I have written on journalism and media trends eariler few years ago. So it is time for update. What is the state of journalism and news publishing in 2017? NiemanLab’s predictions for 2017 are a good place to start thinking about what lies ahead for journalism. There, Matt Waite puts us in our place straight away by telling us that the people running the media are the problem.
There has been changes on tech publishing. In January 2017 International Data Group, the owner of PCWorld magazine and market researcher IDC, on Thursday said it was being acquired by China Oceanwide Holdings Group and IDG Capital, the investment management firm run by IDG China executive Hugo Shong. In 2016 Arrow bought EE Times, EDN, TechOnline and lots more from UBM.
Here are some article links and information bits on journalist and media in 2017:
Soothsayers’ guides to journalism in 2017 article take a look at journalism predictions and the value of this year’s predictions.
What Journalism Needs To Do Post-Election article tells that faced with the growing recognition that the electorate was uniformed or, at minimum, deeply in the thrall of fake news, far too many journalists are responding not with calls for change but by digging in deeper to exactly the kinds of practices that got us here in the first place.
Fake News Is About to Get Even Scarier than You Ever Dreamed article says that what we saw in the 2016 election is nothing compared to what we need to prepare for in 2020 as incipient technologies appear likely to soon obliterate the line between real and fake.
Headlines matter article tells that in 2017, headlines will matter more than ever and journalists will need to wrest control of headline writing from social-optimization teams. People get their news from headlines now in a way they never did in the past.
Why new journalism grads are optimistic about 2017 article tells that since today’s college journalism students have been in school, the forecasts for their futures has been filled with words like “layoffs,” “cutbacks,” “buyouts” and “freelance.” Still many people are optimistic about the future because the main motivation for being a journalist is often “to make a difference.”
Updating social media account can be a serious job. Zuckerberg has 12+ Facebook employees helping him with posts and comments on his Facebook page and professional photographers to snap personal moments.
Wikipedia Is Being Ripped Apart By a Witch Hunt For Secretly Paid Editors article tells that with undisclosed paid editing on the rise, Wikipedians and the Wikimedia Foundation are working together to stop the practice without discouraging user participation. Paid editing is permissible under Wikimedia Foundation’s terms of use as long as they disclose these conflicts of interest on their user pages, but not all paid editors make these disclosures.
Big Internet giants are working on how to make content better for mobile devices. Instant Articles is a new way for any publisher to create fast, interactive articles on Facebook. Google’s AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is a project that it aims to accelerate content on mobile devices. Both of those systems have their advantages and problems.
Clearing Out the App Stores: Government Censorship Made Easier article tells that there’s a new form of digital censorship sweeping the globe, and it could be the start of something devastating. The centralization of the internet via app stores has made government censorship easier. If the app isn’t in a country’s app store, it effectively doesn’t exist. For more than a decade, we users of digital devices have actively championed an online infrastructure that now looks uniquely vulnerable to the sanctions of despots and others who seek to control information.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Will California’s New Bot Law Strengthen Democracy?
https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/will-californias-new-bot-law-strengthen-democracy
When you ask experts how bots influence politics—that is, what specifically these bits of computer code that purport to be human can accomplish during an election—they will give you a list: bots can smear the opposition through personal attacks; they can exaggerate voters’ fears and anger by repeating short simple slogans; they can overstate popularity; they can derail conversations and draw attention to symbolic and ultimately meaningless ideas; they can spread false narratives. In other words, they are an especially useful tool, considering how politics is played today.
On July 1st, California became the first state in the nation to try to reduce the power of bots by requiring that they reveal their “artificial identity” when they are used to sell a product or influence a voter.
