River 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

Computer Science undergrad student. I run a blog where I talk about technology, political science, and anything interesting.

https://riverseeber.net/blog/

US Politics 🌎
Programming 💾
FOSS 🔓
Leftist ☮
Queer 🏳️‍⚧️

Pro-community and would love to see a world that doesn't normalize self-isolation so much 🫂

Feel free to interact as much as you want. We are on a social platform after all!

DMs are open for anything as long as you're a human not a robot 👋

Website: https://riverseeber.net/
Pronouns: she/they/he
Git: https://codeberg.org/rseeber/
Signal (DMs open): river.53
Matrix: ask

Public Key

npub1dl7qerhhe2gyp6qedd4lzvgy8eestdtqfpfccrxeg4zf6lfc8e9sp2vggz

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsxllqv3mmu4yzqaqvkk6l3xyzruuc9k4sys5uvpnv523ya05urujcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dsfsne7j

Publishing to

nostr.land

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1dl7qerhhe2gyp6qedd4lzvgy8eestdtqfpfccrxeg4zf6lfc8e9sp2vggz

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Last Notes

2026-10-04 07:47:33 GMT

I was immediately reminded of @npub16kg…afn8
https://files.defcon.social/dcsocial-s3/media_attachments/files/117/381/524/065/153/140/original/91733b70dbc1aad3.jpg

2026-10-02 22:06:40 GMT

You guys remember when Netflix was like $9/month, and it got you unlimited ad-free streaming of basically everything. And then 20 years later there's 12 different streaming services that all cost $20/month so you can watch 3 back-to-back ads at the beginning of every episode?
And you guys remember when Facebook used to be like "hey advertisers and publishers! Come to Facebook. Just post a little preview to your article or product, and then a link. We'll show it off to people. If you buy an ad, we'll make sure it gets seen by the right people and you get your money's worth! And if you post an article and pay a small fee to boost it, we'll make sure it gets in front of the eyes that want to learn about it!" and then 20 years later Facebook is committing mass ad-fraud, and has manufactured a situation where it's basically impossible for publishers to post links to their articles that actually get clicked on by users?
Anyways, I'm sure this whole AI thing is gonna be just fine, where 3 companies all say "hey, we've got these models that are so massive that it's impossible to run them on your own computer. But don't worry, we're just gonna give out free access to them to you from our massive servers :) Why don't you go ahead and just learn how to use all of this and integrate it into your daily work habits, and make it crucial infrastructure for your business. This situation is going to stay the same forever. We wouldn't change the rules on you or anything..."

2026-09-13 11:14:03 GMT

I need to find more GenZ and/or queer/trans folks to follow on Mastodon. Especially looking for more mutuals tbh. It would be nice to make some more actual friends on Fedi.
Everyone should boost this to help me make more mutuals. :cyber_boost_request:
And come follow me if you fit either of those descriptions!

2026-09-08 01:17:16 GMT

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THANK YOU! The amount of techno-solutionism I've seen half-genuinely proposed by people is ridiculous.
"Okay so the solution to Flock cameras is to set up complex technical applications that render the cameras impotent" No, the solution is to force your city to stop working with Flock. All methods of disarming them are only useful as a means of protest.
"Okay well if [nation state] is going to do Age Verification, I'll just get a VPN, heh, gotcha Big Brother!" What are we going to do when they ban VPNs for this very reason, or when they require VPNs to perform Age Verification, or when all the countries worth pointing your VPN endpoint into *also* enact Age Verification?
Tech solutions can be useful for bootstrapping some level of resistance against an authority, but in time, all advantages dissolve away if we don't address the root, political problem. That's because the oppressor has access to the same tech as you do, but with 1000x the budget as you -- as well as the ability to actually fuck with the infrastructure.
Political solutions to political problems. Tech is a means to resist in the short term, but it's not insulated from reality.

2026-09-03 07:28:14 GMT

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You know, somehow I feel like there's a whole polycule of users who could pair up in this one. Not sure why, I just feel like there is a lot of users on the fediverse with a........ suspiciously similar pfp and account theme....... 🤔️
I suppose the world will never know

2026-08-22 07:40:21 GMT

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I mean, it provides privacy if your threat model is a more pragmatic, interpersonal threat actor. On the internet, nothing can truly disappear, but by deleting, you add a whole lot of friction which might make it fairly hard for a troll or bad faith actor to peruse through your old posts.
Privacy from Big Tech likely is unaffected, but we shouldn't underestimate the value of adding friction to protect ourselves from everyday human threats.

