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Former Google Employee Leaks Docs to Project Veritas, Claims Google Initiated Wellness Check[Repost]

posted by Fnord666 on Friday August 16 2019, @01:05AM   
from the don't-not-do-evil dept.

[Ed note: This story was originally posted 2019-08-15 04:41 UTC but was lost when we had the site crash Thursday morning. Prior comments have, unfortunately, been lost. --martyb]

takyon writes:

'Google Blocked TorrentFreak From Appearing in Search Feature'

Documents released by whistleblower Zachary Vorhies suggests that Google actively blocked hundreds of sites, including TorrentFreak, from its Google Now service. The blocklist doesn't provide a specific reason for the blockade, but other sites are flagged for having a high user block rate or for peddling hoax stories. Vorhies has shared the documents with the US Department of Justice.

At TorrentFreak, we have written hundreds of articles about website blocking and censorship. Today, we're featured in one ourselves.

Leaked Google documents reveal that TorrentFreak.com shows up in one of Google's previously unknown blocklists, which actively hides our domain from the Google Now service.

Google Now was a Google search feature that presented users with informational cards, to provide users with more details on subjects of interest to them. While the brand no longer exists, the feature is still present in the Google Android app and its feed.

The controversial blocklist is part of a treasure trove of files that were leaked by whistleblower Zachary Vorhies, who shared them with Project Veritas. The entire collection of files uncovers many previously unknown policies and actions from Google.

The story that broke SoylentNews™.

See also (Zachary Vorhies in the news): YouTube Software Engineer Describes Seeing Altercation In Building Courtyard
America's Greatest Makers is like American Idol for geeks, so we talked to one

Previously: Veritas Claims Leaked Internal E-Mails from Google Showing Political Bias of Results

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Original Submission

• Re:Fool Me Once, Shame On You Fool me 100x, come o Re:Fool Me Once, Shame On You Fool me 100x, come o (Score: 2) by jmorris on Friday August 16 2019, @05:42PM (2 children)

  by jmorris (4844) on Friday August 16 2019, @05:42PM (#881195)

  Not saying the guy was totally innocent. Am saying the local government is utterly and irredeemably corrupt to the point 4chan's autism analysis of the hard video evidence is more credible. He appears to have panicked after Antifa brandished semi-automatic rifles at him and the crowd he found blocking his escape began trying to destroy his vehicle and pull him out of it. Of course an equally strong argument could be made that his reaction to the situation was entirely justified and rational. What would YOU do? Do you consider yourself a "reasonable person"? That is the legal test you know, would a reasonable person have considered their life in immediate danger. Maybe one of the three vehicles that were set in motion hit the woman, maybe she was pushed by someone else and hit something, but the fact is that isn't what killed her. You are in agreement it was heart failure. With paramedics on the scene that should not have been fatal. What else isn't debatable is that even if guilty the typical sentence is on the order of five years, not four hundred. That makes it a miscarriage of justice by any sane definition of the term. Do you dispute that?

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• Re:Fool Me Once, Shame On You Fool me 100x, come o (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday August 16 2019, @06:55PM

  by c0lo (156) on Friday August 16 2019, @06:55PM (#881224) Journal

  Am saying the local government is utterly and irredeemably corrupt to the point 4chan's autism analysis of the hard video evidence is more credible.

  Local fire department too? And local justice is also part of the local govt?

  Of course an equally strong argument could be made that his reaction to the situation was entirely justified and rational. What would YOU do?

  In no way heading towards a crowd made of the same as those supposedly threatening me. Letting aside justification and higher rationality, even a wild animal under threat won't head into the crowd and I would expect a higher cognitive function (even if not totally rational) from a human.

  Charlottesville car attack [wikipedia.org]

  A gray 2010 Dodge Challenger drove down Fourth Street Southeast mall crossing and idled for a short time behind the white Toyota at the Downtown Mall.[6][20][21] It then backed up and traveled more than a block before rapidly accelerating forward

  At around 1:45 p.m. on August 12, 2017, the 2010 Dodge Challenger impacted a crowd of counter-protesters while driving at a high speed...
  ...
  ...Pedestrians who had avoided the attack chased Fields along Fourth Street
  Fields backed up at a high speed for several blocks, and then turned left and sped off down Market Street.

  So let me get this straight:
  1. backs up for one block.
  2. speeds fwd and hits the crowd
  3. backs up several block
  If he was threatened when he backed up at step 1 and didn't continue to backup, how come he didn't feel threatened to back more than that at step 3?
  His reaction in step 2 is not consistent with even as low as survival or conservation instinct, much less with rationality.

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  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford

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• Re:Fool Me Once, Shame On You Fool me 100x, come o (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @07:53PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 16 2019, @07:53PM (#881247)

  What would YOU do?

  Whatever I may have done in the situation, I would not have pleaded guilty if I legitimately felt I had no other way out.

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