Fighting ISIS…With Porn

Some Iraqis had a clever idea. Penetrate the ISIS Internet and spread fake news and porn.

They did a far better job at taking down the ISIS recruiting tools that their supposedly better armed, and more Internet savvy American and other anti ISIS allies.

Shows you how “stuck on stupid” our cyber warriors have become.

 

They Planted Porn in ISIS Propaganda, Just for Starters, Then Sowed Chaos and Confusion in the ‘Caliphate’

A small group of Iraqi hackers figured they could do a better job fighting ISIS online than most governments—and they did. And do. With a vengeance.

Six young Iraqis are taking a strategy straight out of the Kremlin’s mischievous playbook, but with no thanks to Moscow. They’re using hacked accounts to attack the so-called Islamic State and fake news to disrupt its “virtual caliphate.”

Given the dangers they face, the six people who make up the little group calling itself, with conscious irony, “Daeshgram”—its name melding the Arabic acronym for ISIS and Instagram—are forced to live something resembling double lives. Four of them work professionally in information technology and cybersecurity, one is an engineer, the other a student—all of them live in Iraq. Their families and friends know nothing of their efforts to push back against ISIS.

If the streets of Mosul were Iraq’s physical frontline against the jihadists, then surely it is the social media channels and encrypted messaging applications that serve as the front line against the cyber caliphate, and these young geeks are deep in the trenches.

Nada and Ahmed are two of those six. For obvious reasons they wanted to use aliases for this story. They formed Daeshgram around a year ago.

“We started thinking about how we could fight them online,” says Nada. “We were always messing around on the internet with each other anyway. ISIS are still a threat to Iraq, to Syria, even the world. So we started looking into exactly what might be effective on social media, and on Telegram. Back then, ISIS could do whatever they wanted on Telegram, we wanted them to know we were going to fight them on there too.”

As Twitter and Facebook began clamping down on extremist material, the encrypted messaging app Telegram became the group’s new hangout and means of distributing propaganda amongst its members across the globe.

It all began with “infiltrating their Telegram channels” says Nada, “we spent months observing, and pretending to be ISIS members. We studied how they behaved, the sort of language they used, and tried to take note of the unwritten rules.”

Even in the apparent safety of their own homes, where they gathered as Daeshgram on the weekends and after work, they would receive death threats “every now and then on Twitter, and Telegram from ISIS,” explains Ahmed. “‘We will find you, we will kill you.’ We just accepted that it is a part of our activities,” he adds. “We are IT experts, we take our cybersecurity extremely seriously.”

But, ISIS wasn’t the only danger—so genuine-looking was much of the media Daeshgram was publishing, and so deeply embedded within the jihadists’ online activities were they, that there were fears the Iraqi government might also be a threat.

Had they been caught, Daeshgram’s activities likely would have been difficult to explain to the Iraqi authorities. Much of their work has a nuance and patience misunderstood even by counterterror experts on ISIS. “I’m not sure they would have understood what we were doing, so we had to be extremely careful with our security,” said Ahmed.

The group was operating in a murky area and without government sanction. People have been jailed for far less when it comes to participating in such groups online. But despite committing hundreds of thousands of men from the Iraqi army, special forces, and various militias to fight ISIS on the ground in Mosul, Fallujah, and elsewhere, the Iraqi government made no provision for fighting the group online.

Telegram often served as a means of delivery, it allowed for proliferation of the group’s high-quality media output, everything from radio broadcasts and written statements to half-hour cinematic battle videos.

Some of Daeshgram’s early efforts saw them photoshop a pornographic scene into an image announcing the opening of a new media center in Wilyat Al-Khayar, an area that roughly correlates to Deir az-Zour in eastern Syria. The scene is amusing, if a little crass, but it served an important purpose.

“It let Daesh know that we were capable of replicating their media to a very high standard, it was the first seed of doubt,” explains Nada. However, they soon learned that to have the effect they desired “our output had to be subtle, and believable.” Nada adds, “We wanted to create items that ISIS members would not question and would share widely”—believability was key, as with all fake news.

In one effort some months ago, the group released an official-looking video warning that Amaq, ISIS’ official news agency which has become the go-to source for information on the group’s activities, had been hacked. It hadn’t, but so legitimate-looking was the warning that moderators on various Telegram channels began marking Amaq output from the day as fake, and warning members off it.

The confusion was growing.

In another instance, seeing a rumor that ISIS’ radio station Al-Bayan had been destroyed in an airstrike, the group produced a perfectly branded and edited audio statement in the style of Al-Bayan denying it had been taken offline. Their Al-Bayan piece was ambitious, but it appeared to work: It was downloaded without question almost 800 times, and it included information about ISIS losses on the battlefield, and the increasing number of ISIS fighters who were working as informants for Western governments, or outright defecting—topics official ISIS media outlets would never include.

Another effort saw the group create the fake Al-Adnani news channel, which at its peak had some 500 members. Controlling the channel gave the group nearly complete control over exactly what was posted and shared between members.

This tactic of imitation and subtle manipulation became the focus of their efforts; “We took their templates, and we started to manipulate the information on there, it was almost impossible to tell which statements were ISIS and which we had made,” said Nada.

Are they aware of just how controversial the rise of fake news has been, and is it ever an ethical strategy to adopt?

“Naturally we’re aware of the discussions across the globe about fake news and the harmful impact it has had on countries, especially in their elections,” says Nada. “Fake news has been used to destabilize functioning democracies.” But she claims the strategy is justified: “While the tactics we have used are indeed similar, we—in contrast to other actors—openly acknowledge that we are purposefully creating confusion to delegitimize and discredit Daesh propaganda.”

Just this past week, the group pulled off what they described as “a major operation,” the culmination of weeks of preparation with other groups.

Dubbed #ParalyzingAmaq the operation saw the main Amaq website taken down by a hack, and perhaps equally as significant, the website’s Firefox plugin, which automatically redirects followers to the latest incarnation of Amaq, was thwarted.

With the site down, the group began uploading some of the more than 40 duplicate Amaq sites it had created—many of them barely discernible from the original—even to the best-trained eye. These duplicate sites are being bandied about among dozens of Telegram sites as genuine, with ISIS members vouching for their authenticity.

