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Joined 7 months ago
Cake day: July 21st, 2025
  • xvertigox@lemmy.worldtoTechnology@lemmy.world•Polish state authorities respond to inquiries about presence on X following scandal involving Grok generating on-demand pornographyEnglish
    6·
    16 days ago

    State bodies that provided no response

    Part of state bodies have declined to comment on the matter. It should be noted that we have decided to turn to them for a comment on the ground of sending Freedom of Information Access (FoIA) requests.

    The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage has declined to comment on grounds of ”organisational and technical activities, not legally bound to be shared”.

    Ministries of National Education, State Assets, Sport and Tourism, and the Republic of Poland’s President’s chancellery also have declined to comment – each responding that ”on grounds of Freedom of Information Access it is not possible to access information about activities planned in the future”.

    The state bodies not listed in this article have not responded at least until the day of original publication.

    State bodies that responded

    Ministries

    As a first ministry to respond, the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy has responded as follows:

    – The ministry monitors the functioning of the social media platform on an ongoing basis in terms of published content, the ministry said. It added that the ministry “does not use tools based on generative artificial intelligence”.

    Similar statement was provided by the Ministry of Energy.

    – The Ministry of Energy monitors social media platforms, including X, on an ongoing basis to ensure that published content complies with applicable laws, accepted communication standards, safety rules, and the principles of responsible and reliable public information, said a representative of the ministry.

    “In the event of circumstances that could affect the image, credibility or proper functioning of public institutions, appropriate organisational and communication measures are or may be taken,” he added.

    I have turned to the Ministry of Energy with an additional request for comment, questioning the initial response. I have asked that “should not the case of Grok generating CSAM content upon request be assumed as such circumstance”. No further response was provided as of writing this article.

    The Ministry of Economic Development and Technology has responded that “no changes regarding the presence of ministry on X are planned”.

    Similar response came from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Poland.

    – We do not plan to terminate our account, nor we plan to limit posting frequency on X, representative said.

    Ministry of Science and Higher Education also has provided a statement clarifying their position on this matter.

    According to the ministry’s statement, “maintaining a presence on X meets the current information needs of society and is consistent with the principles of transparency in public administration.”

    The Ministry of Justice also has no plans to terminate their X account, assuring that “the content published by the ministry is monitored on an ongoing basis.”

    “If any unacceptable content is found, appropriate remedial measures will be implemented immediately,” the MoJ representative said.

    In a similar manner as with the Ministry of Energy, I have turned to the MoJ with request for additional clarifications.

    The Ministry of Digital Affairs has provided detailed information about its operations on platform X.

    “The Minister of Digital Affairs is aware of the matter. He has publicly condemned such activities as a warning about the direction of artificial intelligence development and its possible uses,” said a representative of the ministry.

    According to the information provided, the Ministry of Digital Affairs pays approximately PLN 300 per year to maintain a paid account on X. This was justified by “the need to publish content without character limits”.

    “X remains a popular communication channel for many users in Poland, and it is reasonable to publish important information about the ministry’s activities there,” the representative said.

    “The decision to discontinue publishing information on X has not been considered so far. However, if the platform’s activities notoriously ignore applicable laws or enable the generation of content that is unacceptable to users, such a step cannot be ruled out,” the statement concluded.

    The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development also has no plans to abandon X, explaining that “the mere presence of tools that may be used in a controversial, illegal or immoral manner does not constitute sufficient grounds for public authorities to decide to stop using it”.

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it “plans to continue its official presence on X, recognising that despite the challenges that have arisen, the platform remains an important tool for communicating with audiences at home and abroad”.

    The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy has also confirmed that they will stay on X.

    – Due to the way how the communication with the public is being done, and that we are communicating to various groups of people, using several social media platforms at once is an element of keeping in touch with the citizens, said the representative.

    The Ministry of Finance does not plan to shut down their account on X, too – adding, that “such commitment shall not be equated with the condoning of controversial or reprehensible behaviour practised by some of social media platforms’ users”.

