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Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Oct 2024)

Your friends will be there for you, your work won't

We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed while seeing Mozilla closing their Mastodon instance, the internet archive no longer allowed to lend ebooks and the endless saga of 23 and me.

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 with coffee pod recycling for real, The possible return of concentrated solar power plants and the formulation of the social web foundation.

Real stories about Facewatch in the UK

Ian thinks: Although put together by big brotherwatch, this video shows the people caught up in the facewatch surveillance in the UK. Its hard to watch but a good reminder of the on going problems.

What does Fish have to do with online privacy?

Ian thinks: Based around the paper written by Barath Raghavan and Bruce Schneier. NBTV, puts the paper into focus through many clear examples and comparisons. Its clear privacy has been misjudged and we are all paying for this.

Cory shouts Disenshittify or die at Defcon24, and in text.

Ian thinks: Cory’s follow up to last years talk, is another great reminder of the horrible state of the market, internet and society. You can’t help but raise a fist to some of points about Spotify, Google, Meta, etc. But the re-examination of the words; if you are not paying for the product you are the product. Is a very important call.

Will you host your data on Lidl’s cloud service?

Ian thinks: Although it sounds ridiculous on first glance, This is an example of the big difference between the EU data space and the Silicon Valley space. There is no way Lidl would even consider this an option outside the EU, but the EU laws makes a somewhat trusted brand viable for this type of pivot.

The importance of friendship, loneliness and vulnerability

Ian thinks: This conversation between Simon Sinek & Trevor Noah strikes a chord with some of the large societal problems. This has so much from questions about friendship to the importance of cultivating them into something strong and lifelong. Just at a time when loneliness is rising, I felt this a important one to share.

Tokyo creates its own dating app, against the likes of Match

Ian thinks: Match group currently has 50% of the market, but the Japanese government is about to launch their own as the population decline is that serious. Its worth noting Japan has tried many things including paying bars/clubs to put on single nights for the last 10 years, making this decision not something made lightly.

Detecting AI generated like a pro?

Ian thinks: We are all facing a barrage of AI generated images and videos, it is easy to be distracted or be tricked and there is no shame to this. With some of these tips, it will help weed out 90% of the typical AI slop.

Digital legacy a change is due

Ian thinks: Digital legacy is something we rarely think about but really should. There is a number of interesting developments from research into digital legacy to UK justice beta testing digital LPAs. This podcast gives a real sense of the importance of this all.

Grief and digital grief

Ian thinks: Following the previous link, this video from the Guardian, explores both sides of the divide around using AI technology for people who die. Its striking as these homegrown solutions are being commercialised and rolled out with little to no care for the people on both sides

Find the original here and the archive here

Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Nov 2023)

We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed hearing how a man was trapped in a EV, AI facial recognition not being taken seriously and the online safety bill now part of law in the UK.

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 with the BBC setting guidelines for Gen AI, Mozilla saying hello to two privacy and adding fake reviews detector to help us all.

Voice scammers scams coming your way

Ian thinks: The voice scamming is something most have heard about, but this podcast shows how vast the problem is in Asia. I suspect similar will be heading to the west soon enough.

Cory Doctorow why the internet is broken and how to fix it

Ian thinks: Cory’s new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation, says it all but if you were not convinced this interview with Vice will clearly why the fight for the future is not over, why and how you should be involved.

People over profits and LLMs

Ian think: The Mozilla podcast is in full swing again with a focus on the humans behind and affected by large language models. Mozilla do a great job reflecting viewpoints from outside the western markets with important contributions from Kenya and India in episode 2.

The origins of an oligarch, Elon is just one of many

Ian thinks: There has been a lot of discussion following the recent Isaacson book. I found this the very best series about Elon, not only critical of Elon but also a wider nod to many of the tech oligarchs and the culture surrounding them.

Devalued lived experiences

Ian thinks: Douglas Rushkoff is a character which some people enjoy and some less so. He was recently added to the Time person of the week, and this short podcast interview is a reminder of what the internet and technology could/should be and how it fits within human society, not consumes it.

The back and forth between founders and influences

Ian thinks: Taylor Lorenz’s book explores the tension between the owners and the women who drive the platform/service. Similar to Symons Browns’s Get rich or die trying, but focusing on usually stepped on female early adopters, this could shine a light on a sector never really covered.

Social engineering gen AI

Ian thinks: Its hardly a surprise people are finding their ways around the limitations of Gen AI systems but this really goes into details how people are social engineering sensitive information out.

A serious thought about the techno-optimist

Ian thinks: When Marc Andreessen published the techno-optimist manifesto. Most people just ignored it as silicon valley nonsense, but a few put together words to carefully deconstruct why. This blog is a perfect reply but also covers a lot of positive elements covered in this newsletter. Well worth the read.

