Michael Spratt
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michaelspratt.bsky.social
Michael Spratt
@michaelspratt.bsky.social
350 followers 1.3K following 36 posts
Data protection, risk assessments, new governance, PhD in law, recovering telecoms engineer, #redsetters #andacyclist www.dpiaresearch.eu
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Reposted by Michael Spratt
tjmcintyre.com
The joint submission of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and Digital Rights Ireland on the proposed National Cyber Security Bill is now up on the ICCL website:
National Cyber Security Bill raises mass surveillance and internet death penalty concerns as proposed powers exceed EU directive (NIS2)
Digital Rights Ireland and ICCL will address the Oireachtas Justice Committee to raise concerns about the National Cyber Security Bill 2024.
www.iccl.ie
November 26, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
netzpolitik.org
Scoop: We obtained vast amounts of European mobile phone location data from data brokers. It was allegedly collected for advertising purposes only, but can be used to spy on high-ranking EU officials & NATO staff in Brussels. The Commission is 'concerned' & issued new security guidance to its staff.
Databroker Files: Targeting the EU
Precise locations and revealing movement patterns: the mobile phone location data of millions of people in the EU is up for sale. Collected supposedly only for advertising purposes, this data can also...
netzpolitik.org
November 4, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
designthinking.lol
With the AWS outage, now‘s as good a time as any to post this old strip.
October 20, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
kevinhorourke.bsky.social
The Baltic countries showed Ireland great solidarity at the time of Brexit, as did all EU members. They bought our argument that the border issue was a security issue. They now face a huge security issue and if we turn our backs on them we will deserve all the consequences that will flow from that.
October 17, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
tjmcintyre.com
Quite spectacular victim blaming from the Taoiseach when asked about the clearly illegal large scale commercial abuse of mobile phone location data. Reflective of institutional cluelessness about privacy throughout the Irish state.
www.rte.ie/news/2025/09...
Speaking to reporters in Lismore, Co Waterford, Mr Martin said: "People shouldn't share their location data. "I think one of the issues is when people are downloading apps or generally speaking, they don't read all the terms and conditions, and they tend to bypass those."
September 19, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
johnnyryan.bsky.social
We cooperated with RTE PrimeTime over the last year on this very significant story about RTB data exposing the movements of Irish people, including military and political personnel.

Link to this morning's preview piece is here --> www.rte.ie/news/primeti...
September 18, 2025 at 5:49 AM
michaelspratt.bsky.social
#speirgorm #spéirgorm
tjmcintyre.com TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · Sep 14
It explains so much about the Irish state’s attitude to privacy and technology if it did not even attempt to secure its own communications. I have no trouble believing that sensitive calls about Brexit were held in the clear on public networks. archive.is/3H4gK
The level of distrust is highlighted in a chapter called Standing Up for Ireland, where Varadkar outlines his suspicions about Britain and the EU as negotiations progressed. He says the British delegation installed a "huge, green tent-like object" in its negotiation room where May could "make calls without being heard" . He referred to the tent in conversation with May saying: "That's an interesting piece of equipment," before adding, , "we don't bother with any of that". According to Varadkar, May responded with a wry smile: "Oh, we know you don't." He conceded that, while the British government had the ability to monitor their communications, the Irish contingent had "no way to stop it and a limited capacity to even detect it" . The Irish position was simply to repeat any conversations they had in private during public engagements. "This way, the British didn't need to monitor our calls to find out what we were really thinking, as we just said it in public," Varadkar said.
September 15, 2025 at 6:27 AM
michaelspratt.bsky.social
www.euractiv.com/section/tech...
Commission's cloud operations vulnerable to US sanctions - Euractiv
Just 1% of Commission services run on France-based OVHcloud’s public cloud
www.euractiv.com
September 8, 2025 at 4:37 AM
michaelspratt.bsky.social
TL;DR your phone doesn’t need to listen to what you say, they already know all about you.
#privacy #dataprotection
www.cnet.com/tech/service...
No, Your iPhone Isn't Listening to You. Here's What's Really Happening
There are lots of reasons an ad pops up on your phone, but none involve a microphone listening.
www.cnet.com
September 4, 2025 at 9:41 PM
michaelspratt.bsky.social
EU Ministers to define digital sovereignty principles in Charter www.euractiv.com/section/tech...
EU Ministers to define digital sovereignty principles in Charter - Euractiv
Austria has also confirmed the attendance of the EU's tech chief Henna Virkkunen, according to an invite letter seen by Euractiv
www.euractiv.com
August 30, 2025 at 6:03 AM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
tupped.bsky.social
Good news everyone!

The Irish Minister for Justice has announced he is going to pass legislation requiring tech companies (who mostly live in Ireland for EU purposes) to break all their encrypted messaging systems.

www.q102.ie/news/q102-ne...
July 21, 2025 at 7:17 AM
michaelspratt.bsky.social
ember-energy.org/latest-insig...
Some good news for a change
Solar is EU’s biggest power source for the first time ever | Ember
Solar became the EU’s largest source of electricity for the first time in June 2025.
ember-energy.org
July 12, 2025 at 7:25 AM
michaelspratt.bsky.social
www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/the-u...

