Jerry Fishenden

The second edition of 'Fracture. The collision between technology and democracy—and how we fix it' is out

Essex Police halts live facial recognition over bias and accuracy risks bit.ly/3POEUHm

I see some weird things but this takes the biscuit. A vulnerability in the Companies House website, that let anyone view the private dashboard of any one of the five million registered companies, see directors' personal details. And modify them.

With the government announcing its consultation on digital ID, a few thoughts on why delegated authority is non-negotiable ntouk.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/dig…

Amazon is experiencing AI-related outages, with a “trend of incidents” in recent months characterised by a “high blast radius” and “Gen-AI assisted changes.” "Junior and mid-level engineers will now require more senior engineers to sign off any AI-assisted changes" ft.com/content/7cab4e…

reflecting some of the issues I highlighted in ... ntouk.wordpress.com/2025/03/21/age…

Useful piece from 'The Register', with more insights into the risks organisations face from the malicious use of agentic AI theregister.com/2026/03/08/dep…

Nearly a year ago I wrote about how agentic AI *could* join-up govt in more effective ways for citizens … but worried it would instead end up being a new thin digital veneer, displacing the much needed transformation and improvement of the public sector. Has much changed …? ntouk.wordpress.com/2025/03/21/age…

some thoughts on how governments will need less databases, less data sharing, and less processing and profiling as citizens increasingly become able to directly prove their eligibility for a service ... ntouk.wordpress.com/2026/02/26/a-f…

Think I may have underestimated the (negative) impact of AI on public sector workloads when I wrote this back in January: “… from policy planning in a local authority to welfare claims ... People will use AI to generate all sorts of well-sourced submissions with little effort for themselves while placing a huge burden on the public sector in the process.” ntouk.wordpress.com/2026/01/02/ai-…

@smithsam @EinsteinsAttic oh well, so much for "user needs"

@ntouk @EinsteinsAttic third paragraph has many interpretations

anyone know if GOV.UK One Login now lets users switch between their different One Login accounts (e.g. different business accounts, personal account, etc.)? Or does it still delete everything and make you start all over again?

@smithsam @EinsteinsAttic ... and yet it says it is #multiplicity" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">gov.uk/government/pub…

@ntouk @EinsteinsAttic Has multiplicity been designed into the system? #QTWTAIN no2id.uk/2026/jan-csw-p…

@smithsam @EinsteinsAttic it's like stepping back 10 or more years in time if it wasn't designed with a secure identity selector / profile switching. Have you seen any info setting out how end-to-end support for multiplicity has been designed into the system?

@ntouk I think it still deletes cached items from the device, which is what should happen as you don't want sensitive details lying around on a shared device. But equally, the hoops that Login makes you jump through remain. cc @EinsteinsAttic

it's meant to be the gateway into a GOV.UK Wallet & needs to support multiplicity—if it behaves like this, every time someone logs out of e.g. a personal account they'll lose everything stored in their wallet associated with that account, mobile driving licence, etc.?

@ntouk I think they are deliberately misunderstanding the multiplicity principle. Most of that page is "We're not really doing it. But if we say we are and do something else, no one will notice."

@guy_herbert I'm happy not to have them connected—it's meant to support the 'multiplicity principle' and allow users to have multiple separate accounts. Not much use though if it deletes everything from the app (approved documentation etc) when you switch between them #multiplicity" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">gov.uk/government/pub…

@ntouk I seem to have ended up with two (so far). But I don't think they are recognised as connected.

The UK's National Savings & Investments digital transformation is turning into a disaster computerweekly.com/news/366638982…

A few recent developments that caught my eye — from the threat of legal action over digital identity, to the world-leading work of Capita (coughs) ntouk.wordpress.com/2026/02/13/the… @ComputerWeekly @Karlfl

@guy_herbert … only on their terms :)

@ntouk Do you think the database state hucksters actually *want* public sector reform?

“The failure to use digital technologies and practices as a catalyst for public sector reform doesn’t just hinder government’s policymaking, operational efficiency, and effectiveness. It also weakens and jeopardises democratic legitimacy.”

@dgwbirch … a timely reminder! I use a similar quote of yours in my book (which also appears in the mini-serialisation based on it — ntouk.wordpress.com/2026/01/31/fra…)

#FlashbackFriday In 2020, I said digital identity should be about credentials, not names, so we can trust sources without sacrificing privacy. In a world of AI and anonymity, that distinction matters more than ever. Yesterday’s future. Progress optional. buff.ly/HLdwFu8