User blogs
We also create ‘own-label’ products that can be sold and distributed
under your own brand. Creating the perfect candle can take time – we can
help you manage the project from start to finish by sourcing packaging
and glassware, sampling and testing to ensure your candle burns
beautifully, smells great and enhances any home.
We already work with organisations such as the Royal British Legion, as well as many retailers, hotels, spas and individuals.We can offer a complete own label service or supply free issue and fill to your requirements.Private label candles
The services we can offer include:
Design & Development
Our team can work with you and your ideas to create a scent that your customers will be able to remember you by. We can advise you on fragrance trends, product design and retail packaging. If you are still struggling for ideas we are happy to suggest our In-house fragrances that have already been tested. We can provide various options and finishes on candle jars, diffuser bottles and candle tins. These can be ‘branded’ to your specifications by bespoke labelling or screen printing onto clear, frosted or spray painted jars.
Creation & Production
We are able to offer various wax blends according to your specifications. We specialise in using high quality natural sourced waxes which include Soy, PHC’s unique blend of coconut & beeswax as well as natural/mineral blends.
We carry out extensive in house testing to ensure all elements work in harmony to produce the perfect candle. We can also advise on CLP labelling to ensure your products meets with the latest legislation.All our candles and diffusers are made on site. So this enables our team to monitor and check every stage of manufacture. Every product has traceability and our quality control is second to none.
Packaging & Distribution
We can provide bespoke packaging options to enable your products to be presented with a premium and high quality finish and boxed ready for distribution.
We already work with organisations such as the Royal British Legion, as well as many retailers, hotels, spas and individuals.We can offer a complete own label service or supply free issue and fill to your requirements.Private label candles
The services we can offer include:
Design & Development
Our team can work with you and your ideas to create a scent that your customers will be able to remember you by. We can advise you on fragrance trends, product design and retail packaging. If you are still struggling for ideas we are happy to suggest our In-house fragrances that have already been tested. We can provide various options and finishes on candle jars, diffuser bottles and candle tins. These can be ‘branded’ to your specifications by bespoke labelling or screen printing onto clear, frosted or spray painted jars.
Creation & Production
We are able to offer various wax blends according to your specifications. We specialise in using high quality natural sourced waxes which include Soy, PHC’s unique blend of coconut & beeswax as well as natural/mineral blends.
We carry out extensive in house testing to ensure all elements work in harmony to produce the perfect candle. We can also advise on CLP labelling to ensure your products meets with the latest legislation.All our candles and diffusers are made on site. So this enables our team to monitor and check every stage of manufacture. Every product has traceability and our quality control is second to none.
Packaging & Distribution
We can provide bespoke packaging options to enable your products to be presented with a premium and high quality finish and boxed ready for distribution.
On November 18, the press conference of the “Global Design Competition
of Intelligent Life”, jointly organized by the Jinghai District People’s
Government of Tianjin, PRC., the Industrial Culture Development Center
of MIIT of China, the Tianjin Municipal Committee Cyberspace Office,
China, and the Tianjin Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information
Technology of China, was held at the China National Convention Center in
Beijing, signifying that the Competition is officially launched to
accept entries worldwide.living in tianjin
With the theme “5G Intelligence Drawing Smart Life”, the “Global Design Competition of Intelligent Life” Jinghai Tianjin of China aims to present the Family Apartment area of the Jinghai Intelligent Industrial Park in Tianjin as a space for the application of 5G intelligent life. Following the key idea of “green, shared, interconnected, and innovative” design, a win-win and sharing platform is created by virtue of the Competition for the communication and cooperation associated with intelligent life to satisfy the needs of high-level talents in the innovation and business starting field for their family life in the future, and promote the extensive integration of intelligent technology into their everyday life. Additionally, a community will be fostered as an example of intelligent life to lead its development in China and then win a global reputation, so as to make Jinghai Tianjin of China an industrial demonstration district for intelligent life in the world.
The task list for the Competition contains 28 design tasks in three categories – namely, intelligent community building design, intelligent design, and operational mode design. The Competition receives the intelligent life solutions submitted by the world-renowned architectural design studios and intelligent life solution providers, and encourages the application of innovative ideas and digital technology in the design while keeping good predictability, scalability, iteration and operability, and highlighting easy application, easy identification, and security. Meanwhile, investment estimation and cost effectiveness are significant factors considered in the review of entries. The Competition is divided into three stages, including entry registration, qualification review, and final review. It is expected to organize the final review in the middle of April 2020, and hold the award ceremony of the “Global Design Competition of Intelligent Life” to present 1 first prize, 2 second prizes, and 3 third prizes. A recognition award will be granted to the design teams of the other entries in the final.
As one of the 5G pilot cities in China, Tianjin has held the Global Intelligent Competition for three consecutive years since 2017. In this way, it is embracing the new era of intelligence, developing the new economy of intelligence, and nurturing the new life of intelligence with its vanguard arms stretched out wider, so as to speed up the development of “Tianjin Intelligent Port”.
Abutting Xiong’an New Area and Binhai New Area (Tianjin), Jinghai District of Tianjin City is a great place for investment and development thanks to its unique geographical location and advantageous resources. In recent years, Jinghai District is thoroughly implementing and carrying out the Development Planning of the State Council for a New Generation of Artificial Intelligence and the related requirements of Tianjin Municipal Committee and Municipal Government for the construction of intelligent city. Relying on the Jinghai Intelligent Industrial Park, it is dedicated to developing a new highland, a high-end clustering area, and an application demonstration area for global intelligent industry, so that the economy will be stimulated by intelligence.
With the theme “5G Intelligence Drawing Smart Life”, the “Global Design Competition of Intelligent Life” Jinghai Tianjin of China aims to present the Family Apartment area of the Jinghai Intelligent Industrial Park in Tianjin as a space for the application of 5G intelligent life. Following the key idea of “green, shared, interconnected, and innovative” design, a win-win and sharing platform is created by virtue of the Competition for the communication and cooperation associated with intelligent life to satisfy the needs of high-level talents in the innovation and business starting field for their family life in the future, and promote the extensive integration of intelligent technology into their everyday life. Additionally, a community will be fostered as an example of intelligent life to lead its development in China and then win a global reputation, so as to make Jinghai Tianjin of China an industrial demonstration district for intelligent life in the world.
The task list for the Competition contains 28 design tasks in three categories – namely, intelligent community building design, intelligent design, and operational mode design. The Competition receives the intelligent life solutions submitted by the world-renowned architectural design studios and intelligent life solution providers, and encourages the application of innovative ideas and digital technology in the design while keeping good predictability, scalability, iteration and operability, and highlighting easy application, easy identification, and security. Meanwhile, investment estimation and cost effectiveness are significant factors considered in the review of entries. The Competition is divided into three stages, including entry registration, qualification review, and final review. It is expected to organize the final review in the middle of April 2020, and hold the award ceremony of the “Global Design Competition of Intelligent Life” to present 1 first prize, 2 second prizes, and 3 third prizes. A recognition award will be granted to the design teams of the other entries in the final.
As one of the 5G pilot cities in China, Tianjin has held the Global Intelligent Competition for three consecutive years since 2017. In this way, it is embracing the new era of intelligence, developing the new economy of intelligence, and nurturing the new life of intelligence with its vanguard arms stretched out wider, so as to speed up the development of “Tianjin Intelligent Port”.