The Repair revolution has started?

Ian thinks: Repair is essential for sustainability, we all know this and recent changes within the tech/internet sector has helped this already growing trend. The question is when some of the big companies will fully throw their weight behind such movements?

Where do you post?

Ian thinks: This post by the Verge sums up the struggle for many around social media right now. I highly recommend listening to the podcast, especially with interviews from Cory (pluralistic) and Manton (microblog), as they both give more definition to the problem. I would also recommend the deeper conversation with Manton, who discusses the Verge piece at a lot more depth.

Find the archive here

Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Oct 2023)

Person in trousers points a pen at paper work on a table

We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed seeing criminals creating their own ChatGPT clones, Fitbit becoming useless without data sharing and those Tiktok frenzies.

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 with the EU naming the gatekeepers, the 1.26 million Kardashion crypto fine and Signal’s CEO calling out AI surveillance technology.

Thinking about buying a creepy car?

Ian thinks: Thanks to Mozilla’s privacy not included project, its clear almost every major car brand is sharing your personal data without any consideration of privacy. Everything from race, weight and health is free shared without the drivers consent.

Cannabis could save the environment?

Ian thinks: This piece from German broadcaster DW really makes clear the positive potential impact of Cannabis in the fight for a greener more sustainable economy. Its a real eye opener and for reasons you didn’t think.

Regularly using the internet can half the risk of dementia

Ian thinks: When I first read this, I had looked through the paper taking it a part to see if there was something which could be wrong. However it’s solid and surprised it didn’t get much attention.

The big con, How the Consulting Industry Weakens society

Ian thinks: I started reading this excellent book, really digging into the 4 audit consultancy and Its ultimate affect on more than just businesses. I noticed DW’s mini documentary about most of the problems raised in the book is good start..

Is this the UK Government U-turn you wanted?

Ian thinks: In short no, it sounds like the UK government might have done a U-turn on the encryption in the new online safety bill. But it is still there waiting for the right moment.

Crypto was never really the saver

Ian thinks: Sex workers and adult entertainers are usually demonised by the mainstream, turned to crypto made sense. But like most things in the crypto space, its never so simple and the wired piece outlines some horrible and disturbing problem. There has to be a better way for the sake of so many.

Living Next Door to Russia, Ensh*ttification and Veilid explained at Defcon

Ian thinks: In the last few weeks, Defcon, Tech Open Air and Techcrunch disrupt have uploaded their conference videos. I found Mikko, Cory and the Veilid talks the best so far. Although I will give a nudge for the Opera and Vivaldi founder from TOA.

What people don’t know about the Luddites

Ian thinks: The word gets thrown around a lot and very few people know the history. In this podcast it becomes clear the luddites image of techbophic is very wrong. With thoughts for the future with generative AI and power, the Luddites image is due a rethink.

Learning from the Fediverse

Ian thinks: The fediforum is the unconference for the fediverse. I took part in the September one and learned a lot including how activitypub can become the plumbing channel between the usual (microblogging) and unexpected applications like event management (gath.io)

Find the archive here

Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Aug 2023)

We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed thinking about the eyeball scanning worldcoin, Tesla’s secret range suppression team and dare I even mention @x.

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 with the BBC joining the fediverse, all those Firefox tips in one video. and EU plans to force replaceable batteries in smartphones.

UK’s online safety bill breaks encryption

Ian thinks: Its clear the UK government like most governments around the world have a difficult problem with end to end encryption. In my own experience anything which weakens encryption means there is no encryption. Anything which weaken encryption is an open door with a door mat and bright lights saying try here and welcome.

AI everywhere, bias everywhere

Ian thinks: This is a disturbing piece about shop owners using facial recognition to protect their stock in the UK. Face-watch is a worrying trend especially knowing how much AI systems are desperate for more training data.

PublicSpaces 2023: The collective of videos

Ian thinks: All the Publicspaces videos are now on peertube and linked on this page. If you only watch one video, I highly recommend the keynotes from Ruha Benjamin, Levien Nordeman and Eli Parser

Ian thinks: I didn’t see this live in Mozilla House Amsterdam but had a really good talk with Symeon who convinced me to finally read his amazing book.

Is it time to give up on the global internet?

Ian thinks: I hate to say it but this piece has some really good points and its hard to argue against them. The vision of a global internet has been torn apart by many companies, governments and pure greed.

