A personal update.

See what kids are saying about the Children’s Online Privacy Code on ABC’s BTN. It’s not too late to have your say, consultation closes on Friday! www.abc.net.au/btn/high/chi...

Do you care about online privacy? - Behind The News

We chat to young people about online privacy and hear their thoughts about new privacy laws set to come in later this year ✏️

abc.net.au

TISM are Australia’s Talking Heads

Digital Child is inviting academics to join an upcoming roundtable on the draft Children’s Online Privacy Code (the Code), which aims to put children at the centre of privacy protections in Australia. This is an opportunity to discuss the draft Code directly with the OAIC.

Digital Rights Watch welcomes the first draft of the Children's Online Privacy Code, which centers on improving the online spaces that young people use, instead of restricting their access. This approach is a huge step forward and we’d like to see it work for adults as well as children

www.oaic.gov.au/news/media-c...

OAIC releases Exposure Draft of the Children’s Online Privacy Code

The OAIC has published an exposure draft of the Children’s Online Privacy Code, including new rules which ensure the consideration the best interests of children before collecting, using or disclosing...

oaic.gov.au

Register for our webinar on 1April to learn about how you can participate in the public consultation for the upcoming Children’s Online Privacy Code. Hear from me and Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind. events.teams.microsoft.com/event/d9da46...

I once had an FRT vendor tell me that facial recognition would be great at weddings. It could tell you who the guests are and how they know the couple. Or you know, you could talk to the other guests and find out 🙃 So many tech solutions in search of a problem.

Emily Wood@ebwood.bsky.social · 10mo ago

I just saw a commercial for smartphone “AI” where a woman is standing at a flower shop asking her phone which flowers to buy and if they’ll last a few days. Or she could, you know, ask the florist.

Delighted to be speaking at @sxswsydney.com again. This time with the excellent Lizzie O’Shea, DRW, Sarah Davies,(A&M F) and Rispah from Telstra Foundation Youth Advisory Council. We’ll be discussing what the internet would be like if it was designed by and for children.

25 years ago I worked in a shop. By virtue of its central location, we had a lot of celebrities come in to buy stuff. Without hesitation I can tell you that Henri Szeps was the kindest, the most charming, and most polite of them all. A genuinely good human. Rest in power.

Guardian Australia@australia.theguardian.com · last yr.

Henri Szeps, film, theatre and TV actor known for the ABC’s Mother and Son, dies at 81

By the time a child turns 13 more than 72 million pieces of data have been collected about them, so we’re passing children and young people the mic, to hear what protections they want from a Children’s Online Privacy Code www.oaic.gov.au/news/blog/su...

Sunshine and double rainbows – building a better online environment for children and young people

We are developing a Children’s Online Privacy Code to help better protect children and young people online.

oaic.gov.au

What would the internet be like if it was designed by and for children? Today is the last day of voting for SXSW Sydney's conference track, and we'd love your support to host this conversation alongside OAIC's @katebower.bsky.social: publicvoting.sxswsydney.com/profile/ca36...

Handle with Care: What if the internet was designed by and for kids? | SXSW Sydney 2025

publicvoting.sxswsydney.com

At the risk of someone replying ‘ok boomer’, am I listening to Triple J #Hottest100 or the TikTok #Hottest100?

Excited to be joining the OAIC at the end of Jan to lead the privacy reform implementation task force www.linkedin.com/posts/carly-...

Carly Kind on LinkedIn: Happy 2025 friends and colleagues! With big changes in technology… | 12 comments

Happy 2025 friends and colleagues! With big changes in technology, politics and regulation ahead, it's going to be busy year! I am excited to kick off the… | 12 comments on LinkedIn

linkedin.com

NEW: Meta has quietly dismantled the system that prevented misinformation from spreading in the United States. Machine-learning classifiers that once identified viral hoaxes and limited their reach have now been switched off, Platformer has learned www.platformer.news/meta-ends-mi...

Delighted to be featured on Kendra Vant’s substack, Data Runs Deep. It’s one of my fave newsletters on AI open.substack.com/pub/kendrava...

Kate Bower on data & AI in 2024 and beyond

"My biggest fear is that we fail to act ethically in pursuit of profit, that we will continue to do things we know are wrong in the name of innovation."

open.substack.com

Controversial opinion - Melbourne’s A1 Bakery is not a patch on Sydney’s Earlwood Lebanese Bakery. Something’s actually are better in Sydney.

