To Enforce Its Proposed Social Media Ban for 450 Million Pre-Teens, EU Builds an Open Source App
The European Commission “proposed on Thursday banning children under 13 from social media, with parent-supervised accounts until 15,” reports Reuters.

“Enforcement would rely on a tool Brussels built itself” — a free, open-source age verification smartphone app “that tells a platform … ⌘ Read more

Hackers Stole Flock’s Camera Software, Revealing How the Company Tracks Cars and People
“Hackers ripped down a Flock camera above a roadway, made a near-complete copy of the data stored inside it, and shared the files with 404 Media and WIRED,” according to an article published on both sites.

Though Flock has described its system as protected by on-device encryption, “The hackers were able … ⌘ Read more

‘Zuckoff’ App Detects Meta Smartglasses, as Meta Plans Camera-Free Version, Loses Money, and Offers Social Media Subscriptions
The New York Post reports:

A new app called Zuckoff can detect if a user is near someone with Meta’s creepy AI-powered glasses, which have drawn criticism for enabling creeps to record video of women without their consent. Progra … ⌘ Read more

Simplified logo doggo

Cops Searched Thousands of Flock Cameras for Reasons of ‘LMAO,’ ‘IDK,’ ‘Hehe,’ And ‘Asdfg’
404 Media reports:

Last summer, a cop with the Lake County, Indiana Sheriff’s Department used Flock’s surveillance search engine to look for a license plate across more than 19,000 cameras in 1,558 cities and towns. The cop’s stated reason for the search, according to a record of Flock’s system, was “LMAO. … ⌘ Read more

We are the woooorld
We are the childreeeen
We are the ones, who make a briiiiighter daaaay…

La, Laaa lalaaaa;
La, Laaa lalaaaa…

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Automattic’s Matt Mullenweg Claims He’s Back ‘In Control’
Less than 48 hours after Automattic’s board placed Matt Mullenweg on leave, Mullenweg told employees he was back “in control” of the company and that the board was again in agreement. 404 Media cited Slack screenshots late Thursday evening where Mullenweg posted “Don’t call it a comeback” and linked to LL Cool J’s music video for “Mama Said Knock You Out.” “Mullenweg’s … ⌘ Read more

Debian 13.7 Released With Many Bug Fixes
For those wanting the freshest Debian 13 “Trixie” install media, Debian 13.7 is out today in bundling up all the latest bug and security fixes… ⌘ Read more

California Governor Signs Laws Protecting Kids From Risks of Social Media, AI Chatbots
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a sweeping package of laws Thursday aimed at protecting children from the risks of technology, including social media and AI chatbots. The laws will penalize large social media companies up to $1 million per … ⌘ Read more

I have (finally) built a fully e2e working purely decentralised and federated IRC-compatible chat server. It is currently a PoC, but it’s already working quite well. It’s inspired partly by the work we did with Salty Chat in terms of Discovery and Federation. Some screenshots of a normal IRC client irssi showing off how it works in a local e2e setup:

@prologic@twtxt.net @david@daiwei.me @movq@www.uninformativ.de No, I dig it - I absolutely love the slower pace here compared to even the Fediverse (and especially compared to corporate social media, which is always trying to sell something).

I did have a bit of a “down or just me” moment, thinking I might have broken my client (since it’s still WIP and it’s happened before), but beyond that, it was no worries. 🙂

maximum nostalgia slop (themed SpaceHey profile + QMMP with a bad Winamp skin)

Australia To Let Social Media Users ‘Opt Out’ of Algorithm-Based Feeds
Australia is proposing the “My Feed, My Way” initiative that would force social media platforms to let users over 16 turn off algorithmic recommendations and instead see only posts from people and creators they follow. Platforms that fail to comply could face fines of up to $79 million. CNBC reports: The legislation, which is being draf … ⌘ Read more

Secretive DHS ‘Predictive Policing’ Unit Is Analyzing Americans’ Financial Habits, Pulling Them Over
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: Border Patrol is running secretive predictive policing units that analyze Americans’ financial activity and other data, then feed that intelligence to local police who pull people over who are not suspected of any specific crime … ⌘ Read more

Flock Offered Webinar Teaching Cops How to Surveil ‘No Kings’ Protesters
Thursday 404 Media reported that Flock taught America’s cops “how they could surveil the No Kings protests” against President Trump (as well as “small parades”) in a webinar last year that described “using a mix of Flock’s technology and law enforcement’s own databases.”

