Cynthia Khoo
@cyn-k.bsky.social
⚖️ Senior Fellow @citizenlab.ca | fmr @cippic.bsky.social | fmr @georgetownprivacy.bsky.social
👩🏻💻 Tech & human rights lawyer @ tekhnoslaw.ca
🎓 LLM @cdtsuottawaclts.bsky.social | JD @UVicLaw
🤸🏻♀️ Capoeirista
👩🏻💻 Tech & human rights lawyer @ tekhnoslaw.ca
🎓 LLM @cdtsuottawaclts.bsky.social | JD @UVicLaw
🤸🏻♀️ Capoeirista
Pinned
I've been sitting on this thread since maybe this time last year. Not in a tea-spilling way, in a procrastinatn/self-doubt way. I thought it'd become redundant. But we've endured like 4 major cycles now of "everyone realizing" what marginalized ppl ALREADY KNEW ALL ALONG. So here we go: 🧵
The exact people who constantly warned us not to "give in to peer pressure", were the same ones to fold completely on actually important things like uncritical genAI adoption, masking / covid-19 prevention, and the "Palestine exception", then punished everyone who did, in fact, resist peer pressure.
No one has ever tried to sell me drugs as hard as people try to sell me on AI.
February 10, 2026 at 5:20 PM
The exact people who constantly warned us not to "give in to peer pressure", were the same ones to fold completely on actually important things like uncritical genAI adoption, masking / covid-19 prevention, and the "Palestine exception", then punished everyone who did, in fact, resist peer pressure.
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
The thing about fascism is that performative public resistance to fascism actually is resistance to fascism.
Please don't accuse people in knitted hats of only wearing their supposed politics if all you're doing is posting, which is basically just another way of wearing your politics. It's a silly thing to attack people over in any case. Using fashion to signal support for ongoing acts of rebellion is good
February 9, 2026 at 3:07 PM
The thing about fascism is that performative public resistance to fascism actually is resistance to fascism.
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
NEW: A hacktivist scraped than half a million payment records from a stalkerware and consumer surveillance tech maker, exposing customers' email addresses and partial card numbers.
The hackvisit told us they did it because they think these companies are "creepy."
The hackvisit told us they did it because they think these companies are "creepy."
Exclusive: Hacktivist scrapes over 500,000 stalkerware customers' payment records
More than half-a-million people who bought access to phone surveillance and social media snooping apps had their email address and partial payment card numbers published online.
techcrunch.com
February 9, 2026 at 4:29 PM
NEW: A hacktivist scraped than half a million payment records from a stalkerware and consumer surveillance tech maker, exposing customers' email addresses and partial card numbers.
The hackvisit told us they did it because they think these companies are "creepy."
The hackvisit told us they did it because they think these companies are "creepy."
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
Join Lawfare, @georgetownprivacy.bsky.social, and the @gtowntechlaw.bsky.social on Friday, March 6 for a event featuring leading scholars, practitioners, and former government officials marking the 40th anniversary of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
RSVP here: lawfaremedia.org/ecpaevent
RSVP here: lawfaremedia.org/ecpaevent
Installing Updates to ECPA
Join us on Friday, March 6, from 8:30am to 2:00pm for a one-day convening marking the 40th anniversary of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). Enacted four decades ago, ECPA continues to ...
lawfaremedia.org
February 9, 2026 at 5:21 PM
Join Lawfare, @georgetownprivacy.bsky.social, and the @gtowntechlaw.bsky.social on Friday, March 6 for a event featuring leading scholars, practitioners, and former government officials marking the 40th anniversary of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
RSVP here: lawfaremedia.org/ecpaevent
RSVP here: lawfaremedia.org/ecpaevent
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
it's like our entire sense of morality has been filtered through the act of consumption, and the highest good we can imagine is feeling good and clean and pure as individuals, unpolluted by the obvious evil are around us
meanwhile, real change requires the kind of work you need a drink after
meanwhile, real change requires the kind of work you need a drink after
February 9, 2026 at 5:16 PM
it's like our entire sense of morality has been filtered through the act of consumption, and the highest good we can imagine is feeling good and clean and pure as individuals, unpolluted by the obvious evil are around us
meanwhile, real change requires the kind of work you need a drink after
meanwhile, real change requires the kind of work you need a drink after
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
starting to feel like there's a direct relationship between the growing obsession with lifestyle hygeine (no drinking, no caffeine, no sex, obsessive working out and looksmaxxing) and the inability to meaningful moral stands on issues of actual import
Cafes across the U.S. are embracing the low- and no-caffeine lifestyle, with options that are a far cry from dusty tea bags and rewarmed decaf. nyti.ms/3XKlqoj
February 9, 2026 at 5:12 PM
starting to feel like there's a direct relationship between the growing obsession with lifestyle hygeine (no drinking, no caffeine, no sex, obsessive working out and looksmaxxing) and the inability to meaningful moral stands on issues of actual import
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
A brief 🧵 about the implications of Carney’s AI Minister meeting with Israel. #cdnpoli #Canadasky
If you want to read about the potential technology the government’s AI Minister will be importing to surveil and police Canadians with, this is an excellent book to read. We’re at an inflection point and die-hard liberals need to wake, this is serious and goes beyond your Carney-worship.
