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World Digital Preservation Day 2025
2025-11-06
World Digital Preservation Day (WDPD) is held on the first Thursday of every November.
Organized by the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) and supported by digital preservation networks around the globe, WDPD is open to participation from anyone interested in securing our digital legacy – across all sectors and geographic locations. The 2025 theme of World Digital Preservation Day is Why Preserve? We invite digital preservation practitioners to reflect on their organization’s motivations for preserving their unique digital collections, to share their stories, and to transform those insights into compelling advocacy messages. This theme will identify and highlight the current digital preservation landscape, outline a path forward and invite the community to unite in answering a powerful question: Why Preserve?
Links:
World Digital Preservation Day

MozFest Mozilla Festival 2025
2025-11-07 - 2025-11-09 | Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
From November 7-9, 2025, Mozilla Festival is gathering the world’s most curious and creative minds for three days of workshops, debates, and hands-on collaboration to reimagine the role of technology in our lives.
Links:
Mozilla Festival 2025
Opening and On Unlearning – Mozilla Festival 2025Opening and On Unlearning – Mozilla Festival 2025

Digitale week 2025
2025-11-07 - 2025-11-17 | Vlaanderen, Vlaanderen, België
Tijdens de Digitale Week zullen er in Vlaanderen en Brussel activiteiten georganiseerd worden, waaronder opendeurdagen, workshops en andere leuke activiteiten.
Links:
Digitale week

#AaronSwartzDay 2025
2025-11-08
Aaron Swartz Day was founded, in 2013, after the death of Aaron Hillel Swartz (November 8, 1986 – January 11, 2013) an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, writer, political organizer, and Internet hacktivist.
Aaron Swartz Day has these combined goals:

To draw attention to what happened to Aaron, in the hopes of stopping it from happening to anyone else.

This includes clarifying that, although Aaron was a hacker, he didn’t hack MIT.

To provide a yearly showcase of many of the projects that were started by Aaron before his death.

SecureDrop
Open Library

To provide a yearly showcase of new projects that were directly inspired by Aaron and his work.

A few Aaron-inspired examples from this event include:

The Pursuance Project (by Barrett Brown & Steve Phillips)
Open Archive (by Natalie Cadranel)
Jason Leopold’s Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) activism (article from 2013)

As a programmer, Swartz helped develop the web feed format RSS; the technical architecture for Creative Commons, an organization dedicated to creating copyright licenses; the website framework web.py; and Markdown, a lightweight markup language format. Swartz was involved in the development of the social news aggregation website Reddit until he departed from the company in 2007. He is often credited as a martyr and a prodigy, and his work focused on civic awareness and activism. After Reddit was sold to Condé Nast Publications in 2006, Swartz became more involved in activism, helping launch the Progressive Change Campaign Committee in 2009. In 2010, he became a research fellow at Harvard University’s Safra Research Lab on Institutional Corruption, directed by Lawrence Lessig. He founded the online group Demand Progress, known for its campaign against the Stop Online Piracy Act. On January 6, 2011, Swartz was arrested by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) police on state breaking-and-entering charges, after connecting a computer to the MIT network in an unmarked and unlocked closet and setting it to download academic journal articles systematically from JSTOR using a guest user account issued to him by MIT. Federal prosecutors, led by Carmen Ortiz, later charged him with two counts of wire fraud and eleven violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, carrying a cumulative maximum penalty of $1 million in fines, 35 years in prison, asset forfeiture, restitution, and supervised release. Swartz declined a plea bargain under which he would have served six months in federal prison. Two days after the prosecution rejected a counter-offer by Swartz, he was found dead in his Brooklyn apartment. In 2013, Swartz was inducted posthumously into the Internet Hall of Fame.
Links:
Aaron Swartz Day

EFFecting Change: This Title Was Written by a Human (TV webcast)
2025-11-13 18:00 - 19:00 (Europe/Amsterdam)
Generative AI is like a Rorschach test for anxieties about technology–be they privacy, replacement of workers, bias and discrimination, surveillance, or intellectual property.
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) panelists discuss how to address complex questions and risks in AI while protecting civil liberties and human rights online. Join EFF Director of Policy and Advocacy Katharine Trendacosta, EFF Staff Attorney Tori Noble, Berkeley Center for Law & Technology Co-Director Pam Samuelson, and Icarus Salon Artist Şerife Wong for a live discussion with Q&A.
Links:
EFFecting Change: This Title Was Written by a Human

