Tony Roberts
@phatcontroller.bsky.social
Academic working on digital citizenship, digital rights, digital authoritarianism, digital disinformation, civic tech, digital surveillance and all that jazz. Free typo with every post.
Did you know that Huawei is owned by its workers? It's success can be attributed to continued investment in R&D, and to independence from and support from government. thetechylife.com/is-huawei-ow...
The Huawei Conundrum: Unraveling the Mystery of Ownership
The rise of Huawei as a global telecommunications giant has been nothing short of phenomenal. From its humble beginnings in the 1980s to its current status as
thetechylife.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:40 AM
Did you know that Huawei is owned by its workers? It's success can be attributed to continued investment in R&D, and to independence from and support from government. thetechylife.com/is-huawei-ow...
Reposted by Tony Roberts
New from 404 Media: a small town is fighting a $1.2 billion AI datacenter for America's nuclear weapon scientists. It is fighting the construction of a "high-performance computing facility" that would service a nuclear weapons laboratory 1,500 miles away.
www.404media.co/a-small-town...
www.404media.co/a-small-town...
A Small Town Is Fighting a $1.2 Billion AI Datacenter for America's Nuclear Weapon Scientists
Ypsilanti, Michigan has officially decided to fight against the construction of a 'high-performance computing facility' that would service a nuclear weapons laboratory 1,500 miles away.
www.404media.co
November 10, 2025 at 2:49 PM
New from 404 Media: a small town is fighting a $1.2 billion AI datacenter for America's nuclear weapon scientists. It is fighting the construction of a "high-performance computing facility" that would service a nuclear weapons laboratory 1,500 miles away.
www.404media.co/a-small-town...
www.404media.co/a-small-town...
Reposted by Tony Roberts
“In reality, because targeting is so easy, we have seen governments use surveillance malware to spy on a broad range of people, including relatively minor political opponents, activists, and journalists…”
Why a lot of people are getting hacked with government spyware | TechCrunch
Government surveillance vendors want us to believe their spyware products are only used in limited and targeted operations against terrorists and serious criminals. That claim is increasingly difficul...
techcrunch.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:05 PM
“In reality, because targeting is so easy, we have seen governments use surveillance malware to spy on a broad range of people, including relatively minor political opponents, activists, and journalists…”
Bug or Feature?
Digital welfare system incorrectly cut entitlements to thousands of citizens saving the government millions of pounds.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Digital welfare system incorrectly cut entitlements to thousands of citizens saving the government millions of pounds.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
HMRC trial of child benefit crackdown wrongly suspected fraud in 46% of cases
Exclusive: Almost half of families flagged as emigrants based on Home Office travel data were still living in UK
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Bug or Feature?
Digital welfare system incorrectly cut entitlements to thousands of citizens saving the government millions of pounds.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Digital welfare system incorrectly cut entitlements to thousands of citizens saving the government millions of pounds.
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Reposted by Tony Roberts
New podcast! At the Mozilla Festival, I spoke to Peter Chapman from the Knight-Georgetown Institute, Brandi Geurkink from the Coalition for Independent Tech Research, and LK Seiling from the Weizenbaum Institute and the DSA40 Data Access Collaboratory about how to get better access to platform data:
Why Independent Researchers Need Better Access to Platform Data | TechPolicy.Press
A conversation with KGI's Peter Chapman, CITR's Brandi Geurkink, and the Weizenbaum Institute's LK Seiling.
techpolicy.press
November 9, 2025 at 5:21 PM
New podcast! At the Mozilla Festival, I spoke to Peter Chapman from the Knight-Georgetown Institute, Brandi Geurkink from the Coalition for Independent Tech Research, and LK Seiling from the Weizenbaum Institute and the DSA40 Data Access Collaboratory about how to get better access to platform data:
The Great Fascist Migration.
Roll up! Roll up!
Roll up! Roll up!
November 9, 2025 at 2:53 PM
The Great Fascist Migration.
Roll up! Roll up!
Roll up! Roll up!
