Wednesday was a sad day, not only for #privacy, but also for the #EU. Brussels may be used already to be despised by the far right, but that did not seem to be enough. They are working hard to earn the contempt of as many potential supporters as possible.

»On Wednesday, #EU Member States approved a change to the #GDPR that would put the profit-making interests of #OpenAI, #Anthropic, #Google, #Meta and #SpaceX over European's fundamental right to data protection.

According to the approved text, processing personal data “in the context of AI” should automatically be lawful. In particular, Big Tech would be able to use all personal data collected over the past decades with virtually no restrictions, as long as this happens “in the context” of AI.« (emphasis added)

https://noyb.eu/en/ai-eu-member-states-approve-digital-expropriation-europeans-ai-companies

" #AI "

#Meaning beats #hope.

Live a meaningful life, no matter the outcome.

#Meaning beats #hope.

Live a meaningful live, no matter the outcome.

Respect. 🙇

»The French courts yesterday handed down an unfavorable ruling against Quad9 in a major case that undermines the transparency and stability of the internet. This decision in favor of beIN forces Quad9 to block the recursive DNS resolution for a number of domain names for users located in France. […]

For us, recursive DNS resolution is a neutral and passive service. We categorically refuse to alter or lie to you about the DNS responses you receive in a way that opposes your expectations. […]

As a result, we have made the difficult decision to withdraw Quad9 services from France as of Tuesday, November 24.«

https://quad9.net/news/blog/au-revoir-france/

#France #DNS #Quad9 #privacy

in addition to 46 other projects, @NGIZero is now financially supporting Operese (currently in alpha state, only):

»Operese is a #Windows to #Linux #migration tool which reduces the friction of switching by automating the installation process; it seamlessly transfers user accounts, files, applications, and settings in place on the user's hard drive, thus making a free OS accessible to non-technical communities.«

Such a feature set would be a game changer for non-techies. Looking forward to trying it, when it reaches beta state.

https://nlnet.nl/news/2026/20261015-47-new-projects.html

#EndOf10 #DigitalSovereignty

Remember this when somebody "promises" you to "evaluate" whether opening a flood gate was a good idea.

»Linux kernel documentation will stop requiring an Assisted-by tag on patches written with help from large language models, following a strong consensus at the 2026 Maintainers Summit that the tag no longer does the job it was kept for. […]

By the 7.3 cycle, only about 10% of non-merge commits carried the tag even though LLM use is far more common. Some contributors never learned the rule, others omit it deliberately, and few maintainers chase missing tags. Absence therefore says nothing about how a patch was made, and for developers who lean on the tools constantly, presence says little more.«

https://freenode.net/article/kernel-to-drop-assisted-by-llm-tag-after-summit-consensus

" #AI " #Linux #kernel #slop

The purpose of state #surveillance is not to target you now, specifically. It is to stay capable of targeting you later, maybe.

It is naive to joke about powerful intelligence agencies "for sure" not being interested in an average human being like you.

Because they are. They are interested in establishing the dull baseline, which you may be part of today, which helps to automatically detect the outliers.

For that, it's not exceptional "lawful access" that is required, heavily constrained by regulation. You need an ongoing, massive stream of behavioral data that gets collected and analyzed easily, en passant, because everybody's got "nothing to hide".

You will notice that only when you feel the time has come to resist. Because by then, you will become the outlier, and the patterns extracted from the behaviors of your former, careless self will help to put the spotlight on you, and hand you over to the butcher.

European Digital Rights @edri summarizes, and questions, how the @EUCommission plans to deregulate " #AI ", in a frenzy:

• "Experience and acceleration centres" for "AI" – push it down every throat, infect every governmental process asap

• "Data Centres Acceleration Zones" – fast-track permissions; guarantee energy supply on an unprecedented scale; fast-track environmental assessments

• "Single information points" to inform the public, "with the aim of increasing public acceptance of the data centre project" – "AI" propaganda against local protests, to be sponsored by all EU citizens

Organized, irresponsible, incompetent coercion of EU citizens, out of panic and FOMO. Delivered as a hasty, rash attack on existing legislation, and on hard-won rights.

https://edri.org/our-work/the-cloud-and-ai-development-act-cada-represents-everything-thats-wrong-with-europes-approach-to-digital-sovereignty/

Ceterum censeo: The EU commission needs to be reigned in by #democracy.