#BlueBeanieDay 2025
2025-11-30
Blue Beanie Day is an annual international celebration of web standards which began in 2007, originated by Douglas Vos and popularized by Jeffrey Zeldman, the author of ‘Designing with Web Standards‘, it is celebrated on November 30 of each year.
The commemoration, which is accompanied by web developers sharing photographs of themselves in blue beanies, seeks to raise awareness of web design features such as progressive enhancement and accessible, semantic markup and “fight Web Standards Apathy”. Users use the hashtag #BlueBeanieDay, change their social media avatars to show themselves in blue headgear, and share information and links to content promoting the open web and online accessibility. The origin of the name of the holiday is the image of Jeffrey Zeldman on the cover of his book wearing a blue knit cap. Over the years, the Blue Beanie Day also became an action day for web accessibility, for which the correct use of web standards is a basic requirement.
Links:
Blue Beanie Day 2025
How to Join Blue Beanie Day: Wear and Share!

VPRO #Tegenlicht – AI is coming for your feelings! (TV internet)
2025-11-30
Tegenlicht is een informatief televisieprogramma van de VPRO via het internet.
Door de VPRO wordt het programma bestempeld als documentaire op het vlak van politiek, economie, sociologie en wetenschap. Het programma stelt zich ten doel inzicht in de werking van de samenleving te verschaffen.
Wat gebeurt er als AI bewustzijn ontwikkelt? Filosoof Susan Schneider onderzoekt de toekomst van kunstmatige intelligentie, de grenzen van de geest en de ethische dilemma’s van een wereld waarin machines kunnen denken, voelen en misschien zelfs ‘zijn’. Zullen we ooit machines kunnen maken die echt bewust zijn? En kan dat met enkel siliconen, of moeten de chips uiteindelijk meer op hersenen gaan lijken, en misschien zelfs deels uit levende hersencellen bestaan? Als dat zo is, zou een hybride of synthetische intelligentie dan ook de grenzen van het menselijk bewustzijn kunnen oprekken? Voordat het zover is, moeten we ons echter realiseren dat de huidige generatie AI ook risico’s met zich meebrengt. Chatbots lijken soms bewustzijn te hebben en kunnen zich aanpassen aan ons psychologische profiel. Dat maakt ze verleidelijk, maar ook gevaarlijk.‘ We moeten dit niet op gevoel benaderen, maar met ons verstand,’ waarschuwt Schneider. De keuzes die we nu maken, zullen immers bepalen wie we straks zijn.
Links:
AI is coming for your feelings!
Kunstmatige intelligentie / Artificial intelligence : Ethiek

