Ian Brown 👨🏻‍💻

💻 policy/regulation researcher (esp. #InfoSec #privacy #ML 🗳 #interoperability #DMA #GDPR).
 ⛷🚴🏻‍♂️🥾🗺🏳️‍🌈🌻
 Visiting CyberBRICS Prof. at Centre for Technology & Society, Getulio Vargas Foundation Law School, Rio de Janeiro 👨‍🏫
 Formerly 🇬🇧 gov’t Principal Scientific Officer 👨‍🔬 and Prof. of Information Security & Privacy, Univ. of Oxford
 Canario hasta la muerte 🇮🇨🇪🇸🇪🇺

Blog: https://www.ianbrown.tech/about/
ORCID: https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0001-8129-0457
PeerTube: Ian Brown (npub1pqf…gy6q)
Bluesky: Ian Brown 👨🏻‍💻 (npub1ke8…rpkd)

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npub13cmeydpxxa6wc3xkvlygtqga7f8d0ekkdje0wqww7upvss5vjvtquhev9a

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[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsgudujxsnrwa8vgntx0jy9sywlynkhumtxevhhq880wqkgg2xfx9sprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0d4hhxarj9ecxjmntqy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wdejhgpt4k7u

Publishing to

relay.momostr.pink

relay.nostr.net

relay.primal.net

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npub13cmeydpxxa6wc3xkvlygtqga7f8d0ekkdje0wqww7upvss5vjvtquhev9a

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Published at

2026-08-27T17:49:46+02:00

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Last Notes

2025-09-25 22:14:53 CEST

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Generally not! Self-interested rather than neutral analysis

2025-08-23 22:22:48 CEST

‘Meta will license technology from artificial intelligence image and video generation start-up Midjourney, as the social media group shifts towards working with third parties as its struggle to keep pace with rivals.’ https://on.ft.com/4lFBmS0

2025-08-07 17:26:21 CEST

Sam Altman, #OpenAI CEO: “young people are already using #AI chatbots as therapists and life coaches. So why not add friend and partner to the mix?” 🤮 https://on.ft.com/4moSNaq

2025-08-06 10:54:53 CEST

“It is time we demand that the tech sector comply with the same laws as everyone else. Only when technology businesses compete on a level legal playing field will we see how inevitable their innovations really are.” https://on.ft.com/4oiBsBD

2025-08-04 08:27:18 CEST

“To almost everyone I know from the global south, the fact that the west seems only to pay only lip service to the suffering of Gazans, Ethiopians, South Sudanese and others comes across as distinctly racial.” -Ed Luce https://on.ft.com/4mfZuva

2025-08-02 17:42:23 CEST

“Like programming, translating is part skill, part art, and I didn’t get two university degrees in language and translation just to deliver barely passable trash. I took pride in my work, and I wasn’t going to let anyone put my name under a garbage product.” 💯 #AI #coding
From: @npub13jw…j6a3
https://exquisite.social/@thomholwerda/114959217780568638

2025-07-27 17:29:09 CEST

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Waiting for the first calls for #VPN restrictions. First on UK providers not enforcing age checks, then requiring ISPs to block non-compliant foreign providers...
'“This is what happens when people who haven’t got a clue about technology pass legislation,” Anthony Rose, a UK-based tech entrepreneur who helped to create BBC iPlayer, the corporation’s streaming service, said in a social media post.'

2025-07-27 17:23:30 CEST

'Apps offering virtual private networks… made up half of the top 10 most popular free apps on the UK’s App Store for iOS this weekend'
“We would normally associate these large spikes in sign-ups with major civil unrest,” #Proton said. “This clearly shows that adults are concerned about the impact universal age verification laws will have on their privacy.”
#OnlineSafetyAct #VPN https://www.ft.com/content/356674b0-9f1d-4f95-b1d5-f27570379a9b

2025-07-27 10:16:36 CEST

Edinburgh Univ. is 'one of the “UK’s most financially entangled institutions”, with nearly £25.5m invested in four tech corporations – Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and IBM – that were “central to Israel’s #surveillance apparatus and the ongoing #Gaza destruction”.' https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jul/27/edinburgh-university-could-unadopt-antisemitism-definition-after-report-into-its-colonial-links

2025-07-24 09:48:40 CEST

🇬🇧 ‘stepping up raids on [delivery] riders’ gathering points & bolstering existing measures to suspend those who rent out legitimate accounts… to prove to international partners that it will not let an unregulated labour market become a “pull factor” for irregular #migration’ https://on.ft.com/4m8T7Ke

