The music industry has asked the EU to add yt-dlp, an open source video downloader, to its Counterfeit and Piracy Watch List. IFPI's submission even names the volunteer developers who maintain it. It also wants Cloudflare, GoDaddy and Verisign on the list, because apparently the company running .com is now a piracy concern. LaLiga has gone after NordVPN, ProtonVPN, ExpressVPN and Surfshark over affiliate blogs it never names or links to. A Spanish court already threw out its last attempt to fine NordVPN. The Commission insists the list makes no findings of legal violations. It just tells the world which lawful tools the entertainment industry would like to see gone...

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

EU Piracy Watch List Targets YouTube Downloader and VPNs

An open source project maintained by volunteers has found itself under scrutiny from the global music business.

Emmanuel Macron says American free speech is "the opposite of free speech." In his view, freedom only exists inside a "common framework" set by the state. He compared posting an insult online to hitting someone in the street. Those are different things, because one is speech and the other is violence. He wants people punished for posting "nonsense," with state-backed fact-checkers deciding what qualifies. He wants a verified identity behind every social media account. He has written to Ursula von der Leyen demanding the DSA be enforced "much faster, much more forcefully."

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Macron Attacks Free Speech and Urges the EU to Censor Online Posts Faster

Macron’s theory of liberty begins where the government’s permissions end.

Emmanuel Macron says American free speech is "the opposite of free speech." In his view, freedom only exists inside a "common framework" set by the state. He compared posting an insult online to hitting someone in the street. Those are different things, because one is speech and the other is violence. He wants people punished for posting "nonsense," with state-backed fact-checkers deciding what qualifies. He wants a verified identity behind every social media account. He has written to Ursula von der Leyen demanding the DSA be enforced "much faster, much more forcefully."

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Macron Attacks Free Speech and Urges the EU to Censor Online Posts Faster

Macron’s theory of liberty begins where the government’s permissions end.

Google's Android developer ID requirement is now live. Apps from unregistered developers are blocked on certified Android devices in Brazil, Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand. The rule goes global in 2027. To register, developers hand Google a government ID, their legal name, address, email, and phone number. They also pay $25. This applies even if the app never touches Google Play. Google says sideloading isn't going anywhere. F-Droid called that claim "clear, concise, and false." Users who want an unverified app now face ten steps, developer mode, several warning screens, and a 24 hour wait. Google is clearly putting the squeeze on Android's openness.

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Google Android ID Rules Take Effect In Four Countries

Google’s identity checkpoint has arrived, and sideloading now comes with paperwork, warnings, and a waiting period.

A body linked to the UK Home Office has been keeping files on people who criticize government programs online. Between March 2024 and February 2025, the Prevent Standards and Compliance Unit logged 77 "observations" of critics. Most came from X, and some came from Reddit. Posts from or about groups like Hope Not Hate and Open Rights Group were also included. The entries were filed as "open-source complaints" and stored internally. The unit also tried to independently verify the claims made in them. The Home Office refused to release any of this. Rights & Security International won an appeal to the Information Commissioner's Office, and only then did the documents come out. Nobody knows whether automated tools found the posts. Nobody knows who the data gets shared with. You should be able to criticize government policy without ending up in a file.

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

UK Government Body Kept Files on People Criticizing Prevent Program

The Home Office tried to keep the paperwork private until an appeal brought it into the light.

India has now pulled BitChat from its App Store through Apple. BitChat works over Bluetooth with no internet, no phone number and no account. That is exactly why Delhi wants it gone. In July the government shut down the network around Jantar Mantar, and protesters used BitChat to keep talking. The government has now gone after the network, then the code on GitHub, and now the app store. Each step has been aimed at the same target, which is leaving people with no way to communicate when the internet is cut off. Apple's notice says the app "includes content that is illegal in India" and never names any content. Apple simply complied.

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Apple Removes BitChat From India App Store At Government's Request

The BitChat removal follows India’s Telegram block and internet shutdowns during protests in New Delhi.

Reddit says it is ending RSS because scrapers abuse it. Reddit also licenses that same data for money. Reddit is killing RSS on November 13, the public API in March 2027, and old Reddit now needs a login. Its non-ad revenue grew 24 percent to $43 million. Money is not the problem. The open web is just harder to sell than a licensing deal. Reddit is not protecting the open web from scrapers. It is selling the open web to them, and everyone with a feed reader gets locked out of the sale.

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Reddit Is Ending RSS Support, Citing Scraping And Abuse

Reddit says abuse forced its hand, but the economics of an open web tell a sharper story.

