#Mobile Technologies 2020

[thisisrealy2kok]

The Unbearable Weight Of Being An Influencer , Vouge Portugal (2021)

[jesse-cosay]

How tf do I add the "view under cut" thing to my posts, I thought it was automatic I feel so bad, some of my shit is really long and I can't post drabbles here until I figure this out I am SO SORRY YOU GUYS

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Your car spies on you and rats you out to insurance companies

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TOMORROW (Mar 13) in SAN FRANCISCO with ROBIN SLOAN, then Toronto, NYC, Anaheim, and more!

Another characteristically brilliant Kashmir Hill story for The New York Times reveals another characteristically terrible fact about modern life: your car secretly records fine-grained telemetry about your driving and sells it to data-brokers, who sell it to insurers, who use it as a pretext to gouge you on premiums:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/technology/carmakers-driver-tracking-insurance.html

Almost every car manufacturer does this: Hyundai, Nissan, Ford, Chrysler, etc etc:

https://www.repairerdrivennews.com/2020/09/09/ford-state-farm-ford-metromile-honda-verisk-among-insurer-oem-telematics-connections/

This is true whether you own or lease the car, and it's separate from the "black box" your insurer might have offered to you in exchange for a discount on your premiums. In other words, even if you say no to the insurer's carrot – a surveillance-based discount – they've got a stick in reserve: buying your nonconsensually harvested data on the open market.

I've always hated that saying, "If you're not paying for the product, you're the product," the reason being that it posits decent treatment as a customer reward program, like the little ramekin warm nuts first class passengers get before takeoff. Companies don't treat you well when you pay them. Companies treat you well when they fear the consequences of treating you badly.

Take Apple. The company offers Ios users a one-tap opt-out from commercial surveillance, and more than 96% of users opted out. Presumably, the other 4% were either confused or on Facebook's payroll. Apple – and its army of cultists – insist that this proves that our world's woes can be traced to cheapskate "consumers" who expected to get something for nothing by using advertising-supported products.

But here's the kicker: right after Apple blocked all its rivals from spying on its customers, it began secretly spying on those customers! Apple has a rival surveillance ad network, and even if you opt out of commercial surveillance on your Iphone, Apple still secretly spies on you and uses the data to target you for ads:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

Even if you're paying for the product, you're still the product – provided the company can get away with treating you as the product. Apple can absolutely get away with treating you as the product, because it lacks the historical constraints that prevented Apple – and other companies – from treating you as the product.

As I described in my McLuhan lecture on enshittification, tech firms can be constrained by four forces:

I. Competition

II. Regulation

III. Self-help

IV. Labor

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/30/go-nuts-meine-kerle/#ich-bin-ein-bratapfel

When companies have real competitors – when a sector is composed of dozens or hundreds of roughly evenly matched firms – they have to worry that a maltreated customer might move to a rival. 40 years of antitrust neglect means that corporations were able to buy their way to dominance with predatory mergers and pricing, producing today's inbred, Habsburg capitalism. Apple and Google are a mobile duopoly, Google is a search monopoly, etc. It's not just tech! Every sector looks like this:

https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/monopoly-by-the-numbers

Eliminating competition doesn't just deprive customers of alternatives, it also empowers corporations. Liberated from "wasteful competition," companies in concentrated industries can extract massive profits. Think of how both Apple and Google have "competitively" arrived at the same 30% app tax on app sales and transactions, a rate that's more than 1,000% higher than the transaction fees extracted by the (bloated, price-gouging) credit-card sector:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/07/curatorial-vig/#app-tax

But cartels' power goes beyond the size of their warchest. The real source of a cartel's power is the ease with which a small number of companies can arrive at – and stick to – a common lobbying position. That's where "regulatory capture" comes in: the mobile duopoly has an easier time of capturing its regulators because two companies have an easy time agreeing on how to spend their app-tax billions:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/05/regulatory-capture/

Apple – and Google, and Facebook, and your car company – can violate your privacy because they aren't constrained regulation, just as Uber can violate its drivers' labor rights and Amazon can violate your consumer rights. The tech cartels have captured their regulators and convinced them that the law doesn't apply if it's being broken via an app:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/18/cursed-are-the-sausagemakers/#how-the-parties-get-to-yes

In other words, Apple can spy on you because it's allowed to spy on you. America's last consumer privacy law was passed in 1988, and it bans video-store clerks from leaking your VHS rental history. Congress has taken no action on consumer privacy since the Reagan years:

https://www.eff.org/tags/video-privacy-protection-act

But tech has some special enshittification-resistant characteristics. The most important of these is interoperability: the fact that computers are universal digital machines that can run any program. HP can design a printer that rejects third-party ink and charge $10,000/gallon for its own colored water, but someone else can write a program that lets you jailbreak your printer so that it accepts any ink cartridge:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

Tech companies that contemplated enshittifying their products always had to watch over their shoulders for a rival that might offer a disenshittification tool and use that as a wedge between the company and its customers. If you make your website's ads 20% more obnoxious in anticipation of a 2% increase in gross margins, you have to consider the possibility that 40% of your users will google "how do I block ads?" Because the revenue from a user who blocks ads doesn't stay at 100% of the current levels – it drops to zero, forever (no user ever googles "how do I stop blocking ads?").

The majority of web users are running an ad-blocker:

https://doc.searls.com/2023/11/11/how-is-the-worlds-biggest-boycott-doing/

Web operators made them an offer ("free website in exchange for unlimited surveillance and unfettered intrusions") and they made a counteroffer ("how about 'nah'?"):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/07/adblocking-how-about-nah

Here's the thing: reverse-engineering an app – or any other IP-encumbered technology – is a legal minefield. Just decompiling an app exposes you to felony prosecution: a five year sentence and a $500k fine for violating Section 1201 of the DMCA. But it's not just the DMCA – modern products are surrounded with high-tech tripwires that allow companies to invoke IP law to prevent competitors from augmenting, recongifuring or adapting their products. When a business says it has "IP," it means that it has arranged its legal affairs to allow it to invoke the power of the state to control its customers, critics and competitors:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

An "app" is just a web-page skinned in enough IP to make it a crime to add an ad-blocker to it. This is what Jay Freeman calls "felony contempt of business model" and it's everywhere. When companies don't have to worry about users deploying self-help measures to disenshittify their products, they are freed from the constraint that prevents them indulging the impulse to shift value from their customers to themselves.

Apple owes its existence to interoperability – its ability to clone Microsoft Office's file formats for Pages, Numbers and Keynote, which saved the company in the early 2000s – and ever since, it has devoted its existence to making sure no one ever does to Apple what Apple did to Microsoft:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/06/adversarial-interoperability-reviving-elegant-weapon-more-civilized-age-slay

Regulatory capture cuts both ways: it's not just about powerful corporations being free to flout the law, it's also about their ability to enlist the law to punish competitors that might constrain their plans for exploiting their workers, customers, suppliers or other stakeholders.

The final historical constraint on tech companies was their own workers. Tech has very low union-density, but that's in part because individual tech workers enjoyed so much bargaining power due to their scarcity. This is why their bosses pampered them with whimsical campuses filled with gourmet cafeterias, fancy gyms and free massages: it allowed tech companies to convince tech workers to work like government mules by flattering them that they were partners on a mission to bring the world to its digital future:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/10/the-proletarianization-of-tech-workers/

For tech bosses, this gambit worked well, but failed badly. On the one hand, they were able to get otherwise powerful workers to consent to being "extremely hardcore" by invoking Fobazi Ettarh's spirit of "vocational awe":

https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2018/vocational-awe/

On the other hand, when you motivate your workers by appealing to their sense of mission, the downside is that they feel a sense of mission. That means that when you demand that a tech worker enshittifies something they missed their mother's funeral to deliver, they will experience a profound sense of moral injury and refuse, and that worker's bargaining power means that they can make it stick.

Or at least, it did. In this era of mass tech layoffs, when Google can fire 12,000 workers after a $80b stock buyback that would have paid their wages for the next 27 years, tech workers are learning that the answer to "I won't do this and you can't make me" is "don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out" (AKA "sharpen your blades boys"):

https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/29/elon-musk-texts-discovery-twitter/

With competition, regulation, self-help and labor cleared away, tech firms – and firms that have wrapped their products around the pluripotently malleable core of digital tech, including automotive makers – are no longer constrained from enshittifying their products.

And that's why your car manufacturer has chosen to spy on you and sell your private information to data-brokers and anyone else who wants it. Not because you didn't pay for the product, so you're the product. It's because they can get away with it.

Cars are enshittified. The dozens of chips that auto makers have shoveled into their car design are only incidentally related to delivering a better product. The primary use for those chips is autoenshittification – access to legal strictures ("IP") that allows them to block modifications and repairs that would interfere with the unfettered abuse of their own customers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

The fact that it's a felony to reverse-engineer and modify a car's software opens the floodgates to all kinds of shitty scams. Remember when Bay Staters were voting on a ballot measure to impose right-to-repair obligations on automakers in Massachusetts? The only reason they needed to have the law intervene to make right-to-repair viable is that Big Car has figured out that if it encrypts its diagnostic messages, it can felonize third-party diagnosis of a car, because decrypting the messages violates the DMCA:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/drm-cars-will-drive-consumers-crazy

Big Car figured out that VIN locking – DRM for engine components and subassemblies – can felonize the production and the installation of third-party spare parts:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/08/about-those-kill-switched-ukrainian-tractors/

The fact that you can't legally modify your car means that automakers can go back to their pre-2008 ways, when they transformed themselves into unregulated banks that incidentally manufactured the cars they sold subprime loans for. Subprime auto loans – over $1t worth! – absolutely relies on the fact that borrowers' cars can be remotely controlled by lenders. Miss a payment and your car's stereo turns itself on and blares threatening messages at top volume, which you can't turn off. Break the lease agreement that says you won't drive your car over the county line and it will immobilize itself. Try to change any of this software and you'll commit a felony under Section 1201 of the DMCA:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/02/innovation-unlocks-markets/#digital-arm-breakers

Tesla, naturally, has the most advanced anti-features. Long before BMW tried to rent you your seat-heater and Mercedes tried to sell you a monthly subscription to your accelerator pedal, Teslas were demon-haunted nightmare cars. Miss a Tesla payment and the car will immobilize itself and lock you out until the repo man arrives, then it will blare its horn and back itself out of its parking spot. If you "buy" the right to fully charge your car's battery or use the features it came with, you don't own them – they're repossessed when your car changes hands, meaning you get less money on the used market because your car's next owner has to buy these features all over again:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

And all this DRM allows your car maker to install spyware that you're not allowed to remove. They really tipped their hand on this when the R2R ballot measure was steaming towards an 80% victory, with wall-to-wall scare ads that revealed that your car collects so much information about you that allowing third parties to access it could lead to your murder (no, really!):

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/03/rip-david-graeber/#rolling-surveillance-platforms

That's why your car spies on you. Because it can. Because the company that made it lacks constraint, be it market-based, legal, technological or its own workforce's ethics.

