Whitehall is coded safety-first – fixing the UK’s problems must start with incentivising civil servants to be bolder ✍️ @matthewfeeney.bsky.social https://www.politicshome.com/opinion/article/whitehall-coded-safetyfirst-fixing-uks-problems-start-incentivising-civil-servants-bolder

How do you fix Britain? Remake the State. Less than 3 weeks to go until our flagship annual conference, taking place in London on 1 July. Delighted to welcome The Rt Hon Darren Jones MP, The Rt Hon Steve Reed MP, Nick Timothy MP and Danny Kruger MP as keynote speakers.

✉️The Re:View is out! This week, @matthewfeeney.bsky.social writes about why we aren't saving enough for retirement, and how local authoriteis could do better public service reform. restate.substack.com/p/the-review...

🚨 NEW FROM THE DEVO NEXT INITIATIVE 🚨 The Chancellor’s commitment to develop a fiscal devolution roadmap represents a significant opportunity. Re:State's Devo Next Initiative today publishes a set of design principles to realise the full potential of fiscal devolution.

📣 New research: today we published Building the Preventative State, the summary paper of a series of roundtables and workshops we ran last year on how to deliver prevention in public services. This programme has kindly been supported by Newton. re-state.co.uk/publications...

"I am proud to announce that for the first time ever, we are introducing performance-based pay progression for the senior civil service" @darrenpjones.bsky.social has just laid a written ministerial statement announcing changes to SCS pay. This is v good...🧵

In case you missed it 📣 Last week we published 'A new Civil Service Code', the first attempt in two decades to rewrite the Code and make it fit for the challenges of modern government, by @matthewfeeney.bsky.social @charliepickles.bsky.social, @jo3hill.bsky.social re-state.co.uk/publications...

The Re:View is up ⬆️ This week @alwalker.bsky.social takes a look at the ideas shaping the Labour leadership contest from @labourgrowth.bsky.social and the Tribune Group. restate.substack.com/p/the-review...

📢In case you missed it: Last week we published 'Beyond caring', which makes the case for a fairer and more sustainable social care funding model for later life - based on a 'prefunded' system with contributions over the course of working life. re-state.co.uk/publications...

I am thrilled to announce my big new project, Liberalism.org. Coming 3/12. It’s is a journal of liberal ideas, edited by @jkuznicki.bsky.social, with new podcasts from me and @uncanonical.net. It’s a project of @theihs.org, and has a superstar lineup of contributors. Sign up to get notified here:

We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...

Police shouldn’t get ‘open-book’ access to your phone. In a major boost for digital privacy, Michigan now demands tailored warrants. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

It is a sad indictment on much of the American media that someone asking one of the most powerful politicians in the world a basic question is considered groundbreaking or noteworthy.

The government is pushing for amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill with the explicit intent of accessing information stored in foreign servers and two-factor authentication codes. hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025...

Seven years ago, ‪@davidjbier.bsky.social‬ and I wrote a paper on CBP drones. We noted that CBP had stated "that it does not deploy [drones] to monitor protests and other activities protected by the First Amendment." www.cato.org/immigration-...

Trying to not think about the Great Filter and concentrate on science being neat. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal has rejected the Home Office’s attempt to keep the proceedings of the Apple encryption-breaching case secret. The tribunal did not buy the government's national security arguments. t.co/6K5gtZ2osf

There's quite a lot of unhelpful reporting suggesting that high ranked natsec officials shouldn't use @signal.org because it's compromised. No. Use Signal.* *But if you're a high ranked natsec official maybe don't use your personal phone for work and obey record retention laws.

You could write a whole Coase Theorem exam based on this one article. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I knew before clicking on it that he was going to cite "fire in a crowded theatre". Just knew it.

"The British government’s undisclosed order, issued last month, requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material, not merely assistance in cracking a specific account, and has no known precedent in major democracies." Then it exceeds the scope of TCNs. Unless it is for bulk intercept?

