iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Laura Edelson

Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 25/02/2026

Tune in to: How Do Social Media Feeds Actually Work? a panel discussion w/ Knight Institute Sr. Policy Fellow @oliviersylvain.bsky.social, and C4D's Laura Edelson (@whiskeyocelot.bsky.social) and @yaeleisenstat.bsky.social. Thurs. Feb. 26, 1-2 pm. Streaming: www.youtube.com/@Cybersecuri...

youtube.com

Cybersecurity for Democracy

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Lastly on the storage front: remember spinny drives fail. It was useful to look at data like this and think about replacement rates when making cost comparisons: www.backblaze.com/blog/backbla...

backblaze.com

Hard Drive Failure Rates: The Official Backblaze Drive Stats for 2024

The 2024 Year End Drive Stats Report is here. See the the latest annualized failure rates and data insights for the Backblaze drive fleet.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Chassis required the most thought, particularly on the power front. We were trying to scavenge parts wherever possible from the Big Bin of Parts (you know you have one too, don’t judge). But the power requirements were all BIG when we did the math and we did have to buy those new.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Coming from just building PCs or speccing out research servers that require really fast read/write, I haven’t thought about spinny drives in a minute, but they are absolutely the way to go for most home data center needs. Funny enough vendors really don’t have expect you to order 5 of these 😂

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

In-home data center phase 3: buying chassis, compute, and storage. The ‘compute’ part is expensive but not complicated: low volume) availability of GPUs and CPUs is good right now. Storage is also $$$, but there are a lot of choices that require really thinking about your use cases.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

And now the student has become the master.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

We also used gridfinity for interior organization an open-source 3D printed solution, which required making some adaptations , none of which were all that hard : gridfinity.tools

gridfinity.tools

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

We leaned hard into the systainer system, which has been great for our needs. They are a particularly good fit for uses that involve moving around lots of small parts. One caveat: we learned too late that they have two different grid systems for interior organization, so be warned. systainer.store

systainer.store

Systainer USA

The systainer, a case, a toolbox, an entire system of organization for workshops, work vehicles and professionals. See the entire Systainer line up at Systainer USA.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

In-home data center phase 2: tool and supply organization. The pain of not being able to find the punch down because it’s mixed in with the saws( or is it with the cabling) quickly was intolerable. All the hobby stuff got organized along the way because there’s too much of a continuum of what’s what

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

And before you ask, yes, phase zero was a whole house battery system to go with the solar array and whole house backup generator.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

Phase 1 of the in-home data center is complete.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

So what you’re saying is that we are one media studies paper away from solving this problem?

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

This article about the property of 'stickiness' that content feed algorithms can have is absolutely fascinating. I'm thinking about how to study this in a larger way. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/i...

washingtonpost.com

TikTok’s mental health ‘rabbit hole’? It’s not in your head.

It’s not just you: Data shows the app’s algorithm makes some topics ‘stickier’ than others

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Reposted by Laura Edelson

J. Nathan Matias @natematias.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Many thanks to Cornell CALS for a grant to support early organizing, and to our collaborators Marie Bragg, @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social, @sarahagilbert.bsky.social, Ashley Maxie-Moreman, Damon McCoy, Amrit Purba, Jenny Radesky, & Pamela Wisniewski. Thanks also to co-authors Avriel Epps & Daniel Susser

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Cardi B, Yann LeCunn, Banksy, and I have written a open letter calling for a ban on unicorn breeding. Geneticists say that unicorns will only bring benefits to humanity, but their reckless attempts to cross a rhino with a miniature pony could, in fact, doom us all.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

Oh man, unless you really know you want to do it, don’t do it. I did this at the Met like 15 years ago and then I just had to take a few years off from live opera.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Backblaze unwrapped: you’re a data trillionaire!

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Leaked docs on “Expedition Cloud” show the Chinese military-industrial complex building a digital shooting range for cyber ops. Not that anyone was in doubt about the importance cyber operations, but it's fascinating to look inside the machine. netaskari.substack.com/p/train-to-k...

netaskari.substack.com

Critical strike: China's hacking training grounds (PART 1)

Exclusive internal design documents reveal details of China's digital training grounds, set up to attack critical infrastructure of its "major adversaries".

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Also, this complaint is 🔥🔥🔥

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Reposted by Laura Edelson

dorian @doriantaylor.com · 21/10/2025

tangentially related: @erie.bsky.social and @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social suggest that people with technical chops punch way above their weight in policy circles: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lawf...

lawfaremedia.org

Lawfare Daily: How Technologists Can Help Regulators with Erie Meyer and Laura Edelson

What tasks are technologists best-suited to help regulators with?

