so when people say policies should have "teeth" what do they mean? They should have teeth to bite people so that they get hurt and bleed? Such great governance mechanisms we think of!

Set up a conduit-psiphon so that people can connect to Internet service. only a few peers from time to time. I cannot bring myself to shut this down thinking I am depriving people of a vital service. And the Islamic Republic sabotages millions of people's Internet.

set up conduit.psiphon.ca and help people connect. A window of connectivity has activated in Iran that enables Iranians to have access.

Another sleepless night! We are on a never ending roller coaster which nobody stops…

An extremely important thread for everyone who does digital governance especially UK experts.

Set up a conduit-psiphon so that people can connect to Internet service. only a few peers from time to time. I cannot bring myself to shut this down thinking I am depriving people of a vital service. And the Islamic Republic sabotages millions of people's Internet.

It is important not to misframe what Wikimedia has done as a "license" deal even if free. Licensing will restrict smaller actors and individuals. It creates a host of “export” and “import” issues. We need to be very careful about this otherwise we are going to create a digital divide in access.

Stop whatever you're doing and read @farzdusa.bsky.social rejoinder to "digital sovereignty" at @futurefreespeech.org's Bedrock Principle:

Yes I am having existential crisis and feeling like an utter failure. Nation states normalize these shutdowns by blocking kids from social media, age verification and sometimes even blocking apps in your colonies! Tired of your lip service to a free and open Internet that you don’t protect.

It is very obvious that the Internet community which I am a part of has let people down. Islamic Republic can just keep people in the dark because they have access to technology and network operators are not empowered enough to resist it? Isnt this because access and connectivity became secondary?

Some people in western democracies are so used to their basic freedom that they don't even notice when nation states take them away. Or support it even!

There are different ways to achieve justice. My Maman Zahra paved the way for the rest of us through tolerance, resilience and compassion.

I am thinking a lot about my Maman Zahra. I am glad you aren’t here to see how many more mothers are grappling with the monstrous grief of losing their children to injustice. But also I am hoping for those mothers not to take their dreams of justice to grave.

1. Indiana passes law requiring website with more than 1/3 harmful-to-minors sexual content to verify that users are adults. 2. Pornhub parent Aylo responds by blocking Indiana users. 3. Indiana now sues because Hooisers may use VPNs to evade the geoblock, so ... events.in.gov/event/protec...

And here you go with Telegram ad! The fun part is that Telegram picks the ads for your channels. So your channel could be about how bad cow milk is for your gut health and Telegram will add an ad under your post: join the cow milk advocacy group! Fun times!

I understand that people want to think they have found the cause of the agony they are going through, they have found the perpetrator who took their loved ones away. Fixation on one factor might bring you temporary relief but it’s not worth the distraction from effective solutions.

My mom says Generative AI chatbots made a big difference in her life this year. In your fight with big tech, don't forget that these AI online services, can be essential for some of the most vulnerable people.

Encryption is not a risk factor, encryption is security of the service. Its existence doesn't inherently increase risk. Its lack of existence on the other hand does.

Christmas present to self: a trio of freshly typeset and footnoted editions from the master of the 1920s and the 2020s, from the delightful almabooks.com

Watch the story of an actress who joined the uprising against hijab and for liberty in Iran and said something so profound: I will not participate in a cinema that does not present people with the image narrative that speaks to them and is acceptable for them. www.youtube.com/watch?v=y29z...

This is how a lot of laws get made: roll out a “security” rule with foreseeable harm, let people absorb the damage for years, then slowly carve out exemptions.remedies that arrive after humiliation, loss, and stress don’t erase the harm. Anyway this is good news! swalwell.house.gov/media-center...

Another Christmas meal: ash reshte

And after years I had Nan, butter and honey for Christmas breakfast. At this point I miss Esfahan.

I managed to close all my tabs! There were over 100 of them!

The real cost of the administration’s utterly bonkers restriction on visas for trust and safety workers. dcjournal.com/state-dept-v...

It’s definitely a choice to file a 1201(a) suit for web scraping in the same week that a judge definitively rejected that theory of liability.

As the former Google Associate General Counsel for web search -- a product built on scraping third party content without permission -- I'm having a lot of trouble processing Google's new lawsuit against someone else for scraping search results. storage.googleapis.com/gweb-uniblog...

Joy

Watched the Islamic Republic statement on Wsis… they like sovereignty 😂 they dont like human rights also they are critical of big tech because they cant apply their finger chopping laws.

And if I am not mistaken wsis+20 draft was adopted which means IGF is now permanent.

And of course India amidst of conversations … weighs in during UNGA that we need to identify people online to hold them accountable. Of course throws in a bit balance with human rights too.

If you want to understand how much we have globally backpedaled from values that were good for humans you should watch the UNGA session on WSIS+20 countries are literally against human rights, reproductive rights, they are at war with each other. We went back a hundred years… if not more.

Privilege reeks from Robin’s words.

In 2013, states participating in the Wassenaar Arrangement put certain commercial spyware on the dual-use control list, marking the first international effort to regulate spyware. Elaine Korzak explores the lessons that can be learned from the Wassenaar controls for future regulation of this tech.

I keep thinking about the kids pulled out of oath ceremonies. “I fled the country that was persecuting my mother. We finally felt safe. Then, on the day I was supposed to become American, I was told I couldn’t belong here because of where I was born. The kind lawyers said: ‘Just for now.’”

Was talking to a colleague today and I said yeah woke up to the news of a ban ... and then I had to clarify which ban! because there are so manyyyy bans ... In Australia, in the US, in the world.

Instability and fear. I never accepted that fate. And I always fought so that people at least in the digital space don't face it. Fear of speaking up. Fear of being separated from their families. Fear of never seeing their parents and kids again. Fear of displacement.

You can send us your comments and feedback: dtspartnership.org/category/pre...

DTSP’s Working Group on Out-of-court Dispute Settlement has published an initial position paper for consultation addressing the emerging ODS ecosystem under the EU Digital Services Act.

Attention #DigitalServicesAct nerds, we've published a position paper for consultation on Article 21 Out-of-court dispute settlement 👇

I just gave Bluesky my birthdate. lets see how that can save the children

All those people who got their citizenship and green card application interviews paused will talk to their Internet enabled AI tonight. And it won’t charge them hundreds of dollars, it’s available 24/7. You are anti-AI and Internet? Provide that service to them free of charge. It has to scale too!

The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. —Maya Angelou And yet nowhere is home. And everywhere you are questioned.

"In this community, they're even telling people to act like it's Covid. Stay at home. Don't go to the grocery store." – Ryan Young, CNN Senior National Correspondent

Great writeup by @farzdusa.bsky.social. The judiciary is often very disconnected from the topics they consider, but for the Internet its imperative they buy a clue.

When I say it doesn’t matter anymore if you are in an authoritarian country or a democracy loving one, it’s because of these stories: www.ms.now/opinion/tenn... working with law enforcement should only happen under universal standards. Thanks to FIRE for their tireless work.

Drawing 70s Harlem.

This was interesting

Voted in NYC elections! Pretty pleased.

One thing that my fellow US immigrants didn't think about when they repeatedly said they only want to kick out illegals is that kind of system will make you "illegal" too and then get rid of you! But even then you will defend your choices.