Notices by James Baker (jamesbaker@social.openrightsgroup.org), page 2

Kanishka Narayan MP closes the debate. Claims the government has a clear sense of digital sovereignty claims the national security strategy will do this and government is investing in sovereign AI.

“We are not saying we are going to boil the ocean in one go as the public would be really sceptical of that. We startering with right to work checks first but there are loads of other applications for digital ID.” Josh MacAlister. They are literally saying there will be future function creep of digital ID and this is about merging records across Government.

Wow Mirror now reporting an ad van protesting the Trump visits has been ceased by Police. It appears the U.K. does actually have a free speech crisis! https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/ad-van-picture-donald-trump-35916462 #freespeech #trump

Arrested for ‘malicious communication ‘. The communication was projecting an image of Trump with Epstein on Windsor Castle. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/donald-trump-jeffrey-epstein-windsor-castle-b2827891.html

A reminder that according to the Ministry of defence VPNs allow users to bypass state-imposed censorship. #VPN #Censorship

Oh dear - so major porn sites now require you to log into an account linked to your email due to age verification. From Porn Hub’s privacy policy “Collection and Use of Your Usage Information by Advertisers and Others: Third parties that place advertising on this Website may have the ability to use cookies and/or web beacons to collect information, including information about your usage of this Website. We do not control the processes that advertisers may use to collect such information.”

Quite a few people I hear saying the age verification process doesn’t pass data to them. They don’t need that data it gets supplied via your browsing habits, your email, fingerprint of your device settings and IP.
All then passed onto data brokers and the ad tech industry who can try and match it to things like your address, other accounts and behaviours.

Sexual Health subreddits r/STD and r/SafeSex are being blocked for under 18s due to the Online Safety Act. An issue for those aged 16-18 who might well go there for advice. #onlinesafetyact #reddit #sexualhealth

Anyone using Grindr will have to upload an ID document and photos to US company Facetec. https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/07/03/grindr-uk-age-assurance-security/ what could go wrong?! #privacy #onlinesafety #biometrics

When the facial recognition algorithm says
You are guilty. Sorry if a women in Manchester wrongly accused of shoplifting and getting banned from shops despite being innocent. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdr510p7kymo #biometrics #news #survillance

The whole Horizon issue demonstrates how organisations can be tired to properity code. It can certainly become an issue of digital sovereignty and autonomy for large organisations and even nation states. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgm8lmz1xk1o

It’s hard not to think our laws on speech in the U.K. aren’t broken when you read about prosecutions like this https://pressgazette.co.uk/news/greg-hadfield-ivor-caplin/ #freeexpression

An online cycling community forum says it will shut rather than having to deal with the onerous requirements of the Online Safety Act https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/401475/ many of us warned they would destroy the best bits of the Internet while trying to tackle the worst.

I did a video on a major platform talking about Blair advocating for digital ID, facial recognition and DNA databases. It got flagged and taken down as ‘misinformation’. Then failed to perform. The misinformation agenda will 100% be used to silence and censor people wrongly. Video now back up after an appeal. #censorship #misinformation #survillance

In terms of actual two tier laws in the U.K. Section 179 of the Online Safety Act 2023 makes spreading false information a crime.

Section 180 of the same act explicitly exempts mainstream media from the offence of spreading false information.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/50/section/179 #freespeech #onlinesafetyact

It’s kind of ironic that the Police don’t like being filmed when they themselves are so keen on things like live facial recognition cameras and filming us https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68533904 #watchmen #police #surveillance

The Data Protection and Digital Information Bill massively expands DWPs powers to spy on your financial assets. Take action at https://www.openrightsgroup.org/campaign/hands-off-our-data/ #privacy #surveillance #UK #DataGrabBill

So it turns out Europol want the access to all the data that would be collected under plans to scan messages for CSAM. Confirming worst fears that child abuse is being used as an excuse for routine mass surveillance of all images and messages https://balkaninsight.com/2023/09/29/europol-sought-unlimited-data-access-in-online-child-sexual-abuse-regulation/ . #surveillance #eu #privacy

It’s welcome the UK Government has acknowledged the technical issues around their plans to scan E2EE messaging. As reported widely in article like this https://www.wired.com/story/britain-admits-defeat-online-safety-bill-encryption/ #encryption #onlinesafetybill

This story about AI generated CSAM is horrifying https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65932372. As a parent it makes me even more defensive of the need for E2EE technology. If you share family pics on social media you now risk a pedophile using them to deepfake CSAM.