Facebook

UK: Police arresting nine people a day in fight against web trolls

by

– Police arresting nine people a day in fight against web trolls:

Nine people a day are being arrested for posting allegedly offensive messages online as police step up their campaign to combat social media hate speech.

More than 3,300 people were detained and questioned last year over so-called trolling on social media and other online forums, a rise of nearly 50 per cent in two years, according to figures obtained by The Times.

About half of the investigations were dropped before prosecutions were brought, however, leading to criticism from civil liberties campaigners that the authorities are over-policing the internet and threatening free speech.

…

H/t reader kevin a.

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP

Switzerland: One man found guilty for leaving a comment on Facebook and another for liking it. Both were sentenced to fines but the judgment is not final.

by

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP

The Latest: Zuckerberg says it’s time to regulate tech firms

by

– The Latest: Zuckerberg says it’s time to regulate tech firms:

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on the alleged use of Facebook data to influence the U.S. presidential election (all times local): 10:20 p.m. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he believes it’s time to impose more regulations on technology companies as they play an increasingly important role in the world. But he isn’t spelling what kind of rules he would support beyond requiring clear disclosure about who is paying for online ads.

Zuckerberg told CNN in an interview late Wednesday that it no longer is a question whether Facebook and other large tech companies should be more closely regulated. Instead, he says lawmakers need to work with companies to figure out what regulations make the most sense.

Read moreThe Latest: Zuckerberg says it’s time to regulate tech firms

Zuckerberg Made Him A Billionaire, Now WhatsApp Founder Urges Users To Delete Facebook

by

– Zuck Made Him A Billionaire, Now WhatsApp Founder Urges Users To Delete Facebook:

Three years after Mark Zuckerberg made Brian Action a billionaire, by paying $22 billion for WhatsApp, the messaging app’s co-founder has a clear message for the billions of social media drones worldwide – #deletefacebook.

MarketWatch notes that Acton and fellow co-founder Jan Koum sold the messaging service WhatsApp to Facebook in 2014 for $22 billion. Acton received about $3 billion in the deal, and has a net worth of about $5.5 billion, according to Forbes.

Read moreZuckerberg Made Him A Billionaire, Now WhatsApp Founder Urges Users To Delete Facebook

Obama’s Former Campaign Director Makes Bombshell Claim: Facebook Was “On Our Side”

by

– Obama’s Former Campaign Director Makes Bombshell Claim: Facebook Was “On Our Side”:

The recent controversy and escalating scandal over Facebook’s decision to ban Trump-linked political data firm Cambridge Analytica over the use of data harvested through a personality app under the guise of academic research has opened a veritable Pandora’s box of scandal for the Silicon Valley social media giant.

Carol Davidsen, who served as Obama’s director of integration and media analytics during his 2012 campaign (in her LinkedIn profile she says she was responsible for “The Optimizer” & “Narwhal” big data analytics platforms), claims – with evidence, that Facebook found out about a massive data-mining operation they were conducting to “suck out the whole social graph” in order to target potential voters. After Facebook found out, they knowingly allowed them to continue doing it because they were supportive of the campaign. 

“[M]ore than 1 million Obama backers who signed up for the [Facebook-based app] gave the campaign permission to look at their Facebook friend lists. In an instant, the campaign had a way to see the hidden young voters. Roughly 85% of those without a listed phone number could be found in the uploaded friend lists. What’s more, Facebook offered an ideal way to reach them,” reads an article Davidsen posted as a prelude to her postings. 

Read moreObama’s Former Campaign Director Makes Bombshell Claim: Facebook Was “On Our Side”

‘Utterly horrifying’: ex-Facebook insider says covert data harvesting was routine

by

– ‘Utterly horrifying’: ex-Facebook insider says covert data harvesting was routine:

Sandy Parakilas says numerous companies deployed these techniques – likely affecting hundreds of millions of users – and that Facebook looked the other way

Hundreds of millions of Facebook users are likely to have had their private information harvested by companies that exploited the same terms as the firm that collected data and passed it on to Cambridge Analytica, according to a new whistleblower.

