Valerie O'Neill
@minabird.bsky.social
Co-founder at baycloud.com with
@mikeoneillcloud.bsky.social
Oxford, Cork, Marseille
Independent European, fully functioning security & privacy first CMP that really works
+ integrated cookie-free alternative to GA
Mancunian, mum of 3
@mikeoneillcloud.bsky.social
Oxford, Cork, Marseille
Independent European, fully functioning security & privacy first CMP that really works
+ integrated cookie-free alternative to GA
Mancunian, mum of 3
Pinned
Valerie O'Neill
@minabird.bsky.social
· Feb 6
Who would have thought the tinfoilhats were not only right but under imaginative? Ah if only Ross Anderson was here to see this....
We were right that the surveillance machine would damage democracy.
I was accused of being too "militant", while our attempts to head it off with clear, enforceable, technical procedures & working technology were ridiculed.
See our blog posts going back to 2011 baycloud.com/blog/listall...
I was accused of being too "militant", while our attempts to head it off with clear, enforceable, technical procedures & working technology were ridiculed.
See our blog posts going back to 2011 baycloud.com/blog/listall...
Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
"Tech Sovereignty needs demand - to get supply right" by @cristinacaffarra.bsky.social & Dr. Anne Sohns open.substack.com/pub/escapefo...
Tech Sovereignty needs demand - to get supply right
Co-authored by Cristina Caffarra & Anne Sohns
open.substack.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:29 AM
"Tech Sovereignty needs demand - to get supply right" by @cristinacaffarra.bsky.social & Dr. Anne Sohns open.substack.com/pub/escapefo...
Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
Great interview of @tomkemp00.bsky.social describing DROP, OOPS, the Delete & OptMeOut Acts, Authorised agents and beyond. Exciting times
www.monopolyreportpod.com/episode-64-t...
www.monopolyreportpod.com/episode-64-t...
Episode 64: Tom Kemp of CalPrivacy discusses the DROP & Public P…
Alan Chapell is joined by Tom Kemp, the Executive Director of California's privacy regulator CalPrivacy, to discuss the launch of the DROP data deletion mechanism a…
www.monopolyreportpod.com
February 4, 2026 at 8:53 PM
Great interview of @tomkemp00.bsky.social describing DROP, OOPS, the Delete & OptMeOut Acts, Authorised agents and beyond. Exciting times
www.monopolyreportpod.com/episode-64-t...
www.monopolyreportpod.com/episode-64-t...
Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
Reasons to be cheerful: Palantir - founded & chaired by Peter Thiel and lobbied for by Peter Mandelson's Global Counsel - lost $40 billion in market value today.
February 4, 2026 at 11:43 PM
Reasons to be cheerful: Palantir - founded & chaired by Peter Thiel and lobbied for by Peter Mandelson's Global Counsel - lost $40 billion in market value today.
Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
Some of my ideas on how DROP could be leveraged in Europe, & how further duties on browsers could help everywhere. baycloud.com/blog/PostDet...
Those fees also fund the now available DROP platform, allowing consumers to direct all registered data brokers to delete their personal information with a single request.
baycloud.com
February 4, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Some of my ideas on how DROP could be leveraged in Europe, & how further duties on browsers could help everywhere. baycloud.com/blog/PostDet...
Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
Wes Streeting saying on Today that Mandelson is ‘not the man we thought he was’ but the trouble is, he is exactly the man we thought, just on a much worse scale than almost anyone thought. And there is an alternative world where none of this is this govt’s problem, because they never gave him a job
February 4, 2026 at 8:16 AM
Wes Streeting saying on Today that Mandelson is ‘not the man we thought he was’ but the trouble is, he is exactly the man we thought, just on a much worse scale than almost anyone thought. And there is an alternative world where none of this is this govt’s problem, because they never gave him a job
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The problem with social media is that you’re only allowed to hold opinions in batches. If you believe X and Y, you must also believe Z, which is atmospherically similar to X and Y and believed by all the same people.