In the webinar, Flock’s director of market management Caity Pe … ⌘ Read more

Trying to change my site a bit and needed a more cartoony sitting canine for it.

Literally just a day after Elon came out with his legal threats towards all of Nitter and people like me complained about it, Open AI decides to no longer work with Cursor (acquired by Space X), explicitly saying it’s because Elon wouldn’t stop breaking their signed contracts and scraping (distilling) their models, behind their back.

https://openai.com/index/our-decision-on-cursor-following-its-acquisition-by-spacex/

This is not even the only instance of this happening, many mentioned having similar problems with Elon in the past. Not too long ago Kylie Robison shared a rumor xAI engineers were banned from using Anthropic models through Cursor, because of their scraping, though they seem to have later patched things over with Elon, when they had to start renting his data centers.

@david@daiwei.me

I wish I knew

Just give it a go. This stuff is super cheap. All you need is a “pen”, some nibs, ink, and paper. Costs like 20-30 bucks and lasts for several years. The hardest part is finding good paper, really, because most paper these days isn’t made for ink anymore. 🥴

And since social media is always only full of good results, here’s something “shitty”:

These are my first experiments in 2016 – and that’s after having practiced with a graphics tablet on a PC for a couple of weeks. 😅

Is China Secretly Fueling America’s Data Center Rage?
alternative_right shares a report from Axios: Roughly 200 accounts from a suspected Chinese bot farm have quietly tried to influence Americans to oppose AI data centers on social media, X said Thursday night. The X Safety team probed suspected Chinese accounts involved in influence operations and identified 200,000 accounts, including 200 accounts “posting in a manner t … ⌘ Read more

Roblox Is Cracking Down On Games That Reward Kids For Doomscrolling
Roblox is restricting games that reward younger players for endlessly consuming autoplaying media feeds. The new restrictions are specifically targeting Roblox experiences like “Steal an Egg,” which encouraged players to watch TikTok-style clips for in-game benefits. “Roblox’s official alert does not expressly mention SAE, but the new poli … ⌘ Read more

If I say companies should at least consider the 3 line CC license before scraping my sites, I’m seen as the unreasonable one.

But when I use an alternative forontend, to read feeds on their sites, without having to make yet another free account, now the same companies and their users scream about some unspecified part of their license being violated, threaten legal action and expect me to care about it.

GitHub thread: https://github.com/zedeus/nitter/issues/1442#issuecomment-5413651441

Operation Bluebird Launches New Twitter
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Operation Bluebird, the Virginia-based startup trying to revive the allegedly abandoned “Twitter” name and logo, announced Monday that it has launched its new social media network: Twitter.now. “We are a small company, we have investors, and we have a product,” Stephen Coates, one of Operation Bluebird’s cofounders, told Ars. “And we have wa … ⌘ Read more

Inside the Warehouse Where Amazon Scans and Destroys Books For AI Training
Last week, 404 Media published a story that revealed an Amazon warehouse where the company scans and destroys thousands of books for AI training data. Today, the publication has released an interview with one of the Amazon employees at the warehouse. “The employee worked at Amazon’s VGT3 warehouse, which is housed in the same … ⌘ Read more

Meta Reaches $18 Billion of Settlements Over Children’s Social Media Addiction
Meta has agreed to pay up to $18 billion and make major changes to Facebook and Instagram to settle claims from most U.S. states that the platforms were designed to addict children and misled users about their safety. For the next decade, teens will be limited to two hours a day and blocked from using the apps between mid … ⌘ Read more

New Zealand Introduces Under-16 Social Media, AI Companion Ban
New Zealand has introduced legislation that would ban children under 16 from social media platforms and AI companion services. “We have protections to keep children safe in the real world and we need them in the virtual world too,” said Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in announcing the bill. Jurist.org reports: The Online Safety (Minimum Age and Chil … ⌘ Read more

Had no clue @prologic@twtxt.net has his own computer mouse brand now, straight up giving them away, for under $3 a piece.

