People of Internet — Global Tech Policy Research

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US surveillance and privacy

Split ALPR Rulings Show the Fourth Amendment Is Lagging Networked Plate Surveillance, and Legislatures Should Not Wait

An Oklahoma federal court called ALPR searches mass surveillance while a California court dismissed SIREN v. San Jose. Clear statutory limits beat a patchwork of rulings.

2026-10-13

Turkey 2026-10-13

Turkey's Under-15 Social Media Ban Gets a Privacy-Conscious Age Token, but Its Vague Rules and State-ID Dependency Raise the Costs

Turkey's new rules bar under-15s from social media from 1 November 2026 using e-Devlet age tokens. The design is thought...

Africa 2026-10-13

BCEAO's Doubled E-Money Cap Is a Sound Bet on Usage Over Rigid Limits, but the Real Test Is Liquidity and Access

BCEAO Instruction n° 020 doubles the WAEMU e-money balance cap to FCFA 4 million and eases reserve rules. The change is ...

Argentina 2026-10-13

Argentina's Prison Phone-Blocking Program Is Defensible in Aim but Thin on Due-Process Safeguards

Resolution 806/2026 ties IMEI, IMSI and line-level blocks to ministry requests. The goal is legitimate, but the publishe...

Switzerland 2026-10-13

Switzerland's AI Strategy Cut Shows the Value of a Lean State Role, but Only If the Legal Groundwork Is Not the Casualty

Bern is trimming its federal AI plan to six of eight measures and CHF 2 million a year. The cut is defensible, but it le...

Nigeria 2026-10-13

Nigeria's Sextortion Warning Targets Victims While the Real Leverage Sits With Banks and Platforms

The EFCC's Girl-Child Day message put the burden on young women, but 2026's takedown data shows platform and bank cooper...

Indonesia 2026-10-13

Indonesia's Grok Block Stopped One Deepfake Tool, but Its Gap Is Enforcement of Existing Law, Not a New Deepfake Statute

Jakarta officials warn about AI sexual deepfakes. Indonesia already has TPKS Article 14 and platform powers, and the evi...

UK 2026-10-13

The ICO's Police Facial Recognition Audits Show Accountability Works Best When Regulators Audit Before Scandal

107 recommendations, all accepted in whole or part, show consensual audits can discipline police facial recognition. Bia...

UK 2026-10-13

Meta's Challenge to Ofcom Tests Whether Online Safety Penalties Can Be Sized by Revenue From Services the Act Does Not Regulate

Meta's High Court challenge asks if Ofcom may count unregulated group revenue when setting Online Safety Act fines, a qu...

India 2026-10-13

Sahyog Takedowns Before the CJP Protests Show Why Section 79(3)(b) Cannot Stand In for Section 69A

Over 200 police takedown orders, an unpublished MeitY advisory and 37 detained journalists show what happens when blocki...

Global 2026-10-13

The ccTLD Hijacks Show Domain Validation Is Only as Strong as the Weakest Registry, and Shorter-Lived Trust Is the Fix

Attackers hijacked the .gh, .sl and .as registries and got valid certificates for Google domains. Shorter validation reu...

Saudi Arabia 2026-10-13

Saudi Arabia's Arabic AI Agents Go Cross-Border Under Data Law, Not AI Law, and the Gaps Sit in Retention and Transfers

Napster's HUMAIN deal puts persistent Arabic voice agents on Saudi data rules built for transfers, not AI. Clearer reten...

Egypt 2026-10-13

Egypt's Vague 'Family Values' Cybercrime Offence Is a Tax on Online Participation, but Evidence of a Usage Gap Is Thin

Article 25 of Egypt's 2018 cybercrime law punishes undefined 'family values' violations. The chilling effect is plausibl...

Global 2026-10-13

Hyperscalers Are Buying Land Routes Because Subsea Cable Law Cannot Protect a Chokepoint at War

Google, Meta and Microsoft are paying premiums for overland fiber around Bab al-Mandab. Legal fixes lag, so open, divers...

France 2026-10-13

France's Supermarket Freezer Attack Shows Liability Belongs With Device Makers, Not More Reporting Rules on Retailers

A remote defrost attack on hundreds of French stores exposes a gap that unfinished NIS2 transposition and the new Cyber ...

Africa 2026-10-13

Kenya's Landing Rights Rewrite Shows Africa's Cable Rules Should Cut Licence Layers, Not Add Them

Cullen's 17-jurisdiction cable benchmark finds approvals can take two years. Kenya's licensing overhaul tests whether Af...

UAE 2026-10-13

UAE's Starlink Licence Legalises a Market Already Running, and Shows That Clear Rules Can Beat Delay

The TDRA's 10-year Starlink licence puts satellite broadband on a clear legal footing. Its real test will be how lightly...

Malaysia 2026-10-13

Sarawak's SarawakPass Link to MyDigital ID Shows Federated Identity Can Work, but Malaysia's Data Law Hasn't Caught Up

Sarawak's SarawakPass now interoperates with MyDigital ID by QR code. Federated identity is the right design, but PDPA 2...

