Rather than trying to push thru social media bans and promoting uncritical AI use in schools, politicians in Ireland and elsewhere need to look more closely at just how complex online abuse actually is. The online world is a growing disaster in unexpected ways www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

We are looking for someone with significant experience to lead our policy team and work. This is an opportunity to shape and guide our policy output and have a direct impact on Ireland’s civil liberties and human rights landcape. Apply by 5pm on Sunday 31 May. lnkd.in/dZsQBMwJ

2 year research postdoc at UCL @laws.ucl.ac.uk on data and democracy, public law focus — could focus on surveillance and/or AI issues www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Chinese researchers have created a bamboo-based plastic as strong as petroleum-based plastics, which can fully biodegrade in soil in just 2 months phys.org/news/2025-10...

#Bookreview in @science.org! “The future is not a train to wait for but rather a canvas we co-create individually and collectively” #Authors www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Listen back to Ronan Murphy and @tjmcintyre.com who were excellent on @news.rte.ie's Today with David McCullagh explaining why proposals to allow gardaí access encrypted communications is so problematic from a technical, legal and human rights point of view 👇 www.rte.ie/radio/radio1...

Every sensible government will spend the coming months accelerating the deployment of solar, batteries, heat pumps, and EVs, especially for lower income households. It’ll be a hell of a lot cheaper in the long run than subsidising fossil fuels the next time prices spike, which they will.

Isabel Hayes: Court reports can make for distressing reading. There are good reasons for that. Press Ombudsman’s recent comments on graphic language in court reports highlight an issue court reporters have been attuned to for years. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...

Interested in researching AI and judicial decision making? @brianbarryirl.bsky.social at Trinity College Dublin has two funded PhD vacancies (one in law, one in social sciences).

“It's our position that this incremental introduction of laws conferring extraordinary powers risks entrenching a durable surveillance architecture in Irish society" - @olgacronin.bsky.social speaking to @techpolicypress.bsky.social about the government's plans. www.techpolicy.press/irelands-new...

"I grew up across the street from a public library, and it was the only place my mom would let me go on my own. It was my second home, and I read everything that I could get." ~ Tracy Chapman Chapman by Nicholas Albrecht #Booksky

We're recruiting an AI expert to help us ensure supervision and enforcement of human rights in the context of AI and automated decision-making systems. The deadline to apply is next Wed 15 April but we will assess applications on a rolling basis so please apply early. www.iccl.ie/digital-data...

Life achievement unlocked. “Your Data Will Be Used Against You” in Wired. #BookSky

A Tennessee grandmother spent nearly six months behind bars after artificial intelligence facial recognition software wrongly identified her as a suspect in a bank fraud case – in North Dakota – a state she says she had never even visited. #rhizomaticharm www.the-independent.com/news/world/a...

@mariamurphy.bsky.social and I have written a short report on protecting the ‘Privacy’ in Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) www.iccl.ie/news/new-icc... @iccl.bsky.social @maynoothuniversity.ie

Thrilled to share what the great historian @timothysnyder.bsky.social has to say about #PROPHECY! To pre-order the #book: US: a.co/d/00PLNpOt UK: amzn.eu/d/01WcZ4MQ #BookRecommendation

This weeks discussion with @tjmcintyre.com & @adrianweckler.bsky.social is really worth a listen if you're in Ireland and interested in tech policy or privacy. podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/t...

“Uruguay did what most nations still call impossible: it built a power grid that runs almost entirely on renewables—at half the cost of fossil fuels. The physicist who led that transformation says the same playbook could work anywhere—if governments have the courage to change the rules.”

I'm very happy to have published a chapter in this excellent, open-access collection, "Being Human in the Digital World:" www.cambridge.org/core/service... Kudos to expert editors Beate Roessler and Valerie Steeves, as well as fellow authors Julie Cohen, David Lyon, Helen Nissenbaum, & more!

Delighted to announce that we are the REVEL Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence @maynoothuniversity.ie. We will be organising a host of activities over the next 3 years on "Realising European Values and European Law" (REVEL). Stay tuned (follow us) for more. www.maynoothuniversity.ie/news-events/...

It's great to see #PROPHECY gathering friends. Thank you so much for everyone who has pre-ordered. It matters. It gets noticed. It's part of being in the conversation. THANK YOU! #Book www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/759692...

Delighted to be a part of this Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence focused on Realising European Values and European Law @maynoothlaw.bsky.social! Excited to lead the work package on digital enforcement! 🇪🇺

Delighted to be part of a wonderful team and leading the new @reveljmce.bsky.social. Lots to come in terms of activities (please follow us!) - for now: thanks to our wonderful colleagues @maynoothlaw.bsky.social; @muresearch.bsky.social for their invaluable support!

