Thursday 28th of March 2024

le fake camembert...

fake news

The French president has proposed a law that would include measures to make the backers of sponsored content transparent and empower the government to either scrap “fake news” from the internet or even block websites altogether during political elections.

It’s not a good idea.

The proposed “emergency legal action” would enable an incumbent government to step in during the elections and constrain the freedom of expression of its opponents, be they citizens writing on their blogs or accredited journalists writing for major publications.

It may seem counterproductive to take issue with the idea that the dissemination of false news poses a threat to public order. Europe has been confronted by countless disruptive and dangerous examples of it, especially during elections. But limiting news output to “true” — essentially state-sanctioned — information could pose an even greater threat.

To make matters worse, a coercive approach will almost certainly fall short of addressing the real issue.

Anti-fake news task forces, such as Europe’s EU Mythbusters, have shown that fake news can be fought with fact-checking. But the problem with fake news is not so much its long-lasting presence on the web, but its initial appearance. As soon as it goes online, the harm is done.

Read more:

https://www.politico.eu/article/macron-fake-news-law-will-threaten-democ...

 

S'cuse me but fake news does not do "harm"... Most of the so-called "fake news" is often the truth that is hidden by the governments, while they peddle their own "fake news" as gospel... In the FAKE Charlie Hebdo cover at top, Gus Leonisky, the magician of the fake colours and of turdy illusions, expresses this stupid idea promoted by a kid, Emanuel Macron, who, by accident and lack of general French political spine, got the job to lead the country of Napoleon. Napoleon would cry about the camembert not being what it used to be... No apology to the Charlie Hebdo teamsters should my cover annoy them...

george washington’s cherry tree...

PARIS—Can a democratic country outlaw fake news?

France is about to find out, after President Emmanuel Macron ordered a law to quash false information disseminated around electoral campaigns.

Impossible to enforce. Sure to backfire. Smacking of authoritarianism. Criticism is pouring in from media advocates, tech experts — and Kremlin-backed broadcaster RT.

Macron’s stance “could be just the beginning of actually censoring freedom of speech. We believe it is a very dangerous situation,” Xenia Fedorova, director of RT’s newly launched French-language channel, told The Associated Press.

Yet in a world where a falsehood can now reach billions instantaneously, and political manipulation is increasingly sophisticated, Macron argues something must be done.

A congressional report by U.S. Democrats released Thursday detailed apparent Russian efforts to undermine politics in 19 European countries since 2016, using cyberattacks, disinformation, clandestine social media operations, financing of fringe political groups and in extreme cases, assassination attempts. Macron’s own campaign suffered a big hacking attack last year, though the government later said it had found no proof of Russian involvement.

Propaganda and disinformation aren’t new, or unique to Russia. Author and technology historian Edward Tenner argues that fake news is as old as “George Washington’s cherry tree” — an enduring but untrue legend about the first U.S. president.

While democracies usually rely on defamation and libel laws to combat false publications, Macron wants more.

Read more:

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018/01/14/can-a-country-outlaw-fake-...

Macron protects the baguette instead of the freedom of speech...

“Within a week our journalists have been refused accreditation by the Elysée twice,” RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said. “President Macron, who protects the baguette instead of freedom of speech, should carefully reread the constitution of France.”

Macron has been harboring a grudge against RT and Sputnik ever since he made headlines at the start of his presidential campaign last year, revoking the accreditation of both Moscow-based news outlets and labeling the channels “propaganda” feeds. Macron and his team accused Russia of interference in the election, claiming that Russian hackers attempted to gain access to their data and impede the work of their website in the lead up to the presidential race. Moscow has staunchly denied any interference.

Earlier this month, Macron called for the creation of a national law that would, according to him, combat the spread of fake news. On Monday, just before RT France was denied entry to the Elysee, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed out the “fakeness”of news is being assigned arbitrarily, without an “adversarial principle,” an “exchange of arguments or a probe.” “It would be interesting to see what form this initiative takes,” Lavrov said.

Well, we know one form already at work: just obstruct the work of legitimately accredited media if its stories are not to President Macron’s liking.

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/416037-rt-france-barred-macron-coverage/

 

Read from top...

philosophical charlie...

In the black panel of the picture at top, Charlie Hebdo goes philosophical and investgate various literature "classics" which on this particular occasion was The Commedia Divina... Please visit:

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/33824

about the galette...

