I once had an FRT vendor tell me that facial recognition would be great at weddings. It could tell you who the guests are and how they know the couple. Or you know, you could talk to the other guests and find out 🙃 So many tech solutions in search of a problem.

Delighted to be speaking at @sxswsydney.com again. This time with the excellent Lizzie O’Shea, DRW, Sarah Davies,(A&M F) and Rispah from Telstra Foundation Youth Advisory Council. We’ll be discussing what the internet would be like if it was designed by and for children.

25 years ago I worked in a shop. By virtue of its central location, we had a lot of celebrities come in to buy stuff. Without hesitation I can tell you that Henri Szeps was the kindest, the most charming, and most polite of them all. A genuinely good human. Rest in power.

By the time a child turns 13 more than 72 million pieces of data have been collected about them, so we’re passing children and young people the mic, to hear what protections they want from a Children’s Online Privacy Code www.oaic.gov.au/news/blog/su...

What would the internet be like if it was designed by and for children? Today is the last day of voting for SXSW Sydney's conference track, and we'd love your support to host this conversation alongside OAIC's @katebower.bsky.social: publicvoting.sxswsydney.com/profile/ca36...

At the risk of someone replying ‘ok boomer’, am I listening to Triple J #Hottest100 or the TikTok #Hottest100?

Excited to be joining the OAIC at the end of Jan to lead the privacy reform implementation task force www.linkedin.com/posts/carly-...

NEW: Meta has quietly dismantled the system that prevented misinformation from spreading in the United States. Machine-learning classifiers that once identified viral hoaxes and limited their reach have now been switched off, Platformer has learned www.platformer.news/meta-ends-mi...

Delighted to be featured on Kendra Vant’s substack, Data Runs Deep. It’s one of my fave newsletters on AI open.substack.com/pub/kendrava...

Controversial opinion - Melbourne’s A1 Bakery is not a patch on Sydney’s Earlwood Lebanese Bakery. Something’s actually are better in Sydney.

Whistleblowers raising concerns about harmful digital platforms and holding tech companies to account are supported by a new practical guide—Technology-Related Whistleblowing—built in collaboration with @humanrightshrlc.bsky.social @reset.tech @psst-org.bsky.social www.hrlc.org.au/reports-news...

Popped into Kmart for Xmas shopping, only option to pay was the AI-driven self serve checkout. Of course I got an error that needed a human to check, in fact all 7 checkouts had errors. 1 poor overworked employee running around fixing the mistakes caused by AI. So much productivity!

Facebook have a help page dedicated to checking whether you or your friends logged into the "This is Your Digital Life" app: www.facebook.com/help/1873665...

Me: as of last night, I’ve seen 25 bands play live this year Also me: why am I so tired all the time

Australian #lawyers “cannot safely enter” confidential or commercially sensitive information into public generative #AI engines like ChatGPT, Gemini or Grok, authorities in three states have warned in issuing explicit guidelines on genAI’s use in law. Read more: ia.acs.org.au/article/2024...

Thanks @miahhe.bsky.social for sharing your thoughts with me and @drwaus.bsky.social

Please tell your kids, every damn day if necessary, that chatGPT is not a goddamn search engine and you shouldn’t believe a word it says. Tell the adults too, but it’s especially imperative to inoculate kids against this

I heard this is a good place to talk about taxing the rich, breaking up big tech, and ending Washington corruption.

'Venntel takes location data from smartphones, either through ordinary apps installed on them or through the advertising ecosystem, and provides a data feed to other companies who sell location tracking technology to the government or sells the data directly itself.' www.404media.co/ftc-bans-loc...

Mira Murati: "we're about to see immense potential with abundance of intelligence, energy, and even meaning" Abundance of energy and meaning! The latter is missing from this video. And of course she has to preach that energy is abundant. Because their tech depends on it. It's like a cult. ->

Don’t tell anyone but I’ve been using Bing since it came default on my new laptop. But I suppose that’s rather the point the ACCC is making. Default browsers and search are bad for competition and consumers are unlikely to switch (including consumer advocates who know better)

OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR SPOTIFY ITS DECEMBER WE KNOW YOU HAVE THE 2024 WRAPPED IN THERE WITH YOU

My review of Zahra Stardust’s ‘Indie Porn: Revolution, Regulation and Resistance’ for @overlandjournal.bsky.social is up today. It’s a potent work of research and storytelling, and is also super relevant to the current state of australian tech policy debate. overland.org.au/2024/12/plea...

The core task of democratic governments will be to reclaim the primacy of governance from tech companies, and why Trump’s election challenges this ↘️ www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

No, thanks! 🙅‍♀️ www.technologyreview.com/2024/11/20/1...

This is tech-solutionism at its worst. Predictive AI when used on problems with a history of racism & discrimination, like criminal justice/ corrections, will inevitably entrench and amplify those biases. 1/2 www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

Happy Christmas privacy nerds, the POLA Bill has passed 🎉🎉 More to be done but it’s still worth celebrating progress.

Not me refreshing the ABC live blog of the Senate every 3 seconds 🫣

'The Australian Ad Observatory: A web of invisible influence' 🎥 admscentre.org/ad-observato... Produced by ADM+S in collaboration with project researchers and industry partners, this short-film explores key questions, challenges, outcomes & future directions in one of our major research projects.

Last night on ABC 7.30, I spoke about facial surveillance proliferating in pubs, casinos and stadiums. All orgs using FRT need to be reviewing the Bunnings decision & ensuring the ends justify the means. Great interviews w/ Ed Santow and Ted Dunstone too. newsapp.abc.net.au/newsapp/1046...

The Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment (POLA) Bill is on the list for tomorrow. We might get privacy reform for Christmas 🎄

"You don't like handing over government ID to a large social media platform? That's ok, you can use biometric facial recognition instead. All good!"

My key learning from 2 days of talking about biometrics and FRT at a privacy conference is that we (privacy and digital rights advocates) need to get better at communicating the different uses and risks of the tech & we can start by using the term biometric surveillance or facial surveillance

Delighted to be included in this starter pack of critical voices on AI or as I like to call them truth tellers go.bsky.app/ECWQzUA

It's been really heartening working with @dezuanni.bsky.social, @aleeshajoy.bsky.social and Amanda Levido to produce the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child's response to the Social Media Ban for Under16s Bill that was tabled yesterday. digitalchild.org.au/research/pub...

My submission to the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee regarding the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024

I think we all know the answer to that one! It isn’t meaningful consultation. Completely insulting that they would introduce this bill against mountains of expert advice and then give 24 hrs to respond to it. An absolute disgrace, the Albanese government should be ashamed of themselves.

Digital rights advocate @katebower.bsky.social joined Peter Clarke on this episode of Life Matters to chat about the Federal Government's proposed changes to Australia's privacy laws: www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Very happy to see the Commissioner confirm what we suspected. Bunnings broke the law and breached our privacy. But the fact it’s taken 2.5 years to decide shows we need a technology specific law that clearly sets the red lines for this invasive tech.

Who is buying this? Kmart, I need answers.