cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/39626483

A former Hong Kong politician and prominent democracy campaigner has accused British police of asking her to “self-censor” and “retreat from public life” after officers asked her to agree to avoid public gatherings.

The request, outlined in a signed “memorandum of understanding” seen by the Guardian, has alarmed exiled dissidents who fear it may embolden attempts to silence criticism of Chinese and Hong Kong officials worldwide.

Carmen Lau, who moved to the UK in 2021, was asked to sign the formal agreement in March by Thames Valley police after her neighbours were posted letters offering a £100,000 bounty for information on her movements or for her being taken to authorities.

Thames Valley police requested Lau “cease any activity that is likely to put you at risk” and “avoid attending public gatherings” such as protests.

Lau is wanted by Hong Kong authorities for allegedly contravening the territory’s national security law, which grants sweeping extraterritorial powers to prosecute acts or comments made anywhere in the world that it deems criminal. She also works with the Hong Kong Democracy Council, a Washington-based organisation dedicated to “raising international support for the advancement of its democracy and human rights”.

Tony Chung, a democracy activist who was jailed under Hong Kong’s national security law but now lives in the UK, was also the subject of near-identical letters requesting British citizens inform on him.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/39626256

Archived

People from countries around the world come to the UK as a place of safety from repression. "However, transnational repression (TNR) risks undermining the UK’s ability to protect the human rights of its citizens and those who have sought safety within its borders", a new report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) of the Parliament of the United Kingdom says.

It is deeply concerning to hear increasing reports of foreign governments moving beyond their own national borders to persecute people in the UK. The Committee received credible evidence that a number of states have engaged in acts of transnational repression on UK soil, the reports reads.

A substantial number of submissions we received were personal accounts of TNR perpetrated by Eritrea.

China, Russia and Iran were highlighted by witnesses as the three most flagrant TNR perpetrators in the UK, the report says, while these three countries have also imposed sanctions on UK Parliamentarians "iin what appears to be a deliberate attempt to deter scrutiny and suppress criticism."

Multiple evidence submissions accused Bahrain, Egypt, Eritrea, India, Pakistan, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates of perpetrating TNR in the UK, the report finds.

"These actions have a serious impact on those targeted, instilling fear, limiting their freedom of expression and movement, and undermining their sense of safety."

Despite the seriousness of the threat, the UK currently lacks a clear strategy to address TNR. There is no formal definition of transnational repression in the UK and the Government does not routinely collect data on TNR events. Understanding the scale and nature of the threat is essential to formulating effective and proportionate responses. We therefore recommend that the Government adopt a formal definition of TNR and establish data collection and monitoring mechanisms.

Police officers often lack the training necessary to respond effectively to TNR, resulting in inconsistent and ineffective support for TNR victims. We call for specialised training for police officers on the early warning signs of TNR and for the creation of a dedicated reporting line for TNR victims.

"The UK’s response to TNR would benefit significantly from more structured and consistent coordination across government departments. Currently, responsibilities related to TNR are dispersed across the Home Office, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the National Crime Agency (NCA), and the intelligence and security services. While each plays a vital role, the absence of a formalised mechanism for collaboration can lead to consistent responses and support for individuals at risk. We welcome the recent announcement of the State Threats Joint Unit, which is intended to enhance the UK’s capacity to respond to hostile state activity."

UK lawmakers are deeply concerned by the misuse of INTERPOL Red Notices by certain member states. [A Red Notice is a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.]

Refusal by the INTERPOL secretariat to acknowledge that there is a problem and to take remedial action poses a significant threat to the rights and freedoms of individuals targeted by authoritarian regimes and sends a message that this behaviour is acceptable.

We call on the Government to put pressure on INTERPOL to reform procedures and call out serial abusers. We also propose that the Government consider introducing a formal mechanism by which the Home Office or the National Crime Agency could alert individuals to the existence of a Red Notice, where there is a strong basis to believe it has been politically motivated.

