Celebrating Thirty Years of Internet Archive Founded in 1996, the Internet Archive is celebrating its 30th anniversary! This milestone comes alongside many pivotal websites & organizations founded in 1996. To commemorate this occasion, we’ve spent the month opening the internet’s yearbook to celebrate the sites, services & scrappy experiments that helped shape the web as we … Read more
I have been in Ljubljana to attend the COST GRADE project meeting. This project is one of the most focused and well-managed COST projects I have participated in. You can find the program at the link above. One of the project’s outputs is an exhibition at the Museum of Computer History here in Ljubljana, Slovenia. … Read more
While my colleagues and I were in distress whether we have our university or not, Türkiye’s main opposition party had its own ordeal, which is lasting, unlike ours. Here is a review: The past two weeks have seen the most dramatic legal blow ever delivered to Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), … Read more
Key Insights Merlin AI The Rise and Fall of Torrenting Origins of Torrenting Developed by Bram Cohen in 2001, BitTorrent allowed users to share files without relying on a single server, making downloads faster as more users participated. The Pirate Bay, launched in 2003, capitalized on this decentralized model, becoming a major hub for peer-to-peer … Read more
With another decree, we are back to business: –– Decision on the Repeal of Presidential Decree No. 11384 of May 21, 2026, Regarding the Revocation of the Operating License of Istanbul Bilgi University, to Which a Trustee Was Appointed for Its Founding Foundation (Decision No. 11387)
All of us received the news through an official gazette announcement. Istanbul Bilgi University’s operating license was revoked by a midnight presidential decree published in the Official Gazette. Just like that, more than 900 academics, 600 personnel, and around 20,000 students are left upset. After 22 years at Bilgi, I do not know what the … Read more
Last week, I was invited to a conversation by Ziya Taşkent, who organizes monthly talks on “culture.” The talk is in Turkish, but I present a summary of this talk in English: Digital Culture and Everyday Life Digital culture is deeply intertwined with popular culture; both are undergoing transformation in the realms of communication and … Read more
A new phase in the Israel–Hezbollah confrontation appears to be emerging in southern Lebanon: the growing use of fiber-optic first-person-view drones, or FPV drones, by Hezbollah. These small, low-cost systems are not decisive weapons on their own, but they have exposed a significant vulnerability in Israel’s battlefield defenses, especially against short-range, low-flying threats that are … Read more
Key Insights by Merlin AI AI Implementation in Fast Food In 2023, Taco Bell deployed AI across over 500 locations in the U.S. with the goal of reducing order errors and speeding up service. Initial feedback revealed that AI sometimes exacerbated issues, as evidenced by a customer receiving incorrect drink prompts. McDonald’s also tested AI … Read more
Today, Tor is launching a crowdfunding campaign for 10 internet freedom projects. Because without increased support, we’re at risk of losing an ecosystem of privacy and anti-censorship tech. Internet freedom tools are facing a crisis. As of 2025, internet freedom has declined for 15 consecutive years. And yet as censorship and surveillance become increasingly sophisticated … Read more
AI Tools for Journalists Workshop in Adana On Saturday, May 16, 2026, I took part in the “AI Tools for Journalists” workshop organized by TGS Academy in Adana. The workshop focused on how journalists can use basic AI tools in their everyday professional routines. We discussed practical uses of AI in news research, text production, … Read more
Türkiye, following Australia, recently banned social media for children under 15. Just a few years ago, it would have been hard to imagine such a ban, but things change fast. I have curated some information on these bans and related restrictions in other countries using Perplexity. Here it is: Turkey and Australia have both adopted … Read more
Two new reports tell a similar story about democratic decline inside “the Western alliance”. One tracks the steep fall of academic freedom in the United States. The other shows Turkey sinking to the bottom of the World Press Freedom Index. Together, they suggest that NATO’s “allies” are increasingly aligned militarily, but drifting away from any … Read more
Seismic Shift in Datacenter Industry – The datacenter industry is undergoing rapid changes, influenced heavily by the rise of AI technology. – Meta’s construction of a datacenter in Temple, Texas, was abruptly halted, indicating a shift toward new AI requirements. – Traditional datacenters are evolving into AI supercomputers, affecting design, power needs, and operational … Read more
“There Is No Neutral Machine: The Necessary Contribution of Social Sciences and Humanities to AI” Keynote Speech — Erkan Saka Critical AI Studies Conference, Istanbul Bilgi University, 9 May 2026 [Formatted by using Claude.ai] To understand AI, we must stop treating it as a purely technical or mathematical achievement. And to explain why this matters, … Read more