The Glass House of Europe
They promised us a shield, a digital fortress built of laws, The EU AI Act rising like a wall against the storm. "No more scraping of our faces," the decree proclaimed in August, "No more machines that guess our souls, or categorize our form."
But read the fine print, citizen, where the shadows learn to dance, For while the real-time eye is banned, the retrospective gaze remains. They cannot watch the protest live, or so the headlines say, But they can save the footage deep, and parse it through their chains.
The "loophole" is a wide open door, dressed up as safety gear, "Missing children," "Terror threats," the justifications grow. And every member state holds keys to unlock the cage they built, Turning "high risk" into standard practice, quiet, soft, and slow.
And in our pockets, whispers spread of Chat Control's return, A regulation stalled in trilogues, yet scanning still persists. The voluntary became the norm, the encryption cracked by stealth, While algorithms hunt for "grooming" in the texts we thought existed.
They say the Digital Identity Wallet puts the power in your hand, "You choose what data shares," they claim, "You hold the master key." But anonymity is eroding, brick by digital brick, As "over-identification" becomes the price of being free.
It is not the iron fist of old, nor boot upon the neck, But a soft, algorithmic hum, a bureaucratic embrace. Where privacy is traded for convenience, and silence for "security," And we wake up in a glass house, with no curtains on the face.
The law was meant to ban the dark, to draw a line in sand, But lines blur when the exceptions eat the rule from inside out. So guard your keys, encrypt your words, and question every scan, For mass control in modern times wears a friendly, legal shout.
But read the fine print, citizen, where the shadows learn to dance, For while the real-time eye is banned, the retrospective gaze remains. They cannot watch the protest live, or so the headlines say, But they can save the footage deep, and parse it through their chains.
The "loophole" is a wide open door, dressed up as safety gear, "Missing children," "Terror threats," the justifications grow. And every member state holds keys to unlock the cage they built, Turning "high risk" into standard practice, quiet, soft, and slow.
And in our pockets, whispers spread of Chat Control's return, A regulation stalled in trilogues, yet scanning still persists. The voluntary became the norm, the encryption cracked by stealth, While algorithms hunt for "grooming" in the texts we thought existed.
They say the Digital Identity Wallet puts the power in your hand, "You choose what data shares," they claim, "You hold the master key." But anonymity is eroding, brick by digital brick, As "over-identification" becomes the price of being free.
It is not the iron fist of old, nor boot upon the neck, But a soft, algorithmic hum, a bureaucratic embrace. Where privacy is traded for convenience, and silence for "security," And we wake up in a glass house, with no curtains on the face.
The law was meant to ban the dark, to draw a line in sand, But lines blur when the exceptions eat the rule from inside out. So guard your keys, encrypt your words, and question every scan, For mass control in modern times wears a friendly, legal shout.
Unus Nemo
in reply to Coquillage Logs • •@Coquillage Logs
I ran into Gemini randomly in its infancy in 2020. I was checking out browsers when I noticed Lagrange. The protocol is very limiting though that is its appeal. I was even working on a module for Gemini support for lynx, I am sure it is around in my archives somewhere 😉.
note: I just checked and I still have Lagrange installed, though it does not get much use these days.