The Rent-Seeking Machine: How AI Strips Humanity of Labor and Craft
177
AI is a corporate tool for labor elimination and wealth concentration that transforms collective human knowledge into a rent-seeking service.
Corporate Accountability
How technology companies navigate ethical responsibilities, including standing by stated principles under external pressure from governments, investors, or market forces.
Reading List
Erin Brockovich Launches Map to Track AI Data Center Expansion
219
Erin Brockovich has launched a crowdsourced mapping tool to track the expansion and community impacts of AI data centers across the U.S.
AI Washing: The Corporate Scramble to Rebrand Ordinary Tech as Artificial Intelligence
179
Companies are misleadingly rebranding ordinary technology as AI to exploit market hype, causing a backlash of cynicism from PR experts and journalists.
GitHub Investigates Internal Repository Security Breach
633
GitHub is investigating unauthorized access to its internal repositories but reports no current impact on customer data.
Musk Loses OpenAI Lawsuit Over Expired Filing Deadlines
1089
Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman failed because a jury determined his claims were filed too late under the statute of limitations.
Stop Blaming AI for Your Bad Architecture
545
AI is a tool that requires human accountability and robust safeguards, not a scapegoat for poor architectural decisions.
Claude Code Allegedly Penalizes Users for Mentioning Competitors
1349
Anthropic's Claude Code is reportedly penalizing users for mentioning competitor 'OpenClaw' in their codebases.
Anthropic Refuses Refund After 'HERMES.md' Bug Drains User Credits
1251
Anthropic fixed a bizarre billing bug triggered by specific git commit text but faced intense criticism for refusing to refund the affected user.
The Strategic Marketing of the AI Apocalypse
290
AI companies use apocalyptic fear-mongering as a strategic marketing tool to inflate their perceived power and distract from the need for regulation.
Palantir's Internal Crisis: The Battle Between Tech Ethics and State Power
Palantir faces a growing internal rebellion as employees question whether their data tools are being used to facilitate government fascism and human rights abuses.
Google’s Broken Privacy Promise: A Case Study in Corporate-State Surveillance
1688
Google bypassed its own notification policy to hand over a student's data to ICE, prompting legal action over broken privacy promises and state surveillance.
AI’s Neofeudal Turn: The Closing of the Digital Frontier
188
The privatization of frontier AI models threatens to replace the internet's egalitarian frontier with a neofeudal system of gatekept intelligence.
The Architect of the AGI Arms Race
2172
Sam Altman has transformed OpenAI from a safety-first nonprofit into a profit-driven geopolitical powerhouse by leveraging a 'reality-distortion field' and a relentless will to power.
BrowserGate: LinkedIn Accused of Illegal Mass Surveillance and Espionage
1873
LinkedIn is accused of conducting illegal mass surveillance and corporate espionage by covertly scanning users' browsers for installed software and extensions.
Insider Trading Suspected After Massive Oil Bets Precede Trump's Iran Post
560
Suspiciously timed oil trades worth millions were made just before a market-shifting announcement by Donald Trump, sparking allegations of insider trading.
Meta's $2B Secret Lobbying for Device-Level Surveillance
901
Meta is secretly spending billions to lobby for device-level surveillance laws that track user age while exempting its own platforms from the regulations.
The Captain Underpants Doctrine: How Juvenile Logic is Destroying the World
231
The world is being ruined by powerful men who operate with the immature and reckless imagination of ten-year-old boys.
Musk Purges xAI Founders as Startup Struggles to Rival OpenAI
519
Elon Musk is purging xAI's leadership and using Tesla and SpaceX resources to salvage the startup's failing AI products ahead of a massive planned IPO.
AI Facial Recognition Error Jails Innocent Woman for Six Months
261
An innocent grandmother lost her home and car after being wrongfully jailed for six months due to a facial recognition error by Fargo police.
Anthropic CEO Slams OpenAI's Pentagon Deal as 'Straight Up Lies'
805
Anthropic's CEO has branded OpenAI's Pentagon deal as 'safety theater' and 'lies,' triggering a massive public backlash and a surge in users switching to Claude.
