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Alexander B. Howard Profile picture
Alexander B. Howard
@digiphile
🛠️Dad, cyclist, citizen 💡🤳Author @CivicTexts: https://t.co/V7AmqJ7zMP ☀️ Advocate @OpenGov 🇺🇸Editor @ePluribusUnum 📲4108499808
5 subscribers
Aug 26, 2024 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Cold take: The arrest of Pavel Durov is not a global threat to freedom of expression, but rather a threat to executives of tech companies who behave with impunity when a platform they operate is abused by organized criminals or corrupt politicians.
civic-texts.ghost.io/what-the-arres… This is not the “end of global social media,” as @semaforben suggested, but it may be the beginning of the end of impunity for tech billionaires who behave as if they are beyond the reach of accountability for harms that their unregulated platforms cause offline.
Jan 5, 2024 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Transparency & accountability have not been a priority for a @WhiteHouse that briefs on background & relegates open government to a compliance exercise.

I remain hopeful @POTUS & @VP will see the value in investing in a bulwark against authoritarianism: e-pluribusunum.org/2024/01/05/ope…
Opacity atop secrecy: @politico granted US officials anonymity to say @DeptofDefense did not tell @POTUS @JakeSullivan46 & NSC aides @SecDef was hospitalized for 3 days,
Austin recognized he “could have done better job” informing the public.

404 #OpenGov politico.com/news/2024/01/0…

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Jun 4, 2023 • 6 tweets • 8 min read
I heard a thunderclap in DC on a sunny day.
It appears it was a sonic boom from @DeptofDefense fighters scrambled from Andrews @airforce Base to intercept an unresponsive Cessna that overflew DC.

@FAANews (via @PenguinSix) confirmed a crash in SW Virginia.

@NTSB to investigate. Image This is the least useful PSA I’ve encountered in some time, @AlertDC — could you please investigate and then elaborate when you confirm what has happened, @DC_HSEMA @SafeDC ?
🚨✈️🛫💨💥?
May 23, 2023 • 15 tweets • 15 min read
I’m at the historic @WarnerTheater in DC to bear witness what @PowerUSAID invited all Americans to learn about this morning:
How Ukraine is delivering services online in a democracy at war with @USAID.
@karaswisher live now:
usaid.gov/diiaindc
19M Ukrainians using DIAA now ImageImageImage As @karaswisher said, there has a been backpack against disruptive technologies like the Internet, smartphones, & social media.
We now worry about AI.
But all governments must harness these technologies to provide critical info & deliver services to networked publics, everywhere. Image
May 8, 2023 • 7 tweets • 13 min read
The @opengovpart launched its new strategy & encouraged people to engage multistakeholder fora about it.

The USA never established such a forum, & @WhiteHouse has declined to restore @OpenGov44 & lead a U.S. government revival of #OpenGov domestically: obamawhitehouse.gov/open Image As with #SunshineWeek, this @WhiteHouse is not hosting any public events for #OpenGovWeek, despite the US government being elected to @opengovpart leadership: groups.google.com/g/us-open-gove… & the void in public updates on US commitments. @POTUS isn’t leading by the power of our example. Image
Mar 28, 2023 • 4 tweets • 8 min read
Despite @WhiteHouse45: opengovpartnership.org/members/united… & @WhiteHouse acting "contrary to process":
in the last 2 cycles – which @OGP_IRM didn't sanction – folks voted to add the US to @OpenGovPart steering committee?
Um.
NB: #OpenGov 404: wh.gov/open I find it encouraging to see @USAID @StateDRL rejoining international open government circles.
It’s discouraging @OpenGovPart @OGP_IRM have said so little about @WhiteHouse45 @WhiteHouse acting contrary to process after @POTUS45 made a mockery of the US being in “good standing.”
Jan 9, 2023 • 45 tweets • 66 min read
Twitter added verification to prevent impersonation: being @verified confirms authentic identity, not truthfulness or authority.

@ev @jack & @paraga neglected it, but @elonmusk’s approach to @TwitterBlue enables impersonation, as @geoffreyfowler showed: washingtonpost.com/technology/202… Today, @elonmusk confirmed @SenMikeLee's personal Twitter account was mistakenly suspended today for impersonation.

It's Musk's fault.