Abutting Xiong’an New Area and Binhai New Area (Tianjin), Jinghai District of Tianjin City is a great place for investment and development thanks to its unique geographical location and advantageous resources. In recent years, Jinghai District is thoroughly implementing and carrying out the Development Planning of the State Council for a New Generation of Artificial Intelligence and the related requirements of Tianjin Municipal Committee and Municipal Government for the construction of intelligent city. Relying on the Jinghai Intelligent Industrial Park, it is dedicated to developing a new highland, a high-end clustering area, and an application demonstration area for global intelligent industry, so that the economy will be stimulated by intelligence.
Amidst an explosion of British-based private and international schools
in China, the government is clamping down on their selection processes.Shanghai international school admission
Accusing schools of “creaming off” the best of students, Chinese education providers will soon be required to pick students for admission based on a lottery system.
Zheng Fuzhi, China’s Deputy Education Minister, announced the new guidelines as part of China’s plans to improve the quality of public education.
According to SixthOne, “Both public and private schools in the compulsory education system should start their enrollment processes at the same time, and private schools should select students through a random computerized system if applications exceed quotas.”
Richard Gaskell, Director of International Education Analysts at ISC Research, reportedly said at the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference of leading fee-paying schools in the UK that “There is a backlash against the rapid increase in private schools in China, particularly from the big public schools where it’s perceived that they have been simply creaming off the best kids.”
He also advised that international schools should put their expansion plans on hold until the full effect of the changes next spring can be seen.
However, Gaskell said that international schools should not be deterred from opening up new branches in China as there is still a huge demand.
He said, “There is a deep desire amongst the wealthy, middle class and young Chinese parents for a Western style of education.”
Accusing schools of “creaming off” the best of students, Chinese education providers will soon be required to pick students for admission based on a lottery system.
Zheng Fuzhi, China’s Deputy Education Minister, announced the new guidelines as part of China’s plans to improve the quality of public education.
According to SixthOne, “Both public and private schools in the compulsory education system should start their enrollment processes at the same time, and private schools should select students through a random computerized system if applications exceed quotas.”
Richard Gaskell, Director of International Education Analysts at ISC Research, reportedly said at the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference of leading fee-paying schools in the UK that “There is a backlash against the rapid increase in private schools in China, particularly from the big public schools where it’s perceived that they have been simply creaming off the best kids.”
He also advised that international schools should put their expansion plans on hold until the full effect of the changes next spring can be seen.
However, Gaskell said that international schools should not be deterred from opening up new branches in China as there is still a huge demand.
He said, “There is a deep desire amongst the wealthy, middle class and young Chinese parents for a Western style of education.”
Monkeys in India apparently can’t tell a tiger from a dog made to look
like a tiger — or at least that is what one farmer claims.To get more news about farmer painting, you can visit shine news official website.
The farmer, identified as Srikanth Gowda, said he has been able to protect his coffee crop from monkeys by painting his pet dog Bulbul with black stripes, an Indian news outlet reports.
“I now take Bulbul to the fields twice a day — in the morning and evening,” Gowda told Asian News International in a report Monday. “I have seen them running away at the sight of the dog. The monkeys now refrain from entering my plantations.”
ANI posted images of the tiger-looking Bulbul on Twitter.
Gowda, who grows coffee in Thirthahalli in the state of Karnataka, turned to the dog after failing to scare off the monkeys with stuffed tiger toys, ANI reported.
“But, in the long run, the color of the toy used to fade and the monkeys would return to damaging the crop,” he said, according to ANI.The news outlet quoted Gowda’s daughter as saying that other farmers in the village are now copying her father and painting their dogs to look like tigers.
Monkeys in India apparently can’t tell a tiger from a dog made to look like a tiger -- or at least that is what one farmer claims.
The farmer, identified as Srikanth Gowda, said he has been able to protect his coffee crop from monkeys by painting his pet dog Bulbul with black stripes, an Indian news outlet reports.“I now take Bulbul to the fields twice a day -- in the morning and evening,” Gowda told Asian News International in a report Monday. “I have seen them running away at the sight of the dog. The monkeys now refrain from entering my plantations.”
Gowda, who grows coffee in Thirthahalli in the state of Karnataka, turned to the dog after failing to scare off the monkeys with stuffed tiger toys, ANI reported.
“But, in the long run, the color of the toy used to fade and the monkeys would return to damaging the crop,” he said, according to ANI.
The farmer, identified as Srikanth Gowda, said he has been able to protect his coffee crop from monkeys by painting his pet dog Bulbul with black stripes, an Indian news outlet reports.
“I now take Bulbul to the fields twice a day — in the morning and evening,” Gowda told Asian News International in a report Monday. “I have seen them running away at the sight of the dog. The monkeys now refrain from entering my plantations.”
ANI posted images of the tiger-looking Bulbul on Twitter.
Gowda, who grows coffee in Thirthahalli in the state of Karnataka, turned to the dog after failing to scare off the monkeys with stuffed tiger toys, ANI reported.
“But, in the long run, the color of the toy used to fade and the monkeys would return to damaging the crop,” he said, according to ANI.The news outlet quoted Gowda’s daughter as saying that other farmers in the village are now copying her father and painting their dogs to look like tigers.
Monkeys in India apparently can’t tell a tiger from a dog made to look like a tiger -- or at least that is what one farmer claims.
The farmer, identified as Srikanth Gowda, said he has been able to protect his coffee crop from monkeys by painting his pet dog Bulbul with black stripes, an Indian news outlet reports.“I now take Bulbul to the fields twice a day -- in the morning and evening,” Gowda told Asian News International in a report Monday. “I have seen them running away at the sight of the dog. The monkeys now refrain from entering my plantations.”
Gowda, who grows coffee in Thirthahalli in the state of Karnataka, turned to the dog after failing to scare off the monkeys with stuffed tiger toys, ANI reported.
“But, in the long run, the color of the toy used to fade and the monkeys would return to damaging the crop,” he said, according to ANI.
Peach trees (Prunus persica) bloom in the spring in U.S. Department of
Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5b through 8b. Although they are
desirable for their sweet, juicy fruit and attractive blossoms, they are
prone to problems caused by insect pest infestations and diseases,
including common fungal diseases. Still, the tasty fruit and attractive
appearance of the tree makes it an appealing choice for dedicated home
gardeners.To get more news about peach flower, you can visit shine news official website.
Peach trees blossom in early spring. The flowers appear and open well before the leaves. The bright flowers, coupled with the tree's dark bark, make for a striking contrast in appearance. Depending on the climate, the buds may appear any time between early March to mid-April.
Peach blossom flowers range in color from very light pink -- which can appear almost white or gray -- to red and lavender, depending on the cultivar. Each single blossom is about 1 inch in diameter with five petals surrounding the center. Some are quite large and showy, while others are much smaller with edges that curve inward.
Each flower blooms singly or in pairs on short stalks called peduncles. They are usually clustered close together, so it may appear as if they bloom in groups rather than on single stems. Each flower pollinates itself before the bud even opens -- a process called cleistogamy. The ovary and stamens, which are surrounded by a structure called the hypanthium, protrude from the flower at the same level as the petals rather than being tucked deep down inside the flower. The inner flesh of the hypanthium reflects the eventual color of the flesh of the peaches.
