KYIV (ANP/RTR) - De Oekraïense president Volodymyr Zelensky heeft op X gereageerd op het paasbestand, dat Rusland eenzijdig heeft uitgeroepen. "Op dit moment gaat het luchtalarm af boven Oekraïne", schrijft hij. "De Shahed-drones in onze lucht onthullen Poetins ware houding ten opzichte van Pasen en mensenlevens."

Zelensky schrijft niet of de Oekraïense troepen ook de wapens zullen neerleggen tijdens Pasen, maar wijst het plan ook niet af. Poetin zei eerder dat de Russen zullen stoppen met vechten om 17.00 uur Nederlandse tijd. Het bestand moet duren tot zondagavond 23.00 uur Nederlandse tijd.

Zelensky meldde wel dat er een gevangenenruil met Rusland heeft plaatsgevonden. 277 Oekraïense militairen zouden zijn teruggebracht, onder bemiddeling van de Verenigde Arabische Emiraten. Het Russische ministerie van Defensie meldde eerder dat 246 Russen waren teruggekeerd bij de ruil.

BARCELONA (ANP) - Carlos Alcaraz heeft zich eenvoudig geplaatst voor de finale van het tennistoernooi van Barcelona. De als eerste geplaatste Spanjaard won met 6-2 6-4 van de Fransman Arthur Fils.

Alcaraz (21) liep in de eerste set snel uit naar een 5-1-voorsprong, voordat hij Fils nog een punt gunde. De nummer 2 van de wereld brak de Fransman opnieuw op 1-1 in de tweede set en speelde daarna de wedstrijd eenvoudig uit.

De Spanjaard treft in de finale Holger Rune uit Denemarken. De mondiale nummer 13 was veel te sterk voor de Rus Karen Chatsjanov: 6-3 6-2.

Alcaraz begon vorige week zijn gravelseizoen met de titel op het toernooi van Monte Carlo. De viervoudig grandslamwinnaar schreef het toernooi in Barcelona in 2022 en 2023 op zijn naam.

Heb je je ooit afgevraagd wat dolfijnen tegen elkaar zeggen? Die vraag zou binnenkort wel eens beantwoord kunnen worden. Wetenschappers bij Google DeepMind hebben namelijk een kunstmatige intelligentie ontwikkeld die mogelijk de geheimen van dolfijnentaal kan ontrafelen.

Het nieuwe AI-model, dat de naam DolphinGemma heeft gekregen, is gevoed met de grootste verzameling dolfijnengeluiden ooit. De onderzoekers hebben jarenlang opnames gemaakt van alle klikjes, fluitjes en andere geluiden die de zeedieren maken. Door deze opnames te koppelen aan het gedrag van de dolfijnen, hoopt het onderzoeksteam eindelijk te kunnen begrijpen wat bepaalde geluidsreeksen betekenen.

Dolfijnen staan bekend als zeer intelligente dieren. Ze kunnen zichzelf herkennen in een spiegel en gebruiken zelfs gereedschap. Toch is hun manier van communiceren altijd een mysterie gebleven. De grote vraag is of dolfijnen echte woorden gebruiken, zoals wij mensen dat doen.

Google Translate voor dolfijnen

De onderzoekers zijn voorzichtig optimistisch. Waar ze vroeger urenlang met de hand naar patronen moesten zoeken in de dolfijnengeluiden, kan de AI dit nu razendsnel doen. Het is als het verschil tussen het handmatig doorspitten van duizenden boeken op zoek naar één specifiek woord, en het gebruik van ctrl+F op je computer.

Het uiteindelijke doel? Een soort Google Translate voor dolfijnen. “Het doel zou ooit zijn om 'dolfijn te spreken”, zegt hoofdonderzoeker Denise Herzing aan de krant Daily Star. Al zal het wellicht nog wel even duren voordat we gezellig kunnen kletsen met Flipper.

Bron: Daily Star

LONDEN (ANP/AFP) - Duizenden mensen hebben zaterdag in het centrum van Londen gedemonstreerd voor de rechten van trans personen, nadat het hooggerechtshof eerder deze week uitspraak had gedaan over de definitie van een "vrouw".

