michael veale

@michae

prof @laws.ucl.ac.uk, technology, law, policy, society, whimsical latvian top level domain names. michae.lv and fediverse 🏳️‍🌈

1,792 Following8,913 Followers1,524 Posts

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michael veale@michae· 11d

I've updated UCL Massively Crossreferenced Digital Laws — it now features ~40 EU instruments as well as Irish & UK digital laws; what cites each article/para/sub para from a db of 6.5M cases, statutes, decisions, guidance, pending CJEU preliminary rulings & more homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucqnmve/law...

Image of the linked interface focussing on Art 59 of the AI Act

michael veale@michae· 16d

Have added and parsed 500,000 German Länder judgments today to the citing pool today. your köln one of them, and EECC now features annotations by it. if you see more missing things that should be there, let me know!

michael veale@michae· 21d

Cloudflare (>20% of all domains) has started automatically implementing DSM Dir art 4 rights reservation (ie copyright/TDM objection to scraping) for all sites that do not have a robots.txt file. They also adding purpose fields to robots.txt unilaterally. developers.cloudflare.com/bots/additio...

# As a condition of accessing this website, you agree to abide by the following
# content signals:

# (a) If a Content-Signal = yes, you may collect content for the corresponding
# use.
# (b) If a Content-Signal = no, you may not collect content for the
# corresponding use.
# (c) If the website operator does not include a Content-Signal for a
# corresponding use, the website operator neither grants nor restricts
# permission via Content-Signal with respect to the corresponding use.

# The content signals and their meanings are:

# search: building a search index and providing search results (e.g., returning
# hyperlinks and short excerpts from your website's contents). Search does not
# include providing AI-generated search summaries.
# ai-input: inputting content into one or more AI models (e.g., retrieval
# augmented generation, grounding, or other real-time taking of content for
# generative AI search answers).
# ai-train: training or fine-tuning AI models.
# use: how AI systems may consume the content (immediate, reference, or full).

# ANY RESTRICTIONS EXPRESSED VIA CONTENT SIGNALS ARE EXPRESS RESERVATIONS OF
# RIGHTS UNDER ARTICLE 4 OF THE EUROPEAN UNION DIRECTIVE 2019/790 ON COPYRIGHT
# AND RELATED RIGHTS IN THE DIGITAL SINGLE MARKET.

# BEGIN Cloudflare Managed content

michael veale@michae· 22d

Did you even KNOW that the AI Act already has two pending preliminary references? Don't hold back your curiosity folks... homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucqnmve/law...

michael veale@michae· 22d

UCL Massively Crossreferenced Digital Laws now includes *pending preliminary references & AG Opinions* for all EU laws. Currently updates weekly. Based on Eurlex data which is a bit later to update than CURIA data (if you can even find it on the new website...) homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucqnmve/law...

List of 'before the court' and which preliminary references are before them, clickable, relating to the GDPR, 24 visible

Lists 'before the court' and which preliminary references are before them, clickable

michael veale@michae· 24d

Within each set of mentions, you can filter by source, see the exact snippets a citation was found in, and go straight to the original, directly highlighting in the URL the text wherever possible and jumping you straight through to it.

Viewing page for the mentions of DSA Article 6 Hosting

michael veale@michae· 24d

Each has articles mapped to sibling or predecessor laws, so e.g. when the CJEU interpreted hosting under the eCommerce directive, or a similar part of another NLF framework before the AI Act, you can see those citations too

Article 5 Caching

Mentioned by Case C-421/24 AGCOM (Jeux d'argent en ligne) (Advertising of gambling…. See all mentions Also mentioned by 54 documents citing a similar provision in Directive 2000/31.

michael veale@michae· 24d

You can now access many more digital laws, not just the GDPR, at the UCL Massively Crossreferenced Digital Laws page: EU: GDPR, DSA, DMA, AI Act, UCPD, NIS2 UK: OSA, DPA18, ...+ Each article/para/recital, links to what-cites-it in int'l cases/statutes/guidance homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucqnmve/law...

UCL Massively Crossreferenced Digital Laws

Varying digital legal instruments across jurisdictions, each able to be clicked on a section/article/paragraph basis to find the hard and soft law instruments that cite and interpret each specific part (or substantively very similar parts of previous/neighbouring laws.) Snippets provided for each citing source along with original links to that source. Typically thousands of citations for each. Citing documents can be ordered by date, citation numbers, or 'authority/influence' (PageRank algorithm).

Database of citing documents maintained and updated daily/weekly; the below documents intended to be updated weekly. Last update 3 August 2026.