The peach blossom flower was voted in as a symbol of Delaware on March 9th, 1895, but it was not adopted as the actual state flower until 58 years later. This was triggered by the fact that Delaware was often called the "peach state" due to its large amounts of peach tree orchards, which at their peak contained a combined amount of over 800,000 peach trees.
Peach trees blossom in early spring. The flowers appear and open well before the leaves. The bright flowers, coupled with the tree's dark bark, make for a striking contrast in appearance. Depending on the climate, the buds may appear any time between early March to mid-April.
Peach blossom flowers range in color from very light pink -- which can appear almost white or gray -- to red and lavender, depending on the cultivar. Each single blossom is about 1 inch in diameter with five petals surrounding the center. Some are quite large and showy, while others are much smaller with edges that curve inward.
Each flower blooms singly or in pairs on short stalks called peduncles. They are usually clustered close together, so it may appear as if they bloom in groups rather than on single stems. Each flower pollinates itself before the bud even opens -- a process called cleistogamy. The ovary and stamens, which are surrounded by a structure called the hypanthium, protrude from the flower at the same level as the petals rather than being tucked deep down inside the flower. The inner flesh of the hypanthium reflects the eventual color of the flesh of the peaches.
The peach blossom flower was voted in as a symbol of Delaware on March 9th, 1895, but it was not adopted as the actual state flower until 58 years later. This was triggered by the fact that Delaware was often called the "peach state" due to its large amounts of peach tree orchards, which at their peak contained a combined amount of over 800,000 peach trees.
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” so the old adage goes. Today,
with virtually all photos taken digitally and in higher quality, they
hold more information than ever before.
There’s a lot that we can glean from photos at face value: Who’s in it, what’s happening, and where. But with photos taken at higher definition, and on devices that track your location, people can learn more about your photo—and you—than perhaps you might want them to.
What can people find out from your photos?
Last year we wrote about a data experiment in which millions of cat images on hosting sites like Twitpic and Instagram were pinned on a map along with each cat’s location, determined from the latitude and longitude coordinates in the photos’ metadata. If it can be done with cats, it can be done with people, too.
When your geotagging settings are turned on in your camera or camera app, the photos you take will have location data included in their metadata, down to the exact latitude and longitude. Anyone who has access to your photos can retrieve the metadata with little difficulty and can determine where you were when you took the photo.
And with the quality of photos are becoming clearer with each new phone model, the task of stealing your biometric data is getting a little bit easier, in particular when it comes to your fingerprints. Real-world examples of identity theft using photos of fingers are virtually nonexistent, but in theory someone with an image of your fingerprint would be able to get into your phone that used fingerprint authentication.
Lastly, and perhaps most alarmingly, a stalker once found a celebrity’s home through the reflection in her eyes alone and attacked her. While this is incredibly rare, it is still an example of how photos can give away information in the most unexpected ways.
How to make your photos more private
1. Strip the metadata
Each photo taken on your device contains Exchangeable Image File (EXIF) data, which specifies the formatting of the photo as well as other details of the image like location data.
The easiest way to remove this metadata is to disable geotagging on your devices to stop them from being tracked in the first place (iOS, Android).
If your photos have location data attached to them, you can remove it retroactively via free and open-source programs. If you store your photos on Google photos, you can remove the location by simply flipping a toggle in its Settings.
Read more about why you should remove metadata.
2. Make your photos harder to access
If your photos are already uploaded online and you don’t want to take them down, you can limit who can access them. Review the privacy settings of your accounts and albums that you upload to, and restrict access to the ones you don’t want everyone to see. Start with changing your privacy settings on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
3. Refrain from posting sensitive photos, or remove them altogether
Before you upload a photo, take a second to review the information that’s in the photo, from location data and people in the photos to identifiable information (for example, your #boardingpass). Is this information you want everyone following you to know?
Reducing, if not removing, photos with sensitive information altogether can also reduce the chances of someone figuring out where you are. It may be a bummer, but the only way to effectively stop people from following you more closely than you want is to stop posting or remove photos, or privatize already public photos.
Remove, restrict, and reduce
Removing location metadata, restricting access to your account, and reducing the number of photos you post on your accounts is good practice for anyone who wants to take more control over who can see what they post online, and the information that’s tucked in the metadata.
When comes to the issue of online privacy and security, we suggest to use a VPN, and our recommendation is RitaVPN. RitaVPN is a relatively new VPN service, but it’s already making a name for itself，which makes it one of the best VPN in 2019.VPN download
Qwer432
www.buyvpns.net/ www.buyvpnservices.com/ www.fastexpressvpn.com/
There’s a lot that we can glean from photos at face value: Who’s in it, what’s happening, and where. But with photos taken at higher definition, and on devices that track your location, people can learn more about your photo—and you—than perhaps you might want them to.
What can people find out from your photos?
Last year we wrote about a data experiment in which millions of cat images on hosting sites like Twitpic and Instagram were pinned on a map along with each cat’s location, determined from the latitude and longitude coordinates in the photos’ metadata. If it can be done with cats, it can be done with people, too.
When your geotagging settings are turned on in your camera or camera app, the photos you take will have location data included in their metadata, down to the exact latitude and longitude. Anyone who has access to your photos can retrieve the metadata with little difficulty and can determine where you were when you took the photo.
And with the quality of photos are becoming clearer with each new phone model, the task of stealing your biometric data is getting a little bit easier, in particular when it comes to your fingerprints. Real-world examples of identity theft using photos of fingers are virtually nonexistent, but in theory someone with an image of your fingerprint would be able to get into your phone that used fingerprint authentication.
Lastly, and perhaps most alarmingly, a stalker once found a celebrity’s home through the reflection in her eyes alone and attacked her. While this is incredibly rare, it is still an example of how photos can give away information in the most unexpected ways.
How to make your photos more private
1. Strip the metadata
Each photo taken on your device contains Exchangeable Image File (EXIF) data, which specifies the formatting of the photo as well as other details of the image like location data.
The easiest way to remove this metadata is to disable geotagging on your devices to stop them from being tracked in the first place (iOS, Android).
If your photos have location data attached to them, you can remove it retroactively via free and open-source programs. If you store your photos on Google photos, you can remove the location by simply flipping a toggle in its Settings.
Read more about why you should remove metadata.
2. Make your photos harder to access
If your photos are already uploaded online and you don’t want to take them down, you can limit who can access them. Review the privacy settings of your accounts and albums that you upload to, and restrict access to the ones you don’t want everyone to see. Start with changing your privacy settings on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
3. Refrain from posting sensitive photos, or remove them altogether
Before you upload a photo, take a second to review the information that’s in the photo, from location data and people in the photos to identifiable information (for example, your #boardingpass). Is this information you want everyone following you to know?
Reducing, if not removing, photos with sensitive information altogether can also reduce the chances of someone figuring out where you are. It may be a bummer, but the only way to effectively stop people from following you more closely than you want is to stop posting or remove photos, or privatize already public photos.
Remove, restrict, and reduce
Removing location metadata, restricting access to your account, and reducing the number of photos you post on your accounts is good practice for anyone who wants to take more control over who can see what they post online, and the information that’s tucked in the metadata.
When comes to the issue of online privacy and security, we suggest to use a VPN, and our recommendation is RitaVPN. RitaVPN is a relatively new VPN service, but it’s already making a name for itself，which makes it one of the best VPN in 2019.VPN download
Qwer432
www.buyvpns.net/ www.buyvpnservices.com/ www.fastexpressvpn.com/
Your devices are rating you. Behave accordingly.
