It appears the UK Labor government is moving forward with plans to introduce digital IDs to address complex migration challenges www.ft.com/content/f2b3... In July, @margchee.bsky.social, @kerenweitzberg.bsky.social and I wrote about the challenges that lie ahead blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp...

On ICE and IMSI catchers www.forbes.com/sites/the-wi...

A friendly reminder that use of Clearview AI's tech is highly restricted if not banned in many parts of the world like the EU, UK, Canada, and Australia. It's been repeatedly fined for contravening these country's laws. www.404media.co/ice-spends-m...

What some call the "splinternet" others describe as the exercise of technological sovereignty www.economist.com/business/202...

Ethiopia banned foreign imports of vehicles with internal combustion engines. China set up an electric vehicle assembly there. As a result, Ethiopia’s economy is decarbonizing: imports of oil and gas have been flat since 2019, while the economy grew 70% www.noemamag.com/the-new-geop...

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New piece in @dialoguesdigsoc.bsky.social with @linnetelwin.bsky.social, @spdesouza.bsky.social & @joanuros.bsky.social Governing AI (also) means governing markets, institutions and people doi.org/10.1177/2976... In response to @linadencik.bsky.social, @teresascassa.bsky.social et al. 🙏

"Asking help from a chatbot, you’re going to get empathy, but you’re not going to get help." www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/t...

UK government asks everybody to stop using VPNs. "everybody who's out there thinking of using VPNs...verifying your age keeps a child safe...So let's just not try and find a way around. Just prove your age." - UK government

Australia's age-verification regulation appears to be unravelling. Members of a government committee claim AV companies are wildly overstating the accuracy of their tech and unwilling or unable to prove they're deleting personal information post- verification. Several members have quit in protest.

ICE’s Office of Acquisition Management has issued a Special Notice of Intent to award facial recognition services exclusively to Clearview AI under FAR 6.302-1, which permits bypassing competitive bidding www.biometricupdate.com/202508/ice-p...

#CfP: Special issue on #BigTech in global #security governance! What happens when digital giants learn to see the world through a #security lens? Edited by @mg-borelli.bsky.social, K. Ermoshina, F. Musiani & @gulnarazakharova.bsky.social 👉Submit abstract by 21 Sep: policyreview.info/events/call-...

Counting without Accounting? The Evolution of Identity Technology and Social Justice in Kenya by @bomu.bsky.social et al. brill.com/view/journal...

This is a stupid argument. ZKPs aren’t bad because they’re not confidential enough. Worry instead because people can ask you to prove anything, at any time, to provision or deny you access to services, while saying ‘privacy is solved’! Rules, not disclosure, are the risk. Do better @eff.org.

A question for the AI lawyers and governance nerds out there: What emerging, draft or finalized AI laws/regulations mandate the development of international standards like the EU AI Act does with CEN/CENELEC? Is this just an EU thing or has the practice spread?

New paper out in @bigdatasoc.bsky.social on #humanitarian #data #sovereignty💥 doi.org/10.1177/2053... My deep gratitude to @kerenweitzberg.bsky.social, @margchee.bsky.social, @emryss.bsky.social, Quito Tsui, Paul Currion, @sophiebt.bsky.social, and @massimomarelli.bsky.social for the inspiration ❤️

Musk ordered the shutdown of Starlink satellite service as Ukraine retook territory from Russia, people familiar with the command told Reuters reut.rs/45mrXK8

Data Protection in Humanitarian Action: Responding to Crises in a Data-Driven World www.routledge.com/Data-Protect...

New blog with the team @kerenweitzberg.bsky.social @empo11on.bsky.social about the concerns we have about the proposed mandatory UK digital ID system blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp... @lseblogs.bsky.social

Our latest on Labour's ill-advised "Britcard" blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandp... with @empo11on.bsky.social and @margchee.bsky.social

"Rather than being a defining factor in an individual being targeted [by the Taliban], it is likely that public knowledge of the dataset would be simply another factor in exacerbating a person’s existing vulnerability," the Whitehall review concluded. www.ft.com/content/dbba...

“According to data from the International Energy Agency, by 2030 the US will consume more energy for processing data than for manufacturing aluminium, steel, cement and chemicals combined.” on.ft.com/4nM39m2

Google Pay and Walmart-owned PhonePe together account for over 80% of transactions on India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The government plans to limit payment apps to 30% of UPI-enabled transactions for fair competition by Dec. 2026. restofworld.org/2025/whatsap... h/t @emryss.bsky.social

💥Great paper by @kerenweitzberg.bsky.social in @scmrjems.bsky.social, "Keeping people out of camps: biometric technologies, contested sovereignty, and border practices within humanitarian spaces", which explores the experiences of Kenyans registered as refugees: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

"On July 15, the [Chinese] government will launch 'digital IDs' for use on the internet, shifting responsibility for online verification from private firms to the gov't. This is a potentially huge change in the state’s control over data." www.economist.com/china/2025/0... h/t @margchee.bsky.social

A reminder: age verification is an "automated decision system" so the 10 year moratorium would wipe out the Texas law that the Supreme Court just blessed a few hours ago.

