Jan Penfrat
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ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Jan Penfrat
@ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
130 followers 16 following 460 posts
Policy guy @edri, working on platform regulation, content moderation, data protection and surveillance ads in Europe. For 15+ years in the Brussels maze […]

[bridged from https://eupolicy.social/@ilumium on the fediverse by https://fed.brid.gy/ ]
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ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Well wouldn't that be something @EUCommission ?

https://transport.ec.europa.eu/news-events/news/commission-launches-plan-accelerate-high-speed-rail-across-europe-2025-11-05_en

#mastotrains #trainbubble #CrossBorderRail
Map of European continent showing existing and suggested new high speed rail connections by the European Commission.
November 17, 2025 at 7:01 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Love how a resident fighting the construction of a large ugly office tower in my #brussels neighbourhood casually shows off his @ubuntu #linux laptop on local TV and loads files from the city's @nextcloud instance. ❤️

#foss #freesoftware #digitalsovereignty #delta #auderghem #tourtriomphe
TV screenshot of a black laptop running Ubuntu Linux with a Firefox browser window showing a PDF file that has been downloaded from a Brussels Region Nextcloud instance.
November 14, 2025 at 10:32 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Today and tomorrow I'm at @DisinfoEU's #disinfo2025 conference in #ljubljana. Really excited to follow this community more closely through a #digtialrights lens.

If I find time, I'll use this thread 🧵 to share some insights and thoughts, so please bear with me throughout the day.
Photo of disinfo 2025 conference main stage with Slovenian media minister speaking.
October 15, 2025 at 7:32 AM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Mmmm, how much I love high-speed #rail travel. #trains
Photo of a German high speed train's onboard screen showing the current speed of 317 km/h.
October 13, 2025 at 9:22 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
"Asking enslaved people if they actually want to work the plantations for free would kill the cotton industry."

-- Nick Clegg

#AI #aicon #exploitation #bigtech
The Verge headline: "Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would 'kill' the AI industry."
October 9, 2025 at 6:43 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
EU Commission: We must put #AI into everything. Right now!

Also #eu Commission:
Screenshot from Politico article with headline "EU to back ‘assertive’ effort to counter foreign Al" First paragraph of article "Brussels is set to call for a more assertive stance on artificial intelligence amid fears the technology could be weaponized, according to a draft strategy seen by POLITICO."
October 6, 2025 at 1:54 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Dear journalists: did you know there is a verb for "using false claims"? Many children learn it in kindergarten. It's called "lying".

#claearlanguage #uspol #journalism #freepress
Screenshot from The Guardian with a headline reading "Vance uses false claims to pin shutdown blame on Democrats as White House warns of layoffs" instead of "Vance lies to pin shutdown on Democrats..."
October 2, 2025 at 6:31 AM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Mmmm, let's see if this wonderful #privacycamp25 panel with @parismarx, @alexandrageese, Zuzanna Warso, @eliza and @Ambersinha is able to deconstruct the sadly dominant #eurostack / #buyeuropean narrative...
Photo of classy stage with 5 speakers sitting in a half circle.
September 30, 2025 at 1:22 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
So awesome to participate in this year's #privacycamp25 again. Is this the biggest ever in terms of number of people? :saddercat: :edri:
Photo of large but cozy and stylish conference room full with audience shown from the back and looking onto a stage with speakers.
September 30, 2025 at 12:04 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
I'm sure this is totally coincidental.

#hitler #trump #nazipropaganda
Black/white photograph of Adolf Hitler, taken from behind him, in front of a crowd of people. Black/white photograph of Donald Trump, taken from behind him, in front of a crowd of people. The photo was posted on the White House's official social media account and looks like a copy of the very similar historical photo of Adolf Hitler.
September 22, 2025 at 1:28 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Spot the mistake

#wealthtax #taxtherich
The Guardian headline: "Wealth tax would be deadly for French economy," says Europe's richest man
September 21, 2025 at 6:36 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
From @meme_ec #simplification #eu #Deregulation
Meme with Commission President Urslua von der Leyen telling Mario Draghi: "We created not one but six simplification packages." And Draghi responding "Maybe I wasn't clear enough, give it back please," taking a bunch of papers out of her hand.
September 17, 2025 at 8:33 AM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Finally a response from @EUCommission Vice-President #virkkunen on the American attacks against #democracy in Europe (unfortunately on #linkedin):

"The #DSA and #dma are our sovereign legislations - Non-discriminatory, applying to all online platforms in the […]

[Original post on eupolicy.social]
Screenshot of page 1 of Virkkunen's letter to Jim Jordan Screenshot of page 2 of Virkkunen's letter to Jim Jordan
September 1, 2025 at 5:31 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Thierry #breton has shot back, and I'm afraid to say I love it.

