iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 03/10/2026

How many local models does the Pope have?

Pope Leo XIV • @Pontif... • 17h
In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgent to distinguish human art from what machines produce.
There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack th Show more
→ 3.3K L62K
• 316K
ıll 15M
Spectro
@Spectromachina
X.com
Pope, would you please shut the fuck up about matters you do not understand?
You're not an Ai influencer, no one elected you, and you have absolutely no weight in this debate and you're being used as a mouthpiece to sway public opinion. how many local models do you run?

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 02/10/2026

It's reminiscent of the duty under Article 18 of the Digital Services Act:

Article 18

Notification of suspicions of criminal offences

1. Where a provider of hosting services becomes aware of any information giving rise to a suspicion that a criminal offence involving a threat to the life or safety of a person or persons has taken place, is taking place or is likely to take place, it shall promptly inform the law enforcement or judicial authorities of the Member State or Member States concerned of its suspicion and provide all relevant information available.
2. Where the provider of hosting services cannot identify with reasonable certainty the Member State concerned, it shall inform the law enforcement authorities of the Member State in which it is established or where its legal representative resides or is established or inform Europol, or both.
For the purpose of this Article, the Member State concerned shall be the Member State in which the offence is suspected to have taken place, to be taking place or to be likely to take place, or the Member State where the suspected offender resides or is located, or the Member State where the victim of the suspected offence resides or is located.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 25/09/2026

So folks, do we think Meta is 'monitoring the behaviour of individuals in the EU' who text or email Muse users? There are some serious GDPR issues to think about, regardless of whether Muse itself is offered in the EU.

Article 3 GDPR, giving some side-eye on whether Meta is monitoring behaviour of individuals in the EU because of the Muse instructions to create files on individuals.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 16/09/2026

Unpaywalled version of the story. This kind of abuse is so common that in the US it's called "running a plate for a date". www.rte.ie/news/courts/...

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 11/09/2026

Need dossiers on and daily monitoring of religious leadership across Asia? There's an AI for that!

Three columns as follows:
Workstream Target set Output Cadence
Catholic
leadership
Senior cardinals across Asia Dossiers on targets Per subject
Religious civil
society in Taiwan
Leadership of the
Presbyterian Church in
Taiwan
Dossiers on multiple
targets, plus venue
reconnaissance
Event-driven
Tibetan
Buddhists
Administration in exile and
advocacy groups;
PRC-registered associations
Situational digests and
an organization dataset
Daily and
batch
Falun Gong Practitioners and affiliated
media (Shen Yun, NTD)
Monitoring digests Daily
Christian
missionary
networks
Ministries linked to
Singapore, Hong Kong, and
mainland China
State security-style
“clue reports”
Ad hoc

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 11/09/2026

And here's what Mali was apparently trying to code:

Three column table of text headed:
Capability | What Claude was used for | Most serious element
Targeted
interception
A warrant required call, message,
and voice intercept flow with
custody and audit tooling
Approval and audit rules that do
not extend to the bulk layer
National bulk
collection
Pipelines to capture nationwide
call records, SMS, and voice
Parallel capture of voice across
the mobile core network
Warrant-free
dossiers
An LLM that writes an
intelligence narrative on any
phone number
The warrant requirement removed
at the operator’s request, with
indefinite retention
Population-scale
analytics
Cross-SIM voiceprint tracking,
privacy-tool flagging, watchlists,
registry joins
Defeats burner-SIM
self-protection; joins to the
national biometric registry

Key findings
• The actor used Claude as the primary engineering workforce for a national
interception and surveillance platform built for a state intelligence service. The
platform targeted all three of the country’s national mobile operators (roughly 25
million SIMs).
• The platform has an underneath layer that collects data on telecom users in the
country: call records, text messages, voice calls including the additional capture of
voice traffic across Mali’s mobile networks.
• The warrant requirement was removed, at the operator’s request, from the
component that writes an LLM-generated intelligence dossier on any phone
number, which was reclassified as a national pipeline with the control defaulting off
and indefinite retention.
• The platform included identifying users by voice across SIM cards, flagging of
encryption and VPN users, inference of clandestine meetings, geofenced
“watch lists” of individuals, and matching individuals against the national biometric
civil registry and other state registries.
• The platform ran fully on-premises using local models. The actor used Claude to
provide software design and engineering support. Account enforcement actions do
not affect the deployed product.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 11/09/2026

Here's one way China used Claude against Uyghurs:

