#Internet#InternetFreedom#DigitalRights#AI#SiliconValley: "There can only be one conclusion from all of this: the digital revolution has failed. The initial promise was a deception to lay the foundation for another corporate value-creation scheme, but the benefits that emerged from it have been so deeply eroded by commercial imperatives that the drawbacks far outweigh the remaining redeeming qualities — and that only gets worse with every day generative AI tools are allowed to keep flooding the web with synthetic material.
The time for tinkering around the edges has passed, and like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the only hope to be found today is in seeking to tear down the edifice the tech industry has erected and to build new foundations for a different kind of internet that isn’t poisoned by the requirement to produce obscene and ever-increasing profits to fill the overflowing coffers of a narrow segment of the population.
There were many networks before the internet, and there can be new networks that follow it. We don’t have to be locked into the digital dystopia Silicon Valley has created in a network where there was once so much hope for something else entirely. The ongoing erosion already seems to be sending people fleeing by ditching smartphones (or at least trying to reduce how much they use them), pulling back from the mess that social media has become, and ditching the algorithmic soup of streaming services.
Personal rejection is a welcome development, but as the web declines, we need to consider what a better alternative could look like and the political project it would fit within. We also can’t fall for any attempt to cast a libertarian “declaration of independence” as a truly liberatory future for everyone."
After twice defeating the UK government in court with @the3million on the #ImmigrationException, they've finally updated the law.
It's shameful they've dragged their feet and only now done the bare minimum to respect migrants' #digitalrights. The government has complied with the Court Order in a way that makes it as difficult as possible for an individual to uphold their data rights and interests.
Join us at @OpenArchive to help #HumanRights defenders share, archive, verify, and encrypt their evidentiary mobile media.
The details:
1 year contract.
-Full or part-time, fully remote.
-Hourly rate: $80-100.
-Overlap with US time zones is required.
-Senior role, with 7+ years experience preferred.
Learn more to see if you're the perfect fit for this role. 👇
Unity is Division when it comes to the Sunak's speech on extremism last week (UK).
In all the sound and fury, our digital rights are put at risk – from free speech online to redoubling support for Prevent and the hostile environment for migrants.
#CyberSecurity#DigitalRights#CyberActivism: "Since 2009, we've done our best to review and update the guides in SSD. This has included minor changes to respond to news events, depreciating guides completely when they're no longer applicable in modern security plans, and massive rewrites when technology has changed.
The original version of SSD was launched mostly as a static text (we even offered a printer-friendly version), though updates and revisions did occur, they were not publicly tracked as clearly as they are today. In its early years, SSD was able to provide useful guidance across a number of important events, like Occupy Wall Street, before the major site redesign in 2014, which helped it become more useful training activists, including for Ferguson and Standing Rock, amongst others. The ability to update SSD along with changing trends and needs has ensured it can always be useful as a resource.
That redesign also better facilitated the updates process. The site became easier to navigate and use, and easier to update. For example, in 2017 we took on a round of guide audits in response to concerns following the 2016 election. In 2019 we continued that process with around seven major updates to SSD, and in 2020, we did five. We don't have great stats for 2021 and 2022, but in 2023 we managed 14 major updates or new guides. We're hoping to have the majority of SSD reviewed and revamped by the end of this year, with a handful of expansions along the way."
Some of the most annoying people in software & games communities are the jokers that think, "but you never owned the software only a license to it" as if anyone in their right mind thought buying software & games gave you the source code & intellectual property rights to it.
Most anyone discussing software/game ownership means it in the sense of owning a copy of a book, movie, or album, which is the same sense that you do own copies of purchased software & games.
They seek to obtain #research access to internal #Microsoft data to check whether and how the company is making sure its not-so-intelligent #AI#Copilot isn't bullshitting around in dangerous ways.
ORG has submitted complaints in the UK and France about LiveRamp, an online advertising and data broking company.
An investigation commissioned by ORG shows the new #adtech system undermines #privacy through invasive profiling.
Thousands of #advertising companies draw detailed profiles of Internet users’ online activities to target them with ads. It's the backbone of #surveillancecapitalism and it's proven to be harmful.
"The Court considered that such [an indiscriminate data] retention did not remain within the bounds of what was necessary in a democratic society. Consequently, the retention of, access to and processing of the data in the
context of the criminal proceedings against the applicant had breached his #privacy rights."
#EU#Surveillance#Privacy#Encryption#Cybersecurity#DigitalRights: "Today, 20 February, in a public consultation at the European Commission, the EDRi network calls on EU lawmakers to end all attempts to normalise dangerous surveillance practices that rip people off their safety and privacy online.
Our network is the key digital rights voice in Europe. We amplify the expertise of technology and privacy professionals as well as the lived experiences of people in vulnerable positions like activists, young people, racialised groups and women in the digital spaces. Based on our 20-year experience in the field, we know that surveillance measures like the ones the European Commission’s High Level Group (HLG) “Going Dark” could undertake will tamper with encryption, creating security and privacy threats for millions of people, public institutions and the broader digital information ecosystem."
I don't get to to do long reads, but
Cory Doctorow ( @pluralistic ) piece titles "‘Enshittification’ is coming for absolutely everything" is an excellent read, specially if you care about privacy, digital rights and digital sovereignty and what to understand what has been eroding them.
#DigitalRights#DigitalOwnership#DataOwnership#DataProtection: "I hope that now, when you see a marketing pitch or proposed legislation that promises you "ownership" of digital content or data, you will push back. Ask that the people behind it instead explain to you very clearly what rights they are promising you, how they expect to enforce it, and why they think those rights are important.
It was easy to talk about different types of ownership in this post because they were boiled down to the rights involved, and not merely described by the vague umbrella term. Conversely, if I were to use the word "ownership", I might mean one thing, but every person listening to me thinks of something slightly different.
#DigitalRights#HumanRights#Refugees#Migrants: "Amnesty International has today published an introductory briefing on the pervasive and rapid deployment of digital technologies in asylum and migration management systems across the globe including the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union.
Defending the Rights of refugees and Migrants in the Digital Age, highlights some of the key digital technology developments in asylum and migration management systems, in particular systems that process large quantities of data, and the human rights issues arising from their use.
“This is a snapshot of some of the key digital technology developments in asylum and migration management systems focusing on the increasing digital alternatives to detention, border externalisation technologies, data software, biometrics and algorithmic decision-making systems,” said Matt Mahmoudi, Amnesty International Adviser on Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights Technology.
“The proliferation of these technologies risk perpetuating and reinforcing discrimination, racism, disproportionate and unlawful surveillance against racialised people.”"
Reflecting on the past month, I've decided to make some changes. Farewell to #meta, #google, #X, and even #Microsoft. Transitioning to services like #protonmail and embracing the #fediverse has been surprisingly smooth for me. And it could be for others, friends, and families online. All we need is a spark of conversation, introducing folks to spaces they might not have explored yet.
And, finally, I'm a criminology masters student in my 40s, returning to university, with an interest in researching digital #surveillance and #privacy.
#CPJ è preoccupato per la decisione del 4feb2024 delle autorità di #Senegal di interrompere l'accesso a Internet mobile, in un contesto di tensione politica conseguente al rinvio a tempo indeterminato delle elezioni nel paese.
Le chiusure di #Internet lasciano i giornalisti in difficoltà nel riportare le notizie in modo tempestivo, nel verificare i fatti sulla disinformazione e nel contattare le fonti in modo sicuro. #KeepItOn#DigitalRights
cc: @quinta@informapirata@sbarrax@laura@oKolobos