#DSA #dma #digitalservicesact #digitalmarketsact #trump

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/28/eu-donald-trump-tariffs-us-europe-tech
Letter by former a commissioner Thierry Breton to the US committee of the judiciary explaining in no uncertain terms why he is refusing to "testify" there.
August 28, 2025 at 10:29 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Is anyone else having @signalapp show a non-removable #android notification every time there is a new version days *before* that new version is even available in the app store? #signal
Screenshot of Android notification by Signal warning that a new version is available
August 26, 2025 at 12:34 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Is anyone else having @signalapp show a non-removable #android notification every time there is a new version days *before* that new version is even available in the apps store? #signal
Screenshot of Android notification by Signal warning that a new version is available
August 26, 2025 at 12:34 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Together with my 5-year old I refurbished this #playmobil #pirateship today which my brother had gotten for his birthday in 1984. Since then it's been played with by me, my sis, and then her three children.

Now 40 years later it made me think about how long […]

[Original post on eupolicy.social]
Official product picture of the 1984 Playmobil pirate ship with blue sky background.
August 23, 2025 at 11:55 AM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
By the way I'm in #bangkok this week and next at a conference to discuss the impact of #DSA and #dma on countries in South Asia and their own regulatory efforts.

Do I know anybody here who wants to meet up? 👋

#digitalservicesact #digitalmarketsact
Photo of Bangkok downtown skyline by day. Cloudy sky.
July 30, 2025 at 1:43 AM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Just saw this on someone's T-shirt and thought this dude is clearly not reading the room.

Then I learnt it's an actual apparel brand people buy.

#billionaireboysclub #taxtherich #stopbillionaires
Photo of Billionaire Boys Club logo close up on a T-shirt
July 25, 2025 at 9:33 AM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
@JessTheUnstill Made me think of the Human v1.1 Hotfix patch (author unknown)
Sign with a human icon entitled "Human 1.1 Hotfix patch" - dislodged eyelashes will no longer enter eyeball area and become inaccessible - random cheek and tongue biting issue during food consumption fixed - memory leak patched, should fix the "enter the room and forget why" and item misplaced issues - fixed a bug where the motivation module would randomly fail to load
June 25, 2025 at 8:53 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Good morning Fediverse's EU tech policy nerds!

Up today: the @EUCommission's #dma workshop with #gatekeeper #microsoft.

(Sorry #ngiforum25 two floors below, no time for you today 😌)

We haven't started yet and the room is still empty, but I'm hoping we'll […]

[Original post on eupolicy.social]
Empty European Commission conference room with large screen showing the agenda of today's meeting.
June 20, 2025 at 7:14 AM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
So cool to now also see @matrix's @Amandine at #ngiforum25 to speak about sovereign and secure messaging #infrastructure (and strongly warn against the nationalist version of the digital #sovereignty narrative 💪):

"Does self-sufficiency even make sense in a […]

[Original post on eupolicy.social]
Photo of large video screen with Amandine Le Pape speaking on it.
June 19, 2025 at 12:40 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
I'm attending the @EUCommission's #ngiforum25 in Brussels today and am super happy to finally see essential #foss digital service providers being better represented in the policy debates, e.g. with speakers from @Mastodon, @xwiki and @[email protected] projects. 🎉
Photo of conference room with panel speakers and audience members shown from the back.
June 19, 2025 at 10:19 AM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
The exhibition shows photographs about the work of #journalists and #activists like #charter97 in #Belarus, @rferl.org in Prague, and #raywong from #hongkongindigenous, who were also present in person. It was quite brilliant and moving to hear their testimony […]

[Original post on eupolicy.social]
Photo of anti-government demonstration against the presidential elections in 2010 in Belarus showing people waving EU flags. Photo of a group of protestors for democracy in Myanmar, showing people from the back wearing white capes that read "we need democracy". Photo of protests against Hong Kong's new security law showing a lone demonstrator holding up a yellow umbrella in front of a line of heavily protected police.
June 10, 2025 at 8:29 PM
ilumium.eupolicy.social.ap.brid.gy
Am at the launch of a fascinating attempt by @protonprivacy to visualise the importance of #encryption and #freeexpression in a photo exhibition “Through the Lens: Protecting Democracy and Freedom in Cyberspace” opening now in the #europeanparliament.
Photo of member of European Parliament speaker in front of photo exhibition in the European Parliament building in Brussels
June 10, 2025 at 4:21 PM