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Tony Roberts

@phatcontroller.bsky.social
861 followers 644 following 3K posts

Emeritus Fellow of Digital Rights. Editor of book series on all aspects of digital citizenship and digital authoritarianism. Free typo with every post.

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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
All workers have workers' rights (to decent work, to social security, to free association etc) irrespective of their citizenship status, employment status, nationality, gender, etc. www.ilo.org/sites/defaul...
ilo.org
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
When people say "you can't put toothpaste back in the tube" ask them how they think the toothpaste got in the tube in the first place! Technology can always be modified, regulated or banned. Technology is never inevitable or immutable. Everything is up for negotiation. Never abdicate your agency.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The ILO Convention on Decent Work in the Platform Economy provides important protections for all platform workers irrespective of what they are called by platform owners. We now require each country to ratify the Convention & incorporate the Articles into domestic law. www.ilo.org/sites/defaul...
ilo.org
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Sousveillance is the study from below of repressive power
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DeFlock Redmond @deflock-redmond.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Can confirm that two more Flock cameras are gone as of today: the one on Bel-Red Road and the one on NE 24th Street next to Arby's (4 and 18 on the map). Checked five of the other spots in and around the city center (1, 2, 3, 8, 17), but those were still there. 🐌
Map from deflock.org showing the Flock camera locations in and around Redmond, WA. Each location is numbered in red from 1-19 with a black cross over the locations that have removals confirmed.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
ICE tactics change from violent confrontation to violent stealth
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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 29/09/2026
A key component of the Cambridge Analytica outrage was your friends subjecting you to data theft without your consent or knowledge. Facebook is running the same playbook on your text messages. Even if you’re not on Meta properties, they’re ingesting your interactions.
Aten installed Muse on both his iPhone and a Mac mini that he uses to test out various Al agents and tech. It took Meta a single day to begin "helpfully" pitching article ideas based on texts he'd sent to a podcast co-host.
When he asked Muse how it got the information, it said that it read banners from incoming texts. But that's not true, either.
After doing a little digging, Aten says Muse synced 187,000 lines from his Messages database, despite Full Disk Access being Off.Unless Aten is the most popular person on the face of the planet, I sincerely doubt he'd gotten 187,000 lines of text in roughly 24 hours. What happened is that, without permission, Muse went into the app and downloaded the information.
He had not given Muse permission to access Messages, and full disk access was not enabled. It just went ahead and uploaded those texts anyway.
Muse can take "unexpected actions" indeed.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Meta Muse: informers in disguise
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Carceral Abolition @carceralabolition.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Kick out Palantir, trade unions tell European governments Call to eject US data analytics giant on democratic grounds www.rapporteur.com/news/kick-ou...
rapporteur.com
Kick out Palantir, trade unions tell European governments | Rapporteur
Call to eject US data analytics giant on democratic grounds
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Border surveillance oversees necropolitical policy of neglect. www.technologyreview.com/2026/09/21/1...
technologyreview.com
The US spent billions on border surveillance. Why can’t it catch people before they die?
Surveillance towers, increasingly powered by AI, promised faster responses to crossings. Our investigation of deaths near the towers found they are failing to deliver.
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Dr Katie Twomey @k2mey.eurosky.social · 28/09/2026
This is quite cool. My university is the first organisation in the world to force Microsoft to allow us to turn off copilot summaries in Word 365, after a backlash against it from staff (including, very vocally, me). That cannot have been easy for our heroic IT people so hats very much off to them!
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Genies that have been successfully put back in the bottle include asbestos, DDT, cluster bombs, lawn darts .... (its a very long list when you think about it!).
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Rent-seeking financialisation
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
If literacy *was* their strong point? 😂
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I am open to that too, although I prefer the ending to the treatment of Frankenstein where Sam Altman is killed by the horrific AI monster that he created which then resolves to commit suicide.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The Disney defence will never hold up in court
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Jared Yates Sexton @jysexton.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Just helping with editing here. These bots aren’t sentient. They’re doing what they’re programmed to do. OpenAI, a private company supposedly bound by laws, committed federal crimes.
Screenshot of BBC article: OpenAI bots (struck through) meddled with multiple US government agency sites
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I wrote a chapter of auto- ethnography about how (despite knowing better) I repeatedly got sucked into the tech boosterism lie that tech can save us.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Literally every story involving a genie and a bottle ends up with the genie back in the bottle. Read more children's fiction people ffs.
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We Own It @weownit.org.uk · 27/09/2026
Let's face it, Keir Starmer's premiership failed because he didn't take on the private vested interests Andy Burnham can chart a new path for his government by delivering public ownership. Our NEW REPORT explains how Take 2 mins to send it to your MP now: vist.ly/5j2jn
Graphic with a picture of campaigners holding a banner calling for public ownership of water, with text that says "“A government that takes on this [public ownership] battle will inevitably be told by private lobbyists, established civil servants and compromised advisors that public ownership cannot be done. But the public will not be fooled and they will not forgive you for attempting to dodge the question of ownership.”"
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
How power operates in BigTech
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In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
After a long day at the aquarium, the otters help tidy their toys away. Payment is made promptly and entirely in ice cubes.
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Chris Marsden @chrismarsden.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"OpenAI contract with Oxford also raises the prospect of the mass digitisation of the Bodleian’s collection consisting of 23m items... discussed the creation of an “Ask the Bod” chatbot. @Oxford said the amount of text being digitised was “modest in scale" www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Oxford lets OpenAI train its AI models on Bodleian Library
University staff voice concerns over reputational risk of partnering with company behind ChatGPT
