“Pushing the world in the right direction.” A powerful message from Javier El-Hage of the Human Rights Foundation at last night's event in London, where researchers and democracy activists came together to discuss authoritarianism, the fight for freedom and some encouraging signs of change. Hosted by the Human Rights Foundation and Action for Democracy at the historic National Liberal Club, the evening marked the relaunch of the Authoritarian Collaboration Index, now drawing on HRF's Tyranny Tracker. I had the privilege of speaking with Javier, HRF's Chief Legal and Policy Officer, about the rise of authoritarianism, the importance of protecting individual freedoms and the work his team is doing through the Tyranny Tracker. The project examines 179 countries and territories, assessing electoral competition, freedom of dissent and institutional accountability to determine whether governments are democratic, hybrid authoritarian or fully authoritarian. Its findings are sobering. According to HRF, around three quarters of the world's population lives under authoritarian rule. Javier spoke about the importance of protecting individual freedoms and understanding how governments restrict them. Despite the scale of the challenges, he remains optimistic that progress is being made. I also interviewed Domonkos Kovács of Action for Democracy, whose Authoritarian Collaboration Index uses AI-assisted research to track cooperation between authoritarian actors across borders. Domonkos pointed out that although authoritarianism has been advancing globally, recent political developments offer reasons for optimism. Hungary and just days ago, Serbia have both seen entrenched political leaders defeated at the ballot box. Some of the most moving contributions came from people who have experienced repression firsthand. A Hong Kong democracy activist, now living in exile in Britain, described the dramatic erosion of freedoms in her home city. Hong Kong's governing authority is now classified as fully authoritarian by the Tyranny Tracker. Despite everything, her message was hopeful: “Hong Kong is not a lost cause.” Then there was Jesús Armas, the Venezuelan opposition activist and former political prisoner who spent more than a year in detention after standing up for democracy. He spoke with remarkable optimism about Venezuela's future and praised the people who continue fighting for freedom. “One day Venezuela will be free.” It's always a privilege to interview people working on questions of freedom and human rights, particularly when those discussions bring you face to face with people who have paid such a personal price for defending them. Understanding how authoritarianism takes hold, how technology can strengthen state control and how we protect our freedoms before they're lost has never felt more important. Last night's discussions were a reminder that authoritarianism is not inevitable and neither is its permanence. Thank you to @HRF and Action For Democracy for bringing everyone together and for the opportunity to hear these perspectives firsthand.

The government is building systems with enormous power over our lives, while making it increasingly difficult for ordinary people to understand or challenge them. A new Guardian investigation raises serious concerns about the Home Office's use of AI across immigration enforcement, including facial recognition, phone analysis and asylum casework. According to Open Rights Group, much of this is happening with little public scrutiny, with national security repeatedly cited to withhold information. Britain was so concerned about the security of Huawei equipment that it ordered its removal from our 5G networks. All the technology our own government is deploying deserves the same scrutiny. Our recent history gives us plenty of reasons to question government assurances. In 2020, the Home Office withdrew an algorithm used to assess visa applications following a legal challenge alleging discrimination. The Post Office Horizon scandal demonstrated the devastating consequences of trusting flawed computer evidence while dismissing the people who challenged it. Hundreds were wrongly prosecuted, with lives, reputations and livelihoods destroyed. Britain already has extensive CCTV surveillance, expanding facial recognition, growing digital identity systems and documented cases of people losing access to banking services. AI now gives governments the ability to analyse and connect vast amounts of information about individuals on a scale that would previously have been unimaginable. Companies such as Palantir are already deeply involved in British public services, supplying technology to the NHS and Ministry of Defence. Their growing role raises more concerns about how much control does the government retain when essential public systems depend on technology developed and maintained by private companies? These technologies are being introduced for reasons that often sound perfectly reasonable, including national security, fraud prevention and improving public services. The danger is what happens when more of our identities, movements, finances and personal information become accessible through increasingly connected systems. I suspect many politicians truly believe they're making people's lives better. What concerns me is whether they fully understand the technology they're commissioning, the influence of the companies supplying it and the power they're potentially handing over. A society in which people can be monitored, assessed and potentially excluded from essential services through systems they cannot understand or challenge is a frightening prospect. Decisions made today could have consequences for individual freedom that future governments struggle to reverse. If the government uses systems to assess people while limiting what the public can see about how they work, how are ordinary people supposed to challenge them when they get things wrong? Read the full article here:

the Guardian

‘Digital hostile environment’: AI secretly being embedded across Home Office, report claims

