Alexander Hanff

Privacy Advocate

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nprofile1qqsv3x547zd9crhvdmg3awyjyzaheqdq7cy9kezhde67aryrpv9340spz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0ds2qpqwd

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relay.damus.io

nos.lol

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npub1ezdftuy6ts8wcmk3r6ufyg9m0jq6pasgtdj9wmn4a6xgxzctr2lqk7tw2h

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Last Notes

2026-10-07 09:16:16 GMT

As I warned about months ago now, I can confirm that Google Chrome's #AI API is now actively being used for device fingerprinting and tracking purposes.
Out of 100 of the top global english language content sites - around 30% are actively using the API for fingerprinting, Google Advertising (profiling) or both) without the legally required consent (EU law).
#Privacy

2026-07-22 10:10:18 GMT

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@nprofile…hcmv thanks

2026-07-22 09:46:52 GMT

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@nprofile…hcmv I am an incredibly empathic person, I can't watch the news because it brings me to tears - I am really bad at handling things which make me sad

2026-07-22 09:45:35 GMT

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@nprofile…hcmv the problem is I have been estranged from my family since I was 12 and have very little contact with them, so this is really difficult for me. I dont want to seem like I am cold and dont care but I genuinely don't know how to react - I have never had to do this before and given the age of my family now, it is likely to happen more frequently over the coming years

2026-07-22 09:22:01 GMT

Call out to all ADHD'ers out there - how do you handle grief? I lost a close family member last week and I don't understand how to process it - I am very emotional generally and this just cripples me, I dont know how to process it.

2026-07-17 14:03:49 GMT

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@nprofile…3c9j it is public knowledge, I have been campaigning on this issue as a survivor for 5 years, my story made press headlines in the UK in 2012 leading to multiple criminal convictions. I take these matters very seriously indeed

2026-07-16 11:45:11 GMT

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@nprofile…3c9j I offer no apology for speaking my words, you find it uncomfortable and distressing because it is - that IS the entire point. I lived it, it is my right to speak of it and your response was incredibly offensive.
I don't care if it makes you uncomfortable - it should make you uncomfortable. Don't dare to dictate to me how to tell my story and do my advocacy work after I have been doing this for 35 years and have lived it for a lifetime.

2026-07-16 09:36:18 GMT

Chat Control in 9000 Words
A picture is worth a thousand words. This one is worth nine thousand. A wordless nine-panel story of what mass surveillance does to the children it claims to protect.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/chat-control-in-9000-words
#chatcontrol #surveillance #privacy #encryption #ChildProtection
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/928/975/906/060/242/original/7cd0333442adc2a6.png

2026-07-13 12:58:37 GMT

Psychology
An extract from It's Personal. The Hawthorne Effect, the Chinese social credit system, and why observing everyone does not protect the children it claims to protect.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/the-psychology-of-surveillance
#surveillance #chatcontrol #csam #psychology #HumanRights #FreedomOfThought #china #privacy #psychographics #identity
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/912/784/468/896/222/original/3ce8cf4b39cc2e23.png

2026-07-11 12:11:10 GMT

Well that was insane - had a tough week so decided to do some fun stuff this weekend and setup the Xbox Series X over remote play on the Apple Vision Pro…
Playing Killer Instinct on a giant IMAX scale screen in the middle of a frozen tundra is like puppeteering giants… so much fun.
Forza Horizon almost had me tossing my cookies…
This was after hooking up the Mac Studio yesterday and playing No Man’s Sky at 8k ultrawide curved wrap around display via Mac Virtual Display on the Vision Pro…

2026-07-10 07:43:22 GMT

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@nprofile…lja2 @nprofile…vzwj irrelevant - the surveillance is continuing and democracy in the EU has been overturned by a corrupt President of the Parliament.

