Notices by Open Rights Group (openrightsgroup@social.openrightsgroup.org)

Want to know more about age verification, age assurance and what it means for your privacy online?

ORG has developed a website with key facts and advice on what the UK Online Safety Act means for you.

Find out more ⬇️

https://www.ageverificationfacts.org.uk/

#ageverification #ageassurance #OnlineSafetyAct #privacy #ukpolitics #ukpol

Grindr is rolling out age verification for UK users to comply with the Online Safety Act.

The Act lets platforms choose the provider to do these checks and requires no certification for high privacy standards.

Users deserve to have their data handled securely.

https://www.attitude.co.uk/news/grindr-introduces-age-verification-for-uk-based-users-486823/

#ageverification #ageassurance #OnlineSafetyAct #privacy #ukpolitics #ukpol #grindr

As age verification providers are not regulated, users could face providing their sensitive data over and over across different platforms.

This means ID documents could be sent off to other countries and some sites will pick providers with poor privacy terms and conditions.

We must have a choice!

#ageverification #ageassurance #OnlineSafetyAct #privacy #ukpolitics #ukpol

Oops! AI did it again... you're not that innocent.

Nectar, a 'crime-predicting' system developed with #Palantir, could be rolled out nationally after a pilot with Bedfordshire police (UK).

Data such as race, sex life, trade union membership, philosophical beliefs and health are used to 'predict' criminality so people can be targeted for #surveillance.

https://inews.co.uk/news/police-use-controversial-ai-tool-sex-lives-beliefs-3747154

#SafetyNotSurveillance #policing #police #AI #ukpolitics #ukpol #criminaljustice #precrime #predictivepolicing

🚨 BREAKING 🚨

New powers were slipped into the UK Crime and Policing Bill yesterday ⚠️

The police will be given powers to extract data from seized devices and any online accounts accessed on it.

No judicial oversight, just on the say so of a senior officer 😖

Read our response ⬇️

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/press-releases/police-forces-to-get-authoritarian-powers-to-extract-data-from-online-accounts/

#CrimeAndPolicingBill #police #policing #digitalrights #surveillance #privacy #ukpolitics #ukpol

Big Tech. Small Data. Immoderate Injustice.

'Crime-predicting' police tech is the new line of offence from the coppers who brought you institutional racism.

Overpoliced communities can expect more of the same.

Sign our petition to BAN it ➡️ https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ban-crime-predicting-police-tech

#SafetyNotSurveillance #PreCrime #AI #police #policing #ukpolitics #ukpol #surveillance

Meta using 'consent or pay' to deal with the right to opt-out of targeting advetising isn't lawful.

We shouldn't face a paywall to exercise our rights or accept our data being packaged up for advertisers to target us online.

Read our report ➡️ https://www.openrightsgroup.org/publications/consent-without-paying-alternatives-to-metas-surveillance-advertising-models/

#StopStalkerAds

#dataprotection #gdpr #meta #facebook #privacy #consentorpay #advertising #surveillancecapitalism #ukpolitics #ukpol #data #adtech

I predict a riot... a robbery, a murder?

Crime predicting tech is being used to surveil and monitor us based on historic biases in the data its trained on. It doesn't predict crime. It reinforces the over-policing of already over-policed communities.

Write to your Council to BAN crime predicting tech ⬇️

https://action.openrightsgroup.org/write-your-local-council-ban-%E2%80%98crime-predicting%E2%80%99-police-tech

#policing #precrime #surveillance #ukpolitics #ukpol

🚨 New Report by ORG 🚨

Meta’s ‘stalker ads’ model breaches data protection law!

The report proposes alternatives that don't rely on "stalker ads."

Meta: change your business model and honour user requests to opt out of tracking!

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/press-releases/metas-consent-or-pay-must-not-allow-stalker-ads-report-argues/

An open letter, signed by ORG and others, urges the Prime Minister to take action to address the UK’s dependence on US tech companies for core infrastructure, data management, and public services.

We are calling for:

* The establishment of an emergency technology taskforce to address existing national security risks

* Clear and consistent messaging on artificial intelligence

* A test-and-learn approach to AI to minimize harm to the public

https://futureinstitute.tech/innovation/open-letter-pm-independent-uk-tech-ai-policy

#digitalsovereignty

How do you solve a problem like the UK Online Safety Act? 😵💫

For organisations wondering where to start, look no further...

Delve into our new guide through the regulatory maze of duties placed on online service providers by the Act and Ofcom.