If you don’t do this, everyone hates you. It makes actual thinking impossible.
If you don’t do this, everyone hates you. It makes actual thinking impossible.
February 3, 2026 at 2:45 PM
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“People share false claims to signal in-group allegiance, a phenomenon researchers describe as “identity-based motivation”. The value of sharing lies not in providing accurate information, but in serving as social currency that reinforces group identity and cohesion.”
Exhibit A: Q-Anon
Exhibit A: Q-Anon
February 2, 2026 at 6:02 PM
Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
Why people believe misinformation even when they’re told the facts theconversation.com/why-people-b... by @kellyfincham.bsky.social cc @alicetiara.bsky.social
"When fabricated claims align with a person’s existing values, beliefs and ideologies, they can quickly harden into a kind of 'knowledge'."
"When fabricated claims align with a person’s existing values, beliefs and ideologies, they can quickly harden into a kind of 'knowledge'."
Why people believe misinformation even when they’re told the facts
Misinformation is not just a content problem, but an emotional and structural one.
theconversation.com
January 14, 2026 at 2:56 PM
Why people believe misinformation even when they’re told the facts theconversation.com/why-people-b... by @kellyfincham.bsky.social cc @alicetiara.bsky.social
"When fabricated claims align with a person’s existing values, beliefs and ideologies, they can quickly harden into a kind of 'knowledge'."
"When fabricated claims align with a person’s existing values, beliefs and ideologies, they can quickly harden into a kind of 'knowledge'."
Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
Thread
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A problem with the California DROP (Delete Request and Opt-out Platform) is its reliance on a database of identifiers - unique personal data tied to individuals such as their email address.
January 30, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Thread
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Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
And there’s a federal version of this bill that you should tell your lawmakers to support.
www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/data...
www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/data...
January 14, 2026 at 11:10 PM
And there’s a federal version of this bill that you should tell your lawmakers to support.
www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/data...
www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/data...
Thread
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A problem with the California DROP (Delete Request and Opt-out Platform) is its reliance on a database of identifiers - unique personal data tied to individuals such as their email address.
January 30, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Thread
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Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
Google's 2007 spiel about its Doubleclick acquisition makes for hilarious reading two decades later
publicpolicy.googleblog.com/2007/12/anal...
publicpolicy.googleblog.com/2007/12/anal...
Analysis: The FTC clears our acquisition of DoubleClick
Posted by David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer (Cross-posted to the Official Google Blog ) E...
publicpolicy.googleblog.com
January 30, 2026 at 10:36 AM
Google's 2007 spiel about its Doubleclick acquisition makes for hilarious reading two decades later
publicpolicy.googleblog.com/2007/12/anal...
publicpolicy.googleblog.com/2007/12/anal...
Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
every Signal chat of laypeople is losing their minds over the wildest opsec advice imaginable and every Signal chat of security professionals is like “dude wtf”
The vast majority of problems can be avoided by not being foolish, being aware of your surroundings, and using common sense
The vast majority of problems can be avoided by not being foolish, being aware of your surroundings, and using common sense
January 28, 2026 at 8:38 PM
every Signal chat of laypeople is losing their minds over the wildest opsec advice imaginable and every Signal chat of security professionals is like “dude wtf”
The vast majority of problems can be avoided by not being foolish, being aware of your surroundings, and using common sense
The vast majority of problems can be avoided by not being foolish, being aware of your surroundings, and using common sense
Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
NEW: An AI toy company's web portal had basically protections, allowing anyone with a Gmail address to access some 50,000 transcripts of kids' chats with their stuffed animals. @agreenberg.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/an-ai-...
