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Health Advocate or Big Brother? Companies Weigh Requiring Vaccines. + More
Health Advocate or Big Brother? Companies Weigh Requiring Vaccines.
As American companies prepare to bring large numbers of workers back to the office in the coming months, executives are facing one of their most delicate pandemic-related decisions: Should they require employees to be vaccinated?
Take the case of United Airlines. In January, the chief executive, Scott Kirby, indicated at a company town hall that he wanted to require all of his roughly 96,000 employees to get coronavirus vaccines once they became widely available.
“I think it’s the right thing to do,” Mr. Kirby said, before urging other corporations to follow suit.
It has been four months. No major airlines have made a similar pledge — and United Airlines is waffling.
Lawsuit Claims Feds Directed Facebook to Censor Vaccine Misinformation
In a lawsuit claiming Facebook conspired with the federal government to squelch an anti-vaccine group’s speech, a federal judge on Wednesday questioned whether the state can work with private companies to combat misinformation without violating the First Amendment.
Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Illston oversees a lawsuit brought by Children’s Health Defense (CHD), a Georgia nonprofit founded by vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The group publishes information about supposed harms associated with vaccines and 5G wireless networks, which critics have denounced as conspiracy theories and misinformation.
Facebook Oversight Board Is Pawn in Social Media Giant’s War on Free Speech
Facebook, which owns Instagram, is aggressively engaged in censorship. So in order to clean up its image, Facebook created an Oversight Board, which the social media giant describes as “independent, empowered, accessible and transparent.”
In theory, the Oversight Board has the power to reverse any decision by Facebook to censor posts by Facebook and Instagram users.
In reality, Facebook has total control over a user’s ability to appeal to the Oversight Board.
Russell Brand on Vaccine Passports: Is It Really a Good Idea to Let Big Tech Dictate Everyday Freedoms?
No matter where you are in the world, vaccine passports are being discussed as a way to prove you’ve been vaccinated against COVID.
Big Tech companies are rushing to develop proof-of-vaccination technologies. And airlines, cruise ships, stadiums and other businesses are considering — or already using — vaccine passports to exclude the unvaccinated.
In the video below, “Vaccine Passports: THIS Is Where it Leads,” Russell Brand questions whether it’s a good idea to let Big Tech and Big Government dictate which everyday freedoms we can enjoy.
Are we “further empowering massive centralized authorities that we have good reason to distrust?” asks Brand. “The institutions that have the power to carry this out have not behaved in a way that engenders trust, up until now.”
Major Cruise Ship Company May Avoid Florida if State Doesn’t Permit COVID-19 Vaccination Checks, CEO Says
Florida’s new law prohibiting businesses from asking whether employees or customers have been vaccinated against COVID-19 may take a toll on its cruise business.
The CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. said Thursday it could cause the company to suspend Florida departures and move its ships elsewhere.
“At the end of the day, cruise ships have motors, propellers and rudders, and God forbid we can’t operate in the state of Florida for whatever reason, then there are other states that we do operate from, and we can operate from the Caribbean for a ship that otherwise would have gone to Florida,” CEO Frank Del Rio said during the company’s quarterly earnings call.
Facebook Tells Billions of WhatsApp Users: Let Us Share Your Data … or Else
A coalition of more than three dozen social justice, labor and digital rights organizations launched a campaign May 3 aimed at stopping Facebook from further rolling back privacy protections on WhatsApp, a messaging service that billions of people worldwide use to send encrypted messages to family members, friends and colleagues.
After purchasing WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg vowed that the service would “operate completely autonomously” and that Facebook would “absolutely not” change the way the app uses personal data.
But in 2016, Facebook rolled out what it characterized as a routine terms and conditions update that gave the tech behemoth access to WhatsApp users’ account information, phone numbers, IP addresses, browser details and other data unless users opted out within a 30-day window.
Germany Ponders New Freedoms for the Fully Vaccinated
Germany is considering new plans to give extra rights and freedoms to people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The proposed changes to the existing pandemic rules would involve lifting certain social contact and movement restrictions. Inoculated and recovered people will no longer need a negative test if they want to go shopping, to the hairdresser or to visit a botanical garden, according to examples laid out by the German justice ministry.
A Bill Aims to Stop Abusers Stalking Ex-Partners. U.S. Telecom Firms Are Lobbying Against It.
