Texas AG Goes After Zuckerberg Over Meta’s Facial Recognition Data

Parker Davis February 15, 2022

The Texas Attorney General is going after Facebook in the courts over its handling of user privacy data connected to a facial scan. The AG, Ken Paxton, is alleging that Facebook collected the user data without permission. He filed the lawsuit this past Monday, February 15th. This lawsuit is one of a myriad of ways that Facebook and other international social media giants are facing from multiple US and other national governments as well. This is a battle between the new power and the old, as the old still needs the new power, but they need to clip their wings. However, the new power is far from vanquished, though I’d reckon its days were still numbered.

Texas Sues Facebook’s Parent Meta Over Facial Recognition Data

From www.nytimes.com
2022-02-14 19:42:42
Cecilia Kang
Excerpt:

The Texas attorney general on Monday filed a privacy lawsuit against Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, for allegedly collecting facial recognition data without the clear permission of users.

Ken Paxton, the attorney general, said the social network violated a state consumer protection law by repeatedly capturing and commercializing biometric data in photos and videos for more than a decade without the informed consent of users. He said the company also shared the data with third parties and failed to destroy the information in a reasonable time.

“Facebook will no longer take advantage of people and their children with the intent to turn a profit at the expense of one’s safety and well-being,” Mr. Paxton said in a statement. “This is yet another example of Big Tech’s deceitful business practices, and it must stop. I will continue to fight for Texans’ privacy and security.”

The lawsuit adds to Meta’s legal battles as local and national regulators take aim…

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If UK Online Safety Bill Passes, Zuckerberg Might Go to Jail

Paul Collier February 8, 2022

UK Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has warned Mark Zuckerberg and other Social Media magnates that their days might be numbered if they don’t comply with the Online Safety Bill she is working to get passed. The bill would make the social media platforms responsible for the illegal activity that takes place on its site, meaning the owners themselves could be arrested by the British police for crimes committed on their platform if the crimes take place in the UK.
The bill, if it becomes law, could effectivel end social media in Britain, as the cost to enforce your platform might be prohibitively expensive.

Social media bosses could face jail over UK’s new Online Safety Bill

From metro.co.uk
2022-02-07 09:45:35
Anugraha Sundaravelu
Excerpt:

Mark Zuckerberg could end up in jail if Facebook does not comply with new online safety laws, the UK Culture Secretary has warned.

Nadine Dorries warned that she was putting social media giants such as Facebook on notice with her Online Safety Bill which is supposed to force online giants to act on illegal content on its platforms.

On Friday, it was announced the long-awaited Bill had been strengthened with the addition of a number of new criminal offences to force social media firms to act on illegal content more quickly.

Offences such as revenge porn, hate crime, fraud, the sale of illegal drugs or weapons, the promotion or facilitation of suicide, people smuggling and sexual exploitation have been added to the list of priority offences that must be removed by platforms under the new rules.

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Thiel Loses Meta for Trump

Parker Davis February 8, 2022

It looks like Peter Thiel is making a move from business to politics, as he is leaving the now Meta, formerly Facebook, board, to throw his effort behind Donald J Trump’s political agenda. He stepped away as he didn’t want his new political commitment to interfere with his role at Meta, or interfere with Meta itself.

Peter Thiel to leave Meta board to pursue Trump political agenda

From fortune.com
2022-02-07 21:23:55

Excerpt:

Peter Thiel, the tech investor and conservative provocateur who has advised Mark Zuckerberg for nearly two decades at Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc., will step down from the company’s board after Meta’s annual shareholder meeting in May.

Thiel, who joined the board in 2005 after an early investment in Facebook, plans to increase his political support of former President Donald Trump’s agenda during the 2022 election and doesn’t want his political activities to be a “distraction” for Facebook, according to person close to Thiel.

“He thinks that the Republican Party can advance the Trump agenda and he wants to do what he can to support that,” said the person, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

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Russians Show Us Why AI Without the Bill of Rights is a Police State

Paul Collier February 7, 2022

The Russian government has released some details of a recent experiment to utilize neural network artificial intelligence to attempt to trach down the locations of protestors based on video surveillance the AI was able to analyze. The experiment netted the arrests of 454 protestors in 17 cities across Russia. The expermient happened last year.

