#Wtf

72 posts tagged Wtf

The web, ladies and gentlemen

· software, www

What a time to be alive! The web is truly, utterly broken.

To be entirely clear, I’m not doing anything. It just refreshes a million times, DoSing itself in the process, until, after a while, it actually loads “perfectly” fine. All I run is uBlock and NextDNS to get rid of (a portion of) the trackers and ads.

Jom & POFMA

· misc

Jom Media has come under scrutiny following a POFMA order for three articles published in their segment, 'Singapore This Week'. They voiced concerns over the interpretation of the order, particularly in how it was applied to their content.

One of the contentious points raised by Jom was regarding a statement in their publication. While conceding that this particular statement could have benefited from additional context from the full remarks of the politician involved, they stands firm in their stance on the other two statements. These, according to Jom, neither implied governmental corruption nor suggested that the government was responsible for blocking an Instagram post, contrary to the court's determination.

EU pushes for digital surveillance

· misc

Keep seeing more and more topics, threads and sites about it. And it's probably not getting half as much attention as it deserves.

Here's a summary from Danny Mekić post:

  • The European Commission wants to turn digital communication apps into mass surveillance tools by automatically scanning EU citizens' live conversations, photos and videos for criminal offenses, even if they are not suspected of a crime.
  • Hundreds of academics, privacy regulators and EU legal experts have condemned the proposal, arguing it grossly violates privacy rights and the technology cannot accurately detect criminal activity.
  • When the EU Council meeting showed insufficient support for the proposal, the Commissioner launched a paid advertising campaign on social media targeting specific countries to sway public opinion.
  • The campaign used emotionally manipulative images and music to suggest opponents did not want to protect children, while also misleadingly claiming majority European support.
  • The ads were microtargeted to exclude people interested in privacy, Euroscepticism, Christianity and other critical political/religious groups, creating an uncritical echo chamber.
  • This microtargeting violates the social media platform's policies, the Digital Services Act, and GDPR.
  • When a proposal lacks sufficient support, the proper response is to withdraw or amend it, not pressure doubting members through manipulative disinformation campaigns.
  • By setting aside European values, the Commission is endangering the foundations of the European Union.
  • The Commission should take down the ad campaigns and refrain from future attempts to bend public opinion through illegal targeted ads.
  • The document was written by a jurist and technologist who is critical of the Commission's overreach and disregard for democratic processes and individual rights.
Via Kagi: Undermining Democracy: The European Commission's Controversial Push for Digital Surveillance