Chances are you’ve seen “Nosedive,” the infamous Black Mirror episode depicting a world in which ordinary people rate each other on the basis of their social interactions. On the popular show—which takes aim at the pervasive nature of technology in our lives and paints a dystopian picture of the future—these ratings feed back into a comprehensive algorithm, computing individual social credit scores that determine socioeconomic status.
In this fictitious world, having a low score prevents you from going about your everyday life. You can’t rent a car, book a hotel, or pay for flights.
But this story hits alarmingly close to home for those subject to China’s evolving social credit system. Built to replicate the Western model of financial credit scores, the Chinese system works in a similar fashion except it rewards good behavior (and punishes bad) beyond just timely debt repayments.
It’s easy to admonish a state for wielding outsize influence over the behavior of its citizens. But that would be missing a key point. The broader force making this unique social credit model possible in the first place is the proliferation of facial scanners, digital devices, machine-learning algorithms, and big data models. They are here to stay and becoming more intelligent over time.
Surveillance is a dark and mysterious force
Technology has the ability to fundamentally transform our social contracts and could, perhaps, lead to an elimination of the nation state in its current form.
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re not a fan of surveillance. You value your privacy and you’d rather the government not know what you’re doing 24/7. But that’s because we have the choice (some of us, at least) to live in a world where our rights, to some degree, are respected.
How would our behavior change if we lived inside a panopticon? Born from the writings of British philosopher Jeremy Bentham, a panopticon refers to a building featuring an observation tower in the centre of a circle of prison cells.
A panopticon is supposed to drive home the perception that your actions could be monitored at any time. Every prisoner looking out of their prison cell is able to see the central observation tower. There’s no way of reliably knowing whether a guard is looking at them at the same instant, but there’s no way of avoiding it either.
Bentham believed in the notion that power should be visible yet dark and mysterious. He argued that an individual’s relationship with society depended on it: Through surveillance, we’d be forced to conform to societal norms in terms of ethics, morals, and attitudes towards work.
Social credits are already here
Bentham died in the early 19th century, but his work and ideas live on. And while the panopticon as a behavior enforcement model didn’t really get off the ground, we can certainly argue that it’s only the tools that are different.
Let’s take Uber ratings, for example. The company confirmed earlier this year that it would start banning riders with low ratings. Drivers with low ratings face similar repercussions: They can’t drive for Uber Black in some states, and they could receive fewer ride requests.
The message here is simple yet direct: Be polite, friendly, or get cut off. If that’s not behavior control, I don’t know what is.
And this is far from the only manifestation of technology altering our lifestyle choices. Insurance companies want your Fitbit data so they can check how healthy you are and, potentially, adjust your premiums. Smart toothbrushes are beaming data back to your dental provider, so if you don’t brush your teeth often enough, get ready to cough up more cash.
We’ve come to rely on these models, too. Would you ever buy a product from an eBay seller with a low rating? How often do you read reviews online before trying a new service?
Of course, each of these examples reflects only a small area of monitoring, not the broad stroke taken by a government-run social credit system. But this seeming restraint exists, for the most part, because technology companies have been operating within their limited scopes. If all these data points were welded together, it could fuel a similarly wide-sweeping monitoring system.
It’s a moral quandary. Our addiction to technology and the data points we’re willing to give up make algorithms smarter and tech companies richer. While it’s easy to complain about a lack of privacy, the fact is that technology will only serve us better when it knows more about us. It’s a virtuous or vicious cycle, depending on how you look at it.
There’s a term for it too: surveillance capitalism, coined by Shoshana Zuboff of Harvard Business School.
Is privacy an inevitable casualty of technology?
As social credit systems proliferate throughout society, what’s the use of the state? Centralized forces to uphold liberty and guarantee fundamental rights are essential for societies—or are they? If we know that the devices in our pockets are capable of recording everyday actions, wouldn’t that automatically lead to behavioral changes?
Is anarchism the next major social movement? It’s certainly possible, according to professor Andreas Wittel, who argues that “digital technologies might open up new possibilities for large-scale forms of anarchist organization.”
Many of us are aware of the privacy risks associated with technology. Yet we ask Alexa to buy us stuff and Siri to check driving routes. We play our music on Spotify, order our food through Uber Eats, and split our checks via Venmo.
Technology is here to stay and privacy concerns won’t wipe it off the map. The question we should grapple with is whether it will continue to serve us, or will it eventually be the other way around?
When comes to the issue of online privacy and security, we suggest to use a unblock websites, and our recommendation is RitaVPN. RitaVPN is a relatively new VPN service, but it’s already making a name for itself，which makes it one of the best VPN in 2019.
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Chances are you’ve seen “Nosedive,” the infamous Black Mirror episode depicting a world in which ordinary people rate each other on the basis of their social interactions. On the popular show—which takes aim at the pervasive nature of technology in our lives and paints a dystopian picture of the future—these ratings feed back into a comprehensive algorithm, computing individual social credit scores that determine socioeconomic status.
In this fictitious world, having a low score prevents you from going about your everyday life. You can’t rent a car, book a hotel, or pay for flights.
But this story hits alarmingly close to home for those subject to China’s evolving social credit system. Built to replicate the Western model of financial credit scores, the Chinese system works in a similar fashion except it rewards good behavior (and punishes bad) beyond just timely debt repayments.
It’s easy to admonish a state for wielding outsize influence over the behavior of its citizens. But that would be missing a key point. The broader force making this unique social credit model possible in the first place is the proliferation of facial scanners, digital devices, machine-learning algorithms, and big data models. They are here to stay and becoming more intelligent over time.
Surveillance is a dark and mysterious force
Technology has the ability to fundamentally transform our social contracts and could, perhaps, lead to an elimination of the nation state in its current form.
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re not a fan of surveillance. You value your privacy and you’d rather the government not know what you’re doing 24/7. But that’s because we have the choice (some of us, at least) to live in a world where our rights, to some degree, are respected.
How would our behavior change if we lived inside a panopticon? Born from the writings of British philosopher Jeremy Bentham, a panopticon refers to a building featuring an observation tower in the centre of a circle of prison cells.
A panopticon is supposed to drive home the perception that your actions could be monitored at any time. Every prisoner looking out of their prison cell is able to see the central observation tower. There’s no way of reliably knowing whether a guard is looking at them at the same instant, but there’s no way of avoiding it either.
Bentham believed in the notion that power should be visible yet dark and mysterious. He argued that an individual’s relationship with society depended on it: Through surveillance, we’d be forced to conform to societal norms in terms of ethics, morals, and attitudes towards work.
Social credits are already here
Bentham died in the early 19th century, but his work and ideas live on. And while the panopticon as a behavior enforcement model didn’t really get off the ground, we can certainly argue that it’s only the tools that are different.
Let’s take Uber ratings, for example. The company confirmed earlier this year that it would start banning riders with low ratings. Drivers with low ratings face similar repercussions: They can’t drive for Uber Black in some states, and they could receive fewer ride requests.
The message here is simple yet direct: Be polite, friendly, or get cut off. If that’s not behavior control, I don’t know what is.
