Farzaneh Bad
@farzdusa.bsky.social
DigitalMedusa https://digitalmedusa.org/ Netrifying the enemies of the global Internet Say no to IP and government overreach!
When it comes to keeping the Internet open and not give into our urges to restrict access and exert control, I increasingly feel as lonely as Bérenger did at the end of Rhinoceros. Is it a lost cause? Am I wrong? Are they wrong? But one thing I am confident in: I am right about copyright overreach.
A landmark AI copyright ruling from India: training ChatGPT on news articles is prima facie fair dealing. Foundation for the decision? Canada's CCH Supreme Court case and its emphasis on user rights. My post on the ruling and what it means for Canadian AI policy. www.michaelgeist.ca/2026/07/from...
From CCH to ChatGPT: How Canadian Copyright Law Played the Key Role in Deciding a Leading AI Training Data Case in India - Michael Geist
The Delhi High Court has released what may be one of the most consequential copyright decisions yet on artificial intelligence, ruling in ANI Media Pvt. Ltd. v. OpenAI that OpenAI’s use of copyrighted...
michaelgeist.ca
Rather than making EFF’s @davidgreene.bsky.social doubt whether young people had free speech rights worth protecting, parenthood made him feel even more strongly that they do. Read his op-ed at @techpolicypress.bsky.social.
They Said I'd Feel Different About Free Speech as a Parent. They Were Wrong.
EFF senior counsel David Greene says in the haste to "protect" children, we are mischaracterizing who young people are and what speech rights they have.
techpolicy.press
Women’s rights are only European values. So the EU doesn’t mind talking to TALIBAN! The chief women’s rights violator. But in Afghanistan so that’s ok I guess! www.dw.com/en/eu-hosts-...
EU hosts Taliban officials for first time
An Afghan Taliban delegation met with EU officials to discuss the deportation of Afghan migrants. The Taliban visit has faced criticism in Europe over the regime's violation of women's rights.
dw.com
I think I have been exposed to too many bad/negative takes of Internet and digital governance that this Open Source week organized by the UN sounds refreshing and hopeful!
I am in a open source UN session and the Estonian government rep is a breath of fresh air. Arguing that inclusion not prohibition is the road to digital safety and prosperity. Teachers instead of doomsdaying actually integrate AI with the help of researchers in their curriculum!
Oh my gawd Air France uses WhatsApp to communicate with you. Need to call the digital sovereignty cops!
🧵1- It has been 57 days since the internet went down in Iran. For many, the only remaining option has been Starlink. In 2023, Iran invoked “digital sovereignty” at the International Telecommunication Union to push for disabling Starlink connections. Yet the number of terminals continued to grow.
🚨 We are pleased to announce that Farzaneh Badiei (@farzdusa.bsky.social), a leading expert in Internet governance and digital rights, has joined us as a Senior Research Fellow.
Went to an AI governance and copyright event and the judge kind of said: get it out of your head that the judges and legal systems ban all sorts of scraping and crawling because of some copyright quarrels! In a way he was the only voice for end users!
It’s not just child-unfriendly, it’s massively anti-human. That’s what optimising for profitable efficiency gets you - a world of rampant corporatism in which the role of humanity is to serve, feed and offer sacrifice as necessary to prop up brand valuation.
Paul Bernal@paulbernal.bsky.social · 4mo agoThe problem isn’t cursive handwriting. It isn’t social media. It isn’t smartphones. It’s a massively child-unfriendly culture and environment that’s been developing over many decades.