The Telegram phenomenon has given birth to an industry of analysts and experts. Navigating the groups and channels which frequently shut down and respawn is not especially complex, but it is time consuming and requires near constant attention.

Some analysts were quick to criticise last week’s efforts to disrupt ISIS’ activities labeling it “a publicity stunt.” Others said it was “just annoying.”

When I put it to Nada and Ahmed that their operation largely flopped, Nada said the purpose of the operation was never merely to take down Telegram accounts, as some appear to have expected. It was “to sow discord and confusion, and to undermine the credibility of Amaq among ISIS supporters, particularly Arabic speakers,” said Nada. “We achieved that goal.”

Indeed a look at some of the popular channels frequented by ISIS suggests they are right: In one chat several ISIS members are seen bickering following Amaq’s hacking. “This channel is not official,” says one. Another replies, “How do you know it’s not official?” A third member interjects, “No, give your evidence.” Only for the first to respond, “You should be careful what you say to me.”

Ahmed points out that ISIS enforces stringent anti-discord rules on Telegram, as it does in the real world. Arguments, and the questioning of authority, will often see members banned.

“That discord, or fitna [the Quranic term used by ISIS] includes doubting any credible news outlet,” says Ahmed. He adds that, following Friday’s operation, “We made them break their own rules, we made them engage in debates regarding what was real, and what wasn’t.”

Nada concludes: “Journalists and analysts are not our target audience. Daesh supporters themselves, especially the Arabic speaking ones, are our target. Our main objective was to create confusion and discord, and we were able to do that. What Western analysts think is not really relevant to our work.

“ISIS supporters don’t know which Amaq sites to trust,” she said, so, “they don’t trust Amaq anymore.”

In the fight against the virtual caliphate, that is no small victory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U43eE7f7YyA

 

How Texas Sucessionists Got Punked By the Russians

While Russian spies certainly  put up fake BLM sites and material on on Facebook, radicalizing BLM was neither the primary or secondary target.

What the Russians were really doing is using a counterintelligence method of creating radical BLM sites to validate propaganda to their compliant white conservative, and Trump racist whores.

The Russians couldn’t really find any credible information of BLM encouraging members to kill Cops, or any radical conspiracy to commit violence…So they created their own to feed to the completely malleable, punked by their own racism, white right.

There efforts are so successful, they drew in and were able to manipulate hundreds of thousands of white conservative, and created utterly fabricated mems which have been adopted as “truth” among the Chumph faithful.

With the Chumph steadfastly protecting his Russian masters from righteous retribution, the Russians have had free reign to damage and destroy American Institutions, foment discontent, and to further the Chumph’s agenda.

These stupid, white right treasonous bastards actually travelled to Russia for commie help in destroying America. These people aren’t in any way Patriots…They are treasonous scum.

Shortly after the Chumph is removed by the excruciatingly slow legal process…I hope some of these folks get to pay for that criminally.

How the Russians pretended to be Texans — and Texans believed them

 

In early 2016, while researching some of the most popular U.S. secession groups online, I stumbled across one of the Russian-controlled Facebook accounts that were then pulling in Americans by the thousands.

At the time, I was writing on Russia’s relationship with American secessionistsfrom Texas, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. These were people who had hitched flights to Moscow to swap tactics, to offer advice and to find support. They had found succor in the shadow of the Kremlin.

That was how I eventually found my way to the “Heart of Texas” Facebook page (and its @itstimetosecede Twitter feed as well). Heart of Texas soon grew into the most popular Texas secession page on Facebook — one that, at one point in 2016, boasted more followers than the official Texas Democrat and Republican Facebook pages combined. By the time Facebook took the page down recently, it had a quarter of a million followers.

The page started slowly — just a few posts per week. Unlike other secession sites I’d come across, this one never carried any contact information, never identified any of individuals behind the curtain. Even as it grew, there was nothing to locate it in Texas — or anywhere else, for that matter. It was hard to escape the suspicion that there might be Russian involvement here as well.

There were other oddities about the site. Its organizers had a strangely one-dimensional idea of its subject. They seemed to think, for example, that Texans drank Dr. Pepper at all hours: while driving their giant trucks, while flying their Confederate battle flags, while griping about Yankees and liberals and vegetarians.

But Heart of Texas, sadly, was no joke. At one point the page’s organizers even managed to stir up its followers into staging an armed, anti-Islamic protest in Houston. As gradually became clear, this was part of a broader strategy. The sponsors of the page were keen to exacerbate America’s own internal divisions. At certain moments they lent support to Black Lives Matter, while in others they would play to the latent (or obvious) racism of Donald Trump’s base.

How Twitter was/is used –

 

By the summer of 2016, other themes began to emerge. Posts began to follow a perceptibly hard-right course, stressing Texas’s status as a “Christian state,” or touting the Second Amendment as a “symbol of freedom … so we would forever be free from any tyranny.” Some of the page’s contributors talked about the need to “keep Texas Texan,” whatever that meant. There was also a generous dollop of conspiracy theory. There were posts about the allegedly unnatural death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the supposed federal invasion orders behind the Jade Helm military exercise. Fake Founding Father quotes mingled with anti-Muslim screeds and paeans to Sam Houston. And the number of followers steadily crept into the hundreds of thousands.

How Russian Spies used Bots to feed fake news into white-wing press

Though the site’s authors understood their audience well, there was something off about their writing. The page’s “About” section proclaimed that “Texas’s the land protected by Lord [sic].” Grammatical and spelling glitches were everywhere: “In Love With Texas Shape,” “State Fair of Texas – Has You Already Visited?,” “Always Be Ready for a Texas Size,” “No Hypoclintos in the God Blessed Texas.” (Or take this caption for a photo of country music star George Strait: “Life is not breaths you take, but the moments that take your breth [sic] away.”) Yet the typos never seemed to raise any suspicions in readers’ minds.

Even the page’s calls for an early November protest across the state – part pro-secession, part anti-Clinton — were garbled. One post declared that “we are free citizens of Texas and we’ve had enough of this cheap show on the screen.” The site called on those who showed up to “make photos.”

Heart of Texas chugged on after the election, bringing in tens of thousands of new followers in 2017 who were unbothered by its mangled English, its rank nativism and its calls to break up the United States.

