The only thing that's unusual about this is how many people are following along. Ideally in academia, you find a subject in which only you and two other people are expert enough to have a really vicious, decades-long argument about it.
Jessica Shurson
@jessicashurson.bsky.social
Law academic @ University of Sussex. Research interests: cybercrime and criminal law; digital surveillance, investigations & evidence; privacy law. 🇺🇸 in 🇬🇧. (Views are my own.) issuesincybercrimelaw.substack.com https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2775-2136
This is a first... I've just received an email from an intermediary service that is offering to pay $800 USD extra per paper for an "expedited review process" outside of the normal journal fees. In other words, a bribe to the editor. I'm not going to reply, but that is concerning.
This happened with Stingrays too - usage was left out of court filings or obscured as “confidential informants”. Judges didn’t like that.
Jason Koebler@jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 2d agoNew: Police are being told to hide the fact that they're using Flock to pull people over and arrest them in both encounters with citizens but ALSO in their official police reports: www.404media.co/do-not-menti...
Now including the UK Investigatory Powers Act, which is pretty exciting for me personally
michael veale@michae.lv · 3d agoYou can now access many more digital laws, not just the GDPR, at the UCL Massively Crossreferenced Digital Laws page: EU: GDPR, DSA, DMA, AI Act, UCPD, NIS2 UK: OSA, DPA18, ...+ Each article/para/recital, links to what-cites-it in int'l cases/statutes/guidance homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucqnmve/law...
Australia’s eSafety commissioner buried a report (released Friday afternoon) that shows the under 16 social media ban didn’t tangibly reduce teen social media use, and also resulted in parents tuning out of kids usage. We traded our privacy for no reason. theconversation.com/more-than-80...
More than 80% of kids still using social media despite ban, new eSafety report finds
The report provides more evidence Australia’s world-leading social media ban isn’t going to plan.
theconversation.com
You can now access many more digital laws, not just the GDPR, at the UCL Massively Crossreferenced Digital Laws page: EU: GDPR, DSA, DMA, AI Act, UCPD, NIS2 UK: OSA, DPA18, ...+ Each article/para/recital, links to what-cites-it in int'l cases/statutes/guidance homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucqnmve/law...
michael veale@michae.lv · 7d agoParts of the GDPR are cited and interpreted by thousands of pieces of case law and guidance, but there's no easy and free way to find out what. We've made a tool which makes it super easy, for 13,000 citing documents, all in one place. More regulations to come! homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucqnmve/law...
Less than a year ago, I attended a police convention quasi-incognito to learn about what the police tech industry is selling to departments, how cops are using this tech, and what the future of policing looks like. These insights get more relevant every day:
Matthew Guariglia@mguariglia.bsky.social · 10mo agoI spent the week at the police surveillance convention and let me tell you my biggest observation: The name of the game now is consolidating as much information as humanely possible from surveillance devices, the internet, other governmental data, and literally a million other places. 🧵
Parts of the GDPR are cited and interpreted by thousands of pieces of case law and guidance, but there's no easy and free way to find out what. We've made a tool which makes it super easy, for 13,000 citing documents, all in one place. More regulations to come! homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucqnmve/law...
Reposting recent paper - soon to release new version updating for period between Jan - but again, majority of cybercrime underground are gaining next to no technical capacity/sophistication uplift from GenAI, mostly logistics automation and productivity tool for the experts arxiv.org/pdf/2603.29545
arxiv.org
Started writing on Andy Burnham’s education proposal thinking “not sure about this”. Realised in writing “no, I am sure: it sucks!”
Education is not to blame for England’s Neet crisis
Andy Burnham’s schools overhaul risks throwing babies out with the bathwater, as changes will probably require cuts elsewhere
ft.com
Ir is desperately disappointing that no one across the political spectrum is prepared to speak up on behalf of universities. Australia has been running this populist nonsense for years and it's just a stick to beat higher education with. www.thetimes.com/article/96f2...