#EUpol

The #EU and #Canada need to grow a spine first, long before they can even dream of attaining Digital Sovereignty.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/07/trump-eu-disinformation-conference

#disinformation #FIMI #US #USpol #EUpol

The @EUCommission wants you to solve their self-inflicted problem: please make suggestions on how to both allow " #AI " to continue extracting the last Euro cent from culture, arts, and sciences; as well as protect the livelihood of the humans of the field, that end up with bare hands.

In other words: how can we as the commission have that cake and eat it?

We've gone through this "survey" and it was a real pain. E.g.:

• Humans having to "opt out" from being robbed are considered a given.

• Suggestive intros and questions abound. It is outright annoying having to resist framings like: "In your view, how can AI be used to support creative processes, including through the use of digitally generated imitations of performers, in a balanced and fair manner?"

• Plus, you're expected to prioritize the resulting issues for the commission. Issues you wouldn't even have if they didn't offer your work and your art as free prey to "AI".

A particularly ironic move was to include a separate section dedicated to combating "Online piracy of time-sensitive copyright-protected content, including live events" (no, they don't mean "AI" by that).

This "survey" is clearly in preparation of giving "AI" corporations a free pass, at your expense, if you're an artist or creator.

And it is yet another example of what the commission means when they invite you for "feedback", or "dialog": You get the list of eligible topics, the framings you have to swallow, and the guarantee that no effective change of course was ever intended – or even considered.

Check for yourself:

https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-seeks-feedback-challenges-and-way-forward-area-effect-technology-copyright

Sadly, an article by @freedomofpress that does not only contain bad advice for the average person, but also dangerous advice for journalists.

An organization claiming it's giving »security tips that keep you, your sources, and your devices safe« should never, ever recommend you use " #AI " agents, only cautioned by "guidelines" like »Don’t be the lab rat« and »Let’s talk about privacy-preserving chatbots.«

Instead:

• Not only Do not use "AI" agents.
• Also, Never share your credentials with people who do (or with anybody else, which should go without saying.)
• And if you are in control of who gets access to your data: Never allow such people to obtain credentials

https://freedom.press/digisec/blog/metas-muse-ai-surprises-users-but-not-in-a-good-way/

Don't even think about debating "success rates" here, conditionally agreeing to such ubiquitous #surveillance

»Everything depends on the police watchlists; if you’re not on a watchlist, the live FRT cameras do not ‘see’ you«

That's a dangerous lie:

• The cameras do see you, and the biometrics of your face get processed. Half a million faces were scanned, just like that. Period.

• The software questions neither the watchlists, nor who gets added to them, nor whether a fascist regime has taken over the infrastructure, jumping for joy. It simply processes watchlists. It is only following orders…

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/29/trial-live-facial-recognition-cameras-london-stations-false-positive

#surveillance " #AI "

There is an urgent need to reign in the @EUCommission as an institution that does not work in the interest of the #privacy and the #CivilRights of #EU citizens.

It has become a force of evil that can barely be controlled or overseen, but drives harmful changes by continuously pushing for sweeping changes in law governing the collection and processing of the data of individuals (citizen or not).

Rule of thumb: if "proposals" are called "omnibus", they're a a mop designed to sweep individuals' rights down the drain, treating them like dirt.

The resources the commission abuses are, more or less, extracted from EU citizens. One cannot defeat the abuse when one is forced to pay for it, for every attempt, repeated ad nauseam, despite protests that may be "successful", from time to time.

Safeguards like existing legislation, or the European Data Protection Supervisor #EDPS are gradually being reduced to laughing stocks. The EDPS gets reduced to an advisory role that gets ignored or outright flouted behind their back, including by the establishment of illegal "shadow systems".

Citizens only learn about this through the tireless work of organizations like @statewatch – and if there wasn't legislation granting a minimum of Freedom Of Information #FOI levers, their hands would be tied, too.

This is a crisis essentially driven by open contempt for #democracy and #CivilRights, disguising as the paramount of democracy.

We're well advised to include the @EUCommission on the list of the groups that despise both – because they can, and because they will not be held accountable.

This must end.

https://statewatch.org/news/2026/september/new-europol-proposal-pushes-for-deregulation-and-more-ai-in-policing/

@edri writes:

»Even if the state’s involvement in spying on activists is revealed, the chilling effect is immediate on anyone active in political life. In a context of growing democratic backsliding, like in #Serbia, it’s needless to say that this can directly – and critically – affect the ability of opposition actors and civil society to operate.

