Debra J Farber
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privacyguru.bsky.social
Debra J Farber
@privacyguru.bsky.social
2.4K followers 2K following 230 posts
Privacy Engineering Manager @ Lumin Digital | Post about Privacy, Security, Ethical Tech, AI & Safety

PNW, USA

https://shiftingprivacyleft.buzzsprout.com/

#PrivacySky

Interests: democracy; sci-fi; trivia; puzzles; & my beaglier
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Debra J Farber
donzeko.bsky.social
Look, it's just an unnamed foreign national paying the army's salaries. What's the worst that could happen?
ytpjason.bsky.social Two-piece Advocate @ytpjason.bsky.social · 18d
“The department declined to answer questions about whether the donor is an American citizen or a foreign national.” Jesus Fucking Christ
October 24, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
jaywillis.net
Here's a fun little nugget from Trump's demand that DOJ pay him, personally, $250 million: In his memo, he argues that prosecutors "should have foreseen" that he has "immunity from prosecution for officials acts." Thank you John Roberts, great rule of law-ing, sir! static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics...
Moreover, as former U.S. Court of Appeals Judge and now-Attorney General Merrick Garland should have foreseen, President Trump had immunity from prosecution for official acts.23 As such, given the Supreme Court's immunity decision and Judge Cannon's dismissal of the prosecution on grounds that the Special Counsel's appointment violated the appointments clause and his office was funded through an 19 Superseding Indictment at 1-4, United States v. Trump et al., No. 23-80101-CR, 2024 WL 3404555 (S.D Fla. July 15, 2024) (the original indictment was dated June 8, 2023). 20 United States v. Trump, No. 23-80101-CR, 2024 WL 3404555, at * 1 (S.D. Fla. July 15, 2024) (hereinafter " Dismissal Order”). 21 Order Denying Motion for Franks Hearing and Reserving Ruling on Balance of Motion Pending Necessary Factual Development at 9, U.S. v. Trump et al., No. 23-80101- CR (S.D. FL June 27, 2024) (Document 655) (“But the Court determines that some of the terms in that document ( e.g., 'national defense information' and ‘Presidential Records'), do not carry ‘generally understood meaning[ s]' such that a law enforcement agent, without further clarification, would have known to identify such material as 'seizable” property'[.]"); accord. id. at 10 ("the present record does not indicate , for example, whether the clarifying information in the affidavit was attached to the warrant or expressly incorporated into it [See ECF No. 567 p. 13] ”) . 22 Constitutional Questions After the Raid on Mar-a-Lago, National Constitution Center 2 ( August 18, 2022), https://constitutioncenter.org/media/files/Mar-a-lago_Raid_Transcript.pdf . 23 Trump v. United States, 144 S. Ct. 2312, 2327 (2024) .
October 22, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
jonathancohn.bsky.social
"People want to live in the US" is not a problem to be solved.

The problem at the "border" under Biden was insufficient staffing to process asylum claims.

Trump has made that worse.

There is nothing to give him "credit" for.
October 24, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
justinhendrix.bsky.social
President says the government's policy to contend with drug traffickers is indiscriminate murder.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 19d
Trump: "I don't think we're necessarily going to ask for a declaration of war, I think we're just gonna kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. We're going to kill them. They're going to be, like dead."
October 23, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
daniel-solove.bsky.social
The Economics of Privacy – Thurs, Oct 30 at 1 PM ET REGISTER FREE teachprivacy.com/video-the-ec... @Daniel-Solove.bsky.social talks with Prof. Alessandro Acquisti (MIT) about the value of personal data, attitudes and behaviors, the privacy paradox, impact of laws.
Video: The Economics of Privacy
The Economics of Privacy Thurs, Oct 30, at 1 PM ET Daniel Solove interviews Alessandro Acquisti (MIT) about his pathbreaking work on the economics of
teachprivacy.com
October 23, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
patmat.bsky.social
3/3 By ignoring mental-health crises, inequality, and the #AI bubble, Bratton echoes the same Silicon Valley ideology corroding society. What he calls “synthetic agency” is just elite insulation from responsibility.

#AICritique #SiliconValley #AIRegulation
October 4, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
patmat.bsky.social
2/3 Bratton’s vision sells deregulation as courage. In practice it means public funds for private labs, fewer safeguards, and deeper inequality. It’s neoliberalism disguised as philosophy, not realism.