The top lobby group for the U.S. wireless industry is quietly seeking to weaken proposed legislation that has been designed to protect victims of domestic violence by allowing them to remove themselves from family phone plans.
Companies including Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless are seeking to protect themselves from possible future liability and enforcement in the event that they do not adequately comply with the new proposed legislation. Advocates say the bill would help prevent abusers from surveilling and stalking their victims after leaving the relationship.
Telecom Giants Spent Millions on Secret Campaign to Influence FCC’s Repeal of Net Neutrality Rules
The New York Attorney General’s Office released a report Thursday showing that major U.S. telecom companies pumped millions of dollars into a “secret campaign” that flooded the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with millions of fake comments in an attempt to influence the agency’s 2017 repeal of net neutrality protections.
The product of a multi-year investigation, the new report details an industry-backed effort to create the appearance of “widespread grassroots support” for then-FCC chair Ajit Pai’s broadly unpopular repeal of net neutrality rules.
“In 2017, the nation’s largest broadband companies funded a secret campaign to generate millions of comments to the FCC. Many of these comments provided ‘cover’ for the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality rules,” the investigation found. “To help generate these comments, the broadband industry engaged commercial lead generators that used prizes — like gift cards and sweepstakes entries — to lure consumers to their websites and join the campaign.”
CDC’s Summer Camp Rules Are ‘Cruel’ and ‘Irrational’ + More
CDC’s Summer Camp Rules Are ‘Cruel’ and ‘Irrational’
With all this good news related to the pandemic in the U.S. and the relaxing of a number of controls, the CDC’s newly released guidance for summer camps is notable for its rigidity and strictness: Masks must be worn at all times, even outdoors, by everyone, including vaccinated adults and children as young as 2 years old …
The notion that children should wear masks outdoors all day in the heat of July, or that they can’t play any sport that involves physical contact, or put an arm around a friend strikes many experts in infectious diseases, pediatrics, epidemiology, and psychiatry as impractical, of dubious benefit, and punishing in its effects on children.
First Propaganda, Then the Criminalization of Dissent
One of the hallmarks of totalitarian systems is the criminalization of dissent. Not just the stigmatization of dissent or the demonization of dissent, but the formal criminalization of dissent, and any other type of opposition to the official ideology of the totalitarian system. Global capitalism has been inching its way toward this step for quite some time, and now, apparently, it is ready to take it.
Germany has been leading the way. For over a year, anyone questioning or protesting the “COVID emergency measures” or the official COVID-19 narrative has been demonized by the government and the media, and, sadly, but not completely unexpectedly, the majority of the German public. And now such dissent is officially “extremism.”
Facebook’s Oversight Board: Watchdog or Distraction?
The Associated Press reported:
Facebook’s oversight board, which on Wednesday upheld the company’s ban of former President Donald Trump, also had some harsh words for its corporate sponsor: Facebook. “In applying a vague, standardless penalty and then referring this case to the Board to resolve, Facebook seeks to avoid its responsibilities,” the board wrote in its decision.
But critics aren’t convinced that the board’s decision represents a triumph of accountability. Many, in fact, see its narrow focus on one-off content issues as a distraction from deeper problems such as Facebook’s massive power, its shadowy algorithms that can amplify hate and misinformation, and more serious and complicated questions about government regulation.
Court Hears CHD’s Arguments Against Facebook, Zuckerberg and ‘Fact Checkers’
Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California Wednesday heard arguments for and against the defendants’ motion to dismiss in the Children’s Health Defense (CHD) lawsuit, which claims that Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and three fact-checking operations censor truthful public health posts and engage in racketeering activities against CHD.
According to CHD’s complaint, Facebook has insidious conflicts with the pharmaceutical industry and its captive health agencies, and has economic stakes in vaccines, telecom and 5G.
Facebook currently censors CHD’s page, targeting factual information about vaccines, 5G and public health agencies. Facebook-owned Instagram deplatformed CHD Chairman Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Feb. 10 without notice or explanation.
Medical Association Calls on More Than 100 Colleges to Reverse Vaccine Requirements for Students
More than 100 colleges across the U.S. have said they will require students to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in order to attend in-person classes.
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), led by its president, Paul M. Kempen, is calling on these institutions to reverse their policies. The non-partisan association’s open letter states, “Although, at first glance, the policy may seem prudent, it coerces students into bearing unneeded and unknown risk and is at heart contrary to the bedrock medical principle of informed consent.”
