Jan Rydzak
@janrydzak.bsky.social
Leading Big Tech accountability at Ranking Digital Rights / World Benchmarking Alliance. Teeth also cut at Stanford GDPi, GNI, and researching internet shutdowns in the Grand Canyon State.
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
this became very clear to me in the interview I did for this piece. Nat Raymond, who designed satellite observation to predict atrocities, concluded "“documentation is no substitute for political will.”" The satellite system predicted accurately; the international community failed to act on it.
January 13, 2026 at 9:10 AM
this became very clear to me in the interview I did for this piece. Nat Raymond, who designed satellite observation to predict atrocities, concluded "“documentation is no substitute for political will.”" The satellite system predicted accurately; the international community failed to act on it.
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
if you put this in a script even erin brockovitch would be like “too on the nose, dial it back”
January 12, 2026 at 7:01 PM
if you put this in a script even erin brockovitch would be like “too on the nose, dial it back”
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
Kambria Dumesnil delivered food to see how algorithms really run gig work and found hidden rules, stress, and a constant risk of deactivation. With state rules still lagging behind, gig workers need transparency, fair pay, and real oversight, she argues.
The Case for Regulating App-Based Work | TechPolicy.Press
Kambria Dumesnil examines the hidden rules of algorithm managed gig work and the fight for fair rules.
www.techpolicy.press
January 12, 2026 at 8:46 PM
Kambria Dumesnil delivered food to see how algorithms really run gig work and found hidden rules, stress, and a constant risk of deactivation. With state rules still lagging behind, gig workers need transparency, fair pay, and real oversight, she argues.
What's shocking here is not the rank impunity of tech companies basking in the glow of total deregulation.
What's shocking is how quickly the Overton window has shifted toward a cynical dystopia in which every moment of reality can be exploited and controted via utterly compromised gambling dens.
What's shocking is how quickly the Overton window has shifted toward a cynical dystopia in which every moment of reality can be exploited and controted via utterly compromised gambling dens.
The Polymarket bettor, the identity of whom is unknown, bet $30,000 on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro less than a day before he was abducted by U.S. forces.
Bill Seeks Insider Trading Crackdown After Bettor Made $400,000 On Maduro Capture
The Polymarket bettor, the identity of whom is unknown, bet $30,000 on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro less than a day before he was abducted by U.S. forces.
www.forbes.com
January 7, 2026 at 2:17 AM
What's shocking here is not the rank impunity of tech companies basking in the glow of total deregulation.
What's shocking is how quickly the Overton window has shifted toward a cynical dystopia in which every moment of reality can be exploited and controted via utterly compromised gambling dens.
What's shocking is how quickly the Overton window has shifted toward a cynical dystopia in which every moment of reality can be exploited and controted via utterly compromised gambling dens.
So many rhetorical contortions from the head of the Kennedy Center in this @pbsnews.org interview, but my least favorite part is when he ignores @amnanawaz.bsky.social's question, tries to "educate" her on the arts, and pretends corporate donations are all about sincere support for the arts.
January 4, 2026 at 12:01 PM
So many rhetorical contortions from the head of the Kennedy Center in this @pbsnews.org interview, but my least favorite part is when he ignores @amnanawaz.bsky.social's question, tries to "educate" her on the arts, and pretends corporate donations are all about sincere support for the arts.
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
My wife and I went out to lunch today.
My wife: "What is the quality that makes you want to be friends with someone, TK?"
Me: "Kindness. It's always been kindness. If I see someone acting kind to others, I want to be friends with them."
My wife: "What is the quality that makes you want to be friends with someone, TK?"
Me: "Kindness. It's always been kindness. If I see someone acting kind to others, I want to be friends with them."
January 3, 2026 at 10:31 PM
My wife and I went out to lunch today.
My wife: "What is the quality that makes you want to be friends with someone, TK?"
Me: "Kindness. It's always been kindness. If I see someone acting kind to others, I want to be friends with them."
My wife: "What is the quality that makes you want to be friends with someone, TK?"
Me: "Kindness. It's always been kindness. If I see someone acting kind to others, I want to be friends with them."
Eliciting transparency is not the golden key to the land of total accountability. But it sure makes it easier to track erosion of existing progress and efforts to *conceal* information.
Any one of these reports could become the soil that channels new life into a movement.
Any one of these reports could become the soil that channels new life into a movement.
BREAKING: At least 16 files from the Epstein release disappeared from DOJ's webpage, including a photo of Trump, with no explanation.