And then, in August, it was gone. Just like that, the most popular Texas secession page on Facebook was revealed to be a Russian front, operated by the notorious Internet Research Agency, with Facebook removing all of the posts from public view. (It’s worth noting that another Instagram accountstarted posting Heart of Texas material as soon as the original Facebook page was taken down.)

Despite its claims of transparency, Facebook has effectively prevented the public from examining these posts and these pages. So far Heart of Texas remains the only example of a Russian account that I and other researchers managed to study in detail before Facebook pulled the rug out from underneath it.

We know that the Russians behind these sites played all of their readers, and especially those who showed up at its protests in places like Twin Falls and Fort Myers and Houston, for fools. Considering that the number of their combined followers ranged into the millions — with some estimates placing total views potentially in the billions — they’re probably right.

The creators of Heart of Texas not only targeted the sociopolitical tensions within the United States. They also exploited our gullibility, which turned out to be far greater than I could have ever imagined. And by assisting them in this massive lie, Facebook has enabled one of the greatest frauds in recent American history.

An explanation of the Russian strategy –

 

Antifa – Battling the neo-Nazi and alt-right Trolls one Dox at a Time

The Internet war against the Chumph racist trolls is heating up. Antifa, the name Anti-Fascists on the Internet have chosen, are attacking and taking down neo-Nazis where they live.

The article describes these heroes as “far-left”. I am not terribly sure that is an accurate description. You don’t have to be “far-left” to hate neo-Nazis and white supremacists. I suspect the movement is a lot deeper than the authors suspect – and it is just getting started.

There are a lot of ways to take down alt-right trolls which don’t involve any computer hacking skills. Making your voice known and going after the enablers of these scum requires nothing more than complaints to Reddit, Facebook, or Twitter. Boycotting the advertisers of Brietbart has been effective.  Black Folks should be boycotting the conservative site Townhall for it’s promotion of Lawn Jockeys like Uncle Tommy Sewage. Recent ads included Amazon, Sprint, and Medix Select. email, send a snailmail, or call and tell them you find the content offensive and won’t be buying their products. Go after these clown means of making money, and they will go away.

Neo-Nazis Face a New Foe Online and IRL: the Far-Left Antifa

FOR EVERY NEO-NAZI meme, there is an equal but opposite Nazi punch. Think of it as the Third Law of the internet, if Newton was a subreddit.

OK, that’s a little absurdist, but increasingly, it does seem like every upwelling of far-right agitation—in real life or online—gets met with a reciprocal surge from an equally extreme niche on the far left. Somebody punches the white nationalist Richard Spencer in the face in a video that goes viral. Breitbart provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos tries to give a talk at UC Berkeley. Over 150 protestors break windows and throw fireworks at the police until administrators call off the event. And President Trump tweets about it.

The progression isn’t strict call-and-response, to be sure. But it does show that the white nationalist internet has a kind of counterpart. Some of these far-left activists are militant antifascists—“antifa” for short. And not to get all falsely equivalent on you, but many are young, angry, and know their way around a meme.

They may well indeed express more egalitarian ideals than neo-Nazis (who doesn’t, really?), but they’re also anarchists prone to property destruction and online abuse. Worse, by giving as good as they get, they double down on political polarization, driving the national narrative even further from center.

The traditional antifascist playbook pre-dates World War II. Most famously, they employ so-called black bloc tactics, dressing in head-to-toe black and causing chaos. (The antifacist who punched Richard Spencer was a black bloc participant.)

But it’s not all yelling “anarchy” and lighting stuff on fire. They’re also tech savvy. “Since the first white supremacist sites went online, people have been trying to take them down, figure out people’s passwords, and dox them,” says Stanislav Vysotsky, a sociologist and criminologist at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. “Later on, it became DDos attacks.” Anonymous and spinoff groups like LulzFinancial certainly seem to be on Team Antifa, doxxing scores of far-right agitators.

But President Trump’s election has rejiggered the antifa-versus-white-supremacist struggle. “Most of the trolling had been coming from the right,” says Phyllis Gerstenfeld, a criminal justice professor at CSU Stanislaus who has studied extremist groups on the internet. “Suddenly, we see a lot more nasty trolling coming from the left. It’s a reaction to power shifts.” With the right in power, the left is alienated and ready to raise hell.

“Bash the Fash”

And that makes for a huge influx of social media-focused, younger antifascists—a mirror universe of the self-described alt-righters you’d see on Gab. “People see the iconography on social media, download a flier and just call themselves an antifascist,” says Vysotsky. “The internet makes it all very accessible.”

This new guard—taking up the internet-y rallying cry “bash the fash”— are responsible for things like the popular Nazi punching memes that followed the attack on Spencer. They’ve spread beyond antifascist subreddits to the general public.

While it’s easy to see why non-Nazis might find that satisfying—we’ve spoken to Richard Spencer at length—having a laugh at violence is hardly a feel-good moment. “I don’t know that I want punching anyone to be the model of what political action looks like,” says a longtime antifascist activist and participant in the CrimethInc anarchist network who goes by the nickname “A.”

SK—a “university age” antifascist and moderator of the /r/militant subreddit—feels differently. “We just fight fire with fire,” he says. “If they send us Pepes with swastikas, we’ll send them some weird shitty photoshop. The alt-right likes to call it The Meme War.”

That sounds relatively harmless, but the memes on both sides tend toward threats of violence.

And it doesn’t end with memes. “Members of Neo-Nazi groups occasionally pose as reporters to get information on antifascists so they can target them later,” says another /r/militant mod, whose username is IamSeth (and who required mulitiple encrypted chat apps to be convinced I wasn’t a white supremacist in disguise).

Meanwhile, the Meme War has metastasized to Reddit at large: “/r/antifa was never an antifascist subreddit,” IamSeth says. “It is a honeypot run by members of the Ku Klux Klan.” (I wasn’t able to confirm the Klan connection, but when I reached out to the /r/antifa mods, an individual who goes by diversity_is_racism denied the honeypot claim, but said he or she thinks Richard Spencer is “a good guy.”)