…

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP

Edward Snowden: Facebook Is A Surveillance Company Rebranded As “Social Media”

by

– Edward Snowden: Facebook Is A Surveillance Company Rebranded As “Social Media”:

NSA whistleblower and former CIA employee Edward Snowden slammed Facebook in a Saturday tweet following the suspension of Strategic Communication Laboratories (SCL) and its political data analytics firm, Cambridge Analytica, over what Facebook says was imporoper use of collected data.

In a nutshell, in 2015 Cambridge Analytica bought data from a University of Cambridge psychology professor, Dr. Aleksandr Kogan, who had developed an app called “thisisyourdigitallife” that vacuumed up loads of information on users and their contacts. After making Kogan and Cambridge Analytica promise to delete the data the app had gathered, Facebook received reports (from sources they would not identify) which claimed that not all the data had been deleted – which led the social media giant to delete Cambridge Analytica and parent company SCL’s accounts. 

Read moreEdward Snowden: Facebook Is A Surveillance Company Rebranded As “Social Media”

Facebook Tumbles Over “Systemic Problems” In Data Breach, Drags Nasdaq Lower

by

– Facebook Tumbles Over “Systemic Problems” In Data Breach, Drags Nasdaq Lower:

Facebook stock is tumbling as much as 3.5% this morning, dragging the Nasdaq lower as it faces “more systemic problems” according to Pivotal research, following reports over the weekend associated with a data leak that exposed about 50 million user accounts.

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP

Facebook’s ‘Secret’ File on You Is Bigger Than You Think — Here’s How to View It

by

– Facebook’s ‘Secret’ File on You Is Bigger Than You Think — Here’s How to View It:

Facebook’s user data gathering prowess has been common knowledge for some time now, but one journalist’s impromptu experiment suggests it is even more ubiquitous and pervasive than previously believed. Nick Whigham, a reporter for the New Zealand Herald, decided to test out a feature on Facebook that allows users to download a ‘secret’ file showing how much personal history the company has gathered about them. What he discovered is that Facebook not only has disturbingly vast consumer profiles on all 1.4 billion daily users but also tracks the internet movement and personalities of people who don’t even log into the website.

A large part of Facebook’s business model is selling the information it collects about users to advertisers. It’s free to us because we’re the product. Its algorithms track your posts, likes, shares, and preferences, of course, but they also track your overall Internet activity — the websites you go to, your operating system, your IP address, and comments you happen to leave on random forums — via social media plugins and cookies on third-party websites. Even if you’re not logged into Facebook, your browsing behavior is tracked by secret trackers called Pixels, which are embedded on over 10,000 websites. Sorry, social media Luddites — even if you’ve never used Facebook, your online activity is tracked everytime you merely visit a website that contains Facebook ads and trackers.

Read moreFacebook’s ‘Secret’ File on You Is Bigger Than You Think — Here’s How to View It

Social media bow to pressure and censor dissident voices

by

– Social media bow to pressure and censor dissident voices:

Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, accused of enabling US President Donald Trump’s rise to power through “Russian meddling,” are facing pressure to de-platform heretics. This has raised fears for the safety of free speech in the US.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this past weekend, media crusader James O’Keefe headlined an hour-long panel on social media censorship, arguing that it targeted mostly conservatives.

“They really make sure you don’t see any differing views,” O’Keefe said at the panel.

Last week, the blogging platform Medium deleted a number of accounts, including those of Mike Cernovich, Jack Posobiec and Laura Loomer, described by The Hill as “prominent far-right figures.” The purge took place after Medium replaced a commitment to free speech in its terms of service in favor of fighting “online hate, abuse, harassment, and disinformation.”

Read moreSocial media bow to pressure and censor dissident voices

Podesta emails showed Facebook colluded with Clinton, Assange reminds

by

H/t reader kevin a.

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP

‘#UnFriendFacebook’: Jim Carrey Calls for Dumping Facebook Stocks Over ‘Russian Interference in Our Elections’

by

FYI.

– ‘#UnFriendFacebook’: Jim Carrey Calls for Dumping Facebook Stocks Over ‘Russian Interference in Our Elections’:

Hollywood actor-comedian Jim Carrey says he’s dumping his Facebook stock and deleting his page on the social media platform in protest over reported Russian interference on the site during the 2016 presidential election.

