Maria Helen Murphy

Infrastructure x Democracy — what could be more interesting? I'm very excited to be moderating this panel!

This event looks incredible. Really sad I can’t make it to London that evening. Congrats @nniloideain.bsky.social on the book-it’s next in my to read pile!

Denmark aims to ban social media for children under 15, PM says “We have unleashed a monster,” Mette Frederiksen tells Danish lawmakers.

🚨🚨 #Denmark aims to ban #socialmedia for children under 15. PM Mette Frederiksen says "We have unleashed a monster" to Danish lawmakers. 🧵https://www.politico.eu/article/denmark-mette-frederiksen-partially-ban-social-media-children-under-15/

Talk about telling on yourself! Who would have thought?

Jane Goodall quotation “"I was somebody sent to this world to try to give people hope in dark times. Because without hope, we fall into apathy and do nothing. And in the dark times that we are living in now, if people don't have hope, we're doomed. How can we bring little children into this dark world we've created and let them be surrounded by people who have given up? So even if this is the end of humanity as we know it, let's fight until the very end. Let's let the children know that there is hope."

Sure, there probably are some people taking that line, but I think so many of these issues are of a piece and our information environment is absolutely crucial for all the bigger issues.

2/2. I am concerned about all the ways we are dehumanising people now (you mention some of the most monstrous), but I don’t think it’s zero sum.

1/2. We might be a lost cause, but I don’t see a point in giving up. To me, the issue is more than extreme pornography, it’s dehumanising and alienating for all concerned and that’s the last thing we need at this point in history.

For me, the issue is the risk this fosters the dehumanisation of actual humans

"Only if we understand, can we care. Only if we care, we will help. Only if we help, we shall be saved."

"What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."

Jane Goodall was the best of us.

"You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you.

What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

Rest in power, Dr. Jane Goodall

🕊️ The world has lost a revered conservationist -- a colossal power for what is truly good.

🕊️ Jane Goodall is a legend who helped open the door to science to the best humans among us: woman.

🕊️ She was brave, brilliant and introduced us to the best things among us: animals.

🕊️ I grieve her passing.

Abstract: The EU has been represented as a singular ‘Digital Empire’ speaking with one voice on matters of EU digital regulation. Closer examination of discrete areas of EU digital regulation reveals a more nuanced picture suggesting clear institutional divergence between the EU institutions regarding the substantive protection afforded by EU law. A detailed analysis of EU data protection adequacy decisions brings to the surface intra-EU tensions concerning the substance of core EU fundamental rights. This analysis reveals that the EU Commission has taken on a more prominent role in adequacy decision-making since the entry into force of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation at the expense of other relevant stakeholders. Furthermore, the Commission’s decisional practice does not align fully with the stance of the Court of Justice on the right to data protection. New sites of intra-EU human rights tensions are therefore uncovered with consequences for the legitimacy of the EU as a digital regulator and the role of the Commission as a guardian of the treaties.Keywords: digital regulation; fundamental rights; data protection; institutional balance; judicial review; data adequacy; EU Commission

New article out with Katie Nolan (@katieanolan.bsky.social) and Orla Lynskey in the Cambridge Yearbook of European Legal Studies: 'Digital Empire or Digital Fiefdoms? Institutional Tensions and the EU Right to Data Protection'.
Open access at: doi.org/10.1017/cel....

@cambup-law.cambridge.org

To save in-person lectures, unis need to provide lessons worth showing up for In-person lectures have been a staple of university learning for centuries. But they are going out of style in an age of TED Talks and Tiktoks.

Hobbyhorse: at university, lectures remain an incredible format. They introduce & explore a huge amount of content in a short period of time. They scaffold further reading, with a personal twist. Workshops, etc, do their own thing, but don't replace effective lectures:

share.google/AyFxBwYh5BYM...

Oh this is BAD.

The new TOC from academia dot edu.

You grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license, permission, and consent to use your Member Content and your personal information (including, but not limited to, your name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness…

Conor Gearty was, without hesitation, the best academic writer I’ve read. He was also a thoroughly decent and kind human being who fearlessly used his position speak truth to power.
Conor did law, politics and academia the right way and he will be sorely missed.
Ní bheidh a leithéid arís ann.

Very sad to hear of the untimely death of Conor Gearty, a lovely individual, one of our finest legal academics, and a central figure in promoting human rights worldwide.

📣AI propaganda factories🏭 are now operational. My study shows how small, open-weight models can run as fully automatic generators in influence campaigns. mechanising personas, engagement, cadence. Possible for State, non-state, and micro-actors, including and bedroom ones.

Welcome @ravejudgerun.com!

AI tools used by English councils downplay women’s health issues, study finds Exclusive: LSE research finds risk of gender bias in care decisions made based on AI summaries of case notes

'Artificial intelligence tools used by more than half of England’s councils are downplaying women’s physical and mental health issues and risk creating gender bias in care decisions, research [led by Sam Rickman, LSE] has found.' 1/2

Brilliant Orla 👏 👏👏

Short op-ed by me explaining the importance of ambitious 2031-2040 carbon budgets and EU 2040 targets for intergenerational climate justice. These are critical moments to level with the public about the scale of the emission reduction challenge.

@maynoothlaw.bsky.social @ejni.bsky.social

Forthcoming March 2026

NO. AI. FOR. WAR. CRIMES!!!

ICE Is Using a New Facial Recognition App to Identify People, Leaked Emails Show The new tool, called Mobile Fortify, uses the CBP system which ordinarily takes photos of people when they enter or exit the U.S., according to internal ICE emails viewed by 404 Media. Now ICE is usin...

New from 404 Media: ICE is using a new facial recognition app to identify people, leaked emails show. Point camera at person, reveal their identity. It uses the CBP system that records peoples' faces as they enter or exit the U.S. Now, turned inwards to be used by ICE www.404media.co/ice-is-using...

Neurotechnologies are being used in increasingly to make claims on the neural correlates of learning - here's our paper featuring the brain glasses example up top of the thread and we have another on the neuro-informationalization of the learning brain out shortly icyi doi.org/10.1080/1750...

Not a mega fan of AI in education as my past work will show, but nor is the neuro-informationalization of its effects on learning brains a form of critique that should be so easily accepted and disseminated.

Excellent research @rdbinns.bsky.social

Beyond checkboxes: Brokering interdisciplinary collaboration | Reimagining public values in algorithmic futures | University of Helsinki Based on her recent article Doctoral Researcher Elisa Elhadj discusses the role and agency of social scientists in "projectified" spaces. She highlights how these spaces can alter the way social scien...

‘We become the ones tasked with “doing ethics” or “engaging stakeholders”, tasks that are expected to produce measurable, reportable outcomes. ​​This can lead to a performative mode of participation…’ www.helsinki.fi/en/researchg...

NEW from me: China's CO2 emissions fell ~1.6% in the first quarter and have now been flat or down for more than a year. This is the first time on record that emissions are falling due to clean energy growth, not slow power demand.