That’s the cost of anonymity—on a subreddit, nobody really knows if you’re antifa or antiantifa. The only way to get an existing subreddit taken down is to show it has become a platform for doxxing—which is allegedly what happened on the /r/altright and /r/alternativeright subreddits earlier this week when they posted links to WeSearchr, for a crowdfunded bounty calling for the doxxing of the antifa activist who punched Spencer. Here’s a screenshot from Gab:

“I’ve seen antifascists doxxing, but I’ve never participated,” says SK. To antifa activists though, doxxing is justified by their opponent’s behavior, which in their view, is worse. “The alt-right is just online making death treats to people,” SK says. “It does disturb your peace of mind, but I think death threats are kind of gross.”

So the Meme War rolls ever on. According to Vysotsky, it’s already happening: “In Wisconsin, a person put up a Nazi flag, and an antifascist published an address online. But because it was a duplex, the address was incorrect,” he says. “The Latino family living there started receiving threats.”

Some antifascists aren’t bothered by this kind of collateral damage. “People are going to do stupid shit and make the movement look bad,” SK says. “But if you’re fighting against oppression, even if you don’t recognize yourself as antifascist, you’re still a comrade of mine.”

The risk, as always, is escalation. “The equivalent of black bloc street battles will happen online,” say Heidi Beirich, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project. “Both sides will use every tool at their disposal to go after the other. Lord knows what they could pull off.” Online, actions earn not equal and opposite reactions but stronger ones— and the dial seems only to turn one way.

 

Socialization of Hate – How Social Media Enables the Alt-Right, White Supremacists, and neo-nazis

Some Social Media carries a large portion of the blame with proliferating racist, alt-right, and neo-nazi  messages. By the late 90’s white supremacist groups recognized the value of passing their racist screeds online, based on the success of Republicans in the early days of AOL and various predecessors to the Internet. Instead of hiring paid posters like the Republicans, the racist hate groups already had a small army of haters to spread their messages. Largely unemployed, dissociated, and on Welfare – their members could sit at home and accomplish the same thing the Republicans had spent millions on -spread their message.

For some reason – neither Democrats or Progressives have ever mounted serious opposition in terms of targeting media or social networking platforms – as the Millennial Generation’s platforms turned a blind eye to the abuses. That blind eye allowed the alt-right to co-opt moderators, who would reject Progressive messages and groups like Black Lives Matter for diaphanous justifications.

It is still certainly possible to take social media back – but it will take a planned concerted effort, coordinated attacks, and sticking to objectives…

Not sure why these “concerned groups” haven’t set up boiler room efforts to date. Nobody gives you freedom…You don’t take.

Quit whimpering. Line up a group of 40-100 volunteers, with 5,000 screen names…And counter attack.  Pick a subject. Tell everyone you know and suggest themes. Ask them to post 5 comments on Facebook, Reddit, or whatever – and ask their friends to do the same. Set up an “Auto-Troll” – send the same message to 50 platforms and comment sections. 5 -10-50 times a day.

Like any revolution, you have to break it so fucking bad – the owners are willing to fix it.

Civil rights groups urge Facebook to fix ‘racially biased’ moderation system

A coalition of more than 70 social and racial justice organizations urged Facebook to adopt reforms that would better target abusive content and harassment

Facebook allows white supremacists to spread violent threats while censoring Black Lives Matter posts and activists of color, according to civil rights groups that called on the technology company to fix its “racially biased” moderation system.

“Activists in the Movement for Black Lives have routinely reported the takedown of images discussing racism and during protests, with the justification that it violates Facebook’s Community Standards,” the groups wrote in a letter on Wednesday to CEO Mark Zuckerberg and director of global policy Joel Kaplan. “At the same time, harassment and threats directed at activists based on their race, religion and sexual orientation is thriving on Facebook.”

Co-signed by a coalition of more than 70 social and racial justice organizations, the letter urged Facebook to adopt reforms that would better target abusive content and harassment but also stop censoring political speech.

The campaign, led by Color of Change, Center for Media Justice, SumOfUs.org and Daily Kos, comes at a time when Facebook is under intense scrutiny over the way its algorithms and moderators choose to permit and remove content.

The corporation has repeatedly been accused of censorship in recent months, including of users critical of Donald Trump, of historic war photos, of citizens live-streaming encounters with police, of journalists who expose racism and of famous artwork with nudity.

But users who report violent and racist language and overt threats often have a hard time getting Facebook to respond. Critics argue that with both censorship and harassment, Facebook only corrects errors in high-profile cases covered by the media, making use of the platform a daily nightmare for many regular users, especially people of color targeted by trolls.

“These posts are threatening our lives,” said Malkia Cyril, executive director of the Center for Media Justice, who monitors threats posted on Black Lives Matter Facebook pages. “To be bombarded by this hateful violent rhetoric day in and day out … the photos of lynchings, photos of dead black people at the hands of white Ku Klux Klan members … it’s vicious. It’s scary.”

The coalition, which includes the ACLU, sent an earlier letter in October, suggesting that Facebook establish a “streamlined widely publicized appeals process” for censorship cases; increase transparency about its policies and provide data on how it removes content; and allow for an “external audit”.

In December, Facebook released a statement in response, which activists said did not address civil rights campaigners’ concerns.

The company’s lengthy reply, authored by Kaplan, outlined its existing policies in detail and largely failed to commit to act on the recommendations.

“Their response has been woefully inadequate,” Cyril said. “What you’re doing is not working. It’s tantamount to neglect and racism itself.”

On Wednesday, Cyril provided the Guardian with links to four Facebook groups promoting white supremacy along with screenshots of seven individual posts with blatantly racist messages, including one that said “WHAT’S HANGIN’ NIGGA” with a lynching photo; an image of a slave auction with the caption “The First Black Friday Sale”; and a photo of a skeleton captioned “Ever since Trayvon became white he’s been a good boy” (referencing the unarmed black teenagerkilled by a neighborhood watch volunteer).

Cyril said she reported all the photos and pages to Facebook, which determined that they complied with the company’s standards.

Facebook did, however, remove a post from a black woman that said: “white folks when racism happens in public YOUR SILENCE IS VIOLENCE”, according to a screenshot from Cyril.

Facebook did not respond to a request for comment about the specific examples, but a spokesperson said in an email: “We value input from our community. We have received the letter and are reviewing it.”

Facebook’s content moderation challenges also extend to its role in spreading fake news and its difficulties regulating live videos that feature violence.

