Tomorrow's EU vote on a new copyright directive will determine whether the EU internet will be governed by algorithmic censorship filters whose blacklist anyone can add anything to. (Visit Save Your Internet to tell your MEP to vote against this) Read the rest
On Wednesday, the EU will vote on whether to force all online platforms to filter user-generated content against massive databases of copyrighted works (anyone can add anything to these databases, without penalties for abuse); not only is this a catastrophe for everyone who writes software that will have to comply with this bonkers idea, it's also a catastrophe for anyone who writes software, period. Read the rest
The European Copyright Directive vote is in three days and it will be a doozy: what was once a largely uncontroversial grab bag of fixes to copyright is now a political firestorm, thanks to the actions of Axel Voss, the German MEP who changed the Directive at the last minute, sneaking in two widely rejected proposals on the same day the GDPR came into effect, forming a perfect distraction (you can contact your MEP about these at Save Your Internet). Read the rest
Researchers from the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab (previously) have published an extensive report on the image filtering systems used by Chinese messaging giant Wechat to prevent the posting of banned political messages and other "sensitive" topics that are censored in China. Read the rest
On September 12th, the European Parliament will vote on whether to include Article 13 with the new Copyright Directive, and if they do, they will destroy the internet. Read the rest
I have no idea why teenage girls would be suddenly removed from certain roles at a Catholic high school in a Denver suburb. But now I'm wondering, like many others, because the school administrators removed an article about it from the school's low-circulation newspaper, suppressed publication of the newspaper itself, threatened and then removed a newspaper advisor from her post, and sent principal Matt Hauptly to go out in public and explain why this isn't technically censorship and to lecture curious reporters about proper journalism and to scream shut up SHUT UP SHUT UP. [Via Adam Steinbaugh]
The Denver Post obtained a mock-up of the Holy Family Lamp Post page that never saw its intended Christmas-edition print publication. The un-bylined article, bearing the headline "Where are the girls? Holy Family prohibits girls from serving at the altar," features an interview with Father Joseph McLagan, a priest new to the school who decided girls would no longer be allowed to serve at the altar during Mass.
And:
In a statement provided by the Archdiocese of Denver, Holy Family High Principal Matt Hauptly said the article "was implying" the school was breaking Title IX laws when altar serving is a religious and liturgical function within Catholic Mass that does not fall under federal gender-equity protection.
"Removing an article that falsely accused the school of breaking the law is not censorship," Hauptly said in the statement. "It is actually a lesson in the responsibility that comes with being a journalist."
On the contrary, Principal Streisand. Read the rest
Wickr, a private, secure messaging company, has teamed up with Psiphon (previously), a spinout from Citizen Lab (previously) to allow its users to communicate even when they are behind national firewalls. Read the rest
Julia Reda is the Member of the European Parliament who has led the fight against Article 13, a proposal to force all online services to create automatic filters that block anything claimed as a copyrighted work. Read the rest
Have you ever wanted to talk with the Electronic Frontier Foundation about the risks of talking in public about security issues, especially in connected Internet of Things devices? Today, you'll get your chance. Read the rest
At this week's B-Sides Manchester security conference, James Williams gave a talk called "Next-gen AV vs my shitty code," in which he systematically revealed the dramatic shortcomings of anti-virus products that people pay good money for and trust to keep them safe -- making a strong case that these companies were selling defective goods. Read the rest
Over 1,000 Google employees have signed a petition urging senior management to reconsider the company's plan to launch a censored Chinese search product (codename: Dragonfly), a revolt that's been in the works since the news broke; the employees demand transparency about the project and point out that it violates the Association of Computing Machinery's code of ethics. Read the rest
After a week of blockbuster security revelations from Defcon it's important to take a step back and address the ongoing battle by companies to seize a veto over who can reveal defects in their products. Read the rest
Look, I'm as delighted as you are to see Alex Jones' ability to spread hatred curtailed -- because in a world where all the important speech takes place online, and where online speech is owned by four or five companies, being kicked off of Big Tech's services is likely to be an extinction-level event. Read the rest
Project Dragonfly is a secret Google plan to create an Android-based search tool (early versions were called "Maotai" and "Longfei") for use in China (where Google is currently blocked), in collaboration with the Chinese government, where search results related to human rights, democracy, protest, religion and other "sensitive" topics will be censored. Read the rest
A little over two weeks ago, Russian feminist protest group Pussy Riot was arrested for crashing the field at the World Cup final wearing police uniforms. They were protesting illegal arrests. After serving 15 days in jail for their "crime," they were released, but then, to their surprise, were immediately arrested again. Looking at this video, it's obvious they weren't expecting this.
Their crime this time? According to The Guardian:
A tweet on Pussy Riot's official Twitter page said they had been charged with "the organisation and holding of public events without prior notice" and could face another 10 days behind bars.
our 4 activists (nika nikulshina, olya pahtusova, olya kuracheva, petya verzilov) are arrested again and brought to the police station; they're charged with article "20.2.2" - "the organization and holding of public events without prior written notice’ - up to 10 days of arrest.
— 𝖕𝖚𝖘𝖘𝖞 𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖙 (@pussyrrriot) July 30, 2018
Here they are at the world cup:
In 2008, Universal Music fraudulently claimed that a short Youtube clip of a toddler dancing to Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" was a copyright infringement, leading to eight years of litigation and, eventually, a landmark ruling secured by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in which the court found that Universal had a duty to consider fair use before using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to censor other peoples' media. Read the rest
There is a conspiracy theory that Pepsico's Kurkure corn puffs -- developed and sold in India -- contain plastic; there's a much wider discussion in which people are making fun of this dumb theory (while simultaneously pointing out that Kurkure might as well be made of plastic, given their nutritional value and flavor). Read the rest
