13 May 2022
Speech therapy
As expected, the Queen’s Speech heralded a new Data Reform Bill.
We’re still waiting for most of the detail, though it sticks closely to the contents of the Data: A New Direction consultation. It seems the response to that consultation will be published shortly, followed by bill text before the summer. As well as what’s in the briefing pack (go here for the Data Reform bit), other briefing suggests we can probably expect something on cookie consent banners (although that’s not under GDPR, the likely focus of many of the reforms).
Let’s hope that spinning this under the heading of ‘Brexit opportunities’ doesn’t lead to the government trying to do anything too stupid: there’s lots of language around cutting red tape and reducing burdens, when the opposite could happen if organisations have to adjust to something new so soon after the introduction of GDPR. And that’s before we get to the possibility of the UK’s rules diverging so much that it loses data adequacy status with the EU. And forgetting that if you want innovation you need high standards and trust. Etc.
While we wait for more detail on that, what else is there for data, digital and open government types in the Speech? There are promises on economic crime — check out Transparency International UK and Politico’s London Influence for more. DCMS is busy with several other bills, including putting electronic trade documents on the same footing as physical ones, a Bill on product security and telecoms infrastructure, a Bill with BEIS on digital markets (which TechCrunch interprets as a delay), and of course the continuing journey of the Online Safety Bill. (One wonders if the government’s desire to give researchers better access to data through the Data Reform Bill will extend to amending the OSB, as per this campaign.)
(I’ll spare you my full, lapsed-media-policy-wonk-full-disclosure-was-involved-in-getting-this-on-the-statute-book-in-the-first-place rant about why the pledge to repeal section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 as part of the Media Bill is yet more evidence of the government giving its friends in the press everything they want. It never even came into effect after the government bowed to press pressure, as it always does. I would note how a lot of government’s posturing on regulating big tech — and exempting the press from Online Safety Bill provisions, despite their huge influence on our information ecosystem — is very much in the interests of some large news publishers. It’s been an interesting week on the politics/press entanglement front, to put it mildly.)
The Campaign for Freedom of Information have concerns about restrictions on access to information — although it perhaps could have been worse. A CTRL+F of the Queen’s Speech briefing brings up a few other things — like the new Great British Railways body having some responsibility for open data. But perhaps the biggest one to watch will be reform to human rights: Amberhawk notes that the ICO is concerned about this and perhaps we should be, too.
And in other news:
- The second episode of The Data Game, the world’s best/first/only data gameshow, has somehow been released into the wild on the Alan Turing Institute YouTube channel. I’ll try and post the questions from the first round on Twitter at some point today if you want to play along. The first episode, from the ODI Summit, is here.
- I thoroughly enjoyed chairing mySociety’s fourth civic tech surgery as part of the TICTeC Labs programme, on storytelling and reach, yesterday — a 101 in the challenges and opportunities of civil society comms. A recording and minutes will appear here in due course — and sign up to the mailing list for the latest information, including how to apply to be part of the Action Lab that will commission some work.
- Obligatory reminder to buy tickets to the New Tottenham Singers’ 10th anniversary concert on 18 June — and please do donate to help us keep going if you can’t make it.
- A good example of how something as simple as changing colours (and potentially reordering to correct-don’t know-wrong) could make a big difference, spotted by my former colleague, Marcus.
- And a big thank you to Alastair Otter for including Warning: Graphic Content in his list of data journalism tools and resources. There’s my list of data-related podcasts, newsletters etc if his excellent collection still isn’t enough for you.
Advance warning: there’s a chance the newsletter will take a week off next week.