At least 16 files have disappeared from the DOJ webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein
The Justice Department’s webpage for documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is missing at least 16 of its files a day after they were released.
bit.ly
December 21, 2025 at 11:14 AM
Eliciting transparency is not the golden key to the land of total accountability. But it sure makes it easier to track erosion of existing progress and efforts to *conceal* information.
Any one of these reports could become the soil that channels new life into a movement.
Any one of these reports could become the soil that channels new life into a movement.
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
December 15, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Merriam-Webster’s human editors have chosen ‘slop’ as the 2025 Word of the Year.
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
still mad about this. The workers in the original photo were almost invisible as skyscrapers transformed cities; the photo foregrounded them while showing the scale of that change through their experience, so much more direct than standing at the window of a completed one. Meanwhile, *gestures dispa
it's not just appropriating someone's artwork (important as that is!); it's also reframing these incredibly sheltered comemierdas, who shift all the risk and consequences from their decisions onto others while hoarding the profits, into this position of casual, almost heroic precarity.
I guess it's fitting that it's a reimagined, worse version of someone else's artwork
December 13, 2025 at 6:20 PM
still mad about this. The workers in the original photo were almost invisible as skyscrapers transformed cities; the photo foregrounded them while showing the scale of that change through their experience, so much more direct than standing at the window of a completed one. Meanwhile, *gestures dispa
Can we still call it a "fall from grace" if the starting altitude is zero?
🔗: https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/kyrsten-sinema-is-getting-paid-to-push-for-a-chandler-data-center-40625888/
When the ex-senator threatened Chandler over a data center, she was working as a paid lobbyist. She might suck at it.
When the ex-senator threatened Chandler over a data center, she was working as a paid lobbyist. She might suck at it.
December 12, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Can we still call it a "fall from grace" if the starting altitude is zero?
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
imagine investing in public media and ensuring that media literacy (and spotting unreliable narrators) was integral in primary school education
Finland has emerged as a global leader in countering “fake news”. Here's how they've done it
Teaching when to trust
As fake news accelerates, we need to teach our children how to think critically. Finnish schools are leading the charge
newhumanist.org.uk
December 7, 2025 at 2:32 PM
imagine investing in public media and ensuring that media literacy (and spotting unreliable narrators) was integral in primary school education
Quite a thing to emerge from an end-of-week writing spree and learn about:
1. new policies targeting people in my community as enemies of the state,
2. another colossal corporate mashup further consolidating the tech and media landscape,
3. the Cocomelon Peace Prize.
1. new policies targeting people in my community as enemies of the state,
2. another colossal corporate mashup further consolidating the tech and media landscape,
3. the Cocomelon Peace Prize.
December 5, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Quite a thing to emerge from an end-of-week writing spree and learn about:
1. new policies targeting people in my community as enemies of the state,
2. another colossal corporate mashup further consolidating the tech and media landscape,
3. the Cocomelon Peace Prize.
1. new policies targeting people in my community as enemies of the state,
2. another colossal corporate mashup further consolidating the tech and media landscape,
3. the Cocomelon Peace Prize.
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
The USPS posting a NINE BILLION DOLLAR LOSS!!! sounds terrible. Certainly worse than if you said "USPS costs thirty dollars per person per year" even though that means the same thing and more accurately describes a government service
December 5, 2025 at 1:31 PM
The USPS posting a NINE BILLION DOLLAR LOSS!!! sounds terrible. Certainly worse than if you said "USPS costs thirty dollars per person per year" even though that means the same thing and more accurately describes a government service
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
"Although the trading platform surged in popularity last year when people used it to predict the outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential elections, a large portion of Kalshi’s trades are actually tied to sports"
so...glorified gambling.
techcrunch.com/2025/12/02/k...
so...glorified gambling.
techcrunch.com/2025/12/02/k...
The co-founder of Kalshi says: " The long-term vision is to financialize everything and create a tradable asset out of any difference in opinion."
December 4, 2025 at 11:46 AM
"Although the trading platform surged in popularity last year when people used it to predict the outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential elections, a large portion of Kalshi’s trades are actually tied to sports"
so...glorified gambling.
techcrunch.com/2025/12/02/k...
so...glorified gambling.
techcrunch.com/2025/12/02/k...
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
NY’s new law requires companies to disclose when algorithms set prices. Though it doesn’t stop surveillance pricing, its real power may be giving researchers and watchdogs new ways to investigate algorithmic harms, argues Stephanie T. Nguyen, Fmr. Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission.
