Karlin Lillington
@klillington.bsky.social
950 followers 240 following 750 posts
Former Irish Times tech columnist (mostly retired!). Chair, New Music Dublin. Privacy/infosec/human rights. Lots of 4-legged talls/smalls. Likes bats. Talkative. 🦣 http://mastodon.ie/@klillington
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
klillington.bsky.social
The lifetime work I'm most proud of. A decade went into those stories/columns, involving FOIs, tip-offs & concerned, informed individuals/groups helping me better understand the issues. The day the ECJ overturned the EU Data Retention Directive in the DRI judgement was the greatest of my career
tupped.bsky.social
Half a billion people— the whole of the EU’s citizenry— owe their right not to be casually surveilled en masse by their governments to Karlin’s reporting on Data Retention.

We literally cited it to the court in the DRI data retention case.
tupped.bsky.social
The end of an era and certainly, surely, the single most insightful run on a rapidly changing field.

Karlin Lillington’s last column in today’s Irish Times.
klillington.bsky.social
Seriously? Looks like cookies made from Play-Doh 🤢 or plastic erasers (not to mention the buckets of food colouring). Ugh, no
nytimes.com
Though they may look elaborate, these gorgeous cookies only take a few minutes to decorate. No two cookies will be the same, and that’s a big part of the charm. nyti.ms/46BOjbq
A plate of technicolor rectangular cookies.
Reposted by Karlin Lillington
datasociety.bsky.social
“Privacy-preserving” isn’t as private as you might think. Our new brief, published in collab w @powerswitchaction.org & Coworker, exposes how so-called “privacy-preserving” technologies can actually enable *more* worker surveillance — and what we can do about it. datasociety.net/library/the-...
Reposted by Karlin Lillington
techpolicypress.bsky.social
Under Article 21 of the DSA, out-of-court bodies review moderation disputes. One such body, Appeals Centre Europe, has released its first transparency report.
@ramshajahangir.bsky.social spoke with Thomas Hughes and Paddy Leerssen about what these early findings suggest.
What We Can Learn from the First Digital Services Act Out-of-Court Dispute Settlements? | TechPolicy.Press
Ramsha Jahangir spoke to two experts to unpack what the early wave of disputes tells us about how the out-of-court system is working under the DSA.
www.techpolicy.press
Reposted by Karlin Lillington
jdmccafferty.bsky.social
Model Bakery and Brewery from the Tomb of Meketre ca. 1981–1975 B.C.E. Middle Kingdom (Met Museum)
klillington.bsky.social
who amongst us has not confused their thumb with their middle finger
nytimes.com
From @theathletic.com: The NFL has fined Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones $250,000 for flashing his middle finger to the crowd during Sunday’s game against the New York Jets. Jones, who can appeal the fine, said that he actually meant to signal a thumbs-up.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says middle finger was accidental: ‘The intention was thumbs-up’
Jones said his middle finger gesture was “unfortunate" and not intended during the Cowboys' win against the Jets.
nyti.ms
klillington.bsky.social
"Residents and public representatives ... expressed frustration that they had nowhere to go to raise complaints because the activity was largely unregulated and no public body had overall oversight." www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dubl...
International legal expert ‘shocked’ at Ireland’s lack of commercial drone regulation
Public meeting hears of residents’ concerns over noise, privacy and safety
www.irishtimes.com
Reposted by Karlin Lillington
mehdirhasan.bsky.social
"As one of the few Jews on [the flotilla]...they asked me if I was Jewish...threw me in front of the Israeli flag... we were strip-searched & zip-tied & blindfolded, & sent to this detention camp."