Regulating bots should be low-hanging fruit when it comes to improving the Internet. The California law doesn’t even ban them outright but, rather, insists that they identify themselves in a manner that is “clear, conspicuous, and reasonably designed.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Subcontracting censorship plus no real agreement on defintion – non starter
EU’s terrorism filter plans: The problems just keep coming
https://www.zdnet.com/article/eus-terrorism-filter-plans-the-problems-just-keep-coming/
European authorities have discovered that creating rules to keep terrorist content off the internet is not easy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
France passes a bill to stop hate speech online
https://www.gsmarena.com/france_passes_a_bill_to_stop_hate_speech_online-news-37957.php
Once it is done, it would push companies to remove hate speech within 24 hours.
lawmakers in the European country are divided what exactly shall qualify as hate speech and how would they regulate it in the bill. The basic idea is to remove content that incites or encourages hateful violence, discrimination, along with child pornography.
If the platforms do not remove the content in the time limit, they could face a fine of up to €1.25 million.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Journalist Tim Pool accuses YouTube of using arbitrary “privacy guidelines” to censor content
https://reclaimthenet.org/tim-pool-youtube-pinterest/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://reclaimthenet.org/freedom/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Every Retweet Costs Your Brain A Little — And The Bill Adds Up
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2016/04/30/every-retweet-costs-your-brain-a-little-and-the-bill-adds-up/
The retweet has become a major social currency of our time. Even if we generally aren’t reading the stuff we’re retweeting, it seems harmless enough to share whatever grabs a sliver of our interest.
The researchers wondered if retweeting and otherwise sharing information online steals away mental resources that could aid in comprehending, recalling and maybe even beneficially using the content. Think of it as a reposting tax on your brain.
People in the repost group scored twice as many wrong answers as the non-repost group and had significantly worse comprehension of the content. The comprehension results were especially bad for messages they reposted even if they could remember the topics.
So what’s going on that would lead the reposters to perform worse than non-reposters in both experiments? The researchers think it comes down to “cognitive overload”–it’s not the content but the decision to share or not to share it that drains mental resources.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inside Google’s Microaggressions Newsletter: Pronoun Problems, Soy Police, And A Deaf Person Told To Watch Her ‘Tone’
https://dailycaller.com/2019/06/25/inside-google-microaggressions-newsletter/
Tomi Engdahl says:
UK law review eyes abusive trends like deepfaked porn and cyber flashing
https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/26/uk-law-review-eyes-abusive-trends-like-deepfaked-porn-and-cyber-flashing/
The UK government has announced the next phase of a review of the law around the making and sharing of non-consensual intimate images, with ministers saying they want to ensure it keeps pace with evolving digital tech trends.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘The Books Will Stop Working’: How The Microsoft Store Is Retiring Its Books Category
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamrowe1/2019/06/27/the-books-will-stop-working-how-the-microsoft-store-is-retiring-its-books-category/
“Reminded that the Microsoft ebook store closes next week. The DRM’d books will stop working. I cannot believe that sentence. ‘The books will stop working.’ I keep saying it and it sounds worse each time,”
the deletion of any highlighting or annotations made by the ebooks’ readers over the years.
The DRM standards used by massive companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon mean that anyone who purchases the ability to read, listen or watch their media won’t have full control over it in the future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
Tomi Engdahl says:
Poikkeuksellisen ankara vihapuhelaki hyväksyttiin Ranskassa – terrorismiin yllyttävät ja syrjivät sisällöt poistettava päivän sisällä
https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10868782?utm_source=facebook-share&utm_medium=social
Vääristä ilmiannoista sakot
Ranskan vihapuhelakia on verrattu Saksan vastaavaan lakiin, joka otettiin käyttöön viime vuoden alussa (siirryt toiseen palveluun). Myös Saksassa yhtiöiden on toimittava 24 tunnissa saatuaan ilmoituksen vihapuheesta. Jos yhtiö ei poista “selvästi lakia rikkovaa” materiaalia vuorokaudessa, se voi saada 50 miljoonan euron sakot.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook will start taking a cut of fan subscriptions in 2020
https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/09/facebook-subscription-revenue-share/
Facebook will take a cut of up to 30% on fan subscriptions, beginning on January 1, 2020.
