Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Ignacio Castro

Free Our Feeds @freeourfeeds.com · 1d

Our European-focused work, under the brand of @eurosky.social is taking off. Our first in-person event happens in Berlin on November 19, to discuss and share opportunities for European open social #atrproto infrastructure operated in Europe. We're announcing our speakers here!

Eurosky Social @eurosky.social · 1d

We're very excited to that announce Heike Raab, Representative of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate to the Federal Government and for Europe and the Media, will be speaking at #EuroskyLive in Berlin this November.

#EuroskyLive #DigitalSovereignty #EuropeanTech

12 25

Ignacio Castro @ignactro.bsky.social · 1d

Ginius

NOELREPORTS @noelreports.com · 1d

Zelenskyy says Ukraine will nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, if he delivers Tomahawk missiles and helps secure a ceasefire. The missiles, with 1,500 km range, would let Ukraine hit deep into Russia. Trump says he’s “sort of” decided, but wants clarity on how they'd be used.

1

Reposted by Ignacio Castro

Jay 🦋 @jay.bsky.team · 1d

Are you a lawyer? Do you enjoy working on small teams tackling big things? We’re hiring a senior counsel.

jobs.gem.com/bluesky/am9i...

Bluesky Jobs

jobs.gem.com

46 100 320

Reposted by Ignacio Castro

Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 1d

California passed AB 566!

It's a law that mandates browsers support the GPC signal that can be used to exercise privacy rights automatically in jurisdictions that have them.

Apple Safari and Google Chrome are reluctantly going to have to improve your privacy.
www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/08/g...

Governor Newsom signs data privacy bills to protect tech users | Governor of California

www.gov.ca.gov

2 5 21

Reposted by Ignacio Castro

NetLdn @netldn.bsky.social · 2d

It's #NetLdn tomorrow night, come join us for 2 great talks, interesting chat, and a bonus lightning talk!
netldn.uk/2025/10/03/n...

1 1 3

Reposted by Ignacio Castro

FT Edit @ftedit.ft.com · 3d

Many of the deals are circular and have given an immediate share price boost to the start-up’s partners. For example, Nvidia plans to invest $100bn in OpenAI over the next decade, providing OpenAI with cash to buy Nvidia’s chips.

2 23 51

Reposted by Ignacio Castro

Roger Senserrich @4freedoms.es · 5d

Impressive considering democrats have been spectacularly useless making the case here and the press refused to fact check things like “is Portland a hellscape of doom and despair torn apart by war”

Polling USA @usapolling.bsky.social · 5d

7 13

Reposted by Ignacio Castro

Finbarr Bermingham @fbermingham.bsky.social · 8d

The Huawei blowback:

China is curbing the use of European telecom kit suppliers Nokia and Ericsson in its networks as Xi Jinping pushes to decouple the country’s critical tech infrastructure from the west.

China curbs use of Nokia and Ericsson in telecoms networks

Beijing’s national security drive hits European groups even as Huawei maintains its business on the continent

www.ft.com

1 5 15

Reposted by Ignacio Castro

bryan newbold @bnewbold.net · 10d

blueksy video uploads are temporarily broken right now; probably impacting skylight etc as well.

we are working to fix the problem and expect them to be flowing soon

4 36 130

Reposted by Ignacio Castro

Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 12d

This is a short, punchy, set of facts. It is worth reading the piece directly.

But also, if we wanted a reliable ad archive (and we do) we should have legislated for it, and not rely on public policy whims of the companies who profit from them.

Norman @noaasm.bsky.social · 12d

Google has deleted its political ad archive for the EU, thus the last 7 years of ads, of political spending, of messaging, of targeting - on YouTube, on Search and for display ads for countless elections across 27 countries are gone
www.thebriefing.ie/google-just-...