Whistleblowers raising concerns about harmful digital platforms and holding tech companies to account are supported by a new practical guide—Technology-Related Whistleblowing—built in collaboration with @humanrightshrlc.bsky.social @reset.tech @psst-org.bsky.social www.hrlc.org.au/reports-news...

Technology-Related Whistleblowing: A Practical Guide | Human Rights Law Centre

Whistleblowers raising concerns about harmful digital platforms and holding technology companies to account will be supported by a new practical guide, released by The Human Rights Law Centre, Reset T...

hrlc.org.au

Popped into Kmart for Xmas shopping, only option to pay was the AI-driven self serve checkout. Of course I got an error that needed a human to check, in fact all 7 checkouts had errors. 1 poor overworked employee running around fixing the mistakes caused by AI. So much productivity!

Facebook have a help page dedicated to checking whether you or your friends logged into the "This is Your Digital Life" app: www.facebook.com/help/1873665...

Digital Rights Watch@drwaus.bsky.social · 2y ago

The OAIC has agreed to a $50m payment program from Meta for Australian users impacted by Cambridge Analytica incident: www.oaic.gov.au/news/media-c...

Me: as of last night, I’ve seen 25 bands play live this year Also me: why am I so tired all the time

Australian #lawyers “cannot safely enter” confidential or commercially sensitive information into public generative #AI engines like ChatGPT, Gemini or Grok, authorities in three states have warned in issuing explicit guidelines on genAI’s use in law. Read more: ia.acs.org.au/article/2024...

Courts lay down law for attorney use of AI

GenAI can’t replace human expertise, analysis and judgement.

ia.acs.org.au

Thanks @miahhe.bsky.social for sharing your thoughts with me and @drwaus.bsky.social

Digital Rights Watch@drwaus.bsky.social · 2y ago

This week, our digital rights advocate @katebower.bsky.social interviewed national security analyst, Dr Miah Hammond-Errey, about the unlikely pairing of national security and privacy, the role of human rights and how we might regulate Big Tech. digitalrightswatch.org.au/2024/12/10/i...

Please tell your kids, every damn day if necessary, that chatGPT is not a goddamn search engine and you shouldn’t believe a word it says. Tell the adults too, but it’s especially imperative to inoculate kids against this

Pavel@spavel.bsky.social · 2y ago

Well this is grim

I heard this is a good place to talk about taxing the rich, breaking up big tech, and ending Washington corruption.

'Venntel takes location data from smartphones, either through ordinary apps installed on them or through the advertising ecosystem, and provides a data feed to other companies who sell location tracking technology to the government or sells the data directly itself.' www.404media.co/ftc-bans-loc...

FTC Bans Location Data Company That Powers the Surveillance Ecosystem

Venntel is a primary provider of location data to the government or other companies that sell to U.S. agencies. The FTC is banning Venntel from selling data related to health clinics, refugee shelters...

404media.co

Mira Murati: "we're about to see immense potential with abundance of intelligence, energy, and even meaning" Abundance of energy and meaning! The latter is missing from this video. And of course she has to preach that energy is abundant. Because their tech depends on it. It's like a cult. ->

Don’t tell anyone but I’ve been using Bing since it came default on my new laptop. But I suppose that’s rather the point the ACCC is making. Default browsers and search are bad for competition and consumers are unlikely to switch (including consumer advocates who know better)

Jarni Blakkarly@jarniblakkarly.bsky.social · 2y ago

The most shocking part of this press release is that 4.7 percent of Australians use Bing www.accc.gov.au/media-releas...

OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR SPOTIFY ITS DECEMBER WE KNOW YOU HAVE THE 2024 WRAPPED IN THERE WITH YOU

My review of Zahra Stardust’s ‘Indie Porn: Revolution, Regulation and Resistance’ for @overlandjournal.bsky.social is up today. It’s a potent work of research and storytelling, and is also super relevant to the current state of australian tech policy debate. overland.org.au/2024/12/plea...

Pleasure politics: Zahra Stardust’s Indie Porn - Overland literary journal

By drawing out the cultures of indie porn, Stardust pushes readers to see beyond issues of content classification, aesthetics and representation to consider the political economy of pornography. She p...

overland.org.au