2026-08-12 02:18:20 GMT

Gonna go ahead and recommend everyone should read Cory Doctorow's (@npub1fdr…lvhs) latest blog post "Surveillance vs guillotines".
https://pluralistic.net/2026/08/11/tragedy-of-the-commoners/
He starts by talking about the way that capital tends to accumulate more capital in a vicious oligarchy-creating cycle. But more interestingly is where he gets into the economics of surveillance, and the vicious cycle where corrupt policy leads to a need for more surveillance (in order to quell resistance).
An interesting point that I'll expand on beyond just what he wrote:
There is eventually a ceiling for how much surveillance you can get away with. The first ceiling you might think of comes from how much spending money you have. But in our oligarchy, that's barely a problem (yet).
More potent is the threat that citizens will begin ripping your Flock cameras out of the damn ground, because your surveillance tools have turned into a *destabilizing* force on society, rather than as a force to stabilize people and prevent uprisings.
https://files.defcon.social/dcsocial-s3/media_attachments/files/117/080/113/008/555/861/original/b9da127ff4a77941.png

2026-08-03 11:26:10 GMT

John Oliver just released an incredibly well researched episode about police surveillance technology. He goes thoroughly through all the details, while keeping things at a level that's accessible for regular people to understand.
I highly recommend you share this with people who might not otherwise be fully aware of the current state of state surveillance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnBPhelCdWE
#surveillance #flock #alpr #bigBrother #news #USPol #EFF #civilRights #digitalRights

2026-07-28 11:29:18 GMT

RE: https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/116997210062423037
This to me seems like the right way to think about LLMs. Used for specific tasks within a well-defined scope.
It's output should be verifiable, and it should be put in front of a person who has the expertise to discern good from bad in that domain.
Ideally, it should mostly be used for pointing *at* a work (giving suggestions, explaining *how* -- now *what* to do, etc), not for generating the work itself.
Oh and also fuck anything that can't be run on regular hardware cuz lol wtf are we doing with these 100GiB of VRAM requirement models like what OpenAI et al are cloud hosting.
#note1mwv…mm29

2026-07-27 01:27:46 GMT

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I don't really see the connection in that particular case tbh, other than that it's related to privacy rights and stuff.

2026-07-26 09:56:34 GMT

Just finished @npub1fdr…lvhs 's #LittleBrother, and wow. For a book written in 2008, it sure does seem to have a lot of political themes relevant to what's been going on in the past year or two. It's got themes regarding surveillance, authoritarianism, claiming anything the govt doesn't like is "terrorism", and all kinds of other post-9/11 which have become strangely relevant since the new administration got into power.
Very good read, and it's got a ton really interesting techno thriller segments, too.
The only thing that I will say, is that you shouldn't use it as some kind of instruction manual on "how to do good security" -- the characters are highschoolers and make a lot of silly mistakes, and sometimes use tools that have been superseded by better options today. @npub1m24…d9a3 has a good guide if you're looking for security info: https://ssd.eff.org/

2026-07-20 21:18:16 GMT

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this comment actually just fully rewired my brain.
Like oh yeah, duh, that *is* what's going on with conservatives, isn't it? They pretend to be the new rebels, despite having centuries of incumbency for their shitty ideas, and we've only just recent progressed enough to move to a better world, and they think they're the alt culture for wanting to go back.

2026-07-09 03:10:03 GMT

Thinking of doing a series where I look for open source projects that get a lot of AI-assisted contributions, then use git blame to find parts written by agents. Then, I try to re-write any low-quality sections so it's less obfuscated, and conveys intent better.
Mostly as a kind of career prep so that I can advertise my ability to remove the metaphorical "AI-generated asbestos" from a codebase as @npub1fdr…lvhs often talks about. If I actually succeed at writing good replacement code, it has the added benefit of actually improving open source security and quality, too.

2026-07-08 00:44:18 GMT

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the thing about storing secrets online (or on a Internet connected PC), is that you need to include an entire planet worth of threat actors.
With a physical password storage, your only threat is people in close proximity to you, which is a drastically smaller set of humans.
In my mind, the best approach is to pick a really strong master password for a password manager, and keep that in your wallet or safe or something. If it's good enough for your money, it should be good enough for your online accounts.

2026-07-03 00:19:05 GMT

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I'm not old enough to have really seen the before times, but wow this sounds about right. People don't have any reliable way to discern quality or price efficiency. We're stranded on our own out here.
Yet another lesson about how the convenience of the internet leads to the destruction of community and social bonds, which ends up being detrimental to everyone who was originally involved in those social interactions.

2026-06-01 09:33:53 GMT

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well now *I* wanna know so I can watch it when you find out lolol

2026-05-30 10:37:42 GMT

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Maybe we ought to get a good community going on over there. I've never tried it tbh, I'm too young I guess.
Are there any glaring missing features or problems in the protocol? I know people also talk about IRC a lot, which is great for some things, but it sucks for async communication because there's no way to stay part of the conversation after you log off. Any similar style issues with usenet?

