Wendy M. Grossman

Freelance writer specializing in computers, freedom, and privacy, aka "net.wars", published every Friday at netwars.pelicancrossing.net. (#NetWars). Contributing editor, Plutopia News Network podcast. Regular visitor to the Tech Grumps podcast. Founder The Skeptic (UK). Folksinger. See https://www.pelicancrossing.net for more. also Wendy M. Grossman (npub1gsa…q4wj) on Bluesky. New folk music CD 2024: The Last Trip Home, https://www.pelicancrossing.net/lasttriphome.htm. Will be live at the Old Songs Folk Festival 2025!!

Profession: freelance writer
Based: London, UK (but American)
Interests: Computers, freedom, and privacy
Website: https://www.pelicancrossing.net

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Last Notes

2026-03-25 10:48:21 GMT

#WritersCoffeeClub March 25: What do you feel when a loved one reads your work?
Surprised.

2026-03-13 12:31:46 GMT

This week's net.wars, "Power games", finds the UK's digital ID proposals back in the news, along with alarming new amendments to the Online Safety Act: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2026/03/13/power-games/

2026-02-06 12:34:27 GMT

This week's net.wars, "In search of the future Internet", goes to meetings building opposition to AI-withouth-public-consent: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2026/02/06/in-search-of-the-future-internet/ #NetWars #AI #polycrisis

2026-01-30 10:52:08 GMT

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You have email.

2026-01-23 13:24:29 GMT

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It probably varies by title. The last things I looked for on Gutenberg had multiple formats available, including ebooks. It's really a wonderful resource - benefits from how long it's been operating.

2026-01-11 14:15:56 GMT

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Reduce inequality.

2026-01-09 13:32:14 GMT

In this week's net.wars, "Disconnexion", Grok's users bring it into disrepute, and the digital euro looms: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2026/01/09/disconnexion/ #NetWars #AI #grok #UKPolitics #crypto

2026-01-08 12:52:11 GMT

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TBF, which of those technologies do you actually want in your life?

2026-01-07 10:57:26 GMT

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Which Phil Ochs song is that?

2026-01-07 10:55:42 GMT

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I am aware. I'm just saying I don't think they think it has anything to do with them.

2026-01-07 10:49:58 GMT

RE: https://mastodon.social/@bruces/115853331794220621
Open to all, not just WELL members.
#note13mh…f9rm

2026-01-07 10:49:07 GMT

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They're broadcasters, not participants.

2026-01-04 14:41:47 GMT

#writersCoffeeClub: Share a tool of your trade.
A small (3x5in) paper pad and a pen. I don't trust my memory, so I use it to write down ideas, movie/TV/book recommendations, things to look up, reminders for things I promise people I will do, things people say, and so on. Corollary: all my clothing must have pockets in which to carry them.

2026-01-02 12:59:35 GMT

This week's net.wars, "The owl who was God", contemplates the year and concludes AI may be too stupid to live much longer: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2026/01/02/the-ai-who-was-god/ #NetWars

2025-12-31 16:33:59 GMT

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Sorry. I didn't see the date (I do now!).

2025-12-31 16:27:04 GMT

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Is it possible the old message just somehow got marked unread?

2025-12-31 14:04:14 GMT

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Ha! Our math teacher swore us to secrecy and, in 8th grade, read us the opening chapter of Portnoy's Complaint because she thought it was so funny.

2025-12-31 13:58:38 GMT

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My English teacher senior year in high school chided me for reading such "mickey-mouse stuff" over the summer.

2025-12-31 01:23:18 GMT

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Similar problem - and I live in UK. A friend's solution was to bring a bottle of high-quality olive oil.

2025-12-30 01:32:54 GMT

In the latest episode of the @npub1wdd…h9qu podcast, we talk to Cory Doctorow about his latest book, Enshittification: https://plutopia.io/cory-doctorow-enshittification/

2025-12-29 19:29:42 GMT

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The White Canon.