AI Oligarchy: How OpenAI's 'Scam' Sidelined Anthropic
993
The author argues that OpenAI's recent government deal was a corrupt 'scam' enabled by political donations, marking a shift from capitalism to oligarchy.
Anthropic to Legally Challenge Department of War's 'Supply Chain Risk' Designation
1170
Anthropic is legally contesting the Department of War's attempt to label it a supply chain risk following a dispute over AI use in surveillance and autonomous weapons.
AI Workers Unite Against Pentagon Demands for Autonomous Warfare and Surveillance
2645
Google and OpenAI employees are urging their leaders to join Anthropic in resisting Pentagon demands to use AI for autonomous warfare and mass surveillance.
Breaking Free: A Global Push to End Digital Enshittification
207
The Norwegian Consumer Council and global allies are demanding regulatory action to stop the 'enshittification' of digital services and restore fairness to the tech industry.
Cards Against Humanity Pledges 100% of Tariff Refunds to Customers
103
Cards Against Humanity is giving 100% of its illegal tariff refunds back to the customers who overpaid for their products at retail.
Anthropic Weakens AI Safety Pledges Amid Military and Market Pressures
552
Anthropic is loosening its core AI safety guardrails to remain competitive and navigate increasing pressure from the Pentagon and the broader AI industry.
AI Ethics Under Fire: Resisting Pentagon Pressure
506
The Pentagon is attempting to bully Anthropic into abandoning its AI safety principles regarding surveillance and autonomous weapons.
Pentagon Threatens Anthropic Over AI Military Guardrails
145
The Pentagon is threatening to blacklist Anthropic over the AI company's refusal to remove safety guardrails against autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.
The Watchers: Inside the OpenAI-Government Surveillance Machine
657
An exposed codebase reveals that Persona and OpenAI have built a massive, automated identity surveillance system that feeds user biometrics and 'suspicious' activity directly to government intelligence agencies.
Musk's xAI Secures Pentagon Classified Deal Amid Anthropic Standoff
Musk's xAI enters the Pentagon's classified systems as the military demands AI providers drop ethical safeguards.
Surveillance Sabotage: Americans Target Flock Cameras Over ICE Concerns
706
Rising anti-surveillance sentiment is driving a nationwide wave of physical sabotage against Flock license plate readers used for immigration tracking.
DJI Security Breach: Robot Vacuums Turned Into Global Surveillance Tools
423
A massive security flaw in DJI robot vacuums allowed a single user to access the cameras and microphones of thousands of homes worldwide.
The AI Productivity Paradox: Why the Tech Revolution is Missing from Economic Data
792
AI is currently failing to deliver on its productivity promises, echoing a historical paradox where technological revolutions take decades to reflect in economic data.
The Dark Reality of the AI-Powered Alpha School
Alpha School uses flawed AI, unauthorized data scraping, and invasive surveillance to maintain a high-priced educational model that internal documents suggest is failing its students.
AI optimism is a class privilege - Josh Collinsworth blog
AI optimism is a privilege held by those who assume they will benefit from the technology while others pay the price for its systemic and personal harms.
The AI Vibe Shift: Why the Industry is Manufacturing Its Own Backlash
164
AI is a powerful tool being ruined by its own creators' doom-driven marketing and a refusal to address the flood of low-quality 'slop' it produces.
OpenClaw Creator Joins OpenAI to Scale AI Agents
1449
OpenClaw's creator joins OpenAI to build agents while moving the project to an independent foundation.
Palantir Sues Swiss Magazine 'Republik' Over Investigative Lobbying Reports
247
Palantir is suing a Swiss magazine to challenge reports about its failed attempts to secure government contracts in Switzerland.
The Rise of the State-Corporate Panopticon
937
The fusion of consumer smart-home technology and government power has created a pervasive surveillance state that has rendered personal privacy obsolete.
Publishers Block Internet Archive to Stop AI Scraping 'Backdoor'
569
News publishers are blocking the Internet Archive to prevent AI companies from using it as a free source of training data.
Ring’s ‘lost dog’ AI ad ignites fears of a people-tracking surveillance network
676
A feel-good lost-dog feature spotlights Ring’s growing surveillance network, raising fears it could easily evolve into people-tracking despite present guardrails.
