Alexander Zimmerman
banner
b-traven.myatproto.social
Alexander Zimmerman
@b-traven.myatproto.social
Mutineer on ship of Capital & State.
Exiled public Librarian bunking in so-called Maine, US.
Luddite currently sailing the Non-Profit Tech seas.
All the music, all the tea.
Pinned
Preppin' for 2025
1869: Madrid workers after being turned on to -The Idea- by Bakunin evangelist Giuseppi Fanelli, try to persuade him to stay in Spain. But...

"[He] explained he had to leave because it was necessary for individuals and groups to develop 'by their own efforts, with their own values,' so that...
November 28, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've seen:

Thought Christ Had Yams
Morphine
Jacob Augustine
Morning 40 Federation
James McMurtry
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you’ve seen:

Primus
Dead and Co
Noah Kahan
Barenaked Ladies
Yanni
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've seen:

David Bowie
Jean Leloup
Bruce Cockburn
Anathema
The Pineapple Thief
November 28, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Reposted by Alexander Zimmerman
Here's a formal response to Flock Safety's comments regarding my video and the associated research.

TL;DR - I'm happy to ethically design a research project to test these vulnerabilities on live devices, but they have to promise not to have me arrested for doing it.

figshare.com/articles/onl...
A Response To Flock Safety's Comments and Proposal For Permitted Research
In the last week since my video was released, I’ve received a number of requests from civic and media organizations regarding Flock Safety’s response to the security vulnerabilities I had demonstrated...
figshare.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Resisting the Everywhere Border

"Inspired by the stories of resistance in Resisting Borders and Technologies of Violence (Haymarket Books, 2024), we launched this living archive of struggle and solidarity at #MozFest, Barcelona, in November 2025...

www.everywhereborder.org/resources/re...
www.everywhereborder.org
November 25, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Since water still flows
though we cut it with swords
And sorrows return
though we drown them with wine
Since the world MUST answer to our cravings
I will bring bread and share lunch with Durruti, Ascaso, & Ferrer!

(all apologies to Li Po)
#Barcelona #Durruti #Ascaso #Ferrer #Montjuic #anarchists
November 25, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Around Barcelona - Part 6 (belated) - Urban November blooms edition

#Barcelona #BCN #wildflowers #blooms #urbanflowers
November 25, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Around Barcelona - Part 5 (belated) - How to Design a Revolution: The Chilean Road to Design @ Disseny Hub

#Barcelona #BCN #DissenyHub #chileanrevolution #cybersyn
November 25, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Around Barcelona - Part 4 (belated) - Fran Daurel Museum

#Barcelona #BCN #pobleespanyol #FranDaurelMuseum
November 25, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Alexander Zimmerman
a rich text
November 25, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Reposted by Alexander Zimmerman
🚀 #DecidimFest25 Highlights

Catch up with all that happened:

meta.decidim.org/processes/ne...

Thanks to all of you that join us this year, see you in 2026 🔥
Decidim Fest 2025: Collective energy, digital sovereignty and a common roadmap - Metadecidim
Decidim Fest has come to an end, and we must say that this has been a truly special edition. We held the General Assembly of the Decidim Association with more participants than in recent years, enjoye...
meta.decidim.org
November 25, 2025 at 12:55 PM
"As the leader of Maine’s largest & most diverse district, Dr. Scallon is responsible for ensuring equity, safety, & inclusion for all. Yet in just one year, several respected educators & leaders have been removed or pushed out due to a culture of bias, inequity, & retaliation for raising concerns."
November 25, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Reposted by Alexander Zimmerman
Interesting 1983 Datamation article on IBM's IMS database, developed to coordinate the manufacture of the Apollo spacecraft: "the largest single engineering undertaking ever contemplated." archive.computerhistory.org/resources/ac...
archive.computerhistory.org
November 25, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Came back from Barcelona vermut pilled.

Now paying my education costs trying to replicate / chase that dragon. It seems there's some good choices available here in Maine. More so for sure than hunting down Priorat reds up here.

#Barcelona #vermut #catalonia #Lahoradelvermut #chasingthedragon
November 23, 2025 at 9:26 PM
"On the album’s epic opening opus 'prayer for amerikkka pt.1 and 2' branch calls out 'a bunch of wide-eyed racists' between searing trumpet ad libs atop a massive, down-tuned blues... "

intlanthem.bandcamp.com/album/fly-or...
FLY or DIE II: bird dogs of paradise, by jaimie branch
9 track album
intlanthem.bandcamp.com
November 23, 2025 at 12:58 AM
"Sadly, everytime a company adds AI features to their tools they do so automatically and without letting people opt-out by default. And so it is necessary to exorcize AI features out of the tools that we use ourselves by following these instructions:"

#AI #optout
“Just assembled a page on my personal website with instructions on how to disable AI features across many services (mainly ones I encounter/use, will surely have to add more to the list soon).” ~ Rek Bell
Rek Bell — remove ai
kokorobot.ca
November 22, 2025 at 10:40 PM
Reposted by Alexander Zimmerman
We just discovered this incredible resource.

