Wow. Former UK Information Commissioner‘made jokes about paedophiles and sex with Smurfs’. Staff describe John Edwards as being ‘unusually powerful and unaccountable’ as an internal investigation reveals evidence of bullying and innapropriate language www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

1. Today, brave brave John Edwards ran away. To thank the UK Information Commissioner for all the fish, here are FIVE EPIC FAILURES he's made during his tenure. Or, to paraphrase his own words, the five best attempts at humor that were inappropriate. Thread below 🧵 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Just thinking about the stupid, bad, something-must-be-done policy-by-vibes teen social media ban and sharing this excellent piece by @jamesrball.com again for those who missed it the other day www.jamesrball.com/p/a-teen-soc...

Neither Save The Children nor the NSPCC supports a government child safety policy. Usually, that would be the end of that policy. But for some reason it's always different rules when it's internet.

Once more for people at the back. **surveillance ≠ safety** …Tapping the sign…

banning infinite scroll for minors is a good example. infinite scroll is bad and designed to keep you enganged longer. make that shit illegal. bring back pages or something. idk. figure it out

social media that's bad for minors is obviously bad for adults too. crazy to me that the move seems to be to just accept that and ban minors rather than regulate the obvious design patterns that were put in there on purpose which make it harmful to its users

You know, it’s almost as though the bans are more about a massive data grab/surveillance apparatus for all adults online than any real concern over harms caused by the platforms! Huh!

A German court this week determined that Google is liable for false statements in AI Overviews in a ruling that could impact all AI search engines and chatbots known for their poor paraphrasing.

RIP The Internet 1996-2012 We never knew what we had

1. The UK Information Commissioner stepped aside from his role this February. Under John Edwards' tenure, the ICO performed so badly that nobody noticed his absence until late April. This is why @openrightsgroup.org are launching a campaign to reform it. 🧵 www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/the-ico...

this excellent essay on structured data and relationships of care is extremely my shit and probably some of yours too

Show me some evidence that AI is changing something positively. All I’m seeing is the negative ramifications, enshitification, job loss, data capture, IP theft… Eech. What are we doing?

Our statement on the UK gov't's demand that all content on all devices sold or used in the UK be scanned, on the presumption of nudity, using a dystopian combination of age verification & content scanning. This proposal will not safeguard children. It endangers us all. signal.org/blog/pdfs/20...

learning to manage money, learning about participating in society, learning about voting - everyday life &learning is done to a large extent online these days and kids need to learn to navigate that with appropriate supervision and guidance. Cutting them off from "social media" is a blunt instrument

A reminder of my post from 6 months ago.

Banning children from social media is not the answer, UN warns <yup news.un.org/en/story/202...

In June 1979, 9 nations voted together for Europe for the first time. 180 million voters. One shared ballot. A triumph of post-war European integration and the start of a project about what European democracy should look like. 47 years on, it's still going strong. #ProtectWhatMatters

European Parliament yeets Google www.politico.eu/article/euro...

My belief (hope?) is that these folks are all overplaying their hand and a serious revolt against all this invasive tech is coming very soon. It’s hard to look at their role in how things are and view it as a net positive.

I've written something about why banning kids from social media could be a terrible idea. paulbernal.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/b...

How about more human and less tech?

Law is a product of history and social power dynamics - brilliantly illustrated in this article. And it also shows how data is not ‘fact’ or ‘truth’, but merely the recording of an observation made for a purpose - by people with preconceived notions and agendas. 10/10 must-read

“Drawing borders on a map might make a fellow feel powerful and important. But to become a big important Empire fellow, you have to accept borders drawn all around inside your head too.” www.thegist.ie/the-gist-tra...

New Gist: Trans rights are Data rights An unusually long Gist on the data protection implications of the UK Supreme Court's decision to define what is the meaning of the word 'woman' in a single UK Act. (Also: the CJEU, colonialism, Joyce's Ulysses and Sinn Féin) www.thegist.ie/the-gist-tra...