Transnational repression is a serious and under-recognised threat that requires urgent and coordinated international action. Its impacts extend far beyond those directly targeted, creating a broader ‘chilling effect’2 on entire communities and undermining fundamental rights such as freedom of expression, assembly, and association. We urge the Government to work with likeminded states to support efforts to elevate TNR as a priority issue on the UN agenda and to promote coordinated international action against its use by authoritarian regimes.

[...]

I assumed that this was standard behaviour/etiquette, though I'm realizing maybe it's actually not so common, and I want to know if I'm the weird one

If you don't- why not?

(VPN voting enabled at the expense of allowing multiple votes per user- pls don't abuse this for shits and giggles)

I have been fiddling with trying to build a Dockerfile and container for the following.

A Alpine Linix image with LFTP, cron, & openssh installed for use with my external server to sync folders.

I have a Alpine Linix VM that I connect with a external server using SSH keys, and a cron task running a LFTP script on schedule.

Any help or pointing me at a container you know of is appreciated.

The surprise move, in a declaration endorsed on Tuesday by the 22 member nations of the Arab League, also condemned Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which set off the devastating war in Gaza.

Archive - https://archive.is/JvfvN

Like a national tell your coworkers your hourly/salary day.

We warn of the clear and present danger that the genocide will not remain confined to the Gaza Strip, and that the actions and underlying mindset driving it may be extended to other areas as well.

Without an ID or license

In a Thursday speech, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Paul S. Atkins announced “Project Crypto,” an initiative to modernize the country’s securities rules and regulations to move financial markets on-chain.

“Under my leadership, the SEC will not stand idly by and watch innovations develop overseas while our capital markets remain stagnant,” he said at an America First Policy Institute event in Washington D.C. His plan includes measures to reshore crypto businesses that have left the country and to ensure that “archaic rules and regulations do not smother innovation and entrepreneurship in America.”

Archive: https://archive.ph/2025.07.31-233029/https://arstechnica.com/ai/2025/07/developer-survey-shows-trust-in-ai-coding-tools-is-falling-as-usage-rises/

President Trump on Thursday unveiled a battery of new tariffs targeting exports from dozens of U.S. trading partners, forging ahead with a potentially disruptive plan to escalate his global trade war.

Whaddaya gonna do about it

Colombia recorded a sharp uptick in deforestation in the country's Amazon rainforest for last year. The expansion of livestock farming and illegal construction were among the factors authorities blamed for the increase.

How many folks already self-host UniFi on their own hardware vs native consoles?

Related Discussion:

• https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44746603

https://archive.is/bAHR6

“In order to have the best product at the most attractive price, you obviously need to source the components where you get the best components at the most attractive price. And in many, many cases that is here in China,” said Jens Eskelund, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.

cross-posted from: https://ibbit.at/post/13927

After the United Kingdom’s Online Safety Act went into effect on Friday, requiring porn platforms and other adult content sites to implement user age verification mechanisms, use of virtual private networks (VPNs) and other circumvention tools spiked in the UK over the weekend.

Experts had expected the surge, given that similar trends have been visible in other countries that have implemented age check laws. But as a new wave of age check regulations debuts, open internet advocates warn that the uptick in use of circumvention tools in the UK is the latest example of how an escalating cat-and-mouse game can develop between people looking to anonymously access services online and governments seeking to enforce content restrictions.

The Online Safety Act requires that websites hosting porn, self-harm, suicide, and eating disorder content implement “highly effective” age checks for visitors from the UK. These checks can include uploading an ID document and selfie for validation and analysis. And along with increased demand for services like VPNs—which allow users to mask basic indicators of their physical location online—people have also been playing around with other creative workarounds. In some cases, reportedly, you can even use the video game Death Stranding’s photo mode to take a selfie of character Sam Porter Bridges and submit it to access age-gated forum content.

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I spent 5 minutes trying to understand the phrase "ORIGINATOR: CCCAMERON". I kept thinking it was a new piece of Maoist Standard English.