Pranesh Prakash

I wonder how many of the folks at the @opentechresearch.org conference are actually using open source operating systems. (Inspired by the fireside chat between @schock.cc and @avilarenata.bsky.social.) #OTRSymposium2026

You cannot be citing empirical research on AI & bias from 2017 and 2020 in 2026. Yet, I find many tech policy orgs doing just that.

Join us for an Open Source AI Salon on day two of the OTR 2026. We'll discuss the current state and future of openness in AI. 📅 October 27, 2026 🕓 16:30–17:30 📍 University of Barcelona, Library 🎟️ Open to Barcelona Open Tech Week participants opensource.org/ai-salon#att...

The Open Technology Research (OTR) Symposium 2026 is taking place in just three weeks time! On 26 and 27 October, we will meet in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The second block of Day Two, Behavioural Change and Adoption, addresses a gap in the evidence. symposium.opentechresearch.org#regist

The latest edition of the Open Technology Research newsletter is out. It includes the final agenda for the OTR Symposium 2026, taking place on 26-27 October at the Universitat de Barcelona as part of Barcelona Open Tech Week. opentechresearch.org

The #BarcelonaOpenTechWeek, organised by Barcelona City Council, has just published its full programme for the week. The #OTRSymposium2026 is part of the week, taking place on 26–27 October, and OTR is an official partner of the Barcelona Open Tech Week. otw.decidim.barcelona

I'm heading to a symposium in October (visa gods willing) and it is so lovely to see that all of it is being planned using FOSS: - Pretalx.com for CfP and scheduling - Formbricks.com for surveys - Rallly.co for meeting polls - Orvium.io for conference proceedings #FOSS #Openness

We now have "VIP voters" being recognized by the Chief Election Officer of Karnataka. Which section of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 allows for "VIP voters" to be recognised? Have we abolished Article 14 of the Constitution in India? #equality #elections

It just struck me that the Portuguese ruled over parts of India (Goa, 1510) before Babur ever laid his eyes on Delhi (1526), before the Mughal empire existed. I'd always thought of the Portuguese as coming to India during the Mughal era, not before it.

#CJEU rules that "state-of-the-art" geo-blocking counts as an "effective technological measure" for purposes of the InfoSec Directive. So, a Belgian site can publish public domain material that is still u/ #copyright in NL by geo-blocking NL. #EU legalblogs.wolterskluwer.com/copyright-bl...

I really hate Instagram and the entire text-in-an-image culture. It's bad for accessibility for persons with disabilities, bad for searchability. And Instagram doesn't require alt-text, nor does it generate alt-text by default. Why not include the text in the description as well? #a11y

A good article in Fortune by David Siegel that explains what "open source" is and why it is good, and then goes on to explain what "open source AI" is and why we need open source AI and not just open weights AI. #OpenModels #genAI #FOSS www.siegelendowment.org/wp-content/u...

This was wild: I asked Fable to make a website of the famous Catalog of Ships from the Iliad. It did a beautiful job creating this interactive map: catalogue-of-ships.netlify.app ...but it also identified that Butler's version of the Iliad actually made two mistakes in the Greek translation!

Google Research shows that navigation apps can cause — and also alleviate — traffic congestion. #transport #tech research.google/blog/the-pow...

People: MusicBrainz still exists? MusicBrainz:

Anthropic's Mythos might be powerful, but open models in the right setup are better from a practical security viewpoint. I argue it is a strategic mistake for India to seek access to Mythos rather than harnessing open models. #DigitalSovereignty #OpenModels #FOSS indianexpress.com/article/opin...

I've interacted with three Reader's Editors in India. I'm sorry to say that none of them have acted as public ombudsmen or truly sought to hold their news rooms to account on behalf of readers. It's a shame that the true spirit of this institution hasn't caught on in India.

Many see those who advocate for "openness" (esp. in the AI era) as naively playing into the hands of Big Tech. Because of power imbalance, they hold that openness is now harmful. Unlike them, I see openness as necessary to fight against power imbalance, but, by itself, not sufficient.

Where are more people dying than being born? For most of human history, more people were born each year than died. Populations grew very slowly for most of this history, then rapidly in recent centuries, as child mortality plummeted and people lived longer.

Amazing project by @anantshri.info to document the history of #security research in #India through talks at hacker conferences. You can explore it by speaker, topic, tool, conference, and much more. Do check it out! hackingarchivesofindia.com

*Excellent* lecture by Razmig Keucheyan on his book "The Left Hemisphere: Mapping Critical Theory Today". On globalization of critical theorists: "First a diversification of the national origin of critical thinkers, but secondly the Americanization of their careers." youtu.be/rnteC5k5Vv8?...