2025-07-23 14:32:39 CEST

“Who knew giving a ton of money to #CERN would lead to the #WWW? Who knew a Dutch free #OS (#minix) would incentivise a Finnish gradute student to write #Linux (the OS platform on most the cloud, half the smart phones out there)? Who knew that some small TV company (the #BBC) request for a simple low cost computer would lead to the founding of #ARM (that has more chips in the world than Intel or anyone else - again in your mobile device)?” 💯
From: @npub1vd0…kdk8
https://todon.nl/@tforcworc/114902539035700542

2025-07-23 12:13:10 CEST

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💯 You can tell they have not read much about tech regulation 🤨

2025-07-20 14:02:42 CEST

These abysmal police arrests of elderly, peaceful #Gaza protestors are bringing the UK’s counter-terrorism laws into well-deserved ill repute 🤢
From: @npub1prm…a9wj
https://mastodonapp.uk/@wood5y/114884709361419631

2025-07-20 10:59:37 CEST

My personal #Apple #ecosystem spans two continents 😂 (¡Hola Madrid!)
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/884/737/567/699/103/original/e9e00b9e0486a1ff.jpeg

2025-07-19 13:43:16 CEST

"Most modern consumer #messaging platforms...support end-to-end #encryption, but users today are limited to communicating with contacts who use the same platform. This is why Google is strongly supportive of regulatory efforts that require #interoperability" https://security.googleblog.com/2023/07/an-important-step-towards-secure-and.html

2025-07-19 05:50:50 CEST

"we recently paid people a few dollars to unfollow the most divisive accounts on X. After a month, they felt 23% less animosity towards other political groups.
"Their experience was so positive that half declined to refollow those hostile accounts after the study and they felt less animosity 11 months later.
"Platforms could easily redesign their algorithms to stop promoting the most outrageous voices and prioritize more representative or nuanced content."
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jayvanbavel_are-a-few-people-ruining-the-internet-for-activity-7350191355928748032-4hMJ

2025-07-18 20:31:08 CEST

"The poor [#MoD official] who thought they were sending 150 #Afghan names to be verified, and accidentally sent nearly 25,000, was part of a department with a history of blunders. The 🇬🇧 Ministry of Defence has had various procurement fiascos and other data leaks… it entrusted the names of both Afghans and their supporters in the UK’s military and intelligence services to that wonder of modern science, the spreadsheet." 🤮 https://www.ft.com/content/1d9cb702-fe53-4cb4-8dbf-aa6254ce0120

2025-07-18 09:20:05 CEST

The excellent @npub1p2p…hjzg 20th birthday conversation between @npub1fdr…lvhs and @npub18nr…k27q started with the #OpenTech panel discussion which led to ORG's founding. It featured Cory, me, Rufus Pollock, and @npub16xp…kvxd 😎
An #ORG friend has dug out the video! I've uploaded it to #Peertube here: https://p.lu/w/fE5rfqD2YVjjTCczEAaPjy

2025-07-17 05:47:04 CEST

“The #Trump #Gaza video tells us that the crisis of meaning in online spaces has entered a new phase, one in which trollish ambiguity is no longer ambiguous in any real sense but is now overtly the merest fig leaf for undisguised barbarity.” https://drb.ie/articles/the-monad-unchained/

2025-07-16 22:04:04 CEST

This was great! 👏 👀 @npub1fdr…lvhs @npub18nr…k27q #ORGat20
From: @npub1xhq…4vjh
https://mas.to/@cubicgarden/114864040608743301

2025-07-16 21:18:45 CEST

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Probably best to ask former German Pirate MEP Patrick Breyer (the two groups work together in the European Larliament). He’s on here somewhere!

2025-07-11 08:30:48 CEST

When #Eurostar works properly, it’s still quite an amazing experience thundering across Kent and northern France in the sunshine at 320km/h 😍

2025-07-08 18:21:31 CEST

#PostOffice & #Fujitsu 'employees knew the #Horizon IT system was deeply flawed but “maintained the fiction” that it could not produce errors when prosecuting innocent sub-postmasters, a public inquiry has found.'
13 postmasters committed suicide 🤮
https://www.ft.com/content/0695206e-60f8-4565-a46f-c7158639f61c

2025-07-08 11:58:55 CEST

So many #BigTech alternative services are finally getting to the point they are mainstream consumer-ready - which is *essential* if they are going to grow into serious challengers 👏
I'm now hosting all my own videos on @npub17gp…7p4g. Bye #YouTube! #interoperability https://p.lu/c/interoperability/videos

