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Ignacio Castro

@ignactro.eurosky.social
1.1K followers 442 following 551 posts

(Mostly) Internet data science. Lecturer (aka Assistant Prof.) at QMUL and IRTF chair of RASP RG. My orthography is creative, no typos here.

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Reposted by Ignacio Castro
Wolfie Christl @wchr.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The web and mobile apps of major conversational AI engines transmit prompts, titles and conversation permalinks to advertising data firms, alongside device IDs, hashed email and other persistent identifiers. Comprehensive analysis, like always from this team: jorgegarciaherrero.com/wp-content/i...
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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 01/10/2026
We all know that the GDPR et al. aren't working great. Alas, the current proposals to fix that — in what EU jargon calls an "omnibus" — make it way worse. This counter-proposal is: better for people, simpler for businesses, *much* stronger on security, competition, sovereignty, and online safety. 🧵
berjon.com
A Real Digital Omnibus for European Competitiveness and Security
This document is offered as an expert contribution to ongoing discussions about the data aspects of the Digital Omnibus. Drawn from my experience in digital policy, technology strategy, and digital business, I find that the Commission's current Omnibus proposal contains a small number of provisions that achieve genuine simplification and strengthen the reliability of the regulatory environment, alongside a larger number of provisions that, however well-intentioned, would produce outcomes contrary to the legislative aims set out in the Commission's own framing. My purpose is to provide the framework and background information necessary for trilogue interlocutors to identify which provisions can be retained, which can be improved, and which should be reconsidered, so that the final Omnibus achieves the impact that its proponents seek.
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 01/10/2026
Ah, easy then :) I guess that a more competitive setting (ie as opposed to platform's cartel approach) could benefit rights holders and increase returns to them
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 01/10/2026
The challenge being convincing the right-holders to agree? Both old-style ones and streaming platforms with their own productions
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 29/09/2026
Congrats, Alice!
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John Stott @jpsastro.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Had a UKRI funded grant proposal rejected at the "AI triage stage". "This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review." 🧪 #academicsky
I am writing to let you know that, unfortunately, your application was not successful.

Review process

As part of the initial triage of the 179 proposals submitted to this call, each was assessed using an AI-based review. Every proposal was read independently by several different AI models against the same seven criteria used to shape this call (including cyber security relevance, research quality and novelty, importance of the problem addressed, feasibility of the project plan, likely outputs and impact, value for money, and responsible research practice), with each model asked to give a score and a written justification with supporting quotations from the text. To guard against any one model's idiosyncrasies, we also ran a second, independent process in which different AI models debated the merits and weaknesses of each proposal before reaching a judgement, again against the same criteria. Scores from both processes were combined to produce an overall ranking. 

This AI-based triage was used only to identify approximately 50% of the strongest proposals to take forward to full human review.  Projects selected for funding were drawn from those that progressed to the full human review stage. We recognise that AI-assisted assessment is a new and evolving part of the review process, and we are continuing to evaluate how well it aligns with the judgements of human reviewers on this call. We will soon produce a document detailing our method, so that others can build upon it and improve it.

