http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/31994

Netizens from all parts of the world have taken to Twitter to complain about their inability to log on to Instagram or Facebook, as both social media networks have been down with an unknown technical glitch for more than 10 hours.

In what is believed to be the longest outage ever suffered by Facebook and Instagram, which is also owned by the social media giant, users either have been unable to access the platforms, or use certain essential functions such as leaving comments or uploading photos.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/453772-facebook-twitter-outage-longest/

 

... and yes. I mean the god fairy...

Mark Zuckerberg says regulators and governments should play a more active role in controlling internet content.

In an op-ed published in the Washington Post, Facebook's chief says the responsibility for monitoring harmful content is too great for firms alone.

He calls for new laws in four areas: "Harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability."

It comes two weeks after a gunman used the site to livestream his attack on a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand.

"Lawmakers often tell me we have too much power over speech, and frankly I agree," Mr Zuckerberg writes, adding that Facebook was "creating an independent body so people can appeal our decisions" about what is posted and what is taken down.

• Facebook charged with discrimination over housing ads
• Can you stop your parents sharing photos of you online?
• Amol Rajan: The constant influence of dark ads

He also describes a new set of rules he would like to see enforced on tech companies.

These new regulations should be the same for all websites, he says, so that it's easier to stop "harmful content" from spreading quickly across platforms.

Read more:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47762091

 

May as well destroy google, facebook and start from scratch ON THE INTERNET...

Facebook has issued an ominous new policy permitting death threats and calls for violence – so long as they’re directed against “dangerous” individuals or organizations, or someone accused (but not convicted) of a crime.

Facebook has updated its “community standards” to carve out a few exceptions to its “no death threats” policy. Calls for “high-severity violence” are now permitted, as long as they’re directed at individuals “covered in the Dangerous Individuals and Organizations policy” or individuals “described as having carried out violent crimes or sexual offenses” by media reports. After all, are people banned from Facebook really people at all?

 

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/463796-facebook-allows-death-threats-watson/

 

Read from top

Policy Rationale
"We prohibit people from promoting or publicizing violent crime, theft, and/or fraud because we do not want to condone this activity and because there is a risk of copycat behavior. We also do not allow people to depict criminal activity or admit to crimes they or their associates have committed. We do, however, allow people to debate or advocate for the legality of criminal activities, as well as address them in a rhetorical or satirical way."

 

Goodo... We're good...

The US Federal Trade Commission has approved a roughly $US5 billion ($7.1 billion) settlement with Facebook over its investigation into the social media company's handling of user data, a source familiar with the situation has told Reuters.

Key points:

• Penalty criticised as "a Christmas present five months early" for Facebook
• The settlement would be the largest civil penalty ever paid to the agency
• Source tells Reuters a final announcement on the settlement could come as early as next week

 

The FTC has been investigating allegations Facebook inappropriately shared information belonging to 87 million users with the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

The probe had focused on whether the data sharing violated a 2011 consent agreement between Facebook and the regulator.

Investors cheered news of the deal and pushed Facebook shares up 1.8 per cent, while several powerful Democratic politicians in Washington condemned the proposed penalty as inadequate.

The FTC is expected to include in the settlement other restrictions on how Facebook treats user privacy, according to the Wall Street Journal, which also said that the agency vote was along party lines, with three Republicans voting to approve it and two Democrats opposed.

 

 

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-13/facebook-5-billion-dollar-fine-ca...

 

 

Read from top.

French data watchdog fines Google, Amazon millions over cookies rules

A French regulator said the sites used cookies without prior consent and did not provide people with enough information on their use. Google was fined €100 million while an Amazon subsidiary was fined €35 million.

France's CNIL data privacy regulator said on Thursday it had fined two Google units a total of €100 million ($121 million) and an Amazon subsidiary €35 million for breaching rules on online trackers.

According to the statement issued by the CNIL, Google committed two breaches of the French Data Protection Act, including using cookies without obtaining prior consent, and not providing enough information to users.

The CNIL said it had also fined US e-commerce giant Amazon for breaching the same rules.

The regulator said the fines were "for having placed advertising cookies on the computers of users… without obtaining prior consent and without providing adequate information."

When a user visited a page on the site, "a large number of cookies used for advertising purposes was automatically placed on his or her computer, before any action required on his or her part," the statement said. 

Insufficient information on data use

Google stopped placing cookies on the computers of users without consent in September, but still does not provide a sufficient explanation of their use, the CNIL statement said.

 

 

Read more:

https://www.dw.com/en/french-data-watchdog-fines-google-amazon-millions-over-cookies-rules/a-55891715

 

At this level, the French government should fine Le Monde for making sure that one cannot escape the cookie monsters, with a cookie consent form that covers the entire page vertically, basically blocking the content. Other sites demand you pay cash by becoming a subscriber and agreeing to the cookie monsters. But planting cookies without consent is not-on... That's the law.