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Mark Welch

@markwelch.bsky.social
10K followers 365 following 1.9K posts

• ex-reporter ex-teacher ex-attorney, he/him • law, journalism, education, security, privacy, surveillance tech, AI fairness, bias, face recognition, Blue Dot, LFL steward • Springfield MO <NorCal <NH <MA <WI • UC Berkeley JD'89; UMass Amherst BA'83

PostsRepliesMedia
Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
"The federal government has spent at least $1.7 million to air three different TV ads featuring President Donald Trump in recent days.... Critics say the ads could violate federal propaganda law." abcnews.com/amp/Politics...
abcnews.com
White House airs more taxpayer-funded ads promoting Trump
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Protos @protos.com · 29/09/2026
Ari Paul says Coinbase lost his $25M, covered up $1B in hacks protos.com/ari-paul-say...
protos.com
Ari Paul says Coinbase lost his $25M, covered up $1B in hacks
BlockTower Capital founder Ari Paul alleged Coinbase "lost" $25M of his company funds while covering up “massive and repeated hacks.”
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Jon Keegan @jonkeegan.com · 29/09/2026
Imagine going back in time and showing this headline to someone in 2015
How militarizing the triumphal arch could backfire for Trump
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Alexandra Petri @petridishes.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
absolutely gutting
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Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 29/09/2026
automakers are some of the worst on privacy and security of any industry in America, which makes their push to ban Chinese EVs "for privacy and security" extra fucking annoying
theverge.com
Your car’s data privacy problems are worse than you think
“There’s a lot to be worried about,” the project lead said.
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Ben Winters @benwinters.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
that chatbot doing that unsafe/violative thing is not it 'going rogue' or an 'unfortunate incident of unintended consequences,' it’s the logical and devastating consequences of an unsafe product put out by irresponsible companies that have been conditioned to believe consequences dont exist for them
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Catalin Cimpanu @campuscodi.risky.biz · 29/09/2026
Meta pulled down Brazilian President Lula's Facebook page and blocked his campaign from running political ads but allows paid ads calling for a military coup It also didn't take down any of the right-wing disinformation campaigns reported in August novaramedia.com/2026/09/28/f...
novaramedia.com
Facebook Blocks Lula’s Campaign Ads Just Days Before Brazil Election
Meta briefly disabled ads on the Facebook page of Brazil’s leftwing president on Friday – just days before he faces a far-right challenger in national elections.
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keep your electric eye on me @ubisurv.net · 29/09/2026
This doesn't seem that much different from the trials of #facialrecognition 25 years ago in London.... #surveillance
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Today's reading distraction: "Meanwhile, In My Uterus: A Memoir of Endometriosis and Medical Gaslighting" (2025) by Amanda East. link.amazon/B052myRFH @thewriteamanda.bsky.social
link.amazon
Meanwhile, In My Uterus: A Memoir of Endometriosis and Medical Gaslighting
Meanwhile, In My Uterus: A Memoir of Endometriosis and Medical Gaslighting [East, Amanda] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Meanwhile, In My Uterus: A Memoir of Endometriosis and Medical Gaslighting
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
WAPO: The architect quit “after warning repeatedly that Trump was insisting on a preliminary design that did not provide adequate emergency exit routes or fire-containment measures .. .. ‘I am the code,” Trump said.” @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/investigatio...
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Can anyone share insight on the relative party affiliation of apartment dwellers vs others? My guess would be that they'd be more likely to be Democrats, but also less likely to vote, in general.
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Remember: "the cloud" is just somebody else's computer. futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com
Iran Drone Strikes on Amazon Data Centers Are Permanently Deleting Customer Data
As the US Iran war shows no signs of letting up, strikes on data centers are putting customer data in serious peril.
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Today's reading distraction: "Testament of Leaves" (2026) by Carolyn Ives Gilman. link.amazon/B0ei2xY5Z
link.amazon
Testament of Leaves
Amazon.com: Testament of Leaves eBook : Gilman, Carolyn Ives: Kindle Store
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Shobita Parthasarathy @shobitap.org · 19/09/2026
Older adults, people with accents, and people with disabilities struggle to be understood by AI agents. This affects their access to health care, transit, and other essential services. This is an existential risk for them. It is happening NOW. And it needs to be regulated.
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
My father died, I was fired from my job for speaking out against Charlie Kirk, lost a teaching gig because I critiqued Israel. And yet, I’ve managed to not publicly crashout and ruthlessly attack other free speech voices. The amount of personal restraint people expect of Black women is wild.
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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 19/09/2026
California should be going after social media services’ harmful surveillance business practices and giving all users, regardless of age, more choices. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
eff.org
California’s “Addictive Feeds” Law Violates Teens’ First Amendment
A California law that prohibits teens from receiving recommended social media content from other social media users violates their First Amendment rights, EFF argued this week.The case, Meta v.
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Jason Leopold @jasonleopold.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
HUGE EXCLUSIVE from @bloomberg.com Inside the US ‘Kill Chain’ That Destroyed an Iranian School Pentagon investigators discovered that flawed intel, outdated imagery & overreliance on AI contributed to a missile strike that killed 123 children in Minab 🎁 www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
bloomberg.com
Inside the US ‘Kill Chain’ That Destroyed an Iranian School
Pentagon investigators have discovered that flawed intelligence, outdated imagery and an overreliance on AI contributed to a missile strike that killed 123 children in Minab.
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Sam Gregory analyzes Apple's new Reference Image feature on the iPhone 18 Pro — "a serious piece of engineering, and a genuine response to the epistemic crisis of AI" — and the unanswered questions it raises.
buff.ly
Will Apple’s ‘Reference Image’ Feature Help Defend Against AI Manipulation?
Apple’s Reference Image addresses some serious challenges raised by the epistemic crisis of AI and presents some unanswered questions, writes Sam Gregory.
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Wow: quite a "content warning" to encounter in a book. Dreamslayer (2026) by A. K. Mulford link.amazon/B070Y3xCe @akmulford.com
"CONTENT WARNINGS:

