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Jillian Foley

@jillianefoley.com

340 followers 370 following 730 posts

historian of cryptography, computers, and information; doing mom stuff and writing in chicago occasional newsletter @ jillianefoley.com

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Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · Mar 28

I’m thrilled to announce my book will be published by @harvardpress.bsky.social! Less thrilled for democracy that it gets alarmingly more relevant by the day!

Publishers Marketplace deal report:
Jillian Foley’s FREE SPEECH AND MAGIC MONEY, tracing cryptography's development from a secret US military weapon to a technology seen as central to debates over the protection of free speech and privacy, to Rachel Field at Harvard University Press, by Jonathan Agin at O'Connor Literary Agency (world).
Rights: karen_pelaez@harvard.edu

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Reposted by Jillian Foley

The Ass is the father of the legs @internethippo.bsky.social · 10h

Mr Trump sir do not let woke antifa change the clocks this year. They plan to do it and they say you are powerless to stop them

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Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 1d

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

“where’s this quote from?”

Marjorie James Keenan @unenthusiast.com · 2d

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

rm -rf ~/

hammancheez @hammancheez.bsky.social · 2d

"The chancellor approved it"

Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 3d

idk why bunting even gets to count as hit by pitch. you put your hand there bro

Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 3d

making yet another little timeline for myself because time is difficult

Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 3d

Americans' love affair with confectioners-sugar-based frostings continues to baffle me. There are other options!!! That have flavors other than unadulterated sweet!!!

Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 3d

incredible! you’ve made it

Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 4d

A seasonal reminder to myself and everyone else who lives where it sometimes snows by Halloween: now is a great week to air out your winter gear and re-waterproof coats and boots! Don't wait until there's already slush falling from the sky!

Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 5d

Only caught the last two innings of the Cubs game but they were more stressful than they needed to be!!

Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 5d

it had been a couple years since I was personally burned by kevin's anti-tab posts but that clock reset to zero today

Reposted by Jillian Foley

Mia Tsai, rabble-rouser @itsamia.bsky.social · 5d

me anytime i think about cake's "the distance"

he's going the distance
he's going for speed
she's all alone (all *TRUMPET NOISE TRUMPET NOISE TRUMPET NOISE TRUMPET*) need
because he's weeeEEEeeeEEEeeeEEEeeeEEEeeeEeEeEEEEE

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Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 5d

There's a construction site near my house where a team painstakingly demolished a building and then carefully scooped up and carted off all the debris.

Two weeks later a dozen dump trucks came and each dumped a giant load of bricks and rocks and debris? What is happening

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Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 5d

chaos muppet gets me every time 😂

Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 6d

signal vs noise is a big one for me, and how those two concepts are core to so many different things. I love teaching a big flowchart of how wartime communications work ends up flowing into information theory, cryptography, cybernetics, logic…

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Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 6d

undark.org/2020/02/12/d...

Fantômas, Le contrebandier de DEI @theefantomas.bsky.social · 6d

Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 9d

TIL you cannot use pre-tax childcare FSA money while any parent is on parental leave. Or if one parent is looking for work but has no income in a year.

File that to the gigantic pile of ways the US structurally hates parents (especially women)

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Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 11d

lmao of course people are still doing this

Reposted by Jillian Foley

Eric Allix Rogers @ericallixrogers.com · 11d

I've shared multiple articles about the ICE raid at 75th & South Shore Drive because no one of them captures everything important:
-simmering tensions over Venezuelan migrants into a Black neighborhood that is the eviction capital of Chicago
-prior deplorable conditions & lack of maintenance

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Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 12d

oh look a brand-new lawsuit that came after we finished edits. probably there will be more of these. www.npr.org/2025/09/30/n...

A lawsuit tries to block the Trump administration's efforts to merge personal data

A class action lawsuit argues that the administration's efforts to combine databases of personal information on Americans violate privacy laws and the Constitution.

www.npr.org

Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 12d

new from me! particularly (horribly) fitting to have a piece about Congress legislating in an attempt to forestall harm publish on a week when Congress has instead abdicated legislation in an attempt to cause harm

History News Network @myhnn.bsky.social · 13d

🗃️ Read @jillianefoley.com on the Privacy Act of 1974 and why we should avoid a simplistic view of the past. www.hnn.us/article/amer...

America’s Privacy Policy

Recent news coverage has called the Privacy Act of 1974 “Watergate-inspired,” but such framing misses the big picture.

www.hnn.us

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Reposted by Jillian Foley

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 13d

I think it's an important step. We have folks who have 'pioneered' various forms of public scholarship, but we need to institutionalize that knowledge and make it a standard part of the field.

It needs to become a thing we all do, if we're going to (re)build public support for the humanities.

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Reposted by Jillian Foley

David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 13d

COVER REVEAL AND PREORDER: The Public Scholar - A Practical Handbook.

"Perry focuses on the practical details of how to approach public scholarship. How do you pitch a piece to an editor? When should you follow or ignore the rules of the genre? And what happens once your piece is out in the world?"

The Public Scholar

A Practical Handbook

www.press.jhu.edu

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Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 17d

currently attempting to juggle two virtual conferences while finishing an article while working on my book draft while solo parenting three children for a few days and I think my brain is melting

Reposted by Jillian Foley

Anne Trubek @atrubek.bsky.social · 18d

what if the menswear guy published a book of paper dolls

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Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 18d

relatedly does anyone have tips figuring out how to contact people who are extremely retired without becoming a stalker

Jillian Foley @jillianefoley.com · 18d

I really hate when you look up a historical subject for the first time only to find out they died in the past month or even year. If only I had been smarter, figured out how to contact them earlier, thought of asking!!!