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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 20h

Death registrations by sex, five year age group, underlying cause and Index of Multiple Deprivation decile, England, 2021-2024 www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula... ad hoc release from ONS

#deathstats #UKpoverty #deprivation #opendata

Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 22h

Companies House strategy 2025 to 2030 www.gov.uk/government/p... (UK)

I guess this #opendata anniversary dates from the launch of the free register search service in 2015, rather than from the Free Company Data Product that was first published in 2012

In 2025, we celebrate 10 years of free access to open data. The UK was the first country to establish a truly open register of business information. This was a considerable step forward in improving corporate transparency, making it easier for businesses and members of the public to research and scrutinise companies and connected individuals. Our registers continue to underpin business and consumer decisions. We are proud of this legacy and look forward to enhancing the quality and interoperability of our data, raising the value of our registers further.

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 1d

The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee is taking evidence tomorrow for its Digital Centre of Government inquiry committees.parliament.uk/event/25253/... (video)

With @njdavies.bsky.social, Jason Liggins, @gaiamarcus.bsky.social, @jenitennison.com

#govtech #techpolicy #datapolicy etc.

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 1d

The unnamed "online suicide forum" investigated by Ofcom seems to be Sanctioned Suicide, which is affiliated with incel culture – see Wikipedia for context en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctio...

Following the October 2023 BBC News investigation, several British ISPs, including Sky Broadband, TalkTalk, BT and Virgin Media, announced that the site would be blocked on default safety controls. Administrators for the site partially restricted access to the site in the United Kingdom after being contacted by the British digital regulatory agency Ofcom, although such restrictions aren't apparent as of June 2025. A banner on the site announced that new users from the UK will not be able to access content on the website that violates the Online Safety Act. However, the majority of the content available on the site, which violates the self harm and suicide provisions of the Act, are still unfiltered and visible to UK users. The site was blocked in UK on July 1 2025. In addition, audio streaming service Spotify disabled the site's Spotify social login, which the company states was added by a third party developer without their knowledge. In response to reactions in the UK, Small made a post on the web forum Kiwi Farms stating that restricting access to the site or "harass[ing] me isn't going to solve the mental health crisis".

Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 1d

Note that Ofcom is actively encouraging sites to geoblock UK users if they don't want to absorb the costs of implementing age assurance or other regulatory demands. Effectively, population-wide censorship – but it gets those sites off Ofcom's plate, no court order required.

#openweb #techpolicy

Monitoring services which take steps to stop UK users from accessing them

In response to our enforcement action, providers of some services have taken steps to prevent people in the UK from accessing their sites – such as by 'geoblocking' access from UK IP addresses – instead of implementing the safety measures under our Codes. This has significantly reduced the likelihood that people in the UK will be exposed to any illegal or harmful content.

Four file-sharing services investigated under our CSAM enforcement programme – Krakenfiles, Nippydrive, Nippyshare, Nippyspace – have taken this approach in response to our investigations, and as a result we have decided to close these cases.

We will continue to monitor their availability in the UK and reserve the right to re-open our investigations if we have reason to do so. We are pursuing further lines of enquiry against file-sharing services Nippybox and Yolobit and these investigations remain ongoing.

Similarly, an online suicide forum – the target of our first investigation under the Online Safety Act – responded to our enforcement proceedings against it by implementing a geoblock to restrict access by people with UK IP addresses.

Following further engagement with the service, it later removed messaging from the landing page for UK users that promoted ways to circumvent the block. Ofcom is clear that services who choose to block access by people in the UK must not encourage or promote ways to avoid these restrictions.

This forum remains on Ofcom's watchlist and our investigation remains open while we check that the block is maintained and that the forum does not encourage or direct UK users to get around it.

More information on jurisdiction and our approach to enforcement in cases where services choose to restrict access to UK users is available on our website.

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 1d

UK regulator Ofcom has issued an update on investigations into online services under the Online Safety Act www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet... + www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safet...

4chan fined £20,000 + a daily rate penalty of £100 for up to 60 days

#ageverification #censorship #openweb #techpolicy

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 1d

ACoBA was pretty much toothless in terms of sanctions, but did at least publish info on the jobs that UK ex-ministers et al took up after leaving government. It's not clear we will get even that under the new arrangements.

Labour spin via Guardian's Peter Walker www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 1d

Evidence from Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) to PACAC inquiry on propriety and ethics www.gov.uk/government/p... from the interim chair (not Pickles)

UK Labour has closed ACoBA as of today and replaced it with … not much of anything

#opengov #revolvingdoor

19. The fragmentation of this system could have unintended consequences for the parity of treatment across the range of individuals subject to the Rules. Any divergence in the application of the Rules or the timeliness of consideration would erode confidence in the system. For example, moving the functions to a number of different decision makers could make it more difficult to demonstrate parity and independence. This risk is exacerbated if there is no distinct party political balance when considering applications from former ministers, or where decision makers have not been independently appointed. Further, a mechanism for consequences should be introduced for all those involved, whether applicants are former members of the military, the Civil Service or former ministers.