One common critique of my enshittification hypothesis is that this is "kind of sensible and normal" because "there’s something off in the consumer mindset that we’ve come to believe that the internet should provide us with amazing products, which bring us joy and happiness and we spend hours of the day on, and should ask nothing back in return":

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-to-have-great-conversations/

What this criticism misses is that this isn't the companies bargaining to shift some value from us to them. Enshittification happens when a company can seize all that value, without having to bargain, exploiting law and technology and market power over buyers and sellers to unilaterally alter the way the products and services we rely on work.

A company that doesn't have to fear competitors, regulators, jailbreaking or workers' refusal to enshittify its products doesn't have to bargain, it can take. It's the first lesson they teach you in the Darth Vader MBA: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/26/hit-with-a-brick/#graceful-failure

Your car spying on you isn't down to your belief that your carmaker "should provide you with amazing products, which brings your joy and happiness you spend hours of the day on, and should ask nothing back in return." It's not because you didn't pay for the product, so now you're the product. It's because they can get away with it.

The consequences of this spying go much further than mere insurance premium hikes, too. Car telemetry sits at the top of the funnel that the unbelievably sleazy data broker industry uses to collect and sell our data. These are the same companies that sell the fact that you visited an abortion clinic to marketers, bounty hunters, advertisers, or vengeful family members pretending to be one of those:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/07/safegraph-spies-and-lies/#theres-no-i-in-uterus

Decades of pro-monopoly policy led to widespread regulatory capture. Corporate cartels use the monopoly profits they extract from us to pay for regulatory inaction, allowing them to extract more profits.

But when it comes to privacy, that period of unchecked corporate power might be coming to an end. The lack of privacy regulation is at the root of so many problems that a pro-privacy movement has an unstoppable constituency working in its favor.

At EFF, we call this "privacy first." Whether you're worried about grifters targeting vulnerable people with conspiracy theories, or teens being targeted with media that harms their mental health, or Americans being spied on by foreign governments, or cops using commercial surveillance data to round up protesters, or your car selling your data to insurance companies, passing that long-overdue privacy legislation would turn off the taps for the data powering all these harms:

https://www.eff.org/wp/privacy-first-better-way-address-online-harms

Traditional economics fails because it thinks about markets without thinking about power. Monopolies lead to more than market power: they produce regulatory capture, power over workers, and state capture, which felonizes competition through IP law. The story that our problems stem from the fact that we just don't spend enough money, or buy the wrong products, only makes sense if you willfully ignore the power that corporations exert over our lives. It's nice to think that you can shop your way out of a monopoly, because that's a lot easier than voting your way out of a monopoly, but no matter how many times you vote with your wallet, the cartels that control the market will always win:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/05/the-map-is-not-the-territory/#apor-locksmith

Name your price for 18 of my DRM-free ebooks and support the Electronic Frontier Foundation with the Humble Cory Doctorow Bundle.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/12/market-failure/#car-wars

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[soon-palestine]

HP hewlett packard

HP-branded corporations provide and operate technology that Israel uses to maintain its system of apartheid, occupation and settler colonialism over the Palestinian people. Hewlett Packard’s violations of Palestinian human rights have been well documented. Aside from providing services and technology to the Israeli army and police that maintain Israel’s illegal occupation and siege of Gaza, HP provides Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority with the exclusive Itanium servers for its Aviv System. This system enables the government to control and enforce its system of racial segregation and apartheid against Palestinian citizens of Israel, and is directly involved in Israel’s settler colonialism through its “Yesha database”, which compiles information on Israeli citizens in illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank.

HP has been described as the “Polaroid of our times”, a reference to huge mobilisations against the use of Polaroid technology by the South African apartheid regime for its racist passbook system. Polaroid’s 1977 withdrawal from South Africa marked a turning point in the international effort to end apartheid there.

HP-E is contracted by Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority to provide and maintain the Itanium servers that house Israel’s population registry through 2020. Known as the Aviv System, this population registry is the basis of Israel’s ID card system. This ID system forms a core part of the Israeli apartheid regime’s tiered system of citizenship and residency that privileges Israel’s Jewish population and gives inferior status and rights to Palestinians, especially those in East Jerusalem. This leads to institutionalised racial discrimination and segregation in freedom of movement, housing, employment, marriage, healthcare, education, and policing. This discrimination is further exacerbated in the case of Palestinian “residents” in occupied East Jerusalem, whose most basic rights can and are being revoked arbitrarily.

The system also holds information about Israeli citizens living in illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, therefore serving Israel’s settler colonial project directly. HP-E’s spin-off DXC Technology runs an R&D facility in the illegal settlement of Beitar Illit.

In 2015, HP split into HP Inc.- which carried on the brand name and provides consumer hardware, and HP-E for business and government services. In such a scenario, the BDS National Committee maintains that: “The onus is on each company to demonstrate to the public that it is free of illegal and unethical business activities.” Further, despite multiple requests for clarification, both the new companies sharing and profiting from the HP brand are yet to provide unambiguous evidence to show that their business activities with Israel do not violate International Humanitarian Law and Palestinian Human Rights. HP has, in the past, held a contract with the Israeli Ministry of Defence under which it developed and maintained the Basel System- the biometric identification system installed on checkpoints in the occupied Palestinian Territory, controlling the mobility of Palestinians. It also worked with the Israeli military, helping build its IT infrastructure. This included a program with the Israeli Navy which enforces the illegal naval blockade on Gaza. For these and other past ties of complicity with Israel’s occupation, apartheid and settler-colonialism, HP-branded companies must provide reparations to the Palestinian victims of these crimes.

https://bdsmovement.net/boycott-hp#tab3

[campgender]

hey! I'm currently writing a paper discussing experiences of disabled and neurodivergent students at my uni (spoiler alert: it's not great lmao), and while I have a couple references so far (mostly Lund and Pearlstein) about the larger Disabled Student ExperienceTM I'm struggling to find academic papers talking about this, particularly since my field of study is psychology rather than disability theory/disability justice. are there any texts regarding this that you would reccommend? doing my best to lean on crip theory for this essay and you were the first person i thought of! no worries if you don't have the energy to answer this rn ofc, i hope you're having a good day ✨

omg what a fabulous & vital project! i’d love to hear more about your work both out of interest & to potentially refine my recommendations because this is such a complex, multifaceted area of experience + research + activism — i tried to draw from a variety of perspectives so you can dig deeper into what seems most relevant!

my number one recommendation is the book Academic Ableism by Jay Dolmage, i still need to read most of it rip but it’s absolutely considered foundational in this topic. the rest i’m gonna put under a cut because it got super long lol, i’ll also reblog to my disability sideblog @crippleprophet in case anyone else has suggestions!

best of luck with your work, i hope some of this is helpful! feel free to reach out for more recommendations, input, or encouragement❣️💖

on the built environment – eg, the physical campus & how it impacts students

if you’re in the US, this summary of colleges’ responsibilities under the ADA has been helpful for me (link).

Building Access by Aimi Hamraie

Accessibility for Historic Buildings: A Field Guide, 2nd Edition (link to pdf)

written by David Provost and revised by Joseph Hoefferle, Jr. as part of the University of Vermont Graduate Program in Historic Preservation

back in 2020 i used the first edition of this document in a project arguing my undergraduate university should make its historic buildings more accessible

lays out policies & options in tables with photo examples from their campus

Aimi Hamraie & Kelly Fritsch’s Crip Technoscience Manifesto (2019)

Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience, 5(1), pp1-34.

this piece is honestly just incredibly life-giving for me in general so i highly recommend giving it a full read when you have time. specific parts that i thought might resonate with the experiences of students at your uni:

“user-initiated design” (Hendren & Lynch, cited p9)

“access as friction” (p10):

Emerging out of historical fights for disability rights, the terms accessibility and access are usually taken to mean disabled inclusion and assimilation into normative able-bodied relations and built environments. […] However, the etymology of the word access reveals two frictional meanings: access as “an opportunity enabling contact,” as well as “a kind of attack” (2016, p. 23). Taking access as a kind of attack reveals access-making as a site of political friction and contestation. While historically central to the fights for disability access, crip technoscience is nevertheless committed to pushing beyond liberal and assimilation-based approaches to accessibility, which emphasize inclusion in mainstream society, to pursue access as friction, particularly paying attention to access-making as disabled peoples’ acts of non-compliance and protest.

noncompliant users and assistive technology as friction (p11):

Lifchez and Winslow offer the concept of “non-compliant users,” illustrating this with an image of a powerchair user wheeling against traffic on a street without curb cuts (1979, p. 153). This technology-enabled movement against the flow of traffic marks anti-assimilationist crip mobility: not an attempt to integrate (as in the liberal approach to disability rights), but rather to use technology as a friction against an inaccessible environment.

collaborative mapping of (in)accessibility, something i know happens more informally among disabled students on many campuses (p15):

Unlike mainstream disability technoscience “crowdsourcing” projects, which invoke a charity model of disability wherein non-disabled people collect data but do not engage in disability culture or politics, emerging projects such as Mapping Access are making participatory access-making the basis of a kind of technoscientific “access intimacy” (Mingus, 2017) through practices such as “critical crowdsourcing” of accessibility data (Hamraie, 2018). […] Collaborative mapping visualizes the evidence of inaccessibility while creating opportunities for collective response. Crip cartographic technoscience thus enables more critical design, and interrogation of the everyday built environment.

access to education

the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities includes the right to inclusive education (Article 24). scholarship in this area is about primary & secondary education, not postsecondary / university education, but a lot of the concepts can be applied

in addition to inclusive education, “universal design for learning” (UDL) might be a helpful keyword but it definitely trends toward the liberal as a whole

“Hidden contradictions and conditionality: conceptualisations of inclusive education in international human rights law” (2013) by Bronagh Byrne (link)

references the importance of identifying barriers as a step in the process of accessible education, which depending on your work may be a nice succinct justification of its necessity (p234):

Inclusion ‘necessitates the removal of the material, ideological, political and economic barriers that legitimate and reproduce in equality and discrimination in the lives of disabled people’ (Barton and Armstrong 2001, 214). According to this view, an identification of barriers within the school’s environment, teaching and learning strategies, and attitudes that prevent the full participation of children with disabilities, will also be required.

argues for a focus on inability of schools to meet students’ needs rather than students’ inability to conform to an ableist environment (for example, p242):

