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The Iranian police said that they have started installing cameras in public places to identify women in violation of the strict headscarf law. The police said that women not wearing the hijab (headscarf) identified by the cameras would be sent “warning text messages as to the consequences.” According to the police, the cameras would prevent “resistance against the hijab law.” Related: Iran plans Trudeau tactics to freeze bank accounts of women who refuse to wear hijab The police added that the system would use smart cameras to not only identify but also send “documents and warning messages to the violators of the hijab law.” Late last year, Mahsa Amini died in police custody after she was arrested for not wearing a hijab. Her death sparked protests all over the Middle Eastern country, with women appearing in public without hijabs and some burning hijabs. Related: Iran arrests teen girls over TikTok dance video In a statement, the police said that the hijab is “one of the civilizational foundations of the Iranian nation.” Attacks on women not wearing hijabs in public are common in Iran. Last week, a video of a man throwing yoghurt at two women not wearing hijabs went viral. The women and the man were arrested. Last week, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that women must wear the headscarf as a “religious necessity.” If you’re tired of censorship, cancel culture, and the erosion of civil liberties subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Iran uses new surveillance network to crack…Iran uses new surveillance network to crack down on women not wearing a hijab

Martin McDonagh, an Oscar winner, said that theaters have been rejecting his plays because he won’t agree to changes in his language. The theaters want the language to be changed to avoid online backlash. Speaking to the BBC, McDonagh said that although he is an established writer, “They wanted to make some words more palatable to them or what they think their audience is.” He described the situation as a “major problem” and said that theaters were becoming “a dangerous place” for writers. His 2022 film The Banshees of Inisherin was nominated for nine Oscars. His 2008 short film Six Shooter won an Oscar. His 2003 play Pillowman will be revived in June at the West End stage in London. McDonagh said the state-sponsored censorship of writers is getting worse. “It seems like governments are becoming increasingly more scared of dissenting voices,” he said, adding that it is “a very frightening time.” He advised new writers to “get off social media,” stop going online and “go out and outrage.” Authors Roald Dahl and Agatha Christie have recently had their work revised to remove potentially offensive phrases. If you’re tired of censorship, cancel culture, and the erosion of civil liberties subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Playwright and screenwriter Martin McDonagh tells authors to be a dissenting voice appeared first on Reclaim The Net.Playwright and screenwriter Martin McDonagh tells authors to be a dissenting voice

The Indian government amended its IT Law of 2021 to ban social media platforms from publishing and hosting “misleading” or “false information” about the government and to require them to rely on the government’s own fact-checking unit for authentic information. Non-compliance with the law will result in a platform losing its safe harbor protections in the country. The law, which was first proposed in January, will see the creation of a “fact-checking” unit of the government that will have arbitrary and over-broad powers to determine what information is authentic. According to digital rights group Internet Freedom Foundation, headquartered in New Delhi, the law bypasses natural justice principles. “The notification of these amended rules cement the chilling effect on the fundamental right to speech and expression, particularly on news publishers, journalists, activists, etc. The fact check unit could effectively issue a takedown order to social media platforms and even other intermediaries across the internet stack, potentially bypassing the process statutorily prescribed under the Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000,” added the Internet Freedom Foundation. The amendment also cracks down on online games that allow betting. Platforms will be required to ban apps that allow betting or wagering of any kind, including fantasy sports gaming. Amid concerns over the fact-check rules, Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has ignored the criticism, labeling it as “deliberate misinformation” that the rules are “draconian.” However, he also said, “social Media intermediaries will have the option to follow or disregard fact checking finding….India to require US social media platforms to abide by government-run fact-checker

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has explained how it envisages the use of “AI” and what’s referred to as digital health in defining healthcare in the future. In a blog post on the site of the Switzerland-based group, WEF’s Shyam Bishen, whose job title is “head of Shaping the Future of Health and Healthcare,” writes about the activities meant to “accelerate” work around improving healthcare. And that will take both the deployment of technology and a comprehensive plan – some of the elements of which should be big data models, tele and predictive medicine and wearable sensors and many platforms and apps, according to this member of the WEF executive board. Meant to coincide with the World Health Day, the post lays out WEF’s ideas about the direction healthcare is going, explaining the group’s interest in this topic as their alleged concern for people’s well-being and better access. “AI” is seen as a major part of this future, specifically by 2035, as presented in WEF’s Global Health and Healthcare Strategic Outlook report. This technology is supposed to become ever more integrated with prevention, monitoring, and consultation. As for the WEF – an informal group gathering global elites – it also has the Platform for Shaping the Future of Health and Healthcare designed to work with governments and businesses, in order to give itself a role in defining and finding ways to “scale up” solutions for healthcare systems. Some of the key WEF activities here are listed as supporting global vaccine…WEF welcomes “big data models” and “wearable sensors” to “rethink” how the world accesses healthcare

Sean Reyes, the Attorney General of the state of Utah, has joined 18 other attorneys general calling on the US Supreme Court to reverse a decision by the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the National Rifle Association (NRA) against the former superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services Maria Vullo. Vullo told financial institutions to stop doing business with the NRA “or else.” In an amicus brief, the attorneys general said that Vullo violated the First Amendment rights of the NRA, and “engaged in a politically motivated campaign against the financial institutions doing business with the NRA but steered clear of any explicit threats.” We obtained a copy of the amicus brief for you here. The attorneys general asked the Supreme Court to protect the free speech rights of the NRA and others. They also argued that courts have generally sided with organizations and individuals instead of the government in similar cases. “But in this case, the Second Circuit flipped this approach on its head, effectively requiring a government official to explicitly threatened adverse consequences before any First Amendment violation occurs, even if any interested party would understand a state official’s words or conduct as an implied threat,” Utah’s attorney general’s office wrote in a press release. The coalition of attorney generals argued that the decision by the lower court would allow the government to censor speech that it does not like. “If the Second Circuit’s decision is…Regulator told banks to stop doing business with the NRA “or else.” The Supreme Court is asked to weigh in.