Table with text in three columns:
Workstream | How Claude was used | Outcome

HUMINT recruitment Covert outreach, negotiation
coaching, live translation, product
formatting
Not visible to us
Mass surveillance of
diaspora members
Structuring bulk-extracted
community chatter into
Chinese-language targeting data
Vulnerability profiles
across a persecuted
diaspora
Physical geolocation Network mapping and location fixing
via satellite and maps
Real-world locations of
specific civilians in a
conflict zone
Media suppression Planning a campaign of coordinated
reporting, delegitimization, and
amplification
Plans against a Uyghur
diaspora journalism outlet
(Uyghur Post)
Commercial
procurement
Drafting surveillance platform bids
and capability brochures
Marketed to bureau-level
government clients
Fake account
infrastructure
Requests for large-scale persona
cultivation
Largely declined by the
model

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 10/09/2026

The lifeboats need support all year round, and all the more so when they have to defend against fascist thugs as well. Donate here: rnli.org/support-us/g... (RNLI Dún Laoghaire mug pictured)

A RNLI mug in front of a laptop with the RNLI donation page.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 08/09/2026

That is dreadful. However, I do want a giant statue in Docklands. Something along the lines of the Anthony Gormley proposal from 2007. It could be from the waist up, Gulliver wading ashore after his shipwreck (remember Macnas's take?). web.archive.org/web/20160117... | www.rte.ie/archives/col...

Anthony Gormley's proposed giant statue for Dublin Docklands.

The Macnas giant figure of Gulliver 'washed ashore' on Dollymount Strand in 1988.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 05/09/2026

Nail, head. If anything, even more true of the US. bsky.app/profile/nwyl...

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 20/08/2026

I suspect Apple is trying to do something a bit too subtle here. I don’t think the public is ready to differentiate AirPods with cameras from pervert glasses, even if the cameras really are low res sensors which don’t take photos or video accessible by the user. archive.is/y5XAf

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 17/08/2026

Absolutely remarkable detail on how French police hacked the Encrochat phones.

ComputerWeekly.com
Getting NSO's Bad Binder exploit inside phones was not trivial, Google researchers found. To install Bad Binder required either smuggling in a malware application, or crafting a malicious website using other exploits, and then tricking users to visit. Both tricks were impossible, as EncroChat phones did not include browsers and EncroChat users could not load non-EncroChat apps.
But the French, and then the Czechs, found ways in.
EncroChat's update server, at the web address "update.encrochat.ch", was under French jurisdiction. EncroChat phones were set up to check for updates every time they were used, and commonly did so daily. The process was automatic and silent to users, and did not require notice or consent.

III
Computer Weekly.com
The French attack was planned for Tuesday 10 March 2020. "They are reluctant to push back because the action is based on a vulnerability that can be patched at any time," the NCA officer reported.
The French called the malware an "implant",
"tool" or "technical solution". They refused to tell international partners anything about how it would work.
In Lille a week later, judge Sophie Alex authorised the Gendarmerie team to install monitoring equipment inside the Roubaix datacentre "to access, record, store and transmit computer data in any place". A follow-up order authorised the unit to spy on phone traffic and to "capture data by means of transmission via an electronic communication network on terminals and peripherals". This French plan was a cyber equivalent of a smash-and-grab raid. They would build an exact replica of EncroChat's update server from the copies they had made, then arrange for OVH to switch EncroChat customers worldwide to the imposter police server using a network "load balancer". Then they would send in Bad Binder.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 17/08/2026

Probably not, in light of Recital 12, subject to a possible argument that posting the video is itself aiding/abetting/inciting (in the strict criminal law sense) the crime.

(12)
In order to achieve the objective of ensuring a safe, predictable and trustworthy online environment, for the purpose of this Regulation the concept of ‘illegal content’ should broadly reflect the existing rules in the offline environment. In particular, the concept of ‘illegal content’ should be defined broadly to cover information relating to illegal content, products, services and activities. In particular, that concept should be understood to refer to information, irrespective of its form, that under the applicable law is either itself illegal, such as illegal hate speech or terrorist content and unlawful discriminatory content, or that the applicable rules render illegal in view of the fact that it relates to illegal activities. Illustrative examples include the sharing of images depicting child sexual abuse, the unlawful non-consensual sharing of private images, online stalking, the sale of non-compliant or counterfeit products, the sale of products or the provision of services in infringement of consumer protection law, the non-authorised use of copyright protected material, the illegal offer of accommodation services or the illegal sale of live animals. In contrast, an eyewitness video of a potential crime should not be considered to constitute illegal content, merely because it depicts an illegal act, where recording or disseminating such a video to the public is not illegal under national or Union law. In this regard, it is immaterial whether the illegality of the information or activity results from Union law or from national law that is in compliance with Union law and what the precise nature or subject matter is of the law in question.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 06/08/2026

Pack up and go home. The definitive alternative Bond has already been done.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 16/06/2026

According to the CJEU, if a service goes beyond 'simple categorisation and indexation of information with a view to its better accessibility' and sorts content 'in the interest of the operator' then it can say goodbye to the hosting immunity and the prohibition on general monitoring.

