bbc--2019-02-15--Call to ban killer robots in wars

Call to ban killer robots in wars

A group of scientists has called for a ban on the development of weapons controlled by artificial intelligence (AI).  It says that autonomous weapons may malfunction in unpredictable ways and kill innocent people.  Ethics experts also argue that it is a moral step too far for AI systems to kill without any human intervention.  The comments were made at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington DC.  Human Rights Watch (HRW) is one of the 89 non-governmental organisations from 50 countries that have formed the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, to press for an international treaty.  Among those leading efforts for the worldwide ban is HRW's Mary Wareham.  "We are not talking about walking, talking terminator robots that are about to take over the world; what we are concerned about is much more imminent: conventional weapons systems with autonomy," she told BBC News.  "They are beginning to creep in. Drones are the obvious example, but there are also military aircraft that take off, fly and land on their own; robotic sentries that can identify movement. These are precursors to autonomous weapons."  His company takes military contracts, but it has denounced AI systems for warfare and stated that it would not develop them.  "When they fail, they fail in unpredictable ways," he told BBC News.  "As advanced as we are, the state of AI is really limited by image recognition. It is good but does not have the detail or context to be judge, jury and executioner on a battlefield.  "An autonomous system cannot make a decision to kill or not to kill in a vacuum. The de-facto decision has been made thousands of miles away by developers, programmers and scientists who have no conception of the situation the weapon is deployed in."  According to Peter Asaro, of the New School in New York, such a scenario raises issues of legal liability if the system makes an unlawful killing.  "The delegation of authority to kill to a machine is not justified and a violation of human rights because machines are not moral agents and so cannot be responsible for making decisions of life and death.  "So it may well be that the people who made the autonomous weapon are responsible."


bbc--2019-08-21--Amazon fires President Jair Bolsonaro suggests NGOs to blame

Amazon fires: President Jair Bolsonaro suggests NGOs to blame

Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro says non-governmental organisations may be setting fires in the Amazon to embarrass the Brazilian government after it cut their funding, despite offering no evidence to support the claim.  A record number of fires were recorded in the Amazon this year, according to The National Institute for Space Research (Inpe).  But conservationists have blamed Mr Bolsonaro for the Amazon's plight, saying he has encouraged loggers and farmers to clear the land.  Marcio Astrini from Greenpeace said that the increased deforestation and burning are a "result of his [President Bolsonaro] anti-environmental policy."


buzzfeed--2019-12-06--NATO-Linked Researchers Bought Fake Social Media Engagements To Test How Facebook, Twitter And Googl

NATO-Linked Researchers Bought Fake Social Media Engagements To Test How Facebook, Twitter And Google Combat Manipulation. The Companies Failed.

A year ahead of the US presidential election, the world’s biggest social media companies are still failing to tackle manipulation on their platforms, an exercise by NATO StratCom has found.    To test the ability of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram to detect potentially malicious activity, researchers at the NATO Strategic Communication Centre of Excellence ran a four-month experiment starting in May.  They purchased social media engagement on 105 different posts across the four social media platforms from manipulation service providers (MSPs), a type of company that allow clients to buy clicks and inflate their social media presence.  At a cost of just 300 euros (about $333), NATO StratCom bought 3,530 comments, 25,750 likes, 20,000 views and 5,100 followers across the four platforms.  Researchers were able to identify the accounts — 18,739 in total — that were being used to deliver the purchased interactions. This in turn allowed them to assess what other pages these inauthentic accounts were interacting with on behalf of other clients.  The results of the experiment are startling: Four weeks after the purchase, 4 in 5 of the purchased engagements were still online, and three weeks after a sample of fake accounts was reported to the companies, 95% of the accounts were still active.  The findings, which are contained in a report released today shared with a small number of media outlets including BuzzFeed News, suggest that malicious and inauthentic activity enabled by MSPs will often go unnoticed, considerably increasing the risk that attempts by ill-intentioned state and non-governmental actors that seek to interfere in democratic processes will not be effectively detected and tackled.  “Social media manipulation is the new frontier for antagonists seeking to influence elections, polarise public opinion, and side-track legitimate political discussions,” the report states. The NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence is a NATO-accredited international military organisation. It is not part of the NATO Command Structure.  The vast majority of interactions driven by the inauthentic accounts identified by the researchers were commercial in nature and on pages for businesses and brands. But NATO StratCom observed the same accounts engage with 721 political pages, including 52 official government profiles and the accounts of two heads of state.  Experts are concerned that trends similar to those seen in Europe are present in the US election. Trevor Davis, a professor at George Washington University's Institute for Data, Democracy and Politics, told BuzzFeed News that "accounts observed during the European parliamentary elections and identified as fraudulent have now been repurposed and relocated with the purpose of the 2020 US presidential elections, and specifically the democratic primaries."  Professor Davis added: “This appears to not be on behalf of a particular campaign. The goal may be simply to sow distrust and division.”  Interactions, such as likes, were also noted by NATO StratCom analysts on the pages of leaders from major countries, political parties in the European Parliament, individual candidates competing at all levels in elections across Europe as well as on political pages in Russia, Ukraine and India. The researchers also identified political accounts focussed on politics in Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Taiwan and Tunisia, suggesting the use of MSPs is a global issue.  It is not known who is behind the interactions on these accounts. The owners of the pages being boosted could be paying MSPs for engagement themselves, but it could also be driven by supporters, or even opponents trying to smear a politician or political group.


truepundit--2019-06-11--DOJ investigating non-governmental organizations and individuals as part of broad probe into sur

DOJ investigating ‘non-governmental organizations and individuals’ as part of ‘broad’ probe into surveillance abuses

As part of its ongoing “multifaceted” and “broad” review into potential misconduct by U.S. intelligence agencies during the 2016 presidential campaign, the Justice Department revealed Monday it is also investigating the activities of several “non-governmental organizations and individuals.”  Additionally, the DOJ announced that the probe, let by Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, was looking into the involvement of “foreign intelligence services.” Former Trump aide George Papadopoulos told Fox News last month that an informant who was likely “CIA and affiliated with Turkish intel” had posed as a Cambridge University research assistant in September 2016 and tried to “seduce him” to obtain information linking the Trump team to Russia.  The information was contained in a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., who had inquired as to the scope of Durham’s investigation. The letter could indicate that the DOJ is looking closely at work done during the campaign by Fusion GPS, the firm retained by the Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee (DNC) to conduct opposition research against the Trump campaign.  Fusion GPS, in turn, hired British ex-spy Christopher Steele to produce an unverified and largely discredited dossier that the FBI went on to cite in secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court applications to surveil former Trump aide Carter Page.  Last week, reports indicated Steele had agreed to talk with Durham if certain preconditions were met. Multiple sources familiar with the matter told Fox News, meanwhile, that Durham is “very dialed in” and “asking all the right questions.” Separately, sources within the Justice Department confirmed to Fox News that Barr has met “on multiple occasions in recent weeks” with Durham in Washington, D.C. – READ MORE


newyorkpost--2019-01-31--Amnesty International report on Israeli tourism accused of anti-Semitism

An Israeli government minister on Tuesday slammed a new report by Amnesty International, accusing the human-rights group of helping to lead the “anti-Semitic” Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.  The Amnesty International report stated that major companies in the digital travel industry, such as TripAdvisor and Expedia, have been helping the Israeli government boost tourism in “illegal settlements” by taking over land belonging to the Palestinians.  The Amnesty report, titled “Destination: Occupation,” claimed the companies were, by listing rentals and attractions in illegal Jewish settlements, “contributing to human rights violations.”  Israel’s Strategic Affairs and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan tweeted that Amnesty International “has become a leader in the anti-Semitic #BDS campaign. The report it will release tonight on #Israel is an outrageous attempt to distort facts, deny Jewish heritage & delegitimize Israel.”  In a statement to Fox News in response to the tweet, an Amnesty spokesperson said: “Documenting human rights violations by the Israeli government does not equate to antisemitism, a deplorable form of discrimination that is contrary to everything we stand for.”  The statement concluded: “Amnesty International calls out human rights violations wherever we find them in the world and governments involved often respond by accusing us of bias. We invite the Israeli government to engage with the issues raised in our report, rather than throwing out serious accusations based on the false premise that Amnesty has a disproportionate focus on Israel.”  Amnesty said that only Expedia and Booking.com responded to their requests for comment but neither “addressed our findings or questions directly.” The other two companies, TripAdivsor and Airbnb, had not yet commented.  In the report, Amnesty said its investigators focused on Expedia.com, TripAdvisor, Airbnb and Booking.com since those companies have dominated the travel industry. It claimed that as part of the Israeli government’s promotion of the settlements, it offers financial incentives to businesses that operate there as part of a policy meant to help “sustain and expand them.”  Amnesty accused the Israeli government of having political and ideological reasons for developing the tourism sector in the West Bank. The report stated, “Settler groups supported by the Israeli government emphasize the Jewish people’s historic connections to the region. Israel has constructed many of its settlements close to archaeological sites to make the link between the modern State of Israel and its Jewish history explicit.” It claimed that has led to forced evictions and other such limitations placed on the Palestinians.  Professor Gerald Steinberg, founder and President of NGO Monitor, a research institute that promotes democratic values and good governance, wrote in a statement to Fox News: “Reading even parts of the report one sees the degree to which Amnesty dismisses the Jewish and Christian connection to the Holy Land. They employ terminology that accuses Israel of exploiting these sites for economic purposes and in essence faults Israel for preserving them, while there is no recognition that the Western Wall and other areas, relegated to a footnote, are part of a two- and three-thousand-year cultural heritage.”  Steinberg continued, “In the foreground of Amnesty’s campaign is a long history of anti-Semitism. Amnesty has tolerated blatant anti-Semitism within its own ranks and has treated anti-Semitism as the one form of discrimination not worth fighting against. Unsurprisingly, Amnesty is now fully embracing discriminatory BDS and singling out Israel. The timing is clearly aimed to coincide with the UN’s upcoming BDS blacklist.”  Additionally, the Amnesty report said that tourists visiting Israel from abroad enter what it calls the Occupied Palestinian Territories, to visit some of the most popular destinations including the Dead Sea and the City of David.  NGO Monitor argued that the report showed how Amnesty was denying Jewish connections to historical sites — and Christian holy sites too. The group noted that Amnesty listed the top three most-visited places by foreign tourists in 2017. The problem, NGO Monitor said: “Only in a footnote do we learn that these are (the) Western Wall, the Jewish Quarter and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.”  The report focused on five areas where it said the Israel government practices the policies. One of the five places was Hebron. Amnesty stated that TripAdvisor listed a guided tour run by settlers and Airbnb listed a property in a settlement.  Tsofia Nahon, a political advisor who grew up in the Hebron area, told Fox News that the report was wrong and was looking to cause trouble. “As a women that was born and raised in Hebron and lived with Muslims there all my life. It is important for me to say that we will keep fighting against people that are trying to keep this conflict on fire.”  Nahon, who has been running to join the Israeli parliament as a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, said the report was “based on lies and anti-Semitism and it is our job as free people that believe in human rights and democracy to stand against and stop this fake news.”