Tasks from determining asylum seekers’ ages to border surveillance now involve AI, says Open Rights Group

Britain scrapped digital ID. Or did it? While the government says its national scheme has been cancelled, One Login is expanding. Welfare records are already being used for identity verification, banking verification is planned and officials are developing ways to recognise individuals across government departments. My latest for Forbes looks at what's still being built, the risks of scope creep and what happens when government systems get things wrong. Read the full article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2026/10/22/britain-scrapped-digital-id-so-why-is-it-still-expanding/

The government scrapped its national digital ID scheme following public opposition but the infrastructure continues to expand. GOV.UK One Login now has: - 264 government services already connected - 500 services expected within two years - 23 million+ people already using it The government is also working on ways for different departments to recognise the same individual across their services, rather than requiring people to verify their identity separately. Officials confirmed this is still being developed, alongside the continued expansion of One Login and GOV.UK Wallet. The concerns about security, accountability and what happens when these systems get things wrong haven't gone away. The oral evidence from the 19 October parliamentary hearing is worth reading, particularly questions 12, 42 and 62. Full transcript: https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/18142/html/ The government's published roadmap sets out further development, including plans to introduce identity verification using banking information:

Roadmap - GOV.UK One Login product information

The national digital ID scheme may have been scrapped, but digital ID is very much alive and kicking.

Hackers stole UK government records dating back to 1978. It took until October 2026 for officials to establish more of what was taken. On 14 October 2026, the Legal Aid Agency confirmed that around 250,000 stolen records predate 2007. Hackers gained access in December 2024, but the agency did not detect the intrusion until 23 April 2025. By 16 May 2025, the agency knew significant amounts of personal data had been stolen but it was still identifying the extent of the theft in October 2026. The government has confirmed that the stolen data includes records containing: - Names - Addresses - Dates of birth - National Insurance numbers - Financial assessments - Details of legal proceedings - Bank details - Probation records The agency says it has no indication that the stolen information has been published or shared. Andy Burnham cancelled the proposed national Digital ID scheme in July 2026, but the government is continuing to expand

Welcome to GOV.UK

GOV.UK - The best place to find government services and information.

One Login. The Legal Aid Agency breach demonstrates the risks of retaining personal information for decades and the consequences when government systems fail to protect it. We have seen repeated examples of government data security failures, reinforcing the need for independent scrutiny of who can access our personal information, how long it is retained and how securely it is stored. The closure of One Login's independent privacy and inclusion advisory group in 2025 is particularly concerning given the government's record on data security. Stolen personal information can lead to blackmail, targeted crime and physical harm and the government is asking us to trust it with more of our identity information. Who is holding the government accountable and what happens when the next breach occurs? Sources:

GOV.UK

Legal Aid Agency cyber security incident data update October 2026

An update following the 2025 cyber-attack affecting the Legal Aid Agency’s online digital services and personal data held by the Ministry of Just...

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2026-10-14/hcws376

This is still one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on the internet. In 2006, tech journalist Guy Kewney went to the BBC for a live interview about an Apple court case. At the same time, Guy Goma was there for a job interview. A producer went to reception to collect Guy and they literally got the wrong Guy. Goma was taken to make-up, miked up and put live on air. He went along with it because, as far as he knew, he was there for an interview. Then came the question about the court ruling. You can see the exact moment he realises something has gone very wrong. “I’m very surprised… because I was not expecting that.” He then just starts answering the questions and the point he made was that people would increasingly use the internet because it made getting what they wanted easier and faster. Twenty years later, he has been proven absolutely right!! Twenty years later this still makes me cry with laughter!!

