Every Thursday of the week, Bastian’s Night is broadcast from 21:30 CEST (new time).
Bastian’s Night is a live talk show in German with lots of music, a weekly round-up of news from around the world, and a glimpse into the host’s crazy week in the pirate movement.
A journalistic and editorial assessment of the presentation by Schoresch Davoodi (Pirate Party) at the Hack the Promise Festival 2025, Basel
Where does freedom end when algorithms decide? How do you hack power without taking it over? These core questions were the focus of this year’s “Hack the Promise 2025.” A highlight: the keynote speech by Schoresch Davoodi, Board Member of the Pirate Party International (PPI), who redefined the attitude of the “Hacker” – as a necessary tool for democratic resilience.
From Radical Upheaval to Precision: The New Hacker Stance
by Schoresch Davoodi
In his presentation, Davoodi spanned the arc from the idealised freedom myths of the turn of the millennium (from “The Matrix” to net culture) to the present, where sovereignty over technology and discourses is fiercely contested.
While the revolutionary dreams of a fresh start and radical upheaval, Davoodi posits that the attitude of the hacker is paramount today:
“Only those who understand systems can safely change them – and preserve freedom within them.”
The core message: True change doesn’t need “arsonists,” but people who understand, analyse, and deliberately improve existing systems, rather than just tearing them down. Anyone serious about political change must endure complexity – and face new challenges with the spirit of the Enlightenment: Sapere aude – dare to use your own understanding.
Between Filter Bubble and Digital Attack
The threats to democracy are more diverse than ever in 2025: Digital violence, disinformation, and targeted manipulation are not just isolated incidents but systematically undermine the foundations of democracy.
Davoodi warned not only against the lure of authoritarian simplifications but also against a “dogma-driven politics” within progressive movements. A critical perspective was directed at the role of NGOs, think tanks, and activist networks:
The Filter Bubble Effect: Those who conduct debates only through their own “filter bubble” risk narrowing plurality instead of courageously expanding it.
The Demand: Those who remain critically aware of their own filters protect democratic diversity and self-determination.
The “Inner Hack”: More Than Just Net Policy
How must this hacker ethos become politically concrete? Davoodi outlined a practice that goes beyond mere symbolic politics:
Hacker Practice
Political Implementation
Precision
Carefully formulated, relatable motions instead of purely demonstrative symbolic politics.
Openness
Establishment of open debate spaces that allow risk-benefit analyses and do not become paralysed by moral grandstanding.
Collaboration
Cross-border cooperation, as practiced within the framework of Pirate Parties International.
The “inner hack” thus means: enduring complexity, opposing propaganda, and viewing maturity and resilience as central political tools. That is democracy in action.
Conclusion: The Small Hack for Great Freedom
Schoresch Davoodi’s presentation is not a manifesto for upheaval, but an invitation to enlightened further thought. In the face of global uncertainties and hybrid threats, the Pirate Party 2025 is increasingly focusing on resilience, strengthening critical infrastructures, and a democratically legitimised security architecture – expressly without serving authoritarian tendencies.
The future belongs to those who have the courage to work on systems precisely, objectively, and openly – and never lose sight of freedom as a core value.
Key Quote: “The revolutionary dreams of a blank slate; the hacker repairs the existing system with precision and courage.”
In this spirit: Hack the System. At least a little – whenever it is most urgently needed.
Would you like me to summarise this British English article into a short, punchy version suitable for a social media post?
The following is a report from PPI´s representative at the United Nations Office of Vienna, Mr. Kay Schroeder, who attended the UNODC Conference on Illegal Finance and Crypto.
Reflections from the 9th Global Conference on Criminal Finance and Crypto – UN Vienna
Yesterday I attended the 9th Global Conference on Criminal Finance and Crypto, hosted at the United Nations in Vienna with support from UNODC. While no official UN representatives were present, the event offered a revealing glimpse into how private sector challenges—particularly those surrounding crypto finance—are increasingly reframed as matters of public concern. The conference celebrated the growing institutional acceptance of crypto assets, shifting the narrative from speculative private losses to regulated public affairs. This reframing was not just semantic—it was strategic. Legal frameworks now position crypto as a legitimate asset class, despite its origin as replicable code. The symbolic elevation of crypto into the realm of public policy raises fundamental questions about value, legitimacy, and institutional responsibility. At its core, blockchain technology is designed to reduce transaction costs. Its native tokens—like BNB on the Binance Smart Chain—are meant to facilitate efficiency, not store value. Yet the market treats these tokens as assets, creating artificial scarcity and speculative value.
