Axios (10/31/23) reported that in a two-week period, TikTok saw “nearly four times the number of views to TikTok posts using the hashtag #StandwithPalestine globally compared to posts using the hashtag #StandwithIsrael.” As a result, the conservative outrage machine kicked into high gear.
‘Free Speech’ Fans Call for Censoring TikTok as Chinese Plot to Make Israel Look Bad
Tag: FCC
Watch: ABC News Admits It Censored RFK Jr. Interview For “False Claims About Covid-19 Vaccines”
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr Continues To Enjoy Oodles Of Free Press For Fear Mongering About TikTok
The great TikTok moral panic of 2023 shows no sign of slowing down.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr Continues To Enjoy Oodles Of Free Press For Fear Mongering About TikTok
Whoops: Congress Failed To Actually Fund Efforts To “Rip And Replace” Chinese Telecom Gear From U.S. Networks
You might recall that the FCC under both Trump and Biden has made a big deal about forcing U.S. telecoms to rip out Huawei gear from their networks, under the allegation that the gear is used to spy on Americans (you’re to ignore, of course, that the United States spies on everyone, constantly, and has broadly supported backdooring all manner of sensitive telecom products globally).
Whoops: Congress Failed To Actually Fund Efforts To “Rip And Replace” Chinese Telecom Gear From U.S. Networks
US military ends search for balloons shot down over Alaska and Lake Huron
Military says objects are thought to have landed in difficult terrain, after hobbyists suggested one could belong to them.
US military ends search for balloons shot down over Alaska and Lake Huron
Most likely, we’ll never know if they really did shoot down a pico balloon. They’re too embarrassed.
Related:
Did an F-22 shoot down an Illinois hobby group’s small radio balloon?
A military spokesperson tells NPR it’s their understanding that the FBI has spoken to the hobbyist group in question — the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, based just north of Chicago — in an apparent attempt to determine whether their small balloon might have inadvertently caused a big ruckus.
…
When the prediction showed K9YO-15 heading from Alaska over the Yukon, [Dan] Bowen said, “we really hoped it wouldn’t be intercepted. But we knew the moment that the intercept was reported, whose it was and which one it was.”
Asked if he believes the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade’s balloon was shot down, Bowen didn’t hesitate.
“Yes. Absolutely,” he said. “You know, I would say with 98% certainty.”
[2019] US military begins testing flying surveillance balloons across the country to TRACK people’s movements
The tests were carried out by U.S. Southern Command, or Southcom, which is part of the Department of Defense and is responsible for intelligence operations, security cooperation and disaster response in Central and South America. It’s a joint effort by the U.S. Air Force, Navy, Army and other forces whose main task is finding and intercepting drug shipments that are destined for the U.S. According to the Guardian, as many as 25 unmanned solar powered balloons were launched from rural South Dakota and made their way 250 miles across the neighboring states in tests.
Related:
Stratollites can maintain position over specific areas of interest for days, weeks, and eventually months on end. This allows for more sustained measurements and monitoring capabilities over a targeted area. Stratollites can carry a wide variety of commercial payloads (sensors, telescopes, communications arrays, etc.), launch rapidly on demand, and safely return payloads back to earth after mission completion.
Some interesting ‘coincidences’:
Read More »Three seconds of audio could end up costing Fox $500,000
And that, kids, is why we don’t play the Emergency Alert System tone on TV
Three seconds of audio could end up costing Fox $500,000
H/T: Steve Lehto
Josh Hawley Wants In On The TikTok Moral Panic Attention, Proposes Nationwide Ban
Insurrectionist sprinter Josh Hawley has joined the growing chorus of GOP politicians who’ve spent years doing jack shit about U.S. consumer privacy abuses, and now want to pretend that banning a single app — TikTok — will protect American consumers from a problem they themselves created.
Josh Hawley Wants In On The TikTok Moral Panic Attention, Proposes Nationwide Ban
State TikTok Bans Are A Dumb Performance And Don’t Fix The Actual Underlying Problem
For decades, U.S. politicians leaders utterly refused to support most meaningful privacy protections for consumers. They opposed any nationwide privacy law, however straightforward. They opposed privacy rules for broadband ISPs. They also fought tooth and nail to ensure the nation’s top privacy enforcement agency, the FTC, lacked the authority, staff, funds, or resources to actually do its job.
State TikTok Bans Are A Dumb Performance And Don’t Fix The Actual Underlying Problem
South Dakota Bans Government Employees From Using TikTok. The Countless Other Apps And Services That Hoover Up And Sell Sensitive Data Are Fine, Though
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem put on a bit of a performance this week by announcing that the state would be banning government employees from installing TikTok on their phones. The effort, according to the Governor, is supposed to counter the national security risk of TikTok sharing consumer data with the Chinese government:
South Dakota Bans Government Employees From Using TikTok. The Countless Other Apps And Services That Hoover Up And Sell Sensitive Data Are Fine, Though
Related:
Oracle Cloud Data Center Locations
Oracle’s coziness with [US] government goes back to its founding
TikTok is such a danger, to national security, that US politicians have used it for campaigning, a tool of war propaganda, and former NATO employees work for them! Besides, TikTok stores user data with Oracle! This moral panic, over TikTok, is all about competition!
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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