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michae.lv
michael veale
@michae.lv
8.4K followers 1.8K following 1.4K posts

prof @laws.ucl.ac.uk, technology, law, policy, society, whimsical latvian top level domain names. michae.lv and fediverse https://someone.elses.computer/@mikarv 🏳️‍🌈

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Michael Veale is a technology policy academic who focuses on information technology and the law. He is currently associate professor in the Faculty of Laws at University College London (UCL). .. more

Computer science 46%
Political science 22%
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michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · May 6
How should legal education respond to AI? Together with 11 UCL Laws colleagues, this paper is our vision for the sector. It's rooted in academic integrity, fundamental competences, and concerns around impacts on learning to learn and intellectual risk taking. (🧵)

discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10...

Reposted by Joanna Bryson

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 16h
As you’re watching a Disney film at Christmas, raise a glass to Disney’s lawyers who, in Florida’s 2021 social media law, had a blanket exemption placed in to except any theme park owner from the definition of ‘social media platform’ www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill...
Social media company means any information service [cont.]… The term does not include any information service, system, Internet search engine, or access software provider operated by a company that owns and operates a theme park or entertainment complex as defined in s. 509.013.

Reposted by Michael Veale

ana-mariacretu.bsky.social
Ana-Maria Cretu @ana-mariacretu.bsky.social · 10d
Our new paper demonstrates that removing images of children from training datasets of text-to-image models fails to prevent the misuse of these models to generate child sexual abuse material (AI CSAM). A thread 🧵

Reposted by Michael Veale

christinahood.bsky.social
Christina Hood @christinahood.bsky.social · 11d
Hey whanua with dual UK citizenship. Bad news. When the ETA travel authorisation comes in from February, UK citizens MUST use a UK passport to enter the UK. You are not allowed to get an ETA in your NZ passport if you are a UK citizen. www.gov.uk/guidance/ele...
Electronic travel authorisation (ETA): guide for dual citizens
What dual citizens with British or Irish citizenship (or right of abode) need to do to travel to the UK.
www.gov.uk

Reposted by Rebecca Tushnet, Michael Veale

ericgoldman.bsky.social
Eric Goldman @ericgoldman.bsky.social · 11d
abovethelaw.com/2025/12/ice-...
ICE Accidentally Publishes A 'Watch List' Of Immigration Lawyers, Which Is Definitely A Normal Thing For The Government To Do - Above the Law
This is... disturbing.
abovethelaw.com

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 11d
NSF under threat from itself.
@markhisted.org on Bluesky
Well, this is an utter disaster for science. This gutting of peer review is very likely driven by Project 2025/OMB/Vought, very likely is about funding junk science, and very likely is coming for #NIH and biomedical research next. 🧪 [contains quote post or other embedded content]
bsky.app

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 11d
VPNs starting to enter the regulatory frame: now in Denmark www.theregister.com/2025/12/15/d...
Denmark takes a Viking swing at VPN-enabled piracy • The Register
: Minister insists 'modest' bill is not an assault on privacy-preserving tech
www.theregister.com

Reposted by Michael Veale

techpolicypress.bsky.social
Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 11d
Europe’s Digital Markets Act aims to open ecosystems: alternatives to app stores, fair access to OS features, real interoperability. But for many free and open source developers, those promises remain fragile without robust enforcement, write Lucas Lasota, Dario Presutti and Jithendra Palepu.
Making the Digital Markets Act Developer-Friendly | TechPolicy.Press
Big Tech restrictions on app stores and operating systems put small developers at risk, write Lucas Lasota, Dario Presutti and Jithendra Palepu.
buff.ly

Reposted by Carl T. Bergstrom, Scott L. Greer, Steve Peers , and 11 more

markhisted.org
Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 11d
Well, this is an utter disaster for science.

This gutting of peer review is very likely driven by Project 2025/OMB/Vought, very likely is about funding junk science, and very likely is coming for #NIH and biomedical research next.
🧪
Science in reviewing grant proposals. The changes permit as few as one outside review rather than the current minimum of three, end the routine use of expert panels to discuss those individual reviews, and give program managers greater authority to recommend which proposals should or should not be funded. They are described in an internal 1 December staff memo that Science has obtained and mentioned briefly in an update to NSF's grantmaking manual posted on 8 December. A major reason for the smaller staff is the elimination of hundreds of so-called rotators, scientists on loan from academia who served as program managers as well as higher level administrators. Their absence, combined with the new review policy, represent a major change in how NSF

Reposted by Michael Veale

willoremus.com
Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 11d
Tech whistleblowers say coming forward has unexpectedly derailed their lives... They became isolated among their colleagues, suffered severe professional damage, or were pushed out of the industry altogether...
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... by @naominix.bsky.social
She blew the whistle at Meta. Then her career fell apart.
After exposing the harms of Big Tech, many whistleblowers say they faced poor job prospects and isolation in Silicon Valley. They have no regrets.
www.washingtonpost.com

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 12d
Not sure the Online Safety Acts — either UK or AUS flavours — are ready for kids setting up and running social media services themselves as regulated entities. This already happens: expect more. I ran online forums *as a child* that would now need child access assessments under the UK OSA!

