UK Government consultation on further regulation of social media, online gaming, chatbots, etc. www.gov.uk/government/c... + press release www.gov.uk/government/n... #OnlineSafetyAct #socialmediaban #genAI #gaming #censorship #masssurveillance #openweb #techpolicy

A UK petition calling for a public inquiry into "pro-Israel influence on politics & democracy" has passed 100,000 signatures, which means it will be considered for debate by MPs petition.parliament.uk/petitions/75... (The likelihood of an inquiry under the current Government is approximately nil)

Who wants to be the new UK minister for digital ID? Don't all rush forward at once

Off-rolling curbs welcomed, but warnings over 'gaps in data' schoolsweek.co.uk/off-rolling-... (England) DfE's schools white paper: there will be a dashboard www.gov.uk/government/n... #offrolling #pupildata #datagap

Baroness Kidron has tabled an amendment that would criminalise most, if not all, general-purpose LLMs bills.parliament.uk/publications... The offence says "generative AI search service" but there's no search or service element in the definition – just models. #CPBill #genAI #censorship #techpolicy

Natural Flood Management (NFM) Heat Maps environment.data.gov.uk/dataset/ecc7... new data release from the Environment Agency for England #floodrisk #geospatial #opendata

Write-up of a "fireside chat" with ICO CEO Paul Arnold at the IAPP UK Intensive event on Wednesday iapp.org/news/a/ico-c... See also Information Commissioner John Edwards's keynote speech ico.org.uk/about-the-ic... Edwards is expected to leave at the end of 2026 #FOI #dataprotection etc.

UK regulator Ofcom has provisionally found the provider of a suicide discussion forum in breach of the Online Safety Act www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet... Ofcom and UK media aren't naming the forum, but it's US-based and has been geoblocking UK traffic since last year #openweb #techpolicy

Another great release of #openaddresses to end the week: East Suffolk Council in the East of England has released its Council Tax address list as open data www.owenboswarva.com/blog/post-ad... I have geocoded the property locations as usual #UKhousing #geospatial #localgov #opengov #opendata

Bug or feature? Banning children from VPNs and social media will erode adults' privacy www.newscientist.com/article/2516... (UK) #CWSBill #OnlineSafetyAct #socialmediaban #censorship #masssurveillance #openweb #techpolicy

Opportunities for public sector data survey 2026 www.gov.uk/government/p... The deadline for responding to this UK Government survey has been extended by a week, to 7 March 2026 #datapolicy #govtech #opendata -relevant

The UK Government's consultation to manufacture consent for a #socialmediaban will reportedly be launched next week: UK social media ban for under-16s edges closer with Starmer expected to back it www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026... #censorship #digitalID #openweb #techpolicy

UK Government spend data: ● Cabinet Office, Apr 10 - Jan 26 drive.google.com/uc?export=do... (3.5 MB XLSX) ● DfE, Apr 10 - Dec 25 drive.google.com/uc?export=do... (52.8 MB zipped CSV) ● DESNZ, Aug 23 - Sep 25 drive.google.com/uc?export=do... (0.9 MB XLSX) #publicspending #opengov #opendata

Participation in the 2024 UK general election www.owenboswarva.com/blog/note-po... This is a new interactive data visualisation based on constituency-level analysis of results compiled by the Commons Library and population estimates from ONS, NRS, and NISRA #GE2024 #turnout #opendata #datavis

It seems John Edwards has just announced he is stepping down: "This is my last appearance here as Information Commissioner ... This is also my first, and last, appearance as the Chair of that new Board" [the new board being created in the new governance structure] www.linkedin.com/pulse/uk-inf...