This is why #spyware belongs at the centre of the #EU’s rule of law debate. A state cannot credibly claim to respect fundamental rights while using this highly intrusive technology that is, by design, prone to abuse.«

https://edri.org/our-work/serbias-spyware-scandal-is-also-the-eus-problem/

#privacy

The statement of the Collettivo Autistici / Inventati:

»Today we were made aware that the US Government has targeted a small, volunteer-run, technology collective from Italy with disproportionate sanctions as anyone can read in the Treasury Department Statement, the State Department Statement and the related Executive Order.

We deny all allegations included in the statements, while we strongly affirm our dedication to providing a platform of tools for digital self-defense, addressing the need of free communication for activists and other individuals, groups and associations.

We will not back down, we will keep doing what we have been doing all these years and we will do whatever is in our possibility to counter the false allegations made by a politically desperate administration with the sole intention of swaying people and media attention away from their own violence and warmongering. 

Antifascism and anticapitalism are not terrorism. Protesting is not terrorism. And everyone has the right to speak out and to struggle for humanity. 

Collettivo Autistici / Inventati — “Socializzare saperi senza fondare poteri”

Stay human«

Coping with targeted harassment by the #US government will require lots of energy and creativity.

If you want to support them, follow @cavallette to be updated about new, secure channels to receive money.

#CollettivoAutistici #Inventati #USpol

" #EmailVerificationProtocol " 🙄

Yet another attempt by #Google to "encourage" you to always stay logged in, within your browser, to make tracking and identifying you easy and painless for them.

Disguised as "convenience": when you sign up for newsletters, or give a website an #email address, you should no longer check your email for a verification link and click it. Instead, your browser will talk to your email provider, to clarify things.

A "convenience" it can only achieve when you're constantly logged into your Google (or alternative email provider) account.

Don't be mislead here. And don't be a happy-clapping instrumental ally, applauding this "feature".

https://developer.chrome.com/blog/email-verification-protocol-origin-trial

There is no denying what #PervertGlasses are for, and why they are so "popular".

»The more surreptitious the filming seemed, the researchers found, the more serious the harassment.

"The data reveals a clear correlation between the 'covertness' of the filming modality and the severity of the harassment," they wrote.

"This combination of first-person perspective and device concealment confirms that the means of production remain largely clandestine, facilitating a condition of low awareness among subjects and reinforcing the deceptive nature of wearable-mediated capture."«

https://www.404media.co/meta-ray-ban-smart-glasses-pov-instagram-pickup-artists/

#PervGlasses #SpannerBrille #Gluurbrillen

Hold people accountable, instead of promoting myths about the software they are using allegedly "going rogue".

Insist on due process, do not tolerate sabotage of traceability: documented processes being turned into a Swiss cheese, with arbitrary accountability holes for " #AI ".

»I invited top #cybersecurity experts to review the material produced by the agency, the #AI Security Institute (AISI).

Speaking to me anonymously, the security professionals were expressing a range of concerns about the agency’s behaviour. Concerns boil down to suspicions that the AISI is seeking to blame the AI for its own failings in designing and running the test.

An AI can only do what it’s told, or permitted, to do. However, the #AISI had made some very strange decisions in this regard.«

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/23731f653ebf2657

// via @davidgerard

Make it as inconvenient as possible to wear #PervertGlasses. Wherever you can.

✅ Restaurants
✅ Cultural venues
✅ Movie theaters

And now, ✅ Judicial buildings:

»His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS), which is responsible for all criminal, civil and family courts in England and Wales, has made clear that Meta glasses will be confiscated from anyone entering its judicial buildings. […]

New York’s court system said it was banning smart glasses to ensure “individuals cannot surreptitiously record court proceedings”. It added: “No individual possessing smart glasses will be permitted to enter a UCS [unified court system] facility unless they voucher the smart glasses for safekeeping by uniformed personnel while the individual remains in the facility.”«

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/11/meta-glasses-banned-from-courts-in-england-and-wales

#PervGlasses #glassholes #privacy

An emerging trend: restaurants, pubs, cultural venues and others banning #PervGlasses, to protect the #privacy of their guests:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/06/restaurants-pubs-and-theatres-ban-metas-spy-glasses-over-privacy-fears

#surveilance #Meta #RayBan #SpyGlasses