Digital Freedom
- www.forbes.com Elon Musk Says ‘Cisgender’ Now Considered A Slur On Twitter
Elon Musk has declared the words “cis” and “cisgender” are now considered slurs on Twitter, according to a tweet the billionaire owner sent early Wednesday.
- www.techradar.com Discord, Twitter, Reddit, and Tumblr have something in common and it's not good
Opinion: It's really not a good sign
This article blames corporate greed, but I think the bigger issue has been the quest for tyrannical greed through censorship, deplatforming, propaganda, promotion, collusion with intelligence agencies, etc
- www.techspot.com European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
Among the many changes, the new rules would require batteries in consumer devices like smartphones to be easily removable and replaceable. That's far from the case today...
cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/tech/t/45222
> Among the many changes, the new rules would require batteries in consumer devices like smartphones to be easily removable and replaceable. That's far from the case today...
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If you have a throwaway email address, no email address, or are connecting via VPN, you may be “not in good standing.”
cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/120341
> "A while ago, I had a comment auto-removed on WPT and got a message it was because my account was “not in good standing.” When I messaged the WPT mods, they explained that they were test piloting a new tool the admins plan to use. For example, if you have a throwaway email address, no email address, or are connecting via VPN, you may be “not in good standing.” > > With things like that on the horizon, even if they roll back on what they’re doing now, we’re still not likely to have a very good time on that site."
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PENTAGON’S SECRET SERVICE TRAWLS SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MEAN TWEETS ABOUT GENERALS
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Monitoring social media for “direct, indirect, and veiled” threats and identifying “negative sentiment” regarding its wards
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not just to detect online “threats,” but also pinpoint their exact location by combining various surveillance techniques and data sources.
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The document cites access to Twitter’s “firehose,” which would grant the Army the ability to search public tweets and Twitter users without restriction, as well as analysis of 4Chan, Reddit, YouTube, and Vkontakte, a Facebook knockoff popular in Russia. Internet chat platforms like Discord and Telegram will also be scoured
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The contract says the Army would use “misattribution”: deceiving others about who is actually behind the keyboard. The document says the Army would accomplish this through falsifying web browser information and by relaying Army internet traffic through servers located in foreign cities, obscuring its stateside origin.
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Ooops, the Army also does not want to advertise its interest in broad data collection. The redacted copy of the contract document, while public, is marked as CUI, for “Controlled Unclassified Information,” and FEDCON, meant for federal employees and contractors only.
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Barack Obama Proposes "Digital Fingerprints" to Help the Regime Combat What They Deem as Online "Misinformation"
www.thegatewaypundit.com Barack Obama Proposes "Digital Fingerprints" to Help the Regime Combat What They Deem as Online "Misinformation" | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hoft | 120Barack Obama has proposed the implementation of “digital fingerprints” online to assist the regime in regulating viewpoints that are not aligned with their agenda.
What could possibly go wrong?
- www.zerohedge.com New Grads Chasing 'TikTok Lifestyles' Struggle In NYC As Rents Surge
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
Many influencers who don't have credit lines with the 'bank of mom and dad' are embracing a 'do whatever it takes' altitude to live in the city and capture those TikTok-worthy moments. However, you won't ever see their struggles in their videos -- just a life of fake luxury.
"I worked so hard to get here, I didn't want to compromise on the life I wanted to live," said Phillips. She explained, "The cost of living here is an investment in myself. It sounds crazy to justify $25 cocktails, but being here opens doors for my career. That's worth the costs."
What this all suggests is that universities and colleges are failing to teach basic financial literacy to the younger generation, who blow all their money on maintaining some fake luxurious lifestyle on social media while, in real life, they struggle to make ends meet.
- www.voanews.com Security Firm: Suspected Chinese Hackers Breached Hundreds of Networks Globally
Mandiant says suspected state-backed Chinese hackers exploited vulnerability in email security appliance to break into networks of hundreds of organizations globally
Barracuda announced on June 6 that some of its email security appliances had been hacked as early as October, giving the intruders a back door into compromised networks. The hack was so severe that the California company recommended fully replacing the appliances.
- rmx.news Polish women are being sexually assaulted by migrant drivers working for ride-sharing apps like Uber and Bolt. What's behind the crisis?
