Anti-Capitalist Computer Club: March Reminders

Kind of a lot happening this month! Here’s the rundown…

There’s a digital security training tomorrow! Ariel is doing a training for Rapid Response Network of Kern on basic digital security for activists. Tomorrow, March 3rd from 5:30 – 7:00pm at Salon Juarez (815 E. 18th St). Come for some down and dirty practical tips and threat profiling exercises.

We’re at Dagny’s this Wednesday! March 4th at 6pm. Come hang out, bring your questions, bring a friend. If you’ve got an old laptop collecting dust (see: not your daily driver) bring it and a thumb drive. We’ll try to get Linux running on it before you leave. We’ll have distros ready to toss onto whatever lil storage device you bring.

The Really Really Free Market is back! Sunday, March 15th from 9am to 11am at Pioneer Park (4929 Pioneer Dr). Free haircuts from Pure Dew Beauty, free mending and sewing from Piñata Moon, and the usual deal: bring what you can, take what you need.

You don’t have to bring something to take something. That said, the RRFM is not a drop-off site. If you’ve got stuff to share, hang out, enjoy the park for a couple hours, and connect with your neighbors. We’ll have our table there.

Tools we’re sharing

Two adblock filter lists worth adding

If you’re running uBlock Origin, add these! The AI slop site blocklist blocks content farm domains that exist to wrap LLM output in ads. Stevo’s GenAI Blocklist strips AI features out of sites you’re already using: Google AI overviews, YouTube summaries, Grok buttons, Copilot in GitHub, whatever Amazon’s Rufus is. Add both. If you’re not running uBlock Origin yet, come to Dagny’s on Wednesday and we’ll get you set up.

Things we’re reading

The Watchers: How OpenAI, the US Government, and Persona Built an Identity Surveillance Machine That Files Reports on You to the Feds

A security researcher did a Shodan search, found a single IP, and ended up with 53 megabytes of unprotected source code sitting unauthenticated on a government endpoint. What it revealed: a platform that runs your selfie through facial recognition against watchlists, screens you against 14 categories of adverse media, and files Suspicious Activity Reports with FinCEN. Every time you verify your identity to use a commercial AI service, this is part of what happens. No systems were breached. The door was just open.

Things we’re listening to

The NTS Guide To… Dub & Reggae Influenced Post Punk

March in Bakersfield started at 82 degrees. Some dub vibes seem like the appropriate response.

Things we’re plugging

Bakersfield Burrito Project

While you’re thinking about showing up on March 15th, the Bakersfield Burrito Project is out at it every single Sunday, rain or shine, feeding our hungry and unhoused neighbors across the city. If you’ve got a few dollars to spare, they take donations via Cash App, Venmo, and PayPal. Links to all three are on their site.

Give us a follow

We could always use a few more followers over on our Mastodon account. And if you don’t even know what Mastodon (or the fediverse) is, just ask us the next time we’re hanging out.

Okay. That’s all we’ve got for now… Hope to see you soon!