Ben Collier
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susansegfault.bsky.social
Ben Collier
@susansegfault.bsky.social
2.8K followers 2K following 140 posts
Senior Lecturer at University of Edinburgh in STS. Criminologist and author of Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy. Chair of the Foundation for Information Policy Research. Researching power and harm in digital infrastructure. Pfp Jamie Buchan
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susansegfault.bsky.social
Ben Collier @susansegfault.bsky.social · May 8
For any lovely people who haven't heard, or aren't totally sick of me going on about it, my book on @torproject.bsky.social - bizarrely, the first book to tell the secret history of the technology behind the so-called 'dark web' - is out. Buy here or any bookstore: mitpress.mit.edu/978026254818...
Tor
A biography of Tor—a cultural and technological history of power, privacy, and global politics at the internet's core.Tor, one of the most important and mi...
mitpress.mit.edu
Reposted by Ben Collier
carolinejmolloy.bsky.social
The government’s suggestion that rolling out 20 minute courses on writing “AI“ prompts, sponsored by Google, Microsoft and Amazon, is somehow comparable to the founding of the Open University (the Wilson government‘s, & Jennie Lee’s, proudest achievement), is an insult to our human intelligence.
This is the biggest targeted training programme since Harold Wilson started the Open University (note). Open to all UK adults online, taking as little as under 20 minutes, the courses will give founding partners - Accenture, Amazon, Barclays, BT, Google, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, Sage, SAS and Salesforce to take the Al Skills Boost programme to the next level and upskill 10 million workers with Al skills by 2030.
January 28, 2026 at 8:37 AM
Reposted by Ben Collier
iptegrity.bsky.social
If Ofcom did decide to ban the social media platform X, how would such a ban work? Some thoughts drawn from Internet history...
iptegrity.com/online-safet... @fipr-policy.bsky.social
How could they ban X?
What can stories from Internet history like Megaupload and The Pirate Bay tell us about a ban on the social media platform X? This article explores these precedents and what they could mean for O...
iptegrity.com
January 20, 2026 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
kevinguyan.bsky.social
New research maps the campaign to erase trans people from UK data 🔢

This peer-reviewed article offers the first detailed account of how UK campaign groups have sought to define sex as strictly biological across the census, policing, healthcare and digital ID.

doi.org/10.1080/0958...
Reads: What is trans-exclusionary data activism? And the logo for the Gender + Sexuality Data Lab.
January 19, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
kevinguyan.bsky.social
These tactics – which mirror the anti-trans politics of the Trump administration – is about changing something within trans people rather than changing the signage on toilets and changing rooms.

Read here (open access): doi.org/10.1080/0958...

#data #trans #gender #queer #research #LGBTQ #UK
Trans-exclusionary data activism in the UK
In the UK, the design and management of sex and gender categories in data – including census questions, police and health records, and digital ID – has become a key focus of trans-exclusionary acti...
doi.org
January 19, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
goodlawproject.org
"Virgin Active’s decision to abandon trans people is a shocking failure for a company that claims to be a proud supporter of LGBTQ+ rights. It’s time to hold them to account."
goodlawproject.org Jolyon Maugham KC @goodlawproject.org · 20d
Virgin Active decided to restrict changing room access based on 'biological sex'. We're acting for, and financially supporting, a non-binary transmasculine person and a trans woman who are suing it for breaching the Equality Act.

We've published the Letter Before Action.
We’re suing Virgin Active over their transphobic rules | Good Law Project
Last summer Virgin Active banned trans people from bathrooms and changing rooms across the UK – so we’re taking them to court
goodlaw.social
January 15, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
financialtimes.com
Starmer set to drop plans to make digital ID mandatory for UK workers ft.trib.al/VqcAnBf
Starmer set to drop plans to make digital ID mandatory for UK workers
Latest U-turn comes after Labour MPs expressed concern about compulsory nature of proposed scheme
ft.trib.al
January 13, 2026 at 8:31 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
stirunicriminology.bsky.social
Dr @dianamiranda.bsky.social is a co-author of a new journal article in Surveillance & Society:

