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Open letter to the EU on German »NetzDG «

By on May 24, 2017 in Censorship, Civil rights, Democracy, EU, Free Information, Germany, Rule of law, social media

This bill asks social media companies to take down content, including perfectly legal material, that social media companies like Facebook can arbitrarily label as “hate speech”, “fake news”, “pornographic content”, among other categories. In addition, the draft law de facto imposes filtering of content, despite the fact that such technology cannot understand context and will, therefore, inevitably lead to still more legal content being deleted. The basic aim of the bill is, of course, well-intentioned. However, the way this bill is drafted appoints social media companies as arbiters of legality and “the truth”. Furthermore, this bill breaches EU law, which establishes that all restrictions to fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, must be provided for by law, necessary and proportionate (Article 52 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union). In addition, EU law also prohibits imposing general monitoring obligations on companies. If adopted, this unprecedented law would serve as a bad example for other states, including countries with serious democratic deficits.

EDRi » EU action needed: German NetzDG draft threatens freedom of expression »

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»Theresa May to shut down the internet as we know it«

By on May 22, 2017 in Big Brother, Censorship, Civil rights, Deep State, Free Information, Freedom of Speech, Internet, Privacy, surveillance, UK

“Some people say that it is not for government to regulate when it comes to technology and the internet,” it states. “We disagree.”

The Independent: Theresa May to Crete New Internet that would be Controlled and Regulated by Government »

Pull the various tech-related manifesto pledges together and – if the polls are correct and May wins a majority in next month’s election – the Conservatives could have a mandate from the British public for a significant extension of internet regulation, all based on the idea that a government’s duty to protect citizens exists just as much on the internet as it does in the real world.

Buzzfeed: Theresa May Wants To Regulate The Internet »

“Balances” freedoms? Freedoms aren’t supposed to be “balanced.” They’re supposed to be supported and protected. And when you have your freedoms protected, that also protects users. Those two things aren’t in opposition. They don’t need to be balanced. As for “obligations for businesses and platforms” — those five words are basically the ones that say “we’re going to force Google and Facebook to censor stuff we don’t like, while making it impossible for any new platform to ever challenge the big guys.” It’s a bad, bad idea.

Techdirt: Theresa May Plans To Regulate, Tax And Censor The Internet »

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The Internet after UK elections?

By on May 19, 2017 in Big Government, Civil rights, Deep State, Democracy, Internet, Privacy, UK

UK Prime Minister and noted authoritarian Theresa May has promised that if she wins the upcoming general election, her party will abolish internet access in the UK, replacing it with a government-monitored internet where privacy tools are banned and online services will be required to vet all user-supplied content for compliance with rules about pornography, political speech, copyright compliance and so on — and search engines will have to employ special British rules to exclude banned material from their search results.

BoingBoing: Theresa May promises a British version of Iran’s Halal Internet »

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Sweden, an Orwellian state

By on May 19, 2017 in affairs, Censorship, Civil rights, Democracy, Free Information, Freedom of Speech, Twitter

Something remarkable happened in Sweden this week: a list of 15,000 people with the wrong political opinions was used to block those people from the @Sweden account, and thereby preventing these people from communicating over Twitter with that part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The government tried defending the block as only concerning neo-nazi right-wing extremists, which was a narrative that held water in legacy media until somebody pointed out that the Ambassador of Israel (!) was among the blocked.

Falkvinge: What do you do when you realize your government has blocked you for Wrongthink? »

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The Assange case – now what?

By on May 19, 2017 in Assange, Civil rights, Deep State, Free Information, Freedom of the Press, Human rights, Law enforcement, Wikileaks

The Swedish special prosecutor has decided to close the investigation into sexual misconduct against Wikileaks editor in chief Julian Assange.

First of all, the case in itself was remarkably thin. Second, Assange has never been charged with any crime. The European Arrest Warrant (EAW) was issued to question him. Such an interview was conducted last November. So, reasonably, the EAW have lost its function.

So, now… what?

British authorities still want to get their hands on Assange – formally for having jumped bail, which is a crime that is punishable with up to one year in prison.

But the core of the matter is: Will he be extradited to the U.S. to stand trial for some of the things Wikileaks has published? We know that there is a grand jury looking into the matter. But there are also strong voices referring to the first amendment in the constitution. It wouldn’t be reasonable to charge Wikileaks but not e.g. New York Times for publishing the same information.

The British authorities have, so far, refused to confirm or deny whether it has already received a U.S. extradition warrant for Julian Assange.

So, yet, it is not possible for Assange to walk out of the Ecuadorian embassy a free man.

/ HAX

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Big Brother is not amused

By on May 18, 2017 in Big Brother, Civil rights, Democracy, Human rights

The annual German Big Brother Awards were bestowed by EDRi member Digitalcourage on 5 May 2017 in Bielefeld, Germany. The event drew much media attention, as one of the awardees threatened the organiser with legal action. (…)

The awardee in the “Politics” category was the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB). Imams at DİTİB – with ties to the Turkish government and its secret service MİT – are said to have conducted political espionage on DİTİB members and visitors, exposing them to persecution by the Turkish state.

EDRi » BBA Germany 2017: Espionage, threats, tracking, provoking cyber wars »

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WTISD-17: The two faces of Big Data

By on May 17, 2017 in Big Data, Civil rights, Data Protection, Privacy

Big data has a potential to improve society – much like electricity or antibiotics. From health care and education to urban planning and protecting the environment, the applications of big data are remarkable. However, big data comes with big negative impacts. Big data can be used – by both advertisers and government agencies – to violate privacy. The power of big data can be exploited to monitor every single detail of people’s activities globally.

EDRi: Big Data for Big Impact – but not only a positive one »

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»War makes murderers out of otherwise decent people«

By on May 11, 2017 in Civil rights, Democracy, Human rights

From an interview with Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz…

Lesley Stahl: Did you meet a lot of people who perpetrated war crimes who would otherwise in your opinion have been just a normal, upstanding citizen?

Benjamin Ferencz: Of course, is my answer. These men would never have been murderers had it not been for the war. These were people who could quote Goethe, who loved Wagner, who were polite–

Lesley Stahl: What turns a man into a savage beast like that?

Benjamin Ferencz: He’s not a savage. He’s an intelligent, patriotic human being.

Lesley Stahl: He’s a savage when he does the murder though.

Benjamin Ferencz: No. He’s a patriotic human being acting in the interest of his country, in his mind.

Lesley Stahl: You don’t think they turn into savages even for the act?

Benjamin Ferencz: Do you think the man who dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima was a savage? Now I will tell you something very profound, which I have learned after many years. War makes murderers out of otherwise decent people. All wars, and all decent people.

CBS 60 minutes: What the last Nuremberg prosecutor alive wants the world to know »

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UK: AI to decide who gets bail

By on May 11, 2017 in AI, Big Brother, Civil rights, Human rights, Law enforcement, Rule of law, UK

Get arrested in Durham, England, and artificial intelligence could help decide whether you’re held in custody or sent home—but it’s not yet clear if the algorithm is more accurate than police officers when it comes to assessing whether someone is likely to reoffend.

So, basically, if someone will be detained or not is to be decided by the behavior of others.

Vice Motherboard: An AI Will Decide Which Criminals in the UK Get Bail »

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