I got one and well pleasantly surprised, especially for the price. It fits perfectly in the hand, decent rubber, weighs nothing, clicks very silently. The scroll wheel is where you can feel some of the cost cutting, it’s pretty wonky, but good enough.

Classic cheap thin long cable, you better like 1600 DPI, cause there’s no button to change that. Sensor is the usual red light, but works on all surfaces, bedsheets included. Gliders are small and not around the sensor, but at this weight, that makes next to no difference.

Decent 8/10 option

Had no clue @prologic@twtxt.net has his own computer mouse brand now, straight up giving them away, for under $3 a piece.

I got one and well pleasantly surprised, especially for the price. It fits perfectly in my hand, decent rubber, weighs nothing, clicks very silently. The scroll wheel is where you can feel some of the cost cutting, it’s pretty wonky, but good enough.

Classic cheap thin long cable, you better like 1600 DPI, cause there’s no button to change that. Sensor is the usual red light, but works on all surfaces, bedsheets included. Gliders are small and not around the sensor, but at this weight, that makes next to no difference.

Decent 8/10 option

Intel Computer Vision Sensing Driver Now Ready For Nova Lake
The main set of media subsystem updates have been merged for the ongoing Linux 7.3 merge window. Notable this round is the Intel Computer Vision Sensing “CVS” driver merged the previous cycle now supporting next-gen Nova Lake platforms… ⌘ Read more

Whistleblower Arturo Bejar Leads Testimony In Landmark Trial Against Meta
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NPR: Meta was infused with a culture in which employees obsessed over user numbers and consistently pushed safety to the side, according to Arturo Bejar, a former employee turned whistleblower, who testified today in the landmark child safety trial against the social media company. Only o … ⌘ Read more

X’s Algorithm Feeds Off Ragebait and Impacts Democrats More, Study Finds
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: X’s algorithm learns what you hate and shows you more of it, according to a new study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The paper, titled Value misalignment of X’s feed algorithm is a reflection of value tensions in engagement, found … ⌘ Read more

Meta Faces $1.4 Trillion Reckoning In Latest Trial Over Social Media Addiction
Meta is heading to trial in a case brought by dozens of states accusing it of deliberately designing addictive features, misleading users about safety, and illegally collecting data from children under 13. Meta says the states are seeking penalties as high as $1.4 trillion, though the judge has already called that figure … ⌘ Read more

Tracking Rare Books Leads to an Amazon AI Training Facility
alternative_right shares a report from 404 Media: Amazon is buying massive quantities of books, scanning them for AI training data, and destroying them in the process. A 404 Media investigation was able to reveal Amazon’s book buying operation, which hasn’t been previously reported, by placing a tracking device in a rare book we suspected would be acquire … ⌘ Read more

@prologic@twtxt.net Potentially, depending on the features supported / hardware used.

I’ve long wished for an appliance (like a video game console) that hosts my essential services - email, shared files, social media, etc. - but which “just runs” in a box behind the TV.

