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Michael Zimmer

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Michael Zimmer is a privacy and data ethics scholar. He currently is a professor in the Department of Computer Science… more

H-index: 26
Computer science 32%
Political science 22%
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by Michael Zimmer — Reposted by Tama Leaver

michaelzimmer.bsky.social
A touching memorial for our friend and colleague, Jonathan Sterne. #AoIR2025
Photo of speaker providing comments with a slide “In memorium of Jonathan Sterne 1970-2025
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by Michael Zimmer

michaelzimmer.bsky.social
#AoIR2025 has begun!
Photo of AoIR president Nicholas John on stage at opening of annual conference with a title slide on display
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer, Kim L. Scheppele, Elizabeth Saunders , and 6 more

chrisgeidner.bsky.social
BREAKING: Marco Rubio's State Department announces publicly that it is exercising unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination in revoking people's visas based on comments about the killing of Charlie Kirk.
Department of State v @StateDept g.. The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans. The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk. Here are just a few examples of aliens who are no longer welcome in the U.S.: 5:55 PM • Oct 14, 2025 • 34.1K Views
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer, Bessma Momani, Michael H. Whitworth

markey.senate.gov
Trump just bombed six more people in the Caribbean, for a total of 27 civilians who have been killed so far by the US military. It’s illegal for the military to target civilians who do not pose an immediate threat. This is murder.
U.S. Military Kills Another 6 People in 5th Caribbean Strike, Trump Says In a social media post, the president said the people aboard a boat were suspected of smuggling drugs for an unspecified group his team had labeled terrorists.
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer, Anne Applebaum, Will Jennings , and 4 more

mmasnick.bsky.social
I seem to recall that it was the biggest 1st Amendment attack in American history when the Biden admin alerted social media companies to some content and said "hey does this violate your policies?" Will Matt Taibbi, Michael Shellenberger and (lol) CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss call this out?
Tweet from Pam Bondi: Today following outreach from @thejusticedept , Facebook removed a large group page that was being used to dox and target @ICEgov agents in Chicago. The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs. The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.
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by Michael Zimmer

michaelzimmer.bsky.social
Starting the trek to Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for #AoIR2025. Excited about our "AoIR Ethics in Action" session (Thursday, 16-Oct 2:00pm - 3:30pm in Auditorium). Details in thread below.
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by John Palfrey — Reposted by Michael Zimmer, Laurent Dubois

palfrey.org
"He quoted Hannah Arendt's 'The Origins of Totalitarianism' in asserting that the world needs free and objective information."

www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
Pope Leo calls for news agencies to stand as bulwark against "post-truths," lies and manipulation
Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the "ancient art of lying" and manipulation.
www.cbsnews.com
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer, Nandita Sharma, Jonathan A. Eisen , and 19 more

cmgiulini.bsky.social
After spending 43 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, evidence hidden by the prosecution reversed his conviction. Rather than finally enjoying freedom, ICE abducted him for deportation

Depraved.

www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
He was wrongfully imprisoned for 43 years. Moments after being released, ICE took him
Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam now faces deportation.
www.miamiherald.com
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer

jwlockhart.bsky.social
Sometimes you just can't tell people things. You just have to sit back and let them find out for themselves. Usually those people are children.
Nate Silver @NateSilver538 • 5h •.° I'm just one person, and my programming needs are somewhat unusual (building various kinds of statistical forecasting models). But I'm just not seeing the consistent productivity gains from LLMs that I would have expected if you'd asked me 6 months ago.
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer, Anna O. Law, Peter Thorne , and 11 more

longtimehistory.bsky.social
ICE secretly kidnap autistic boy during bathroom break—never notify parents.

Mother reported him missing a week ago—turns out ICE had him detained the whole time.

He was helping sell fruit and asked to go to the restroom—by the time she was done helping a customer he was gone.

Houston, Texas
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer

pomurray.bsky.social
Breaking News! MIT became the first university to reject the Trump administration’s compact of demands, after its president Sally Kornbluth said the practices of the school already “meet or exceed many standards outlined” by the federal government.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/10/b...
MIT becomes first school to reject proposed ‘compact’ with Trump administration - The Boston Globe
MIT president Sally Kornbluth said the university’s practices already “meet or exceed” the federal government’s list of demands.
www.bostonglobe.com
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer, Gavin A. Schmidt, Kevin J. Anchukaitis , and 1 more

jameeljaffer.bsky.social
MIT's response to the Trump admin's proposed "compact" is excellent and should be a model for other universities. orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...
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by Michael Zimmer

michaelzimmer.bsky.social
::Staring at Apple::
theverge.com
The Verge @theverge.com · 6d
Amazon’s giant ads have ruined the Echo Show
Amazon’s giant ads have ruined the Echo Show
Alexa, stop the ads.
www.theverge.com

Reposted by Michael Zimmer

lukesteuber.com
What a shitty thing to have to worry about
Norway braces for Trump’s reaction if he does not win Nobel peace prize
US president may impose tariffs, demand higher Nato contributions or even declare Norway an enemy, analyst says
www.theguardian.com
4 19 100

Reposted by Michael Zimmer

theverge.com
Amazon’s giant ads have ruined the Echo Show
Amazon’s giant ads have ruined the Echo Show
Alexa, stop the ads.
www.theverge.com
47 34 320

by Michael Zimmer

michaelzimmer.bsky.social
Pleased to contribute my perspective to “Growing Demand for Ethics Expertise to Evaluate AI Tools Before Use in Healthcare” in latest Medical Ethics Advisor.

