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TheCybermatron

@[email protected]

Academic, technology and data protection law. She/her. 🏳️‍🌈 Kraut abroad. Maintaining her sanity behind her avatar since 2009.

Occasionally blogs at https://cybermatron.blogspot.com/

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@georgetakei@universeodon.com avatar georgetakei , to random

This is just straight up racism and xenophobia.

Screenshot of an X post by Acyn quoting Trump saying “Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota” and criticizing immigration. The embedded image shows members of the audience during a State of the Union address, including a woman wearing a hijab seated among other attendees, with MSNBC Now graphics on screen.
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TheCybermatron ,
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@georgetakei Bribery, corruption and lawlessness you say? Hmmmmm…

@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar ChrisMayLA6 , to random

As you know I have often observed that a major part of the UK's economic problems as tied to a rubbish management culture;

so, as you would expect, I am sympathetic to the argument that current management sees staff in a mechanical way, drawing out of them effort until the (all too predictable) failure.

But, thinking about 'circular work' would encourage managers & workers to develop more sustainable work practices that fostered well-being not degrade it.


https://theconversation.com/the-workplace-wasnt-designed-for-humans-and-it-shows-269127

TheCybermatron ,
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@ChrisMayLA6 Can someone tell my vice-chancellor?

@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar ChrisMayLA6 , to random

Another week, another state regulator failing in its duties to enforce the rules it oversees:

This week its the Information Commissioner’s Office which looks to have been reducing both public sector & private sector enforcement of privacy & data protection rules.

As so often we can expect this to b a mixture of budget cuts, the capture of regulators by the regulated sectors' lobbyists, pushing an agenda of light touch regulatory practice & staffing issues!


https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/nov/24/civil-liberties-groups-call-for-inquiry-into-uk-data-protection-watchdog

TheCybermatron ,
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@ChrisMayLA6 Of course, the Commission could be proactive and just not renew the UK adequacy finding this year. But it has already made it clear that it is happy to do so, and its own attacks on the GDPR via the Digital Omnibus shows that it is willing to do Big Tech’s bidding too. Although there is some political wrangling about this, I don‘t see that going anywhere. So, the CJEU and the Charter are the only backstop, meaning that the money to engage the court would have to be found.

TheCybermatron ,
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@ChrisMayLA6 But that would have to come from outside the UK and given how stretched NGO finances are, that‘s unlikely to happen (Max Schrems has pretty much let it be known that he‘s not interested, and the UK is just no longer important enough in many non-UK people‘s eyes to justify the cost).

TheCybermatron ,
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@ChrisMayLA6 David Erdos has been very vocal about this over on LinkedIn for the last year or so, and he is not exactly a radical prone to storming the barricades. This crisis has been a long time in the making, but if one had looked at the job description used for the current Commissioner back in the day, it was pretty clear that this pro-controller stance was encouraged by the previous UK government. The current one, again, seems to offer no better alternative.

TheCybermatron ,
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@ChrisMayLA6 The UK is now down there with the Irish DPC in the race to the bottom of enforcement. But unlike the DPC, it no longer has an EDPB to keep it in line. The one possible bit of leverage that civil society may have is to bring a Schrems-like challenge to the EU Commission‘s adequacy finding for violation of Art. 45(2)(a) GDPR.

TheCybermatron ,
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@ChrisMayLA6 After all the fanfare about the GDPR as the world‘s “gold standard” in data protection this is all quite disheartening and it is becoming increasingly clear that - gold standard or not - it rests on democratic foundations that could do with some maintenance work.

@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar ChrisMayLA6 , to random

Private care providers make a profit which is often siphoned out of the country.

Defenders of private provision argue that this surplus comes from more effective/efficient care organisation (and is a 'reward' for that work).

Opponents see this as a draining of much needed money out of the care system with no real care benefit to clients, making this just cash extraction.

I prefer the latter, given the frequent treatment scandals in the private sector!

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/12/private-care-providers-in-three-english-regions-make-250m-in-three-years

TheCybermatron ,
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@ChrisMayLA6 My mum was in a profit-making care home for a short period while we were waiting for a place in one run by a non-profit, where her brother already lived, to become available. The standard of care was so horrible that I ended up dropping in unannounced, just to avoid incidents of abject neglect (which happened at least once with her). But staff were mostly contract, who moved from home to home for short stints. I was so happy when she finally got to move.