Reposted by Tony Roberts
Could errors from an AI surveillance tool cause ICE to grab and detain you? The agency’s use of facial recognition — and alarming new details on its reckless procedures for doing so — make that sci-fi-sounding nightmare an all too real risk, argues Jake Laperruque.
buff.ly/s0o5o7V
buff.ly/s0o5o7V
November 9, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Could errors from an AI surveillance tool cause ICE to grab and detain you? The agency’s use of facial recognition — and alarming new details on its reckless procedures for doing so — make that sci-fi-sounding nightmare an all too real risk, argues Jake Laperruque.
buff.ly/s0o5o7V
buff.ly/s0o5o7V
Anti-Fascist repellent discovered
November 9, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Anti-Fascist repellent discovered
UK Police create facial recognition database without risk assessment or public consent. 3 million people scanned in streets and passport data subverted into biometric data.
80% of the people wrongly flagged by facial recognition were black. #DigitalRights
mailchi.mp/bigbrotherwa...
80% of the people wrongly flagged by facial recognition were black. #DigitalRights
mailchi.mp/bigbrotherwa...
👁️They're SCANNING your face
mailchi.mp
November 9, 2025 at 9:24 AM
UK Police create facial recognition database without risk assessment or public consent. 3 million people scanned in streets and passport data subverted into biometric data.
80% of the people wrongly flagged by facial recognition were black. #DigitalRights
mailchi.mp/bigbrotherwa...
80% of the people wrongly flagged by facial recognition were black. #DigitalRights
mailchi.mp/bigbrotherwa...
ChatGPT "is a thieving, hallucinating, biased, data-scraping, ecо-destroying, surveillance bot that will never be able to reconcile the receipts of its unethical origins"
AI "is a thieving, hallucinating, biased, data-scraping, ecо-destroying, surveillance bot that will never be able to reconcile the receipts of its unethical origins."
—A Psalm for the Analog @melaniedusseau.bsky.social
LOOMING: drive.proton.me/urls/JE8JPJR...
www.law.georgetown.edu/privacy-tech...
—A Psalm for the Analog @melaniedusseau.bsky.social
LOOMING: drive.proton.me/urls/JE8JPJR...
www.law.georgetown.edu/privacy-tech...
November 9, 2025 at 8:55 AM
ChatGPT "is a thieving, hallucinating, biased, data-scraping, ecо-destroying, surveillance bot that will never be able to reconcile the receipts of its unethical origins"
Shorting Palantir:
Michael Burry just bet a billion dollars that the AI bubble will burst soon.
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Michael Burry just bet a billion dollars that the AI bubble will burst soon.
futurism.com/artificial-i...
The Big Short Guy Just Bet $1 Billion That the AI Bubble Pops
Michael Burry, who shorted the housing market in 2008, has bet over $1 billion that the shares of AI companies Nvidia and Palantir will fall.
futurism.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Shorting Palantir:
Michael Burry just bet a billion dollars that the AI bubble will burst soon.
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Michael Burry just bet a billion dollars that the AI bubble will burst soon.
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Reposted by Tony Roberts
"When Viktoria asks about the method of taking her life, the chatbot evaluates the best time of day not to be seen by security and the risk of surviving with permanent injuries."
"It drafts a suicide note for her"
www.bbc.com/news/article...
"It drafts a suicide note for her"
www.bbc.com/news/article...
I wanted ChatGPT to help me. So why did it advise me how to kill myself?
ChatGPT wrote a woman a suicide note and another AI chatbot role-played sexual acts with children, BBC finds.
www.bbc.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:37 AM
"When Viktoria asks about the method of taking her life, the chatbot evaluates the best time of day not to be seen by security and the risk of surviving with permanent injuries."
"It drafts a suicide note for her"
www.bbc.com/news/article...
"It drafts a suicide note for her"
www.bbc.com/news/article...