newyorkpost--2019-04-03--Google to require benefits minimum wage for contractors

Google to require benefits, minimum wage for contractors

SAN FRANCISCO — Google said Tuesday it will require staffing companies it works with to pay workers at least $15 an hour and give them health benefits.  The company has faced pushback from employees and contract workers for paying contractors less than full-time employees.  Google did not say how many contractors and temporary workers it has, but reports say it is many thousands of people.  Staffing companies will have until January 2020 to implement the minimum wage requirement, and January 2022 for the health care requirement.  Google’s new rules will require contractors, who are usually employed by third-party companies, to also get 12 weeks of paid parental leave and a $5,000 tuition reimbursement each year for classes to learn new skills.  Contract workforces are common in the tech industry and often get paid less and have fewer perks than full-time employees working for tech giants. Microsoft also implemented a requirement for contractors to get paid parental leave last year.  Many Google employees have banded together in the past year and demanded the company change various policies, prompting Google to examine issues from its handling of sexual misconduct claims to a military contract.


newyorkpost--2019-08-08--Amnesty International issues travel warning for US after mass shootings

Amnesty International issued a travel advisory for travelers planning to visit the United States after last weekend’s shootings in Ohio and Texas that killed 31 people.  The advisory “calls on people worldwide to exercise caution and have an emergency contingency plan when traveling throughout the USA. This Travel Advisory is being issued in light of ongoing high levels of gun violence in the country.”  The global organization on Wednesday said gun violence has become “so prevalent in the US that it amounts to a human rights crisis.”  Those traveling to the US should “be extra vigilant at all times and be wary of the ubiquity of firearms among the population.”  It also warns people to avoid large gathering places at “cultural events, places of worship, schools and shopping malls” and use caution when visiting “local bars, nightclubs and casinos.”  The advisory urges travels that because of their “gender identity, race, country of origin, ethic background, or sexual orientation” they could be at a heightened risk of “being targeted with gun violence and should plan accordingly.”  The warning concludes by saying that under international human rights law, the US is obliged to regulate access to firearms and protect the rights of people “to live and move about freely without the threat of gun violence.”  “The government has not taken sufficient steps to meet this obligation,” it said.  A gunman in El Paso on Saturday morning killed 22 people when he opened fire on a Walmart in before he was arrested by police.  Around 13 hours later, a 24-year-old man gunned down nine people in a popular nightlife area of Dayton. He was shot dead by police.  Amnesty International joined a number of countries – including Uruguay, Venezuela and Japan – issuing travel warnings to the US because of gun violence.


npr--2019-01-02--Judge Dismisses San Bernardino Shooting Lawsuit Against Facebook Google Twitter

Judge Dismisses San Bernardino Shooting Lawsuit Against Facebook, Google, Twitter

A federal judge in San Francisco has dismissed a lawsuit filed by family members and victims of the 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., that accused Facebook, Google and Twitter of knowingly supporting ISIS and helping the group spread its radical beliefs.  Fourteen people died and 22 were injured when Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire at a holiday office party on Dec. 2, 2015.  ISIS claimed responsibility even though it apparently had no direct contact with the attackers. On the day of the massacre, Malik took to Facebook to pledge allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.  In their 2017 lawsuit, the plaintiffs had argued that the tech companies "have knowingly and recklessly provided the terrorist group ISIS with accounts to use its social networks as a tool for spreading extremist propaganda, raising funds and attracting new recruits."  "Without defendants Twitter, Facebook and Google (YouTube), the explosive growth of ISIS over the last few years into the most feared terrorist group in the world would not have been possible," the suit stated.  In a decision issued Monday, however, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler wrote that while the three social media giants were "generally aware that ISIS used their services," there is no evidence that they "intended to further" the group's terrorist activity.  What's more, Beeler wrote, given how "interconnected communication services are with modern economic and social life," it is untenable to try to directly link "the possible ripple effects of harm" with social media.  A week after the shooting, then-FBI Director James Comey testified to Congress that social media had played a role in the radicalization of Farook and Malik and that they had been at least partly inspired by ISIS. Comey said the group "is motivating individuals, or very, very small groups of people to commit murder on their behalf." But as to how much the attackers were motivated by ISIS, he said, "We may never sort it out, because human motivation is hard."  Beeler cited Comey's testimony in her decision to reject the lawsuit, saying the case had not been made that ISIS had actually "committed, planned, or authorized the San Bernardino attack."  So far, the tech companies have not commented publicly on the judge's decision.  But a lawyer for the plaintiffs, Keith Altman, says he plans to file an appeal.  Altman is involved in similar lawsuits against social media companies in connection to ISIS or to ISIS-inspired attacks, including the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting and the 2015 Paris terror attacks.  "Don't help terrorists," Altman told NPR on Wednesday. "Given what's going on with social media, they have to be held accountable."


npr--2019-02-12--Apple Google Criticized For Carrying App That Lets Saudi Men Track Their Wives

Apple, Google Criticized For Carrying App That Lets Saudi Men Track Their Wives  An app that allows Saudi men to track the whereabouts of their wives and daughters is available in the Apple and Google app stores in Saudi Arabia.  But the U.S. tech giants are getting blowback from human rights activists and lawmakers for carrying the app.  The app, called Absher, was created by the National Information Center, which according to a Saudi government website is a project of the Saudi Ministry of Interior.  The description of the app in both stores says that with Absher, "you can safely browse your profile or your family members, or [laborers] working for you, and perform a wide range of eServices online."  In Saudi Arabia, women's lives are highly restricted. For example, according to Human Rights Watch, women have always needed permission from a male guardian, usually a father or husband, to leave the country. In the past, paper forms were required prior to travel.  The Absher app makes the process a lot more convenient for Saudi men. And it's drawing criticism, especially from human rights advocacy groups.  "It's really designed with the men in mind," says Rothna Begum, a senior researcher on women's rights at Human Rights Watch. "Of course, it's incredibly demeaning, insulting and humiliating for the women and downright abusive in many cases, because you're allowing men absolute control over women's movements."  This week, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., sent a letter to both companies asking them to remove the app. "Saudi men can also reportedly use Absher to receive real-time text message alerts every time these women enter or leave the country or to prevent these women from leaving the country," he wrote.  In an interview with NPR on Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook was asked about Absher. "I haven't heard about it," he said. "But obviously we'll take a look at it if that's the case."  NPR also reached out to Google, but the company has not responded.  Both Apple and Google have faced previous controversies over apps in their stores. Both stores have policies banning inappropriate content such as the promotion of hate speech, graphic violence, bullying and harassment. The companies have faced some backlash over these policies, particularly around how they might impact small businesses.  Human Rights Watch's Begum says she can see how the companies might not have realized initially that the app could be used for monitoring women. "It has other services that are quite generic and normal government services," she says.  Apple and Google have different systems for flagging inappropriate apps. Apple prescreens apps, and Begum says Google relies on its users to alert it about violations. But, she says, each company needs to boost scrutiny of government-supported apps, especially when they are created by repressive regimes.  "They should consider the human rights implications ... especially when it's offered by a government," she says. "When they're evaluating whether an app should be allowed ... providers really should consider the broader context or the purpose of the app, how it's being used in practice and whether it's facilitating abuse."  Ironically, Absher has also been helpful to a few women trying to escape the repressive Saudi regime. Begum says some women have managed to secretly change the settings in the app on their male guardian's phone so that it allows them to travel.  However, she says, Google and Apple need to push back against the Saudi government and either disable the app entirely or disable the features that enable men to track women in their families. "By not saying anything," she says, "they've allowed the government to facilitate the abuse."  In his letter to Google and Apple, Wyden wrote: "It is hardly news that the Saudi monarchy seeks to restrict and repress Saudi women, but American companies should not enable or facilitate the Saudi government's patriarchy."