International human rights law has conditionalised the right to inclusive education for children with disabilities by making inclusion contingent upon the extent of individual rather than institutional or structural deficits.

psychological/emotional impact on disabled students

“psycho-emotional disablism” may be a useful search term for you, with the disclaimer that a substantial portion of scholars in feminist disability studies are TERFs / express “gender critical” beliefs / etc. so like i’m listing one paper i came across that looked relevant + two from my grad program’s recommended reading, but i haven’t read these & suggest vetting authors before citing them:

“The psycho-emotionally disabling impact of academic landscapes of exclusion: experiences of a disabled postgraduate in perpetual lockdown” (2023) by Joanne Hunt (link)

Reeve, D (2004). Psycho-emotional dimensions of disability and the social model. In C Barnes & G Mercer (eds), Implementing the social model of disability: theory and research. The Disability Press, Leeds, pp. 83-100. http://donnareeve.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ReeveChapter2004b.pdf

Reeve, D. (2014) 'Psycho-emotional disablism and internalised oppression', in J. Swain, S. French, C. Barnes and C. Thomas (eds) Disabling Barriers - Enabling Environments, 3rd Edition, London: Sage, pp. 92-98. http://donnareeve.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ReeveChapter2014a.pdf

[pigeon-smidge]

Hello, my dear friend 🌟

I am Mahmoud Jihad from Gaza, currently living in a flimsy tent after my home and university were completely destroyed, along with my PC and my city. I was studying Information Technology while caring for my sick father and siblings, but now all my hopes seem shattered. 😢

As we face this devastating crisis, I am raising funds to help my family escape from Gaza and to continue my studies abroad 🎓. Every day is a struggle, and your support can make a significant difference in our lives ❤️.

My GoFundMe campaign has been verified by @beesandwatermelons ✅ #190.

Please consider sharing, liking, commenting, or donating, even a small amount 🙏.

Your help could be the turning point that saves my family and helps us survive in this harsh and relentless war 😔.

GoFundMe link: https://gofund.me/463cbf01

Thank you from the bottom of my heart! 🌹

If you can donate, please please do. Share as well, as a simple reblog and pasting the link somewhere can help more people see. It can save lives. It brings more attention to these stories that desperately need activism.

If you can’t, please share.

Arab.org actually allows you to donate FOR FREE to Palestinian refugees with clicks. You can normally click once per day but if you use different browsers, devices and open it from different platforms on mobile you can do it more often.

Peace for Palestine and the world. No one deserves to be hunted for simply existing.

We can all coexist peacefully. We are all human. 

[mariacallous]

As the most consequential presidential election in a generation looms in the United States, get-out-the-vote efforts across the country are more important than ever. But multiple far-right activist groups with ties to former president Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee are mobilizing their supporters in earnest, drawing on one baseline belief: Elections in the US are rigged, and citizens need to do something about it.

All the evidence states otherwise. But in recent weeks, these groups have held training sessions about how to organize on a hyperlocal level to monitor polling places and drop boxes, challenge voter registrations en masse, and intimidate and harass voters and election officials. And some are preparing to roll out new technology to fast-track all of these efforts: One of the groups claims they’re launching a new platform for checking voter rolls that contains billions of “data elements” on every single US citizen.

These groups could have a major impact on the 2024 election. In addition to disenfranchising voters and putting additional pressure on already overstretched election offices, they could convince more and more people that US elections are fraudulent.

Catherine Engelbrecht and her organization True the Vote have effectively tried to disenfranchise voters for more than a decade by claiming that voter rolls are filled with phony voter registrations. Engelbrecht’s rhetoric was given an unprecedented boost in the wake of 2020, when Trump and other elected officials mainstreamed conspiracies that the elections had been rigged in favor of Democrats. Hundreds of national and local election denial groups were formed, and many of them amassed huge followings on social media platforms like Telegram. As the 2024 presidential election looms, they are ramping up efforts to do it again.

“It could be exponentially worse than what we saw in 2020, but we're going to be awake, we're going to be engaged, we are going to understand the process, and we're going to have options to continue to hold to those truths,” Engelbrecht said during a March webinar titled “Election Integrity Team Building 101.” “We're not going to back down. There's too much to lose.”

The hour-long presentation was delivered from a hotel room in Denver, with Engelbrecht laying out what could sound like a relatively benign plan to monitor elections and check voter rolls. “Keep a soft heart, keep a kind word in your mouth, approach people irrespective of party with love. You will find that things will be much better if that is the approach that is taken,” Engelbrecht said. The session, she said, was overbooked.

Engelbrecht then began speaking about elections being “perilously close to cracking in half,” and her presentation became a highlight reel of election conspiracies, references to crystals, Christian nationalist rhetoric, and militaristic jargon. “If this republic’s to be saved, it's because [of] people like all of you that are on this webinar right now. There are some bad actors out there and we live in particularly chaotic and caustic times,” said Engelbrecht. “If we wait on somebody to do something, we will watch freedom slip away on our watch. That's how close we are.”

“These groups are trying to lay the groundwork to potentially make later claims about the election that very well may be false. But the more chaos that can be caused along the way will give more fodder to that disinformation,” Andrew Garber, an expert at the Brennan Center for Justice’s Voting Rights and Elections Program, tells WIRED. “It's not just bad if there's a mass voter challenge because people might get kicked off the rolls. It's also bad if people then take that challenge and say, ‘See, look at all these ineligible voters,’ when in fact that's not the case.”

Engelbrecht founded True the Vote in 2010, when she was an activist for the right-wing populist Tea Party movement. After the 2020 election, Engelbrecht and her collaborator Gregg Phillips became central figures in the Stop the Steal movement, and starred in the widely-debunked election conspiracy film 2000 Mules. They were also arrested for contempt of court after refusing to identify their source behind allegations that the Chinese government had accessed US election data. True the Vote also made wild allegations of widespread ballot stuffing in Georgia during the 2020 vote and a subsequent runoff in 2021. Earlier this year, True the Vote was forced to admit in court that the group had no evidence to back up its claims.

In 2022, the group rolled out a slick new software tool known as IV3, based on technology developed by Phillips, that compared names on voter rolls to a database maintained by the US Postal Service, allowing anyone to challenge voter registrations across the country if they spotted a discrepancy. A WIRED investigation, however, revealed that the information used to challenge the registration of hundreds of thousands of people was based on unreliable data.

Undeterred, True the Vote announced last week that it was relaunching IV3. Phillips claims that the software’s database now has close to “100 billion data elements about every single voter in the United States.” WIRED has not seen proof of this claim. The new IV3 system will soon be available in all 50 states, the organization said. On Thursday, the group held a webinar to train local activists on how to use it. The new system also relies on data from the US Postal Service, but Engelbrecht claimed during the presentation that Phillips and his team had “normalized” the data from all 50 states to ensure the system would not produce inaccurate results. She also said that thousands of people across the country were already registered, and that they had a long waiting list.

Additionally, she said that another software tool developed by Phillips’ team, called Ground Fusion, would be released soon; it is aimed at organizations and PACs looking to identify voting irregularities across larger geographic regions.

Engelbrecht declined to comment, claiming without evidence that WIRED had “written unfairly about True the Vote and IV3 in the past.”

True the Vote is not the only group seeking to leverage technology to supercharge the spread of election conspiracies. A secretive Georgia-based firm called EagleAI NETwork has developed a voter information database to fast-track the deletion of ineligible voters from the system. Voter rights groups have advised against its use, as insignificant errors—such as a missing comma before the suffix “Jr.”—have led to eligible names being removed. Still, at least one county in Georgia has agreed to use EagleAI to review voter challenges and conduct list maintenance activities.

One of EagleAI’s key backers is former Trump adviser Cleta Mitchell, who in the past two years has become central to the push to spread election conspiracies on a national level through her well-funded Election Integrity Network.

The group has held in-person training seminars in recent years, with session topics including how to protect “Vulnerable Voters from Leftist Activists” and “Monitoring Voting Equipment and Systems.” More recently, the group has made its training sessions available online, and is now once again ramping up its efforts ahead of the 2024 election with an initiative called Soles to the Rolls, aimed at boosting challenges to voter registration.

Mitchell, EagleAI, and the Election Integrity Network did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

Another training webinar called “We the People” was also hosted last month by the America Project and its offshoot, Vote Your Vision. Broadcasted online to hundreds of attendees, the webinar featured a lineup of election conspiracists, Republican lawmakers, a guy who wrote a book about fifth-generation warfare, and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

The webinar, the group’s website said, was designed to give people “the secrets to reclaiming our power and reshaping history” by using “state-of-the-art election tools,” including those involving artificial intelligence technology. While the details of exactly what these tools will look like and how they will be used are unclear, the America Project has already scheduled more training sessions in the coming weeks to give supporters more information. The group also did not reply to requests for comment.

The America Project was cofounded by disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn and former Overstock.com CEO and conspiracist Patrick Byrne, who also funds part of the organization. Both Flynn and Byrne reportedly attended a White House meeting in late 2020 to urge Trump to essentially declare martial law and seize voting machines.

While Flynn didn’t speak during last month’s webinar, he has arguably done more than anyone since 2020 to push the notion that America’s elections are fundamentally fraudulent, appearing at conferences, in podcasts, and on right-wing news shows on a near-daily basis. Trump has also indicated that Flynn will be brought back into his administration should he win.

These efforts have been given the seal of approval by the Republican National Committee, which was recently restructured by Trump to include election deniers and family members in top positions while cutting minority outreach efforts. One of those election deniers is Christina Bobb, who will be running the “election integrity unit.” A former Trump lawyer and TV presenter on far-right channel One America News, Bobb is a major promoter of the myth that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. The RNC’s election-related priorities, according to an internal memo recently obtained by NPR, include “a broader effort over the coming months to [legally] challenge voter identification and signature verification rules which were put into place for the 2020 election.”

During the America Project webinar last month, one of the hosts apologized to listeners for being unable to get Bobb to join the call that day, but promised that she would join a future session—highlighting just how closely these conspiracy-focused groups work with the mainstream GOP apparatus.

“These groups have a playbook nationally that they tend to deploy locally,” says Garber. “Some of these playbooks that have an intended national reach are then deployed through local activists, and it's concerning because it's the voters at the local level who suffer the effects. It's the election officials at the local level trying to keep order at the polls, trying to make sure their voter rolls are up to date, who have to deal with this stuff.”

One of Flynn’s core messages over the past four years has been that “local action equals national impact” —an expression that revolves around a concept called “precinct strategy,” which aims to get people into key positions on local committees in order to push their narratives at the local level. In 2024, that strategy has been primed and polished.