The UK Government has tabled its legislative amendment to ban "nudification" tools (but it's broader than that) bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938/s... and has also adopted a range of other proposals from anti-porn campaigners www.gov.uk/government/p... #CPBill #genAI #censorship #openweb #techpolicy

Shambolic debate in the UK House of Commons yesterday, in which the Lib Dems tried to seize control of the Order Paper on 9 March to speed-run a Bill that they haven't published: Online Harm: Child Protection hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026... #socialmediaban #censorship #openweb #techpolicy

UK Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) spend data April 2010 - January 2026 drive.google.com/uc?export=do... (49.9 MB zipped XLSX) Transactions over £250, until September 2024 when UK Labour increased the publication threshold to £25,000 #publicspending #opengov #opendata

NRS has published mid-2024 population estimates for Westminster Constituencies in Scotland, by year of age www.nrscotland.gov.uk/publications... This means we now have UK-wide coverage: England/Wales (Nomis) www.nomisweb.co.uk/query/select... + NI (Nisra) www.nisra.gov.uk/publications... #opendata

This in the Open Government Licence doesn't need to be there; all IP licences exclude rights the licensor isn't authorised to license www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-gov... And it isn't a get-out clause that relieves the licensor of its obligation to be clear on what the OGL covers. #opendata

Reddit issued with £14.47m fine for children's privacy failures ico.org.uk/about-the-ic... press release from ICO (UK data protection regulator) + news coverage www.bbc.com/news/article... Reddit reportedly plans to appeal the ICO action #ageverification #censorship #openweb #techpolicy

These dumb amendments that I mentioned in December have made it into the version of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill as amended on report in the House of Lords – that *does not* mean they are supported by the Government bills.parliament.uk/bills/3909/p... #censorship #openweb #techpolicy

More #openaddresses from local government: Merton Council in London has released its Council Tax address list as open data www.owenboswarva.com/blog/post-ad... #UKhousing #geospatial #localgov #opengov #opendata

ONS throwing some shade here … www.gov.uk/government/s... #opengov #opendata #datasharing

Ofcom has fined 8579 LLC £1.35 million for failing to comply with Online Safety Act requirements www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet... And opened a new investigation into Reply Buzzer Ltd (Seychelles) re the same tube sites www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet... #censorship #openweb #techpolicy #whackamole

How Londoners used data to survive the Great Plague www.bbc.com/news/article... A journal of the plague year: Samuel Pepys and the Bills of Mortality as accounting doi.org/10.1177/1032... Bills of mortality en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bills_o... #publichealth #deathstats proto- #opendata

An opportunity to put address data higher on the UK agenda peterkwells.com/2026/02/21/a... post from @peterkwells.com Also: How to respond to the DSIT survey on increasing access to public sector data peterkwells.com/2026/02/21/h... #openaddresses #opendata #datapolicy

Sir Keir Starmer 'meddled' in Ofcom chairman* appointment www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202... * oink Story seems to be based on this heavily-redacted #FOI response from DSIT three weeks ago (Annex F in particular) www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ofco...

Hey UK data, public services, and economic growth people, DSIT has got a survey on increasing access to public data & - guess what! - it's another chance to point at addresses (/PAF) and other geospatial data Here's why: peterkwells.com/2026/02/21/a... Here's how: peterkwells.com/2026/02/21/h...

Help us improve Government Licensing guidance www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blogs/digita... UK Government preparing the ground to deprecate the Open Government Licence? The link to CC Signals is disingenuous – that proposal advises *against* more restrictive licensing #opendata #opengov #datapolicy

Yet more #openaddresses from local government: Mansfield District Council in the East Midlands of England has released its Council Tax address list as open data www.owenboswarva.com/blog/post-ad... This one took a while but we got there in the end #UKhousing #localgov #opengov #opendata

More #openaddresses from local government: Haringey Council in London has released its Council Tax address list as open data www.owenboswarva.com/blog/post-ad... As usual I have geocoded the property locations for maps etc. #UKhousing #localgov #opengov #opendata

Why are the lat/lngs in Ordnance Survey's OS Open UPRN product ETRS89 rather than WGS84? Is it just to be awkward? docs.os.uk/os-downloads... #geospatial #opendata #rhetoricalquestions

