Mark

[Mullvad.net @mullvadnet]

Mass surveillance and censorship are escalating in many countries right now. There is a global attack on secure encrypted communication. Often, authorities, politicians, and tech companies work together to push for new laws. One example: when Ashton Kutcher (yes, the actor), through his tech company Thorn, tried to introduce total surveillance of all EU citizens through undemocratic and corrupt methods.

First, Ashton Kutcher convinced the EU Commission that they could scan everything on an EU citizen’s phone or computer (messages, photos, emails, phone calls, all of it) for child sexual abuse material without, at the same time, looking at the content of other types of communication.

And then?

And then EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson presented the legislative proposal called Chat Control, which aimed to scan everything on all EU citizens' phones and computers (including conversations in end-to-end-encrypted messaging services). The message from the Commission was: we will only search for child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

And then?

And then experts from all over the world explained to her that the kind of scanning she was talking about (as Ylva described it: a drug-sniffing dog that can detect illegal content in a message without reading the message) simply cannot be done safely, and that Chat Control would mean the end of privacy and pose a security threat to all Europeans. Ylva responded with: “what about the children?”

And then?

And then it was revealed that Thorn, the organization founded by Ashton Kutcher and which had been lobbying for Chat Control from the beginning, was selling the kind of scanning technology that could be used for Chat Control – despite being registered as a charity organization in the EU’s lobbying registry.

And then?

And then it was revealed that Thorn, together with the EU Commission, had also started and funded “children’s rights organizations” that had supported the proposal. What appeared publicly to be charitable organizations were in fact lobby groups.

And then?

And then it was revealed that Europol wanted unlimited access and wanted to use the scanning for more than just child abuse crimes, saying that all data – also unfiltered and innocent material – should be stored because it “could at some point be useful to law enforcement”.

And then?

And then it was revealed that employees at Europol had joined Thorn, to lobby their old colleagues.

And then?

And then politicians in Brussels wanted to exempt themselves from the scanning.

And then?

And then the European Parliament, in an almost historic consensus, voted against the proposal and called Chat Control nothing but mass surveillance. As one of the members of the parliament said: “The Commission wasn’t focusing on protecting children but wanted mass surveillance.”

And then?

And then The Council of the EU (law proposals must go through both the Parliament and the Council), after three years of negotiation, finally reached a common position on Chat Control. The requirement for mandatory scanning (including end-to-end encrypted messaging services) was removed, which is a major victory, but several problematic elements remain in the Council's position. For instance, the Council wants to demand ID Control to use messaging services (including end-to-end encrypted).

And then?

And then, in 2026 the final negotiations began, between the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the Council of the EU. At the same time, the European Commission is working on a Plan B, through the initiative Going Dark/ProtectEU, where they once again try to force total surveillance (this time organized crime is the excuse) on the citizens of the EU.

And then?

https://t.co/2uxBeeNr3p

[Mark @MarBGamer]

@Pigminted This is super cool! Really happy it popped up in my timeline

[Mullvad.net @mullvadnet]

Today, we hit the streets with a major "And Then?" campaign in the UK, despite having faced strong opposition. First, our TV ad "And Then?" was banned on British television. And then, the outdoor ad campaign meant to criticise the TV ban was largely halted.

Here, you can watch the banned ads and explore the entire campaign.

https://t.co/PWh2I5LQmb

[Mullvad.net @mullvadnet]

Mullvad was banned on British TV. And then? And then this underground ad got banned by the government body Transport For London.

The argument was clear: you cannot encourage people to engage with a banned TV commercial.

[Mullvad.net @mullvadnet]

The United Kingdom is escalating its censorship and mass surveillance. When Mullvad tried to criticise this with the TV ad “And Then?”, it was banned on British television.

[Mark @MarBGamer]

@arendo_geense Kondaa: De la terre à la lune

[Mark @MarBGamer]

@thomasmahler After playing with this combat change for a little bit, I gotta say that I don't like it. I hope that it goes back to what it was before hotfix 2.

[Wood Hawker @BeatemupsWood]

So, I don’t think it will break like that 🤷

[Obraxis @obraxis]

I have a @subnautica question for Cyclops lovers:
-What do you love most about the Cyclops?
-What could be improved/added to make it even better?
#subnautica #Cyclops #submarine

[Mark @MarBGamer]

@obraxis @Subnautica I love the voice of the Cyclops. I also like the scale, big enough to walk around in, but not too big. I also enjoy the fact that there are many mechanics to Cyclops and that there is even the risk of it blowing up. I can't think of things that would improve the Cyclops.

[Mark @MarBGamer]

@DeLadysigner You summed it up really well. I want to love this game so badly, but it's really hard in its current state. One thing I disagree about is the paths though. I think they absolutely nailed that. I can finally make paths/plazas exactly how I want them, but I agree that it's tricky.

[Mark @MarBGamer]

@JontiSparrow That's good to hear! My FPS in sandbox is the same, but it's around 30 in career mode. I also have a lot of lag issues when interacting with the menu, mainly when hovering the filters in the scenery section. But maybe I just need to upgrade my CPU 🤷‍♂️

[Mark @MarBGamer]

@JontiSparrow Maybe a bit of a random question, but how has the performance been for you? For me personally the game runs decently well but it sometimes feels less responsive than Planet Coaster or Planet Zoo.

[Mark @MarBGamer]

@PlanetCoaster The ads and jingles are one of my favorite features in the Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo. I'm excited to see that we're getting more!

[autopilot @grassandwine]

I firmly believe as a professional computer toucher that there is a such thing as "computer mana". if you haven't earned the computer's respect you'll end up with all sorts of weird issues which will disappear the second that someone with high computer mana tries fixing it

[Meredith Whittaker @mer__edith]

📣Official statement: the new EU chat controls proposal for mass scanning is the same old surveillance with new branding.

Whether you call it a backdoor, a front door, or “upload moderation” it undermines encryption & creates significant vulnerabilities

https://t.co/g0xNNKqquA

[Mark @MarBGamer]

@toverland @Petrus1983 Tijdens een bezoek aan Toverland viel ons op dat Fēnix in de Bestiary van Legendary Dragons staat die bij Dragonwatch hangt. Betekent dit dat Fēnix technisch gezien een draak is en niet een vogel 🤔?

[Mark @MarBGamer]

@TeamTheorist @youtooz GAME THEORY!

[Team Theorist @TeamTheorist]

🚨Exciting news, Theorists🚨! We're giving away 5 complete sets of MatPat's first ever Youtooz collab! To enter 👉 retweet, follow @youtooz and comment GAME THEORY! Winners announced on the drop day Feb 10th!

[Godspeed @godspeedseries]

For every QRT of this post, our partners @HireHeadword will invest $1 in production (up to $100k). Here's the Bowie check in on our goal! 🌡️

Watch the Godspeed pilot on YouTube right now. Let's make more! 🤩 - Godspeed Team 🚀