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New Zealand Mobile Carriers Block 8chan, 4chan, and LiveLeak
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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: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday March 17 2019, @07:43PM (26 children)
Take it on the campaign trail... Whatever, it's the system that people accept. There's nobody else to blame.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday March 17 2019, @09:39PM (25 children)
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday March 17 2019, @10:43PM (5 children)
Meanwhile if a corporation does wrong, you can just not buy their stuff
We don't have that kind of clout in the marketplace. With our vote the playing field is level. We can change the government into anything we want to.
It's very hard to change anything.
Anything but your mind, and that's all that's needed.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday March 17 2019, @11:50PM (4 children)
Unless, of course, you buy stuff in the marketplace, then you do.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday March 18 2019, @01:31AM (3 children)
Really, man! It's easy! All ya gotta do is be rich... What's the big deal?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 18 2019, @03:56AM (2 children)
Because only rich people buy stuff in markets?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 18 2019, @06:33AM (1 child)
Because only the rich people can afford to dispense themselves of bread, having cake as a fallback replacement, yes.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 18 2019, @02:34PM
Keep in mind that by that standard the great majority of the developed world is rich.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 18 2019, @06:21AM (2 children)
Who guarantees the non-existence of monopolies/oligopolies in the context of international conglomerates? That's your wild dream, khallow, ain't it? The world dominance of "economy" and none of them governments.
Like, suppose you have two retail chains in a small town in Niger... well, say, Texas; let's call them Democrats™ and Republicans™ to avoid any confusion with an existing brand. How is the poor IT admin buyer gonna be able chose what gallon of fresh milk to buy while still punishing any and both the retails for their behavior?
Git you head outta your ass, khallow.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 18 2019, @02:51PM (1 child)
Look for barrier to entry and competition. I'm not shy about having anti-monopoly laws either. And even in a oligopoly situation, you can choose to not buy from the worst offender.
True monopolies are rare and even in those cases, you can choose to buy less of what they're selling.
Vote third party.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 18 2019, @04:03PM
No third party for 100 miles around.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday March 18 2019, @06:29AM (15 children)
Oh, wow! Vote with you wallet, yes, of course, what a good idea.
Except the "customer is king" comes together with "the king is dead", has been replaced by "consumers". For already a decade or so.
Also, you don't make any difference when you are part of a captive market or if you wallet is empty. In these cases, your "wallet-vote" doesn't matter, your decision simply doesn't exist for them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 18 2019, @02:54PM (14 children)
I don't see that decade over here. Perhaps you should try living in my reality instead?
How much are your governments enforcing that captive market? It's common for people to complain about rent-seekers and such while ignoring who created those rent-seekers.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday March 18 2019, @03:57PM (13 children)
There you have it [soylentnews.org]
How is your govt responsible for enforcing that captive market in "airlines, cable, and internet services"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 18 2019, @04:16PM (12 children)
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Monday March 18 2019, @05:01PM (11 children)
Oh, that's so cute an argument.
Like "just remember how it was when you stubbed your toe, stop complaining about the ticks. If you really don't like them, you have the freedom to switch to leeches anyway"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 18 2019, @05:24PM (10 children)
I'm concerned with the correctness not cuteness of the argument.
It's not like that. It's like someone saying "X is getting worse". Then person 2 notes that X was worse in the not-so-distant past. Meaning even if X is truly getting worse today (and it probably isn't in this case BTW), then there was some point in the intervening time when X greatly improved.
In the example I gave, internet services received a strong kick in the pants from the breakup of AT&T. It expedited landline based internet and opened up cell phone service. That in turn helped the market for cable - which also came about because of the rigid oligopoly on broadcast television. All that had global repercussions.
In addition, the US and Europe over the 1980s privatized most of the airlines and opened things up to considerable competition, which we still enjoy today. Speaking of the "captive markets" of airlines, cable, and internet services, ignores that most of us have better choices in those areas than we had in the past.
