Doug Sartori
@dsartori.bsky.social
Software pro. Community organizer.
Chair: hackf.org, opendatasociety.ca
Owner: p42systems.com
Chair: hackf.org, opendatasociety.ca
Owner: p42systems.com
Pinned
Doug Sartori
@dsartori.bsky.social
· Nov 4
Border City Data: Analyzing Canadian Election Data
YouTube video by Hackforge
youtu.be
If you’re interested in analyzing Canadian elections, here’s 90 minutes dumping everything I know about working with political data.
youtu.be/wUqvQT81u7M?...
youtu.be/wUqvQT81u7M?...
Rare to find content that effectively threads the needle of worthless rhetoric on these issues. I hope Canadian policymakers read this piece.
www.ft.com/content/0308...
www.ft.com/content/0308...
Europe must be ready when the AI bubble bursts
A market correction will give the EU the chance to offer a trust-based alternative to American tech
www.ft.com
December 12, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Rare to find content that effectively threads the needle of worthless rhetoric on these issues. I hope Canadian policymakers read this piece.
www.ft.com/content/0308...
www.ft.com/content/0308...
Reposted by Doug Sartori
journalists that still use X because they're either lazy or value engagement over ethics can also eat shit
December 12, 2025 at 3:13 PM
journalists that still use X because they're either lazy or value engagement over ethics can also eat shit
In the present moment it’s useful to remember the time when people were stupidly hostile to the advent of personal computers. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
The 1980s: An Era of Computerphobia
When the machine became ubiquitous in homes across America, a new kind of anxiety captivated consumers.
www.theatlantic.com
December 12, 2025 at 1:44 PM
In the present moment it’s useful to remember the time when people were stupidly hostile to the advent of personal computers. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
The bit that concerns me here is a consultancy dispensing advice on proper use of AI tools, though it seems not to have thought through or implemented effective controls internally.
I can't imagine a human analyst or writer at Deloitte getting a second chance to put fake citations in one of their expensive reports.
Anyone who's ever been shouted at or fired for making a mistake at work should be wondering where this endless grace and tolerance was when they needed it.
Anyone who's ever been shouted at or fired for making a mistake at work should be wondering where this endless grace and tolerance was when they needed it.
December 11, 2025 at 12:32 PM
The bit that concerns me here is a consultancy dispensing advice on proper use of AI tools, though it seems not to have thought through or implemented effective controls internally.
An interesting new technology causes a moral panic stoked by people who perceive their ox to be gored.
I don’t know if it’s a tale as old as time but it’s got a long pedigree: filevillage.info/controversie...
I don’t know if it’s a tale as old as time but it’s got a long pedigree: filevillage.info/controversie...
![An excerpt from the linked article: The 1970s Copyright Panic: “What Hath Xerox Wrought?”
In March 1976, Time magazine ran a now-famous cover story titled “What Hath Xerox Wrought?” – a headline that encapsulated the anxieties of the decade[18][19]. The article invited readers to imagine an all-powerful technology deity offering a miraculous information-spreading device, but at a dire price: “the President resign, stacks of sensitive Government and corporate secrets be made public, and the country be buried in a sea of paper”[20]. This fanciful scenario alluded directly to recent events (President Nixon’s resignation and leaked secrets from the Pentagon Papers), and Time noted that the “hypothetical was actually a reality.” The photocopier, dubbed a “green-eyed deus ex machina,” truly had “helped alter the course of history and changed forever the daily rhythms of white-collar life”[21]. But with its promethean power came chaos: the machine’s detractors claimed it “fostered waste, encouraged sloth, stifled creativity and punched holes in the copyright laws.”[22]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:iobe4f23qcmxnlbtd3z5cto5/bafkreidouueerfzn6olawm44nedvwe6rxd52ubjl6ytiv4yds7kbfubfm4@jpeg)
December 9, 2025 at 10:55 AM
An interesting new technology causes a moral panic stoked by people who perceive their ox to be gored.
I don’t know if it’s a tale as old as time but it’s got a long pedigree: filevillage.info/controversie...
I don’t know if it’s a tale as old as time but it’s got a long pedigree: filevillage.info/controversie...
Reposted by Doug Sartori
Gore also seemed to question whether Gates was ever really an ally in the fight against fossil fuels.