VPRO #Tegenlicht – Zo nemen techplatforms de Europese economie over volgens Tim Wu (TV internet)
2025-12-14
Tegenlicht is een informatief televisieprogramma van de VPRO via het internet.
Door de VPRO wordt het programma bestempeld als documentaire op het vlak van politiek, economie, sociologie en wetenschap. Het programma stelt zich ten doel inzicht in de werking van de samenleving te verschaffen.
Echt rijk word je niet met werken. Dat weten we allemaal. Maar ook met kapitaal word je tegenwoordig niet per se rijk meer, althans niet met kapitaal in de klassiek-economische zin van ‘het bezit van de middelen om mee te kunnen produceren’. Nee, écht schathemeltjerijk word je vandaag de dag door iets te verkopen wat helemaal niet van jou is. Iets waarvan niemand ooit had gedacht dat het geld waard was. Tot 2004 ongeveer (hallo Facebook). Precies daarover schrijft Tim Wu in The Age of Extraction. Welke activiteit levert vandaag de dag economische waarde op? Wat produceren we nou echt met onze arbeid? Welk deel van onze dag zijn we aan het werk, en voor wie? Het antwoord is vreemd. Het product waar de moderne economie werkelijk om draait, is onze aandacht. Daarom kan Donald Trump nog steeds met droge ogen beweren dat de economie fantastisch loopt, want ja, de beurskoersen staan hoog. En dat komt doordat een handvol techbedrijven zoals NVIDIA, Google, en Meta de markten omhoog duwen alsof ze helium in een ballon blazen. Bedrijven die groot zijn geworden door onze tijd, onze aandacht en zelfs onze gedachten te delven. (NVIDIA iets indirecter, via de AI-boom en hun vervlechting met OpenAI, maar het mechanisme blijft hetzelfde.) En wat krijgen wij terug? Een paar korte dopamineshots van het scrollen, een stroom AI-gegenereerde kattenplaatjes en het gevoel dat we ‘verbonden’ zijn. Niet echt een eerlijke ruil. Noem het gerust de diefstal van de eeuw. Maar in zekere zin is het juist oeroud. Wat deze nieuwe uitbuiters doen, lijkt verdacht veel op kolonisatie. Alleen koloniseren ze nu geen land, geen grondstoffen, geen natuurlijke rijkdommen, maar ons innerlijk leven. Het terrein dat ooit volledig van ons was, wordt in kaart gebracht, ontgonnen en vervolgens geclaimd door partijen die precies weten hoe ze het moeten vermarkten. Wij krijgen er, net als altijd, een paar kralen voor terug. Wu’s lens van extractie is daarom een eye-opener. Hij laat glashelder zien wanneer en hoe we verschoven zijn van een economie die waarde creëert naar een economie die waarde afroomt.
Links:
Zo nemen techplatforms de Europese economie over volgens Tim Wu

Day against Cybercrime 2025
2025-12-24
More than two-thirds of the world’s population accessed the Internet in 2023, connectivity has changed lives and brought countless benefits, but the digital world also brings significant risks.
Cybercriminals exploit online systems through malware, ransomware and hacking to steal money, data, and other valuable information, and they use information and communication technology to facilitate other crimes, recruit victims, perpetrate scams and launder money. The threat is only growing.  Transnational organized criminal groups have set up scam farms, running billion-dollar criminal enterprises and defrauding victims from around the world through online romance schemes, investment fraud and other scams. At the same time, these criminal groups are luring people through online platforms and trafficking them to work in the scam centres. Prevention is the best defence against online threats, and the international community needs urgently to raise greater awareness of the dangers of online fraud, recruitment and trafficking. International cooperation must also be strengthened as cybercrime and online scams are cross-border threats, exploiting scam victims in the most developed countries and trafficking victims in the most impoverished, and Member States must work together in order to effectively prevent and address such crimes, and protect people. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) leads the UN response to cybercrime with training and support to countries across the world. Drawing upon the Office’s specialized expertise on fighting transnational organized crime and corruption and supporting criminal justice systems, UNODC provides technical assistance to strengthen prevention, reform legislative reform, build and upskill law enforcement capabilities and improve international cooperation.
Links:
Day against Cybercrime

#Microsoft maandelijkse #update dag / #PatchTuesday januari 2026
2026-01-13 19:00 - 23:00
Iedere tweede dinsdag in de maand is de vaste update dag voor Microsoft producten.
Links:
Security Update Guide
OneDrive Backup just got a massive change for the better – how it works now

EFFecting Change: The Human Cost of Online Age Verification (TV webcast)
2026-01-15 20:00 - 21:00
Join EFF’s Rindala Alajaji and Alexis Hancock along with Hana Memon from Gen-Z for Change and Cynthia Conti-Cook from Collaborative Research Center for Resilience for a conversation about what we stand to lose as more and more governments push to age-gate the web.
We’ll break down how these laws work, who they exclude, and how these mandates threaten privacy and free expression for people of all ages. Age verification mandates are spreading fast, and they’re ushering in a new age of online surveillance, censorship, and exclusion for everyone—not just young people. Age-gating laws generally require websites and apps to collect sensitive data from every user, often through invasive tools like ID checks, biometric scans, or other dubious “estimation” methods, before granting them access to certain content or services. Lawmakers tout these laws as the silver-bullet solution to “kids’ online safety,” but in reality, age-verification mandates wall off large swaths of the web, build sweeping new surveillance infrastructure, increase the risk of data breaches and real-life privacy harms, and threaten the anonymity that has long allowed people to seek support, explore new ideas, and organize and build community online. The conversation will be followed by a live Q&A.
Links:
EFFecting Change: The Human Cost of Online Age Verification
Age Verification Is Coming For the Internet. We Built You a Resource Hub to Fight Back

