This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Stephen T. Stone with a comment about ICE and CBP stealing money from citizens at the Minneapolis airport:

Dear Democrats in leadership positions:

There is no reforming or retraining this level of institutional rot. Your centrist asses need to start demanding the abolishment of ICE (and DHS), and you need to start doing it now.

Sincerely, a concerned US citizen

In second place, it’s Strawb with an answer to the question of why the CIA deleted its famous World Factbook resource:

Well, the easy answer is “Because a corrupt government’s worst enemy is a well-informed population”.

For editor’s choice on the insightful side, we start out with Bloof offering another even broader answer to that question:

If something is useful and a product of government, that’s all the reason republicans need to destroy it.

Next, it’s dfbomb bringing more updates from Minneapolis:

They leave cars running from their victims in the road. We have to find tows and clear it.

They deploy tear gas taking people from parks. We have to clean up and help those hurt.

They harass and stalk schools, taking kids with impunity. They approach our school patrols pretending to be locals to get info.

They kill and are protected.

They do not care if the people they take are actually what they’re told to look for, they just take brown people and those that piss them off.

They took Native-Americans and have not returned them.

This is ethnic cleansing and it is done at the behest of a white supremacist administration hunting brown people.

This has not stopped. There is no draw down.

Please stop arguing over the KIND of fascism this is and start rattling cages in DC to abolish this bullshit.

This is not a fucking drill.

Over on the funny side, our first place winner is terribly tired with a comment about a line in one of the federal rulings calling out the administration’s immigration bullshit:

Holy old fuck, she pounds X is a wild-ass sentence to be reading in the real god damn world.

Couldn’t have made it sound more like an addictive substance if I tried.

In second place, it’s dfbomb again, this time with a comment on our post about news websites bringing back comment sections:

Is there irony in the urge for me to shitpost in the comments on this one?

Things are still pretty slow on the funny side (for reasons that continue to be obvious), so we’ll stick to just one editor’s choice — a very simple answer to the question of why the CIA shut down the Factbook, this time from an anonymous commenter:

Oh, that’s easy. They shut it down because it has facts in it.

That’s all for this week, folks!

Five Years Ago

This week in 2021, the attacks on Section 230 were coming fast, with a Columbia law professor spewing blatantly false information in the Wall Street Journal and Joe Lieberman calling for its repeal, followed by the Democrats introducing the dumpster fire that was the SAFE TECH Act, which we dug into in depth. We also wrote about how attempts to tie 230 to a horrific story of online stalking were just plain wrong. Meanwhile, a federal court tossed out a constitutional challenge to FOSTA, 14 states were considering right to repair laws, and the RIAA launched a brand new front group pretending to represent independent artists.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2016, a DHS official was calling for an end to anonymity online, French politicians were trying to ban linking to any website without permission, and India was getting ready to ban zero rating after the failure of Facebook’s misleading lobbying. We wrote about how lobbyists turned an education reform bill into a copyright propaganda push, Take Two Software was sued over tattoo copyrights, Hasbro was sued for font piracy on My Little Pony merchandise, and a ridiculous copyright fight was still keeping the only video of the first Super Bowl locked up.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2011, there was a lot of coverage of the recent uprising in Egypt and the government’s response. We looked at just how the government shut down the internet in an attempt to quell the protests, then at how they turned it back on for the same reasons. Al Jazeera offered up its Egypt coverage under a Creative Commons license, while China was trying to prevent people from talking about it online. Meanwhile, Homeland Security embarked on a new round of domain seizures that raised serious questions and strongly suggested the agency was twisting the law, especially with the now-infamous seizure of Spanish streaming site Rojadirecta.

On a recent episode of our other podcast, Ctrl-Alt-Speech, Mike was joined by guest host Konstantinos Komaitis for a far-reaching discussion about online speech. One point that was briefly raised in that discussion was the question of whether AI tools are good or bad for user agency, and since Mike and Konstantinos didn’t entirely agree, it seemed like a good question to unpack in more detail — and that’s exactly what they do on this week’s episode of the BestNetTech Podcast.

You can also download this episode directly in MP3 format.

Follow the BestNetTech Podcast on Soundcloud, subscribe via Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or grab the RSS feed. You can also keep up with all the latest episodes right here on BestNetTech.