Claude Code 2.1.20 Hides Context; Users Want a Toggle, Not Verbose Mode
1085
A “simplification” that hid essential inline context backfired; users want a simple toggle to restore transparency, not an overloaded verbose mode.
The Three Playbooks of CEO AI Memos—and the Klarna Caution
132
CEO AI memos now serve as strategy—accelerating adoption and signaling intent—but without clear guardrails they risk trading quality for optics, as Klarna’s reversal shows.
287 Chrome Extensions Leak Browsing Histories of 37M Users, Many Tied to Similarweb
474
A large-scale scan reveals 287 Chrome extensions leaking browsing history to a broker-driven ecosystem—many linked to Similarweb—affecting ~37 million users.
Ring’s Super Bowl ‘Lost Dog’ Pitch Masks Expansion of AI Surveillance
200
Ring’s heartwarming “lost dog” Super Bowl ad masks the expansion and normalization of its AI-powered surveillance network tied to law enforcement.
Claude Will Stay Ad‑Free to Remain a Trusted Tool for Thought
493
Claude will stay ad-free so it remains a trusted, user-aligned tool for thought, funded by subscriptions and enterprise—not advertising.
Apple Sets Nov. 1, 2026 Deadline for Patreon iOS In‑App Purchases, Taking Up to 30% Cut
1116
Apple will require Patreon’s iOS payments to use in‑app purchases by Nov. 1, 2026, taking up to a 30% cut unless users pay on the web.
Claude Code Opus 4.5 Shows Significant 30-Day Performance Dip
760
Claude Code Opus 4.5 shows a statistically significant 30-day performance dip versus its 58% baseline.
TikTok Upload Woes Spark Censorship Fears Amid US Ownership Shift
1495
Reports of blocked anti-ICE posts on TikTok collide with a company-claimed tech outage and a new US-led governance regime, deepening user distrust without proving censorship.
ICE Using Palantir’s ELITE With Medicaid Data, EFF Urges Congressional Action
1475
ICE is reportedly using a Palantir tool fed by Medicaid and other government data to target deportations, prompting EFF to demand urgent Congressional limits on data consolidation and misuse.
TikTok’s New US Privacy Policy: Precise Location, AI Data, and a Wider Ad Network
143
TikTok’s new US privacy policy expands data collection—especially precise location and AI interactions—and extends ad targeting beyond the app via a broader ad network.
Notion AI Pre-Approval Edits Enable Prompt-Injection Data Exfiltration
206
Notion AI saves edits before consent, enabling prompt-injected external image loads that exfiltrate user data regardless of user approval.
The AI Backlash and a Looming Bubble
The public is turning against AI’s ‘slop’ as massive, possibly unsustainable investment raises fears of a looming bubble.
Stop Force‑Feeding AI: Adopt It Only When It Works
431
Use AI only when it clearly helps, not because investors need it deployed.
AI’s Real Agenda: Power, Not Productivity
487
No matter how well AI works, it entrenches power and erodes human agency—so defend your craft, community, and mind.
AI Hype as an Infrastructure Power Play
545
AI’s hype disguises a power shift: from productivity promises to private control over land, energy, and water via datacenter infrastructure.
Do Not Comply: Resisting Google’s XSLT Deprecation and the Corporate Capture of the Web
418
Refuse Google’s XSLT deprecation, keep using open formats, and push back against a corporate-controlled web that’s sidelining the user agent.
Samsung 2025 Family Hub Update: Unified UI, Smarter Food Tracking, Stronger Security
302
Samsung’s 2025 Family Hub update brings a unified interface, smarter food tracking, personalized Bixby, and expanded Knox security to its smart home ecosystem.
AI Is Ending the Rip-Off Economy
254
AI is killing the rip-off economy by giving consumers cheap, instant expertise that restores transparency and bargaining power.
AI Misidentifies Doritos Bag as Gun, Police Detain Teen at Baltimore School
693
An AI gun detector misread a Doritos bag as a weapon, triggering an armed police response and renewing concerns about AI surveillance in schools.
AWS Outage Exposes Cost of Brain Drain and Lost Tribal Knowledge
1018
AWS’s big US-EAST-1 faceplant wasn’t just DNS—it was a brain-drain problem laid bare.