AAPS is widely regarded as a conservative organization and has been criticized for challenging certain scientifically sanctioned positions.
Attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a patient’s rights advocate who heads the nonprofit organization Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group, published a letter for parents and students to submit to their colleges and universities explaining how the mandate violates federal law.
“All COVID-19 vaccines are merely authorized, not approved or licensed, by the federal government; they are Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) only. They merely ‘may be effective,’” Kennedy wrote.
NSU Backs Off on Requiring Vaccinations, Now That Florida Outlawed It
Nova Southeastern University will no longer require all staff and students to be vaccinated against COVID-19, reversing a policy established last month that would violate Florida’s new ban on vaccine passports.
Florida lawmakers finalized Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban last week, permanently banning COVID-19 vaccine passports. The governor’s ban stymied the private nonprofit university’s plans, which were the first in the nation to require all students and staff to be vaccinated, NSU spokesman Joe Donzelli said.
Trump’s Facebook Ban Upheld by Oversight Board + More
Trump’s Facebook Ban Upheld by Oversight Board
Facebook was justified in banning then-President Donald Trump from its platform the day after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, but it needs to reassess how long the ban will remain in effect, the social network’s quasi-independent Oversight Board said Wednesday.
The decision to uphold the ban is a blow to Trump’s hopes to post again to Facebook or Instagram anytime soon, but it opens the door to him eventually returning to the platforms. Facebook must complete a review of the length of the suspension within six months, the board said.
Are College Vaccine Mandates Necessary or a Step Too Far?
Last month, Northeastern University announced that it will return to life as usual in the fall with full-time, in-person learning so all students need to be fully vaccinated against the virus if they plan to return to campus in September. Since then Boston College, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Emerson College, Boston University, and more have all followed suit. They say these requirements are necessary to keep the community, both on and off campus, safe.
Boston University is even taking steps to ensure that happens by offering several thousand doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine to students, faculty, and staff who haven’t yet received their first shot. Northeastern has left room for medical and religious exemptions, but for everyone else the mandate is fairly straightforward: get the shot and provide the proof.
These Bracelets Help Restaurant Workers Show They Got Their COVID-19 Vaccine
Most of the staff members at El Merkury sport a blue silicone bracelet with a QR code linking to proof of COVID-19 vaccination, according to CNN affiliate WPVI.
The owner of El Merkury, Sofia Deleon, told WPVI she made the move so customers would know it was safe to eat from her restaurant.
“It was really important for me to have everybody be vaccinated, to have everyone come back to work and feel safe,” Deleon said.
No Vaccine, No Desk: Firms Weigh Whether to Make Shots Mandatory
Crain’s New York Business reported:
Mondelez International Inc., the maker of Ritz Crackers and Trident gum, wants to start welcoming workers back to office this summer, though with a caveat — they must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
It’s a thorny issue for many companies as some workers are hesitant about getting the shots, and Mondelez hasn’t finalized its plan. Yet for Chief Executive Officer Dirk Van De Put, vaccines are a way to ensure safety while restoring workplace culture and camaraderie.
“We want to create an environment where you feel comfortable and it’s like it used to be at the office,” he said in a Bloomberg Television interview April 28. “We can only do that if everybody’s vaccinated.”
Body-Worn Video Technology Finds New Use Cases in the Private Sector
Security InfoWatch.com reported:
Municipal agencies are seeing body-worn devices work their way into fire departments, courthouses, and onto the uniforms of emergency medical technicians, while on the commercial side, BWC solutions have infiltrated manufacturing plants, retail stores, warehouse facilities, healthcare and school facilities.
The technology has even penetrated everything from private security officer companies to big-box retailers like Walmart, which issues proprietary body-worn cameras to monitor its In-Home delivery service team in at least three states around the country where drivers have access to private homes of absent owners to deliver perishable groceries directly inside waiting refrigerators.
Why Big Tech Wants (Some) Facial Recognition Rules
The world’s biggest technology companies can usually be counted on to oppose rules reining in new products, but some are making an exception for facial recognition software. The European Union and cities and states across the U.S. are taking up a wide range of ideas for restrictions or outright bans on this branch of the rapidly expanding field of artificial intelligence, including many that go further than the tech companies want. One question is whether regulation can protect innovation while preventing what Microsoft Corp. calls “a commercial race to the bottom.” Another is whose vision of privacy and security will prevail, as China pushes to export facial recognition systems capable of tracking citizens through much of their waking hours.
