Jan Maarten
@janmaarten.com
Inclusive designer, privacy advocate, writer, and future hermit. (he/him)
Please don’t add me to your starter packs.
Opinions are my own.
🌐 https://janmaarten.com
Please don’t add me to your starter packs.
Opinions are my own.
🌐 https://janmaarten.com
Pinned
Jan Maarten
@janmaarten.com
· Nov 15
a man in a suit is crying and says `` everyone '' .
Alt: A man maniacally shouting "EVERYONE!", enunciating and drawing out every ear-piercing syllable. Clip from the film The Professional.
media.tenor.com
Me, an accessibility designer losing his chill: If you do that, no one using assistive tech will be able to use this
Dev: Okay but is it really a problem if it isn't accessible?
Me: We need to make sure that everyone can access this
Dev: What do you mean everyone??
Me:
Dev: Okay but is it really a problem if it isn't accessible?
Me: We need to make sure that everyone can access this
Dev: What do you mean everyone??
Me:
I get that this seems contradictory or hypocritical. The ethos of that flag has ALWAYS been to tell people to piss off so that they can do what they want. Don't pretend it was some sort of virtue signal—there was none to be had. What they want has ALWAYS included Harm Unto Others. Now they have it.
So, if I'm following all this correctly, a bunch of internet shitposters who spent years screaming "don't tread on me" and warning about federal agents stomping out people's rights... have been hired as ICE agents to go around breaking into people's homes, kidnapping & shooting them
January 15, 2026 at 11:47 PM
I get that this seems contradictory or hypocritical. The ethos of that flag has ALWAYS been to tell people to piss off so that they can do what they want. Don't pretend it was some sort of virtue signal—there was none to be had. What they want has ALWAYS included Harm Unto Others. Now they have it.
I look up one product manager role to send to a friend on LinkedIn, and now the entire platform has decided I'm pivoting specialties and I only want to see jobs I'm obviously unqualified for and have no experience in. Algorithms are fun, but that's a pretty generous word for what's going on, innit.
January 15, 2026 at 11:41 PM
I look up one product manager role to send to a friend on LinkedIn, and now the entire platform has decided I'm pivoting specialties and I only want to see jobs I'm obviously unqualified for and have no experience in. Algorithms are fun, but that's a pretty generous word for what's going on, innit.
Reposted by Jan Maarten
Peter Finch was the first person to win an Oscar posthumously for his performance as Howard Beale in Network (1976). The film's plot takes place during the 1970s recession but its themes and emotions make it as relevant today as it was then. Finch's "Mad as Hell" monologue is iconic and timeless.
January 15, 2026 at 8:17 PM
Peter Finch was the first person to win an Oscar posthumously for his performance as Howard Beale in Network (1976). The film's plot takes place during the 1970s recession but its themes and emotions make it as relevant today as it was then. Finch's "Mad as Hell" monologue is iconic and timeless.
Reposted by Jan Maarten
This is your reminder to check up on your people, especially the quiet ones. Folks are not as ok as you might think.
January 14, 2026 at 4:16 PM
This is your reminder to check up on your people, especially the quiet ones. Folks are not as ok as you might think.
Reposted by Jan Maarten
LLMs promised to *increase* knowledge. What actually happens is the opposite. We cannot trust any information any more. Our beliefs become harder to justify & truth harder to establish. So we end up with LLMs destroying trust in knowledge - a serious threat to modern society & the good life.
This Maccabi Tel Aviv/policing/AI story is wild!
Often it’s not the use of AI, per se, that’s the problem.
It’s the uncritical acceptance of the stuff it churns out.
YOU HAVE TO FACT CHECK AGAINST ORIGINAL SOURCES.
Often it’s not the use of AI, per se, that’s the problem.
It’s the uncritical acceptance of the stuff it churns out.
YOU HAVE TO FACT CHECK AGAINST ORIGINAL SOURCES.
January 14, 2026 at 10:25 AM
LLMs promised to *increase* knowledge. What actually happens is the opposite. We cannot trust any information any more. Our beliefs become harder to justify & truth harder to establish. So we end up with LLMs destroying trust in knowledge - a serious threat to modern society & the good life.
Reposted by Jan Maarten
NEW: Completely unredacted Flock audit logs have been released to the public by numerous police departments and in some cases include details on millions of Flock license plate searches made by thousands of police departments from around the country.