In Europe, criminal and terrorist acts committed by foreigners, such as shootings, driving into crowds with trucks, or using explosive devices, represent only a small portion of the overall problem with migration. Fortunately, Poland has not witnessed such a ruinous transformation of society. Unlike...
cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/114018
> The newspaper discovered that there were 11 instances in 2021 where foreign Uber and Bolt drivers abducted women who had booked rides with them, took them to secluded locations, and sexually assaulted them or molested them. Law enforcement agencies recorded another nine such cases as of May 2022, but there could be many more unreported sexual assaults. > >
- bitcoinist.com Biggest Lie In Crypto? SEC PSYOP Vs. Coinbase, Binance
It's probably the most bizarre crypto story since FTX collapsed and Sam Bankman-Fried's (SBF) entanglements with politics and the U.S. Securities and Exchange
cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/102843
> Smells like corruption to me: > > - Prometheum received approval to become the first special purpose broker-dealer (SPBD) of its kind for securities with digital assets. In doing so, Prometheum became the first company to receive approval from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to provide custody of digital securities as a broker-dealer. > > - Kaplan apparently read off prepared notes during his hearing that were apparently coordinated with Democratic members of Congress and the SEC. > > - Prometheum have their own chain and their own token. They have already sold some of this token, among others to the Wanxiang Blockchain company > > - Wanxiang is a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) affiliate. > > - Wanxiang’s most famous employee is Vitalik Buterin, according to Wanxiang’s homepage. > > - Prometheum obtained its crypto-securities license from FINRA despite not yet offering a single token (neither Bitcoin or Ethereum) > > - They paid more than $1.5 million in sales commissions to a New Jersey-based firm called Network 1 Financial Securities. > > - a “shady” broker with a Chinese subsidiary and a terrible compliance record of more than 20 regulatory or civil cases against them. > > Bizarre that this fringe player with no biz model is being held up as an example of compliance by the SEC when the actual businesses in the United States can’t get a fair shot. An SEC PSYOP to have the Dems oppose McHenry-Thompson market structure bill?
- dailyreckoning.com “Biden Bucks” and the War on Crypto - Daily Reckoning
The Real Reason They're Targeting Crypto
Governments don’t want to kill the blockchain upon which cryptos are based. They want to control it.
The fact is governments enjoy a monopoly on money creation and they’re not about to surrender that monopoly to cryptocurrencies.
But governments know they cannot stop the technology platforms on which the cryptocurrencies are based. Blockchain technology has come too far to turn back. That’s why they’re co-opting it.
- www.zerohedge.com Federal Agencies Routinely Spy On Phone Calls, Texts, Emails Of American Citizens, Experts Say
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
“To put a human scale on this, what we’re talking about is not just random typos or wrong clicks; we’re looking at things like pulling up batches of thousands of political donors in one go, without any suspicion of wrongdoing,” Laperruque said. “We’ve had reports of journalists, political commentators, a domestic political party; these compliance violations are the most worrisome type of politically focused surveillance.”
- www.zerohedge.com Reddit CEO Says 'Blackout Storm' Will Pass, Advises Staff Against Wearing Company Swag In Public
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
"I am sorry to say this, but please be mindful of wearing Reddit gear in public. Some folks are really upset, and we don't want you to be the object of their frustrations."
- www.zerohedge.com AI Poses Threat To Democratic Order: President Of Germany
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/100200
> “Neither the AI nor the companies operating it are democratically elected,” Steinmeier said while delivering his remarks during a recent event in Berlin, according to Bloomberg. > > "Citizens should be better equipped to scrutinize answers provided by AI, and recognize when artificial intelligence technologies have manipulated images or text. This is important since disinformation can now be generated and spread quickly, triggering confusion among the public," the German president noted.
- funkwhale.audio Funkwhale - Your free and decentralized audio platform
A social platform to enjoy and share music
- odysee.com Most PRIVATE Podcast & Audiobook Apps!
In the digital age we've become used to being able to access music and podcasts wherever we go. But most audio apps collect a LOT of data about you.
- www.coindesk.com Apple Rejects Bitcoin Wallet Zeus a Day After Threatening to Delist Damus
The tech giant cited transmission of a virtual currency without necessary licenses and permissions as the primary reason for the app’s rejection, according to Zeus’ founder.
Zeus is apparently in violation of Apple’s guidelines which require apps to provide proof of appropriate licenses – such as money transmitter licenses – in order to facilitate the “transmission” of cryptocurrencies.