2025-07-03 09:53:26 CEST

"One would rightly quail if just a few foreign firms owned Europe’s roads, ports or electricity grid. Yet, for 15 years, this is precisely what we’ve allowed to happen to our tech infrastructure — the backbone of our economy and democracy." 💯 #DMA #antitrust #Google #Meta #news #adtech #DigitalSovereignty #StrategicAutonomy https://www.politico.eu/article/digital-sovereignty-us-brussels-belgium-trade-talks-tech/

2025-06-15 19:45:26 CEST

#Apple's #News+ is just a pile of 💩
It has a reasonable selection of articles and newspapers, but:
* Shows horrible, clunky ads in the middle of stories 🤬
* Insists on continuing to show articles from rags I've explicitly blocked, like the Torygraph 🤬
* Destroys the relationship between news media and their readers, no doubt to their great disadvantage in the long run 🤬🤬
Free trial cancelled! Thank FSM for the Financial Times subscription!

2025-06-14 10:20:58 CEST

It is going to be a beautiful day in #London... for protesting against Mad King #Donald 😎🌞 3-5pm in front of the US Embassy, Nine Elms (SW London) #NoKings #Trump https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/event/789220/

2025-06-12 07:26:24 CEST

Wow! Bulgarian Data Protection Authority: ‘Theft or attempted theft in the conditions of a "minor case" under the Criminal Code cannot be a reason of important public interest within the meaning of the #GDPR to turn customers of a store into '#walking_barcodes’.’ #FacialRecognition https://cpdp.bg/%d1%81%d1%82%d0%b0%d0%bd%d0%be%d0%b2%d0%b8%d1%89%d0%b5-%d0%bd%d0%b0-%d0%ba%d0%b7%d0%bb%d0%b4-%d0%be%d1%82%d0%bd%d0%be%d1%81%d0%bd%d0%be-%d0%b8%d0%b7%d0%bf%d0%be%d0%bb%d0%b7%d0%b2%d0%b0%d0%bd%d0%b5-2/
Meanwhile, last UK government was going full-speed to faciliate live facial recognition across the country's supermarkets. What next? #inadequacy

2025-06-09 10:23:53 CEST

👏 'The technology behind [the Guardian newspaper's new open source tool] #SecureMessaging conceals the fact that messaging is taking place at all by making the communication indistinguishable from other data sent to and from the app by our millions of regular users. By using the Guardian app, other users are effectively providing “cover” and helping us to protect sources.'
https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2025/jun/09/in-a-dangerous-era-for-journalism-a-powerful-new-tool-to-help-protect-sources?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

2025-06-09 08:08:15 CEST

As we see the #authoritarian chaos unfolding in the #USA, I am wondering if all those people who have been campaigning for decades to undermine the #EU 's strict constitutional laws on #privacy and #DataProtection -- in the service of enabling virtually unrestrained transfers of Europeans' personal data to King #Donald 's junta to continue -- have any regrets 🧐
#Trump #GDPR #CFR #TFEU #DataProtection #Schrems #CJEU #FreeFlowOfDataWithTrust #OECD #DAU #adequacy #DPRC 1/2
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/651/964/810/518/921/original/2067aa2d0b117b09.png

2025-06-08 19:25:34 CEST

“#Musk now occupies the #1 and #2 spots on the loser leaderboard, with only (as of Friday) his now-reduced fortune of $334.5 billion left to comfort him. He still has more money than anyone else on earth—but, still, that's got to hurt.” https://apple.news/AfHES6pVdR2Cng7h1bFnxCA

2025-06-06 21:44:53 CEST

Massive gains to society! 🫡
From: @npub126z…atds
https://mastodon.me.uk/@drdrmc/114637699823609469

2025-06-04 19:06:42 CEST

#Signal is becoming critical national infrastructure around the world 👏
Next, we need genuine Signal #decentralisation (not dependency on messaging queue servers controlled by a US-exposed organisation, making heavy use of #AWS) 🙏

2025-06-01 12:57:23 CEST

New: #DeAppleification project 🍏
Good hardware, if overpriced ✔️
Bad software & services, deliberately lacking #interoperability ❌
Today, I shut off Apple's closed #iMessage service entirely. Now using #Beeper as a universal inbox, with #Signal, #WhatsApp & #Slack DMs ✅
Goal: shutting off all 🍏 services will make it much easier to switch to cheaper hardware in future. Which is why Apple’s entire business model depends on tying their hardware to their software & services
#RefusalToSupply