And this is far from the only manifestation of technology altering our lifestyle choices. Insurance companies want your Fitbit data so they can check how healthy you are and, potentially, adjust your premiums. Smart toothbrushes are beaming data back to your dental provider, so if you don’t brush your teeth often enough, get ready to cough up more cash.
We’ve come to rely on these models, too. Would you ever buy a product from an eBay seller with a low rating? How often do you read reviews online before trying a new service?
Of course, each of these examples reflects only a small area of monitoring, not the broad stroke taken by a government-run social credit system. But this seeming restraint exists, for the most part, because technology companies have been operating within their limited scopes. If all these data points were welded together, it could fuel a similarly wide-sweeping monitoring system.
It’s a moral quandary. Our addiction to technology and the data points we’re willing to give up make algorithms smarter and tech companies richer. While it’s easy to complain about a lack of privacy, the fact is that technology will only serve us better when it knows more about us. It’s a virtuous or vicious cycle, depending on how you look at it.
There’s a term for it too: surveillance capitalism, coined by Shoshana Zuboff of Harvard Business School.
Is privacy an inevitable casualty of technology?
As social credit systems proliferate throughout society, what’s the use of the state? Centralized forces to uphold liberty and guarantee fundamental rights are essential for societies—or are they? If we know that the devices in our pockets are capable of recording everyday actions, wouldn’t that automatically lead to behavioral changes?
Is anarchism the next major social movement? It’s certainly possible, according to professor Andreas Wittel, who argues that “digital technologies might open up new possibilities for large-scale forms of anarchist organization.”
Many of us are aware of the privacy risks associated with technology. Yet we ask Alexa to buy us stuff and Siri to check driving routes. We play our music on Spotify, order our food through Uber Eats, and split our checks via Venmo.
Technology is here to stay and privacy concerns won’t wipe it off the map. The question we should grapple with is whether it will continue to serve us, or will it eventually be the other way around?
When comes to the issue of online privacy and security, we suggest to use a unblock websites, and our recommendation is RitaVPN. RitaVPN is a relatively new VPN service, but it’s already making a name for itself，which makes it one of the best VPN in 2019.
Qwer432
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Want to trade crypto? Here are the top 5 exchanges to try your hand
To buy Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, you have multiple options. You can go to a Bitcoin ATM, accept them as payments for your goods and services, buy them peer-to-peer or from a brokerage. The most popular option for most is to head to a cryptocurrency exchange. Not all exchanges are used to buy Bitcoin with fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar or the euro. Some exchanges are primarily used to trade Bitcoin back and forth for short-term profits. This is very risky but, similar to online gambling, can be a fun and entertaining way of losing your money.
With the hundreds of crypto exchanges currently in existence, which one is right for you?
Cryptocurrency exchanges are magnets for hackers and fraud. Around 1 billion USD was pilfered from cryptocurrency exchanges in 2018, so a little research into crypto exchanges could go a long way to avoid using an exchange that loses your money (you want to lose your money yourself, after all).
What’s more, not all exchanges are created equal. Exchanges differ in features and coins available for trading. Some offer margins and futures, while others trade hundreds of obscure tokens with small market capitalizations. Others may only accept a handful of popular fiat currencies, such as U.S. dollars, or trade entirely in crypto itself.
Some other things worth looking out for are average daily volumes: A high number of trades exudes confidence in the exchange and shows liquidity. The percentage of funds in “cold wallets” is another factor—these are funds stored offline, making them more difficult to hack.
Let’s take a closer look at the top crypto exchanges. But before you start trading, make yourself familiar with your country’s local tax laws. In many places, such as the U.S. or Europe, each purchase or sale of Bitcoin, even against another cryptocurrency, constitutes a “taxable event,” meaning you need to separately declare it and compute capital gains taxes. For hundreds of trades per day, this can be very difficult and expensive!
Many cryptocurrency exchanges operate outside of a clear regulatory framework. While exchanges in the U.S. and Europe will report all your activities to your local tax authorities, offshore platforms might find themselves at odds with the law at any point and be shut down, together with any funds you may have deposited there.
1. Coinbase Pro
Coinbase, headquartered in San Francisco, is a mature player in the crypto space, having been around since 2012. It’s great for beginner users, works in over 100 countries, and accepts a range of fiat currencies including U.S. dollars.
At the time of writing, the exchange has never fallen victim to a hacking attempt—no mean feat given the sophistication of crypto heists. In August, it published a blog post detailing how it was able to rebuff a highly advanced attack.
Coinbase Pro stores 98% of its funds in a cold wallet, requires all users to undergo two-factor authentication prior to any transaction, and protects all sensitive data with 256-bit AES encryption. Needless to say, it takes security very seriously and requires employees to complete a criminal background check.
An additional bonus is that all online funds are covered by insurance.
2. Kraken
Kraken’s another veteran crypto exchange, starting operations in 2011. Registration is fairly straightforward, and the exchange supports fiat payments in U.S. dollars, Canadian dollars, and euros. It’s designed to appeal to both individual as well as business users, and an easy onboarding process takes you through the nuts and bolts of how to get started with crypto trades.
Users looking for advanced options can make use of features like margin trading and futures.
Kraken stores 95% of its funds in a cold wallet, relies on two-factor authentication, and has an active bug bounty program in place to uncover any security loopholes its team might miss.
3. Binance
Binance only started in 2018, but it’s quickly grown to be one of the most popular crypto exchanges in the world. It claims to process over 1.4 million transactions each second with a daily trading volume in excess of 1.2 billion USD. Originally headquartered in China, Binance shifted operations to Malta to escape regulatory pressure.
This exchange supports over a hundred altcoins including popular ones such as Ethereum, Ripple, and EOS. It initially started as a crypto-to-crypto exchange only, meaning you couldn’t use fiat currency to buy crypto, but it’s recently allowed credit card payments.
Earlier this year, Binance was hacked to the tune of 7,000 Bitcoin, or 40 million USD in fiat equivalent, but all users were compensated from an emergency fund that the exchange had set up, and the CEO kept things very transparent.
It charges a flat 0.1% trading fee on all transactions, with a 25% discount if you trade in Binance Coin (BNB).
4. Gemini
Gemini is the brainchild of the Winkelvoss twins, most famous for claiming that the idea of Facebook was theirs and not Mark Zuckerberg’s. However, they do know a thing or two about crypto and are passionate advocates for greater inclusion of it in mainstream financial circles.
The exchange recently passed a comprehensive security audit by Deloitte and, as is standard crypto practice, chooses to store only a small portion of its funds in the online, hot wallet. It accepts U.S. dollars as its only fiat currency and allows trade in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, Litecoin, and Zcash.
5. Huobi
Founded in China, Huobi is now headquartered in Singapore and has offices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and the U.S. It supports Bitcoin and a range of altcoins such as Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, and more. Users can buy cryptocurrencies with debit and credit cards and the exchange maintains a 20,000 Bitcoin reserve fund to deal with emergencies such as a hack.
It offers two versions: Huobi Pro is the advanced one, designed for lots of cryptocurrency trading options, while Huobi is meant for newcomers and beginners. Customer service via live chat is also accessible 24/7.When comes to the issue of online privacy and security, we suggest to use a fast VPN, and our recommendation is RitaVPN. RitaVPN is a relatively new VPN service, but it’s already making a name for itself，which makes it one of the best VPN in 2019.
