technology

James Bovard: Facebook/Russia farce shows lawmaker deviousness, demagoguery

"Many Americans would cheer federal muzzling. Almost half of millennials supported restricting freedom of speech on social media, according to a recent survey. Congressional threats have probably already done long-term damage to corporate spines. It would be naive to expect Facebook, Twitter, or other social media companies to take heroic stands in favor of free speech. But it would be even more naive to expect anything good to result from permitting politicians to decimate freedom in the name of democracy."

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‘Dislike’ and ‘Unfriendliness’ Can Be Hate Crimes, UK Police Confirm

"National bodies, including the College of Policing (CoP) and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), both admit there is an 'absence of a precise legal definition of hostility', with the latter also referring individual forces onto 'dictionary definitions' for the purpose of investigating hate crimes. Dictionary definitions include a wide range of normal human behaviours and emotions, and images on social media suggest police officers are being told to look out for 'unfriendliness' as a sign of a hate crime. The CPS also mentions 'ill-will, ill-feeling, spite, contempt, prejudice, unfriendliness, antagonism, resentment, and dislike' as examples of hostility that could be taken from a dictionary."

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If the Law Is This Complicated, Why Shouldn’t Ignorance Be an Excuse?

"America’s judges still cling to the proposition that it’s perfectly fine to lock people up for doing something they had no idea was illegal. But it’s not fine, and the justifications for that palpably unfair rule have only grown more threadbare with time."

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Bermuda offshore wealth firm reveals 2016 hack of client data

"According to Appleby's website, its experts advise global public and private companies, financial institutions, and 'high net worth' individuals. A profile on Chambers and Partners says its clients include financial institutions, FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 companies."

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Kaspersky Software Vilified For Catching Classified NSA Malware

"The antivirus software was doing exactly what it was supposed to do, sweeping up computer malware, and collecting data for analysis to improve their ability to fight off such attacks in the future. And that’s exactly what customers are paying for with such companies’ software, and the big problem the US has with Kaspersky seems not to be that it is Russia-based, but that it worked so well it detected their brand new malicious software."

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Bovard: Facebook censored me for criticizing the government

"Facebook said my post's image of a violent FBI raid 'incorrectly triggered our automation tools.' But it wasn't the first time an iconic image vanished. In the name of repressing fake news and hate speech, Facebook is probably suppressing far more information than Americans realize."

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Read more about the article 50,000% return: Assange thanks US for forcing him to invest in Bitcoin

50,000% return: Assange thanks US for forcing him to invest in Bitcoin

"In his tweet, Assange called out current and former senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman, respectively, for forcing him into seeking alternative sources of funding which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. At the time, Lieberman called for the Department of Justice to indict Assange under the 1917 Espionage Act and sought his extradition from the UK for leaking US Embassy cables."

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Russia Issuing ‘CryptoRuble’

"According to the official, the state issued cryptocurrency cannot be mined and will be issued and controlled and maintained only by the authorities. The CryptoRubles can be exchanged for regular Rubles at any time, though if the holder is unable to explain where the CryptoRubles came from, a 13 percent tax will be levied. The same tax will be applied to any earned difference between the price of the purchase of the token and the price of the sale."

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Saudi Prince says Bitcoin is ‘just going to implode one day’

"Alwaleed said bitcoin 'doesn’t make sense. This thing is not regulated, it’s not under control, [and] it’s not under the supervision' of any central bank. Of course, to bitcoin proponents, those same criticisms are features rather than bugs."

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Researchers: Government shouldn’t use AI if it can’t explain decisions

"Government institutions are already blindly following the direction the algorithms give. A report by ProPublica found that an algorithmic system for criminal sentencing was biased against black people—not by understanding the color of their skin but by using flawed data correlated with race. Teachers in Texas recently won a case where their job performance was being evaluated by an algorithm—a circuit court found that the unexplainable software violated the teachers’ 14th amendment rights to due process."

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