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Also watch "The Ghost in the Machine" 2026 documentary about AI history, its eugenics foundations, and modern techno-fascism.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Would Arsenal have won 22/23 and 23/24 titles if Man City weren't the most corrupt team in Premiership history? Would Arsenal have abandoned free-flowing tippy-tappy in favour of defensiveness and set pieces if they weren't up against the most corrupt team in Premiership history? Hard to say.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Worms are not 'enabled by AI', they are created by people: the coders, hackers, state and non-state agents that code and deploy them. Calling them 'autonomous' is to anthromorphism software. It attributes agency and volition where there is none and obfuscates attribution.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Who are they "agents" of? Who is programming, directing, prompting them? If a programme doesn't do what they were prompted-programmed to do then that is attributable to the agency (intentions or defects) of the person doing the programming, directing, prompting. Software has no agency or volition.
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Jesse Mac @jessemackinnon.com · 26/09/2026
uwu i’m just a little fascist Tamagotchi uwu
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Thirty years ago, Barlow came to Davos to ask whether the internet would become a commons or an extraction engine. Today, we are facing the same question again. With the climate. With AI. With the internet itself. With the economic systems that bind them together. medium.com/@gayatrirosh...
medium.com
Davos, 30 Years After Barlow’s historic declaration
The internet, the climate and the commons. The first attempt failed. But this time, the movement is larger — and the choice is clearer.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
😂😂😂
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Amy Westervelt @amywestervelt.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
We gotta start referring to data centers by both their mother and father's last names, Spain style. The Microsoft-Chevron data center, the Meta-ExxonMobil data center, and so forth. Absolutely no reason just the tech bros should be taking the heat on this shit
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now.arsenal @nowarsenal.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The Mayor of New York Zohran Mamdami, who is a huge Arsenal fan, was gifted a signed Martin Ødegaard shirt by the Prime Minister of Norway. The Arsenal worldwide. 😍
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Lenticulus @lenticulus.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Everyone should watch this AI documentary. Free on PBS and YouTube. 110 min. Eugenics, racism, misogyny, and Silicon Valley tech-bro libertarians combined to give birth to AI. PBS: www.pbs.org/independentl... YT: m.youtube.com/watch?v=dLQz...
pbs.org
Ghost in the Machine | A.I. Documentary | Independent Lens
Ghost in the Machine reveals the problematic history of artificial intelligence and the consequences it imposes on our communities and environment.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
👀 👩‍🎓👇👇
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Emily M. Bender @emilymbender.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
For an excellent overview of all of that in documentary form: notaidoc.com >>
notaidoc.com
Ghost in the Machine
Not AI | Ghost in the Machine - A Documentary by Valerie Veatch | Premiering at Sundance 2026
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Oxford University staff voiced concerns over the risk of partnering with apex AI Con company created by vulture capitalists with an unquenchable desire for virgin data with which to train their slop machines. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Oxford lets OpenAI train its AI models on Bodleian Library
University staff voice concerns over reputational risk of partnering with company behind ChatGPT
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Luke LeBrun @lukelebrun.ca · 26/09/2026
Tech companies suddenly decide they can, in fact, moderate content on their platforms after all
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Palantir has hired former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson ahead of a December government decision on a break clause that could end its £330 million role in the NHS's data platform. Foxglove's Martha Dark writes that his "new position contrasts starkly with his public views a decade ago."
buff.ly
Palantir's New Senior VP Swaps Lords Pass for Labour Leverage
Lord Tom Watson’s new position contrasts starkly with his public views a decade ago, writes Foxglove's Martha Dark.
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 25/09/2026
Age verification is an egregious privacy violation, an inexcusable form of surveillance, and… it’s also voodoo bullshit that doesn’t work. It’s one of the reasons I’m proudest to support @eff.org, who have been leading the fight against the horrible practice for years: www.eff.org/issues/age-v...
eff.org
Age Verification and Age Gating: Resource Hub
Age verification (or age-gating) laws generally require online services to check, estimate, or verify all users’ ages—often through invasive tools like ID checks, biometric scans, or other dubious “ag...
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
How low can they go?
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
We already know who the Lim Dems are. We know they are Tories if given any power (and then will take filthy lucre to do marketing for Pervy Meta surveillance). We know Lib Dems always get an uptick mid-term. They offer nothing new.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Has anyone ever been docked 114 points before?
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Man City to be deducted 114 points and be forced to return all their stolen Premier League trophies to Arsenal and Liverpool.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Same old Citeh, Always cheatin'. www.nytimes.com/athletic/704...
nytimes.com
Manchester City found guilty on almost all Premier League charges relating to financial breaches (Gift Article)
City were charged by the Premier League in February 2023.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
By far the bentest team the world has ever seen.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Manchester City to be stripped of stolen league titles. Arsenal to be declared four-times winners. 😢😁
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Brendan Halpin @bthalpin.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The US is a hostile entity. They've joined X's appeal of their €120m fine with the explicit position that the EU has no role in regulating US tech giants. Oligarchs and kleptocrats trying to rule the whole world. 1/2
lemonde.fr
Les Etats-Unis veulent soutenir X dans son recours contre une amende de l’Union européenne
Le gouvernement américain a demandé à intervenir dans la procédure engagée par X pour faire annuler une amende de 120 millions d’euros infligée par la Commission européenne au réseau social pour des i...
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
What are the things that used work well but tech companies made much worse by digitalising them? I'll go first: paying for parking, which used to involve putting a coin in a machine is now a nightmare of app loading, data entry, option selection, bank verification & several sodding passwords.
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Tony Roberts @phatcontroller.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
What are the things that used work well but tech companies made much worse by digitalising them? I'll go first: paying for parking, which used to involve putting a coin in a machine is now a nightmare of app loading, data entry, option selection, bank verification & several sodding passwords.
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James Brownsell @jamesbrownsell.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Why are tech people so obsessed with taking something that works perfectly well, and fucking it up for everyone?
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