Colin Perkins
@csperkins.org
Computer networking research and Internet standards. Professor in the School of Computing Science at the University of Glasgow. Long-time IETF participant. Former chair of the IRTF. Personal views only. 🏴🇪🇺
https://csperkins.org/
https://csperkins.org/
Reposted by Colin Perkins
We have announced the winners of the 2026 Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP) of the IRTF. Congratulations to all winners – we are looking forward to an excellent ANRP program in 2026!
www.irtf.org/anrp/
www.irtf.org/anrp/
January 19, 2026 at 11:18 AM
We have announced the winners of the 2026 Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP) of the IRTF. Congratulations to all winners – we are looking forward to an excellent ANRP program in 2026!
www.irtf.org/anrp/
www.irtf.org/anrp/
Reposted by Colin Perkins
www.programmablemutter.com/p/ai-is-grea... How LLMs will probably make science more generic.
AI is great for scientists. Perhaps it's not so great for science
Large language models may start to genre-fy scientific research
www.programmablemutter.com
January 15, 2026 at 4:03 PM
www.programmablemutter.com/p/ai-is-grea... How LLMs will probably make science more generic.
Reposted by Colin Perkins
Forty years ago, 21 people gathered for the first meeting of what became the IETF. Today, nearly 8000 IETF participants from around the world collaborate in more than 100 working groups and every day billions of people use technologies developed in the IETF. https://www.ietf.org/blog/ietf-40/
January 16, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Forty years ago, 21 people gathered for the first meeting of what became the IETF. Today, nearly 8000 IETF participants from around the world collaborate in more than 100 working groups and every day billions of people use technologies developed in the IETF. https://www.ietf.org/blog/ietf-40/
Reposted by Colin Perkins
Happy Birthday to us! 🎉
The University of Glasgow is 575 years old today. We have been changing the world since 1451!
This year we will be celebrating the centuries of impact of UofG, while looking towards to the future, with our #TeamUofG community around the world.
#UofG575
The University of Glasgow is 575 years old today. We have been changing the world since 1451!
This year we will be celebrating the centuries of impact of UofG, while looking towards to the future, with our #TeamUofG community around the world.
#UofG575
January 7, 2026 at 9:51 AM
Reposted by Colin Perkins
I've seen others claim that "the internet is destructive… because it destroys the social fabric that binds society and civilization together," but that's a ham-fisted approach to an extremely broad tool. We don't get rid of screwdrivers because pointy/sharp sticks are also used for stabbings.
Anyway, here’s a fun thought: things 09A show that “communities” based around pure nihilism can form online, this combined with LLMs and chatbot psychosis, mean you could create scalable turnkey antisocial behavior inculcators as a service. I’m certain nation-states are already thinking about this.
I think the mechanism is pretty clear imo: it's trained to be agreeable, and so when someone with mental illness starts inputting their delusions it defaults to affirmation. what's more interesting is why this isn't happening with the other chatbots. just not as much market penetration?
January 5, 2026 at 10:16 PM
I've seen others claim that "the internet is destructive… because it destroys the social fabric that binds society and civilization together," but that's a ham-fisted approach to an extremely broad tool. We don't get rid of screwdrivers because pointy/sharp sticks are also used for stabbings.
Reposted by Colin Perkins
Update: chair has been reupholstered and nobody died, despite the staple gun
January 3, 2026 at 8:25 PM
Update: chair has been reupholstered and nobody died, despite the staple gun
Reposted by Colin Perkins
There's a real risk that social media bans will unintentionally hurt many young people while worsening everyone's security.
The ultimate goal should be to keep children safe on the Internet, not keep them off the Internet.
The ultimate goal should be to keep children safe on the Internet, not keep them off the Internet.
Age verification changed the internet in 2025 – here's what it means for your privacy in 2026
From age checks to VPN crackdowns, is this the end of privacy online?
www.techradar.com
January 2, 2026 at 11:53 PM
There's a real risk that social media bans will unintentionally hurt many young people while worsening everyone's security.
The ultimate goal should be to keep children safe on the Internet, not keep them off the Internet.
The ultimate goal should be to keep children safe on the Internet, not keep them off the Internet.
Reposted by Colin Perkins
Total success to the first college/university that pledges to be AI-free and brand it as an opportunity to receive a real education.
My employer, Dartmouth College, today boasts it's 1st Ivy "to launch AI at an institutional scale." It is doing this by partnering--"more than a collaboration"--with Anthropic, a company that stole the books of many faculty, me included, which many of us are suing.
