⊥ᵒᵚ Cᵸᵎᶺᵋᶫ∸ᵒᵘ ☑️ @falken@qoto.org

New blogpost: "A proposed legislative amendment to attempt to compel VPN services providers to prevent anyone under 18 in the UK from using their VPNs"

> This new clause would require the Secretary of State to take action to promote and protect children’s wellbeing, and to further support child protective measures in the Online Safety Act, by prohibiting the provision to children in the United Kingdom of VPN services which can facilitate evasion of OSA age-gating processes.

Here we go... buckle up!

https://decoded.legal/blog/2025/12/a-proposed-legislative-amendment-to-attempt-to-compel-vpn-services-providers-to-prevent-anyone-under-18-in-the-uk-from-using-their-vpns/

#VPN #OnlineSafetyAct #HeavySigh

Do I know anyone in Germany who desperately needs 2GB and 4GB DDR3 SODIMM RAM suitable for 2012-2014 (or so) ThinkPads (and probably other laptops)? #boostswelcome #thinkpads #is2013retroyet

I've been fairly quiet recently but that's because I'VE BEEN PLAYING THIS PHENOMENAL GAME!

This is exactly how licenced properties should be treated in game form

The pixel artwork is stunning, the gameplay is tight and responsive, and the atmosphere is faithful to the source material.

If the reports about a UK push for client-side scanning (e.g. https://www.ft.com/content/0ef79775-eadf-4cc9-b32c-e97b0eff816f) are true, wow, here we go again.

Chart of the day

#infographic #brexit

Mastodon/fediverse peeps who come across Bluesky accounts that are bridged (i.e. using Bridgy Fed), how do you feel about them and their posts?

Please boost widely, I’m trying to get input from more than just my followers. 🙏

#Mastodon #fediverse #Bluesky #ATproto #ActivityPub

@Migueldeicaza I hope everyone is paying attention and thinking hard about the consequences of entrusting your data and livelihood to these corporations that have way too much power and don't give a damn about their customers. I sure am.

@Migueldeicaza

Dear "Paris":

Welcome to the Walled Garden that your complicity helped create.

And people wonder why I've had nothing at all to do with with the company for the last 40 years! WHY do you think that Steve Wozniak left the company that he co-founded? He was the true creator of Apple, not huckster Steve Jobs, and he abandoned it. What should that have been telling you? (Hint: neurodivergent people like Wozniak tend to have a well-developed sense of ethics, ethics derived from the logic at which they excel.)

Jesus fucking christ.

https://hey.paris/posts/appleid/

Last night on stage , I announced my resignation from the Infinite Monkey Cage - here is my statement #science #radio #bbc

Believe it or not, I’m still figuring out where HTML got its angle brackets.

But despite grabbing a lot of interlibrary items, I am not sure I’m getting any closer. I still have some ideas, but one involves going to a museum in Maine, which might take a while.

However, good news (for someone?): There are now over 40 papers and books I scanned that deal with history of markup. Enjoy!

https://archive.org/details/wicharytypewriter?tab=collection&query=subject%3A%22markup%22

“With the permission of Adobe Systems Inc., the Computer History Museum is pleased to make available, for non-commercial use, the source code to the 1990 version 1.0.1 of Photoshop.”

https://computerhistory.org/blog/adobe-photoshop-source-code/

Just one final thing - someone filmed some of my departure speech after Monkey Cage last night (I should make it clear no one knew I was going to do it) and it has been put up here - i cannot deny i was very emotional #science #comedy

https://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2025/12/13/59644/robin_ince_forced_to_quit_radio_4_over_pro-trans_views

“In a recent meeting where BBC studio executives again voiced problems, I realised my choices. Obedience and being quieter to remain making Monkey Cage, or resign and have the freedom to speak out against what I believe are injustices. I chose the latter. It broke my heart.”

– @robinince

Told you folks he’s a good egg :) https://todon.eu/@b9AcE/115713122562771386

RE: https://mastodon.social/@404mediaco/115712622290141712

“ICE officials have told us that an apparent biometric match by Mobile Fortify is a ‘definitive’ determination of a person’s status and that an ICE officer may ignore evidence of American citizenship—including a birth certificate—if the app says the person is an alien,” he said. “ICE using a mobile biometrics app in ways its developers at CBP never intended or tested is a frightening, repugnant, and unconstitutional attack on Americans’ rights and freedoms.”

Yes, you read that right. Glitchy AI programs are being used on US citizens to deny their citizenship.

This century has been a good one for the greedy, the ignorant , the cowardly , the narcissistic , the cruel and the awful - Trump getting FIFAs inaugural peace prize has had me laughing like Batman and The Joker at the end of Killing Joke #fifa #peace #trump #football #comics #comicstrips

FFS. @robinince has left The Infinite Monkey Cage because the BBC are cowards and transphobes seeking to control what their freelance contractors say and do. https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:2w3eicjzblwvqo3nsxiivwgb/post/3m7tcbsr7522l

More #Amiga Settlers 2 and wine tonight! Come along and chat, starting at 8:30pm GMT: https://twitch.tv/daedalus2097 #Settlers #Retro #OS4

I'm working on a study of Bronze Age axes, and I find it a little hard to articulate why.

* I don't get paid.
* Another journal paper won't make any difference for my employability at this stage.
* Almost nobody knows or cares that these axes exist.

I think the main reasons I do this is

* It's fun.
* I'm one of the few who can do this well.
* I've dedicated my life to expanding our scientific knowledge.

#archaeology #career

The UK health service #NHS is using an #AI tool made by Anima. It hallucinated a set of false diagnoses for a patient, and backed it up with a fake hospital and fake address! The poor dude thought he had diabetes and angina 😱

https://fortune.com/2025/07/20/uk-health-service-ai-tool-false-diagnoses-patient-screening-nhs-anima-health-annie/

https://www.animahealth.com/

#bigtech #reversecentaur