Jake Hurfurt
@jhurfurt.bsky.social
Investigator, journalist, occasional photographer and all round flâneur. Run investigations for Big Brother Watch. Into surveillance, civil liberties, state power and transparency.
Looking to speak to anyone in the know about the technical side of how data clean rooms work...DMs open if you're up for a chat. #gdpr
September 10, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Looking to speak to anyone in the know about the technical side of how data clean rooms work...DMs open if you're up for a chat. #gdpr
Reposted by Jake Hurfurt
Today's session? Unmissable. But if you did miss it, you're in luck - here's the video:
www.mysociety.org/2025/08/19/h...
With @jhurfurt.bsky.social ky.social of @bigbrotherwatch.bsky.social, Gabriel Geiger of Lighthouse Reports, and Dr Morgan Currie, all offering amazing insights into #FOI & AI.
www.mysociety.org/2025/08/19/h...
With @jhurfurt.bsky.social ky.social of @bigbrotherwatch.bsky.social, Gabriel Geiger of Lighthouse Reports, and Dr Morgan Currie, all offering amazing insights into #FOI & AI.
How access to information can help us understand AI decision making
If you were one of the 100+ people who joined us for today's webinar, you'll already know it was hugely informative and timely.
We packed three fascinating speakers into the course of one hour-long s...
www.mysociety.org
August 19, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Today's session? Unmissable. But if you did miss it, you're in luck - here's the video:
www.mysociety.org/2025/08/19/h...
With @jhurfurt.bsky.social ky.social of @bigbrotherwatch.bsky.social, Gabriel Geiger of Lighthouse Reports, and Dr Morgan Currie, all offering amazing insights into #FOI & AI.
www.mysociety.org/2025/08/19/h...
With @jhurfurt.bsky.social ky.social of @bigbrotherwatch.bsky.social, Gabriel Geiger of Lighthouse Reports, and Dr Morgan Currie, all offering amazing insights into #FOI & AI.
On Sunday I'm speaking on 'Surveillance States' the Bradford Literary Festival, discussing the explosion of AI-powered policing, facial recognition and the risks this tech poses to our privacy and to civil liberties. @bradfordlitfest.bsky.social
www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk/event/survei...
www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk/event/survei...
June 23, 2025 at 1:15 PM
On Sunday I'm speaking on 'Surveillance States' the Bradford Literary Festival, discussing the explosion of AI-powered policing, facial recognition and the risks this tech poses to our privacy and to civil liberties. @bradfordlitfest.bsky.social
www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk/event/survei...
www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk/event/survei...
UK airports have been quietly using facial recognition to monitor passengers in departure lounges for 15 years, authorised by a secret new Labour era Home Office order I got hold of - after a year long FOI battle with officials.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03...
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03...
Facial recognition cameras secretly spy on airport passengers
Home Office fought against having to reveal its orders that airports carry out biometric face scanning of those boarding domestic flights
www.telegraph.co.uk
March 24, 2025 at 4:33 PM
UK airports have been quietly using facial recognition to monitor passengers in departure lounges for 15 years, authorised by a secret new Labour era Home Office order I got hold of - after a year long FOI battle with officials.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03...
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03...
I spent last Saturday in Cardiff investigating the UK's first city-wide live facial recognition deployment.
The city was turned into a mass surveillance zone. South Wales Police scanned 175k faces, made 0 arrests & put everyone's privacy at risk.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLrX...
The city was turned into a mass surveillance zone. South Wales Police scanned 175k faces, made 0 arrests & put everyone's privacy at risk.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLrX...
What no one is saying about the first city-wide facial recognition zone
YouTube video by Big Brother Watch
www.youtube.com
March 21, 2025 at 11:13 AM
I spent last Saturday in Cardiff investigating the UK's first city-wide live facial recognition deployment.
The city was turned into a mass surveillance zone. South Wales Police scanned 175k faces, made 0 arrests & put everyone's privacy at risk.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLrX...
The city was turned into a mass surveillance zone. South Wales Police scanned 175k faces, made 0 arrests & put everyone's privacy at risk.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLrX...
Reposted by Jake Hurfurt
Facial recognition company Clearview attempted to buy Social Security numbers and mugshots for its database.
🔗 www.404media.co/facial-recog...
🔗 www.404media.co/facial-recog...
