[P2P-F] Fwd: Civicist's First Post: Keyboard Warriors

Tue Nov 14 15:28:00 CET 2017

assange-trump-putin link now documented:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/11/the-secret-correspondence-between-donald-trump-jr-and-wikileaks/545738/

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Civic Hall <info at civichall.org>
Date: Tue, Nov 14, 2017 at 9:15 PM
Subject: Civicist's First Post: Keyboard Warriors
To: Michel <michelsub2004 at gmail.com>

November 14, 2017
<https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=be1a1501cb&e=222dfb6267>
[image: First Post]
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*Micah L. Sifry*

*Keyboard Warriors*

   -

   *The big picture*: It's been another bad year for internet freedom
   globally, Freedom House reports in its annual report "Freedom on the Net
   2017
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=4c8efdc416&e=222dfb6267>."
   The biggest new finding from its survey of 67 countries that have 87% of
   the world's internet users: more governments are using social media to
   spread propaganda, with "Online manipulation and disinformation tactics
   play[ing] an important role in elections in at least 18 countries over the
   past year, including the United States." In addition, the report notes that:

   Venezuela, the Philippines, and Turkey were among 30 countries where
   governments were found to employ armies of “opinion shapers” to spread
   government views, drive particular agendas, and counter government critics
   on social media. The number of governments attempting to control online
   discussions in this manner has risen each year since Freedom House began
   systematically tracking the phenomenon in 2009. But over the last few
   years, the practice has become significantly more widespread and
   technically sophisticated, with bots, propaganda producers, and fake news
   outlets exploiting social media and search algorithms to ensure high
   visibility and seamless integration with trusted content.

   -

   This is serious, folks. As Freedom House points out: "The effects of
   these rapidly spreading techniques on democracy and civic activism are
   potentially devastating. The fabrication of grassroots support for
   government policies on social media creates a closed loop in which the
   regime essentially endorses itself, leaving independent groups and ordinary
   citizens on the outside." So much for John Perry Barlow's independence
   of cyberspace
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=69143abd2c&e=222dfb6267>!
   The governments of the industrial world, those weary giants of flesh and
   steel, decided not to leave the internet alone.
   -

   What is to be done? Freedom House says: "Successfully countering content
   manipulation and restoring trust in social media—without undermining
   internet and media freedom—will take time, resources, and creativity. The
   first steps in this effort should include public education aimed at
   teaching citizens how to detect fake or misleading news and commentary. In
   addition, democratic societies must strengthen regulations to ensure that
   political advertising is at least as transparent online as it is offline.
   And tech companies should do their part by reexamining the algorithms
   behind news curation and more proactively disabling bots and fake accounts
   that are used for antidemocratic ends. In the absence of a comprehensive
   campaign to deal with this threat, manipulation and disinformation
   techniques could enable modern authoritarian regimes to expand their power
   and influence while permanently eroding user confidence in online media and
   the internet as a whole."
   -

   *Privacy, shmivacy*: EFF's *Jennifer Lynch* warns
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=799d65944d&e=222dfb6267>
   that the Department of Homeland Security is moving to expand its collection
   and use of biometrics across its agencies, starting with the TSA's use of
   face recognition, iris scans and fingerprints in its PreCheck program and
   the Customs and Border Protection's use of face recognition to capture
   pictures of travelers crossing borders. Considering that no government
   agency or private company is capable of fully protecting private
   information, Lynch warns that "losing your social security or credit card
   numbers to fraud is nothing compared to losing your biometrics. While you
   can change those numbers, you can’t easily change your face."
   -

   *Trump watch*: It looks like Attorney General *Jeff Sessions* is
   considering appointing a special counsel to investigate some of *President
   Trump*'s political rivals. As *Josh Marshall *explains
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=c3833a320c&e=222dfb6267>
   for Talking Points Memo, this is "as bad as it looks."
   -

   A leak (how ironic) of direct messages between WikiLeaks'* Julian
   Assange and Donald Trump Jr.* shows that the two worked in coordination
   in the fall of 2016 to publicize the stolen trove of emails from Clinton
   campaign chairman *John Podesta*, as *Julia Ioffe* reports
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=27d745d68a&e=222dfb6267>
   for The Atlantic. At the time, top Trump campaigners, including *Mike
   Pence*, were insisting
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=1c340d7a5e&e=222dfb6267>
   that the campaign wasn't "in cahoots" with WikiLeaks. Later, Assange
   apparently lobbied Trump Jr. to get his dad to tell Australia to appoint
   him their ambassador to the US.
   -

   *Life in Facebookistan*: Facebook is now beginning to admit that it may
   have been a platform for Russian-linked meddling in the Brexit vote, *Mark
   di Stefano and Alberto Nardelli* report
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=525b262dd7&e=222dfb6267>
   for Buzzfeed.
   -

   Factcheckers working for third-party journalism organizations that are
   part of Facebook's new initiative to battle misinformation say the effort
   is failing and that their labor is being exploited for a PR campaign, The
   Guardian's *Sam Levin* reports
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=e334a26f45&e=222dfb6267>
   .
   -

   *Money in politics*: New York Governor *Andrew Cuomo*, who has
   presidential aspirations, has the most unusual campaign war-chest in modern
   American politics—it is almost completely bereft of contributions from
   small donors. Over 99% of his $25 million-plus came in donations of over
   $1000, reports
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=d268401019&e=222dfb6267>
*Shane
   Goldmacher* of The New York Times, who quotes a small raft of
   tech-politics veterans—*Michael Whitney, Betsy Hoover, Zephyr Teachout,*
   and (drink!) *Joe Trippi*—who note how anachronous this is. Also,
   Goldmacher notes, for all that money, Cuomo's "website is badly outdated.
   The link to volunteer is broken (the page also currently echoes President
   Trump’s slogan: 'Governor Andrew Cuomo is fighting to make New York great
   again'). People who sign up for email updates do not get a welcome message,
   or any emails at all sometimes for months." (Ya know, that might not be a
   bad thing.)
   -

   *This is civic tech:* Here's a nice explainer
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=20c20b7e98&e=222dfb6267>
   from CitizenLab on some of the differences between civic tech and govtech.
   My favorites: civic tech is centered on citizens as the beneficiary;
   govtech is centered on government as its customer. Civic tech values
   engagement; govtech values efficiency.
   -

   Tech humanism is gaining momentum, writes
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=c33639ce71&e=222dfb6267>
*Rachel
   Coldicutt*, the CEO of DotEveryone in the UK.
   -

   Code for San Jose developers *Yan-Yin Choy, Lorin Camargo and Angelique
   De Castro* reflects
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=18762c448e&e=222dfb6267>
   on participating in last month's first Code for America Brigade Congress.
   -

   VentureBeat's *Anna Hensel *reports
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=4696607a58&e=222dfb6267>
   on former Googler Matt Dunne's efforts to build the Center for Rural
   Innovation's network of innovation hubs across rural America.
   -

   Caring Across Generations is looking to hire an email campaigner
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=ead883e429&e=222dfb6267>
   and a social media manager
   <https://civichall.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=784ac4a90c07e1e7ebbf294d4&id=834d38e4be&e=222dfb6267>
   .

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