Agence France-Presse has named the original "galette of the kings" for the presidential couple's cake, "the galette of kings and queens". A bit over the top... Many right-wing politicians claimed on Twitter that this French tradition of selecting a king (at the end of a light supper) per devout family, by discovering who has "the" small china baby Jesus doll of the galette, in one's slice, was referring to the Magi — not to the feminists who now are red-carpetted anywhere, including in the new rewrite of the Betty Babble bible in which god is a woman.

 

While the news outlet was talking about the traditional lottery of the king at the famous Elysee "let's have cake" (cake = galette) with "the galette of kings and queens", one could suspect that Agence France-Presse (AFP) was trying to avoid offending feminists and LGBTis...

On its Twitter account, the agency had thus renamed this traditional "galette of the kings", (a cake filled with frangipane) "galette of kings and queens" on January 13.

We are so happy for the equal opportunity for Macron and his wife...

the birth of "fake news" in recent times...

Though the story of Adam and Eve should be placed in the basket of "fake news" as well as "Apollo" and all the other gods, Roman or Muslim, the "fake news" syndrome took a democratic proliferation in recent times, with the election of Trump. Not that he was elected on "fake news", but the fake news now is that he was elected because of fake news coming from the Russians. This shows how stupid, our media has become. Here we should look at the Voltaire Network:

 

The truth about « fake news »

by Thierry Meyssan

While NATO was busy setting up a vast network with which to accuse Russia of perpetuating propaganda from the Soviet era, Washington was suddenly swamped by a wave of hysteria. In an attempt to discredit the new US President, the dominant media accuse him of talking rubbish - in response, the President accuses them of propagating fake news. This cacophony is amplified by the swift development of the social media, which had once been intended for use as weapons of the State Department against nationalist regimes, but which today are popular forums used to combat abuse by all kinds of elites – with Washington at the top of the list.

As soon as the announcement of his surprise election was made public, and even before he had access to the White House, the immense majority of US and NATO media began screaming about the negligence and insanity of President Trump. Battle was joined between the media class and the new President, with each side accusing the other of propagating fake news.


Almost everywhere in the NATO countries – and only in these countries – political representatives began denouncing fake news. This was intended to reveal the supposed influence of Russian propaganda within the « Western democracies ». The State which has been the most seriously impacted by this campaign is France, whose President Emmanuel Macron recently announced the drafting of a law specifically aimed at fighting these « attacks on democracy », but only during « an electoral period ».


The fact that the English expression fake news is maintained in all the languages of the NATO countries attests to the Anglo-Saxon origin of the problem, when in fact the phrase designates a phenomenon as old as the world - false information.


At the origin of the campaign against « fake news » - NATO


In 2009, at the NATO summit in Strasbourg-Kehl, President Obama announçed his intention of creating an Alliance « Strategic Communication » service [1]. It took six years to implement, using elements of the 77th Brigade of the British Land Army and the 361st Civil Affairs Brigade of the United States Land Army (based in Germany and Italy).


At first, their mission was to counter communications accusing the US deep state of having itself organised the attacks of 9/11, then those accusing the Anglo-Saxons of having planned the « Arab Springs » and the war against Syria — such communications were termed « conspiracy theories ». However, the situation evolved rapidly in such a way as to convince the populations of the Alliance that Russia was continuing to apply propaganda from the Soviet era – and thus that NATO was still useful.


Finally, in April 2015, the European Union created a « Work Group for Strategic Communications – East » (East StratCom Task Force). Every week, this group addresses a report on Russian propaganda to thousands of journalists. For example, its last edition (dated 11 January 2018) accuses Sputnik of pretending that the Copenhagen zoo feeds its predators with abandoned household pets. Lord help us, the « democracies » are under attack ! Clearly, it is difficult for these specialists to find meaningful examples of Russian interference. In August of the same year, NATO inaugurated its « Centre for Strategic Communication » in Riga (Latvia). The following year, the US State Department created a Global Engagement Center which works on the same principles.


How Facebook, Hillary Clinton’s pet obsession, turned against her


In 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at the instigation of Jared Cohen (leading member of the Policy Planning Staff ), persuaded herself that it was possible to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran by manipulating the social media. This theory did not have the desired affect. However, two years later, in 2011, the same Jared Cohen — since become the the CEO of Google Ideas — managed to mobilise the youth of Cairo. Although the « revolution » of Tahrir Square had not swayed the opinion of the Egyptian people, the myth of the extension of the American way of life via Facebook was born. As a result, the State Department sponsored a number of associations and assemblies to promote Facebook.