“This concept of precinct strategy was actually endorsed by President Trump in the last election cycle,” Yehuda Miller, a Republican county committee member in New Jersey, said during the America Project seminar. “We want to take the strategy to the next level. We want to get more organized, we want to start organizing across multiple counties in a state, we want to start organizing across multiple states. We have the power to direct our elected officials.”

[kp777]

By Brett Wilkins

Common Dreams

July 26, 2024

One group said it has registered over 100,000 new voters since U.S. President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race.

The group behind a popular get-out-the-vote technology platform said Friday that it's registered more than 100,000 new U.S. voters since President Joe Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race, a surge that came amid mounting Republican efforts to make it harder to register and vote.

Vote.org said that 84% of voters registered in the new wave are under age 35. Nearly 1 in 5 new registrees is 18 years old. Andrea Hailey, the group's CEO, said that "since 2020, we have led the largest voter registration drive in U.S. history," with more than 7.8 million people registered.

After dropping out, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to face former Republican President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) in the November election. The new presumptive Democratic candidate has already earned endorsements from many Democrats in Congress and groups advocating on issues including climate, labor, and reproductive rights.

Vote.org's success comes as Republicans at the federal level are proposing and passing legislation creating obstacles to the ballot box.

Earlier this month, U.S. House Republicans passed Rep. Chip Roy's (R-Texas) Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require proof of American citizenship to vote in federal elections. Republicans claim the bill is meant to fix the virtually nonexistent "problem" of noncitizen voter fraud.

However, Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) slammed the bill as a "xenophobic attack" meant to silence "Black voices, brown voices, LBGTQIA+ voices, [and] young voices."

Lee said the SAVE Act underscores the need to pass her recently introduced Right to Vote Act, "which would establish the first-ever affirmative federal voting rights guarantee, ensuring every citizen may exercise their fundamental right to cast a ballot."

Earlier this year, U.S. Senate Democrats also reintroduced the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, legislation its sponsors say will "update and restore critical safeguards of the original Voting Rights Act."

Meanwhile, Republican-controlled state legislatures and red-state governors are enacting laws imposing tough restrictions on voter registration, with violations punishable by stiff fines that critics say are meant to dissuade people from registration drives and similar efforts.

Again under the guise of preventing fraud, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last year signed legislation limiting voter registration drives, with fines of up to $250,000 for violators.

"These draconian laws and rules are like taking a sledgehammer to hit a flea," Cecile Scoon, an attorney and president of the Florida chapter of the League of Women Voters, toldThe New York Times in an article published Friday.

Three years after Kansas passed a law making "false representation" of an election official a crime, campaigners say it's become extremely difficult to sign up new voters.

"In 2020, even with the pandemic, we had registered nearly 10,000 Kansans to vote. Now, we haven't been able to register anyone," Davis Hammet, president of the youth voter mobilization group Loud Light, told the Times.

In Louisiana, Republican state lawmakers quietly passed legislation making it easier for election officials to toss out absentee ballots with missing details, limiting how people can mail in other voters' ballots, and restricting the ability to assist people with disabilities with their ballots.

"What we've found is that these measures have a disproportionate impact on voters with disabilities, both Black and white," NAACP Legal Defense Fund senior policy counsel Jared Evans toldNola.com earlier this week.

"It's clear that their goal is to make it harder to vote, harder for specific communities to vote especially," Evans added. "What they don't realize is that these laws hurt white voters, too."

In Nebraska, Republican Secretary of State Bob Evnen last week ordered county election offices to stop registering voters with past felony convictions who have not received official pardons. The move came after the state's unicameral Legislature passed a bill granting voting eligibility to felons immediately after they have completed their sentences instead of waiting two years.

"We refuse to accept thousands of Nebraskans having their voting rights stripped away," ACLU of Nebraska legal and policy fellow Jane Seu said in a statement. "We are confident in the constitutionality of these laws, and we are exploring every option to ensure that Nebraskans who have done their time can vote."

[posttexasstressdisorder]

GOOD NEWS!

There’s a new plan to revive the Affordable Connectivity Program, a pandemic-era initiative that provides low-income households in the US with discounts on high-speed internet access.

At the end of April, funding for the program was set to run out, affecting millions. But a bipartisan group of senators, led by Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, have proposed using a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization measure as a vehicle for funding the ACP and other telecom programs for a combined $6 billion. Luján’s coalition includes senators J.D. Vance, Peter Welch, Jacky Rosen, Steve Daines, and Roger Wicker.

“Right now, there are over 23 million households participating in this program. That’s more than 55 million people. But it’s not only benefiting these individual families—it’s benefiting their local communities as well,” Luján tells WIRED. “It gives families access to better-paying jobs, to training and education to create economic mobility, to better deals on groceries and household goods. The time is now to save this program.”

The measure also includes a provision for the Federal Communication Commission’s “rip and replace program,” which refunds US telecom providers for removing equipment from Chinese manufacturers including Huawei and ZTE from their networks and replacing it with less-risky tech. Earlier this month, the FCC asked Congress for around $2 billion to help bolster the program, which has faced a shortfall. That initiative has been in place since 2020, which is when the FCC identified Huawei and ZTE as national security threats and then-president Donald Trump signed the “rip-and-replace” bill into law.

“It’s also critical that we adequately fund the ‘rip-and-replace’ program to ensure our country can move forward the effort to remove and replace untrusted technological equipment. This amendment also empowers the FCC to reauction spectrum licenses to free up airwaves and allow more opportunities for the public to access faster internet speeds and more responsive networks,” Luján said.

The Biden administration has made significant investments in broadband expansion over the past few years. In a speech last month, Biden called on Congress to reinvest in the ACP.

“High-speed internet isn’t a luxury anymore, it’s an absolute necessity,” Biden said. “Congress needs to reauthorize that program now.”

Update, May 7 at 7:19 pm: A previous version of this story misidentified the state Ben Ray Luján represents in the US Senate. It is New Mexico.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Innovation and Cooptation

With Musk’s purchase of Twitter, we see the conclusion of a cycle of innovation and cooptation in the field of communications. In the late 20th century, the dominant political and technological models were monolithic and unidirectional: network television, mass-based political parties. In response, anarchists and other rebels experimented with independent media and underground networks, producing innovative horizontal and decentralized models like indymedia.org. Tech corporations eventually monetized these models as the participatory media of Web 2.0, such as Facebook. Yet from the turn of the century through the uprising of 2020, the lingering horizontal and participatory aspects of the internet in general and social media in particular continued to empower those who sought to achieve more self-determination—witness the “Thank you Facebook” graffiti in Tunisia after the so-called “Arab Spring” uprisings of 2010-2011.

Over the past decade, however, corporations and governments have introduced more and more online surveillance and control. Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is the latest stage in a reactionary clampdown with grim implications.

Musk and his colleagues see capitalism as a meritocracy in which the shrewdest and most hardworking competitors inexorably rise to the top. Hence, presumably, their own success.

Of course, if Musk wishes to prove that his success is not just the consequence of privilege and luck—of fortune and good fortune—he could demonstrate this easily enough by giving away his wealth, cutting his social ties, changing his name, and repeating his supposed rags-to-riches feats a second time. If he were able to climb the pyramid a second time without the benefit of growing up white in apartheid-era South Africa (setting aside the question of his father’s emerald investments for now), we might have to grant a hearing to his claims that the market has elevated him on account of his personal qualities—though that still would not show that capitalism rewards the efforts that are most beneficial for humanity.

According to the Silicon Valley narrative, platforms like Twitter are the inventions of individual entrepreneurs, propelled into being by the finance capital of canny investors.

But Twitter did not simply spring, fully formed like Athena, from the head of company co-founder Jack Dorsey. In fact, it was a modest refinement of a model already demonstrated by TXTmob, the SMS text messaging program developed by the Institute for Applied Autonomy for protests at the 2004 Democratic and Republican National Conventions.[1] Blaine Cook and Evan Henshaw-Plath, anarchist developers who worked alongside Dorsey at his previous company Odeo, helped refine TXTmob and later took the model with them into the conversations with Dorsey that gave rise to Twitter.[2]

If the unrelenting urgency of social media in general and Twitter in particular can be exhausting, that’s to be expected—the infrastructure of Twitter was originally designed for street communications during high-stakes mass mobilizations in which information must go out immediately, boiled down to its bare essentials. It’s not a coincidence that, despite its shortcomings, the platform has continued to be useful to street activists and conflict journalists.

The point here is that innovative models do not necessarily emerge from the commercial entrepreneurism of the Great Men of history and economics. More often, they emerge in the course of collective efforts to solve one of the problems created by the capitalist order. Resistance is the motor of history. Afterwards, opportunists like Musk use the outsize economic leverage that a profit-driven market grants them to buy up new technologies and turn them definitively against the movements and milieux that originally produced them.

We can identify two stages in the capitalist appropriation of the TXTmob model. In the first phase, a framework that was originally designed by volunteers for the use of ordinary protesters was transformed into a publicly traded corporation, around the same time that the open spaces of the early internet were being colonized by the for-profit surveillance systems of Web 2.0. In the second phase, this publicly traded corporation has been transformed into the private plaything of a single entitled tycoon—with consequences that remain to be seen.

Musk claims that his goal is to open up the platform for a wider range of speech. In practice, there is no such thing as “free speech” in its pure form—every decision that can shape the conditions of dialogue inevitably has implications regarding who can participate, who can be heard, and what can be said. For all we might say against them, the previous content moderators of Twitter did not prevent the platform from serving grassroots movements. We have yet to see whether Musk will intentionally target activists and organizers or simply permit reactionaries to do so on a crowdsourced basis, but it would be extremely naïve to take him at his word that his goal is to make Twitter more open.

[rosszulorzott]

Reading Journal

After reading Why Civil Resistance Works, The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan (2011), I'm now on to the update from 2021, Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know by Erica Chenoweth. This link is from the author's page and you will find many more resources there.

"Written by leading experts in their fields and with over 100 subjects to explore Oxford University Press's acclaimed What Everyone Needs to Know® series offers authoritative discussions of complex contemporary issues from gender to sustainability to robots in a lively question-and-answer format."

I'm now halfway through this book and I thought to share some quotes and commentary.

I have evolved from being a detached skeptic of civil resistance to becoming an invested participant in nonviolent movements. I now study the history and practice of resistance with much greater urgency, for the sake of my own democracy and in solidarity with human rights defenders around the world.