This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Raphael with a comment about Trump demanding billions from the IRS:

This reminds me, Trump loves to rant and rave about how poorly and dysfunctionally the countries of origin of many migrant to the USA are run, and how bad things look like there.

You know why those countries are so poorly run, Donald? You know why things are so bad there?

Because countries like that are usually run by people who love to pay out large amounts of public money to themselves. Because they’re usually run by people who love to name everything after themselves. Because they’re usually run by people who love to decorate everything in sight with lots of glittering gold. Because they’re usually run by people who love to have their subordinates praise them to high Heaven all the time. Because they’re usually run by people who let their armed goons do whatever they want. #

In short, because they’re run by people like you.

In second place, it’s dfbomb with a comment about calling what’s happening by its proper name:

Minneapolis checking in.

They’re still disappearing my neighbors.

They’re still jumped up shits afraid of a city that cares for each other.

They’re still doing ethnic cleansing.

They’re still nazis.

For editor’s choice on the insightful side, we start out with a comment from Heart of Dawn about Tom Homan’s “look what you made us do” comments:

That’s exactly how abusers talk. “Don’t fight back. Its your own fault if I hurt you.”

Next, it’s MrWilson with a comment about right wing “comedy”:

Right wingers don’t tell jokes. Their humor is just disgust and dehumanization of out groups and implied threats, with a lol as punctuation.

Speaking of comedy, over on the funny side our first place winner is David with a theory about the Trump Phone’s failure to materialize:

Probably camera problems

Test video recordings still don’t match Kristi Noem’s scene descriptions, and the phone keeps recording when it should have an unfortunate failure.

In second place, it’s dfbomb again with another comment from Minneapolis:

Minneapolis would cordially like to invite Tom Homan outside for a game of “Hide and go fuck yourself.”

Things were a little slow on the funny side this week, so we’ll just do one editor’s choice — an anonymous comment about a brief line in one of our posts where we described a document in case “you can’t read it”:

THAT’S LIBERAL BIAS!

That’s all for this week, folks!

Five Years Ago

This week in 2021, we looked at the future of net neutrality under the new interim FCC boss, and at how broadband monopolies continued to get money for networks they never fully deployed. Twitter got immunity from a banned user’s lawsuit thanks to Section 230, while dozens of human rights groups were telling congress not to gut Section 230 on their behalf, and we wrote about how revoking 230 would not “save democracy”. This came as House Republicans announced their big, unconstitutional, ridiculous plan to take on Big Tech, and we wrote about how they could actually tackle the sector by just trying to stop being insane.

Ten Years Ago

This week in 2016, the New York Times filed a ridiculous copyright lawsuit over a book mocking the paper for glamorizing war, a writer tried to claim libel and copyright infringement over a screencap of her tweet appearing in an article, and a judge tossed out the silly idea that the monkey of monkey selfie fame could hold the copyright to the photo. Meanwhile, copyright troll Malibu Media trotted out an “expert” witness who appeared to be completely clueless, Pissed Consumer got the go ahead to take on Roca Labs over its bogus DMCA takedowns, and we dedicated an episode of the podcast to looking at just how bad the TPP was.

Fifteen Years Ago

This week in 2011, the big copyright troll in the news was ACS:Law, as an accounting firm that was helping it collect fines tried to call off the whole thing followed by ACS:Law apparently giving up entirely, but soon there was a new trolling operation on the block involving Paris Hilton’s sex tape, and another with a porn company trying out a twist on the technique, while a copyright troll in Germany was using debt collectors to pressure people to pay up. Meanwhile, IP experts were saying ACTA was inconsistent with EU law, the US government was pushing pro- and anti-privacy internet rules at the same time, and Apple began using its special security screws to prevent people from opening their iPhones.

We’ve been running our annual public domain game jam for eight years now, and as far as game jams go, it’s always been on the long side of the scale with a full month for people to work on their games. A lot of jams are much shorter, and that’s worth keeping in mind today as we’re just a little more than 24 hours away from the deadline for the latest installment, Gaming Like It’s 1930! The ticking clock doesn’t mean you’ve missed the boat, it means now is the perfect time to get creative, whip up a simple game, and make your submission!

