Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 07/10/2026This is a wild story. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/04/u...nytimes.comCourt Tosses Sentence After A.I. Video of Victim ‘Forgiving’ His Killer Is PlayedAn appellate court in Arizona threw out the prison sentence of a man convicted of manslaughter after an A.I.-generated video of his victim was played at a trial. 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 05/10/2026I’m hard-pressed to think of something more endearing than when a dog brings a stuffed toy with them on a walk. Are they proud of it? Do they think they might need it so they should bring it just in case? 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 24/09/2026What people are missing about the GrapheneOS duress PIN case: The government has charged Samuel Tunick for allegedly using a duress PIN they say wiped the contents of his phone, but does the underlying technology and the statute support that view? #grapheneos #privacy mjr.news/what-everyon...mjr.newsWhat everyone is missing about Samuel Tunick and the GrapheneOS duress PIN caseThe government has charged a man for allegedly using a duress PIN they say wiped the contents of his phone, but does the underlying technology and the statute support that view? 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 24/09/2026My adorable rescue pup, Lainie, made her social media debut today! 💫 she was featured on @thedogist.bsky.social in connection with @peoplemusic.bsky.social mjr.news/my-rescue-do...mjr.newsMy rescue dog, the starMy rescue dog Lainie makes her social media debut 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 24/09/2026Some changes have come to @mjr.news! I've been working for weeks on moving away from Substack to a #selfhosted setup. Now, all of the site’s infrastructure & data (outside of two exceptions) are controlled by me. More people should regain autonomy in blogging: mjr.news/mjr-news-mov...mjr.newsMJR News moves entirely self-hosted and other changesMJR News no longer uses Substack as its hosting platform 010
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 16/09/2026Some of these new captchas are getting ridiculous. I, a human, cannot complete them either in time or closely enough with a finger on a screen to pass. Guess I won’t use your website then. 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 14/09/2026Update one week later: haven't returned to commercial LLMs. But the speed of Qwen3.8 on my hardware can be frustrating at time. I consider it a trade-off for the privacy benefits and cost savings. 000
Reposted by Mark J. RemillardACLU @aclu.org · 09/09/2026BREAKING: We filed another motion asking a court to block President Trump's latest executive order that seeks to dismantle birthright citizenship, months after the Supreme Court upheld this essential right. 4488100
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 07/09/2026But Nvidia entering it's support behind open models and it's purchase of Hugging Face certainly puts some weight is the open models corner. The question remains what Nvidia does with Hugging Face and whether it stays true to its open model and free-to-download platform. 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 07/09/2026If the future of AI turns out to be local and open, that could ripple through the rest of the economy. Trump Admin, unsurprisingly, is picking sides with the closed models www.axios.com/2026/07/20/a...axios.comThe secret Trump administration battle to fight Chinese AIThe launch of Kimi K3 is giving the fight new urgency. 100
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 07/09/2026This could spell huge trouble for commercial providers and their investors. I was thinking that enterprise might be an area where the advantage (so long as it exists) of frontier models is worth the expense. But even some major companies are finding open-source models capable enough. 110
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 07/09/2026I'm not the only one. I open the paper today to see that corporations are making more use of them too: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/t...nytimes.comCorporate America Is Getting Hooked on Open-Source A.I.Companies like AT&T are increasingly using cheap, freely available artificial intelligence models over expensive ones from Anthropic and OpenAI. 111
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 07/09/2026Cancelled all LLM subscriptions today. It's been more than two weeks since I've touched a commercial LLM. Instead, qwen3.8 27b running locally has been incredible. It's not as fast as commercial models but it's still quick and capable. It's amazing how far quantized, open models have advanced. 110