2025-05-28 21:32:57 CEST

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tremendous resource. I used it in a study for the UK govt about 15 years ago

2025-05-27 16:27:02 CEST

I had been planning to buy (yet another) #Mac (this time, a #Mini.) But enough with feeding Tim and friends’ grotesque appetite for 💰 (and putting up with high charges for low quality, if shiny, software).
I am going to install a lightweight #Linux desktop (any recommendations?) on my 2011 #MacBook #Air and see how far I can get interoperating with all my data currently held hostage in the #Apple #monoculture. Will report my findings here.
#DMA #DMCCA #interoperability #DataPortability

2025-05-27 12:31:46 CEST

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Finally: I only realised how traumatising the assault was when hours later — in Paris — I shrank away terrified when a rather thoughtless man at the next table pretended to throw something at his “friends” as he returned to the table.
My initial response was to cower, terrified. My second response was to scream at him. Hopefully, he won’t be so thoughtless again.

2025-05-27 12:28:09 CEST

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It has been difficult indeed to cope with all the usual stresses of large events and travelling, alongside my problems coping with the necessity to learn to walk, eat and breathe differently 🥴
My hearing also continues to slowly deteriorate. I simply refuse to deal with badly set up hybrid event facilities any more. I am sure I am not the only way who finds them impossible in any meeting of any size.
Still: I refuse to simply accept them, and slink away into the background.

2025-05-27 12:26:56 CEST

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PS I have so much of a better insight into what people with invisible disabilities have to put up with. No matter how many times I explained I have a temporary spine injury, which for hours/)(day most of the last month has been excruciatingly painful, that didn’t seem to get through to most people I interacted with. Standing up for more than 10 minutes still triggers it very rapidly.
I should have taken crutches, because they would have helped significantly with both issues, I expect…

2025-05-27 12:05:20 CEST

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Most importantly: I remain confident the organisers are acting in good faith on sometimes difficult issues, with little time to organise a conference with thousands of participants and scores of panels.
I was also pleased my fellow committee members agreed with many of my points, and had some very positive suggestions to improve the situation before the next event. I hope they will have me back (even if I will be avoiding St Joost next time.) /end

2025-05-27 12:00:35 CEST

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I also suggested the scientific committee itself reflect on its low level of diversity, lack of independence from the conference organisation, limited ability to effect change, current inability to choose new members or its own chair… a number of issues to consider in the follow-up extraordinary meeting already being planned.

2025-05-27 11:58:36 CEST

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The bad moderation is an annual problem, and the organisers need to take stronger steps next year to ensure every speaker — and more importantly, every audience member who wants to — gets their chance to speak.

2025-05-27 11:57:16 CEST

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After listening in detail to the conference organisers’ mea culpa on the Access Now episode, I understood better what happened, and I am confident the organisers will do better next time.

2025-05-27 11:53:32 CEST

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No event is ideal, and I was disturbed by what happened with Access Now’s panel proposal, and the dreadfully moderated panel on encryption I attended.
I raised these both at the regular scientific committee lunch. I was asked to summarise my points, and agreed to do so — and for transparency, I said I would do so publicly…

2025-05-27 11:52:59 CEST

I enjoyed last week’s big annual privacy conference in Brussels (#CPDP), as usual. It’s the best place to hear about the latest research and policy action, and to talk in person to many experts in the field.
The new venue is great — spacious and green. My fondness for the old one has been rather damaged by being assaulted near it yesterday, on the way for a lunchtime swim (which helps hugely with the at-times agonising spinal injury I’ve had for the last month) :catto:

2025-05-18 13:54:18 CEST

If you are an occasional #Signal user on your iPhone, you might want to check the app now.
#Apple seems to have further tightened the #iOS strangulation of resources to rarely used apps, so much so that Signal cannot even provide a notification there is a message waiting.
A number of friends -- even a professor of computer science at Cambridge of my acquaintance 🫣 -- have entirely missed important messages from me due to this.
The @npub1m96…ag4y has ordered Apple to fix this under the #DMA 👏🏻

2025-05-16 10:10:08 CEST

This is also why the @npub1m96…ag4y needs to rapidly designate #Gmail and #Outlook as #DMA Core Platform Services and apply the #NIICS #interoperability obligation in Art.7 in creative ways (as well as the Art. 5 and 6 obligations obviously)
https://infosec.exchange/@rene_mobile/114516138474385436