    Parliament

    Both Sejm and Senate chancelleries have responded to our questions.

    – The Sejm Chancellery does not use the IT solutions described [at the beginning of the article], has not proposed their introduction, and has no influence over them. As an office, we are present wherever citizens are seeking information about the activities of the Sejm and its bodies, said the Sejm Chancellery representative.

    – Social media such as X […] are used by the Polish Senate to inform the public about the activities of the Upper House, including legislative work, current events and initiatives.

    – At the same time, we would like to assure that when using social media profiles, the Senate of Poland maintains the highest standards and does not use features that violate the law or ethics, representative of the Senate Chancellery replies.

    Text authored and translated by Oliwier Jaszczyszyn. Machine translation was used to aid in translation of some of the responses.

  • xvertigox@lemmy.worldtoLinux@lemmy.world•Those who've switched to Linux in the last year, how is it going?English
    2·
    18 days ago

    At the time it was a toss up between Cachy and Nobara and I, luckily, picked Cachy. I’ve had a great experience with Cachy and haven’t had the urge to change.

    Bazzite seemed more focused on handheld/controller based devices so it wasn’t really a contender for me.

    Cachy is the #1 most viewed/active distro on https://distrowatch.com/ and has heaps of users so it feels well supported to me.

    I’m a fan of the idea of rolling releases so I can get the latest and greatest more so than an atomic/immutable distro.

    It really doesn’t matter which one you pick as your first distro, any well supported distro with good nvidia support will be sweet.

  • xvertigox@lemmy.worldtoEurope@feddit.org•Cloudflare defies Italy’s Piracy Shield, won’t block websites on 1.1.1.1 DNSEnglish
    4·
    29 days ago

    The Cloudflare CEO also just paid tribute to JD Vance and Musk.

    Yesterday a quasi-judicial body in Italy fined @Cloudflare $17 million for failing to go along with their scheme to censor the Internet. The scheme, which even the EU has called concerning, required us within a mere 30 minutes of notification to fully censor from the Internet any sites a shadowy cabal of European media elites deemed against their interests. No judicial oversight. No due process. No appeal. No transparency. It required us to not just remove customers, but also censor our 1.1.1.1 DNS resolver meaning it risked blacking out any site on the Internet. And it required us not just to censor the content in Italy but globally. In other words, Italy insists a shadowy, European media cabal should be able to dictate what is and is not allowed online.

    That, of course, is DISGUSTING and even before yesterday’s fine we had multiple legal challenges pending against the underlying scheme. We, of course, will now fight the unjust fine. Not just because it’s wrong for us but because it is wrong for democratic values.

    In addition, we are considering the following actions: 1) discontinuing the millions of dollars in pro bono cyber security services we are providing the upcoming Milano-Cortina Olympics; 2) discontinuing Cloudflare’s Free cyber security services for any Italy-based users; 3) removing all servers from Italian cities; and 4) terminating all plans to build an Italian Cloudflare office or make any investments in the country.

    Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. While there are things I would handle differently than the current U.S. administration, I appreciate @JDVance taking a leadership role in recognizing this type of regulation is a fundamental unfair trade issue that also threatens democratic values. And in this case @ElonMusk is right: #FreeSpeech is critical and under attack from an out-of-touch cabal of very disturbed European policy makers.

    I will be in DC first thing next week to discuss this with U.S. administration officials and I’ll be meeting with the IOC in Lausanne shortly after to outline the risk to the Olympic Games if @Cloudflare withdraws our cyber security protection.

    In the meantime, we remain happy to discuss this with Italian government officials who, so far, have been unwilling to engage beyond issuing fines. We believe Italy, like all countries, has a right to regulate the content on networks inside its borders. But they must do so following the Rule of Law and principles of Due Process. And Italy certainly has no right to regulate what is and is not allowed on the Internet in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Brazil, India or anywhere outside its borders.

    THIS IS AN IMPORTANT FIGHT AND WE WILL WIN!!!