The Blog Experiment | Technology Nonsense and Internet Tripe

Brazil’s “fake news” censorship law is so contentious that even pro-censorship Google has been campaigning against it. But as the final vote on the law draws near, the Brazilian government and the country’s Supreme Court are now shutting down this criticism and bizarrely claiming that it’s doing so to protect freedom of expression. Recently, Google started warning Brazilian users on its homepage that the fake news law could “increase confusion about what is true or a lie.” Shortly after posting this criticism, activist group Sleeping Giants Brasil complained that Google was “using its own platform to attack PL [the fake news law].” This complaint got the attention of Brazil’s Justice Minister, Flávio Dino, who flagged Google to a government agency for potential “abusive practices.” Brazil’s Justice Ministry then threatened criminal action against Google, ordered the tech giant to remove the campaign or pay $200,000 per hour fines, and ordered Google to display a message supporting the bill. Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes also told Federal Police to interrogate executives at Google, Meta, and Spotify over their companies’ comments about the bill. After Brazil’s Justice Ministry and Supreme Court pressured Google to censor its criticism of the bill, Dino suggested the tech giant’s criticism of fake news law was somehow a mechanism “of censorship” and “violation of freedom of expression.” Journalist Glenn Greenwald said that banning criticism of the fake news law was some of the most “blatant authoritarianism…I’ve ever seen.” The law requires social media platforms and chat…Google removes criticism of Brazil’s “fake news” censorship law after government threatens it with huge fine

This post is for Reclaim The Net members. Join Already a supporter? Login here If you’re tired of censorship, cancel culture, and the erosion of civil liberties subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Academics develop plot to scan social media, flag posts with “pre-crime” machine learning appeared first on Reclaim The Net.Academics develop plot to scan social media, flag posts with “pre-crime” machine learning

Elon Musk has made a lot of controversial decisions at Twitter since taking over. But, perhaps none were more roundly criticized then the decision to cut-off important public service and safety accounts from Twitter’s API, unless they paid for its new exorbitant Enterprise pricing.On Tuesday, however, Twitter appears to have changed its mind.  Tweet may have been deleted (opens in a new tab) “One of the most important use cases for the Twitter API has always been public utility,” the official Twitter account @TwitterDev tweeted. “Verified gov or publicly owned services who tweet weather alerts, transport updates and emergency notifications may use the API, for these critical purposes, for free.”The decision to carve out exceptions for important accounts that have recently been cut off from Twitter’s API is certainly a welcome one. Twitter’s original hardline stance was that everyone who wanted to use its API – beyond the small $100 “hobbyist” plan – had to pay for an Enterprise plan, which starts at $42,000 per month. SEE ALSO: Twitter keeps logging you out? You’re not alone Twitter’s new API plans led to hundreds of indie developers being forced to shut down their Twitter-based apps over the past month. And, as a direct result, emergency weather alert accounts run by the National Weather Service (NWS) and public transit alert accounts such as the MTA’s NYC Subway accounts announced they would no longer be able to provide their crucial, automated, up-to-the-minute alert services on Twitter.Cutting off the NWS and MTA appeared to receive…Public services will get free API access again, Twitter says

Ireland is closer to being the latest country to pass legislation on so-called “hate speech.” The Lower House (Dáil Éireann) passed the Criminal Justice Bill 2022 (the Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offenses), which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison. The bill makes it a crime to “incite violence or hatred against a person, condonation, denial or gross trivialization of genocide, and preparing or possessing material likely to incite violence or hatred against persons on account of their protected characteristics.” Protected characteristics include race, nationality, religion, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and disability. The bill has a controversial provision that makes it an offense to “possess material that is likely to incite violence or hatred against a person or group.” We obtained a copy of the bill for you here. It adds that someone violates the law if they “displays, publishes, distributes, disseminates, shows or plays the material,” or “makes the material available in any other way including the use of an information system” like social media. Possessing such material carries a two-year prison sentence. More concerning is that the burden of proof lies on the person accused (they have to prove that their intention was not to spread hate), rather than the age-old idea of the burden being on the prosecution to prove their case. The government’s proposal is the opposite of this: guilty until proven innocent. The House voted against an amendment to remove the part of the bill that makes it an offense…Ireland’s plan to criminalize “hate speech” takes a “guilty until proven innocent” approach

