＜隠された真実＞　DC9の墜落が何が原因だったのか、決定的な証拠はないが、一つの線が浮き上がってきたと思う。しかし、この事件にはDC9の墜落時のレーダー記録が消えたこと以外にもおかしな事件がまとわりついている。それを以下、書き出してみる。（サトウノリコ＝イタリア在住）

Today's Supreme Court’s ruling in U.S. v. Skrmetti upholding bans on gender-affirming care for youth makes it clear: trans people are under attack. Threats to trans rights and healthcare are coming from legislatures, anti-trans bigots (both organized and not), apathetic bystanders, and more. Living under the most sophisticated surveillance apparatus in human history only makes things worse. While the dangers are very much tangible and immediate, the risks posed by technology can amplify them in insidious ways. Here is a non-exhaustive overview of concerns, a broad-sweeping threat model, and some recommended strategies that you can take to keep yourself and your loved ones safe.

Dangers for Trans Youth

Trans kids experience an inhumane amount of cruelty and assault. Much of today’s anti-trans legislation is aimed specifically at making life harder for transgender youth, across all aspects of life. For this reason, we have highlighted several of the unique threats facing transgender youth.

School Monitoring Software

Most school-issued devices are root-kitted with surveillance spyware known as student-monitoring software. The purveyors of these technologies have been widely criticized for posing significant risks to marginalized children, particularly LGBTQ+ students. We ran our own investigation on the dangers posed by these technologies with a project called Red Flag Machine. Our findings showed that a significant portion of the times students’ online behavior was flagged as “inappropriate” was when they were researching LGBTQ+ topics such as queer history, sexual education, psychology, and medicine. When a device with this software flags such activity it often leads to students being placed in direct contact with school administrators or even law enforcement. As I wrote 3 years ago, this creates a persistent and uniquely dangerous situation for students living in areas with regressive laws around LGBTQ+ life or unsafe home environments.

The risks posed by technology can amplify threats in insidious ways

Unfortunately, because of the invasive nature of these school-issued devices, we can’t recommend a safe way to research LGBTQ+ topics on them without risking school administrators finding out. If possible, consider compartmentalizing those searches to different devices, ones owned by you or a trusted friend, or devices found in an environment you trust, such as a public library.

Family Owned Devices

If you don’t own your phone, laptop, or other devices—such as if your parents or guardians are in control of them (e.g. they have access to unlock them or they exert control over the app stores you can access with them)— it’s safest to treat those devices as you would a school-issued device. This means you should not trust those devices for the most sensitive activities or searches that you want to keep especially private. While steps like deleting browser history and using hidden folders or photo albums can offer some safety, they aren’t sure-fire protections to prevent the adults in your life from accessing your sensitive information. When possible, try using a public library computer (outside of school) or borrow a trusted friend’s device with fewer restrictions. 

Dangers for Protestors

Pride demonstrations are once again returning to their roots as political protests. It’s important to treat them as such by locking down your devices and coming up with some safety plans in advance. We recommend reading our entire Surveillance Self-Defense guide on attending a protest, taking special care to implement strategies like disabling biometric unlock on your phone and documenting the protest without putting others at risk. If you’re attending the demonstration with others–which is strongly encouraged–consider setting up a Signal group chat and using strategies laid out in this blog post by Micah Lee.

Counter-protestors

There is a significant push from anti-trans bigots to make Pride month more dangerous for our community. An independent source has been tracking and mapping anti-trans organized groups who are specifically targeting Pride events. While the list is non-exhaustive, it does provide some insight into who these groups are and where they are active. If one of these groups is organizing in your area, it will be important to take extra precautions to keep yourself safe.

Data Brokers & Open-Source Intelligence

Data brokers pose a significant threat to everyone–and frankly, the entire industry deserves to be deleted out of existence. The dangers are even more pressing for people doing the vital work advocating for human rights of transgender people. If you’re a doctor, an activist, or a supportive family member of a transgender person, you are at risk of your own personal information being weaponized against you. Anti-trans bigots and their supporters online will routinely access open-source intelligence and data broker records to cause harm.

You can reduce some of these risks by opting out from data brokers. It’s not a cure-all (the entire dissolution of the data broker industry is the only solution), but it’s a meaningful step. The DIY method has been found most effective, though there are services to automate the process if you would rather save yourself the time and energy. For the DIY approach, we recommend using Yael Grauer’s Big Ass Data-Broker Opt Out List.