In nations such as Russia, and even more in nations such as China, these types of human control toys will be readily deployed with little to any fear of any ‘legal’ pushback from courts or citizens. In nations such as America, so long as the DNC does NOT consolidate power, human control toys such as these run afowl of many of our essential Bills of Rights, the code of conduct from which our government’s power is legitimized. Without honoring that code of conduct, the government loses its very legitimacy.

One of the reasons the DNC and its particular group of billionaires have latched on to the moral supremacism of “CRT” is that it is hoped the new moral code of CRT will override the Bill of Rights code of conduct of the American republic. It’s a de facto act of sedition highlighted by this Russian report which demonstrates the existential danger of allowing our American lands to lose their Bill of Rights constraint on the state.

Neural networks tracked down protesters, Neuralink hinted at the start of clinical trials and other news from the AI world

From thetimeshub.in
2022-01-24 11:28:10

Excerpt:

In 2021, artificial intelligence helped Russian police locate at least 164 rally participants. In total, law enforcement officers detained more than 454 people in 17 cities of the Russian Federation.
According to the report of the human rights organization OVD-Info, video surveillance cameras with an integrated face recognition system detected protesters on the streets, in the subway and near the entrances of apartment buildings.

According to Roskomsvoboda experts, biometric identification algorithms do not yet have a clear legal framework and are in the “gray zone”. This does not allow citizens to appeal the use of technology against them and requires the creation of a specialized regulation to determine who and on what basis can access the recognition system.

A single biometric the system will be integrated with the public services website
The Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation signed a contract with Rostelecom to integrate the public services website with the state Unified Biometric System. The deal amounted to 1.2 billion rubles.

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Australia Might Force Google to Censor Us, Alphabet Claims

Parker Davis January 27, 2022

Google warns that defamation case ruling will force it to ‘censor’ the internet

From www.techspot.com
2022-01-24 12:05:00

Excerpt:

Why it matters: Google is warning that a 2020 ruling by the High Court of Australia could have a “devastating” impact on the entire internet, forcing the company to “censor” search results if a defamation charge is allowed to stand.

The Guardian reports that the case revolves around George Defteros, a Victoria defense lawyer who previously represented Melbourne gangland figures. He sued Google over claims that its publication of search results showing a 2004 article defamed him.

The article from The Age implied that Defteros had become more than just a lawyer for criminal elements but was also a friend and confidant, crossing professional boundaries. The piece also reported on the murder charges Defteros faced in relation to the killing of three men. Prosecutors withdrew the charges in 2005.

Defteros’ lawyers contacted Google in February 2016 and asked it to remove the article, but Google refused as it said The Age was a…

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China’s WeChat Exclusively Has Australian PMs Account

Parker Davis January 25, 2022

Australian prime minister loses control of WeChat account

From abcnews.go.com
2022-01-24 10:05:49

Excerpt:

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has lost control of his Chinese-owned social media platform WeChat account and a lawmaker has accused China’s leaders of political interference

January 24, 2022, 10:05 AM

3 min read

CANBERRA, Australia — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has lost control of his account on the Chinese-owned social media platform WeChat and a lawmaker on Monday accused China‘s leaders of political interference.

Morrison’s 76,000 WeChat followers were notified his page had been renamed “Australian Chinese new life” earlier this month and his photograph had been removed, Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported. The changes were made without the government’s knowledge, the report said.

Morrison’s office declined to comment on the report.

In response to a question from The Associated Press, WeChat’s parent company Tencent said that there was “no evidence…

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Google and Facebook Face Lawsuit over Alleged Online Ad Collusion

Ivo Fysic January 17, 2022

14 States Attorney General have joined in antitrust lawsuit aimed at two of the great war machines of ecumenical leftism, Facebook and Google. The companies are alleged to have colluded to assure the ad market remains uncompetitive and the prices remain favorable for them.

Google and Facebook CEOs colluded in online-ad sales scheme, unredacted antitrust lawsuit alleges

From www.marketwatch.com
2022-01-15 00:18:00

Excerpt:

Chief executives of the parent companies of Google and Facebook colluded to manipulate online advertising sales under a 2018 scheme nicknamed Jedi Blue and signed off on it, state attorneys general allege in newly unredacted filings.

