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YouTube leader in anti-Russian censorship & undeleted illegal content,
Moscow's media watchdog claims after anti-trans video row
19 Jul, 2021 13:48
Russia's state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, has pointed the finger at Google's video-streaming platform, YouTube, as the leading offender in both hosting illegal material and making unaccountable decisions to censor clips.
Officials made the comments on Sunday, after the American tech giant moved to block a video posted by Senator Alexey Pushkov, entitled ‘Attack on the minds of babies: Children as victims of the transexual revolution’. Moscow's online watchdog is insisting that the post be restored.
“YouTube more often than other foreign services restricts access to materials from Russian media,” Roskomnadzor said. “In total, about 30 cases of censorship of Russian publications and information resources have been identified.”
At the same time, they claimed, “YouTube is the leader in the number of unlawful content that has not been deleted.” The agency went on to add that it had sent Google more than 24,000 requests to remove prohibited content, but that close to 5,000 posts were not removed.
The material in question is said to be “content from extremist and terrorist organizations banned on the territory of the Russian Federation and in other countries of the world,” as well as “pro-drugs propaganda and other socially dangerous content.”
In May, officials threatened Google with a potential slowdown in internet traffic if requests to remove banned content were not acted upon. Microblogging site Twitter has already seen its server connectivity speeds slashed on the same basis.
Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that tech giants were making increasingly unaccountable decisions over content. “These platforms are, of course, primarily businesses…and what is the primary concern of a business? Making a profit,” he said. “They don’t care if this content or that content causes harm for the people at whom it is directed... After all, these modern IT companies are more and more beginning to control people’s consciousnesses.”
Putin added that there was sometimes a case for restricting access to certain online materials, adding that “we must think about it, and react to it.” But, he insisted, “we must not make decisions that would limit human freedoms – the freedom of choice and freedom of speech.”
Whether you agree with Russia's stance on homosexuality and transsexuality, drugs, and other examples of western culture's trudging down the road to Sodom or not, it is not rational that unelected foreigners who don't agree with Russia's stance have the power to control the narrative on social media.
Male, Female, or X: Argentina to issue gender-neutral passports
21 Jul, 2021 13:29
FILE PHOTO: A woman holds an Argentinian passport and boarding pass at an airport in Mexico City,
Mexico, May 3, 2009 © Reuters / Jorge Dan
Argentina will start issuing gender-neutral passports to non-binary citizens, becoming the first Latin American country to do so. The cards will feature an ‘X’ in place of the traditional ‘M’ or ‘F’ gender descriptors.
The issuance of the first gender-neutral passports was announced in a decree by President Alberto Fernandez on Tuesday, with a public announcement expected on Wednesday morning.
Argentina’s Gender Identity Law was passed in 2012, and allowed citizens to change their gender without first undergoing psychiatric evaluation or physical transition. It also allowed them to identify as a non-binary third gender, though official documents such as ID cards, passports and tax forms still required them to choose from male or female.
According to Fernandez’ decree, the new ‘X’ options will stand for: “non-binary, indeterminate, unspecified, undefined, not informed, self-perceived, not consigned; or another meaning with which the person who does not feel included in the masculine/feminine binomial could identify.”
Argentina will be the first country in the region to issue such gender-neutral travel documents, though other countries around the world have done so for some time already. Certain US states allow non-binary people to identify as “X” on driver’s licenses or other forms of ID, and several European countries record the rare percentage of intersex births as a third category on birth certificates. The Netherlands issued its first gender-neutral passport in 2018 to a woman who was born intersex, raised male, and eventually transitioned to female, but still identified as intersex.
Pakistan and Nepal, however, have recognized a third gender on their official documents for more than a decade. Pakistan issued national ID cards to transgender people, intersex and eunuchs (khwaja sara) since 2009, and Nepal has allowed citizens to identify as an “other” gender on official identification since 2007.
Feds slap Ohio ‘incel’ with hate crime & weapons charges
over alleged ‘revenge slaughter’ plot
21 Jul, 2021 23:11
FILE PHOTO © Scott Olson / Getty Images / AFP
An Ohio man has been charged with attempting to commit a hate crime and possessing a machine gun. The man reportedly posted on “incel” forums and planned a “slaughter” of women “out of hatred, jealousy and revenge.”
Tres Genco, 21, of Hillsboro was arrested by federal agents and charged by a grand jury on Wednesday, according to an indictment published by the Justice Department. He is accused of plotting to commit a hate crime and illegally possessing a machine gun, with the hate crime charge carrying a possible life sentence and the weapons charge a sentence of 10 years in prison.
Genco was investigated last year by sheriff’s deputies, who found body armor and a Glock handgun modified with a bump stock device – possibly the “machine gun” mentioned in the indictment – in his house. Investigators soon found out that he allegedly posted on online forums for 'incels' – short for “involuntary celibate,” or men who believe they have been wrongly denied the affection of women.