Het hooggerechtshof oordeelde dat de term "vrouw" in een antidiscriminatiewet gebaseerd is op iemands geslacht bij de geboorte, waardoor trans vrouwen niet aan de juridische definitie voldoen. Lhbti-belangenorganisaties vrezen dat de uitspraak vergaande gevolgen heeft voor trans personen.

Bij een protest op Parliament Square hielden demonstranten vlaggen en spandoeken omhoog met daarop leuzen als "trans vrouwen zijn vrouwen" en "transrechten zijn mensenrechten".

Het Hooggerechtshof deed de uitspraak in een zaak tussen de Schotse regering en de actiegroep For Women Scotland (FWS) over de antidiscriminatiewet. De regering vond dat erkende trans vrouwen in die wet ook als vrouw aangemerkt konden worden, maar daar was de actiegroep het niet mee eens.

ROUEN (ANP) - Suzan Lamens is er niet in geslaagd om de finale te bereiken van het tennistoernooi van Rouen. De 25-jarige Zuid-Hollandse ging in Frankrijk met 6-4 6-4 onderuit tegen de als derde geplaatste Olga Danilovic uit Servië.

Lamens kwam in de eerste set twee keer terug van een break achterstand, maar leverde daarna nog een keer haar service in. Danilovic had in de tweede set genoeg aan een break in de zevende game om de winst binnen te halen.

Lamens, de nummer 69 van de wereld, stond voor het eerst dit jaar in de halve finale van een WTA-toernooi. Ze veroverde vorig jaar de titels in Osaka en het Portugese Oeiras.

Danilovic treft in de finale de winnares van de partij tussen de Oekraïense Elina Svitolina en Elena-Gabriela Ruse uit Roemenië.

Archeologen die bezig waren met graafwerk in de funderingen van een oude kerk in Rome stonden opeens oog in oog met een 1500 jaar oud stenen gezicht. Dat gebeurde bij de Basiliek van Santo Stefano in Rome.

Tussen het puin en de mortel van de oude kerkfundering dook het hoofd op van wat vermoedelijk een Romeins standbeeld was. Het hoofd, compleet met sierlijke baard, werd daar niet bewaard als kunstschat. Het diende gewoon als bouwmateriaal. Een beetje alsof je nu een Rembrandt zou gebruiken als onderzetter voor je koffiekopje.

Het gezicht is bedekt met dikke lagen vuil en mortel, waardoor de archeologen nog niet precies kunnen zeggen wie er is afgebeeld. Het zou wellicht een Romeinse god zijn, zoals Jupiter. Om hier meer duidelijkheid over te krijgen, verhuist het stenen hoofd naar het Centraal Instituut voor Restauratie in de Italiaanse stad Matera.

Op zoek naar de herkomst

De experts hopen tijdens het schoonmaken meer aanwijzingen te vinden over de herkomst van het beeld. Misschien komen er wel inscripties tevoorschijn als de eeuwenoude vuillaag wordt verwijderd. Ook willen ze onderzoeken hoe en wanneer het beeld precies is gemaakt.

Maar misschien nog wel interessanter dan het beeld zelf is wat deze vondst ons vertelt over de overgang van het Romeinse Rijk naar het vroege middeleeuwse tijdperk. Het feit dat een mogelijk religieus Romeins beeld zonder pardon werd gebruikt als bouwmateriaal voor een christelijke kerk zegt veel over hoe men toen dacht over de oude Romeinse cultuur.

Na de schoonmaakbeurt in Matera gaat het hoofd terug naar Rome voor verder onderzoek. Daar hopen wetenschappers nog meer te kunnen leren over deze periode waarin het oude Rome langzaam plaatsmaakte voor een nieuwe wereld.

Bron: Archeologisch park Appia Antica

Volgens de Tunesische autoriteiten wilde de groep de regering van president Kais Saied omver werpen. De oppositie stelt echter dat het om een politiek gemotiveerd proces gaat, omdat zij de president beschuldigen van het plegen van een staatsgreep.