Legality is likely to continue to shift

It’s also important to look into other publicly accessible information that may be out there, including voter registration records, medical licensing information, property sales records, and more. Some of these can be obfuscated through mechanisms like “address confidentiality programs.” These protections vary state-by-state, so we recommend checking your local laws and protections.

Medical Data

In recent years, legislatures across the country have moved to restrict access to and ban transgender healthcare. Legality is likely to continue to shift, especially after the Supreme Court’s green light today in Skrmetti. Many of the concerns around criminalization of transgender healthcare overlap with those surrounding abortion access –issues that are deeply connected and not mutually exclusive. The Surveillance Self-Defense playlist for the abortion access movement is a great place to start when thinking through these risks, particularly the guides on mobile phone location tracking, making a security plan, and communicating with others. While some of this overlaps with the previously linked protest safety guides, that redundancy only underscores the importance.

Unfortunately, much of the data about your medical history and care is out of your hands. While some medical practitioners may have some flexibility over how your records reflect your trans identity, certain aspects like diagnostic codes and pharmaceutical data for hormone therapy or surgery are often more rigid and difficult to obscure. As a patient, it’s important to consult with your medical provider about this information. Consider opening up a dialogue with them about what information needs to be documented, versus what could be obfuscated, and how you can plan ahead in the event that this type of care is further outlawed or deemed criminal.

Account Safety Locking Down Social Media Accounts

It’s a good idea for everyone to review the privacy and security settings on their social media accounts. But given the extreme amount of anti-trans hate online (sometimes emboldened by the very platforms themselves), this is a necessary step for trans people online. To start, check out the Surveillance Self-Defense guide on social media account safety. 

We can’t let the threats posed by technology diminish our humanity and our liberation.

In addition to reviewing your account settings, you may want to think carefully about what information you choose to share online. While visibility of queerness and humanity is a powerful tool for destigmatizing our existence, only you can decide if the risk involved with sharing your face, your name, and your life outweigh the benefit of showing others that no matter what happens, trans people exist. There’s no single right answer—only what’s right for you.

Keep in mind also that LGBTQ expression is at significantly greater risk of censorship by these platforms. There is little individuals can do to fully evade or protect against this, underscoring the importance of advocacy and platform accountability.

Dating Apps

Dating apps also pose a unique set of risks for transgender people. Intimate partner violence for transgender people is at a staggeringly high rate compared to cisgender people–meaning we must take special care to protect ourselves. This guide on LGBTQ dating app safety is worth reading, but here’s the TLDR: always designate a friend as your safety contact before and after meeting anyone new, meet in public first, and be mindful of how you share photos with others on dating apps.

Safety and Liberation Are Collective Efforts

While bodily autonomy is under attack from multiple fronts, it’s crucial that we band together to share strategies of resistance. Digital privacy and security must be considered when it comes to holistic security and safety. Don’t let technology become the tool that enables violence or restricts the self-determination we all deserve.

Trans people have always existed. Trans people will continue to exist despite the state’s efforts to eradicate us. Digital privacy and security are just one aspect of our collective safety. We can’t let the threats posed by technology diminish our humanity and our liberation. Stay informed. Fight back. We keep each other safe.

イランに先制攻撃を実施したイスラエルと、同国を裏で支援する米国の両政府に抗議するため、日本の市民団体は今月20日、イスラエル大使館前（午後6時半から）と米国大使館前（午後7時半から）で、抗議行動「イスラエルとアメリカはパレスチナとイランでの大虐殺をやめろ！#0620緊急大使館抗議」を実施する予定だ。（藤ヶ谷魁）

Apple has released a scaremongering, self-serving warning aimed at the Australian government, claiming that Australians will be overrun by a parade of digital horribles if Australia follows the European Union’s lead and regulates Apple’s “walled garden.” 

The EU’s Digital Markets Act is a big, complex, ambitious law that takes aim squarely at the source of Big Tech’s power: lock-in. For users, the DMA offers interoperability rules that let Europeans escape US tech giants’ walled gardens without giving up their relationships and digital memories.  

