European Commission’s Plans Will Lead to Worse Regulations
EDRi warns that the European Commission’s plan to amend the Better Regulation framework will degrade EU lawmaking by introducing procedural shortcuts, reducing scrutiny, and favoring private interests. The civil‑society group submitted evidence highlighting failures in impact assessments, a politicised ‘urgency’ clause, and limited consultation processes. EDRi calls for consistent impact assessments, rejects the urgency mechanism without proper analysis, and urges more inclusive stakeholder engagement. The proposal risks backsliding democratic safeguards that underpin quality legislation.
EFF to Wisconsin Legislature: VPN Bans Are Still a Terrible Idea
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has sent a letter to Wisconsin’s entire legislature urging a vote against S.B. 130 and A.B. 105, bills that would ban VPN use and impose invasive age‑verification on certain websites. The measures have cleared the...
Digital Government Index and Open, Useful and Re-Usable Data Index
The OECD has published the 2025 results of its Digital Government Index (DGI) and the Open, Useful and Re‑usable Data Index (OURdata), benchmarking how governments are building human‑centred digital services and open‑data frameworks. The indices draw on policies and initiatives...
San Jose Can Protect Immigrants by Ending Flock Surveillance System
San Jose’s police department has logged more than 261,000 automated license‑plate reader (ALPR) searches in just over a year—roughly 700 daily—without warrants, raising privacy alarms. Neighboring jurisdictions such as Mountain View, Los Altos Hills, Santa Cruz, East Palo Alto and...
Data Governance Without the Jargon: 30 Questions and Answers to Clarify Terms and Trends
Data governance has morphed into a catch‑all term covering quality, metadata, privacy, compliance, and digital strategy, creating ambiguity that blurs responsibilities and stalls decisions. A new resource, "What Is Data Governance? 30 Questions and Answers," builds on the Broadband Commission’s Data...
New Report Helps Journalists Dig Deeper Into Police Surveillance Technology
A new "Selling Safety" guide, co‑authored by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Just Journalism and IPVM, equips reporters with tools to cut through the hype surrounding police surveillance technology. The report details how vendors market devices as silver‑bullet...
Mapping Energy Data to Help Community Spaces Take Part in Electricity Network Flexibility
mySociety partnered with the Social Investment Business to build a mapping tool that matches community organisations with UK electricity network flexibility tender zones. The platform layers flex‑tender boundaries from six distribution network operators with data on community assets, energy poverty...
From Citizen Ideas to Bills
The Brazilian Senate launched an artificial‑intelligence platform that automatically matches citizen proposals from the e‑Cidadania database with draft legislation. Unlike the previous system, the tool surfaces ideas even when they lack the traditional endorsement threshold, allowing consultants to embed public...
JT/DL: ICE's Surveillance State; the Doorbell Cam Problem; Tracking Court AI
In this episode, the hosts examine ICE’s expanding surveillance apparatus, highlighting recent reports of AI-driven errors, school‑camera collaborations, and the revocation of a Global Entry after facial‑scan detection. They also discuss the broader privacy concerns surrounding doorbell cameras and Iran’s...
SOCOM: The Speedboat the Services Built
The episode examines how USSOCOM’s acquisition model delivers combat capabilities in months rather than decades by embedding operators and acquisition professionals together, recruiting seasoned service acquisition officers, and maintaining a small, flat decision structure. It highlights concrete examples such as...
Queen Victoria Hospital Paves the Digital Way for Treating Patients in Minor Injuries Unit
Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has rolled out the Archie electronic patient record (EPR) system in its Minor Injuries Unit (MIU), marking a rapid digital transformation. Within three months, the MIU recorded 16,465 annual patient visits and achieved a...
Digital Permits 2026: From Regulatory Mandate to Industrial Excellence
The RavaBIM 2026 seminar examined Finland’s shift from PDF‑based permitting to mandatory BIM/IFC submissions, highlighting both regulatory progress and lingering gaps in standards and technical capacity. Panelists stressed that regional disparities, especially among smaller municipalities and modest design firms, demand focused...
AI Is Getting Scary Good at Making Predictions
Artificial intelligence has surged up the ranks of elite forecasting tournaments, moving from obscurity in 2024 to challenging top human forecasters. These contests span geopolitics, economics, and pop culture, measuring pure predictive skill rather than domain expertise. Simultaneously, AI is...
Untitled
The Bank of England is spearheading a sovereign payment system to challenge Visa and Mastercard’s dominance in the UK. A dedicated industry group will receive detailed infrastructure blueprints next year, outlining the technical and regulatory framework. The initiative aims to...
Online Harms: Millions Could Be Forced to Use Unregulated Age Verification
The UK government plans to embed Henry VIII powers in the Children Wellbeing and Schools Bill, enabling a rapid ban on social media for under‑16s via statutory instrument. Simultaneously, it will broaden mandatory age‑verification for social media, VPNs and AI chatbots,...
How Global Digital Cooperation Entered Its Implementation Phase
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the WSIS+20 outcome document in December 2025, cementing a ten‑year architecture for global digital governance aligned with the 2030 Sustainable Digital Goals. Coupled with the Global Digital Compact adopted at the 2024 Summit of...
