"tech campaign group Foxglove, said the 'damning report' made it clear that the government and Palantir needed to 'withdraw these dodgy marketing claims and correct the record'. (1/2)

NHS England adds caveat to pro-Palantir data after watchdog probe

Regulator urges health service to ensure communications about benefits are ‘clearly and appropriately labelled’

ft.com

"The human cost begins with the fiction of choice. A Schengen applicant cannot bypass a visa outsourcer, just as a family in Gaza cannot bypass registration to access food aid. Coercion is an inbuilt feature of the architecture." We need to go beyond requesting tech fixes to power structures.

The New Humanitarian@newhumanitarian.bsky.social · 3w ago

🗣️ What happens when states outsource data collection? From visa processing to humanitarian registration, these choices affect us all. Poorvi Yerrapureddy of Aapti Institute writes ⬇️ https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/opinion/2026/07/16/what-wfp-cyber-attack-has-common-visa-scandals

@foxglovelegal.bsky.social is hiring! 🚨 1. Co-executive director (maternity cover) jobs.theguardian.com/job/10151645... 2. Digital campaigner jobs.theguardian.com/job/10148397... Please share far and wide! Thank you.

@tbij.bsky.social has launched a long-term project exposing how hate is spread, who profits from it and how it impacts people and society. The crowdfunder is match funded up to £20,000 for the next six weeks. More details here www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/exposingth...

New w @pamherd.bsky.social: Mamdani just announced PIT Crew — an NYC tech unit that will build digital public products. Takeaway: Mamdani is reclaiming a vision of tech in govt for progressives, one not driven by consultants and which solves real problems. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/mamdani-in...

Mamdani invests in tech capacity to “solve real problems”

What PIT Crew says about how he is governing, and tech in government

donmoynihan.substack.com

Too often a crucial question goes unasked: is Palantir value for money for Britain? Me in the @theguardian.com on latest investigation from @lucasamin.bsky.social and I on the problems with Palantir in the UK www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I investigated Palantir’s foothold in the British state – and what I found should worry us all | Peter Geoghegan

Paid-for political access and threadbare regulations have helped to embed the US tech firm in the NHS – and beyond. But there is a way to free ourselves, says Peter Geoghegan of Democracy for Sale

theguardian.com

Oggi siamo al tribunale di Latina per seguire l'ultima udienza del processo per la morte di Satnam Singh. La procura ha chiesto per Antonello Lovato, titolare dell'azienda per cui lavorava Satnam, 22 anni di reclusione.

I think that the worst thing about the "refugee tax" is that the high accommodation costs are caused by the Home Office, and in particular their inability to make fast AND accurate decisions, leaving people rotting in those grim places. Refugees are effectively being fined for HO incompetence.

Rare good news in this Supreme Court's disastrous cycle. "..the court ruled that authorities need to obtain a search warrant when asking tech companies, such as Google, for the location data of their users, including when requesting historical geofence location data." techcrunch.com/2026/06/29/i...

In major privacy win, Supreme Court rules geofence warrants are protected by privacy rights | TechCrunch

The Supreme Court's decision to limit geofence warrants is a win for privacy advocates, who called their use unconstitutional but sought an outright ban.

techcrunch.com

Yesterday, it was about asylum decisions made by people with no adequate training. Today, it's this. This week, the Home Office is clearly signaling they still pander to Farage. Burnham can talk about devolution and decentralisation to "get people back" but this will still fuel Farage big time.

Adam Bienkov@adambienkov.bsky.social · last mo.

Taxing vulnerable people for the crime of fleeing from war, torture and persecution. A new low from Shabana Mahmood

Big story from me and Aman Sethi about Palantir today. The headline should speak for itself. www.opendemocracy.net/exclusive-ho...

Exclusive: How Palantir harvested millions in UK tax breaks

In 2024, Palantir’s effective tax rate was just 8%, far less than the usual 25%, despite £25.3m of pre-tax profits

opendemocracy.net

Performative Starmer deportation comms that fails with different audiences bsky.app/profile/sund...

