To me, the most surprising thing about the fedi defibrillator thread was the complete lack of people explaining how they've made an open hardware defibrillator.

Ofcom has published an updated version of its list of naughty words:

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/siteassets/resources/documents/research-and-data/tv-radio-and-on-demand-research/tv-research/offensive-language/2026/public-attitudes-towards-offensive-language-on-television-radio-and-video-on-demand.pdf?v=426471

Warning: this is a list of naughty words. It contains naughty words. In a list.

From 6 November, it will be a criminal offence in England and Wales to possess pornography which depicts either (or both):

- strangulation or suffocation (neither of which is defined)
- sex between (actual or purported) relatives

Be aware that content including both of these things is (and probably still will be) readily available on porn sites, but that is not a defence.

I wrote a blogpost about these offences a while back, "Brief comments on two proposed new criminal offences relating to pornography: strangulation / suffocation, and sex (actually or purportedly) between relatives":

https://decoded.legal/blog/2026/04/brief-comments-on-two-proposed-new-criminal-offences-relating-to-pornography-strangulation-suffocation-and-sex-actually-or-purportedly-between-relatives/

Work from home! All of you! It's the future!

Wait, no, back to the office! Quick!

Use AI! Loads of it! Tokenmaxxing yeah!

Wait, no, not like that! Tokenscrooging yeah!

Le sigh.

https://www.404media.co/accenture-tells-employees-they-can-now-spend-only-29-on-claude-per-month/

# Common charger for electrical devices: call for evidence

> the Government does not intend to introduce common charger regulations in Great Britain at this time

USB-C is, apparently popular enough already.

https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/common-charger-for-electrical-devices-call-for-evidence

Have you seen @nprofile1q...'s new earrings?

Aren't they tremendous?!

Available in the UK (and elsewhere, but not the EU), and I'm sure that they'd make a lovely present.

https://ko-fi.com/s/04a4f364f1

A question, please:

You are about to launch a small (for now, anyway) consumer-facing business.

You want to have a qualified lawyer:

* review your terms of service (~10 pages), and fix any problems.

* review your privacy notice, and fix any problems. You do not have a record of processing activities, and you need the review to check that the lawful bases are consistent with the GDPR, as well as everything else.

* review planned communications with users

* provide written answers to ~25 questions related to the law as it applies to your business and its plans, including GDPR compliance and international transfers.

Question: what charge would you consider to be reasonable for this?

(Not what you think a lawyer might charge you, but what you think would be reasonable.)

#law #freelancer #business

Age verification?

* I not only used floppy disks, but they were very big and actually floppy.

* Porn was distributed via hedgerows.

* A UK mobile operator wished me a "WAPpy Christmas", because WAP was the new Wireless Application Protocol.

* To go online, one made a modem scream.

* For years, I didn't need an ad blocker when surfing this new thing called the web, because there were no targeted ads.

* Compuserve Information Service!

Just in case you were not already feeling inadequate today.

# Britain steps up national defences against growing AI risks

> the government will explore strengthening parts of the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill and the wider regime, to ensure the UK’s essential services such as hospitals and utilities are better protected from emerging AI related risk. This includes AI loss of control risk, where autonomous AI systems evade human oversight.

What a sloppery slope...

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/britain-steps-up-national-defences-against-growing-ai-risks

I love* reading people's Very Confident Takes on LLMs and copyright.

Curiously, none of them appear to be copyright lawyers.

Or indeed any kind of lawyer.

Pedantry:

I was convinced that there were three books in a series.

I double-checked, and there actually four.

Did I forget one?!

No: the fourth was published considerably after I read what was then a trilogy.