2025-12-29 01:22:21 GMT

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1) Spinal Tap II; 2) Pluribus; 3) n/a; 4) n/a; 5) John Lithgow and Aya Cash in GIANT, also 1136; 6) The White Canon; 7) n/a; 8) n/a.

2025-12-28 15:42:42 GMT

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And leave town before people have time to work out what you did.

2025-12-28 15:39:53 GMT

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I guess the idea is that your sweater's sleeves won't interfere with doing housework?

2025-12-27 17:10:10 GMT

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2025-12-27 02:23:00 GMT

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Per Lee Hays (of Weavers fame), re This too shall pass: "I've had kidney stones and I know."

2025-12-26 15:30:44 GMT

This week's net.wars, "The censorship-industrial complex", ponders the Oscars' move to YouTube; watches Waymos freeze in San Francisco's power outage; and wonders why bar *those* five individuals and NFOs from the US: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/12/26/the-censorship-industrial-complex/. #NetWars #censorship #uspol

2025-12-26 00:59:11 GMT

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thank you!

2025-12-25 23:02:03 GMT

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On the Riseup pad I might have seen it. I don't use Discord for anything else

2025-12-25 21:24:16 GMT

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Never heard it was happening.

2025-12-25 14:19:44 GMT

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See also the traditional ballad "The Bitter Withy"

2025-12-25 00:38:08 GMT

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How was I not told about this?

2025-12-24 15:27:02 GMT

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Best wishes for a speedy recovery and an eventual desk.

2025-12-24 14:52:37 GMT

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I didn't know they had been so widely copied. I have the CD at home; I think it's unavailable now. I may have MP3s with me.

2025-12-24 14:03:20 GMT

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Ever heard the Klezmonauts album "Oy! to the World"?

2025-12-23 21:55:45 GMT

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See also The Raggged-Trousered Philanthropists

2025-12-23 14:37:51 GMT

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I feel like we saw this in that segment of Woody Allen's movie Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex

2025-12-22 21:20:53 GMT

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2025-12-22 20:59:05 GMT

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I do like Pluribus...

2025-12-22 20:57:10 GMT

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This is why I do batch cooking and freeze in portions.

2025-12-19 11:56:32 GMT

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Reminds me of a friend who shouted at her kids one day, "When are you moving *out*"
At hte time, they were aged six...and three.

2025-12-19 10:47:27 GMT

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Agreed.

2025-12-19 08:21:32 GMT

This week's net.wars, "Slop", marks iRobot's bankruptcy and sale; wonders why, if generative AI is so great it has to be forced on us; and deplores the CBP plan to demand an unrealistic amount of "high-value data" as part of the price of visiting the US: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/12/19/slop/ #NetWars #privacy #robots

2025-12-18 20:33:07 GMT

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Safe travels.

2025-12-14 16:28:19 GMT

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It's a sign of considerable privilege: https://www.pelicancrossing.net/netwars/2017/10/the_opposite_of_privilege.html

2025-12-13 19:36:50 GMT

RE: https://infosec.exchange/@wendynather/115713883336284207
That last sentence is a good quotable.
#note1yaz…y4r4

2025-12-12 13:05:27 GMT

This week's net.wars, "ID is football", sees the arrival of Australia's social media ban for under-16s and leads a panel on digital ID at #UKIGF: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/12/12/id-is-football/ #NetWars #privacy #digitalid #osa

2025-12-12 13:04:50 GMT

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Yes, I got them confused....

2025-12-12 09:09:04 GMT

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It may be there, but the problem with sending people to github is there's rarely any quick explanation of what the thing is...

2025-12-11 07:48:05 GMT

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I didn't know they were going to do that. Will see if they can be persuaded to monitor more than one place.

2025-12-10 11:50:04 GMT

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I did post when registration opened, and then forgot to follow up until now. It should be an interesting day.

2025-12-10 10:31:35 GMT

Rreminder for those interested in Internet and other tech issues, #ukigf is tomorrow (remote or in-person in London): https://www.ukigf.org.uk.