"Suicide, violence, murder, gore, body horror, grief, death, abuse, imprisonment, coercive control, homophobia, drug use, addiction, hallucinations, domestic violence, spiders, monsters, disease, infection, drowning, cults, religious trauma, sexually explicit scenes and allusions to rape, forced pregnancy, and infanticide (not on page)."

Dreamslayer (2026) by A. K. Mulford.
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Today's reading distraction: "Chasm City" (2001) by Alastair Reynolds. link.amazon/B04G4dgxx
link.amazon
Amazon.com
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Taniel @taniel.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
NEW: Organizers in Montana and Missouri have faced years of attacks against popular initiatives. So they're going on the offense—they've qualified 2 measures for November that would amend their state constitutions and significantly strengthen direct democracy. Fascinating pro-voter maneuver:
boltsmag.org
To Protect Direct Democracy, Two States Are Mulling a New Approach: Name It As a Right - Bolts
After years of attacks on voters’ power to take matters into their own hands, democracy advocates are going on the offensive in Montana and Missouri. They’ve placed constitutional amendments on... Rea...
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Will Jennings📉🗳️ @drjennings.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
We live in a poll-driven political age, but it's important for all politicians to remember that they can lead/influence public opinion through leadership and communication.
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Tom McKay @catturd2.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
oh hell no www.wsj.com/business/air...
wsj.com
Exclusive | The FAA’s $875 Million Plan to Use AI to Ease Air-Traffic Woes
The air-traffic tool is expected to debut in the Washington, D.C., area as soon as Monday.
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Jason Kint @kint.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Eye popping. Court just unsealed Summary Judgment motions in New York Times v OpenAI / Microsoft. Easy to see why the AI companies had so many redactions (pink). Their own people wrote the lede for NYT, the "largest theft of labor in human history"... "more and more substitutive..." /1
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Stardust 🌏🎬 @stardustbluepr.com · 18/09/2026
“For years, Microsoft and OpenAI have fought to keep certain information out of the public eye in their fight with news organizations that have accused the AI firms of teaming up to violate copyright laws by stealing tons of news content to train AI.”
arstechnica.com
Microsoft exec called AI scraping the “largest theft of labor in human history”
Microsoft, OpenAI emails reveal fear of AI “doom loop” killing news orgs.
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Wow: quite a "content warning" to encounter in a book. Dreamslayer (2026) by A. K. Mulford link.amazon/B070Y3xCe @akmulford.com
"CONTENT WARNINGS:

"Suicide, violence, murder, gore, body horror, grief, death, abuse, imprisonment, coercive control, homophobia, drug use, addiction, hallucinations, domestic violence, spiders, monsters, disease, infection, drowning, cults, religious trauma, sexually explicit scenes and allusions to rape, forced pregnancy, and infanticide (not on page)."