"I went back and looked to see if Gates has ever called for eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. I couldn’t find a time when he did that."
"I went back and looked to see if Gates has ever called for eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. I couldn’t find a time when he did that."
December 4, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Gore also seemed to question whether Gates was ever really an ally in the fight against fossil fuels.
"I went back and looked to see if Gates has ever called for eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. I couldn’t find a time when he did that."
"I went back and looked to see if Gates has ever called for eliminating fossil fuel subsidies. I couldn’t find a time when he did that."
Drink all of this in and remember.
The CEOs of both Ford and Stellantis, who are there to celebrate the rollback of vehicle emissions standards (which will drive climate change), are standing right behind Trump as he makes these racist comments.
Trump, continued: "What the Somalian people have done to Minnesota is not even believable. It’s not even believable. And a lot of it starts with the governor. A lot of it starts with Barack HUSSEIN Obama, because that’s when people started coming in... They want to kiss our country good night."
December 4, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Drink all of this in and remember.
Why is our government committed to only regulating tech giants in stupid and counterproductive ways?
www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...
www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...
Opinion: Canada’s age-verification bill for porn is a slippery slope to a restrictive internet
While its intentions are good, the proposed bill is riddled with problems and should not be passed
www.theglobeandmail.com
December 3, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Why is our government committed to only regulating tech giants in stupid and counterproductive ways?
www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...
www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...
Reposted by Doug Sartori
So. . .will Canadian universities change their reliance on MS Teams?
Microsoft admits it can—and will—hand over Canadian citizens’ data, as well as sensitive government and defence information stored on its servers, to the US government upon request. Even worse? They aren’t required to notify anyone when it happens. 👀
#cdnpoli #DataSovereignty #PrivacyMatters
#cdnpoli #DataSovereignty #PrivacyMatters
Microsoft says U.S. law takes precedence over Canadian data sovereignty
Microsoft representative says US CLOUD Act comes before other country's sovereignty.
www.digitaljournal.com
November 30, 2025 at 12:36 PM
So. . .will Canadian universities change their reliance on MS Teams?
Reposted by Doug Sartori
At the risk of starting the flame war to end all flame wars...
Modern LLMs (GPT-5.1, Claude 4.5, Gemini 3) produce excellent code and can be a significant productivity boost to software engineers who take the time to learn how to effectively apply them - especially if used with coding agent tools
Modern LLMs (GPT-5.1, Claude 4.5, Gemini 3) produce excellent code and can be a significant productivity boost to software engineers who take the time to learn how to effectively apply them - especially if used with coding agent tools
November 27, 2025 at 7:55 PM
At the risk of starting the flame war to end all flame wars...
Modern LLMs (GPT-5.1, Claude 4.5, Gemini 3) produce excellent code and can be a significant productivity boost to software engineers who take the time to learn how to effectively apply them - especially if used with coding agent tools
Modern LLMs (GPT-5.1, Claude 4.5, Gemini 3) produce excellent code and can be a significant productivity boost to software engineers who take the time to learn how to effectively apply them - especially if used with coding agent tools
I put together a little archive of all the stuff I've written for publication over the past few years. Because I am insufferable, you can conveniently access the archive using the Gopher protocol.
Check it out at gopher://sartori.ca
Check it out at gopher://sartori.ca
November 26, 2025 at 3:15 PM
I put together a little archive of all the stuff I've written for publication over the past few years. Because I am insufferable, you can conveniently access the archive using the Gopher protocol.
Check it out at gopher://sartori.ca
Check it out at gopher://sartori.ca
Idly wondering how many times a day some Canadian media outlet kills a story about questionable use of temporary foreign workers.
November 25, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Idly wondering how many times a day some Canadian media outlet kills a story about questionable use of temporary foreign workers.
Reposted by Doug Sartori
Let’s see if one single pundit who said there was some great realignment of American sentiment with this last election, based on what they saw on the Nazi-owned platform overrun by foreign actors, offers any retractions or corrections for their gullibility.
It’s hilarious and revelatory that a bunch of giant MAGA/America First X accounts are actually based in Eastern Europe and Nigeria.