Feedback on your application

Your application was not selected to progress beyond the AI triage stage.  To provide transparency on the outcome of this assessment, we are sharing below the scores (out of 5) from each of the two AI review processes described above, together with the mean score across the two processes.
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 22/09/2026
Fair point. Italy, oh, cradle of fashion
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 22/09/2026
Berlusconi discovered the gap, By Trump’s time, the gap was wide enough and he simply fell into it. Berlusconi was avant-garde.
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 22/09/2026
More of a natural progression, I reckon: Berlusconi understood that once you turn yourself into a caricature, being laughed at it reinforces the character, turning ridicule into political capital. Trump follows that blueprint, mostly unconsciously.
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Stanley Pignal @spignal.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
People think crude oil is a wild market, but let me tell you about potatoes, man. in Europe we've gone from them being given away for free last year to an impending shortage because of the heat. www.ft.com/content/8eda...
ft.com
Heatwave triggers potato shortage in Europe
Extreme weather wiped out about 3.1mn tonnes of spuds, worth up to €620mn
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 08/09/2026
Not sure how well he would fare on REF's research culture either giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
James Orr and the gospel of the new British right
Reform’s policy head is a Cambridge theologian with an enviable contact book and a belief in ‘faith, family and flag’
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 06/09/2026
How to account for publication inflation? eg, more publications per scientist in 2022 than in 2006, would gets confounded with changes in the number of researchers relative to the overall population. PS: nice chart!
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Stanley Pignal @spignal.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
10 tips if you're moderating a panel. Trust me I have learned these the hard way by watching 1000 bad ones (including with me in the chair), and a few great ones. Panels need to be lively, engaging and enlightening. Here's a few pointers on how to make that happen (if you're lucky).
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 29/08/2026
The broad rise of clepto-buffons and other authoritarian populists across the west likely points to demographic and social changes making political structures (more & critically) antiquated
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Carlos Baquero @xmal.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Intelectual Geneologies is a series of reports that (unlike surveys) track forward in time the spread of computer science concepts. The calibration report was with CRDTs, and the first report is on Lamport clocks’ paper. Open to community feedback on the idea.
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Anne Lutz Fernandez @lutzfernandez.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
A friend found this clipping in some old files. Haven't seen this before. Mind blown.
Color political cartoon by Danny Hellman from the New York Press dated October 6-12, 1999. In it, Donald Trump and his then wife Marla Maples being shown a model of the White House with many added stories and a shiny gold T on the top, with Taj Mahal towers on the side and flags flying with a T. It is labeled "Proposed White House Renovation." A ghoulish Philip Johnson says, "Granted, It's in violation of several of Washington D.C.'s landmark and zoning codes. But of course as president of the United States..." Trump, licking his lips, says, "It's tremendous, Philip, when do I move in?" The caption beneath is Spectacularly unqualified egomaniac Donald Trump contemplates a White House run"
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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 02/01/2026
It's time to start my 2026 reading log! 💙📚 One thing I love with books is working through them as extended conversations with other minds, that I can live inside of for a time. I hope you'll get to enjoy some of them too. Previous episodes: • 2020: tweets.berjon.com/121259142400...
media.tenor.com
a woman in a blue jacket is standing next to a man in a brown jacket with the word kepler on the bottom
Alt: Andor: I have friends everywhere.
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 06/08/2026
At least half a dozen senior NHS leaders linked to Palantir ft.trib.al/Ilw1lrg
ft.trib.al
At least half a dozen senior NHS leaders linked to Palantir
Extent of ties revealed as scrutiny grows of US tech company’s contract to build new data platform
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Simon Johnson🇺🇦 @simonrjohnson.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
They looked from reality to AI slop, and from AI slop to reality, and from reality to AI slop again, but already it was impossible to say which was which
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Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Jeffrey Epstein models Zuckerberg's Meta glasses. Spoof advertisements featuring the paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein wearing Meta’s AI glasses have been installed at bus stops across London in a guerrilla campaign protesting against privacy risks. The activist group Everyone Hates Elon
thetimes.com
Spoof Epstein ads go up around London in protest against Meta AI glasses
The activist group Everyone Hates Elon targets smart glasses in a guerrilla campaign over privacy risks and non-consensual recording
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Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Those of you were saddened that Research Professional is closing down should be excited to hear @williamcb.bsky.social is setting up an alternative - let’s sign up and support! I hope this gives a potential home to good journos from RF williamcullernebown.substack.com/p/coming-soo...
williamcullernebown.substack.com
Coming soon: a new publication on research, higher education and industrial strategy from the guy who brought you the old one (me)
Research Professional News, which I founded, is being closed on 31 December. My new, independent publication will start up on 1 January
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Robin Bisson @robinbisson.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
So it's official, DSIT is no more Jonny Reynolds is secretary of state for...DBIST? BIST? The officials will have to be called BISTOs... x.com/i/status/207...
x.com
UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) on X
Jonathan Reynolds has been appointed Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade.
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Ed Stern @edstern.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Astonishing story and typically great reporting.
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Zach Weinersmith @zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Some lovely internet person made SMBC searchable: smbc-search.com
smbc-search.com
SMBC Search
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Alex Selby-Boothroyd @alexselbyb.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
A kick-ass chart by Matt McLean in @sondreus.bsky.social's fantastic retrospective of 250 years of American power www.economist.com/interactive/...
Stream graph by The Economist showing the share of world GDP of a number of countries and empires, from 1820 to 2025
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William Cullerne Bown @williamcb.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
You may want to apply for this if you know anything about technology and its regulation apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/roles/9471
apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk
Appointment details – Regulatory Horizons Council (RHC) Member – Apply for a public appointment – GOV.UK
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Tom Clark @tom-clark.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Gotta hand it to @tommctague.bsky.social for this doubly timely cover
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Robin Bisson @robinbisson.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
The official statement on this from the Research Funders Policy Group was published today: wellcome.org/about-us/pos... Noteworthy that they say only "enterprise data protected" AI tools will be used in processing grant applications (i.e. not the free ones..)
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Olaf Kolkman @olaf.social.secret-wg.org.ap.brid.gy · 25/06/2026
For all my Open Source DNS friends: Nominet DNS Fund opens second application window - Nominet nominet.uk/news/nominet-dns-fund-op…
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Itai Yanai @itaiyanai.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
🔥 Published today, and just in time for summer conferences, here are your guidelines for presenting badly www.nature.com/articles/s41... rdcu.be/fqa92
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NetBlocks @netblocks.org · 24/06/2026
⚠️ Confirmed: Metrics show internet connectivity has been knocked out in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, amid power outages following overnight Ukrainian drone attacks targeting energy infrastructure 🔌
Graph from NetBlocks showing network connectivity by region in Ukraine from June 19, 2026, to June 24, 2026. The y-axis represents normalized connectivity from 0% to 100%, and the x-axis represents dates and times. A green line represents connectivity in Sevastopol, Crimea, remaining throughout most of the period, with a sharp drop on the early morning of June 24. The disruption aligns with power outages following overnight Ukrainian drone attacks targeting energy infrastructure. The minimum and current connectivity levels are shown as 0% and 0%, respectively. The chart has a dark background with a red circle highlighting the decline at the end of the period, and the NetBlocks logo in the lower left corner with the Mapping Internet Freedom slogan.
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Filippo Teoldi @fteoldi.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
The Italian Prime Minister has now seen off three British Prime Ministers
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Martin Kleppmann @martin.kleppmann.com · 09/06/2026
Video and transcript from my talk at QCon London are now online. Thanks @qconferences.com! www.infoq.com/presentation...
infoq.com
Mitigating Geopolitical Risks with Local-First Software and atproto
Martin Kleppmann discusses the urgent need for technological sovereignty in modern infrastructure. Exploring the shifting landscape of global tech dependencies, he shares how engineering leaders can l...
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Bart @bart.eurosky.social · 09/06/2026
Will the UK wise up? #nhs #palantir #privacy #digitalsovereignty UK reviewing Palantir's NHS contract amid pressure to use break clause | Reuters www.reuters.com/business/hea...
reuters.com
UK reviewing Palantir's NHS contract amid pressure to use break clause
Britain is conducting ​a full review of its National Health Service contract with U.S. data analytics ‌firm Palantir , amid growing political pressure for the government to use a break clause at the e...
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Hana-fr @h-a-n-a.eurosky.social · 08/06/2026
bsky.app/profile/marm...
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ændra. @aendra.com · 08/06/2026
This is very well put.
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ACM Internet Measurement Conference @acm-imc.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Call for Workshops & Hackathons — IMC 2026! 🎉 We invite proposals for Workshops and Hackathons co-located with the ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC) 2026 in Karlsruhe, Germany. #IMC2026 #NetworkMeasurement
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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 08/06/2026
Hey @proton.me — I'll be cancelling in the next 24h unless you explain yourselves.
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Grace Blakeley @graceblakeley.substack.com · 01/06/2026
When people say 'AI isn't a bubble because the technology isn't going away', it just shows they don't know what a bubble is. The internet didn't go away. Railways didn't go away. Tulips didn't go away. An asset can be overvalued, even if its useful.
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Akshat Rathi @akshatrathi.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
That interview is available here for all to listen. This is a gift link. Would greatly appreciate your help in getting it to a wider audience. Perhaps it will get more coverage! 🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
How Reform Plans to Upend Decades of UK Climate Action
Richard Tice, Reform UK’s deputy leader, wants to revive Britain’s oil and gas industry and cut back on renewables.
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 04/05/2026
Rumination #2: AI how rather than AI yes/no? What uses of AI enhance, rather than replace, human peer-reviewing should be a less loaded discussion.
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 04/05/2026
Rummination #1: ⬆️ AI-capabilities--> ⬆️ submissions -->⬆️ peer-reviewing load--> ⬇️ human review quality -->⬆️ relative quality of AI reviews
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 04/05/2026
AI-reviews seem strikingly good at the AAAI-26 peer+AI review experiment arxiv.org/abs/2604.13940
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Ethan Mollick @emollick.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Very cool analysis of the submissions to a major management journal that shows how much the system of science, built for humans, is under strain as a result of AI. AI can be used to do better science or it can be used to just do more stuff. The danger is that "more" is winning due to incentives.
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SE Gyges @segyges.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
a picture is, it turns out, worth a lot more than a thousand words
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 20/04/2026
A Europe’s battle for the bigger tent? A broad pro-European coalition or an equally broad EU-nationalist front. Whoever builds it first will likely define the race. (gift link to the article: giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...)
giftarticle.ft.com
The European right is pivoting away from America
Electoral logic is driving a shift as polls lay bare European disgust at the US administration
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 20/04/2026
“the future of European rightwing parties lies in Europe” and that relations with other Europeans “are always more important to us than any special hotline to Moscow, Beijing, or Washington” -Jean-Pascal Hohm, AfD’s youth leader.
ft.com
Home - Financial Times
News, analysis and opinion from the Financial Times on the latest in markets, economics and politics
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 17/04/2026
Explicación (breve) de que es Bluesky y de la caída del servicio por un ataque de DDoS
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 15/04/2026
"For services to the European project, there should be a statue of Nigel Farage in Brussels, at least the equal of Manneken Pis in dignity and craftsmanship."
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Ignacio Castro @ignactro.eurosky.social · 14/04/2026
Between Vance or Meloni it is a struggle to decide which backstabbing is more enjoyable
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