Anti-Capitalist Computer Club: April’s Fools

Meetups old and new abound in April!

Monthly Meeting April 1st, we’ll be at Dagny’s from 6-8pm. Bring your computer or phone by for tinkering, or just bring yourself and we’ll talk shop and scheme together.

Really Really Free Market The RRFM is usually the 3rd Sunday of the month. No formal announcement for April yet, but we’ll be there! Stay tuned.

Flock Walk Saturday, April 18th! This is where we put our money where our mouth is, our feet to the pavement, our nose to the grindstone, er… You know. We flock around, we find out.

We will meet at the Beale Memorial Library, give a brief introduction into Flock, what it does, and the city of Bakersfield’s relationship with it, then hit the streets and find Flock cameras to add to the DeFlock map

Don’t know what any of those things are? That’s okay! If you’re on this newsletter and are concerned at all about surveillance tools and how they are used here in Kern County, that’s all you need. Show up, learn, log cameras, live in community. After all, one can only take so much doomscrolling before moving to action. And speaking of doomscrolling-

Things We’re Reading

The Last Quiet Thing by Terry Godier

A short, centering piece on how technology has changed from a simple product into a transactional, ongoing relationship- and why that isn’t your fault.

This Wisconsin City Ditched AI Surveillance Cameras. Now Activists Want to Keep Going

It’s possible to desurveill our communities. This piece about Dane County Wisconsin cancelling their contract with Flock is a good reminder of that, and the kind of outcome we’re trying to move towards with our FOIA requests with BPD and KCSO and our Flock Walk.

You told BetterHelp your deepest secrets. You had no idea who was listening

Private, for-profit companies like BetterHelp and Zocdoc can help bridge the gap between the American public and the hellscape that is our healthcare system. But what are they taking in exchange? As is all too often the case, if the product is "free," YOU are the product.

Means of Control by Byron Tau

Jason just finished this one. Tau spent years tracing how the U.S. government became the biggest customer of the commercial data broker industry. Ad networks, free-to-play games, apps, smart devices, the wireless signals from your car tires. All of it feeds a pipeline that ends at intelligence agencies and law enforcement. The kicker: the same data collection that serves you targeted ads gets purchased in bulk through legal loopholes that bypass traditional surveillance law. The surveillance state got built on top of capitalism.

Wrap It Up

We’ve got a Mastodon account where we post shorter updates, links, and commentary as things come up.