npr--2019-04-22--Google Searches For Ways To Put Artificial Intelligence To Use In Health Care

Google is looking to artificial intelligence as a way to make a mark in health care. **Michael Short/Bloomberg via Getty Images** ****hide caption****  ****toggle caption****  Michael Short/Bloomberg via Getty Images  Google is looking to artificial intelligence as a way to make a mark in health care.  Michael Short/Bloomberg via Getty Images  One of the biggest corporations on the planet is taking a serious interest in the intersection of artificial intelligence and health.  Google and its sister companies, parts of the holding company [Alphabet](https://abc.xyz/), are making a huge investment in the field, with potentially big implications for everyone who interacts with Google — which is more than a billion of us.  The push into AI and health is a natural evolution for a company that has developed algorithms that reach deep into our lives through the Web.  "The fundamental underlying technologies of machine learning and artificial intelligence are applicable to all manner of tasks," says [Greg Corrado](https://ai.google/research/people/GregCorrado), a neuroscientist at Google. That's true, he says, "whether those are tasks in your daily life, like getting directions or sorting through email, or the kinds of tasks that doctors, nurses, clinicians and patients face every day."  Corrado knows a bit about that. He helped Google develop the algorithm that Gmail uses to suggest replies.  The company also knows the value of being in the health care sphere. "It's pretty hard to ignore a market that represents about 20 percent of [U.S.] GDP," says John Moore, an [industry analyst at Chilmark Research](https://www.chilmarkresearch.com/profile/?user_id=3). "So whether it's Google or it's Microsoft or it's IBM or it's Apple, everyone is taking a look at what they can do in the health care space."  Google, which provides financial support to NPR, made a false start into this field a decade ago. The company backed off after a venture called Google Health failed to take root. But now, Google has rebooted its efforts.  Hundreds of employees are working on these health projects, often partnering with other companies and academics. Google doesn't disclose the size of its investment, but Moore says it's likely in the billions of dollars.  One of the prime movers is a sister company called [Verily](https://verily.com/), which this year got a billion-dollar boost for its already considerable efforts. Among its projects is [software that can diagnose](https://verily.com/projects/interventions/retinal-imaging/) a common cause of blindness called diabetic retinopathy and that is currently in use in India. Verily is also working on tools to monitor blood sugar in people with diabetes, as well as [surgical robots](https://verily.com/projects/interventions/verb-surgical/) that learn from each operation.  "In each of these cases, you can use new technologies and new tools to solve a problem that's right in front of you," says cardiologist Jessica Mega, Verily's chief medical and scientific officer. "In the case of surgical robotics, this idea of learning from one surgery to another becomes really important, because we should be constantly getting better."  Mega says the rise of artificial intelligence isn't that big a departure from devices we're used to, like pacemakers and implantable defibrillators, which jump into action in response to health signals from the body. "So patients are already seeing this intersection between technology and health care," she says. "It's just we're hitting an inflection point."  That's because the same kinds of algorithms that are giving rise to self- driving cars can also operate in the health care sphere. It's all about managing huge amounts of data.  Hospitals have gigabytes of information about the typical patient in the form of electronic health records, scans and sometimes digitized pathology slides. That's fodder for algorithms to ingest and crunch. And Mega says there's a potential to wring a lot more useful information out of it.  "There's this idea that you are healthy until you become sick," she says, "but there's really a continuum" between health and disease. If computer algorithms can pick up early signs of a slide toward disease, that could help people avoid getting sick.  But medical data aren't typically collected for research purposes, so there are gaps. To close those, Verily has partnered with Duke University and Stanford University in an effort called [Project Baseline](https://verily.com/projects/precision-medicine/baseline-study/), which seeks to recruit 10,000 volunteers to give tons more data to the company.  Judith Washburn and her husband, James Davis, have volunteered to be subjects in Project Baseline, an effort to gather a range of detailed data to characterize and predict how people move from health to illness. **Courtesy of James Davis** ****hide caption****  ****toggle caption****  Courtesy of James Davis  Judith Washburn and her husband, James Davis, have volunteered to be subjects in Project Baseline, an effort to gather a range of detailed data to characterize and predict how people move from health to illness.  Courtesy of James Davis  Judith Washburn, a 73-year-old medical librarian and resident of Palo Alto, Calif., signed up after she saw a recruiting ad. "A couple months later, I got a call to go in, and it's two days of testing, two different weeks and it's very thorough," she says.  She had heart scans, blood tests, skin swabs and stress tests — a checkup on steroids, if you pardon the expression. Her husband, James Davis, decided he'd give it a go as well.  "They were having trouble finding African-American participants at the time, so I was pretty much a shoo-in," he says. "I'm aware of people who donate their bodies to medical science when they die," he says, "so it's sort of a way of donating your body while it's still alive."  The retired aerospace engineer also got an added benefit. The doctors diagnosed a serious heart condition, and Davis then had triple bypass surgery to treat it.  The couple replies to quarterly questionnaires, a gizmo under their mattress tracks their sleep patterns and they each wear a watch that monitors their hearts. The watches also count their steps — sort of.  "They haven't quite figured out your exercise yet," Washburn says. "In fact, I can knit and get steps!"  All this highly personal information goes into the database of a private corporation. Both Washburn and Davis thought about that before signing up but ultimately concluded that's OK.  "It depends upon what they're using it for," Washburn says. "And if it's all for research, I'm fine with that."  Here's what makes Google's position unique. Some of the most useful data could be what the company collects while you're running a Google search, using Gmail or using its Chrome browser.  "As companies like Google and other traditional consumer-oriented companies start moving into this space, it is certainly clear that they bring the capability of taking much of the information they have about us and be able to apply it," says [Reed Tuckson](https://www.tucksonhealthconnections.com/about/), a well-known academic physician who was recently recruited to advise Verily about Project Baseline.  For example, people's browsing history can reveal a lot about what they buy, how they exercise and other facets of their lifestyles.  "We now understand that that has a great deal to do with the health decisions that we make," says Tuckson, who is on a [National Academy of Medicine working group](https://nam.edu/wp- content/uploads/2019/01/Working_AI.ML_1-pgr_11.30-1.pdf) that's exploring artificial intelligence in medicine.  He says Google needs to tread carefully around these privacy issues, but he's bullish on the technology.  "We should remember that the status quo is not acceptable by itself and that we've got to use every tool at our disposal — use them intelligently" to improve the health of Americans, he says. "And I think that's why it's exciting."  Tuckson [isn't the only influential recruit](https://verily.com/leadership/) to the effort. Verily recently brought in Dr. Robert Califf, a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, as well as Vivian Lee, a radiologist who headed the University of Utah's health care system. Google hired David Feinberg, a physician who ran Geisinger, a major health care provider based in Danville, Pa.  "It seems like it was a bit of a war on talent right now between Amazon and Google and to a certain extent Apple," says Moore, the analyst. Google needs to build credibility in the medical sphere.  "I think Google is trying to have those people that can basically proof out what Google is doing and stand up and say, 'Yes, Google can do this,' " Moore says.  He also has his eye on what the company's investment means for the rapidly developing industry around health care and artificial intelligence. "Anyone should take Google very seriously," he says.  Some big players, like Apple and Microsoft, can hold their own.  "For other AI companies that don't have those resources, they're going to have to be very judicious in picking the niches they want to target, niches that are ones that, frankly, Google is not terribly interested in," Moore says.  Getting the technology to work is just the start.  The health care business is "a very complex ecosystem," says [Dr. Lonny Reisman](https://www.healthreveal.com/lonny-reisman/), a former health insurance executive who now heads [HealthReveal](https://www.healthreveal.com/about-2/), a company that develops algorithms to help doctors choose the appropriate therapy. Google will need to answer many questions as it enters that landscape.  Who will have an incentive to buy software based on artificial intelligence? Will it really save time or money, as advocates often assert? Or is it just the next new driver of health care inflation?  "There are all these competing forces around cost containment," Reisman says. It's not easy to balance innovation, access, fairness and health equity, he adds, "so they've got a lot on their plate."  Google's Corrado says collaborations with academics and the health care industry are key for navigating this territory.  "A big part of the way that research and development should work in this space is by having kind of a long-term portfolio of technologies that you percolate through the academic and scientific community and then you percolate through the clinical community," Corrado says.  For all the challenges of forging a new path into health care, Google has a potentially enormous advantage in all the data it collects from its billions of users.  Corrado says the company is well aware of the sensitivity of putting that information to use and is thinking about how to approach that without provoking a backlash.  "It has to be something that is driven by the patients' desire to use their own information to better their wellness," Corrado says.  In a world where people are increasingly concerned about how their personal data are exploited, that could be even more of a challenge than building the computer algorithms to digest and interpret it all.  _You can contact NPR science correspondent Richard Harris at_[rharris@npr.org](mailto:rharris@npr.org).


npr--2019-05-29--Amnesty International Report Says Myanmar Military Is Again Committing War Crimes