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Social

Het is weer die tijd van het jaar dat er in de hoofdstad zorgen zijn over RATTENOVERLAST. Dat is niet van gisteren: de gemeente Amsterdam is al 100, misschien zelfs wel 750 jaar bezig om die overlast tegen te gaan. Spoiler alert: wil nog niet zo vlotten, raadsleden gaan nu zelfs een handje helpen uit wanhoop. De gemeente wil het leefgebied van de rat minder aantrekkelijk maken en trekt daar een half miljoen per jaar voor uit en dan krijg je campagnes zoals hieronder (leest de rat niet, red.). Keertje vuilnis ophalen komt vooralsnog niet bij de gemeente op. Want weet u (en dit is een geheimpje, weet niemand) Amsterdam is de smerigste stad van de wereld. En dan is er ook nog iemand als wethouder Alexander Scholtes van Publieke Gezondheid en Preventie die aan AT5 vertelt dat de rat bij de stad hoort (WEN ER MAAR AAN!) en "Het bestrijden, dus doodmaken van ratten, is een inefficiënte, niet diervriendelijke en een niet duurzame methode om overlast te verminderen". Zucht. Wat ook niet helpt is dat er 365 dagen per jaar werkzaamheden zijn in alle straten, op alle wegen en aan alle grachten.
Enfin, zin in Koningsdag.

Hee werkt niet

Social

U dacht dat er in Rusland 40.000 Oekraïense kinderen wonen om later ge-Russificeerd en wel weer te worden teruggezet in Oekraïne? Dan hebben we slecht nieuws voor u. U zit bij van een cult en uw beoordelingsvermogen is helaas niet kritisch genoeg om u ongeschonden een weg te banen door de catechismus van een nu.nl, de NOS of BNR. 

U bent lid van dezelfde cult die u vertelt dat immigratie een zegen is voor ons allen en dat iedereen die zeurt over zijn verkrachte dochter of toenemende onveiligheid voor homo’s, zijn racistische bek moet houden. 

Maar U kunt gerust zijn: vooralsnog krijgt dit radicaalrechtse kabinet helemaal niks voor elkaar.

woodpeckerb1965 has added a photo to the pool:

Darren Schiller has added a photo to the pool:

Adelaide City Centre, South Australia

Darren Schiller has added a photo to the pool:

Adelaide City Centre, South Australia

The project aimed to create a range of evergreen, audience-specific swag designs that reflect the Adobe brand and resonate with diverse target audiences. The objective was to develop four unique and engaging items that align with Adobe's identity while remaining desirable and relevant to their intended users. These designs are ultimately form part of a larger swag playbook featuring 40 items, providing teams with a curated selection for event giveaways. Four distinct swag items were designed: a poster, a yoga mat, a post-it note block, and band-aids. Each piece features a hero message that balances fun and engagement, ensuring they are both visually appealing and meaningful. While three items utilise a typographic approach, the band-aids embrace a playful illustrative style, showcasing versatility in design while maintaining cohesion with Adobe's brand ethos. The poster features the inspirational messages "Love what you do" and "Do what you love" on either side, with bold, vibrant colours making it an eye-catching addition to any wall. The yoga mat design embraces movement and flexibility, using the playful message "streeetch," where the elongated "e" mirrors the act of stretching. The mat's bold typography and colour palette add energy and creativity to this fitness-themed item. The post-it note block conveys the idea of capturing fleeting thoughts, featuring the whimsical message "bla bla," illustrated in a cloud-inspired design symbolising brainstorming and creativity. Finally, the band-aids take a more abstract, illustrative approach, with vibrant, fun patterns designed to uplift and "heal" with a touch of happiness. These swag items effortlessly blend fun, creativity, and practicality, capturing the essence of Adobe's innovative and dynamic brand identity.

Today's links

• Against transparency: *Caveat emptor* is grifter for, "Surprise, you're dead!"
• Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.
• Object permanence: 2005, 2015, 2020, 2024
• Upcoming appearances: Where to find me.
• Recent appearances: Where I've been.
• Latest books: You keep readin' em, I'll keep writin' 'em.
• Upcoming books: Like I said, I'll keep writin' 'em.
• Colophon: All the rest.