Wyoming Committee Advances Bill Against Foreign Censorship Enforcement

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Wyoming Committee Advances Bill Against Foreign Censorship Enforcement

A state level answer to the increasingly global business of policing expression.

AUSTRALIA: NSW police can now demand your phone and your password, and the state just handed them A$15 million to crack whatever they can't talk you out of. The same bill turns your driver’s license photo into a national biometric record. Toll cameras may now photograph the driver and every passenger, including children. The government's own scrutiny committee warned the bill gives officials too much discretion over people's privacy. Parliament passed it anyway.

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

NSW Turns the Driver License Photo Into a National Biometric Record

NSW driver license photos may be shared through Australia’s National Driver Licence Facial Recognition Solution.

Rand Paul just blocked the Senate from passing KOSA by unanimous consent. It was the fourth attempt in four years. The Senate bill never says "age verification." It says platforms must prevent harms to minors and can be held liable if a reasonable person would have known a user was a minor. The only safe way to avoid that liability is to check everyone. The House version skips the guessing. It requires age verification for every user, and it passed 267 to 117. The Senate bill also orders a study on verifying age at the device or operating system level. Meta dropped its opposition once the bill was paired with a federal ban on state AI laws and a digital ID push. Both versions lead to the same place, which is an ID check for the whole internet.

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Rand Paul Blocks Rushed Attempt To Pass KOSA Without A Vote

For a measure framed as child protection, KOSA spends an intriguing amount of time imagining an identity system.

Age verification (digital ID) laws are spreading fast and most people have no idea what's already on the books near them. We mapped every bill, state by state. See what's passed, what's pending, and who wants to introduce ID checks for internet access. We also have a global map so you can see the threats all around the world and map the co-ordinated effort to end privacy online...

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

US Age Verification Laws Map

Explore age-verification bills and laws across every US state, including what is proposed, enacted, in force, or blocked in court.

Florida's Attorney General has asked a court to order OpenAI to install "a robust and effective age verification system" on ChatGPT. The motion also wants a say over how future AI models are built and how the company talks about its own product. The stated goal is protecting children. The actual outcome is that every adult who wants to use a chatbot has to prove who they are first. OpenAI is unlikely to put up much of a fight. It already responded to pressure and has been building systems that guess your age by tracking how you behave...

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Florida Seeks Court Order Requiring Age Verification for ChatGPT

The age check arrives dressed as child protection and carrying a much larger mandate.

Senate GRANITE Act Targets Foreign Censorship Demands

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Senate GRANITE Act Targets Foreign Censorship Demands

Ofcom’s paperwork has become an unlikely catalyst for a new American speech shield.

Thirty Leaders Want a Global Referee for AI

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Thirty Leaders Want a Global Referee for AI

Every UN week needs a cause. This year's came with testing protocols and a verification regime.

Alabama just settled its lawsuit against TikTok, days before the first state jury trial against the platform was due to start. The deal is sold as protection for teenagers. There is a two-hour daily cap, a curfew from midnight to 6 a.m., pop-up interruptions after 15 minutes, and a ban on beauty filters. None of that works unless TikTok knows who is a teenager. So the settlement requires "robust age assurance," and it applies to everyone. Every adult in Alabama who opens the app is now in line for an age check. The Attorney General calls it a great day for parents. It is also a great day for anyone who wanted ID checks on social media without having to pass a law...

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

TikTok Agrees to "Age Verification" for All Users in Alabama Settlement

The teenagers get a curfew. The adults get carded. TikTok doesn't have to face a jury.

Bernie Sanders’ AI Bill Turns Software Into a State Permission

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Bernie Sanders’ AI Bill Turns Software Into a State Permission

Open source developers may find the government’s definition of safety has a distinctly closed-door quality.

Senator Chris Murphy Wants Government to Regulate Your Time Online

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Senator Chris Murphy Wants Government to Regulate Your Time Online

First they came for the doomscrolling, apparently in the name of civic connection.

Washington Challenges Brussels’ Authority Over X

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Washington Challenges Brussels’ Authority Over X

The first major DSA courtroom fight now has an American litigant in the room.

Utah Court Blocks Key Provision of State Age Verification and VPN Law

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Utah Court Blocks Key Provision of State Age Verification and VPN Law

Utah’s attempt to locate everyone, everywhere, has run into the Constitution.

Newsom Wants an AI Kill Switch. Who Gets the Keys?

Reclaim The Net: Free Speech, Privacy, Digital Rights

Newsom Wants an AI Kill Switch. Who Gets the Keys?

California’s plan depends on “independent” AI watchdogs, but the people lining up for the job may already be deeply connected to the industry...