And a bit shout out to our wonderful team (who will be doing all the substantive work): Dr Derek Barter, Dr Ollie Bartlett; Dr David Mangan; @orlakelleher.bsky.social; @mariamurphy.bsky.social; @hubertsmekal.bsky.social; @oscharles.bsky.social.

In a similar vein, the Orkney Islands produce an excess of electricity from wind, wave and tide power.

📣 I am hiring a postdoc! aial.ie/hiring/postd... applications from suitable candidates that are passionate about investigating the use of genAI in public service operations with the aim of keeping governments transparent and accountable are welcome pls share with your networks

The "don't worry about facial recognition tech" arguments are not faring well...

EU Big Tech law EU Commission - preliminary finding that Meta and TikTok have breached the Digital Services Act ec.europa.eu/commission/p... concerns content moderation appeals, notice of illegal material, researchers' access to data NB not a final decision (possibly with fines) yet

It was great to be back at the Irish Parliament yesterday at the Joint Committee on AI. Joe O'Brien and I @iccl.bsky.social are grateful for the invitation from the Committee. Video: IHREC at minute 20 and ICCL from 1 hr 40 min. www.oireachtas.ie/en/oireachta...

Tory MP reports deepfake video to police www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Infrastructure x Democracy — what could be more interesting? I'm very excited to be moderating this panel!

This event looks incredible. Really sad I can’t make it to London that evening. Congrats @nniloideain.bsky.social on the book-it’s next in my to read pile!

🚨🚨 #Denmark aims to ban #socialmedia for children under 15. PM Mette Frederiksen says "We have unleashed a monster" to Danish lawmakers. 🧵https://www.politico.eu/article/denmark-mette-frederiksen-partially-ban-social-media-children-under-15/

"Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved." "What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make." Jane Goodall was the best of us.

"You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” Rest in power, Dr. Jane Goodall

🕊️ The world has lost a revered conservationist -- a colossal power for what is truly good. 🕊️ Jane Goodall is a legend who helped open the door to science to the best humans among us: woman. 🕊️ She was brave, brilliant and introduced us to the best things among us: animals. 🕊️ I grieve her passing.

New article out with Katie Nolan (@katieanolan.bsky.social) and Orla Lynskey in the Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies: 'Digital Empire or Digital Fiefdoms? Institutional Tensions and the EU Right to Data Protection'. Open access at: doi.org/10.1017/cel.... @cambup-law.cambridge.org

Hobbyhorse: at university, lectures remain an incredible format. They introduce & explore a huge amount of content in a short period of time. They scaffold further reading, with a personal twist. Workshops, etc, do their own thing, but don't replace effective lectures: share.google/AyFxBwYh5BYM...

Oh this is BAD. The new TOC from academia dot edu. You grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license, permission, and consent to use your Member Content and your personal information (including, but not limited to, your name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness…

Conor Gearty was, without hesitation, the best academic writer I’ve read. He was also a thoroughly decent and kind human being who fearlessly used his position speak truth to power. Conor did law, politics and academia the right way and he will be sorely missed. Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.

Very sad to hear of the untimely death of Conor Gearty, a lovely individual, one of our finest legal academics, and a central figure in promoting human rights worldwide.

📣AI propaganda factories🏭 are now operational. My study shows how small, open-weight models can run as fully automatic generators in influence campaigns. mechanising personas, engagement, cadence. Possible for State, non-state, and micro-actors, including and bedroom ones.

'Artificial intelligence tools used by more than half of England’s councils are downplaying women’s physical and mental health issues and risk creating gender bias in care decisions, research [led by Sam Rickman, LSE] has found.' 1/2

Short op-ed by me explaining the importance of ambitious 2031-2040 carbon budgets and EU 2040 targets for intergenerational climate justice. These are critical moments to level with the public about the scale of the emission reduction challenge. @maynoothlaw.bsky.social @ejni.bsky.social

Forthcoming March 2026

NO. AI. FOR. WAR. CRIMES!!!

New from 404 Media: ICE is using a new facial recognition app to identify people, leaked emails show. Point camera at person, reveal their identity. It uses the CBP system that records peoples' faces as they enter or exit the U.S. Now, turned inwards to be used by ICE www.404media.co/ice-is-using...

Neurotechnologies are being used in increasingly to make claims on the neural correlates of learning - here's our paper featuring the brain glasses example up top of the thread and we have another on the neuro-informationalization of the learning brain out shortly icyi doi.org/10.1080/1750...