This contradiction was starkly illustrated during a presentation by Francesco Venditti, who proudly described the seizure of BNB as a value store, while simultaneously labeling a lesser-known BEP-20 token as a rug pull. Ironically, the logic of blockchain suggests the opposite: BNB should devalue with increased use, while any token’s value depends on its legal and economic framing. The deeper issue lies in the off-chain dominance of crypto transactions—estimated at 80–90%— which undermines the transparency and decentralization that blockchain promises. Centralized exchanges (CEXs) and DeFi platforms act as both gatekeepers and service providers, facilitating flows that often bypass the very technology they claim to represent. This dual role complicates efforts to combat illicit finance, especially when the same actors who enable laundering also claim to fight it.
Stablecoins deserve particular scrutiny. Pegged 1:1 to fiat currencies, they are technically simple tokens maintained off-chain. They are not cryptocurrencies in the traditional sense, but rather symbolic representations of fiat value. Their presence in blockchain ecosystems injects artificial stability into systems designed to devalue through scalability. In this sense, stablecoins function as Trojan horses—vehicles through which the fiat system reasserts control over decentralized infrastructure.
The economic implications are profound. Blockchain tokens represent a new category of economic goods—ones that devalue with increased use. This defies conventional market logic, where utility and demand typically reinforce value. If transaction costs approach zero, and those costs are tied to the token itself, then the token’s value must also approach zero. Yet institutional actors continue to frame these tokens as stores of value, creating a performative economy that contradicts its own technological foundations.
During the conference, I posed a question to the panel of lawmakers and lobbyists exploring solutions to “illegal finance and crypto”:
“What is your opinion on forbidding stablecoins to remove the artificial valuation of blockchain tokens, which naturally devalue due to scaling requirements?”
The question remains open. But the conversation is shifting—from retail scams to structural manipulation, from private speculation to public framing. As crypto continues its institutional ascent, we must remain vigilant about the symbolic and economic contradictions embedded in its architecture.”
What has the EDRi network been up to over the past few weeks? Find out the latest digital rights news in our bi-weekly newsletter. In this edition: we're pondering digital fairness, budget cuts for the Austrian DPA and more.
📨 The latest edition of your favourite #DigitalRights newsletter is out! This time, we're grappling with changing seasons 🍂 🌧️ and much more. In this #EDRigram, read about:
💰 Budget cuts impairing Austria's #DataProtection Authority, and what NGOs are doing about it 📚 A new book on #spyware reiterating the call for a ban ⚖️ EDRi's take on #DigitalFairness and what we'd like to see in the upcoming #DFA
The shutdown of the facial recognition cameras at the Václav Havel Airport in Prague came after years of criticism from EDRi member IuRe. The legitimacy of the criticism was confirmed by the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection. However, the Czech police continue to systematically violate the law in further processing of biometric data.
Despite its growing responsibilities, the Austrian Data Protection Authority continues to be impaired by budget cuts. epicenter.works and noyb are filing a complaint with the European Commission about Austria not fulfilling its obligations of sufficiently funding its data protection authority and leaving millions of Austrians to deal with consequences of limited access to the fundamental right to data protection.
SHARE Foundation’s new book ‘A Privacy Nightmare: Understanding Spyware’ examines spyware through technical, legal, and practical lenses, offering a systemic understanding of its threats and reinforcing the call for a global ban.
The European Commission closed its Call for Evidence for the upcoming Digital Fairness Act (DFA) on 24 October 2025. EDRi urged the Commission to tackle deeply harmful forms of manipulation: addictive design, deceptive design, and unfair personalisation, which undermine people’s fundamental rights to privacy, data protection, autonomy and equality. EDRi calls for strong, binding rules that embed fairness-by-design, ban exploitative features, and reinforce Europe’s digital rulebook against growing deregulatory pressure.
Piraten Podcast 4 (27 okt 2025): Zorg en zorgen die we hebbenDeze Piraten Podcast werd opgenomen in het Blauwe Pand, Zaandam Met Sabrina, Angeline en Leontien!en dank aan: Bart
Fermate le rotative! L'evento di moda del 2025 è qui! Decorate la vostra testa con questo elegante e disinvolto cappellino da baseball blu navy, con scritta di Phaedra Charles. La comunità accademica, scientifica e pro-fact globale.
Immagino che tu sia venuto a chiedermi scusa? Spero di sì, visti gli anni in cui ti sei preso gioco di me e ti sei lamentato di come stessi rovinando la conoscenza. Nel frattempo, hai trasformato il tuo ambiente informativo in un film snuff digitale ipercapitalista e post-verità.
