Tag: Virtual Private Networks

ICC’s Putin arrest warrant based on State Dept-funded report that debunked itself

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)2 Comments

On March 17, the Prosecutor General of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, introduced an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Llova-Belova. The warrant, which accused Putin and Lolva-Belova of conducting the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children to a “network of camps” across the Russian Federation, inspired a wave of incendiary commentary in the West.

ICC’s Putin arrest warrant based on State Dept-funded report that debunked itself

Related:

YouTube: The Grayzone exposes shoddy ICC warrant against Putin

Senator Warner’s RESTRICT Act Is Designed To Create The Great Firewall Of America

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)2 Comments

from the we-become-what-we-fear dept

Thu, Mar 30th 2023 10:49am – Mike Masnick

Earlier this month, we wrote about Mark Warner’s RESTRICT Act, mainly in the context of how it appeared to be kneejerk legislating in response to the moral panic around TikTok.

Senator Warner’s RESTRICT Act Is Designed To Create The Great Firewall Of America

America with Chinese Characteristics?! /sarcasm

Bill to Ban Tik Tok Would Give Government Sweeping Powers to Crackdown on Tech

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Bill to Ban Tik Tok Would Give Government Sweeping Powers to Crackdown on Tech

A person who violates the act could be fined up to $1 million or punished with up to 20 years in prison. The broad and vague definitions in the legislation caused many to wonder if people could be handed such harsh punishments for using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to get around future government censorship that could come as a result of the bill.

A spokesperson for Warner insisted that the legislation wasn’t designed to target individual users and pointed to the language that says someone “must be engaged in ‘sabotage or subversion’ of American communications technology products and services, creating ‘catastrophic effects’ on US critical infrastructure, or ‘interfering in, or altering the result’ of a federal election, in order to be eligible for any kind of criminal penalty.”

But the bill will give the Commerce Secretary the authority to deem what is considered “sabotage or subversion” or any of the other threats listed above. The legislation has grave implications for civil liberties and could be used against any individuals or tech and media companies the Biden administration, or any future administration would want to target.

Previously:

Tik-Tok bills could dangerously expand national security state

US And EU Nations Request The Most User Data From Tech Companies, Obtain It More Than Two-Thirds Of The Time

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

from the may-as-well-just-be-government-contractors dept

Most tech companies handling data requests from governments now publish transparency reports. As everything moves towards always-online status (including, you know, your fridge), social media platforms and other online services have become the favored targets of government data requests. It just makes sense to look there first rather than out there in the real world, where people (and their communications) are that much more difficult to locate.

US And EU Nations Request The Most User Data From Tech Companies, Obtain It More Than Two-Thirds Of The Time

Ethiopia blocks social media amid Orthodox church tensions

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Ethiopia blocks social media amid Orthodox church tensions:

The religious crisis erupted last month after a group of rebellious ethnic Oromo archbishops formed a breakaway group called the Holy Synod of Oromia in defiance of the church’s highest body or the synod.

The splinter group accuses the church of “maintaining a system of linguistic and cultural hegemony in which congregations in Oromia are not served in their native languages“, an allegation the church denies.

H/T: Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed suspends American big tech

Related:

The Lingering Danger of Google & Facebook

Another schism?! Is the Holy Synod of Oromia supported by the US?! TBD, soon.

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