2025-05-06 10:41:09 CEST

#AI refuseniks of the world, unite! "I read a really great phrase recently that said something along the lines of 'why would I bother to read something someone couldn't be bothered to write' and that is such a powerful statement and one that aligns absolutely with my views." h/t @npub1vd0…kdk8 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c15q5qzdjqxo

2025-04-28 20:10:23 CEST

😑 #loveGDPR #Healthline /cc @npub1ezr…2hxu
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/416/931/314/263/728/original/d603f6d4231e1a8c.jpeg

2025-04-16 20:07:09 CEST

Hence the importance for democracy of mandatory #interoperability for dominant platforms #DMA #SNS #Facebook #Instagram #Meta #Google #Youtube #Tiktok
From: @npub1sv4…5wk8
https://mastodon.social/@LillyHerself/114335044375571107

2025-04-15 20:10:29 CEST

“As extreme tariffs become a central pillar of US economic strategy, a clear pattern is emerging: US companies are increasingly caught in regulatory complexity and strategic fallout, while their foreign rivals advance through the gaps created by that very strategy.” #Tesla #BYD #EV #Musk #Trump #tariff #chaos
https://on.ft.com/3Y3szR8

2025-04-04 14:58:37 CEST

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‘Even if they segregate European data from U.S. data, [ #BigTech ] will be vulnerable to U.S. demands to share information held on their European servers or to stop offering robust encryption to European customers.’ 🚀 As discussed at length here https://www.ianbrown.tech/2020/09/03/225/

2025-04-04 14:51:33 CEST

‘Connecting the world did not, in fact, convert illiberal societies to liberalism. After #Trump became president in 2016, many worried that the Internet instead made previously liberal societies more illiberal, drenching publics with #disinformation... sketchy arguments and weak empirical evidence [were used] to accuse #Facebook and other social media services of having allowed Russian propagandists to manipulate Americans’ 💯 https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/brewing-transatlantic-tech-war

2025-03-24 02:02:54 CET

I’d say rather the #GDPR (if properly enforced) can save the EU from generative AI 😂 Long may it continue!
From: @npub145g…mrpm
https://social.coop/@eob/114213625351306730

2025-03-20 08:43:02 CET

🤨 #AI “and cuts to red tape will free up hundreds of thousands of hours wasted by police and prosecutors on their legal duty to disclose evidence to the defence.”
https://www.thetimes.com/article/8ac03457-d02f-4e56-a7cd-090f523295fe?shareToken=92c260a7d035d42c670b7903a3cd9ddc

2025-03-19 12:02:11 CET

FINALLY deactivated my ex-Twitter account. Feeling good! 😎
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/188/755/323/461/651/original/827ce43e74924f82.jpg
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/114/188/755/217/353/236/original/69d6abac5000d463.jpg

2025-03-16 14:04:59 CET

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The way Apple implements it — yes, each telco has to turn it on. Google just bypasses them entirely and Apple *could* use the same mechanism. Or put more pressure on telcos to turn it on. Their choice 🤷‍♂️ And the Google route is similarly open to other non-telco/“OTT” services, using purely Internet data transport

2025-03-16 09:41:15 CET

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Love that metaphor! But hopefully other messsging clients over time will implement E2EE-RCS (maybe even WhatsApp itself?!)

2025-03-16 08:20:35 CET

Best #interoperability news so far of 2025! Over to you, Apple, to build this quickly into #iMessage (Google is ~there with Android) — and also to push all telcos to enable #RCS https://www.gsma.com/newsroom/article/rcs-encryption-a-leap-towards-secure-and-interoperable-messaging/

2025-03-06 19:11:38 CET

🤢 ‘A former soldier has been found guilty of raping the daughter of BBC commentator John Hunt before he murdered her alongside her mother and sister after watching videos by the misogynist influencer Andrew #Tate.
‘After the verdict was announced four British women who are taking High Court action against Tate, who they accuse of rape and coercive control, called on social media companies to immediately ban him from their platforms.’
https://www.thetimes.com/article/8617a26b-7109-471f-bc2d-95a996986cbd?shareToken=c71ec5a77c940adb99f5387ff38c5f83

2025-03-05 06:43:36 CET

The 🇬🇧 National Cyber Security Centre is generally excellent. But it seems that between 23 and 27 Feb, it took down its security advice for law firms (a key attack point given their access to sensitive client documents) which (rightly) highlighted Apple’s Advanced Data Protection #ADP… Because the Home Office is trying to get a global backdoor, and Apple has now withdrawn the service from the 🇬🇧? 😳 https://web.archive.org/web/20250223181157mp_/https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/cyber-security-tips-for-barristers-solicitors-and-legal-professionals

