Anas Syed

A young technician came to install a dishwasher today. He asked me where I was from. I said: Palestine where Jesus was born. Then he asked quietly: “What do you think about what’s happening?” I told him it was horrific. What happened next stunned me. He became visibly emotional… angry even. He said: “We know the truth now. Before, people only knew what the media told them. Now we see everything ourselves. They are killing babies. They are killing children. Entire neighborhoods are being erased. They say it’s to get one man, one ‘terrorist’ — but they level whole cities.” This wasn’t an activist. Not a professor. Not a politician. Just a young American worker installing a dishwasher. For decades, many Americans only heard one narrative. Now millions are watching raw videos, doctors, journalists, parents, and children documenting reality in real time. Something is changing in America.

Linux users are fighting new United States laws that require computers to ask for your age and share it with apps to keep kids safe online. The laws were made for big companies like Apple and Google but they cause big problems for Linux because it is free open software built by volunteers who care about privacy and freedom. System76 won a special rule in Colorado to skip this, while groups like MX Linux say no and some people have made tools to avoid the age check completely.

They were caught on video doing it. When the video was leaked to Israeli media, Israelis stormed the prison and demanded the release of the soldiers who did the raping. Israeli media then turned the rapists into television stars. All of that happened. On camera.

Hmmmmmm......Maybe this is why Hebrew translation is no longer an option on X.

"We have indisputable evidence that Ghaddafi is giving his troops Viagra so they can mass rape girls and babies. We need to bomb them now!" *few months later as Libya has been bombed* "Yeah we made up that Viagra mass rape stuff. Anyway, Israel has the right to defend itself."

🚨 Canada is becoming a full surveillance state. Signal just warned it will pull out of Canada entirely rather than comply with Bill C-22: “We’d rather pull out of the country than be compelled to compromise on the privacy promises we have made to our users.” The bill forces tech companies to retrofit systems for police & CSIS access, retain metadata for up to 1 year, and effectively weaken end-to-end encryption. Signal, Meta & Apple all say it’s a backdoor by another name. Dystopia achieved.

We won't be far behind if C-22 passes. In its current state, VPNs would almost certainly require us to log identifying user data. Signal isn't headquartered in Canada so they can just shut off Canadian servers, but our HQ is. We pay an ungodly amount of taxes to this corrupt government, and in return they want to destroy the entire essence of our service to basically spy on its own citizens. Not happening. We'll move HQ and take our taxes elsewhere.

DeGoogled Android user? Google's next-generation reCAPTCHA, presented to desktop users, prompts you to scan a QR code. The catch? Google Play Services have to be enabled in order for it to work on these devices. Let's dig in to what has changed, and possible solutions... 1/7

It's actually all the videos of Israel blowing up residential apartment buildings and blocking the aid trucks. But sure. Blame social media.

If your country requires digital ID verification to use social media, then you don't live in a free country anymore. If your country want to regulate or ban VPNs, you don't live in a free country anymore.

Hey @brave, @firefox has joined the fight against ID age verification. Since you guys describe yourself as a privacy first browser, I am hoping you guys will also join in this fight against mass surveillance. Looking forward to your response!

YOUR PHONE IS ABOUT TO STOP BEING YOURS! YOUR PHONE IS ABOUT TO STOP BEING YOURS! YOUR PHONE IS ABOUT TO STOP BEING YOURS! #keepandroidopen keepandroidopen.org

The place that punishes speech on the internet suddenly needs to “save the children” by banning untraceable IPs.

🚨 The UK says it wants to "protect children online" Yet, forcing EVERYONE to verify their age won't stop harm - but put all of us under surveillance. Today, we've signed an open letter together with @mullvadnet @torproject @mozilla & others to stop #AgeVerification in the UK 💪 Read the complete letter: openrightsgroup.org/app/uploads/20…

STOOOOOOOP DON'T DRAG THAT ICON INTO THE FOLDER STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP IT'S SPYWARE DISGUISED AS A BROWSER

The UK government ignored 3 million "No to Digital ID" signatures, but they're still insisting on it with a consultation & asking what age to start a Digital ID system INCLUDING BIRTH. So I answered 118+ years old. You have to get creative when they won't take no for an answer.

With Apple’s latest software update they implemented the UK government’s CCP style firewall. Submit to an ID check or any website the government deems inappropriate will be blocked.

On Press Freedom Day, let's remind everyone that journalists need protection, also online. 📰 🌐 Share this & Spread the word! #PressFreedomDay26

If a monkey or a penguin had done this, the internet would be overflowing with feelings of pity...

Programming used to put me into FLOW state often. That’s a big part of why I fell in love with it. Late night missions building games, apps, whatever, it felt great. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has a great quote on this: “The best moments in our lives… occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult or worthwhile.” AI has kind of nuked the personal challenge part of that. I don’t fall into those same FLOW states nearly as often anymore. It’s a strange position to be in because I’m undeniably more productive, but some of the joy is gone. I still love building software, but now the enjoyment comes more from seeing products come to life and have real-world impact than from the actual process of writing the code. I’ll miss the deep flow states that came from fighting code for hours into the night, but I feel like I do need to find new areas that still offer that same sense of challenge.