Daniel Perry was recently convicted of murder for shooting and killing a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020. If I could still easily search, and cite my Tweets (I cannot) I’d have many notes and video clips I compiled about the case while it was unfolding. I followed it closely, but missed the trial. Perry, an Army sergeant murdered a protester named Garrett Foster, an Air Force veteran. Foster had a rifle, I’ve seen it reported twice as an AK-47, however he never fired it. The facts in dispute between defense and prosecution for the moment don’t matter in this stage post conviction and pre sentencing. Today is the start of Perry’s Sentencing, and it’s an overly politicized mess alright. The Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, “slams ‘Soros-backed’ prosecutor after jury convicts Army sergeant of killing BLM protester” according to The New York Post (not linking). Paxton has long used his position to postpone his own time in court for felony securities fraud, and paid $3.3 million to whistleblowers in a settlement. Paxton is a terrible human, and a bad politician who likes stirring up any politically adjacent issues he can to maintain power for reasons. The Texas Governor, Greg Abbott tweeted asking the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to recommend a pardon (required under the state’s constitution for the Governor to pardon someone) so he can grant a pardon to Perry. This is the politically adjacent battle that those in power want to fight in our state. Judge…Daniel Perry Sentencing

Different isn’t always better.That’s arguably the case with one of the latest developments on Elon Musk’s Twitter. The official Twitter account for National Public Radio (or NPR) controversially got a “U.S. state-affiliated media” label on its profile last week, which was quietly changed to “government-funded media” over the weekend, per Gizmodo. The original label is typically attached to more overtly propagandistic pages. SEE ALSO: Elon Musk apparently on the outs with Matt Taibbi over Twitter-Substack feud NPR hasn’t tweeted since the label originally showed up. Different, but kind of the same. Credit: Screenshot: Twitter The difference between the two is largely semantic. In fact, clicking on the label brings you to a page explaining what the previous label meant. According to Twitter, that label exists for “outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct or indirect political pressures, and/or control over production and distribution.”That definition is vague enough that it’s impossible to say from the outside looking in whether or not it’s 100 percent accurate as it pertains to NPR. Strangely enough, the new label is actually less broad and thus potentially less accurate. Direct government funding only accounts for about one percent of the outlet’s annual budget, per NPR itself. It’s a strange, evolving situation, as is just about everything else involving Musk’s ownership of Twitter.Twitter slightly changed NPR's "state-affiliated media" label

On Truth Social a Twitter-like service, (that may still be worse than Twitter) indited former U.S. President posted “WORLD WAR III” without context today (April 9, 2023). At this moment about half the United States population still wants him to regain control over nukes starting in 2024. I don’t like this. Even if Trump is a huge fan of Bob Dylan or Anti-Nowhere League, I want any possible nuclear-pope to contextualize statements about global war less ambiguously. The post Donald Trump, World War III appeared first on Mason Pelt.Donald Trump, World War III

Twitter’s continually escalating feud with Substack appears to be going strong as users found out this weekend that searches for the blogging site are being redirected to “newsletter” instead.This appears to be another attempt by the Elon Musk-owned social media site to keep users away from Substack, as the former appears to be going to war with the newsletter platform. The recent decision by Twitter to redirect searches for “Substack” to “newsletter” has sparked controversy and raised concerns about free speech. Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) Mashable’s attempt to request a comment from Twitter was immediately responded to with a poop emoji, an automated response Musk implemented after gutting the communications department. Substack also did not immediately respond to Mashable’s request for comment regarding the situation. SEE ALSO: Twitter flags Substack links as unsafe as feud continues What’s even worse, the implementation of this function was done in the bluntest way possible, with redirects even blocking the word “substack” in a URL slug. Meaning searching for articles from Mashable or other sites about Substack won’t work when searching on Twitter. This has concerned many users on the site, especially since one of Musk’s big agendas after buying Twitter was absolute free speech. Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) The feud between Twitter and Substack appears to have started after the latter…Twitter's Substack blockade continues as site redirects searches to "newsletters"

Audio of this conversation is available via your favorite podcast service. Two weeks ago, I participated in a panel discussion at Tech and Society week, a series of events across Georgetown’s campus hosted by Emily Tavoulareas, Managing Chair of the Georgetown Initiative on Tech & Society. Tech and Society Week is a physical manifestation of that initiative, which draws together research centers across the university spanning disciplines including ethics, national security, foreign policy, law, public policy, public administration, public health. The panel featured a discussion between three podcast hosts focused on tech and tech policy, including myself and: Quinta Jurecic, a fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, a senior editor at Lawfare, and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. Jurecic is one of an array of hosts on the Lawfare podcast, and she’s the co-host of a long running series called Arbiters of Truth that focuses on the information ecosystem. Bridget Todd, director of public communications for Ultraviolet, a gender justice organization trying to build a more feminist, anti-racist internet, and the creator and host of the iHeartRadio tech and culture podcast There Are No Girls on the Internet. We talked about a range of issues, from the recent Utah social media bills aimed at protecting children; legal questions that surround generative AI; and what’s behind the broader lack of progress on tech policy issues at the federal level in the U.S. The post Behind the Mic with Quinta Jurecic, Bridget Todd & Justin Hendrix appeared first on Tech…Behind the Mic with Quinta Jurecic, Bridget Todd & Justin Hendrix