Who Pays $24 Million to Protect Mark Zuckerberg? + More
Who Pays $24 Million to Protect Mark Zuckerberg?
Shareholders do. And that’s just one example of how COVID-19 hasn’t stopped the corporate-perk parade …
The bigger boon to the security industry … were Facebook executives Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, whose safety cost the company $24 million and $7.6 million in 2020, respectively. The company said that the expenses were elevated in 2020 due to “costs relating to security protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic, increased security coverage during the 2020 U.S. elections and market increases in the cost of security personnel.”
A spokesman for Facebook added that “Mr. Zuckerberg is one of the most-recognized executives in the world in large part as a result of the size of our user base and our continued exposure to global media, legislative and regulatory attention.”
Physicians, Surgeons Call on Universities to Reverse COVID Vaccine Mandates
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is calling on U.S. colleges and universities to allow students to attend in-person classes without requiring them to be vaccinated for COVID.
In an open letter, AAPS listed 15 reasons universities should reconsider vaccine mandates.
“Although, at first glance, the policy may seem prudent, it coerces students into bearing unneeded and unknown risk and is at heart contrary to the bedrock medical principle of informed consent,” the letter stated.
According to its website, AAPS is a non-partisan professional association of physicians in all types of practices and specialties across the country. The organization was founded in 1943 to preserve “the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship and the practice of private medicine.”
TSA Extends Mask Mandate Aboard Flights Through Summer as Travel Increases
Wearing a face mask will continue to be a requirement at airports, aboard commercial flights and on other public transportation across the country through the summer.
The federal mask mandate, which was set to expire on May 11, will remain in effect through Sept. 13, according to updated guidance issued by the Transportation Security Administration on Friday.
The rule, which also applies to buses and rail systems, was first put in place by President Biden shortly after he took office in January.
A Tech Company Tried to Limit What Employees Talk About at Work. It Didn’t Go Well.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
When leaders of the project management and communication software company Basecamp announced last week that it would curb political conversations at work, fallout came fast.
Tech employees, workplace consultants and politicians alike assailed the decision on Twitter and LinkedIn, though other company leaders called it a courageous move. Some employees publicly threatened to quit. Ultimately, the Chicago-based company offered buyouts to its staff of about 50. A significant number of employees decided to leave.
Some Schools Skip Student Quarantines
“We have had students who had to quarantine three times,” said Miller, of Lakota Local Schools, among Ohio’s larger school systems with 17,000 students.
But that has changed. In the continuing struggle to strike a balance between safety and classroom learning, Ohio joined a handful of states that have now remade their rules to cut back on student quarantines. Many point to lower than expected spread of the virus inside schools and note that school leaders say there are few infections among students who get quarantined.
In Ohio’s case, quarantines are no longer required for potential classroom exposures as long as students were masked and other safeguards were in place.
China’s Big Brother ‘Social Credit System’ Now Tracks People in North America Too With Video Surveillance
China is covertly conducting surveillance and even tracking people’s movements in North America using what’s called “a social credit system,” trying to advance its totalitarian authority all over the world even in free nations.
The Gatestone Institute, a non-partisan, not-for-profit international policy council, and think tank, reports seven years ago, China’s State Council issued guidelines for the establishment of a national “social credit system” by 2020, with the feeds from about 626 million surveillance cameras and smartphone scanners and with data from a multitude of sources.
California Appeals Court Rules Amazon Can Be Held Liable for Third-Party Sellers’ Faulty Products
A new chapter unfolded this week in Amazon’s years-long legal battle over selling exploding hoverboards. A California appeals court has ruled that the e-commerce giant is responsible for the safety of third-party products sold on its platform, according to the Los Angeles Times …
Initially, a California judge sided with Amazon, which argues that it only connects customers with sellers and shouldn’t be held liable for safety issues that result from those transactions.
However, an appeals court ruled this week that Amazon is a “direct link in the vertical chain of distribution under California’s strict liability doctrine, acting as a powerful intermediary between the third party seller and the consumer.” You can check out the full ruling here.
Facebook Oversight Board to Rule on Suspended Trump Account on May 5
Former President Donald Trump will find out this week whether he gets to return to Facebook.
The social network’s quasi-independent Oversight Board says it will announce its decision Wednesday on a case concerning the former president.
Trump’s account was suspended for inciting violence that led to the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riots.