If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Banned but Not Blocked: How Some US Police Departments Navigate Around Facial Recognition Prohibitions appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The US State Department looks set to shut down the Global Engagement Center (GEC), which has for a long time faced accusations of deviating from its stated role abroad, and instead engaging in, and facilitating censorship at home. This has been revealed in a filing in the Daily Wire v. US Department of State case, in which the latter informed the court that members of Congress were told last Friday about the upcoming move. However, even though GEC as such is “substantially likely” to cease operations on December 24, the idea seems to be a simple reshuffle – as both the funding and the staff would continue their work in other State Department offices and bureaus. According to a spokesperson, this development is the result of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) not providing for an extension of GEC. And now the State Department is “hopeful that Congress extends this important mandate through other means before the December 24 termination date,” said the spokesperson. That mandate, on paper, is supposed to be directing, leading, and coordinating the US government’s “countering of foreign propaganda and disinformation” – in foreign countries. And the State Department continues to maintain that this is in fact the role of GEC and that it is critically important for that work to continue. But critics say that the office, which was created in 2016, in reality, represents a central component of partisan censorship targeting Americans – particularly conservative and “disfavored” voices. As evidence of this kept mounting, Republican members of the House of Representatives first investigated the activities of this office, particularly the way it was handing out grants (the suspicion is that GEC “delegated” censorship to third parties in order not to openly violate the Constitution). Now, House Republicans have decided not to approve the planned 8-year extension of GEC. One of those controversial grants, worth $100,000, went to the Global Disinformation Index – a UK-based group accused of compiling a list of conservative media that advertisers were supposed to boycott and thus deprive of revenue. But even if GEC will no longer exist as such, the intent is clearly to reassign employees and keep funding their work. What that work will actually be going forward, should depend on the incoming administration’s new State Department. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post State Department to Shut Down Controversial Censorship Hub but Critics May Call It a Rebrand appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Canada’s authorities want to speed up the process of adoption of a sweeping censorship law, Online Harms Act/Bill C-63 – and to that effect, it has now been split into two separate bills. The reason the C-63’s passage has slowed down in parliament is ongoing debates around some of the most contentious provisions, such as a new hate crime offense that could be punished with life in prison, when it is committed along with another crime. Now the part of the bill seeking to legislate against this and other types of “hate speech crimes” – which has caused serious concerns among free speech advocates – is being separated from that dealing with protecting children from online harm, and setting up a digital safety commission. And it is this second part of C-63 that Canada’s government now wants to push through the parliament first, and fast. The most controversial elements of the bill are contained in what has now become its other part, the one that is likely to prove much harder to get adopted. It would introduce changes to the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code related to hate crimes, including hate speech. If it becomes law, individuals could use it to prove they have been victims of online hate speech, and go through the Canadian Human Rights Commission to collect up to $20,000 in compensation. The decision to split the bill was announced by Justice Minister Arif Virani this month, but the full text of either part was yet to be published at that time. Virani, who in February introduced C-63, said the reason for this maneuver was to go for what can be agreed on immediately while working “to find consensus among parliamentarians.” Opponents of C-63 see this as a step in the right direction but warn that the second part of the bill clearly has not been abandoned. A point is also made that measures from the first – like banning sex trafficking and revenge porn – are already outlawed in Canada. Therefore, the suspicion is that these non-contentious provisions were attached to the rest of the original C-63 just to make it more palatable – while the real purpose of the bill is precisely the “unpalatable” part. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Canada Splits Online “Harms” Bill to Speed Up Controversial Censorship Push appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Itch.io went down on Monday due to what those behind the indie games site say was a bogus phishing claim reported by Funko, a pop culture collectibles company. “Trash ‘AI-powered’ software” is how Itch.io describes BrandShield, which Funko uses, and which generated the false report submitted to the store’s registrar (iWantMyName), resulting in the domain takedown. BrandShield markets itself as an “AI-powered” service that protects brands from phishing, fraud, counterfeit products, trademark infringements, and other threats. The problem with Itch.io availability was fixed the same day, but it remained unclear where exactly in the chain of events things went wrong; the indie games store said that the registrar “ignored” their response to what they consider a fake report, and instead disabled the domain. A lot of “automation” seems to be involved, both on the side of the “brand protection” firm and the registrar, showcasing once again how error-prone such systems can be, costing sites time and money. As the phishing report originated from BrandShield, it would seem the problem started with the company, however, it claims that it asked for just one allegedly infringing URL to be taken down, rather than the whole domain – and blamed “service providers” for that. BrandShield CEO Yoav Keren reacted to the incident by saying that the “AI-driven” platform is detecting and analyzing threats, while decisions on what to do with that information then depend on a team of “cybersecurity threat hunters” and IP lawyers. “We encourage platforms to implement stronger self-regulation systems that prevent such issues from occurring,” Keren is quoted as stating. Meanwhile, media reports used this as another opportunity to mention Bluesky, a social media platform that has recently been getting a lot of publicity. One of the consequences of the Itch.io domain disruption was that the games marketplace customers eligible to use their profile URL for their Bluesky account had to wait until the domain was up again for that functionality to be restored. It’s unclear what, if any connection there is between the fact that Itch.io only recently started offering this feature to everyone spending at least $10, and the domain trouble. But, Bluesky nevertheless got “a little mention” in some reports about the incident. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Funko’s Brand Tool Blamed as Itch.io Battles Bogus Report appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. A network facilitating spy agencies’ intelligence-sharing between the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, known as Five Eyes, has its sights set on encryption, and proceeding from that, also online anonymity. Even more online censorship would also not be a bad idea – these are some of the highlights from the first public-facing paper the organizations behind this group have published. We obtained a copy of the paper for you here. And Five Eyes is not above promoting its ultimate and much more far-reaching goals by using the good old “think of the children” – the paper’s title is, Young People and Violent Extremism: A Call for Collective Action. Both it and an accompanying press release choose to consider online encryption as merely a tool used by criminals. At the same time, the paper is ignoring the fact that the entire internet ecosystem, from communications to banking and everything in between, requires strong encryption both for privacy, and security. But, Five Eyes focuses only on communications, which they vaguely refer to as online environments, and ones that can allow sex offenders access to children, they also mention extremists, and equally vaguely, “other” malign actors. Since encrypted platforms provide anonymity, the spies from the five countries (who refer to the state of affairs as, “a large degree of anonymity”) don’t like that either – and again link it to negative scenarios, such as “radicalization to violence.” The paper is not specific on the exact mechanisms that would ramp up online censorship, but mentions both governments and the tech industry; the first category should “strengthen legislative support for law enforcement,” while the other is urged to “take greater responsibility for the harm done on their platforms.” Gaming platforms Discord, Instagram, Roblox as well as TikTok are singled out as “seemingly innocuous” – but the way Five Eyes sees it, they make violent extremism content “more accessible.” The “whole-of-society response” is the proposed solution to the problem of radicalization of minors in these countries. And the documents vow the alliance will continue working with “government agencies, the education sector, mental health and social well-being services, communities and technology companies.” “It is important to work together early as once law enforcement and security agencies need to become involved, it is often too late,” the paper warns. And so, a network whose members are likely, in one capacity or another, behind many of the existing attacks on online encryption and anonymity – has now come out as the campaign’s supposedly “latest recruit.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Five Eyes Urges Broader Censorship Under “Protect the Children” Campaign appeared first on Reclaim The Net.