The social network is revealing its plans as part of a broader slate of monetization-related announcements this week at VidCon.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Spoiler warning! This neural network spots dangerous reviews before you read them
https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/09/spoiler-warning-this-neural-network-spots-dangerous-reviews-before-you-read-them/
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Reminder That ‘Fake News’ Is An Information Literacy Problem – Not A Technology Problem
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2019/07/07/a-reminder-that-fake-news-is-an-information-literacy-problem-not-a-technology-problem/
3 642 views|Jul 7, 2019,1:01 pm
A Reminder That ‘Fake News’ Is An Information Literacy Problem – Not A Technology Problem
Kalev LeetaruContributor
AI & Big Data
I write about the broad intersection of data and society.
Getty Images.
Getty Images. GETTY IMAGES.
Beneath the spread of all “fake news,” misinformation, disinformation, digital falsehoods and foreign influence lies society’s failure to teach its citizenry information literacy: how to think critically about the deluge of information that confronts them in our modern digital age. Instead, society has prioritized speed over accuracy, sharing over reading, commenting over understanding.
Schools no longer teach source triangulation, conflict arbitration, separating fact from opinion, citation chaining, conducting research or even the basic concept of verification and validation. In short, we’ve stopped teaching society how to think about information, leaving our citizenry adrift in the digital wilderness increasingly saturated with falsehoods
Tomi Engdahl says:
Australia’s anti-encryption laws being used to bypass journalist protections, expert says
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jul/08/australias-anti-encryption-laws-being-used-to-bypass-journalist-protections-expert-says
New legislation has given AFP ‘power to strike a chilling blow against press freedom’, cybersecurity researcher tells parliamentary review
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook ad-free lifestyle.
https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/387353-facebook-ad-free-lifestyle
Tomi Engdahl says:
SEO MYTHBUSTING – VIDEOSARJA GOOGLELTA
https://www.digimarkkinointi.fi/blogi/seo-mythbusting-videosarja-googlelta
Tomi Engdahl says:
This is what conspiracy theories do.
People Tell Us How QAnon Destroyed Their Relationships
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/xwnjx4/people-tell-us-how-qanon-destroyed-their-relationships
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/randalllane/2019/07/01/jamal-khashoggi-moves-to-top-of-one-free-press-10-most-urgent-list/
Tomi Engdahl says:
UN Launches All-out War on Free Speech
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14516/united-nations-free-speech
definition of what the UN considers to be “hate” and it happens to be the broadest and vaguest of definitions possible: “Any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender or other identity factor”. With a definition as broad as this, all speech could be labelled “hate”.
Except the UN most definitely seeks to prohibit freedom of speech, especially the kind that challenges the UN’s agendas.
Hate speech ‘on notice’ as UN chief launches new plan to ‘identify, prevent and confront’ growing scourge
https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/06/1040731
The UN Strategy and Plan of Action provides a system-wide programme with the overriding objective of identifying, preventing and confronting hate speech, the Secretary-General said.
the strategy aims to enable the UN to respond to “the impact of hate speech on societies”,
“Addressing hate speech should never be confused with suppressing freedom of expression”,
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is this the end of wellness?
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jul/14/eva-wiseman-is-this-the-end-of-wellness
After a trend of magical thinking and quick fixes, science-based solutions may not be so dull
Like a worm cut in half, its head regenerating into a new, even angrier worm, the “wellness” trend is one that refuses to die. But this week, its wiggle appeared to wane. A certain weariness had set in. Is this the end of wellness?
What do they need healing from, you ask? Well, what have you got? Creepy energy, deep thirst, smell of cardboard, troubled pits, babyish sleeping, bad vagina – the beauty of the term “wellness” is that it encompasses almost everything, and can cost almost anything. Which is why I was excited to see the attendees rebel – a tipping point has been reached.
Wellness has traditionally been a women’s issue, much like bloating and white jeans, but last year a men’s movement began, only to be tripped up this week for violating Facebook policies.
The wellness industry thrives due to a collection of complementary ideas, blended hard into a thick juice. One is the alluring mystique of nature, compared with the cold arrogance of Western medicine and its relentless evidence; wellness cures are rarely proven to fail because they can rarely be proven to work.