2025-02-24 08:19:41 CET

So, 🇬🇧 businesses to be inundated with hallucinated CVs from benefit recipients understandably meeting punitive targets mainly intended to reduce numbers of benefit claimants 🧐 That will do wonders for productivity 🤖
‘Ministers hope to introduce a “self-serve” #AI platform that can prepare and review CVs, write cover letters and help prepare for job interviews.’
https://www.thetimes.com/article/b52c9651-4cef-469f-8183-4ea5f51f406d?shareToken=2d56390349c8be8cd980f4b877d18008

2025-02-23 22:27:16 CET

“outright fascism in Europe was never quite so well funded and promoted as it is now, since the US government and the social media platforms that do its bidding decided backing outright fascism was a good way to smash the EU.” 🫣
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/23/donald-trump-bullshit-blitz-has-europe-on-its-knees?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

2025-02-21 05:55:03 CET

😵 “Mandatory #OpenBanking would give [officials) constant access to the bank statements of welfare recipients, revealing deeply private information”
https://www.thetimes.com/article/13ea518d-73dc-4898-a1b1-ef22cc3be29e?shareToken=1c6e4651a9d8ff68e1d5d173339aa201

2025-02-15 07:11:43 CET

I can see a resounding judgment coming from the EU Court of Justice that countries without the effective rule of law (eg China, Russia, and soon the USA?) by definition cannot provide adequate protection to Europeans’ personal data 💣
From: @npub1xz0…st3e
https://eupolicy.social/@PaulNemitz/114006376775044529

2025-02-12 15:40:34 CET

Hot off the press! My new analysis: #Security, #privacy and the @npub1m96…ag4y’s proposed #iOS interoperability requirements for connected devices under the Digital Markets Act #DMA https://hdl.handle.net/10438/36526
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/991/433/062/800/922/original/a4caba2808bb6ca3.mp4

2025-02-11 07:31:37 CET

The UK Home Office (interior ministry) appears to have forgotten entirely about the "independent" Technical Advisory Board #TAB whose advice it legally must take when #Apple appeals its secret order ("Technical Capability Notice” leaked to the Washington Post) to compromise #iPhone/ #ADP security worldwide to enable future surveillance by the UK 🤡🤡
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366619028/Apple-British-techies-to-advise-on-devastating-UK-global-crypto-power-grab

2025-01-22 07:27:52 CET

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Meanwhile… Silkie Carlo of Big Brither Watch: “The government should modernise and give people digital options with identity documents, but this approach risks actually narrowing our choices and control over our own data. That’s because, despite our campaign, the government is inexplicably refusing to legally protect the right to use non-digital ID, and hasn’t set out whether we can control how much of our sensitive information will be available via this wallet.”
https://www.thetimes.com/article/babc958b-58a2-4dc6-aae1-c8cd5d61bd04?shareToken=97bd2c52431c5e0b2481e91476e4698e

2025-01-22 07:15:33 CET

🇬🇧 #eVisa system almost comically bad 😱 (does not surprise me in the slightest after the Home Office took nearly a decade to get my passports to work in 🇬🇧 border e-gates) >> “Lisa Uttley, a partner at the law firm Gherson LLP, said that about a third of her clients have encountered issues either with a delay to their account going live or it containing incorrect data.”
https://www.thetimes.com/article/914249fd-df14-49f7-8f64-2208f49378c0?shareToken=93bf301a1814fe15a277cb4233cd1563

2025-01-19 07:47:46 CET

‘Yakoob has paid “substantial” damages and costs for his publication of the video, removed the posts and agreed not to post them again. It is thought to be the first case of a political “#deepfake” — images or video edited or generated using #AI — being subject to a legal settlement in the UK.’
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/i-doorknocked-for-labour-then-racist-deepfake-ruined-my-life-fn6xxc5dc

2025-01-13 08:00:04 CET

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Starmer said: “The AI industry needs a government that is on their side, one that won’t sit back and let opportunities slip through its fingers. In a world of fierce competition, we cannot stand by.” << RIP any remaining shreds of UK data protection law enforcement #ICO #loveGDPR

2025-01-13 07:58:05 CET

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“Its [AIs] potency is equivalent to the nuclear race that we saw in the Forties and Fifties for both weaponry and for civil use,” 🇬🇧 science secretary Peter Kyle said 🫣

2025-01-13 07:56:38 CET

There is no such thing as “anonymised” patient records 😳 >> ‘Under plans to be unveiled by Sir Keir Starmer on Monday, the 🇬🇧 health service is set to make its archives of scans, biodata and anonymised patients records available for the first time to train the latest #AI models.’ #NHS
https://www.thetimes.com/article/8a10f7fb-b35b-4769-bc3d-f981e4bfbefd?shareToken=8678e11adb4787801015fa1dd5da9c47

2025-01-01 09:35:48 CET

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Is it published?