Have a great weekend
Gavin
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Today’s links:
Graphic content
Ukraine
- Russia is swaying Twitter users outside the West to its side* (The Economist)
- The blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports causes grain prices to soar* (New Statesman)
- The ripple effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine are changing the world (NPR)
- Russia seems to be co-ordinating cyber-attacks with its military campaign* (The Economist)
- How companies exiting Russia are faring* (The Economist)
UK politics
- Boris Johnson’s Flagship Plan to Fix Britain Is in Trouble* (Bloomberg)
- Pressure on Boris Johnson as Tories suffer losses in UK local elections* (FT)
- Elections 2022: live council results for England, Scotland and Wales (The Guardian)
- LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS 2022* (Telegraph)
- The 2022 UK election results* (New Statesman)
- Five things we learnt from the May 2022 elections (IfG — thread)
- Northern Ireland election 2022 live results: assembly seats and votes (The Guardian)
- As results are announced today for councils across the country, we are already starting to see some wildly disproportionate results (Electoral Reform Society)
- A country divided: The story of the local elections 2022 in maps and charts (Sky News)
- New polling: Public back community-powered solutions to national crises (New Local)
- Britain is now a high-immigration country and most are fine with that* (FT)
- Food insecurity is surging in the UK* (New Statesman)
- Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Dashboard (Cabinet Office)
- Bills in the Queen’s Speech (IfG)
Roe back on rights
- America Wants to Keep Roe — the Supreme Court May Overturn It Anyway* (Bloomberg)
- How would the repeal of Roe vs Wade shape abortion access in the US?* (FT)
- The distance hurdle: How distance to the nearest abortion clinic changes for millions of women without Roe v. Wade (Reuters)
- Half of US Women Risk Losing Abortion Rights Without Roe* (New York Times)
- Where Americans Stand On Abortion, In 5 Charts (FiveThirtyEight)
- Abortion pill access targeted by Republicans amid rising demand* (FT)
- What an America Without Roe Would Look Like* (The Upshot, from 2021)
- American senators strike down a bill that would have codified abortion rights* (The Economist)
US
- 1 million deaths: Remembering the lives lost to COVID-19 in America (Axios)
- What’s Your Rate of Inflation?* (New York Times)
- Is It Better to Rent or Buy? What to Do in a Hot Housing Market* (Wall Street Journal)
- Why Trans Rights Became The GOP’s Latest Classroom Target (FiveThirtyEight)
Everything else
- Global Data Barometer
- Everything That Could Go Wrong in Markets as Free-Money Era Ends* (Bloomberg)
- Smoke and Sandstorm, Seen From Space* (New York Times)
- How Formula 1’s Car Redesign Is Changing Racing* (New York Times)
- The future of work looks very different across the world (Tony Blair Institute for Global Change)
Meta data
GDP-ARGH
- Colleagues and I have a new paper on GDPR whose abstract has prompted a little Twitter heat (Joel Waldfogel)
- UK government confirms plans to remove ‘cumbersome aspects’ of GDPR (Tech Monitor)
- Legitimate interests briefing paper (Connected by Data)
- ICO confirms Human Rights changes undermine UK_GDPR (Amberhawk)
- UK opts for slow reboot of Big Tech rules, pushes ahead on privacy ‘reforms’ (TechCrunch)
- Government to announce data reform bill in Queen’s Speech to deliver ‘Brexit dividend’ (Sky News)
- What does the Queen’s Speech mean for the tech sector & policy? (Andrew Bennett)
- Washington goes on the global data privacy offensive (Politico)
Tech-tonic shift
- Government sets out plans for how tech regulator will tackle dominance of major firms (DCMS)
- A new pro-competition regime for digital markets — government response to consultation (DCMS, BEIS)
- Digital markets regulation: Big Tech means big problems* (FT)
Tech
- The Fall of Roe Would Put Big Tech in a Bind* (Wired)
- Letter to Shareholders (Palantir)
- Palantir Craters Most Since 2020 on Wider-Than-Expected Loss* (Bloomberg)
- Facebook Faces New Lawsuit Alleging Human Trafficking and Union-Busting in Kenya (Time)
- Watching Elon try to openly recreate several decades of trust and safety work by tens of thousands of people from first principles is likely to give me a stroke. (Alex Stamos)
