2/ The UK's age verification law forces law-abiding citizens to hand over personal data / scan their faces as they browse. Compelling folks to participate a massive clandestine census of browsing activity. As these troves of data grow, they expose everyone to the risk of new breaches. And worse.

Unfortunately, Bluesky is unavailable in Mississippi right now, due to a new state law that requires age verification for all users. While intended for child safety, we think this law poses broader challenges & creates significant barriers that limit free speech & harm smaller platforms like ours.

Post images & videos of the inside your house at your peril. This new tool uses pictures taken inside your house to identify your exact location. As a service. It will be abused to target people. For theft. Stalking. And worse.

My prediction for the UK's Age Verification? The failure to protect children will become obvious. But the systems that force grownups to provide their IDs before sharing political views will persist. Because too many bureaucrats and certain big corporations benefit.

Voy a dictar éste taller durante el mes de agosto. 50 dólares, 12 horas en dos fines de semana. ¿Quieres saber más? No dejes de preguntar.

The US and China are engaged in a high-stakes competition to shape the future of AI. Experts from the @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social examine the two great powers contrasting AI action plans, revealing insights into each nation's vision for global AI leadership. www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-at...

Peer-review or LLM-review: A few instances of scholarly misconduct in computer science preprints. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

When students "organize strikes despite official warnings, they are asserting that citizens have rights that transcend the state’s claimed authority to regulate every aspect of social life." www.journalofdemocra...

A recent @dfrlab.bsky.social analysis reveals how the National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia's oldest and largest active guerrilla group and a US-designated terrorist organization, has developed a sophisticated digital strategy. #ELN #Disinformation #Colombia dfrlab.org/2025/06/17/k...

The real AI existential threat. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

In Mexico 🇲🇽, Sheinbaum's government is pushing through Congress sweeping legal reforms that will establish mass identification and surveillance systems of the population. Here is a thread 🧵 summarizing the scope and reach of these reforms:

A feed dedicated to following the updates on #IGF2025.

Let's discuss South-South collaboration networks and the sustainability of the digital rights ecosystem. #IGF2025

I was encouraged to see the #G7 Leaders' Statement on Transnational Repression which also calls out mitigating harms around mercenary spyware 👇🇨🇦 www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/stat...

If democracies did a better job “delivering” for their citizens, so the thinking goes, people would not be so ready to embrace antidemocratic alternatives. Not so. muse.jhu.edu/article...

A reminder that the conflict in Sudan is widely considered to be the heaviest and largest humanitarian crisis in the world right now. It has been ongoing since April 2023, resulting in widespread displacement, destruction, and severe humanitarian challenges.

"The popular election of federal judges at all levels [in Mexico], including the Supreme Court...fundamentally compromises the separation of powers, raising serious concerns about the politicization of the courts and the erosion of a key democratic check." muse.jhu.edu/article...

Mexico just bulldozed its judiciary. The judicial election that took place on June 1 risks weakening judicial independence, checks on presidential power, and democracy itself. www.journalofdemocra...

Syria's experienced, multigenerational civil society is working overtime to prevent a return to dictatorship and ensure citizens' voices are being heard. www.journalofdemocra...

"As long as Bolivia does not have a fully democratic government, these fires will continue to burn...authoritarian regimes disguise their abuse and prioritize short-term gains over the long-term survival of ecosystems and human life." www.journalofdemocra...

Today's Spotlight🔆on Freedom: ✊ The Road Ahead: Defending Democracy and Freedom Together 🇻🇪 Calling for the immediate release of Eduardo Torres 🏆 Our 2025 Annual Awards recap More: bit.ly/FH-06-05-25 Subscribe: bit.ly/Subscribe_FHnewsletter

Escribí un artículo para Letras Libres en donde intento sacarnos de los laberintos distópicos y apuntar a las amenazas reales en la era de la inteligencia artificial. letraslibres.com/ciencia-y-te...

CBP has published its April data. An interesting comparison: In the first months of Trump's first term, Border Patrol apprehensions bottomed out in April, and were never that low again. In the first months of Trump's second term, Border Patrol apprehensions may have bottomed out in March.

10/ Ultimately, we wouldn't be here without civil society investigations of mercenary spyware... and alarm raising. Thankfully today there's a whole accountability ecosystem growing around this work. Dozens of orgs engaging. Numbers are growing. Pictured: just some of us I could fit in a pic...

I teach “Foundations of Human-Computer Interaction” and we spend a significant portion of that class exploring how US gov funding (ARPA, DARPA and NSF) helps lay the foundations of the internet, most of the personal computing paradigm, search engines, virtual worlds, wearable tech, AI, etc.