Dreamslayer (2026) by A. K. Mulford.
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404 Media @404media.co · 16/09/2026
NEW: Hackers ripped down a Flock camera above a roadway, made a near-complete copy of the data stored inside it, and shared the files with 404 Media and @wired.com, revealing in new detail how exactly Flock Safety’s cameras track the movements of both vehicles and people.
404media.co
Hackers Stole Flock’s Camera Software, Revealing How the Company Tracks Cars and People
While people around the U.S. are tearing down Flock cameras, one group of hackers went a step further: extracting the camera's software too.
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alice e marwick @alicetiara.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Note: They are going to teach people how to use ChatGPT to spot scams. Yet another "AI literacy" / AI education campaign that just comes down to "figure out how to use our tools more"
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Today's reading distraction: "Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture" (2018 anthology) Edited by Roxanne Gay. link.amazon/B05BXcq7n
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keep your electric eye on me @ubisurv.net · 15/09/2026
We all know that there are weapons of various kinds in orbit. But saying this out loud is a choice, and it's one that is inevitably going to provoke a response. This is extraordinarily dangerous and stupid. #war #orbitalspace #space www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
theguardian.com
US confirms for first time it has deployed weapons in space
Analysts warn of an acceleration in high-risk arms race with Russia and China in Earth’s orbit
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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 12/09/2026
If you’re confused about the difference between “age verification,” “age estimation,” “age assurance,” and “age gate” — you’re not alone. Let’s help you make sense of it all. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
eff.org
Age Verification, Estimation, Assurance, Oh My! A Guide to the
Age verification, age assurance, age estimation, age gating—they get thrown around interchangeably, but they technically mean different things. And those differences matter a lot when we're talking
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Today's reading distraction (via Hoopla): "Mission Earth Volume 2: Black Genesis" by L. Ron Hubbard. amzn.to/4A7Dpqo Yesterday, I read the first volume,which I'd received from a GoodReads contest. "Mission Earth, Volume 1: The Invaders Plan" (1985) by L. Ron Hubbard. amzn.to/4hles3r
amzn.to
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Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
On a 10-point scale, how close is the U.S. to autocracy? More than a 4, that’s for sure. presswatchers.org/2026/09/new-...
presswatchers.org
New York Times editors don’t get how close we are to autocracy | Press Watch
On a 10-point scale, how close are we to autocracy? More than a 4, that’s for sure.
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AILA @aila.org · 08/09/2026
"Immigration judges across the United States have been instructed to deny some of the most vulnerable people appearing in court the time needed for their visas or green cards to arrive." bit.ly/4gJhTRu
bit.ly
US immigration judges told to slash time given to people awaiting visas or green cards before being deported
Exclusive: Mandatory training for judges also urged them to threaten attorneys who accept too many cases
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Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 08/09/2026
The Pentagon is purging all trans people in the military. They're going after those who didn't even transition by searching through medical records to find any evidence someone had gender dysphoria. They're purging those who detransitioned to save their jobs. federalnewsnetwork.com/defense-main...
federalnewsnetwork.com
Pentagon searching medical records to identify transgender troops | Federal News Network
Military officials are using medical and personnel data to uncover troops with current or past gender dysphoria as the Pentagon moves ahead with separations.
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Today's reading distraction: "The Hunt for Atlantis" (2007, Wilde & Chase #1) by Andy McDermott. amzn.to/4A1vivE @andymcdermott.bsky.social
amzn.to
The Hunt for Atlantis: A Novel (Nina Wilde & Eddie Chase series Book 1)
The Hunt for Atlantis: A Novel (Nina Wilde & Eddie Chase series Book 1) - Kindle edition by McDermott, Andy. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Hunt for Atlantis: A Novel (Nina Wilde & Eddie Chase series Book 1).
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Damon Kiesow @kiesow.net · 07/09/2026
So you are telling me the plagiarism machine is a tautology? www.scientificamerican.com/article/open...
scientificamerican.com
OpenAI’s latest math breakthroughs commit research misconduct, experts say
OpenAI released 10 AI-generated results over the weekend. Some mathematicians are unhappy with their approach