- Europe’s CSAM scanning plan unpicked (TechCrunch)
- Q&A with Foxglove’s Martha Dark (Luminate)
AI got ‘rithm
- A three-pillar approach to achieving trustworthy and accountable use of AI and emerging technology in policing in England and Wales: Lessons from the West Midlands data ethics model (European Journal of Law and Technology)
- Civil society reacts to European Parliament AI Act draft Report (EDRi)
- Today we reached a settlement with Clearview AI (ACLU)
- The benefits and harms of algorithms: a shared perspective from the four digital regulators (Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum)
- Auditing algorithms: the existing landscape, role of regulators and future outlook (Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum)
- AI-driven biometry and the infrastructures of everyday life (Ada Lovelace Institute)
- Understanding UK AI R&D commercialisation and the role of standards (DCMS, OAI)
- Here’s some stuff I think journalists should know about AI (Dr Maryam Ahmed)
- Meta has built a massive new language AI — and it’s giving it away for free (MIT Technology Review)
- The most common problems when it comes to data for AI (The AI Journal)
Carry on up the cyber
- Cyber Resilience Strategy for Defence (MoD)
- Tougher consumer protections against malicious apps (DCMS)
- CONSULTATION: App security and privacy interventions (DCMS)
Information health
- 2 YEARS OF OPENSAFELY — A THREAD (Jess Morley)
- Author of review into aborted GP data sharing in England opted out of scheme (The Guardian)
- Test and Trace Public Advisory Group report (UKHSA)
- The European Health Data Space (#EHDS) has arrived! (ODI)
- Please mind the gap (Scottish Government)
- How My Fitness Tracker Turned Me Against Myself (FiveThirtyEight)
UK government
- Government puts £25m into ‘elite fraud squad’ to use data and tech to collar Covid criminals (Public Technology)
- Better collaboration, bigger impact: How data-sharing accelerates innovation (Public)
- Using documentation-driven development for GOV.UK Sign In (GDS)
- DfT to screen job applicants’ social media accounts (Civil Service World)
Open for the best
- Creating OGP’s Future Together: Strategic Planning 2023–2028 (Open Government Partnership)
- Government refuses to release Lebedev peerage details despite MPs’ instruction (The Guardian)
Data infrastructure
- Building a trustworthy national data research infrastructure: A UK-wide public dialogue (DARE UK)
- What makes administrative data research-ready? A systematic review and thematic analysis of published literature (International Journal of Population Data Science)
Everything else
- Face up to it — this surveillance of kids in school is creepy (The Guardian)
- Online Safety Bill — Legal But Harmful, a Matter for Duffers, Caesar or Ui (regulate.tech)
- Immersive view coming soon to Maps — plus more updates (Google)
- How often does The Guardian link out to data sources? (Andy Dickinson)
- What is synthetic data, and how can it advance research and development? (The Royal Society)
- Driverless Futures? Studies of experts and public attitudes (Driverless Futures)
- A big list of data journalism tools and resources (Alastair Otter)
- Reimagining Data and Power (Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data)
Opportunities
- INQUIRY: Connected tech: smart or sinister? (Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee)
- SURVEY: OpenUK “State of Open” Survey 2022 (OpenUK)
- JOB: Programme Director, Integrated Data Programme (ONS)
- JOB: Lead Data Scientist (Intellectual Property Office)
- JOB: Head of Data Strategy, Design & Planning (Cabinet Office)
- JOB: Lead Data Scientist (UKHSA)
- JOBS: Current opportunities to work with us (Open Data Manchester)
- JOB: Adviser — Cyber and Digital (Fixed term until 31 March 2023) (Local Government Association)
- JOB: Data Journalist (The Guardian)
- JOB: Graphics/Multimedia Editor, Cartography (New York Times)
And finally…
Charts
- Worth noting that… (Don Moynihan)
- Do you love exploding 3D pie charts? Fill your boots (via Clare Griffiths, via Alice — and see also Nick)
- It’s not easy getting a bar chart this wrong (Alex Selby-Boothroyd)
Everything else
- Matt Hancock/crypto (Michael Deacon)
- How AI ethics events sound like (via Dr Elinor Carmi)
- MapLab: Inside Null Island, ‘the Most Real of Fictional Places’* (Bloomberg)