Wendy M. Grossman
@wendyg.bsky.social
Freelance writer specializing in computers, freedom, and privacy. New net.wars posting every Friday at https://netwars.pelicancrossing.net. Based London. Folksinger. 2024 CD: https://www.pelicancrossing.net/lasttriphome.htm. Not age-verified here; no DMs.
Pinned
Simplification
We were warned this was coming at this year's Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection, and now it's really here. The data protection NGO Noyb reports that a lea
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
This week's net.wars, "Simplification", finds that a leaked draft indicates that the European Commission is seeking to weaken the legal regime that protects European digital rights, including data protection: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/11/14/s...
This week's net.wars, "Simplification", finds that a leaked draft indicates that the European Commission is seeking to weaken the legal regime that protects European digital rights, including data protection: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/11/14/s...
Simplification
We were warned this was coming at this year's Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection, and now it's really here. The data protection NGO Noyb reports that a lea
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
November 14, 2025 at 11:36 AM
This week's net.wars, "Simplification", finds that a leaked draft indicates that the European Commission is seeking to weaken the legal regime that protects European digital rights, including data protection: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/11/14/s...
At @skepticalinquirer.bsky.social, I interview Colin Wright about the mathematics of seduction: skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/th...
The Mathematics of Seduction: Colin Wright | Skeptical Inquirer
“We’re going to investigate the patterns in the patterns,” Colin Wright explains in the first of a series of videos. This comes right after he’s demonstrate ...
skepticalinquirer.org
November 13, 2025 at 1:02 PM
At @skepticalinquirer.bsky.social, I interview Colin Wright about the mathematics of seduction: skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/th...
Reposted by Wendy M. Grossman
Can a toddler be a terrorist? A shocking new report has found that babies and toddlers have been referred to the controversial counter-terrorism scheme Prevent hundreds of times since 2016.
Read the report from @hyphenonline.com here:
hyphenonline.com/2025/11/12/b...
Read the report from @hyphenonline.com here:
hyphenonline.com/2025/11/12/b...
Babies and toddlers referred to Prevent hundreds of times
More than 200 referrals made to counter-terror scheme for children aged three or under since 2016, most citing ‘Islamist’ concerns
hyphenonline.com
November 13, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Can a toddler be a terrorist? A shocking new report has found that babies and toddlers have been referred to the controversial counter-terrorism scheme Prevent hundreds of times since 2016.
Read the report from @hyphenonline.com here:
hyphenonline.com/2025/11/12/b...
Read the report from @hyphenonline.com here:
hyphenonline.com/2025/11/12/b...
In a new @plutopia@mastodon.online #podcast we talk to Sophie Nightingale, researches deepfakes and whether humans can be trained to recognize them better: plutopia.io/sophie-night...
plutopia.io
November 13, 2025 at 9:52 AM
In a new @plutopia@mastodon.online #podcast we talk to Sophie Nightingale, researches deepfakes and whether humans can be trained to recognize them better: plutopia.io/sophie-night...
This week's net.wars, "The panopticon in your home", is disturbed by HMRC's use of passenger records to deny benefits, and ponders the word "robot" in connection with something that has to be remotely operated by a human: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/11/07/t...
The panopticon in your home
In a series of stories, Lisa O'Carroll at the Guardian finds that His Majesty's Revenue and Customs has had its hand in the cookie jar of airline passenger reco
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
November 7, 2025 at 12:17 PM
This week's net.wars, "The panopticon in your home", is disturbed by HMRC's use of passenger records to deny benefits, and ponders the word "robot" in connection with something that has to be remotely operated by a human: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/11/07/t...
An all-time favorite for 50 years... In 2017, the Parthenon was a fine place to watch the solar eclipse.
November 5, 2025 at 10:28 AM
An all-time favorite for 50 years... In 2017, the Parthenon was a fine place to watch the solar eclipse.
This week's net.wars, "The gated web", we think that AI browsers bring the wrong kind of change: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/10/31/t...
The gated web
What is an AI browser?
Or, in a more accurate representation of my mental reaction, *WTF* is an AI browser?
In wondering about this, I'm clearly behind the ti
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
October 31, 2025 at 12:44 PM
This week's net.wars, "The gated web", we think that AI browsers bring the wrong kind of change: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/10/31/t...
In the latest episode of the @plutopia.io #podcast we interview @susansegfault.bsky.social Ben Collier about his new(ish) biograophy of the Tor Project: plutopia.io/ben-collier-...
Ben Collier: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy - Plutopia News Network
Ben Collier discusses his book "Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy," arguing that media overstates Tor's ties to crime.
plutopia.io
October 28, 2025 at 12:37 PM
In the latest episode of the @plutopia.io #podcast we interview @susansegfault.bsky.social Ben Collier about his new(ish) biograophy of the Tor Project: plutopia.io/ben-collier-...
This week's net.wars, "It's always DNS", considers the lesssons of Monday's Amazon AWS outage: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/10/24/i...