'The Ontological Shift in Surveillance: Revisiting the “Surveillant Assemblage” in the Age of Facial Recognition'
#Surveillance #Biometrics #Criminology #CrimSky
ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/su...
Screenshot of the first page of the journal article, with teal green text for headings and authors and normal black text for main body prose.
January 7, 2026 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Ben Collier
iptegrity.bsky.social
The #OnlineSafetyAct allows providers to mark their own homework. @ofcom.bsky.social told to kick X into gear, with little effective power. How likely will we see positive action? My take on the policy problem. iptegrity.com/ai/grok-ai-i... @fipr-policy.bsky.social
Grok AI images: can compliance be enforced?
A capability in the Grok AI tool on the online platform “X”, formerly known as Twitter, to generate criminal, misogynistic, non-consensual sexual imagery at scale, requires an urgent policy response....
iptegrity.com
January 9, 2026 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
bernardkeenan.bsky.social
Open Access link:
direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...
Interception: State Surveillance from Postal Systems to Global Networks
A media history of how the UK and US governments have surveilled citizens by intercepting their private communications.It may not be Big Brother (yet), but
direct.mit.edu
May 28, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
torproject.org
December 10 is International Human Rights Day #HRD. Celebrate with us and the Tor Community! 💜Join our State of the Onion Day 2 broadcast in an hour:
📺https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZVk0kb7lhw
🧅http://xgsobitduxv7gcc5qlveigwiku7qcjn5exf4ayusw4mwq7kfrapmrjyd.onion/
December 10, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
torproject.org
Community contributions are what power Tor, tune in Wed, Dec 10 at 1700 UTC for day 2 of our State of the Onion to hear directly from @ooni.org, The Guardian Project, @freedom.press, HushLine and more.
📺 www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZVk...
🧅 xgsobitduxv7gcc5qlveigwiku7qcjn5exf4ayusw4mwq7kfrapmrjyd.onion
State of the Onion 2025 – Community Day
YouTube video by The Tor Project
www.youtube.com
December 8, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
amoorelouise.bsky.social
Excited to announce @leverhulmecal.bsky.social posts - we are looking for 7 interdisciplinary fellows to join our Leverhulme Centre for Algorithmic Life, closing date 30 January 2026 (1/3) durham.taleo.net/careersectio...
Leverhulme Centre for Algorithmic Life Fellows - Assistant Professor (Research) G7 - G8
Click the link provided to see the complete job description.
durham.taleo.net
December 2, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
chanda.blacksky.app
Striking for me as a physicist who also does social science work is the way these physicists were suddenly totally ok with autoethnography as data because they personally enjoyed using GPT-5. A case study in how values orient our empirical practices if there ever was one lol
November 27, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
lornaslater.bsky.social
I want to extend my full support to staff threatened with compulsory redundancy at the University of Edinburgh.

I have today written to the Principal imploring him to change direction.
A letter written to the principal of the University of Edinburgh, from Lorna Slater MSP
November 19, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
j2bryson.bsky.social
More technical report www.volexity.com/blog/2025/10... via the excellent @fipr-policy.bsky.social
APT Meets GPT: Targeted Operations with Untamed LLMs
Starting in June 2025, Volexity detected a series of spear phishing campaigns targeting several customers and their users in North America, Asia, and Europe. The initially observed campaigns were tail...
www.volexity.com
November 16, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
wendyg.bsky.social
In the latest episode of the @plutopia.io #podcast we interview @susansegfault.bsky.social Ben Collier about his new(ish) biograophy of the Tor Project: plutopia.io/ben-collier-...
Ben Collier: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy - Plutopia News Network
Ben Collier discusses his book "Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy," arguing that media overstates Tor's ties to crime.
plutopia.io
October 28, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
eve.gd
A very good book on the history of an important privacy tool.
October 28, 2025 at 12:37 PM
susansegfault.bsky.social
Had a lovely time on the Plutopia podcast talking about my book - Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy.

Listen here:
plutopia.io/ben-collier-...
Ben Collier: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy - Plutopia News Network
Ben Collier discusses his book "Tor: From the Dark Web to the Future of Privacy," arguing that media overstates Tor's ties to crime.
plutopia.io
October 28, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
nesrinemalik.bsky.social
Honestly feel like Labour on immigration is a political and moral crisis with potentially scary consequences
jessicaelgot.bsky.social Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · Oct 20
Worth saying that despite asking for more than 12 hours we’ve had nothing back from Labour on this
jessicaelgot.bsky.social Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · Oct 20
A Conservative MP tipped as a future party leader has been condemned for saying large numbers of legally settled families must be deported, in order to ensure the UK is mostly “culturally coherent”.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
October 20, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
cyberleagle.bsky.social
While they’re at it, they could pay more attention to the human rights problems with their Additional Measures proactive technology proposals. @douwekorff.bsky.social’s consultation submission here, referencing my blogpost as ‘typical British understatement’ 😀. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Fully-automated free speech-killing robots are incompatible with European and UK fundamental rights
<div> In the UK, the communications services regulator, Ofcom, has issued for consultation proposed guidance to user-to-user (U2U) platforms and search engines
papers.ssrn.com
October 19, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Reposted by Ben Collier
benpatrickwill.bsky.social
I actually don't really care if AI is useful/interesting/good for some things in education actually - it is besides these things clearly a big problem already that maybe need listing yet again:
October 11, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
drhannahgraham.bsky.social
Jamie Buchan, Sarah Anderson, and Katrina Morrison have published a 'Criminal Justice in Scotland' textbook 📚🍷📖👏

I had the joy of chairing their well attended book launch today.

It has gone straight onto #Criminology Uni reading lists.
🔗
www.routledge.com/Criminal-Jus...
@kmmorrison.bsky.social
Photo of one of the three book authors, Dr Jamie Buchan, signing a copy of his new book for someone who just bought it at the book launch in Edinburgh Napier University. Photo of two copies of the paperback book with a red cover and black inky silhouette imagery.
October 7, 2025 at 9:19 PM
Reposted by Ben Collier
meredithmeredith.bsky.social
📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU.

Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.
signal.org Signal @signal.org · Oct 3
We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...
signal.org
October 6, 2025 at 6:46 AM
susansegfault.bsky.social
Hey look www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
October 1, 2025 at 4:22 PM