Many legal experts agree that non-custodial wallets like Zeus that don’t take custody of funds or private keys should not be classified as money transmitters, a classification typically reserved for custodial wallets like those offered by Coinbase and Binance that do assume custody of customer funds.
- www.zerohedge.com EU Regulators Seek Breakup Of Google's Ad Business Over "Illegal" Practices
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
Get it done
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How the US is pushing China out of the internet’s plumbing
Until China uses its rapidly growing navy to take control of the undersea cables
- odysee.com How to Get Rid of the Microsoft Account in Windows 11
Windows 11 Home requires you to use a Microsoft Account to login to your own computer. This sucks and is an invasion or privacy. I will show you what I did to remove all traces of the Microsoft accoun...
- news.yahoo.com The CIA Is Begging Congress to Please Keep Spying on U.S. Citizens Legal
High-level officials from the CIA, FBI, and NSA are testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, asking Congress to continue allowing the agency to spy on the communications of US citizens. They are urging Congress to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (F...
The short answer is no
The long answer is hell no
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cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/95690
> Chad Scharf, who served as the vice president of software engineering at Bitwarden’s Jacksonville, Florida location, and was responsible for supervising fifty-one people, alleges that his termination was a violation of his Title VII rights against religious discrimination. > > “Mr. Scharf is Catholic; at the very core of his religion is the doctrine that God created man in his own image, and created them male and female. This has been a Catholic doctrine for over two thousand years,” the lawsuit states.
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According to the Nostr protocol, on which Damus is based, zaps are simply tips.
Apple’s quibble with the feature is its non-adherence to guideline 3.1.1, which mandates the use of in-app purchases for transactions connected with digital content. Apple is unwavering on this: “We noticed that your app allows users to send ‘tips’ associated with receiving content from digital content creators with a mechanism other than in-app purchase,” the company pointed out.
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Copycat Samsung plant in China
Public Prosecutors Office in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, said it has arrested and indicted a former executive of Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix Inc. on charges of stealing Samsung’s trade secrets to build a copycat semiconductor plant in China.
- www.theepochtimes.com Apple, Amazon Must Face Consumer Lawsuit Over IPhone, iPad Prices: US Judge
Apple and Amazon.com must face a consumer antitrust lawsuit in U.S. court accusing them of conspiring to artificially ...
They contend an agreement between Apple and Amazon that went into effect that year restricted the number of competitive resellers in violation of antitrust provisions.
In 2018, according to the lawsuit, there were some 600 third-party Apple resellers on Amazon. Apple agreed to give Amazon a discount on its products if Amazon reduced the number of Apple resellers from its marketplace, the lawsuit alleged.
Apple has argued that its agreement with Amazon limited the number of authorized resellers to help minimize counterfeit Apple goods being sold on the e-commerce platform.
- www.justice.gov Microsoft Agrees to Pay $20 Million Civil Penalty for Alleged Violations of Children’s Privacy Laws
The Justice Department, together with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), announced today that the United States has resolved a case against Microsoft Corp. regarding its practices for collecting and retaining personal information from children who use Microsoft’s Xbox Live service.
cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/94003
> Microsoft knew that certain users were children but nonetheless continued to collect personal information, such as telephone numbers, before notifying parents of Microsoft’s information collection practices and before obtaining parental consent. In addition, the complaint alleges that, while Microsoft provided some notice to parents, that notice was incomplete and thus failed to comply with the COPPA Rule’s requirements. Finally, the complaint alleges that in certain instances when children started, but did not complete, creating Xbox Live accounts, Microsoft retained their personal information for longer than permitted by the COPPA Rule.
- www.wsj.com U.S. Spy Agencies Buy Vast Quantities of Americans’ Personal Data, U.S. Says
Commercially available data from cars, phones and web browsers now rivals results from wiretaps, cyber espionage and physical surveillance.
“If the government can buy its way around Fourth Amendment due-process, there will be few meaningful limits on government surveillance,” Wyden said in a statement, referring to the U.S. Constitution’s protections against “unreasonable searches and seizures.”
The report contained a paragraph that appeared to be marked classified but that was nevertheless included that acknowledges that the U.S. government has the capability to attribute personal identities to the data, and said few policies addressed the collection of such information.
The report cited “inconsistencies between how different [intelligence community] elements define and treat” information collected from commercial sources. Some agencies treat the data as foreign, and thereby lacking robust privacy protections.
