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Denmark surprisingly abandons plans for chat control | heise online
As someone on Reddit put it: I’ve seen this movie. They put the plan in [a] drawer to avoid getting a “No” in a voting. Now, the next presidency will put some makeup on Chat Control bill and try to pass it again in a few months. Again and again until bad guys win. https://www.heise.de/en/news/Denmark-surprisingly-abandons-plans-for-chat-control-10965249.html
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French lawmakers progress tax on American Big Tech amid huge pushback | POLITICO
Basically all European tech regulation is envy & avarice, not user protection: France’s National Assembly voted Tuesday night in favor of hiking a digital service tax on tech companies including Google, Apple, Meta and Amazon to 6 percent, up from 3 percent … Lawmakers had initially pushed to hike the levy to 15 percent to
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Maybe sometimes it’s the “people who matter” who should “nerd harder”?
Techies vs. the people that matter – by Robert Graham https://cybersect.substack.com/p/techies-vs-the-people-that-matter
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“We will not be age-gating Wikipedia under any circumstances … what are they going to do? They could block Wikipedia. Good luck with that” | PoliticsHome
The House | Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales warns Of “Political Showdown” With UK Government Over Online Safety Act https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/wikipedia-v-uk-government-jimmy-wales-warns-political-showdown-online-safety-act Previously
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Australia’s eSafety Chief Pressures Big Tech and AI Firms on Verification, Age Checks
…Among its requirements are broad directives that “encrypted services, anonymous accounts, generative artificial intelligence (AI) and recommender systems can be used safely,” and that “harmful material and activity is minimized.” … While framed as promoting safety, these rules give the Commissioner wide discretion to define what counts as acceptable online behavior. https://reclaimthenet.org/australia-online-speech-crackdown-esafety-age-verification-push
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Websites in Non-UK Countries should not take action to block UK citizens
I’ve previously written about this at considerable length, so I will limit myself to quoting Preston Byrne re: domestic rights, and noting that sites which have engaged in UK-directed self-censorship* are now centred in complaints to government that VPNs enable circumvention. Appeasement makes it worse for us: [*] The Molly Rose Foundation are literally attempting
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Joint Statement on the UN Cybercrime Convention: EFF and Global Partners Urge Governments Not to Sign | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Of course it was doomed to failure. Alas. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/10/joint-statement-un-cybercrime-convention-eff-and-global-partners-urge-governments
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Ben Schroeter at EurActive: “It’s not that Europe regulates. It’s how it regulates” | Um, I’m not convinced…
It’s a good read, but some of what is listed as “admirable regulation” are not necessarily so — but having that complex conversation is not possible in the current environment. But perhaps that’s what Ben’s getting at? European values may be admirable but what matters is how they’re implemented. Principle without pragmatism paralyses. In trying
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Could the Online Safety Act threaten the safety of Wikipedia editors? | Pod Save The UK | Jimmy Wales Interview…
In case you missed it, new PSUK dropped on Thursday. Head over to our channel to catch Wikipedia founder @jimmy_wales digging into trust, culture wars and AI. Link: https://megaphone.link/CROOKEDMEDIAINC3408432575
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Is age verification killing porn site traffic? Aylo says yes, AVPA says no | BiometricUpdate
A comprehensive read on the current OSA state of play; notable is reportage of commentary by the age verification lobby’s Iain Corby apparently suggesting that the OSA is geared at protecting younger kids, also contradicting PornHub’s own reports of traffic drops: AVPA agrees. Corby brings some heavy numbers to his talk, claiming that the association’s
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