Police Unmask Millions of Surveillance Targets Because of Flock Redaction Error
Flock is going after a website called HaveIBeenFlocked.com that has collated public records files released by police.
www.404media.co
January 13, 2026 at 4:12 PM
NEW: Completely unredacted Flock audit logs have been released to the public by numerous police departments and in some cases include details on millions of Flock license plate searches made by thousands of police departments from around the country.
Reposted by Jan Maarten
Reposted by Jan Maarten
This cannot be stressed enough, from the 404 piece yesterday: ICE is working from a legal rationale which states that if a device is collecting adtech or location data, which is then sold to ICE, b/c the owner didn't change the privacy settings, the owner relinquished their Fourth Amendment rights.
January 9, 2026 at 7:34 AM
This cannot be stressed enough, from the 404 piece yesterday: ICE is working from a legal rationale which states that if a device is collecting adtech or location data, which is then sold to ICE, b/c the owner didn't change the privacy settings, the owner relinquished their Fourth Amendment rights.
Reposted by Jan Maarten
This is one of the greatest color tools to come out for data visualization in probably 7 or 8 years at least. Amazing work (read the whole thread, too! this is just a random post from the stack of good stuff)
Contrast ratios give you contast for each colour against white, your lightest colour, your darkest colour, and black, letting you know which combinations don't pass WCAG guidelines. Clicking on any one will take you to my favourite two-colour contrast ratio tool with those colours pre-input.
January 8, 2026 at 10:30 PM
This is one of the greatest color tools to come out for data visualization in probably 7 or 8 years at least. Amazing work (read the whole thread, too! this is just a random post from the stack of good stuff)
Reposted by Jan Maarten
Here's the sort of thing Webloc can do:
- zoom in on specific phone, see where else that device has been locally or around country
- click a 'route' button to see the specific route
- click a nighttime button to see where at night; their likely home
No warrant www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
- zoom in on specific phone, see where else that device has been locally or around country
- click a 'route' button to see the specific route
- click a nighttime button to see where at night; their likely home
No warrant www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
January 8, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Here's the sort of thing Webloc can do:
- zoom in on specific phone, see where else that device has been locally or around country
- click a 'route' button to see the specific route
- click a nighttime button to see where at night; their likely home
No warrant www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
- zoom in on specific phone, see where else that device has been locally or around country
- click a 'route' button to see the specific route
- click a nighttime button to see where at night; their likely home
No warrant www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
Reposted by Jan Maarten
SCOOP: 404 Media has obtained material that explains how Tangles and Webloc, two surveillance systems ICE recently purchased, work.
One can track phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or to their employer.
One can track phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or to their employer.
Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods
404 Media has obtained material that explains how Tangles and Webloc, two surveillance systems ICE recently purchased, work. Webloc can track phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or t...
www.404media.co
January 8, 2026 at 2:10 PM
SCOOP: 404 Media has obtained material that explains how Tangles and Webloc, two surveillance systems ICE recently purchased, work.
One can track phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or to their employer.
One can track phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or to their employer.
Reposted by Jan Maarten
"em dashes are AI" i didn't memorize alt+0151 and option+shift+hyphen to be accused of such treachery
January 6, 2026 at 9:28 PM
"em dashes are AI" i didn't memorize alt+0151 and option+shift+hyphen to be accused of such treachery
I published one of those posts about this past year of work and personal stuff.
janmaarten.com/2025-year-in...
janmaarten.com/2025-year-in...
2025 Year in Review
I don't write annual postmortems or bother making resolutions for the New Year. It feels like demarcating how the deck chairs have shifted slightly on my personal Titanic over time. I usually prefer t...
janmaarten.com
January 7, 2026 at 6:49 AM
I published one of those posts about this past year of work and personal stuff.
janmaarten.com/2025-year-in...
janmaarten.com/2025-year-in...
Reposted by Jan Maarten
Kicking off the new year thinking about metrics, inspired by @spavel.bsky.social
This piece explores why accessibility and design fail when we measure scores instead of real use and what works better.
Longer read, but hopefully helpful:
annaecook.com/writing/2026...
This piece explores why accessibility and design fail when we measure scores instead of real use and what works better.
Longer read, but hopefully helpful:
annaecook.com/writing/2026...
Designing accessibility for real use, not dashboards — Anna E. Cook
This piece explores why accessibility and design so often break down when success is measured before it’s clearly defined. It looks at how score-driven metrics can distort decision-making, and why gro...
annaecook.com
January 6, 2026 at 5:04 PM
Kicking off the new year thinking about metrics, inspired by @spavel.bsky.social
This piece explores why accessibility and design fail when we measure scores instead of real use and what works better.