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Reposted by Laura Edelson

Lawfare @lawfaremedia.org · 14/10/2025

On Lawfare Daily, @jshermcyber.bsky.social spoke to @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social and @erie.bsky.social about how state enforcers and regulators can better work with technologists, what technologists are suited to help with, and what roles technologists can play. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/lawf...

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Warwick History Post-Doc Club @post-doc-club.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Great news! JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month www.jstor.org/action/showL...

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Reposted by Laura Edelson

Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

The folks who manage our building put a flyer in the elevator every week. Along with the weekly weather and notes about building rules being broken, they often add a quote. This is one I snapshotted a few weeks ago:

Cropped photo of a flyer. Black text on white paper with a shine and a light reflection of the photographer behind. The top lines mention trash room, dumpster, and “Thank you for your cooperation.” The text below reads: “To do the useful thing, To say the courageous thing, To contemplate the beautiful, That is enough for one man’s life.” - T.S. Eliot

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

You’re really on to something here. But can it run Steam?

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samuelwa.de @samuelwa.de · 11/09/2025

I spoke with @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social and @chinafile.bsky.social's Jessica Batke about their recent Locknet report, which provides a brilliant, concise, detailed but accessible overview of China's online censorship system.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Had you not played it before? Or just prepping for Silksong?

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Yaël Eisenstat @yaeleisenstat.bsky.social · 26/08/2025

I'm one of the 37 targeted below by DNI Tulsi Gabbard. I haven't had a clearance nor worked in government since 2013. This is political theater & a dangerous example of government abusing its powers to punish private citizens for openly exercising their 1st Amendment rights. My full statement:

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

Subscribing to the print edition of The Onion recently prompted me to resubscribe a print (weekend) edition of a second paper so I could give my kid a uh… more balanced experience of what ‘news’ is.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 08/08/2025

I think this is also the strategy that seems most likely to be actually possible. Because even getting rid of the legal obstacles is *incredibly* challenging, and going much beyond that towards mandatory interop might not be for the foreseeable future.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

One of the things I was most excited that we got to do for the Locknet report was to produce these explainers of how the internet actually works. It’s not magic!

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Reposted by Laura Edelson

Open Technology Fund @opentechfund.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

@chinafile.bsky.social’s Jessica Batke and @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social, authors of a new report that reshapes our understanding of Chinese censorship, spoke to the @washingtonpost.com about how the “Locknet” works. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

I talked to @washingtonpost.com for this piece on China's digital ID system. It's a great example of two key features of the Locknet: 1) different aspects of the censorship system reinforce each other, and 2) pushing the policeman into citizens heads. wapo.st/4kBkkEc

wapo.st

Big Brother gets new powers in China with digital ID system

China is launching a digital ID system, giving Beijing greater control over online activity and further raising concerns about surveillance and censorship.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

I didn’t know you did neuroscience but in retrospect it makes total sense for your work.

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

After more feedback, I think it is black staining polypore- thanks!!

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 13/07/2025

Can anyone help me identity this mushroom? It grew up in just a few days in my garden, and it’s currently over a foot wide. I’m definitely not going to eat it, I’m just curious!

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Laura Edelson @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Can I tell you? You have won the ARG embedded in this article, the objective of which was to deduce the existance of the Locknet Monster. Congratulations! The prize is melancholy, and one drink if you ever run into me in person.

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Reposted by Laura Edelson

ChinaFile @chinafile.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

NEW: A ChinaFile investigation into China's powerful, but leaky, internet censorship system at locknet.chinafile.com 1/21

A collage depicting blimps, planes, drones, and ships trawling the sea and sky for digital devices and information.

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Megan Iorio @meganiorio.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

EPIC collaborated w/ @commonsensemedia.bsky.social, Cybersecurity for Democracy (@yaeleisenstat.bsky.social @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social) & Tech Justice Law Project on a brief telling the Ninth Circuit to deny Meta Section 230 protections for its allegedly addictive design. 11 legal scholars joined!

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Yaël Eisenstat @yaeleisenstat.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Thanks to @epic.org for leading the way, to @comminsense.bsky.social and TJLP for this collaboration, and the below legal scholars, who signed on in support. What a team! cc: @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social & @meganiorio.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/mega...

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Open Technology Fund @opentechfund.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Supported by @opentechfund.bsky.social: @chinafile.bsky.social’s Jessica Batke & @whiskeyocelot.bsky.social explain that Chinese censorship isn’t simply a “firewall, but a “locknet” – a multi-level system of socio-technical controls. (1/4) locknet.chinafile.com/the-locknet/...

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Daphne Keller @daphnek.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

So... I'm not saying you should sue any platforms under the DSA. But if you *did* want to do that, you'd definitely want to look at this article from @pjleerssen.bsky.social, Iris Toepoel, Anna van Duin, and @jvh.bsky.social It's basically a tactical guide. dsa-observatory.eu/wp-content/u...

dsa-observatory.eu

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