Document coverage and national grammar for document detection is strongest and best tested for UK, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, EU and ECHR, but the database contains and attempts to link administrative decisions and guidance from other jurisdictions. Unlike Westlaw or other providers, this is not only free, with links to the originals, and incorporates a large amount of guidance and secondary material.

Documents generated from a dataset held and maintained by Michael Veale, Professor of Technology Law and Policy, Faculty of Laws, University College London. If you wish to study these instruments and the tech and practices that interact with them, consider learning about it at UCL Laws: on our LLM in Law and Technology, or our week-long executive education on AI for Lawyers: Technological Understanding for Compliance and Litigation.

michael veale@michae· 28d

Parts of the GDPR are cited and interpreted by thousands of pieces of case law and guidance, but there's no easy and free way to find out what. We've made a tool which makes it super easy, for 13,000 citing documents, all in one place. More regulations to come! homepages.ucl.ac.uk/~ucqnmve/law...

Image of the interface, featuring Article 5 with citation counts per article and per paragraph.

Image of the interface, featuring Article 17(3) with citation counts per article and per paragraph, and sources.

michael veale@michae· Jul 24

now the AI Omnibus has been published, if you want to read a version with redline or a total consolidated version (not just the list of what has been deleted and added, which is what the omnibus is), i've published both recast and track-change versions on my website michae.lv/ai-act-as-am...

An illustration of the recast text at the available link showing that it has green text for new introduced text and red strikethrough text for that which has been removed. The link contains the machine readable text; strikethrough text cannot be put into an alt text on bluesky.

michael veale@michae· Jun 1

Peter Mandelson was asked for his Whatsapp messages on his phone but refused to hand them over. A legal minefield: @vmantouvalou.bsky.social and I have written about it here in 'Bring Your Own Device — Now Hand It Over!' digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cllpj/vol45/...

The explanatory notes at the start of the document dump explains that "on 31 March the [Cabinet Office] wrote to Peter Mandelson - via his solicitors - to request any information held on his personal phone.

"Peter Mandelson declined to comply with this request. The government has no further recourse to search the personal devices of Peter Mandelson."

michael veale@michae· May 12

Digital Markets Act sees jump in alternative browser usage on Android and iOS due to choice screens, says Firefox blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/20...

graph showing increase in firefox on android after the dma

graph showing increase in firefox for ios after the dma

michael veale@michae· May 1

It seem that archive.today has been blocked at some technical level by an order by the Roskomnadzor — seemingly from laws cited not for piracy (these sites, and their .is and .ph domains, avoid paywalls) but under disinformation law — they are often used to document/subvert Russian media censorship.

Данная страница заблокирована в соответствии с действующим законодательством.

Доступ к информационному ресурсу ограничен на основании Федерального закона от 27 июля 2006 г. № 149-ФЗ "Об информации, информационных технологиях и о защите информации".

Если Вы считаете, что включение этой страницы нужного Вам интернет-ресурса в "Единый реестр..." или "Реестр доменных имен..." произошло по ошибке, или оно нарушает Ваши законные права, пожалуйста, обращайтесь непосредственно к уполномоченному органу по координатам на интернет-сайте реестра.

Вернуться
или
Перейти на сайт
Реестра информации, запрещенной законом 398-ФЗ

michael veale@michae· May 1

michael veale@michae· Apr 28

human trafficking for online scam compounds recruiting from new regions and hubs beyond south east asia, say interpol. recruitment indicates targets of scammers too, as language and culture often key to successful eg romance/pig butchering scams. www.interpol.int/content/down...

world map titled “map of the global expansion of human trafficking for forced online financial fraud, june 2025,” showing victim countries of origin growing over three time points. in january 2023 (dark red), origins were concentrated in southeast and east asia (notably china and vietnam) plus brazil. by may 2023 (orange), the pattern expanded across south and central asia, much of eastern europe and russia, and parts of sub-saharan africa. by march 2025 (light peach), it spread further into latin america, western and southern europe, and additional african countries, indicating victims now originate from nearly every region. red-outlined circles mark potential emerging trafficking hubs in mexico/central america, west africa, the horn of africa, southern africa, and the balkans/eastern mediterranean — showing the criminal model is no longer confined to southeast asia but is replicating globally.

michael veale@michae· Apr 27

Google using bot scraping free-for-all to further solidify infrastructural power, moving away from CAPTCHA puzzles (don't anyway work across languages, deafblind, AI solvers, etc) to a CAPTCHA QR code to scan w/ a mobile. Google's reCAPTCHA is already surveillance-heavy www.heise.de/en/news/Inst...

