David Thunder

You don’t have to buy the most extreme version of AI fears (“AI will kill us all”) to understand that it is a technology with huge risks for humanity. There is no room for complacency, but banning AI is not realistic either. It needs to be regulated but how? #AI #AIEthics #TechRegulation #Therearenospecificcountrycodesmentionedinthetweet.

Many medical professionals are prepared to have an honest conversation about adverse effects of drugs like penicillin but treat vaccine harms as a taboo topic. We need to turn the page. #VaccineDebate #MedicalTransparency #HealthConversations #Therearenospecificcountryreferencesinthetweetprovided.Hence #nocountrycodescanbereturned.

People in power flat out lied about the Covid crisis. They said things they themselves did not believe, to intentionally mislead the public for political or economic gain. That is the sad truth about what happened in 2020-2022. #CovidLies #PoliticalDeception #TruthMatters #Nospecificcountrycodesareidentifiedintheprovidedtweet.

“A slow accumulation of permissions that governments grant themselves while the public is distracted.” - Well put. The architecture of population surveillance is being put in place, piece by piece, and it is *always*, supposedly, for our “protection.” It is not too late to fight #SurveillanceState #PrivacyRights #CivilLiberties #Nospecificcountrycodesarementionedinthetweet.

A few simple questions: 1. Is this age verification data hackable? The track record of government-run databases suggests it absolutely is. 2. Do you think having more identity gatekeeping on social media, overseen by EU or national governments, will make you safer? Or more #AgeVerification #DataPrivacy #SocialMediaSafety #EU

“Democracy in Europe died a bit today.” - It was already moribund but this sort of takes the biscuit. It even surprised me that EU officials would pull off a stunt like this one. They are desperate to get these surveillance measures through, whatever it takes. #Democracy #EUSurveillance #Europe #EU

This is playing with democracy, using the rules unfairly to overcome opposition. Playing with democracy to push through more surveillance tools to keep citizens "safe." This is what the European Union has become, and sadly, what many of its member States have become too. #Democracy #Surveillance #EUDemocracy #EU

"Procedural coup" is exactly the right term to describe what just happened in the European Parliament. Finding a sneaky loophole to get around the awkward fact that a measure does not have majority support in the Parliament. #ProceduralCoup #EuropeanParliament #MajoritySupport #EU

For every surveillance measure aimed at child protection, consider (a) what are its real, tangible benefits in terms of preventing bad actors from abusing the internet? (b) what are the risks of such a measure for citizens' freedoms more generally? and (c) are these risks #ChildProtection #Surveillance #InternetSafety #Nospecificcountrycodesarereferencedintheprovidedtweet.

The restriction of VPNs, which are one of the ways you can access the world wide web even if your government tries to stop you, is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes like China, Russia and Iran. U.K. is now on course to join them. #VPN #Censorship #Authoritarianism #CN #RU #IR #GB

Watch out because if you live in Europe, you now have multiple layers of taxmen competing for your money. And if you think your local or national government's interests may diverge from yours, consider how wide the divergence is likely to be in the case of a transnational #TaxCompetition #Europe #TransnationalIssues #EU

Here's one way to deal with media you disagree with: dismiss them as "far right" and evade their questions as a some sort of "principled" position. But this is not just an avoidance of the questions of one media organ: it is also a disengagement from the chunk of the electorate #MediaBias #PoliticalDisengagement #FarRight

Sánchez is the sort of "leader" who could look on while his closest colleagues and wife are investigated and in some cases convicted and imprisoned, without having the decency to step down from high office. #LeadershipCrisis #Accountability #PoliticalScandals #Thetweetdoesnotmentionanyspecificcountries.Therefore #therearenocountrycodestoreturn.

I think this may be a smart move. Unlike surveillance structures being proposed in the UK that affect all citizens, an age-specific limit on the use of AI in school environments may be a way to protect children's cognitive development without endangering civil rights. #AI #ChildDevelopment #CivilRights #UK

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez is immersed in an atmosphere of corruption and abuse. He has managed to avoid conviction himself but his wife is going on trial for criminal wrongdoing of various sorts. In a healthy democracy, even a strong appearance of impropriety of this degree would #Corrupción #PedroSánchez #Democracia #ES

Any massive intervention in social life, in particular one backed by coercive force or financial sanctions, is likely to have at least some significant downsides. And this is indeed the case for the proposed social media ban. #SocialMediaBan #Intervention #Downsides #Nospecificcountrycodesfoundinthetweet.

Government officials have a compelling interest in protecting their own power and enhancing their control over society. So when they advocate a major intervention in the public sphere and wax lyrical about “saving our chlidren,” it is not wise to just take their word for it. #GovernmentControl #PublicIntervention #ProtectOurChildren #Nospecificcountrycodesarementionedinthetweet.