(In the “enhanced” Silent Revolution Of Truth Compilation Edition, the free PDF book: Download and read about how in the United States of America, sinister ways would be used to monitor and track people – 24-hour surveillance of the world in an Orwellian big brother way, pages 1262 – 1263. Foretold decades ago. Note: Use the page number display located at top right to find the correct page. UPDATED, PDF Format – Links: Book Summary | and Download Book )
Might Of Thought: Media Ecology And Neuro-Linguistic Programming
RT – March 19, 2018: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden tweeted Saturday that Facebook is a “surveillance company” that sells its users’ personal details, weighing in on a scandal involving a private firm that harvested data from the social media giant.
“Businesses that make money by collecting and selling detailed records of private lives were once plainly described as ‘surveillance companies,’” wrote the former National Security Agency contractor. “Their rebranding as ‘social media’ is the most successful deception since the Department of War became the Department of Defense.”
Businesses that make money by collecting and selling detailed records of private lives were once plainly described as “surveillance companies.” Their rebranding as “social media” is the most successful deception since the Department of War became the Department of Defense.
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 17, 2018
Snowden’s sobering observation, which was retweeted more than 30,000 times, comes amid public outcry over the revelation that Cambridge Analytica, a private data analytics firm that worked with President Donald Trump’s election team, had harvested personal information of more than 50 million Facebook users without their knowledge.
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British MPs seek to summon Facebook’s Zuckerberg for questioning over data scandal
RT – March 20, 2018: British MPs have called on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify on the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. It’s alleged the details of Facebook users were harvested, and used to influence the 2016 US Presidential election.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) Select Committee, headed by MP Damian Collins, has written a letter to Zuckerberg requesting an oral testimony to be given in person.
The letter read: “The Committee has repeatedly asked Facebook about how companies acquire and hold on to user data from their site, and in particular about whether data had been taken without their consent. Your officials’ answers have consistently understated this risk, and have been misleading to the Committee.
“It is now time to hear from a senior Facebook executive with the sufficient authority to give an accurate account of this catastrophic failure of process. There is a strong public interest test regarding user protection. Accordingly we are sure you will understand the need for a representative from right at the top of the organisation to address concerns.
“Given your commitment at the start of the New Year to “fixing” Facebook, I hope that this representative will be you.” Zuckerberg has been given until next Monday to respond to the request.
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Assange agrees to share ‘evidence’ in Cambridge Analytica probe by British MPs
RT – March 20, 2018: WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange may soon give evidence to a Parliamentary Committee about Cambridge Analytica, a voter-profiling company which accessed data of some 50mn Facebook users, triggering an international scandal.
“I have accepted a request by the select committee of the UK parliament @CommonsCMS to give evidence, via video link, about Cambridge Analytica, and other matters, later this month,” Assange, currently holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, said on Twitter.
I have accepted a request by the select committee of the UK parliament @CommonsCMS to give evidence, via video link, about Cambridge Analytica, and other matters, later this month. pic.twitter.com/OUSt0fBETQ
— Julian Assange ⌛ (@JulianAssange) March 20, 2018
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FEDS PROBE FACEBOOK
CNBC – March 20, 2018: The article highlights that: The Facebook probe followed a weekend of turmoil for the social media site after reports that Cambridge Analytica gained access to the data of more than 50 million users. Stock market shares of Facebook fell nearly 5 percent Tuesday, after falling as much as 8 percent on Monday. And UK officials are also investigating the alleged mishandling of data.
“We are aware of the issues that have been raised but cannot comment on whether we are investigating. We take any allegations of violations of our consent decrees very seriously as we did in 2012 in a privacy case involving Google,” a spokesman for the FTC said Tuesday.
A violation of the consent decree could carry a penalty of $40,000 per violation, which could mean a fine conservatively estimated to be “many millions of dollars in fines” for Facebook, The Washington Post reported over the weekend, citing a former FTC official.
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ZUCKERBERG HIDES
SKYNEWS – March 20, 2018: Facebook is holding an open meeting for all employees following allegations that data belonging to its users was harvested by Cambridge Analytica.
The company’s chief executive and founder Mark Zuckerberg has not commented on the scandal nor made a public appearance since the story broke.
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Facebook ‘hypocrites’ working against online privacy law – campaigner
RT – March 21, 2018: Tech giants including Facebook and Google are pumping millions of dollars into halting new laws in California which would expand online privacy protections. Campaigners hope this week’s revelations will force a Facebook climbdown.
As Facebook’s share price tumbled this week following the Cambridge Analytica debacle the the chief supporter of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 accused the Silicon Valley behemoth, and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, of being two faced.
“Right now, Facebook’s money is saying something different than what they are telling the world,” Alastair Mactaggart said. In an open letter to Zuckerberg, Mactaggart says he was disappointed to learn Facebook is pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into efforts to defeat the act.
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Face it: Cambridge Analytica story proves Facebook doesn’t give a toss about privacy or democracy
RT – March 21, 2018: Mainstream media have obsessed over Russia’s alleged use of Facebook to swing the 2016 US election. In reality, it was actually a shady British data-mining firm that was running pro-Trump Facebook propaganda campaigns.
Irony doesn’t feel like strong enough a word.
Which is worse: Russia allegedly buying a few hundred Facebook ads, with the goal of ‘sowing unrest’ in the United States, by exploiting already emotional and divisive issues like gun control and race relations, or Facebook allowing a dodgy British company to mine the data of millions of its users, without the users’ explicit knowledge or consent, and then using that data for political purposes?
If you need a recap: British firm Cambridge Analytica (CA), working with the Trump campaign, harvested private information from 50 million Facebook users without their knowledge — and then used that information in an attempt to influence the election in Trump’s favor. CA was reportedly paid $5 million by the Trump campaign for their efforts. Oh, and former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon used to head the company.
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Surveillance state: Unfolding Facebook data scandal (DEBATE)
RT – March 22, 2018: RT hosted a debate on what the fallout of the unfolding Facebook data scandal could be. Richard Goodstein, a former advisor to both Bill and Hillary Clinton’s presidential election campaigns, went head-to-head with legal & media analyst Lionel says “Facebook is a tool of the government.”
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Largest leak in Facebook history: Data of 50 mn users mined for Trump campaign
RT – March 20, 2018: The UK is seeking a warrant to search the servers of Cambridge Analytica, acccused of helping Donald Trump to win the presidency.
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Belgian court orders Facebook to stop collecting data on citizens, threatens fines of up to $125mn
RT – March 19, 2018: A Belgian court has ordered Facebook to stop collecting data about the country’s citizens, and to delete information previously gathered. It threatened to fine the social network €250,000 a day if it fails to comply.
In its ruling, the court determined that Facebook does not adequately inform users that it is collecting information. “Facebook informs us insufficiently about gathering information about us, the kind of data it collects, what it does with that data and how long it stores it,” the court said, determining the social network had broken privacy laws. “It also does not gain our consent to collect and store all this information.”
The court also noted that Facebook uses various methods to track the online behavior of people who aren’t members of the website, by placing cookies and invisible pixels on third-party sites.
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Patently creepy: Facebook’s plan to ‘read emotions’ through your smartphone
RT – March 19, 2018: Facebook is famous for pushing technological boundaries with its innovations, but its latest inventions may well leave worried users hitting the dislike button.
A patent filed and approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office details how the emotions of a Facebook user could be predicted based on “characteristics of a keyboard input.” Put simply, the firm would read a person’s emotions based on speed and pressure of how they tap the keys.
The patent, entitled ‘Augmenting text messages with emotion information’, proposes that features can be added to texts to reflect the feelings of the sender.
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