Image of CAPTCHA style window with QR code to scan instead of puzzle to solve, google branded

michael veale@michae· Apr 9

I’ve posted online our 2025-6 20 week Internet Law and Policy syllabus on our LLB programme, run by Orla Lynskey, Tommaso Fia and me. We hope it’s useful for other tech law educators! michae.lv/updated-inte...

LAWS0339 Internet Law and Policy
Convenor: Professor Michael Veale, co-taught with Professor Orla Lynskey and Dr Tommaso Fia.
Faculty of Laws, University College London.
Academic Year 2025-6. Document Version December 2025.
About the Module
Seminar 1 Welcome to the Internet
Seminar 2 How To Control the Internet
Seminar 3 Blocking and Networked Rule-Making: the Domain Name System
Seminar 4 Liability Shielding and Safe Harbours
Seminar 5 Content Moderation Obligations
Seminar 6 Fair Moderation and Takedown Abuse
Seminar 7 Specific and General Monitoring
Seminar 8 By-Design Platform Regulation
Seminar 9 Verification: Ages, Names, Identities Seminar 10 Moderating Al: Models and Outputs Seminar 11 Privacy Online
Seminar 12 Data Protection's Scope
Seminar 13 Data Protection's Substance
Seminar 14 Data Rights and Wrongs
Seminar 15 Online Tracking: Cookies and Controllers
Seminar 16 International Transfers of Personal Data
Seminar 17 Emerging Models for Data Governance
Seminar 18 Automated Decision-Making
Seminar 19 Language Models & Personal Data
Seminar 20 Can Law Change The Internet?

michael veale@michae· Feb 20

more info — the net is wide

The successful candidate will have their research home in the Faculty of Laws, while their teaching duties will be split across Laws and EISPS. Their teaching will include core modules offered by the Faculty of Laws in EU and in Public International Law (as expertise permits) aimed at students on non-law programmes, as well as elective interdisciplinary modules offered primarily by the EISPS Department, shaped by their expertise and research interests.
We are interested in candidates with experience in both law and politics (or a related humanities or social science field) which may substantively relate to a wide array of specialist areas in domestic, international or comparative law, such as international trade law, migration and refugee law, public international law, private international law, electoral law, technology law, maritime law, international commercial or financial law, regulatory law, environmental law, foreign relations law or administrative law.
We particularly welcome applications from candidates who might contribute some teaching on the Faculty of Laws’ French, German or Spanish Law programmes.
It is important that candidates applying with a research background in politics, or a related field, evidence how they would be able to teach law, for example through prior law qualifications or publication in legal venues. Candidates with a background in law should ideally be working clearly across disciplines, and in any case, should be able to demonstrate how their research-led teaching would fit within a programme such as the EISPS programme.

michael veale@michae· Feb 20

Full time, permanent law and politics lecturer post at @laws.ucl.ac.uk. Background either a social scientist with law training, or a lawyer with social science interest. Teaching: either/both of introductory EU/PIL, plus specialist teaching. Civil lawyers welcome! www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

Lecturer in Law and Politics

Ref Number
B03-02945
Professional Expertise
Academic
Department
UCL SLASH (B03)
Location
London
Working Pattern
Full time
Salary
£54,931-£64,644
Contract Type
Permanent
Working Type
Hybrid
Available for Secondment
No
Closing Date
23-Mar-2026

About the role

UCL has a longstanding tradition of inter-disciplinarity across Law, Political Science and International Relations. We are looking to appoint as Lecturer one or more outstanding candidate(s) who will be able to contribute to UCL’s development and advancement of world leading teaching and research in both law and politics, understood broadly. The successful candidate will have their research home in the Faculty of Laws, while their teaching duties will be split across Laws and EISPS. Their teaching will include core modules offered by the Faculty of Laws in EU Law and in Public International Law (as expertise permits) aimed at students on non-law programmes, as well as elective interdisciplinary modules offered primarily by the EISPS Department, shaped by their expertise and research interests.

Reflecting the broad strengths of the Faculty, we are keen for applications from a diverse range of scholars: those who take socio-legal, comparative, doctrinal, empirical, historical, and/or theoretical approaches; those who adopt interdisciplinary approaches; and/or those who approach EU and Public International Law through economic analysis of law and intersecting legal subject areas.

The deadline for applications is Monday 23 March 2026. Interviews will likely take place in the weeks commencing 11 or 18 May 2026.