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)@sundersays.bsky.social · 11mo ago

If this is not deliberately racialised imagery, it is at best fantastically naive to not understand that it looks & feels like racialised dog whistling to single out this man in such a way.

Far from me to say "only in the UK" - Italy, amirite? - but it is still quite baffling to see the media treating the change in Prime Minister like a Miss Congeniality contest. From the winter fuel allowance to the Mandelson scandal, there is no shortage of issues that might have made him unpopular

🧵New UN report by the Special Rapporteur on migrants rights on externalization 1. prevention of arrival; 2. extraterritorial processing of asylum claims; 3. removal to third countries. www.ohchr.org/en/documents...

A/HRC/62/35: Externalization of migration governance: new trends and specific aspects - Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants

SummaryIn the present report, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Gehad Madi, addresses the phenomenon of externalization of migration governance, as a follow-up to his report to t...

ohchr.org

It feels like it was inevitable Starmer would have had to go at some point before next general election but kinda crazy that: a) a newsletter's story precipitated the return of Burnham (and end of Starmer) and b) Josh Simons is set for an even bigger job *three months* after resigning in scandal 🤯

Sorry if it's a bit 'Hitler my part in his downfall' but as Starmer seems set to resign found myself reflecting on the (very unlikely) role that my humble newsletter, Democracy for Sale, has played in the end of British prime ministership (short 🧵) democracyforsale.substack.com

Democracy for Sale | Peter Geoghegan | Substack

A newsletter dedicated to revealing how dark money and hidden influence threaten our democracy. Click to read Democracy for Sale, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

democracyforsale.substack.com

NEW: I took a look at the history of using export controls to limit the proliferation of cyber capabilities. From the 1990s Crypto Wars to limit the spread of PGP, to Wassenaar to stop spyware flowing out of Europe, and now powerful AI models, I argue that this type of regulation does not work.

From PGP to Mythos: a brief history of export controls that didn't stop anyone | TechCrunch

For the last 30 years, stopping the flow of cybersecurity-related software has proven to be ineffective. It's unclear why it would work now with Anthropic’s cybersecurity model Mythos.

techcrunch.com

One of the biggest feature in developing research is the opportunity to speak to people affected AND have them inform potential alternatives to the status quo. For a recent report, I spoke with 160 people from every region. Some principles and experiences: blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/border-crimi...

Rethinking tech in alternatives to detention: 10 principles

blogs.law.ox.ac.uk

Border Criminologies@bordercrim.bsky.social · 2mo ago

People’s rights get compromised when systems prioritise cost-saving and efficiency – the WFP-Palantir data breach is the latest example of that. But co-created tech can help migrants flourish instead. Read part 2 of tech in ATD by @svaroschi.bsky.social ⤵️ blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/border-crimi...

European “centrists” have promised / threatened us for 30 years that more deportations will appease people to their right. Didn’t work for Obama (massively increased deportations). Didn’t work in Europe. Celebrating, promoting deportations tells people far right are correct.

Anthony Zacharzewski@anthonyzach.be · last mo.

I hate to break it to the European diplomat quoted in @politico.eu this morning, but increasing the return rate will make no difference to the far right. They will just move on to demanding forced remigration. It’s not like there aren’t hundreds of examples of this already.

"an audit by Lighthouse Reports of public data on the government’s chosen AI provider shows that its tech misclassified more than a third of 16-year-olds as adults and, in some tests, was shown to give the wrong assessment in 70 per cent of cases" www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Home Office knew AI age checks for migrants were flawed — but rolled it out anyway

Exclusive: Government advisors describe the tool as ‘hideously flawed’ amid concern facial age estimation has ‘baked-in racial bias’ — and can wrongly identify a 14-year-old as an adult

independent.co.uk

🧵Technosolutionism turns moral panic into moral failure. It is the case - and it's been for a very long time - for the UK Home Office, now about to roll out AI age checks for migrant children, despite knowing they are flawed and they will damage the most vulnerable. www.wired.com/story/facial...