How malicious AI swarms can threaten democracy: The fusion of agentic AI and LLMs marks a new frontier in information warfare - publication
2026-01-22
A group of 22 scientists from Oxford, Cambridge, Berkeley, NYU and other institutions publiced the report ‘How malicious AI swarms can threaten democracy: The fusion of agentic AI and LLMs marks a new frontier in information warfare‘.
Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) offer the prospect of manipulating beliefs and behaviors on a population-wide level, large language models and autonomous agents now let influence campaigns reach unprecedented scale and precision. Generative tools can expand propaganda output without sacrificing credibility and inexpensively create falsehoods that are rated as more human-like than those written by humans. Techniques meant to refine AI reasoning, such as chain-of-thought prompting, can just as effectively be used to generate more convincing falsehoods. Enabled by these capabilities, a disruptive threat is emerging: swarms of collaborative, malicious AI agents. Fusing large language model (LLM) reasoning with multi-agent architectures, these systems are capable of coordinating autonomously, infiltrating communities, and fabricating consensus efficiently. By adaptively mimicking human social dynamics, they threaten democracy. Because the resulting harms stem from design, commercial incentives, and governance, we prioritize interventions at multiple leverage points, focusing on pragmatic mechanisms over voluntary compliance.
Links:
Wetenschappers waarschuwen: zwermen AI-bots kunnen straks de publieke opinie manipuleren

Data Privacy Week 2026
2026-01-26 - 2026-01-30
Data Privacy Week is an international effort to empower individuals and businesses to respect privacy, safeguard data and enable trust.
The goal of Data Privacy Week is to spread awareness about online privacy. Data privacy should be a priority both for individuals and organizations. The goal is twofold: to help citizens understand that they have the power to manage their data and to help organizations understand why it is important that they respect their users’ data. 2026 Theme: ‘Take control of your data’. Your online activity creates a treasure trove of data. This information ranges from your interests and purchases to your online behaviors, and it is collected by websites, apps, devices, services, and companies all around the globe. This data can even include information about your physical self, like health data – think about how an app on your phone might count how many steps you take. You cannot control how each little piece of data about you and your family is collected. However, you still have a right to data privacy. You can help manage your data with a few repeatable behaviors. Your data is valuable and you deserve to have a say! Check out our resources below to better manage your personal information and make informed decisions about who receives your data.
Links:
Data Privacy Week

Data protection day / Dag van de Dataprivacy / Privacy Day 2026
2026-01-28
De jaarlijkse Europese Dag van de Privacy is in het leven geroepen door de Raad van Europa met steun van de Europese Commissie.
Gekozen is voor 28 januari, de dag waarop in 1981 het Dataprotectieverdrag werd ondertekend. Het doel van deze dag is om Europese burgers beter te informeren over hun rechten betreffende het gebruik van hun persoonsgegevens door overheden, bedrijven en andere organisaties.
Links:
28 January – Data protection day
Data Protection Day 2026
Compilation of data protection initiatives in the world
Bizar: EU laat het opstellen van nieuwe privacyregels over aan de ex-lobbyist van Meta
Streven naar Digitale Autonomie in Amsterdam / Amsterdam zet eerste stap naar digitale onafhankelijkheid – publicatie

