Category / Freedom of expression

by Crimson Tazvinzwa

What to do if you really want to do something—do it with your whole heart — Motivation & Environment

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One of the greatest sins that we can ever commit on the journey to success is “not doing something wholeheartedly”—not doing something enough—or, not doing something strong enough! Many people lack some necessary zeal and vigor which are two useful servants of faith and unlimited potential or abilities: we don’t do what we know we’re […]

Leicester 2019 Sreet Party

 

via What to do if you really want to do something—do it with your whole heart — Motivation & Environment

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by Crimson Tazvinzwa

Australian Police Raid Public Broadcaster Over Leaked Defense Documents

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ABC Director Craig McMurtrie speaks to the media as Australian police raided the headquarters of the public broadcaster in Sydney on Wednesday. ABC executives said police executed a search warrant targeting three journalists involved in a two-year investigative report.
Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

Australian police raided the headquarters of the public broadcaster in Sydney on Wednesday//CRIMSON TAZVINZWA    

The Australian Federal Police on Wednesday raided the headquarters of the country’s public broadcaster, the ABC, in connection with a story the network broadcast in 2017 detailing misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan.

The plainclothes officers arrived at the network’s offices at about 11:30 a.m., acting on a search warrant authorizing them to look into “allegations of publishing classified material” in relation to the story, “The Afghan Files” that was based on leaked defense ministry documents, the ABC reports.

Fox News

The 2017 report uncovered allegations of unlawful killings of unarmed civilians, including children, and other misconduct by Australian special forces soldiers in Afghanistan. It also quoted from military documents that expressed concern about a deterioration of organizational culture within the elite special forces and a “willingness by officers to turn a blind eye to bad behavior.”

The network says authorities copied hard drives and said “they want[ed] to search through email systems in relation to the people mentioned in the search warrant and were searching ‘data holdings’ between April 2016 and July 2017.”

ABC Managing Director David Anderson said the raid was “highly unusual” and “a serious development and raises legitimate concerns over freedom of the press and proper public scrutiny of national security and Defence matters.”

He said the network would “stand by its journalists, will protect sources and continue to report without fear or favour on national security and intelligence issues when there is a clear public interest.”

The search comes a day after a similar but apparently unrelated AFP raid against News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst in Canberra. Smethurst had reported on “secret plans to allow government spying,” the ABC says.

Marcus Strom, an official with the journalists’ union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, was quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald as saying that police raids against the media were “becoming normalized and it has to stop.”

The raids represent a “disturbing pattern of assaults on Australian press freedom,” Strom told the newspaper.

 

by Crimson Tazvinzwa

What’s the hardest ethical decision you’ve ever had to make?

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A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed on this world; Camus

The human experience can be complex. Tough decisions are part of being human. Sometimes these complex human issues need a human conversation. From choices around birth and death, to those arising within workplaces and communities, our lives are filled with these unpredictable and life-changing challenges.

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by Crimson Tazvinzwa

Amazon faces investor pressure over facial recognition

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Amazon is holding a high stakes shareholder vote on whether or not to limit some of its cutting edge technology, Shareholders hold back their own company because of users’ privacy when they’re offline//Natasha Singer, The New York Times

An image on the Amazon website shows how its Rekognition software works with Chief Executive Jeff Bezos. Facial recognition software is coming… (Amazon via The New York Times) More

Facial recognition software is coming under increasing scrutiny from civil liberties groups and lawmakers. Now Amazon, one of the most visible purveyors of the technology, is facing pressure from another corner as well: its own shareholders.

As part of Amazon’s annual meeting in Seattle today, investors vote on whether the tech giant’s aggressive push to spread the surveillance software threatens civil rights — and, as a consequence, the company’s reputation and profits.

Shareholders have introduced two proposals on facial recognition for a vote. One asks the company to prohibit sales of its facial recognition system, called Amazon Rekognition, to government agencies, unless its board concludes that the technology does not facilitate human rights violations. The other asks the company to commission an independent report examining the extent to which Rekognition may threaten civil, human and privacy rights, and the company’s finances.

“This piece of equipment that Amazon has fostered and developed and is really propagating at this point doesn’t seem to us to be in the best interest of the common good,” said Sister Pat Mahoney, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph, a religious community in Brentwood, New York, that is an Amazon investor and introduced the proposed sales ban. “Facial recognition all over the place just makes everyone live in a police state.”

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The proposals are nonbinding, meaning they do not require the company to take action, even if they receive a majority vote.

Amazon fought to prevent the votes on facial surveillance. In a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission in January, the company said that it was not aware of any reported misuse of Rekognition by law enforcement customers. It also argued that the technology did not present a financial risk because it was just one of the more than 165 services Amazon offered.

The agency disagreed, ultimately requiring Amazon to allow the facial surveillance resolutions to proceed.

In a statement, Amazon said it offered clear guidelines on using Rekognition for public safety — including a recommendation that law enforcement agencies have humans review any possible facial matches suggested by its system. The company added that its customers had used Rekognition for beneficial purposes, including identifying more than 3,000 victims of human trafficking.

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