Qwer432
www.vpnsnetflix.com/ www.vpnsnetflix.net/
To buy Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, you have multiple options. You can go to a Bitcoin ATM, accept them as payments for your goods and services, buy them peer-to-peer or from a brokerage. The most popular option for most is to head to a cryptocurrency exchange. Not all exchanges are used to buy Bitcoin with fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar or the euro. Some exchanges are primarily used to trade Bitcoin back and forth for short-term profits. This is very risky but, similar to online gambling, can be a fun and entertaining way of losing your money.
With the hundreds of crypto exchanges currently in existence, which one is right for you?
Cryptocurrency exchanges are magnets for hackers and fraud. Around 1 billion USD was pilfered from cryptocurrency exchanges in 2018, so a little research into crypto exchanges could go a long way to avoid using an exchange that loses your money (you want to lose your money yourself, after all).
What’s more, not all exchanges are created equal. Exchanges differ in features and coins available for trading. Some offer margins and futures, while others trade hundreds of obscure tokens with small market capitalizations. Others may only accept a handful of popular fiat currencies, such as U.S. dollars, or trade entirely in crypto itself.
Some other things worth looking out for are average daily volumes: A high number of trades exudes confidence in the exchange and shows liquidity. The percentage of funds in “cold wallets” is another factor—these are funds stored offline, making them more difficult to hack.
Let’s take a closer look at the top crypto exchanges. But before you start trading, make yourself familiar with your country’s local tax laws. In many places, such as the U.S. or Europe, each purchase or sale of Bitcoin, even against another cryptocurrency, constitutes a “taxable event,” meaning you need to separately declare it and compute capital gains taxes. For hundreds of trades per day, this can be very difficult and expensive!
Many cryptocurrency exchanges operate outside of a clear regulatory framework. While exchanges in the U.S. and Europe will report all your activities to your local tax authorities, offshore platforms might find themselves at odds with the law at any point and be shut down, together with any funds you may have deposited there.
1. Coinbase Pro
Coinbase, headquartered in San Francisco, is a mature player in the crypto space, having been around since 2012. It’s great for beginner users, works in over 100 countries, and accepts a range of fiat currencies including U.S. dollars.
At the time of writing, the exchange has never fallen victim to a hacking attempt—no mean feat given the sophistication of crypto heists. In August, it published a blog post detailing how it was able to rebuff a highly advanced attack.
Coinbase Pro stores 98% of its funds in a cold wallet, requires all users to undergo two-factor authentication prior to any transaction, and protects all sensitive data with 256-bit AES encryption. Needless to say, it takes security very seriously and requires employees to complete a criminal background check.
An additional bonus is that all online funds are covered by insurance.
2. Kraken
Kraken’s another veteran crypto exchange, starting operations in 2011. Registration is fairly straightforward, and the exchange supports fiat payments in U.S. dollars, Canadian dollars, and euros. It’s designed to appeal to both individual as well as business users, and an easy onboarding process takes you through the nuts and bolts of how to get started with crypto trades.
Users looking for advanced options can make use of features like margin trading and futures.
Kraken stores 95% of its funds in a cold wallet, relies on two-factor authentication, and has an active bug bounty program in place to uncover any security loopholes its team might miss.
3. Binance
Binance only started in 2018, but it’s quickly grown to be one of the most popular crypto exchanges in the world. It claims to process over 1.4 million transactions each second with a daily trading volume in excess of 1.2 billion USD. Originally headquartered in China, Binance shifted operations to Malta to escape regulatory pressure.
This exchange supports over a hundred altcoins including popular ones such as Ethereum, Ripple, and EOS. It initially started as a crypto-to-crypto exchange only, meaning you couldn’t use fiat currency to buy crypto, but it’s recently allowed credit card payments.
Earlier this year, Binance was hacked to the tune of 7,000 Bitcoin, or 40 million USD in fiat equivalent, but all users were compensated from an emergency fund that the exchange had set up, and the CEO kept things very transparent.
It charges a flat 0.1% trading fee on all transactions, with a 25% discount if you trade in Binance Coin (BNB).
4. Gemini
Gemini is the brainchild of the Winkelvoss twins, most famous for claiming that the idea of Facebook was theirs and not Mark Zuckerberg’s. However, they do know a thing or two about crypto and are passionate advocates for greater inclusion of it in mainstream financial circles.
The exchange recently passed a comprehensive security audit by Deloitte and, as is standard crypto practice, chooses to store only a small portion of its funds in the online, hot wallet. It accepts U.S. dollars as its only fiat currency and allows trade in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ether, Litecoin, and Zcash.
5. Huobi
Founded in China, Huobi is now headquartered in Singapore and has offices in Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and the U.S. It supports Bitcoin and a range of altcoins such as Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, and more. Users can buy cryptocurrencies with debit and credit cards and the exchange maintains a 20,000 Bitcoin reserve fund to deal with emergencies such as a hack.
It offers two versions: Huobi Pro is the advanced one, designed for lots of cryptocurrency trading options, while Huobi is meant for newcomers and beginners. Customer service via live chat is also accessible 24/7.When comes to the issue of online privacy and security, we suggest to use a fast VPN, and our recommendation is RitaVPN. RitaVPN is a relatively new VPN service, but it’s already making a name for itself，which makes it one of the best VPN in 2019.
Qwer432
www.vpnsnetflix.com/ www.vpnsnetflix.net/
Instead of freeing us, the internet is making us conform
The fact that we’re far less likely to engage in deviant behavior if we think we’re being watched isn’t a new discovery.
In 2012, a group of researchers from the University of Newcastle in the UK used simple signage in three spots on campus that had an extremely high prevalence of bike theft. The signs featured a pair of eyes along with prominent statements suggesting that the area was now under surveillance.
The net result? A 62% decrease in overall theft in each of those three locations.
While I’m all for using technology to promote the public interest and reduce criminal acts, the reality is that surveillance may have a far more chilling effect on our behavior than initially thought.
A new study seeking to examine the relationship between mass surveillance and online opinion found that people tend to suppress their true beliefs if they think their opinions constitute a minority view.
Far from just stopping illegal acts, mass surveillance may compel us to mold our behavior to please the majority.
Again, maybe this discovery isn’t exactly new. “Democracy in America,” a 19th-century treatise written by French sociologist Alexis de Tocqueville, warns about the “tyranny of the majority”—a scenario where public opinion comprehensively overshadows minorities and those holding unpopular views.
Tocqueville was a fervent admirer of American individualism, but he felt that its characteristics could lead to a society where all citizens would, paradoxically, try their best to be like each other. And while he died far before mass surveillance took effect, his words could have been a prophecy of what was to follow.
The Snowden effect
The internet was designed to foster community and bring people closer together. It aimed to promote free speech, cast aside authoritarianism, eradicate barriers to information, and allow people to engage in meaningful debate online.
Events such as the Arab Spring of 2011, also known as the “Twitter revolution,” gave us a glimpse of how powerful online communities had become. Even repressive governments with monopolies on the instruments of violence couldn’t prevent mass uprisings organized purely via social media.
Whether social media actually helps democracy and reduces tyranny is a topic for another day, but it’s pertinent to note that the events of the Arab Spring haven’t exactly resulted in stronger democratic institutions in the Middle East.
On the other hand, just a couple of years after the Arab Spring, the bombshell Snowden revelations of mass surveillance in the U.S. and, potentially, around the world, confirmed our darkest fears. The internet wasn’t the safe haven we had thought it to be.
