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Bernard Keenan

@bernardkeenan.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1.1K following 247 posts

Lecturer, UCL Laws. Law, theory, tech. Interception: from postal systems to global networks (MIT 2025)

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Reposted by Bernard Keenan
Luke Turner @luketurner.com · 31/03/2026
I can now reveal that crypto billionaire Ben Delo—pardoned by Trump after a conviction for anti-money-laundering violations—privately funded the failed libel action brought against me by neo-Nazi conspiracy theorists Nina Power and Daniel Miller to the tune of at least £300,000.
Ben Delo, Nina Power and Daniel 'DC' Miller.
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Matthew Green @matthewdgreen.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
I wrote up a new post about what AI software finding might mean for the backdoor debate. blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2026/08/14/e...
blog.cryptographyengineering.com
Everything is about to “go dark”
I’m coming down from spending a few days at Usenix Security, right here in my hometown of Baltimore. This means that my days have been taken up with two kinds of conversation: first, explaini…
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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 10/08/2026
‘France remains on a war footing. Forest fires are turning out to be ruthless seasonal enemies, along with water shortages and crop stress, all of them driven by man-made climate change.’ New on the blog from Jeremy Harding: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/au...
lrb.co.uk
Jeremy Harding | Don’t Look Up
In the last week of July a guest in our house, an hour’s drive from Bordeaux, was called away to a fire emergency in...
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Lauren Klein @laurenfklein.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
@miriamposner.com's SEEING LIKE A SUPPLY CHAIN, out in October from @yalepress.bsky.social, which offers a timely lesson on how capitalism shapes software design--and thus what we can and cannot know about the information (and people) our software rests upon. yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300... 5/
yalebooks.yale.edu
Seeing Like a Supply Chain
A history of the technology of supply-chain management from punch cards to neural nets, and how the ambiguity built into that technology helps companies and ...
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Colm Murphy @colmpm.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
A problem for primary schools now, secondary schools in the next few years, and universities a few years after that.
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Peter Walker @peterwalker99.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Oh, hello.
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Douglas Murphy @entschwindet.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/abk-co-... farewell, another great from an era that fades from living memory
architectsjournal.co.uk
ABK co-founder Peter Ahrends dies aged 93
Tributes have been paid to Peter Ahrends, the last surviving member of celebrated Modernist practice Ahrends Burton and Koralek (ABK), who has died aged 93
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alice e marwick @alicetiara.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
I am hiring a qualitative postdoc to start this fall for the @datasociety.bsky.social project AI-Enabled Scams as a Systemic Security Challenge. Fully remote but must be US-based. Interested in youth, scams, hustle/financial/consumer culture? More here: job-boards.greenhouse.io/datasocietyr...
job-boards.greenhouse.io
Post-Doctoral Fellow, AI-Enabled Scams as a Systemic Security Challenge
Remote
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 14/06/2026
You can vote at 16, but the government decides your internet bedtime until you're 18. Make it make sense.
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
DHS just confirmed the plan to roll out a facial recognition app for local cops to scan peoples' faces to verify their immigration status. Agency said this is related to the 287(g) program; more than a thousand local and regional police departments are part of that www.404media.co/ices-plan-to...
404media.co
ICE’s Plan to Let Cops Around the Country Scan Faces to Verify Immigration Status
ICE plans to give potentially more than a thousand agencies access to a facial recognition app that verifies a person's immigration status.
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 09/06/2026
www.democracynow.org/2026/6/9/qui...
democracynow.org
Quinn Slobodian on SpaceX IPO, How Musk’s Wealth Warps the Economy & Fuels “Neo-Fascist” Politics
Ahead of the initial public offering for SpaceX, we speak with historian Quinn Slobodian, author of Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed. He says Elon Musk is “creating a situation where he becomes deep...
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Bernard Keenan @bernardkeenan.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
New: the FCC is trying to ban burner phones by forcing all telecoms to store ID information on all new and renewing customers. That includes a government issued ID number. Massive privacy-impacting change “We never thought that would happen here,” the ACLU says www.404media.co/fcc-wants-to...