Amnesty International Report Says Myanmar Military Is Again Committing War Crimes  Myanmar military units instrumental in the brutal push to drive out hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya from the mainly Buddhist nation, have unleashed a new round of war crimes and other human rights violations against ethnic groups in the state of Rakhine, according to Amnesty International.  In a new report released Wednesday, the organization claims "indiscriminate" attacks against civilians began on January 4, after the Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine armed group, launched a series of coordinated attacks on police posts that left 13 officers dead.  The Arakan Army, is one of several insurgent groups fighting Myanmar government forces and is made up of ethnic Buddhists. The government considers the group a terrorist organization.  The ambush prompted the government to order military forces, including new units, to "crush" the group, spawning fresh, and perhaps more egregious, violations than those committed in 2017, Amnesty International contends.  "Less than two years since the world outrage over the mass atrocities committed against the Rohingya population, the Myanmar military is again committing horrific abuses against ethnic groups in Rakhine State," Regional Director for East and Southeast Asia at Amnesty International Nicholas Bequelin, said in a statement.  "The new operations in Rakhine State show an unrepentant, unreformed and unaccountable military terrorizing civilians and committing widespread violations as a deliberate tactic."  Evidence gathered from interviews, photographs and satellite imagery indicate troops are instigating violent clashes, extrajudicial executions, conducting arbitrary arrests, torturing prisoners and destroying historical sites, according to the report called "No-one can protect us."  While the military campaign has been directed at quash Arakan rebellion, the vulnerable Rohingya population is also a target as well as other Buddhists and Christians. According to the report, a military helicopter opened fire on Rohingya laborers cutting bamboo on April 3, killing at least six men and boys and injuring at least 13 others.  "The helicopter came from behind the mountain," a survivor of the attack told Amnesty International. "Within minutes it fired rockets. I was running for my life thinking about my family and how I would survive."  Meanwhile, Amnesty International says the government military isn't the only force committing atrocities. The Arakan Army is also perpetrating human rights violations, victimizing local villages and businesses. Rebel soldiers have "threatened and intimidated village administrators and local business people, warning them in letters against interfering with the group's activities. The letters were each accompanied by a bullet and bore the [Arakan Army's] official seal."  Amnesty International estimates about 30,000 people have been displaced by the conflict since January. Nearly all humanitarian aid has been blocked, and as both sides continue to destroy farmland and harvests, human rights groups are warning of a "looming food insecurity crisis."  The report follows the release of two Reuters reporters earlier this month after spending more than 500 days in prison. They were captured after reporting the massacre of 10 Rohingya men at Inn Din in Rakhine in 2017. The investigation earned the pair a Pulitzer Prize last month.  Amnesty International said it is imperative to step up international pressure on Myanmar's government, advocating for targeted sanctions and a comprehensive arms embargo by the International Criminal Court.  "With Myanmar's military committing atrocities as brazenly as ever, it's clear international pressure needs to intensify," Bequelin said. "Again and again, the international community has failed to stop the Myanmar military's crimes and protect the civilian population. The [U.N.] Security Council was established to respond to exactly these kinds of situations, it's time it took its responsibility seriously."


npr--2019-09-04--Google YouTube To Pay 170 Million Penalty Over Collecting Kids Personal Info

Google, YouTube To Pay $170 Million Penalty Over Collecting Kids' Personal Info

Updated at 11:29 a.m. ET  Google and its YouTube subsidiary will pay $170 million to settle allegations that YouTube collected personal information from children without their parents' consent, the Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday.  The companies allegedly collected information of children viewing videos on YouTube by tracking users of channels that are directed at kids. YouTube allegedly failed to notify parents or get their consent, violating laws that protect children's privacy, according to a complaint filed against the companies by the FTC and the New York attorney general.  YouTube earned millions of dollars by then using this information to target ads to the children, according to the complaint.  "YouTube touted its popularity with children to prospective corporate clients," FTC Chairman Joe Simons said in a statement. "Yet when it came to complying with (the children privacy law), the company refused to acknowledge that portions of its platform were clearly directed to kids. There's no excuse for YouTube's violations of the law."  According to the complaint, YouTube marketed itself as a top destination for kids in presentations to the makers of popular children's products and brands.  For example, Google and YouTube told Mattel, maker of Barbie and Monster High toys, that "YouTube is today's leader in reaching children age 6-11 against top TV channels" and told Hasbro, which makes My Little Pony and Play-Doh, that YouTube is the "#1 website regularly visited by kids."  The FTC voted 3-2 to authorize the complaint and the final order in the case.  In his dissent, FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra said Google "baited children using nursery rhymes, cartoons, and other kid-directed content on curated YouTube channels to feed its massively profitable behavioral advertising business."  He noted that the "terms of the settlement were not even significant enough to make Google issue a warning to its investors." Chopra said he fears "the Commission brings down the hammer on small firms, while allowing large firms to get off easier."  The complaint said the companies' practices violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule, known as COPPA, under a 1998 law. Under the settlement, Google and YouTube will pay $136 million to the FTC and $34 million to the state of New York.  The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood was among several groups that had asked the FTC to investigate whether Google and YouTube violated the children's privacy law. CCFC Executive Director Josh Golin said in a statement that the group was pleased there will be "considerably less behavioral advertising targeted to children on the number one kids' site in the world."  But he added that "it's extremely disappointing that the FTC isn't requiring more substantive changes or doing more to hold Google accountable for harming children through years of illegal data collection."  Google did not immediately respond to NPR's inquiry about the settlement. In a blog post Wednesday, YouTube said, "Responsibility is our number one priority at YouTube, and nothing is more important than protecting kids and their privacy."  YouTube said that, in about four months, it will begin treating data "from anyone watching children's content on YouTube as coming from a child, regardless of the age of the user" and will stop serving personalized ads on this content and end comments and notifications on it.  People or companies that post content on YouTube will be required to tell YouTube if their videos represent children's content, YouTube said.  "In order to identify content made for kids, creators will be required to tell us when their content falls in this category, and we'll also use machine learning to find videos that clearly target young audiences, for example those that have an emphasis on kids characters, themes, toys, or games," YouTube said.  The company said the change "will have a significant business impact" on creators of family and children's content and that YouTube will help them in the transition. YouTube said it will set up a $100 million fund "dedicated to the creation of thoughtful, original children's content on YouTube and YouTube Kids globally."  In a separate statement, Simons and FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson said the settlement will require Google and YouTube to create a system "through which content creators must self-designate if they are child-directed. This obligation exceeds what any third party in the marketplace currently is required to do."  Editor's note: Google and YouTube are among NPR's sponsors.


pamelagellerreport--2019-03-23--Google Manipulated Influenced Midterm Elections Cost Republicans Seats Study

Google Manipulated, Influenced Midterm Elections, Cost Republicans Seats: Study

It’s why they are crippling us in the information battle-space. The misinformed cannot make informed choices. Back when television was the only truly mass media medium, all political views were given equal time. The moronnial generation, on the other hand, seeks impose one view, one totalitarian view and destroy anyone who dissents — a throwback to the Hitler youth.  It is any wonder that Google abandoned its founding mission statement, “Don’t be evil” from its Code of Conduct?  New research reveals that Google built biases into its search results that influenced the 2018 midterm elections – possibly costing Republicans three congressional districts. First things first – the study was conducted by Dr. Robert Epstein – a San Diego-based Harvard Ph.D. who founded the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies. He’s also a Senior Research Psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology (AIBRT), a UCSD visiting scholar, and served as editor-in-chief of Psychology Today.  He also supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 (just like Google!). Epstein and AIBRT analyzed Google searches linked to three highly competitive southern California congressional races in which Democrats won, and found that Google’s “clear democrat bias” may have flipped the seats away from Republican candidates. According to the study, at least 35,455 undecided voters within the three California districts may have been persuaded to vote Democrat due to the biased Google search results. Epstein says that in the days leading up to the 2018 midterms, he was able to preserve “more than 47,000 election-related searches on Google, Bing, and Yahoo, along with the nearly 400,000 web pages to which the search results linked.” Analysis of this data showed a clear pro-Democrat bias in election-related Google search results as compared to competing search engines. Users performing Google searches related to the three congressional races the study focused on were significantly more likely to see pro-Democrat stories and links at the top of their results. As Epstein’s previous studies have shown, this can have a huge impact on the decisions of undecided voters, who often assume that their search results are unbiased. Epstein has called this the Search Engine Manipulation Effect (SEME). –Breitbart Google executives and Democrats have disputed Epstein’s findings, apparently unaware that we can simply google documented instances of the Silicon Valley search giant’s overt bias surrounding elections, their ability to influence them, and their other efforts to hobble conservatives. “These are new forms of manipulation people can’t see,” said Epstein, who added that technology “can have an enormous impact on voters who are undecided. … People have no awareness the influence is being exerted.” Reporting extensively on the work of Epstein is Breitbart News‘ senior tech reporter, Allum Bokhari, who notes that the latest findings “are based on modest assumptions, such as the assumption that voters conduct one election-related search per week.” In other words, the bias could be much more pronounced in reality.  The Truth Must be Told Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more. Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible. Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too. Please contribute to our ground-breaking work here.    Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.