110 In the light of recital 42 of Directive 2000/31, these two conditions of knowledge and control should be understood as being alternative and autonomous from each other. Hence, the operator of an information society service that controls the stored information is excluded from the benefit of Article 14(1) of that Directive, even if he does not take cognisance of that information because of the automation of its processing.

111 However, as noted, in essence, by the Advocate General in point 239 of his findings, it is in particular by means of the algorithm used that such an operator exercises control over the stored information. As long as it has predetermined, by means of this algorithm, the conditions for the dissemination or not of such information, it is irrelevant that the operator does not itself carry out additional interventions with the effect of promoting, modifying or deleting information stored for its dissemination.

112 In that regard, it is important to specify that if, beyond a simple categorisation and indexation of information with a view to its better accessibility, the algorithm used determines, in the interest of the operator or his service, under what conditions, how and in what order of priority this information is disseminated or is not disseminated, the operator exercises control over it, so that the service it offers cannot be classified as a "information society service consisting of storing information provided by a recipient", within the meaning of Article 14(1) of Directive 2000/31 (see, to that effect, judgements of 23 March 2010, Google France and Google, C‐236/08 to C‐238/08, EU:C:2010:159, paragraphs 115 and 117; of 12 July 2011, L'Oréal and others, C‐324/09, EU:C:2011:474, paragraph 116, and of 22 June 2021, YouTube and Cyando, C‐682/18 and C‐683/18, EU:C:2021:503, paragraph 114).

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 10/06/2026

Homage to this classic? (Which will go down in history as a defining illustration of US overreach.)

A military patch. An angry looking cartoon octopus astride the Earth. The text says “NROL 39 nothing is beyond our reach”.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 22/05/2026

Great description of the 'gender critical' from @faduda.bsky.social.

Two skeets.

‪Wendy Lyon‬
‪@wendylyon.eurosky.social‬
· 1h
It’s insane that the people who have imposed a regime where people who don’t look sufficiently “male” or “female” can be denied the right to use public toilets are still being called “gender critical”

Stop calling them that, they aren’t.

‪Gerard Cunningham‬
‪@faduda.bsky.social‬
· 19m
I think we're meant to interpret 'critical' in the sense of a nuclear reactor approaching meltdown.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 20/05/2026

Quote with a fictional band that’s not Spinal Tap.

Fr Ted screen cap. Ted and Dougal are in the bedroom with a keyboard and guitar. They are songwriting. It's not going well.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 18/04/2026

There is only one person who can get Bluesky working again.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 17/04/2026

BRB, second time using this today so putting the gift of prophecy meme on a hotkey.

That gift of 'prophesy' meme with the dodgeball

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 16/04/2026

Quick plug for a panel discussion on social media restrictions for children: Trinity College Dublin on the evening of 28th April, registration here: www.eventbrite.ie/e/behind-the...

Screen shot of the linked page, that's all.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 26/03/2026

The European Data Protection Board has published a case digest (by myself) on decisions made under the one-stop-shop system which consider legitimate interest as a legal basis. www.edpb.europa.eu/system/files...

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 25/03/2026

Ideally, contact the MEPs for at least your own constituency (graphic). Phone numbers, emails, etc. at fightchatcontrol.eu

Irish MEPs

Dublin (4 Seats)
Barry Andrews (Fianna Fáil, Renew Europe)
Lynn Boylan (Sinn Féin, The Left)
Regina Doherty (Fine Gael, EPP)
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour Party, S&D)

Midlands–North-West (5 Seats)
Nina Carberry (Fine Gael, EPP)
Barry Cowen (Fianna Fáil, Renew Europe)
Luke Ming Flanagan (Independent, The Left)
Ciaran Mullooly (Independent, Renew Europe)
Maria Walsh (Fine Gael, EPP)

South (5 Seats)
Kathleen Funchion (Sinn Féin, The Left)
Billy Kelleher (Fianna Fáil, Renew Europe)
Seán Kelly (Fine Gael, EPP)
Michael McNamara (Independent, Renew Europe)
Cynthia Ní Mhurchú (Fianna Fáil, Renew Europe)

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 19/03/2026

While this looks bad, the post is misleading: this was an individual systematically making access requests to catch out controllers. But the judgment is worrying in suggesting that access requests are legitimate only for verifying GDPR compliance, not for helping to enforce other legal rights.