404media.co
FCC Wants to Kill Burner Phones By Forcing Telecoms to Get All Customers’ IDs
The FCC wants to legally force telecoms to collect new and renewing customers' government issued identity number and physical address, impacting everyone from the privacy-conscious to domestic abuse s...
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Jim Andrakakis @jimandrakakis.net · 09/06/2026
A piece of good news in the middle of the darkness we live in: "SpaceX will not gain accelerated access to potentially billions more dollars through passive investment funds that automatically purchase shares of S&P 500 companies." arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
arstechnica.com
S&P 500 rejects SpaceX, also blocking entry for OpenAI and Anthropic
SpaceX won’t get easy access to billions of dollars from passive investors.
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
On the Tech Policy Press podcast, Justin Hendrix spoke to Mozilla CTO Raffi Krikorian about his "owners not renters" thesis: that the central AI question isn't open vs. closed, but whether we own AI or lease it from a handful of companies with their own incentives. Plus: his experience with Mythos.
buff.ly
Why the AI Policy Debate Should Focus More on the Harness and Protocol Layers
A conversation with Raffi Krikorian, CTO of Mozilla and author of the newsletter Owners Not Renters.
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Holli Sargeant @hollisargeant.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
“Remember that all models are wrong; the practical question is how wrong they have to be to not be useful.” Usually treated as a technical question, in my new article in the Modern Law Review, I argue it is also a legal one. doi.org/10.1111/1468...
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
This is absolutely nuts: hackers are hijacking high-profile Instagram accounts by simply asking Meta's AI chatbot to change the email on the account. Meta's AI does it, hacker gets password reset code, they're in. A staggering security issue www.404media.co/hackers-simp...
404media.co
Hackers Simply Asked Meta AI to Give Them Access to High-Profile Instagram Accounts. It Worked
The exploit shows the extreme risk of offloading technical support to AI.
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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
New: we sued ICE for its $2 million spyware contract. The agency is redacting everything. We've started getting docs from our lawsuit. While we have hundreds more to go, ICE is withholding why it bought spyware to remotely break into encrypted messaging apps www.404media.co/we-sued-ice-...
404media.co
We Sued ICE to Get Its Spyware Contract. The Agency Is Redacting Essentially Everything
Paragon's software is capable of remotely breaking into phones and accessing messages from encrypted messaging apps. Our lawsuit aims to pry records about it from ICE.
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Trish Greenhalgh @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Every summer I repost this article on how to spot drowning. Please read it and pass on. In the last few years I’ve had SIX messages from people who saved a kid’s life after clicking on the link from my feed. slate.com/technology/2...
slate.com
Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning
Drowning is not the violent, splashing call for help that most people expect.
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Shawn Connery @shawnconnery.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
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IALS @ials.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
Join us online for IALS event Computational Communications and Freedom of Speech 19/05/26. Speakers include: Jennifer Petersen, @usc.edu, @bernardkeenan.bsky.social, UCL, Claudy Op den Kamp, @bournemouthuni.bsky.social Free to attend, booking required: tinyurl.com/2234xrn3 @sas-news.bsky.social
Diagram of circles and arrows with arrow heads pointing to a number of circles, the left of which are outlined in red, the centre circles outlined in blue and the right hand circles outlined in green.
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Sheryl Weikal says Prosecute ICE @leftistlawyer.com · 17/05/2026
Well, it happened. A client disregarded my advice about using generative AI and guess what? It gave them bad advice AND the judge ruled that by using it, Client waived confidentiality and ordered us to turn a bunch of private stuff over. STOP USING GENERATIVE AI FOR LEGAL THINGS. I BEG YOU.
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Jessica Shurson @jessicashurson.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Ofcom has issued its final guidance on OSA technology notices following the consultation. I am really pleased that my joint consultation response with Micheál Ó Floinn and @bernardkeenan.bsky.social was cited and led to changes. I have written a bit about it here: open.substack.com/pub/issuesin...
open.substack.com
UK digital surveillance through platform regulation: technology notices, encryption and regulatory ambiguity
Ofcom has published its final guidance on technology notices, the controversial power to scan communications for terrorism and child abuse content.
