Society's Child

UK now assessing evidence after raid at Cambridge Analytic

Stephanie Bodoni
Bloomberg
Fri, 23 Mar 2018 03:37 UTC

The U.K.'s privacy watchdog searched the offices of Cambridge Analytica amid allegations that information on millions of Facebook Inc.'s users was scooped up without their consent, widening a probe that cut the internet giant's share price more than 10 percent this week.

The Information Commissioner's Office said the search began late Friday, after a judge granted a request for a warrant, and continued for about seven hours. Investigators left Cambridge Analytica's London office about 3 a.m. Saturday.

"We will now need to assess and consider the evidence before deciding the next steps and coming to any conclusions," according to a statement. "This is one part of a larger investigation by the ICO into the use of personal data and analytics by political campaigns, parties, social media companies and other commercial actors."

The watchdog is leading the probe with the backing of the European Union's remaining 27 regulators, who this week vowed to collaborate to get to the bottom of the "very serious allegation with far-reaching consequences."

Facebook has also come under pressure since the revelations that vast swathes of data was held by Cambridge Analytica after it was obtained from a researcher who shared the data without the social network's permission. According to news reports, Cambridge University researcher Aleksandr Kogan created a personality-analysis app that was used by 270,000 Facebook users, who in turn gave the app permission to access data on themselves and their friends, ultimately exposing a network of 50 million people.

Comment: See also:

Facebook must be restructured: Nine steps the FTC should take now

Barry Lynn and Matt Stoller
The Guardian
Thu, 22 Mar 2018 17:48 UTC

© Piotr Malczyk/Alamy Stock
Facebook has displayed a remarkable lack of contrition in the immediate aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica revelations.

If FTC commissioners truly are serious about making Facebook serve the interests of the American public, here is a set of actions they should take

'Rather than simply carve away some of Facebook's huge profits, the FTC should immediately move to restructure the corporation.'

Since news broke that a data analysis firm with ties to the Trump campaign harvested personal information from tens of millions of Facebook users, much of the speculation has focused on whether the Federal Trade Commission will fine the corporation for violating a 2011 deal to protect user privacy.

But the pressing nature of America's Facebook problem, especially the way the corporation's actions have endangered basic democratic institutions, means the FTC should go much further.

'It's a death sentence': Mass protest of migrant deportation in Israel

RT
Sun, 25 Mar 2018 15:16 UTC

Thousands of protesters have rallied in Tel Aviv to decry the government's mass expulsion scheme, due to start in April. Some refugees fear that their lives could be in danger after deportation to a third county.

Some 25,000 African migrants and their supporters gathered in Rabin Square Saturday evening to condemn the controversial plan to forcefully deport asylum seekers. Mostly from Eritrea and Sudan, they are to be sent to an unnamed destination in Africa, local media report.

"If Israel does deport me, they can send me to my country and not to Rwanda, but it will mean my death," asylum seeker Michael told Ruptly. "This is why I came to demand my refugee status and to demonstrate."

Comment: Another example that Israel, by virtue of its government, is a thriving and dangerous pathocracy.

See also:

Now is the time to push back on Russia scare neo-McCarthyism

Tim Canova
Medium
Sun, 25 Mar 2018 16:19 UTC

Senator Joe McCarthy (left), and the Kremlin (right)

Last week, House Republicans used the present hysteria about Russia to try to discredit me and every citizen and activist who has ever spoken out against "fracking," otherwise known as hydraulic fracturing, and dangerous pipelines and liquefied natural gas facilities.

A majority staff report of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology purports to expose the Kremlin's efforts to interfere with U.S. energy markets by influencing domestic policy by spreading propaganda on social media. I was a target of this smear campaign for simply posting tweets against fracking and against the Sabal Trail Pipeline.

Apparently, a single retweet by a Russian internet troll is all it takes for these Republicans to smear U.S. citizens for exercising their First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly.

The Republican majority staff report points to a Tweet of mine that I posted on October 23, 2016 (pictured left), stating: "Good news: Last night, Miami-Dade officials voted unanimously to ban fracking. #ProgressForAll" and then citing to a news report in the International Business Times, which is owned by Newsweek, not the Kremlin.

Snubbed! Elon Musk deletes SpaceX Facebook account

RT
Sun, 25 Mar 2018 17:07 UTC

SpaceX founder Musk speaks at a press conference

It's been a tough week for Facebook with the fall-out from the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Now the social media giant may have met its worst enemy yet - everybody's favorite comic book supervillain, Elon Musk.

Facebook has come under intense scrutiny following revelations that Cambridge Analytica harvested data from millions of people's profiles to sell to the highest bidder. These bidders are alleged to include members of Trump's campaign team and those seeking to make Brexit a reality.

Spacefaring billionaire Musk was seemingly none too impressed with the news and announced on Twitter that he was taking down SpaceX's Facebook profile.

Ex-BBC boss attacks Facebook over 'weaponizing news', 'propaganda' & 'child porn'

RT
Fri, 23 Mar 2018 08:03 UTC

Facebook has been accused of "weaponizing news" and "facilitating hate speech" in a scathing attack by a former head of BBC News. James Harding blasted Facebook, Twitter and other social-media sites as "staggeringly self-serving."

The ex-BBC boss used his platform at the annual Hugh Cudlipp lecture to call out propaganda-spreading on social-media networks. Harding said Facebook and others were "facilitating hate speech, enabling child pornography, avoiding billions in tax, and plundering."

