Privacy, Human Rights, Law, The Internet, Politics and more
As the idea of banning kids from social media is spreading round the globe the new ban of under-16s from social media in Australia comes into action in a week or so it is worth looking at the topic more deeply. The coverage in the media has been largely terrible, the comments from Continue reading Banning kids from social media? A very bad idea
Since Keir Starmer announced the forthcoming introduction of mandatory Digital ID , the so-called Brit Card , there has been a lot of discussion and debate some of it political, some technical or technological, some on civil liberties, some practical and some quite heated. Some, too, has been either ignorant or dismissive comments such Continue reading Digital ID cards some of the issues
Governments are very bad at internet regulation. That much has been clear for a very long time scholars and others who look at the subject generally wince when they hear about a new plan to rein in the Wild West or something similar. It is thus with trepidation that many of us are preparing Continue reading Riots and social media regulation some thoughts
Pretty much the moment Keir Starmer became Prime Minister, his esteemed predecessor Tony Blair wheeled out, yet again, a call for Digital ID. It s a bit of a pattern: whenever something happens (generally something bad) that has even a peripheral connection to ID, Blair, his foundation or one of his acolytes will come out with Continue reading Digital ID cards, and why we should be nervous
There are many reasons to be concerned about the #OnlineSafetyBill, the latest manifestation of which has just been launched, to a mixture of fanfares and fury. The massive attacks on privacy (including an awful general monitoring requirement) and freedom of speech (most directly through the highly contentious ‘legal but harmful’ concept) are just the starting Continue reading Do we even need an…
The latest manifestation of the much heralded Online Safety Bill is due to make its appearance tomorrow. It’s a massive bill, covering a wide range of topics and a huge number of issues about what happens online and yet there’s a gaping void at its heart, a void that means that it will have Continue reading The gaping void at the heart of the Online Safety Bill
The new government anti-encryption campaign, ‘No Place to Hide’, has a great many problems. It’s based on many false assumptions, but the biggest of all of these is the whole idea that hiding is a bad thing. It can be, of course, when ‘bad guys’ hide from the authorities, which is what the government is Continue reading In praise of hiding..
You might be forgiven for thinking that this government is very keen on privacy. After all, MPs all seem to enjoy the end-to-end encryption provided by the WhatsApp groups that they use to make their plots and plans, and they’ve been very keen to keep the details of their numerous parties during lockdown as private Continue reading Who needs privacy?
Magical thinking It’s all too easy to see a difficult, societal problem and try to solve it with a technological ‘magic wand’. We tend to treat technology as magical a lot of the time Arthur C Clarke’s Third Law, from as far back as 1962, that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” Continue reading BT’s ‘Walk me home’: tech solutionism at its worst
In recent weeks, two of the oldest issues on the internet have reared their ugly heads again: the demand that people use their ‘real names’ on social media, and the suggestion that we should undermine or ban the use of encryption in particular end-to-end encryption. As has so often been the case, the argument Continue reading Children need anonymity and encryption!