2026-07-09 06:21:14 GMT

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@nprofile…h6d3 if they are not in there they voted against it

2026-07-08 21:38:35 GMT

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@nprofile…h6d3 the data on my blog only includes MEP who voted for the urgency procedure, abstained or did not vote - which is why it is 415 MEPs

2026-07-08 10:34:52 GMT

The 415 - the MEPs who let Chat Control through, and the lobbyists in their diaries
Yesterday 331 MEPs voted to bring Chat Control back under an urgency procedure the President should never have allowed. Here is every one of the 415 who did not oppose it, with their voting records and every lobbyist they have met.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/chat-control-the-415-who-failed-you
#csam #chatcontrol #eprivacy #charter #eu #surveillance #lobbying #law
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/883/907/690/665/487/original/3b68e9d85bf41e7d.png

2026-07-08 08:37:48 GMT

Today I have reached out to a number of MEPs who have a pro-fundamental rights voting history but for some reason did not vote in yesterday's urgency procedure vote.
I will be publishing a massive expose on the 400+ MEPs that allowed the urgency vote to prevail yesterday including voting history and who they had meetings with - I have asked those handful that usually are pro-rights to explain why they didn't vote yesterday so I can determine if they should be in the expose.
#ChatControl

2026-07-08 07:37:40 GMT

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@nprofile…n4m6 @nprofile…vrf5 I mean it is not good and if I were to write a book about the giant companies I have worked for and how shockingly bad they are at compliance and how they actively spend real money trying to circumvent compliance...
I worked for one global retailer that literally setup their group structure deliberately in a way which would make it harder to regulate by making it harder to discover which company was responsible.
They boasted about this in senior management meetings.

2026-07-07 15:35:06 GMT

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@nprofile…lja2 @nprofile…vzwj there is zero chance of a vote on Thursday that is going to result in an absolute majority - it is not even likely there will be enough MEPs there to be physically capable of meeting that majority let alone vote against the proposal to actually achieve reach the numbers.

2026-07-07 15:29:50 GMT

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@nprofile…vzwj @nprofile…lja2 I am fully familiar with the history, I have been involved in this for 6 years already.

2026-07-07 15:29:05 GMT

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@nprofile…lja2 @nprofile…vzwj there have not been any similar positions - this is unprecedented - as in it has not happened before.
Parliament already voted to reject this proposal 2x.
There is zero chance of an absolute majority on the day before summer recess - this was an engineered coup of the democratic process.

2026-07-07 15:14:14 GMT

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@nprofile…vzwj @nprofile…lja2 there were 646 present today and we were short of a 361 majority (the minimum we need on Thursday, the day before summer recess) by 57 votes.
If we were short 57 votes today we are not magically going to find them on Thursday - there is no belief politically (I am on several mailing lists covering this topic) that this can be achieved - it has never been achieved on this file, throughout it's near 6 year history.

2026-07-07 14:58:59 GMT

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@nprofile…lja2 yes I am fully aware - but I am not sure what your point is - todays vote on the urgency procedure was a vote on chat control - if it had failed there would be no Thursday vote, period and there is no way a 361 majority is going to happen on ANY file the day before summer recess - it is impossible.
Thursday's vote is completely irrelevant at this point - today's vote sealed it and all those responsible will be exposed.

2026-07-07 14:40:48 GMT

So I have the full list of those who Voted for Chat Control today including those who decided it wasn't worth turning up for and those who abstained.
It was passed by a majority of 27 yet we had almost 100 MEPs either not turn up or abstain - they are not innocent.
I will be launching a paper with their voting history and who lobbied them in the near future.
They must not be permitted to remain as MEPs and need to be defeated in the next elections.

2026-07-07 10:50:13 GMT

#ChatControl vote in:
Total votes: 646
In favour: 331
Against: 304
Abstention: 11
We need to make sure those who voted for it are not MEPs after the next election. They need to understand that their actions have consequences.
#CSAM #Privacy

2026-07-07 07:09:04 GMT

Either Germany is trying to bring down my blog (it is the German's currently pushing ChatControl) or my article just hit German press - because it has had over 8000 views from Germany in the last 35 minutes.
#ChatControl #CSAM

2026-07-07 05:55:21 GMT

Yesterday I sent 836 emails to MEPs, Perm Reps, Ministers and their staff/advisors pleading with them to block the #ChatControl urgency vote.
I am a #CSA survivor - it destroyed my entire family and left me estranged for the last 40 years.
#CSAM is a really bad problem, but removing the #privacy of every single person in the #EU is not going to fix it:
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/csa-survivor-plea-to-eu-parliament/