Google just erased 7 years of our political history

Google appears to have deleted its political ad archive for the EU; so the last 7 years of ads, of political spending, of messaging, of targeting - on YouTube, on Search and for display ads - for coun...

www.thebriefing.ie

3 26 66

Reposted by Ignacio Castro

Norman @noaasm.bsky.social · 12d

Google has deleted its political ad archive for the EU, thus the last 7 years of ads, of political spending, of messaging, of targeting - on YouTube, on Search and for display ads for countless elections across 27 countries are gone
www.thebriefing.ie/google-just-...

Google just erased 7 years of our political history

Google appears to have deleted its political ad archive for the EU; so the last 7 years of ads, of political spending, of messaging, of targeting - on YouTube, on Search and for display ads - for coun...

www.thebriefing.ie

23 35

Ignacio Castro @ignactro.bsky.social · 14d

Pivot to Asia. EU version. "The battery project near Zaragoza, capital of the north-eastern Aragón region, is nonetheless cementing Spain’s status as one of Beijing’s closest allies in western Europe."

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 14d

China sends 2,000 workers to build battery power in Europe on.ft.com/4ns79rx

China sends 2,000 workers to build battery power in Europe

Massive labour import to Spain spotlights EU’s dependence on Beijing’s EV tech

on.ft.com

3

Ignacio Castro @ignactro.bsky.social · 15d

This paper analyses Threads quantitatively arxiv.org/abs/2406.19277

The Emergence of Threads: The Birth of a New Social Network

Threads, a new microblogging platform from Meta, was launched in July 2023. In contrast to prior new platforms, Threads was borne out of an existing parent platform, Instagram, for which all users mus...

arxiv.org

Ignacio Castro @ignactro.bsky.social · 17d

<<“Of course the NHS should use data better to help patients and improve the health service,” said Cori Crider, honorary professor at UCL Laws and the executive director of the Future of Tech Institute. “But what’s good for Larry Ellison may not be best for the NHS.”>>

George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 17d

Think the Tony Blair Institute looks sinister? You've not seen anything yet. Crucial investigation by @petergeoghegan.bsky.social and Democracy for Sale:
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-the...

Inside the Tony Blair Institute

A former PM, tech tycoon Larry Ellison and Britain's data - what could go wrong?

democracyforsale.substack.com

3

Reposted by Ignacio Castro

Shira Ovide @shiraovide.bsky.social · 17d

Also seriously this chart of who's suing or making deals with whom in AI is nuts in mostly the best way.

🫡 to Axios for what I assume was a LOT OF WORK to do this:

A chart, spiritually similar to the Charlie Day conspiracy meme, shows which AI companies (OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, etc) have struck licensing deals with news and entertainment websites (USA Today, Reuters, Business Insider, the Washington Post etc).

It always shows which of the websites is suing which of the AI companies. There's a lot of lawsuits and a lot of deals and it makes me dizzy.

2 4 5

Ignacio Castro @ignactro.bsky.social · 18d

Yes. Ad-based monetisaton of wikipedia to fund the open Internet: "Strategy is the art of creating power. The Wikipedia community is in a position to create substantive power for the public interest internet"

Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 18d

The internet's in a bad place. We're not winning. How can we turn things around? We need money.

What parts of the internet 1) are still under democratic control and 2) are in a position to produce significant revenue? It's mostly down to Wikipedia.

But there's more… 🧵

How Wikipedia Can Save the Internet With Advertising | TechPolicy.Press

Robin Berjon explores how principled advertising on Wikipedia could fund a democratic digital future.

www.techpolicy.press

1 5

Ignacio Castro @ignactro.bsky.social · 18d

The subtlety is that the appeal of the far-right is so large that it breaks the traditional nationalist divide: In Catalonia, typically, few right-wing voters supported non-pro-independence parties (VOX is very not pro-independence). The similarity is with Reform's inroads in Scotland

1

Ignacio Castro @ignactro.bsky.social · 18d

The far right would be the most voted party for those below 34 years old. In Catalonia. Where pro-independentists (of different degrees) and/or socialdemocrats have traditionally have majorities. Shocking and symptomatic

Enric Juliana @enricjuliana.bsky.social · 20d

Una encuesta de lectura imprescindible hoy en LV. Brujula para el nuevo curso.
Después de la amnistía, Catalunya se mueve a la derecha. Vox y Aliança Catalana sumarían el 24%
Vox supera al PP y AC casi empata con Junts. Erosión del PSC, que sigue en cabeza.
www.lavanguardia.com/politica/202...