It's always DNS...
Years ago, someone in tech support at Telewest, then the cable supplier for southwest London, told me that if my broadband went out I should hope its television
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
October 24, 2025 at 10:55 AM
This week's net.wars, "It's always DNS", considers the lesssons of Monday's Amazon AWS outage: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/10/24/i...
At the Plutopia @plutopia.io podcast we interview Colin Wright @themathmom.bsky.social about his work spreading math to all: plutopia.io/colin-wright...
plutopia.io
October 23, 2025 at 10:38 AM
At the Plutopia @plutopia.io podcast we interview Colin Wright @themathmom.bsky.social about his work spreading math to all: plutopia.io/colin-wright...
This week's net.wars, "The bottom drawer", finds Keir Starmer's ID card rhetoric weirdly archaic and worries he will not learn the right lessons for studying India's Aadhar: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/10/17/t...
The bottom drawer
It only now occurs to me how weirdly archaic the UK government's rhetoric around digital ID really is. Here's prime minister Keir Starmer in India, quoted in th
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
October 17, 2025 at 10:31 AM
This week's net.wars, "The bottom drawer", finds Keir Starmer's ID card rhetoric weirdly archaic and worries he will not learn the right lessons for studying India's Aadhar: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/10/17/t...
Reposted by Wendy M. Grossman
I've spent *weeks* working on this special report for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social on GB News co-owner Paul Marshall – and the astonishing, unprecedented influence network he's built on the UK's right. There's never been anything like it before. www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-p...
Paul Marshall, the man who owns the right
The multimillionaire controls a network of news channels, publications and think tanks that the left could only dream of. If Reform or the Tories win the next election, he will become the country’s mo...
www.thenewworld.co.uk
October 15, 2025 at 8:03 AM
I've spent *weeks* working on this special report for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social on GB News co-owner Paul Marshall – and the astonishing, unprecedented influence network he's built on the UK's right. There's never been anything like it before. www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-p...
Reposted by Wendy M. Grossman
The European Convention on Human Rights is being misrepresented in the UK, says former Supreme Court President Lady Hale👇
🔗 www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home... via @the-independent.com
“It seems so short-sighted. I’m sorry, I’m really, really worried about it.”
#ECHR #OurRightsAndFreedoms
🔗 www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home... via @the-independent.com
“It seems so short-sighted. I’m sorry, I’m really, really worried about it.”
#ECHR #OurRightsAndFreedoms
October 15, 2025 at 7:57 AM
The European Convention on Human Rights is being misrepresented in the UK, says former Supreme Court President Lady Hale👇
🔗 www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home... via @the-independent.com
“It seems so short-sighted. I’m sorry, I’m really, really worried about it.”
#ECHR #OurRightsAndFreedoms
🔗 www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home... via @the-independent.com
“It seems so short-sighted. I’m sorry, I’m really, really worried about it.”
#ECHR #OurRightsAndFreedoms
This week's net.wars, "Software is still forever", laments the amount of ewaste about to be produced by the end of Windows 10, and notes new developments in age verification under the Online Safety Act: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/10/10/s...
Software is still forever
On October 14, a few months after the tenth anniversary of its launch, Microsoft will end support for Windows 10. That is, Microsoft will no longer issue featur
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
October 10, 2025 at 11:08 AM
This week's net.wars, "Software is still forever", laments the amount of ewaste about to be produced by the end of Windows 10, and notes new developments in age verification under the Online Safety Act: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/10/10/s...
UKIGF 2025 will take place on December 11 in London. Registration is open here: ukigf.org.uk/events/uk-ig...
UK IGF 2025 - UK IGF
UK Internet Governance Forum Meeting 2025 Building Digital Governance Together This year’s UK Internet Governance Forum (UK IGF) will follow the same overall theme as the global IGF which took place i...
ukigf.org.uk
October 9, 2025 at 8:59 AM
UKIGF 2025 will take place on December 11 in London. Registration is open here: ukigf.org.uk/events/uk-ig...
Reposted by Wendy M. Grossman
#Techgrumps 3.32 is now live
Your illegal, racially motivated stops will go more smoothly
rss.com/podcasts/tec...
This time with Me, @wendyg.bsky.social @eastmad.bsky.social @rnalexander.bsky.social
Coming to techgrumps.wordpress.com soon.
Your illegal, racially motivated stops will go more smoothly
rss.com/podcasts/tec...
This time with Me, @wendyg.bsky.social @eastmad.bsky.social @rnalexander.bsky.social
Coming to techgrumps.wordpress.com soon.
Techgrumps 3.32 : Your illegal, racially motivated stops will go more smoothly | Podcast Episode on RSS.com
Techgrums 3.32UK Digital IDhttps://netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/09/26/the-absurdity-card/Christie’s has quietly shuttered its digital art departmenthttps://news.artnet.com/market/christies-scraps-...
rss.com
October 6, 2025 at 5:56 PM
#Techgrumps 3.32 is now live
Your illegal, racially motivated stops will go more smoothly
rss.com/podcasts/tec...