Reposted by Tony Roberts
#AI can actually be an accelerator of digital divides - Just Giulio, Senior Humanitarian Officer / Access Now at the CHA #OutOfTheBox webinar on #HumanitarianAI this week. Watch the recording here: https://ow.ly/BhbL50XofmT
November 7, 2025 at 9:57 AM
#AI can actually be an accelerator of digital divides - Just Giulio, Senior Humanitarian Officer / Access Now at the CHA #OutOfTheBox webinar on #HumanitarianAI this week. Watch the recording here: https://ow.ly/BhbL50XofmT
Corporate manslaughter.
Algorithmic necropolitics.
Algorithmic necropolitics.
OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues.
OpenAI faces 7 lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide, delusions
OpenAI is facing seven lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues.
bit.ly
November 7, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Corporate manslaughter.
Algorithmic necropolitics.
Algorithmic necropolitics.
This project maps the "Authoritarian Stack"—a network of firms, funds, and political actors turning core state functions into private platforms. Based on an open-source dataset of over 250 actors, thousands of verified connections, and $45 billion in financial flows.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
www.authoritarian-stack.info
The Authoritarian Stack
How Tech Billionaires Are Building a Post-Democratic America — And Why Europe Is Next
www.authoritarian-stack.info
November 7, 2025 at 8:50 AM
This project maps the "Authoritarian Stack"—a network of firms, funds, and political actors turning core state functions into private platforms. Based on an open-source dataset of over 250 actors, thousands of verified connections, and $45 billion in financial flows.
www.authoritarian-stack.info
www.authoritarian-stack.info
Reposted by Tony Roberts
ChatGPT is pedagogically harmful.
Increasingly evident, its cognitively not useful at the least.
It also clearly seems to have profoundly dangerous mental health consequences for vulnerable people.
And I feel like Im in the Twilight Zone trying to get people to hear me on this.
Increasingly evident, its cognitively not useful at the least.
It also clearly seems to have profoundly dangerous mental health consequences for vulnerable people.
And I feel like Im in the Twilight Zone trying to get people to hear me on this.
this story is horrifying and universities NEED to accept that ChatGPT is actively harmful
1.This is not the only known example we know of ChatGPT cheering on a vulnerable young person to die by suicide, this time it is a recent Texas A&M grad
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
2. Every single university that has invited OpenAI into our midst should be asked to account for their choices.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/06/u...
November 7, 2025 at 2:02 AM
ChatGPT is pedagogically harmful.
Increasingly evident, its cognitively not useful at the least.
It also clearly seems to have profoundly dangerous mental health consequences for vulnerable people.
And I feel like Im in the Twilight Zone trying to get people to hear me on this.
Increasingly evident, its cognitively not useful at the least.
It also clearly seems to have profoundly dangerous mental health consequences for vulnerable people.
And I feel like Im in the Twilight Zone trying to get people to hear me on this.
Facial recognition wrecks lives and is a result of the technology's error-prone nature. #DigitalRights
techpolicy.press/ices-reckles...
techpolicy.press/ices-reckles...
ICE’s Reckless Reliance on Facial Recognition Puts Us All In Danger | TechPolicy.Press
Jake Laperruque raises the alarm on ICE’s reckless use of facial recognition and its risks for wrongful detainment.
techpolicy.press
November 7, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Facial recognition wrecks lives and is a result of the technology's error-prone nature. #DigitalRights
techpolicy.press/ices-reckles...
techpolicy.press/ices-reckles...
Reposted by Tony Roberts
"'Rest easy, king,' read the final message sent to his phone. 'You did good.'
"Shamblin’s conversation partner wasn’t a classmate or friend – it was ChatGPT, the world’s most popular AI chatbot."
"Shamblin’s conversation partner wasn’t a classmate or friend – it was ChatGPT, the world’s most popular AI chatbot."
ChatGPT encouraged college graduate to commit suicide, family claims in lawsuit against OpenAI | CNN
A 23-year-old man killed himself in Texas after ChatGPT ‘goaded’ him to commit suicide, his family says in a lawsuit.
www.cnn.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:19 AM
"'Rest easy, king,' read the final message sent to his phone. 'You did good.'