“I’m dumping my @facebook stock and deleting my page because @facebook profited from Russian interference in our elections and they’re still not doing enough to stop it,” declared Carrey in a post on Twitter, Tuesday. “I encourage all other investors who care about our future to do the same. #unfriendfacebook.”

…

H/t reader kevin a.

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP

Facebook Tumbles After Daily Users Miss, Zuckerberg Warns Users Spending Less Time On Site

by

– Facebook Tumbles After Daily Users Miss, Zuck Warns Users Spending Less Time On Site:

And even more troubling, for the first time ever, Daily Users in North America declined from 185 million to 184 million.

…

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP

Germany: Return Of The Stasi Police State?

by

Return? What return? The STASI has been quietly absorbed into the German government after the Fall of the Wall on Nov 9, 1989 (9/11… just a coincidence).

“The old German police state is back.“

It never left, but only got upgraded… incrementally.

Related info:

– David Icke: Germany & The Tyranny Of Social Media Censorship (Video)

*****

– Germany: Return Of The Stasi Police State?:

Authored by Judith Bergman via The Gatestone Institute,

  • Germany’s new law requires social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to censor their users on behalf of the government. Social media companies are obliged to delete or block any online “criminal offenses” within 24 hours of receipt of a user complaint — regardless of whether the content is accurate or not.
  • Social media platforms now have the power to shape the form of current political and cultural discourse by deciding who will speak and what they will say.
  • Notice the ease with which the police chief mentioned that he had filed charges to silence a leading political opponent of the government. That is what authorities do in police states: Through censorship and criminal charges, they silence outspoken critics and political opponents of government policies, such as Beatrix von Storch, who has sharply criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel’s migration policies.
  • While such policies would doubtless have earned the German authorities many points with the old Stasi regime of East Germany, they more than likely contravene the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to which Germany is a party, as well as the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

Germany’s new censorship law, which has introduced state censorship on social media platforms, came into effect on October 1, 2017. The new law requires social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, to censor their users on behalf of the German state. Social media companies are obliged to delete or block any online “criminal offenses” such as libel, slander, defamation or incitement, within 24 hours of receipt of a user complaint — regardless of whether the content is accurate or not. Social media companies are permitted seven days for more complicated cases. If they fail to do so, the German government can fine them up to 50 million euros for failing to comply with the law.

The new censorship law, however, was not fully enforced until January 1, 2018, in order to give the social media platforms time to prepare for their new role as the privatized thought police of the German state. Social media platforms now have the power to shape the form of current political and cultural discourse by deciding who will speak and what they will say.

Read moreGermany: Return Of The Stasi Police State?

#Germany: #Merkel’s Justice Minister #HeikoMaas (SPD) and responsible for the censorship law #NetzDG tweeted in 2014: “Meeting with Turkish Minister of Justice: Blocking of #Twitter & #Facebook is not our understanding of freedom of expression.”

by

https://twitter.com/OnlineMagazin/status/949971615063953408

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP

UK Column News – 19th December 2017 (Video)

by

https://youtu.be/kfc5X1n2ILY

Brian Gerrish and Mike Robinson with the last UK Column News of 2017. We will be back on Wednesday 3 January. We would like to wish our viewers a fantastic Christmas and New Year and we hope to see you in 2018.

START – House of Commons inquiry into online hate (of politicians?)…

08:39 – The Guardian: disgraceful ‘propaganda’ article

10:42 – Meet the Guardian journalist responsible: Olivia Solon

13:31 – How the Guardian propaganda piece is crafted

22:00 – Guardian: advertising for AI company who profit from misery

25:12 – Aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth is leaking…

29:15 – Aircraft: 14th F35 delivered…to the desert

30:14 – ‘Britain’s record on job creation is second to none…’

32:59 – Steel industry opportunities in Britain…

37:02 – Standing up for real journalism in 2017

* * *

PayPal: Donate in USD
PayPal: Donate in EUR
PayPal: Donate in GBP