“Some of this is life or death,” said Reem Suleiman, SumOfUs.org campaigner, referencing the case of Korryn Gaines, a Baltimore woman who live-streamed her standoff with police last year. At the request of law enforcement, Facebook shut down the video and officers eventually killed her.

“People turn to Facebook to document human rights abuses and police brutality,” Suleiman added.

Sihame Assbague, a journalist and activist in France, said users speaking out against racism regularly have their Facebook accounts censored and that her page has been taken down on numerous occasions.

“It’s very strange. Things that are racist do not get suspended,” she said, noting one user was censored for anti-semitism after writing a post against anti-semitism.

Activists have argued that Facebook, one of the most valuable companies in the world, has the resources to address these deep flaws, but has failed to make the issue a priority.

Cyril said the lack of diversity within the corporation was partly to blame. Black employees accounted for just 3% of senior US leadership, according to 2016 figures.

“When you already have a company that woefully underrepresents black people and communities of color in general on their staff, you are challenged to respond to concerns of racism.”

 

Anonymous Threatens the Chumph…But Will They Deliver?

I have said all along that the Chumph’s background is rife with evidence of fraud, bribery, and other misdeeds.They are not that hard to dig out. Anonymous makes a lot of noise, but unfortunately the last few go-rounds haven’t really produced much of significant substance. So…For what it is worth.

Anonymous – A Paper Tiger?

Anonymous warns Trump: ‘You are going to regret the next 4 years’

The hacker collective Anonymous has a reputation for delivering ominous messages, and in recent days, the group has begun targeting President-elect Donald Trump in a serious way

A series of messages posted on Twitter and include allegations that the group plans to reveal sordid information about Trump.

“This isn’t the 80’s any longer, information doesn’t vanish, it is all out there. You are going to regret the next 4 years,” one message read.

In another, the group alleges Trump has “financial and personal ties with Russian mobsters, child traffickers, and money launderers.”

So far the hacking group has provided no concrete evidence to back up those claims.

 

Hate Groups Copy ISIS Radicalization Method to Produce Racist/Misogynist White Male Predators

The Chumph’s racist support groups have stolen a page from ISIS to produce white supremacist terrorists and hate criminals. The massive spike in hate crimes since the Chumph’s “election” have in surprising number been committed by children and teens who are just acting out on the hate they hear at home.The Chumph’s Storm Troopers are in place…

Celtic Cross Appropriated By White Supremacists

How ‘men’s rights’ activist websites have become recruiting hubs for white nationalism

The election of Donald Trump was driven in part by the emergence of a white nationalist movement in the United States that has taken to calling itself the “alt-right.”

But how did we get here? The Guardian has published a disturbing report showing how young white men are gradually being radicalized against feminists and minorities through so-called “pick-up artist” websites that are there to ostensibly offer them tips for succeeding in sexual conquests.

As writer Abi Wilkinson explains, these websites give many men an outlet to vent misogyny against women who have rejected them, all while railing against feminists for purportedly denying them their rightful places atop society.

“On their forums I’ve read long, furious manifestos claiming that women are all sluts who ‘ride the cock carousel’ and sleep with a series of ‘alpha males’ until they reach the end of their sexual prime, at which point they seek out a ‘beta cuck’ to settle down with for financial security,” she writes. “I’ve lurked silently on blogs dedicated to ‘pick-up artistry’ as men argue that uppity, opinionated, feminist women – women like myself – need to be put in their place through ‘corrective rape.’”

While this sounds disturbing enough in and of itself, Wilkinson says that these forums do not simply limit themselves to hostility toward women, but toward people of other races and ethnicities as well. In particular, she notes that the sites often traffic in white men’s sexual anxiety about dark-skinned men stealing away white women whom should be “theirs” by right.

“Reading through the posting history of individual aliases, it’s possible to chart their progress from vague dissatisfaction, and desire for social status and sexual success, to full-blown adherence to a cohesive ideology of white supremacy and misogyny,” she writes. “Neofascists treat these websites as recruitment grounds. They find angry, frustrated young men and groom them in their own image.”

 

Brietbart Troll Who Lead Racist Attack on Leslie Jones Busted

Seems the “alt Right” has had a lot of things to say about comedian Leslie Jones – most of it racist. It irritates the white, juvenile, internet troll squad that a black woman can achieve success. A lot of that racist flack is being stirred up and directed by Brietbart, which is a “media” entity which has had a lot of problems with both the truth, and racism.

 

ABC reporter shreds Milo Yiannopoulos: ‘You’re an idiot … What grade are you in?’

ABC News reporter Terry Moran did not buy into Milo Yiannopoulos’ self-portrayal as a “virtuous troll” in an interview slated to be aired Friday on Nightline,Queerty reported.

“If Leslie Jones were right here, would you say, ‘You look like a dude’?” Moran asked.

“Yeah, probably,” said Breitbart.com’s tech editor, who was banned from Twitter after leading a harassment campaign against the comedian.

“You would say that to her,” Moran said.

“I probably would,” Yiannopoulos insisted.

“Then you’re an idiot,” Moran replied.

Yiannopoulos argued to Moran that he found the wave of racist and misogynist abusehurled at Jones in support of him “disgusting,” but rejected the idea of telling his thousands of Twitter followers at the time to back off.

“Does Justin Bieber have an obligation to his fans?” he asked Moran. “I’m sorry for being popular. But I am not responsible for what 350,000 people on the Internet say. I’m responsible for what I say.”

Later in the interview, Moran berates Yiannopoulos for his sexist stances.

“You’re going to go after somebody’s body to denigrate their ideas? What grade are you in?” he asked. “Are you a 13-year-old boy? Because somebody doesn’t have a weight that you think is proper? That’s revolting.”

“I’ll tell you what’s revolting,” Yiannopoulos responded. “What’s revolting is the body positivity movement. What’s revolting is this idea now that you can tell women that they’ll be healthy at any size.”

English BLM women…Its time for you to do the world a favor and take this POS out behind the proverbial woodshed.

 

Hello Bigot Exposes Anonymous Racist Trolls

On the Internet there are a number of racist trolls. Some are part of a white supremacist group which can usually spotted because they post the “company line”. Trolls most precious weapon is the anonymity. You take that away and they dry up like the weeds they are.