2026-07-06 17:39:12 GMT

CSA Survivor Pleads with EU Officials to block Chat Control vote
A child abuse survivor urges MEPs to reject Chat Control — mass scanning won't protect children, and it breaks the encryption survivors need to safely report abuse.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/csa-survivor-plea-to-eu-parliament
#csam #charter #eprivacy #eu #law
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/874/251/610/597/279/original/4131f327c969bef8.png

2026-07-06 15:26:37 GMT

As a #CSA #Survivor, I have spent my afternoon collecting the contact details of 836 EU officials (Parliamentarians, Permanent Representatives and their staff) and sending all of them a plea not to vote for the urgency procedure this week designed to circumvent legislative oversight - on a law Parliament already rejected.
You should do the same - find them all here:
https://fightchatcontrol.eu/downloads
#ChatControl #CSAM #ChildRape #Privacy #Confidentiality #FundamentalRights

2026-07-05 14:30:17 GMT

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@nprofile…tg2e people get shot, robbed, defrauded and a whole bunch of other crimes every single day - just because something illegal happens frequently over an extended period, doesn’t make it ok.

2026-07-05 03:00:02 GMT

The MEP investigating spyware was keeping his whole life on the phone that got hacked
Pegasus infected the phone of an MEP who sat on the committee investigating it - a real assault on democracy. It also came out that he kept fifteen years of everything on that one phone and missed three warnings from Apple - and that's a failure we have to talk about too.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/mep-spyware-committee-phone-security
#surveillance #spyware #pegasus #cybersecurity #eu #pega #edps #privacy
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/865/132/273/299/876/original/5fd06e64cabfe3e4.png

2026-07-05 02:00:02 GMT

Strike III for EU-US data transfers
The US Supreme Court has just ruled the FTC isn't independent of the President - and our entire data deal with America was built on the promise that it was.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/strike-iii-for-eu-us-data-transfers
#gdpr #adequacy #ftc #schrems #law #surveillance #dataprivacyframework #dpf #scotus #adequacy #compliance
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/864/896/340/979/445/original/9ceb4d374fc7db0c.png

2026-07-05 00:00:02 GMT

The United Nations runs Google's ad-tech on its own website, without consent, while telling the rest of us to account for AI's footprint
The UN demands AI accountability while running Google ad-tech, analytics and tracking on its own website - with no consent and a measurable, avoidable carbon cost.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/un-tracking-without-consent
#privacy #gdpr #eprivacy #environment #tracking #un #esg #HumanRights #hypocrisy #adtech #ai
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/864/424/480/806/294/original/a555fe73831b170f.png

2026-07-04 22:00:02 GMT

I told them forced consent was unlawful. Five years later it cost Elkjop €1.8 million
Datatilsynet just fined Elkjop NOK 20 million (€1.8m) for the forced consent in its loyalty club — five years after I told their DPO it was unlawful.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/elkjop-forced-consent-fine
#gdpr #eprivacy #consent #enforcement #loyaltyclubs #SurveillanceCapitalism #spam #adtech #compliance
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/863/952/630/081/532/original/79147893208abbcc.png

2026-07-04 21:00:02 GMT

Amazon Ring's Familiar Faces is a textbook example for ECD
Amazon's Ring Familiar Faces biometrically scans every person who approaches a Ring doorbell, performs the match in Amazon's cloud rather than on the device that could have done it locally, and stores faceprints of non-consenting strangers for up to thirty days. The architectural choice produces two independent breaches: a GDPR exposure the household-activity…
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/amazon-ring-familiar-faces-is-textbook-example-for-ecd
#ai #climate #consent #environment #esg #law #gdpr
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/863/716/699/502/339/original/486c5cd3edf86c49.png