TCNs create a capability that can only be used by the operator to provide data in connection with a relevant authorisation, which is either a targeted interception warrant, communications data warrant, equipment interference warrant, or bulk interception warrant

Extraordinarly bad for everyone’s privacy and security. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

This order from the UK govt to access all encrypted cloud content related to any Apple customer is unprecedented. No other liberal democracy has ever asked for an encryption breach on this scale, and it's likely other companies have been sent similar orders. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

You can have a mass deportation policy agenda or you can have civil liberties. You cannot have both.

The population would object if police access to the house also allowed foreign adversaries and criminals the opportunity to steal house keys, pin codes, etc. www.belganewsagency.eu/europol-chie...

This is my first week as Big Brother Watch's advocacy manager. I'm looking forward to working with my new colleagues to defend free speech and privacy at a time when civil liberties in the UK are unfortunately in a sorry state. bigbrotherwatch.org.uk

Farewell, CPS. Thank you for the last few years. I’m looking forward to the next gig, which starts next week.

I cannot stress this enough: download Signal. Move a lot of your stuff there so there aren’t obvious holes in your seizable records. Many of the people in power are using end-to-end encryption (and coincidentally avoiding PRA/FOIA). You should be at least as careful as they are.

"the truth is that Brits are consistently more authoritarian on questions of civil liberties than most politicians realise.” www.thetimes.com/article/8c29...

Friends, FBI has responded to my FOIA request for Kevin Mitnick's files, and have made them available to everyone via the FBI public portal here: vault.fbi.gov/kevin-mitnic...

Hi, hi! 👋👋👋 Calling all wonks in my little Bluesky ecosystem. I'm trying to get a starter pack for UK tech policy going. Please send me recommendations, tell me if you want to be added, and/or holler if I've missed anyone. Looking for all the help I can get! Thanks in advance go.bsky.app/SSXjTf

Betting market for this, please. www.ft.com/content/69ac...

A rather strange article by Anthony Seldon in today’s Times. 1) Generative AI was not released in 2022. 2) You can argue that teachers should police AI in school, but that will be as effective as banning calculators in the classroom while knowing kids will use calculators for home work.

I'm looking forward to the day when headlines like this are widely-considered to be evidence of misguided luddite nonsense. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

My latest paper is on deepfakes amid the ongoing British general election campaign. As with past content-creation technologies, lawmakers should look to content-specific applications rather than the technology itself. cps.org.uk/research/fac...

Crazy. "[CFTC commissioner] Johnson said the CFTC’s proposal is also needed for “the preservation of the protection and integrity of our electoral Democratic processes.” How does betting on elections erode the integrity of Democratic processes? www.politico.com/news/2024/05...

Playing chess with ChatGPT4 is interesting. It made an illegal move, I pointed this out, and its explanation made no sense. chat.openai.com/share/c7eb7d...

It's not the most important point in the article, but I don't see how we reach the point of having interstellar human communities without also having near-instant communication à la wormholes or similar. quillette.com/2024/04/11/b...

Bizarre but intriguing paper. "The more exposed people are to automation technologies, the researchers find, the weaker their religious beliefs." www.chicagobooth.edu/review/where...

Oh dear.

I went to see #DunePart2 on the largest screen in the UK and it did not disappoint. But there have been two features of the film that are bothering me: 1) A number of elements and characters from the book are conspicuous by their absence. I think it made sense in Part 1 not to include Irulan ...🧵

Dad talking about Greek tragedy, the Sopranos, opera, Saving Private Ryan, and the god Dionysus getting his own seat at the theatre. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cIJ...

I think this might be my favourite graphic novel adaptation in any medium. The cast is great and having @neilhimself.neilgaiman.com narrating is an extra treat. Act II and II are also available. www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Sandm...

Interesting update from Signal re: quantum resistance. "PQXDH protects messages exchanged on Signal against the threat of a future quantum computer. We will need to make further upgrades to address the threat of an attacker with a contemporaneous quantum computer." signal.org/blog/pqxdh/

I wasn’t sure what my first post should be. I opted for a creepy sign I saw in Vienna.