Adventures of a Gonzo Journalist
Posted in Austin, Journalism, SXSW, and The Texas Observer
I’m appearing at a free SXSW event (no badge required) on Monday, March 10 at 4pm at Flipboard House (Speakeasy in downtown Austin). I’ll be talking about how I use alternative, decentralized social media like Mastodon and Bsky to promote Texas Observer and my own journalism.
I recommend checking out the whole two-day slate of events, which features some great speakers like Molly White and Cory Doctorow. Hope to see you there!
Posted in Journalism, and Lee Camp
Many countries have made net neutrality a basic freedom. Yet now, the FCC is planning to make sure the U.S. is not one of those countries.
Today, the internet is classified as a “common carrier” in the U.S., which forces telecommunications companies and internet service providers to treat all content more or less equally. If Ajit Pai, chair of the FCC and former Verizon lawyer, has his way, the internet could be reclassified by the end of the summer, replacing internet freedom with a corporate free-for-all of greed and political corruption.
Though the internet was born in the U.S., our ISPs are also slower and more expensive than other countries, so maybe it’s no surprise that we’re behind the curve in net neutrality, too.
Posted in Act Out!, Audio, Journalism, and Lee Camp
Last week, I made my monthly appearance on Black Tower Radio to discuss recent developments in online privacy. WikiLeaks’ Vault 7 release, which I discussed in a recent Act Out! script, left some people wondering if it’s now impossible to protect yourself from surveillance. In fact, there are still steps we can take to protect ourselves from most online threats.
Of course, a recent vote by Congress to repeal Obama-era FCC online privacy protections not only allows Internet Service Providers to sell our online browsing behavior to advertisers (and others), it shows how our elected representatives answer to their corporate donors, rather than to voters. Interest in Virtual Private Networks has sky-rocketed since the vote, but not all VPNs are created equal.
Posted in Journalism, and Lee Camp
Republicans just voted to roll back FCC privacy protections that would have prevented your internet service provider from selling your private browsing history.
After passing the Senate earlier in the week, the House approved a measure on Tuesday which would allow broadband providers like AT&T, Spectrum or Comcast to sell your online data to marketers (as well as corporate and government spies).
The vote in both chambers was split along party lines, with the GOP voting in favor of selling your porn habits to just about anyone who cares to pay for them, including maybe future employers. Naturally, many of these legislators were also the recipient of large donations from the telecommunications industry.
Posted in Act Out!, Austin, Creative Commons, Journalism, and Video
So, you may have heard: the CIA could be listening to your phone conversations, recording your Skype calls, and even spying on you through your TV.
The latest bombshell from WikiLeaks, code named “Vault 7,” revealed the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret tool box of technological exploits. This leak is terrifying, to be sure, but it also gives tech companies valuable new information about how to protect their users.
And for everyday activists on the Front Lines, there are some vital, and simple steps we can take to protect our allies and our plans from surveillance.
Now, we still don’t know who’s responsible for the Vault 7 leak, although WikiLeaks released a statement saying that the anonymous source, “wishes to initiate a public debate about the security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyberweapons.”
Much like Snowden hoped to do.
Posted in Act Out!, Journalism, and Occupy Wall Street
We are the 99 percent!
These words made famous by Occupy Wall Street helped bring new attention to the problem of systemic inequality. The chant isn’t just some hyperbole made up by hippies however: it’s backed by actual economic truth — you know, facts as opposed to alternative facts.
According to Credit Suisse in their 2015 Global Wealth Report, “the lower half of the global population collectively own less than 1% of global wealth, while the richest 10% of adults own 88% of all wealth and the top 1% account for half of all assets in the world.” HALF OF ALL ASSETS on planet earth. ——- And now, this latest report from Oxfam reveals that an already grim picture is actually even more dire. According to their research, the world’s 8 richest men collectively possess more wealth than the poorest 50 percent of the world. That’s right, 8 multi-billionaires have as much money as about 3 billion, 370 million of the world’s poor.
Welcome to this week’s Fucked Fact.