2025-12-06 14:22:26 GMT

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I predicted something like that years ago wrt online maps and driving directions, but can't find the citation.

2025-12-05 12:09:18 GMT

This week's net.wars, "A fork in the road" is a trip through the UK's recent history of thinking about road pricing: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/12/05/a-road-not-taken/ #NetWars #privacy

2025-12-03 11:31:19 GMT

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Don't they already do that? We call them corporations.

2025-12-03 11:03:57 GMT

Applicationsa are open for the Tenacious Journalism awards, for those covering AI, online harms, corporate accountability: https://www.tenaciousawards.org/about-the-journalists-award

2025-12-03 09:45:35 GMT

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Not sure it's there any more or the same as it was; it chnaged at some point. But it was famous for the rudeness of the staff. But it was also a great place to go for a good, quick Chinese meal in the theater district. I liked going there,.

2025-12-02 18:14:24 GMT

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It chanaged hands a while back. It used to be notorious for its good, cheap Chinese food and the extraordinary rudeness of its waiters.

2025-12-02 15:52:17 GMT

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Like the Wong Kei on Wardour Street?

2025-12-01 22:58:05 GMT

At the @npub1wdd…h9qu #podcast we talk to Bruce Schneier about his book, Rewiring Democracy, and the good and bad AI may bring: https://plutopia.io/bruce-schneier-rewiring-democracy/

2025-11-30 10:29:21 GMT

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Thanks for the kind words.

2025-11-28 12:42:16 GMT

This week's net.wars, "Sovereign immunity", learns from X's location tracking feature and ponders the future of international squabbles over Internet censorship: The incident reminded that fraud in general seems to be endemic, especially in the online advertising ecosystem: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/11/28/sovereign-immunity/ #OnlineSafetyAct #censorship #fraud

2025-11-27 15:47:21 GMT

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But the song lives on and so does Arlo Guthrie.

2025-11-27 15:43:42 GMT

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Follow the money.

2025-11-27 15:42:55 GMT

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Ha! Sometimes people tell me they've been to my house and I don't remember and they're probably right. Glad that's not the case this time.

2025-11-27 12:19:10 GMT

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I've figured out the angle now. I remember neither the meeting nor what ACCU is!

2025-11-27 11:20:11 GMT

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I wasn't sure from that angle, but you're probably right.

2025-11-27 10:48:08 GMT

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Yep. They know when garbage night is, too. Smart critters.

2025-11-26 16:03:02 GMT

At the @plutopia.io podcast, we interview Jennifer Granick</a>, the Surveillance and Cybersecurity counsel at the ACLU about the expansion of government and corporate surveillance and the increasing threat to civil liberties: https://plutopia.io/jennifer-granick-surveillance-and-cybersecurity/ #podcast #privacy

2025-11-26 11:53:25 GMT

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Reminds me of the Usenet character Pink Princess.She also was a much more real person than it seemed: http://www.pelicancrossing.net/netwars/2006/06/so_long_and_thanks_for_all_the.html

2025-11-24 19:40:47 GMT

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You can set a number limit. First 100 or something.

2025-11-24 11:06:53 GMT

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For your sake, I hope no bot takes this up and makes it viral. :)

2025-11-23 22:04:05 GMT

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What exactly is the point of writing SPOILER when you put the spoiler in the attached headline?

2025-11-22 18:55:15 GMT

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Give him a dollar and/or storage limit after which you'll charge?

2025-11-21 12:40:17 GMT

This week's net.wars, "Mean time between failure", wonders whether the Internet is becoming more unreliable or whether it just seems like it after several giant infrastructure providers have recently seen small errors cause mass-scale disruption: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/11/21/mean-time-between-failure/ #NetWars

2025-11-20 20:41:28 GMT

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More precisely, I did not look for comments.

2025-11-20 18:38:25 GMT

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I did not see the comment.

2025-11-20 17:25:36 GMT

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On a page that begins with a partial sentence, carried over from the previous page, which is the 2nd sentence?

