I want the internet to be slightly better and write about surveillance capitalism and using digital technology responsibly.

Agitation:

persistent urging of a political or social cause or theory before the public.

Designer:

a schemer, intriguer, or plotter.

My blog has changed emphasis a number of times and is currently home to posts about promoting responsible technology and a slightly better internet.

Get in touch with me via my contact page or on Mastodon.

Latest blog posts

• Civil Society: We’re forced to use Google and Facebook but we don’t have to like it
• Signal is better than WhatsApp so why aren’t you using it?
• Charity Digital podcast: Ethics, technology and the charity sector
• To comply with GDPR get rid of Google Analytics
• It’s not as hard as you think to be a climate crisis influencer
• UK government is experimenting with facial recognition on its own citizens
• Is this ‘smart’ device safe in my home? Three simple checks
• How much IT knowledge do MPs have?
• Third Sector: Charities must change their relationship with big tech firms
• If you really are ‘user first’ then you must be ‘surveillance last’

Latest podcast episodes

• IoT and technology-facilitated abuse with Dr Leonie Tanczer
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  Episode 10: Dr Leonie Tanczer is the founder of the Gender and IoT project, which looks at how IoT impacts on gender-based domestic violence and abuse.
• The ‘better than Tor’ anonymous network with Ania Piotrowska
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  Episode 9: Ania Pitorowska is the Co-Founder and Head of Research at Nym, a new type of privacy focused mixnet.
• It’s time to detox your digital life with Safa Ghnaim
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  Episode 8: Safa Ghnaim is the Project Lead for the Data Detox Toolkit which has clear suggestions and concrete steps to help people harness all aspects of their online lives.
• We can sustain online publishing and uphold privacy with Karolina Iwańska
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  Episode 7: Karolina Iwańska is a lawyer at Panoptykon Foundation and has been leading their investigation into the online advertising industry’s practices related to data protection and privacy.
• Imagine Google Docs but without the spyware with Aaron MacSween
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  Episode 6: Aaron MacSween is a privacy researcher and the lead developer of Cryptpad – a set of encrypted, real time collaboration tools.
• Rediscovering the web browser with Adrian Cochrane
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  Episode 5: Adrian Cochrane is a web browser developer working on the Odysseus browser for Linux and Rhapsode, an ‘audio browser'.
• Studying the impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) on local communities with Sarah Kiden
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  Episode 4: Sarah Kiden is a researcher and technologist studying the impact of Internet of Things (IoT) technology on local communities.
• An ethically and ecologically sensitive approach to design with Rob Bartlett
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  Episode 3: Rob has changed his website to reduce his digital waste and make his design work more sustainable and responsible.
• Building the world’s alternative search engine with Finn Brownbill
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  Episode 2 : Finn Brownbill is the Head of Marketing for Mojeek – the world's alternative search engine.
• Anti-tracking and peer-to-peer technology with Sam Macbeth
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  Episode 1: Sam Macbeth is the Tech Lead for Cliqz where he has developed user-empowering, and privacy-preserving software in the Cliqz browser.

Read and listen to

Shoshana Zuboff

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism is an international best seller which explains how big tech companies have stripped us of our decision rights.

Find out more

Amnesty International

The Amnesty report Surveillance Giants explains how the business model of big tech is an unprecedented ongoing threat to global human rights.

Find out more

Techtonic on WFMU

Techtonic hosted by Mark Hurst on WFMU, is a weekly radio show which covers “our shift to a digital future” and is constructively critical of Silicon Valley.

Listen now

IRL Podcast

IRL: Online life is real life. This podcast hosted by Manoush Zomorodi for Mozilla, covers subjects like privacy breaches, hacking, cyber bullying and fake news.

Listen now

Donate to

Liberty

UK organisation which challenges injustice and fights against mass surveillance and facial recognition.

Find out more

Privacy International

PI challenge governments and businesses which want to know everything about individuals and societies.

Find out more

Small Tech Foundation

Irish based Not-for-profit which advocates for and builds small technology to protect personhood and democracy.

Find out more

Exodus Privacy Project

Resource which lets you check your Android apps for hidden tracking and other nasty stuff they didn’t tell you about.

Find out more

Have a look at the tracking policy page