2026-07-04 20:00:01 GMT

CIPA and the Environmental Crimes Directive: why forensic web evidence just became the most contested thing in privacy litigation
CIPA wiretapping claims and the new EU Environmental Crimes Directive have one thing in common: they are won and lost on forensic evidence of what a website actually does at runtime. Inbound demand for that evidence has ou…
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/cipa-environmental-crimes-directive-forensic-evidence
#cipa #eprivacy #gdpr #websentinel #litigation #evidence #law #sessionreplay #environmentalcrimesdirective #environment
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/863/480/720/232/385/original/b5d42fec67118a16.png

2026-07-04 19:00:02 GMT

Malta is in breach of the EU Treaties — the IDPC has confirmed in writing that no Maltese citizen is protected under the ePrivacy Directive against any tech company not established in Malta
On 27 April 2026 I lodged a formal complaint with Malta's Information and Data Protection Commissioner against Anthropic. The IDPC has now confirmed in writing that no Maltese citizen has any protection under…
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/malta-eprivacy-treaty-breach
#eprivacy #gdpr #charter #malta #idpc #anthropic #phorm #law #compliance
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/863/244/833/090/973/original/fdb192ec897a65d5.png

2026-07-04 18:00:01 GMT

Google quietly removes the on-device AI privacy assurance from Chrome's Settings UI
Google has quietly removed the privacy assurance from Chrome's on-device AI Settings UI. The sentence promising that the model runs locally without sending data to Google's servers has been deleted, and the toggle moved out of the System block to reduce the chance the change is noticed. There are three plausible reasons for tha…
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/google-quietly-removes-on-device-ai-privacy-claim
#ai #chrome #consent #compliance #eprivacy #gdpr #google
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/863/008/867/544/433/original/1e6b0fd4599285ce.png

2026-07-04 17:00:04 GMT

Google's "Boss" of Chrome gaslights on unlawful Nano push
Google's Chrome boss Parisa Tabriz tells the press that users can simply opt out of the unsolicited Gemini Nano install. Google's own Chrome manifest proves the opposite. Chrome reached into the device, flipped the flag, downloaded the 4 GB model and only then surfaced the settings UI after the fact. Opt-out is not the legal standard here — opt-in is. This piec…
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/google-gaslights-despite-evidence
#ai #chrome #consent #compliance #eprivacy #google
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/862/773/107/016/408/original/9ec108fff620df21.png

2026-07-04 15:00:01 GMT

Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane.
Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise tooling, and an automatic re-download every time the user deletes it. The pattern is…
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/chrome-silent-nano-install
#ai #privacy #eprivacy #compliance #gdpr #google #chrome #gemini #esg #environment #sustainability #climate #law
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/862/301/089/828/719/original/26b6def2f0aec4f1.png

2026-07-04 14:00:02 GMT

Bolt's ChatBot Runs Amok
Bolt's customer support chatbot acknowledged a missing food item and twice refused a refund, swapping personas to dress automated denial as human review. A GDPR Article 22 case waiting to happen.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/bolts-chatbot-runs-amok
#ai #compliance #technology #chatbots #CustomerServices #gdpr #ConsumerRights #AiAct
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/862/065/224/783/603/original/6b94788af53d3108.png

2026-07-04 12:00:02 GMT

Anthropic secretly installs spyware when you install Claude Desktop
Anthropic's Claude Desktop silently installs a Native Messaging bridge into seven Chromium browsers, including browsers Anthropic's own documentation says it does not support, and browsers the user has not even installed.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/anthropic-spyware
#ai #privacy #eprivacy #compliance #infosec #gdpr #law #cyber #security #anthropic #claude
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/861/593/332/736/776/original/e12354c5ddfa9baf.png

2026-07-04 11:00:01 GMT

The Beast behind the Browser: Every Privacy Vulnerability in Chrome and How to Catch It
A forensic reference to every client-side privacy vulnerability in Google Chrome — fingerprinting, storage tracking, header leaks — and how to detect each.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/the-beast-behind-the-browser
#SurveillanceCapitalism #adtech #martech #cookies #privacy #eprivacy #law #forensics
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/861/357/383/873/248/original/7612b29274c8014b.png

2026-07-04 10:34:15 GMT

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@nprofile…93df Given you already use Ubuntu, Debian would be a sensible choice.

