💌 Newsletter #006 - Of Blasts from The Past, Thoughts 'n' Prayers Code, and the AI Fever Dream

12 Apr, 2026

✨ In This Edition ✨

📟 Short-Form Content: Claude Code leaks; Copilot is for entertainment only; BlueSky goes AI; The fine print, visualized.
📰 Long-Form Content: A Blast from the Past: "Looks just aren't as Important Online as IRL"
🌞 Good News!: The EFF quits twitter; Mastodon Collections; Happy 9th Mastodon Won't Survive Day! 🎂
📯 The Post-Script: Following & Reading: Anil Dash's "Actually, people love to work hard;" Senator Paula Simon's "The AI Fever Dream."

📟 Short-Form Content

So, uh, yeah. Claude Code's full source code leaked. Including gems such as:
- Thoughts 'n' prayers and asking nicely to please not write insecure code.
- Code asking it to pretend that it's not a slop machine.
- There's a hilarious (if it wasn't so awful) looking future ahead of us that'll involve "people [using] the code laundering machines to code launder the code laundering frontend."
A neat visualization of the length of the fine print of popular platforms. You've read them all, surely, before you clicked "Agree," yes?
Copilot, a popular slop generator that you get pestered with using/installing/enabling at every turn if you use Windows, has now been declared as existing "for entertainment purposes only." So... I hope you weren't planning on doing anything real or important with it.
BlueSky goes AI. This was entirely predictable (and is part of why my recommendations for alternative social networks do not usually include BlueSky.) Sign up on Mastodon instead.
Yes, the FBI recovered deleted Signal messages off an iPhone. No, this is not Signal's fault - these messages were recovered through content that the notification system had stored. If this sounds concerning to you, you can change your settings such that notifications do not show the name of the sender, or the message.

📰 Long-Form Content

A Blast from the Past: "Looks just aren't as Important Online as IRL"

Sparked by an excellent podcast episode, I have written up a piece on how modern visual-first algorithmic platforms are polar opposites of the predominantly text-based social networks of yore - and not only due to technological advancements, like "powerful computers with fantastic cameras in every pocket."

Edited image of an old-timey computer screen showing the word "hello" in handwritten lettering. Original image by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash.

The tl;dr:

Popular social media have shifted from text-based, exploratory forums into visual-first, algorithm-driven platforms that commodify attention, reward polished self‑presentation, and harm mental health.
Technological advances - smartphones with excellent cameras, fast wifi/mobile data - enabled this shift, but algorithms and engagement incentives amplified it & turned the platforms against users.
What we can do:
- Explore non‑extractive alternatives (e.g., Pixelfed, Loops, Mastodon-like federated apps);
- Demand better platform design and/or regulation; and
- Choose platforms that preserve community, curiosity, and have a lower emphasis on appearance.

Here's the full article.

Oh, and I have updated the Alternatives Pt. I post with one more browser and secure chat app that readers have recommended. If you haven't yet, give it a read - especially if you're on the lookout for a new (more secure, more private) email app, chat app, or browser. It can be done! You have the power! ✊🏼

🌞 Good News!

This is a new section in the Technically Good newsletter. In it, we'll highlight positive developments in the space of digital rights, digital sovereignty, and privacy, to show that it's not all doom & gloom.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a long-time steward of online privacy, is (finally) quitting twitter.
Mastodon is going to introduce "Collections" soon, which are kind of like BlueSky starter packs. I personally think this is a fantastic idea¹, as users can occasionally bounce off of Mastodon when they feel, after years of being told that algorithmic spoonfeeding is the norm, that their feed is "empty."
Oh yeah, on that note: Happy 9th Mastodon Won't Survive Day! 🎂

📯 The Post-Script

Following & Reading

Anil Dash's excellent essay on how Actually, people love to work hard:

What people face too often is being ground down by systems, institutions, and unjust leaders who insist on creating roles where people are forced to do dehumanizing, isolated, meaningless work, while not being given the agency to make smart and empowered decisions about how the work gets done. Or worse, they’re forced to do work in service of goals that are actively harmful and destructive, and contrary to their own values, or just contrary to basic human decency. It’s not that people are unwilling to work, it is that they are working — to balance their own humanity with the crushing burdens of having to provide for themselves and their families.

Senator Paula Simon's fantastic piece on the AI Fever Dream:

What worries me isn’t smart computers—it’s stupid humans, using the crudest energy-sucking generative AI tools to make themselves dumber, debase creativity and undermine the very concept of truth itself.

... and assorted other feeds - see the Technically Good BlurBlog!

Technically Good ✨