This week the UN ITU's Radio Regulations Board is meeting on IRI’s demand to disable Starlink in Iran. This will set an important precedent for one of the key ways people are circumventing Internet shutdowns. Read the full breakdown by @farzdusa.bsky.social: iranianwomen4internet.org/blog.html
Seriously ... please don't use war terminology for things that aren't war. "Sniper" tactics for cyber scam? really? Meh
Amidst of all the heart wrenching news… here is a fundraising campaign for a short movie by a budding director. gofund.me/dabc7985c
Donate to Help Fund A Sophomore Film Thesis: "The Graduation Dinner", organized by Rojina Kalbasi
Hi! My name is Rojina. I'm a film student at Purchase College… Rojina Kalbasi needs your support for Help Fund A Sophomore Film Thesis: "The Graduation Dinner"
gofund.me
By keeping millions of people in a digital blackout but granting connectivity to a select few, Iran’s regime is openly using Internet access as a political tool. @mahsaalimardani.bsky.social explains: carnegieendowment.org/research/202...
Iran Wields Wartime Internet Access as a Political Tool
In an effort to disseminate its preferred message, the Iranian regime is offering a simple transaction: connectivity for amplification.
carnegieendowment.org
Roya Pakzad wrote this after the supreme leader was found and killed by Israel: "You see how the tools used as a system of oppression become a fragility for the oppressor?" On the irony of cameras built to police Iranians becoming the regime’s Achilles’ heel royapakzad.substack.com/p/youre-welc...
You're Welcome, Mr. Supreme Leader
On the irony of cameras built to police Iranians becoming the regime’s Achilles’ heel
royapakzad.substack.com
evacide@evacide.bsky.social · 5mo agoIf you leave the infrastructure of surveillance in place, people in power will inevitably find an excuse to resume using it. You have to take that shit down.
This is why the west should be worried about the future of its own connectivity.
Paris Marx@parismarx.com · 5mo agopeople really need to get over their utopian notions about the internet and see it for what it truly is. there are a lot of great things about it, but also a slew of drawbacks and problems that pro-internet advocacy has long tried to obscure.
What islamic republic is doing is not just whitelisting its supporters to have access to the Internet. It’s Internet apartheid system. Just like it did to the women, does it to access to the Internet too.
A manifesto by some of us dreamers aka Iranian Internet freedom lady nerds fed up with the internet shutdowns endangering the lives of our loved ones and our people in Iran. @azadehakbari.bsky.social @farzdusa.bsky.social @royapak.bsky.social & Afsaneh Rigot.
Azadeh Akbari@azadehakbari.bsky.social · 5mo agoThis is "our" Manifesto for a Free Internet. We are Iranian Women's Coalition for Internet Freedom. Happy International Women's Day! initiated by @azadehakbari.bsky.social @farzdusa.bsky.social @mahsaalimardani.bsky.social @royapak.bsky.social & Afsaneh Rigot
This is "our" Manifesto for a Free Internet. We are Iranian Women's Coalition for Internet Freedom. Happy International Women's Day! initiated by @azadehakbari.bsky.social @farzdusa.bsky.social @mahsaalimardani.bsky.social @royapak.bsky.social & Afsaneh Rigot
Manifesto for a Free Internet
Manifesto for a Free Internet Iranian Women’s Coalition for Internet Freedom Today, people inside Iran are living through a near-total Internet and communications blackout imposed by the Islamic Repub...
docs.google.com
We should have a warning label somewhere: nation states kill.
Chatbots provide essential information for some of the most vulnerable communities. Governments don't and can't provide that kind of support, ever because it's too expensive. And now they want to take away this essential service from people. Licensing costs money! The providers will charge people!
Jess Miers 🦝🦞@jmiers230.bsky.social · 5mo agoThe latest NY chatbot bill would bar chatbots from conveying information that could fall within the scope of a licensed profession. It’s basically a censorship bill disguised as licensure protection. statescoop.com/new-york-bil...
so when people say policies should have "teeth" what do they mean? They should have teeth to bite people so that they get hurt and bleed? Such great governance mechanisms we think of!
Set up a conduit-psiphon so that people can connect to Internet service. only a few peers from time to time. I cannot bring myself to shut this down thinking I am depriving people of a vital service. And the Islamic Republic sabotages millions of people's Internet.