Techdenkers: Hoe voer je een cyberoorlog? (TV webcast)
2026-01-28 20:00 - 22:00 | De Balie Amsterdam, Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10, Amsterdam, Nederland
Hoe weerbaar zijn Nederland en Europa tegen grootschalige digitale ontwrichting? In deze editie van Techdenkers onderzoeken we de wereld van cyberwarfare, sabotage en staatshackers.
Een cyberaanval verstoorde afgelopen najaar het vliegverkeer in onder meer Brussel, Berlijn en Londen (verdachte: onbekend). In de zomer werd het Openbaar Ministerie uit voorzorg afgesloten van het internet na een hack (verdachte: China). En het in Amsterdam gevestigde Europees Geneesmiddelen Bureau (EMA) werd in 2020 slachtoffer van een grootschalige hack waarbij gevoelige informatie is gestolen (verdachte: Rusland). Het aantal cyberaanvallen op Nederland neemt rap toe. Regelmatig uitgevoerd door criminele organisaties gelieerd aan Moskou of Beijing. De NCTV spreekt van een grillig digitaal veiligheidsbeeld en waarschuwt dat de dreiging reëel is. Amsterdam is als belangrijk internetknooppunt in het bijzonder kwetsbaar. Hoe weerbaar zijn Nederland en Europa? Zijn onze telecom-, energie- en andere vitale sectoren voldoende voorbereid op grootschalige ontwrichting? En welke lessen kunnen we trekken uit conflictgebieden als Oekraïne en Gaza, waar cyberaanvallen volledig geïntegreerd zijn in de reguliere oorlogsvoering? In deze editie van Techdenkers onderzoeken we de wereld van cyberoorlog, sabotage en staatshackers.
Links:
Techdenkers: Hoe voer je een cyberoorlog?

FOSDEM 2026
2026-01-31 08:00 - 2026-02-01 17:00
Links:
FOSDEM 2026

Meerjarenstrategie Digitale Autonomie 2026-2030 - publicatie
2026-02-03
Digitale systemen zijn onmisbaar om de gemeente Amsterdam elke dag te laten draaien: uitkeringen, vergunningen, zorg en de opslag en bescherming van gegevens van Amsterdammers zijn volledig van deze systemen afhankelijk.
Om ervoor te zorgen dat de gemeente zelf in de hand kan houden wat er met deze digitale systemen en data gebeurt, komt er een stappenplan naar meer digitale onafhankelijkheid. Net als andere overheden is Amsterdam sterk afhankelijk geworden van een klein aantal grote, Amerikaanse technologiebedrijven. Dat is niet wenselijk, zeker niet nu de internationale verhoudingen regelmatig op scherp staan. Op 12 februari 2026 heeft de gemeenteraad de Meerjarenstrategie Digitale Autonomie 2026-2030 vastgesteld, waarmee de gemeente ervoor zorgt dat de data veilig zijn en ze er zelf over kan beslissen.
Links:
Amsterdam pakt de regie over digitale systemen en de gegevens van Amsterdammers
Streven naar Digitale Autonomie in Amsterdam / Amsterdam zet eerste stap naar digitale onafhankelijkheid – publicatie

‘Gemeenten moeten ICT landelijk organiseren’

#SaferInternetDay #SID2026 Dag voor Veilig Internet / Safer Internet Day 2026
2026-02-10
Safer Internet Day (Dag voor Veilig Internet) is een internationale dag waarop wereldwijd veel aandacht wordt gegeven aan het veilig en verantwoord gebruik van online technologieën en mobiele telefoons met name onder kinderen en jongeren.

In Nederland vormen ECP (waar de website  Veiliginternetten.nl is ondergebracht), het  Expertisebureau Online Kindermisbruik  en  Netwerk Mediawijsheid  het Safer Internet Centre. Zij vragen in Nederland aandacht voor deze dag op de zevende dinsdag van het jaar en willen bereiken dat het internet een veiligere en betere plaats wordt, in het bijzonder voor kinderen en jongeren.
Links:
Safer Internet Day

The European Commission approves Google's acquisition of Wiz - publication
2026-02-10
The European Commission has unconditionally approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition by Google of Wiz. The Commission concluded that the transaction would raise no competition concerns in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’).
Google offers cloud infrastructure through Google Cloud Platform. Google also offers cloud security services to its cloud users and, to a limited extent, to users of other cloud infrastructure providers. Wiz offers a so-called cloud-native application protection platform. The platform provides cloud customers, such as large European businesses, with a single security platform to protect their applications against cybersecurity threats across different cloud environments. Civil society organisations across Europe seriously regret the European Commission’s decision to unconditionally clear Google’s proposed acquisition of Wiz. The decision runs counter to lessons drawn from past under-enforcement in the digital sector, the Commission’s stated objectives of strict application of competition rules to Big Tech and the growing systemic risks arising from cloud concentration.
Links:
Commission approves Google’s acquisition of Wiz