A Christian woman who was a mayoral candidate in London last year has won substantial damages in an unfair discrimination lawsuit she filed after her employer fired her for airing her belief that marriage should be between a man and a woman. Maureen Martin’s employer, London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q), fired her because of her view on marriage. She sued L&Q for unfair dismissal, as well as harassment and discrimination. The case started in April 2022 after Martin, then a mayoral candidate of the Christian Peoples Alliance (CPA), published her campaign flyer, which had a six-point plan. One of the points was a promise to “cut through political correctness and state the truth that natural marriage between a man and a woman is the fundamental building block for a successful society, and the safest environment for raising children.” Two days later, L&Q summoned her to an “investigation meeting,” claiming it had received three complaints about her flyer. During the meeting, she was also told that her tweets, some of which said trans women should not participate in female sports, were “homophobic and had breached L&Q’s social media policy and had potentially brought the company into disrepute.” On Sunday, the lawsuit was settled out of court, with Martin winning a significant amount in damages. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Martin said she was pleased with the settlement but said the way she was treated was not fair. “Much of our culture is anti-Christian and believes that biblical beliefs, especially on…Christian woman wins payout after being fired for comments on same-sex marriage, transgenders in women’s sports

Two legislators have called on President Joe Biden to create an international research hub to study the “harms” caused by online platforms. Lawmakers have long pushed for legislation requiring platforms to make their data available to outside researchers without success. In a letter sent Monday, Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) and Lori Trahan (D-MA) called on Biden to launch negotiations with international allies to launch a center that would “facilitate cross platform research on the information environment.” We obtained a copy of the letter for you here. They said the center could “conduct research projects with a focus on the global information environment” and “facilitate secure information sharing between online platforms and researchers.” The letter also provides guidelines on how The White House could force online platforms to be more transparent about the harm of their products on users. The two lawmakers are calling on Biden to take action. “While we recognize the administration for taking part in conversations on tech transparency … more deliberate and everlasting action is needed,” they wrote. “Studies have highlighted social media’s role in promoting self-harm, eating disorders, and sales of drugs to children,” they continued. “While the field of Information Science continues to expand and evolve, significant gaps in the research remain.” If you’re tired of censorship, cancel culture, and the erosion of civil liberties subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Politicians call on Biden to deal with online “harms” appeared first on Reclaim The Net.Politicians call on Biden to deal with online “harms”

Kennedy Patlan, Rachel Lau, and Carly Cramer work with leading public interest foundations and nonprofits on technology policy issues at Freedman Consulting, LLC. Alondra Solis, a Freedman Consulting Phillip Bevington policy & research intern, also contributed to this article. The U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C. This month, artificial intelligence continues to demand public attention and spark policy debate. Just as several prominent tech leaders, including Elon Musk and Bill Gates, called for a six-month hiatus in the development of more advanced AI technologies, the Biden administration took action through a National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) Request for Comment focused on “what policies will help businesses, government, and the public be able to trust that Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems work as claimed – and without causing harm.”. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he is leading a charge to introduce AI regulations on Capitol Hill.  At the agency level, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced appointments for its recently launched Space Bureau and International Affairs. Meanwhile, the House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding its investigation into Twitter. An accompanying letter from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) claimed that the agency “failed to comply with the committee’s request for all documents and communications related to the probe” and stated that the agency made “inappropriate and burdensome” demands of the company.  In privacy-related news this month, the Biden administration and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights proposed a new rule…April 2023 U.S. Tech Policy Roundup