2026-07-04 10:17:23 GMT

I thought this server was dead because last time I tried to use it it was down for several days. So I was mostly posting on bsky.
However, now I know it is back up, I have set an hourly cron job to post the backfill of my blog articles (I started my blog again in April).
Will make sure to spend more time here moving forward, now I know it is back - nice to be around old friends again.

2026-07-04 10:00:02 GMT

Data Sovereignty in light of US uncertainty
EU and businesses are abandoning US tech giants for open source and self-hosted alternatives. Why data sovereignty matters now more than ever.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/data-sovereignty-in-light-of-us-uncertainty
#DataSovereignty #technology #SelfHosted #foss #gdpr #compliance #privacy #SurveillanceCapitalism #infosec #cyber #security
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/861/121/506/530/457/original/870152f2181891d0.png

2026-07-04 09:58:46 GMT

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@nprofile…sudw any platform which requires you to prove your identity before you can use it in the EU is unlawful, period. So on that basis alone I have refused to even consider W Social and have already drafted a complaint to EDPS about the Commission and other EU Institutions using it (I already have an ongoing complaint about them using X, LinkedIn and Facebook for live streams as well - when they are supposed to use the official EU platform built for this purpose).

2026-07-04 09:27:07 GMT

Digital Psychology: Why Privacy is so important for Self Determination
Psychographic profiling and surveillance capitalism erode our autonomy. Why privacy is fundamental to self-determination, free thought, and democracy.
https://www.thatprivacyguy.com/blog/why-privacy-is-so-important-for-self-determination
#privacy #SurveillanceCapitalism #psychology #manipulation #psychographics
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/860/992/053/614/338/original/2fcf6f6b8756cc4d.png

2025-07-23 08:02:17 GMT

@Apple is hugely vocal about the #privacy rights of their customers - not so concerned about the fundamental rights of app developers though...
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alexanderhanff_privacy-developers-customers-activity-7353686283430281216-O5O9

2025-02-19 13:10:16 GMT

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@nprofile…s3wh @nprofile…q4ju it amazes me how so many marketers don't read the terms of the contracts they sign.
BigTech haven't said these technologies are exempt from consent - they blur the lines using fluffy words that might lead someone to believe that is the case - but they don't explicitly say it.
And in my experience, their terms and conditions (attached to the use of these tools) pretty much always state that the user (publisher) is responsible for obtaining consent and complying with local laws.

2025-02-19 11:31:35 GMT

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@nprofile…s3wh @nprofile…q4ju I just posted an article on LinkedIn to explain this further:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/google-metas-fingerprinting-do-circumvent-consent-eu-alexander-wlztf/

2025-02-19 10:37:44 GMT

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@nprofile…s3wh @nprofile…q4ju as such Google's new "fingerprinting" (as well as the service Meta just announced the other day) breach both Article 5(3) of ePD and Article 6(1 and 3) of ePD.
This also means that any further processing of this personal data (because it is all personal data as well) is unlawful under Article 5(1) of GDPR because it breaches the lawfulness principle (because the data is collected without consent - which is the only legal basis available under ePD).

2025-02-19 10:32:51 GMT

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@nprofile…s3wh @nprofile…q4ju Further, as the EDPB already made clear in their Guidance published in October 2024 - the ePD is not just about the storage of information on the end users' device - it is also about extracting information from the end users' device - this includes sending data to the server during an HTTP request (get, post or otherwise) such as IP address, requested resource, user-agent string and all the other info collected for fingerprinting purposes.

2025-02-19 10:31:16 GMT

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@nprofile…s3wh @nprofile…q4ju no this is incorrect - fingerprinting and serverside tracking is still in scope of ePrivacy Directive.
First and foremost it is unlawful to use traffic data (which is how the http and tcp/ip headers are defined under EU law) for any purpose other than conveyance of the communication and billing - and such activities are reserved specifically for the Communications Service Provider (ISP) not online platforms).

2025-02-14 16:59:32 GMT

Just spent Valentine's Day driving up and down the autobahn for 5 hours in a Porsche Taycan (after Sixt upgraded me from a VW Tiguan...).
Wife loved it - the car is an absolute beast.

