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Robin Berjon

@robin.berjon.com

12K followers 2K following 12K posts

Putting human agency back into technology. Brussels, 🇪🇺. • tech, governance, science, politics, philosophy, infrastructure, cats, terrible puns • blog: https://berjon.com/ • fmr W3C, NYT, ScienceAI, Protocol Labs • he/him/Ishmael • Signal robin.77

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · Feb 25

Digital sovereignty is almost entirely an infrastructure problem, and it's a tough one. How can we understand the problem and start outlining strategies? Read on to find out!
berjon.com/digital-sove...

Digital Sovereignty

Digital sovereignty has a bad reputation. In internet governance circles, sovereignty is considered awkward enough to be referred to by as the "s-word." It is often associated with misguided attempts ...

berjon.com

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Reposted by Robin Berjon

Eurosky Social @eurosky.social · 1d

We're very excited to that announce Heike Raab, Representative of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate to the Federal Government and for Europe and the Media, will be speaking at #EuroskyLive in Berlin this November.

#EuroskyLive #DigitalSovereignty #EuropeanTech

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Xan López @xanlopez.xyz · 21h

Tag yourself. I'm a coalition based, green industrial policy ecosocialist, rooting for high integration democracy, green growth everywhere with surgical degrowth, defending international solidarity, a mostly optimistic we-have-the-technology-we-need approach and a dynamic understanding of history.

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 1d

Of course, it's a small step that won't make Chrome stop being spyware and won't stop Safari from selling your data to Google. But every step counts.

And GPC can be used under the GDPR and ePrivacy — this could move the needle there too. berjon.com/gpc-under-th...

GPC under the GDPR

The Global Privacy Control is making steady progress towards adoption. As a global signal supported by browsers, it's a natural question to ask what it means under regimes such as the GDPR. Here's my ...

berjon.com

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 1d

California passed AB 566!

It's a law that mandates browsers support the GPC signal that can be used to exercise privacy rights automatically in jurisdictions that have them.

Apple Safari and Google Chrome are reluctantly going to have to improve your privacy.
www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/08/g...

Governor Newsom signs data privacy bills to protect tech users | Governor of California

www.gov.ca.gov

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Sarah Szalavitz💡 @dearsarah.bsky.social · 1d

Rutgers Professor @mark-bray.bsky.social, who studies & writes about Antifascism,Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats

By the time he & his family reached the gate, their tickets were cancelled.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/n... flagrantly & appallingly lawless. Hope he & his family are ok.

Rutgers Expert on Antifa Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats

www.nytimes.com

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Maria Farrell @mariafarrell.bsky.social · 1d

Germany's justice ministry held firm and killed EU chat control (for now):

"Chat control without cause must be taboo in a state governed by the rule of law. Private communication must never be under general suspicion."

Admirably concise and direct. German in the best possible way.

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Scary Mary Branscombe @marypcbuk.bsky.social · 2d

affiliate marketing only works at scale; Amazon links don't support the little sites any more but it's worth the tech press giving Amazon a month of free advertorial because it brings in a chunk of revenue. the monopoly funding structures of the web are load bearing cc @robin.berjon.com

Karl Bode @karlbode.com · 2d

twice a year the entire U.S. press becomes a marketing extension of a single billionaire-owned retailer, and nobody in any position of editorial power thinks it's weird or gross

photo of Google News search results for Amazon Prime Day (the second this year)

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Robin Wilton 🇱🇧 @komadori.bsky.social · 2d

At some point, you'd think they ought to conclude that *there isn't an acceptable, mandatory alternative*, and put the resources into other, more practical ways of addressing the *societal* problem of child abuse instead. But they'd rather have the means of mass surveillance and censorship. 🤷‍♂️

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Xan López @xanlopez.xyz · 3d

Este gráfico es fascinante.

Marios Richards @mariosrichards.bsky.social · Aug 12

In our - very limited - historical experience of democracy,

(i) states rot from the centre-right
(ii) and it's contagious (via geography/powerful exemplar states)

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 3d

For the legal bit, FoF/Eurosky have been working on a memo. We're careful to open it up before it's more baked (because legal) but happy to discuss!