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 24/08/2026This is hilarious. I want all my messages delivered by digital carrier pigeon with a .2% of death en route 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 19/08/2026Isn't that nice? You bought an airline ticket 10 years ago, and now you're helping train Google's AI whether you like it or not www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/b...cnn.comGoogle is buying all of Spirit Airlines’ data to feed its AI models | CNN BusinessDid you ever fly on Spirit Airlines? Or work there? Or send an email to someone who worked there? Then your information will soon be feeding Google’s artificial intelligence model. 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 15/08/2026But the spirit and movement that Count Binface inspired lives on! 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 13/08/2026I love that the @nytimes.com apparently spoke with the screenplay writer of the iconic thriller Air Force One to get his thoughts on Trump's café car switch out of Ankara last month. Incredible. 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 25/07/2026I’ve been wondering how long it would take for the government to bring a case for using a duress PIN to wipe your phone: techcrunch.com/2026/07/24/u...techcrunch.comUS accuses American of allegedly wiping his phone using a 'duress' password during border search | TechCrunchA U.S. citizen has asked a court to throw out the government's claim that he gave over a passcode to border authorities that wiped his phone's data, opening up fresh questions about a person's constit... 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 16/07/2026I appreciate the troll that left a rating on Quttinirpaaq National Park as being "good for kids." 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 15/07/2026This is your government: “After voting for a Paramount merger, Commissioner Olivia Trusty took tickets worth over $12,000. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has accepted tickets worth at least $63,000.” www.propublica.org/article/para...propublica.orgFCC Officials Took Pricey Gifts From Paramount as the Company Needed Approval for Billion-Dollar DealsAccepting tickets to the Kennedy Center honors gala compromised the commissioners’ impartiality, ethics experts told ProPublica. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has been gifted at least $63,000 worth of ticket... 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 15/07/2026The problem with books on AI? By the time I get to reading them they’re already outdated. 000
Reposted by Mark J. RemillardMark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 05/07/2026The #KIDSAct and #KOSA threaten to upend how millions of Americans access the Internet, affecting their free speech and association. Despite their disclaimers, the predictable result is platforms mandating user age verification. Here's how to contact your Senator: advocacy.mjr.news?utm_source=b...advocacy.mjr.newsTell Your Senators: Vote No on the KIDS Act & KOSAA free and open internet. Download a ready-to-send letter urging your U.S. senators to vote no on H.R. 7757 and S. 1748. 01010
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 09/07/2026Anyone know what the rent is in that high rise in Midtown I keep seeing on the news? I’m interested. 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 07/07/2026The best argument for #privacy rights is not about secrets or hiding anything: open.substack.com/pub/markjrem... #privacyrightsopen.substack.com'A Design of Subtle Coercion' and the Argument for PrivacyThe best case for privacy is not about secrets. It's about having the space to write your own self. 011
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 06/07/2026Is he saying the war in Ukraine is a civil war? Did Putin tell him that? Also, it’s been 532 since he took office. He said he’d have the war in Ukraine over in one day. 010
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 05/07/2026The #KIDSAct and #KOSA threaten to upend how millions of Americans access the Internet, affecting their free speech and association. Despite their disclaimers, the predictable result is platforms mandating user age verification. Here's how to contact your Senator: advocacy.mjr.news?utm_source=b...advocacy.mjr.newsTell Your Senators: Vote No on the KIDS Act & KOSAA free and open internet. Download a ready-to-send letter urging your U.S. senators to vote no on H.R. 7757 and S. 1748. 01010
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 04/07/2026Legislation that may fundamentally change how Americans access and associate online—the great economic and cultural vessel of our time—should be enacted with the utmost care, not fast‑tracked. Contact your senators and tell them NO on #KOSA and #KIDSAct advocacy.mjr.news?utm_source=b...advocacy.mjr.newsTell Your Senators: Vote No on the KIDS Act & KOSAA free and open internet. Download a ready-to-send letter urging your U.S. senators to vote no on H.R. 7757 and S. 1748. 068