Australia 2026-10-13

Australia's Draft Privacy Bill Gets Breach Notification Right but Rests Too Much on a Vague 'Fair and Reasonable' Test

The 72-hour breach clock and genomic-data protections are sensible; a seven-factor open-ended test and unlegislated OAIC...

Argentina 2026-10-13

Argentina's RAMATEL Rules Put Marketplaces on the Hook for Listings, and Delay Shows the Rollout Is Not Ready

ENACOM Resolution 57/2026 moves telecom approvals to third-party certifiers and makes marketplaces police RAMATEL number...

Argentina 2026-10-13

Argentina's Data-Center Bet Without an AI Strategy Risks Exporting Power Instead of Building Capability

Argentina courted OpenAI's Stargate through RIGI tax incentives but has no funded AI strategy. The data-center contract ...

Thailand 2026-10-13

Thailand's Access-Request Rules Add Clear Deadlines, but Mandatory Paper Channels Burden Offshore Firms

Thailand's PDPC notification, effective 14 September 2026, turns PDPA section 30 into a procedure. The compliance cost d...

Taiwan 2026-10-13

Taiwan's Draft Security Bill Pairs Speech Fines With Platform Takedown Orders, and the Takedown Power Is the Harder Problem

Taiwan's stalled National Security Act amendment would fine advocacy of invasion and let officials order platforms to re...

Israel 2026-10-13

Israel's Beit Shemesh Fine Shows Amendment 13 Enforcement Targeting Paperwork Gaps, Not Just Breaches

A NIS 64,000 penalty for an undocumented data processor shows Israel's privacy regulator is fining governance failures, ...

China 2026-10-12

China's Hugging Face Block Shows Why Neutral Access Matters for AI Infrastructure, Even Where Net Neutrality Doesn't Exist

Beijing's 2023 Hugging Face block and its tolerance of VPN workarounds show that state discretion, not neutral rules, de...

Research for the People of the Internet

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Split ALPR Rulings Show the Fourth Amendment Is Lagging Networked Plate Surveillance, and Legislatures Should Not Wait

Turkey's Under-15 Social Media Ban Gets a Privacy-Conscious Age Token, but Its Vague Rules and State-ID Dependency Raise the Costs

BCEAO's Doubled E-Money Cap Is a Sound Bet on Usage Over Rigid Limits, but the Real Test Is Liquidity and Access

Argentina's Prison Phone-Blocking Program Is Defensible in Aim but Thin on Due-Process Safeguards

Switzerland's AI Strategy Cut Shows the Value of a Lean State Role, but Only If the Legal Groundwork Is Not the Casualty

Nigeria's Sextortion Warning Targets Victims While the Real Leverage Sits With Banks and Platforms

Indonesia's Grok Block Stopped One Deepfake Tool, but Its Gap Is Enforcement of Existing Law, Not a New Deepfake Statute

The ICO's Police Facial Recognition Audits Show Accountability Works Best When Regulators Audit Before Scandal

Meta's Challenge to Ofcom Tests Whether Online Safety Penalties Can Be Sized by Revenue From Services the Act Does Not Regulate

Sahyog Takedowns Before the CJP Protests Show Why Section 79(3)(b) Cannot Stand In for Section 69A

The ccTLD Hijacks Show Domain Validation Is Only as Strong as the Weakest Registry, and Shorter-Lived Trust Is the Fix

Saudi Arabia's Arabic AI Agents Go Cross-Border Under Data Law, Not AI Law, and the Gaps Sit in Retention and Transfers

Egypt's Vague 'Family Values' Cybercrime Offence Is a Tax on Online Participation, but Evidence of a Usage Gap Is Thin

Hyperscalers Are Buying Land Routes Because Subsea Cable Law Cannot Protect a Chokepoint at War

France's Supermarket Freezer Attack Shows Liability Belongs With Device Makers, Not More Reporting Rules on Retailers

Kenya's Landing Rights Rewrite Shows Africa's Cable Rules Should Cut Licence Layers, Not Add Them

UAE's Starlink Licence Legalises a Market Already Running, and Shows That Clear Rules Can Beat Delay

Sarawak's SarawakPass Link to MyDigital ID Shows Federated Identity Can Work, but Malaysia's Data Law Hasn't Caught Up

Australia's Draft Privacy Bill Gets Breach Notification Right but Rests Too Much on a Vague 'Fair and Reasonable' Test

Argentina's RAMATEL Rules Put Marketplaces on the Hook for Listings, and Delay Shows the Rollout Is Not Ready

Argentina's Data-Center Bet Without an AI Strategy Risks Exporting Power Instead of Building Capability

Thailand's Access-Request Rules Add Clear Deadlines, but Mandatory Paper Channels Burden Offshore Firms

Taiwan's Draft Security Bill Pairs Speech Fines With Platform Takedown Orders, and the Takedown Power Is the Harder Problem

Israel's Beit Shemesh Fine Shows Amendment 13 Enforcement Targeting Paperwork Gaps, Not Just Breaches

China's Hugging Face Block Shows Why Neutral Access Matters for AI Infrastructure, Even Where Net Neutrality Doesn't Exist