Genco allegedly scoped out a college in Ohio last January, before searching the internet for information on “planning a shooting crime” and “when does preparing for a crime become an attempt?”
A common term among young internet users, 'incel' was thrust into mainstream discourse in 2014, when 22-year-old Elliot Rodger killed six people at the University of California in Santa Barbara. In the runup to his rampage, Rodger recorded videos outlining his plan to “punish” women for not being attracted to him, and penned a manifesto plotting a 'Day of Retribution.'
Genco allegedly wrote a manifesto too, stating he would “slaughter” women “out of hatred, jealousy and revenge” and referring to death as the “great equalizer.” He is accused of planning the attack to coincide with the anniversary of Rodger’s killing spree, and described an incident where he supposedly squirted women and couples with orange juice from a water gun as an “extremely empowering action.” Rodger did the same before his rampage.
Genco is not the first man to allegedly draw inspiration from Rodger’s massacre. In 2018, another self-described 'incel,' Alek Minassian, mowed down 26 people with a van in Toronto, Canada, killing 10. He told investigators that he was an admirer of Rodger and had been in touch with him online, adding that he hoped his vehicular rampage would inspire further attacks. He was found guilty in March on 10 counts of first-degree murder.
Minassian will be sentenced next January.
Federal judge halts enforcement of Arkansas ban on surgeries, hormones & puberty blockers for transgender kids
22 Jul, 2021 00:04
FILE PHOTO: An activist waves a transgender flag at a protest in New York City.
© Reuters / Demetrius Freeman
The Arkansas state government cannot enforce a law banning doctors from providing gender-confirming treatments to transgender minors, a federal judge ruled, temporarily striking down the ban as an ACLU lawsuit proceeds against it.
US District Judge Jay Moody granted a preliminary injunction against the law on Wednesday, siding with the ACLU in a suit launched in May. The court ruled that depriving patients of the treatments in question “midstream” would cause “irreparable harm.”
“Arkansas’s trans health ban has been BLOCKED by the court. We won’t rest until this cruel and unconstitutional law has been struck down for good,” the ACLU’s Arkansas branch said of the ruling.
Passed in April by state lawmakers, the treatment ban would prohibit doctors from providing gender-confirming surgeries, hormones or puberty blockers to patients under the age of 18. It would also put restrictions on state funds and insurance coverage used for that care.
Before Wednesday’s injunction, the law was set to take effect on July 28, but will now go unenforced as the ACLU suit moves ahead.
Though the measure was initially blocked by Governor Asa Hutchinson, the state’s Republican-controlled legislature overrode his veto by wide margins in both chambers. The governor reiterated his opposition to the ban after Moody’s ruling, predicting it would ultimately be struck down for good.
“While this is a preliminary ruling, it appears the act will be struck down as unconstitutional for the same reason that I vetoed it,” he said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the ban “was too extreme and did not provide any relief” for trans youths already undergoing such treatments.
Indeed, the law should have addressed the situation for teens being currently treated. But the real damage will be the severely messed up kids that need mental health not encouragement to be what they are not.
The ACLU sued the state in May on behalf of four transgender teens and two doctors, arguing the treatment ban is “cruel and unconstitutional,” and would be “devastating for trans youth and their families.” It is one among several similar cases the civil liberties org is currently pursuing, with others challenging state-level bans related to transgender athletes. In another ruling on Wednesday, a federal judge in West Virginia also sided with the ACLU, stopping the state from enforcing a law that aimed to “protect” biological females from competing against biological males in school sports.
Russia fines Facebook & Telegram for failing to delete illegal content
22 Jul, 2021 14:25
A Russian court has slapped Facebook and Telegram with small fines on Thursday after the platforms failed to respond to illegal content claims.
The US social media giant was fined 6 million rubles ($81,000), while the messaging app’s fine was nearly double at 11 million rubles ($150,000).
Moscow’s Tagansky District Court said on Thursday it had fined Facebook for two different administrative offences, while Telegram was fined for three offences. The details of those have not been disclosed.
Neither Facebook nor Telegram immediately responded to requests for comment, Reuters reported. Two similar accusations have been submitted against Twitter, with the court expected to rule on them later on Thursday.
Russia has been increasingly watchful in terms of regulation of social media, with a number of fines issued over the past several months for a variety of content violations. The country’s government has also been urging foreign tech firms to open offices within Russia, as well as to store citizens’ personal data on Russian territory.
Similar steps have been taken by other countries, including China, India and the UK. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently met with representatives of social media firms, warning them of potential fines amounting to 10% of their global revenues if they fail to curb hate and racism content on their platforms.
Child sexual abuse is far more dangerous and destructive than hate or racism. Do something about that Boris!
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