It centralizes Flock Audit Trail data from many public records requests and makes it available for searching and downloading.

We are grateful to the creators for their hard work.
Have I Been Flocked? - License Plate Privacy Check
Check if your license plate has been searched in the Flock mass surveillance database
www.haveibeenflocked.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Alexander Zimmerman
Please read the whole thread, what is described also makes sense even beyond trans and queer organizing

In as much hierarchies have taken over movement organizing and civil society, the need to push back against power dynamics that benefit a few at the expense of the majority shouldn’t be abandoned
Instead of "boots and suits" what history shows is that otg queer and trans folks are perfectly capable of organizing ourselves. That the most gets done, by far, when we also take the fight to the gentry within our own demographics, who would happily ditch us to secure their own positions.
November 21, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Alexander Zimmerman
As civic space collapses under surveillance, securitization, and shrinking aid, the tech world faces a choice—enable democratic participation or accelerate its erosion, writes Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of assembly.
Civil Society Is At Risk—and Tech Is Part Of The Problem | TechPolicy.Press
The time for urgent, rights-based innovation in the aid and tech ecosystems is now, writes Gina Romero.
buff.ly
November 21, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Reposted by Alexander Zimmerman
I wrote a bit about my first MozFest, moments of rupture, narratives we don't control, and trans justice

buttondown.com/maiht3k/arch...
November 21, 2025 at 1:49 PM
"...A network of cameras scans and records vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags vehicles deemed suspicious based on where they came from, where they were going and which route they took. Federal agents in turn may then flag local law enforcement."

apnews.com/article/immi...
Border Patrol is monitoring US drivers and detaining those with 'suspicious' travel patterns
The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems suspicious.
apnews.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Reposted by Alexander Zimmerman
“law enforcement specifically targeted known activist groups, demonstrating how mass surveillance technology increasingly threatens our freedom to demonstrate…
It's no secret that 2025 has given Americans plenty to protest about. But as news cameras showed protesters filling streets of cities across the country, cops were watching those streets through different lenses: Flock Safety license plate readers that tracked every car. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
How Cops Are Using Flock Safety's ALPR Network to Surveil Protesters
Through an analysis of 10 months of nationwide searches on Flock Safety's servers, we discovered that more than 50 federal, state, and local agencies ran hundreds of searches through Flock's national
www.eff.org
November 21, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Alexander Zimmerman
Doing free labor for tech companies and feeding their algorithms and training their AI is sabotaging us. Content creator radicalism and online left influencers oftentimes thoughtlessly feed people into this culture of self-defeat. We need to be better than the noise. prismreports.org/2025/11/20/a...
Another way out: Finding clarity for resistance
Facing a wave of misinformation and the manipulation of algorithms, resistance starts with choosing how we listen, not just how we speak
prismreports.org
November 20, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Reposted by Alexander Zimmerman
If you are looking for ways to disrupt the abduction detention & deportation machine check out the new mini-toolkit from @interruptcrim.bsky.social gathering opportunities for action from orgs like @detentionwatchnetwork.org @siembranc.bsky.social BAJI +
www.interruptingcriminalization.com/block-it
November 20, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Reposted by Alexander Zimmerman
Our research proved that the Santa Cruz Police Department's use of Flock violated California law.

In response to our report, the SCPD has stopped sharing data with other California agencies but they must go further and cancel the contract with Flock.

Get the Flock Out of Santa Cruz.
City of Santa Cruz pauses statewide license plate data-sharing, citing Flock Safety’s violation of California law
Santa Cruz will temporarily limit access to its license plate reader data from outside agencies and review its agreement with Flock Safety after the company acknowledged it had violated California law...
lookout.co
November 19, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Alexander Zimmerman
See also this: how companies have created infrastructure to make police advertisers and influencers to go out and sell their products for them.

www.eff.org/deeplinks/20...
The Rise of the Police-Advertiser
In August, the Tulsa police department held a press conference about how its new Automated License Plate Readers (ALPRs), a controversial piece of surveillance technology, was the policing equivalent ...
www.eff.org
November 17, 2025 at 7:01 PM