About you

Successful candidates will be expected to engage in world leading research, and to contribute to UCL’s development and advancement of an interdisciplinary approach to EU Law / Public International Law and political science and other areas of law falling within their subject matter expertise. It is also expected that the post-holders will contribute to all aspects of the academic life of the Faculty and University.

michael veale@michae· Jan 1

Happy New Year www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/inco...

FOI request: Dear Greater London Authority,

Please provide income details from any sponsorship or commercial arrangements in relation to the “Wicked” film franchise in relation to visial placement during the broadcast of the London NYE fireworks 2025-6. This includes deals between Universal Studios, Marc Platt Productions or Universal Pictures. Please provide income details and all agreements and conditions of any sponsorship.

Yours faithfully,

Michael Veale

michael veale@michae· Dec 26

As you’re watching a Disney film at Christmas, raise a glass to Disney’s lawyers who, in Florida’s 2021 social media law, had a blanket exemption placed in to except any theme park owner from the definition of ‘social media platform’ www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill...

Social media company means any information service [cont.]…
The term does not include any information service, system, Internet search engine, or access software provider operated by a company that owns and operates a theme park or entertainment complex as defined in s. 509.013.

michael veale@michae· Nov 26

On AI’s ‘mediocrity trap’ — experiments indicates that while AI helps the less skilled make something passable, the highly skilled don’t use it to produce something better than they could have; they produce something ok, but lose motivation to make it great. www.jin-li.org/uploads/1/1/...

michael veale@michae· Nov 18

includes useful visuals!

michael veale@michae· Nov 18

New from @jpquintais.bsky.social & me: a critical and wide analysis of the Obligations of all General-Purpose AI Model providers under the EU AI Act. We give a deep ~50 page, 300 footnote treatment and find so many tensions, loopholes, inconsistencies and more. Link: files.michae.lv/papers/Veale...

The Obligations of Providers of
General-Purpose AI Models
Michael Veale1,2 and João Pedro Quintais 2
1Faculty of Laws, University College London
2Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam
To appear in Zanfir Fortuna, Malgieri, González Fuster and Mantelero (eds.) The Artificial Intelligence
Act — A Thematic Commentary (Hart forthcoming 2026). This version: November 2025.
During the legislative process, the EU Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act was
amended to include provisions related to general-purpose AI (GPAI) models.
These broadly relate to transparency towards downstream users and relevant
regulators, in addition to obligations connected to intellectual property. In this
paper, we provide detailed analysis of these new provisions in the context of
current technological applications and emerging trajectories, connecting them
to computing literature and practice, and the broader context of connected
and adjacent legal regimes, in particular copyright and relevant emerging case
law. We find that there are a significant number of inclarities, tensions and
contradictions both within the text, between the text and other legal regimes,
and between the text and guideline documents, such as the Code of Practice
on General-Purpose AI and recent guidelines by the European Commission.
We identify a range of issues with the scoping of the provisions which may
undermine its policy goals and create loopholes for regulatory avoidance, such
as those relating to non-commercial models, open-source models, and model
finetuning along the value chain. We find that the Code of Practice contains
significant omissions and misstatements, some of which may present a compliance
risk for an entity choosing to rely on the Code. We do not consider the provisions
on GPAI models which present a systemic risk, which are dealt with elsewhere
in the volume which this work will form a part of.

A table of contents for the paper - 47 pages long, covering legislative background, definitions, information/documentation requirements, copyright, demonstration of compliance, exclusions and concluding remarks.

michael veale@michae· Nov 15

uncanny timeline

Ellen De Generes oscar selfie, most people are changed but not hugely, their faces look a bit like an actor playing them

michael veale@michae· Nov 15

cursed timeline

Ellen de generes Oscar selfie photo structure but people are dressed in normal looking clothing, faces very distored, somewhat like a horror movie

michael veale@michae· Nov 15

The future that privacy advocates want:

A photo resembling the Ellen De Generes Oscar Selfie but everyone's faces are swapped with someone else often looking quite bad

michael veale@michae· Nov 14

q: when you click on that link from the UK you get a country wide block. but you take UK subscribers, like me? why is the UK blocked?

michael veale@michae· Oct 30

Apple Mail users: annoyed by Outlook spamy 'reactions'? I made a tool to prohibit ppl from reacting to your emails. Drag it into your applications folder; click then enable it in System Settings (it's not notarized); enable in Mail settings->Extensions. files.michae.lv/apps/badreaction.zip

michael veale@michae· Oct 17

are you absolutely sure these are the small english channel boats you want to stop