January 27, 2026 at 1:25 PM
A brief 🧵 about the implications of Carney’s AI Minister meeting with Israel. #cdnpoli #Canadasky
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
Grassroots worker-led efforts to provide transparency around what is ACTUALLY happening within firms re layoffs is broadly important as a tool to see beyond the hype and gather a more accurate picture of what’s going on. That’s precisely part of why companies punish resistant transparency.
February 5, 2026 at 3:21 PM
Grassroots worker-led efforts to provide transparency around what is ACTUALLY happening within firms re layoffs is broadly important as a tool to see beyond the hype and gather a more accurate picture of what’s going on. That’s precisely part of why companies punish resistant transparency.
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
This is a critical tension right now as tech CEOs use AI as a public excuse for layoffs. These statements from execs are part of building a public narrative about what they say is the capacity of AI tools to replace workers, as a way of justifying capital expenditures & marketing their products.
February 5, 2026 at 3:21 PM
This is a critical tension right now as tech CEOs use AI as a public excuse for layoffs. These statements from execs are part of building a public narrative about what they say is the capacity of AI tools to replace workers, as a way of justifying capital expenditures & marketing their products.
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
Engineers at Pinterest “sought clarity by monitoring changes within internal communication systems” so they reportedly created “custom software scripts… to identify the names and locations of workers who had lost their jobs.”
Then they got fired.
www.hrgrapevine.com/us/content/a...
Then they got fired.
www.hrgrapevine.com/us/content/a...
Pinterest fires workers who built layoff tracker
Hobbyist site Pinterest, has dismissed two US-based engineers after determining that their side-hustle of tracking recent layoffs at the firm breached company policy by accessing confidential internal...
www.hrgrapevine.com
February 5, 2026 at 3:21 PM
Engineers at Pinterest “sought clarity by monitoring changes within internal communication systems” so they reportedly created “custom software scripts… to identify the names and locations of workers who had lost their jobs.”
Then they got fired.
www.hrgrapevine.com/us/content/a...
Then they got fired.
www.hrgrapevine.com/us/content/a...
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
the most cynical reading I have about why this landed so poorly: do dog owners see their own dogs as more "people" or "family" than delivery drivers, "porch pirates," or actual humans that look different from them? ring has always been this for actual humans, but the dog thing hit different
February 10, 2026 at 3:24 PM
the most cynical reading I have about why this landed so poorly: do dog owners see their own dogs as more "people" or "family" than delivery drivers, "porch pirates," or actual humans that look different from them? ring has always been this for actual humans, but the dog thing hit different
"Ring is still, again, and always will be in the business of leveraging its network of luxury surveillance consumers as a law enforcement tool. After years of saying it wasn’t doing facial recognition... it has now explicitly launched 'friendly' versions of [FR] and [FR]-adjacent technologies".
have never seen popular public opinion shift so fast about a surveillance product than the fallout from ring's super bowl "search party" ad. they'll teach this in advertising courses one day. chef's kiss baby www.404media.co/with-ring-am...
With Ring, American Consumers Built a Surveillance Dragnet
Ring's 'Search Party' is dystopian surveillance accelerationism.
www.404media.co
February 10, 2026 at 4:57 PM
"Ring is still, again, and always will be in the business of leveraging its network of luxury surveillance consumers as a law enforcement tool. After years of saying it wasn’t doing facial recognition... it has now explicitly launched 'friendly' versions of [FR] and [FR]-adjacent technologies".
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
There is a dynamic I've observed in various contexts, that I want to name & describe b/c it's likely to happen more & more [narrator: it did] as things worsen politically & materially for bigger & more privileged groups of people. Let's call it the horseshoe theory of clout-driven principles. (1/25)
February 5, 2026 at 7:02 PM
There is a dynamic I've observed in various contexts, that I want to name & describe b/c it's likely to happen more & more [narrator: it did] as things worsen politically & materially for bigger & more privileged groups of people. Let's call it the horseshoe theory of clout-driven principles. (1/25)
Thank you; I'm just glad I finally got it out! Unfortunately it never seems to get less relevant.
February 5, 2026 at 11:04 PM
Thank you; I'm just glad I finally got it out! Unfortunately it never seems to get less relevant.