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Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 3d

Damn. This is amazing. £325 per week, paid monthly, for 3 years - and the result was a profit for the Irish economy:
www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employmen...

Post from Threads user rodneyowl: "Ireland has declared the Basic Income for Artists scheme permanent. This will be officially announced in tomorrow’s budget. Details to follow. Congratulations to all who fought for it and the present and future artists of all sorts in Ireland. That includes me 👌We’re just comin to the end of a 3 year pilot scheme. It’s been a roaring success. For every €1 paid out to the 2000 participants, the government got €1.46 back. Can’t argue with that. Other countries are already taking note."

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.bsky.social · 3d

this!!!

Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · 4d

Everything I have learned about [insert name of far-right US media pundit], I have learned entirely against my will.

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Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 3d

Blending spectacular illustrations with illuminating case studies of representative species from around the world, Insect Architecture by Michael S. Engel and Tom Jackson is the ultimate guide to insect artistry and innovation.

Out now. Explore a free sample: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 3d

Sadly, there'd be a lot of bag holding. Pension funds, large unemployment hits, etc.

Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 3d

In a similar vein, they correctly note that a public good has to include governance (though seem to consider the state as only convenor), but don't look at public infrastructure without public governance and the related sovereignty concerns. The MFF should tackle this.

Still, good stuff.

Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 3d

I feel it falls a little short in considering goods that ought to be public goods but are privately provided at a cost of massive externalities. This is common in digital infrastructure and should be accounted for. They mostly consider research & connectivity, which is constrictive.

Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 3d

"Bigger, Better Funded, and Focused On Public Goods: How to revamp the European Union budget" by Zsolt Darvas, Roel Dom, Marie-Sophie Lappe, Pascal Saint-Amans, & Armin Steinbach

A number of good ideas, I particularly like the idea of structuring the budget around European Public Goods (EPGs).

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 3d

Is there a good description of this research for the enlightened amateur?

kottke.org @kottke.org · 3d

“Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work shedding light on how the immune system spares healthy cells, creating openings for possible new autoimmune disease and cancer treatments.” [reuters.com]

Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 3d

There's a lot about AI out there but this from @pluralistic.net.web.brid.gy is all you need to know.

For those of us building tech and looking for regime change on internet, we need to be ready for when it hits.

pluralistic.net/2025/09/27/e...

Pluralistic: The real (economic) AI apocalypse is nigh (27 Sep 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

pluralistic.net

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 4d

Voilà, j'ai même le temps d'attraper un combo pizza/bières sur la route retour à Bruxelles.

Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 4d

Il y a un lien de parenté?

Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 4d

Je suis prêt à former un gouvernement, en cas, si jamais il y a besoin, pour dépanner. Là je finis mon déménagement mais sinon je suis rapidement dispo.

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Thorsten Küssner @tho-kue.bsky.social · 4d

Wichtiger Artikel & weiteres Argument für Abo der SZ (oder anderer Qualitätsmedien): Was Desinformation & Lüge mit Macht/Demokratie zu tun haben. Input geben u.a. @volksverpetzer.de und @robin.berjon.com und @disinfo.eu und @viginum.bsky.social (€) www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/art...

Die Lüge: Gar nicht wahr

Die Lüge ist zurück. Mit Macht. Als Macht. Wie sie die Demokratie zerstört – und wer sich dagegenstemmt. Eine Reise an die Front.

www.sueddeutsche.de

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Simonetta Vezzoso @wavesblog.bsky.social · 4d

Rewilding the Internet @robin.berjon.com
Variety warfare by Big Tech @faustogernone.bsky.social
Variety-selection-adaptation framework to the DMA 😇

Simonetta Vezzoso @wavesblog.bsky.social · 4d

Experiment: using AI to lower barriers to entry by Wavesblog Readers, hope you don't mind ;-) competitionwave.blogspot.com/2025/10/coor...

Coordination and Power

F. Gernone, here. This is a very basic AI generated video overview produced by Notebook LM - lowering your barriers to entry. The paper ...

competitionwave.blogspot.com

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Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 4d

Keep Your Prime Minister More Than Twelve Hours Challenge 2025.

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