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 1d

Moderately well-known English science fiction writer Neal Asher, if anybody is keeping track en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_As...

Screenshot of thread from Bluesky on 12-13/10/2025:

‪Neal Asher‬ ‪@nealasher.bsky.social‬
This is insane. The Online Safety Act needs to be tossed in the bin. In fact all this 'hate speech' bollocks introduced over the years needs to go too, including the ridiculous recording on 'non-crime hate incidents'.

‪Owen Boswarva‬ @owenboswarva.bsky.social‬
That clip is BS. There are plenty of reasons to oppose the Online Safety Act but Harry Miller's article in The Critic, in which he misgendered Lynsay Watson, was published in 2023 before OSA was implemented. Miller was interviewed about it by police but not convicted of any offence.

Neal Asher ‪@nealasher.bsky.social‬
He didn't misgender HIM.

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 1d

Why Royal Mail could axe stamps and addresses on letters www.thetimes.com/business-mon... (£)

Will RM finally adopt the UPRN? (Doubtful.)

Comment from the RoyalMailChat forum: "Pure gaslighting designed to make workers believe their job is not needed anymore. The Times hates the working class."

Martin Seidenberg says that technology is evolving and that could revolutionise the sending of letters and parcels. Customers are already able to buy postage online, but in future customers may be able to input a recipient's address and then an alpha-numeric code could be spat out that can be popped on any given letter or parcel.

Will you need to write the address as well? "For now, yes," responds the boss of Royal Mail's parent company. He clams up when asked for further details, but it’s too late. Seidenberg has given the game away with the "for now" — but then this is all very early stage thinking.

Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 1d

That clip is BS. There are plenty of reasons to oppose the Online Safety Act but Harry Miller's article in The Critic, in which he misgendered Lynsay Watson, was published in 2023 before OSA was implemented. Miller was interviewed about it by police but not convicted of any offence.

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 2d

Men still being told they need to "get a personality" despite use of AI www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Which is why the man who greeted her inside the pub – polite, pleasant but oddly flat – felt like a stranger. Gone was the quickfire wit and playful rhythm she'd come to expect from their exchanges. Over pints he stumbled through small talk, checked his phone a little too often, and seemed to wilt under the pressure of her questions. "I felt like I was sitting opposite someone I'd never even spoken to," she says. "I tried to have the same sort of conversation as we'd been having online, but it was like, 'Knock, knock, is anyone home?' – like he knew basically nothing about me. That's when I suspected he'd been using AI."

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 2d

Welcome to the 'papers, please' internet www.theverge.com/column/79815... by Adi Robertson @thedextriarchy.bsky.social on the UK's Online Safety Act and similar measures in other countries

#ageverification #pornpass #censorship #dataprotection #openweb #techpolicy

Any benefits that do result from age-gating will probably take time to emerge, so it's hard to even have an argument about whether they're worth the tradeoffs. Some of the alleged harms that justify age-gating are fairly easy to discount, like US conservatives' unsubstantiated claims that porn impairs brain development. Others are complicated and unsettled questions, like whether social media overall harms teens’ mental health. And still others are obvious individual tragedies, like instances of harassment and sextortion — the question is whether there are other, less drastic ways to prevent them.

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 2d

Using a swearword in your Google search can stop the AI answer. But should you? www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Unless your query is actually about AI, you can also skip the AI overview by adding "-ai" to your Google search terms. But I guess that wouldn't make for good clickbait

How can I avoid using AI?

AI overview has a "profanity trigger". If you ask Google "What is AI?", its Gemini AI interface will deliver you a potted (and sometimes inaccurate) answer. It's functioning as an"answer engine" rather than a “search engine”.

But if you ask "What the fuck is AI?", you will be delivered straight search results, linking to other pages.

There are various browser extensions that can block AI sites, images and content.

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 2d

Keir Starmer promised us full transparency. So perhaps he can shed light on the mystery of Company 12373398 www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/artic... £

Filings find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/1237...

Some meandering nonsense from Dan Hodges. What on earth is a "data licence"?

Movement For Another Future had only one officer, a solicitor who listed his name in the filing as Alexandre Samuel Barros-Curtis. But it had a very important purpose. It was the official campaign vehicle for Keir Starmer and his Labour leadership campaign.