Taking the war to the Trolls

Online bigots beware: ‘Hello Racist’ is going to expose you on the Internet

While social media can be an absolute cesspool — seemingly overpopulated by anonymous trolls spewing their special brand of hatred against anyone who is not like them — there are also those who have no qualms about making bigoted comments under their own names on Twitter or Facebook.

That is where the “Hello Bigot” website comes in, reports the Huffington Post.

With an assist from members of the Hello Racist Facebook community, Hello Bigot shines a light on the racists among us — allowing followers to spread the word via social media of the not-so-secret lives of folks who can’t seem to help themselves when it comes to posting hateful memes and horrific comments.

With a helpful submission button, Hello Bigot followers must provide their own names and other personal information, along with a link to the offending post and screenshots.

Case in point: Danny Clayton of Texas who posted an old black and white photo of “Legal Italian immigrant” children holding American flags, with the comment: “That’s because they are white and have common sense and loved being American citizens not like the n****rs, sandn****rs or wetbacks we have in this country now.”

In an interview with Nancy Laws of HuffPo, the founder of Hello Bigot  — who wishes to remain anonymous — explains why they feel the need to, as they call it: “Expose a racist.”

“There are still so many people and segments of society who are still stuck in a place where, for whatever reason, be it hate, ignorance, how they were raised, where they live, etc., racism is still acceptable behavior. It’s still systematically a part of some people’s cultures, lives, and mindset,” they explained, before adding that those people need to be “confronted with their actions.”

“There are still a surprising number of people who are racist who really shouldn’t be because of who they are and what they do professionally. Who, if they are racist, they have the potential to ruin people’s lives when they let their racial biases and prejudices creep in and affect their professional decisions and judgments in ways that are completely incomprehensible and illegal. And that really shouldn’t happen in today’s society,” the site founder continued. “I’m speaking about people who serve society in roles as police officers, teachers, public officials, doctors, bankers, realtors, judges, CEO’s, and others. It’s very critical information to understand if people filling important roles in society are racist and are making decisions and judgments that affect people of all races.”

Asked how the site can make a difference by “outing” bigoted or racist commentary, the answer was fairly simple.

“I think when some people are confronted and called out about their racism, it actually does change them. They become ashamed and embarrassed. But they learn not to do it again. People learn to be racist. And I like to believe that most people at heart don’t really believe in racism or subscribe to it. They just are because that’s what they learned to do and were never told not to or confronted by anyone to tell them that it’s wrong”

Pressed about their own anonymity, threats and lawsuits came to mind, they explained to Laws.

“Legal threats. Threats of violence. Some are laughable. Some are very real and concerning. To the extent possible, I’d like to keep these threats out of other aspects of my life. Being anonymous allows me do that.”

 

Airbnb’s Problem With Racist Hosts

This one has been getting a lot of air lately, as there has become increasing awareness of some racist Airbnb Hosts rejecting minority tenants based on their race/ethnicity.

While it is legal for the owner of a private residence to reject rental of their residence to whomever the choose, what is happening through Airbnb, may have different legal implications, in that the transaction crosses state lines, and as such may be subject to Federal Law, The following case might be a banner case with which to test the legal limits of the law relative to discrimination.

‘I hate n*ggers so I’m going to cancel’: NC Airbnb host rejects and harasses black businesswoman

Airbnb host in North Carolina reportedly canceled on an investment banker after learning she was black and then attacked her with racial and sexist slurs.

In screen shots of a heated conversation sent to Bossip, Airbnb host Todd Warner accepts the reservation of an investment banker that needed temporary housing in Charlotte, and then hours later cited her race as the reason for canceling.

Shani C. Taylor, who identified herself as a friend of the woman, posted some of the conversation on Twitter.

View image on Twitter

Follow

Shani C. Taylor ‎@shanictaylor

My friend and classmate here at Kellogg had a hateful and racist encounter with an @Airbnb host.

7:25 PM – 31 May 2016 · Evanston, IL, United States

• 2,0702,070 Retweets

• 752752 likes

This was only one of several really awful remarks made by the host, Todd Warner. pic.twitter.com/F0mLHWZW2v

— Shani C. Taylor (@shanictaylor) May 31, 2016

“I hate n*ggers so I’m going to cancel you,” Warner wrote. “This is the south darline. Find another place to rest your n*gger head.”

He added that he “wanted to f*ck” the woman’s “white friend.”

After threatening to report Warner to Airbnb, the woman explained that she was an investment banker with an MBA.

“So watch out,” she warned. “I might just buy the apartment/house next to you, and watch you squirm, you piece of shit.”

Warner fired back that he had retired with $22 million at the age of 44 because he was “not N*GGER like with my spending.”

“Have 80 babies that you can’t afford,” he wrote.

Airbnb responded on Tuesday, saying that the company had contacted the host.

In recent months, Airbnb has come under fire for not screening out racists hosts.

Last year, the company defended itself after a Harvard study found that renters whose names sounded African-American were more likely to be rejected by Airbnb hosts.

“Airbnb is one of the most open, trusted, diverse, transparent communities in the world,” a spokesperson insisted to Bloomberg at the time. “We respond quickly to any concerns raised by hosts or guests, and we have a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination on our platform.”

 

Dating Online? Your SAT Score May Determine Who You See On a Site

Interesting tidbit here, that some sites including the largest dating site, Match is using your educational data to manipulate who you see on the site, as well as who sees you. By collecting data such as your SAT Score, a test you likely took way back there in High School, a good analyst can determine a couple of things about you. First, people with the top 10% or so in SAT Scores tend to be College Graduates. Recent research has shown that that has no correlation to them being smarter, than say the next 25% – but being in the top 10% means you have a better chance of attending an elite school. One of the common characteristics of elite schools is a much higher graduation rate – typically over 90% for the very top schools vs 50-65% for State Schools. That also has some rather significant impact on potential income.

Along with the numerous personal tastes which drive selection of someone to date, liking tall women, or short men, redheads, or spiked hair and nose rings…

Is the correlation that relationships are based on shared experiences. There is a low likelihood that a woman whose job takes her around the world is going to chose a guy who is a construction worker. If I can’t dress her up and take her out with my friends and business associates without embarrassment…The relationship is very short lived. If a woman doesn’t want to date men with beards, then the fastest way to drive her off a dating site is to fill her potential matches box up with bearded guys.

