Graham Smith

My baby has started babbling. She wants to participate in the discourse. She yearns to produce content.

Trust she will only contribute to a healthy, informed and democratic public discourse. (Draft Council of Europe Recommendation.)

The cable, sent to all U.S. missions on December 2, orders U.S. consular officers to review resumes or LinkedIn profiles of H-1B applicants - and family members who would be traveling with them - to see if they have worked in areas that include activities such as misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety, among others.

Holy shit.

Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.

www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

#ECJ: The protection of utilitarian objects under #copyright is subject to the same requirements as for other objects 👉 curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo...

Breaking: OnlineSafetyAct-inspired Federal GRANITE Act “for consideration” to protect US 1st Amendment rights against Ofcom Sarah Rogers — US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy; in the UK she’d be a DCMS junior minister* — says the GRANITE Act is now “before the House” for consideration: I&#…

Breaking: OnlineSafetyAct-inspired Federal GRANITE Act “for consideration” to protect US 1st Amendment rights against Ofcom
https://alecmuffett.com/article/133422
#4chan #FreeSpeech #GraniteAct #OnlineSafety #OnlineSafetyAct #censorship #ofcom #surveillance

It was never realistic to think that Ofcom wouldn’t get drawn into assessing individual items of content.

And 3 months ago. www.cyberleagle.com/2025/09/the-...

4 years ago… www.cyberleagle.com/2021/11/the-...

It was never realistic to think that Ofcom wouldn’t get drawn into assessing individual items of content.

And Ofcom’s report on the first year of the #OnlineSafetyAct. www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/r...

Online Safety Risk Assessments - Year one This report sets out Ofcom’s analysis of risk assessment records from the first year of the duties being in force and sets out the improvements we expect to see next year.

Ofcom reports on first year of #OnlineSafetyAct risk assessments. www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/...

The Full Text of the Wyoming GRANITE Act The Wyoming GRANITE Act, the first foreign censorship shield bill ever conceived in the history of the United States, was filed for numbering in the State of Wyoming today by Representative Daniel …

Or, thirdly, if it amends the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act so as to open the door to State-level swords, such as this Bill filed in Wyoming. prestonbyrne.com/2025/11/19/t...

GB News on X: "‘To censor Americans in America is a deal breaker.’ US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, Sarah Rogers, blasts the proposed Online Safety Act, saying the law ‘vastly overreaches’ into other countries, calling it a ‘red line’. 📺 Freeview 236, Sky 512, Virgin 6 https://t.co/aB1PzOkYop" / X ‘To censor Americans in America is a deal breaker.’ US Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, Sarah Rogers, blasts the proposed Online Safety Act, saying the law ‘vastly overreaches’ into other countries, calling it a ‘red line’. 📺 Freeview 236, Sky 512, Virgin 6 https://t.co/aB1PzOkYop

Suggestion here that a US Federal ‘GRANITE’ Act is in the works. If so, look out for whether it is just a shield, or also a sword. #OnlineSafetyAct x.com/gbnews/statu...

Banning kids from social media? A very bad idea… As the idea of banning kids from social media is spreading round the globe – the new ban of under-16s from social media in Australia comes into action in a week or so – it is worth look…

I've written something about why banning kids from social media could be a terrible idea.

paulbernal.wordpress.com/2025/12/03/b...

India revokes order for smartphone makers to install government security app amid uproar over privacy India's government, amid an uproar over privacy, has revoked an order quietly issued to smartphone makers to pre-install a state-run security app.

This is extremely good news. Thank you, privacy activists.

www.cbsnews.com/news/india-s...

CJEUs Russmedia decision how online marketplace platforms could be held liable under the GDPR - Bird & Bird

Commentary on the CJEU Russmedia decision. GDPR meets the eCommerce Directive. www.twobirds.com/en/insights/...

Frank Furedi: The new face of right-wing free speech - Index on Censorship Index talks to the director of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium which is hosting a conference this week entitled the Battle for the Soul of Europe

As the Battle for the Soul of Europe begins, @martinbright.bsky.social speaks to organiser #FrankFuredi about free speech, his institution’s links to Viktor Orbán, & its funding from a Hungarian oil company which imports Russian oil under an EU exemption: www.indexoncensorship.org/2025/12/fran...

One thing I found odd was the reference early in the judgment to the content being manifestly unlawful. But if it was, the identity checks that the controller has to carry out wouldn’t be necessary. FWIW, it comes from para 17 of the referring court’s request. curia.europa.eu/juris/showPd...

Dismiss/Lack of Jurisdiction – #8 in 4CHAN COMMUNITY SUPPORT LLC v. UK OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS (D.D.C., 1:25-cv-02880) – CourtListener.com MOTION to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction by UK OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS. (Attachments: # 1 Declaration of Martin Ralph Ballantyne, # 2 Exhibit 1, # 3 Exhibit 2, # 4 Exhibit 3, # 5 Exhibit 4, # 6 Exh...

Ofcom files motion to dismiss in US 4Chan litigation. #OnlineSafetyAct storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Ah, got it, thanks. (And yes, Martin’s chapter is all you need on general monitoring!)

A new service called Objector is offering “policy-backed objections in minutes” to people who are upset about planning applications near their homes. It uses generative AI to scan planning applications and check for grounds for objection, ranking these as “high”, “medium” or “low” impact. It then automatically creates objection letters, AI-written speeches to deliver to the planning committees, and even AI-generated videos to “influence councillors”. Kent residents Hannah and Paul George designed the system after estimating they spent hundreds of hours attempting to navigate the planning process when they opposed plans to convert a building near their home into a mosque.

From the Guardian: "AI-powered nimbyism could grind UK planning system to a halt"

(We already receive ai-generated objections to local developments, but so far not at any significant scale.)

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Does human awareness matter at all, if the GDPR obligations create a strict liability regime and the ECD shields are excluded?

Dismiss/Lack of Jurisdiction – #8 in 4CHAN COMMUNITY SUPPORT LLC v. UK OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS (D.D.C., 1:25-cv-02880) – CourtListener.com MOTION to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction by UK OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS. (Attachments: # 1 Declaration of Martin Ralph Ballantyne, # 2 Exhibit 1, # 3 Exhibit 2, # 4 Exhibit 3, # 5 Exhibit 4, # 6 Exh...

Ofcom files motion to dismiss in US 4Chan litigation. #OnlineSafetyAct storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

BLOODY HELL

Don't you mean 'world-leading'?

The judgment that will launch a thousand blogs.

LLMs are a statistical language predictor, not a source of knowledge.

Great culture can save lives. Literally.

Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

The casual way in which they deal with Art 15 at para 132 is breathtaking.