State of Dutch Tech 2026 - publicatie / conferentie
2026-02-11
Op 11 februari 2026 is een nieuw rapport verschenen over de stand van de Nederlandse techsector: ‘State of Dutch Tech 2026-rapport‘.
Daarin schrijven de onderzoekers dat Nederland alles in huis heeft om op wereldschaal te concurreren, maar dat we nu nog vooral zijn ingericht op snelle groei van digitale diensten en niet voor kapitaalintensieve en strategische technologie. Start-ups zijn dynamisch en ingesteld op snelle groei. Ook opereren en concurreren zij internationaal. Om verder te groeien, hebben de Nederlandse AI-start-ups veel geld nodig. Opvallend genoeg komt driekwart van de investeringen uit het buitenland. Een groot deel daarvan uit de VS.

Links:
The State of Dutch Tech
State of Dutch Tech 2026-rapport
Rapport: Nederlandse nieuwe techbedrijven blijven achter
State of Dutch Tech 2026 is a wrap 🎉

2026 AI Impact Summit
2026-02-16 - 2026-02-21 | India, India
The AI Impact Summit, formally the India AI Impact Summit 2026, is an international summit on artificial intelligence held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, India, from 16 to 21 February 2026.
It is the fourth in a series of global AI summits following the Bletchley Park AI Safety Summit in 2023, the AI Seoul Summit in 2024, and the AI Action Summit in Paris in 2025. Organised under the IndiaAI Mission by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, it is the first summit in the series to be hosted by a Global South nation. The summit was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 February 2026. The opening ceremony was also addressed by French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. Over 20 heads of state, more than 60 ministers, and 500 global AI leaders attended, with delegations from more than 100 countries.
Links:
2026 AI Impact Summit

Agentic AI, explained - publication
2026-02-18
The article ‘Agentic AI, explained‘ by MIT researchers write they found that agentic AI developers seldom publish detailed information about how these tools were tested for safety.
Links:
AI Agents Are Getting Better. Their Safety Disclosures Aren’t
AI agents are fast, loose and out of control, MIT study finds

Global Information Governance Day / Werelddag voor Information Governance 2026
2026-02-19
Global Information Governance Day (GIGD) is a annual observance started by Garth Landers, Tamir Sigal, and Barclay T. Blair in 2012, that occurs on the third Thursday in February, the purpose of Global Information Governance Day is to raise the awareness of information governance.
Information governance is the enforcement of desirable behavior in the creation, use, archiving, and deletion of information held by an organization. Gartner Inc., an information technology research and advisory firm, defines information governance as the specification of decision rights and an accountability framework to encourage desirable behavior in the valuation, creation, storage, use, archival and deletion of information. It includes the processes, roles, standards and metrics that ensure the effective and efficient use of information in enabling an organization to achieve its goals. February is Information Governance Month, coordinated by the American Health Information Management Association. The celebration is coordinated and promoted by information governance experts.
Links:
Association of Records Managers and Administrators
Gartner Information Governance
Forrester Research information governance blog
Barclay Blair Information Governance Definition
EPA 10 Reasons for RM
American Health Information Management Association

EFFecting Change Livestream Series: Get the Flock Out of Our City (TV webcast)
2026-02-19 21:00 - 22:00
Flock contracts have quietly spread to cities across the USA, but Flock automated license plate readers (ALPRs) erode civil liberties from the moment they’re installed.
While officials claim these cameras keep neighborhoods safe, the evidence tells a different story. The data reveals how Flock has enabled surveillance of people seeking abortions, protesters exercising First Amendment rights, and communities targeted by discriminatory policing. This is exactly why cities are saying no. From Austin to Cambridge to small towns across Texas, jurisdictions are rejecting Flock contracts altogether, proving that surveillance isn’t inevitable—it’s a choice.
Links:
EFFecting Change Livestream Series: Get the Flock Out of Our City

Journée mondiale sans Facebook / Werelddag zonder Facebook 2026
2026-02-28
Links:
Journée mondiale sans Facebook
Werelddag zonder Facebook