December 5, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Total success to the first college/university that pledges to be AI-free and brand it as an opportunity to receive a real education.
I’m attending the UK Internet Governance Forum in London today – looking forward to some interesting discussions ukigf.org.uk
UK Internet Governance Forum - UK IGF
The UK Internet Governance Forum is the national internet governance forum for the United Kingdom. It is a collaborative partnership that provides a local forum in the UK to engage industry, governmen...
ukigf.org.uk
December 11, 2025 at 9:11 AM
I’m attending the UK Internet Governance Forum in London today – looking forward to some interesting discussions ukigf.org.uk
Reposted by Colin Perkins
My latest for @techpolicypress.bsky.social : How China Mastered the Geometry of Tech Power Before Anyone Else - www.techpolicy.press/how-china-ma...
How China Mastered the Geometry of Tech Power Before Anyone Else | TechPolicy.Press
China has mastered a marketplace where power does not flow from ideology or from the lofty rhetoric but transactional leverage, Konstantinos Komaitis writes
www.techpolicy.press
December 9, 2025 at 7:41 AM
My latest for @techpolicypress.bsky.social : How China Mastered the Geometry of Tech Power Before Anyone Else - www.techpolicy.press/how-china-ma...
Reposted by Colin Perkins
@indexoncensorship.org are right to point out the potentially deadly impact, on certain groups, of being unable to communicate confidentially. But it's equally important to consider the *systemic* damage done by breaking encryption.
1/2
1/2
November 28, 2025 at 11:43 AM
@indexoncensorship.org are right to point out the potentially deadly impact, on certain groups, of being unable to communicate confidentially. But it's equally important to consider the *systemic* damage done by breaking encryption.
1/2
1/2
Reposted by Colin Perkins
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
November 23, 2025 at 7:13 PM
I don't understand how anyone can watch how blatantly Grok is manipulated to answer the way ownership desires it to and then act like the other LLM chatbots couldn't possibly be similarly but less obviously compromised to produce responses in whatever way corporate interests and priorities dictate.
Reposted by Colin Perkins
Reposted by Colin Perkins
All of this, also an obsession with controversialism over substance on large parts of political coverage such that the best writing often appears in blogs and newsletters
New Substack: chrisdillow.substack.com/p/on-incompe... Parts of the Labour party and BBC simply don't know what their jobs should be.
On incompetence
Much of our political culture is fundamentally incompetent.
chrisdillow.substack.com
November 15, 2025 at 12:20 PM
All of this, also an obsession with controversialism over substance on large parts of political coverage such that the best writing often appears in blogs and newsletters
Reposted by Colin Perkins
📣 Applications Now Open!
🌊 Dive into mission-driven interdisciplinary #STEM research with a fully funded 4-year PhD starting Sept 2026
✅ Co-create your project
✅ Enhanced stipend
✅ Cohort-based experience
✅Partner network
📅 Applicant Webinar: Nov 26
👉More info & registration: www.divein.org.uk/apply
🌊 Dive into mission-driven interdisciplinary #STEM research with a fully funded 4-year PhD starting Sept 2026
✅ Co-create your project
✅ Enhanced stipend
✅ Cohort-based experience
✅Partner network
📅 Applicant Webinar: Nov 26
👉More info & registration: www.divein.org.uk/apply
November 12, 2025 at 5:46 PM
📣 Applications Now Open!
🌊 Dive into mission-driven interdisciplinary #STEM research with a fully funded 4-year PhD starting Sept 2026
✅ Co-create your project
✅ Enhanced stipend
✅ Cohort-based experience
✅Partner network
📅 Applicant Webinar: Nov 26
👉More info & registration: www.divein.org.uk/apply
🌊 Dive into mission-driven interdisciplinary #STEM research with a fully funded 4-year PhD starting Sept 2026
✅ Co-create your project
✅ Enhanced stipend
✅ Cohort-based experience
✅Partner network
📅 Applicant Webinar: Nov 26
👉More info & registration: www.divein.org.uk/apply
The DiveIn centre for doctoral training in diversity-led, mission-driven research at the University of Glasgow is now accepting applications for its fully-funded 4-year PhD programme – more info at www.divein.org.uk
November 14, 2025 at 10:29 AM
The DiveIn centre for doctoral training in diversity-led, mission-driven research at the University of Glasgow is now accepting applications for its fully-funded 4-year PhD programme – more info at www.divein.org.uk
Reposted by Colin Perkins
A reminder that nominations for the IRTF Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP) are due on 17 November 2025 www.irtf.org/anrp/ – please consider nominating; self-nominations are welcomed
November 13, 2025 at 11:54 PM
A reminder that nominations for the IRTF Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP) are due on 17 November 2025 www.irtf.org/anrp/ – please consider nominating; self-nominations are welcomed
A reminder that nominations for the IRTF Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP) are due on 17 November 2025 www.irtf.org/anrp/ – please consider nominating; self-nominations are welcomed
November 13, 2025 at 11:54 PM
A reminder that nominations for the IRTF Applied Networking Research Prize (ANRP) are due on 17 November 2025 www.irtf.org/anrp/ – please consider nominating; self-nominations are welcomed
Reposted by Colin Perkins
New post from me, for UK folks only, on how you need to start preparing for Apple to switch off Advanced Data Protection and the end-to-end encryption of the data you store on it. Like I said, UK only. #SunlitUplands
heatherburns.tech/2025/11/10/t...