Facial Recognition Company Clearview Attempted to Buy Social Security Numbers and Mugshots for its Database
Clearview AI spent nearly a million dollars in a bid to purchase “690 million arrest records and 390 million arrest photos” from all 50 states, court records reveal.
www.404media.co
March 19, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Facial recognition company Clearview attempted to buy Social Security numbers and mugshots for its database.
🔗 www.404media.co/facial-recog...
🔗 www.404media.co/facial-recog...
Wow, the Home Office are demanding Apple lets the UK government and spooks spy on 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿.
This is an unprecedented invasion of privacy on a scale we've never seen before. It must be resisted.
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
This is an unprecedented invasion of privacy on a scale we've never seen before. It must be resisted.
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
U.K. orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts
Secret order requires blanket access to protected cloud backups around the world, which if implemented would undermine Apple’s privacy pledge to its users.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 7, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Wow, the Home Office are demanding Apple lets the UK government and spooks spy on 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿.
This is an unprecedented invasion of privacy on a scale we've never seen before. It must be resisted.
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
This is an unprecedented invasion of privacy on a scale we've never seen before. It must be resisted.
www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
Blair proposing an authoritarian hellscape as a solution to all life's problems, who knew? FFS
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Tony Blair: Bring in digital IDs to get tough on populism
The former Labour prime minister, who backs identity technology systems and facial recognition, believes the public will gladly sacrifice privacy for efficiency
www.thetimes.com
January 31, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Blair proposing an authoritarian hellscape as a solution to all life's problems, who knew? FFS
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...
Reposted by Jake Hurfurt
This is lazy, knee-jerk policy. Do we really think the killer wouldn’t have been able to acquire a knife from a kitchen?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Tougher checks on knife sales fast-tracked after Southport attack
Online buyers will be asked to submit an ID document and record a live video to prove their age under government plans.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 22, 2025 at 10:00 AM
This is lazy, knee-jerk policy. Do we really think the killer wouldn’t have been able to acquire a knife from a kitchen?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
🚨 In a 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 busy newsweek a Labour(!!!) government trying to grab outrageous powers to turn the welfare system into a digital surveillance state - under the guise of a crackdown on "benefits cheats". The social security system will become a tool for unprecedented state intrusion...
January 22, 2025 at 12:31 PM
🚨 In a 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 busy newsweek a Labour(!!!) government trying to grab outrageous powers to turn the welfare system into a digital surveillance state - under the guise of a crackdown on "benefits cheats". The social security system will become a tool for unprecedented state intrusion...
FOI response from Northamptonshire Police, just 540 days late. Outcome? "No information held"...🤦♂️
January 16, 2025 at 12:37 PM
FOI response from Northamptonshire Police, just 540 days late. Outcome? "No information held"...🤦♂️
Reposted by Jake Hurfurt
brilliant long read on Humphrey Smith, patriarch of the Samuel Smiths pubs www.theguardian.com/news/2024/de...
Humphrey’s world: how the Samuel Smith beer baron built Britain’s strangest pub chain
Since the 1970s, Humphrey Smith has acquired scores of pubs and historic properties around the UK. But time after time, he has left the buildings empty. Why has he allowed his empire to moulder?
www.theguardian.com
December 19, 2024 at 3:49 PM
brilliant long read on Humphrey Smith, patriarch of the Samuel Smiths pubs www.theguardian.com/news/2024/de...
Reposted by Jake Hurfurt
Cash stuffed into bags. Russian espionage. Ransomware gangs. Drugs payments. Kremlin propaganda. Sanctions evasion.
My deep dive, reported over the last couple of months, on the two multi billion Russian money laundering networks disrupted by law enforcement yesterday
My deep dive, reported over the last couple of months, on the two multi billion Russian money laundering networks disrupted by law enforcement yesterday
She Was a Russian Socialite and Influencer. Cops Say She’s a Crypto Laundering Kingpin
Western authorities say they’ve identified a network that found a new way to clean drug gangs’ dirty cash. WIRED gained exclusive access to the investigation.
www.wired.com
December 5, 2024 at 10:55 AM
Cash stuffed into bags. Russian espionage. Ransomware gangs. Drugs payments. Kremlin propaganda. Sanctions evasion.
My deep dive, reported over the last couple of months, on the two multi billion Russian money laundering networks disrupted by law enforcement yesterday
My deep dive, reported over the last couple of months, on the two multi billion Russian money laundering networks disrupted by law enforcement yesterday