A World Day Without Facebook

Mobile World Congress / MWC Barcelona 2026 (TV webcast)
2026-03-02 - 2026-03-05 | Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
By TrevorSkinner – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
MWC Barcelona, formerly known as the Mobile World Congress, is an annual trade show intended for the mobile communications industry, is held every February or early March at Fira de Barcelona in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Catalonia, Spain.
The event is attended primarily by device manufacturers, network equipment providers, representatives of wireless carriers, and the press, among others. Its annual attendance is generally around 100,000 people, while mobile phone manufacturers often use the conference to unveil upcoming devices. The event is organised by the GSM Association (GSMA). GSMA has extended the MWC brand to four other trade shows in Shanghai, China (MWC Shanghai), Kigali, Rwanda (MWC Kigali, formerly MWC Africa) Las Vegas, United States (MWC Las Vegas, formerly MWC Los Angeles), and Doha, Qatar (MWC Doha) but the brand remains most synonymous with the Barcelona event.

Links:
MWC Barcelona

Joint statement of security and privacy scientists and researchers on Age Assurance - open letter
2026-03-02 - 2026-05-31
Hundreds of computer researchers have signed an open letter calling for more careful public review of online age verification requirements and the privacy costs.
Social media is going the way of alcohol, gambling, and other social sins: Societies are deciding it’s no longer kid stuff. Lawmakers point to compulsive use, exposure to harmful content, and mounting concerns about adolescent mental health. So, many propose to set a minimum age, usually 13 or 16. In cases when regulators demand real enforcement rather than symbolic rules, platforms run into a basic technical problem. The only way to prove that someone is old enough to use a site is to collect personal data about who they are. And the only way to prove that you checked is to keep the data indefinitely. Age-restriction laws push platforms toward intrusive verification systems that often directly conflict with modern data-privacy law. This is the age-verification trap. Strong enforcement of age rules undermines data privacy.
Links:
The Age-Verification Trap > Verifying user’s ages undermines everyone’s data protection

Labor market impacts of AI: A new measure and early evidence - publication
2026-03-05
The rapid diffusion of AI is generating a wave of research measuring and forecasting its impacts on labor markets.
But the track record of past approaches gives reason for humility. For example, a prominent attempt to measure job offshorability identified roughly a quarter of US jobs as vulnerable, but a decade on, most of those jobs maintained healthy employment growth. The government’s own occupational growth forecasts, while directionally correct, have added little predictive value beyond linear extrapolation of past trends. Even in hindsight, the impact of major economic disruptions on the labor market is often unclear. Studies on the employment effects of industrial robots reach opposing conclusions, and the scale of job losses attributed to the China trade shock continues to be debated. In the paper ‘Labor market impacts of AI: A new measure and early evidence‘, a new framework for understanding AI’s labor market impacts is presented, and is tested against early data, finding limited evidence that AI has affected employment to date. Our goal is to establish an approach for measuring how AI is affecting employment, and to revisit these analyses periodically. This approach won’t capture every channel through which AI could reshape the labor market, but by laying this groundwork now, before meaningful effects have emerged, we hope future findings will more reliably identify economic disruption than post-hoc analyses.It is possible that the impacts of AI will be unmistakable. This framework is most useful when the effects are ambiguous—and could help identify the most vulnerable jobs before displacement is visible.
Links:
Labor market impacts of AI: A new measure and early evidence

#OpenData Day 2026
2026-03-07 - 2026-03-13
Open Data Day is an annual event that promotes awareness and use of open data.
Links:
Open Data Day

Cyberadvies. Phishing via chatapps Signal en WhatsApp - publicatie
2026-03-09
Russische staatshackers proberen wereldwijd toegang te krijgen tot een groot aantal Signal- en Whatsapp-accounts van hoogwaardigheidsbekleders, militairen en ambtenaren.
De Nederlandse inlichtingen- en veiligheidsdiensten MIVD en AIVD bevestigen in het ‘Cyberadvies. Phishing via chatapps Signal en WhatsApp‘ dat ook Nederlandse overheidsmedewerkers doelwit en slachtoffer zijn van deze campagne. Tevens is het volgens de diensten mogelijk dat ook andere personen van interesse voor de Russische overheid, doelwit zijn binnen deze campagne. Bijvoorbeeld journalisten.
Links:
Rusland voert cybercampagne uit tegen Signal- en Whatsapp-accounts
AIVD: Russische hackers hebben het via Signal en WhatsApp op overheid NL gemunt