Top MAGA Influencers Accidentally Unmasked as Foreign Actors
A new feature on Elon Musk’s X has given deeper insight into the online “America First” movement.
www.thedailybeast.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Let’s see if one single pundit who said there was some great realignment of American sentiment with this last election, based on what they saw on the Nazi-owned platform overrun by foreign actors, offers any retractions or corrections for their gullibility.
I work in a blighted downtown. I understand the sentiment. I feel governments are being rewarded with an easy way out after their inaction created an explosion of suffering and public squalor.
Maybe that’s how the public truly wants it, but it bothers me.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
Maybe that’s how the public truly wants it, but it bothers me.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
Opinion: We have normalized delinquent, disorderly behaviour in our cities for too long
There is nothing normal about an encampment forcing toddlers in the daycare next door to stay inside
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 21, 2025 at 1:33 PM
I work in a blighted downtown. I understand the sentiment. I feel governments are being rewarded with an easy way out after their inaction created an explosion of suffering and public squalor.
Maybe that’s how the public truly wants it, but it bothers me.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
Maybe that’s how the public truly wants it, but it bothers me.
www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
Reposted by Doug Sartori
it's great material, I'm not not laughing, but then I don't spend my time in a Skinner Box designed to turn me into a living Grok
November 20, 2025 at 10:02 PM
it's great material, I'm not not laughing, but then I don't spend my time in a Skinner Box designed to turn me into a living Grok
Tech monocultures are a smell: I know to be wary when I encounter an org using only the Microsoft stack (they do not trust their own technical judgment).
Running something weird that perfectly fits your use case is a sign of a capable, confident tech shop.
Running something weird that perfectly fits your use case is a sign of a capable, confident tech shop.
November 18, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Tech monocultures are a smell: I know to be wary when I encounter an org using only the Microsoft stack (they do not trust their own technical judgment).
Running something weird that perfectly fits your use case is a sign of a capable, confident tech shop.
Running something weird that perfectly fits your use case is a sign of a capable, confident tech shop.
Having like four places you can effectively distribute apps is an unacceptable concentration of power.
Don't be evil?
"Google is hosting a CBP app that uses facial recognition to identify immigrants, and tell local cops whether to contact ICE about the person, while simultaneously removing apps designed to warn local communities about the presence of ICE officers..."
www.404media.co/google-has-c...
"Google is hosting a CBP app that uses facial recognition to identify immigrants, and tell local cops whether to contact ICE about the person, while simultaneously removing apps designed to warn local communities about the presence of ICE officers..."
www.404media.co/google-has-c...
Google Has Chosen a Side in Trump's Mass Deportation Effort
Google is hosting a CBP app that uses facial recognition to identify immigrants, while simultaneously removing apps that report the location of ICE officials because Google sees ICE as a vulnerable gr...
www.404media.co
November 16, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Having like four places you can effectively distribute apps is an unacceptable concentration of power.
If you’re interested in analyzing Canadian elections, here’s 90 minutes dumping everything I know about working with political data.
youtu.be/wUqvQT81u7M?...
youtu.be/wUqvQT81u7M?...
Border City Data: Analyzing Canadian Election Data
YouTube video by Hackforge
youtu.be
November 4, 2025 at 12:34 PM
If you’re interested in analyzing Canadian elections, here’s 90 minutes dumping everything I know about working with political data.
youtu.be/wUqvQT81u7M?...
youtu.be/wUqvQT81u7M?...
Should not be this hard if avoiding vendor lock-in has been a priority.
Tech monocultures are always bad but now more salient: previously, the main consequences of lock-in would be financial. Canada being unable to divest now touches our sovereignty.
thelogic.co/news/ottawa-...
Tech monocultures are always bad but now more salient: previously, the main consequences of lock-in would be financial. Canada being unable to divest now touches our sovereignty.
thelogic.co/news/ottawa-...
Documents reveal why Ottawa can’t stop using Amazon Web Services - The Logic
When Amazon pulled out of Quebec, Ottawa said it would review its contracts with the firm. Documents obtained by The Logic reveal how much it depends on the tech giant.
thelogic.co
October 31, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Should not be this hard if avoiding vendor lock-in has been a priority.
Tech monocultures are always bad but now more salient: previously, the main consequences of lock-in would be financial. Canada being unable to divest now touches our sovereignty.
thelogic.co/news/ottawa-...