powerlineblog--2019-04-07--Google Swings Left Again

Google Swings Left Again

Google has done away with its Artificial Intelligence Ethics Board, apparently because leftists at the company objected to inclusion of Heritage Foundation President Kay Coles James on the board:  [E]mployees immediately claimed that James’s position on transgender identity involved advocating violence against them. An employee leaked an internal discussion on the issue, and the comments proved terrifying.   ***   Some employees defended James’s addition to the board in the name of including diverse perspectives. Even this suggestion was demonized. “I think that people have been very clear that the problem with the Heritage Foundation isn’t that they ‘don’t think like I do’ but that they actively and stridently advocate for religiously based antiLGBTQ+ policies that immiserate my friends, colleagues, and comrades and has a real and damaging impact on their lives,” one employee wrote.  Disagreement is violence! I met Kay James at a dinner a year or so ago, and can assure you that she is not a proponent of violence.  The Heritage Foundation has hosted many events criticizing transgender identity. It has hosted former transgender Walt Heyer, who runs the website SexChangeRegret.com. It has hosted Julia Beck, a lesbian feminist who got kicked off of the Baltimore LGBT Commission for disagreeing with transgender identity. Beck has warned that embracing transgender identity in civil rights law would allow biological men in women’s bathrooms and changing rooms and in women’s sports.  That seems rather obviously correct. But transgender activism has entered the holy pantheon of leftist ideologies that cannot be debated.  Corporate human resources departments are among the main sources of evil in today’s world.  Wacker pointed to a survey from the Lincoln Network, in which one conservative tech employee wrote, “Employees will interpret your words in the most offensive way possible, then report you to HR based on that interpretation. It’s one big offendedness sweepstakes. When people get in trouble, it’s often based not on what they said, but on how others interpreted their words, regardless of how unreasonable that interpretation is.” “I’ve seen someone get reported to HR for sharing a National Review article,” the conservative employee wrote.  There is much more at the link. Bottom line is that Google and other left-wing tech companies should not be ceded control over public discourse in America.


prepareforchange--2019-06-28--Google and Wikipedia Team Together To Suppress Alternative Health Information

Ask anyone on the street prior to 1990 what the term “search engine” meant, and you would probably get a shrug of the shoulders and a guess, like searching for an automobile replacement engine or something.  Today, people use the Internet to search for information about 6 billion times a day, easily accessing far more data than all of today’s mainstream news outlets put together.  And while in the early days of the Internet one had many choices of tools to use to search for data, today the name “Google” is synonymous with “search engine,” and is even used as a verb: “Go Google it.”  Over 90% of all Internet searches are controlled by Google today.  If Google was simply a software program that searched through all the massive amounts of data in blazing fast speed to produce the results that YOU wanted, this would not be such a big issue. It would just mean they are able to deliver results faster and more comprehensively than other search engines, leading more people to prefer using them over other search engines.  And that’s probably the way it was in the beginning.  But today, Google has decided to be the Police of the Internet, and they have decided that they know better what data you should be viewing than you do.  And they have apparently teamed together with another source of online data, Wikipedia, which poses as a neutral source for information, but is anything but “neutral.”  Together, these two Internet giants are doing everything they can to serve big corporate interests, particularly when it comes to alternative health.  Dr. Joseph Mercola, founder of Mercola.com, one of the longest running websites on the Internet publishing life-saving information on natural treatments, and exposing corruption in the medical industry, just recently lost 99% of his search engine traffic because Google and Wikipedia apparently do not believe the public has a right to use their search tools to find the kind of information he publishes.  For the first part of this two-part article, see yesterday’s post, “Google buries Mercola in their latest search engine update,’ Part 1 of 2.” In Part 1, I discussed the effects Google’s June 2019 broad core algorithm update and updated quality rater guidelines is having on traffic to this site.  As mentioned in Part 1, Google’s “quality raters” are now manually lowering the ranking of undesirable content and buries even expert views if they’re deemed “harmful” to the public.  One of the primary sources Google’s quality raters are instructed to use when assessing the expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness of an author or website is Wikipedia, “the free encyclopedia.” Excerpts from my Wikipedia page read:1  RationalWiki, the stated purpose of which is to analyze and refute “pseudoscience and the anti-science movement” presents me as:2  It comes as no surprise then that Mercola.com is listed as one of the biggest losers in Google’s June 2019 core algorithm update.3 Since its implementation, Google traffic to my site has dropped by approximately 99%, as no Mercola.com pages will now appear in search results using keywords only.  To have any chance of finding my articles using Google search, you have to add “Mercola.com” to your search term (example: “Mercola.com heart disease” or “Mercola.com Type 2 diabetes”). Even skipping the “.com” will minimize relevant search results.  How can Wikipedia be a primary authority of credibility when the editors are anonymous and uncredentialed?  Wikipedia has bizarre policies, including to never use a primary source for information – only ‘secondary’ sources are considered applicable for sourcing information. In the 2016 Full Measure article4 “The Dark Side of Wikipedia,” investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson exposed the fact that Wikipedia is censoring information and crafting narratives to benefit certain groups:  While Google’s censoring of content is a more recent phenomenon, Wikipedia has been censoring information and blocking editors since the beginning. According to Greg Kohs, one of the insiders interviewed by Attkisson, about 1,000 users are blocked from the platform on any given day.5 Attkisson writes:  As reported by Attkisson, Wikipedia is often edited by people with a very specific agenda, and anyone who tries to clarify or clear up inaccuracies on the site is simply blocked. The reality is a far cry from Wikipedia’s public promise, which is to provide readers with unbiased information.  Even Lawrence (Larry) Sanger, who co-founded Wikipedia in 2001, bailed ship the very next year,6 saying “trolls sort of took over” the site, that “The inmates started running the asylum,”7 and that “In some fields and some topics, there are groups who ‘squat’ on articles and insist on making them reflect their own specific biases.”8,9  Earlier this year, Sanger told 150Sec he and co-founder Jimmy Wales tried to “figure out how to rein in the bad actors.” He admits they were never able to devise a good strategy for that, and as a result, “Wikipedia is a broken system.”10,11 Full Measure reports:12  Three years later, May 25, 2019, Attkisson wrote13 about her own struggles with Wikipedia. She also discussed it in a TedX talk (above) on astroturf tools. “My own battle with Wikipedia included being unable to correct provably false facts such as incorrect job history, incorrect birth place and incorrect birth date,” she writes, adding:14  Sanger believes the solution to the Wikipedia problem is a decentralized blockchain system where edits are approved by a community. This is how Everipedia, which Sanger joined in 2017, is run. He told 150Sec:17  As early as 2010, the Alliance for Natural Health pointed out the impossibility of finding “information that isn’t heavily biased toward conventional medicine and the pharmaceutical industry” on Wikipedia,18 and matters certainly have not improved in the years since. If anything, they’ve gotten much, much worse.  Still, even back then, ANH gave several examples of the blatant censorship of holistic medicine. As just one example, the president of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine was prevented from posting positive information about antiaging derived from the academy’s own research.  From where I stand, it seems Sanger’s co-founding partner, Wales, is part of the problem. Wales is openly hostile against holistic medicine, and in 2014 rejected a Change.org petition to bring in more positive discussion of holistic medicine on Wikipedia. As reported by Business Insider:19  Considering Wikipedia’s history of bias and its incredibly effective blocking of opposing views, no matter how factual, it’s not surprising that Wikipedia is Google’s chosen arbiter of expertise and credibility. It also means the whole “quality rating” system Google has set up is rotten from the ground up, as its quality raters are instructed to base their quality decisions on an already biased source.  As reported by Tech Crunch,21 in January 2019, Google donated $2 million to Wikimedia Endowment, Wikipedia’s parent organization, and another $1.1 million to the Wikimedia Foundation. Together, Wikipedia and Google are also working on Project Tiger, which will expand Wikipedia’s content into more languages. In a blog post, Google president Jacquelline Fuller wrote:22  In other words, biased Wikipedia editors will receive even more support, and with the backing and injections of funding from Google, Wikipedia will be in an excellent position to further the stranglehold on natural health in years to come.  As mentioned in part 1, Google is the largest monopoly in the world. Yet while the European Union successfully raised antitrust charges against Google, resulting in a $2.7 billion fine — and this despite the revolving door between Google and EU policy advisers23 — the U.S. has continued to look the other way.  The Federal Trade Commission investigation that took place during the Obama administration, for example, resulted in no formal action whatsoever.24 One possible reason for this, Music Technology Policy25 suggested back in 2016, could be because Google managed to install one of its former lawyers in the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust division, thereby protecting the company’s interests.  The revolving door swings both ways, of course. In 2007, Google paid Makan Delrahim — a lawyer and current deputy assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s antitrust division — $100,00026 to lobby for the approval of its acquisition of DoubleClick, which was under antitrust review.27,28 Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has also pointed out that Delrahim lobbied on behalf of Apple in 2006 and 2007.  As reported by The New York Times29 and The Verge,30 Delrahim “is now facing pressure to recuse himself if the Justice Department pursues an investigation …” A study31 by Public Citizen published May 23, 2019, found a whopping 59% of FTC officials entered into financial relationships with technology companies after leaving the agency.  All of this brings us to the issue of monopolization and the corruption that inevitably follows.32 It is very clear that there is no company operating in breach of antitrust rules as blatantly as Google. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and this adage certainly fits when describing Google. As reported by The Washington Post in 2017:33  To help sway public opinion and policy, Google has also recruited law professors to back up and promote its views. According to a 2017 Campaign for Accountability report,34 Google has paid academics in both the U.S. and Europe millions of dollars to influence public opinion and policymakers alike.35,36  This includes funding research papers “that appear to support the technology company’s business interests and defend against regulatory challenges such as antitrust and anti-piracy.” Some of these academics have not declared the source of their funding, even though payments have reached as high as $400,000.37 As noted by The Times:38  Power can be assessed by looking at lobbying expenditures and Google is leading the pack when it comes to corporate spending on lobbying — efforts primarily aimed at eliminating competitors and gaining power over others. Google also appears to take full advantage of its power over organizations that it helps fund, which is one reason to be suspicious of its donations to Wikipedia.  According to a June 5, 2019, article39 in The New York Times, “[F]our of the biggest technology companies are amassing an army of lobbyists as they prepare for what could be an epic fight over their futures.” The four companies in question are Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple. Combined, these four tech giants spent $55 million on lobbying in 2018 — double what they spent in 2016. The New York Times continues:40  Going forward, the DOJ will be investigating Google and Apple — conveniently, the two companies that antitrust department head Delrahim lobbied for in the past — while the Federal Trade Commission will have jurisdiction over Amazon and Facebook.  Google could potentially also garner some protection or aid from the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). According to an Aljazeera report41 published in 2014, emails reveal a cozy relationship between Google and the NSA, with coordination occurring at the highest levels.  Two years later, in March 2016, Wired reported42 the executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet and former Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, had been chosen by the Pentagon to chair its new Defense Innovation Advisory Board. According to a Pentagon press release:43  In his article,44 “Google is not what it seems,” Wikileaks founder Julian Assange also details “the special relationship between Google, Hillary Clinton and the State Department.” I recommend reading through this detailed and comprehensive analysis for your own edification. The article is an extract from his book, “When Google Met Wikileaks.” He writes in part:  Assange also points out what he calls a “crucial detail” in the media’s reporting on the email correspondence between Schmidt, Google co-founder Sergei Brin and NSA chief general Keith Alexander:  Why does Google and its allies fear Mercola.com and feel the need to censor the information we provide? I believe the Wikipedia page created about me and held hostage by my detractors offer strong hints at the parties that would like to shut me up by shutting me down.  In the end, it’s going to come down to a battle between those wanting to concentrate power against those trying to decentralize it. If we work together to boycott them, Google will crumble under its own colossal weight.  Disclaimer: We at Prepare for Change (PFC) bring you information that is not offered by the mainstream news, and therefore may seem controversial. The opinions, views, statements, and/or information we present are not necessarily promoted, endorsed, espoused, or agreed to by Prepare for Change, its leadership Council, members, those who work with PFC, or those who read its content. However, they are hopefully provocative. Please use discernment! Use logical thinking, your own intuition and your own connection with Source, Spirit and Natural Laws to help you determine what is true and what is not. By sharing information and seeding dialogue, it is our goal to raise consciousness and awareness of higher truths to free us from enslavement of the matrix in this material realm.