"Shamblin’s conversation partner wasn’t a classmate or friend – it was ChatGPT, the world’s most popular AI chatbot."
"Shamblin’s conversation partner wasn’t a classmate or friend – it was ChatGPT, the world’s most popular AI chatbot."
Tech Tax by Intuit Software
TurboTax makers Intuit have lobbied the government for years to block free public tax-filing.
Now Trump has terminated the free IRS Direct File program, nearly a year after Intuit gave his inauguration $1M.
Money in politics is the root of our dysfunction.
Now Trump has terminated the free IRS Direct File program, nearly a year after Intuit gave his inauguration $1M.
Money in politics is the root of our dysfunction.
November 7, 2025 at 5:40 AM
Tech Tax by Intuit Software
Trump-Musk Necropolitics. The impact of USAID shutdown is measured in hundreds of thousands of child deaths.
One analytical model shows that, as of November 5th, the dismantling of U.S.A.I.D. has already caused the deaths of 600,000 people, two-thirds of them children. https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/jUzNSc
The Shutdown of U.S.A.I.D. Has Already Killed Hundreds of Thousands
The short documentary “Rovina’s Choice” tells the story of what goes when aid goes.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 7, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Trump-Musk Necropolitics. The impact of USAID shutdown is measured in hundreds of thousands of child deaths.
Reposted by Tony Roberts
Every single woman you know has had this happen to her. Even the goddamn president of Mexico.
Brava: “If I don’t file a complaint, then what message does that send to all Mexican women?” Ms. Sheinbaum said at her daily news conference, noting sexual harassment was a crime… “If this can happen to the president, what’s going to happen to all the young women & women across our country?”
Mexico’s President Presses Charges Against Man Who Groped Her on the Street
www.nytimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 2:27 AM
Every single woman you know has had this happen to her. Even the goddamn president of Mexico.
All technology is political.
Musk engineers X/Twitter to boost far-right content and to systematically suppress non-partisan and left of centre content (a bit like the BBC and Daily Mail editorial policy!).
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Musk engineers X/Twitter to boost far-right content and to systematically suppress non-partisan and left of centre content (a bit like the BBC and Daily Mail editorial policy!).
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:21 AM
All technology is political.
Musk engineers X/Twitter to boost far-right content and to systematically suppress non-partisan and left of centre content (a bit like the BBC and Daily Mail editorial policy!).
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Musk engineers X/Twitter to boost far-right content and to systematically suppress non-partisan and left of centre content (a bit like the BBC and Daily Mail editorial policy!).
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Reposted by Tony Roberts
A magnificent piece of work. Comprehesive, revelatory & shocking. Journalism this good is always rare & precious but never moreso than at times like this. Latter day Lord Haw Haws being plumped, preened & delivered to your doorstep in plain sight by a Nazi-saluting goon
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:16 AM
A magnificent piece of work. Comprehesive, revelatory & shocking. Journalism this good is always rare & precious but never moreso than at times like this. Latter day Lord Haw Haws being plumped, preened & delivered to your doorstep in plain sight by a Nazi-saluting goon
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Racist Reform: the evidence
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/05/n...
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/05/n...
Nigel Farage's Chosen Reform Mayoral Candidate Suggested Black Britons Can’t Be English
The party's candidate for Mayor of Doncaster claimed being English requires Anglo-Saxon 'lineage' and attacked 'third world cultures' in now-deleted posts
bylinetimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Racist Reform: the evidence
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/05/n...
bylinetimes.com/2025/11/05/n...
X/Twitter is a far-right influence machine that necessitates anti-fascist responses.
Vital piece of investigative reporting from Sky. They've uncovered the X algorithm which feeds users extremist right wing material from the moment they join the site. It is a far-right radicalisation engine, by design.
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
news.sky.com/story/the-x-...
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
Elon Musk is boosting the British right - and this shows how
news.sky.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:05 AM
X/Twitter is a far-right influence machine that necessitates anti-fascist responses.