The Eliza effect is big business

Ian thinks: With all the talk about AI, you can’t help but stumble into the chatbot space. Although its easy to laugh, we already know there is a demand to connect with people and there is a ton of companies willing to supply them with better versions of clippy. But do spare a deep thought of all the data being shared and sold too.

A old form of colonialism in effect?

Ian thinks: It was through the tech won’t save us podcast I came across the paper on Open AI’s whisper and indigenous languages. This isn’t just a cautionary tale, its actually as close to the playbook of colonialism. Glad the author and the community are call it out.

Had enough of Captcha’s?

Ian thinks: Although a emerging technology, privacy pass could bring an end to those captcha’s which are annoying, don’t stop a lot of malicious activity, are basically free labour which is used to sell to others. Could this client-side privacy pass protocol which uses un-linkable cryptographic tokens finally put an end to them for good?

Posting without consent is immoral?

Ian thinks: This is a question which has existed for a long time. Even mentioning a persons name can have dire consequences. Two things which were not mention is the interconnected nature of this all.and the EU laws around the right to be forgotten.

RIP Free Kevin

Ian thinks: When i heard Kevin Mitnick died aged 59, I thought back to all the things I had learned through his books, experiences and the free Kevin movement. Well worth re-reading his books and this piece in the register. Rest in piece Kevin.

Find the archive here

Public Service Internet monthly newsletter (Dec 2022)

We live in incredible times with such possibilities that is clear. Although its easily dismissed seeing the UK government setup a discord server, A podcasting app sharing user location to podcast creators and whats its like to work in India as a woman in tech.

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 with India following the EU with USB C. Flickr putting weight behind ActivityPub and even more calls to make privacy a human right.

Gifts which don’t track your friends and family

Ian thinks: I actually chuckle at the #askfirefox videos but this video makes good points about buying a surveillance device for friends and family this festive holiday. Shop smart with Mozilla’s privacy not included.

W3C Solid working group

Ian thinks: Solid the personal data store has found its place in the W3C groups, Tim Berners-Lee’s welcoming email is beautifully written, starting a genuine new phase of the internet.

The UK parliament debates the future of public service broadcasting

Ian thinks: Its good to see this discussion at this level but am concerned there isn’t more focus beyond broadcasting. Public service is much bigger and its time to bring what makes public service unique to this space.

Mozilla’s future looks bright and sustainable

Ian thinks: Mozilla although well know in certain circles, has been losing a lot of market share. However has good plans to build on its community roots for a bright and sustainable future. Don’t forget the Mozilla festival’s call for proposals ends Dec 16th

Thoughts on Blockchain technology a decade ago

Ian thinks: Tim Bray’s measured thoughts on blockchain technology is a good read. Its easy to say blockchains were not mature back when AWS started but Tim thoughts today haven’t changed much.

Elon musk’s take over of Twitter

Ian thinks: There is so much to say about this take over of Twitter but I didn’t want to spend the whole newsletter talking about it. However I’m sadden by the lack of understanding from Elon and the way employees have been treated.. No way was Twitter the public square.

Ian thinks: Interesting points made and worthy of listening to in full. Likewise this small panel with the folks from Bluesky, Manyverse and others exploring the possibilities way beyond what’s currently available.

The EFF look at Mastodon from a security & privacy point of view

Ian thinks: Its always great to see new systems deeply looked at by the EFF and Open rights group. Mastodon comes out looking great. However you certainly have to go about it differently.

Don’t like microblogging but like the idea of the fediverse?

Ian thinks: This is great news Automattic (WordPress) are once again supporting the standard ActivityPub and joining the large open network of the fediverse. How Tumblr will work on the Fediverse is another question.

Find the archive here

Voter ID in the UK?

I can’t (but can) believe the UK Government is looking to make Photo ID needed to vote on elections. Has no one ever looked at the reasons why its been such a heated debate in the states?

Voter suppression or discouragement of people of colour’s votes is a big deal simply because they tend to vote more democratic or left.

Of course this isn’t the first time this has been talked about in the UK, and I expect it won’t be the last unfortunately.

Automating racism and the UK government

According to a UK Government’s commissioned report, the UK is the model other white majority countries should seek to emulate around race. There is so much to unpick but dismissing the lived experiences of black people reminds me of Women telling people they are not safe when walking the streets. Also easily dismissed as “lived experience/personal opinion/uncommon.” The patriarchy never listens.

I found the interview by Channel4 by one of the people behind the report. Its a frustrating interview churning out all the stereotypes heard many times before.

One of the things I thought about today while out in the sunshine is how much/little is the UK government doing about automated systems they are encourage? Do they even understand the implicit bias with the systems they are putting in place? Surely one look into that will tell you there is systematic racism baked into everything and putting a smile on it all, saying everybody should learn from us is certainly not helpful at all. Maybe they should read how to be an antiracist? Or would that also be classed as “personal opinion?”