El PSC ganaría a la baja, pero el avance ultra haría ingobernable Catalunya

Una sociedad expectante. El vértigo del procés ya ha quedado atrás, pero Catalunya se enfrenta a los mismos retos e incertidumbres que el resto de las sociedades

www.lavanguardia.com

1

Ignacio Castro @ignactro.bsky.social · 19d

A Moral Maze episode was also recorded and may be Michael Buerk managed to extract from Curtis Yarvin more than gimmicks, detours and argumentations with the consistency of jelly [4/n] www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

BBC Radio 4 - Moral Maze, Is democracy a failed experiment?

A special debate examining the morality of democracy.

www.bbc.co.uk

1

Ignacio Castro @ignactro.bsky.social · 19d

Elaborated though? Yarvin showed none. Half baked analogies dominated: insisted that iPhones could only be build by a monarchy (Apple), not by the state of California (democracy). He amuses and provokes & may be that is the intention. May be there are keener audiences: on.ft.com/4gu27rU [3/n]

Sunday at the garden party for Curtis Yarvin and the new, new right

What you learn at a gathering of neoreactionaries, Very Online rightwingers and the formerly cancelled

on.ft.com

1 1 1

Ignacio Castro @ignactro.bsky.social · 19d

Yarvin seemed uncomfortable in his own skin, bouncing back & forth on his chair, constantly attempting to get a reaction, trying to provoke, trying to make laugh, trying, trying all the time. Often more of a jester than a thinker. This profile paints him well www.newyorker.com/magazine/202... [3/n]

Curtis Yarvin’s Plot Against America

The reactionary blogger’s call for a monarch to rule the country once seemed like a joke. Now the right is ready to bend the knee.

www.newyorker.com

1 1 1

Ignacio Castro @ignactro.bsky.social · 19d

Skilled at avoiding questions about specifics of his ideas (eg, who/how selects/changes "monarchs", keeps them in check), deflects into puns, jokes, provocations, unrelated stories, puts the onus on the host --did that successfully with Alastair Campbell [2/n] howthelightgetsin.org/events/the-p...

The Philosopher Behind J.D. Vance » HowTheLightGetsIn

howthelightgetsin.org

1

Ignacio Castro @ignactro.bsky.social · 19d

Curtis Yarvin. The alleged "ideologue behind JD Vance" who argues that monarchy is superior to democracy and that a "CEO in chief" is a better form of leadership. Quick thoughts after seeing him at [1/n] howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/lo...

Debate panel titled "The Iron Fist vs The Invisible Hand" with
Aaron Bastani, Hélène Landemore, Curtis Yarvin. Mary Ann Sieghart hosts. https://howthelightgetsin.org/events/the-iron-fist-vs-the-invisible-hand-20012

1 2

Reposted by Ignacio Castro

TechCrunch @techcrunch.com · 22d

Mastodon launches hosting and support services to generate revenue and expand the open social web.

Mastodon has a new plan to make money: Hosting and support services for the open social web | TechCrunch

Mastodon launches hosting and support services to generate revenue and expand the open social web.

techcrunch.com

2 25 39

Ignacio Castro @ignactro.bsky.social · 21d

UK selling data to Palantir (£1.5bn) and deepening its infrastructure dependence on Microsoft (£22bn), shows history is not a differentiator here :/
www.ft.com/content/af26...

What investments did the UK secure during Trump’s state visit?

Deals worth £150bn ‘delighted’ Sir Keir Starmer but more details are needed on the commitments

www.ft.com

1 3