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Against transparency (permalink)

Walk down any street in California for more than a couple minutes and you will come upon a sign warning you that a product or just an area "contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer."

These warnings are posted to comply with Prop 65, a 1986 law that requires firms to notify you if they're exposing you to cancer risk. The hope was that a legal requirement to warn people about potential carcinogens would lead to a reduction in the use of carcinogens in commonly used products. But the joke's on us: since nearly everything has chemicals that trigger Prop 65 warnings, the warnings become a kind of background hiss. I've lived in California five times now, and I've never once seen a shred of evidence that a Prop 65 warning deters anyone from buying, consuming, using, or approaching anything. I mean, Disneyland is plastered in these warnings.

The idea behind Prop 65 was to "inform consumers" so they could "vote with their wallets." But "is this carcinogenic?" isn't a simple question. Many chemicals are carcinogenic if they come into contact with bare skin, or mucus membranes, but not if they are – for example – underfoot, in contact with the soles of your shoes. Other chemicals are dangerous when they're fresh and offgassing, but become safe once all the volatiles and aromatics have boiled off of them.

Prop 65 is often presented as a story of overregulation, but I think it's a matter of underregulation. Rather than simply telling you that there's a potential carcinogen nearby and leaving you to figure out whether you've exceeded your risk threshold, a useful regulatory framework would require firms to use their products in ways that minimize cancer risk. For example, if a product ships with a chemical that is potentially carcinogenic for a couple weeks after it is manufactured, then the law could require the manufacturer to air out the product for 14 days before shipping it to the wholesaler.

"Caveat emptor" has its place – say, at a yard-sale, or when buying lemonade from a kid raising money for a school trip – but routine shopping shouldn't be a life-or-death matter than you can only survive if you are willing and able to review extensive, peer-reviewed, paywalled toxicology literature. When a product poses a serious threat to our health, it should either be prohibited, or have its use proscribed, so that a reasonable, prudent person doing normal things doesn't have to worry that they've missed a potentially lethal gotcha.

In other words, transparency is nice, but it's not enough.

Think of the "privacy policies" you're asked to click through a thousand times a day. No one reads these. No one has ever read these. For the first six months that Twitter was in business, its privacy policy was full of mentions to Flickr, because that's where they ganked the policy from, and they missed a bunch of search/replace operations. That's funny – but far funnier is that no one at Twitter read the privacy policy, because if they had, they would have noticed this.

You know what would be better than a privacy policy? A privacy law. The last time Congress passed a consumer privacy law was in 1988, when they banned video store clerks from disclosing which VHS cassettes you took home. The fact is that virtually any privacy violation, no matter how ghastly or harmful to you, is legal, provided that you are "notified" through a privacy policy.

Which is why privacy policies are actually privacy invasion policies. No one reads these things because we all know we disagree with every word in them, including "and" and "the." They all boil down to, "By being stupid enough to use this service, you agree that I'm allowed to come to your house, punch your grandmother, wear your underwear, make long distance calls, and eat all the food in your fridge."

And like Prop 65 warnings, these privacy policies are everywhere, and – like Prop 65 warnings – they have proven useless. Companies don't craft better privacy policies because so long as everyone has a terrible bullshit privacy policy, there's no reason to.

My blog, pluralistic.net has two privacy policies. One sits across the top of every page:

Privacy policy: we don't collect or retain any data at all ever period.

The other one appears in the sidebar:

By reading this website, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer.

The second one is a joke, obviously (it sits above a sidebar element that proclaims "Optimized for Netscape Navigator."). But what's most funny is that when I used to run it at the bottom of all my emails, I totally freaked out a bunch of reps from Big Tech companies on a standards committee that was trying to standardizes abusive, controlling browser technology and cram it down two billion peoples' throats. These guys kvetched endlessly that it was unfair for me to simply declare that they'd agreed that they would do a bunch of stuff for me on behalf of their bosses.

My first response was, of course, "Lighten up, Francis." But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that these guys actually believed that showering someone in endless volleys of fine print actually created legal contracts and consent, and that I might someday sue their employers because I had cleverly released myself from their BOGUS AGREEMENTS.