Wonderful new research article in @devandchg.bsky.social by @debos.bsky.social on the role and influence of European identity tech companies in promoting biometric voting in Africa, i.e. the 'ultimate frontier' for digital identification onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The EU has released three more implementing acts for the EUDI wallet for public feedback, while Ukraine adopts a new regulation for digital ID wallets to further align with EU standards www.biometricupdate.com/202506/eu-re... @emryss.bsky.social, @kerenweitzberg.bsky.social, @margchee.bsky.social

Against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions surrounding digital tech, Quito Tsui & I discuss emerging challenges in humanitarian connectivity initiatives using low earth orbit satellites & raise questions for humanitarians www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/02/06/2... cc @globalpolicy.bsky.social

Olumuyiwa Olowogboyega: "African connectivity has long been framed as a scale game: whoever reaches the most people wins. Starlink is making a different bet: infrastructure-light consistency, distributed across enough countries, might be just as powerful." www.semafor.com/article/05/2...

With @kerenweitzberg.bsky.social, I've been exploring the intersection of AI governance & #digitalidentity. In an essay in the new #openaccess 𝗥𝗲𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜 collection, we reflect on how companies like @world.org are resignifying #biometrics in the AI age libraopen.lib.virginia.edu/public_view/...

The State Department reportedly pressured African countries to adopt Elon Musk’s Starlink

Very excited to be part of this volume, “Reimagining AI for Environmental Justice and Creativity,” with Aaron Martin @empo11on.bsky.social. Where we discuss tech companies like 'World' and the quest of biometrically authenticated 'personhood' in the AI age. doi.org/10.18130/03d...

Proud to announce the launch of our report on the challenges that refugees and migrants in Kenya face accessing state-issued identification, generously funded by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, and co-produced w/ Haki na Sheria w/ support from Caribou Digital www.cariboudigital.net/publication/...

"W. Gyude Moore, a fellow at @cgdev.org, said it appears more African countries are approving Starlink than were before the Trump administration. He said it is difficult for African officials to disentangle U.S. government demands from Musk’s." www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

In our new article, Can Mutlu, @biometricstate.bsky.social and I argue for more attention to how smartphone apps are used at borders. Available in #openaccess!

Meta plans to use AI to proactively look for teen accounts that have an adult birthday, and change settings for users it suspects are kids www.theverge.com/news/651826/...

The continued convergence of digital identity and payment systems seems like a big deal www.biometricupdate.com/202503/rise-...

SCOOP: DOGE is hosting a “hackathon” in DC next week with the goal of building one “mega API” for accessing all IRS data. Palantir has been brought up as a potential partner. www.wired.com/story/doge-h...

Every day we learn anew just how much classified ads were perhaps the load-bearing pillar of American hegemony

"If U.S. companies persist in identifying with a U.S. administration that is hostile to Europe, it is likely that Europe will want its own companies and platforms to build technological fortifications against its former ally and protector." www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

"If software is eating the world, national security is now eating software." — @anupamchander.bsky.social ❤️ scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/2654/

OpenAI and Google ask the government to let them train AI on content they don’t own

NEW: The country's first age verification bill for app stores is headed to the Utah governor's desk, but a legal battle seems all but certain. www.fastcompany.com/91291565/uta...

American AI/law/policy ppl — Trying to understand the state of/fate of Commerce's AI infrastructure as a service KYC rules. They are in Biden's AI EO (repealed) but also come from a 19th January 2021 Trump exec order I don't think Biden repealed. Are they still happening? Rule was proposed 2024...

Voice cloning used to impersonate Italy's defence minister in a scam targeting a number of rich people under the pretext of raising millions for a fake ransom for journalists. At least one businessman transferred €1 million. www.ft.com/content/8e91...

That email from Hulu that you probably deleted says they'll be serving ads to their "ad free" subscription customers.

In 2017, @linnetelwin.bsky.social asked: what's #datajustice? Over the next five years, her Global Data Justice project sought answers across varied sectors, communities, and technologies In a culminating research paper, we propose four benchmarks for just #AI #governance❗ doi.org/10.1177/2976...

new #datajustice paper from the Global Data Justice project in @robkitchin.bsky.social's new journal: Who do current #datagovernance models benefit, who has a say in how they work, and what benchmarks could we use if we want justice-oriented #AI governance? journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

In 2017, @linnetelwin.bsky.social asked: what's #datajustice? Over the next five years, her Global Data Justice project sought answers across varied sectors, communities, and technologies In a culminating research paper, we propose four benchmarks for just #AI #governance❗ doi.org/10.1177/2976...