Anyway its time to dig through the whole report. I’m sure Dr Jonathan will dig through this at some point?

As always don’t read the comments…

Single shot Covid vaccine on its way here

As I have said many times before, happy to have a Covid19 vaccine and happy to wait, but fearful of the actual injection having trypanophobia. One thing I have been keeping an eye on is the one shot vaccines. The thought of having a needle stuck in my arm twice in less than 4 months is absolutely terrifying make no mistake!

Then this week I heard some good news.

Johnson & Johnson applied for vaccine approval in UK late last week
The UK has already secured 30 million doses of the vaccine.

30 million is great but its unlikely I will get the choice, plus I do need to look at the allergy side of the new vaccines.

I know there is lots of debate over the efficacy of the vaccine, but I don’t think everybody understands what this really means.

Inequality and the Covid19 vaccine

Here it is again, inequality is in full affect around the Covid19 vaccine.

The figures of the vaccine buying in richer nations is insane, and on the other side I really hope the Covax scheme is successful. However its clear there is a big question of timing, how many people will die in developing nations while the developed nations vaccinate themselves?

As the video points out vaccinating the world has never happened before. This a critical as we saw with the EU considering article 16.

Inequality affects everything.

VPRO documentary: How did Brexit happen?

The UK left the EU on January 1 2021, big ben chimed and there were fireworks at 2300 on December 31st in some places.

There are so many things I have said and want to say but I found the VPRO (Dutch public service broadcaster) really worth watching. As always its good to see Brexit from the view of our neighbours.

Good documentary, hard to watch but very fair leaning on Brexit: civil war, the horrible class divide in the UK, the lies of the Boris bus, targetted advertising, the problems with nostalgia, etc..

Channel 4’s Deepfake queens speech raises tons of questions

When I first heard Channel4’s alternative speech was going to be a deep fake of the queen. I laughed but had a ton of questions. Some of them are covered in their behind the scenes video.

I felt the deep fake was a good thing to do, as so many people can’t tell the difference between real and fake. This has a big impact on the democratic process. But of course if you are reading this, you most likely know this already. It was good they made it deliberately fake rather than pass it off as a real speech, but of course some felt it was disrespectful.

Deep and shallow fakes are here and getting better every day, there is a important public service angle putting this front and centre. We got to get better at understanding what we see may not be what’s actually true.

Worth watching: Death to 2020

Death to 2020 was hysterical on so many levels, this missed out on my list of things you missed out on by a day or two.

I think of it like Screenwipe (if you haven’t seen the antiviral wipe, I highly recommend it) with black mirror budget and mockery running through it all.

Although very much around America and part of the UK, there is key issues are there. #Covid19, #Blacklivesmatter, #Brexit, #vote2020, #RuthBaderGinsburg, #trump, #biden, #misinformation, #environment, etc, etc.

Here's the first trailer for 'DEATH TO 2020' – a mockumentary from 'Black Mirror' creator Charlie Booker!

Samuel L. Jackson, Joe Keery, Leslie Jones, Diane Morgan, Kumail Nanjiani, Tracey Ullman, and more will star in #DeathTo2020 pic.twitter.com/hPQlWK0fdr

— Looper (@looper) December 21, 2020

Good work and something to laugh at while we head into 2021.

A review of my 2020 resolutions

Ian Forrester selfie with a mask — The new normal, mask, umbrella and coat

2020 has been one heck of a year for me and pretty much every single person on earth. The Covid19 pandemic effected so many peoples lives from people dying to people having to operate around nationwide lock downs. People I know have had covid19 and a couple people are still suffering with the long covid19. From memory no one I know has died but I’m not certain.

The thing about the pandemic is its like background radiation. Its always there and it affects everything. Even if its small things.

Then in the middle of everything the police in American murdered a bunch of black people and the whole thing was captured. May 2020, was a turning point for many, finally we could talk about systematic racism and people were listening. Not to say they did a lot about it but in some places the light was shone and people finally understood what it means to be an anti-racist.

George Floyd 7 months later — Remembering George floyd on xmas night

So with all that how was my year from the Quantified Self data point of view?

My average sleep duration has increased from 7 hrs 20mins to 7hours 50mins. Average deep sleep was 4.03 hrs now its 4.35hrs.
This year I started moving away from Gmail, so the numbers make sense. I had 32,601 conversations, have 20718 emails in my inbox and sent 7841 emails this year.
Have 114,564 photos and 4,269 photos albums in Google photos.
Tasks wise I have 304 open tasks and completed 3,315 over the year
Been on all of 6 trips including Manchester, Warrington, Lancaster, London, Alton towers, Blackpool this year.
According to Trakt, my most played show is Dave and film was Tenet, Most listened to podcast is the Daily Tech News Show.
I spent 742 hours watching films (61.8hrs a month) and 1221 hours watching TV series (101.8hrs a month) – that is a lot, but understandable with being locked down.