Of course, that would be very stupid. I can't just wave a piece of paper in your face, shout "YOU AGREED" and steal your bike. But substitute "bike" for "private data" and that's exactly the system we have with privacy policies. Rather than providing notice of odious and unconscionable behavior and hoping that "market forces" sort it out, we should just update privacy law so that doing certain things with your private data is illegal, without your ongoing, continuous, revocable consent.

Obviously, this would come as a severe shock to the tech economy, which is totally structured around commercial surveillance. But the fact that an extremely harmful practice is also extremely widespread is not a reason to keep on doing it – it's a reason to stop. There was a time when we let companies sell radium suppositories, and then, one day, we just banned companies from telling you to put nuclear waste up your asshole:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/19/just-stop-putting-that-up-your-ass/#harm-reduction

We didn't fall back on the "freedom to contract" or "bodily autonomy." Sure, what you do with your body is your own business, but that doesn't imply that quacks should have free rein to trick you into using their murderous products.

And just as there are legitimate, therapeutic uses of radioisotopes (I'm having a PT scan on Monday!), there are legitimate reasons to share your private data. We don't need to resort to outright bans – we can just regulate things. For example, in 2022 Stanford Law's Mark Lemley proposed an absolutely ingenious answer to abusive Terms of Service:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/10/be-reasonable/#i-would-prefer-not-to

Lemley proposes constructing a set of "default rules" for routine agreements, made up of the "explicit and implicit" rules of contracts, including common law, the Uniform Commercial Code, and the Restatement of Contracts. Any time you're presented with a license agreement, you can turn it down in favor of the "default rules" that everyone knows and understands. Anyone who accepts a EULA instead must truly be consenting to a special set of rules. If you want your EULA to get chosen over the default rules, you need to make it short, clear and reasonable.

If we're gonna replace "caveat emptor" with rules that let you go about your business without reading 10,000,000 words of bullshit legalese every time you leave your house (or pick up your phone), we need smart policymakers to create those rules.

Since 2010, America has had an agency that was charged with creating and policing those rules, so you could do normal stuff without worrying that you were accidentally signing your life away. That agency is called the the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, and though it did good work for its first decade of existence, it wasn't until the Biden era, when Rohit Chopra took over the agency, that it came into its own.

Under Chopra, the CFPB became a powerhouse, going after one scam after another, racking up a series of impressive wins:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/10/getting-things-done/#deliverism

The CFPB didn't just react, either. They staffed up with smart technologists and created innovative, smart, effective initiatives to keep you from getting ripped off:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/11/01/bankshot/#personal-financial-data-rights

Under Chopra, the CFPB was in the news all the time, as they scored victory after victory. These days, the CFPB is in the news again, but for much uglier reasons. For billionaire scammers like Elon Musk, CFPB is the most hated of all the federal agencies. Musk's Doge has been trying to "delete the CFPB" since they arrived on the scene, but their hatred has made them so frenzied that they keep screwing up and losing in court. They just lost again:

https://prospect.org/justice/2025-04-18-federal-judge-halts-cfpb-purge-again/

Trumpland is full of the people on the other side of those EULAs, the people who think that if they can trick you out of your money, "that makes me smart":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/04/its-not-a-lie/#its-a-premature-truth

If Musk can trick you into buying a Tesla after lying about full self driving, that doesn't make him a scammer, "that makes him smart." If Trump can stiff his contractors, that doesn't make him a crook, "that makes him smart."

It's not a coincidence that these guys went after the CFPB. It's no mystery why they've gone after every watchdog that keeps you from getting scammed, poisoned or maimed, from the FDA to the EPA to the NLRB. They are the kind of people who say, "So long as it was in the fine print, and so long I could foist that fine-print on you, that's a fair deal." For them, caveat emptor is a Latin phrase that means, "Surprise, you're dead."

