Thursday, December 01, 2022

Will The Online Safety Bill Protect Free Speech Or Assist Censorship?

 


Michelle Donelan, UK Digital Culture Secretary (Picture: ycnetwork.uk

The UK Online Safety Bill is presented to parliament for its final reading next week. Secretary of State for Digital Culture Michelle Donelan announced this morning that the controversial “legal but harmful” clause has been removed and thus free speech has been protected.  Anti self-harm activists and groups opposinthe Gay BLTQ movement's push for paedophile equal rights and the sexualisation of children don’t like it one little bit, though free-speech enthusiasts should take no comfort from that. The Bill puts into legal jeopardy anything that creates “a material risk of significant harm to an appreciable number of adults in the United Kingdom”.

Significant harm? What constitutes “significant harm”? As with the previous 'legal but harmful' nonsence who gets to define what exactly is  harmful and what is not. Precedent tells us “harm” is very much in the heart of the beholder.

Say that a private citizen posts:

Biological sex trumps gender ID. Transwomen are transwomen – not actual women.

If a Gay BLTQ rights activist reports the post to Ofcom – or to the publishing platform, or to the court, in a private prosecution – saying,

This hateful speech has damaged the core of my identity. It has attempted to erase my very being. I feel not just disparaged but annihilated. Half of all trans children who are denied will attempt suicide. I am now in danger of killing myself.

How can that not be interpreted as “significant harm”? The question is – under this Bill, will Kathleen Stock (the university lecturer hounded from her job by woke activists) be able to question gender ideology on social media?

A critical reading of the Bill suggests she will not. Activists will claim harm. And even if Ofcom prevaricates, the owner of the platform will fear the threat being fined 10% of its worldwide income while its users are scared away by loony leftie hate mobs. It will censor the posts of private citizens and all posts like it “to prevent harm,”  

*

Twitter’s Head of Site Integrity  (aka Virtue Signalling,) Yoel Roth, said Twitter is seeing “governments become more aggressive in how they try to use legal tactics to unmask the people using our service” and as a way to “silence people”. This is an unconscioius irony as Twitter traded on its reputation for silencing opinions that its far left founders did not approve of. (Tech Outlook). However the view that social media platforms are being treated unfairly unless they are allowed to influence democratic elections through censorship of non 'woke' contributors is shared by WhatsApp CEO, Will Cathcart, who this week said his company might cease operating in the UK if the Online Safety Bill reaches the statute book in its current form. (BBC).

Cathcart specifically  referring to a new, government-backed amendment to the bill requiring tech firms like WhatsApp to use “best endeavours” to deploy new technology in identifying and removing child sexual abuse and exploitation and grooming content if existing technology isn’t suitable for that purpose on their respective platforms. (Sky News).

Under the new amendment online regulators Ofcom will be able to demand that tech firms implement new technology to help find abuse - related material and stop its spread. (Guardian).

Mr Cathcart said that “what’s being proposed is that… we read everyone’s messages”, which suggests WhatsApp, having reclassified itself as a publisher rather than an open platform by censoring certain content, fears Ofcom may well ask online service providers to pursue ‘client-side scanning’, a controversial surveillance method which allows providers of end-to-end encrypted communication services to automatically scan private chats, messages, texts, images, videos and speech sent from that ‘client’s’ phone for suspicious content which could then automatically be reported to the police. (BBC News).

For Whats App's owners the fundamental problem with client-side scanning is that it undermines the company's’s unique selling point, namely, secure, end-to-end encryption. As a spokesman told the BBC’s Tech Tent podcast, “WhatsApp’s a global product. People use it… to talk across countries all the time. And so if we had to lower security for the world to accommodate a [regulatory] requirement in one country, as a business decision, that would be very foolish for us.” 

Would WhatsApp go dark in the UK if the amended Online Safety Bill is passed into law?,  CEO Cathcart said, “To date, the way we’ve worked is we’ve offered a global service and some countries choose to block it,” he replied. “I hope that never happens in a liberal democracy.”

The case for the Government’s amendment is of course that it will protect children. According to the National Crime Agency, there are between 550,000 and 850,000 people in the UK who pose a sexual risk to children, and it’s not difficult to understand why secure, end-to-end encryption might prove useful to those wishing to circulate depraved images online. That’s why Home Secretary Priti Patel has argued that “things like end-to-end encryption significantly reduce the ability for platforms to detect child sexual abuse”. (Telegraph). 

