Olives @olives@qoto.org

Now, I don't put much stock in "polls" from "think of the children" groups (as they tend to be very flawed), but it's interesting that one showed that the majority of people don't think the chat control laws would actually succeed in preventing abuse (isn't that kind of the point?)

I see there are some people on social media offended about an article in a journal about bestiality. This journal just happens to be a known contrarian journal about controversial ideas. Is this an insult or a compliment to them? It makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Ah, yes, also our "favorite" deviancy "theorist" jumping in to try to suggest they're also child predators, even though those are the cases most likely to be prosecuted (it was also looking at something like a dozen cases), and evidence seems to suggest otherwise. I'm not commenting on the bestiality thing here in particular, I'm just tired of this deviancy "theory" garbage.

https://edri.org/our-work/a-coalition-of-6-organisations-takes-eus-dangerous-terrorist-content-regulation-to-court/

"On 8 November 2023, a coalition of six organisations – La Quadrature du Net (LQDN), Access Now, ARTICLE 19, European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL), European Digital Rights (EDRi) and Wikimedia France – filed a complaint before the French supreme administrative court, the Conseil d’État, against the French decree implementing the Regulation on addressing the dissemination of terrorist content online (also known as “TERREG”)."

"Under this regulation, law enforcement authorities in an EU country can order a website, a social media platform or any online service provider which hosts user-generated content to block within one hour any content alleged to be of terrorist nature – across all Member States in the EU. These service providers can also be forced to implement “specific measures” to prevent the publication of terrorist content. These “specific measures” – the choice of which remains at the discretion of the service providers – may include, for example, automated upload filters which scan all content before publication. Such automated systems are unable to take account of the context of the publication and are notoriously prone to errors that result in the censorship of protected speech such as journalism, satire, art, or documentation of human rights abuses."

Taking down the terror regulation (which got surprisingly little attention when it got forced through by France) would be a good start to a less authoritarian Europe.

Well, it's her secret "experts", consulted might be the wrong language here.

Since it's been mentioned that Ylva consulted with these people:

Farid seems to have associations with Microsoft. He behaves very activist. He doesn't consider things like proportionality or privacy.

Stamos is weird. He used to work for FB. He apparently had a fight with management (not over kids), left, and has since been attacking them for anything. That was when his "save the children" rhetoric started. He's slightly better than some others but still doesn't consider proportionality.

C3P (i.e. the Canadian Center) is a very activist group which calls people bad for considering fundamental rights, particularly the concepts of proportionality or privacy. They've been known for finding offense with a picture of a baby (an ordinary baby photo) on a band cover. They seem to have a status similar to NCMEC in Canada.

NCMEC has a weird status. They're nominally a non-profit group, however, I think they're there to avoid constitutional constraints, have special powers, and seem a lot like law enforcement. They're somewhat activist. They don't consider proportionality. One Court of Appeals decided they were a government actor, and possibly, even a government agency.

We know Thorn. Founded by Ashton Kutcher, Hollywood actor and investor in AI firms. He stands to gain financially from pitching AI as a solution for everything.

Microsoft and Google aren't really companies known for standing up for your fundamental rights, though they have pushed back against extreme proposals in the past. I suspect they're not hostile to E2EE but I have serious doubts they're that eager about freedom of expression or privacy.

#chatcontrol

Supposedly, Instagram (a site with something like a billion users?) had 160 accounts engage in selling child porn photos over a period of time. It's also reckoned that there were half as many buyer accounts.

In practice, a number of these are probably alts. I don't think it's worth engaging in extreme and disproportionate things for that.

https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2023/11/07/the-united-kingdoms-political-constitution-is-under-severe-strain

"The United Kingdom is unusual in having no single written constitutional document that can be enforced by the courts. Instead it has a political constitution, which relies heavily on norms and conventions. When challenges arise, it rests on a shared understanding of the rules and the principal actors being willing, for the most part, to abide by them—the “good chaps” theory of government."