It's bad enough when companies do this to us, be they Big Tech, health insurers or airlines. But when the government takes these grifters' side over yours – when grifters take over the government – hold onto your wallets:

https://www.citationneeded.news/trump-crypto-empire/

(Image: Cryteria, CC BY 3.0, modified)

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Hey look at this (permalink)

• Intuit, Owner of TurboTax, Wins Battle Against America’s Taxpayers https://prospect.org/power/2025-04-17-intuit-turbotax-wins-battle-against-taxpayers-irs-direct-file/

• Bluesky, censorship and country-based moderation https://fediversereport.com/bluesky-censorship-and-country-based-moderation/

• Google Loses the Adtech Monopolization Case https://www.bigtechontrial.com/p/google-loses-the-adtech-monopolization

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Object permanence (permalink)

#20yrsago New copyright bill panders to Christian Right, copyfighters, Hollywood https://web.archive.org/web/20050421040240/https://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,67269,00.html

#10yrsago A bill to fix America’s most dangerous computer law https://www.techdirt.com/2015/04/17/bill-introduced-to-fix-broken-dmca-anti-circumvention-rules/

#10yrsago Inside Islamic State’s spookocracy https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/islamic-state-files-show-structure-of-islamist-terror-group-a-1029274.html

#10yrsago Internet.org: delivering poor Internet to poor people https://scroll.in/article/721541/Poor-internet-for-poor-people:-why-Facebook’s-Internet.org-amounts-to-economic-racism

#10yrsago Iridescent insect sculptures from ewaste https://www.etsy.com/shop/DewLeaf?ref=shopsection_leftnav_1

#5yrsago Poor countries denied covid aid https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/19/shared-microbial-destiny-2/#shared-microbial-destiny

#5yrsago Gilead, the remdesivir welfare queens https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/19/shared-microbial-destiny-2/#remdesivir

#5yrsago 80% of the stimulus tax break will go to 43,000 people https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/19/shared-microbial-destiny-2/#trickle-down

#1yrago Precaritize bosses https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/19/make-them-afraid/#fear-is-their-mind-killer

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Upcoming appearances (permalink)

• Auckland: Unity Books, May 2, 6PM
  https://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-1320740102199

• Wellingon: Unity Books, May 3, 3PM
  https://www.unitybooks.co.nz/news-and-events/author-talk-picks-and-shovels-by-cory-doctorow

• Pittsburgh: Picks and Shovels at White Whale Books, May 15
  https://whitewhalebookstore.com/events/20250515

• Pittsburgh: PyCon, May 16
  https://us.pycon.org/2025/schedule/

• PDX: Teardown 2025, Jun 20-22
  https://www.crowdsupply.com/teardown/portland-2025

• PDX: Picks and Shovels with bunnie Huang at Barnes and Noble, Jun 20
  https://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780062183697-0

• London: How To Academy with Riley Quinn, Jul 1
  https://howtoacademy.com/events/cory-doctorow-the-fight-against-the-big-tech-oligarchy/

• Manchester: Picks and Shovels at Blackwell's Bookshop, Jul 2
  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/an-evening-with-cory-doctorow-tickets-1308451968059

• Manchester: Co-operatives UK Co-op Congress keynote, Jul 3
  https://www.uk.coop/events-and-training/events-calendar/co-op-congress-2025-book-your-place

• New Orleans: DeepSouthCon63, Oct 10-12, 2025
  http://www.contraflowscifi.org/

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Recent appearances (permalink)

• Can we use the Internet for Democracy?
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh_HON6iql8

• Fightback Against Trump's Tariff Attack (Avi Lewis)
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9sgIAc6z_o

• The Voice of Canadian Humanism
  https://open.spotify.com/episode/7uuwdZTIbWzKhBQ3mmMiRv?context=spotify%3Ashow%3A6N5hl8on16CfaeYArrKyqZ

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Latest books (permalink)

• • Picks and Shovels: a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2025 (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865908/picksandshovels).
• The Bezzle: a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), February 2024 (the-bezzle.org). Signed, personalized copies at Dark Delicacies (https://www.darkdel.com/store/p3062/Available_Feb_20th%3A_The_Bezzle_HB.html#/).

• "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). Signed, personalized copies at Dark Delicacies (https://www.darkdel.com/store/p3007/Pre-Order_Signed_Copies%3A_The_Lost_Cause_HB.html#/)

• "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245).