An AI Toy Exposed 50,000 Logs of Its Chats With Kids to Anyone With a Gmail Account
AI chat toy company Bondu left its web console almost entirely unprotected. Researchers who accessed it found nearly all the conversations children had had with the company's stuffed animals.
www.wired.com
January 29, 2026 at 5:09 PM
NEW: An AI toy company's web portal had basically protections, allowing anyone with a Gmail address to access some 50,000 transcripts of kids' chats with their stuffed animals. @agreenberg.bsky.social has the scoop: www.wired.com/story/an-ai-...
Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
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European websites should immediately replace or remove US hosted third-party content, or give users control over it by putting it behind a European CMP that actually works. Contact us baycloud.com for help. We have been doing this for 15 years. #TrumpTariffs #HandsOffGreenland
Baycloud Systems
Privacy preserving analytics and consent management. All with one line of script, all managed in one place.
baycloud.com
January 25, 2026 at 12:42 PM
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Incase you missed it
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📢 In an article published by @theguardian.com, the #SmidgeProject was highlighted as one of the few initiatives exploring how conspiracy theories and disinformation spread among middle-aged adults.
Read the full article here: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Read the full article here: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Meet gen X: middle-aged, enraged and radicalised by internet bile | Gaby Hinsliff
Who is driving the populist insurgency? It’s not grumpy pensioners or vulnerable teenagers – it’s my generation, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff
www.theguardian.com
January 30, 2026 at 9:42 AM
Incase you missed it
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@jamesrball.com In my experience it's the middle aged who have the biggest problem!
📢 The SMIDGE Project conference is just one day away.
The Conference brings together policymakers, researchers, journalists, civil society, and practitioners to discuss online extremism and #disinformation and their impact on middle-aged adults in Europe.
📍 Brussels | 📅 29 January 2026
The Conference brings together policymakers, researchers, journalists, civil society, and practitioners to discuss online extremism and #disinformation and their impact on middle-aged adults in Europe.
📍 Brussels | 📅 29 January 2026
January 29, 2026 at 11:42 AM
@jamesrball.com In my experience it's the middle aged who have the biggest problem!
Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
THIS is why so many of us have warned for years about why AdTech & Big Data -- those companies that gather your highly revealing online data & auction/sell it -- MUST be tightly regulated or better, forbidden. It's so damn revealing that ICE wants access to it. www.mediapost.com/publications...
ICE Issues RFI For 'Ad Tech Compliant' Data
The agency is "gathering information to better understand how the industry's commercial Big Data and ad tech providers can directly support investigations activities."
www.mediapost.com
January 28, 2026 at 10:13 AM
THIS is why so many of us have warned for years about why AdTech & Big Data -- those companies that gather your highly revealing online data & auction/sell it -- MUST be tightly regulated or better, forbidden. It's so damn revealing that ICE wants access to it. www.mediapost.com/publications...
Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
The EU should urgently reconsider its law enforcement cooperation with DHS, FBI, DOJ. No more data sharing, no more access to EU data bases, no more extraditions until respect for the law and fundamental rights has been restored.
January 25, 2026 at 8:08 AM
The EU should urgently reconsider its law enforcement cooperation with DHS, FBI, DOJ. No more data sharing, no more access to EU data bases, no more extraditions until respect for the law and fundamental rights has been restored.
Reposted by Valerie O'Neill
Dolphins turn out to be ocean innovators in paper number 5 of our 2025 @royalsocietypublishing.org countdown: the authors look at the dolphins of Shark Bay, Australia, who use marine sponges as tools to protect their beaks whilst hunting on the seafloor. https://bit.ly/4qdXfKS
Cultural transmission of animal tool use driven by trade-offs: insights from sponge-using dolphins
Abstract. Although tool use offers obvious benefits to the user, the role of costs in the spread of tool use has received scant attention. Sponge tool use
bit.ly
December 27, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Dolphins turn out to be ocean innovators in paper number 5 of our 2025 @royalsocietypublishing.org countdown: the authors look at the dolphins of Shark Bay, Australia, who use marine sponges as tools to protect their beaks whilst hunting on the seafloor. https://bit.ly/4qdXfKS