So how did Snowden’s disclosure impact online behavior? According to Jon Penney, a former fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, there was a drastic decline in Wikipedia searches for terrorism-related keywords such as Al Qaeda, chemical weapon, and jihad.
The researcher documented that the searches were declining even a year after the end of the study. And given the lack of evidence for punishment or prosecution for trying to access such information, Penney declared that it was unlikely that the fear of prosecution was a reason behind the decline. The explanation he offered was “self-censorship.”
Bruce Schneier, of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Government and International Affairs, has stated that “the fact that you won’t do things, that you will self-censor, are the worst effects of pervasive surveillance.”
Welcome the panopticon effect, with slightly modified tools.
It’s the surveillance, stupid
Some of this behavior is simply human nature. We’re political animals, as Aristotle declared in fourth century BC. We gravitate towards social acceptance and community. Most of us don’t seek to be exclusionary and are far happier when accepted by others. Hence, if we knew that an unknown entity was tracking our every move, we’d do a lot more to be perceived as ‘normal’ and just like anybody else.
But Penney’s findings are far more troubling because they point to a situation where the boundaries of debate are being arbitrarily delineated. It’s okay to argue over whether the Kardashians are useful for society, but not a word against the government. And if you step out of line, rest assured that the algorithms will catch you.
The decentralization of the internet and the lack of a controlling node was a key facet in the development of the web by its original founders. The fact that they didn’t patent the idea and chose to forgo profits speaks volumes to their intention of building strong, global societies in an environment free from repression and retribution.
The internet today is a far cry from the non-commercial ideals of those who gave birth to it. Net neutrality is a thing of the past, unlikely to ever return. Walled-off internet networks, selective in the information and apps they allow, are more common than open and free ones. Surveillance is so ubiquitous that we’ve taken a passive view of it, almost to the point that it doesn’t bother us anymore.
Our future is only more devices, not fewer. More facial scanners, surveillance cameras, IoT devices, and smarter machine learning algorithms to complement them. Intelligent cities. What happens then? Blind adherence to unspoken ideals? Apolitical citizenry? Uniformity of thought?
Rather than encouraging and promoting diversity, the internet may end up silencing it. And that’s a future we should be worried about.
When comes to the issue of online privacy and security, we suggest to use a VPN service, and our recommendation is RitaVPN. RitaVPN is a relatively new VPN service, but it’s already making a name for itself，which makes it one of the best VPN in 2019.
Qwer432
www.buysecurevpn.com/ www.buyexpressvpn.net/
The fact that we’re far less likely to engage in deviant behavior if we think we’re being watched isn’t a new discovery.
In 2012, a group of researchers from the University of Newcastle in the UK used simple signage in three spots on campus that had an extremely high prevalence of bike theft. The signs featured a pair of eyes along with prominent statements suggesting that the area was now under surveillance.
The net result? A 62% decrease in overall theft in each of those three locations.
While I’m all for using technology to promote the public interest and reduce criminal acts, the reality is that surveillance may have a far more chilling effect on our behavior than initially thought.
A new study seeking to examine the relationship between mass surveillance and online opinion found that people tend to suppress their true beliefs if they think their opinions constitute a minority view.
Far from just stopping illegal acts, mass surveillance may compel us to mold our behavior to please the majority.
Again, maybe this discovery isn’t exactly new. “Democracy in America,” a 19th-century treatise written by French sociologist Alexis de Tocqueville, warns about the “tyranny of the majority”—a scenario where public opinion comprehensively overshadows minorities and those holding unpopular views.
Tocqueville was a fervent admirer of American individualism, but he felt that its characteristics could lead to a society where all citizens would, paradoxically, try their best to be like each other. And while he died far before mass surveillance took effect, his words could have been a prophecy of what was to follow.
The Snowden effect
The internet was designed to foster community and bring people closer together. It aimed to promote free speech, cast aside authoritarianism, eradicate barriers to information, and allow people to engage in meaningful debate online.
Events such as the Arab Spring of 2011, also known as the “Twitter revolution,” gave us a glimpse of how powerful online communities had become. Even repressive governments with monopolies on the instruments of violence couldn’t prevent mass uprisings organized purely via social media.
Whether social media actually helps democracy and reduces tyranny is a topic for another day, but it’s pertinent to note that the events of the Arab Spring haven’t exactly resulted in stronger democratic institutions in the Middle East.
On the other hand, just a couple of years after the Arab Spring, the bombshell Snowden revelations of mass surveillance in the U.S. and, potentially, around the world, confirmed our darkest fears. The internet wasn’t the safe haven we had thought it to be.
So how did Snowden’s disclosure impact online behavior? According to Jon Penney, a former fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, there was a drastic decline in Wikipedia searches for terrorism-related keywords such as Al Qaeda, chemical weapon, and jihad.
The researcher documented that the searches were declining even a year after the end of the study. And given the lack of evidence for punishment or prosecution for trying to access such information, Penney declared that it was unlikely that the fear of prosecution was a reason behind the decline. The explanation he offered was “self-censorship.”
Bruce Schneier, of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Government and International Affairs, has stated that “the fact that you won’t do things, that you will self-censor, are the worst effects of pervasive surveillance.”
Welcome the panopticon effect, with slightly modified tools.
It’s the surveillance, stupid
Some of this behavior is simply human nature. We’re political animals, as Aristotle declared in fourth century BC. We gravitate towards social acceptance and community. Most of us don’t seek to be exclusionary and are far happier when accepted by others. Hence, if we knew that an unknown entity was tracking our every move, we’d do a lot more to be perceived as ‘normal’ and just like anybody else.
But Penney’s findings are far more troubling because they point to a situation where the boundaries of debate are being arbitrarily delineated. It’s okay to argue over whether the Kardashians are useful for society, but not a word against the government. And if you step out of line, rest assured that the algorithms will catch you.
The decentralization of the internet and the lack of a controlling node was a key facet in the development of the web by its original founders. The fact that they didn’t patent the idea and chose to forgo profits speaks volumes to their intention of building strong, global societies in an environment free from repression and retribution.
The internet today is a far cry from the non-commercial ideals of those who gave birth to it. Net neutrality is a thing of the past, unlikely to ever return. Walled-off internet networks, selective in the information and apps they allow, are more common than open and free ones. Surveillance is so ubiquitous that we’ve taken a passive view of it, almost to the point that it doesn’t bother us anymore.
Our future is only more devices, not fewer. More facial scanners, surveillance cameras, IoT devices, and smarter machine learning algorithms to complement them. Intelligent cities. What happens then? Blind adherence to unspoken ideals? Apolitical citizenry? Uniformity of thought?
Rather than encouraging and promoting diversity, the internet may end up silencing it. And that’s a future we should be worried about.
When comes to the issue of online privacy and security, we suggest to use a VPN service, and our recommendation is RitaVPN. RitaVPN is a relatively new VPN service, but it’s already making a name for itself，which makes it one of the best VPN in 2019.
Qwer432
www.buysecurevpn.com/ www.buyexpressvpn.net/
Why Facebook is the tool of choice for government manipulation
The Global Disinformation Order, a new study by the Oxford Internet Institute, confirms our worst fears about governments’ use of social media to influence their people.