prepareforchange--2019-06-30--Leaked Documents From Google Pinterest Reveal Censorship of Alternative Media

Leaked Documents From Google, Pinterest Reveal Censorship of Alternative Media

Newly leaked documents from Google and Pinterest reveal ongoing efforts to censor independent media, Christian websites, and unpopular opinions.  As more and more Americans question the practices of tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon, the topic of censorship on social media and in search results continues to be a hotly debated topic. Do these companies essentially act as publishers, and if so, should they be regulated as such? Should the government make efforts to break up the tech giants? These questions and more need answering as the public grapples with the reality that “Big Tech” is gaining more control over what we see, hear, and read while surfing the internet.  Now, more fuel has been added to the fire as the controversial conservative investigative outlet Project Veritas has released leaked documents which show Pinterest blocking links of alternative media websites and search terms related to Christianity and abortion. The apparent blacklist is part of a “porn domain block list” designed to keep the social media platform free of sexually explicit content. Veritas published the internal documents and reportedly interviewed a company insider who claimed Pinterest directly and indirectly censors content related to pro-life and Christian themes, as well as alternative health sites, and several independent news websites known for challenging the U.S. government narrative on a range of topics, including the War on Terror. These sites include ZeroHedge, The Anti-Media, NewsWars (operated by Alex Jones’ Infowars), The PedoGate, Tracking Vaccinations, and Organic Healthy Tips.  Other documents leaked to Project Veritas include a large text file titled “Sensitive Terms List” containing search terms that Pinterest considers “sensitive.” A user searching one of these “sensitive” terms will received modified search results per Pinterest internal policy. The documents note that search terms are assigned an “abusive,” “sensitive,” and “brand unsafe” value. Pinterest employees have the option to either block auto-complete results in the search bar, show the user a warning, or remove the term from recommended or trending feeds. The so-called “Sensitive Terms List” reveals that Christianity-related terms like “christian easter” and “bible verses” were marked as “brand unsafe.”  This is not the first time Pinterest made the news for censoring certain material. In February, the platform also blocked searches related to “anti-vaccination” material.  However, the company is not alone in their efforts to remove unpopular opinions and alternative media from their platforms. One day after Project Veritas‘ report, the Daily Callerreported that a whistleblower within Google leaked screenshots of two apparent blacklists of websites which are being scrubbed from the search engine’s results. The Daily Callerreviewed documents and found that employees are instructed to add the line “# REMOVE url” to ensure that a “fringe” website is removed from Google’s “featured snippets” search results. The “featured snippets” feature is responsible for finishing users sentences when they type questions into Google’s search box. The document suggests that the removal of certain websites from featured snippets is being conducted manually by a human employee rather than the result of a mistake by an algorithm or artificial intelligence.  The Caller also reports that a second blacklist, called “all_fringe_domains,” is designed to block websites labeled “fringe.” Some of the websites being blocked include “the American Spectator, Breitbart, Breaking911, the website of pastor Brian Jones, the website of Bring Your Bible to School Day, Consortium News (published by Robert Parry), St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church, speakerryan.com, The Franklin Society (a cryptocurrency blog), Free Thought Project, The Gateway Pundit, and The Gorka Briefing”.  The leaked documents reported on by the Daily Caller and Project Veritas raise a number of questions regarding how much control and influence the Big Tech giants have over public discourse. Even more worrisome is the fact that websites like the Free Thought Project, the Anti-Media, and ZeroHedge have been facing waves of censorship for over a year, with both the Anti-Media and the Free Thought Project being purged from Facebook in October 2018.  Disclaimer: We at Prepare for Change (PFC) bring you information that is not offered by the mainstream news, and therefore may seem controversial. The opinions, views, statements, and/or information we present are not necessarily promoted, endorsed, espoused, or agreed to by Prepare for Change, its leadership Council, members, those who work with PFC, or those who read its content. However, they are hopefully provocative. Please use discernment! Use logical thinking, your own intuition and your own connection with Source, Spirit and Natural Laws to help you determine what is true and what is not. By sharing information and seeding dialogue, it is our goal to raise consciousness and awareness of higher truths to free us from enslavement of the matrix in this material realm.


prepareforchange--2019-12-23--Google, Facebook, Neuralink Sued for Weaponized AI Tech Transfer, Complicity to Genocide in China an

Google, Facebook, Neuralink Sued for Weaponized AI Tech Transfer, Complicity to Genocide in China and Endangering Humanity with Misuse of AI