A first request for access to personal data submitted by the data subject to the controller pursuant to Article 15 of that Regulation may be considered as "excessive" within the meaning of Article 12(5) when that controller demonstrates, in the light of all the relevant circumstances of the case, that, despite formal compliance with the conditions laid down in those provisions, that request was made by the data subject not to take cognisance of the processing of that data and to verify its lawfulness, in order to subsequently obtain protection of the rights that they derive from the said regulation, but in an abusive intention, such as the artificial creation of the conditions required for obtaining an advantage resulting from the same regulation. The fact that, according to publicly available information, the data subject has made several requests for access to his or her personal data, followed by requests for redress, with various controllers, may be taken into account in order to establish the existence of such an abusive intention.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 06/03/2026

What happens when you let an AI have access to everything on your phone? Absolutely fascinating article: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/chin...

Indeed, the Al phone has caused an uproar in China. Within days, many of China's biggest apps blocked the Doubao phone. They saw it as a serious risk to data security. Built into the operating system of the phone itself, it has a kind of master key that gives the embedded Al agent blanket access to the screen, all app content, and the ability to tap or click as if it were a user. Critics dubbed the agent a "burglar" with "god's fingertips" increasing risks of malicious input and intrusion attacks by criminal actors.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 03/03/2026

The UAE and Qatar would also like you to know that they are not running out of interceptors.

Qatar might sue you if you say they are running out of interceptors.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 03/03/2026

My 'we are not running out of interceptors' t-shirt has a lot of people asking questions already answered by my shirt.

Bullshit from Trump bragging about how many munitions the US has, with a sweaty and nervous undertone.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 23/02/2026

If you get Google Scholar error on Safari, it's probably because of iCloud Private Relay - but turning Private Relay off doesn't always cure it. For a sure fix, go to the View menu and choose 'Reload and Show IP Address'. Thank you to Google and Apple for leaving us to diagnose this ourselves.

Google error message: We're sorry but your computer or network may be sending automated queries...

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 20/02/2026

Yet another twist in the social media ban mess. The latest briefing is that firms would have to impose age classifications on *each individual piece of material*. Looks like no-one in the Irish government has heard of the prohibition on general monitoring. archive.is/6UnEV#select...

The Government's plan involves using the EU's proposed "digital wallet" - in other words, an app where age verification in the form of a driving licence, passport or public service card could be inputted. Anyone who does not prove they are over 16 would Still be able to access social media cats, but those companies would have to ensure that they cannot access any material inappropriate for that age group

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 19/02/2026

While the whole social media ban thing is a mess, I’m extremely amused that the Irish deputy prime minster was apparently shouting at the radio while I was on it. extra.ie/2026/02/19/n...

The source said Tánaiste Simon Harris told Cabinet he 'jumped up and was screaming at the radio' when he heard RTÉ
Radio 1's Morning Ireland news bulletin.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 07/02/2026

Finally, the source of the classic trope.

Cartoon dog running away with a length of sausage

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 30/01/2026

Lovely cars. I had a 916 (GTV) Spider and then a 939 (Brera) Spider. 939 better looking, but with hindsight I should have kept the 916 as an easy second car. Manual roof - no hydraulics to go out of alignment. Minimal electrics. Change the timing belt every three years and that's about it.

Black Alfa Spider convertible on a snowy day.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 29/01/2026

Just received a notice from Apple saying that it has found X to be in breach of the App Store rules due to its nudification functions.

After reviewing your submission of notice 52465e5e-а914-4а3а-8a07- 31b9187ec3b4, we notified the X content provider regarding the identified content. We also found the content violates the App Review Guidelines and requested the content provider take action to come into compliance.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 14/01/2026

It’s only in absolutely exceptional cases that the Garda Commissioner will notify the government:

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 13/01/2026

Glad to see the Ombudsman for Children leaving X. The office is on Bluesky - @ocoireland.bsky.social

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 11/01/2026

Sample text I sent earlier:

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 10/01/2026

This is an exceptionally good analysis of the role of X in global fascism, and illustrates why Ireland and the EU must act against it now. connectedplaces.online/reports/a-po...