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Resist authoritarianism @thewolverine.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Trump's jackbooted thugs have no legitimate need to access voter data. There should already be laws on the books to prevent this sort of access. #Privacy #DataPrivacy fedscoop.com/ice-voter-da...
fedscoop.com
ICE tabs millions for analytics help to comb through voter data
The Department of Homeland Security component plans to spend up to $5 million on procuring services to support its “fraud detection” and “data segmentation” efforts.
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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
AI hiring tools can reject qualified people "for reasons no one—including the employer—can adequately explain," warns NYU School of Law senior affiliated research scholar and former EEOC chair Charlotte A. Burrows. She says gutting disparate impact law makes it worse.
techpolicy.press
A Labor Day Prescription for Preserving Fair Employment in the Digital Age
We can’t let technological progress turn back the clock on civil rights, writes Charlotte A. Burrows.
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
"Triggering" algorithms are back on Facebook. 60 days before midterms, and Facebook's algorithms are already driving chaos. Today I'm seeing many "suggested for you" posts with biased, hateful misinformation. I've also seen multiple reports today that private FB groups ... 1/3
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Data workers will lose vital income when Amazon's Mechanical Turk shuts down. Krystal Kauffmann calls for lawmakers to protect AI's hidden workforce. buff.ly/qOfG2tu
techpolicy.press
Mechanical Turk is Closing. The Workers Who Built AI Are Still Here
Data workers will lose vital income when Amazon's Mechanical Turk shuts down. Krystal Kauffmann calls for lawmakers to protect AI's hidden workforce.
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Missouri's November 3 Ballot: • No on 3: Protect Women (Again!) • Yes on 6: Respect Missouri Voters • No on 7: No Fake Funds, No Tax Hikes • No on 8: Hold Sheriffs Accountable • No on A: No Gerrymandered Map! (NOT "Yes on 6 & No on the others." Some local measures may deserve a "yes.".) 1/
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Kashana @kashana.blacksky.app · 07/09/2026
Possibly the most American news of all time
local12.com
Prison inmates donate more than $4,000 to pay children's school lunch debt
Residents at the prison contributed $3,810 of their own money, while Kansas Department of Corrections employees added another $457.
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Missouri's November 3 Ballot: • No on 3: Protect Women (Again!) • Yes on 6: Respect Missouri Voters • No on 7: No Fake Funds, No Tax Hikes • No on 8: Hold Sheriffs Accountable • No on A: No Gerrymandered Map! (NOT "Yes on 6 & No on the others." Some local measures may deserve a "yes.".) 1/
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Today's reading distraction: "North of Havana" (1997, Doc Ford #5) by Randy Wayne White. amzn.to/4xA3cWG
amzn.to
North of Havana (A Doc Ford Novel Book 5)
North of Havana (A Doc Ford Novel Book 5) - Kindle edition by White, Randy Wayne. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading North of Havana (A Doc Ford Novel Book 5).
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Alexander Chee @alexanderchee.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
My colleague @jeffsharlet.bsky.social has been asking his students to tell him about their AI usage anonymously. www.chronicle.com/article/my-s...
chronicle.com
Opinion | My Students Hate AI. But They Can’t Stop Using It.
Big Tech has gotten them addicted to cheating, and they’ve internalized the blame.
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Mark Welch @markwelch.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Today's reading distraction: "Captiva" (1996, Doc Ford #4) by Randy Wayne White.
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Justin Joque @jjoque.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Holy shit you all. A friend who works in admissions at a school that has a decent number of online program was telling me they're having problems with identity thieves using a stolen identity to apply, get in, and get someone else's financial aid. That's been happening for a while but now with AI...
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Brandi Bennett @bbennettesq.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Taxes are not high enough: Exhibit #25363916471
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Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 05/09/2026
Training AI models on copyrighted works is "squarely what transformative use is," EFF’s Tori Noble told @reason.com - these are "general purpose tools" and "exactly the kind of creation that copyright is designed to foster."
reason.com
DOJ says barring AI training on copyrighted material could 'severely hamper' tech progress
Training a model on copyrighted work is the same transformative use exception that protects The New York Times' journalism.
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