However, the US Presidential election of 2016 was a shock. An outsider, real estate promoter Donald Trump, eliminated all his rivals one by one, including Hillary Clinton, and was swept into the White House, having benefited from the advice of Facebook. For the first time, the dream of the Muse of professional politicians became reality, but worked against her. Overnight, Facebook was demonised by the dominant Press.


It became evident on this occasion that it is possible to artificially create crowd movements with the social media, but that after a few days, media users regain their senses. This is the constant fact for all systems of information manipulation — they are fleeting. The only form of lie which makes it possible to create long-term behaviour patterns supposes that one has forced the citizens into a form of minor engagement, in other words, that one has brainwashed them [2].


Indeed, Facebook understood this very well, creating its « Politics & Government Outreach Program » and handing it over to the care of Katie Harbath. It was intended to create collective emotions in favour of one client or another, but does not seek to organise lasting campaigns [3]. This is why President Macron proposes to legislate the social media only during electoral periods. He was himself elected thanks to a brief disorder created jointly by a weekly newspaper and Facebook against his rival François Fillon — an operation orchestrated by Jean-Pierre Jouyet [4]. Furthermore, Emmanuel Macron’s fear that next time the social media may be used against him fits with NATO’s desire to demonstrate the continuity of USSR-Russia propaganda. As an example of manipulation, Macron therefore cites an interview with Sputnik concerning his private life and the publishing of an allegation concerning a foreign bank account.


The Christopher Steele Report

During the US Presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton’s team ordered an inquiry on Donald Trump from an ex-agent of the British Secret Services, Christopher Steele. Ex-chief of MI6’s « Russia House », he was known for his scandalous and always unverifiable allegations. After having accused Vladimir Putin, without proof, of having commanded the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko by Polonium 210, he accused him of having caught Donald Trump in a sex trap and blackmailing him. The Steele Report was then discretely handed to various journalists, politicians and master spies, and finally published [5].


This is the source of the hypothesis according to which, seeking to get his puppet elected and hamper the election of Hillary Clinton, the lord of the Kremlin had ordered « his » media to buy publicity on Facebook and spread lies about the ex-Secretary of State – a hypothesis which may be supported by a conversation between the Australian ambassador in London with one of Donald trump’s advisors [6]. It doesn’t matter that Russia Today and Sputnik only spent a total of a few thousand dollars for publicity which rarely concerned Mrs. Clinton, the US ruling class is persuaded that they turned back the popular tide in favour of the Democrat candidate and her 1.2 billion dollar campaign. In Washington, people persist in believing that technological inventions can be used to manipulate the human race.


It is no longer a question of noting that Donald Trump and his partisans ran their campaign on Facebook because the totality of the written and audiovisual Press was hostile to them, but pretending that Facebook was manipulated by Russia in order to prevent the election of the Muse of Washington.

The legal privilege of Google, Facebook and Twitter


By seeking to prove the interference of Moscow, the US Press underlined the exorbitant privilege enjoyed by Google, Facebook and Twitter — these three companies are not considered responsible for their content. From the point of view of US law, they are no more than transporters of information (common carrier).


The experiments carried out by Facebook, which demonstrated the possibility of creating collective emotions on one hand, and the legal non-responsibility of this company on the other, attest to an anomaly in the system.


Particularly since the privilege enjoyed by Google, Facebook and Twitter is clearly undue. Indeed, these three companies act in at least two different ways to modify the content they transport. First of all, they unilaterally censor certain messages, either via the direct intervention of their personnel, or mechanically, via hidden algorithms. Then they promote their vision of the truth to the detriment of other points of view (fact-checking).


For example, in 2012, Qatar ordered from Google Ideas, already directed by Jared Cohen, the creation of software which would make it possible to follow the progression of defections in the Syrian Arab Army. The point was to show that Syria was indeed a dictatorship, and that the people were beginning to revolt. But it very quickly became clear that this vision of affairs was false. The number of soldiers who defected never rose above 25,000 in an army of 450,000 men. This is why, after having promoted the software, Google discretely retired it.


Conversely, for seven years, Google promoted articles which relayed communiqués from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHD). Day after day, they gave the exact count of the number of victims in both camps. Of course, these figures are imaginary - it is impossible for anyone to count them. Never, in a time of war, has a state been able to determine, on a daily basis, the number of soldiers killed in combat and the civilians killed behind the lines. And yet, in the United Kingdom, the SOHD claims to know what the people who live there, in Syria, cannot know.


Far from being just the common carriers, Google, Facebook and Twitter are the forgers of the information they transport, and as such, they ought to be counted legally responsible for their content.


