Skip to content

Cubicgarden.com…

Thoughts and ideas of a dyslexic designer/developer

Cubicgarden.com…

Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Sept 2020)

Defcon 2020 safemode

We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed seeing the 2020’s worst security breaches so far and asking what changed in the EU?.

To quote Buckminster Fuller “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

You are seeing aspects of this happening with challenges to app stores and seeing people take action over their social data.


My browser never ever consents

Ian thinks: One thing I like is browser extensions. This one is part of a movement to never consent to anything sites want to push us. Try it out and disable it if you don’t like it

More emerging tech from open hardware world

Ian thinks: NODE features a lot here but look out for the Edge of tomorrow exoskelton and the open cardboard robot which turns a smartphone into a low-cost remote telepresence robot.

The Underestimated Threat Vector: Homogeneity

Ian thinks: Right in the middle of the Defcon hacking virtual conference, a well thought-out talk about the threat of homogeneity. Remember not to read the comments. I could have done a whole month of recommendations for Defcon talks. I highly recommend browsing through the Defcon talks by starting at the playlists.

Thank goodness for the Max Schrems of this world

Ian thinks: I have been moving my data into EU servers when Brexit happened and its very difficult. Thanks goodness for the Max Schrems of this world, willing to go to court over this.

Build the resilient future using indigenous wisdom

Ian thinks: Julia Watson’s short TED video is deeply impressive and shows the answers are all out there, in places and communities we tend to ignore.

Paying for privacy, not ideal but interesting

Would you really abandon Google for a paid ad-free search engine? Neeva might be for you? Although I’m happy with Duckduckgo’s non-tracking ad system.

Deepfakes solution needs critical mass

Ian thinks: Its a reasonable idea but relies on people/systems creating and looking for the CAI metadata. I also checked if it was opensource and it is. I look forward to the Gimp plugin very soon.

Fawke your face for protection against facial recognition

Ian thinks: Finally a reasonable way to cloak your face from facial recognition systems like clearview AI. Nice open source which you can run without visually distorting your beautiful face.

Facebook ads under close scrutiny

Ian thinks: We all know how facebook adverts and editorial weighting works but everyonce in a while a experiment really brings it into sharp view. This Vox video is that, although they also point at the little known Facebook Ad Library.


Find the archive here

Related

Author: Ianforrester

Founder and firestarter of cubicgarden ltd. Emergent technology expert, public service supporter, defender of human scale flourishing, city dweller, European at heart  and social geek event organiser. Captivated by the digital legacy, future of dating, human data interaction, self-hosing, personal data, open-source, house music, neurodiversity thinking, kindness and  collaborative futures for all. Can be found at cubicgarden@mas.to, cubicgarden@twit.social and cubicgarden@blacktwitter.io View all posts by Ianforrester

Author IanforresterPosted on September 1, 2020June 14, 2026Categories culture-and-politicsTags #brexit, 3dprinting, appstore, browser, CAI, consent, crypto, cryptocurrency, darkweb, deepfakes, e-residency, fawke, homogeneity, iot, metadata, nature, open, privacy, publicserviceinternet, publicserviceinternetnotes, shadowbrokers, surveillance, tedtalk, threat

Post navigation

Previous Previous post: #BlackLivesMatter and Wakanda forever
Next Next post: Gratitude diary 2020-09-01

About me

Ian Forrester

Ian Forrester

Senior "Firestarter" Producer at BBC RD, emergent technology expert and serial Manchester social geek event organiser.

View Full Profile →

Archives

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Ianforrester

  • Manchester
  • githubGitHub
  • facebookFacebook
  • microblogMicro.blog
  • flickrFlickr
  • blueskyBluesky
  • mastodonMastodon
  • youtube.comYouTube
  • linkedin.comLinkedIn
  • slideshare.netSlideShare
  • goodreads.comGoodreads
  • appear.in
  • airbnb.co.uk
  • libre.fm
  • trakt.tvTrakt
  • cubicgarden
  • scholar.social
  • keyserver.ubuntu.comUbuntu
  • rankett.net
  • datingmanifesto.cc
  • machinereadablewishes.cc
  • cubicgarden.uk
  • blacktwitter.io
  • cubicgarden.info
  • bookwyrm.social

Founder and firestarter of cubicgarden ltd. Emergent technology expert, public service supporter, defender of human scale flourishing, city dweller, European at heart  and social geek event organiser. Captivated by the digital legacy, future of dating, human data interaction, self-hosing, personal data, open-source, house music, neurodiversity thinking, kindness and  collaborative futures for all. Can be found at cubicgarden@mas.to, cubicgarden@twit.social and cubicgarden@blacktwitter.io

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.