Moving on, not a one of those requires us to use a particular provider except in rare cases. There is no monopoly in those areas, unless you should happen to live in an area with a monopoly airline provider. I can't rule that out.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Monday March 18 2019, @05:33PM (9 children)
You're failing again to get the point (or just ignoring it): when all the players in industry treat you as something to be sucked dry, it doesn't matter what parasite you choose, your "vote with your wallet" is not effective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 18 2019, @05:41PM (8 children)
So what? Business has been that mercenary for millennia. It's nothing new.
It's a known problem which we already know how to deal effectively with it. When they can't "suck me dry" because they're getting boycotted, they'll change their ways or go out of business.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday March 20 2019, @01:28AM (7 children)
"I can't afford to die. I owe my soul to the company store." [wikipedia.org]
You think it can't happen again? It only needs a bit of "diversification" from the current giant corporations, like branching from "public transport" into "catering" into "actually, you know, integrated food business", into "flying taxis and drones, like the "Amazon of transportation" [phys.org]... all with a predatory attitude [businessinsider.com] of driving out the competition by any means (even illegal [wikipedia.org], ask forgiveness, not permission [vox.com])
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 20 2019, @01:36PM (6 children)
Pay attention to how it happened in the first place -isolated environments with the whole society constructed by the business in the first place. And even back then, people had the option to just leave. What's ignored here is that even with the company store games (and the terrible health and safety environment of the mine), the coal mine was a great option as compared to what else was available back then for those miners.
And it only requires a little competition to never happen. Sorry, it's like hating on Muslims because some day they just might be homicidal or something.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday March 20 2019, @11:03PM (5 children)
If shit can happen, it will.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday March 21 2019, @04:31AM (4 children)
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday March 21 2019, @04:39AM (3 children)
Just a matter of time.
Because that state it's a "stable equilibrium point" (even if a local one) - once the system evolves in this state, it requires non-zero energy to extract it from there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday March 21 2019, @01:28PM (2 children)
That is an unfounded assertion. And in practice, it's just not hard to introduce competition, meaning this is not a stable equilibrium point. The "company store" phenomena happened because the company owned everything. That works when it's a coal mine which owns all the property in the first place and can keep out competitors. It has never worked anywhere else.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday March 21 2019, @02:44PM (1 child)
If Uber is going to succeed (slim chances given they aren't profitable after 8-9 year, they burnt around $80B already), their practices will guarantee the entire world is an "isolated place around a mine" (predatory pricing, lying to regulators, drive the competition into the ground, etc)
However, if Apple (or any other supra-national 800-pound gorilla of a corporation) would choose to "diversify aggressively Uber-style", with $245B cash at hand and a more focused "diversification", their chance of success is higher.
(we are at a point where there are corporations with revenues larger than effing big countries - e.g. Apple reported $256B revenue 2018, compared with $205B GDP for NZ. The gross Apple profit for 2018 - $101.839B - is higher than the GDP of at least 120 countries [wikipedia.org]. There will be a time when corporations will "buy whole countries" - making "company stores" of them)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday March 21 2019, @05:45PM
In addition to existing competitors like Lyft and taxi companies, they don't have the ability to block entry to the market. There's a huge difference between market dominance and a monopoly position. In the former, because other competitors exist and new ones could enter the market at any time, Uber is forced to price their product considerably lower than if they were the only game in town.
Assuming that cash is not an accounting fiction, we still have the problem that Apple doesn't magically know what they're doing. That cash can be squandered spectacularly instead - which incidentally is a common outcome of businesses diversifying in that way. And even if Apple buys out all the competition, more competition can then enter the market, devaluing Apple's market position.
While I speak of these in abstract terms, this routinely happens. In fact, the whole reason Uber grew so huge is because travelers rapidly shifted from existing cartel services to Uber. They can do that trick again, should Uber try to exploit them.
Not much point to buying a country, if you can't keep it. The inhabitants can just install a new government, if they don't like the old one. And sorry, New Zealand is not a big country.