Notices by Rob Cottingham (robcottingham@cosocial.ca)

Maybe you want to boycott U.S. products. Or you’re concerned about security and privacy. Or you’ve seen the Trump administration retaliate against political enemies by cutting off their access to U.S.-based digital services and don’t want to be vulnerable to the same sanctions.

Whatever the reason, you may find this very useful. https://www.threads.com/@parismarx/post/DTGdaPDkpos

"Your call is being recorded for training purposes" lands differently in the AI era.

U.S. Distilled Spirits Council to rebrand as Dispirited Stills Council https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/brown-forman-jack-daniels-quarterly-sales-american-alcohol-boycott-canada-1.7619950

"The Constitution of the United States divides the federal government into three branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. This ensures that no individual or group will have too much power."

Anyone wondering how much longer before this page gets an edit? https://www.usa.gov/branches-of-government

As @pluralistic points out here, AIs do well with standardized outputs that are assessed with standardized rubrics. A lot of the optimistic takes I've read suggest AI will focus on those tasks, leaving the more creative, expansive work to humans.

Maybe that will happen. But isn't it at least as likely that human labour becomes optimized for AI compatibility? and that those creative, expansive tasks will become increasingly devalued? https://pluralistic.net/2025/08/11/five-paragraph-essay/

An excellent thread on why there's so much propaganda pushing "personal responsibility" over collective action — the only force with the power to genuinely move the needle on big problems. https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/114949297861755488

"My book on Enshittification is coming out in a couple of months, and the early reviews are already coming in, and they are gratifyingly glowing. But there's a trend in these reviews, a caveat that reviewer after reviewer has raised: my book is 'short on individual solutions.'

"You're goddamned right it is. Because this isn't an individual problem, it's a systemic one." — @pluralistic

@evan Me too! One of my favourite conversations of the year so far!

Welcome to everyone coming to Vancouver for #FediCon! Thank you for your work building a more open social Internet.

Aw, nuts. I just bought one, too.

Granville Island is so close to inventing the ultimate Canadian sport.

I’ve lost count of the number of events I’ve been to where the hosts talk about their conference, summit or convention as a community. Well, a community stands up — and speaks up — for its members. And it doesn’t put them at unconscionable risk.

https://www.robcottingham.ca/2025/04/u-s-border-unconscionable-risk/

@Fragglemuppet No idea, I'm afraid.

@Fragglemuppet Actually, belay that — no, you still need to install the app on a mobile device. https://signal.org/download/

If I was Signal, I'd be adding "bonus surprise content" to my list of features.

My only 51st state is "even more pissed off than my 50 previous states."

Mastodon edition.

@evan YES. And throw in those monologues from Grey's Anatomy. (I'd love to see the bridge crew deeply moved and inspired by Erica's "You are glasses" speech.)

@evan Actually, that was the one vice of theirs they decided to go easy on this time out.

Finally watching the Star Trek: Discovery finale. I wish I could say I enjoyed it, but I honestly felt like it gave in to the series' worst instincts: unearned sentimentality over genuine emotion, kinetic confusion over story — and nothing, absolutely nothing, left to subtext.