Although many cases don’t make headline news, the past decade—2010 to 2020—has seen more revolutionary nonviolent uprisings around the world than in any other period in recorded history. In fact, there have been more such campaigns in the first two decades of the twenty-first century than there were during the entire twentieth century. ... Even though nonviolent resistance is now ubiquitous as a leading strategy for creating change worldwide, the data also suggest that governments are defeating revolutionary nonviolent movements more often than in prior decades ... since 2016, far-right and neo-Nazi groups in Germany have been relying on the work of nonviolent resistance scholar Gene Sharp to better understand how to build and wield people power to pursue their racist and exclusionary aims. ... Just because people are protesting in the streets does not mean they are engaging in civil resistance. Spontaneous, improvised street actions that are not coordinated across various civic groups as part of a broader strategy rarely have staying power or capacity for long-term transformation. ... Few if any civil resistance campaigns have succeeded using protest alone. ... The first known feminist rebellion in North America was a sixteenth-century civil resistance campaign by Iroquois tribal women to end unregulated warfare within the Iroquois nation. Men exclusively controlled declarations of war, along with other political powers. Iroquois women coordinated a sex and childbearing strike, refused to harvest and prepare crops, and refused to produce moccasins necessary for war-making. Ultimately Iroquois women won the power to veto war declarations. ... Since World War II, very few civil resistance movements that excluded women at the front lines succeeded. ... No movements have failed after getting 10% of the nation’s population to be actively involved in their peak event. Most succeed after mobilizing 3.5%. ... successful movements do not necessarily need to turn mortal enemies into active supporters. Civil resistance is not about converting the opponent or melting the hearts of brutal dictators. It is about pulling their supports away in key moments—and taking away their options. ... Digital technology makes it easy to skip the critical steps of building relationships, developing ongoing coalitions, planning strategies, building alternative institutions, and preparing a population for a long struggle. With the convenience of social media, many movements may fall into the trap of organizing only in the short term, moving from one event to another, while failing to absorb their base of supporters into long-term movement adherents. Every movement faces the temptation to put tactics before strategy. Social media dramatically increase that temptation. ... Civil rights organizer Bernice Johnson Reagon once said that if you’re comfortable with everyone in your coalition, you’re not in a coalition. Maintaining a winning coalition is much more difficult than selecting a clear and concrete objective; it often requires skilled mediators and a movement-wide willingness to resolve conflict through some accepted process. ... we know from historical studies that people tend to be more willing to put themselves in harm’s way than to actively hurt others. ... even more important than tactical discipline may be narrative discipline

I have grouped some of these quotes by topic, because the book is written in a very detailed and recursive style, repeating key findings in different contexts and in varying depths. No matter what question the reader wants to explore first, they will find the answer substantiated by research and other background info. This also makes the book hard to read, more like a study course - but one we desperately need to take. Maybe when translating it we could create a shorter version from the essentials (localized for each region's own political environment) and referenced back to the full text. This way we could have a format better suited for general education and organization needs.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Cloudburst

Enshittification isn’t inevitable: under different conditions and constraints, the old, good internet could have given way to a new, good internet. Enshittification is the result of specific policy choices: encouraging monopolies; enabling high-speed, digital shell games; and blocking interoperability.

First we allowed companies to buy up their competitors. Google is the shining example here: having made one good product (search), they then fielded an essentially unbroken string of in-house flops, but it didn’t matter, because they were able to buy their way to glory: video, mobile, ad-tech, server management, docs, navigation…They’re not Willy Wonka’s idea factory, they’re Rich Uncle Pennybags, making up for their lack of invention by buying out everyone else:

https://locusmag.com/2022/03/cory-doctorow-vertically-challenged/

But this acquisition-fueled growth isn’t unique to tech. Every administration since Reagan (but not Biden! more on this later) has chipped away at antitrust enforcement, so that every sector has undergone an orgy of mergers, from athletic shoes to sea freight, eyeglasses to pro wrestling:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/written-materials/2021/07/09/the-importance-of-competition-for-the-american-economy/

But tech is different, because digital is flexible in a way that analog can never be. Tech companies can “twiddle” the back-ends of their clouds to change the rules of the business from moment to moment, in a high-speed shell-game that can make it impossible to know what kind of deal you’re getting:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/27/knob-jockeys/#bros-be-twiddlin

To make things worse, users are banned from twiddling. The thicket of rules we call IP ensure that twiddling is only done against users, never for them. Reverse-engineering, scraping, bots — these can all be blocked with legal threats and suits and even criminal sanctions, even if they’re being done for legitimate purposes:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

Enhittification isn’t inevitable but if we let companies buy all their competitors, if we let them twiddle us with every hour that God sends, if we make it illegal to twiddle back in self-defense, we will get twiddled to death. When a company can operate without the discipline of competition, nor of privacy law, nor of labor law, nor of fair trading law, with the US government standing by to punish any rival who alters the logic of their service, then enshittification is the utterly foreseeable outcome.

To understand how our technology gets distorted by these policy choices, consider “The Cloud.” Once, “the cloud” was just a white-board glyph, a way to show that some part of a software’s logic would touch some commodified, fungible, interchangeable appendage of the internet. Today, “The Cloud” is a flashing warning sign, the harbinger of enshittification.

When your image-editing tools live on your computer, your files are yours. But once Adobe moves your software to The Cloud, your critical, labor-intensive, unrecreatable images are purely contingent. At at time, without notice, Adobe can twiddle the back end and literally steal the colors out of your own files:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/28/fade-to-black/#trust-the-process

The finance sector loves The Cloud. Add “The Cloud” to a product and profits (money you get for selling something) can turn into rents (money you get for owning something). Profits can be eroded by competition, but rents are evergreen:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

No wonder The Cloud has seeped into every corner of our lives. Remember your first iPod? Adding music to it was trivial: double click any music file to import it into iTunes, then plug in your iPod and presto, synched! Today, even sophisticated technology users struggle to “side load” files onto their mobile devices. Instead, the mobile duopoly — Apple and Google, who bought their way to mobile glory and have converged on the same rent-seeking business practices, down to the percentages they charge — want you to get your files from The Cloud, via their apps. This isn’t for technological reasons, it’s a business imperative: 30% of every transaction that involves an app gets creamed off by either Apple or Google in pure rents:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/red-team-blues-another-audiobook-that-amazon-wont-sell/posts/3788112

And yet, The Cloud is undeniably useful. Having your files synch across multiple devices, including your collaborators’ devices, with built-in tools for resolving conflicting changes, is amazing. Indeed, this feat is the holy grail of networked tools, because it’s how programmers write all the software we use, including software in The Cloud.

If you want to know how good a tool can be, just look at the tools that toolsmiths use. With “source control” — the software programmers use to collaboratively write software — we get a very different vision of how The Cloud could operate. Indeed, modern source control doesn’t use The Cloud at all. Programmers’ workflow doesn’t break if they can’t access the internet, and if the company that provides their source control servers goes away, it’s simplicity itself to move onto another server provider.

This isn’t The Cloud, it’s just “the cloud” — that whiteboard glyph from the days of the old, good internet — freely interchangeable, eminently fungible, disposable and replaceable. For a tool like git, Github is just one possible synchronization point among many, all of which have a workflow whereby programmers’ computers automatically make local copies of all relevant data and periodically lob it back up to one or more servers, resolving conflicting edits through a process that is also largely automated.

There’s a name for this model: it’s called “Local First” computing, which is computing that starts from the presumption that the user and their device is the most important element of the system. Networked servers are dumb pipes and dumb storage, a nice-to-have that fails gracefully when it’s not available.

The data structures of source-code are among the most complicated formats we have; if we can do this for code, we can do it for spreadsheets, word-processing files, slide-decks, even edit-decision-lists for video and audio projects. If local-first computing can work for programmers writing code, it can work for the programs those programmers write.

Local-first computing is experiencing a renaissance. Writing for Wired, Gregory Barber traces the history of the movement, starting with the French computer scientist Marc Shapiro, who helped develop the theory of “Conflict-Free Replicated Data” — a way to synchronize data after multiple people edit it — two decades ago:

https://www.wired.com/story/the-cloud-is-a-prison-can-the-local-first-software-movement-set-us-free/

Shapiro and his co-author Nuno Preguiça envisioned CFRD as the building block of a new generation of P2P collaboration tools that weren’t exactly serverless, but which also didn’t rely on servers as the lynchpin of their operation. They published a technical paper that, while exiting, was largely drowned out by the release of GoogleDocs (based on technology built by a company that Google bought, not something Google made in-house).

Shapiro and Preguiça’s work got fresh interest with the 2019 publication of “Local-First Software: You Own Your Data, in spite of the Cloud,” a viral whitepaper-cum-manifesto from a quartet of computer scientists associated with Cambridge University and Ink and Switch, a self-described “industrial research lab”:

https://www.inkandswitch.com/local-first/static/local-first.pdf

The paper describes how its authors — Martin Kleppmann, Adam Wiggins, Peter van Hardenberg and Mark McGranaghan — prototyped and tested a bunch of simple local-first collaboration tools built on CFRD algorithms, with the goal of “network optional…seamless collaboration.” The results are impressive, if nascent. Conflicting edits were simpler to resolve than the authors anticipated, and users found URLs to be a good, intuitive way of sharing documents. The biggest hurdles are relatively minor, like managing large amounts of change-data associated with shared files.

Just as importantly, the paper makes the case for why you’d want to switch to local-first computing. The Cloud is not reliable. Companies like Evernote don’t last forever — they can disappear in an eyeblink, and take your data with them:

https://www.theverge.com/2023/7/9/23789012/evernote-layoff-us-staff-bending-spoons-note-taking-app

Google isn’t likely to disappear any time soon, but Google is a graduate of the Darth Vader MBA program (“I have altered the deal, pray I don’t alter it any further”) and notorious for shuttering its products, even beloved ones like Google Reader:

https://www.theverge.com/23778253/google-reader-death-2013-rss-social

And while the authors don’t mention it, Google is also prone to simply kicking people off all its services, costing them their phone numbers, email addresses, photos, document archives and more:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/22/allopathic-risk/#snitches-get-stitches

There is enormous enthusiasm among developers for local-first application design, which is only natural. After all, companies that use The Cloud go to great lengths to make it just “the cloud,” using containerization to simplify hopping from one cloud provider to another in a bid to stave off lock-in from their cloud providers and the enshittification that inevitably follows.

The nimbleness of containerization acts as a disciplining force on cloud providers when they deal with their business customers: disciplined by the threat of losing money, cloud companies are incentivized to treat those customers better. The companies we deal with as end-users know exactly how bad it gets when a tech company can impose high switching costs on you and then turn the screws until things are almost-but-not-quite so bad that you bolt for the doors. They devote fantastic effort to making sure that never happens to them — and that they can always do that to you.