2025-01-01 09:10:30 CET

👀 ‘the [#Britcoin Bank of England] project, which would mark one of the most ambitious overhauls in the way 🇬🇧 consumers can use money in generations, has been thrown into doubt over concerns about user privacy, the costs of creating the technology, and the spread of conspiracy theories about central banks controlling people’s access to their finances‘
https://www.thetimes.com/article/712877a5-4868-4251-8753-3aeed10583b9?shareToken=ea7e60d469dab743986ecbdda2c2e083

2024-12-31 18:57:48 CET

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“The idea of large multinational companies profiting off the back of the NHS is not palatable for many people, and the notion of direct data selling doesn’t go down well with the public,” Prof. Cathie Sudlow said. Her report warned “undue emphasis on [selling data] damages trust” in the system.

2024-12-31 18:53:58 CET

‘UK officials are studying ways to price #NHS patients’ data to streamline the sale of information to companies and researchers, as part of proposals to mine the value of the health service’s vast store of information.’ 😳
https://on.ft.com/405cDOy

2024-12-25 20:29:13 CET

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‘Trump aides have indicated that the fundraising isn’t about the money but a symbolic means to exact an apology for any previous perceived lapse of loyalty.’ 😳

2024-12-25 10:12:32 CET

Humanity will burn every last drop of fossil fuels rather than save the climate 🫠 ‘Italian energy giant #Eni is firing up the world’s most powerful #supercomputer outside the US this Christmas as it races rivals to build the technology infrastructure needed to better explore for new sources of oil and gas.’
https://www.ft.com/content/4d8f9ce3-4fb2-4560-bbf3-7ac0d3fb2872

2024-12-24 12:25:14 CET

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“#Edtech companies are largely composed of engineers, businesspeople and economists,” Jared Cooney Horvath, a neuroscientist and education specialist, said. “Very rarely will you see a practising teacher or educator anywhere in the mix. Their failure to meaningfully impact education is [because] they do not understand the field they are trying to evolve.” 😬 #AI #slop

2024-12-24 12:24:12 CET

“Recent advancements in the AI search experience and the adoption of free generative AI services by students have resulted in challenges for #Chegg and other direct-to-student learning services,” said Nathan Schultz, chief executive and president. “Instead of building critical thinking skills, students often lean on AI for quick answers, which hurts their long-term understanding.”
https://www.ft.com/content/54e8d249-8b95-44df-8bb4-c48ea20c7857

2024-12-12 08:26:51 CET

‘Weighing in at 125kg with an AI brain, the [Chinese police] robots are equipped with tear gas. Designed by Logon Technology, each has a ten-hour battery life and can be equipped with loudspeakers, nets or crowd dispersal devices.’ 😳
https://www.thetimes.com/article/7f6abe40-6b64-491f-9860-a53433e0d438?shareToken=dd0173f08e16a38e4dceac7680bb2aa7

2024-12-09 08:45:44 CET

‘The Finnish [European] commissioner said the Connecting Europe Facility, the #EU’s infrastructure fund, should finance “repairing capabilities and vessels”’ in response to apparent cable sabotage in the Baltic Sea
https://on.ft.com/4f76WVK

2024-12-09 08:39:14 CET

🤨 ‘The EU’s new tech tsar has struck a conciliatory tone towards Elon #Musk as Brussels seeks to repair relations with the US billionaire after a public spat filled with expletives.’ #DSA
https://on.ft.com/3VtxzNw

2024-12-07 08:52:36 CET

🇬🇧 Security Service Director-General Ken ‘McCallum said that most of #MI5’s work two decades ago was shaped by “choices being taken in caves in Afghanistan” but was now often based on “choices being taken in boardrooms” by tech companies on #encryption policies.’
https://www.thetimes.com/article/b6838edc-52d8-41ea-8de5-6a8404043d85?shareToken=c5d3ab34d3892164765318ca7c0da8aa

2024-12-01 17:12:33 CET

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“His British freedom of speech crusade is 100 per cent about retaliation to the perceived threat from regulators to X,” said the person who has worked closely with Musk. X is currently hiring for a regulatory legal counsel in London or Dublin.

