I say this as a non-parent, but someone who grew up in an authoritarian religion and who never would have found their way out by the age of 16 if it weren't for the wild west I found on BBSs, Gopher, and then the internet: I think parental controls are mostly bullshit. Just be a good parent, teach your kids critical thinking skills and media literacy, and let them see the world. I know there's probably scarier stuff out there than when I was 13 in 1990, but I am quite certain I would have been dead by now if I hadn't found my communities out there on the wider web.

I saved up to build my own PCs and buy faster and faster modems, and without the world they opened up, I shudder to think where I would be.

Our statement on the UK government’s demand that all content on all devices sold or used in the country be scanned, on the presumption of nudity, using a dystopian combination of age verification and content scanning. This proposal will not safeguard children. It endangers us all.

https://signal.org/blog/pdfs/2026-06-08-uk-surveillance-is-not-safety.pdf

#IT #Technology #News #Week #Review

So, you may ask, what was noteworthy in IT/Tech this week?

• Something hopeful: European Parliament to ditch Google for European alternative — https://www.euractiv.com/news/european-parliament-to-ditch-google-for-european-alternative/

• Something unhealthy: The new EU "Digital Souvereignty" package softens environmental regulations to enable new data centers — https://netzpolitik.org/2026/rechenzentren-in-der-eu-stromfresser-sollen-uns-souveraen-machen/

• Something sobering: Bots now outnumber humans on the internet — https://mastodon.social/@nixCraft/116692731365193814 (via @nixCraft)

• Something reassuring: Florida sues OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of putting profit over safety — https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/florida-sues-openai-sam-altman-saying-put-profit-safety-rcna347602

• Something funny: Meta's AI chatbot helped attackers take over Instagram accounts —https://www.heise.de/en/news/Meta-s-AI-chatbot-helped-attackers-take-over-Instagram-accounts-11314517.html

https://www.france24.com/en/culture/20260604-french-iranian-author-marjane-satrapi-author-of-persepolis-dies-at-56 I'm sad that Marjane Satrapi has died.

I have often come across the quote below. Before reposting it, I wanted to verify it. And I found out it's from a 2005 Salon interview https://www.salon.com/2005/04/24/satrapi_2/ -- during the time I worked at Salon! A neat coincidence for me.