2026-05-30 02:39:21 GMT

I've of course heard a lot about AI Data Centers lately, but I've not yet seen any good investigative journalism about them that felt like it really gave the topic enough room to be fully understood.
This video in collaboration between PBS Terra and Floodlight is a really good piece about data centers in the USA right now. I highly recommend it. Its focus is pointed at environmental- and local community-related issues.
"We Saw What AI Data Centers Don't Want You to See"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p426fSlYH4
#AI #noAI #dataCenters #BigTech #journalism

2026-05-19 00:58:52 GMT

Just watched a dozen grandmas singing Woody Guthrie's "All You Fascists Bound To Lose" together. They even updated the lyrics to match the current moment, which pleased me a lot.
The folk tradition is alive and well, y'all! I'd love to see these verses continue to be expanded upon by more artists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARPsFk77uEc
#folk #usPol #fascism

2026-05-05 14:05:43 GMT

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oh what's this now?

2026-03-24 07:19:30 GMT

Toying with the idea of making a second website, and so I'm considering some of my options for hosting it. Github won't let me host another site for free. It looks like Gitlab has a pretty good service? It looks like I can do as many as I like for free, or am I mistaken?
Any other recommendations I should check out? I'm planning on just doing a static site, either WordPress¹ or 11ty. Needs to be free or dirt cheap, and if they're not evil, that's ideal.
---
¹ Is WordPress actually good? It seems widely used even by some FOSS and tech people? I've only ever used 11ty, but I'm also trying to consider the viability of something that non-technical folks can interact with too.
#askFedi #webHosting #indieWeb #11ty #wordPress #techSupport

2026-02-12 04:07:21 GMT

Just read @npub1fdr…lvhs's great article "The Nuremberg Caucus", which lays out a number of ways that our Democratic leadership *could* rise up to the moment of the Trump administration's fascist takeover, if they weren't a bunch of spineless cowards.
I decided to email it to my two state senators as well as my house rep. I recommend everyone else should do the same. Even if they don't go through with the aggressive responses Cory talks about, maybe they'll at least realize that the public wants them to do fucking *something*.
https://pluralistic.net/2026/02/10/miller-in-the-dock/
(Also if you wanna get your 3 congressmen's contact info, go here):
https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
#USPol #Trump #Nuremberg #fascism #democracy

2026-02-07 01:50:50 GMT

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never really liked Wordle-style games, but this was actually really unique and engaging.

2026-01-24 04:46:10 GMT

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Really great article today. I've been trying to rid my mind of the hyper-individualist myth lately as I've realized how deeply entrenched it is.
I feel like this post really clearly expresses *why* it's so futile compared to collective action.
Funny enough, even within some leftist/socialist spheres, I see wallet-voting being accepted an implicit assumption. Like we're sinners if we buy from Amazon or use Spotify.
Now the thing I'm trying to mill over in my mind is how to get involved in collective action in my own tiny little hometown.

2026-01-08 00:22:20 GMT

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Thank god for services like Internet Archive, archive.is, Anna's Archive (for academic materials), and other stuff.
And of course the role of individuals to actually archive content as well (either by instructing these services of which pages to retain, or by saving things themselves)
Edit: I realize now that this was actually in reference to the Minneapolis shooting, not just a general statement. My statement still holds though. Internet Archive has the footage of the incident hosted. Obvious content warning if you click the link.
https://archive.org/details/footage-shows-woman-fatally-shot-by-ice-agent-during-minnesota-raid

2026-01-02 23:45:42 GMT

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Just went and watched, and yeah, that's honestly really incredible!
His continued insistence on *not reeling back expectations* was perfect. I'm really excited for a left leaning administration that actually knows how to govern!
Really hoping that his inevitable successes ripple across the US and lead others to run for local positions elsewhere across the country.

2025-12-17 10:14:44 GMT

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Power is measured as watts, or joules ÷ time.
Energy is measured as Joules, or slightly obscurely, as Power × time, as in Watt-hours.
So a megawatt-hour is a measurement of energy. It's the amount of every required to run a Megawatt of power for 1 hour (or 1 watt for 1 million hours, etc)

2025-12-14 09:38:21 GMT

Finally getting around to writing my #introduction post:
Hey! I'm River, I'm a Computer Science student in college. I like to write blogs about tech, computers, literature, leftist economics, and political science. I try to write consistently, but it doesn't always happen.
I'm a big #scifi fan, trying to do more reading in the genre lately. Something I'm also interested in is #philosophy, especially #consciousness and #religion. I'm an agnostic atheist, but I don't get weird about it.
I like to write mini-threads (~3 posts long) as a way to draft out ideas before writing bigger blog posts on my site.
I might also share some #music that I listen to, but I won't ever spam it -- I prefer to talk about things that I share.
Lover of em dashes -- humans like to use 'em too!
DM's and email are totally open to whatever, I love getting messages!