The filings are part of a lawsuit filed in December 2020 by 14 state attorneys general led by Texas AG Ken Paxton, which charges Google parent Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL,
+0.64%

GOOG,
+0.47%
with “anticompetitive conduct.” Sections of the complaint that focused on interactions with Facebook parent Meta Inc.
FB,
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along with other details, had been redacted previously, but most redactions were removed Friday after an earlier ruling in the case and showed top leaders of the two companies agreeing to work together.

“Google understood the severity of the threat to its position if Facebook were to enter the market and support header bidding,”…

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AI to Track How Dissent Grows on Twitter

Freedomist Editor January 17, 2022

Billionaires and their corporate toys are using artificial intelligence and deep learning machines to attempt to re-engineer humanity to be more obedient to them, as well as being less competetive. Researchers from Europe are attempting to use AI to analyzie tweets about vaccines and climate change to learn how to identify sources of dissent and shut it down. Of course the researchers didn’t say such things outright, but, in essense, this is how we read a project such as this. Researchers claim to just be attempting to understand how opinions form, how ideas spread, but they’re essentially seeking to map out the structures of dissent itself.

Researchers use AI to analyze tweets debating vaccination and climate change

From phys.org
2022-01-17 09:06:08

Excerpt:

Using artificial intelligence (AI) researchers have found that between 2007 and 2016 online sentiments around climate change were uniform, but this was not the case with vaccination.

Climate change and vaccinations might share many of the same social and environmental elements, but that doesn’t mean the debates are divided along the same demographics.

A research team from the University of Waterloo and the University of Guelph trained a machine-learning algorithm to analyze a massive number of tweets about climate change and vaccination.

The researchers found that climate change sentiment was overwhelmingly on the pro side of those that believe climate change is because of human activity and requires action. There was also a significant amount of interaction between users with opposite sentiments about climate change.

However, in the snapshot of the timeframe of the dataset, vaccine sentiment was nowhere near so uniform. In fact, only some 15 or 20 percent of users expressed a clearly pro-vaccine sentiment, while around 70 percent expressed no strong sentiment. Perhaps more importantly, individuals and entire online communities with differing sentiments toward vaccination interacted much less than the climate change debate.

“It is an open question whether these differences in user sentiment and social media echo chambers concerning vaccines created the conditions for highly polarized vaccine sentiment when the COVID-19 vaccines began to roll out,” said Chris Bauch, professor of applied mathematics at the University of Waterloo. “If we were to do the same study today with data from the past…

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Biden Admin Has Begun Mining for Bitcoin

Ivo Fysic December 10, 2021

US Government is Mining Bitcoin, Says White House Adviser : CryptoCurrency

From www.reddit.com
2021-12-06 11:17:20
/u/AmbientTextures
Excerpt:

tldr; Cryptocurrency expert and White House adviser Whit Gibbs revealed that Joe Biden’s government has been mining bitcoin. Gibbs made the revelation during an interview on Anthony Pompliano’s “Best Business Show” on Wednesday, December 1st. Meanwhile, Senator Elizabeth Warren has lobbied against a bitcoin mining company in New York due to its impact on climate change.

This summary is auto generated by a bot and not meant to replace reading the original article. As always, DYOR.

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Class-Action Suit Claims Facebook Job Ads Violate Israel Law

Ivo Fysic October 7, 2021

The Silicon Valley giant, Facebook, faces a class-action lawsuit in Israel for allegedly violating its anti-discrimination job advertising laws. Facebook’s allowance of advertisers to target certain demographics for job advertising is a violation of Israel’s anti-discrimination advertising laws.

Israeli class-action suit against Facebook targets job ads

From www.jpost.com
2021-10-03 16:00:00

Excerpt:

A class-action lawsuit filed in Israel against Facebook charges that ads on the social media giant violate the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, which prohibits the posting of discriminatory job ads.

Israeli employment law, like that in most Western countries, states that a job advertisement cannot discriminate by age, gender, race, political beliefs or other variables. The law allows for anyone affected by such discrimination to be compensated for NIS 50,000, without proof of damage.

“Years ago that meant that a company couldn’t write explicitly in a job ad that it was only looking for, say, white males aged 25-40,” explained attorney Dr. Matan Gutman, who filed the case at the Tel Aviv Regional Labor Court. “But Facebook’s ad system allows companies to discriminate in a more elegant way – by offering the options to target only certain types of people. That would be equivalent to a newspaper offering its clients the option to target only certain readers, which would clearly be prohibited. But Facebook publishes thousands of such job ads in Israel every year.”

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