-
Facebook’s advertising machine
The US market evidently has a powerful influence on social trends elsewhere in the world. It has been shown not only by the popularity among youth of wearing low-hanging trousers and baseball caps backwards—although, thankfully, these trends have, like, faded—but also by how a system designed for an elite US university, Harvard, could end up becoming the world’s largest social media site.
-
Warnings of slippery slope fulfilled as Germany shutters anti-capitalist website
In a move critics characterized as a dangerous threat to freedom of expression, the German government announced on Friday its decision to shut down a left-wing website it claims has links to violence that broke out during the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany last month.
-
U.S. wages cyberwar abroad under cover of ‘activism’
Like many other episodes of extraterritorial political interference up to and including military intervention, America’s meddling in Thailand is done on behalf of corporate interests seeking to expand their respective and collective hegemony both regionally in Asia vís-a-vís Beijing, and globally.
-
Your up-to-date guide to avoiding internet censorship
While Google’s Information Age dominance has long been recognized to have some unsavory consequences, the massive technology corporation has, in recent months, taken to directly censoring content and traffic to a variety of independent media outlets across the political spectrum — essentially muting the voices of any site or author who does not toe the establishment line.
-
Linguistic data analysis of 3 billion Reddit comments shows the alt-right is getting stronger
We’re witnessing the radicalization of young white men through the medium of frog memes. In order to see it, all you need to do is look at the words coming out of their mouths. The alt-right isn’t yet united, but it soon will be.
-
It’s getting real: google censors the left—and us
Preliminary indications are that we took roughly a 10% hit to overall traffic in April and May, a significant part of which may have been from the same cause.
-
New Google algorithm restricts access to left-wing, progressive web sites
The company said in a blog post that the central purpose of the change to its search algorithm was to give the search giant greater control in identifying content deemed objectionable by its guidelines. It declared that it had “improved our evaluation methods and made algorithmic updates” in order “to surface more authoritative content.”
-
Surveillance: The mainstream media’s dismay with the tool of coercion
The article discusses surveillance in today’s capitalist society with a reference to a recent revelation that the German intelligence agency spied upon scores of foreign journalists.
-
Resisting Wholesale Electronic Invasion of the Fourth Amendment
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) Foundation for Criminal Justice dinner, Denver, Colorado, July 24, 2015 A few months ago, I spoke to a group of lawyers in Los Angeles. I talked about legal ethics. I mentioned Henry Drinker, author of ABA ethical rules, author of a book that was the basis for the […]
-
Who Is Reading Syrian Opposition Web Sites?
E.g., Syrian Revolution 2011 Fidaaldin Al-Sayed Issa, the Swedish administrator of the Syrian Revolution 2011 Facebook page (11 May 2011): “We have analyzed the IP addresses of our users and about 35% are Syrian residing in Syria, 50% are from the Syrian Diaspora around the world and the remaining 15% are other Arabs in other […]
-
Tweets from Syrian Opposition Conference Held at Semiramis Hotel in Damascus
27 June 2011 Luay Hussein: This is the first time we meet in front of our people so we have huge responsibilities. Luay Hussein: Those meeting here are not advocates of violence. Fadi Salem: Media was allowed in the first session and Syrian local Radio Cham is broadcasting live. Munther Khaddam: Who would have […]
-
Iran’s Islamist Bloggers Divided over Khamenei vs. Ahmadinejad
It appears from Iranian Islamist blogs that the honeymoon between Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Islamic Republic’s Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is finally over. Some reject Ahmadinejad in favor of the Supreme Leader while others show unwavering support for Ahmadinejad. It all started when President Ahmadinejad accepted the resignation of the Iranian Minister […]
-
Day of Anger on Friday in Saudi Arabia
Cyber activists have created a group on Facebook calling for a “Day of Anger” on Friday in the eastern Saudi region, following the arrest of a Muslim cleric.
-
Mubarak Addresses the Egyptian People
Mubarak: Leave, stay, leave, stay, leave, stay. . . . God damn you, Zine Ben Ali. May you burn in hell. It’s impossible to fix things now. Damn it. I think I’ll go make a speech — maybe things will quiet down a little.
-
Egypt: Mubarak Shuts Down Internet, But Struggle Is Still Online
Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. See, also, <twitter.com/3arabawy/status/30662957587234817> and <twitter.com/3arabawy/statuses/30747797716209664>. | Print
-
The Diary of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Former Tunisian President
Mubarak to Ben Ali: “I’m coming to stay with you in a few days. Get me reservations at a good place.” Le journal du ZABA / يوميات زين العابدين بن علي The videos above were released by Kharabeesh on 19 January 2011, 27 January 2011, and 3 February 2011. For more information about Kharabeesh, […]
-
YouTube Censors CubaDebate
No more censorship on YouTube! Restore CubaDebate! Iván Lira is a Venezuelan artist. This cartoon was published in Rebelión on 16 January 2011. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). Cf. Javier Rodríguez, “Censura de Youtube a Cubadebate desató movimiento solidario” (CubaDebate, 13 January 2011); Ellery Biddle, “Cuba: Cubadebate’s YouTube Channel Taken […]
-
WMG, Motorola, and YouTube: Censoring Palestinian Solidarity Flash Mob Video
December 22, 2010 Dancing and singing to a parody of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s “Telephone,” more than forty members and friends of the St Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee (STL-PSC) serenaded holiday shoppers at Best Buy and AT&T stores in Brentwood, MO. They urged patrons to join the boycott of Motorola products because of the […]
-
A Land Called Paradise
In December 2007, over 2,000 American Muslims were asked what they wished they could say to the world. This is what they said. Lena Khan is an independent filmmaker. Music by Kareem Salama. You can vote for this film at the Web site of Women’s Voices Now, “a not-for-profit social enterprise,” which is holding […]
-
Order Reigns on the Internet
Scarcely a day after the WikiLeaks disclosures of U.S. State Department cables the U.S. political establishment went ballistic. Some called for the assassination of WikiLeaks’ spokesperson, Julian Assange, whereas others wanted to amend the 1917 Espionage Act to target the website. Targeted “denial of service” attacks shut down the web site, and then the political […]