HMRC wants more power over financial data. The problem is that Bitcoin is not a bank account. Once names, home addresses and tax IDs are linked to a Bitcoin address, that information can stay connected to a public ledger indefinitely. Europe is already seeing the consequences when crypto holders’ identities and holdings are exposed. France saw 19 verified physical attacks on crypto holders in 2025. A French tax official was charged after using government software to look up crypto investors' details and passing data to criminals. I spoke to HM Revenue & Customs, Recap, BULL BITCOIN and Knightbridge Tax about what the UK and EU rules could mean for privacy, self-custody and physical security. Tax enforcement should not create a target list. My latest for Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2026/10/08/hmrcs-proposed-crypto-powers-could-increase-physical-security-risks/

This is how you sleepwalk into a surveillance state. It does not arrive overnight. It is chipped away, one ‘reasonable’ measure at a time, until proving who you are becomes a condition of participating in everyday life. @npub1lsj8...wpee

Big Brother Watch

Big Brother Watch on UK Government's plans to enforce passport ID checks on social media — Big Brother Watch

Commenting on the UK government’s plans to enforce passport ID checks on social media Big Brother Watch’s Maya Thomas said: “Chi...

Last year Chris was using the heat from Bitcoin mining heat to make beef bits @BTCHEL 25.-26. SEPTEMBER. This year he’s using the heat to warm a chicken coop, dry and smoke grain and now he wants to build a fermentation silo for beer, kombucha and whisky. In this demo in Helsinki, Chris explains how he’s using a Bitcoin miner to make whisky. Anything that needs stable heat is a mining use case!

Bitcoin is being regulated in Europe and the UK before policymakers have really understood what Bitcoin is. At @BTCHEL 25.-26. SEPTEMBER, the first panel set out three approaches: - Protect sovereignty and self custody - Work within MiCA and regulated rails - Push back when state power goes too far The second panel asked who is writing Bitcoin policy across Europe. Brussels, national regulators, courts, governments and parliaments each write a piece, but banks still decide whether you get an account or can send a payment. You can have a law that looks open but you can still be shut out in practice. Lawful Bitcoin payments are already being blocked, accounts restricted, and customers made to jump through hoops that have nothing to do with the statute. In the UK the FCA, Treasury and Bank of England are already writing the rulebook, while Parliament is still debating what an overarching digital asset strategy should look like. By 2030, Europe will have written more law around Bitcoin. If it is still being treated as just another cryptoasset, the rules may never properly account for what makes Bitcoin different. We still have a long way to go, but thank you to my fellow panellists for all their work.

If we don’t have freedom money, we don't have freedom. Bitcoin Amsterdam 2023 was my first Bitcoin conference, and sitting on the Livedesk while Edward Snowden came up on the screen was completely surreal. One part of his talk has stayed with me ever since. He said: “Acting in secret is not freedom. It’s not the goal. Contorting yourself to be able to fit, to pass through the keyholes of the tyranny that is surrounding us - that’s not the solution.” Almost three years later I still think this is one of the most important talks I’ve heard on Bitcoin, because it wasn’t about price or markets... it was about what Bitcoin is actually for. Block No. 811,847, approx. 12:14 UTC on 12 October 2023.

Bitcoin Policy UK is coming out of consolidation and I am resuming my role as CEO. Dr Cristina Llamas-Rey is returning as COO. Getting here has not been easy. I have never taken a salary from BPUK, and the organisation is still run by a small team of volunteers giving their time around jobs, families and other commitments. In January, I reached the point where I could not justify taking recurring donations when we did not have the resources to operate properly. Scaling back was the responsible thing to do. The aim was to keep BPUK going while we cut costs and rebuilt around what we could actually sustain. That is what we have done. Throughout consolidation, the work continued and we sent our 2026 Manifesto to all 650 MPs. We also responded to Government, FCA, HMRC and Bank of England consultations, worked on banking access, Digital ID and privacy, and continued publishing articles and practical resources. The way we work has been simplified, with a stricter line on what BPUK can realistically take on. We are still unfunded and our resources remain limited, so coming out of consolidation does not mean we suddenly have the capacity to do everything people would like BPUK to do. There are a lot of worthwhile projects and great people doing important work, but we have to guard our time carefully and focus on where BPUK can have the most impact. A huge thank you to everyone who helped keep BPUK going through this period. The people who continued giving their time, expertise and support made it possible for us to keep moving while we worked through everything behind the scenes. I am very grateful. I would like BPUK to have a paid team and do far more. If you can help with funding, please email contact@bitcoinpolicy.uk. Press release below. @Bitcoin Policy UK