Here’s my review of my new years resolutions from 2019.

Head further a field with the scooter
Even with Covid19, there was a brief chance to go on holiday to the Netherlands in August. I had planned to take the scooter across from either Hull or Felixstowe. I checked out the pricing got the emergency kit, arranged my stay with a friend in the Netherlands. But then Greater Manchester went into a tier where leaving become problematic. I push on but then suddenly the Netherlands become a country when I could need to isolate for 14 days after returning. At that point I decided its all too much.
Its a shame as I also considered Ireland too but the season had changed and didn’t fancy driving in Ireland in the rain.
Visit another new country
This never happened for obvious Covid19 reasons. Maybe next year will be better?
Make some changes to the flat
Lots of changes to the flat, from a new desk, a network attached storage, reconfiguration of some basic things. I still have a number of tasks related to this to go through for 2021.
Host film nights at mine
This didn’t happen for obvious Covid19 reasons. Although my bubble might break this somewhat.
Spend less time in the UK / Live in a new country
Yeah Covid19 killed this but who knows what might happen next year
Find the others and connect them
This has started to happen, but theres more work needed on this front.
Play a new sport somewhat regularly
Another Covid19 killer, but I did spend a lot of time with the Diabolo.
Drink more fizzy water
This happened, maybe too much and I had to stop drinking copious amounts of fizzy water late at night. I’m not drinking so much that I needed a subscription but I’m getting through a bottle of gas every 3 weeks?
Look after myself better
I believe this one happen starting with my focus on my sleep patterns. Being able to make that decision about working later has made a massive difference to the quality of my sleep, even with the background humm of the pandemic.
Be even more aware of the environment and what I can do to help
This believe it or not had happened, from spending much more time sorting out what I can recycle. Tesco also have been delivering my shopping with bags so been using them for many things for recycling.
Put my money/resources where my values are, with platforms like Patreon
This happened, I signed up to Pateon as there is a number of podcasts I regularly enjoy and gave them small amounts of hard cash to help support them. I also donated time and some money to other places like anti-racist, feminist, neurodiverse organisations.
Change my email signature with important information
Done, my signature now includes my pronoun, my user manual and status. I keep thinking about adding my free/busy time but don’t really like the fact google calendar reveals your email address when doing so.

In lieu of trust at the top…

There was something which John Ashton said at the end of his video for Double Down News.

He mentions during the first nation wide lockdown in the UK, people supporting each other with pick up of community shopping, lists of help on different social sites, etc, etc. The trust between each other and the NHS was high.

As we went into the second national lockdown, all eyes were looking to the top. Rather than looking at each other for support. I think part of this comes from the formulation of the tiers which seemed to turned people against each other, in lieu of any transparency from the top. There was a lot of finger pointing from Tier 3 Liverpool at Tier 2 Manchester back 2-3 months ago for example.

Its clear countries where the government are more trusted seem to be doing much better in their R number rates. But in lieu of this, we need to work together to make it work for ourselves and our communities.

I recently saw a great example of this with the total mess of lorries trying to get into Europe. Its the kindness of people and communities which can make the difference.

Covid19 vaccine, I’m happy to wait

Theres been a bunch of press with older people and key workers having had their first shot of the Covid19 vaccine. This is great news of course but I got to say everytime I see someone having a injection in the press its still scary for me. Love to have something of a trigger warning for this all. But then again I’m not anywhere as bad as I use to be thanks to hypnotherapy.

I have always said I’m happy to wear a mask and will be wearing a mask till October next year I predict. The vaccine needs to go to the people who most need it, the people who protect the vulnerable, front line works, yes; but that list needs to include other nations.

The rush to get the vaccine is locking out poorer nations and I’m glad to see this is being highlighted and being acted on?

To be clear when its my time, I will get it even if it does mean yes I will need 2 shots within a month, not great for someone terrified of needles. I have no doubts about the vaccine(s) just the injections. Really wish I could take a pill or like Contagion, could be delivered via nasal spray. (you don’t need to write to me to explain why that couldn’t work, its been explained to me over and over again to me)

I won’t be surprised if having the vaccine will be a requirement for travel on planes in the near future. If not expect getting travel insurance to be troublesome to say the least. I don’t think it will be mandatory in the UK but