> A report from the OECD has found that semiconductor firms based in the United States received more government support than those based in other regions State subsidies are non-tariff barriers according to the USTR, with the USA being the only exception. www.theregister.com/systems/2026...

Excellent article by @jonathanband.bsky.social on how Cox v. Sony should be seen as a reaffirmation of Grokster wrt intent vs. knowledge for contributory infringement, & why Justice Sotomayor's fears are misplaced. Highly recommended! #copyright digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/research/158/

New "AI policy" at the University of Edinburgh, via @dailynous.com: dailynous.com/2026/05/27/d...  I don't claim to know the ideal answer to the AI-related challenges, but I find this approach interesting for various reasons: 1/

The "cloud", in theory, is somewhat interoperable. But in practice, due to eye-watering egress fees, etc., it isn't really.

I wonder if they are aware of Felix Wu's work here: scholar.law.colorado.edu/lawreview/vo...

All the "rock salt" you think you're consuming is actually sea salt from hundreds of millions of years in the past.

Can you imagine living in India without electric fans? (Many can't imagine living in India without air conditioning.) Yet, for millennia, our ancestors did just that.

#India #telecom #connectivity #NetGov

#privacy #transparency #competition #Google

The men who stare at walls (in order to improve concentration): www.alexselimov.com/posts/men_wh...

"nobody saw this country the way Raghu Rai did" x.com/dishinterest...

"There are photographers—and then there was Raghu Rai, who revealed India’s inner life. Twilight over Shahjahanabad: a lone figure at namaaz, the city stilled. I’ve seen him in the India Today darkroom, singing taans to time the light. Nothing was taken. Everything revealed." x.com/babubasu/sta...

Raghu Rai's uncommon eye.

RIP Raghu Rai, a great indian photographer "struggling to walk, the burden of age is not as heavy as the agony of leaving their land, neighbours, the trees they planted, the ponds where they saw their children grow up and the sky they claimed as theirs" durjoybangladeshfoundation.org/rise-of-a-na...

Raghu Rai’s extraordinary images of 1971 Bangladesh crisis his book"Refugees in India" captured the emotions of displaced ppl. He dedicated the book to refugees "longing to belong", still remember his unforgettable exhibhition. His death in this age of War... raghuraifoundation.org/product/refu...

Raghu Rai’s extraordinary images of the 1971 Bangladesh crisis his book "Refugees in India" captured the raw emotions and resilience of displaced people, and the human cost of conflict.

RIP Raghu Rai, india's greatest photographer His series on Indira Gandhi was magnificent raghuraifoundation.org/indira-gandhi/

RIP Raghu Rai, india's greatest photographer - "...more riveting than anything Dostoevsky or Moliere could have dreamed up. It is a drama of poverty and passion, of insanity and innocence. It is above all a drama of a unique human relationship..." " x.com/soutikBBC/st...

From F-Droid to independent devs, the entire Android ecosystem is under threat from Google's new mandatory registration decree. See why 67+ orgs are saying no: keepandroidopen.org

A Tokyo District Court convicted Wataru Takeuchi of #copyright infringement and handed down an 18-month prison sentence plus a 1 million yen ($6,296.16) fine. His offense was running a website that published detailed, spoiler-heavy write-ups of popular films. #a2k reclaimthenet.org/japan-jails-...

Former British policeman arbitrarily stripped of UK citizenship without any charges or a trial. #RuleOfLaw #UK #citizenship news.sky.com/video/ex-pol...

Even this Wikipedia article on the timeline of abolition of slavery contradicts the self-congratulatory idea that the British were the the first to seek to abolish slavery and serfdom. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timelin...

"AI bug reports went from junk to legit overnight, says Linux kernel czar" > Greg Kroah-Hartman can't explain the inflection point, but it's not slowing down or going away #genAI #security #FOSS #Linux www.theregister.com/2026/03/26/g...

Two paintings by Alfonso Ponce de León. Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid. Rest, 1930 (L). Self-Portrait, 1936 (R). He was executed by firing squad a few months after he painted the latter, during the Spanish Civil War.

Senior advocate (and constitutional scholar) Arvind P. Datar forcefully argues that "morality" when used in the Constitution of India (incl. in Art. 25) does not mean "constitutional morality", which is a newfangled and inchoate concept: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF18...

This comic echoes what sex realist feminists often say, but doesn't realize that it's doing so. 🤷

"The only way to actually use the internet in a way that is going to be beneficial to you is to disregard much of it… I believe the time is now (and has always been) to use the internet like it’s 1999." joshblais.com/blog/using-t...