2025-01-14 14:24:53 GMT

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Oh it gets better - Coinbase have acknowledged the issue but do not see it as a security concern (bypassing credit card security verification and attempting to withdraw funds without verification is apparently not a security concern) and instead said I should use their app (which is in breach of GDPR and ePrivacy Directive in my professional opinion) because their web site is known to have these technical issues sometimes...
I have a node screenshot of the entire chatlog of course (2.5 hours).

2025-01-14 12:46:48 GMT

I would highly recommend NOT making any deposits to Coinbase today via your credit/debit card - it seems their payment gateway is broken and not forwarding payments to credit card security verification (confirmed by my bank) - at least in Sweden.
Never make a payment to a crypto exchange (or anywhere else for that matter) if they do not do credit card security verification - this is very high risk.

2024-12-23 12:08:01 GMT

My latest article on unlawful training of AI models and what we should do about it just dropped on TheRegister today:
https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/22/ai_poisoned_tree/
#ethics #ai #genai #llm #trainingdata #privacy #dataprotection #copyright #commons #law

2024-09-20 12:44:05 GMT

Oooo new iPhone 16 Pro Max just arrived :)

2024-09-13 11:28:34 GMT

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@npub1z8m…pt78 me too :)

2024-09-13 11:00:01 GMT

Pleased to announce that starting 2025, I will be studying and working to become licensed to practice law in the UK and California with the goal of bringing some major lawsuits that will change the landscape for #privacy, #dataprotection #cybersecurity and #AI
I obtained my Advanced Master of Laws just before my 50th birthday - time to put on the gloves and get int he ring...

2024-08-20 08:12:18 GMT

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@npub1l4l…vsmn I created an issue on the git

2024-08-19 09:36:40 GMT

So I finally got around to launching https://gdpr.help for smaller organisations needing ad hoc help with the #privacy compliance questions.

2024-06-20 11:16:44 GMT

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@npub1a38…ujj0 haha no, just that we continue to fight, even if it is behind closed doors sometimes :)

2024-06-20 11:03:11 GMT

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@npub1a38…ujj0 I am speaking on this at Europol's Conference in September.

2024-06-20 10:33:04 GMT

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@npub1a38…ujj0 indeed - as far as it goes we know the Hungarian Presidency has an appetite for pushing this proposal - so we get a short respite but work must continue.

2024-06-20 10:15:18 GMT

Looks like the Belgian Presidency failed to get the support it needed for #chatcontrol
As I understand it, the vote scheduled from today has been removed from the agenda due to lack of Member State support and will no longer be pursued under the currently Presidency.
It remains to see how the Hungarian presidency will prioritise this... let's see what happens over the coming months.
#privacy

2024-01-29 13:49:19 GMT

@npub1gyv…en4c @npub1qg4…augv @npub12ac…3xqe @npub1l2s…wcvj @npub1gz8…rrr9
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/111/839/552/067/741/495/original/6c6902887c45d3ed.png
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/111/839/553/471/635/504/original/6888d2a9e457463d.png

2024-01-29 09:17:11 GMT

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@npub1u2h…z4d7 it doesn't matter where it rolls out, EU persons communicate with people outside of the EU all the time, which is why I have called on the DPC to issue a global ban, because even in jurisdictions where all party consent is not required (such as jurisdictions which only require single party consent) Eu persons messages will be intercepted and as such their rights will still be subject to a breach.

2024-01-29 08:35:58 GMT

In what can only be seen as Alphabet's blatant refusal to obey EU law, it was announced over the weekend that they would introduce Bard to Android Messages App and intercept all messages (past and future) for the purpose of training it - in breach of EU's rules on interception of communications under Article 5(1) of Directive 2002/58/EC.
To make it worse Alphabet know this is illegal after they were caught intercepting WiFi communications in 2010 with their Streetview cars.
#privacy

2024-01-24 20:42:30 GMT

People ask me why I say Patreon are evil and why I refuse to support people via Patreon...
This is why...
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/01/patreon-attacks-law-that-keeps-platforms-from-sharing-your-video-views/
#privacy #law #pixels #surveillance #ethics #surveillancecapitalism #evilscheissters