It’s hard to fight miraculous cures to nebulous problems with dull, unphotogenic but science-based solutions. But for every new wellness fad – activated charcoal, pink salt, placenta smoothies – there is a noisy, science-based argument debunking it, and increased responsibility from trusted institutions who understand more care is required when representing magical thinking and its premier philosophers
And too, growing acknowledgement of the reasons these quick fixes appeal to so many people, especially those with busy lives and limited healthcare
Tomi Engdahl says:
Social media, but not video games, linked to depression in teens, according to Montreal study
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/social-media-mental-health-screen-time-instagram-facebook-video-games-study-1.5211782
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trollin työkalupakki: Sanakirja kertoo, mitä on doksaus, spleinaus, olkinukke ja kaasuvalotus
https://www.kauppalehti.fi/uutiset/trollin-tyokalupakki-sanakirja-kertoo-mita-on-doksaus-spleinaus-olkinukke-ja-kaasuvalotus/f55336ec-a6bf-4aea-bc5a-f8b2c6b1155f
Tomi Engdahl says:
“SIN vs Facebook”: First victory against privatised censorship
https://edri.org/sin-vs-facebook-first-victory-against-privatised-censorship/
In an interim measures ruling on 11 June 2019, the District Court in Warsaw has temporarily prohibited Facebook from removing fan pages, profiles, and groups run by Civil Society Drug Policy Initiative (SIN) on Facebook and Instagram, as well as from blocking individual posts. SIN, a Polish non-profit organisation promoting evidence-based drug policy
SIN filed a lawsuit against Facebook in May 2019 that blocking content restricted, in an unjustified way, the possibility to disseminate information by the organisation, express opinions and communicate with their audience. Concerned about further censorship, SIN was not able to freely carry out their educational activities. Moreover, the removal of content suggested that the organisation’s activity on the platforms was harmful, thus undermining SIN’s credibility.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Revealed: the digital army making hundreds of millions of social media posts singing praises of the Communist Party
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1947376/revealed-digital-army-making-hundreds-millions-social
US researchers carry out first deep analysis of China’s government-backed internet warriors known as the ‘50-cent gang’
It’s an open secret that China employs a veritable army of internet commentators to sing the government’s praises and attack its critics, but researchers at Harvard University in the United States say they not only have evidence this is the case, but also what Beijing’s motive is.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What Would it Take for Apple to Ban Facebook from The App Store?
https://medium.com/@bmd329/what-would-it-take-for-apple-to-ban-facebook-from-the-app-store-cca73a5f66eb
This past week’s recent skirmish between Apple, Facebook and Google over what content finds its way to The App Store has set the stage for future debate between the major tech companies’ competing value systems and raises the question of how far Apple is willing to go to uphold its mantle as the current arbiter of privacy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to survive the fake news about cancer
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/14/cancer-fake-news-clinics-suppressing-disease-cure
The internet is awash with ads for costly but bogus treatments – and claims that scientists are suppressing a cure for the disease
In 2016, more than half of the 20 most shared cancer articles on Facebook consisted of medically discredited claims. And this goes far beyond Facebook – the Wall Street Journal recently revealed that YouTube was hosting accounts with thousands of subscribers that promoted bogus cancer treatments.
A quick web search reveals ostensible treatments ranging from the vaguely scientific-sounding to the profoundly esoteric. The US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) non-exhaustive list of debunked claims numbers more than 187, while Wikipedia’s list of bogus cures run from “energy-based” to “spiritual healing”. Other claims involve hyperbaric oxygen therapy, cannabis oil, shark cartilage, ketogenic diets and baking soda.
There is increasing concern that such fictions risk eclipsing reputable information.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How This Real Estate Agent Made $100,000 In One Month From His YouTube Channel
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jrose/2019/07/15/how-this-real-estate-agent-made-100000-in-one-month-from-his-youtube-channel/
Would you like to make a lot of money with a YouTube channel? A lot of people would, and many are trying.
Motivation comes from the YouTube success stories
He doesn’t promise everyone can make it big on YouTube, but he freely shares what’s worked for him – as well as pitfalls to avoid.