Today HackerNoon deleted not only my profile, and every article I’ve published on the site; they also deleted every article that referenced me. The reason for the erasure is a dispute about canonicalization for syndicated content. It’s as dumb and disrespectful to writers as it sounds. I syndicated multiple stories to HackerNoon with a correct (according to Google) canonical URL to the original content. HackerNoon removed those canonical URLs without my consent, published the articles, and refused to add them back after multiple requests citing “best practices” that they refuse to clarify. HackerNoon management is upset by my demanding tone. After I noted that hosting the articles without the proper canonicalization stipulated when I syndicated infringed my copyright, they deleted every page of the website mentioning my name, including articles that I did not write. Deleting the content was not sufficient to cure the issue. Many URLs were live for months and actively promoted by me under the belief they were canonicalized. After learning that the articles were not properly canonicalized to the original content, I made multiple requests for correction, as the articles were submitted with canonical URLs that HackerNoon editors manually removed. Via both email, and the now inaccessible portal where contributors could communicate with editors, I have dozens of messages where HackerNoon has acknowledged my request and my expectation upon submitting of industry standard canonicalization but refused to comply despite being both legally and technically in the wrong. At this point, it’s become clear that HackerNoon doesn’t…HackerNoon Doesn’t Respect Writers

Marisa Kabas, who like me suffers a purgatory from Twitter after a name change on March 31, published an article about the logistics and emotions of finding a suitable online home, now that Twitter is dying. Substack notes, Post, Mastodon, and now Bluesky all had hype, and all siphoned off a few users, but none have hit critical mass. As Kabas points out, most of those who have jumped still post screenshots on Twitter. Wandering the Digital Diaspora While some were bold enough to actually jump, many of us straddled two ships, hoping Twitter would somehow figure it’s shit out or one of these new enterprises would prove buoyant enough to sustain into the future. But as we realized Twitter wasn’t going to simply explode one day, but rather sink inch by inch, we had a choice in front of us: do we give another network a shot, or keep sinking and hope something better comes along?Marisa Kabas, May 1, 2023, thehandbasket.substack.com Kabas’ article is worth the read, and I have other thoughts. Twitter, like Asgard in the best Thor movie, isn’t a place it’s a people. I’ve read a dozen articles now explaining network effect and how it made Twitter. Substack notes, Post, Mastodon, Tumblr, and many others have the technical architecture needed to replace Twitter. The problem is Twitter users didn’t all migrate to one place, cloning precisely who we followed. As many of us white knuckled Twitter, we dipped a toe into Mastodon, or tried to use Tumblr,…Evacuation Of Social Media

Right now, Twitter kind of feels like the end of Titanic where there aren’t enough lifeboats for everyone to escape.The proverbial lifeboat in this case is Bluesky Social, a new Twitter-like app with partial funding from former Twitter head Jack Dorsey. Bluesky is getting rave reviews from people who are using it, even though it’s got kind of weird data collection policies. The only problem is that actually using Bluesky isn’t as easy as you might think.If you want to get in, you’ll need a code. Here’s how that works. SEE ALSO: What to know before signing up for Bluesky How to get a Bluesky Social invite codeRight now, there are two main ways to get into Bluesky. The first is the easiest, but also takes the longest. That would be signing up on Bluesky’s website. Total Time 2 mins. What You Need Web browser valid email address Step 1: Visit the website for Bluesky’s invite-only beta. Step 2: Type a valid email address into the text box and click “Join Waitlist.” Bluesky Social signup page Credit: Bluesky Social Step 3: Wait and diligently monitor your inbox until an invite shows up. Yes, sadly, waiting for an invite from the waitlist is the only surefire way to get in right now. It’s not fun, but it’ll have to do…unless you have a hookup.The other way to get in is to simply know someone who’s already using Bluesky. Existing users get one code per week to share with anyone they want….How to get a coveted Bluesky Social invite code