On data rights, immigration, privilege, power, and the shit life throws at you
A personal memoir on what it feels like when your everyday life becomes a battleground over data rights, immigration, privilege, and power.
Author: Heather Burns
A thought experiment on subjectively harmful content moderation
Policymakers are laying the scaffolding for regulation which will censor your ability to say what's on your mind. What better way for them to show their commitment than volunteering to go first?
The UNICEF Manifesto on better governance of children’s data
Over the past year, I had the privilege of contributing to a UNICEF manifesto on the better governance of children's data. I'm thrilled to finally announce that the manifesto has been published.
Political Geography and the Internet: the view from 1999
Here's what we trainee diplomats were getting to grips with at the turn of the millennium.
Your cut-and-keep guide to the “unregulated wild west internet”
The next time a policymaker tells you that the internet is an "unregulated wild west", point them here to take the shine off their sheriff star.
Techdirt Podcast: Intermediary liability law is not a social safety net
I went on the Techdirt podcast to discuss the recent push, by governments and media alike, to scapegoat intermediary liability law where social safety nets have failed.
Tech prediction for 2021: it’s getting a bit “Children of Men” around here
What's ahead for UK internet regulation in 2021? It ain't good.
Facebook Derangement Syndrome
A status update from the front lines of tech policy.
Wired UK: MPs slam UK data regulator for failing to protect people’s rights
I spoke with Wired about the domestic and international policy implications of the UK's data protection regulator being physically absent and structurally passive.
An imagined tech policy conversation in an English farmyard
A musing on the Piglet's Code and the Online Farms Framework.
How to create a world as age appropriate as apple pie
A true story about what happens when "age appropriate" is allowed to become a subjective and politicised decision about how information is filtered to the young people who need it the most.
The Recovery Roadmap
I was honoured to be asked to write this report on the UK Tech Cluster Group’s Recovery Roadmap summit, ably supported by the UKTCG leadership team, showcasing their policy recommendations to support the tech sector’s role in the post-COVID recovery.