Not going well at all.

https://reclaimthenet.org/the-nypd-is-underreporting-its-invasive-surveillance-tactics

"The Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P) revealed through its Research Manager, Corinne Worthington, and research intern, Aaron Greenberg, that the NYPD has been employing surveillance technologies that track civilians unnoticed. This type of tracking includes the use of drones for aerial surveillance, GPS locators for tagging vehicles, and even robots for tracking movement within the subway system."

https://reason.com/2023/11/08/yes-anti-israel-protests-are-free-speech/ Hmm... This seems to be quite the heated issue these days.

https://reason.com/2023/11/07/ohio-becomes-the-24th-state-to-legalize-recreational-marijuana/

"Ohio, where legislators authorized medical use of marijuana in 2016, went further on Tuesday, becoming the 24th state to legalize recreational use. According to projections by NBC News and The Hill, voters approved Issue 2, which allows adults 21 or older to publicly possess up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana and grow up to six plants at home. With 57 percent of ballots counted, 56 percent of voters had said yes to the ballot initiative, which also will create a system to license and regulate commercial sales."

"Before Issue 2 was submitted to voters, the Republican-controlled Ohio General Assembly passed up a chance to enact it, and now the measure returns to the legislature, which can revise it before it takes effect."

https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/08/europe_eidas_browser/ The Register has some coverage on #eidas (how it's bad for security) here.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/05/business/banks-accounts-close-suddenly.html That's not good.

https://epicenter.works/en/content/eu-digital-identity-reform-the-good-bad-ugly-in-the-eidas-regulation

This thing is very disturbing.

1) Even if a "concession" is made, details are subject to change later.

2) I don't think anything stops them mandating it in practice, if they twist the language, or opt not to enforce parts of it.

3) It already looks very open to abuse.

4) It looks a lot like "age verification" is being snuck in through the backdoor.

5) Surveillance concerns.

There are also the other problems, such as it obviously being terrible for security with the QWACs.

#eidas

ChatGPT and the like should not be used to advise on policy decisions... Come on, Tories.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/unmitigated-failure-outgoing-liberal-mp-backs-drug-decriminalisation-20231106-p5ehv3.html

"In comments provided to The Age, he backed drug policy reform ahead of a push from crossbench MPs to vote on decriminalising cannabis in coming weeks, labelling the current system an unmitigated failure."

"Criminalising adults for the possession and personal use of small amounts of drugs creates an unregulated black market, enriches organised crime, and ultimately means huge numbers of the most vulnerable end up behind bars. What it doesn’t do is decrease drug use or keep people safe."

"Bach said most people who took drugs were not dependent on them and caused no harm to others, while those who did take drugs problematically often had issues such as mental ill health or trauma which would only be worsened by being placed in the criminal justice system."

"He said drugs should be kept away from children but for adults every reputable study showed incarceration did not lead to rehabilitation and made reoffending more likely."

I'm still not really a fan of this party, but it's nice that someone knows what's up.

https://nichegamer.com/spirittea-launches-this-month/ Interesting idea.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/11/publics-right-fight-bad-patents-must-be-protected

"The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property will debate a bill this week that would dramatically limit the public’s right to challenge bad granted patents. The PREVAIL Act, S. 2220 would bar most people from petitioning the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to revoke patents that never should have been granted in the first place.

If the bill passes, it would be a giant gift to patent trolls, who will be able to greatly increase the extortionate toll they demand from small businesses, software developers, and everyday internet users. EFF opposes the bill, and we’re reaching out to Congress to let them know they should stand with technology makers and users—not patent trolls."

https://indianapublicmedia.org/news/researchers-decry-admin-plan-to-sever-kinsey-institute-from-iu.php

"The Indiana University Board of Trustees plans to discuss separating the world-famous Kinsey Institute from the university at its Nov. 9-10 meeting. Kinsey faculty, staff and students are pushing back, saying the proposal would do “irreparable harm” to the institute and its extensive collections.

The Kinsey Institute’s research on sexuality, gender and relationships has attracted plenty of opposition, but until 2023 the university had been largely able to insulate it from direct attacks. That changed when freshman legislator Lorissa Sweet (R) of Wabash successfully introduced an amendment to the state budget that stripped the institute of public funding."