In today’s email:

• The safety bill that’s annoying tech companies

• UK’s top high-street coffee, revealed

• A four-day work week

• How to type faster

• Airlines making profits again

• A beautiful word clock

EDITOR'S RAMBLE 🗣

The people have spoken.

After last week’s poll to pick the best UK high street coffee, I present the results…

Costa Coffee is the high street king!

(If you’re angry about it, hit ‘reply’ and let me know why - there’s an accidental rhyme)!

- Idin

FEATURED REPORT 📰

🔒 A Signal to leave?

What's going on here?

The UK government is introducing the Online Safety Bill, which is intended to increase the safety of internet users.

Some tech companies and digital rights campaigners are concerned that the legislation means they’ll have to undermine end-to-end encryption, a technology that protects users' privacy by making messages unreadable to anyone except the sender and receiver.

Signal (an encrypted-messaging app) has said it will stop providing services in the UK if it’s forced to weaken its encryption, and other companies have expressed concerns that the legislation could hurt their businesses.

What’s the Online Safety Bill?

The Online Safety Bill is a set of laws that the government in the UK is making to help people (mainly children) safe online. It will make sure that websites and apps have to remove things that could be harmful, like bullying or frightening content.

Is the Online Safety Bill in force yet?

Not yet - it’s currently going through the legislative process in the UK.

Why are some unhappy with Signal's announcement?

Child protection advocates have expressed concerns over Signal's announcement to introduce new enhanced privacy features. They believe these new features could hinder the ability of law enforcement to detect and prevent child exploitation online. They argue that while privacy is important, it should not come at the expense of the safety of children.

What’s the wider commercial impact of introducing the Bill?

The Online Safety Bill will impact big tech companies with a lot of private user data, like social media platforms and online marketplaces. The UK government estimates that 25,000 business will be affected.

It introduces new requirements for companies to monitor and remove harmful content. To meet new legal and regulatory obligations, companies will be required to rethink their business models and spend more money to put in place systems and processes to protect their users.

Failure to do so may lead to penalties, including fines of up to £18m or 10% of global turnover, whichever is higher, as well as potential criminal sanctions for senior managers.

Why should commercial law firms care about the Bill?

The strict new requirements will impact the tech clients of commercial law firms - particularly those who deal with personal user data. These clients will need guidance on how to comply with the new rules.

The stricter rules could also mean an increase in cases and disputes in relation to the newly introduced laws where lawyers specialising in contentious work would be called upon.

A BIT OF FUN 😄 

It’s just brew-tiful 👀 

IN OTHER NEWS 🗞

• 🧑‍✈️ Australian airline Qantas’ saw its profits hit incredible heights after a period of major losses: The airline suffered heavily during the COVID-19 pandemic, but has made more than AUD$1.4 bn in just six months as people are starting to fly again.

• 📆 A trial on four-day work weeks in the UK was a massive success: 61 companies entered the trial. Already, 56 have extended the four-day-week policy and 18 have made it permanent (law firms are doing it too!)

• 🏦 The Prudential Regulation Authority (the UK regulator of banks) is planning to reduce restrictions on small banks: This is to encourage more competition in the banking sector.

AROUND THE WEB 🌐

• ⌨️ Speedy: Try this simple typing test to see how fast you can type. Reply to this email with your top score and I’ll let you know if you beat me.

• 💪 Level-up: Join free courses on CV-writing, photography, Spanish or really anything else on Skillshare. Sign up for 30-days completely free with code AFF30D23 (hint: join, do the courses you want to, then quit again in under 30 days so you never pay a penny).*

• 📚️ Beautiful: This website uses actual quotes from random pieces of literature to tell you the current time.

* This is an affiliate link. It's free to join for you and if you sign up through us, we will receive a small commission.

STUFF THAT MIGHT HELP YOU 👌

• 👥 Community for aspiring lawyers: If you're struggling with motivation for law firm applications, check out FlowHuddle - a supportive online community, hosting remote co-working sessions, expert office hours and in-person meet-ups.

• 📕Commercial awareness journal: Check out this journal that we've created alongside the team from The Lawyer Spot. It gives your a simple three-step structure to improve your commercial awareness in a high-quality physical notebook.

• 📣 Advertise with us: If you're looking to reach an engaged audience of over 6,000 aspiring lawyers, sponsor this newsletter.