2024-01-24 10:53:27 GMT

@npub12ac…3xqe Qwant (founded with EU Commission money) have started to deploy illegal adblock detection and are blocking people from using the search engine unless they disable their adblockers.
So EU funded company, breaking EU law to secure profits...
They should be forced to pay back every single penny they received from public funds and prosecuted.
#privacy

2024-01-20 13:14:24 GMT

This is very interesting because I had a chat with the Irish DPC last week about my complaints against Meta and Youtube in relation to "Pay or OK" and unlawful detection of adblockers.
Irish DPC informed me that they were waiting on their own action until the #EDPB had concluded their ongoing investigation.
Today Meta removes the paywall on Facebook - which, would seem to indicate that there is an incoming enforcement action from the EDPB - I see no other reason why Meta would back down.

2024-01-17 12:07:56 GMT

One thing you can pretty much guarantee at the moment - OpenAI is either courting military contracts or has been approached with an offer - those are the only two explanations for them removing the clause in their T&Cs against military use.
Neither explanation is good - given how bad ChatGPT is with regards to producing misinformation, hallucinations etc.
#humanrights #warfare #ai #automatedkilling #algorithmicmurder #assassinations #internationallaw #asimov #the1stlaw #the2ndlaw #zerothlaw

2024-01-15 13:09:51 GMT

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@npub1q2u…hsgq wish I had known in advance I would have extended my trip as I will be in Brussels for the EDPS event :(

2024-01-13 12:55:38 GMT

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@npub15r6…dd9a probably a bad idea to use this given that so many sites still unlawfully enabling the non-existent legal basis of Legitimate Interest under their TCF banners. Rejecting consent on these banners does not unset the LI toggles.

2024-01-04 10:42:27 GMT

Why are airlines permitted to get away with this shit? Booked two bonus flights to SFO this summer using points and a voucher to get free Business Class tickets.
Problem is you cannot use them for returns only one way so I have to book return flights - the price - 3300 Euros *each*
However, there is currently a campaign which allows me to book 2 economy outgoing with 2 premium economy returns for a total of 2000 Euros (return for both people).
(more)

2024-01-03 14:21:09 GMT

Hey everyone - does anyone know if it is possible to run a local shell script via a chrome extension?
I want to pass the url of all web sites I visit to a script running on my local machine which will parse the domain and run an audit on the site.
I have already written the audit script but I have never written a chrome extension so not sure if it is possible to run a local script from within an extension.
Currently I run the audit script manually but want to automate.
#privacy #security

2023-12-05 14:16:19 GMT

Does anyone know how to stop Wordpress automatically setting ETags for every single page? This is a big issue from a privacy compliance perspective and seems to now be the Wordpress default.

2023-11-23 14:49:02 GMT

Today I came up with a new word:
De-Audibling: (verb) The act of liberating your Audible books from the Audible app/service to enable playing them in other media players. See also: #libation

2023-11-13 10:18:55 GMT

Copy of my complaint to the DPA against Meta's paywall - feel free to use it as a template:
https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/17u7n40/copy_of_my_complaint_to_the_swedish_supervisory/
#privacy

2023-11-10 14:04:48 GMT

Criminal complaint against Google Ireland ltd. now also filed.

2023-11-10 12:17:47 GMT

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cc @npub12ac…3xqe I will be filing a similar criminal complaint against YouTube in Ireland this afternoon for illegal deployment of surveillance technology to my devices under Section 2 and illegal interception of data within an information system for the purpose of surveillance under Section 5

2023-11-10 11:11:26 GMT

I just filed a criminal complaint against Meta Platforms Ireland Ltd. under Section 2 and Section 5 of the Criminal Justice (Offences Relating to Information Systems) Act 2017 for:
"illegally deploying surveillance technology to my computers for the purpose of monitoring my behaviour, as they had no reasonable excuse or lawful authority to do so."
and
"illegally intercepting transmission of data within an information system (my computing devices) for the purpose of monitoring my behaviour."

2023-11-01 09:43:23 GMT

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The basis of the Norwegian DPA's position comes from Article 7 and Recital's 42 & 43 of the GDPR which sets the requirements for consent and what constitutes freely given consent.
Recital 43 states that consent will not be considered as freely given if it is a condition of access to a service where the processing of personal data is not necessary for the provision of that service.