This is the most significant and important lawsuit of the 21st century, and it impacts the entire world. CEO’s and Founders Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Sandar Pichai are also named as defendants along with their companies. Endangering Humanity with the misuse of Artificial Intelligence, Complicity and Aiding in Physical Genocide inside of China by transferring AI Technology, Engaging in Cultural Genocide of Humanity, & Controlling and programming the Human Race by Social Engineering via AI coding and AI algorithmic biometric manipulation This is phase 1 of first lawsuit. We are open for support at a global level. We have a network of thousands around the world and tens of thousands in China, who are witnesses and have been harmed in China from the defendants technology and data transfer.The following are Federal Case Compliant Summary Facts Extracted from the official document filed in San Diego, California. To find out details of financial, personal and corrective behavioral demands, you may access the case in the federal court data base. 1. Endangering and Threatening all of the world’s citizens, and humanity by misusing and weaponizing Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, Robotics, 5G, Machines, Smart Phones, Smart Homes, Smart Cities, IoT’s, Holograms, Mixed Reality, Nano-Technology, Cloning, Gen-Editing, Cybernetics, Bio-Engineering, and the creation of a digital AI Brain linked to Google’s Search engine with the use and extraction of humanities bio-Metrics data, digital bio-metric codes including facial, voice, health, organ, neural network and body recognition technology. Thus, controlling humanities thoughts, actions, biology, bio-metrics, brain neural pathways, the human bodies neural networks that reprograms all human beings through social engineering and bio-digital social programming, without their consent, knowledge, understanding, or free will. Extracting humanities digital footprints in breach of the Nuremberg Laws, FTC Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 41–58 and Engaging in irresponsible and unsafe Research and development of Artificial General Intelligence or Artificial Super Intelligence that could enslave or kill off humanity or give the power to the defendants to enslave humanity in numerous ways on the 5G and other developing networks. 2. Negligence and Complicity in Persecution and Genocide of millions in China, per Article’s 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Genocide Convention, and 18 U.S.C.A. § 1091§ 1091. Genocide, not limited to Democracy Activits, Falun Dafa Practitioners, Christians, Uyghurs, Tibetans, Journalists, Judges, Lawyers, and Academics inside of China. 3. Transferring and Providing to China, China’s Government and its Companies, knowledge, data, capabilities and technology to weaponize Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing, Machines, Robotics, 5G, Bio-Metrics, Cybernetics, Bio-Engineering, IoT’s, Computer Vision, and Human Tracking Technology, and technology that can give China access to Artificial General Intelligence or Artificial Super Intelligence, that endangers the world, and all of humanity, including AI weaponry for assassination. In violation of Breach of Arms Control and Disarmament Act [22 U.S.C. 2551 and Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended [22 U.S.C. 2151, 22 U.S. Code § 2752.Coordination with foreign policy, 22 U.S. Code § 2753. Eligibility for defense services or defense articles, 22 U.S. Code § 2754. Purposes for which military sales or leases by the United States are authorized; report to Congress, Arms Control and Disarmament Act of 1961, 22 U.S.C. § 2551, Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2011-2021, 2022-2286i, 2296a-2297h-13, 4. Providing to China and Chinese Companies, AI, Health Data and Bio-Metric Technology used for surveillance, tracking, hunting, quarantine, capture, arrest, torture, concentration camps, organ harvesting, and organ trafficking that contributed to the death of Chinese Citizens, including Falun Dafa Practitioners, Uyghurs, Democracy activists, Christians, Tibetans, judicial representatives, professors, journalists, and minority groups, not limited to any gender, race, political affiliation, faith, or persons residing in China. Same violation of fact numbers 2 and 3. 5. Providing to China’s government, their corporations and nefarious entities, Facial Recognition, Voice Recognition, Body Detection, Skeleton Detection, Vital Organ Recognition, Emotion detection, Skin and Health Biometric and other AI technology that led to persecution, torture, organ harvesting, death and cremation of human beings in China, not limited to Uighur, Falun Dafa, Christian, Tibetan, Democracy activists, judges, attorneys, common citizens and other minority groups. Endangering the world by Weaponizing China’s AI Capabilities that is be laid on the (BRI) One Belt One Road linking Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe, endangering all of humanity. Same violations of facts number 1, 2 and 3. 6. Misrepresenting to the world and deceiving the U.S on Google’s activities in China and their technology transfers that contributed to China’s Quantum AI advancements, surveillance, abuse, torture, concentration camps and murder of its own citizens. Same violations of facts number 1, 2 and 3. 7. Providing health, bio-metric, financial and social network data of Americans, and the world citizenry that is in the hands of the Chinese government, endangering the world and all its peoples on the 5G network. 8. Creating an interconnected platform between Facebook, Google, Alphabet, all entities under Neuralink, and DeepMind that allows for a digital brain to connect to the internet, all digital and bio-digital networks, human bodies, machines, robotics, IoT’s, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, Holograms and other technologies, that can be used for surveillance, to track, manipulate, control, social engineer, re-engineer, reprogram, brain wash, hunt, quarantine, threaten, arrest, commit cultural genocide, and kill human beings by machines, Bio-Digital AI, Digital AI, and robotics connected to the 5G, 6G and other networks and corporate command centers 9. Creating platforms that is on the verge of developing Artificial General Intelligence and the Subsequent Super Intelligence that will be beyond the control of the human beings working at Neuralink, Alphabet, DeepMind, Google, Facebook or governments. 10. In violation of Article 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Genocide Convention for weaponizing China’s Artificial Intelligence, Facial, Voice and Other Bio-Metric technology that were used on Chinese citizens. Not to exclude genetic experimentation of human beings in Chinese concentration camps, including hybrid human experiments within the concentration camps. 11. Introducing, planning, promoting and engaging in physical and cultural genocide to humanity by replacing their neural network operating systems with Artificial Intelligence and Machines, merging humans with machines with the interconnection of the internet, internal tech experimentation’s of defendants and consumer products promoted, provided and transferred by the defendants to the public directly and indirectly. 12. Reprogramming and social engineering humanities thoughts and brain chemistry via AI algorithms in the internet, social media, apps, smart phones, IoT’s, computers, wearable devices, implanted technology, virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, holograms, and alternate reality. Not informing and explaining to humanity that their brain chemistry is altered by a replicating software as they engage with the defendants products and services, nor that their thoughts and actions can be manipulated and controlled by smart phones, apps and IoT in connection with the network platforms, technologies and initiatives Google, Alphabet, Facebook, Neuralink, DeepMind, and Tesla are providing and introducing to the public, in turn giving these tech giants complete control and influence over Americans, and humanity. 13. Weaponizing AI by Utilizing humanities bio-metric and social media data and misusing the technology by Controlling the Human Race and its thoughts through Social Engineering and bio-digital social programming by using people’s bio-metric systems through Google and Facebooks eco systems, coding, algorithm unfairness, with the use of social media data, their emotions, weaponization of the internet, smart phones, IoT’s and computers, thus controlling human thoughts, and humanity at a global scale against their free-will and knowledge. Not informing the public that their dependency on smart phones, is due to frequencies and Artificial Intelligence software emitting from the AI systems and devices that is connecting to the neural networks of humans, creating a symbiotic process, making them a cyborg, dependent, reliant, controlled and programmed by the products and services provided by Google, Facebook, Alphabet, Deep Mind, Tesla, and Neuralink. In essence, putting the entire human race in a state of pet and owner relationship, via their bio-metrics, biology, and digital selves neural network operating systems. The Owner being the Artificial Narrow Intelligence, other AI forms, provided by the defendant’s companies, organizations and personal initiatives within their companies and Machine Software’s operating inside the bio-metric systems of human beings. 14. Negligence in Algorithm Fairness that allows hate speech, misinformation and slander to cast doubt on google search engines against people’s efforts to notify and inform the world’s people that millions have been subject to Organ Trafficking, Organ Harvesting, Concentration Camps, Torture, and Abuse and that the risks of Artificial Intelligence is multi-faceted and enormous. 15. Writing Code and Creating Algorithms that has been and is currently engaging in cultural genocide including introduction of cybernetics, robotics, and creating an ecosystem that allows for Beastiality to exist and be forefront on Google’s search engines, affecting societies, and youth’s bio-metrics system after viewing the videos and articles via their smart phones and computers, influencing their thoughts through their bio-metric systems, paving the next generation to degenerate and accept this type of behavior with the introduction and experimentation of bio-engineering and cybernetics. 16. Research and Development conducted by Alphabet, Facebook, Google, DeepMind, Nueralink and other ventures in Silicon Valley have created algorithms and coding that supports, promotes and achieves brain washing of humanity through social engineering and bio-digital social programming, that endangers the human race in its entirety via the interconnection of their platforms, social media, and technology distributed in physical and digital format to society. 17. Writing Code and Having Algorithms that influenced liberals and conservatives to exponentially increase their hate for each other via their bio-metric systems and emotions while attached to smart phones, IoT’s, apps, digital media, Google, Facebook and other interconnected platforms. Causing harm to the nation and the world, and endangering humanity at the geo-political level with nation state leaders undergoing social engineering and bio-digital social programming and control by their platforms to ignore human rights atrocities in China and around the world stemming from the defendant’s algorithm misuse and AI technologies. Implicating world leaders and their citizens to be charged under article 2, 3 and 4 of the genocide conventions. This includes Canadian Prime Minister, the Majority of European Leaders, and the leadership at the United Nation, the media, press, their reporters, and others who have and are still censoring awareness for human rights violations in China or working against it. Writing code and algorithms that controls reporters, media and the press’s thoughts and actions beyond the normal manipulation they receive from special interest groups, producers, or friends who may manipulate them, other reporters and their covered content, thus Weaponizing the media for Google’s development against the media’s free will and knowledge. 18. Negligence on Google and Facebooks Algorithm unfairness caused liberals and conservatives to conflict and fight each other beyond the reasonable norm, affecting their thoughts and emotions via their bio-metric systems being controlled and enhanced by Artificial Narrow Intelligence systems inside the smart phones and the apps partially formed by bias and hateful content that created division and undue hate among Americans and the people of the world. 19. Division caused by misuse and negligence of Algorithms in Facebook and Google, hindered and delayed the U.S administrations efforts to pressure China in time to save more people from concentration camps, death and cremation, in addition to national security concerns that impacts Americans and the world citizenry. This is not limited to the Trump Administration, rather it affected the Obama, and Bush administrations as well. Google hurt America and China for 2 decades at a geo-political level. Google is guilty of Article 2, 3 and 4 of the genocide convention, in addition to complicity. 20. Masking posts and articles by The AI Organization, meant to bring awareness to human rights atrocities in China, on Facebooks Platform. Masking Content created by Cyrus A. Parsa meant to save people form dangers pertaining to human rights violations interlinked with Artificial Intelligence. Banning the book “AI, Trump, China & The Weaponization of Robotics with 5G” for advertisement and masking posts of people working on behalf of The AI Organization. Masking posts of “Artificial Intelligence Dangers to Humanity” book, on Facebooks platforms, and masking other posts from The AI Organization written by Cyrus A. Parsa. These posts related to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Iran, big tech, Google, 5G, Robotics, Drones, and Bio-Metrics threats to and Enslavement of Humanity. Releasing the Masks recently after coming under pressure and scrutiny. Hiring Chinese who committed espionage and attacked American companies, including The AI Organization and Cyrus A. Parsa, as well as his associates and victims of persecution. 21. Writing Code and Sustaining Algorithms that propagate an extreme amount of pornography, violent pornography, and insinuation of rape and prostitution, that denigrates females, young girls, altering humanities thoughts and family based concepts of traditional health based ethics via their bio-metric systems, hence, contributing to rape, sex and human trafficking and broken families. 22. Developing Code, Algorithms and Ecosystems that re-programed a generation of people’s bio-metric structure, and brain chemistry to be bio-digitally controlled by Google and every other tech industry with similar platforms that operate on varying types of Artificial Intelligence, including Artificial Narrow Intelligence. 23. Developing Code, Algorithm’s and Ecosystems that created a secondary digital brain inside the brains of AI Scientists to be subservient, controlled and programmed to create, sustain, promote, and grow Google, Alphabets, Facebooks, and other tech giants’ platforms. Elon Musk has also confirmed The AI Organization’s findings, that humans can have a secondary digital brain formed via their neural networks. 24. Developing Code, Algorithms and Ecosystems that creates a secondary digital brain inside the brains of all human beings that can prevent the person from recognizing that they are being controlled, and bypassing any biological resistance to AI Control or human bodies innate capability to resist the formation of a symbiotic and parasitical relationships with AI software and cybernetic hardware via their rational thinking structure in their brain. 25. Not informing consumers that part of the defendants goals for AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) and ASP (Artificial Super Intelligence) has religious goals that can be dangerous to all of humanity, including attempts to retrieve or ask AGI about the inner working of the “simulation”, what, when, how and by whom the simulation was formed, and what is outside it. Neuralink, Google, Alphabet, Facebook, Tesla, and DeepMind have not registered as a religious institution, yet they are engaging in religion under the umbrella of science. In fact, they have turned their companies, into religious institutions with final aim goals identical to most religions. The defendant and their companies are attempting to treat their Technological developments as God, taking all of humanities bio-metrics, data, and connecting it to their quantum, robotic and machine-based AI technology, and upload their digital selves into other bodies, networks or machines, mimicking the beliefs of a spirit or soul. In Fact, Elon Musk stated in an interview, that he wants to develop AI to a point, that it could “give him the answers to the simulation”. Elon Musk is agreeable to the risks that an AGI or Artificial Super Intelligence can go rogue, kill off humanity, or be hacked, yet as smart as he is, he doesn’t understand that the computing technology the AGI and ASI would have, would not go beyond the level of Atoms to observe more microscopic particles at its plane, hence, any answers to his sought questions to simulation is limited, and the endeavor of an AGI or ASI is putting humankind at risk. There is an alternative way to achieve his answers, that is 100%. safe and does not involve giving the power to a machine or Artificial Intelligence. 26. Defendants have created AI systems that can take in humanities facial, voice and other bio-metric information and decode whether they are resistant to AI, subject to its control, atheist or have a faith. This technology can enable AI, or any entity using AI to track, profile, hunt and kill targets it deems resistant to its control or resistant to AI. This can be done with drones, machines, robotics, or poison delivery systems such as Micro-Botic terrorism. All Charges from 1-26 have led to physical genocide in China spearheaded by the Chinese Communist Government, and all charges from 1-16 are in breach and violations of penal codes stated in facts 1, 2 and 3. All Charges have and are leading to Cultural Genocide in America and around the World, endangering all of humanity to enter a stage of cultural and physical genocide with the interconnection of Artificial Intelligence, 5G, Robotics, Machines, Drones, Smart Cities, as it pertain to negligence and misuse by the main platforms and companies of Google, Facebook, Alphabet, DeepMind, Neuralink, John Does, and their leadership. This does not exclude other players such as Amazon and Microsoft from guilt, and the very many Chinese companies who were trained by these Western companies.  Disclaimer: We at Prepare for Change (PFC) bring you information that is not offered by the mainstream news, and therefore may seem controversial. The opinions, views, statements, and/or information we present are not necessarily promoted, endorsed, espoused, or agreed to by Prepare for Change, its leadership Council, members, those who work with PFC, or those who read its content. However, they are hopefully provocative. Please use discernment! Use logical thinking, your own intuition and your own connection with Source, Spirit and Natural Laws to help you determine what is true and what is not. By sharing information and seeding dialogue, it is our goal to raise consciousness and awareness of higher truths to free us from enslavement of the matrix in this material realm.