#UKGE doing research for new projects. #PlaytheDataGame #SeriousPrivacy

A livestream of a volcano in the Philippines captured a meteor crashing to Earth today. What are the odds? Mayon Volcano, Location: Albay, Luzon, Philippines

Thread in the ICO current state. Not much here I disagree with. #DataProtection #Privacy

Sign the petition! action.openrightsgroup.org/reset-ico

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt was booed throughout this commencement speech at the University of Arizona for his praise of AI. This comes just a week after another commencement speaker who mentioned AI was booed at a school in Florida. Read more: www.404media.co/ucf-ai-comme...

Don’t call it age verification. Call it centralised personal data collection. And understand that it serves surveillance, not safety for children.

Customer service. Had to try and get help with NHS and EE and others. Everytime #Enshittification through automation and annoyingly trapped in an #AbsentIntelligence loop. Send help.

We must do something urgently to tackle the migration crisis in Northern France. I am literally witnessing a large number of foreign invaders of a certain age coming to Boulogne, with their curious customs, not bothering to learn the language. The problem starts with the small buses.

Organizations must know their roles when handling personal data to comply with data protection laws. Recently, the Dutch DPA found a company used incorrect SCCs for data transfers, applying processor clauses instead of controller-to-controller ones. More info below.

Today is International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia #IDAHOBIT We should be ashamed that this year, the UK has fallen again in the rankings for LGBT+ equality on the ILGA Rainbow map. 🧵

You can still support our message and sign the Open Letter "Stop the Uncritical Adoption of AI Technologies in Academia” Sign here: openletter.earth/open-letter-...

I've had to pull the car over to let you all know I've just spotted a van advertising a doggy day care centre in Norwich called... Scent-a-Barks. SCENT-A-BARKS

Over one million citizens signed the ECI petition to ban conversion practices. We hear you. ✋🏼These interventions must end. Being LGBTIQ+ doesn’t need to be cured. Your rights are an inseparable part of a true Union of Equality. We won’t let you down.🏳️‍🌈 ➡️https://link.europa.eu/PmbyM4

Great news! As of this week, conversations that take place between Apple’s Messages app and Google Messages on Android will be end-to-end encrypted by default. www.apple.com/newsroom/202...

Ofcom has fined an online suicide forum nearly £1 million for non-compliance with "duties" under the Online Safety Act www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet... The site is argubly run by shitheads, but is US-based and has geoblocked UK traffic since last year #mentalhealth #censorship #openweb #techpolicy

Please remember that the purpose of the OSA was not child safety, it was to create a captive market for the AV and content scanning sectors, and sales pitches were what shaped the law, as I wrote here. internet.exchangepoint.tech/the-dog-that... They want their ROI and they want it now.

The ECHR has protected British people from abuses of power by its own government. Nigel Farage wants us to leave it. Please think about that youtu.be/Fhrb5Z7ScME?...

Not all disability is visible. Kindness always is.

"But AI can transcribe quickly for me!" The lack of time for transcription in the archives is not natural, it is created. The time to transcribe, which is also time to read and think about material, has been taken from us by those with the power to fund our work. Now they want it without funding it.

“Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” - George Orwell, 1984 Last night at the #AmnestyMediaAwards 2026, Adrian Lester delivered this powerful excerpt from 1984. Two plus two make four, and peaceful protest is a human right.

Norwich City Council Results (1/3 up) GRN: 11 (+6) RFM: 2 (+2) LDM: 1 (=) LAB: 0 (-8) Green GAIN from No Overall Control Changes w/ 2022 for outgoing councillors.

There needs to be a drastic appraisal of the voting system. A party winning power with 75% opposed is not a recipe for a peaceful country.

Our latest episode is out now, featuring a conversation of our host trio with @daraghobrien.bsky.social @castlebridgechief.bsky.social on data governance and DSARs. Listen now, wherever you get your #podcasts. www.buzzsprout.com/840448/episo...

EFF sees through the thin veil of internet censorship bills that claim to "protect the kids." Age-gating the internet is not the answer, and we're fighting back. eff.org/spring