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“You can tell by the way complaints or requests are worded that they have used AI technology to be able to ask for that information,” he said
“You say that as if it is a bad thing.” Lincolnshire County Council says AI behind rise in FOI requests – BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx21z6g2421o Via Owen’s thread at:
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Using AI to assist interpretation…
Prompt: Claude This is a genuinely tricky sentence because the rhetorical structure smuggles in a strong claim under the guise of modesty. Let me unpick it. The surface reading is appealingly libertarian/capabilities-flavoured: rather than paternalistic provision, foster agency. Very Sen-adjacent. But you’re right that “we” does a lot of unexamined work. **The core ambiguity:** “we”
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Govt: “We committed in the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy ‘to make it impossible for children in the UK to take, share or view a nude image.’”
Kind of a foolish commitment, really, when you think about it; spies in every camera, etc… https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2026-05-18.2044.r0 The Government is unequivocal in its commitment to protecting children from all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The Online Safety Act is a landmark and foundational step in tackling online child sexual exploitation and abuse, placing
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HOW ABOUT SIMPLY NOT HANDING YOUR CHILD A SMARTPHONE, JESS?
If you’re worried that your kid might get a hold of a phone without your permission, as a parent you already have a problem with both authority and credibility which a government ban will not address.
Fediverse reactions
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California Wants an Age Tracker for the Whole Web
“California Assembly Bill 1856 is getting friendly press coverage because it now exempts Linux from the state’s age-tracking mandate. The part nobody’s talking about is that it simultaneously expands the surveillance to your web browser.” https://reclaimthenet.org/california-wants-an-age-tracker-for-the-whole-web
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New Zealand prepares biometric age credential for Govt.nz digital wallet | Biometric Update
Developed by Hospitality NZ and built on NEC’s Identity Cloud Platform, the system uses verifiable credentials to allow users to prove they are over 18 for hospitality and event access without disclosing unnecessary personal data. Or they could have used a piece of cardboard. https://www.biometricupdate.com/202605/new-zealand-prepares-biometric-age-credential-for-govt-nz-digital-wallet
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How Often Do Consumers Balk at Doing Online Age Authentication? | Technology & Marketing Law Blog
In search engine parlance, the “bounce” rate is the percent of searchers who click on a search results link and then immediately hit the back button … I’m going to analogize bounce rates to the rate that consumers fail to overcome age authentication walls, which I’ll call the “balk rate.” … https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2026/05/how-often-do-consumers-balk-at-doing-online-age-authentication.htm
Fediverse reactions
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Mandatory Age Verification + Lack of Account Memorialization = Horrific Insensitivity by Substack (& others?)
This, from Mark Nottingham; it’s easy to throw mud at Substack for implementing age verification in this way / for not implementing out of band account memorialization, but this underscores how age verification is a proxy for state mandated identity checks in systems that have no other reason to perform them & are not (should
Fediverse reactions
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UK Government King’s Speech proposes “Cyber ASBO” with obvious risk of scope creep into censorship
Nobody can convince me that by the time it gets through parliament something with this name & frame won’t turn into a general TCN to gag nerd speech about cryptography and security: The King’s Speech briefing notes also referenced proposed “Cyber Crime Risk Orders” […which] could give authorities powers to impose restrictions on individuals considered