The dual use of technology as a resource for civil resistance and authoritarian repression has defined Venezuelans' daily lives over the past 15 years, shaping our relentless struggle to pursue the return of democracy and freedom.

BREAKING: Trump cannot use Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans, judge rules reut.rs/3SfHLal

The Trump administration exceeded the scope of the Alien Enemies Act in using it to deport some Venezuelan migrants, a federal judge in Texas said in barring the administration from using the 18th-century wartime law to speed up deportations reut.rs/3YZmlC2

3/ The precursor WorldCoin project has been a massive biometric data grab rife with documented exploitation in the global south. And of vulnerable populations. Exploitation & ethical issues should be up front in any reporting about this company's efforts to hype new devices & soak up more data.

Happy to share my new article in @iajournal.bsky.social on how civilians use TECHNOLOGY to protect themselves/ counter disinfo in conflict settings We found these uses of tech amplify #nonviolent strategies & are WAY more common and diverse than we first expected! academic.oup.com/ia/advance-a...

How are South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, and Zambia navigating tech governance? Join @dfrlab.bsky.social at #DRIF on April 30 at 11:30 AM CAT to discuss African digital policies on data governance, digital public infrastructure, and AI.

Activism happens at many levels. Not everyone is on the frontlines with a megaphone. Some people research, document, translate, coordinate, hold space, teach, or simply listen and expand. Without that ecosystem, many struggles fall apart.

Topics to be removed from the State Department's Human Rights reports include: - arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy - serious restrictions on Internet freedom. (According to NPR) www.npr.org/2025/04/18/n...

Just released the English translation of "Our Bodies as Data", a paper I wrote on biometrics, identity, and what it means to digitize the self. It’s an old piece, but it still holds the core of what I’m working on now. www.academia.edu/128780002/Ou...

Jesús Armas has been unjustly imprisoned and held incommunicado for four months in a political police prison in Caracas. You can learn about Jesús Armas's struggle for democracy on this website. www.freejesusarmas.com

I just created a new Starter Pack: Dēmokratía. The defense of democracy, threatened by various illiberal forces, is a fundamental struggle. Your shirt color is irrelevant. go.bsky.app/UuEY4j

Eliminating or restricting OPT would not only be a massive blow to the ability of the US to continue attracting the world's top STEM talent, but also wipe out many graduate programs at universities that already have come under enormous financial pressure.

The Trump admin is under pressure to constrict or eliminate the largest pipeline for lawful immigration for high-skilled, university-educated workers, Optional Practical Training (OPT). It would cause permanent losses to US innovation, productivity, growth, & job opportunities for native workers.

No siempre se podrá participar como permite el sistema. Nunca se debe participar porque lo quiere el sistema. Debe buscarse participar para afectar al sistema.

The technical fight against censorship. "Work-in-progress" by Mallory Knodel. @mallory.techpolicy.social.ap.brid.gy internet.exchangepoint.tech/censorship-a...

"The Control of the Information Environment as a Pillar of Authoritarian Consolidation" stresses that understanding the information environment is paramount when studying authoritarian regimes. www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...

Separating signal from noise, Graham Brookie, @etbrooking.bsky.social, and I discuss the information-security implications of the Houthi PC group. @atlanticcouncil.bsky.social @dfrlab.bsky.social www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-at...

@mallory.techpolicy.social.ap.brid.gy & Andrés Fábrega tackle an issue that has been bothering me for months: people are adding AI assistants to meetings and chats, but they don't have control over what these AI bots do with the data they are given access to. www.techpolicy.press/can-bots-rea...

Every day is a good day to remind lawyers that if rule of law collapses, so too will their profits. Short term capitulation = long term economic collapse for the profession. In autocracies or kleptocracies, you don't hire good lawyers. You hire bribers and fixers.

Food Stamps: Myth Vs. Fact theonion.com/food-st...

A concise yet deep assessment of the security implications of the Signal chat fiasco by Graham Brookie, our senior director at @dfrlab.bsky.social. megaphone.link/POLL2162787239

"Does TdA actually pose a legitimate threat to U.S. national security?" An excellent background article on Tren de Aragua, authored by John Polga-Hecimovich and Charles Larratt-Smith.

Insights into media innovation, digital adaptation, and international collaboration emerge from constrained environments. Over the past decade, Venezuelan freedom of expression fighters has forged remarkable resilience against censorship. thedialogue.org/analysis/a-r...

New dark chapter in American history just dropped: Basically any Venezuelan citizen in the US, regardless of status, may be removed on pretext of belonging to Tren de Aragua, with no chance at defense. It's the 4th-ever invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. 1/3