There are lots of great tools available that let anyone build a simple digital game, like interactive fiction engine Twine and the storytelling platform Story Synth from Randy Lubin, our game design partner and co-host of this jam (check out his guide to building a Story Synth game in an hour here on BestNetTech). And an analog game can be as simple as a single page of rules. In past years, we’ve been blown away by the creativity on display in even the most basic of games, so if you don’t have anything to do tonight, why not try your hand?

Head over to the game jam page on Itch, read the full rules, and get some ideas about works you might use. Submissions close at midnight tomorrow, January 31st, and after that we’ll be diving in to choose winners in our six categories. For inspiration, you can have a look at last year’s winners and our series of winner spotlight posts that take a look at each year’s winning entries in more detail.

We’ve already had some excellent submissions, and we can’t wait to see what else comes in tomorrow night. Your game could be one of them!

This week, our first place winner on the insightful side is Stephen T. Stone with a comment about the idea from DHS that it’s un-American to refuse to house federal officers:

Except for the fact that we literally have an amendment in our constitution that says nobody has to house soldiers. These people really are just the dumbest fucking fascists, aren’t they.

In second place, it’s Thad with a comment about ICE’s supposed incompetence:

You know as well as I do that this isn’t about immigration, it’s about white supremacy.

These aren’t stupid mistakes; ICE is doing exactly what it’s there to do.

For editor’s choice on the insightful side, we start out with one more comment from Thad, this time about MAGA as a continuation, not an aberration:

MAGA is where the Republican Party has been headed since the Southern Strategy. They just don’t have to hide it anymore.

Trump didn’t make the GOP fascist. He’s a terrifying symptom but he’s not the cause.

Just shy of half the people who voted in the last election voted for this. The ones who insist that this isn’t what they voted for are ignorant, lying, or both.

Next, it’s PB&J with a comment about Trump’s deranged obsession with Greenland:

Me: Did you see the batshit insane thing he wrote this morning?

Wife: You’re gonna have to be more specific.

… that’s just life in the USA in 2026.

Over on the funny side, our first place winner is Thad yet again, this time with a comment on our post asking if you can trust Mark Meador:

Let’s ask Ian Betteridge.

In second place, it’s David with a comment about plans for martial law:

Well, considering where the Arctic Angels are stationed and considering we are talking about Hegseth, he probably has a surprise attack on Russia’s strategic Vodka reserves in planning.

For editor’s choice on the funny side, we start out with an anonymous comment about banning social media for kids:

Is it going to be considered censorship of conservative voices when they start blocking people who read and write at a 3rd grade level?

Finally, it’s Berenerd with a comment on last week’s comments post, regarding one of the winners:

I feel Mr Wilson did a better job at redacting than the Trump administration did.

That’s all for this week, folks!

We’re nearing the end of January, and you know what that means: we’re on the home stretch of the latest installment of our annual public domain game jam, Gaming Like It’s 1930! We’ve already gotten some intriguing submissions, and we expect to get plenty more before the deadline of January 31st, but just because time is running out doesn’t mean you can’t still get involved. A week is plenty of time to make a game!

Whether you’re a new or experienced designer, now’s the time to head over to the game jam page on Itch, read the full rules, and get some ideas about works you might use. Once the submission window closes, we’ll be diving in to explore all the entries and select winners in our six categories, each of whom will receive a prize.

There are lots of great tools available that let anyone build a simple digital game, like interactive fiction engine Twine and the storytelling platform Story Synth from Randy Lubin, our game design partner and co-host of this jam (check out his guide to building a Story Synth game in an hour here on BestNetTech). And an analog game can be as simple as a single page of rules. For inspiration, you can have a look at last year’s winners and our series of winner spotlight posts that take a look at each year’s winning entries in more detail.

As always, a huge thanks to everyone who is participating. We can’t wait to start playing the games you’ve made, and showing off the winners as examples of why a growing public domain benefits us all.

Last month, we dedicated an episode of the podcast to discussing our recently announced project to push for a better internet, The Resonant Computing Manifesto. This week, we’ve got a cross-post episode that serves as a followup to that discussion. Mike recently joined Charlie Warzel’s Galaxy Brain podcast along with manifesto organizer Alex Komoroske and contributor Zoe Weinberg to discuss the idea of resonant computing, and you can listen to the whole discussion here on this week’s episode.