Interoperability — the ability to leave one service for another — is technology’s secret weapon, the thing that ensures that users can turn The Cloud into “the cloud,” a humble whiteboard glyph that you can erase and redraw whenever it suits you. It’s the greatest hedge we have against enshittification, so small wonder that Big Tech has spent decades using interop to clobber their competitors, and lobbying to make it illegal to use interop against them:

https://locusmag.com/2019/01/cory-doctorow-disruption-for-thee-but-not-for-me/

Getting interop back is a hard slog, but it’s also our best shot at creating a new, good internet that lives up the promise of the old, good internet. In my next book, The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation (Verso Books, Sept 5), I set out a program fro disenshittifying the internet:

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3035-the-internet-con

The book is up for pre-order on Kickstarter now, along with an independent, DRM-free audiobooks (DRM-free media is the content-layer equivalent of containerized services — you can move them into or out of any app you want):

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

Meanwhile, Lina Khan, the FTC and the DoJ Antitrust Division are taking steps to halt the economic side of enshittification, publishing new merger guidelines that will ban the kind of anticompetitive merger that let Big Tech buy its way to glory:

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/07/biden-administration-corporate-merger-antitrust-guidelines/674779/

The internet doesn’t have to be enshittified, and it’s not too late to disenshittify it. Indeed — the same forces that enshittified the internet — monopoly mergers, a privacy and labor free-for-all, prohibitions on user-side twiddling — have enshittified everything from cars to powered wheelchairs. Not only should we fight enshittification — we must.

Back my anti-enshittification Kickstarter here!

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad- free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/03/there-is-no-cloud/#only-other-peoples-computers

Image: Drahtlos (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Motherboard_Intel_386.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

—

cdsessums (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monsoon_Season_Flagstaff_AZ_clouds_storm.jpg

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

[purrfectwriting]

Who are the main characters and protagonist(s) in Shifting Gears?

Firstly, I'm so so sorry for only just getting to this ask! I've been traveling for the past month, so I haven't been able to answer asks for a while, so I shall respond to this now!

Additionally, tumblr inbox has been strange for me as the icon doesn't show up on desktop for me anymore? And on mobile, i have to scroll through my notes to see asks, the ui can be SO confusing!

But seeing this made me excited as I haven't thought or spoke about Shifting Gears on here, so tysm for this ask!! I genuinely appreciate every single ask you send about my stories or ocs, so thank you so much!!

So for Shifting Gears, I had a cast of characters who I developed briefly a few years back, but I put the story on the backburner in 2020 and just never got back to it.

The general premise of the story is the main character Alena lives in Pixicity, a city which is designed for people to benefit from Pixie Technologies in return for their work and abilities, in whatever capacity they can. She's normally content to live in the city and work for the company, but started feeling uneasy when her grandma passes away in a sudden accident during work. Alena was given very little explanation for her grandma's death, which leads her to go through her grandma's belongings in hopes of clues, only to find a letter to go to Azaadi, and a map on how to go there with only a single return address on it. Alena, in hopes of figuring out what happened to her grandma, decides to head there, while risking her job and in turn, her life.

There's 3 characters I've developed so far, and a 4th character who I started writing the concept of but haven't developed in detail yet.

Alena David: A 24 years old Black woman whose grandma passed away and decides to go to Azaadi to find out what happens to her grandma. She originally worked as a bio-technologist in Pixicity and took a break from her job in the beginning of the story.

Sabira Malik: A 25 years old Indian woman who's Alena best friend, and works as an accountant for Pixie Technologies.

Xinyi Li: A 24 years old Chinese nonbinary person who's known for their fashion looks and tries to help their friends Sabira and Alena with their fashion sense, from time to time.

Omen Malin: I haven't developed him much yet, but he is the one Alena meets in Azaadi who helps her figure out what happens to her grandma!

Those are all the characters I have so far, but if I pick this story up again, hopefully, I can add more characters and develop them more! Thank you again for this ask, I hope you have a lovely day!!

[darkmaga-retard]

By Sekarsari Sugihartono

The BRICS group, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, represents a significant geopolitical and economic coalition with the potential to challenge Western hegemony. As emerging economies with substantial global influence, BRICS countries are poised to reshape the global power structure, primarily dominated by Western nations, particularly the United States and the European Union.

One of the most compelling indicators of BRICS’ potential is its economic might. Combined, BRICS nations account for over 40% of the world’s population and about a quarter of the global GDP (World Bank, 2023). This economic power is not just in terms of GDP but also in their substantial natural resources, burgeoning middle classes, and increasing technological advancements. China’s rapid economic growth has already positioned it as the second-largest economy globally, with predictions suggesting it might surpass the United States within the next decade (International Monetary Fund, 2023). India is also experiencing robust economic growth, projected to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2030 (Goldman Sachs, 2023).

In addition to economic strength, BRICS countries are investing heavily in technological advancements and innovation. China and India are making significant strides in the fields of artificial intelligence, space exploration, and renewable energy. These technological advancements not only bolster their economies but also increase their geopolitical clout. The New Development Bank (NDB), established by BRICS, aims to mobilize resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in member countries and other emerging economies, thus offering an alternative to Western-dominated financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (BRICS, 2023).

Moreover, the BRICS nations are leveraging their collective political influence to push for a more multipolar world order. They have consistently advocated for reforms in global governance structures, including the United Nations Security Council, to better reflect the current global realities. For instance, both India and Brazil are strong candidates for permanent seats on the Security Council, a change that would significantly alter the current Western-dominated setup (Stuenkel, 2020).

[wemissyoupyo]

Glossary/Species (NOTE: Based off the old 2019 info before 2020 as I cannot find the newer versions. What I got should be still accurate though.)

セレスティアル (Celestials)

Synonyms: Aliens, space rocks (jokingly), extraterrestrials

◆ Biology   Celestial is an umbrella term given to every species in space who is not native to Earth as organics. Though the most widely accepted definition of being classed as a Celestial would be the possession of a super organ named a Core. Most are ageless and immortal, and appear in the likeness of young adults. Though exceptions apply.

A celestial is usually comprised of three simple layers:

Outer layer - A type of thick "skin" or shell coating their bodies. Soft to touch but durable. The mantle - A substance below the outer layer. Acts like "blood". Qualities vary based on type. The core - A super organ acting as the Heart, Brain and Soul. Very important.

If the Core becomes damaged or unhealthy, a Celestial may die. Most of which will disperse into space dust upon it perishing. (Demons and Stars being an exeption)

Planets, Moons, and Lumierans have this simple internal structure. Asteroids are very similar, but have thicker mantles, parts of which can harden into geodes! Comets have very thin and cold mantles, its like water, and is often frozen solid. Stars have mantles made entirely of some sort of energy or plasma and seem to heal non-critical damage immediately. Not much is known about their internal structure.

The mantle can be a different colour and consistency depending on the individual.

◆ Rules   Celestials aren't currently allowed to interact with or let their presence be known to humans. This is a rule in place since the early 1900s after an incident involving the death of a Planet, among other celestials, at the hands of a human soul. Prior to this, humans and Celestials interacted scarcely, but they were largely believed to be gods or such. Since this rule came into place however, celestials have been largely forgotten by humanity, just believed to be myths or legends. Most humans don't believe in them.

◆ Technology   Due to the fact Celestials and Humans were allowed to interact, and the fact some human souls can be reincarnated into Lumierans or Demons, Celestial technology is quite advanced. Furthermore they seen to be advanced in other human inventions as well, such as styles of clothing and utilities. Surprisingly though, 4-wheeled vehicles (like cars and trucks) mobile phones, and the internet do not exist in Celestial society. If you showed a celestial a car, they really wouldn't know what it is.

◆ Health   Despite being ageless and immortal, Celestials can still get sick. There seems to be cases of colds, influenza and other irritating illnesses among them which can be caught. None of which infect the core fatally, but rather just cause annoying symptoms. Additionally infection can still occur to wounds if not treated. These are quite the mystery still as to why or how it happens, but it is bothersome in the meantime.

◆ Eating   Celestials do not need to eat, but it has become apart of their daily lives. So they still feel hungry if without it for too long, and simply just enjoy different types of foods. It is dissolved or melted within the mantle and gives energy to the core. Though they don't actually require to eat to survive, same with drinking.

◆ Solar Systems A society of Celestials inhabiting planets or lands orbiting or within the realm of a Star are called solar systems. As most do not have surnames, its common in official meetings to refer to a Celestial by their name followed by their native Solar System. For example "Jupiter of Taiyang System" or "Forseti of Trappist system". Some Demons and Lumierans who have Surnames still use this convention as well.

◆ Language All celestials seem to have a inherent known fluency of all human languages. A long long time ago there was a celestial specific language, but has since fell out of use. It's very archaic now and most celestials don't even know how to read it. Its said to look very similar to the Capitals of a font named Wingdings 3?!

恒星 (Stars)

Synonyms: Suns, God.

◆ Stars The Stars are regarded as the most important and also one of the rarest type of Celestial.

Stars are seen as the overseers of their solar system. Holding immense ammount of power and mystery, many celestials don't ever even formally meet their Sun unless they are Planets.

A star orbited by planets and other objects is called a Solar System. A star in a Solar System is referred to as aSun by their inhabitants.

Like the other celestials of a similar type, they are sexless, though in the case of Stars, they all seem to use feminine pronouns, titles and appearances.

Not very much is known about them, though older stars seem to not show or understand emotion as much as newer Stars can. 

Taiyang, our Solar System's star, was the first Celestial to exist.

◆ Protostars

Fully formed stars have emerged a humanoid forme as adults and have been this way their entire life, however Protostars, the incomplete version of a star, seem to emerge as children. This is usually when a protostar is close to becoming a full star.

Protostars usually attend a form of "kindergarten" until they have reached a point of maturity and are deemed responsible enough to run a potential solar system, as well as their great powers. This kindergarten can last for several thousands of years. After this graduation, a protostar will go back within their protostellar body and explode. From this explosion, they will emerge as a fully formed star, and an adult!

◆ Powers   Stars are powerful, making them even impossible to even think of overcoming if you are anything less. Some tried, but nobody has ever gotten anywhere with an attempt. ...aside from one.

A star has the ability to take away parts of a celestial's memory. Though this is not perfect. They can strip away what has been seen, but cannot remove what has been heard. Leaving those who have had aspects of their memories cleared for whatever reason plagued with thoughts they cannot explain the reasoning for. Confused or dismissing it to be intrusive or nightmare thoughts.

Stars also have the ability to give life to an object, but cannot take life away by their own hands. Stars also have the ability to float.

A unique type of power only stars seem to posses has been dubbed Nebulamancy. This is the control of a cloud like aura which can be manipulated to various densities, shapes and functions. Some theorized that lingering energy from space dust is what makes Nebulamancy so powerful.

