@heatherburnstech.bsky.social
freelance UK tech policy x human rights / midlife MPhil student @ Strathclyde Law School, researching US tech policy x Christian Nationalism / IANAL / https://heatherburns.tech / π¬ on Signal / open to work, hire me pls / "bad ass Glaswegian" apparently
Markwayne is actually a noble title, and is the Oklahoma equivalent to "Marquis," and may be passed on at the same time your father gives you his car dealership
05.03.2026 19:56 β π 4568 π 734 π¬ 77 π 31[Exit Murderer.]
05.03.2026 18:25 β π 5274 π 1247 π¬ 45 π 45
Republicans donβt just want abortion illegalβthey want it unspeakable.
Recently, these supposed free speech enthusiasts got an abortion providers' speech canceled at Texas Tech claiming it would constitute βillegal activity.β
So we're giving her the platform conservatives took away.
Theyβre all like that sadly.
05.03.2026 12:03 β π 1 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0You just need to develop a deeply cynical sense for timewasters and if in doubt, donβt bother.
05.03.2026 12:00 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Classic sign of them having picked a contractor already, but they need three quotes for the procurement rules. I hated this so much when I was contracting.
05.03.2026 11:50 β π 4 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Iβve started calling my local Asda Brexit, because theyβre not even getting deliveries for fresh everyday goods in. I just went in for some fresh baked bread and eggs. Nothing, of anything, in the bakery, at all. No delivery today. No eggs.
05.03.2026 09:32 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0My Co-op corner shop canβt even be counted on for a pint of milk anymore
05.03.2026 09:16 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Is it just me or has anyone noticed how UK supermarkets now look like the beginning of Covid, except the empty shelves arenβt panic buying, thatβs just the everyday normal now? Like the fundamental concepts of stock and logistics have gone βwhateverβ?
05.03.2026 09:12 β π 11 π 1 π¬ 3 π 0
Incredible find from @rachelwells1.bsky.social: Tennessee Republicans are trying to codify fetal personhood through an AI regulation bill
wellsrachelm.substack.com/p/tldr-wtf-i...
α‘αα€αα ααα π
04.03.2026 17:47 β π 4 π 3 π¬ 0 π 0Two column text which alt texted into gibberish, sorry
Private Eye, last September.
04.03.2026 14:40 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0I had a recent spell of messaging with a friend in Ukraine in the two hours a day he had been allocated some rationed electricity, in -17Β° cold, oh and while being bombed. It was awful.
04.03.2026 13:05 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
. @signal.org is hiring for a major gifts fundraiser role and this may well be one of the most important jobs in the world. Pass it on to the right person.
(Donβt ask me, Iβm just passing this along)
jobs.lever.co/signal/68f75...
As bad omens go, I was just walking along in my Scottish village and some absolute wanker drove past in an actual American Ford pickup truck with California plates, with an old gas engine spitting fumes. I think this was in Revelations.
04.03.2026 09:02 β π 14 π 1 π¬ 1 π 0Brilliant. An expat im Dubai has a startling revelation, by @stephencollins.bsky.social
03.03.2026 19:20 β π 1430 π 508 π¬ 20 π 15scanning oneβs iris is framed as the fulfilment of a citizenβs duty to prepare for AGI threats. This moral instrumentalisation obscures the profit-seeking nature of this product by making participation appear as contribution to collective security rather than individual surrender of privacy rights
This passage from a paper on Worldcoin and AGI absolutely nails the UKβs current obsession with age-gating all services on the open internet. (Paper is link.springer.com/article/10.1...)
03.03.2026 20:10 β π 12 π 12 π¬ 0 π 0New from 404 Media: CBP tapped into the online advertising ecosystem to track peoples' movements, according to an internal DHS document. Shows for the first time DHS tracked phones via process for putting ads in ordinary appsβvideo games, fitness apps, many more www.404media.co/cbp-tapped-i...
03.03.2026 14:07 β π 1170 π 727 π¬ 31 π 119
Case in point: the AV lobby has an all singing all dancing annual policy conference complete with a vanity awards ceremony. The last digital rights conference in UK was 2019 and it was a lot of people ranting about crypto and Julian Assange.
events.ringcentral.com/events/globa...
Actually this is the original vision of Kidronβs first draft AADC from 2019, when the actual quote from the ICO at the time was a gobsmacked βcanβt we just age gate everything?β The AV lobby has been relentless since then whilst digital rights paid people peanuts for 12 month contracts.
03.03.2026 13:19 β π 4 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Screenshot showing part of a UK Government amendment to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill introducing one of several new clauses for the Online Safety Act: "Power to require internet service providers to restrict access by children to certain internet services"
Meanwhile in ping-pong on the CWS Bill, the UK Government has introduced clauses empowering itself to restrict access by children to specified internet services or features publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbi...
As @cyberleagle.bsky.social points out this isn't limited to OSA-regulated services
JavaScript off
03.03.2026 10:45 β π 0 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Just a serving police officer here grooming a teenage girl who was in fact a decoy police officer on a non-e2ee messaging app, if you wonder why some of us are rather crotchety about it. (Good luck to all of you attempting to read our local dialect.) www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/scottis...
03.03.2026 10:41 β π 3 π 0 π¬ 1 π 0Friendly reminder that I am no longer doing blog post explainers of these consultations or proposals (which inevitably go top of HN to compound the stress). That donβt pay my bills. If anyone wants my help on the consultation, do it properly.
03.03.2026 07:18 β π 9 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0Incredibly my daughter is now doing IR at uni, and we have a lot of conversations along the lines of βwell, you wanted IR, you got IR.β
03.03.2026 06:50 β π 17 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
On the other hand:
Me, 2000-2016: why tf did I even do a degree in international relations
Me 2016-present: *opens beer* so,
I imagine that the Delegated Powers Committee will have something to say about this; and that whatever they say will be ignored.
02.03.2026 23:24 β π 14 π 6 π¬ 1 π 0