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“Unacceptable slur in record” — Bluesky, intent upon banning Homophobic Slurs, bans Frequently Asked Questions
This blog automatically propagates to several platforms, and the blogpost tags – where relevant – are converted into hashtags for those platforms. This morning I was debugging why one of my posts was failing to propagate to Bluesky, and manual testing revealed the message: “unacceptable slur in record” For a blogpost about digital identity and
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Online Safety Act consultation : Threat to protest and political content | Open Rights Group
The proposals would mean that: Lawful activism could be censored as it happens. Political content about Palestine may auto-delete from your feeds. The police can clampdown on protest online. Open Rights Group is urging everyone who cares about democracy and our right to protest to respond to this consultation. https://action.openrightsgroup.org/online-safety-act-consultation-threat-protest-and-political-content
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Quote: ‘Ofcom: “you have no rights under US law. UK law is all that matters. However, we will run and hide behind the protections of US law if you challenge us.”‘
Yes, pretty much. This is how British exceptionalism has worked, to date.
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The Surreal Practicality of Protesting As an Inflatable Frog | 404media
Why wear a mask when you can be an inflatable frog? https://www.404media.co/the-surreal-practicality-of-protesting-as-an-inflatable-frog/
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ANONYMITY IS HARD: if you are reading this post, it is an invitation for you to consider how anonymity can fail (leading to re-identification) in a heavily networked system
I post lots about digital identity cards and how they can fail, and I get lots of responses from people who believe the marketing material – variously from governments, or for zero knowledge protocols, or for some other kind of snake oil – regarding how they can exchange official identity credentials for tokens that can
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Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement | Ars Technica
Happy to read this, not least because I’ve often seen the push for rapid adoption of PQ as coming from intelligence agencies seeking to sow confusion & discord; having a well researched hybrid solution with solid traditional foundations, reassures me. https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/10/why-signals-post-quantum-makeover-is-an-amazing-engineering-achievement/
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“We do not guarantee that GOV.UK One Login will always be available, or that access to it will be error free. We will provide a way for you to report problems with GOV.UK One Login”
Wow. Reference to “Safari 12” suggests this is 2018-era technology, at best: Terms and conditions – GOV.UK One Login https://signin.account.gov.uk/terms-and-conditions archived at https://archive.ph/yTPbc
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“The EU is now testing a digital age verification system that ties internet access to your government ID”
Under the new system, users upload official documents once through an app. In return, they get a token to show platforms like YouTube or Snapchat. This is how ID-based access to the internet begins in Europe… https://reclaimthenet.org/eu-launches-new-push-for-digital-id-age-checks-and-big-tech-probe-under-digital-services-act Via:
age verification censorship chat control digital id online safety online safety act privacy surveillanceFediverse reactions
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Grab lots of popcorn: What’s just happened in Ofcom-vs-4Chan will be fun to watch…
Various UK pro-censorship interests of the past 10+ years have painted the Web as a “Wild West” that must be tamed for civility’s sake… and arguably “4Chan” is and always has been top of their hitlist for sanitisation. But it doesn’t look like it’s going to work out that way, and attempts to do so
4chan age appropriate design code age verification censorship ofcom online safety online safety act surveillance vpnsFediverse reactions
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If Ofcom issue a fine but there is no-one in the UK jurisdiction to impose it upon, is it really a fine or just an empty message?
The “wild-west internet comity showdown” approaches at speed. It’s incredible how much money, effort, & reputation Ofcom is expending to prevent people who don’t want to use a service from being able to access it, whilst remaining practically incapable of stopping those who do. It’s almost as if they were just virtue signalling.
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Nano Banana “AI Generated Image” digital watermark easily visible (removable?) with basic image manipulation
From Reddit, people using contrast stretch and even contrast boost of an AI generated pure white image, to show the “digital watermark” which is supposed to denote evil AI content. Research opportunity: show us what it looks like when one is tweeted and then the tweet is screencapped and reshared. Some examples in posts: …and…
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EU ministers united: Minors must be protected better online | …setting the stage for the next round of Chat Control discussions, with added Age Verification
“Bouncers?” – the Internet is a Nightclub? “Our children have been left alone on the internet for far too long. We need “digital bouncers” to ensure that the internet is a safe place to be and that children are not granted access when they are not old enough. It is crucial that we stand strong
age verification censorship chat control end to end encryption online safety online safety act surveillanceFediverse reactions