Malaysia government blocks internet and threatens to send army against Bersih rally:
Bersih (meaning ‘clean’ in Malay) is a coalition of NGOs seeking the reform of the current electoral system in Malaysia. They held their first rally in 2007, and have held two subsequent rallies; Bersih 2 in 2011, and Bersih 3 in 2012. Bersih 4 is scheduled for this weekend, from 2pm on August 29th until midnight on August 30th. There will be rallies in Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.
However, the Malaysian government has declared the rallies illegal. Today (Aug 27), the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission announced that it will block websites that “promote, spread information and encourage people to join the Bersih 4 demonstration”.
The military have also said that they will intervene in the rally this weekend if the government declares a state of emergency.
Source: theguardian.com
The experiment was simple: Take a diverse group of undecided voters, let them research the candidates on a Google-esque search engine, then tally their votes — never mentioning that the search was rigged, giving top link placement to stories supporting a selected candidate.
The researchers expected the bias would sway voters, but they were shocked by just how much: Some voters became 20 percent more likely to support the favored candidate.
And almost none of the voters caught onto how the results were being skewed. In fact, those who did notice the preferential treatment, the researchers said, felt even more validated that they’d made the right choice.
Source: Washington Post
…encryption is one of the things that protects us from terrorists, criminals, foreign intelligence, and every other threat on the Internet, and against our data and communications. Encryption protects our trade secrets, our financial transactions, our medical records, and our conversations. In a world where cyberattacks are becoming more common and more catastrophic, encryption is one of our most important defenses.
While it is unfortunate that the Department of Justice is arguing that the USA Freedom Act moots important court cases, we don’t think this is close to the end of the game. Key challenges to surveillance practices will continue to move forward, and we fully expect the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse long-standing precedent that the government has perversely over-interpreted to open up surveillance databases to gargantuan proportions.
I like to remind people that powerful, viral hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter and #UmbrellaMovement are part of a long series of iterations and experiments online. As Kenyatta Cheese has noted, the internet is a space for iteration, and this workshop is designed to mimic that experience at a smaller, faster scale.
But the basic point remains: get the ideas out there, and help your community collaborate and iterate with you.
Over the past few weeks, the U.S. Congress has been churning out privacy-threatening cyber surveillance proposals like popcorn at a movie theater. They’re up to five different bills, and none of them are good. Each bill protects companies that share our private data with the government — which often must give it to the NSA and the FBI — instead of protecting users’ privacy.
Today, a coalition of digital rights groups is launching a campaign to stop these bills from getting any farther in the legislative process.
John Oliver discusses Section 215 of the Patriot Act and how Americans could not care less about it.
Source: teesadutta
The NYC parks department covering the Edward Snowden sculpture in Fort Green Park #nyc
Source: vine.co