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 04/07/2026Happy Fourth of July 🇺🇸 “The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind.” ~ Thomas Paine. 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 03/07/2026#KIDSAct is being considered in the U.S. Senate along with #KOSA. These bills may fundamentally change how Americans access the Internet. Advocate for a free and open Internet by contacting your Senators! advocacy.mjr.newsadvocacy.mjr.newsTell Your Senators: Vote No on the KIDS Act & KOSAA free and open internet. Download a ready-to-send letter urging your U.S. senators to vote no on H.R. 7757 and S. 1748. 177
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 01/07/2026The idea that SCOTUS did something affirmatively unique here, as Walsh frames it (“opened the floodgates,” “destroyed,” “imagined”), may eventually leave Americans with the view that BC is just a bad SCOTUS decision not actually rooted in history & precedent, therefore it can & should be overturned. 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 01/07/2026I think it’s important to point out the revisionist incentives surrounding 14A & SCOTUS’ birthright citizenship decision. This issue is not going away and in 5 or 10 years there may be many who believe that BC, as we’ve known it for 150+ years, was actually “created” by this decision. It wasn’t. 120
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 01/07/2026Also acting like ending birthright citizenship is the only way to avoid our government being captured, as if it’s just so easy to become president. Maybe free and fair elections are a better safeguard? 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 01/07/2026People upset about the birthright citizenship decision acting like SCOTUS didn’t just uphold what’s already been the law’s modus operandi for 150+ years. The was no “floodgate” opened as a result of this decision. 100
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 30/06/2026If you found this interesting, please consider subscribing via email at www.mjr.news for more writings on how privacy, the law, and technology all intersect.mjr.newsMJR News | Mark J. Remillard | SubstackOn technology, law, and the right to be let alone. Click to read MJR News, by Mark J. Remillard, a Substack publication. Launched 4 years ago. 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 30/06/2026Why is privacy is such a hard thing to argue for? On some level we all desire it, but advocating is often met with "I have nothing to hide" or "it's futile." I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this, so here is the best argument for privacy I’ve heard: open.substack.com/pub/markjrem...open.substack.com'A Design of Subtle Coercion' and the Argument for PrivacyThe best case for privacy is not about secrets. It's about having the space to write your own self. 010
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 29/06/2026But instead views your data as yours and in which you have a property right, even if it’s on someone else’s server. It seems right now though, Gorsuch is the only Justice who holds this view. 000
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 29/06/2026Gorsuch’s view grounds privacy in a property right but in a way that may be more workable in the 21st Century. It’s not limited to just literal physical trespass of your house/property, for example. 100
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 29/06/2026I think one of the most compelling arguments for Gorsuch’s view is his argument that REP is not only unworkable, but shrinking. As the 21st Century moves on and data collection, fingerprinting, etc. become more pervasive—at what point do we have zero REP? 100
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 29/06/2026Further, Gorsuch says you can see his view suggested in the majority’s opinion. The Court protects your data because you understand that data as your own and it stays yours even on Google’s servers. Gorsuch says that’s property view cloaked in REP. 100
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 29/06/2026The reason we have a concurrence from Gorsuch in Chatrie but a dissent in Carpenter 8 years ago, is that Chatrie didn’t forfeit the property argument like Carpenter. Carpenter litigated only REP. Chatrie argued a search of his “papers and effects.” 100
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 29/06/2026Gorsuch says it’s like tossing your keys to a valet. You don’t forfeit ownership just by leaving your stuff in someone’s care. Users had right to review, edit, and delete their info, and Google agreed to protect it from unath. access (giving users right to exclude). This is the “bundle of rights” 100
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 29/06/2026He differs from Thomas, though, who also rejects REP. Thomas says the records aren’t yours to begin with. They’re owned by the company and the gov’t isn’t therefore searching your property. But Gorsuch says entrusting data to Google doesn’t mean it is no longer yours. 100
Mark J. Remillard @mjr.news · 29/06/2026He argues REP is unworkable and courts shouldn’t be guessing at society’s expectations. Instead privacy should be grounded in property rights. 100