Freedom House – Freedom of the Net 2017: “Governments around the world have dramatically increased their efforts to manipulate information on social media over the past year. The Chinese and Russian regimes pioneered the use of surreptitious methods to distort online discussions and suppress dissent more than a decade ago, but the practice has since… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Censorship
Research – The Slippery Slope of Internet Censorship in Egypt
Berkman Klein Center, Harvard University – “The first Internet Monitor research bulletin summarizes the recent, dramatic increase in Internet censorship in Egypt, examines the Twitter conversation around website blocking in Egypt, and identifies ways that users disseminate banned content.” “Internet filtering in Egypt illustrates how censorship can be a slippery slope. After an extended period… Continue Reading
NYT – Facebook Faces a New World as Officials Rein In a Wild Web
The web is not as open as it once was, with nation-states exerting their power over the internet: “…Facebook encapsulates the reasons for the internet’s fragmentation — and increasingly, its consequences. The company has become so far-reaching that more than two billion people — about a quarter of the world’s population — now use Facebook… Continue Reading
Online Employee Idea Forum at State Dept. Closed Down
Government Executive: “At the end of August, State Department employees will lose access to the in-house employee online forum called Sounding Board, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s staff announced in a departmentwide email on Aug. 17. Employees were told to archive any previous discussion items of interest because the past content will not be archived,… Continue Reading
Words ‘climate change’ removed from NIH website removes
Update via the Observer, August 25, 2017 – Energy Department Tells Scientist to Remove ‘Climate Change’ From Study – “On August 24, the Trump administration’s Department of Energy censored a Facilities Integrating Collaborations for User Science proposal from Dr. Jennifer Bowen, an associate professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. She posted a screenshot of the email on Facebook,… Continue Reading
Medium – The truth has got its boots on: what the evidence says about Mr. Damore’s Google memo
I’m saying, sir, that a lie can run round the world before the truth has got its boots on. — Terry Pratchett, The Truth The truth has got its boots on: what the evidence says about Mr. Damore’s Google memo by Erin Giglio, PhD student and MeFite at UT Austin working on singing mice (Scotinomys).… Continue Reading
Removal of animal welfare data from USDA site sparks FOIA requests
Follow up to previous postings – DOJ defends USDA take-down of massive animal abuse database; Durbin Demands Trump Administration Restore Animal Cruelty; and Animal welfare information wiped from USDA website – see updated status on this matter: People who care about animal welfare are demanding information from USDA – “The Agriculture Department abruptly removed all animal… Continue Reading
Myth of one internet has morphed into reality of the ‘splinternet’
August 4, 2017, Terry Flew: “Both The Economist and WIRED are worried about the “splinternet”. The UK research organisation NESTA thinks it could “break up” the world wide web as we know it. What is this awkwardly named idea? It’s the concept that someone’s experience of the internet in Turkey, for example, is increasingly different… Continue Reading
Memory Hole posts Tweets deleted by Scaramucci
MemoryHole2: “Immediately after Anthony Scaramucci was named White House communications director on July 21, 2017, Josh Billinson discovered two tweets critical of Trump. After Billinson tweeted about them, Scaramucci blocked him (temporarily) and deleted the tweets. Soon after, it became apparent that Scaramucci was deleting more tweets, leading numerous outlets to report on this. I’ve… Continue Reading
Citizens unredacted personal data concerning election fraud commission posted by White House
Follow up to resources with previous posting – States reject demand to provide all voter personal info to Trump election fraud commission – via Slate – White House Publishes Names, Emails, Phone Numbers, Home Addresses of Critics – “People who spoke up about their concerns over privacy suddenly found key private details, including their email… Continue Reading
How to Find Deleted Public Health Assessments for Contaminated Sites
MemoryHole2: “How to Find Deleted Public Health Assessments for Contaminated Sites, June 5, 2017 – Click here to access the missing reports from prior to October 2004 UPDATE [June 8, 2017]: There’s a second source for these documents. Most of them exist in PDF format in the Commerce Department’s National Technical Information Service website. (These… Continue Reading
EFF Sues DOJ For Records on Procedures for Ending National Security Letter Gag Orders
EFF news release: “The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sued the Justice Department today to obtain records that can shed light on whether the FBI is complying with a Congressional mandate that it periodically review and lift National Security Letter (NSL) gag orders that are no longer needed. The FBI has issued as many as 500,000… Continue Reading