The fact is that the internet and its World Wide Web derivative is a technology that was designed for the publising and exchange of business and academic information. As a medium for social networking, a vehicle for electronic commerce or anything involving sensitive information or communications related to criminal activity it is not fit for purpose. To make it so simply requires all users to clearly identify themselves and thus become accountable for their online activity. If we want an uncensored, unregulated internet we  must learn to behave responsibly.

 

 

 

 

RELATED:

World Economic Forum Calls for Merging of Human and Artificial Intelligence to Censor ‘Hate Speech’ & ‘Misinformation’

Despite the fact that they represent only the interests of big business, big finance and themselves, the oligarchs of the World Economic Forum are now calling for a policy of merging human and artificial intelligence systems so that computer chips implanted in our brain can edit and censor “hate speech” and “misinformation” online before it is articulated trough spoken of written word online.

Legal Complaint Filed Against Food Retailer’s “Orwellian” Facial Recognition Surveillance SystemA report last week that a major UK retailer, The Co - Operative Society (Co - OP) was planning to install in - store surveillance systems with facial recognition capabilities, supposedly to reduce shoplifting by repeat offenders, caused quite a stir in the media and the privacy protection community. Privacy rights campaign group Big Brother have denounced the scheme which would capture and store biometric scans of “thousands of shoppers” is “unlawful” and “Orwellian in the extreme.”

Bill Gates Developing Virus and Vaccine For Next Pandemic, Wants Global Surveillance Pact with W.H.O. to Track Vaccine Refusniks
Even though the efforts of politicians, the health industries and media doom mongers to keep up the fear factor over COVID looking increasingly desperate in the face of public scepticism, billionaire psychopath and wannabe vaccine messiah Bill Gates, whose 'charitable' foundation owns several for-profit biotech companies and who made $£€billions out of COVID, is already planning his next pandemic scam ...

Algorithms Are No Better At Telling The Future Than Tarot Cards Or A Crystal Ball
According to a new report “An increasing number of businesses are investing in advanced technologies that can help them forecast the future of their workforce and gain a competitive advantage”. Almost every day we see more bollocks being written by supposedly intelligent people who believe that by using things called ‘Data Science’, ‘Artificial Intelligence,’ and ‘Big Data’, machines can already be relied on to make better decisions than humans, and that soon computers will equal or even surpass us in actual intelligence. ... Continue reading >>>

Proof That The Alarmist Claptrap You Are Hearing And Seeing At COP26 Climate Conference Is A Load Of Bollocks
The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places, the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consul Ifft, at Bergen, Norway. Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions in the Arctic zone. Expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met with as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes. Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm ... Continue reading >>>

Switzerland’s environmental agency announces national moratorium on 5G
This blog has warned about the health risks of 5G wireless technology before, almost from the moment it was announced people who understand this technology (and two out of the three of us do,) have been saying that while there is always a risk from electro – magnetic radiation, with earlier technologis it was easily manageable if a loittle common sense was deployed. The exponentially higher intensity of 5G frequencies however, takes the health risks to humans to a whole different level.


Facebook admits to nearly as many fake or clone accounts as the U.S. population
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg likes to brag about the number of people who use his social media site. In fact it is clear as he talks big numbers about how many users the site boasts, that he thinks the world loves him for creating this technological wonder. He's wrong of course.

Lay Off Cambridge Analytica, Facebook Are The Evil Doers

Information Technology firm Cambridge Analytica are being attacked by the hysterical mainstream media mob for their alleged role in the alleged collusion between The Kremlin and Donald Trump to steal the US Presidency in 2016, and similar abuse of private date to influence the result of the Brexit vote. It should be Facebook under attack, Cambridge Analytica only took advantage of a deal Facebook offers on the open market ...

Trump blocks Sale Of US Tech Company To China

President Trump has reportedly blocked the attempted acquisitions of a US technology company by a Chinese firm. while his opponents accuse him of breaking election promises and betraying votes, although they offer little evidence to support their claims, the increasingly tough policy against China's acquisition of US companies continues, despite the firing of White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who supported Trmp's "economic nationalism."