#AI #TechEthics #Neoliberalism
October 4, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
chicagotribune.com
Commentary: History and science warn that when federal police use force to suppress dissent, larger and more violent protests follow.
David White: When federal enforcement escalates, protests multiply. Chicago is right to resist these tactics.
Each use of tear gas, pepper spray is followed by more protests, larger crowds and more property damage.
trib.al
October 4, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
tomjoscelyn.bsky.social
The MAGA monocultural revolution is so thorough that Hegseth made it a priority to honor soldiers who carried out war crimes in 1890.
September 26, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
normative.bsky.social
As Tim Snyder points out, Hegseth convening hundreds of generals & admirals in person is a pointless dominance display that’s also an obvious secuity blunder. And it got me thinking about how often performative toughness is awful for security. open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...
Hegseth puts us all at risk
Why put all the American commanders in one room?
open.substack.com
September 26, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
paullander.bsky.social
Trump’s UN speech was even incoherent in the original Russian
September 23, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
socialsecurityworks.org
Just another reminder that Social Security has a fraud rate of 0.00625% which is FAR lower than private sector retirement programs.
September 23, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
karlbode.com
The New York Times does a 24 paragraph story on Larry Ellison buying up new and old media properties and doesn't so much as HINT, anywhere, at the obvious goal of leveraging this properties to conduct right wing information warfare, or that this kind of consolidation is bad for the public
Larry Ellison, a Media Mogul Like No Other
www.nytimes.com
September 23, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
emptywheel.bsky.social
Who could have imagined that a guy who uses the moniker “Ka$h” would take over the FBI and shut down the bribery investigations of his buddies?
September 21, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
carissaveliz.bsky.social
A better ruling would be to ban the unnecessary collection of personal data for profit. There are better business models for democracy than those based on #surveillance. #AIEthics

www.npr.org/2025/09/19/n...
A judge ordered Google to share its search data. What does that mean for user privacy?
The ruling in the Google antitrust trial has led to a host of hard-to-answer questions about the future of Google's search data, which the tech giant must now share with competitors. What does that me...
www.npr.org
September 19, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
ominousrabbit.com
Swalwell:
acyn.bsky.social Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · Sep 18
Swalwell: There’s going to be a Democratic majority in just over a year. To the FCC chairperson and anyone in involved in these dirty deals: get a lawyer and save your records because you’re going to be in this room answering questions
September 19, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
atrupar.com
Kash Patel's notes during his congressional testimony as photographed by Getty: "Good fight with Swalwell"
September 19, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
reichlinmelnick.bsky.social
The FAQ posted online for this program claims that this would be an EB-1/EB-2 visa. That is EXTREMELY illegal.

Those visas are, by law, ONLY for people with “extraordinary” or “exceptional” ability, or advanced degrees (MAs or PhDs) who are being hired by an American business.
What legal classification do l receive as a trump Gold Card holder? As appropriately determined by the Department of Homeland Security and subject to availability, an applicant receives lawful permanent resident status as an EB-1 or EB-2 visa holder.
September 19, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
just-jack-1.bsky.social
Many of your grandparents were the original Antifa.

They fought against the Nazis on the beaches of Normandy and in the forests of Ardennes.

They literally helped save the world from the scourge of fascism.

Today, under this regime, they would be declared terrorists.

Let it sink in.
September 19, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
adamkinzinger.substack.com
Here’s an idea. The west has held about $300 billion in Russian assets. They should release 2 billion a day to Ukraine until Russia stops the war, or they disperse it all.

Then Russia will have to accept the war has an additional real cost per day
September 19, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
parkermolloy.com
At least Trump's dropped the pretense that this is about Charlie Kirk and is instead really just about him not wanting to be made fun of.
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Sep 19
Trump: "When 97% of the stories are bad about a person, that's no longer free speech."
September 19, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
plefoll.bsky.social
“We are not working on building an AI agent. We are working to protect Signal from the invasion of AI agents that threaten privacy and that are being implemented in irresponsible ways”
September 16, 2025 at 6:58 AM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
kevinmkruse.bsky.social
There's so much to unpack -- his childish understanding of the world, his raw nerve of grievances, his sociopathy -- but I can't get past what a whiny, pathetic loser you'd have to be as president to stamp your little feet and cry that the media isn't "allowed" to be mean to you. Mom said so guys!
adamjschwarz.bsky.social Adam Schwarz @adamjschwarz.bsky.social · Sep 18
Trump:

"When you have a network, and you have evening shows, and all they do is hit Trump... They're not allowed to do that."
September 18, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
olivia.science
Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n
Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece, we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to relevant work to further inform our colleagues. Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI (black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf. Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al. 2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA). Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe. Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles
September 6, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Reposted by Debra J Farber
natanael.bsky.social
If that's the play, maybe burn the whole GOP for how they reacted to the assassinated Minnesota Democrats
paleofuture.bsky.social Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · Sep 19
"And for all the concern about the First Amendment ... what about all the amendments that Charlie Kirk lost? Because Charlie Kirk has no amendments right now."

- Kayleigh McEnany
September 19, 2025 at 6:33 AM