Canny readers of my book will have figured out that the Postscript, formally titled “Privacy and health data”, was a coded message. We used those pages to talk about one thing, but we were actually talking about something else.
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One of the biggest stories in tech policy, right now, is that governments all over the world are banning TikTok on government devices. There are concerns about Chinese state access to the information on those devices, and on wider systems, enabled by TikTok’s background software.
I won’t go into the full details here, but here is a well-balanced podcast on the issue, if you need to get up to speed; Politico even have a handy tracker for Europe.
As always, I Have Opinions on this, and for good reason.
In May 2021, I co-authored a post with Sahdya Darr titled “Is government preparing to censor discussions about migration?”, where we fleshed out how the then-Home Secretary was leveraging the draft Online Safety Bill for explicitly political purposes.
Not all of my work ages well, but I gotta say, she and I nailed that one.
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Since I first scribbled its rough outline, one of my goals for my book on foundational privacy has been for it to be adopted as a curricular teaching material. Hitting the printing presses in autumn/winter meant that we missed out on that opportunity. But it might just all work out in the end, because now is the time I want to encourage instructors to adopt the book in their classrooms, whether physical or virtual.
Digital Planet, the BBC World Service’s podcast about global technology and the internet, is a wonderful thing. It’s a weekly reminder that the world is a lot more than the global north, and a lot more than a handful of American companies. It’s also a stream of positive inspiration about the best of technology and what it can do: rays of sunshine in a world that seems awfully dark. Put it in your podcast app of choice.
Here’s an example, from a recent episode, about how the global perspective shared on the show can help you think about things much closer to home.
Much chatter amongst the chatterati, then, with yesterday’s addition to the saga that is the Online Safety Bill. Two prominent think tanks, Demos and Fair Vote – both of whom have invested years of good-faith work into the Bill process – took a principled stance to wise up and walk away.
Twenty years ago today was the second time, in a span of seventeen months, that I found myself standing in my flat in Washington DC, watching the telly, watching a picture of something falling from the sky, and as the thing fell to earth I reflexively reached out my hand to catch it, as if it was a thing the cat had knocked off the shelf. As with seventeen months prior, as the thing fell, I couldn’t catch it.
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Normally, by this time of year, I’ve been sent down several delightful rabbit holes created by good folks’ end-of-year reading lists. (Morten’s 2021 list alone cost me a fortune, for which serious thanks pal.) I’ve not seen those lists circulating so far this year, though, so I might as well get the ball rolling.
From this past June until December, I took a much-needed pause from side projects and advocacy work to go back to school. Sort of.
As sodding 2022 finally ticked over to 2023, I did not bother making policy predictions for the year ahead. Really, this year, I just couldn’t be bothered. But while the year is still young, I’m going to do something different.
Since I signed off on my privacy book, I’ve been experiencing a surge of creative energy. It turns out that removing a weight that’s been hanging on one’s shoulders for three years does that. Who knew? While that energy is largely focused on my personal hobbies, I have been giving some thought to what sort of side project to do next.
New from me at Smashing Magazine:
To mark the publication of the hard copies of my book, I penned a few words on foundational privacy, or lack thereof; developer education, or lack thereof; and the grandstanding policymakers (and CEOs) looking for easy targets for blame.
Now tie that all together.