Apple's statement is the death knell for the idea that it's possible to scan everyone's comms AND preserve privacy. Apple has many of the best cryptographers + software eng on earth + infinite $. If they can't, no one can. (They can't. No one can.)

WIRED

Apple’s Decision to Kill Its CSAM Photo-Scanning Tool Sparks Fresh Controversy

Child safety group Heat Initiative plans to launch a campaign pressing Apple on child sexual abuse material scanning and user reporting. The compan...

Looking forward to being back in the UK next week w @amnesty, @npub18erp...27kj, @citizenlab, @libertyhq, @OpenRightsGroup et. al. for a closed door, real talk discussion on the issues with the Online Safety Bill's spy clause, and how to move forward.

Back to school special – POLITICO

This is the room you pull together when your staffers want pictures with tech industry AI celebrities. It's not the room you assemble when you want to better understand what AI is, how (and for whom) it functions, and what to do about it.

This is alarming. Noting also that the Saudis are Twitter's second largest investors.

Human Rights Watch

Saudi Arabia: Man Sentenced to Death for Tweets

A Saudi court has sentenced a man to death based solely on his Twitter and YouTube activity.

Great column from @ShiraOvide, looking at differences between private messengers. Note Telegram isn't listed, because Telegram is not a private messenger. And note that Signal is the gold standard, providing the foundation for the rest.❤️ https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/08/22/encryption-imessage-whatsapp-google/

Who's done good critical work on "age verification" systems/companies? I'm seeing a lot of grifty vendors prepared to hawk their wares as a new strain of child-focused online legislation moves forward. I'd love to read detailed assessments of the tech & the claims 🙏