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New Zealand Mobile Carriers Block 8chan, 4chan, and LiveLeak
Submitted via IRC for chromas
New Zealand Mobile Carriers Block 8chan, 4chan, and LiveLeak
Following the Friday mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, multiple internet service providers (ISP) in the country have blocked access to websites that distribute gruesome content from the incident.
[...] At least three internet companies operating in New Zealand have made this decision voluntarily and enforce it on a temporary basis against sites that still publish the sensitive materials. Spark NZ, Vodafone NZ, and Vocus NZ agreed to work together to identify and block access at DNS level to such online locations. 8chan and 4chan are currently unavailable to New Zealanders trying to load them through a connection from the three telcos. At the moment, visitors trying to get to these forums through Spark NZ, Vodafone NZ and Vocus NZ see the message "The URL has been blocked for security reasons."
Some users reported that LiveLeak video-sharing platform was also blocked in the region, along with other websites, including file-sharing service Mega. The block is not permanent, though. As soon as the horrific content from the Christchurch incident originating from the terrorists is removed, access to the website is reestablished.
The Dark Night of Censorship falls on New Zealand
Everybody keeps waiting for the dystopia to arrive, well wait no more for it has made an appearance in New Zealand. Zero Hedge reports that New Zealand is dropping the hammer on all discussion about the recent shooting. The list is growing and will almost certainly be larger by the time this story goes live.
Current banned sites seem to be: Dissenter.com (the new service from Gab yet gab.com is still reported as available.... for now), "all" of the "chans" are banned, and Zerohedge itself is now banned.
Subscribers who ask their ISP are reporting being told sites will stay banned until they become "censorship compliant." Sites not banned: Facebook.com, which live streamed the attack, and Twitter.com, which hosted the original link to the shooter's "manifesto." Guess they are "censorship compliant."
Suppression of Christchurch shooting video
After Christchurch, Reddit bans communities infamous for sharing graphic videos of death
In the aftermath of the tragic mosque massacre that claimed 49 lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, tech companies scrambled to purge their platforms of promotional materials that the shooter left behind. As most of the internet is now unfortunately aware, the event was broadcast live on Facebook, making it one of the most horrific incidents of violence to spread through online communities in realtime.
As Twitter users cautioned others from sharing the extraordinarily graphic video, some Reddit users actively sought the video and knew exactly where to look. The infamous subreddit r/watchpeopledie was quarantined (making it unsearchable) in September 2018 but until today remained active for anyone to visit directly. The subreddit has a long history of sharing extremely graphic videos following tragic events and acts of violence, like the 2018 murder of two female tourists in Morocco.
[...] The subreddit remained active until some time late Friday morning Pacific Time, when Reddit banned the controversial community.
How 'hashing' could stop violent videos from spreading
Some experts say tech companies should more broadly adopt a technology they're already using to combat child pornography and copyright violations to more quickly stop the spread of these types of videos.
[...] Facebook (FB) says it took down the livestream "quickly," but hours later, re-uploads of it were still circulating on the site. Twitter suspended the original account in question and is working to remove other versions on the platform. YouTube said it is utilizing "technology and human resources" to remove content that violates their policies.
Technologists say digital hashing, which has existed for more than a decade, could be better used to prevent the re-upload of videos. Hashing wouldn't have been able to catch the original live video of the attacks, but it could stop re-uploaded copies from spreading.
Social media platforms were used like lethal weapons in New Zealand. That must change now.
Editorial judgment, often flawed, is not only possible. It's necessary.
The scale and speed of the digital world obviously complicates that immensely. But saying, in essence, "we can't help it" and "that's not our job" are not acceptable answers.
Friday's massacre should force the major platforms — which are really media companies, though they don't want to admit it — to get serious.
After New Zealand Attacks, Muslim-Americans Call For Action Against Rising Bigotry
"The New Zealand shooter was able to livestream a 17-minute video of his murderous rampage that continues to spread like wildfire online. This is flatly unacceptable. Tech companies must take all steps possible to prevent something like this from happening again," Khera said.
Previously: 49 Dead in Christchurch, New Zealand Terror Attack
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3 Original Submission #4
(Score: 5, Insightful) by hemocyanin on Sunday March 17 2019, @06:28PM (4 children)
[blockquote]How about instead shifting back to the first half of capitalism?[/blockquote]
How do you get there when the winners in the latter half control the government, money, and the physical means to keep it that way?
(Score: 2, Funny) by khallow on Sunday March 17 2019, @06:45PM (3 children)
First, take power away from government. Second, encourage business creation and competition. Third, get rid of most of the entitlements that have been used to bribe voters to go along with this.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 17 2019, @06:49PM (1 child)
1. send all power to the wealthy corporations
2. regulate corporate interests to encourage business creation and competition (directly conflicts with #1)
3. strawman your way to victory!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday March 17 2019, @07:30PM
Remember the last AC whiner was complaining that wealthy corporations were controlling the government? Well, without the vast power, there's far less danger from them controlling it (though I don't buy that control goes in that direction).
It doesn't take a lot of government power to do that. Contrary to the narrative, corporations aren't that powerful.
Finally, it's worth remembering the role that entitlements have in vote buying. That's how governments, not corporations, get people to go along with the state of affairs. For example, in the US, entitlements suck up more than half the money that the federal government runs through their fingers. So if one wants to implement fiscal responsibility, one has to touch on near taboo subjects like Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid.
My view is that corrupt governments are like the Mafia. Everyone involved with them are bought, be they business or citizen. And what value you get out of that relationship depends on how valuable you are to the power brokers. A large business is going to more valuable than some arbitrary citizen. But one can tell which way the power runs when the inevitable conflicts come out. US intelligence agencies harmed US business without consequence. Law makers throw up arbitrary costs whenever they feel like, despite the contributions of business, such as Sarbones-Oxley [wikipedia.org], which is costly for business, but it's great theater to use on US voters.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Sunday March 17 2019, @07:39PM
take power away from government.
Government is Wall Street's muscle. Do you have a specific process in mind?
get rid of most of the entitlements that have been used to bribe voters to go along with this.
Yes, we have to cut back service and raise the fare to increase ridership. Very logical thinking there! Victory is already yours, Mr. President
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..