We know this because, although Barros-Curtis didn’t advertise the fact, nor did Keir Starmer subsequently declare the establishment of the company in the Register of Members' Interests, a data licence was discreetly obtained which stated its purpose was to 'register you as a supporter of Keir Starmer’ and ‘inform and engage you about the Campaign'.

Immediately after the company’s incorporation, the campaign was joined by Morgan McSweeney, at that time the director of another company called Labour Together, who would spend the next four months attempting to guide Sir Keir to the leadership.

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 3d

Context: FiLiA en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FiLiA

I see Laura Pidcock says the left mustn't condone this and Wes Streeting thinks it's disgraceful, so bear that in mind

#transrights #directaction

BASH BACK @bashback.bsky.social · 4d

BREAKING: BASH BACK TARGET FiLiA ANTI-TRANS CONFERENCE

The conference, whose alumni include J.K. Rowling, this year hosts hate groups LGBAlliance and Transgender Trend, along with the director of Scottish Lesbians, one of the groups responsible for April's segregationist Supreme Court ruling.

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 3d

Secretive SNP Government try to hide fact it lags behind England in school swimming data www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politic...

#FOI release www.gov.scot/publications...

Swimming pool data, famously the litmus test for government transparency

#opengov #opendata #datagap

The email read: "The simple answer is that no one collects this figure as far as we know. For context, but probably not for inclusion in the answer... In large part the lack of data is because we have no national framework or school swimming programme. Data is collected in England. In 2023 this was reported as almost 1 in 3 children left primary school unable to swim. We did ask Scottish Swimming whether they have any data on this. They are pulling together a statement with their views on why this data is unavailable."

Scottish Tory MSP Liz Smith, who has campaigned to save swimming pools, told the Scottish Daily Express: "It looks as though petty SNP government officials were at pains not to admit that a UK Government might be doing something better than them. This is data that SNP ministers should routinely have to hand, but little effort appears to have been made to encourage it to be published.

Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 3d

It will all be fine, I'm sure www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 3d

ODI's core funding from the UK Government has run out, Google is the daddy now

"2.3 Going concern"

Section of accounts report describing ODI's funding during 2024 and 2025. Highlighted:

"In April 2022, the ODI received a $3 million funding grant from the Department of Innovation, Science and Technology, spanning over three years, and has been actively delivering on this programme throughout 2024."

"On 23 July 2025, funding of £3,000,000 has been received from Google.org to support the stewardship of Solid has been received from Google.org."

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 3d

The UK's Open Data Institute (ODI) has published its annual accounts to the end of 2024 find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/0803...

£555,174 loss for the year after taxation. Nobody panic though it's just a real estate thing, London is hella expensive

#opendata #datapolicy

"Results and dividends

"The loss for the year, after taxation, amounted to £555,174 (2023 - loss £105,049)."

Two paragraphs describing the ODI's arrangments for leasing properties.

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 4d

Why not just have them chipped

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 4d

UK media noticing the petition response that DSIT published more than a week ago:

Government to consult on digital IDs for 13-year-olds www.bbc.com/news/article...

Do not introduce Digital ID cards petition.parliament.uk/petitions/73...

#digitalID #masssurveillance #techpolicy

Defending the plans to consider the inclusion of 13 to 16-year-olds in the scheme, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told LBC: "Everybody has forms of digital ID... We all have different ways of having to prove who we are.

"Lots of 13-year-olds already do [have a form of digital ID], and what the department is going to be consulting on is exactly how that should be taken forward.

"I do think that this is the right way forward, to have this standardised process now, and it's something that we had been already setting out for people who come to work from abroad."

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 4d

Nominet has put a server hold on the porn affiliate site that took over the Spy Dogs domain, citing the Online Safety Act nominet.uk/lookup/?doma...

Website that sparked children's book alert removed www.bbc.com/news/article...

Horrified parents and put-upon librarians can stand down

A Nominet spokesman said: "We have suspended this website for breaching our terms and conditions.

"The website did not conduct suitable age verification as required under the Online Safety Act - and we have advised the domain owner and its registrar.

"The web address featured in this popular children's book series had been allowed to expire by the previous owner and was subsequently purchased by a third party.

"It is recommended that those using web addresses in prominent locations continue ownership of the domain to avoid issues like this."

Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 4d

I gather members of affiliated unions (e.g. Unite, Unison) can vote in the election for Deputy Leader, even if they aren't personally UK Labour members – so it's *possible* the various posts on social media about this issue are all from people who just didn't realise they were eligible

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Owen Boswarva @owenboswarva.bsky.social · 4d

I don't know if this applies to you, but I gather members of affiliated unions (e.g. Unite, Unison) who have opted in to the political levy are eligible to vote in the election for Deputy Leader even if they are not personally Labour Party members

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