The Data Checkup: A Framework for Assessing the Health of Federal Datasets
The Data Checkup framework, launched by dataindex.us, offers a systematic way to evaluate the health of federal datasets across six risk dimensions. It moves beyond simple URL monitoring to assess historical and future availability, quality, statutory context, staffing, funding, and...
AI, the SEC, and the 2026 Reporting Season | The D&O Diary
The SEC announced an AI Task Force led by a newly appointed Chief AI Officer to centralize responsible AI integration across the agency, backed by a 2025 AI Compliance Plan aligned with OMB guidance. This internal effort signals a durable,...
Financial Limitations on Growth
Rural ISPs repeatedly cite financing caps as the primary barrier to expanding broadband, not a lack of willingness. Lenders impose strict borrowing limits based on cash flow, debt ratios, and broader market conditions, which many small providers cannot exceed. Grant...
Rental Fee Transparency and the Software Test for Property Managers
Regulators are shifting fee‑transparency from a best‑practice suggestion to enforceable law, with the FTC warning rental‑software providers and states mandating upfront disclosure of all mandatory charges. Property managers must now display administrative, amenity and move‑in fees consistently across listings, emails...
Practical AI Use Cases in Public Services: What’s Safe and What Works?
In February 2026 dxw and Basis hosted a workshop for public‑sector leaders on practical AI use cases, emphasizing outcomes over mere cost‑cutting. Participants shared successful pilots, identified friction points, and explored how AI can enhance relational services such as health...
Deposing the Sorcerer’s Apprentice
President Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and installed Elon Musk as its temporary head. Musk announced that his team dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) over a weekend, prompting a lawsuit alleging violations of the...
AI Self-Governance: It’s a Continuous Process
In July 2024 mySociety published its first AI Framework, establishing a principle of using AI responsibly and only when it is the best tool for the job. To keep the guidance current, the organisation now follows a three‑pronged approach: a...
“Free” Surveillance Tech Still Comes at a High and Dangerous Cost
The piece warns that "free" surveillance technology—delivered through vendor pilots, federal grants, and wealthy donor gifts—carries hidden civil‑liberty costs and long‑term financial obligations. It cites examples such as Denver’s drone trials, Denver’s contested Flock ALPR contract, Atlanta’s police foundation opacity,...
Three Strategies for Designing an E-Procurement System: Lessons Learned in Nuevo León, Mexico
Nuevo León’s Ministry of Administration, with the Open Contracting Partnership, launched a three‑stage e‑procurement redesign that began with a deep, collaborative diagnosis of existing processes, moved to a data‑driven functional and modular design, and concluded with a market‑engagement phase using...
EU Commission Breach – The Importance of Upholding Strong Device Management Infrastructure
Last week the European Commission disclosed a cyberattack that compromised its mobile device management (MDM) platform, exposing staff names and phone numbers. Security experts from Huntress, Keeper Security, and CyberSmart warned that MDM systems are now a primary attack vector,...
BBC – Live Facial Recognition Trialled at London Railway Station
The British Transport Police have launched a live facial‑recognition pilot at London Bridge railway station, marking the first real‑time biometric surveillance deployment on the UK rail network. The trial uses cameras that match faces against police watchlists as passengers move...
Improving the Written Questions System
MySociety has submitted written evidence to the UK Procedure Committee’s inquiry on Written Questions, urging tighter alignment with Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. The submission recommends that any rejected parliamentary question be retrospectively converted into an FOI request to enable...
Iran's Internet Shutdown, Anthropic's UK Partnership, and the Dutch Dilemma of Strategic Autonomy
This episode examines the growing push for digital sovereignty in Europe, spotlighting the Dutch dilemma over US‑owned cloud providers, France’s decision to replace Zoom and Teams with a home‑grown video platform, and broader AI‑driven public‑service reforms. It highlights how the...
Coalition Urges California to Revoke Permits for Federal License Plate Reader Surveillance
A coalition led by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Imperial Valley Equity & Justice has asked Governor Gavin Newsom and Caltrans to immediately revoke permits that allow federal agencies such as Customs and Border Patrol and the DEA to install...
When Law Becomes Data: What Brazil’s LexML Reveals About Akoma Ntoso
Brazil’s LexML portal, built on the open‑source Akoma Ntoso XML standard, aggregates official texts, court decisions, and bills into a single searchable system. While the platform centralizes legislative documents, it fails to integrate political metadata such as bill sponsors or...
Untitled
Ré Dubhthaigh of Dublin City Council highlights that place data is far more complex than simple addresses, encompassing centuries of urban growth. The council must navigate 800+ years of layered, messy data while delivering real services, not starting from a...
A Smarter Single Market: Why Transparency and Data Must Drive EU Procurement Reform
The EU’s upcoming Public Procurement Directive revision aims to replace paper‑based, fragmented processes with a digital, data‑driven system. Advocates call for EU‑wide data standards, mandatory publication of contracts above roughly €30,000, and open, machine‑readable access via APIs. Such reforms would...
The Best-Kept Secret Federal Feedback Loop Model
The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) operates as an independent office within the IRS, reporting directly to Congress and enforcing the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. By turning individual service requests into actionable data, TAS provides targeted recommendations to the IRS and...