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Reposted by Chhaya Kapadia

American Library Association @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social · 2d

Special #BannedBooksWeek edition of the @projectcensored.bsky.social show with Youth Honorary Chair Iris Mogul, ALA President @samhelmick.bsky.social, and Lee Rowland from @ncacensorship.bsky.social.
https://www.projectcensored.org/banned-books-week-censorship-1984/

Banned Books Week: Censorship Is So 1984, Read For Your Rights!

Celebrate Banned Books Week with voices defending the freedom to read and the fight against censorship on the Project Censored Show.

www.projectcensored.org

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · 28d

Glad to see more on the risks of an AI bubble. Yes, and...will lack of value to people be what slows the AI train enough to let public interest & human rights impacts (finally) catch up to the tech? Or do open source AI models (see: DeepSeek) demonstrate VC $$$$ aren't nec to build AI for all uses?

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 28d

Regulations that ensure appropriate AI safety and governance serve to protect fundamental rights and the public interest, but also make good economic sense by tempering unsustainable market valuations, writes Tech Policy Press contributing editor Amber Sinha.

The AI Deregulation Agenda Has Helped Create an AI Bubble and May Hasten a Crash | TechPolicy.Press

Digital deregulation may exacerbate risks to the market from unregulated artificial intelligence products and services, writes Amber Sinha.

buff.ly

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · 29d

Enjoying today’s OTI’s 15th anniversary event today, and looking forward to a great discussion with OTI’s former and current leaders @saschameinrath.bsky.social @abdavidson.bsky.social @bankston.bsky.social @lcoral.bsky.social and Sarah Morris.

Technology and Democracy @techanddemocracy.newamerica.org · 29d

🎊 Today's the day! 🎊 We're celebrating OTI's 15th anniversary with a community of advocates, researchers, organizers & innovators. They're joining us for timely conversations around the future of tech policy.

Don't miss the livestream of #OTIat15: events.newamerica.org/opentechnolo...

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Shalin Jyotishi @shalinjyotishi.bsky.social · Aug 27

FABBS is hiring a short-term Tech Policy Fellow to focus on behavioral science and AI (link below). Share with early career policy wonks

@ilpfoundry.bsky.social @asa-scipol.bsky.social @scipolguy.bsky.social @abankston.bsky.social @matthourihan.bsky.social @snapcoalition.bsky.social #scipoljobs

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Aug 7

I just gave to support @51st.news and you should too if you can.
National news is important but local news coverage is how you learn about the stuff that impacts your day to day living, which is even more valuable, so I’m glad to support.

The 51st @51st.news · Aug 6

Three days remain to hit the goal in our campaign to hire @maustermuhle.bsky.social full-time.

We know there's a ways to go, but with less than half left to raise...we could reach it easy peasy if each person who donated asked one friend to give too. givebutter.com/SsQ8CG

Time to Grow The 51st

Help us hire Christina and Martin Full-Time!

givebutter.com

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Aug 3

It’s all worth seeing, hearing and experiencing…if only the tech and/or law could make it happen.

I had always hoped that the internet would drive solutions to problems like these. Still do.

Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Aug 3

Same with movies and tv: unless a DVD was released and you bought it (and you have something that plays DVDs), that show or movie you love will come and go from streaming services, perhaps not to be available again.

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Aug 3

It’s the same with other culture too: rights issues prevent the true jukebox in the sky that I was promised would be the future! Streaming services are woefully incomplete and don’t scratch the service of all of the music that’s been recorded, or even being released now.

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Aug 3

“The societal benefit of a comprehensive guide to the cultural sector can’t be readily calculated on a balance sheet.”

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

This was me too, and the ground level awareness of what was out there to see and do was so eye-opening for me.

A Love Letter to Music Listings

Publications like Time Out New York were my bible and my road map.

www.theatlantic.com

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Jul 22

If we really want to "win the global race to AI," it makes no sense to toss out gov't goals for faster speed and decide it doesn't matter whether people can afford their internet bills. Speed/service goals matter if you want people to use AI...as does being able to pay your internet bill.

FCC to eliminate gigabit speed goal and scrap analysis of broadband prices

Analysis of broadband affordability deemed “extraneous” by FCC chair.

arstechnica.com

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WIRED @wired.com · Jul 10

DHS is urging law enforcement to treat even skateboarding and livestreaming as signs of violent intent during a protest, turning everyday behavior into a pretext for police action. www.wired.com/story/dhs-te...

Skateboards and Livestreams: DHS Tells Police That Common Protest Activities Are ‘Violent Tactics’

DHS is urging law enforcement to treat even skateboarding and livestreaming as signs of violent intent during a protest, turning everyday behavior into a pretext for police action.

www.wired.com

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Jun 26

That’s it, no original thought or lived experience or burning drive to create. Is the result of that “learning” transformative, per fair use? I don’t know, but the way tech company folks talk about AI always irks me, like it’s a person they’re training, and that’s just not the case.

Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Jun 26

In reality, “training AI” means (yes, simplistically!) the machine catalogs the text of the books, scrambles it, and spits out a mish-mash of those books per your instructions. An LLM can’t create something original because the ONLY thing it “learns” from is what it’s been trained on. /2

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Jun 26

I haven’t read Judge Alsup’s AI #fairuse case yet [she adds to stack/tabs], BUT noting that “training AI” makes it sound like it’s a person learning how to write by reading lots of books, to which they add their own thought and life experiences to create something original. /1

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Jun 25

Here's how much of my personal data DOGE has access to. The results aren’t pretty. Take the quiz yourself now to discover how much of your sensitive info is now exposed. (And props to my colleagues at @techanddemocracy.newamerica.org!) #HandsOffMyData dogequiz.newamerica.org/share/?share...

Quiz: What Does DOGE Know About You?

The Department of Government Efficiency has unauthorized access to millions of Americans' data. Take New America's quiz to see how much of your data is at risk.

dogequiz.newamerica.org

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David Brody @dbrody.bsky.social · Jun 23

IT'S STILL A MORATORIUM AND JUST AS BAD.

The new text says the ban only applies to new BEAD grants. But the feds can yank the old grants and reissue them. When they do, states have to accept the moratorium to get funds. It's not just $500m of new money, but all $43 BILLION. It kills state law.

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Maria Curi @mccuri.bsky.social · Jun 23

Scoop: The 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation is now called "a temporary pause" in the reconciliation bill approved by the Senate parliamentarian. Critics say it's just as damaging and sweeps in all $42 billion in broadband funds.

w/ @ashleyrgold.bsky.social

www.axios.com/pro/tech-pol...

Scoop: AI moratorium rebranded "temporary pause"

A 10-year freeze on state AI regulations has been updated in the Senate reconciliation bill as it inches closer to the finish line.

www.axios.com

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Jun 19

Last night in northwest DC

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Jun 12

The recent clowning of D's rural broadband infra efforts has been so disappointing and lazy. There's a bigger story about gov't capture by corporate interests that's much more illustrative of why we don't have nice things. Here's an ex:

Red Tape Isn’t the Only Reason America Can’t Build

The failure to deploy rural broadband has become synonymous with excessive bureaucracy. The real story is more complicated.

www.theatlantic.com

Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Jun 11

Imagine the world were all of your data could only be shared or sold if you OPTED IN. And if the default were that nothing you shared with a tech company could be shared or sold otherwise…that’d be a game changing shift of power. wapo.st/4kBQ8d5 (gift article)

In 23andMe case, a fight brews over who can sell your genetic code

State attorneys general are seeking a ruling in 23andMe’s bankruptcy that the DNA testing firm needs explicit consent from customers before transferring their genetic data to another company.

wapo.st

Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · Jun 7

Certainly an argument for humans (both the engineering of the scam and their actual labor), but also perhaps an argument for open source AI??

Microsoft-backed AI startup chatbots revealed to be human employees

AI-washing at its finest.

mashable.com

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American Library Association @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social · May 30

Thanks to the FCC's Learn Without Limits program, libraries across the country are using #ERate discounts to support wi-fi hotspot lending. But some in Congress want to end the program.

Tell your Rep to keep communities connected & protect this funding: bit.ly/TakeActionHotspots #ForOurLibraries

Show up for our libraries, American Library Association

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Peter Baker @peterbakernyt.bsky.social · May 30

RIP Loretta Swit, known in her time in homes across America as Major Houlihan on M*A*S*H, a character she transformed over the course of more than a decade on the show from from a hardass villain to a sympathetic protagonist. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...

Loretta Swit a.k.a. Hot Lips of TV’s ‘M*A*S*H,’ Dies at 87

www.nytimes.com

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · May 27

So asking permission of artists before you use their life’s work to create tech that will be used to supplant them is unreasonable and unworkable. Huh.

Isaac Dovere @isaacdovere.bsky.social · May 26

the view from a former Meta board member:

Making technology companies ask artists’ permission before they scrape copyrighted content will “basically kill the AI industry in this country overnight,” Sir Nick Clegg has said. www.thetimes.com/uk/technolog...

Nick Clegg: Artists’ demands over copyright are unworkable

The former Meta executive claims that a law requiring tech companies to ask permission to train AI on copyrighted work would ‘kill’ the industry

www.thetimes.com

Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · May 20

I appreciate this piece from @annalenhart.bsky.social on how kneecapping states' ability to regulate AI means that we undervalue states as incubators of ideas. After all, you need those ideas even more when the rest of the nat'l policymaking players seem poised to let AI co's do whatever they want.

Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · May 20

Anna Lenhart proposes interstate collaboration on standards and says dismantling states' progress on AI regulation is a lazy and dangerous approach.

Do We Need a ‘NIST for the States’? And Other Questions to Ask Before Preempting Decades of State Law | TechPolicy.Press

Anna Lenhart proposes interstate collaboration on standards and says dismantling states' progress on AI regulation is a lazy and dangerous approach.

www.techpolicy.press

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Chhaya Kapadia @chhayakapadia.bsky.social · May 11

Sometimes the “equity” in Digital Equity Act means that some people in rural areas are less likely to have high speed internet access than others and nothing more nefarious than that. Here’s a good take from @gregsargent.bsky.social on how cutting Digital Equity Act funds hurts red-state voters.

Angry Trump Kills “Woke” Program—and Accidentally Screws MAGA Voters

It’s called the Digital Equity Act. That word—“equity”—caught the White House’s attention. So now Trump is moving to nix funding—but it could cut off millions destined for red America.

newrepublic.com