Update on cuts to ONS's statistical outputs, reducing the national evidence base in areas such as health, wellbeing, and climate change: Letter with details in Annex A www.ons.gov.uk/news/stateme... + blog post blog.ons.gov.uk/2026/02/19/r... #opengov #opendata

UK Government announces plans to extend the range of pretexts Ofcom can use to block websites: Tech firms* will have to take down abusive images within 48 hours www.gov.uk/government/n... + www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet... * not just tech firms #OnlineSafetyAct #censorship #openweb #techpolicy

I've updated this interactive map based on #opendata published by MHCLG last month: Fire Stations in England www.owenboswarva.com/blog/note-fi...

New report-stage amendments to the UK's Crime and Policing Bill include an AI chatbot offence from Baroness Kidron bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938/s... and a semen-related add-on from Baroness Owen bills.parliament.uk/bills/3938/s... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #genAI #censorship #openweb #techpolicy #nicheinterests

ONS has paused production of ONSUD and NSUL indefinitely due to "inconsistencies in the geographies" assigned to UPRNs geoportal.statistics.gov.uk Most geographies can be matched to UPRNs in GIS using other products, but ONSUD and NSUL are the only #opendata source that links UPRNs to postcodes.

Itai Tech Ltd, the UK firm behind nudification site Undress​​.cc, has been dissolved via "voluntary strike-off" find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/1507... Itai still shows as payment agent on the site £55,000 in Online Safety Act fines: paid www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet...

Cabinet Secretary: ministerial direction www.gov.uk/government/p... This definitely does not read like Starmer is giving the Cabinet Secretary a bung to go quietly – you're just imagining that

I've updated this interactive map based on #opendata published by MHCLG last month: Fire Stations in England www.owenboswarva.com/blog/note-fi...

The current UK Government's policy on transparency and open data: empty space, occasional tumbleweed questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-ques... + www.gov.uk/government/c...

I don't know who needs to read this … well actually I do … Improving transparency: key steps for councils to strengthen FOI compliance ico.org.uk/for-organisa... new from the ICO based on compliance data from 26 borough councils across the North West of England #FOI #localgov #opengov

'There's no reason for Discord to comply in advance' with social media age verification laws instead of 'fighting for their users' says EFF expert www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus... + www.eff.org/deeplinks/20... #ageverification #censorship #openweb #techpolicy #gaming

Because the Department of Justice appears to have removed the .zip archives for the Epstein files, @ddosecrets.org is now the best place to get all of the data in bulk. ddosecrets.org/article/epst... Help us keep publishing: donorbox.org/ddosecrets

MP wants DSIT to make Ofcom take down anti-influencer doxxing site Tattle Life hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026... The site does seem to be UK-controlled (though I note Yuzu Zest Ltd is going through liquidation) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tattle_... #OnlineSafetyAct #censorship #openweb #techpolicy

Dozens of address datasets from UK local authorities have been published on WhatDoTheyKnow www.owenboswarva.com/blog/post-ad... New blog post highlighting results from a batch request made last year. A few datasets seem to be covered by permission for re-use as #opendata. #FOI #openaddresses -ish

Journalists voice dismay over court archive deletion www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2026/news/jo... (UK) Court Reporting Data hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026... Commons debate earlier this week Posts from Enda Leahy, CEO of Courtsdesk endaleahy.substack.com #Courtsdesk #dataprotection #openjustice

UK Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) spend data, transactions over £25,000, April 2010 - December 2025 drive.google.com/uc?export=do... (1.4 MB XLSX) #publicspending #opengov #opendata

Ofcom has published a slew of enforcement updates to its anti-porn campaign under the umbrella of the Online Safety Act www.ofcom.org.uk/enforcement Kick Online (which runs old school cesspit motherless​.com) has been fined £800,000 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #censorship #openweb #techpolicy