Where the rub comes, is how they collect this information. And something I will call “disparate impact”, because black folks tend to have lower SAT Scores.

How Dating Sites, Thanks to Princeton Review, Know More About You Than You Do

When I was growing up, there were always three places that my parents said were great for meeting your future girlfriend, wife or significant other: church, work and, of course, school. Our church attendance had waned in my late high school years, and I worked at a bagel bakery—so college seemed the mostly likely option for me.

For me, living in the lily-white suburbs where dating options were fraught with complications (because racism), the idea that doing well on my SATs might put me in a college classroom next to my own personal Freddie Brooks, Monica Wright or Laila was enough incentive to put in those extra study hours.

Of course, it turns out that my parents were more prescient than they thought. Dating companies are starting to use college prep for matchmaking purposes, which causes some groups to worry about not only our education policies but our privacy, too.

At this point we’re all in the Matrix. Despite the extremes to which Edward Snowden went to show us how the government violates our privacy, most Americans give up terabytes of personal information every day for an extra 10 percent off at Target. Want this new free app? Give us access to all your phone contacts. Want to sign up for this new email account? We’ll scan your emails for potential advertising targets.

This kind of intrusive data mining is particularly important in the African-American community, where the majority of our Internet access comes through smartphones and our social media use, especially on places like Twitter, where our use is incredibly high. But what about when you don’t expect your personal information to be used?

Late in 2014, Match Group, the consortium that owns Match.com, OkCupid, Tinder and a ton of other dating apps and sites, decided that it wanted to improve its access to young, fresh, single people’s preferences and tendencies. So what did it do? It purchased the Princeton Review. That’s right, Princeton Review, the test-prep program most commonly used by African Americans across the country, now collects data on kids to improve the targeting, marketing and analysis of dating platforms.

Now, it’s not working all that well if you’re black and dating on OkCupid, but in general, the strategy was that all those random surveys you take in an SAT-prep class—like on yourcollege hopes and worries, what makes a good college, college-ranking surveys, etc.—are chock-full of data that can help dating sites down the road. The catch is that survey data that was ostensibly about education is now being used for purposes that the kids taking those surveys never intended.

As with other breaches of computer privacy, most Americans reacted with a yawn. What’s the big deal if scouring the academic insecurities of a bunch of teenagers helps an organization connect a neurotic grad student with a working-class Romeo a few years later? First, you’re not getting paid for it. Many public schools that are majority African American and subsidize SAT-prep programs to help kids get into college are essentially paying twice: once to get the test prep for students and then again by giving this company millions of dollars in free information that doesn’t come back to the school.

But the problem runs deeper than that. This aggregate collecting of big data without the knowledge of consumers leads to everything from increased insurance premiums to loan discrimination to identity theft. What if Match.com sells Princeton Review-survey information to corporations that use internal data to decide whether or not loans should go to certain communities? What if high school survey data is used to justify aggressive stop-and-frisk-type policies—providing a cheap shortcut for lazy police departments that don’t want to conduct their own research?

Or, quite simply, what about the preponderance of data breaches we’ve seen, from Sony to Target, that are made easier the more hands our personal data goes through without our knowledge? Several organizations, including Consumer Action out of California, have begun highlighting these problems, especially with the way consumer data is being extracted from minority communities withno regard for privacy, reimbursement or consumer protection. However, it wouldn’t hurt if some 2016 candidates talked about this issue, seeing as how just a few months ago, half the GOP field was willing to let the FBI just dig all around Apple’s data files….

 

A Fun Illusion – Woman Disappears on Live TV!

Driving the Internet crazy – this one of a woman, seen standing on the left side of the video “disappearing” when another woman with a luggage cart walks by.

 

 

Death of an Era

The fastest growing segment of the music industry is recordings on Vinyl. Yeah, it is antique by today’s standards – but the audio quality far surpasses anything on the digital medias. Turntables and Tube Amps are back – big time, as Vinyl sales are rising at 50% a year.

So the death of this Chicago institution has more to do with merchandising than product. The costs of maintaining a brick and mortar retail outlet versus warehousing and distribution through the Internet. What will be interesting to see is whether the internet model will work in an industry where impulse buying is integral to sales. Last count, I had about 600 Albums in my personal collection. Fully half of those were “impulse buys” while looking for something else, where in thumbing through the bins I saw something such as a particular musician or group of musicians doing studio on the recording. Such “Liner Note” information is seldom provided on Internet sites – making searching for a “find” particularly vexing on the net.

Chicago is a bit smaller today.

Jazz Record Mart closes

The Jazz Record Mart, which long billed itself as “The World’s Largest Jazz and Blues Record Store,” closed its doors at 11:30 a.m. Monday, 10 minutes after a deal was completed to sell the business, according to manager/buyer Kent Richmond.

Wolfgang’s Vault – a Reno, Nev., operation that buys and sells music, film and other cultural items – has acquired the store’s inventory and the Jazz Record Mart name and web site.

“We had a lot of people knocking on the doors this morning,” said Richmond. “We did open at 10 and did a fair amount of business for the short time we were open.

“Once the deal was finalized, that’s when we had to close the doors.”

Also sold in the deal were “record bins, all the art work and everything,” said Richmond. The inventory will be shipped to Nevada…More…

For you youngsters who have never been in one of these – this is what the Old Skool Record stores looked like. It is sort of like the difference between a Kindle and a real book.

 

Shopper Beware

Any place thee is money – there will people there trying to steal it. Recently ran into two scams, one being based on the old Nigerian, “there is money left in your name, just send us money to get it to you” ruse, a second by a Internet employment board requesting $40 a month to access nonexistent executive level jobs. Most real companies have a Jobs board on their website. If they do not it is a red flag that something isn’t quite right. If the job isn’t listed on a company website, and is listed on an online one requiring you to pay membership fees…It 90% of the time is a scam. The most effective scams are based around playing on the victim’s greed and avarice.

Any website, that isn’t the US Government IRS or Social Security that asks you online for your SSN, or credit card number online…Is a Scam. Period.

In general – if it sounds to good to be true..It’s a scam.

Here’s a list of 12 scams from the Better Business Bureau and law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for as you hit the malls or shop online.

Fake shipping notifications: These can have attachments or links to sites that will download malware on your computer to steal your identity and your passwords. Don’t be fooled by a holiday phishing scam.