We’re now at a strange stand-off, where it is extremely clear it is unacceptable what X is doing, and governments make a lot of noise about how upset they are, without daring to pull the trigger on taking action. Everyone is waiting on everyone else to take the first move.

This leads to three possible outcomes:

no government dares to take action, and they keep to calling things “completely unacceptable” while accepting the actual situation. Things stay as they currently are, and the world keeps sliding into a more dangerous and harmful place.
One government takes action against X, and the US regime retaliates so hard that no other government will dare to do meaningful enforcement against the massive harms created by X.
One government takes enforcement action against X, creating a permission structure for other governments to also take actions.
All three options have a meaningful impact on the open social web. For the first two outcomes, it further cements X as the place of power for the neo-royalty, further cementing its dominance in the political sphere. This position of power is also what prevents the alternative open networks to become a place of political power in it’s own right. The third option, of mass enforcement, is what creates an opening for open social networks to not just be an alternative, but to be a source of political power as well.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 09/01/2026

This is the 'engagement' that the Irish government has been using to justify remaining on X. These are the top replies to a randomly chosen recent post.

Lots of abusive and misogynistic far-right posts on X are the first replies to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 09/01/2026

The @unioflimerick.bsky.social was ahead on this issue by shutting down their X account in March 2025. It is now time for the other Irish universities to do the same.

Why we are no longer posting on X

In line with University of Limerick’s ongoing commitment to providing engaging, transparent, diverse and positive communications through our digital channels, the University has conducted a review of its presence on the X platform (formerly Twitter).

Due to the sustained decline in engagement, concern as to the veracity of performance data, the prevalence of automated traffic, an ongoing EU regulatory review, and the increased presence of toxic content, UL will cease posting on the X platform. This decision aligns with our commitment to responsible digital communication and safeguarding our online community as well as our own team members. The University will continue to prioritise social media platforms that provide a safe, engaging, and effective environment to communicate with our audiences, while remaining open to reassessing this decision should the platform’s content moderation practices and user experience significantly improve in future

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 09/01/2026

Hello @ucddublin.bsky.social. Could you explain why our institution is still using X, the far-right, deepfake porn, child abuse image creating service? I never did get a reply to my emails on this point in January 2025, March 2025 and September 2025, which are attached for ease of reference.

I am deeply concerned by UCD's ongoing use of X and believe it is time that we left. As you may have seen, over 60 German universities quit X in the last fortnight (https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/over-60-german-universities-quit-social-media-platform-
x/3447287#). In short X, and its owner Elon Musk, have amplified the far-right and undermined academic values of diversity, freedom and scholarship. X now fosters hate speech,
disinformation, and manipulation. You may also be aware the Tanaiste has very recently described X and Elon Musk as partially responsible for both the recent Dublin riots and other anti-immigrant
violence: https://www.thejournal.ie/tanaiste-labels-elon-musks-x-problematic-blames-social-media-for-stoking-violence-on-streets-6456087-Aug2024/

Email noting that other universities are leaving X.

Email asking why UCD is still using X after Musk's use of it to promote Conor McGregor in the Irish presidential election.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 09/01/2026

Last year I felt compelled to find the correct Tintin font to fix the meme:

The Tintin what a week meme, but with what a year and January instead.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 06/01/2026

It's important to differentiate between the Grok chatbot, the image generator for replies in the X feed, and the 'Imagine' feature. The Atlantic is good on these points: archive.is/ZMWlD

In September, xAI launched a major update to Grok's system prompt, the set of directions that tell the bot how to behave. The update disallowed the chatbot from "creating or distributing child sexual abuse material," or CSAM, but it also explicitly said "there are **no restrictions** on fictional adult sexual content with dark or violent themes" and "teenage' or 'girl' does not necessarily imply underage." The suggestion, in other words, is that the chatbot should err towards permissiveness.

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 06/01/2026

The relevant parts of the proposal are in Heads 10 and 11; the text highlighted in blue would effectively exclude NGOs from challenging actions affecting others but not imposing direct harm on the NGO itself.

Head 10 here: https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/6d9cb9a1/General_Scheme_of_Civil_Reform_Bill_2025_for_publication.pdf

Head 11 here: https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/6d9cb9a1/General_Scheme_of_Civil_Reform_Bill_2025_for_publication.pdf

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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 06/01/2026

The cynicism of this move is highlighted by the fact that it purports to implement the 2020 Review of the Administration of Civil Justice, which actually recognised the value of these actions:

Excerpt from pages 226-227 of this report - https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/review-of-the-administration-of-civil-justice-review-group-report.pdf - discussing organisational actions.

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