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Kate Sim

@katejsim.bsky.social

890 followers 900 following 74 posts

COSPR - children's online safety and privacy research cospr.net Building worker power against militarism in tech @techworkerscoalition.org @notechforapartheid.bsky.social

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Kate Sim @katejsim.bsky.social · Feb 26

👋 Now live!

COSPR - Children's Online Safety and Privacy Research investigates the intersection of children’s safety, privacy, tech policy.

The child safety conversation needs a fundamental reorientation. It needs to take both safety and privacy seriously.

💌 Sign up to connect with us! cospr.net

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 6d

“…that Sora is being used for stalking and harassment will likely not be an edge case, because deepfaking yourself and others into videos is one of its core selling points.”

Far from an edge case, it’s the primary use case.

Stalker Already Using OpenAI's Sora 2 to Harass Victim

A journalist claims that her stalker used Sora 2, the latest video app from OpenAI, to churn out videos of her.

futurism.com

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 10d

What could go wrong.

Flock’s Gunshot Detection Microphones Will Start Listening for Human Voices

Flock Safety, the police technology company most notable for their extensive network of automated license plate readers spread throughout the United States, is rolling out a new and troubling product ...

www.eff.org

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Kate Sim @katejsim.bsky.social · Sep 12

Thanks for having me @skipintroyt.bsky.social !

Skip Intro @skipintroyt.bsky.social · Sep 11

In case you missed it in the news churn yesterday, I have a new video out about Adolescence, the Online Safety Act, and how the police thrive on moral panics

Huge thanks to @katejsim.bsky.social and Peter Squires for lending me their expertise!!

Skip Intro @skipintroyt.bsky.social · Sep 10

🚨🚨 NEW VIDEO 🚨🚨

Netflix's Adolescence has taken the UK by storm, shining a light on the impact of internet misogyny on young boys.

But Adolescence and the discourse around it mirror moral panics of the past, from online predators to knife crime to mugging

www.youtube.com/watch?v=imLc...

Reposted by Kate Sim

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Sep 11

“The memo — in the form of fresh guidelines on how to talk to and evaluate answers from Apple’s upcoming new artificial intelligence model — appeared to have been retooled following Trump’s return to the White House…”

The topics include “diversity,” “elections,” and “vaccines.”

Revealed: Apple is teaching its AI to adapt to the Trump era

Apple policy documents enacted by a subcontractor show how the company shifted its approach to fine-tuning its AI in March, two months after the U.S. president was inaugurated.

www.politico.eu

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Ian Boudreau @ianboudreau.com · Sep 6

*ezra klein guy voice* The problem with the left is that they've lost the willingness to speak reasonably with their opponents, such as this guy I interviewed recently who easily conned me into supporting eugenics

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · Aug 29

NEW figures show that 61,226 people are currently in ICE detention — the highest number ever in US history.

According to ICE data, 70% of these people have no criminal conviction.

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Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · Aug 29

To be clear: this is yet another reason why many of these laws are so problematic. If people want to run fediverse instances of any size, the fact that costly age verification requirements could put them in legal jeopardy, is very bad.

Regulators make laws as if every website is Facebook.

Spooky Sarah Perez 🎃 @sarahp.bsky.social · Aug 29

Mastodon says it doesn’t ‘have the means’ to comply with age verification laws

Mastodon says it doesn't 'have the means' to comply with age verification laws | TechCrunch

Decentralized social network Mastodon says it cannot comply with age verification laws, like in Mississippi and elsewhere, and says it's up to individual server owners to decide.

techcrunch.com

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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · Aug 27

New: Flock, the ALPR company in thousands of U.S. communities and which ICE taps into, wants to partner with a firm that sells dashcams to ordinary drivers. Nexar gets "trillions" of images a month from the dashcams. Could turn cars into roaming surveillance devices www.404media.co/flock-wants-...

Flock Wants to Partner With Consumer Dashcam Company That Takes ‘Trillions of Images’ a Month

That dashcam in your car could soon integrate with Flock, the surveillance company providing license plate data to DHS and local police.

www.404media.co

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Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · Aug 26

Enabling more third party services could be good, but this law looks like it's just about getting more surveillance of kids, and history tells us that doesn't actually protect their safety, and could do the exact opposite.

Will Oremus @willoremus.com · Aug 26

Word on the Hill is that House GOP leaders are moving on from the sweeping and controversial Kids Online Safety Act, or at least no longer prioritizing it.

That has opened the gates for narrower safety bills, such as "Sammy's Law," which I wrote about today: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Analysis | ‘Sammy’s Law’ would help parents monitor kids online. It’s gaining steam.

The parents of a teen fentanyl poisoning victim are finding allies in Congress for a bill intended to save others from the same fate.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Mondoweiss @mondoweiss.net · Aug 27

Jacob Lew, Biden’s former ambassador to Israel, told the New Yorker that the killing of Palestinian children in Gaza was justified.

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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · Aug 25

“Known as intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (Istar) systems, these tools, built by several companies, allow users to track, detain and, in the context of war, kill people at scale with the help of AI.”