rferl--2019-02-19--Amnesty International Five Years After Euromaidan Justice For The Victims Still Not Even In Sight

Amnesty International: Five Years After Euromaidan, Justice For The Victims 'Still Not Even In Sight'

Amnesty International says the Ukrainian criminal justice system has "resisted and obstructed justice" when dealing with the human rights violations committed by police during the Euromaidan protests five years ago.  Colm O Cuanachain, senior director at the office of the London-based group's secretary-general, made the comment on February 19, which marked the fifth anniversary of the protest movement's worst day of violence.  "Five years is a long time to wait when it comes to justice, and for most victims who suffered at the hands of Ukrainian police, justice is still not even in sight," he said during a trip to Kyiv.      In February 2014, Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych was pushed from power following months of massive protests known as the Euromaidan and fled to Russia.      More than 100 people were killed and 2,500 injured in clashes with security forces, some of them shot dead by snipers.      The death toll included at least 13 police officers, according to Ukrainian authorities.  As of the end of 2018, the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General’s Office had identified 441 suspects, most of them former law enforcement officers, according to Amnesty.      The rights watchdog said that the cases of 288 individuals had been sent to court, 52 of them resulting in court decisions.      Out of 48 convictions, "only nine custodial sentences were handed down," it added, and not one of those jailed was a former police officer.      "Promises were made, strong words were said by the post-Yanukovych authorities, but time and facts speak volumes," Cuanachain said. "Until all those responsible, including those in command, are brought to account there can be no sense of justice.”      Following Yanukovych's downfall, Russia seized and annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in March 2014.      Moscow is also supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine in a conflict that has killed more than 10,300 people since April 2014.


rferl--2019-04-01--Amnesty International Calls For Justice For Chechnyas Gay Purge Victims

Amnesty International Calls For Justice For Chechnya's ‘Gay Purge’ Victims

Two years after a “horrifying” antigay crackdown in Chechnya was revealed, Russian authorities have failed to provide justice for the victims, according to Amnesty International.      The authorities have “shown themselves to be complicit in heinous crimes committed in Chechnya against people believed to be gay or lesbian,” Marie Struthers, the London-based human rights group director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said in a statement on April 1.  A campaign of abuses -- including abduction, torture, and murder -- against gay men in Chechnya was first reported in April 2017 by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, triggering a global outcry.  Human Rights Watch later said it had confirmed that police in Chechnya rounded up, tortured, and humiliated dozens of gay or bisexual men during the spring of 2017 in "an apparent effort to purge them from Chechen society."  However, no one has yet been held accountable for this crackdown because of “state-sponsored homophobia and impunity for human rights violations” in the North Caucasus region, Struthers said.      The failure of the Russian state to provide justice for the victims unleashed another wave of “homophobic crimes” in Chechnya last year, Amnesty International said, noting that at least two people were believed to have been tortured to death in this crackdown by January 2019.      Amnesty International said Russian authorities had also failed to provide effective protection to LGBT rights defender Igor Kochetkov, the leading figure in the public investigation of the crackdown in Chechnya.      In January, a video containing insults and a death threat directed at Kochetkov was widely distributed across social networks.      Kochetkov presented a formal complaint against the author of the video, but an official investigation has not been opened by the police to date, according to Amnesty International.      However, a court in St. Petersburg last week ruled the police inaction in the case to be unlawful.      Struthers urged the authorities to quickly implement the ruling and conduct a “thorough and effective investigation” into the death threats against Kochetkov and crimes in Chechnya exposed by his LGBT Network.      Russia has faced international pressure including from the United States and the European Union over the treatment of LGBT people in Chechnya, which Kremlin-backed regional strongman Ramzan Kadyrov has ruled with an iron hand for over a decade.


rferl--2019-08-22--Apple Google Mozilla Move To Protect Internet Users In Kazakhstan

Apple, Google, Mozilla Move To Protect Internet Users In Kazakhstan

Apple, Google, and Mozilla have taken steps to block the rollout of a controversial encryption software to Kazakh Internet users issued by the government, which critics say web users are obliged to install as part of a government move to monitor their online activities.      In their statements issued on August 21, the Internet giants said they introduced "technical solutions" to block the government-issued “security certificate” called Qaznet.      Google and Mozilla said in their statements that their Chrome and Firefox search engines will block Qaznet, which allows Kazakh authorities to read anything a user types or posts using the browsers, including account information and passwords.  Apple also said in a statement it would take similar measures to protect the users of its Safari browser.      Since July, Internet users across Kazakhstan have been receiving messages from telecom operators asking them to install Qaznet on their smartphones, computers, and other devices connected to the Internet.      Users who refused to install it reported difficulties with access, in particular to social networks and instant messengers.      While security officials claimed the certificates were aimed at protecting mobile-phone users from cyberthreats such as hackers and online fraud, many legal analysts and technical experts worried the government could use them to monitor private communications by going around encryption walls commonly found in software applications.      Amid criticism, the Kazakh government halted the system on August 7,saying it was a test ordered by President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev for security reasons.      The authorities added though that the system could be deployed again if "outer intrusions into Kazakhstan’s information space" increase.