Since the 1970s, the intelligence community has been circumscribed in using intrusive surveillance techniques on Americans without court oversight. However, data available for sale is generally considered “open source” and its collection doesn’t require special authorizations.
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Amazon accuses customer of racism & shuts down their smart home
YouTube Video
Click to view this content.
And no one was even home. It was amazon's own automated response.
- www.zerohedge.com Moderator Rebellion Hits Reddit As Blackout Begins Over API Pricing
ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/93716
> Reddit appears to have followed Twitter, which recently announced that previously-free API access will now come at a cost to third parties. Reddit historically derived most of its revenue from its advertising base and has struggled to monetize users. > > Reddit is committed to the new API pricing. And that might stoke even more discontent among moderators. The current blackout is expected to last for 48 hours.
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The Crypto Capitalist Manifesto
bombthrower.com Don't get lured into The MatrixWhile we're increasingly being lured into The Matrix, where us plebs will take up less space in the real world, the next-level play is actually to go the other direction.
“Despite the corporate media messaging, the real reason behind this isn’t because of climate change or even COVID. It’s because of the debt.
The world is finally out of runway from kicking the can down the road all those times the global economy threatened to backslide into recession, or when previous monetary bubbles imploded. All those decades of collectively living on credit and borrowing against the future have finally hit the wall.
This is it. We’re here. The end of the debt super-cycle:
Governments have spent beyond their means for decades, and now the bills have come due.
The only way to pay them will include inflation and austerity. It will resemble a controlled demolition of the entire middle class.
The easiest way to do that will be to turn as many people as possible into a completely dependant welfare class via endless rolling lockdowns, Universe Basic Income programs and mandatory health passports.
At its core, The Great Reset is a monetary reboot. Its seen as way to restructure the global debt overhang and turn “money” into technocratic lube for enacting grandiose social engineering projects: most of them geared toward ratcheting down the standard of living for the masses.
- starkrealities.substack.com Why Patriots Shouldn't Pledge Allegiance
This "slavish ritual of devotion to the state" has no place in a free society
Free people have no business pledging loyalty to any government. It’s government that has a duty of loyalty to the people, with no more essential demonstration of that loyalty than the protection of the rights of individuals.
- davidthunder.substack.com Europe's Digital Services Act Puts Free Speech at the Mercy of Eurocrats
The European Union’s Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton, was apparently miffed that Elon Musk withdrew Twitter from the EU’s “voluntary code of practice against disinformation.” He was sufficiently put out by Twitter’s withdrawal from the “voluntary code” that he felt the need to publicly ...
You would have to have a very short historical memory to think that broad powers of censorship will generally be used to advance the cause of truth and justice. Whether Mr Thierry Breton and his colleagues will be successful in forcing social media companies to do their bidding, this much is clear: the Digital Services Act creates a European legal environment that is increasingly hostile to free speech.
- www.breitbart.com Zuckerberg: Medical Establishment Demanded Facebook Censor Coronavirus Info that Was 'Debatable or True'
Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook (now known as Meta) has criticized the behavior of the medical and scientific establishment during the coronavirus pandemic, who, backed by western governments, demanded social media censorship of information that "ended up being more debatable or true."
- www.breitbart.com Govt Can Spy Through Phone Cameras, Microphones: French Senate
The French Senate has approved a bill that would allow the state to spy on individuals by remotely activating phone microphones and cameras.
To make matters worse, the bill also includes a provision granting the state the power to use geolocation data on a person’s device to track their movement
- www.commondreams.org Snowden Warns Today's Surveillance Technology Makes 2013 Look Like 'Child's Play'
"We trusted the government not to screw us," said Edward Snowden. "But they did. We trusted the tech companies not to take advantage of us. But they did. That is going to happen again, because that is the nature of power."
Protecting the public from surveillance "is an ongoing process," Snowden told The Guardian on Thursday. "And we will have to be working at it for the rest of our lives and our children's lives and beyond."
- www.breitbart.com Social Credit: DHS Wanted to Assign 'Risk Scores' to American Internet Users
According to internal documents reviewed by Vice, the Department of Homeland Security in 2018 sought to develop a method for assigning "risk scores" to social media users, in a program to identify "disinformation" efforts named "Night Fury" by the DHS.
“The Contractor shall develop these attributes to create a methodology for developing a ranking, or ‘Risk Score,’ associated with the identified accounts. The Contractor shall develop tools to automate the identification process, documenting performance measures and metrics related to automating the identification process,” one of the documents reads.