ethan Zuckerman, but on a delay. (I hope my subscribers find it interesting, & that you do, too.)

digiphile, 1 month ago to random

Many thanks to OGIS Director Alina Semo & OIP Director Bobak Talebian Talebian for fielding so many questions, & State Department Chief FOIA Officer Eric Stein for his fulsome answers. Thanks to the U.S. National Archives, video of today's public meeting is online. I'll summarize the answers to my questions in text, separately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQyY4O8Mc6s
#OpenGov

digiphile, 1 month ago to random

NEW: Will (overdue) Congressional interest change U.S. participation in open government? https://civic-texts.ghost.io/will-overdue-congressional-interest-change-u-s-participation-in-open-government/ I'm headed to Congress at 1:30 for a forum on the state of government transparency and accountability. I read the GSA's draft mid-term self-assessment first and drafted the beginning of a public comment, which is linked in today's newsletter. Please share and subscribe, if you find it useful.

digiphile, 1 month ago to random

I received another text from @POTUS Joe Biden, about new plans to relieve student debt, with a link this website:
https://studentaid.gov/debtrelief
This is a notable but unheralded use of a 20th century tech to connect Americans directly to 21st century government, from services & active citizenship. A BFD.
🇺🇸
It’s opt-in, unlike presidential alerts on phones https://my.community.com/potus?t=Hello%20Mr.%20President%20%F0%9F%87%BA%F0%9F%87%B8

I hope Ben Labolt puts these in a public feed on whitehouse.gov/texts. cc @whitehouse

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digiphile, 1 month ago to random

Eclipse Day was a whole scene and a vibe here on & around the National Mall in DC. Veni, vidi, we did not get blinded.

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digiphile, 1 month ago to random

Credit to Adam Mosseri for listening on Bluesky tonight & responding to my post about Meta apparently censoring domains with over aggressive spam filtering — but he hasn’t lifted restrictions on my ability to post to Instagram or Threads yet.

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digiphile, 1 month ago to random

Last night, I shared some thoughts about how net neutrality, the principle that broadband providers must treat all Internet traffic the same regardless of source, intersects with democracy & human rights: https://civic-texts.ghost.io/why-do-an-open-internet-and-net-neutrality-matter-access-to-information-is-a-human-right/ Glad to see an FCC order online ahead of an open meeting.

pbump, 1 month ago to random

I wrote about Trumpism and the police. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/04/trump-police-support/

digiphile, 1 month ago to random

A new edition of Civic Texts just dropped, this time focused on FOIA & today's U.S. Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee: https://civic-texts.ghost.io/breathing-more-life-into-the-freedom-of-information/ Thanks to everyone who has subscribed so far!

digiphile, 1 month ago to fediverse

On the one hand, it’s a good thing that @potus joined the #fediverse https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/2/24119353/joe-biden-threads-mastodon-activitypub-fediverse so that everyone can subscribe to official statements posts without having to use Twitter, AKA X. On the other hand, that namespace should be @potus & be announced with a blog post that shares a strategy for a federal open social web & online Q&A. The void of policy here is frustrating.

digiphile, 1 month ago to random

If all has gone well, some of you received TWO emails from me today: one announcing that I left Subtstack, and another from my new email newsletter host at Ghost:
https://civic-texts.ghost.io/hello-world/
I have a lot in my notebooks from the last decade of advocacy on open government, digital democracy, and my continuing work on freedom of information, so you should expect me to begin there.
If you like what you read, I hope you'll share broadly, since word-of-mouth is paramount in this weird media moment.

digiphile, 1 month ago to random

This White House aspires to be a “global model for the safe, secure, & trustworthy use of AI,” but is publishing evidence of its actions as a screenshot of a spreadsheet, not an interactive with data posted at Data.Gov & code Code.Gov. The Office of Management still isn’t leading by example on open data, which affects government transparency and accountability & will hinder good governance & oversight as federal agencies explore using AI:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/03/28/fact-sheet-vice-president-harris-announces-omb-policy-to-advance-governance-innovation-and-risk-management-in-federal-agencies-use-of-artificial-intelligence/

digiphile, 1 month ago to random

“It’s the cozy relationship between power & influence that good-government advocates decry when they refer to revolving-door corruption, because it incentivizes both passive forms of corruption… & the more venal kinds — quid pro quo”-Brian Beutler https://open.substack.com/pub/brianbeutler/p/the-political-economy-of-normalization 🎯

digiphile, 1 month ago to random

What Will Bunch highlights about royal secrecy & obfuscation is spot-on: https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/princess-kate-rumors-palace-lies-20240324.html
Historic error for King Charles not to disclose her illness immediately & rally Britons to support their beloved princess.
Furor & speculation about Kate Middleton’s absence from public life filled the info void.

digiphile, 1 month ago to random

20 years ago, a new era for the World Wide Web dawned, with microblogs, wikis, photos, maps, & then apps.

But after Web 2.0 darlings flamed out & 20th century tech giants fell, we saw a decade of consolidation & centralization.

2024 could see the rebirth of an open social web, or another funeral.

digiphile, 2 months ago to random

I spoke about the House’s action on TikTok on one of Al Jazeera’s podcasts, The Take: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-a-us-bill-to-ban-tiktok-a-step-down-a-slippery-slope/id1438817292?i=1000649527164 TL/DL: Congress should pass a data protection act that codifies baseline privacy rights instead of targeting this app — particularly without demonstrated harms instead of theoretical risks. But I hope you’ll listen and share!