Lee, @CNN @thehill & others omit a key detail that explains what happened: @BasedMikeLee was @verified through @TwitterBlue, not @TwitterGov. ImageImage
Dec 23, 2022 • 9 tweets • 11 min read
Dear @nytdavidbrooks,
Democracies *have* been teetering for over a decade, & have not stopped. Authoritarians continue to be on the march, from Russia to China to Iran to Myanmar to the streets of our union.
Please review the evidence:
freedomhouse.org/report/freedom… & write a followup In an opinion column, David...ImageImageImage "Advances in global levels of democracy made over the last 35 years have been wiped out."
"The world has more closed autocracies than liberal democracies for the first time in more than 2 decades"
Global level of democracy "back to 1986"
@vdeminstitute: v-dem.net/documents/30/V… Image
Nov 16, 2022 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Former President George W. Bush explicitly embraced supporting Ukraine: bushcenter.org/events-and-exh… Listening carefully for unequivocal, unambiguous statement on fighting far-right extremism, authoritarianism, & domestic enemies of the Constitution in the USA
Bush's years of silence as a lying, corrupt demagogue seized control of his party, laid waste to U.S. government institutions, & then attempted to disenfranchise Americans & attempt a self coup with lies won't disappear because he's speaking out on "freedom" & democracy now.
Nov 15, 2022 • 40 tweets • 32 min read
I’m excited to be at @HowardU for this launch & conference on democracy & journalism. Gorgeous campus, brisk fall day, wee robots out front, a chance to meet new people & see old friends. twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image Here’s a “democracy toolkit” for journalists:
democracytoolkit.press
Fascists, dictators, autocrats, & demagogues see a free press as enemies to be co-opted, muzzled, jailed, or murdered, preventing the immune system of democracy from debunking viral lies & revealing corruption. ImageImageImage
May 17, 2022 • 8 tweets • 10 min read
Hard to believe it’s been more than 12 years since @pahlkadot founded @codeforamerica: radar.oreilly.com/2010/05/code-f… I’m excited to learn about what @AmandaRenteria & team do next.

If you’re going to be at #CFASummit tomorrow & want to talk about #civictech & #opengov, pls reach out. “We are designing for our shared humanity, in a world that sometimes feels like we’ve lost sight of it”-@AmandaRenteria:
Meet people where they are.
Understand their experiences,
Gove public servants what they need to service the public.
🇺🇸
#cfasummit #civictech
May 3, 2022 • 4 tweets • 5 min read
In 2022, press freedom is under siege around the world, threatened by the rising tide of authoritarianism & hatred: rsf.org/en/rsfs-2022-w… Journalists are the immune system of democracy, arming publics with the knowledge we need to be self-governing.
#HoldTheLine #WPFD2022 Journalism is not a crime.

Journalists bear witness to war, reveal fraud, waste, & abuse of power, & debunk the falsehoods of corrupt leaders, authoritarian regimes, & untrustworthy corporations.

At its best, a free press guards shared truths against rumors & lies.

#WPFD2022
Apr 10, 2022 • 5 tweets • 8 min read
Emolumental corruption enabled by @Mike_Pompeo: "by failing to disclose the gifts, the @WhiteHouse45 violated the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution, which makes it illegal to take gifts from foreigners without permission from Congress" nytimes.com/2022/04/08/us/… @mike_pompeo @WhiteHouse45 Once again, the @NYTimes has reported on brazen corruption by @POTUS45 without putting corruption in the headline or body of an article: digiphile.medium.com/trumps-taxes-r… The emoluments clauses are the anti-corruption checks in our Constitution for a @POTUS, yet @DeanBaquet pulls punches.
Apr 10, 2022 • 4 tweets • 5 min read
A year+ on, @TwitterGov's labels for US government accounts & campaign accounts are still WILDLY inconsistent. As with failures to ensure state & local public health & election officials are @verified, @Twitter's inaction is negligent in a pandemic, infodemic, & now war in Europe When the @WhiteHouse isn't labeled as a "US government account," it's fair to conclude that its executives & board either don't care or think this matters.

@TwitterGov staff are smart & capable.