Translating 10 Million Views into $100,000 in Revenue
An additional screenshot indicated the monthly revenue generated by the 10 million+ views came to $103,740.48. That works out to be roughly one cent for each view. Both traffic and revenue vary dramatically from one day to the next, but the two are closely correlated. A larger number of views generally translates into higher revenue.
YouTube success didn’t come overnight. In looking at Graham’s recent numbers, it’s important to realize he’s been at this for two and half years.
Tomi Engdahl says:
An article, revealing the darker side of technophilia or how the term technology is used for propaganda & repression
Why an “AI Race” Between the U.S. and China Is a Terrible, Terrible Idea
https://theintercept.com/2019/07/21/ai-race-china-artificial-intelligence/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Manholes will now be called “maintenance holes”.
Gendered words ban: US city’s code replaces ‘manpower’ with ‘human effort’
https://bbc.in/32CxlX8
A city council in California has voted in favour of replacing gendered language with neutral terms in its municipal code.
The third-person plural pronoun “they” will be used instead of “he” and “she”.
“Women and non-binary individuals are just as entitled to accurate representation. Our laws are for everyone, and our municipal code should reflect that.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Om Malik:
Media companies keep playing a blame game, pointing to tech companies for their failures, but sales execs focused on short-term thinking should take the blame
Media’s Blame Game
https://om.co/2019/07/23/medias-blame-game/
This is clearly the darkest timeline. How did we end up here, and who is to blame? When posed to people in the industry, especially those on the business side, such questions often elicit a list of usual suspects dominated by technology companies. They may even include consumers on the list. Basically, anyone might be on there except the media companies themselves. And I, for one, am sick of this blame game.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Opinion
Politicians Want to Change the Internet’s Most Important Law. They Should Read It First.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/opinion/section-230-political-neutrality.html
The law is neither long nor inscrutable. So why do people keep getting it wrong?
The myth that the tech companies are legally barred from discriminating against political viewpoints — specifically, conservative viewpoints — is running rampant, with no basis in law or even legislative intent.
The senator was referring to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a limited liability shield that internet platforms have benefited from since 1996. His words had little bearing on the actual text of the law. Things only snowballed from there.
conservative activist Charlie Kirk wrote in The Washington Post under the headline, “It’s time to treat tech platforms like publishers,” claiming that when companies like YouTube and Facebook “censor or suppress conservative content, they are behaving as publishers.” Section 230 of the C.D.A., according to Mr. Kirk, has allowed the social media companies to avoid “billions of dollars in potential copyright infringement and libel lawsuits.”
Section 230 of the C.D.A. is neither long nor particularly inscrutable. It clocks in at under 1,000 words,
and it makes clear that the law does not premise protection on political neutrality. Neither does it force tech companies to assume either the role of “publisher” or “platform.”
The reason C.D.A. 230 exists is simple: internet platforms are not the same as internet users.
The liability shield of the act is not meant to force websites to become politically neutral entities. But neither is its primary purpose to protect the worst actors on the internet — it is intended to cultivate and encourage moderation. The section is a broad liability shield under which the platforms may engage in whatever content moderation is necessary to keep their services from devolving into anarchy or worse.
But there can be no honest debate over a version of C.D.A. 230 that doesn’t exist.
47 U.S. Code § 230. Protection for private blocking and screening of offensive material
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/230
Tomi Engdahl says:
Maintaining a critical stance is crucial when looking at products. Even large and reputable companies can make claims that are simply too good to be true; learn to recognize these
How to Spot Pseudoscience on the Internet
https://blog.hackster.io/how-to-spot-pseudoscience-on-the-internet-e7d1f53796a2
We live in an age of unprecedented access to information. While this generally is helpful, it also poses a threat by way of the distribution of misinformation. It’s easier than ever for an individual or even large companies to make up some bogus scientific claims for monetary gain.
Most often, the goal is to sell a product.