To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
September 2020
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930  
« Aug   Oct »

Categories

  • aggregator (4)
  • culture-and-politics (760)
  • design-and-ideas (663)
  • home entertainment (130)
  • italic+mixing (227)
  • just-plain-life (767)
    • gratitude diary (34)
  • media-and-expression (445)
  • play-and-games (53)
  • science+theory (42)
  • social-hardware (540)
    • socialware-offline (254)
    • socialware-online (237)
  • technology (638)
    • home entertainment (13)
    • mobile-technology (309)
    • technology-and-computing (209)
  • Uncategorized (190)
  • xml and web 2.0 (393)
    • data-and-semantic-web (168)

Pages

  • About
  • Bookmarks
  • Contact
  • Cubicgarden Ltd
  • Mixes
  • Photos
  • User Manual

Recent Posts

  • The in & outbound train DJ mixes July 2, 2026
  • Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (July 2026) July 1, 2026
  • The 3% ANPR problem June 30, 2026
  • Whatsapp must never be public infrastructure June 11, 2026
  • It’s Pebble time… 2! June 11, 2026
  • Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (June 2026) June 1, 2026
  • We really need to talk sensibly about intimacy and AI May 27, 2026
  • Under a solar republica sky mix May 25, 2026
  • Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (May 2026) May 1, 2026
  • Drift DJ alpha testing and mixing April 14, 2026
  • 1 year ago I left BBC R&D, what’s happen since? April 3, 2026
  • Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (April 2026) April 1, 2026

Recent Comments

  • Victoria Walberg on Whatsapp must never be public infrastructure
  • Ianforrester on Following up from my ULEZ fine – The computer is wrong!
  • Ian Forrester | @cubicgarden on It’s Pebble time… 2!
  • jowodo on It’s Pebble time… 2!
  • Ian Forrester on Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (May 2026)
  • Proballooning on 1 year ago I left BBC R&D, what’s happen since?
  • James Cridland on 1 year ago I left BBC R&D, what’s happen since?
  • Graham K on Following up from my ULEZ fine – The computer is wrong!
  • Ian Forrester | @cubicgarden on Following up from my ULEZ fine – The computer is wrong!
  • Tom Morris on Following up from my ULEZ fine – The computer is wrong!

Tip jar

Found something useful? Feel free to tip me if you like...

  • Tip me with Monzo
  • Leave me a tip using Lightning ⚡
  • Donate bitcoins

Tags

  • #Blacklivesmatter
  • ai
  • android
  • apple
  • bbc
  • conference
  • covid19
  • dance
  • data
  • dating
  • diabolo
  • dj
  • facebook
  • film
  • geek
  • geekdinner
  • google
  • internet
  • life
  • london
  • love
  • manchester
  • media
  • mix
  • mobile
  • mozfest
  • mozilla
  • music
  • okcupid
  • pacemaker
  • pacemakerdevice
  • perceptivemedia
  • podcast
  • privacy
  • publicservice
  • publicserviceinternet
  • publicserviceinternetnotes
  • science
  • sex
  • social
  • trance
  • tv
  • twitter
  • uk
  • xbmc

About me

I can be found microblogging on Twitter, Mastodon Scholar.social, Twit social, Black Twitter, I upload media to Flickr, Pixelfed, You Tube, My mix garden, Mastodon, Mixcloud and Slideshare I generate metadata on Trakt TV and Diigo. Network professionally at Linkedin, use keybase, write code on github and dabble more socially on Facebook
  • githubGitHub
  • facebookFacebook
  • microblogMicro.blog
  • flickrFlickr
  • blueskyBluesky
  • mastodonMastodon
  • youtube.comYouTube
  • linkedin.comLinkedIn
  • slideshare.netSlideShare
  • goodreads.comGoodreads
  • appear.in
  • airbnb.co.uk
  • libre.fm
  • trakt.tvTrakt
  • cubicgarden
  • scholar.social
  • keyserver.ubuntu.comUbuntu
  • rankett.net
  • datingmanifesto.cc
  • machinereadablewishes.cc
  • cubicgarden.uk
  • blacktwitter.io
  • cubicgarden.info
  • bookwyrm.social

Green status

This website is hosted Green - checked by thegreenwebfoundation.org

Spam Blocked

134,973 spam blocked by Akismet
  • RSS – Posts
  • RSS – Comments

Blog Stats

  • 538,979 hits
Cubicgarden.com… Proudly powered by WordPress