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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 08/05/2026
Like clockwork ... "Surveillance Tools Intended for Border Control Are Being Used Against Americans. U.S. citizens are being monitored and punished with technology meant to battle illegal immigration." reason.com/2026/05/06/s...
reason.com
Surveillance tools intended for border control are being used against Americans
U.S. citizens are being monitored and punished with technology meant to battle illegal immigration.
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Reposted by Bernard Keenan
Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · 04/05/2026
Not surprisingly, "nearly 30% of researchers in red states self-censor" www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?sto...
universityworldnews.com
Nearly 30% of researchers in red states self-censor – Survey
Almost one-third of American university researchers based in Republican-controlled states where new laws have restricted the teaching of ‘divisive t...
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Bernard Keenan @bernardkeenan.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Good - possibly time for a resignation www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
Sussex University overturns £585,000 fine as high court rejects free speech breach claim
Ruling is blow to Office for Students after it issued fine for handling of protests over professor’s trans rights views
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michael veale @michae.lv · 29/04/2026
quite interesting (if very partial) interview from the NSA Deputy Director during the Snowden affair. he says the quiet part out loud — that people didn’t understand how the FISA law relates to technology was itself an NSA capability www.darkreading.com/cyber-risk/n...
darkreading.com
NSA Chief During Snowden Affair 13 Years Later
Chris Inglis was the head civilian in charge at the NSA when the Snowden leak exploded. He gets candid about mistakes the organization made.
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David Gilbert @davidgilbert.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Inside Palantir, people are finally waking up to the fact that they might actually be the bad guys Great reporting once again from @makenakelly.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/palant...
wired.com
Palantir Employees Are Starting to Wonder if They're the Bad Guys
Interviews with current and former Palantir employees, along with internal Slack messages obtained by WIRED, suggest a workforce in turmoil.
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michael veale @michae.lv · 22/04/2026
Google marks all Gemini-created text with its SynthID text watermarking system. They have released public detectors for media. They have not for text, and they have not publicly said why they haven't. Regulators and legislators should ask them.
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Isabella M. Weber @isabellamweber.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
It will be the law of the jungle. Market analysts are already predicting that rich countries will outbid poor countries for scarce oil and gas supplies. This means energy famine for the Global South. Link: www.ft.com/content/6ca1...
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Ilias Alami @iliasalami.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Our new piece, collectively authored by the Editorial Board of @econsocjournal.bsky.social, reflecting on the state today. @campolis.bsky.social Link to the full piece below:
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Bernard Keenan @bernardkeenan.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
Very pleased to see a former student has published his Llm dissertation - and won a prize for it too. Congratulations Adalberto! lawreview.lse.ac.uk/articles/10....
lawreview.lse.ac.uk
What Live Facial Recognition Does Not See: Human Rights, Discipline and Governmentality | LSE Law Review
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 17/04/2026
A senior figure who worked a lot with the CPS during Starmer's tenure told me he was a good DPP on the law and strategic direction, but that the actual *management* of the organisation was almost entirely outsourced to a deputy. That was a more significant observation than I realised at the time.
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Ryan Goodman @rgoodlaw.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Simply put. A must-read piece on the Supreme Court's upcoming oral arguments on global human rights litigation in U.S. courts. by the legendary Harold Hongju Koh, former State Department Legal Adviser, former Dean Yale Law School Cisco’s Real Stakes: Digitally Aiding and Abetting Mass Atrocities
justsecurity.org
Cisco’s Real Stakes: Digitally Aiding and Abetting Mass Atrocities
The Supreme Court should dismiss cert in Cisco to avoid immunizing U.S. corporations who actively aid and abet atrocities.
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Alex Ip 葉清霖 @alexip718.com · 15/04/2026
INBOX: Amid rising tendons between Trump and Pope Leo, the administration has abruptly canceled an $11 million contract with Catholic Charities to shelter and care for migrant children who enter the U.S. alone, ending a relationship dating back to the first arrivals of Cuban exiles in South Florida.
miamiherald.com
Amid quarrel with pope, Trump strips Miami charity of funding to house migrant kids
The move comes amid rising tensions between the administration and American Catholics.