For small businesses, the DMA offers something just as valuable: the right to process their own payments. That may sound boring, but here’s the thing: Apple takes 30 percent commission on most payments made through iPhone and iPad apps, and they ban app makers from including alternative payment methods or even mentioning that Apple customers can make their payments on the web. 

All this means that every euro a European Patreon user sends to a performer or artist takes a round-trip through Cupertino, California, and comes back 30 cents lighter. Same goes for other money sent to major newspapers, big games, or large service providers. Meanwhile, the actual cost of processing a payment in the EU is less than one percent, meaning that Apple is taking in a 3,000 percent margin on its EU payments. 

To make things worse, Apple uses “digital rights management” to lock iPhones and iPads to its official App Store. That means that Europeans can’t escape Apple’s 30 percent “app tax” by installing apps from a store with fairer payment policies.  

Here, too, the DMA offers relief, with a rule that requires Apple to permit “sideloading” of apps (that is, installing apps without using an app store). The same rule requires Apple to allow its customers to choose to use independent app stores. 

With the DMA, the EU is leading the world in smart, administrable tech policies that strike at the power of tech companies. This is a welcome break from the dominant approach to tech policy over the first two decades of this century, in which regulators focused on demanding that tech companies use their power wisely – by surveilling and controlling their users to prevent bad behavior – rather than taking that power away. 

Which is why Australia is so interested. A late 2024 report from the Australian Treasury took a serious look at transposing DMA-style rules to Australia. It’s a sound policy, as the European experience has shown. 

But you wouldn’t know it by listening to Apple. According to Apple, Australians aren’t competent to have the final say over which apps they use and how they pay for them, and only Apple can make those determinations safely. It’s true that Apple sometimes takes bold, admirable steps to protect its customers’ privacy – but it’s also true that sometimes Apple invades its customers’ privacy (and lies about it). It’s true that sometimes Apple defends its customers from government spying – but it’s also true that sometimes Apple serves its customers up on a platter to government spies, delivering population-scale surveillance for autocratic regimes (and Apple has even been known to change its apps to help autocrats cling to power). 

Apple sometimes has its customers’ backs, but often, it sides with its shareholders (or repressive governments) over those customers. There’s no such thing as a benevolent dictator: letting Apple veto your decisions about how you use your devices will not make you safer. 

Apple’s claims about the chaos and dangers that Europeans face thanks to the DMA are even more (grimly) funny when you consider that Apple has flouted EU law with breathtaking acts of malicious compliance. Apparently, the European iPhone carnage has been triggered by the words on the European law books, without Apple even having to follow those laws! 

The world is in the midst of a global anti-monopoly wave that keeps on growing. This decade has seen big, muscular antitrust action in the US, the UK, the EU, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Spain, France, and even China.  

It’s been a century since the last wave of trustbusting swept the globe, and while today’s monopolists are orders of magnitude larger than their early 20th-century forbears, they also have a unique vulnerability.  

Broadly speaking, today’s tech giants cheat in the same way everywhere. They do the same spying, the same price-gouging, and employ the same lock-in tactics in every country where they operate, which is practically every country. That means that when a large bloc like the EU makes a good tech regulation, it has the power to ripple out across the planet, benefiting all of us – like when the EU forced Apple to switch to standard USB-C cables to charge their devices, and we all got iPhones with USB-C ports. 

It makes perfect sense for Australia to import the DMA – after all, Apple and other American tech companies run the same scams on Australians as they do on Europeans. 

Around the world, antitrust enforcers have figured out that they can copy one another’s homework, to the benefit of the people they defend. For example, in 2022, the UK’s Digital Markets Unit published a landmark study on the abuses of the mobile duopoly. The EU Commission relied on the UK report when it crafted the DMA, as did an American Congressman who introduced a similar law that year. The same report’s findings became the basis for new enforcement efforts in Japan and South Korea. 

As Benjamin Franklin wrote, “He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening mine.” It’s wonderful to see Australian regulators picking up best practices from the EU, and we look forward to seeing what ideas Australia has for the rest of the world to copy. 

無線技術を活用した先進的な課題解決モデルの創出・横展開のための　社会実証の二次公募の結果　―AI・ロボット等によるインフラ維持や農業水産業の生産性向上等を支援―

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日本電信電話株式会社の定款の一部変更の決議の認可

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