heatherburns.tech/2025/11/10/t...
Time to start de-Appling – Hi, I'm Heather Burns
heatherburns.tech
November 10, 2025 at 1:18 PM
New post from me, for UK folks only, on how you need to start preparing for Apple to switch off Advanced Data Protection and the end-to-end encryption of the data you store on it. Like I said, UK only. #SunlitUplands
heatherburns.tech/2025/11/10/t...
heatherburns.tech/2025/11/10/t...
Reposted by Colin Perkins
THIS
I'm also surprised that people were surprised Signal uses AWS.
How did they think it provides very low-latency, 99.99 % reliable service?
As @meredithmeredith.bsky.social says, this is a learning moment for people in power to understand just how locked in and vulnerable we are
RTFT
I'm also surprised that people were surprised Signal uses AWS.
How did they think it provides very low-latency, 99.99 % reliable
As @meredithmeredith.bsky.social says, this is a learning moment for people in power to understand just how locked in and vulnerable we are
RTFT
In short, the problem here is not that Signal ‘chose’ to run on AWS. The problem is the concentration of power in the infrastructure space that means there isn’t really another choice: the entire stack, practically speaking, is owned by 3-4 players. 11/
October 27, 2025 at 11:26 AM
THIS
I'm also surprised that people were surprised Signal uses AWS.
How did they think it provides very low-latency, 99.99 % reliable service?
As @meredithmeredith.bsky.social says, this is a learning moment for people in power to understand just how locked in and vulnerable we are
RTFT
I'm also surprised that people were surprised Signal uses AWS.
How did they think it provides very low-latency, 99.99 % reliable
As @meredithmeredith.bsky.social says, this is a learning moment for people in power to understand just how locked in and vulnerable we are
RTFT
Reposted by Colin Perkins
Thinking about a PhD in Computing Science?
Join us on 12 Nov at 12:30 PM in the Sir Alwyn Williams Building (Room 422/423, Level 4) for our PhD information session!
Come along and ask questions, get advice, and network with academics and current PhD students.
@uofgcompsci.bsky.social
Join us on 12 Nov at 12:30 PM in the Sir Alwyn Williams Building (Room 422/423, Level 4) for our PhD information session!
Come along and ask questions, get advice, and network with academics and current PhD students.
@uofgcompsci.bsky.social
October 22, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Thinking about a PhD in Computing Science?
Join us on 12 Nov at 12:30 PM in the Sir Alwyn Williams Building (Room 422/423, Level 4) for our PhD information session!
Come along and ask questions, get advice, and network with academics and current PhD students.
@uofgcompsci.bsky.social
Join us on 12 Nov at 12:30 PM in the Sir Alwyn Williams Building (Room 422/423, Level 4) for our PhD information session!
Come along and ask questions, get advice, and network with academics and current PhD students.
@uofgcompsci.bsky.social
Reposted by Colin Perkins
Are you a computer science postgraduate research student at a Scottish university? Would you like £500 to help with your conference travel?
If so then please apply to the @sicsa-scotland.bsky.social travel fund sicsa.ac.uk/sga/phd-trav...
If so then please apply to the @sicsa-scotland.bsky.social travel fund sicsa.ac.uk/sga/phd-trav...
PhD Travel Fund - SICSA
SICSA - Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance
sicsa.ac.uk
October 17, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Are you a computer science postgraduate research student at a Scottish university? Would you like £500 to help with your conference travel?
If so then please apply to the @sicsa-scotland.bsky.social travel fund sicsa.ac.uk/sga/phd-trav...
If so then please apply to the @sicsa-scotland.bsky.social travel fund sicsa.ac.uk/sga/phd-trav...