#Newsnight missing a key point about the "dark web": privacy and security for vulnerable groups in the face of mass surveillance, oppressive governments etc. in a world where #privacy has all but disappeared for anyone leading a "normal" life.
One day maybe they'll cover this, or the activities of data brokers, security breaches and so many other massive problems with the web since corporations have enclosed it and governments have chosen to use that to extend their power. #OnlineSafetyBill
It's "very concerning that Ofcom is solely relying upon data protection laws and the Information Commissioner's Office" to protect privacy when using age verification on sites with porn content.
We need specific and clear privacy rules, given that loads of sensitive data will be processed.
ORG calls on Ofcom to go further in setting out clearer standards and guidelines.
This is necessary to protect users’ data from the substantially increased risk of fraud and cybercrime that comes with invasive age verification technologies.
⚠️ Age verification is risky but Ofcom wants to introduce it on web users ⚠️
"The potential consequences of data being leaked are catastrophic and could include blackmail, fraud, relationship damage, and the outing of people's sexual preferences in very vulnerable circumstances."
Should privacy be a superpower for the techno-elite?
There are few better ways to stoke a class-warfare debate in the UK than to either (a) point-out or (b) question whether something is “elitist” — private schooling, private healthcare, private housing, even private transport — and now in the post-OnlineSafetyBill world there’s a new one: private privacy.
I am a parent, and I want my daughter to grow up knowing that she can have absolute privacy in communication – because she can, in fact this is something which has been guaranteed to everyone since the invention of public key encryption in 1975. BUT this is a capability which should not be reserved for the politically and technically capable. SHE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO TEACH HER FRIENDS HOW TO COMMUNICATE SAFELY AND PRIVATELY
The next generations should not need special apps & tech wizardry: Our children’s experiences are the templates for their future, and if they are denied privacy and agency rather than being taught how to harness it and how to be safe online… then they never will be safe, especially “at scale.”
…
Keeping kids safe is not a matter to be thrown to the platforms and blamed upon “tech”; it requires active parenting, active education, and actively equipping those in loco parentis to perform their jobs appropriately.
The Government is derelict here, not the Internet.
My daughter will learn to use encryption, for fun. She will use PGP to be “old skool” and because nobody can take that away. She will understand key management, exploits, and backdoors. But should this capability be a “superpower” for her? Or should everyone have that? Also we, together, will discuss: how to spot and report grooming, how to avoid being exploited, how to get care and minimise harm if it happens. And also: how to doxx perpetrators.
This is the best way I can help her to be safe for a lifetime, even when I’m gone.
An overview of the potential effects of the UK #OnlineSafetyBill from the Law Society of Scotland. Featuring our CEO, Lucy Crompton-Reid, and the Open Rights Group. https://bit.ly/3GcbFX5
The UK’s controversial #OnlineSafetyBill finally becomes law - The Verge
The bill, which aims to make the #UK ‘the safest place in the world to be online,’ received royal assent today. But its contents have been contentious, especially because of their potential impact on encrypted messaging. #encryption#privacy#security
Post-#OnlineSafetyBill, how about I run my blog as a pay-per-month postal subscription service? You give me like a fiver a month or something, I write my blogs as normal, but then instead of putting them on the internet I print them out and post them to you? Either that or once a month we all get together in the basement of a seedy pub, you all wear blindfolds, and I whisper my stories to you in the darkness?
"Proton, a mail platform with a focus on privacy, says it would be prepared to fight the government in court if it is asked to alter its end-to-end encryption."
The U.K.'s Online Safety Bill has now become law after years of debate. Its aim is to make the internet a safer place, especially for children. The BBC explains what it involves, from age restrictions to online pornography rules and describes exactly why encrypted messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal have threatened to withdraw from the U.K. over it.
@Mastodon seriously? You are the very last people I'd expect to censor #Palestinian#media. Are you really that desperate to become like #Twitter or mainstream social media? I really hope that this is a sincere mistake, and that whoever pressed that #suspend button is reprimanded. This gives a very wrong signal to #Palestinians and independent #journalists / #press people who are seeking a friendly platform for their voices in the #fediverse.
If you dear reader are reading this post, please boost both Mondoweiss's original post (which will be displayed as a RE: link if you're in #Mastodon) to show your support for @mondoweiss as well as this quote #boost so that it may reach mastodon.social (because for all we know they could decide to just #fediblock their self-hosted instance altogether, thankfully that didn't happen yet and it's an account suspension for now)
@mima@mondoweiss Of course I don't know why they decided to do that. But there is a lot of pressure now because of the #EU 😩 Already pushing a Pro-Netanjahu narrative on the big social media platforms.
Instead of them, we now have EU-Commissioner #Breton, under supervision of Commission President #vonderLeyen (and together with Dame #Dawes of #Ofcom in the UK) controlling a big part of our online life.
Meta's algorithm labelling people as terrorists highlights how even seemingly straightforward automated systems can make mistakes, that invariably exacerbate racism and discrimination.
This is going to be an even bigger problem when the Online Safety Bill is implemented and tech companies are obliged to identify illegal content and prevent it from being posted.
Over-moderation will seriously harm freedom of expression.
This is NOT good at all, and I can guess they saw the UK adopted a law of their own in the #OnlineSafetyBill along with the US in #KOSA and the #EARNITAct and they seriously want to be the ones that would kill privacy, security, and online freedom of expression globally.
Suella Braverman’s letter to the police on the harassment of Jewish people in the UK following Hamas' attack on Israel raises issues for freedom of expression.
We're concerned about the consequences of such a letter when the Online Safety Bill becomes law:
The #OnlineSafetyBill compels tech firms to prevent users from encountering 'illegal' content.
A broad directive like Braverman's letter could lead to content featuring a Palestinian flag being removed, with a chilling effect on freedom of expression.
'Illegal content to be removed from platforms under the Online Safety Bill includes a range of terrorism offences in Schedule 5, which can be easily widened.
Offences that are regarded as 'priorities' for content to be removed include:
🔴 publishing image of uniform of a proscribed organisation
🔴 arranging a meeting supportive of a proscribed organisation
🔴 expressing an opinion/belief supportive of a proscribed organisation
The UK government wants existing content to be removed and to stop content 'from appearing at all', requiring tech companies to use algorithms to scan content before it's posted.
AI inevitably makes mistakes and companies will likely err on the side of caution to avoid fines, meaning over-moderation to comply with the #OnlineSafetyBill.
There's a significant risk that content relating to events in #Palestine could be seen by automated moderation systems as potentially supportive of terrorism.