There are numerous categories of pseudo-scientific claims designed to sell products. Sometimes a company may exaggerate the effectiveness of its products, while another may entirely invent bogus claims.
hallmarks of pseudo-scientific products
1. Targeting a Real Fear
Just as the best lies contain a kernel of truth, the most successful product scams prey on real scientific concern. Much of the energydots website is devoted to espousing the dangers of electromagnetic radiation. Even in the regular media, countless articles bombard the public with messages about the dangers of cell phones, routers, and other devices emitting radio waves. The truth is, however, that the scientific community is still uncertain that such radiation has a negative effect on one’s health.
2. A Solution That’s Too Good to Be True
3. Fake Scientific Studies
We have been trained to recognize studies as factual, as most follow very strict guidelines for how research can be conducted and how conclusions can be drawn. The studies shown on this website are very far from factual.
energydots links real-looking scientific studies performed specifically for its products to support its claims. The studies go so far as to include all the elements of a real scientific study, except with no evidence of peer review.
4. Products That Do Literally Nothing
Unsurprisingly, the addition of the smartDOT to both the receiver and transmitter did absolutely nothing.
In conclusion, maintaining a critical stance is crucial when looking at products.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook and YouTube’s moderation failure is an opportunity to deplatform the platforms
https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/29/facebook-and-youtubes-moderation-failure-is-an-opportunity-to-deplatform-the-platforms/?tpcc=ECFB2019
Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have failed their task of monitoring and moderating the content that appears on their sites; what’s more, they failed to do so well before they knew it was a problem.
But their incidental cultivation of fringe views is an opportunity to recast their role as the services they should be rather than the platforms they have tried so hard to become.
Asymmetrical warfare: Is there a way forward?
At the heart of the content moderation issue is a simple cost imbalance that rewards aggression by bad actors while punishing the platforms themselves.
To begin with, there is the problem of defining bad actors in the first place.
you can’t just say “here’s the line; don’t cross it or you’re out.” It is becoming increasingly clear that these platforms have put themselves in an uncomfortable lose-lose situation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Our task was to set Americans against their own government’: New details emerge about Russia’s trolling operation
https://www.businessinsider.com/former-troll-russia-disinformation-campaign-trump-2017-10?fbclid=IwAR27qpOE9jPKoqj7yimXXIqG9Vn-mkP36u__8aaGGhI-5Gz5PedvEpO6gcw&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=topbar&utm_term=desktop&referrer=facebook&r=US&IR=T
The Russian desk operated bots and trolls that used fake social-media accounts to flood the internet with pro-Trump messages and made-up news.
The foreign desk was more sophisticated, with trolls required to learn the nuances of American politics to best “rock the boat” on divisive issues.
“Our task was to set Americans against their own government,” Maxim said, “to provoke unrest and discontent.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Firefox’s premium browser will cost $4.99 a month to avoid ads
The ad-free premium service will be available for desktop and mobile platforms.
https://news.updatestar.com/post/firefox-s-premium-browser-will-cost-4-99-a-month-to-avoid-ads
It seems the internet is shifting to premium web-browsing experiences. As we mentioned earlier, Google recently announced to block ad-blockers in Chrome and allow ad-blocking only in their G Suite Enterprise for paying subscribers.
Following Mozilla’s new slogan “Support the sites you love, avoid the ads you hate.” Mozilla is now planning to offer a paid premium version of its popular Firefox browser. They will be charging $4.99 per month as can be seen on their website for an ad-free browsing experience on a number of so far undisclosed journalism websites.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Information War is Over and We Have Lost. Change My Mind.
Corbett • 07/30/2019
https://www.corbettreport.com/the-information-war-is-over-and-we-have-lost-change-my-mind/
The ability to view alternative ideas and contrary opinions and come to our own conclusions is the basis of cognitive liberty. Big tech is now turning the screws and making sure that no one using their platforms will find these alternative viewpoints. Sure, there will be ways to get this information out, but most people will never even know that it exists.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Robert Evans / bellingcat:
El Paso, the third mass shooting announced on 8chan, shows how its /pol/ board deliberately radicalizes mass shooters and gamifies the massacre of innocents
The El Paso Shooting and the Gamification of Terror
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2019/08/04/the-el-paso-shooting-and-the-gamification-of-terror/
This original 8chan thread was deleted almost immediately by site moderators, who by now have gotten quite experienced at pulling mass shooting threads from their website.