He also said the political spectrum is "at risk" because "technology is disrupting democracy." Harding added: "Whether it destroys it is up to us."

Comment: Facebook has certainly been getting a lot of bad press recently. What happened to them being one of the darlings of the Deep State?

Pope Francis defrocks nine Ukrainian priests for unapproved exorcisms

Tyler O'Neil
PJ Media
Fri, 23 Mar 2018 16:41 UTC

© Franco Origlia/Getty Images
Pope Francis holds his homily during his weekly audience in St. Peter's Square on January 24, 2018 in Vatican City, Vatican.

Pope Francis stripped holy orders from nine monks in Ukraine, following reports that they had engaged in unapproved exorcisms and listened to a "prophetess."

Investigators found monks violating monastic discipline and performing exorcism prayers without authorization at monasteries in Kolodiivka and Velyki Borky. Some of the monks did not follow the rules and were guided by the orders of a so-called "prophetess."

"The priest who wants to do this should get the special permit, blessing from the local bishop. But they did not heed the comments," Teodor Martynyuk, bishop-assistant of the Ternopil-Zborowski archdiocese, claimed after an investigation last year, Ukraine's 112.ua news agency reported.

The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) reported the dismissals on Tuesday, but Pope Francis chose to defrock the priests last month. The church reported that the defrocked former monks are "illegally staying in the village of Posich, Ivano-Frankivsk region."

Virginia man arrested for threatening to murder congressman - Marijuana policy dispute cited as reason

Kyle Cheney
Politico
Fri, 23 Mar 2018 16:35 UTC

Wallace Grove Godwin

A Virginia Beach man was charged Friday with threatening to murder his local congressman, Rep. Scott Taylor (R-Va.), the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia announced Friday.

According to court documents, Wallace Grove Godwin, 69, visited Taylor's office on Thursday and threatened to shoot him and two staffers at a Saturday event. The dispute arose, according to the District Attorney's office, over a discussion about marijuana policy.

"Scott is having an event this Saturday. I am going to get my shotgun and do something about this. I will just handle this myself," Godwin allegedly said to a Taylor staffer. He then pointed to two staffers in the room and said, "You two are next," authorities said.

Gowdin is expected to appear in a federal courthouse in Norfolk, Va. on Friday afternoon. The maximum penalty for threatening a member of Congress is 10 years in prison.

Three homemade bombs and other weapons found at site of French supermarket attack

RT
Sat, 24 Mar 2018 16:28 UTC

© Jean-Paul Pelissier / Reuters
A French gendarme secures the access to a supermarket after a hostage situation in Trebes, France.

There could have been many more casualties in the hostage-taking crisis in southern France. Investigators have reportedly found three homemade bombs and other weapons at the site of the supermarket attack in Trebes.

Three improvised explosive devices, a 7.65-caliber handgun and a hunting knife were found after Moroccan-born Redouane Lakdim was shot dead during a standoff at the supermarket, an unnamed judicial official told AP. The terrorist attack suspect was killed by elite French forces that stormed the supermarket after hearing gunfire inside. It is unclear if the attacker was going to use the bombs to blow up hostages or use them against police.

Four people have died since the Friday rampage and over a dozen were injured. Lakdim first opened fire at police officers in the town of Carcassonne, where he was based. The 26-year-old then hijacked a car, killing the driver, and made his way to the nearby town of Trebes where he took multiple hostages at a local Super-U supermarket.

The gunman's last victim was police officer Arnaud Beltrame, who volunteered to swap places with several hostages and covertly maintained contact with his colleagues via a cellphone while inside the building. However, the heroic policeman sustained gunshot wounds during the incident and died in hospital on Saturday.

Rates of rural hospital closures hit an all-time high

Berkeley Lovelace Jr. & John W. Schoen
CNBC
Sat, 24 Mar 2018 16:19 UTC

Crystal Harris was at her Virginia home one winter afternoon when she received a 911 call.

As an unpaid volunteer of the Smith River Rescue Squad in Woolwine, a small town located in northern Patrick County, Harris needed to drop what she was doing and head to the nearest ambulance station, a trip that normally takes about 10 minutes.

"Then you would respond to the house, which could take anywhere around 15 minutes," Harris, the captain for advanced life support on the squad, told CNBC. If necessary, the rescue team would then take the patient to the nearest hospital, about 45 minutes to one hour east in Martinsville.

Harris could have taken the patient to the much closer 25-bed Pioneer Community Hospital of Patrick in Stuart, where she had been an employee before she retired. But the hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed last year, leaving more than 100 people without a job and the roughly 19,000 residents in the surrounding community without a nearby emergency health facility.

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Society's Child

UK now assessing evidence after raid at Cambridge Analytic

Facebook must be restructured: Nine steps the FTC should take now

'It's a death sentence': Mass protest of migrant deportation in Israel

Now is the time to push back on Russia scare neo-McCarthyism

Snubbed! Elon Musk deletes SpaceX Facebook account

Ex-BBC boss attacks Facebook over 'weaponizing news', 'propaganda' & 'child porn'

Pope Francis defrocks nine Ukrainian priests for unapproved exorcisms

Virginia man arrested for threatening to murder congressman - Marijuana policy dispute cited as reason

Three homemade bombs and other weapons found at site of French supermarket attack

Rates of rural hospital closures hit an all-time high

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