Longer read, but hopefully helpful:
annaecook.com/writing/2026...
This piece explores why accessibility and design fail when we measure scores instead of real use and what works better.
Longer read, but hopefully helpful:
annaecook.com/writing/2026...
Reposted by Jan Maarten
I'm thinking today about Nirmala Erevelles' article, "Thinking With Disability Studies" and her emphasis on accountability, where she writes that to do disability studies is to "come-in" to an accountable community, where membership is not a noun, but an active verb. dsq-sds.org/article/id/76/
Thinking With Disability Studies
In this essay, I offer tentative ruminations about the possibilities/challenges of theory and praxis in the field of disability studies. I begin the essay by thinking through my own positionality as a...
dsq-sds.org
January 6, 2026 at 4:27 PM
I'm thinking today about Nirmala Erevelles' article, "Thinking With Disability Studies" and her emphasis on accountability, where she writes that to do disability studies is to "come-in" to an accountable community, where membership is not a noun, but an active verb. dsq-sds.org/article/id/76/
Reposted by Jan Maarten
we need to teach the normies rss
January 5, 2026 at 4:12 PM
we need to teach the normies rss
Reposted by Jan Maarten
For decades, Canadians eagerly rushed onto US tech platforms and services. But now the drawbacks of that dependence are on full display.
For @policyalternatives.ca, I explain the economic and political consequences of a US-dominated internet — and why digital sovereignty is imperative.
For @policyalternatives.ca, I explain the economic and political consequences of a US-dominated internet — and why digital sovereignty is imperative.
Every data centre is a U.S. military base - CCPA
Understanding how the United States uses its tech companies to serve empire
www.policyalternatives.ca
January 5, 2026 at 8:52 PM
For decades, Canadians eagerly rushed onto US tech platforms and services. But now the drawbacks of that dependence are on full display.
For @policyalternatives.ca, I explain the economic and political consequences of a US-dominated internet — and why digital sovereignty is imperative.
For @policyalternatives.ca, I explain the economic and political consequences of a US-dominated internet — and why digital sovereignty is imperative.
Reposted by Jan Maarten
The number one thing I've been hearing from people in tech lately is, basically, "How the hell am I supposed to work in this industry anymore?" Though most folks are kind of afraid to say it out loud. So I wrote about how to think about it: www.anildash.com/2026/01/05/a...
How the hell are you supposed to have a career in tech in 2026? - Anil Dash
A blog about making culture. Since 1999.
www.anildash.com
January 5, 2026 at 8:37 PM
The number one thing I've been hearing from people in tech lately is, basically, "How the hell am I supposed to work in this industry anymore?" Though most folks are kind of afraid to say it out loud. So I wrote about how to think about it: www.anildash.com/2026/01/05/a...
After updating my list of slop bots that you can block with a robots.txt file (at least the ones who actually respect robots.txt).
Since the last update, the list has doubled in size. 🙃
Since the last update, the list has doubled in size. 🙃
Good sabotage for bad robots (Updated)
A thorough list of AI crawlers you can block on our your website, as well as a few other choice methods to confound the robots who want to steal everything you've ever published online.
janmaarten.com
January 6, 2026 at 12:57 AM
After updating my list of slop bots that you can block with a robots.txt file (at least the ones who actually respect robots.txt).
Since the last update, the list has doubled in size. 🙃
Since the last update, the list has doubled in size. 🙃
Reposted by Jan Maarten
PSA: Our roadmap for 2026:
December 16, 2025 at 10:22 AM
PSA: Our roadmap for 2026:
Reposted by Jan Maarten
tech companies using society as a staging server
January 4, 2026 at 4:48 PM
tech companies using society as a staging server
Reposted by Jan Maarten
look i know the world is an absolute shit show right now but i just want to redesign my website
January 3, 2026 at 5:26 PM
look i know the world is an absolute shit show right now but i just want to redesign my website
Reposted by Jan Maarten
It's a big day for those fluent in the good grammar of civility looking to deploy decorum to mask agendas of cruelty
January 3, 2026 at 12:19 PM
It's a big day for those fluent in the good grammar of civility looking to deploy decorum to mask agendas of cruelty
Reposted by Jan Maarten
Microplastics are here to stay; that's why we need to eat them responsibly in the classroom
August 3, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Microplastics are here to stay; that's why we need to eat them responsibly in the classroom