The US government asking people to record their location, pulse, etc etc. What could possibly go wrong? 😵‍💫
#privacy #dataprotection
The US wants a wearable for all. Experts say it won’t fix the health crisis
The Secretary of Health Services wants every American to use a wearable device in the next four years. Experts say it's a great move, but not a cure-all.
www.digitaltrends.com
July 7, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
noaasm.bsky.social
This in itself allows Meta's AI to evaluate things like faces, the date the image was taken, people, or objects in the images. This also grants Meta the right to store and further use personal data.
June 30, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
eliothiggins.bsky.social
From the "the official Twitter of the U.S. Mission to the EU." Good job to the "Censorship-Industrial Complex" dipshits for helping authoritarians target their critics.
June 19, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
rachelcoldicutt.bsky.social
This, for instance, seems very interesting www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2025/06/denm...
Denmark's Government Ditches Microsoft for Open Source
Denmark is making 'digital sovereignty' a priority, replacing Microsoft and other US big tech products with Linux and open source.
www.omgubuntu.co.uk
June 14, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
mcopelov.bsky.social
@raygunsite.com you know what to do
stevemullis.net Steve Mullis @stevemullis.net · Jun 12
Someone put this on a T-shirt
NYT reporter Shaw McCreesh: Shawn McCreeshReporting from the Kennedy Center in Washington The theater at the Kennedy Center was not full when the president and first lady arrived because a large number of guests who showed up late for the 7:30 p.m. start remain stuck out in the hallway. Ushers are starting to quietly take them in now as the play goes on. It was probably not the reception the president was hoping for with his debut at the cultural center he took over and now chairs — half full, half booing, and with a strong contingent of drag queens.
June 12, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
holz-bau.bsky.social
seattle's planning department is the largest impediment to a sustainable, thriving, and affordable city
chaimagicks.bsky.social 🍣🍁 @chaimagicks.bsky.social · Jun 11
Planning departments aren't neutral experts—they're institutions traumatized by decades of NIMBY meetings, encoding unreasonable opposition into 'professional wisdom.'

When we're forced to learn planning jargon we are playing a rigged game. 👇

open.substack.com/pub/venat/p/...
How the Anglosphere's Planning Department is YIMBYism’s Main Obstacle
Montreal doesn't have these problems! Francophones beat us on this one.
open.substack.com
June 11, 2025 at 10:31 PM
michaelspratt.bsky.social
#speirgorm #dataprotection #privacy
Interesting for other #US corporations with Irish operations as well as anyone who cares about #irish sovereignty
June 9, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
alecmuffett.bsky.social
BBC demonstrates smuggled North Korean phone and how it implements both censorship and accountability in the user interface…
https://alecmuffett.com/article/113416
#NorthKorea #OnlineSafety #censorship #totalitarianism
BBC demonstrates smuggled North Korean phone and how it implements both censorship and accountability in the user interface…
…using mechanisms which are startlingly similar to recommended online safety approaches for deployment in the UK. Short video, worth a watch:
alecmuffett.com
June 2, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
ec.europa.eu
Hop on, ride off! 🚆🚲

As of today, bikes are welcome on-board of EU trains. All new and upgraded trains in the EU will have dedicated spots for full-sized bicycles.

So, you can ride wherever the train takes you!
Illustration of a woman with a helmet carrying a bicycle while boarding a blue and white train. The text reads: ‘Bikes on trains? You want it – EU got it!’ An EU flag is shown on the ground and in the top-left corner.
June 7, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
anamhriscu.bsky.social
“Firefox, Microsoft Edge and DuckDuckGo browsers were also affected”
June 5, 2025 at 8:33 AM
michaelspratt.bsky.social
“Meta and Yandex could track what users were doing on web browsers, without the user consenting or even knowing”
news.sky.com/story/meta-f...
#privacy #dataprotection
Meta found 'covertly tracking' Android users through Instagram and Facebook
Google says Meta and search engine company Yandex used Android capabilities "in unintended ways that blatantly violate our security and privacy principles".
news.sky.com
June 5, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Reposted by Michael Spratt
tupped.bsky.social
Ireland, of course, has a National genius for remembering English wrongs. But what was striking during the Brexit turmoil was that the English appear to live in the same imaginative world as these cartoons depict, but without any awareness of them.
June 2, 2025 at 10:13 PM
michaelspratt.bsky.social
It’s only a matter of time before an EU member state is forced into accepting *something* because the alternative is to lose access to their(taxation/education/health) data.
dsmooney.bsky.social Derek Mooney @dsmooney.bsky.social · Jun 1
Check out this op-ed which I co-wrote with Tom Hayes.

We look at the looming “data storm” between the EU and the US and ask: can Europe build its own digital future?

#DigitalSovereignty #EU #US #DataProtection #DataTransfers
#DataPrivacyFramework (#DPF)

hayest.substack.com/p/sunday-scr...
Sunday Scribblings
People Get Ready. There’s a Data Storm Coming
hayest.substack.com
June 1, 2025 at 9:16 AM