Tech monocultures are always bad but now more salient: previously, the main consequences of lock-in would be financial. Canada being unable to divest now touches our sovereignty.
thelogic.co/news/ottawa-...
If you or your organization is still using Twitter, shame. There is no excuse.
From an article about the man in the SS uniform arrested for attacking the woman in Georgia. Just wild that we've accepted that there's a huge social media platform where an account called "@GasChambers" is allowed to openly do Nazi fundraising and that's fine, in fact all the reporters post there.
October 29, 2025 at 1:27 PM
If you or your organization is still using Twitter, shame. There is no excuse.
The big cloud services are convenient but it’s increasingly clear they’re bad for the ecosystem.
Now, there are clearly huge risks in relying on US services.
Invest in your own team’s capacity and lean a little less on the turnkey services that lock you in.
blog.42futures.com/p/your-data-...
Now, there are clearly huge risks in relying on US services.
Invest in your own team’s capacity and lean a little less on the turnkey services that lock you in.
blog.42futures.com/p/your-data-...
Your data, their rules
The growing risks of hosting EU data in the US cloud
blog.42futures.com
October 27, 2025 at 10:56 AM
The big cloud services are convenient but it’s increasingly clear they’re bad for the ecosystem.
Now, there are clearly huge risks in relying on US services.
Invest in your own team’s capacity and lean a little less on the turnkey services that lock you in.
blog.42futures.com/p/your-data-...
Now, there are clearly huge risks in relying on US services.
Invest in your own team’s capacity and lean a little less on the turnkey services that lock you in.
blog.42futures.com/p/your-data-...
Friday I’m talking about using public data to build a text RPG, but also I think expressing a bit of a contrarian view of what is possible with AI coding assistance and point in the direction of some promising paths few are talking about. Free in person or online.
www.hackf.org/event/neighb...
www.hackf.org/event/neighb...
Neighbourhood Quest – Windsor Hackforge
www.hackf.org
October 22, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Friday I’m talking about using public data to build a text RPG, but also I think expressing a bit of a contrarian view of what is possible with AI coding assistance and point in the direction of some promising paths few are talking about. Free in person or online.
www.hackf.org/event/neighb...
www.hackf.org/event/neighb...
One of my services is software evaluation and tech buying advice. This means I talk to a lot of vendors once or twice while gathering options.
I definitely notice the ones whose marketing afterward is intensely persistent and borderline unethical. I never evaluate or advise their adoption again.
I definitely notice the ones whose marketing afterward is intensely persistent and borderline unethical. I never evaluate or advise their adoption again.
October 20, 2025 at 12:15 PM
One of my services is software evaluation and tech buying advice. This means I talk to a lot of vendors once or twice while gathering options.
I definitely notice the ones whose marketing afterward is intensely persistent and borderline unethical. I never evaluate or advise their adoption again.
I definitely notice the ones whose marketing afterward is intensely persistent and borderline unethical. I never evaluate or advise their adoption again.
Reposted by Doug Sartori
the media has made a huge deal about Neutrality and Not Editorializing and it all falls apart when you realize they are too afraid to publish a factual description of the video Trump posted
October 19, 2025 at 5:05 PM
the media has made a huge deal about Neutrality and Not Editorializing and it all falls apart when you realize they are too afraid to publish a factual description of the video Trump posted
Obviously needed.
Will this government or any government have the will to look carefully at the risk of continuing to use U.S. tech infrastructure? Is anybody going to consider how open source adoption can contribute to digital sovereignty? I hope so!
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Will this government or any government have the will to look carefully at the risk of continuing to use U.S. tech infrastructure? Is anybody going to consider how open source adoption can contribute to digital sovereignty? I hope so!
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Carney's 'Buy Canadian' policy expected to be fully in place next year: source | CBC News
A senior federal source with knowledge of the government's plans said initial elements of the proposal should be in place by as early as November, with the entire policy expected to take effect by the...
www.cbc.ca
October 6, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Obviously needed.
Will this government or any government have the will to look carefully at the risk of continuing to use U.S. tech infrastructure? Is anybody going to consider how open source adoption can contribute to digital sovereignty? I hope so!
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Will this government or any government have the will to look carefully at the risk of continuing to use U.S. tech infrastructure? Is anybody going to consider how open source adoption can contribute to digital sovereignty? I hope so!
www.cbc.ca/news/politic...