mariafarrell

mariafarrell@mastodon.social

Irish speaker/writer; tech, politics + the future. Hope's not a 'nice to have'. It's our moral duty. she/her <a href="http://mariafarrell.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no">http://mariafarrell.com</a>"We need to rewild the internet": <a href="https://www.noemamag.com/we-need-to-rewild-the-internet/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no">https://www.noemamag.com/we-need-to-rewild-the-internet/</a>"Your platform is not an ecosystem", <a href="https://crookedtimber.org/2022/12/08/your-platform-is-not-an-ecosystem/" target="_bl

Posts

Post #3828990
1/2 I&#39;m publicising this #OpenSource conference because I want to go and can&#39;t! And wanted to go last year and couldn&#39;t then, too. Cue tiny violins... The call for papers for Luxembourg&#39;s 7 October OS conference is up. They&#39;re looking for proposals for 20 min talks due late August: https://pretalx.com/open-source-conference-luxembourg-2026/cfp They&#39;re looking for talks on OS + public sector (including Open Source and Digital Sovereignty), AI, ed...
Post #3828989
RE: https://mastodon.social/@mariafarrell/116806020508196945 HT to @lucdockendorf whose government is running OCL26 and seems to be doing some pretty good stuff in this area (and hasn&#39;t &lt;completely&gt; lost its mind to AI boosterism etc.).
Post #1345319
FT reports from Munich that some elite-level global south resistance to caring about Russia&#39;s invasion of Ukraine stems from their leaders&#39; resentment at rich countries&#39; refusal to share the covid vaccine and to pay climate reparations. and ... yeah. I get it. We weren&#39;t with them so they&#39;re not with us. This is exactly what people meant when they said overcoming drugs company lobbying to share vaccine boosts ALL of our security. We made drugs companie...
Post #1181238
I have the most middle-aged, middle class and frankly blue stocking injury imaginable; did in my back by 1) doing no yoga for months, 2) spending a bank holiday weekend digging the garden after a post-flu winter of inactivity, and 3), the kicker, carrying WAY too heavy a bag of books to and from the library to work (was I thinking the library had run out?). Margaret Atwood&#39;s advice to writers remains the best; move regularly and do exercises to strengthen your back.
Post #1147963
My +1 asked yesterday why I don't talk a lot about quantum computing breaking encryption and I said because it doesn't create many truly novel policy issues. e.g. we've told govts, police, etc. to minimise data collection forever, as having less vulnerable data to be decrypted in the future lowers exposure, but govts just never wanted to hear it. But I've been thinking about it since then, and realised quantum decryption may break the internet in realtime, because it can break...
Post #1122903
RE: https://mathstodon.xyz/@Paul_Taylor/116393432979937863 Google and Microsoft - the global email service duopoly - block other services in the name of "fighting spam". I get it. Spam is a perpetual arms race. But the opaqueness of Google and Microsoft's practices and decades-long predatory self-dealing mean no one trusts them to apply even their own rules. Email still works interoperably. Just about. Getting off US duopolies and monopolies is vital for the future of the intern...
Post #981346
Last year in Oslo I was given this card with embedded flower seeds by the legendary @beabusaniche of https://www.vialibre.org.ar/en/home/ Well, I&#39;ve just planted those seeds in the burgeoning northern hemisphere Spring. Let&#39;s see how some Argentinian flowers enjoy a London garden! The card says &quot;Understanding how this works is an act of REBELLION&quot;. And so is growing things with friends and comrades. Thank you, Beatriz.
Post #981344
well ok then YOU try and write a book with an emotionally needy collie boy demanding love, walks, and above all face-time every waking moment of his life (he also prefers to nap while lying on me)
Post #981343
RE: https://mastodon.social/@mariafarrell/116334425477188339 joke&#39;s on me because right after I posted this I discovered another &quot;accident&quot; produced indoors by this still rather nervous and un-indoor-trained rescue boy. he wasn&#39;t asking for love. he was asking to be let outside! duh.
Post #981342
RE: https://mastodon.social/@_elena/115886932976758645 well this is fantastic! long time ago I used to go with colleagues to the cheap and cheerful lunch place at the palais de tokyo for mediocre sandwiches and the amazing view. Love them even more, now.
Post #785627
why yes, once again I am on social media posting pictures of my dogs in the park instead of bringing my actual dogs to the park
Post #785621
RE: https://eupolicy.social/@jmaris/116295264030057268 whoot!
Post #754408
Saw this Very Good Boy in our London park walk this morning. He was ever so poignantly watching his human children as they played on the swings and slides in the no-dogs area. Setters really are such especially sweet family dogs. What am I saying? I love them all.
Post #753392
RE: https://mastodon.social/@SteveRudolfi/116279083767770070 If one definition of evil is its wanton destruction of everything that is good and whole in the world, then Google is an active agent of evil. It is setting out to destroy the world wide web and steal the livelihood of everyone who builds and depends on the web. I honestly don&#39;t know how to mobilise normies to care about and stop this evil. It probably seems too niche and incremental until it&#39;s too late. Oh yeah, a...
Post #609235
Gods I&#39;m too fucking old and tired to rehearse the &#39;don&#39;t break E2E encryption&#39; debate AGAIN, but here we are. This time the novel twist is &#39;client side scanning&#39; of every European&#39;s device for CSAM, just in case. I no longer make many arguments on principle. This open letter to the Irish minister who supports pre-emptive surveillance for everyone merely asks him to imagine how he&#39;ll feel when, inevitably, the powers are used agai...
Post #609234
RE: https://mastodon.social/@mariafarrell/115333913079023817 I&#39;m told by @Privacymatters that Germany has stayed strong and blocked the Council majority, so chat control is dead (for now)! Thank you, everyone who&#39;s worked like a dog to stop this nonsense. Again...
Post #609233
RE: https://mastodon.social/@mariafarrell/115333913079023817 Well this is admirably concise and direct by Germany&#39;s justice ministry. &quot;Chat control without cause must be taboo in a state governed by the rule of law. Private communication must never be under general suspicion.&quot; THANK YOU. Without Germany&#39;s support, Chat Control is dead in Council. For now at least. Some serious introspection now needed by DG HOME for its antidemocratic draft law and illegal...
Post #609231
@energisch_ @the_wub yes, i&#39;&#39;m with you in really not knowing how that would work and what lengths signal would have to go to, if any, to avoid having eu users. and which measures we could have taken to go on using it.
Post #609229
On the vanquishing, for now, of chat control: &quot;if we didn’t have to expend most our energies saying ‘No’ to this stupid, ghastly shit, and saying ‘No’ to the stupid, ghastly shit of the tech oligarchs, what might we have built instead? How productively and joyfully could we be spending our lives? https://crookedtimber.org/2025/10/09/delighted-to-be-proved-wrong/