A number of social media profiles for the arrested shooter have been found on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. These profiles are consistent with one another, and align with details that police have released about the shooter.
Tomi Engdahl says:
8chan Is a Megaphone for Gunmen. ‘Shut the Site Down,’ Says Its Creator.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/04/technology/8chan-shooting-manifesto.html
Mr. Brennan started the online message board 8chan in 2013, as a spinoff of 4chan
In its early years, the site was known as an unmoderated free-for-all site populated by anonymous posters, where shocking and offensive humor reigned.
Now, 8chan is known as something else: a megaphone for mass shooters, and a recruiting platform for violent white nationalists. And Mr. Brennan, who stopped working with the site’s current owner last year, is calling for it to be taken offline before it leads to further violence.
So far this year, three mass shootings — including the mosque killings in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the synagogue shooting in Poway, Calif. — have been announced in advance on 8chan, often accompanied by racist writings that seem engineered to go viral on the internet.
Given its repeated involvement in mass shootings, 8chan has become a focal point for those seeking to disrupt the pathways of online extremism.
Since GamerGate, 8chan has become a catchall website for internet-based communities whose behavior gets them evicted from more mainstream sites.
The site remains nearly completely unmoderated
other websites, like Facebook and Twitter, also play a role in spreading the kinds of violent messages that often originate on 8chan
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cloudflare will stop service to 8chan, which CEO Matthew Prince describes as a “cesspool of hate”
https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/04/cloudflare-will-stop-service-to-8chan-which-ceo-matthew-prince-describes-as-a-cesspool-of-hate/?tpcc=ECFB2019&fbclid=IwAR32Jbh-uteXReo2Z4dtqFbkfB4Na0cHS411NBhH9iKk8sunezhgh5xJVlU&fbclid=IwAR3LKm9ZxGI4HgyQp2ge70Ijm-asBC9XDqPCp_gYW5fc8hzqmeKVHqEjo10
“The rationale is simple: they have proven themselves to be lawless and that lawlessness has caused multiple tragic deaths,” wrote Prince. “Even if 8chan may not have violated the letter of the law in refusing to moderate their hate-filled community, they have created an environment that revels in violating its spirit.”
This is not the first time Cloudflare has cut off service to a site for enabling the spread of racism and violence.
Tomi Engdahl says:
8chan goes down after Cloudflare pulls support in wake of El Paso shooting
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/8chan-down-after-cloudflare-suspends-account-in-wake-of-el-paso-shooting-and-manifesto/
8chan, the website where the suspected El Paso gunman posted a hate-filled screed, was down on Monday.
The site wasn’t available after its website security and network provider Cloudflare said it would no longer provide services for 8chan.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trump Suggests Video Games Connected To Violence. Research Doesn’t Support That
http://on.forbes.com/6187E0Vzz
Topline: President Trump suggested video games are among the factors driving people to commit mass shootings, like the ones in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, this weekend — but research shows that connections between the two are practically non-existent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tucows Drops 8chan Domain Registration After El Paso Shooting
https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2019/08/05/tucows-drops-8chan-domain-registration-after-el-paso-shooting/?utm_source=FACEBOOK&utm_medium=social&utm_term=Gordie/#676f7264696
Topline: Tucows, the internet services company, has said it will no longer register the domain of extreme forum 8chan after a gunman posted a hate-filled manifesto on the site just minutes before killing 22 people in El Paso on Saturday. Since the shooting, 8chan’s founder, Fredrick Brennan, said he wanted the site shut down.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://theintercept.com/2019/08/04/whistleblowers-surveillance-fbi-trump/
Tomi Engdahl says:
8chan’s new internet host was kicked off its own host just hours later
https://tcrn.ch/2yH5IOZ
The bottom-feeding forum 8chan, which grew popular by embracing fringe hateful internet cultures, is having trouble staying online. After Cloudflaredropped its protection of the site yesterday, 8chan adopted the services of Bitmitigate, but soon lost that too as the company providing Bitmitigate with services dropped them . Deplatforming works, but it can be complicated, so here’s a quick explanation of what these pieces are and why we’re witnessing this hot-potato act in the wake of the latest tragic mass shootings.
