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Democratic Backsliding Reaches Western Democracies, U.S. Decline "Unprecedented"
Press Release for the V-Dem Institute Democracy Report 2026: "Unraveling The Democratic Era?"
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Bombarding gamblers with offers greatly increases betting and gambling harm
Research has confirmed for the first time that people with active gambling accounts who receive regular ‘free bets’ and other direct marketing offers place a lot more bets, spend far more, and suffer greater related harms than gamblers who have opted out of such offers.
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2% of ICML papers desk rejected because the authors used LLM in their reviews
By ICML 2026 Program Chairs Alekh Agarwal, Miroslav Dudik, Sharon Li, Martin Jaggi, Scientific Integrity Chair Nihar B. Shah, and Communications Chairs Katherine Gorman and Gautam Kamath.
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What 81,000 people want from AI
Last December, tens of thousands of Claude users around the world had a conversation with our AI interviewer to share how they use AI, what they dream it could make possible, and what they fear it might do.
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Austin’s surge of new housing construction drove down rents
After decades of explosive growth, Austin, Texas, in the 2010s was a victim of its own success. Lured by high-tech jobs and the city’s hip reputation, too many people were competing for too few homes. From 2010 to 2019, rents in Austin increased nearly 93%—more than in any other major American city. And home sale…
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Hazardous substances found in all headphones tested by ToxFREE project
PRAGUE, 18 February 2026 – A landmark international study across five Central European countries has found hazardous chemicals in every single pair of headphones analysed, from premium models to cheap imports. Authors say the results reveal a systemic failure in consumer safety regulation acros...
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Starlink militarization and its impact on global strategic stability (2023)
In this piece, two researchers from PLA-affiliated National University of Defense Technology argue that Starlink will negatively impact global stability, in light of its clear military applications, increased risks of accidents and collisions in space, and SpaceX's close relationship with the U.S. military. The…
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Bluesky CEO Jay Graber is stepping down
After several intense and incredible years building Bluesky from the ground up, I've decided to step back as CEO and transition to a new role as Bluesky's Chief Innovation Officer.
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The death of social media is the renaissance of RSS (2025)
Social media was once hailed as the great democratizer of information. It promised a world where anyone could share their voice, connect with like-minded communities, and discover authentic human perspectives. But in 2025, the landscape looks very different. Social platforms are drowning in a flood of Generative AI…
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LibreOffice: Request to the European Commission to adhere to its own guidances
The European Commission has accepted our request, and starting from today – Friday March 6 – has added the Open Document Format ODS version of the spreadsheet to be used to provide the feedback. We are grateful to the people working at DG CONNECT, the Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks…
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Give Up GitHub – Software Freedom Conservancy
The Software Freedom Conservancy provides a non-profit home and services to Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects.
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$3T flows through U.S. nonprofits every year
We analyzed 4 million IRS 990 filings to map where $3 trillion in U.S. nonprofit revenue actually flows. The data is public — nobody had compiled it.
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System76 on Age Verification Laws
Liberty has costs, but it's worth it.
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Where things stand with the Department of War
A statement from Dario Amodei
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The government uses targeted advertising to track your location
The online advertising industry has built a massive surveillance machine, and the government can co-opt it to spy on us.
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Dulce et Decorum Est (1921)
Bent double, like old beggars under sacks, Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge, Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs, And…
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Rijksmuseum researchers discover new painting by Rembrandt van Rijn
Researchers at the Rijksmuseum have demonstrated that the painting Vision of Zacharias in the Temple (1633) was made by Rembrandt. They examined the work with the same advanced techniques used in Operation Night Watch , and closely compared it with other paintings by Rembrandt from the same period. Materials analysis…
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MyFirst Kids Watch Hacked. Access to Camera and Microphone
The smartwatch for children that Gustaf Blomqvist hacked in his thesis turned out to be a security disaster. The watch had an insecure network service that anyone could access via the internet.
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Most-read tech publications have lost over half their Google traffic since 2024
Growtika helps startups accelerate growth through proven SEO, AI Search & Growth methods to build an inbound engine that generates demand and pipeline.
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Closure of the Weatheradio service in Canada
Radio Amateurs du Canada réagit à la fermeture du service Radio-Météo au Canada For immediate release | February 25, 2026Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) is saddened to learn about the closure of the Weatheradio service provided by Environment and Climate Change Canada.For decades, Weatheradio has been a trusted and…
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Felix "fx" Lindner has died
With heavy hearts, we announce that Felix “FX” Lindner —a cherished friend, and the founder and owner of Recurity Labs—passed away on 2026-03-01.
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How the Government Deceived Congress in the Debate over Surveillance Powers (2013)
ANDREA MITCHELL: “Why do you need every telephone number? Why is it such a broad vacuum cleaner approach?” JAMES CLAPPER: “Well, you have to start someplace.”—NBC Meet the Press, this past Sunday Concerned about the surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans, last year Senator Ron Wyden asked...
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Our Agreement with the Department of War
Details on OpenAI’s contract with the Department of War, outlining safety red lines, legal protections, and how AI systems will be deployed in classified environments.
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Statement on the comments from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth
Anthropic's response to the Secretary of War and advice for customers
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Court finds Fourth Amendment doesn’t support broad search of protesters’ devices
In a big win for protesters’ rights, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit overturned a lower court’s dismissal of a challenge to sweeping warrants to search a protester’s devices and digital data and a nonprofit’s social media data.The case, Armendariz v. City of Colorado Springs, arose...
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Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War
A statement from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War and national security uses of AI.
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Tech companies shouldn't be bullied into doing surveillance
The Secretary of Defense has given an ultimatum to the artificial intelligence company Anthropic in an attempt to bully them into making their technology available to the U.S. military without any restrictions for their use. Anthropic should stick by their principles and refuse to allow their...
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Open Letter to Google on Mandatory Developer Registration for App Distribution
Open Letter to Google Regarding Mandatory Developer Registration for Third-Party App Distribution
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