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Ciaran Martin @ciaranm.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
This paper represents a small but deeply impressive and genuinely important achievement by the much maligned British state in what is probably the most important global issue of our era. Hear me out ( 🧵) 1/ www.aisi.gov.uk/blog/our-eva...
aisi.gov.uk
Our evaluation of Claude Mythos Preview’s cyber capabilities | AISI Work
We conducted cyber evaluations of Anthropic’s Claude Mythos Preview and found continued improvement in capture-the-flag (CTF) challenges and significant improvement on multi-step cyber-attack simulati...
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Ben Collier @susansegfault.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Really interesting piece of work - and conclusions broadly the same as our new exploratory study on adoption of models in the cybercrime underground (don’t panic - yet) arxiv.org/pdf/2603.29545
arxiv.org
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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Can someone out there please count up all the CPAC speakers who ranted about George Soros funding left wing causes? Be sure to take breaks and stretch every hour or two.
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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 13/04/2026
The human condition
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Bernard Keenan @bernardkeenan.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
"Dress your age not your shoe size" - baffling statement for Europeans
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Connal Parsley @connalparsley.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
👀 Check out the website for more information about the scenario, time commitment, roles and expertise, and register your interest until 24 April 2026. 🙏 Please help us to spread the word by sharing this post if you know someone who should hear about this research!
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Connal Parsley @connalparsley.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
www.gooddecisions.uk/larp 👥 There’s an expression of interest form here (scroll down). Join in to share what you know, learn from others, and see how together we can make something that adds up to much more than the sum of its parts!
gooddecisions.uk
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Connal Parsley @connalparsley.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
🚨 What would it look like if governments opened up the design of public-facing human-AI decision systems to a participatory co-design process? 📣 Come and find out! Join us as a participant in "Methexis Park", the upcoming Live Action Role Play for the Future of Good Decisions project!
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Shipwreck @shipwreck75.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Iran’s Fars News Agency says all tankers passing through Hormuz have been stopped after Israel’s ‘ceasefire breach’.
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Cori Crider @coricrider.com · 08/04/2026
🌟 New team, new look 🌟 At @fotitech.bsky.social, we believe Europe can have a better, freer, more sovereign future where tech truly serves the public. And we're growing to make it happen! 🇪🇺 PS - You can check out our new design here: 👉 futureinstitute.tech
futureinstitute.tech
FOTI - Future Institute
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Bernard Keenan @bernardkeenan.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
They will not remove him. They are not the self-sacrificing kind.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
hot take: i think the move in the direction of a more explicitly extortion based international order is bad actually. I also do not especially relish the idea of re-boning up on mercantilism
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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 08/04/2026
Interested in researching AI and judicial decision making? @brianbarryirl.bsky.social at Trinity College Dublin has two funded PhD vacancies (one in law, one in social sciences).
tcd.ie
PhD Vacancies - School of Law | Trinity College Dublin
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Alex Steffen @alexsteffen.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
I hadn't seen this before. This is pretty remarkable. Earth and Moon in one NASA photo. ht @astrokatie.com
Earth and Moon from DSCOVR NASA's Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite captured this unique view of the Moon as it moved in front of the sunlit side of Earth last month. This view shows the fully illuminated “dark side” of the moon that is never visible from Earth. Ian Regan processed this version of the image to account for the Moon's motion. NASA / NOAA / Ian Regan
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Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 22/03/2026
I know this has circulated with alacrity recently, so you may have already seen it, but if you haven't... WOW BOY HOWDY it's the most useful thing. Thank you cardcatalogforlife.substack.com -- this is a very very very helpful public service: cardcatalogforlife.substack.com/p/google-has...
cardcatalogforlife.substack.com
Google Has a Secret Reference Desk. Here's How to Use It.
40 Google features to find exactly what you need, the alternative search engines that do things Google won't, and the reference desk framework underneath all of it.
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