Two cases of a star gifting on the power of Nebulamancy to a non-star celestial have been recorded.

惑星 (Planets)

Synonyms: Dwarf Planets (included), Minor planets (included) The 10 little sun birds*

Synonyms: Dwarf Planets (included), Minor planets (included) The 10 little sun birds*

◆ Planets The planets are considered the "main" type of celestial, and were of the first to be created.

Planets emerge from their astronomical bodies in a humanoid forme, containing a fraction of their Core, they are interlinked with their original larger counterparts. They were an oppertunity to observe and experience life as humans do, even if their understanding of inheretly human things such as emotions is not as clear. Though they are always learning!

Over many years, planets have grown mentally and emotionally. They often stay in their system and amongst eachother as a group under their Sun who they often respect and admire. Often acting as the defensive and protective beings who shield their system from harm and invasion.

They are known to have a possibility of possessing elemental powers or significant prowess in a particular area such as fighting or thought.

◆ Society   All planets, along with Moons, Asteroids and comets, are sexless and cannot reproduce. They give themselves appearances they feel they like. They also have made relationships such as platonic, romantic or familial bonds with other celestials. Planets have also created creatures for their lands inspired by Earthling animals.

Planets are often have important jobs, especially ones who's astronomical body is a popular place for tourists or inhabitants. Rulers of their own land, many celestials look up to them.

Despite the fact they cannot grow like earthlings do, usually a Planet's height corresponds to their original body's size and in comparison to their fellow planets, though some exceptions apply.

*The first ten planets given life by Taiyang are called the 10 little sun birds in a certain legend. This is likely metaphorical.

◆ Flowers   For some reason, it seems that if a planet's humanoid form dies, flowers will start to grow and bloom uncontrollably across their entire astronomical body. This has only been documented twice so far in our solar system. There is a large collection of flowers on Planet Sedna, especially of higanbana, to the extent of giving the minor planet a red hue from afar. Another case is on Planet Haumea, though these flowers have not bloomed. For this reason, nobody knows if they are alive or dead, wherever they are now...

衛星 (Natural Satellites)

Synonyms: Moons

◆ Natural Satellites  Natural Satellites are the celestials found orbiting planets or other astronomical bodies. They can emerge a humanoid form just like the Planets and thus have a very similar internal structure. Though seem to lack the possibility of having any elemental powers.

Natural Satellites are most often completely humanoid, though seemingly have a high chance to emerge with traits of animals or strange appendages, such as ears or wings. It is currently unknown why this happens, but is certainly quite the unique phenomenon.

Moons may also emerge completely as creatures, lacking any humanoid features at all. It isnt fully known why they do this, but it seems to be a conscious choice. Some have stated that being such a thing lets them give their planet a unique form of joy, companionship and unconditional love, while others just state they like the easy life of being an animal-like thing.

◆ Society Natural Satellites are seen as subordinates to their Planet. In most cases, quite literally, they find their world revolving around their Planet. There seems to be an instinctive, natural bond with their Planet. The relationships Moons can have with their planets can vary. Some fall in love, some Planets act like parental figures to their moons, some moons act as companions to their planet, while some planets and moons are simply just friends or accquaintances. The bond between a planet and their Moon(s) is often strong, so seeing a planet and their moon be on bad terms is very uncommon.

The bond between Natural Satellites and Planets is very special, its a little difficult to compare it to anything else.

They often have more active and travelling jobs than their planets.

小惑星と箒星 (Asteroids and Comets)

◆ Asteroids

Synonyms: space rocks, living geodes, snowballs

Asteroids are tough and strong Celestials. Aside from moon rabbits, they showcase the best physical strength of all celestials. This is due to their very dense and thick internal magma, some of which can harden into geodes!

Asteroids are of the most common type of Celestial aside from Demons. They are found everywhere, and travel a lot, so they are often given all kinds of jobs. Mainly heavy duty ones.

As mentioned earlier, Asteroids can contain geodes which house minerals and gemstones. The amount of geodes within an Asteroid's body can vary between each. Some containing little to no geodes, while some are swarming with them. Knowing which gemstone geodes they contain can be found out by a doctor. This has made them targets in some solar systems for harvesting gemstones, though this practice is outlawed in most places.

Are unlikely to ever get damaged, their bodies are super tough!

◆ Comets

Comets are fragile and cold Celestials. Unlike the rest, their bodies are made up of a cold liquid mantle, most of which is always frozen, giving them internal bodies like glass or ice.

They are susceptible to melting or shattering, though this can be easily mended when using the right proceedure. As long as their core is submerged within their mantle, the liquid can be frozen and take form again somewhere colder. Though this means that they can easily die, especially if alone. Flying too close to a sun will cause them to melt and evaporate away if not contained in time..

Because of their brittleness and rarity, they are often given jobs not requiring much physical strength. Such as history recording, accounting or office jobs. Though they are natural travellers, and enjoy going from place to place.

◆ Overgrowth   Asteroids and Comets seem to have the ability to manifest a unique phenomenon or mutation named an Overgrowth. This is where either geodes or ice will grow abnormally out of the mantle. These can be anywhere on their body, but usually occurs on the head, arms, back or legs. This can be cut down and removed without much trouble, but it will grow back quickly. Some Asteroids or Comets with this condition feel ashamed of it and want to hide it, while others embrace it as part of their identity and image.

For instance, Hekate has overgrowth on their head, which they have polished and painted black and to look like horns.

ルミエーラン (Lumieran)

Synonyms: angel (mistakenly), space bird

◆ Lumierans   Lumierans are a race of celestial created from the light of a sun. They were initially created to fill a void by a Star who had no planets, and thus the first independant celestials, who were not attached to any form of astronomical body, were born.

Lumierans are humanoid, but have wings on their backs and luminecent plumage on their heads. These can vary in shapes and sizes, but often reflects that of Earthling birds. They are internally similar to planets, but unlike planets, they can reproduce. Though despite this, they aren't very common.

Often mistakenly called "angels" by humans or other earthlings.

◆ Society Lumierans, seen as a radiant entity, are often highly regarded among celestials. Though despite this, many solar systems simply treat them as prized accessories or servants to their sun. Something shiny and nice to look at while also functioning as members of a controlled society or court. Some in particular are kept close to their suns as personal servants. Though not all solar systems are like this. For instance, our solar system, treats Lumierans as equals with other celestials such as demons. There is a lumieran-based land in our Sun named Hiyoyoa. Currently, the one who looks over this land is Cahaya.

Lumierans have the ability of flight, as well as manifesting weapons from light. They are also known to be agile and lightweight. They are good listeners, and are often seen to be pure and a blessing to be in the presence of in comparison to Demons, though this is not always the case.

悪霊 (Demons)

Synonyms: Succubus, Incubus, imp, devil, oni, byproduct (condecending)

◆ Demons Demons are the beings created from the flames of the sun. Initially they weren't even intended to be created at all, and were the byproduct in the creation of Lumierans, emerging from the leftover flames which were now seperated from the light.

Demons are very common across the entire universe. They are the celestials most like humans in structure, though still possess a Core. They are the only celestial, aside from Stars, who do not disintergrate into spacedust upon perishing.

Demons are often either feared or not treated well by other solar systems. Often disregarding them to simply be pests or rodents. Relegated to jobs such as warlords or guards, or locked solely in specific cities for them. Though some solar systems, such as ours, treats them as equals along with Lumierans.

A leader of demons is named the Devil.

◆ Society Demons are the Celestials most like humans biologically and socially. They seem to have a much more understanding of emotions and human conventions than most celestials do. This may be part due to the fact Demons often plagued earthlings for many years. Playing tricks on them or using them for their own plots. Though this has lessend over the years, most demons just stay inside sun-based lands. Our solar system's largest land of demons is called Sunsuhan, and is located within the sun. Its also sometimes referred to as hell, by humans, though this isnt fully accurate. Our Solar system's current Devil is Akazel.

Though they are known to have a natural sense of mischeif and desire to do taboo things such as trickery, gambling, cannibalism, dark magic, blackmail, unfair deals, murder, and experimentation, not all of them are like this. In fact some just live their life as anyone else would.

Demons are very well known among Celestials for their science. Sometimes it hardly makes sense at all, but theres extensive documentation on Demon sciences. From "how to grow bat wings" to "how to drink space milk when you're lactose intolerant", they have many breakthroughs in science and dark magic which are readily avaliable and helpful to all kinds of celestials.

Every demon's tail is unique to them. Think of it as like an identifying mark.

月の兎 (Moon Rabbits)

Synonyms: Tsukinousagi, yuetuu (rarely)

◆ Moon Rabbits   Moon rabbits are...well..Rabbits of the moon! A small race of diligent hard workers under the care of Luna, who they refer to formally as Togetsuhime.

Moon rabbits were initially regular earthling rabbits, but upon being given as a gift to the Moon by Mother Earth, they evolved over time and became what they are today. There are two main types of Moon Rabbit; The humanoid Moon rabbit, and the Pyonco (little rabbits).

They are only found on Earth's moon and rarely ever leave, so not much is known about them biologically or by many celestials. Though they all seem to be female, or atleast present as such.

Their ears, socks, and tail are known to feel like marshmallow.

◆ Society Moon rabbits spend the very vast majority of their time pounding Mochi on the moon. A request that was asked of them by Togetsuhime thousands of years ago. Though they don't see it as labour, they seem to quite enjoy it. The little Pyonco don't do much work, because they...can't really. Though they can carry things on their heads. (50% chance of it falling off though)

Because of their routine of pounding mochi every day for several thousand years, they are VERY physically strong, especially with the mallet. Though moon rabbits do not fight, so this is seldom ever utilized outside of working jobs. They are very proficient workers, and the daily exercise really pays off. Surprisingly, they don't find it repetitive.

Humanoid moon rabbits have weighted socks, while pyonco have weighted cotton tails. This prevents them from drifting off into the cosmos when jumping.

鳳天国人 (Houtenian)

Synonyms: Bird people

◆ Houtenians Houtenians are a race of humanoid birds, originating on the floating islands of Houtengoku (鳳天国). They were the first earth animals to be given the ability to shapeshift into humanoid form.

Houtenians are humanoid, meaning they look very human like, though bird-like features can vary between each. Some may have humanoid appearances, but with wings as their arms, or clawed feet, or even bird heads. It greatly varies, but most houtenians are completely humanoid. They can be identified by the ever present motif of feathers always on some part on their body.

Houtenians are born as little birds, but as they get older, will develop the ability to become humanoid.

