@susansegfault.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer at University of Edinburgh in STS. Criminologist and author of Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy. Chair of the Foundation for Information Policy Research. Researching power and harm in digital infrastructure. Pfp Jamie Buchan
The developer concludes - and planning officer accepts - there are no likely “significant environmental effects” of the data centre. To reach this conclusion they compare the emissions of their data centre to the *entire carbon budget of the UK*, then say “wow look that number is much smaller!”
Speaking in opposition to this 1GW data centre at a planning committee today. So many things wrong with how they’re treating environmental impacts, but one especially sticks in the craw. Quick thread.
www.thetimes.com/uk/environme...
If you want to develop brilliant research skills studying frontier technoscience, explore technology policy and the critical politics of technology, we're now recruiting for the Masters in Science and Technology in Society - a brilliant programme I love teaching on study.ed.ac.uk/programmes/p...
We integrate a rigorous grounding in theory, research methods, practice and policy with our own research - from me, critical research on police and spy tech and the Dark Web, from my colleagues subjects as diverse as AI, space tech, synthetic biology, and theatre technologies (and lots more).
You also get to study with me and some of my favourite people for a year in Edinburgh, one of the most brilliant cities in the world with some of the most exciting critical STS scholarship anywhere
We integrate a rigorous grounding in theory, research methods, practice and policy with our own research - from me, critical research on police and spy tech and the Dark Web, from my colleagues subjects as diverse as AI, space tech, synthetic biology, and theatre technologies (and lots more).
You also get to study with me and some of my favourite people for a year in Edinburgh, one of the most brilliant cities in the world with some of the most exciting critical STS scholarship anywhere
If you want to develop brilliant research skills studying frontier technoscience, explore technology policy and the critical politics of technology, we're now recruiting for the Masters in Science and Technology in Society - a brilliant programme I love teaching on study.ed.ac.uk/programmes/p...
Meanwhile there is some small cause for optimism. The Green Party’s policy positions on trans healthcare are better and last I checked also include a trans-led public inquiry to hold people accountable.
Trans kids: stay alive
Everyone else: keep the receipts! 5/5
In my opinion, Labour are failing to deliver their promised ban on conversion therapy because any legally robust definition of it would show that the NHS are doing it to trans people, and implicate this government in the practice. 4/5
The NHS say this flows from the Cass Review but this is a distortion. Cass’ conclusions say the evidence for trans kids’ HRT is “inconsistent” but if you actually read the Review’s own evidence it shows positive outcomes! That’s 1 reason Cass was rejected by international medical authorities.
3/5
Labour’s healthcare bans are shameful and have already harmed British kids. Wes Streeting’s normalisation of conversion therapy is a stain on the country. Every NHS doctor and admin who went along with this has undermined public confidence in the profession.
2/5
nebula.tv/videos/philo...
Medical transition for trans kids is now banned for new referrals on the NHS. Trans kids in the UK can still go private or DIY (for now).
This means the new clinics that replaced GIDS are close to useless at best, conversion therapy at worst. 1/5
that's partially there. i'm trying to write code for rendering sixfold resolution graphics using the sextant blocks in u+1fb00-u+1fbff symbols for legacy computing. i thought it might be neat to render effects using them.
rendering experiment
Real privilege to speak at the launch of Trans Actual recent report.
Absolute solidarity with the trans community and everyone working so hard for a better future for trans and non binary people. 🌈🏳️⚧️
t.co/FkDFb5CSpR
There’s so much I have to say about this, much of which is in my book. But the lack of critical questioning and the last two sentences of this article encapsulate everything wrong with tech journalism:
“Like it or not, however, we’re strapped in for the ride. At least Anthropic has a plan”
Why is AI governance so often ineffective at preventing AI from harming people and the planet? My new paper Transfeminist AI Governance addresses this question, now out in this month's issue of First Monday: firstmonday.org/ojs/index.ph...
As everyone knows, the only thing more viscerally exciting than a 3rd sector consultation response is a consultation response to a regulator's annual plan of work. But FIPR's response to Ofcom's recent consultation is worth a read - we cover some of the biggest policy issues facing the UK today.
You can read our consultation response at fipr.org
We recommend that Ofcom commission further research work on currently proposed technological approaches to regulating platform-based public communication. 7/7
It is these groups who, in the context of a global resurgence of far right politics, face both the most acute harms in online spaces and the most immediate potential for negative consequences from intensified digital surveillance. 6/7
It is particularly important to consider the challenges -- differing technical consequences, effects on rights, and harms -- posed for marginalised groups 5/7
We emphasise the importance of policymakers and regulators' engagement with technical stakeholders and expertise from outside the platform and 'big tech' industries, and of renewed consideration of the negative consequences of potential technical designs and restrictions. 4/7
We suggest that Ofcom engage in further consultation with technical expert groups, including FIPR, on the benefits and negative consequences of potential technical designs, and what is possible -- in technical terms -- for the implementation of desired government policy 3/7
We outline key challenges for 2026-27 in relation to AI and communications services, emerging cross-jurisdictional flashpoints and 'digital sovereignty', age checks with regard to user-to-user regulated services, and debate and policy on social media and children. 2/7
FIPR has submitted a response to the Ofcom consultation on its work plan for 2026, arguing that the UK needs an ambitious programme of technically-informed work on the digital rights, privacy, and information policy issues that we currently face. 1/7
Further, the serious consequences of increased surveillance and controls on young people need to be further considered. Marginalised young people in particular - e.g. LGBT kids - face both some of the most serious harms online and also the most serious consequences of surveillance over-reach.
From digital sovereignty to age verification and Online Safety, UK policy is facing serious problems. Policymakers are demanding irreconcilable technical features, leaving much of the implementation in the hands of big tech, and risking handing further power to big US firms