The UK Will Scan Asylum-Seekers’ Faces for Age Checks—Despite Knowing the Tech Is Flawed

Internal Home Office tests of age-verification technology show the risks of life-altering errors. It’s moving forward anyway.

wired.com

Britain will use AI to assess ages of asylum seekers in a world-first, with other countries likely to follow suit But our investigation, based on a leaked report and our own algorithmic audit, finds the technology is deeply unreliable

Asylum by Algorithm

The UK has turned to AI to determine the age of asylum seekers, and other countries are likely to follow suit. Our investigation finds the technology is deeply unreliable.

lighthousereports.com

NEW: The Home Office is ploughing ahead with using AI to conduct asylum seeker age assessments despite knowing it's wildly inaccurate Its own internal report & our audit of public data find the tech often predicts kids to be adults, & performs worst on the top nationalities arriving on small boats

Lighthouse Reports@lighthousereports.com · 2mo ago

Britain will use AI to assess ages of asylum seekers in a world-first, with other countries likely to follow suit But our investigation, based on a leaked report and our own algorithmic audit, finds the technology is deeply unreliable

It seems to be the first time AI face scans are planned to be used at any border. Human rights experts fear other countries could copy the UK's approach Today more than 60 organizations, led by @foxglovelegal.bsky.social and @hrw.org, wrote to the Home Office calling for the plan to be scrapped

Foxglove, Human Rights Watch and 60 other organisations write open letter to Government condemning Home Office border tool aimed at asylum-seeking children

This open letter has been prepared by Foxglove and Human Rights Watch. A full list of signatories can be found at the bottom of the page.

foxglove.org.uk

With @lighthousereports.com and @the-independent.com, we analyzed the leaked report and data about face age estimation algorithms. We found them regularly mistaking children for adults and performing worst against Sub-Saharan Africans, one of the largest groups already subject to age assessments

Asylum by Algorithm

The UK has turned to AI to determine the age of asylum seekers, and other countries are likely to follow suit. Our investigation finds the technology is deeply unreliable.

lighthousereports.com

NEW: The UK plans to use AI face scans to determine the age of asylum seekers at the border from next year. However, a leaked report shows the government has known the tech isn’t accurate for more than a year. In some cases, the technology could predict a 13.5-year-old to be an adult

The UK Will Scan Asylum-Seekers’ Faces for Age Checks—Despite Knowing the Tech Is Flawed

Internal Home Office tests of age-verification technology show the risks of life-altering errors. It’s moving forward anyway.

wired.com

From using Europeans' pensions to build frontier models, to allowing hyperscalers to build all the data centers in exchange for frontier model access - I've heard mad takes these past few days 😱 Read our AI Sovereignty in a Captured Ecosystem series ! www.techpolicy.press/europes-ai-s...

Europe’s AI Sovereignty Problem Runs Far Deeper Than Frontier Access

The series, in partnership with the AI Now Institute, highlights how Europe’s AI market is deeply entangled with the ecosystems of dominant US players.

techpolicy.press

[NUOVA INCHIESTA] Negli ultimi mesi, l’Unione europea ha messo in discussione l’accordo di associazione con Israele e la partecipazione di Tel Aviv ai programmi Ue per la ricerca. In realtà, già nel 2017, la Commissione Ue aveva valutato queste due possibilità 🧵

Già nel 2017, l’Ue valutava la possibilità di sospendere l’accordo di associazione con Israele

Un documento della Commissione europea di quell'anno chiariva che, già allora, era possibile sospendere l'accordo commerciale con Tel Aviv e anche la sua partecipazione ai programmi europei per la ric...

irpimedia.irpi.eu

NEW: one third of NHS trusts using the Federated Data Platform tools are seeing fewer operations than before they started using Palantir's kit. With the FT, we've been digging into the lack of evidence behind the lofty claims about FDP's benefit to hospitals. More here: www.ft.com/content/a3e9...

Palantir NHS claims rely on just a few hospitals

Data shows some trusts have delivered fewer operations since adopting the US company’s technology

ft.com

There is a lot to be said on the UK social media ban for users under 16, how it came to be, how it exploits harm and leaves out the voices of people affected – while leaving tech companies off the hook But watching the debate is to an extent even more depressing for at least two major failures. 🧵