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Meta Launches Data-Harvesting Twitter Clone, Immediately Starts Censoring
Meta claims that over 10 million people have signed up for its Twitter competitor, Threads, in what CEO Mark Zuckerberg framed as a “friendly” alternative to the little blue bird.
Threads is directly linked to Meta-owned Instagram, which has over 2 billion users. The Twitter competitor is being rolled out in over 100 countries for iOS and Android.
Meanwhile, data privacy and censorship concerns have emerged, with former Twitter owner Jack Dorsey highlighting the vast amount of data collected by Threads.
Journalist Michael Shellenberger noted that within hours of launching, Threads was already secretly censoring users and not offering them the right to appeal.
State Dept. Cancels Facebook Meetings After Judge’s ‘Censorship’ Ruling
One day after a Louisiana federal judge set new limits on the Biden administration’s communications with tech firms, the State Department canceled its regular meeting Wednesday with Facebook officials to discuss 2024 election preparations and hacking threats, according to a person at the company.
State Department officials said all future meetings, which had been held monthly, have been “canceled pending further guidance,” the person said, speaking on condition that they not be named in order to preserve working relationships. “Waiting to see if CISA cancels tomorrow,” the person added, referring to the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The cancellation of regular meetings between Facebook parent company Meta — the world’s largest social media firm — and U.S. government agencies shows the immediate impact of Tuesday’s order by U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty, a Trump appointee. The order is a win for the right in a broader battle over the role of social media companies in shaping online speech and information.
While the ruling won’t stop sites such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or TikTok from moderating online content, it stands to sideline federal government officials and agencies that had become key contributors to those efforts. In the past, meetings between the State Department and Facebook in particular have flagged suspected foreign influence operations for the companies to investigate.
Biden Administration Appeals Ban on Social Media Contacts
The Biden administration on Wednesday appealed a federal judge’s ruling restricting some agencies and officials from meeting and communicating with social media companies to moderate their content, according to a court filing.
The notice of appeal filed on Wednesday signals the government’s plan to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans to review the ruling in a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s efforts to persuade social media companies to police posts it considered disinformation.
The injunction issued on Tuesday barred government agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI from talking to social media companies for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech” under the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
U.S. Spies Are Buying Americans’ Private Data. Congress Has a New Chance to Stop It
A “must-pass” defense bill wending its way through the United States House of Representatives may be amended to abolish the government practice of buying information on Americans that the country’s highest court has said police need a warrant to seize. Though it’s far too early to assess the odds of the legislation surviving the coming months of debate, it’s currently one of the relatively few amendments to garner support from both Republican and Democratic members.
The introduction of the amendment follows a report declassified by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — the nation’s top spy — which last month revealed that intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been buying up data on Americans that the government’s own experts described as “the same type” of information the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 sought to shield against warrantless searches and seizures.
A handful of House lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats alike, have declared support for the amendment submitted late last week by representatives Warren Davidson, a Republican from Ohio, and Sara Jacobs, a California Democrat.
“Warrantless mass surveillance infringes the Constitutionally protected right to privacy,” says Davidson. The amendment, he says, is aimed chiefly at preventing the government from “circumventing the Fourth Amendment” by purchasing “your location data, browsing history or what you look at online.”
New York System Lifts Vaccine Mandate
Becker’s Hospital Review reported:
Rochester (N.Y.) Regional Health will no longer require the COVID-19 vaccine for employment, according to a news release shared with Becker’s.
The change, effective July 7, follows the repeal of the New York State Department of Health mandate and the recent announcement by the federal government regarding the end of the COVID-19 vaccine requirement for healthcare workers at CMS-certified healthcare facilities.
The health system is also inviting back former employees who left RRH due to the state vaccine mandate. They may learn more and apply for open positions here.
Other New York health systems, including Rome (NY) Health and Syracuse, NY-based St. Joseph’s Health, have removed their respective vaccine requirements in the wake of the state’s repeal.
The Online Safety Bill ‘Undermines Safety Online,’ Warn Experts Amid Encryption Blast
Nearly 70 U.K.-affiliated information security researchers, scientists and cryptographers are the latest to voice their concerns over the security risks of the Online Safety Bill.
The controversial Act made its return to Parliament last week, and it’s expected to get back to the Commons for the last review stage very soon. Commentators — including encrypted messaging apps, VPN services and other security software providers — have long been calling the government against the danger of breaking encryption.
The infamous Bill seeks to place itself as an effective response to the rise in child sexual abuse online, and any other dangers to citizens’ safety on the net. Yet, by attempting to make the U.K. the safest place to be online, politicians seem to be achieving exactly the opposite outcome.
U.K. Court Rejects a Government Bid to Withhold Boris Johnson’s Messages From a COVID Inquiry
A U.K. court on Thursday rejected the British government’s request to keep former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and diaries from being made public at an official COVID-19 inquiry.
The Cabinet Office took the unusual step of bringing a legal challenge after the retired judge chairing the inquiry into Britain’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic ordered the Conservative government to release full copies of Johnson’s documents.
Government officials argued that the inquiry did not have the legal power to force them to release documents and messages that they said were “unambiguously irrelevant” to how the government handled COVID-19.
The judges who ruled in the Cabinet Office’s case said the requested documents included WhatsApp messages exchanged between officials who were dealing with COVID-19. They added that Johnson’s diaries and notebooks were also “very likely to contain information about decision-making” relating to the pandemic.
France Passes New Bill Allowing Police to Remotely Activate Cameras on Citizens’ Phones
Amidst ongoing protests in France, the country has just passed a new bill that will allow police to remotely access suspects’ cameras, microphones, and GPS on cell phones and other devices.
As reported by Le Monde, the bill has been criticized by the French people as a “snoopers” charter that allows police unfettered access to the location of its citizens. Moreover, police can activate cameras and microphones to take video and audio recordings of suspects.
The bill will reportedly only apply to suspects in crimes that are punishable by a minimum of five years in jail and Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti claimed that the new provision would only affect a few dozen cases per year.
During a debate over the bill yesterday, French politicians added an amendment that orders judge approval for any surveillance conducted under the scope of the bill and limits the duration of surveillance to six months, according to Le Monde.