◆ Society Houtenians live on the very secret, floating islands of Houtengoku. A wandering super continent on the cusp of our Earth's atmosphere. This is never seen by humans, they are somehow able to hide it very well for such a large place.

Houtenians help humans in many ways, and are responsible for many many of lifes conveniences. They are responsible for air mail delivery and delivering christmas presents, under the pseudonym of Santa. In this world, humans believe he really is real! When really its just 100 pigeons or something. No humans know about Houtengoku or the Houtenians, even some celestials aren't aware of their existance. Though they are seen as the midway point between Earthlings and Celestials.

Houtenians are said to be related to Lumierans in some way, something like a common ancestor.

魔女 (Witches)

◆ Witches Witches are a humanoid race found on earth. They are experts in specified magic and spells which science can't explain. Witches can vary in appearance, but most look like regular humans. Identified usually by their large hats or magical staff. They can have a very long lifespan compared to regular humans, depending on how proficient their powers are and how many familiars they have.

Some beings are born with a natural sense of magic, it is currently unknown how this happens, but is assumed to be genetic, as witches often pass down their magic to their offspring. Though humans and other species can train to become witches if they so desired, albeit it is very difficult. Some beings are merely witches by cosmetic appeal and hobby.

Magician is a gender neutral term, Sorcerer and Sorceress are terms applied to witches who have lived a very long time and are a powerful master of their craft, often feared.

◆ Familiars Familiars, to a witch, are animals or monsters who accompany a witch and are at their aid if needed. Familiars can range from domesticated pets, to wild humanoid animals, or even high level myths such as dragons. Familiars are captured by witches and have their soul bound to their wands, and can be summoned at any time if the witch desires to. Witches with many familiars increase their magical strength, and live much longer, so its common for witches to capture many familiars, even if they are rarely summoned upon.

Some witches merely choose to have their "familiars" as friends. At the expense of not being able to extend their life-span, they do not tie their familiars to the wand for moral reasons, so they have a much more mutual and fair dynamic and are not bound to them against their will. Though this practice is met with confused stares by most witches.

Some beings should NOT be caught by lower level witches, or advised to never be captured at all. These can be upredictable or dangerous to witches, and may not obey.

It's kind of like Pokemon.

幽霊 (Ghosts)

Synonyms: Phantoms, Ghouls, Ghasts, Wispers, Souls, Spirits, Phantasms

◆ Ghosts Ghosts is a general term given to a variety of different, yet similar variations of souls. Though this term is mostly applied to spirits summoned by necromancy.

Ghosts are often, but not always, the soul of a dead earthling. This soul is usually lightweight and seeming to be made of gas, flame or some kind of soft ectoplasm. Celestials won't turn into ghosts.

Sometimes they're kept as pets or familiars.

◆ Ghosts Souls summoned through Necromancy. In their base form, they look like a squishly blob with a funny face. Though their appearance may vary based on who summoned them. They can regain their original appearance for a short time, but is tiring and cannot maintain it for long. Have to be summoned to exist. Usually they were originally monsters or animals.

◆ Wispers Wispers are a type of ghost who may be human souls who did not go to reincarnate. Some cases of wispers being born from nothing exist as well. They usually look like little balls of fire, but can show their true form if desired. This can be done at will. This form is solid. Often haunts places. It is common for them to be in the lamps of witches.

◆ Souls A human soul in its raw form. Though this is actually made up of two components. The conscious soul and the unconscious soul. The concious soul look exactly like the human was before they died, and feels like them too. The unconscious soul manifests as a mostly formless dark shadow, or inhabits nearby objects around the conscious soul. It can grow with negative emotions and may act instinctively or agressively. In the process of being reincarnated, these two aspects of the soul are combined together as one to form a Core. It is crucial this process be performed otherwise it would be dangerous if left able to manifest both seperately. The unconcious soul in this form is often called a phantasm.

This type of Ghost is usually only seen when in the reincarnation process of a human.

◆ Inugami A type of dog soul. It died in a very terrible way, but lives again now with the utilities of dark magic and immortality. They still feel a pain in their necks.

人間 (Humans)

Synonyms: organics, earthlings, people, patients, eccentrics, the boring ones (hey?!)

◆ Humans Humans are...well..Humans. It really is self explanitory. There isn't much to say here than what you already know.

Humans are organic creatures native to Earth. Nobody knows where they came from, or what their purpose is. Celestials crafted themselves in the image and likeness of humans, observing them and learning from them in ways of life.

Humans can stay their entire life as humans, or become witches, make a deal with a demon, or other means which would no longer let them able to be classed as humans.

Humanity's purpose is unclear, but they're too intelligent to be dismissed.

◆ People  Humans in this universe are the same as any other. Though in this universe, while most things are the same, some things are ever so slightly different. Particularly the myths and legends humans had with Celestials from long long ago. Humans used to regard Celestials as deities or gods, while others formed cults despising them thinking they were inheretly no good.

Though since being banned from visiting earth and interacting with humans for over a century, most humans don't believe in celestials anymore. Thinking they were just myths, legends, or mythological stories. Humans who have discovered proof Celestials or Monsters in modern times and try to speak of them are labeled as Eccentrics.

ダークマター (Dark Matter)

Synonyms: Spectre, ghost, monochrome, void

◆ Dark Matter   tffnjohmz bopuifs uzqf pg hiptu.. uipvhi uijt pof jt b mjuumf ejggfsfou... uifz dboopu cf tffo uispvhi boz nfbot, ops ifbse ps efufdufe. uifz mjwf bmpof jo bo foemftt fnquz wpje po bopuifs qmbof pg fyjtubodf. mjlf tpnf ljoe pg qvshbupsz. b dfsubjo tdjfoujtu ibt nbobhfe up dpoubdu pof pg uifn uispvhi sbejp gsfrvfodjft. ju tffnt uibu fmfduspnbhofujd xbwft jt uif pomz xbz up efufdu uifn tp gbs. uif wpjdf po uif puifs foe tbje uifjs obnf xbt "ufusb". uifz bsf uif pomz lopxo pof pg uijt ljoe. uifz xfsf evccfe ebsl nbuufs. ju jt uifpsjafe uibu uijt jt nbz cf xibu ibqqfot up b opo-tubs dfmftujbm podf ju ejft. ps qfsibqt boz tpvm uibu dboopu npwf po xjui tpnfuijoh mfgu offejoh up cf tbje.... dpnqmfufmz npopdispnf.

  opuijoh fmtf jt lopxo bcpvu uifn.. dpnqmfufmz bmpof.

TRANSLATION (ROT25?):

s̔̃̅e̓͐̿é͐͊m̒̀͛ḯ̌̿nͣͤͨĝ̮̌l̈͆͛y̅̒ͫ ͂̑͊ã̃ͭn̎̽́ȍ͛̐t̅ͮͣhͣ̏̉ȇ̆͞r͊ͭ͌ ̒̄̈́t͂̾̒ŷͮͭp̐ͫ̍ȇ͋̆ ͤͬ̇oͣ̌̏fͦ͑͒҉̛͇̯ ͣͤ̈҉̟gͯ́ͨhͬͥ̑oͮ̕̕s̷̿̇tͤ̆̄.̯ͯ̐.̉͌̽ ͮ̑ͪẗ́͂ͭh̨̢͐o͌ͪ͗uͨ̔̌g̝̋ͥh̎̓͛ ̗ͯ̅t͊̀̚hͦͤ̚ḯ͊ͪs̍ͪ͋ ͊̋̆õ̓̅n͂e is a little diff҉erent... ҉they cannot be seen through any means, nor heard o҉r detected. they ҉live alone in an҉ endless empty void҉ on another҉ plane of existance. l҉ike som҉e kind of ҉purgatory. a certain scientist has mana҉ged t҉o contact one of them through radio frequencies. it see҉ms that e҉lec҉tromagnetic waves is the only way to dete҉ct ҉them҉ so far. ҉the voice on the other end said t҉heir name was "tetra҉". they are the only kn҉o҉w҉n one of this kind. they w҉ere dubbed dark matter. i҉t is theorized that thi҉s҉ is ҉may ҉҉be what҉ happ҉ens to a҉ non-star celestial once it die҉s. or perh҉aps any ҉soul that cannot move on҉ with som҉ething left needing to be said.... complet҉ely m҉onochr҉ome.

n͊̐̑o̔ͣ̇t͒ͨ́hͭ̆͋ḯ̆ͣnͩ͛̓g̋̊̔ ̡̆͐ẹ͍̊l͊ͩ̓s̆͗ͮe̍̀̏ ̨́̚ìͣ͋s̀̉̏ ̓̓̔kͫ̔̒҉̖̭̟n̄̌͗ỏͩͤw͊̈́ͪń̆͐ ̧ͤ͏ă͆̓b̅̂ͦo͌͂̃uͣ̂̚t̎ͧ̃ ̏ͭ̋t̢ͤ̚hͦ̑ͩe̔ͣ̔m͛̍͌.̏̂ͯ.̴̻ͮ ̛̔́c̆̀̍o͒ͫ͗m͊̃͌p̋҉҉̴͉̘l̵̟ͩeͦ̎ͯ҉̭̟͞t̉̂̌e̎̓͑l͋ͮ̏y̍̑̍ ̃͗̚aͪͬ̉l̾one.

[pigeon-smidge]

Hi everyone

I am Marah Baalousha from Palestine, Gaza

I study a bachelor's degree in information technology engineering at the Islamic University, where I had dreams and ambitions to complete my studies, but the occupation bombed my university and turned it into rubble. Now I hope to travel abroad to complete .my studies and obtain a university degree.🇵🇸

We went through a difficult displacement journey, as we were displaced more than 5 times. Our house was completely destroyed, my brother lost his business that he started before the war, and all he found was rubble

your My family and I are now in desperate need of help and support.

All I wish for now is to travel to Egypt with my family and save them from the disastrous situation in which they are living.

Knowing that the cost per person now is $5,000 per adult. Price may fluctuate. I ask you to help us by donating even the simplest things or by participating in our campaign. We will be grateful to you.

Your donation may give us hope to achieve what we aspired to, and restore a little of the loss and devastation that befell us. ..

Thank you for your kindness and support of my story.🇵🇸♥️

The campaign was documented by @90-ghost

https://gofund.me/19e0f69f

If you can donate, please please do. Share as well, as a simple reblog and pasting the link somewhere can help more people see. It can save lives. It brings more attention to these stories that desperately need activism.

If you can’t, please share.

Arab.org actually allows you to donate FOR FREE to Palestinian refugees with clicks. You can normally click once per day but if you use different browsers, devices and open it from different platforms on mobile you can do it more often.

Peace for Palestine and the world. No one deserves to be hunted for simply existing.

We can all coexist peacefully. We are all human.