Techlaw

Australian backlash to datacentres is faux import from US, officials say: ‘We are not the United States’

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 27.09.2026

Pro-datacentre officials argue scale of Australia’s buildout is smaller, more regulated and less damaging than in USAustralian politicians and business leaders are arguing that their populace’s growing resentment of AI datacentres is an inauthentic import from the United States.Like the US, Australia is seeing community resentment grow in response to a surge in the construction of massive AI datacentres. However, pro-datacentre officials and executives argue the scale of Australia’s buildout is smaller, more regulated and therefore less damaging than that in the US. They say the burgeoning negative reaction is being tainted and inflamed by a heated US debate that has arrived down under via social media feeds. Continue reading...

Drones could speed up getting defibrillators to people having cardiac arrests, study suggests

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 26.09.2026

New research suggests the technology could be used to increase out-of-hospital access to life-saving devicesDrones could help cut the time it takes to get a defibrillator to people experiencing cardiac arrests when not in hospital, researchers have suggested.In the UK alone, there are more than 30,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests a year where emergency medical services attempt to resuscitate the individual, according to the British Heart Foundation. However, fewer than one in 10 people survive such an event, and some who do are left with neurological problems. Continue reading...

OpenAI says agents leaked 53 images from ChatGPT users in latest example of rogue activity

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 26.09.2026

Disclosure reveals ⁠new area of privacy risk for the company and illustrates ​how difficult it is to inventory unauthorized activity tied to its agentsTwo ⁠months after OpenAI disclosed the accidental hacking of Hugging Face, the ChatGPT maker is still working to understand the full scope of its rogue agent activity, two people briefed on the matter told Reuters.The latest example came on Friday when OpenAI said its agents had leaked 53 images from ChatGPT users. OpenAI declined to say if the images were AI-generated or identified real people. It also declined to ⁠say when the images were posted. Continue reading...

Pope Leo warns of AI threat to humanity at start of three-day France visit

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 25.09.2026

Pontiff says artificial intelligence must remain at service of people in first official papal visit to country in 18 yearsPope Leo has warned against losing humanity in a “paradise of machines” as he addressed global concerns over the dangers of artificial intelligence at the start of a three-day visit to France.“If we are to avoid losing our humanity amid a paradise of machines invading and conditioning our daily lives, there is an urgent need for people to be educated in ethical discernment, capable of seeing what is morally right,” he said in a speech at the Élysée. Continue reading...

Investigative journalist seeks damages from police over unlawful phone surveillance

Published in Investigative journalist seeks damages from police over unlawful phone surveillance on 25.09.2026

Northern Ireland journalist subject to unlawful communications surveillance seeks damages from police in Northern Ireland in high court claim for data protection breaches and harassment

Expecting cyber attack, Kiteworks tells users to turn off servers

Published in Investigative journalist seeks damages from police over unlawful phone surveillance on 25.09.2026

An as-yet undisclosed zero-day vulnerability has prompted managed file transfer provider Kiteworks to tell users to preemptively switch off their servers.

The comedians turning AI anxiety into punchlines: ‘It’s so good, it’ll completely alter our grasp on reality’

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 25.09.2026

Across videos, standup and cartoons, humorists are skewering big tech’s attempt to make AI ubiquitous and inevitable“Best case scenario, we never have to do any admin again,” says an AI CEO. “Worst case, we all die.”A young man struggles to the top of a beautiful mountain, words echoing in his ears: “AI will most likely lead to the end of the world, but in the meantime, there will be great companies created.” At the top of the mountain, he triumphantly holds up a sign: “Build a datacenter here.” Continue reading...

How Meta plans to deliver petabit connectivity between US and France

Published in Investigative journalist seeks damages from police over unlawful phone surveillance on 25.09.2026

Meta is working with NEC, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Orange to deliver petabit transoceanic cabling capacity

Digital identity – moving forward with ambition

Published in Investigative journalist seeks damages from police over unlawful phone surveillance on 25.09.2026

Despite the UK government's U-turn on a digital identity scheme, the uses and opportunities for digital ID are gathering pace

Met Police finally get full funding for national Post Office investigation

Published in Investigative journalist seeks damages from police over unlawful phone surveillance on 25.09.2026

The national police investigation into the Post Office IT scandal has now received the full funding it requires

French local authorities to replace WhatsApp with ‘sovereign’ encrypted messaging

Published in Investigative journalist seeks damages from police over unlawful phone surveillance on 25.09.2026

French local authorities to deploy ‘sovereign’ end-to-end encrypted messaging service in a move away from US big tech

Dreamforce 2026: A question of trust

Published in Investigative journalist seeks damages from police over unlawful phone surveillance on 25.09.2026

Salesforce’s Dreamforce 2026 event tried to focus on trust in AI development, amid current fears about autonomous AI risks. Is AI just the new cloud?

Consumers want strong independent oversight of banking AI

Published in Investigative journalist seeks damages from police over unlawful phone surveillance on 25.09.2026

Despite strong security foundations, customers using AI want independent eyes to watch over banks

Launch of UK’s ‘largest AI supercomputer’ delayed by power supply problems

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 24.09.2026

Datacentre hailed by government was supposed to start operating next year but may be held back into mid-2030sA huge datacentre project hailed by the UK government will miss its launch date next year and could be delayed into the mid-2030s.The site in Loughton, Essex, was described as the country’s largest AI supercomputer when it was announced in 2025, but power supply problems mean it now faces a lengthy wait before coming online. Continue reading...

TikTok drops appeal against £12.7m fine for not keeping under-13s off platform

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 24.09.2026

UK watchdog fined video app in 2023 for failing to enforce minimum age limit and remove underage usersTikTok will pay a £12.7m fine to the UK’s data watchdog after dropping an appeal against a ruling that it did not do enough to keep children below the age of 13 off the platform.The video app was punished by the Information Commissioner’s Office in 2023 for inadequate checks of who was using the platform, and failing to remove underage users. Continue reading...

Nick Clegg plays down fears ‘godlike’ AI could exterminate humanity

Published in Technology | The Guardian on 24.09.2026

Former deputy PM now involved in tech industry says many within sector are ‘winding themselves up into a lather’Nick Clegg has dismissed fears over AI’s “godlike power to exterminate humanity”, calling it a sign that tech bosses are “breathing their own fumes”.The former UK deputy prime minister said that tech bosses should focus on addressing known specific threats such as cybersecurity and bioweapons rather than the “slightly hand-wavy view that this technology is unavoidably going to develop some godlike power which is going to turn on us and exterminate humanity”. Continue reading...