Safe on Social

The Hidden Dangers of Educational Technology After years in staffrooms and leadership briefings, I’ve seen a troubling pattern emerge. Decisions about which technologies to use are often made by people who lack a clear understanding of what these tools do. This isn’t just a vague concern; it’s a specific issue. The adults responsible for our children—those who sign permission slips and approve software—often don’t know what data is being tracked. This isn’t due to a lack of c

What you are about to read is a condensed and updated version of my long-form essay, The Quiet Front Line. This version includes recent developments, among them the Polymarket scandal, which emerged after the original was published, and that felt too important, too revealing, to leave sitting on the sidelines. If this piece moves you, or makes you want to understand more, the full essay is waiting for you over on Substack. The conversation there goes further. So does the disc

The story being told is smaller than what is actually happening. When the chatter is all innovation and efficiency and extraordinary possibility we need to ask bigger questions because underneath it, something else is always taking shape. What I have learned over my years in the industry is that every major technological shift follows exactly the same pattern. 1. The technology arrives fast. 2. All of the excitement, innovation and positives hit the media cycles. 3.

Something happened in Brussels this week, and unless you live inside policy or technology, you would not have seen it. There was no headline that carried the weight of it. But the consequences are already moving. The European Parliament voted to let a set of temporary powers expire. Powers that had allowed internet platforms to scan for child sexual abuse material. That phrase can slide past you if you let it. Do not let it. This is the legal permission to detect images and v

Three months. That is all it has taken for The Asutralian eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant and her team to do what most governments have spent years talking about and never had the courage to actually pursue, to place some of the most powerful companies on earth on notice for something measurable, provable, and for too long, deliberately ignored. The evidence is being gathered. The cases are being built. Penalties of up to $49.5 million are on the table, and the Commiss