Trump blocks Sale Of US Tech Company To China

Fan Bois Mad For Apple's New "FaceID" But Is It A Powerful New Mass Surveillance Tool

On Tuesday, Apple revealed their newest phone. The new line was anticipated by Apple users and is another cult favorite. But many are rightly skeptical of the “FaceID” feature.
FaceID, is a tool that would use facial recognition to identify individuals and unlock their phones for use. Unsurprisingly, this has generated some major anxiety about mass spying and privacy concerns. Retailers already have a desire for facial recognition technology.

Welcome to the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Technological Deceit
Pretty soon, computer wizardry and artificial intelligence will allow video footage to be created that is practically indiscernible from the real deal. Add holographic technology, and soon a person apparently be speaking live on screen and you’d never know it was fake. The ethical ramifications of AI and technology are simply mind-boggling.

‘I’m back from Syria. The media are lying to you.’ Eva Bartlett
Eva Bartlett is a Canadian activist/freelance journalistst. Eva has lived cumulative 3 years in Gaza, spent time in Lebanon and visited Syria 3 times since April 2014. Anti-zionist, anti-imperialist, pro-justice. Find out more about Eva’s trips to Syria on her Websites: InGaza and Syria Solidarity Movement or watch the embedded video from YouTube at the web page linked above ...

To Join Obama's Proxy War Against Russia In Syria Would Be Cameron's Greatest Folly
A look at our prospects should tway - boy Cameron succeed in obtaining parliament's approval for his wish to join Obama's coalition ofg dodgy political opportunists in their attempt to overthrow Syria's President Assad. Given that Putin has said many times, Assad stays, our outdated war planes don't stand an ice cube in hell's chance against Russian S34s and Growler Surface to Air missiules (SAMs). And that's without factoring in China's pledge to support it's allies Putin and Assad.

U.S. Government Moves To Exploit Paris Terror Attacks To Abolish Privacy
Never ones to miss an opportunity to advance their fascistc agenda, the US government is trying to exploit fears generated by the Paris Muslim terror attacks.

Afghan troops defect to Taliban in Helmand
According to news sources in Pakistan, up to sixty five Afghan soldiers, trained and armed by US and European military advisers, have defected to the resurgent Taliban, taking their weapons and equipment with them. Another 88 are reported to have been killed in heavy fighting between Taliban irregulars and government forces in the southern province of Helmand.

Punish Google Tax Dodging And Sink The Corporate Pirates
With tax avoidance once more in the news but vying for top spot with stories of western industrial decline and Islamic penetration of civilised socities in Europe we hardly know where to start

Facebook begins Europe-wide censorship campaign against free speech.
Facebook Inc (FB.O) has commenced the Europe-wide censoring of posts and comments the ruling elite do not like, thus making good the promise given to Hausfrau – Volksfuhrer Merkel by the social media and data theft site’s founder Mark Zuckerberg.

What The controllers have In Store For Your Future
If you thought the book Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell was something else—even possibly off the wall when written—wait until you learn what’s planned for us by the year 2025! George Orwell, in retrospect, seems to have been able to tap into some sort of future-time-machine or a “worm hole” in physics—what’s known as an “Einstein-Rosen bridge,” because much of what he wrote about has come to realization.

Going To War Against The Evil Empire
Matt Drudge, and love him or hate him, nobody can seriously suggest he has been an influential figure since the early days of the world wide web, recently claimed he had been told by a US Supreme Court judge that new copyright laws currently being pushed through the United States legislative system will finish ...

Google: Benefactor Of Mankind Or Evil Empire (or buch of idiotic nerds who got lucky?)
They way Google has come to dominate the internet just as the internet has come to dominate our lives can't all be down to good luck and careful planning can it? As this page develops you will see how sinister forces guided Google to their current position.


Government of Ireland announced new hate speech laws which will permit courts to jail ‘Hate Speech’ offenders for up to five years, but still cannot decide on a legal definition for what constitutes hate speech. Meanwhile the Irish government is finding itself accused of suppressing free speech while its new anti - hate laws are arousing a lot of hate

World Economic Forum Calls for Merging of Human and Artificial Intelligence to Censor ‘Hate Speech’ & ‘Misinformation’

Despite the fact that they represent only the interests of big business, big finance and themselves, the oligarchs of the World Economic Forum are now calling for a policy of merging human and artificial intelligence systems so that computer chips implanted in our brain can edit and censor “hate speech” and “misinformation” online before it is articulated trough spoken of written word online.