The rules of the freedom of expression


Let’s imagine that the efforts of NATO and those of President Macron against Russia in terms of audiovisual Internet traffic meet with failure. It is nonetheless necessary to enter these new medias into general law.


The principles which regulate the freedom of expression are only legitimate if they are identical for all citizens and for all media. This is not the case today. While the general law applies, there is no specific rule concerning denial or the right to reply for the messages on Internet and the social media.


As always in the history of information, the old medias attempt to sabotage the new. Thus I remember the violent editorial that the French daily Le Monde dedicated in 2002 to my work on the Internet concerning the responsibility for the attacks of 9/11. What shocked the newspaper just as much as my conclusions was that the Voltaire Network was free from the financial obligations of which it felt prisoner [7]. This is the same corporatist attitude that it demonstrates again, fifteen years later, with its service, Le Decodex. Rather than developing a critique of the articles or videos of the new medias, Le Monde proposes to note the reliability of its rival Internet sites. Of course, only the sites issued by their paper colleagues find grace in their eyes, all the others are judged less trustworthy.

To shore up the campaign against the social media, the Fondation Jean-Jaures (that is to say the foundation of the Socialist Party linked to the National Endowment for Democracy) has published an imaginary poll [8]. With a display of numbers, it aims to demonstrate that unsophisticated people - the working classes and the partisans of the National Front - are gullible. It claims that 79 % of French people believe in one conspiracy theory or another. As proof of their naïveté, it points out that 9 % of them are convinced that the Earth is flat.


However, neither myself nor any of my French friends consulted by Internet have ever met any of our compatriots who believe that the Earth is flat. The figure is obviously invented and discredits the entire study. As it happens, although it is linked to the Socialist Party, the Fondation Jean-Jaures still has Gerard Collomb as its general secretary – Collomb has since become President Macron’s Minister for the Interior. This same foundation had already published, two years ago, a study aimed at discrediting the political opponents of the system that it already qualified as « conspiracy theorists » [9].


Thierry Meyssan

Translation 

Pete Kimberley

 

http://www.voltairenet.org/article199378.html

 

Interesting ...

some nukular news...

France is the third largest nuclear power in the world after Russia and the United States.

French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to modernize the two main components of the country's nuclear deterrent forces, while addressing the representatives of the country's armed forces on Friday.

"[France's capacity for deterrence allows it to preserve] the freedom of action and strategic autonomy… That is why I intend to modernize these two components, the complementariness of which cannot be doubted — the seaborne forces that protect us against any strategic surprise and the air-based component that is due to its visibility is a part of the dialogue on deterrence," Macron said as aired by the president's official Periscope.

READ MORE: UK, France Agree New Border Security Treaty — Official

Macron stressed that deterrence had remained the key aspect of the country's defense strategy for over the past 50 years. According to him, the French armed forces' response capacity would be maintained at the highest level. Macron announced that the budget of military operations would be increased from 400 million euros ($489.4 million) to 1.1 billion euros.

read more:

https://sputniknews.com/europe/201801191060896068-macron-france-nuclear-...

Prepare to kiss your arse goodbye as you dive under a table...

a set-up disguised a real news...

While traveling to Clermont-Ferrand last week, Emmanuel Macron improvised a nocturnal walk in the streets of the city crossing the path of a woman. Described as "a chance" encounter, the exchange was filmed by the Elysee Palace and published on Twitter. This Franco-Tunisian woman, named Maha, talked with the president about her desire to return to Tunisia. He informs her precisely that he intends to make an official trip to Tunis the following week, 31 January. Emmanuel then proposes to Maha to integrate her to his team, the time of the state visit. Promise held: making the trip to the Tunisian capital in the presidential plane, Maha then thanked the president. Emmanuel Macron, all smiles, seems fully satisfied to have realized Maha's wishes: "It was chance that did things right. We met, it was midnight in the streets of Clermont-Ferrand.


Actors studio or spontaneous meeting?

Except that in fact, neither chance nor accident had a role to play, everything would have been planned. After investigation, The Huffington Post revealed archives that were reminiscent of a "set-up" very well organised. The operation presented as spontaneous encounter by the Elysee Palace is a fake. Maha Issaoui was not a simple walker in Clermont. She had, in fact, a very big political profile and militant commitments [in Tunisia].

 

Read more:

https://francais.rt.com/france/47772-hasard-ou-coup-de-com-bien-huile-ec...

 

Translated by Jules Letambour... Read from top...