Notices by Jim Killock (jim@social.openrightsgroup.org)

A few points on this rubbish about "cuts" because #Palantir was going to "save" the Met money:

(1) Palantir are the software equivalent of a heroin dealer. "First one free". This is a problem the police should understand.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c75ylvzyy6xo

Germany snubs #Palantir, chooses French supplier for internal intelligence agency

In all seriousness, choosing Palantir, funded by antidemocratic billionaires to defend German democracy would have been madness. #digitalsovereignty

https://www.dw.com/en/german-intelligence-offices-snub-us-based-palantir-software/a-77160897

Scandalous data hoarding with basic control failures by #Europol - exposed by Computer Weekly. Years of illegal operations.

Given this, why should Europol, or their investigations, be trusted?

https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366642525/They-protect-the-law-while-breaking-it-Inside-Europols-shadow-IT-system

Unacceptable.
US tech firms successfully lobbied EU to keep datacentre emissions secret

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/17/microsoft-us-tech-firms-lobbied-eu-secrecy-rules-datacentre-emissions

The Netherlands is building a "digital emergency kit" in case the internet shuts down nationwide.

Meanwhile the UK is providing every home with the opportunity to rent a bag of Microsoft Copilot sand to put your head in. #digitalsovereignty

https://cybernews.com/security/netherlands-build-a-digital-emergency-kit-internet-shutdown-nationwide/

Thank you, #OnlineSafetyAct for failing to regulate #AgeVerification in any way at all. Now Discord users must hand their data to a Peter-Thiel-of-Palantir-linked system.

https://www.pcgamer.com/software/platforms/oh-good-discords-age-verification-rollout-has-ties-to-palantir-co-founder-and-panopticon-architect-peter-thiel/

Great news today the French government have launched their own Visio video conferencing tool #digitalsovereignty

But the PR stories, while explaining it is French built, don't mention it is Open Source and based on LiveKit - so any government can reuse what they have done.

https://www.euronews.com/next/2026/01/27/france-to-ditch-us-platforms-microsoft-teams-zoom-for-sovereign-platform-amid-security-con

https://github.com/suitenumerique/meet

So #reddit now require #ageverification and your birthdate for watching #aljazeera

#onlinesafetyact
https://www.reddit.com/r/AlJazeera/

Reminder that if you come across sites that are geoblocking the UK thanks to the #onlinesafetyact please let us know here

Also thank you @neil for getting this transparency project for OSA site removals going!
https://www.blocked.org.uk/osa-blocks

Some unrelated facts. (1/2)

(1) The UK and US are in dispute regarding attacks on #encryption (and the US is on the right side of the argument)
(2) The main protagonist within the US government expressing outrage is JD Vance, according to reports
(3) The UK wants to compromise with the US
(4) JD Vance is holidaying in the UK, and spending some time in the Cotswolds
(5) Chipping Norton is 30 miles from Cheltenham, where GCHQ is based

This could all be coincidence of course

#privacy

Right at the last minute the UK government have added a power to demand access to your device and extract information from any online account, on the say so of a senior police officer, in the #crimeandpolicingbill #cpbill

Really incredibly extreme stuff. No judicial oversight, just hand over your device.

BREAKING: VICTORY for @openrightsgroup BBW and @privacyint and others

The #Apple IPT case will be held in open, including the bare details of the case, so that the principles of the issue can be discussed! #e2ee #privacy

Information about the UK #cybersecurity Bill coming out today:

Missing:

* Protections for encryption
* Explicit discussion of #digitalsovereignty and the need to transition to #opensource #foss
* Safeguards against future self inflicted cybersecurity disasters through hiding vulnerabilities leading to incidents like WannaCry

@openrightsgroup will be making the case for these changes

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cyber-security-and-resilience-bill-policy-statement/cyber-security-and-resilience-bill-policy-statement

Just brilliant from @CCC @khaleesicodes

"CCC demands digital infrastructures that are resilient against fascism’s cravings"

https://www.ccc.de/en/updates/2025/ccc-fordert-digitale-brandmauer #antifascist #digitalrights #surveillance #privacy #mastodon

@gruff @JamesBaker @openrightsgroup This is definitely a stand from Apple. It is making the problem public: plus, to abide by the order, they would actually have to switch it off globally, which they are not doing.

Switching it off in the UK is in effect a #warrantcanary revealing they have been subject to a UK order requiring a backdoor they are refusing to comply with.

Outrageous attack on the #fediverse coming from #Ofcom who think they are just doing their best, but may inadvertently kill the fediverse for the UK.

What's a significant number of UK users? Do you need to age verify? No firm answers, no guarantees, etc etc.

https://blog.woof.group/announcements/updates-on-the-osa

I've been digging a bit on #bluesky moderation and the "firehose" approach to almagamating user posts, searchability and tagging.

On the one hand, compared to current closed models, it looks like an improvement as it opens up decision making and moderation. On the other, it looks to me at least like it is vulnerable to the same problems as all other centralised systems

Curious about the views from the #fediverse and #mastodon @pluralistic @KevinMarks

@JonGlue @davelee @pluralistic TBH I think there is less activity on Mastodon than there was in the intial phase. It is reduced but still more than it was a couple of years ago. Interaction for me comes with using hashtags mostly

On the topic of copyright, now that #1984 is in the #publicdomain (mostly, outside of the USA) ther have been some interesting reuses of the novel. Here are two I’ve noticed, the latest one turning the junk Da Vinci Code into 1984:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/oct/26/david-shrigley-turns-da-vinci-code-novels-nineteen-eighty-four

and from a few weeks ago, Julia, a rewrite of the novel from the female co-protagonist’s perspective.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/18/julia-by-sandra-newman-review-a-new-nineteen-eighty-four

for those of you following the #IPA #TCNs debacle, in which #Apple and other companies are being threatened with a UK and potentially globally applicatible Permafrost against deployment of #E2EE, I've published ORG's draft consultation here along with links to the original and the email for the responses: https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/IPA_notices_consultation_draft