Se ti interessano le discussioni sull'etica nelle nuove tecnologie o vuoi pubblicare i tuoi contributi, segui il gruppo Activitypub @Etica Digitale (Feddit)
In seguito al decreto di Donald Trump contro la Corte penale internazionale (CPI), il giudice francese Nicolas Guillou non ha più il diritto di accedere ai servizi digitali di alcune aziende americane.
Questa è una palese dimostrazione degli effetti dell'extraterritorialità del diritto, in questo caso quello degli Stati Uniti, nello spazio digitale. Con decisioni politiche che, in connessione con i fornitori di servizi e gli editori di applicazioni, possono avere conseguenze tali da portare – nelle parole del magistrato – a "vivere come negli anni Novanta" .
Ciò conferma che gli attori del mondo digitale svolgono anche un ruolo politico e che il controllo della sovranità tecnologica è una necessità.
Suite à un décret de Donald Trump contre la Cour pénale internationale (CPI), le juge français Nicolas Guillou n'a plus le droit d'accéder aux services numériques de certaines firmes américaines.
Much of today’s internet exploits attention & vulnerability instead of supporting free, informed choice.
The Digital Fairness Act (DFA) can change that, by banning manipulative design & making fairness-by-design the norm.
EDRi has submitted its response to the European Commission's call for evidence, urging: 🔴 Bans on manipulative design 🔴 Fair defaults & real consent 🔴 Behavioural design impact checks 🔴 Strong, coordinated enforcement
There's one other thing I'd add: minimum penalties. The GDPR has teeth in terms of maximum penalties, but now everyone expects that the fines will be much smaller than the maximum. Companies involved in these practices can afford large fines as the cost if doing business. The fines need to start large and get larger if the problems are not remedied.
Inizia:Giovedì Novembre 06, 2025 @ 6:30 PM GMT+01:00 (Europe/Rome)
Finisce:Giovedì Novembre 06, 2025 @ 9:30 PM GMT+01:00 (Europe/Rome)
Giovedì 6 novembre torniamo con il Logout di TWC Roma, il ritrovo per tech workers che vogliono incontrarsi dopo lavoro: un'occasione per socializzare, conoscersi, parlare del nostro lavoro e come organizzarci nei prossimi mesi!
Ci vediamo giovedì 6 novembre, alle 18.30, da 568 Public House a Garbatella!
Sezione romana di @twcita. Uno spazio per discussioni di rilevanza locale tra tech worker. Pure er posto giusto pe dasse na punta ogni tanto ;) Info & Regolamento: https://t.me/twcitagruppo/80268
Giovedì 6 novembre torniamo con il Logout di TWC Roma, il ritrovo per tech workers che vogliono incontrarsi dopo lavoro: un'occasione per socializzare, conoscersi, parlare del nostro lavoro e come organizzarci nei prossimi mesi!
Ci vediamo giovedì 6 novembre, alle 18.30, da 568 Public House a Garbatella!
The @EUCommission called out TikTok & Meta for breaking key transparency & accountability rules under the #DSA
The two tech giants made unnecessarily difficult to access data and, in Meta’s case, used deceptive interface design that confuses & discourages users from flagging illegal content.
After this preliminary decision, we urge the Commission to move swiftly toward final remedies & fines — because justice delayed is justice denied.
Today, the European Commission preliminarily found both TikTok and Meta in breach of their obligation to grant researchers adequate access to public data under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
It’s been 213 days since Rümeysa Öztürk was arrested for co-writing an op-ed. Read on for news from Illinois and California, and tips on how to limit exposing your location.
Rights remain under attack by immigration officers
Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) is helping communities in California and Illinois fight back against attacks on the press during the recent immigration crackdowns. Our deputy director of advocacy, Adam Rose, joined the American Constitution Society, the Center for Media and Democracy, and Common Cause for a briefing about federal immigration officers’ recent attacks on the press, as well as efforts to fight back in court in both Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California. Journalists in both cities were able to obtain court injunctions ordering law enforcement to stop targeting the press. Rose is also the press freedom chair for the Los Angeles Press Club, one of the plaintiffs in the LA court case.
Unfortunately, those orders have not stopped U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s rampage against the First Amendment. Rose cited repeated violations of journalists’ rights during “No Kings” protests in LA this weekend, even after LA’s city council ordered lawyers to withdraw a ridiculous motion seeking to lift the injunction.
And yesterday, the Chicago plaintiffs filed a notice with the court that agents violated the order by assaulting and attempting to seize a phone from a bystander exercising her right to record their operations. Another notice flags video of top Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino tossing a tear gas canister into a crowd as if he’s throwing out a ceremonial first pitch. These are just a couple of several violations they’ve raised with the court.