You can also download this episode directly in MP3 format.

Follow the BestNetTech Podcast on Soundcloud, subscribe via Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or grab the RSS feed. You can also keep up with all the latest episodes right here on BestNetTech.

This week, both our winners on the insightful side come in response to Tom Homan’s complaints about people calling ICE murderers. In first place, it’s Bloof with a translation of his words:

‘People need to be civil and helpful when masked thugs come for their friends and neighbours, and to just follow orders like good citizens. Don’t worry when they come for the communists, socialists, trade unionists and jews, there’ll be plenty of others on the list before you, honest.’

In second place, it’s an anonymous comment with thoughts on his underlying feelings:

You can hear the fear in Homan’s voice

Can’t you? Can’t everyone? Isn’t it obvious?

These people are terrified of their fellow citizens — because some of them happen to be brown or black or women or LGBTQ or pretty much anything. They’re shaking with fear; they’re cowards — to the bone. Which is of course why they mask their faces and wear body armor and carry lots of weapons: THEY’RE AFRAID.

So remember: when you see them, mock them. Insult them. Degrade them. Humiliate them. Because they deserve it.

For editor’s choice on the insightful side, we’ve got two more comments from that post. First, it’s Doctor Biobrain expanding on a line from the post asserting that “they seemed to think that once they were in power, the public would love and admire them for their power”:

Indeed. These people think respect comes with the job because they’re authoritarians trained to think authority is always legitimate so you should always respect the people above you. Just like they think being a white man automatically makes you the most qualified for every good job, so DEI hiring means you can’t be getting the best people. Because that’s actually the big joke of this: If they don’t like someone above them, they not only don’t get respect but are considered to have the job illegitimately.

The idea of earning respect seems impossible to them because they think fear and respect are the same things and not opposites. I’ve had several righties say this despite my best attempts to explain the difference. They were taught to fear authority and call it respect; then wonder why the people under them don’t like them. So much of what we see are emotionally repressed victims still traumatized by their mean parents and dumping that trauma on others. They were forced to fake maturity at a young age and never really grew up.

And yeah, Trump has been craving respect his whole life because his success is unearned and anyone with taste or brains knew he was a clown. Yet those are the people he wanted praise from and he loathes people who are submissive to him like MAGA because he doesn’t want to be the member of any club that would have a creep like him. He thought being called Mr. President would finally give him the admiration he needs and instead he just gets his handlers coddling him and telling him that all dissent is manufactured and his approval ratings are 1,600%. Sad!

Next, it’s dfbomb with a succinct response to Homan:

If you don’t want to be called a murderer then stop your agents from fucking murdering my neighbors.

Over on the funny side, our first place winner is Thad with a response to Microsoft’s CEO lamenting the backlash against AI slop:

“No, it’s the children who are wrong.”

In second place, it’s MrWilson with a comment about Trump’s censorship record:

I think this is a little unfair. Trump’s presidency has actually been the most transparent administration ever. Case in point, the Epstein files proved this when it was revealed that ███████ ████ █████ █████████ ██████ ██████ and ██████ █████████ █████████ █████ ██████ ███████.

I mean, the ███████ alone should be all the ██████ evidence you need.

Also, anyone who disagrees will be summarily ██████ ███ ██████ ██████.

For editor’s choice on the funny side, we start out with an anonymous comment about the pressure ICE faces:

You just don’t know what it’s like to walk the streets as an ICE agent. The person you’re walking by could pull out A PHONE and aim it at you. Some of these phones have FULLY AUTOMATIC recording with UNLIMITED DATA STREAMING plans.

And we’re not even talking about people in shadowy windows with zoom lenses. Last week I heard about an agent who was just minding their business, kicking in some 110 pound teenager’s head, when he saw the glint of a 700mm f/8 Canon aimed at him. Never saw the shot coming.

Dude had a wife and kids.

I mean, he still does. But he did, too.

Finally, it’s one more comment from Thad, this time about Larry Ellison’s propaganda war against Netflix:

Netflix is too woke? Sounds like it’s time for another Dave Chappelle special!

That’s all for this week, folks!