HAX

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  • In defence of hacktivism

    What is hacktivism (also spelled “hactivism” by some)? Simply stated, it is the subversive use of computers and computer networks to promote a political or social agenda.

    Techcrunch: The dramatic rise in hacktivism »

  • PNR? Really? Why?

    Should we register all international travel by air, train, and bus? Dutch liberal MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld doesn’t think so. And she has got a point.

  • Link tax, fake news and alternative media

    I don’t get it.

    The proposed EU »link tax« (charging people and platforms who are linking to a news site) is a backward idea. It will lead to fewer readers and reduced revenues for Big Media, not more money.

    Aside from that, Big Media and politicians are at war with what they call »fake news«. (As it turns out, it might be more of a war against new and alternative media – to stamp out competition.)

    But assuming that fake news is a real problem – then it makes the link tax even more incomprehensible.

    Alt-right media, troll sites, racist web publications, civil rights activists, oppositional web media, citizen journalists, bloggers, satirists… – all but Big Media will probably opt out from (or not be included in) the link tax, as they want people to visit their sites and publications.

    To put it in the simplest possible terms: A link tax will steer the public away from mainstream media – and to the very same alternative media that is accused of providing fake news.

    I don’t get the logic, if any.

    / HAX

  • TPB – ISP:s fight back

    Swedish ISP Bredbandsbolaget has begun blocking The Pirate Bay but it will not give up the fight. The provider says that in order to ensure that private players “do not have the last word regarding content that should be accessible on the Internet,” it will be forced to fight any new blocking demands. Meanwhile, several of the blocked domains appear to be linking to legal sites.

    Torrentfreak: ISP Blocks Pirate Bay But Vows to Fight Future Blocking Demands »

  • Latest from the Patent War

    Techdirt: IBM Shamed Into Giving Away Awful Patent On Email Out-Of-Office Messages »

  • German mass surveillance: Business as usual

    As Netzpolitik points out, while the committee was busy discussing the few things it could discuss, the German parliament was expanding BND’s legal authorities.

    German citizens – along with everyone the government spies on – can rest assured nothing has changed. It’s only gotten worse.

    Techdirt: Germany’s Spy Agency Walks Away From Three-Year Investigation With Expanded Spy Powers »

  • The latest on EU »link tax«

    On 24 February 2017 the Rapporteur of the European Parliament (EP) Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), Catherine Stihler MEP, published her draft Opinion on the Copyright Directive. The Opinion sends a strong message against the most extremist parts of the European Commission’s proposal: the “censorship machine” (aka upload filter) proposal in Article 13 and the suggestion to expand the “ancillary copyright ” (aka “link tax”), that failed so miserably in Germany and Spain to every country of the EU.

    EDRi: A positive step forward against the “censorship machine” in the Copyright Directive »

    Julia Reda, Pirate MEP: New copyright study shows fundamental flaws in EU Commission plans for upload surveillance »

  • Zuckerbergs thoughts on how Facebook might rule the world

    Ten days ago, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a very long policy letter, that has been nagging my mind ever since. (Link»)

    The ambition is – of course – to make Facebook even bigger and more important in our lives. This also means making the totally dominant social media player even bigger and more important in our lives. I’m not sure that I’m comfortable with that.

    Facebook is a very special sort of social engineering, an invisible force guiding us trough social relations, news, politics, community activities, business, and culture. And here I get the impression that Facebook would like to become the curator of our lives.

    Going forward, we will measure Facebook’s progress with groups based on meaningful groups, not groups overall. This will require not only helping people connect with existing meaningful groups, but also enabling community leaders to create more meaningful groups for people to connect with.

    So, some Facebook groups are to be more important than others? One factor to define a »meningful group« seems to be »real« off-line events. For me, who am a small player in an international network promoting a free and open internet along with civil rights and liberty, this is a disheartening approach. Almost all our work is done online, with the occasional international conference. Nevertheless, together we make a difference – and our work is often the only way to make a real impact when it comes to politics and law making in these fields. Should we matter less?

     

    And what about this:

    The guiding principles are that the Community Standards should reflect the cultural norms of our community, that each person should see as little objectionable content as possible, and each person should be able to share what they want while being told they cannot share something as little as possible. The approach is to combine creating a large-scale democratic process to determine standards with AI to help enforce them.

    For those who don’t make a decision, the default will be whatever the majority of people in your region selected, like a referendum. Ofcourse you will always be free to update your personal settings anytime.

    I see the point. But wouldn’t this be creating new »filter bubbles« based on geography and cultural traditions? Will this not hamper human intellectual evolution? Will this not contribute to conformity? Isn’t the beauty of the Internet that it is truly global? Ars Technica dubs the approach outlined by Zuckerberg being »gerrymandering the Internet«.

    I would also say that this would be a way to subordinate the individual to majority rule by default settings. Thus, reducing freedom and moving power away from the private person to a faceless collective. And – are we really comfortable with AI handling such delicate matters?

    Wouldn’t this be a dream for totalitarian regimes – to be able to single out the ones who have changed their settings in ways that are no longer in line with most other people?

     

    Ars Technica makes another valid point:

    Zuckerberg adds that he’s thinking of creating “worldwide voting system” for Facebook users which could then be used as a template for how “collective decision-making may work in other aspects of the global community.” That’s a vague formulation. But coming on the heels of his comments about politicians with Facebook engagement, he sounds like he’s floating the idea of turning Facebook into the infrastructure for managing elections.

    Putting our democratic system in the hands of Facebook? Really? I don’t think so.

     

    And don’t forget to put the Zuckerberg manifesto in context. This is a company who has the creator of a very powerful tool for mass surveillance analysis (used by e.g. the FBI, CIA, NSA and GCHQ) – who also happens to be an advisor to the illustrious US President – on its’ board of directors.

     

    I fully understand that running an operation like Facebook is a highly complicated and delicate task. Maybe even impossible.

    But the real answer must be competition. Not that many years ago Facebook didn’t even exist. And in an unknown number of years ahead there will be something else – or, I hope, a multitude of alternatives. That is hopeful. But it doesn’t exclude Facebook from scrutiny right now, right here.

    We simply do not want the Skynet experience.

    / HAX

    • The Zuckerberg manifesto »
    • Ars Technica (Op-ed): Mark Zuckerberg’s manifesto is a political trainwreck »

  • You cannot and should not legislate against »fake news«

    Bad journalism and propaganda have plagued publishing and governments for thousands of years. Donald Trump’s violently-adversarial relationship with facts and Vladimir Putin’s warehouses full of paid internet trolls have simply taken the conversation to an entirely new level in the internet age. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that many of the folks who believe they can somehow legislate this problem away may be doing more harm than good.

    Techdirt: ‘Fake News’ Now Means Whatever People Want It To Mean, And Legislating It Away Is A Slippery Slope Toward Censorship »

  • Swedish Pirate Bay case slowing to a halt?

    At the end of 2014 Swedish police confiscated dozens of servers which many believed to belong to The Pirate Bay. The authorities later confirmed that an investigation involving copyright crimes was ongoing, but not much progress has been reported since. According to the prosecutor, the case isn’t getting any stronger, as the statute of limitations for several key crimes is expiring.

    Torrentfreak: Pirate Bay Prosecution In Trouble, Time Runs Out For Investigators »