Reposted by Michael Veale

tmsqrll.bsky.social
Tim Squirrell @tmsqrll.bsky.social · 17d
EC has formally opened an investigation into Google for using publishers’ content without meaningful consent or compensation for its AI Overviews feature.

Big win for civil society orgs like @foxglovelegal.bsky.social who’ve been asking for this.

ec.europa.eu/commission/p...
Commission opens investigation into possible anticompetitive conduct by Google in the use of online content for AI purposes
The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Google has breached EU competition rules by using the content of web publishers, as well as content uploaded on th
ec.europa.eu

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 22d
original statement in may that freaked out many at the time but didn't get that much media coverage www.state.gov/announcement...
Announcement of a Visa Restriction Policy Targeting Foreign Nationals Who Censor Americans - United States Department of State
Free speech is among the most cherished rights we enjoy as Americans. This right, legally enshrined in our constitution, has set us apart as a beacon of freedom around the world.  Even as we take acti...
www.state.gov

Reposted by Michael Veale

cyberleagle.bsky.social
Graham Smith @cyberleagle.bsky.social · 23d
One thing I found odd was the reference early in the judgment to the content being manifestly unlawful. But if it was, the identity checks that the controller has to carry out wouldn’t be necessary. FWIW, it comes from para 17 of the referring court’s request. curia.europa.eu/juris/showPd...
curia.europa.eu

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 24d
I was referring to non GDPR liability created by GDPR related scans g and considering the CJEU’s views on automation in Glawischnig and YT/Cyando (Martin Husovec’s DSA GM chapter great on this). I agree that don’t think it matters for the GDPR liability - and that’s going to create big issues too.

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 24d
it's a little known fact but the AI Act bans academic articles containing the words "in the Era of" — sorry if that's you, I don't make the rules

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 24d
or, when they look at the model marketplaces like Hugging Face that @gorwa.ca and I deal with here www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.... — will they need to scan ML models for sensitive data before letting them be uploaded?
Moderating model marketplaces: platform governance puzzles for AI intermediaries
You have to enable JavaScript in your browser's settings in order to use the eReader.
www.tandfonline.com

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 24d
It was surprising how GC didn't even get a mention

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 24d
CJEU is aware, but states that the 'shall not apply' in the ECD (note, this is now 'without prejudice' in DSA) excludes it. Doesn't address what the consequences of DP-obliged monitoring (and any resulting awareness of illegality by humans) are for liability though.

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 24d
Case: curia.europa.eu/juris/docume...
CURIA - Documents
curia.europa.eu

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 24d
But monitoring is monitoring. High-performing, solely algorithmic monitoring already seems to be out of the GM prohibition. But this might require human checks. Do humans assisting you doing these pre-emptive checks not become aware of illegality just because the checks were *motivated* by the GDPR?

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 24d
Court says no, because e-Commerce Directive 'shall not apply' to data protection questions, and GDPR is without prejudice to ECD. (Note: DSA changes this so ECD is also only 'without prejudice to').

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 24d
Russmedia case is out — CJEU says it's fine to put on data protection obligations onto an advertising platform to spot sensitive data and verify who is in it. But would this create an obligation to monitor that would break intermediary liability shielding?

Reposted by David Murakami Wood

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 26d
Useful if terrifying read on the Chinese brand of smart watches for kids, Little Genius, which is forming an entire, insular — and seemingly pretty socially unhealthy — platformised and corporatised world. substack.com/@ivyyang/p-1...
China's Apple Watches for Kids - by Ivy Yang
Brilliant dopamine-fueled marketing, and the darker long term implications of Little Genius Watches
substack.com

Reposted by Burkhard Schäfer

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · 26d
Never come across 'WindowsCentral' as a media outlet but this piece is powerful and dense and absolutely spot on about where we are with AI and business models right now. Putting bigger outlets to shame. www.windowscentral.com/artificial-i...

Reposted by Michael Veale

karoline.bsky.social
Karoline @karoline.bsky.social · 27d
"They're trying to change our habits, because all of the projections rely on people becoming truly dependent on the technology. Whether or not it's actually a good thing for society isn't considered to be a factor."
Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive?
Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?
www.windowscentral.com

Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Patrick Dunleavy, Mark D. White , and 6 more

karoline.bsky.social
Karoline @karoline.bsky.social · 27d
"All of this falls apart if humans don't adopt the tech. This is why you've seen Meta cram its lame chatbots into WhatsApp and Instagram. This is why Notepad and Paint now have useless Copilot buttons on Windows. This is why Google Gemini wants to "help you" read and reply to your emails."
Analysis: OpenAI is a loss-making machine, how can it survive?
Don't call it a bubble! Loss-making monster OpenAI is on the hook for $1.4 trillion (with a T) in compute commitments. How can this go on?
www.windowscentral.com

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · Nov 26
Hello — I tried. The text was too long for the field. This was the next best thing as the pdf was directly linked.

Reposted by James Grimmelmann, Rebecca Tushnet, Richard Moorhead

michae.lv
michael veale @michae.lv · Nov 26
On AI’s ‘mediocrity trap’ — experiments indicates that while AI helps the less skilled make something passable, the highly skilled don’t use it to produce something better than they could have; they produce something ok, but lose motivation to make it great. www.jin-li.org/uploads/1/1/...
Page 10-11 of the linked PDF