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LGBTQI+ data security and the LGB Alliance
The LGB Alliance has started a new online chat service to help LGB kids questioning their identities, explicitly aimed at stopping gender non-conforming young people from being told that they may be trans. I have major issues with the LGBA generally, though this service has raised multiple red flags due to the nature of the service they are offering. It also raises the issue of online LGBTQI+ services, especially in an environment where it is impossible to verify anonymous users and service providers. Most queer spaces take end users on trust, accepting anonymity as the price of the ticket.
I have been around data storage, data security, and then GDPR for most of my working life. I have also signed multiple NDAs and the UK’s Official Secrets Act so I take data, data security, and safeguarding as core issues that need addressing whenever personal data is use. Few of use realise just how much of our data floats about online, and even anonymous user names do not stop people from being able to patch together a shadow of who we are in cyberspace. Queer people rely on anonymity to prevent real world harm, yet because much of the internet’s infrastructure is hidden behind the interfaces we use each of us takes it on faith that we will be space every time we go online.
My core issue with the LGBA is there desire to remove trans and queer identities from…