Something is just rotten in the state of @Twitter-mark.
Apr 10, 2022 • 75 tweets • 44 min read
Please disentangle being @verified from being trustworthy, @paraga:
✅Open up verification to all who apply
🟩🟨🟥Veracity ratings based on links tweeted, & in-group follow lists/amplification
⚠️Partner with independent news on @birdwatch & show Notes
🔰Trusted badges for editors No ads for subscribers is a fine idea, put please no NOT tie being @verified to paying @Twitter $3/month for @TwitterBlue, @paraga.

Think about how that plays out globally.

Please do NOT give @ElonMusk any ability to make @policy: nytimes.com/2022/04/04/bus…
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Mar 27, 2022 • 4 tweets • 5 min read
”listeners & viewers are getting around Russia’s media barricades through the use of virtual private networks & ‘mirror sites’ that duplicate content but use a different URL.”
“Russians during the Cold War would try to tune in @RFERL by fiddling with the radio dial”
🎙💡🔒📲📻🖥 It should be the official foreign policy of the USA to uphold human rights by providing access to info to every person on Earth through satellites, VPNs, & mesh networks.
Congress should vastly increase funding for @OpenTechFund.
@POTUS should oppose Internet shutdowns.
#KeepItOn
Mar 14, 2022 • 8 tweets • 10 min read
A historical note from AOTUS @dferriero: Before FDR signed a law creating @USNatArchives in 1934, @librarycongress held some public records & others were scattered across our union.

(In 2022, many records are digital & online: archives.gov/foia/january-6…)

#SunshineWeek #OpenGov @dferriero @USNatArchives @librarycongress AOTUS: That's the plan, to digitize everything, but we won't see it in our lifetimes.
Most info generated today has no paper equivalent: it's born digital.
What we're talking about is digitizing our history.
Cf @USNatArchives strategic plan: archives.gov/about/plans-re… #SunshineWeek
Mar 9, 2022 • 7 tweets • 7 min read
A million Americans have died from #COVID19
wsj.com/articles/one-m…
@POTUS45 knew #SARSCoV2 was airborne & deadly, & lied to us:
washingtonpost.com/politics/bob-w…
@WHNSC45 said it threatened national security.
He disarmed

& politicized masks
digiphile.info/2020/07/06/pol… ImageImageImageImage “The sheer scale of the tragedy strains the moral imagination”—@edyong209
theatlantic.com/health/archive…
More Americans died last week than on 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina.
~9 million of us lost a parent, child, sibling, spouse, or grandparent.
~149,000 children lost a parent or caregiver Image
Jan 24, 2022 • 6 tweets • 7 min read
Watching @jgrantindc open today's conference on identity & security Zoom instead of being in person at the 2022 #IDPolicyForum .

As he (& @CISAgov!) say, identity is a national critical function in 2022.

The pandemic made the capacity to verify identity online a critical need. When I first logged on in 1993, no one knew if I was a dog: newyorker.com/video/watch/th…

In 2011, the @ObamaWhiteHouse invested in verifying identity online:
radar.oreilly.com/2011/05/nstic-…

In 2022, federal, state & city agencies are all figuring out how verify identity for aid & services. Image
Dec 1, 2021 • 5 tweets • 8 min read
Yesterday, the @WhiteHouse hosted its first public meeting on open government in the Biden-Harris administration. There still has been no official administration response to the #opengov coalition letter we sent in February: governing.digital/letters/letter…
I bumped it to @PressSec today. @WhiteHouse @PressSec 2 weeks ahead of the global @opengovpart Summit, the @WhiteHouse has still not brought back whitehouse.gov/open

Many /open pages across the US government still link to it, as you can see at FCC.gov/open, but it’s a 404.

#OpenGov "lives" at open.usa.gov
Nov 30, 2021 • 15 tweets • 37 min read
Today's meeting virtual public Meeting for the US Open Government National Action Plan has begun. @philipashlock kicked off. He notes is the first #OpenGov meeting in many years. (True!) Justin Vail says @WhiteHouse is excited to re-engage on @opengovpart & #opengov more broadly ImageImage "Open government is a priority of the Biden-Harris administration," says Justin Vail, who says the work to rebuild an opengov community in US government is underway & continuing, & that a "year of action" will follow the #SummitForDemocracy & #OGPSummit, including 5th NAP for OGP