French Police Use Teargas As Freedom Convoy Brings Thousands Of Protestors To Paris
Inspired by Canada's freedom Convoy, a sponaneous protest by drivers of heavy trucks against the fasistic and oppressive curtailment of individual freedoms by Prime Minister Trudeau's regime, French truck drivers protesting President Macron's similarly authoritarian measures converged on Paris where they were met by riot police enforcing Macron's ban on protests against government policy ...

SStarmer Outs Himself As More Fascist Than Boris Bonkers or Dementia Joe Biden
The leader of the UK’s official opposition party, Labour, Sir Kier SStarmer after a year of starring in a remake of The Invisible Man has finally decided to let us see who he is. Responding to remarks made by Home Secretary Priti Patel, SStarmer said education authorities should be allowed to use exclusion orders to stop anti-vaccine activists from protesting outside schools ... Continue reading >>>

Goodbye Freedom, Hello Global Governance.
If at any time during the chaos the past eighteen months you have wondered what kind of idiots are running the world and have gleefully trashed economies, disrupted social and commercial life and stripped citizens of their rights and liberties only to bring us, in late October 2021, right back to where we were in late February 2020 when the words pandemic and COVID crept into our consciousness ...Continue reading >>>

Big Tech tyranny is the biggest threat to democracy in our era
This weeks main story, pushing Coronavirus aside at last, has been the attempt by Twitter to censor U.S. President, classifying his somewhat rabid tweets as misinformation. Whether you love or hate Trump or any other occupant of The White House, their utterings can never be dismissed as ‘misinformation’ because they represent what one of the most powerful people in the world is thinking.


Government of Ireland announced new hate speech laws which will permit courts to jail ‘Hate Speech’ offenders for up to five years, but still cannot decide on a legal definition for what constitutes hate speech. Meanwhile the Irish government is finding itself accused of suppressing free speech while its new anti - hate laws are arousing a lot of hate

World Economic Forum Calls for Merging of Human and Artificial Intelligence to Censor ‘Hate Speech’ & ‘Misinformation’

Despite the fact that they represent only the interests of big business, big finance and themselves, the oligarchs of the World Economic Forum are now calling for a policy of merging human and artificial intelligence systems so that computer chips implanted in our brain can edit and censor “hate speech” and “misinformation” online before it is articulated trough spoken of written word online.

French Police Use Teargas As Freedom Convoy Brings Thousands Of Protestors To Paris
Inspired by Canada's freedom Convoy, a sponaneous protest by drivers of heavy trucks against the fasistic and oppressive curtailment of individual freedoms by Prime Minister Trudeau's regime, French truck drivers protesting President Macron's similarly authoritarian measures converged on Paris where they were met by riot police enforcing Macron's ban on protests against government policy ...

SStarmer Outs Himself As More Fascist Than Boris Bonkers or Dementia Joe Biden
The leader of the UK’s official opposition party, Labour, Sir Kier SStarmer after a year of starring in a remake of The Invisible Man has finally decided to let us see who he is. Responding to remarks made by Home Secretary Priti Patel, SStarmer said education authorities should be allowed to use exclusion orders to stop anti-vaccine activists from protesting outside schools ... Continue reading >>>

Goodbye Freedom, Hello Global Governance.
If at any time during the chaos the past eighteen months you have wondered what kind of idiots are running the world and have gleefully trashed economies, disrupted social and commercial life and stripped citizens of their rights and liberties only to bring us, in late October 2021, right back to where we were in late February 2020 when the words pandemic and COVID crept into our consciousness ...Continue reading >>>

Big Tech tyranny is the biggest threat to democracy in our era
This weeks main story, pushing Coronavirus aside at last, has been the attempt by Twitter to censor U.S. President, classifying his somewhat rabid tweets as misinformation. Whether you love or hate Trump or any other occupant of The White House, their utterings can never be dismissed as ‘misinformation’ because they represent what one of the most powerful people in the world is thinking.

[ Technology Rules You ] ... [ Internet technology ] ... [ Facebook internet censors ] ... [ Google ministry of truth ] ... [ Free Speech catalogue ] ... [ Woke ]