“As I mentioned a while back, I’ve started a new project to bring much-needed transparency to the process whereby agencies get permission to destroy their records at fixed intervals (chosen by the agencies and okayed by the National Archives). I’m obtaining and posting every such request, which have never appeared online before. This project is… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Category Archives: Censorship
Leaked Google presentation shows company grappling with censorship and free speech
The Verge: “A leaked research presentation [note – the Verge includes a link to the entire presentation posted on Scribd] put together by employees of Google shows the extent to which the search giant is grappling with decisions around freedom of speech and censorship. The presentation, leaked to Breitbart News this week and published in… Continue Reading
Google China Prototype Links Searches to Phone Numbers
The Intercept: “Google built a prototype of a censored search engine for China that links users’ searches to their personal phone numbers,thus making it easier for the Chinese government to monitor people’s queries, The Intercept can reveal. The search engine, codenamed Dragonfly, was designed for Android devices, and would remove content deemed sensitive by China’s… Continue Reading
White House’s website deleted the whole archive of its daily newsletters
Quartz: “American citizens can get daily updates on the government directly from the White House’s “1600 Daily” newsletter, which was launched in March 2017. The newsletter shares daily updates from the White House, together with a feed of positive news about Donald Trump’s administration (primarily from conservative outlets supportive of the government, such as Breitbart… Continue Reading
AP – EU proposed to give internet firms 1 hour to remove extremist content
Via ABCNews.com: “European authorities are planning to slap internet companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook with big fines if they don’t take down extremist content within one hour. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a speech Wednesday that the Commission is proposing the new rules as part of efforts to step up the bloc’s… Continue Reading
Pew – Americans are changing their relationship with Facebook
“Just over half of Facebook users ages 18 and older (54%) say they have adjusted their privacy settings in the past 12 months, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Around four-in-ten (42%) say they have taken a break from checking the platform for a period of several weeks or more, while around a… Continue Reading
Bias of Big Tech news not substantiated by the facts
NextDraft: “…This week, President Trump has been attacking Google (and by extension, all of big tech) for being biased against him and the other “victims” who support him. As Kara Swisher rightfully explains in the NYT, “the idea that Google and Twitter are rigging their platforms against him is patently false.” In The Atlantic, Alexis… Continue Reading
Federal Judge Strikes Down Portions of Trump’s Executive Orders Undermining Federal Employees
The Hill: “A federal judge on Saturday [August 25, 2018] struck down several key provisions in President Trump‘s executive orders that he signed earlier this year that would have made it easier to fire federal workers. In a court ruling, U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that unions were right in arguing that the provisions… Continue Reading
A Surveillance State Unlike Any the World Has Ever Seen
Spiegel Online: “In western China, Beijing is using the most modern means available to control its Uighur minority. Tens of thousands have disappeared into re-education camps. A journey to an eerily quiet region… Nowhere in the world, not even in North Korea, is the population monitored as strictly as it is in the Xinjiang Uighur… Continue Reading
Pew Survey – Public Attitudes Toward Technology Companies
“A majority of Republicans say technology firms support the views of liberals over conservatives and that social media platforms censor political viewpoints. Still, Americans tend to feel that these firms benefit them and – to a lesser degree – society In the midst of an ongoing debate over the power of digital technology companies and… Continue Reading
NSA Reports Call Detail Records (CDR) Deletion
NSA/CSS Statement, June 28, 2018: “Consistent with NSA’s core values of respect for the law, accountability, integrity, and transparency we are making public notice that on May 23, 2018, NSA began deleting all call detail records (CDRs) acquired since 2015 under Title V of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The Government relies on Title… Continue Reading
Trump Refuses to Release Data on Immigration Crackdown
Bloomberg: ICE’s disappearing records make it difficult to examine whether reality meets the president’s rhetoric. “Five days into his presidency, Donald Trump took aim at illegal immigration with executive orders signaling a new era of heavy enforcement. Not only did he threaten to go after undocumented immigrants, many of whom he labeled violent criminals, he… Continue Reading
