Tag: Government

Content blocking orders by government and courts to Twitter rise 48,000%

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An analysis of Twitter Transparency Global Reports showed that there was a more than 48,000 percent rise in legal demands made by India — from various courts and government — to remove content from Twitter between 2014 and 2020. Incidentally, in the same time period, the number of orders also increased. Content issued by social media companies has been banned by the government by about 2,000 percent, data shared with Parliament showed, highlighting the growing trend of internet censorship in India. According to data shared in Lok Sabha by the…

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Mark Strahl says ‘Mom’ got locked out of bank account for donating Freedom Caravan

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A Canadian politician has made allegations that an ordinary “single mother” was banned from her bank account after she legally donated $50 to “Freedom Caravan” protesters. Conservative MP Mark Strall shared the story in a Sunday post on Twitter, which, if true, would run counter to the government’s stated intent to target only leaders and active members of the truck convoy with financial penalties. “Brian is a single mom from Chilliwack who works at a minimum wage. She gave $50 to the caravan when it was 100 percent legal. She…

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Not (yet) “worse than Watergate” and other comments

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Scandal palpitations: Not (yet) worse than Watergate What does “worse than watergate” mean? asks Andrew C. McCarthy in The Hill, on ex-prez description of Special Counsel John Durham’s findings. If the Obama administration “assigned the FBI and CIA to assist the 2016 Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, by framing the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, as a Kremlin spy” and if “senior government officials” have dishonestly promoted “Trump’s complicity.” With Russia’s account, “we may have something worse than Watergate.” However, “the real-life scandal, which arose from the astonishing revelations in the court…

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Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and banks hit by cyberattacks: report

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Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and two state-linked banks were affected by the cyber attacks on Tuesday, the latest in an ongoing hybrid war campaign involving cyber espionage and fake bomb threats aimed at sowing chaos and destabilizing the Ukrainian government, according to reports. A statement from the Ukrainian Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security did not identify Russia as the culprit behind the attack, but did point out Moscow’s involvement. “It is not excluded that the aggressor used tactics of petty dirty tricks because his aggressive plans do not work…

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Fumio Kishida re-elected as Japanese Prime Minister in the parliamentary elections

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Fumio Kishida was re-elected prime minister of Japan on Wednesday after his ruling party scored a big victory in a key parliamentary election. Elected just over a month ago, Kishida called a snap election in which his ruling party won 261 seats in the 465-member lower house – Japan’s most powerful bicameral parliament – enough to maintain freedom to push legislation through parliament. The October 31 victory increases his grip on power and is seen as a voter mandate for his weeks-old government to deal with the pandemic-hit economy, virus…

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It’s a week weak for old Joe Biden: Goodwin

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Another week, another series of fumbling, mumbling and catastrophe. How far can Joe Biden go? Once again, the common theme was vulnerability. Inside and out, the chair shrinks before our eyes. The dwindling commander-in-chief visited his party’s members of Congress on Thursday and turned it into an appeal to them to save bacon. He admitted to Democrats: “The majority of the House and Senate and my presidency will be determined by what happens next week.” It was an unusual moment for a president, the ostensible leader of his party, but…

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Loud students participate in government — by suing it

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Students in Rhode Island are asking the Federal Court of Appeals to affirm that all public school students have a constitutional right to a civics education, saying that they are not taught how to participate meaningfully in a democratic and civil society and that the January 6 rebellion in the U.S. Capitol was a symptom of that ignorance. Their lawyers say students across the country need to know how to participate in the political process, effectively exercise their constitutional rights and learn skills such as media literacy to distinguish between…

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