To put a website online, people generally need three things.
First, a name registrar. This is the company that officially owns and licenses to you the specific series of letters and numbers that make up your website’s name, like techcrunch.com.
Second, a domain name service. These do work in the background to turn requests, like putting facebook.com into their browser bar, into actions: finding the IP address where Facebook is and establishing a connection between that one and the user’s.
Third, an actual server. Your data has to physically be stored somewhere with a fat pipe to the internet so others can access it. Servers are usually “virtualized” in that you don’t really rent five computers somewhere but rather a certain amount of capacity on a huge shared server farm.
Increasingly a fourth piece is necessary: caching and denial-of-service attack protection. This is a service like Cloudflare’s, which sits in front of the website and sort of sifts the traffic so attacks are turned away and the website stays up even during other kinds of outages. It’s not required, but is highly recommended.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New research article type embeds live code and data
https://opensource.com/article/19/8/reproducible-research
The non-profit scientific research publication platform eLife recently announced the Reproducible Document Stack (RDS).
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Our task was to set Americans against their own government’: New details emerge about Russia’s trolling operation
https://www.businessinsider.com/former-troll-russia-disinformation-campaign-trump-2017-10?fbclid=IwAR27qpOE9jPKoqj7yimXXIqG9Vn-mkP36u__8aaGGhI-5Gz5PedvEpO6gcw&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=topbar&utm_term=desktop&referrer=facebook&r=US&IR=T
Tomi Engdahl says:
Freedom in the World 2018
Democracy in Crisis
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2018
Tomi Engdahl says:
In the Wake of Mass Shootings, We Need More Focus on Gun Manufacturers
http://on.forbes.com/6189E05TR
The United States is the prime market for gun makers, including both American and European companies.
While Americans constitute less than 5% of the world’s population, they own more than 40% of the world’s guns. Though much of the public debate about the misuse of guns is focused on mass shootings, such as the attacks in El Paso and Dayton last weekend, gun-related violence is a daily occurrence throughout the United States.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2017, there were 39,773 gun-related deaths in the U.S.
Survey in 2018 concluded that there are 393 million guns held by civilians in the U.S., more than one for each person living in this country.
The greatest financial beneficiaries of this insatiable appetite for guns in the U.S. are those who manufacture them. Gunmakers have built an $8-billion- a year industry
Tomi Engdahl says:
Journalist behind Cambridge Analytica story launches crowd-funder after libel threat
http://tcrn.ch/2Kl4A9o
There have been millions of words written about the story of how Cambridge Analytica(CA) was employed by the Trump campaign to affect the 2016 U.S. election and the U.K.’s Brexit referendum via the use of millions of Facebook profiles it had illegally bought, not least our recent review and analysis of the recent Netflix documentary about that saga. The controversy became so big that Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was dragged before Congress and multiple legal investigations are still ongoing.
Cadwalladr’s reporting on the funding of the Brexit campaign and alleged links between Nigel Farage, Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and Russian influence on the 2016 U.S. election led to Banks – an ally of Donald Trump — becoming the subject of a serious criminal investigation by the National Crime Agency (the U.K. equivalent of the FBI).
Banks has now launched defamation proceedings against Cadwalladr over the allegations about his financial and political links, but, in particular, for that one remark about meetings with Russians
In order to support her journalism while she fights this libel case, and to increase resources for her investigation, Cadwalladr has now launched a GoFundMe campaign as she faces the possibility of a million-pound libel bill.
While her legal team is confident that the case is “entirely without merit,” Cadwalladr (a freelance, not staff, reporter) could be bankrupted by Banks’ legal costs, which are expected to rise into seven figures.
The result could mean that she is tied up in litigation for months in a move that press freedom organizations have called an “abuse of law” to “silence a journalist.”
“Arron Banks is not suing TED or the Guardian and Observer