• "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. Signed copies at Dark Delicacies (US): and Forbidden Planet (UK): https://forbiddenplanet.com/385004-red-team-blues-signed-edition-hardcover/.

• "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com

• "Attack Surface": The third Little Brother novel, a standalone technothriller for adults. The Washington Post called it "a political cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution and resistance." Order signed, personalized copies from Dark Delicacies https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1840/Available_Now%3A_Attack_Surface.html

• "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism": an anti-monopoly pamphlet analyzing the true harms of surveillance capitalism and proposing a solution. https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-8135e6744d59?sk=f6cd10e54e20a07d4c6d0f3ac011af6b) (signed copies: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2024/Available_Now%3A__How_to_Destroy_Surveillance_Capitalism.html)

• "Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583; personalized/signed copies here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1750/July%3A__Little_Brother_%26_Homeland.html

• "Poesy the Monster Slayer" a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627. Get a personalized, signed copy here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2682/Corey_Doctorow%3A_Poesy_the_Monster_Slayer_HB.html#/.

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Upcoming books (permalink)

• Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, October 7 2025
  https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374619329/enshittification/

• Unauthorized Bread: a middle-grades graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2026

• Enshittification, Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It (the graphic novel), Firstsecond, 2026

• The Memex Method, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2026

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Colophon (permalink)

Today's top sources:

Currently writing:

• Enshittification: a nonfiction book about platform decay for Farrar, Straus, Giroux. Status: second pass edit underway (readaloud)

• A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING

• Picks and Shovels, a Martin Hench noir thriller about the heroic era of the PC. FORTHCOMING TOR BOOKS FEB 2025

Latest podcast: Nimby and the D-Hoppers CONCLUSION https://craphound.com/stories/2025/04/13/nimby-and-the-d-hoppers-conclusion/

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"When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla

READ CAREFULLY: By reading this, you agree, on behalf of your employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service, shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure, non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer.

ISSN: 3066-764X

About one sixth of global cropland is contaminated by toxic heavy metals, researchers have estimated, with as many as 1.4 billion people living in high-risk areas worldwide. From a report: Approximately 14 to 17% of cropland globally -- roughly 242m hectares -- is contaminated by at least one toxic metal such as arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, nickel or lead, at levels that exceed agricultural and human health safety thresholds.

The analysis, which was conducted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and published in the journal Science, collected data from more than 1,000 regional studies across the globe, as well as using machine learning technology. Dr Liz Rylott, a senior lecturer in the department of biology at the University of York, who was not involved in the research, said: "These findings reveal the deeply worrying extent to which these natural poisons are polluting our soils, entering our food and water, and affecting our health and our environment. Often collectively called heavy metals, these elements cause a range of devastating health problems, including skin lesions, reduced nerve and organ functions, and cancers."

Toxic metal pollution in soil originates from both natural and human activity. Contaminated soil causes significant risks to ecosystems and human health as well as reducing crop yields, jeopardising water quality and food safety owing to bioaccumulation in farm animals. Toxic metal contamination can persist for decades once pollution has been introduced into soil.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

AI-spoofed Mark joins fellow billionaires as the voice of the street – here's how it was probably done

Video  Crosswalk buttons in various US cities were hijacked over the past week or so to – rather than robotically tell people it's safe to walk or wait – instead emit the AI-spoofed voices of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg.…

Damien Douxchamps has added a photo to the pool:

The Japanese tradition of kimorikaki is to leave the last persimmon on the tree before winter, as gratitude to the tree, or for birds or travellers to enjoy it. Amazing that every little detail can count in a Japanese garden!

Attendees describe the day as liberatory, joyful and even sacred. As irreverent as Hunky Jesus is, Sister Merry Peter explained, the contest embodies a core principle of the sisters: "using the symbology of these traditions to open up a conversation with a society." Last year, state Sen. Scott Wiener stepped up to the mic and called out, "Let's hear it for triggering the right-wing extremists!" He earned cheers from the crowd — and coverage from Fox News.