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When algorithms become politics

By on August 16, 2016 in Big Data, Censorship, Facebook, Freedom of Speech, Google, social media, Twitter

Are Facebook, Google, and Twitter politically biased? The jury seems to be out on that one. But one thing is clear – Facebooks algorithms do have political consequences.

It’s very simple: If enough people flag a Facebook post as offensive, it will automatically disappear. If this happens frequently, a user or a group can be banned from the platform – sometimes forever.

This is often used by various parties to silence others, for the simple reason that they do not agree with the information posted. It can be for e.g. political or religious reasons.

In my world disagreement is something positive. It promotes debate, fosters logical reasoning, widens our views, often adds relevant information and encourages progress.

That might be exactly why some find other people’s opinions offensive. They do not want to have their views questioned. They do not want people to think for themselves. They cannot defend their positions in a free and open debate. So, they try to silence dissent.

And crappy Facebook algorithms makes silencing others extremely easy.

Silencing people will have consequences for society. It will hinder human advancement, thwart enlightenment and make the world a poorer place.

Facebook is a private company, and we all have agreed to (but not read) their terms and conditions. They can do more or less as they like. But they can never escape criticism when acting in an imprudent way.

My recommendation would be for Facebook only to delete posts, users and groups if clearly illegal. And even that would be a slippery slope.

/ HAX

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Atheism – a reason to be banned by Facebook?

By on August 15, 2016 in Censorship, Facebook, Freedom of Speech, social media

In February 2016, ten of the largest Arabic-speaking atheist groups, with a total of about 100,000 members, have been deactivated for the same reason: heavy reporting campaigns that are organized by “cyber jihadist” fundamentalist Islamic groups, especially for the removal of any anti-Islamic group or page. In such coordinated campaigns, very large numbers of people, and possibly automated scripts, simultaneously file reports falsely claiming that a page, group, or personal account has violated Community Standards.

Facebook Facing Heavy Criticism After Removing Major Atheist Pages »

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Prepare for the next crypto war

By on August 15, 2016 in Big Brother, Cryptography, EU, France, IT security, Privacy, surveillance

Last winter it looked as if there was going to be an international initiative against encryption. However, after some public attention, President Obama announced that there were no such plans – at present. Shortly after that, there was a brawl between Apple and the FBI, ending with the FBI withdrawing its subpoena for Apple to build software to give backdoor access to an iPhone. (The FBI cracked it by other methods.) Meanwhile, the UK is slowly moving towards some sort of ban on encryption.

Now, it seems this issue will get new attention. Last week the French called for a global initiative to “deal with” encryption. Apparently, they are trying to get Germany aboard on such an initiative. If so, we can expect the issue to become a hot topic in the EU shortly.

As most politicians are somewhat ignorant when it comes to IT and the Internet – we can expect some ill-conceived proposals.

It would be very difficult for politicians to ban user managed end-to-end encryption like PGP. That should reasonably not be up for discussion. (But you never know when it comes to the EU.)

My guess is politicians (and law enforcement) will take aim at popular communication apps like Whatsapp and Telegram – and to demand backdoors to smartphones and other encrypted hardware.

Cracking communication apps and installing backdoors is still a terrible idea. These techniques will – sooner or later – end up in the wrong hands. And government having access to citizens communications is still a very unpleasant concept.

However, this will not prevent terrorists and criminals from communicating securely and covertly – if they really want to.

/ HAX

France in global call to “deal with” messaging apps »
How the Government Is Waging Crypto War 2.0 »

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“France in global call to “deal with” messaging apps”

By on August 12, 2016 in Big Brother, Cryptography, France, Privacy

France’s interior minister has claimed that encryption technology in messaging apps is widely used by terrorists and said the country would work with Germany to initially launch a European initiative to “deal with” the issue.

“This is a central issue in the fight against terrorism, many of the messages exchanged with a view to carrying out terrorist attacks are now encrypted,” said Bernard Cazeneuve, reported by Le Monde.

Glyn Moody in Ars Technica: Encryption battle – France in global call to “deal with” messaging apps »

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Clinton strategist: Kill Julian Assange

By on August 12, 2016 in Assange, Democracy, Hacktivism, US, Wikileaks

It seems like some Hillary Clinton supporters are now fully on-board with the time-tested mafia-favored strategy of “kill-the-guy.” Democratic strategist Bob Beckel, referring to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, told a Fox Business host panel that “a dead man can’t leak stuff,” and that someone should “illegally shoot the son of a b*tch.” These comments come after the famed whistle-blower implied that 27 year-old DNC staffer Seth Rich, recently (and mysteriously) murdered in Washington DC, was a Wikileaks source connected to the DNC email scandal.

Clinton Strategist: “Kill Julian Assange — A Dead Man Can’t Leak Stuff” »

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