@mattblaze@federate.social avatar mattblaze , to random

Spanish Steps, Kalorama, Washington, DC, 2023.

All the pixels, no skateboards allowed, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/53335651417

A pedestrian "step street", seen from the bottom, flanked by trees on either side.
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TheCybermatron ,
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@mattblaze When I have visited DC that was actually my impression. The architecture felt like a Disneyland version of many of the old European cities that had been part of the old Roman Empire.

I was also reminded of that when I visited Skopje in North Macedonia a few years ago, which has undergone a “pseudo-classification” in the 2010s. Because of its location, it felt more like it made sense for those buildings to be there. But they were just as fake. https://www.blocal-travel.com/balkans/macedonia-fyrom/skopje/brutalist-architecture-skopje/

@ChrisMayLA6@zirk.us avatar ChrisMayLA6 , to random

Looks like hopes Scotland would avoid the influence of ReformUK on the politics of immigration have not been fulfilled.... a smaller event in Glasgow has parallels (if in a less violent & much smaller manner) the demonstration in London last weekend.

It also looks like the sides were better balanced in Glasgow, suggesting the skewed trend apparent in London, is not necessarily of the same force elsewhere in the UK.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/sep/20/anti-immigration-protesters-and-counter-protesters-clash-in-glasgow

TheCybermatron ,
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@ChrisMayLA6 I’m not thrilled that they gather up here too, but there still tend to be many more counter-protesters than far right. During a recent one in Edinburgh I was at, the ratio was about 50 far right to 250 counter protestors. It’s a long way from the 150,000 to 5,000 we saw in London last week.

@mcc@mastodon.social avatar mcc , to random

Worst of all worst case scenarios. A computer program based on secret, corporate "AI" technology surveils you at all times and then decides whether you lose the rights of a citizen

https://www.theverge.com/news/715343/youtube-age-estimation-ai-minor-account-restrictions

TheCybermatron ,
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@mcc @Farbs Having been one of those people, can confirm.

@TheConversationUS@newsie.social avatar TheConversationUS , to histodons group

For , the Iraq War is history class, not lived memory.

As the Israel-Iran conflict raises déjà vu among older Americans, a middle east historian asks: What happens when a generation forgets the last time this playbook was used?

https://theconversation.com/israel-iran-war-recalls-the-2003-us-invasion-of-iraq-a-war-my-undergraduate-students-see-as-a-relic-of-the-past-259652
histodons@a.gup.pe icon histodons group

TheCybermatron ,
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@TheConversationUS histodons@a.gup.pe icon histodons group Truth be told, whenever I see a Millennial say this on any social media, all I remember is that night in 1990 when the club we used to go to as students turned off the music and televised the bombing from that Gulf war.

Every war is a history class for someone. The question is why we never seem to learn the lesson.

@dangillmor@mastodon.social avatar dangillmor , to random

As usual, Talking Points Memo understands what's happening earlier than Big Journalism -- in this case the Trump regime's actual goal in its attack on LA.

What's happening is a coup, an extreme right-wing overthrow of the elected state and local governments.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things-stand/noem-says-national-guard-occupation-is-meant-to-liberate-la-from-its-mayor-and-governor

TheCybermatron ,
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@georgetakei@universeodon.com avatar georgetakei , to random

We hurt for more than ourselves by electing him. Far, far more.

A tweet from redhead ophelia ( @redhead_ophelia ) with a Ukrainian flag emoji in the bio reads: "As a Ukrainian, I just want to say: fuck all of you who voted for Trump, chose to vote for a third candidate, or stayed at home. Ukrainian blood is on your hands - not that you care, but still." Below this tweet, there is a screenshot of a tweet from "Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social" ( @TrumpDailyPosts ) which states: "I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects. We both reflected on the Great History of our Nations, and... Show more"
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TheCybermatron ,
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@georgetakei Americans I’m in contact with on social media are often so surprised that citizens of other countries are so invested in US elections. This is why.