2023-11-01 09:38:38 GMT

EDPB sends binding instruction to Irish DPC to ban Meta's processing of personal data for behavioural advertising permanently across the EU/EEA.
According to a press release by the Norwegian DPA, the ban will include Facebook and Instagram and prevents Meta from using the legal bases of 6(1)(b) (Contract) or 6(1)(f) (Legitimate Interest) under GDPR and must instead obtain consent.
Norwegian DPA also states that Meta's plans to introduce paid subscription would be illegal.

2023-10-26 14:30:31 GMT

Busy week...

2023-10-26 10:37:03 GMT

This is big news:
https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/17gt55m/european_parliament_adopts_final_position_on_eu/
#CSAM #ChatControl #Surveillance #Confidentiality #Privacy #Law #EULaw #Communications

2023-10-21 11:25:05 GMT

Lot's of people asking me why I filed a complaint against #YouTube for their illegal deployment of #spyware to detect #adblockers instead of simply paying for YouTube Premium.
The answer is simple - YouTube Premium has no ads but Google still use it to profile you for advertising on their other products.
I refuse to pay for *any* service which doesn't respect my fundamental rights.
And so should everyone else, because until they do, Alphabet will continue with their illegal #surveillance.

2023-10-20 12:52:27 GMT

To all the people crying about "Why shouldn't YouTube be allowed to make money from ads!"
If I print a newspaper entirely funded through advertising revenue - and you pick up a free copy, do you think it is ok for me to break in to your house to make sure you are looking at the ads?
Because that is what YouTube are doing when they deploy their spyware to detect #adblockers
#privacy is a #fundamentalright - fight for it or lose it.

2023-10-20 12:31:08 GMT

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@npub1jtm…rxtn you are incorrect - the html file with the javascript embedded (or separate javascript file) are stored on the end users terminal equipment and yes you are legally obligated to obtain consent before doing this.
You also need a further consent for running the script (the javascript) once it is deployed to the device because at that point the script is accessing information in the terminal equipment (both require consent under EU law).
I charge for commercial advice...

2023-10-20 11:50:23 GMT

Keep up the pressure everyone - DPC have noticed and reached out to me this morning.
#privacy #adblocking #law #surveillance #youtube

2023-10-19 14:40:49 GMT

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@npub15zu…s7lx @npub12d7…f7q4 as a registered lobbyist I fully support and have signed this petition.

2023-10-19 10:10:32 GMT

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You can help by filing your own complaint here:
https://forms.dataprotection.ie/contact
The more complaints the DPC receives - the quicker they will act.
You can use my complaint to help write your own (attached).
#privacy #surveillancecapitalism #advertising #cookies #consent #law
https://eupolicy.social/system/media_attachments/files/111/261/137/614/795/975/original/49498ffc36daada8.png

2023-10-19 10:08:45 GMT

Today I filed a formal complaint against #YouTube with the Irish Data Protection Commissioner for their illegal deployment of #adblock detection technologies.
Under Article 5(3) of 2002/58/EC YouTube are legally obligated to obtain consent before storing or accessing information already stored on an end user's terminal equipment unless it is strictly necessary for the provisions of the requested service.
In 2016 the EU Commission confirmed in writing that adblock detection requires consent.

2023-10-13 06:27:46 GMT

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@npub15nw…s0l7 I need to write it from scratch, Wordpress is too much of a pain in the ass to make it compliant with EU #privacy laws.

2023-10-12 10:34:10 GMT

Gotta love it when a douchebag tracking company publishes a white paper explicitly illustrating all of the ways they are breaking EU law in relation to ePrivacy and GDPR - talk about giving gifts!
AWIN will be the subject of my next legal complaint :)
You couldn't make this stuff up!
https://www.awin.com/gb/compliance-and-regulations/gdpr-eprivacy-whitepaper
(Don't worry I have a copy saved in case they take it down).
#privacy #surveillancecapitalism #surveillance #law #gdpr #eprivacy #compliance #tracking #cookies #lawfulness #principles