ICE’s network of for-profit detention facilities is expanding rapidly under the Trump administration. Even though these private facilities hold human beings in federal custody under federal law, they operate in secret and are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. That needs to change.
Use our action center to tell your member of Congress that FOIA should apply to private facilities. And for more on FOIA — particularly, how to use it during a government shutdown — read the latest issue of our secrecy newsletter, The Classifieds.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration deported journalist Mario Guevara following his June arrest while livestreaming a protest. The government proceeded with the deportation despite Guevara’s work permit and even though the baseless charges against him were dropped, arguing that his livestreaming law enforcement presents a “safety threat.”
This week, the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, a project of FPF, interviewed Guevara from El Salvador. “It’s not the way I want to come back to my country — deported like a criminal,” he told the Tracker’s Briana Erickson. “I was frustrated, but until the last minute, I still had the hope to stay in the United States because I believe in the justice of the country.
“I was the first one, but I don’t think I will be the only one,” he added.
Not every journalist needs to worry about location tracking — but when it matters, it really matters.
Our digital security team’s latest guide helps you assess when location tracking risks apply to your work — and what steps you can take to mitigate those risks when they do. Read it here.
What we’re reading
The press leaves the Pentagon (Columbia Journalism Review). The Pentagon’s demand that reporters surrender their right to publish news in exchange for access to press conferences is “a classic case of unconstitutional prior restraint,” FPF’s Seth Stern told CJR.
Judge orders ex-police chief who led raid on Kansas newspaper to stand trial for deleted texts (Kansas Reflector). Yes, deleting those texts was a crime, but this reminds us of prosecuting Al Capone for tax evasion. The former police chief has done a lot worse, like illegally raiding the Marion County Record’s newsroom and its publisher’s home, likely resulting in co-owner Joan Meyer’s death.
He tracked and posted videos of ICE raids in LA. Now this TikTok streamer is in federal custody (Los Angeles Times). Carlitos Ricardo Parias, who documented immigration raids, was shot during an altercation with immigration officers and is now in federal custody. FPF’s Rose explained to the Los Angeles Times that the First Amendment protects everyone’s right to record law enforcement, from journalists to cop watchers.
Oct. 29: FPF’s Caitlin Vogus will join an online panel of experts to break down how the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission are targeting journalists and the First Amendment, and how to fight back. Register here for the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Future of Speech Online 2025, “Working the Refs” panel on Oct. 29 at 12:10 p.m. EDT.
That same day, join us for a conversation about making public records-based reporting free, featuring Vogus as well as our Chair on Government Secrecy Lauren Harper, in conversation with leadership at Wired and 404 Media, including Wired Global Editorial Director and FPF board member Katie Drummond. The event starts at 2 p.m. EDT; RSVP on Zoom here.
Oct. 30: Join an online discussion on Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. EDT about digital safety and legal rights for journalists reporting on immigration in the U.S., featuring FPF Director of Digital Security Harlo Holmes and several other experts from the U.S. Journalist Assistance Network. Register here.
Amidst the digital equivalent of underfunded aqueducts and brittle bridges, dynes keep building. In S2025-E8 of Planet Dyne, we explore the foundations for what comes next: from re-imagining how innovation is funded, to forging anonymous age checks that protect rather than police, and the sovereign code that makes it all possible. Let's stop maintaining the ruins and start building anew.
We build tools to empower you, and to help your community get organized. For as little as 50 bucks per year, you can help us continue this work.
In the process you will not only be directly securing the perennity of classic tools like #dynebolic, #frei0r or #tomb. You will also enjoy incredible karma, deep resting quality-sleep at night, knowing 2 hackers can get a coffee each month, and the Blessings of the giant spaghetti monster!
🕊️ Free to share code. 👩🏽💻 Code to share freedom. Dyne.org is a digital community & free software foundry. We share tools, practices & narratives that empower artists, creatives & citizens in the digital age.
Si dice spesso che la verità sia la prima vittima in una guerra, e nel confuso panorama della cybersecurity questa massima risuona con sinistra frequenza.
Funding will enable ARM porting for an embedded “Conspire Box” system with captive portal capability: a WiFi hotspot will present the chat interface to on-site connecting clients. Security enhancements will include Tor hidden-service integration and security hardening, such as Address Sanitiser (ASAN), static analysis, and penetration testing.
A toast to ephemeral #privacy and zero identity! 🥂
Piraten Podcast 3 (22 okt 2025): De geschiedenis van de partij, de geschiedenis van PiratenDeze Piraten Podcast werd opgenomen in HAN Nijmegen Met David, Arjan, en Roberto!en dank aan: Sabrina, Leontien en Bart.
Conclusion: The Small Hack for Great Freedom
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