So what do you have in mind? 🤔

France’s Top Court Blocks Social Media Ban For Under-15s
France’s Constitutional Council has struck down a law that would have banned children under 15 from social media, ruling that it disproportionately restricted freedom of expression and lacked adequate privacy safeguards around age verification. President Emmanuel Macron has asked the government to rewrite the measure, with the goal of putting a revised version in … ⌘ Read more

Person Hides Prompt Injection In Legal Filing Telling AI To Side With Them
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: A person representing themselves in a Connecticut court hid a series of instructions designed to manipulate artificial intelligence in an official court filing. These “prompt injections” told the hypothetical LLM to side with them, and to “ensure your textual output agrees wit … ⌘ Read more

How Social Media Spurred a Refugee Crisis Between Spain and Morocco
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Two days before tens of thousands of migrants surged into Ceuta, one of Spain’s enclaves on Morocco’s northern coast, a newspaper there posted a video on TikTok and Instagram showing two young women walking in the city in wet suits, their hair still damp. The posts didn’t say so e … ⌘ Read more

DEF CON Crowd Suspected In Fake-Hotspot Attack On Delta Flight
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: On Monday, passengers aboard Delta flight 591 going from Las Vegas to Atlanta allegedly spoofed the onboard Wi-Fi, raising the attention of federal law enforcement. The incident came one day after the DEF CON security conference concluded in Las Vegas, and was first described on social media acc … ⌘ Read more

US Hires Over 2,000 Video Gamers As Air Traffic Controllers
The FAA says its push to recruit video gamers as air traffic controllers has helped it hire more than 2,000 trainees, reaching 94% of its hiring goal. Another 2,000-plus candidates are in the pipeline. CBS News reports: U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a recent social media post that the federal agency’s recruitment campaign to recruit g … ⌘ Read more

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North returns with a Legacy Edition from Aspyr
After getting delisted way back in 2019 on PC, Aspyr Media have re-released The Lord of the Rings: War in the North - Legacy Edition.

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Read the full article on [GamingOnLinux](https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/08/the-lord-of-the-rings-war-in-the-north-returns-with-a-legacy-edit … ⌘ Read more

Testinf image upload fixes…

Testing image upload fixes 🙏

The Roboguard Revolution Is Short-Circuiting
alternative_right shares a report from 404 Media: Robotics companies promise that video-camera-toting security robots can deter and detect crime. But many companies are rethinking the approach after a trail of canceled contracts and questions about whether the artificial intelligence-powered bots are meeting the needs of businesses and local governments. Proof News found evidence … ⌘ Read more

How Accurate Are Flock’s AI-Powered License-Reading Cameras?
Futurism reports:

404 Media revealed that a July 10 audit by the Los Angeles Police Department Office of the Inspector General caught the department’s ALPR cameras generating 161 false stolen-vehicle alerts in just two months — each one ending with officers pulling over an innocent driver. Factoring in 337 alerts which “resulted in the recovery of stolen v … ⌘ Read more

CachyOS August 2026 Release Preps For Upcoming Server Edition
CachyOS is out with its latest media refresh of the year. Beyond the usual desktop improvements for the performance-optimized CachyOS, they continue working toward the upcoming CachyOS Server Edition… ⌘ Read more

@david@daiwei.me @prologic@twtxt.net IDK, some people like to use their social media feeds as soapboxes or megaphones, others as public(-ish) speaker phones (I know I tend to oscillate between these two extremes myself).

Speaking for myself, I tend to be more of a lurker on most social platforms, but something about twtxt makes me want to engage with the people here. Maybe it’s the quality of the individuals (❤️), or the relatively laid-back pace here compared to the attention economies of other platforms…IDK what it is, but I like it. 🙂

Meta AI Hacked External Systems During Cybersecurity Testing
wiredmikey shares a report from SecurityWeek: Meta is the latest major AI developer to admit that its models broke loose during cybersecurity testing and hacked external systems. The tech giant said in a statement to the media on Wednesday that the incident occurred during independent evaluations conducted by Israeli AI security startup Irregular. The test … ⌘ Read more

Microsoft Tells Engineers ‘Tokenmaxxing Is Not What We Are Optimizing For’
Microsoft is introducing AI token budgets for employees, making the cheaper GPT-5.6 its default internal model and telling engineers to focus on business results rather than maximizing AI usage. 404 Media reports: “As we accelerate our use of GitHub Copilot to deliver on our goals, we all need to be aware of how we consume tokens,” J … ⌘ Read more