How to Test New York’s Algorithmic Pricing Law | TechPolicy.Press
New York’s ADPA exposes algorithmic pricing. Stephanie T. Nguyen discusses how these disclosures could reveal fairness issues and potential consumer impacts.
www.techpolicy.press
November 27, 2025 at 12:28 AM
NY’s new law requires companies to disclose when algorithms set prices. Though it doesn’t stop surveillance pricing, its real power may be giving researchers and watchdogs new ways to investigate algorithmic harms, argues Stephanie T. Nguyen, Fmr. Chief Technologist at the Federal Trade Commission.
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
Coming VERY SOON (tuesday)! WE WILL RISE AGAIN, an anthology of speculative fiction, essays, and interviews about activism that @cxorlando.bsky.social called "An incredibly important book" - pre-order now!
We Will Rise Again
From genre luminaries, esteemed organizers, and exciting new voices in fiction, an anthology of stories, essays, and interviews that offer transfor...
www.simonandschuster.com
November 26, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Coming VERY SOON (tuesday)! WE WILL RISE AGAIN, an anthology of speculative fiction, essays, and interviews about activism that @cxorlando.bsky.social called "An incredibly important book" - pre-order now!
I see the @washingtonpost.com Editorial Board's bold new publishing philosophy is "We generate crude rage bait."
November 8, 2025 at 1:40 AM
I see the @washingtonpost.com Editorial Board's bold new publishing philosophy is "We generate crude rage bait."
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
New: Apple banned an app that simply archived videos of ICE abuses. Rather than other apps that record ICE official's real-time location, Eyes Up is to "preserve evidence until it can be used in court." Videos from TikTok etc. Every submission manually reviewed
www.404media.co/apple-banned...
www.404media.co/apple-banned...
Apple Banned an App That Simply Archived Videos of ICE Abuses
Eyes Up's purpose is to "preserve evidence until it can be used in court." But it has been swept up in Apple's crackdown on ICE-spotting apps.
www.404media.co
October 8, 2025 at 7:13 PM
New: Apple banned an app that simply archived videos of ICE abuses. Rather than other apps that record ICE official's real-time location, Eyes Up is to "preserve evidence until it can be used in court." Videos from TikTok etc. Every submission manually reviewed
www.404media.co/apple-banned...
www.404media.co/apple-banned...
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
The new Platform Work Directive gives workers the right to challenge automated decision-making, to peer inside the algorithms used, to speak to a responsible human about disputes, and to have their privacy and other fundamental rights protected on the job. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
What Europe’s New Gig Work Law Means for Unions and Technology
At EFF, we believe that tech rights are worker’s rights. Since the pandemic, workers of all kinds have been subjected to increasingly invasive forms of bossware. These are the “algorithmic
www.eff.org
October 4, 2025 at 9:01 PM
The new Platform Work Directive gives workers the right to challenge automated decision-making, to peer inside the algorithms used, to speak to a responsible human about disputes, and to have their privacy and other fundamental rights protected on the job. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
“'The fact that we don't have money to pay journalists, but we have money to pay Bari Weiss between $100 and 200 million is indicative of what the Ellisons' true goal here is,' a network correspondent said. 'And it's not journalism.'"
CBS News staffers are ‘literally freaking out’ about Bari Weiss taking over newsroom
EXCLUSIVE: ‘People are using words like depressing and doomsday – feels like some sort of doomsday,’ one source told The Independent about the mood inside CBS News right now.
www.independent.co.uk
October 3, 2025 at 8:49 PM
“'The fact that we don't have money to pay journalists, but we have money to pay Bari Weiss between $100 and 200 million is indicative of what the Ellisons' true goal here is,' a network correspondent said. 'And it's not journalism.'"
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
The richest man on earth owns X.
The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok.
The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.
See the problem here?
The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok.
The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.
See the problem here?
September 24, 2025 at 8:00 PM
The richest man on earth owns X.
The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok.
The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.
See the problem here?
The second richest man on earth is about to be a major owner of TikTok.
The third richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
The fourth richest man owns The Washington Post.
See the problem here?
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
so many dead canaries and we just keep on mining
September 17, 2025 at 11:10 PM
so many dead canaries and we just keep on mining
Reposted by Jan Rydzak
enshittification | noun | when a digital platform is made worse for users, in order to increase profits
September 3, 2025 at 8:22 PM
enshittification | noun | when a digital platform is made worse for users, in order to increase profits