Horrifying testimony to Zeteo from freed activist David Adler:
zeteo.com/p/exclusive-...
Reposted by Karlin Lillington
noupside.bsky.social
“Who was president in 2020?” is the question of our time
Senator Jim Banks V
@SenatorBanks
Follow g..
The 2020 Census was a fraud. The Biden admin used a shady "privacy" formula that scrambled the data and miscounted 14 states.
It included illegal immigrants and handed
Democrats extra seats. Americans deserve a fair count and l'm fighting to fix it.
Zinited Statcs SScnate
MASHNORON DEYNN
October 6, 2025
an. Thow arewutn
Socretary
U.S. Department of Commerce Washington, DXC 20230
Dear Secretary Lutaick:
I urge you to investigate and correct erroes from the 2020 Census that handed disproportionntd political power to Democrats and illogal alicns. The Census Burcau adoptod a now and opaque
voting districts. As preparod by the Biden administration, the 2020 Censas roports miscountod the population of fourteen states, ' wrongly allocating six congressional scats aod Electoral
xx conwuu tmora uy, toc taroro tu mot đoo tnn Cunu lc pung t imber of votine districts. And the reoorts de aniovety inchaded ilecnl nhens widhout track those aliens' citiz enship status, If left uncorrected, these erroes will coetinue diluting the political power of American citizens.
Consus data plays a crucial role in allocating political roprescntation and goverment funding
Under the Constitution, cach state gets Congressional represcotutives and Electoeal College votes- based on "the whole number of persons" within the state." The number of persoes is in
tum clabaabod by a consttubocalty-mandalcd dcccacaal ccavas. Pcual agcco nely on census data to allocate billions of dollars in federal funding, much of which hinges ee opulation. And states use consus data to deaw congrossicnal and voting districts, »hich the
The it eiy of tie soaren alie n tor dur at ce hor inc ae oam toy ee n
nght wilbout statsica ly signilicant ciroo.
Diffcrcntial privacy is opaque and liable to mistakcn count totals. Sure cnough, the 2020 Ccnsus ovarocunted the noculation in cicht states and undercounted it in six." Tihe most extrcmi andercount was Arkansas, at 5.04%, and the larg…
Reposted by Karlin Lillington
adamjschwarz.bsky.social
Heseltine at the Tory conf:

"Fascists of the 30s are back... Trump's language coincides with words here... The immigrant has replaced the Jew as the problem. We must make clear we will never have any part in the populist extremism of Farage... We don't need Trump's mouthpiece anywhere near No. 10.”
klillington.bsky.social
Oh look here it is again @castlebridge-chief.bsky.social
archive.org
🐹 Before viral videos on TikTok or YouTube, there was Hampsterdance.

Full of dancing hamster GIFs & a sped-up tune, it became one of the internet’s first viral hits.

You can still dance to it on the #WaybackMachine ➡️ web.archive.org/web/19991222...

#Wayback1T

🧵
Reposted by Karlin Lillington
bookshop.org
Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?

Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚
Reposted by Karlin Lillington
lolennui.bsky.social
George Orwell’s Animal Crossing
Someone in a frog costume facing down a line of police in riot gear
Reposted by Karlin Lillington
nycsouthpaw.bsky.social
I’m a career prosecutor who took a $25,000 check from an affiliated entity of Donald Trump’s while investigating Trump University and later left my lobbying firm to become Donald Trump’s personal impeachment lawyer, White House aide, and Attorney General. So don’t you DARE question my integrity.
atrupar.com
Bondi to Blumenthal: "You lied. How dare you? I'm a career prosecutor. Don't you ever challenge my integrity. Do not question my ability to be fair and impartial."
Reposted by Karlin Lillington
mariafarrell.bsky.social
FWIW I've written to the Irish Minister for Justice - an enthusiastic supporter of Europe's hideous "chat control" phone-scanning proposal - asking him to imagine when that technology is used against him.

If you're German, please, PLEASE write to your justice/interior minister today.
klillington.bsky.social
That is definitely weird. ‘You may book but you may not pay or receive’
klillington.bsky.social
I see there’s an article on the BBC website noting lots of people getting refused Covid jabs they booked, due to changes in who is eligible in the UK — and not happy about it.
Reposted by Karlin Lillington
ria.ie
Join us on 8 Oct for Collecting Ireland’s History, a lecture for the Dublin Festival of History in collaboration with @virtualtreasury.bsky.social

Explore 700 years of Irish manuscript collecting.

Book your tickets now: www.tickettailor.com/events/royal...
klillington.bsky.social
Good grief. Why is someone like that even administering vaccines