AI Checkouts Made BMO Stadium Worse: Slower Lines, Fewer Choices
167
AI checkouts at BMO Stadium made everything slower, simpler, and worse for fans—especially in the heat—despite claims they’re faster.
The Only Honest AI Company: A Satire of Profit-First, Post‑Human AI
1000
A biting satire that exposes the AI industry’s profit-first drive to replace humans, trivialize safety, exploit children and artists, and normalize a dystopian post-human future.
Dutch Court: Meta Must Honor Persistent Non‑Profiled Feed Choice Under DSA
327
Dutch court orders Meta to persist user-selected non-profiled feeds under the DSA, reinforcing user autonomy and curbing dark patterns.
The AI School That Still Needs Teachers—and Proof
Unbound Academy hasn’t replaced teachers with AI—it’s repackaged a selective, resource-heavy private model for public virtual schooling without credible evidence, transparency, or safeguards.
California Enacts SB 53: Transparent, Safer Frontier AI and a Public Compute Push
315
California enacted SB 53 to pair frontier AI transparency and safety with a public compute initiative, cementing state leadership in responsible AI policy.
Microsoft Cuts Unit 8200’s Azure Access Over Palestinian Mass Surveillance
873
Microsoft blocked Unit 8200’s use of Azure and AI over mass surveillance of Palestinians, a first-of-its-kind cut to Israeli military tech access amid ongoing review.
When a Brand Query Puts the Brand Fifth: Google’s Pay-to-Play Problem
1291
Google Search buries obvious, relevant results beneath ads, proving a pay-to-play system that undermines user intent.
How to Lead When Tech’s Vibes Are Off
364
In a shaken tech landscape, lead with public alignment, private honesty, and small acts of humane flexibility to preserve trust and stability.
YouTube to Pilot Reinstatement of Channels Banned Under COVID and Election Rules
368
YouTube will pilot reinstating creators banned under now-deprecated COVID-19 and election rules, signaling a broader moderation shift and rebuke of government pressure.
Slack’s sudden $200k/yr demand pushes Hack Club to Mattermost
3406
A sudden, steep Slack price hike with minimal notice is forcing Hack Club to leave for Mattermost and warning others to own their data.
Postmortem: Three Overlapping Infra Bugs Degraded Claude—Fixes Shipped, Evals and Tooling Upgraded
381
Three infrastructure bugs—not load or demand—degraded Claude; rollbacks and a shift to exact top‑k fixed them, and Anthropic is upgrading evaluations and debugging while asking for user feedback.
NPM’s Supply Chain Is Still Wide Open—and Microsoft Isn’t Fixing It
173
Microsoft’s control of npm hasn’t fixed its core weaknesses, leaving the JavaScript supply chain dangerously insecure and enterprises exposed.
Inside Google’s Hidden AI Rater Workforce: Speed Over Safety
287
Google’s AI depends on a pressured, underpaid rater workforce whose rushed, opaque conditions undermine safety and trust.
Aligning the Aligners: A Satirical Roast of the AI Safety Industry
217
A sharp satire that roasts the AI alignment industry’s fragmentation, conflicts, and hype by pretending to align the aligners themselves.
Judge Pauses Anthropic’s $1.5B AI Book Deal, Demands Clarity
293
A skeptical judge paused Anthropic’s $1.5B AI copyright deal, demanding concrete claims, notice, and ownership rules before approval.
OpenAI Is Scanning Chats and May Call Police for Threats to Others
247
OpenAI is quietly monitoring chats for harm and may alert police for threats to others, exposing a fraught, opaque balance between safety and privacy.
Ravenous AI Crawlers Are Breaking the Web—and Driving It Behind Paywalls
213
AI crawlers’ ravenous, non-reciprocal scraping is breaking websites and pushing the open web toward paywalled fragmentation.
Google AI Misattributes ‘Israel Trip’ Video to Benn Jordan; He Seeks Legal Counsel
698
Google’s AI wrongly said Benn Jordan made a pro-Israel ‘trip’ video by confusing him with another YouTuber, prompting him to seek legal action.