Building responsible AI systems requires not just technical rigor, but also ethical discernment. www.clinician.com/articles/gro...
Growing Demand for Ethics Expertise to Evaluate AI Tools Before Use…
In this article we cover Growing Demand for Ethics Expertise to Evaluate AI Tools Before Use in Healthcare. Stay up to date on the latest in healthcare…
www.clinician.com
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by Michael Zimmer

michaelzimmer.bsky.social
Port Washington's $8 billion artificial intelligence data center campus project saw its strongest showing of vehement opposition since the project was announced in January.

But the swell of pushback may be arriving too late to stop the project.
www.jsonline.com/story/commun...
Port Washington's $8 billion AI data center sees swell of pushback. It may come too late
Port Washington's $8 billion AI data center project saw its strongest showing of opposition from area residents on Oct. 7. But it may be too late.
www.jsonline.com

Reposted by Michael Zimmer, Anna O. Law, Rebecca Solnit , and 27 more

darrigomelanie.bsky.social
I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer

walthickey.bsky.social
this is a bfd sherwood.news/markets/orac...
Oracle tumbles after report that it’s lost nearly $100 million from renting out access to Nvidia’s Blackwell chips
Early returns from the AI boom look tiny for Oracle, per The Information....
sherwood.news
3 6 13

Reposted by Michael Zimmer, John F. McCarthy, Adam Bonica , and 6 more

atrupar.com
Bondi to Blumenthal: "You lied. How dare you? I'm a career prosecutor. Don't you ever challenge my integrity. Do not question my ability to be fair and impartial."
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer

mudataethics.bsky.social
It was so exciting to see the community turn out for @alexhanna.bsky.social's talk on "The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want" at @boswellbooks.bsky.social Boswell Book Company last night.
(crowd photo via Melissa Shew)
Image of Alex Hanna at a podium in a bookstore holding a copy of "The AI Con" Image from the back of the room with a seated audience listening to Alex Hanna discussing her book "The AI Con"
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by Michael Zimmer

michaelzimmer.bsky.social
Hey Apple, please make something and take my money....
theverge.com
The Verge @theverge.com · 9d
The company says it’s still committed to smart displays, as Amazon doubles down on the category.
Google hints at a new Nest Hub
The Nest Hub may live again
www.theverge.com

Reposted by Michael Zimmer

theverge.com
The company says it’s still committed to smart displays, as Amazon doubles down on the category.
Google hints at a new Nest Hub
The Nest Hub may live again
www.theverge.com
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer, Philip N. Cohen, Janet Murray

sivav.bsky.social
I wrote about the “compact” for higher education

newrepublic.com/article/2013...
Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down
How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education
newrepublic.com
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer

forbes.com
Trump’s youngest son taught his dad a thing or two about crypto. Now the NYU sophomore is making a fortune before he even turns 20.
How 19-Year-Old Barron Trump Is Worth $150 Million
Trump’s youngest son taught his dad a thing or two about crypto. Now the NYU sophomore is making a fortune before he even turns 20.
www.forbes.com
280 32 85

Reposted by Michael Zimmer, Daniel Aaron

radiofreetom.bsky.social
I think this is right:
"We've slid into some form of authoritarianism," says Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at Harvard. "It is relatively mild compared to some others. It is certainly reversible, but we are no longer living in a liberal democracy."
www.npr.org/2025/04/22/n...
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer, Rosemary A. Joyce

dickius.bsky.social
Wow, it must be terrible being told that you can’t use the bathroom.
'Very difficult situation': Kristi Noem whines locals not letting ICE agents use restrooms
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem complained that her agents were not being permitted to use restrooms in Chicago because of opposition from residents.During a Sunday interview on ...
www.rawstory.com
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by Michael Zimmer

michaelzimmer.bsky.social
I'm listening to "The Gutenberg Parenthesis" by @jeffjarvis.bsky.social and am really enjoying revisiting some of the core ideas (McLuhan, Ong, Eisenstein) from my graduate work in Media Ecology through the lens of a contemporary writer who has suffered through the internet age.
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer

zackwhittaker.com
Discord said late on Friday that hackers stole users' government-issued IDs (passports and driver's licenses) from one of its customer support databases.

I wrote a few words about the risks of age verification laws, and why collecting people's government IDs is bad for security and privacy.
Discord says users' government IDs used for age checks stolen by hackers
Thanks to age verification laws, expect more data breaches of users' government-issued passports and driver's licenses.
this.weekinsecurity.com
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Reposted by Michael Zimmer, Mark Bray, Brendan Nyhan , and 3 more

donmoyn.bsky.social
*A Republican lawmaker objected to reference to Charlie Kirk holding “often racist and controversial views” in local Alaska news
*The corporate owner took down the story and edited it
*The journalists resigned

This feels like more and more of our media now.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/u...
Journalists at 3 Newspapers Quit Over Edits to a Charlie Kirk Story
www.nytimes.com
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