'Deep concern'

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. A legislative effort is underway in Canada to enact a ban on a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the country. Bill C-400 (Framework on the Access to and Use of Cash Act), spearheaded by the Conservatives, aims to prevent the creation of a CBDC and ensure that cash is guaranteed to remain an option for citizens. Related: Central Bank Digital Currencies make authoritarianism, censorship, and surveillance easy The bill has three main goals: access to cash that cannot be revoked in the future, a ban affecting the Bank of Canada Act preventing the central bank from creating a digital Canadian dollar, and another amendment – that of the Currency Act, which now gives the finance minister the right to “suddenly put out a call that all bank notes be recalled.” With C-400, that power now in the minister’s “portfolio” would be restricted, reports say. The bill’s sponsor, MP Ted Falk, explained the need for such legislation saying it was necessary to make sure cash continues to be available as an essential part of their daily lives to millions in Canada. This is particularly true of vulnerable categories of the population, he said, but also charities, non-profits, and remote communities. Last but not least – “In a world where governments, banks, and corporations are increasingly infringing on the privacy rights of Canadians, cash remains the only truly anonymous form of payment,” Falk argued in favor of C-400. As their adoption is pushed globally, CDDCs remain a point of contention between governments and large financial institutions who support them, and opponents that include political entities, as well as security and civil rights advocates. One of the former financial institutions is Canada’s central bank, BOC, which has gotten the ball rolling with a trademark filing for a “digital dollar.” But Falk’s initiative is likely to be welcomed by most people in Canada, as a previous poll commissioned by the central bank itself showed a large majority against a Canadian CBDC and at the same time telling both BOC and the government to “leave cash alone.” Canada’s Conservatives have pledged that, if their leader Pierre Poilievre becomes prime minister in the next election, any plans for both (centralized) digital currency and mandated digital ID would be scrapped. Bill C-400, meanwhile, passed the first reading in June. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Canada’s Conservatives Push Back Against Digital Dollar Plans appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

Flameout Of Renewable Delusions

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Elites “view free speech as a threat” because of its power, a top Federal Communications Commission official stated. FCC commissioner Brendan Carr called out government and social media censorship efforts and praised free speech. “Established gatekeepers are engaged in an intentional and coordinated effort to silence political speech they don’t like by slapping the label ‘misinformation’ on it,” Carr warned Sunday on X. Carr’s remarks come amid mounting concerns that the left is weaponizing the label of “misinformation” to censor the constitutionally-protected speech of political opponents. “‘Misinformation’ is the new misinformation,” he commented, highlighting the paradox. The censors, Carr continued, are not concerned about ensuring that online users “will be misled by the words they’ve chosen to read,” but rather “they’re worried that those words will be effective.” He insisted that both media and government leaders “view free speech as a threat.  It undermines their ability to control the narrative and to ensure their continued positions in an established hierarchy.” Hence, Carr wrote, the “extreme” response to online speech from the powers-that-be. “Free speech is a democratizing force; it is the antidote to control.” Censors aim to control both thoughts and words, Carr insisted, forcing others into their own personal worldview.  “Their goal is to lobotomize free thinking and pour in the cement of official orthodoxy,” he added. “Censorship, after all, is about sweeping away all opposition.  It seeks to replace free thinking with political tribalism.” Carr continued that free speech is both “necessary for our political freedom” and for innovation. “Only through a robust, uninhibited, and wide-open debate will we solve our most pressing and complex problems. It is imperative that free speech win out over censorship,” he concluded. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide an equal platform for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Censorship-obsessed Google seems to be buying off California news outlets with a bombshell deal to fund and influence the state’s journalism enterprise in the middle of an election year. California was reportedly considering a bill to force Big Tech platforms to pay certain media outlets for the right to share news, and a second bill to tax digital ads. But California Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, are declaring victory after getting Google to commit to a $250 million bargain with the state.  Some groups are criticizing the deal, which will provide hundreds of millions of dollars from Google, taxpayers and possibly other sources to shape the future of journalism, according to National Review. And if Google’s and California’s sordid records are any indication, that future is undoubtedly marked by another radical lurch leftward.  Google has already spent years interfering in elections on behalf of radical Democrats, as multiple MRC Free Speech America studiesrevealed, but now it could have an even more direct effect on the news citizens read at the state level. Indeed, Google’s search has suppressed Independent and Republican presidential candidates and boosted Democrat nominee Kamala Harris. MRC VP for Free Speech Dan Schneider sounded the alarm, “Gavin Newsom and Google have come up with a seditious plan to pre-write the future. Through this Berkeley-based initiative, they will infect every reporter with an invisible prejudice through the power of AI. They are using Google’s resources to dictate tomorrow’s history today.” Schneider continued, “This is beyond Orwellian. With a tiny portion of its annual revenue, Google is going to use every reporter and news outlet to remake society in its own warped image.”  National Review reported that the deal, supported both by Google (maker of Gemini) and ChatGPT maker OpenAI, particularly focuses on providing artificial intelligence (AI) to journalists for experimentation. National Review noted that “[s]ome journalist groups” are concerned AI could replace journalists rather than assisting them. But Google’s checkered history with AI makes this development even worse. The leftist bias of Google’s Gemini AI chatbot is nothing short of extreme. Between March and July, MRC researchers prompted Gemini and received ten responses clearly illustrating the AI’s anti-American bias. For instance, the chatbot asserted the Star-Spangled Banner is a source of “potential offensiveness” and cited a report from the tyrannical Chinese Communist government to argue America’s constitutional republic might not be the best system. Gemini has also been slammed for its anti-white bias in its image generation feature, depicting Africans and Asians even when prompted for Vikings. Besides the $62.5 million for the AI accelerator, the University of California, Berkeley and its Graduate School of Journalism will be in charge of distributing more funding to California news organizations through the News Transformation Fund, according to National Review. Unions including Pacific Media Workers Guild, Media Guild of the West and the NewsGuild-CWA, reportedly slammed the “disastrous” deal with Google, “The future of journalism should not be decided in backroom deals.” State senator Steve Glazer (D) also criticized the deal. National Review further reported that a number of factors, including declining credibility and a struggling economy, have caused some news outlets in California to cut staff or shut down. While Google will be able to provide the needed money in California, its history of censorship and election interference in favor of the radical left make its objectivity in this new deal highly questionable. Conservatives are under attack. Contact Googleand demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide an equal platform for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.