“Evidence of organized social media manipulation campaigns have taken place in 70 countries, up from 48 countries in 2018 and 28 countries in 2017,” the study reads. “In each country, there is at least one political party or government agency using social media to shape public attitudes domestically.”
Social media has been effectively co-opted by authoritarian regimes in 26 countries, it says. “Cyber troops,” in the form of bots or groups of trolls, are one of an increasing number of tools used to promote specific narratives, suppress human rights, and publicly smear political opponents.
And these operations aren’t just limited to domestic audiences. The report found that seven countries—Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, Pakistan, China, Russia, and Venezuela—have actively tried to use computational elements of social media algorithms (virality, hashtags, and incessant squawking) to promote disinformation on a global scale as well.
And Facebook dominates in this sphere. “Despite there being more social networking platforms than ever, Facebook remains the platform of choice for social media manipulation,” the report reads.
The most common methods of influencing opinion lie in these broad categories:
Creation of disinformation or manipulated media
Mass reporting of content or accounts
Data-driven strategies
Trolling, doxing, or harassment
Amplifying content and media online
Facebook users are vulnerable targets
I’m not proud of the fact that I can’t get myself to stop using Facebook and other social platforms. But the justification I give myself is that I almost exclusively follow trusted, legitimate publications, including lots of regional and niche ones, and I rely on social media to serve as a content engine of sorts.
While I’m experienced enough to be able to understand the difference between a credible site and bot accounts enthusiastically pumping out fake news, lots of users new to the internet are not.
In Nigeria, Indonesia, and India, for instance, many netizens think Facebook is the internet. This suggests that they rely heavily, if not exclusively, on Facebook as a source of news, communication with friends and family, games, and other forms of content consumption.
It’s no wonder then that people trust whatever’s shared on social media. Given how Facebook, historically, has done little to nothing to prevent disinformation means we live in times where the truth can be easily manipulated.
What are social media companies doing about fake news?
To be sure, social media companies have taken some action to combat troll armies. In April, it published a statement detailing how it removed “coordinated inauthentic behavior and spam from India and Pakistan.”
In the past few months, Twitter has removed thousands of accounts from Egypt, the U.A.E., China, Spain, and Ecuador for amplifying messaging from governments or political parties.
Broad measures Facebook has announced include lessening News Feed exposure of posts by groups that repeatedly provide misinformation and posts from low-quality publications. It has also beefed up its fact-checking program and introduced indicators in Messenger to help users assess the reliability of the information they receive.
And as Buzzfeed News wrote in 2017, WhatsApp is “the primary vector for the spread of misinformation” in India. The messaging app’s role in the fake news crisis has been extensively scrutinized and this year the company announced it was limiting forwarding to five times per message.
Be very afraid
Those of us sitting in the West may not think much of the Oxford Internet Institute study. Propaganda has existed for centuries after all, and there will always be rumors and misinformation flying around. While in the past this may have been the work of court whisperers, some might argue that it’s just the tools that have changed in modern times.
But that’s the equivalent of burying your head in the sand. Propaganda campaigns organized solely on social media have contributed to genocide. Digital activists have been targeted by troll armies, abducted, and tortured.
The internet can’t be hijacked by the vested interests of a few. Given the present circumstances, its future as a means for open communication and knowledge sharing is under serious threat. Unless we do something to take back control, it may not serve humanity the way its original founders had envisioned.
When comes to the issue of online privacy and security, we suggest to use a VPN, and our recommendation is RitaVPN. RitaVPN is a relatively new VPN service, but it’s already making a name for itself，which makes it one of the best VPN in 2019.
Qwer432
www.buyexpressvpn.net/ www.buyvpnservice.net/
The Global Disinformation Order, a new study by the Oxford Internet Institute, confirms our worst fears about governments’ use of social media to influence their people.
“Evidence of organized social media manipulation campaigns have taken place in 70 countries, up from 48 countries in 2018 and 28 countries in 2017,” the study reads. “In each country, there is at least one political party or government agency using social media to shape public attitudes domestically.”
Social media has been effectively co-opted by authoritarian regimes in 26 countries, it says. “Cyber troops,” in the form of bots or groups of trolls, are one of an increasing number of tools used to promote specific narratives, suppress human rights, and publicly smear political opponents.
And these operations aren’t just limited to domestic audiences. The report found that seven countries—Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, Pakistan, China, Russia, and Venezuela—have actively tried to use computational elements of social media algorithms (virality, hashtags, and incessant squawking) to promote disinformation on a global scale as well.
And Facebook dominates in this sphere. “Despite there being more social networking platforms than ever, Facebook remains the platform of choice for social media manipulation,” the report reads.
The most common methods of influencing opinion lie in these broad categories:
Creation of disinformation or manipulated media
Mass reporting of content or accounts
Data-driven strategies
Trolling, doxing, or harassment
Amplifying content and media online
Facebook users are vulnerable targets
I’m not proud of the fact that I can’t get myself to stop using Facebook and other social platforms. But the justification I give myself is that I almost exclusively follow trusted, legitimate publications, including lots of regional and niche ones, and I rely on social media to serve as a content engine of sorts.
While I’m experienced enough to be able to understand the difference between a credible site and bot accounts enthusiastically pumping out fake news, lots of users new to the internet are not.
In Nigeria, Indonesia, and India, for instance, many netizens think Facebook is the internet. This suggests that they rely heavily, if not exclusively, on Facebook as a source of news, communication with friends and family, games, and other forms of content consumption.
It’s no wonder then that people trust whatever’s shared on social media. Given how Facebook, historically, has done little to nothing to prevent disinformation means we live in times where the truth can be easily manipulated.
What are social media companies doing about fake news?
To be sure, social media companies have taken some action to combat troll armies. In April, it published a statement detailing how it removed “coordinated inauthentic behavior and spam from India and Pakistan.”
In the past few months, Twitter has removed thousands of accounts from Egypt, the U.A.E., China, Spain, and Ecuador for amplifying messaging from governments or political parties.
Broad measures Facebook has announced include lessening News Feed exposure of posts by groups that repeatedly provide misinformation and posts from low-quality publications. It has also beefed up its fact-checking program and introduced indicators in Messenger to help users assess the reliability of the information they receive.
And as Buzzfeed News wrote in 2017, WhatsApp is “the primary vector for the spread of misinformation” in India. The messaging app’s role in the fake news crisis has been extensively scrutinized and this year the company announced it was limiting forwarding to five times per message.
Be very afraid
Those of us sitting in the West may not think much of the Oxford Internet Institute study. Propaganda has existed for centuries after all, and there will always be rumors and misinformation flying around. While in the past this may have been the work of court whisperers, some might argue that it’s just the tools that have changed in modern times.
But that’s the equivalent of burying your head in the sand. Propaganda campaigns organized solely on social media have contributed to genocide. Digital activists have been targeted by troll armies, abducted, and tortured.
The internet can’t be hijacked by the vested interests of a few. Given the present circumstances, its future as a means for open communication and knowledge sharing is under serious threat. Unless we do something to take back control, it may not serve humanity the way its original founders had envisioned.
When comes to the issue of online privacy and security, we suggest to use a VPN, and our recommendation is RitaVPN. RitaVPN is a relatively new VPN service, but it’s already making a name for itself，which makes it one of the best VPN in 2019.
Qwer432
www.buyexpressvpn.net/ www.buyvpnservice.net/