Andy Burnham vows to put practical education on par with academia
The prime minister will encourage children from age 14 into technical training as part of a radical shift to tackle the rise of ‘Neets’
thetimes.com
‘Nolan has read at least the first line of my translation of 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘥𝘺𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘺 into iambic pentameter. In one interview, he cited my version of it: “Tell me about a complicated man.” But I would be ashamed to have written any part of this script.’ New, by Emily Wilson www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Emily Wilson · An Uncomplicated Man
As they say at the awards shows, I was humbled to learn that Christopher Nolan has read at least the first line of my...
lrb.co.uk
This case illustrates why we must not allow Meta to normalise its pervert glasses.
Lorcan Murphy’s use of ‘spy pen’ to record women in Dublin part of ‘path to future crime’
The Dubliner was jailed this month for murdering US nurse Mackenzie Michalski in Hungary
irishtimes.com
Periodic reminder that if you are being asked by a captcha to type any kind of combinations of keys & especially if they look like shortcut key stroke combinations it is an attack called ClickFix. Basically the prompt is to fool you into downloading & installing malicious software. Stay vigilant!
Nicolai von Ondarza@nvondarza.bsky.social · 2w agoThis is new and completely wierd. To proof that I am not an AI, cloudflare now wants me to enter something in the terminal, of unknown origin. Sorry, no way.
Not me trying to finish some references before I go and holiday and screaming at the setting sun, "PLEASE PUT A DATE ON YOUR PDF".
I just saw a meme that said “get in losers, we’re reclaiming the emdash”. People. PEOPLE. Where are your STANDARDS? It CLEARLY should be “get in, losers — we’re reclaiming the em dash.”
Does anyone know offhand if other countries have published stats like this? I've looked briefly in the US/UK but not found anything helpful.
Patrick Breyer@echo-pbreyer.digitalcourage.social.ap.brid.gy · 2w ago🇪🇺BKA (German Federal Criminal Police) releases new stats on #ChatControl: NCMEC/US tech reports have never been so unreliable! In 2025, 52% of flags were legally irrelevant. As a result, 113,000 private photos, videos & chats were wrongfully exposed (+14%)—a new record. 🧵 1/6
Ooh I know this one. It's by BANNING THE PERVERT GLASSES
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2w agoMeta’s smartglasses mean any child can be covertly filmed. In the age of AI, how do we tackle that risk?
“The effect of ChatGPT on educators’ lives is catastrophic. Whether you intended to do it or not, you’ve made every teacher’s life infinitely more difficult than it was two years ago.”
Aparna Nair@disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 3w ago
Meanwhile, I'll remind folks that everyone cheering on New Mexico's big lawsuit win against Meta... that one of the remedies NM's AG is seeking is stopping Meta from offering encrypted messaging. Indeed, some of the "evidence" against Meta was literally "they offer encryption."
Riana@riana.bsky.social · 3w agoDisincentivizing widely-used online services from offering strong encryption. During a war with Iran. A country that's been conducting cyber operations against U.S. targets for years. That's what both parties think belongs in the NATIONAL DEFENSE BILL.
Remember the magical nudity detection software being mandated for UK phones, the one which prompted Jess Phillips' resignation? It's not just that the product is snake oil. The whole company is smoke and mirrors. Albeit smoke and mirrors invested in by Rupert Lowe of the Restore party.
Martin Calladine@uglygame.bsky.social · 3w ago🚨Exclusive🚨 Two ministers filmed a video for a child-protection software firm that lost £17m in three years, made just *£112* in the UK in 2024 and gets 90%+ of its income from overseas subsidiaries that haven't cooperated with auditors for three years. 1/ theuglygame.wordpress.com/2026/07/15/p...
What standards apply to search warrants for digital devices under Irish law? May issuing judges impose controls on how digital searches are carried out? A new piece by myself looking at the Supreme Court decision in DPP v Quirke.
Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly
Case commentary on DPP v Quirke [2023] IESC 5, [2023] 1 ILRM 225
nilq.qub.ac.uk
Do non-migrants have any idea how *utterly terrifying* it is for those who have IDL in the UK; have built a life here, have British kids & forged a sense of love & belonging to be bombarded with news that a sizeable % of the population & government want to be able to take that away & deport us?
Officers shooting a man, running away from law enforcement, who is not a target of law enforcement, and who poses no threat to law enforcement, is murder. Federal officers do not have the power to commit summary executions because they are aggrieved.