E-cards: Electronic holiday cards can be used to steal your data. Two red flags to watch out for are: the sender’s name is not apparent; you are required to share additional information to get the card.

Letters from Santa: Several trusted companies offer personalized letters from Santa, but scammers mimic them to get personal information from unsuspecting parents. Check with bbb.org to find out which ones are legitimate.

Temporary holiday jobs: Retailers and delivery services need extra help at the holidays, but beware of offers that require you to share personal information online or pay for a job lead. Apply in person or go to retailers’ main websites to find out who is hiring.

Unusual forms of payment: Be wary of anyone who asks you to pay for holiday purchases using prepaid debit cards, gift cards, wire transfers, third parties, etc. These payments cannot be traced and cannot be undone. Use a credit card on a secure website; look for https in the address (the extra “s” is for “secure”) and the lock symbol.

Social media gift exchange: It sounds like a great deal; buy one gift and get 36 in return. But it’s aa variation on a pyramid scheme and it’s illegal, says the BBB.

Deceptive Advertising — Just like fake websites, fake apps are built at this time of year to target people who prefer shopping from their phones. Be especially wary of phone shopping apps; even those marked with an Amazon or Ebay logo could be fake. And, dangerous links, phony contests on social media, and bogus gift cards allow scammers to steal your personal information, says McAfee.com. Watch out for URLs that use the names of well-known brands along with extra words.

Bogus Charities — The holidays prompt us to donate to charities, but scam artists take advantage of this by sending emails for fake charities or sharing viral promos. Before donating, do your homework. Groups such as the Better Business Bureau, Charity Watch and even the Internal Revenue Service have tips to safely donate to charities.

Promotional Emails —The International Business Times says to treat all promotional emails that aren’t coming from a trusted retailer as dangerous material. Even if you open the email, do not click on any links inside.

Gift Card Scams — The popular gifts can be an opportunity for thieves, who copy the numbers off cards in a store, then check online or call the 1-800 number to see if the card is activated. Once a card is active, the thieves spend its contents online, and the rightful card holder has no money, says the Better Business Bureau. And never buy discounted gift cards sold online; scammers will keep your cash, and use the gift cards.

Use a Credit Card — Using a credit card is safer than swiping your debit card when shopping. Credit cards have more security features than debit cards and credit companies are more willing to replace your stolen money than most banks, according to IBT.

Package Theft — The internet is full of videos of thieves stealing packages left by delivery services on doorsteps. Police believe the criminals follow delivery trucks into neighborhoods, say Annapolis Police. To thwart thieves, require a signature for all packages. If nobody will be home to accept a delivery, have the package held at the nearest service location for you to pick it up.

 

Tamir Rice – Racist Trolls Destroy Comments Section

Coordinated attacks by racist trolls on comments sections aren’t unusual anymore. Here, the Cleveland Newspaper discovers just how damaging to sensible discussion they are…

 

Cleveland paper nixes Tamir Rice comment section: ‘A small army’ couldn’t stop the ‘cesspool’ of racism

The Cleveland Plain Dealer explained this week that it had disabled comments on all of its stories about a 12-year-old black child who was shot by police because “a small army” of administrators could not delete the racist comments fast enough.

In a column on Monday, Chris Quinn, the Northeast Ohio Media Group’s Vice President of Content, said that the paper had hoped that articles about the shooting of Tamir Rice would be “an ideal subject for us to meet one of our chief goals at cleveland.com, hosting community conversations on topics of widespread interest.”

But he noted that comments had been disabled in October because “we don’t fancy our website as a place of hate, and the Tamir Rice story has been a magnet for haters.”

“We enlisted a small army on our staff to monitor the comments and delete any that violated our standards,” Quinn wrote. “The trouble was that we couldn’t keep up. Just about every piece we published about Tamir immediately became a cesspool of hateful, inflammatory or hostile comments.”

“Rather than discuss the facts of the case, many commenters debased the conversation with racist invective. Or they made absurd statements about the clothing and appearance of people involved in the story. Or they attacked each other for having contrasting viewpoints. In many cases, well over half of the comments on Tamir stories broke our rules and had to be deleted.”

Observing that the comments were “overrun as they were by wickedness,” the staff decided to shut down the comment section on stories about Rice.

Quinn pointed out that some had tried to move their “odious comments” to unrelated stories, and that those users’ accounts were deleted.

At the time of publication, Quinn’s column had nearly 1,500 comments, and a number of them had already been removed for violating the paper’s commenting policy.

 

 

Death Threats Against Howard University Students

Well…the racist morons are coming out of the woodwork. What this has done is to fully validate the experiences as reported by black Mizzou students.

FBI Investigating Unconfirmed Death Threat Against Howard University Students

The FBI and local authorities are investigating an apparent death threat against students at Howard University, a spokesman for the school says. The unconfirmed threat appeared on Twitter early Thursday in the form of an anonymous, racist rant seeking to connect the recent upheaval at the University of Missouri with Howard, the nation’s oldest historically black college or university.

The rant appears to have originated Wednesday on an internet discussion site. In it, the author claims to have returned to Maryland from Columbia, Missouri, where earlier this week Missouri students upset with their school’s tepid reactions to a string of racially motivated incidents prompted the resignations of top university administrators.

“I left MU yesterday because I couldn’t put up with it anymore,” the post, which is riddled with profanities and racial slurs, reads. “I go home to MD and what do I see? The same old shit.”

The message then states that any black people “left at Howard University after 10 tomorrow will be the first to go. … Sure the po po will take me down, but I’ll go out a hero knowing I made the world better.” The screed also suggests people heading toward nearby Metro stations would also be targeted.

“We are aware of the online threat and have made appropriate notifications,”Andrew Ames, a spokesman for the FBI’s Washington field office, writes in an email. “We urge anyone who has information about the threat to contact the Metropolitan Police Department or the FBI.”

Classes and other functions at Howard are still ongoing, though the campus is under a state of heightened security, according to a school-wide email from the university’s president, Wayne Frederick.

“We are aware of the threat made against the university and its students and are working with campus, local, and federal law enforcement on this serious matter. This is an ongoing investigation,” he writes.

Police in Missouri yesterday arrested two college students for making death threats against black students in response to the events in Columbia.