Get started ⬇️

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/publications/online-safety-act-a-guide-for-organisations-working-with-the-act/

#OnlineSafetyAct #OSA #freedomofexpression #ukpolitics #ukpol #ofcom

The Online Safety Act could harm expression online when it's more crucial than ever.

Faced with onerous duties, small sites will shutdown or block UK users, leaving us with the Sophie's Choice of algorithmically manipulative Big Tech platforms.

We need #netplurality so users can choose platforms that favour trust and positive interactions over misdirection and provocation.

Read now ➡️ https://www.openrightsgroup.org/publications/how-to-fix-the-online-safety-act-a-rights-first-approach/

🗣️ Dia J Kayyali

#OnlineSafetyAct #OSA #freedomofexpression #ukpolitics #ukpol

"Beyond comprehension"

ORG has responded to the government's plans to rely on the deeply flawed eVisa scheme to carry out immigration raids and deport people.

As ORG's @sarahalsherif says, "with the use of technology, automated decision-making and AI, we can expect to see a Windrush scandal on steroids."

Read the full story ➡️ https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366623863/UK-government-outlines-plan-to-surveil-migrants-with-eVisa-data

Write to your MP to say NO ➡️ https://action.openrightsgroup.org/write-your-mp-stop-evisas-being-used-immigration-raids

#eVisa #immigration #ukpolitics #ukpol #migrants

🗞️ NEW: Read about our important report into the Online Safety Act in Digit.

“This complicated legislation favours Big Tech who have the means and capacity to comply with the Act’s onerous provisions.

Instead of tackling online harms, the Act concentrates the market power of Big Tech companies, exacerbating the underlying reasons that harmful content circulates.”

🗣️ @jim – ORG Exec Director.

https://www.digit.fyi/is-the-online-safety-act-favouring-big-tech/

#OnlineSafetyAct #OSA #freedomofexpression #ukpolitics #ukpol #ofcom

The UK Data Bill amendment for digital verification services to record 'sex at birth' and 'acquired gender' is set to be rejected.

This would've effectively created a transgender label.

With the government given powers to change data protection rules at any time without Parliamentary scrutiny, this data could be used to discriminate against #trans people in an increasingly hostile climate.

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/data-bill-first-they-came-for-trans-people/

#dataprotection #privacy #gdpr #ukpolitics #ukpol #lgbt #DataBill #DUABill

🔔 NEXT WEEK 🔔

Hear from ORG's @sarahalsherif on how pervasive data-sharing creates a digital hostile environment.

Sign up for the 'Oversharing Migrants' Data and the Narrative of the Harm' workshop. #StandUpSpeakOut

🗓️ 15 May
🕔 5–6pm BST
💻 Online

https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/suso2025

#migrants #dataprotection #surveillance #privacy #digitalhostileenvironment

We're hiring 🚀

ORG is on the look out for an expert AI Policy Consultant.

Get in touch if you're interested in helping us to produce and define a clear position for NGOs and civil society groups on a future UK AI Bill.

#jobs #AI #digitalrights

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/ai-policy-consultant/

Wikipedia are going to court over the UK Online Safety Act!

Saddling platforms with hefty duties and penalties under the new regime will cause many safe sites to fold.

We can't lose the best of the web due to laws that were meant to tackle the worst of it.

#SaveOurSites

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62j2gr8866o

#OnlineSafetyAct #OSA #NetPlurality #ukpol #ukpolitics #wikipedia #freedomofexpression

Data privacy is a matter of safety for survivors of modern slavery, domestic abuse and gender-based violence.

ORG backs Siân Berry MP's amendment to the UK Data Use and Access Bill. This will introduce a statutory complaints procedure with the Information Commissioner's Office and right of appeal to the Information Tribunal for people in vulnerable situations.

Find out more ⬇️

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/press-releases/i-was-failed-by-the-ico-data-bill-amendment-could-help-survivors-of-abuse/

#dataprotection #privacy #gdpr #DataBill #DUABill #ukpolitics #ukpol

Outlook not so good 🎱

Police tech doesn’t predict crime. It predicts policing.

Based on biased data, it brings more of the same – racist policing and poverty punishment.

Read our latest blog on why crime 'predicting' police tech must be BANNED ⬇️

#SafetyNotSurveillance

https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/why-predictive-policing-must-be-banned/

#policing #AI #precrime #justice #criminal #police #ukpol #ukpolitics #surveillance