The Verge: Facebook, Google, and Twitter urge Trump to support encryption and immigration reform »
Archive | November, 2016
Told you so…
In fact, a new Democratic Party orthodoxy took hold under Obama: the right of a president to detain people, or even assassinate them, without charges or a whiff of judicial oversight. This included even American citizens.
Glenn Greenwald in Washington Post: Trump will have vast powers. He can thank Democrats for them. »
EU in new attempt to make ISP:s police and censor the Internet
By HAX on November 12, 2016 in Censorship, Civil liberties, Copyright, EU, Freedom of Speech, Intellectual Property, Internet, Rule of law
Joe McNamee, EDRi: EU Copyright Directive – privatised censorship and filtering of free speech »
The proposed Directive:
1) requires internet companies to install filtering technology to prevent the upload of content that has been “identified by rightsholders”
2) seeks to make internet providers responsible for their users’ uploads
3) gives internet users no meaningful protection from unfair deletion of their creations
So, ISP:s will have to check on all content uploaded by users – i.e. scrutinize everything that is uploaded to the Internet.
What is to be allowed or censored will not be a matter of rule of law – but falls under company terms and conditions that can state… whatever.
There will be no legal means of redress or appeal.
Freedom of speech and freedom of information will be in the hands of ISP:s who are to be liable for all user uploads. There is good reason to fear that these companies will be overly anxious and cautious – censoring everything with even a remote possibility of being an infringement of copyright.
This is yet another attempt to get around the eCommerce-directives principle of »mere conduit« stating that net operators can not be liable for what users are doing in their cables.
And imagine the burden on the ISP:s, having to police all of the users net activities.
This proposal is an assault on »mere conduit«, free speech, privacy and the rule of law. It must be stopped.
/ HAX
EDRi on censorship of free speech in the EU
By HAX on November 12, 2016 in Censorship, EU, Freedom of Speech, Internet, Rule of law, social media
EDRi on the EU agreement with social media to censor e.g. hate speech and radicalization, the »Joint Referral Platform«…
Both incitement to violence and violence itself are utterly unacceptable. However, this abhorrent behaviour must also not result in attacks on core principles of our society. In particular, any restrictions must be proportionate, necessary and genuinely meet their objectives. This means that we need clear laws and clear responsibilities for all parties involved: states, providers and civil society. (…)
The restrictions are not provided for by law ‒ terms of service take precedence. Furthermore, as demonstrated by the German parliamentary question, the proportionality cannot be assessed as the State is not in possession of useful data.
Trump and mass surveillance: You were warned
Suddenly, after the US presidential election, people seems to realize that mass surveillance is a problem.
Time Magazine: President Obama Should Shut Down the NSA’s Mass Spying Before It’s Too Late »
Well, yes. But…
Isn’t mass surveillance a problem, regardless of who is in power?
Isn’t it naive to assume that others will not and do not misuse the surveillance apparatus?
Time writes:
During the Obama administration, warrantless spying programs have vastly expanded, giving the government more power than ever before to constantly monitor all of us by collecting our emails, texts, phone records, chats, real-time locations, purchases, and other private information en masse. This indiscriminate spying isn’t just happening in some National Security Agency bunker. It has reportedly spread throughout dozens of agencies, from local police departments to the Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service, and more.
Trump has repeatedly called for more government surveillance. And he has made it very clear exactly how he would use such powers: to target Muslims, immigrant families, marginalized communities, political dissidents, and journalists.
This describes pretty well what the problem is and who is responsible.
The danger of all of this one day falling into the »wrong« hands ought to have been obvious from the very beginning.
It’s naive to claim that Big Brotherism is a problem in just some cases, used by some political forces, with some specific justifications. Mass surveillance is a problem by its very nature and to its core – regardless who is in power. Always.
Naturally, the mass surveillance apparatus in the hands of Donald Trump is a deeply disturbing notion.
But you should have considered such a risk from the very beginning. You were warned. Repeatedly.
/ HAX
The end of Elites?
The defining characteristics of Elites have traditionally been threefold. The first is their institutionalised access to information. The second, their exercise of influence. Thirdly, they controlled opinion and expertise in the public sphere.
Now, we’re seeing the demise of these three assets – and with them the demise of the establishment. It’s clear that we’re in the middle of a seismic change to the way information, influence and control is spread within society.
Huffington Post: The End Of Elites? How Technology Is Killing The Man »
Can the Interpol be trusted?
Trump won – now what?
By HAX on November 9, 2016 in Big Brother, Civil liberties, Democracy, IT security, surveillance, US
In some sort of a reaction against the political elite, a corrupt system, and political correctness – the US has elected Donald Trump as president.
On the one hand, it is more or less impossible to foresee the president elects politics on IT, mass surveillance, and civil rights. (OK, he has opened up for torture of suspected terrorists – but I’m not sure that he himself will remember or stand by that.)
On the other hand, he might quickly become a prisoner of the system. When it comes to day-to-day politics elected politicians have surprisingly limited powers. It is also possible that president Trump will leave everything but big, symbolic issues to governments civil servants.
And with two houses of Congress and the Supreme Court – the US has a reasonably well-founded and stable system when it comes to separation of powers. The system ought to be able to handle one branch going a bit la-di-da.
However, Donald Trump has very little understanding of the Internet, IT-related issues and the principles of human and civil rights. Caution is recommended.
And, by the way – what will happen to Julian Assange?
Here are some other voices on the president-elect:
• What The Election Means For Stuff Techdirt Cares About? »
• A madman has been given the keys to the surveillance state »
• Donald Trump elected US president: What it means for tech and science »
/ HAX
Latest digital currency: Zcash
Competition between currencies is the stuff libertarian dreams are made on—and central bankers’ nightmares too. Already digital monies, in particular Bitcoin and Ethereum, are rivals. On October 28th a new crypto-currency will join the fray: Zcash. Many such “altcoins” are dubious affairs and don’t add much. But this one brings important innovations.
The Economist: Known unknown »
Big Brother in UK schools
According to a report by Big Brother Watch, “classroom management software” is running on over 800,000 computers, laptops, and mobile phones found in 1,000 secondary schools across England and Wales. (…)
Classroom management software allows the screens of an entire class to be monitored from a teacher’s desktop, and for both the historical and real-time Web activity of a pupil to be accessed. Keystrokes can be watched, and alerts created to flag up “inappropriate” words. More generally, the systems can try to spot “bad” behaviour online, including signs of “extremism and radicalisation.”
Ars Technica: Spyware routinely installed by UK schools to snoop on kids’ Web habits »