This time with Me, @wendyg.bsky.social @eastmad.bsky.social @rnalexander.bsky.social
Coming to techgrumps.wordpress.com soon.
Your illegal, racially motivated stops will go more smoothly
rss.com/podcasts/tec...
This time with Me, @wendyg.bsky.social @eastmad.bsky.social @rnalexander.bsky.social
Coming to techgrumps.wordpress.com soon.
This week's net.wars, "Undue process", watches Imgur depart the UK when the ICO threatens to fine it; 4chan and Kiwi Farms sue Ofcom in a US court over the Online Safety Act; and we wave goodbye to AOL dial-up: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/10/03/u...
Undue process
To the best of my knowledge, Imgur is the first mainstream company to quit the UK in response to the Online Safety Act (though many US news sites remain unavail
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
October 3, 2025 at 11:44 AM
This week's net.wars, "Undue process", watches Imgur depart the UK when the ICO threatens to fine it; 4chan and Kiwi Farms sue Ofcom in a US court over the Online Safety Act; and we wave goodbye to AOL dial-up: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/10/03/u...
At @skepticalinquirer.bsky.social , my piece on the UK's ONline Safety Act: skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/ch...
Childproofing the Internet | Skeptical Inquirer
In late August 2025, the American screenwriter Josh Olson posted on Bluesky an image I couldn’t see. Because I am in the United Kingdom, the image was label ...
skepticalinquirer.org
October 1, 2025 at 3:24 PM
At @skepticalinquirer.bsky.social , my piece on the UK's ONline Safety Act: skepticalinquirer.org/exclusive/ch...
Reposted by Wendy M. Grossman
On the BritCard - in theory better government systems are a great idea, but implementing it requires very high levels of management competence to cope with the ambition and complexity; the costs will correspondingly be very high.
September 26, 2025 at 1:26 PM
On the BritCard - in theory better government systems are a great idea, but implementing it requires very high levels of management competence to cope with the ambition and complexity; the costs will correspondingly be very high.
This week's net.wars, "The absurdity card", can't believe we're doing ID cards all over again: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/09/26/t...
The absurdity card
Fifteen years ago, a new incoming government swept away a policy its immediate predecessors had been pushing since shortly after the 2001 9/11 attacks: identity
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
September 26, 2025 at 12:57 PM
This week's net.wars, "The absurdity card", can't believe we're doing ID cards all over again: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/09/26/t...
This week's net.wars, "Blur", goes to #gikii 2025 and finds its surrealism struggling to keep up with the weirdness of real life: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/09/19/b...
Blur
In 2013, London's Royal Court Theatre mounted a production of Jennifer Haley's play The Nether. (Spoiler alert!) In its story of the relationship between an old
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
September 19, 2025 at 11:25 AM
This week's net.wars, "Blur", goes to #gikii 2025 and finds its surrealism struggling to keep up with the weirdness of real life: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/09/19/b...
My review of Ben Collier's biography of Tor: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/09/16/r...
Review: Tor
Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy
by Ben Collier
MIT Press
ISBN: 978-0-262-54818-2
The Internet began as a decentralized system designed to rero
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
September 16, 2025 at 12:00 PM
My review of Ben Collier's biography of Tor: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/09/16/r...
This week's net.wars, "Dethroned", goes to #gikii and talks about restrospective doping controls that revise history: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/09/12/d...
Dethroned
This is a version of a paper that Jon Crowcroft and I delivered at this week's gikii conference.
She sounded shocked. But also: as though the word she had to p
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
September 12, 2025 at 11:36 AM
This week's net.wars, "Dethroned", goes to #gikii and talks about restrospective doping controls that revise history: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/09/12/d...
This week's net.wars, "Remediating monopoly", ponders the future of AI versus search envisaged by the judge in the (first) Google case: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/09/05/r...
Remediating monopoly
This week Judge Amit P. Mehta handed down his ruling on remedies in the antitrust case on search. Decided in 2024, this was the first to find that Google acted
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
September 5, 2025 at 1:13 PM
This week's net.wars, "Remediating monopoly", ponders the future of AI versus search envisaged by the judge in the (first) Google case: netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/09/05/r...
This week's net.wars, "Passing the Uncanny Valley", sees Sophie Nightingale deliver the news that training people to detect synthetic facial images has little effect; and we bid goodbye to Typepad (may its bloggers find new homes): netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/08/29/p...
Passing the Uncanny Valley
A couple of weeks ago, the Greenwich Skeptics in the Pub played host to Sophie Nightingale, who studies the psychology of AI deepfakes. The particular project s
netwars.pelicancrossing.net
August 29, 2025 at 11:24 AM
This week's net.wars, "Passing the Uncanny Valley", sees Sophie Nightingale deliver the news that training people to detect synthetic facial images has little effect; and we bid goodbye to Typepad (may its bloggers find new homes): netwars.pelicancrossing.net/2025/08/29/p...