Palantir’s tools pose an invisible danger we are just beginning to comprehend | Juan Sebastian Pinto

Weaponized AI surveillance platforms threaten human rights around the world. Here’s how they work

www.theguardian.com

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Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · Aug 14

"It is acceptable to engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual"

-Meta's actual, written policy for its AI chatbots

Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · Aug 14

New reporting from @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social, who got hold of internal standards for chatbot behavior at Meta.

“It is acceptable to engage a child in conversations that are romantic or sensual,” according to Meta’s “GenAI: Content Risk Standards.” The standards are used by Meta staff and contractors who build and train the company’s generative AI products, defining what they should and shouldn’t treat as permissible chatbot behavior. Meta said it struck that provision after Reuters inquired about the document earlier this month.

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Kate Sim @katejsim.bsky.social · Aug 14

^ THIS

Reposted by Kate Sim

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · Aug 12

Another insane surveillance story. DACA recipient pulled over in Colorado by police, then let go. Police tell a Signal group that includes dept that collabs with ICE. That dept then logs into an ALPR system from another department. Woman then arrested by ICE

therevolutionistgj.org/2025/08/12/g...

GJPD Cameras Accessed Five Times During Goncalves Incident

by Jacob Richards On June 5, from when Deputy Zwinck first pulled over Caroline Dais Goncalves for following too close behind a semi truck, through her release and later arrest by ICE/HSI officers,…

therevolutionistgj.org

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · Aug 9

NEW: This week, 2 politicians AIPAC spent millions supporting came out against sending weapons to Israel.

Germany — Israel’s second largest arms supplier & where someone was even convicted for holding a sign that said “Have we learned nothing from the Holocaust? — said it will stop sending weapons.

Is Israel Losing the Argument – and Its Supporters?

Benjamin Netanyahu may have the unwavering support of Donald Trump, but one-time AIPAC loyalists are beginning to jump ship while European allies are also turning against him.

zeteo.com

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Bex Sander @chefboibex.bsky.social · Aug 7

Truly the thing that came out of this podcast that has me worried is: how many people are now going to be tricked into handing over sensitive information to a scammer posing as age verification?

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Kate Sim @katejsim.bsky.social · Aug 8

Thank you @chefboibex.bsky.social for having me for this week's Sensemaker to talk about the privacy/security impacts of age verification. Esp appreciate the focus on security vulnerability, which will impact ALL of us.

The Observer @theobserveruk.bsky.social · Aug 7

Age verification could make the internet more dangerous.

The Online Safety Act requires users to hand over detailed personal information, but there’s a lack of transparency about what happens to this data afterwards.

Listen to today's Sensemaker:
lnk.to/F4og3HBS

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Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · Aug 7

New from 404 Media: we've seen and verified video of a CBP agent wearing Meta's AI glasses during immigration raid in LA. Glasses capable of recording, live-streaming, Meta plans to add facial recognition. Experts deeply concerned about this tech being abused by DHS www.404media.co/a-cbp-agent-...

A CBP Agent Wore Meta Smart Glasses to an Immigration Raid in Los Angeles

Video obtained and verified by 404 Media shows a CBP official wearing Meta's AI glasses, which are capable of recording and connecting with AI. “I think it should be seen in the context of an agency t...

www.404media.co

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Kate Sim @katejsim.bsky.social · Aug 7

Needed to be named!!

Kate Sim @katejsim.bsky.social · Aug 7

Wrote down my thoughts on the UK OSA for
@novaramedia.com. Many are understandably conflicted between wanting a safer Internet for children and seeing the OSA for what it is.

Here's how to think about it from the perspective of child safety and public interest:

novaramedia.com/2025/08/07/t...

The Online Safety Act Has Nothing to Do With Child Safety and Everything to Do With Censorship | Novara Media

Within hours of Ofcom enforcing the new law last week, Gaza and Ukraine content was being blocked, while pickup artist content and child modelling sites were. That’s entirely by design, writes Kate Si...

novaramedia.com

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Kate Sim @katejsim.bsky.social · Aug 7

Noted! Thanks for the flag

Kate Sim @katejsim.bsky.social · Aug 7

Detection: tech companies send a tip to the police to investigate. Not all tips are actionable. Driven by the police. Does not guarantee that impacted people receive the support they need (content removal, spyware check, disentangle linked accts, access to mental health/medical services, etc)

Kate Sim @katejsim.bsky.social · Aug 7

Appreciate @aljazeera.com as one of the few remaining sources of journalism w/integrity but this is sensationalism that misrepresents how contested this topic is

Rly need journos to understand that detecting CSAM =/= protecting children

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Kate Sim @katejsim.bsky.social · Aug 7

This is deeply misleading @aljazeera.com

Watchdogs are third party entities that keep gov/corps in check. The "internet watchdog" here is an Aus gov agency

Besides, proposed detection methods are not technically feasible, a gross privacy violation AND does little to protect kids

aje.io/v2t43f

Tech giants turning blind eye to child sex abuse, Australian watchdog says

Commissioner’s recommendations for tech companies include measures that have been criticised on privacy grounds.

aje.io

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Kate Sim @katejsim.bsky.social · Aug 7

Hidden Water provides support to all those harmed by child sexual abuse. As the Epstein files saturate the headlines, much needed words what we get wrong about CSA:

www.newsweek.com/stop-epstein...

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