2024-12-01 17:11:31 CET

“#Musk has been radicalised by his own platform,” said a British tech lobbyist, referring to the algorithms on #X that have been feeding him content about British politics. “I wouldn’t underestimate the extent to which the trolling is peacocking for the rightwing bros in the ‘manosphere’ he’s now in with.”
https://on.ft.com/3CRIkTj

2024-11-30 10:24:42 CET

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that was fixed by reinstalling it on my iPhone. But now I’m having the same problem with the iPadOS version 😬

2024-11-28 09:47:28 CET

‘Most of #Ireland’s huge budget surplus — expected to be €24bn this year — is driven by US companies based in the country, making it vulnerable to any [#Trump tax] policy shift. Besides global tech companies, Ireland hosts manufacturing operations for pharmaceutical company Pfizer and chipmaker Intel.’
https://on.ft.com/3CXivkG

2024-11-26 13:43:50 CET

#Enshittification is Macquarie's word of year! Well-deserved, @npub1fdr…lvhs, who ‘adds a fourth stage to the tech platforms’ scatological journey from being good to users, to abusing them in favour of their customers, to abusing their customers to serve themselves.
“Then they die”’ https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/nov/26/enshittification-macquarie-dictionary-word-of-the-year-explained

2024-11-26 10:44:42 CET

🤣 Universal Music Group “conspired with and paid currently unknown parties to use ‘bots’ to artificially inflate the spread of [Kendrick Lamar’s] Not Like Us and deceive consumers into believing the song was more popular than it was in reality,” Drake’s lawyers write
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/nov/26/drake-kendrick-lamar-umg-spotify-not-like-us-claims-ntwnfb

2024-11-25 10:33:32 CET

‘The #Mate70 smartphone set to be released on Tuesday will feature #HarmonyOS Next, which #Huawei hopes to establish as a third major mobile operating system alongside Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android… Huawei says it already has 15,000 native apps and services running, including must-haves like #Tencent’s #WeChat messaging service, #Alibaba’s #Taobao online mall and #Meituan’s food delivery app.’
https://on.ft.com/4g2k1QK

2024-11-23 13:40:08 CET

@npub1nwk…dgjz my iOS app is crashing after 10 seconds every time I load it 😭

2024-11-21 22:31:52 CET

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you never know! 😉

2024-11-20 22:04:00 CET

Moment of truth as #Bluesky hits critical mass. Will its #moderation tools scale? Especially without aggressive monetisation to support them 🧐 (#Mastodon’s distributed model will hopefully get to the same point in future…)
From: @npub1cqh…8tnn
https://social.openrightsgroup.org/@JamesBaker/113517224951274537

2024-11-19 13:40:55 CET

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If you read the article, you’ll see the author very much does. If you aren’t a subscriber — how do you know?

2024-11-19 12:52:30 CET

Caligula “killed what was left of the [Roman] republic and centralised authority in himself. Donald #Trump does not need to make his horse a senator; it will be enough to keep appointing charlatans to America’s great offices of state. Rome was not destroyed by outsiders. Its demolition was the work of barbarians from within.”
https://www.ft.com/content/379dadff-92f7-4901-9432-403fd3c56f5d

2024-11-19 08:51:39 CET

Couldn’t make it up. 🇬🇧’s notoriously ineffective data protection regulator marks 40th anniversary of his office by explaining why he doesn’t use most of its powers 🤡
https://www.thetimes.com/article/caba21bf-8171-441e-b5b5-a8c9ec34203c?shareToken=71e81ad245aeb7525906dc5a1d0a46c9

2024-11-19 08:20:30 CET

‘A new 🇬🇧 national centre of policing will be set up to provide all police forces with expertise in forensics, drone technology, artificial intelligence and other technological advances.’ ✅
https://www.thetimes.com/article/cd045e08-de8c-4d02-a67b-054a6409030a?shareToken=3c29dda8c6a71e25b2fb29bcc3d44dd2

2024-11-18 11:10:49 CET

Geopolitical graph of the month (quite startling), from 🇬🇧 Sunday Times yesterday. #LatinAmerica #trade
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/113/503/413/580/869/662/original/856b7c6ad7388028.png