2025-11-20 17:09:35 GMT

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link?

2025-11-18 16:31:44 GMT

At @npub1wdd…h9qu we talk to Peter Cochrane, former head of BT Research about his ideas about a truth engine and AI: https://plutopia.io/pete-cochrane-pursuing-truth/ #podcast #AI

2025-11-14 11:34:07 GMT

This week's net.wars, "Simplification", finds that a leaked draft indicates that the European Commission is seeking to weaken the legal regime that protects European digital rights, including data protection: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/11/14/simplification/ #NetWars #AI #EUPol #privacy

2025-11-13 13:01:15 GMT

At Skeptical Inquirer, Colin Wright explains the #mathematics of seduction: https://skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/the-mathematics-of-seduction-colin-wright/

2025-11-13 09:51:37 GMT

In a new @npub1wdd…h9qu #podcast we talk to Sophie Nightingale, researches deepfakes and whether humans can be trained to recognize them better: https://plutopia.io/sophie-nightingale-our-minds-on-digital-technology/

2025-11-11 19:54:25 GMT

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Moo cards.

2025-11-07 12:16:06 GMT

This week's net.wars, "The panopticon in your home", is disturbed by HMRC's use of passenger records to deny benefits, and ponders the word "robot" in connection with something that has to be remotely operated by a human: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/11/07/the-panopticon-in-your-home/ #NetWars #privacy #robots

2025-11-05 11:52:36 GMT

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Who'd a thunk it?

2025-11-02 11:27:50 GMT

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FWIW, here's what I wrote then: https://www.pelicancrossing.net/netwars/2019/12/the_dot-org_of_our_discontents.html

2025-10-31 12:42:58 GMT

This week's net.wars, "The gated web", we think that AI browsers bring the wrong kind of change: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/10/31/the-gated-web/

2025-10-28 12:30:00 GMT

In the latest @npub1wdd…h9qu #podcast episode we grill @npub12w9…zpgr Ben Collier about his new(ish) biography of Tor: https://plutopia.io/ben-collier-from-the-dark-web-to-the-future-of-privacy/

2025-10-28 11:08:58 GMT

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I wasn't entirely serious. I think pct-wise you see more male cyclists in London, too. The percentage of males rises directly proportionate with the cost of the bicycle and the adoption of Tour de France type clothing. :)

2025-10-27 18:50:30 GMT

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Women have more sense. We ride bicycles. :)

2025-10-24 10:54:39 GMT

This week's net.wars, "It's always DNS", considers the lesssons of Monday's Amazon AWS outage: https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/10/24/its-always-dns/ #NetWars #UK

2025-10-23 16:36:57 GMT

Note to hotel managers: Saying "We don't use it" is not the justification for collecting personal data that you think it is.#privacy

2025-10-23 10:35:58 GMT

At the Plutipia #podcast, @npub1wdd…h9qu, we interview @npub1s4h…qs84 Colin Wright: https://plutopia.io/colin-wright-juggling-mathematics/ #math

2025-10-22 12:24:46 GMT

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Agatha Christie's The Secret of Chimneys revolved around the theft of a famous jewel and its cover-up.

2025-10-22 12:22:26 GMT

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Ocurred to me to look up Britain's crown jewels in this respect. First hit: https://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/How-Much-Would-It-Cost-To-Insure-The-Crown-Jewels

2025-10-22 12:20:58 GMT

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I think we'd have to poll French people to know...

2025-10-22 12:19:13 GMT

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Well, but wouldn''t it? You could copy the settings from pictures and source similar stones, but the value in the items is basically sentimental. You'd have people all over France going, "It's not the same."

2025-10-22 09:22:48 GMT

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Some things can't realistically be insured because they can't be replaced.

2025-10-19 09:56:27 GMT

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There's an Isaac Asimov quote about realizing after many early rejection letters that no matter what he was always a writer: maybe fialed, unpublished, oet etc...but the editor can lose their job and then they're not an editor any more.