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
Oop. (“You’re a doctor so you know all things about public health” has been one of the most frustrating things)
Many validly gain prominence & credibility in one particular arena or on a narrow set of issues, but those who don't know enough to differentiate then assume they're just as expert on other issues. Eg "you're a lawyer so you know all law"; "you're a tech person so an expert on all things tech"
February 5, 2026 at 10:49 PM
Oop. (“You’re a doctor so you know all things about public health” has been one of the most frustrating things)
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
Dang I'm honored to be included in this extremely ambitious thread
February 5, 2026 at 10:09 PM
Dang I'm honored to be included in this extremely ambitious thread
Your post was so fitting!
February 5, 2026 at 11:02 PM
Your post was so fitting!
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
This whole thread is really insightful (and quotes me?!) but please read it and amplify @cyn-k.bsky.social
I've been sitting on this thread since maybe this time last year. Not in a tea-spilling way, in a procrastinatn/self-doubt way. I thought it'd become redundant. But we've endured like 4 major cycles now of "everyone realizing" what marginalized ppl ALREADY KNEW ALL ALONG. So here we go: 🧵
February 5, 2026 at 7:23 PM
This whole thread is really insightful (and quotes me?!) but please read it and amplify @cyn-k.bsky.social
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
Well worth a read: the horseshoe theory of clout-driven principles on what happens when prominent / dominant people start talking about what marginalized people already knew and talked about all along.
I've been sitting on this thread since maybe this time last year. Not in a tea-spilling way, in a procrastinatn/self-doubt way. I thought it'd become redundant. But we've endured like 4 major cycles now of "everyone realizing" what marginalized ppl ALREADY KNEW ALL ALONG. So here we go: 🧵
February 5, 2026 at 8:01 PM
Well worth a read: the horseshoe theory of clout-driven principles on what happens when prominent / dominant people start talking about what marginalized people already knew and talked about all along.
Reposted by Cynthia Khoo
This is such a good thread with multiple threads within it, all worth reading, please do.
I've been sitting on this thread since maybe this time last year. Not in a tea-spilling way, in a procrastinatn/self-doubt way. I thought it'd become redundant. But we've endured like 4 major cycles now of "everyone realizing" what marginalized ppl ALREADY KNEW ALL ALONG. So here we go: 🧵
February 5, 2026 at 8:13 PM
This is such a good thread with multiple threads within it, all worth reading, please do.
Thank you for saying that, and for liking and boosting it!
February 5, 2026 at 10:27 PM
Thank you for saying that, and for liking and boosting it!
Bc if we all must live through a dystopic hellscape, let alone fix anything, the LEAST people can do is be brutally honest w/ themselves & each other about how we got here. And accordingly update their priors & how they treat knowledge from historically marginalized people, starting today. 25/25</🧵>
February 5, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Bc if we all must live through a dystopic hellscape, let alone fix anything, the LEAST people can do is be brutally honest w/ themselves & each other about how we got here. And accordingly update their priors & how they treat knowledge from historically marginalized people, starting today. 25/25</🧵>
To ask & be accountable for: Who is ubiquitously cited beyond their actual areas of established expertise, on issues impacting vulnerable groups they don't belong to? Who is forgotten or included as an afterthought despite (or, it sometimes seems, due to) having on-point but inconvenient expertise?
February 5, 2026 at 7:49 PM
To ask & be accountable for: Who is ubiquitously cited beyond their actual areas of established expertise, on issues impacting vulnerable groups they don't belong to? Who is forgotten or included as an afterthought despite (or, it sometimes seems, due to) having on-point but inconvenient expertise?
To ask yourselves and address: Who holds weight and implicitly sets the direction, tenor, norms, priorities, baseline assumptions, and maintained silences, in your professional field, work circles, publications, conferences, social networks, coalitions, listservs, group chats, and/or collaborations?
February 5, 2026 at 7:48 PM
To ask yourselves and address: Who holds weight and implicitly sets the direction, tenor, norms, priorities, baseline assumptions, and maintained silences, in your professional field, work circles, publications, conferences, social networks, coalitions, listservs, group chats, and/or collaborations?
Returning to where this thread began—the horseshoe theory of clout-driven principles—what needs to happen is an inversion of expertise recognition & credibility: turn the "U" into a lowercase n. Raise up those at the bottom to the top. Or a lowercase r (keeping the prominent legit ppl /accomplices).
February 5, 2026 at 7:45 PM
Returning to where this thread began—the horseshoe theory of clout-driven principles—what needs to happen is an inversion of expertise recognition & credibility: turn the "U" into a lowercase n. Raise up those at the bottom to the top. Or a lowercase r (keeping the prominent legit ppl /accomplices).