#1st amendment rights

[odinsblog]

IN THE FALL OF 2020, GIG WORKERS IN VENEZUELA POSTED A SERIES OF images to online forums where they gathered to talk shop. The photos were mundane, if sometimes intimate, household scenes captured from low angles—including some you really wouldn’t want shared on the Internet.

In one particularly revealing shot, a young woman in a lavender T-shirt sits on the toilet, her shorts pulled down to mid-thigh.

The images were not taken by a person, but by development versions of iRobot’s Roomba J7 series robot vacuum. They were then sent to Scale AI, a startup that contracts workers around the world to label audio, photo, and video data used to train artificial intelligence.

They were the sorts of scenes that internet-connected devices regularly capture and send back to the cloud—though usually with stricter storage and access controls. Yet earlier this year, MIT Technology Review obtained 15 screenshots of these private photos, which had been posted to closed social media groups.

The photos vary in type and in sensitivity. The most intimate image we saw was the series of video stills featuring the young woman on the toilet, her face blocked in the lead image but unobscured in the grainy scroll of shots below. In another image, a boy who appears to be eight or nine years old, and whose face is clearly visible, is sprawled on his stomach across a hallway floor. A triangular flop of hair spills across his forehead as he stares, with apparent amusement, at the object recording him from just below eye level.

iRobot—the world’s largest vendor of robotic vacuums, which Amazon recently acquired for $1.7 billion in a pending deal—confirmed that these images were captured by its Roombas in 2020.

Ultimately, though, this set of images represents something bigger than any one individual company’s actions. They speak to the widespread, and growing, practice of sharing potentially sensitive data to train algorithms, as well as the surprising, globe-spanning journey that a single image can take—in this case, from homes in North America, Europe, and Asia to the servers of Massachusetts-based iRobot, from there to San Francisco–based Scale AI, and finally to Scale’s contracted data workers around the world (including, in this instance, Venezuelan gig workers who posted the images to private groups on Facebook, Discord, and elsewhere).

Together, the images reveal a whole data supply chain—and new points where personal information could leak out—that few consumers are even aware of.

(continue reading)

[thefreethoughtprojectcom]

“We spent a lot of time listening to the United States putting lipstick on a pig, but the judges didn’t buy it,” Stella Assange told reporters outside the court building.

Read More: https://thefreethoughtproject.com/free-speech/london-court-rules-assange-can-appeal-us-extradition-on-first-amendment-grounds

#TheFreeThoughtProject #TFTP

[serious2020]

SF to dismiss almost all cases against Dolores hill bomb teens

San Francisco officials to dismiss cases against 79 of the 81 teenagers arrested for hill bomb rioting. Status of arrested adults is unclear. — Read on missionlocal.org/2023/07/hill-bomb-sf-to-dismiss-almost-all-charges-against-teens/

[there-goes-trouble]

"The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by the ACLU of Vermont on behalf of Gregory Bombard, of St. Albans. It says Bombard's First Amendment rights were violated after an unnecessary traffic stop and retaliatory arrest in 2018," (June 26th, 2024).

[thricethechrises]

Oh yeah because if the tangerine nightmare wins what you say and do online will be restricted and people will disappear for posting random shit on the internet.

It's that dire and important.

GO VOTE PLEASE!!!

Guys be manifesting or praying or whatever that Kamala wins and I don't have to stop writing gay fanfiction.

[geezerwench]

In June 2022, the Orem City Council banned the public library from maintaining a display for Pride Month in the children’s and teen’s areas. It later expanded the prohibition throughout the library and to displays for women’s history and minority groups. While most federal holidays, including the 4th of July, Columbus Day, and Christmas were exempt from the ban, others — such as Juneteenth — were not.

We’ve heard of librarians shushing loud-talkers. But in Orem, Utah, city officials are telling librarians to zip it — or else.

The librarians were punished and censored for criticizing their local government.

That’s why FIRE is stepping in.

FIRE is giving city officials one chance to learn they can’t punish librarians & their association for criticizing the government’s restrictions of book displays in the public library.

[eugenedebs1920]

It is not anti free speech to want to limit false information. It is not a violation of your first amendment right to advocate against you broadcasting lies to the masses. Those who insist upon spreading misinformation are guilty of abuse. Abuse of a fundamental right you should cherish, not misuse. A gift from 250 years ago that deserves appreciation not manipulation. The falsities taken part in are a betrayal of those who assured them. For when a privilege gets taken advantage of, it may just be revoked at random.

[thespookiestprincessofthemall]

We have one day left before they addressed wether to pass the KOSA bill or not, you think this wouldn't be a problem but It is, they're going to violate the 1st amendment, not just to the children but to the adults as well, including but not limited to the people who are fighting for Palestines rights, and I don't mean we simply won't be able to fight for their rights, though thats bad enough, I mean we're going to be targeted by the government If this bill comes to fruition, If you actually care for us and the lives of the innocent PLEASE call your representatives and your senators, and PLEASE sign a petition against KOSA, I BEG OF YOU, PLEASE HELP US!

[scottguy]

Talk about theocracy!

The only thing that scares me more than fascists are religious fascists.

"Man never does evil quite so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction." - Blaise Pascal

[asm5129]

My videos on the 1st Amendment and free speech are going to be really important in the next few weeks as claims of censorship, acts of domestic terrorism and incitement of it, and billionaires controlling the flow of information and misinformation become more and more prevalent. Please please PLEASE watch them, I designed them to be very accessible so anyone should be able to understand them and learn from them. It’s gonna be really, really important to know law and history around these topics in the coming days and weeks—Even more than it has been.

In Part I, we explore the history of the 1st Amendment, the legal rights we do and don't have, and how modern approaches to 1st amendment law have resulted in the threat known as Stochastic Terrorism.

In Part II, we explore Monetary Politics, break down who controls modern expression and how, and then discuss ways to begin addressing the threats modern speech issues have introduced.

[news4dzhozhar]

[ablogofcourage]

[thoughtportal]

In an email to constituents raising concerns about KOSA, Representative Frost writes, “Proposals that involve filtering or identification requirements on sites, like the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), would have unintended consequences that undermine our goal of an enriching and educational Internet experience and far outweigh their benefits. They jeopardize kids’ privacy through increased data collection and promote inappropriate parental surveillance which can keep children experiencing domestic abuse from seeking help. Governor DeSantis has championed these policies as a way to censor LGBTQ+ content, like LGBTQ+ mental health resources and HIV prevention information, that can be essential to kids’ well being.”

Representative Frost is absolutely right, and his comments are in line with what human rights, free expression, civil liberties, and civil rights experts have been saying for months. There is tremendous urgency around holding Big Tech companies accountable, but KOSA is not the solution.

Representative Frost goes on to say, “Instead, I support proposals that shape the underlying design of online services commonly used by kids, including social media and video game platforms, to better serve them. These include requiring providers to default to the highest privacy setting possible for minors; ending algorithms that push children toward inappropriate content; using clear, concise language that kids can understand for terms of service; and further limiting and securing the collection of children’s data. We deserve an internet that works for all of us, especially kids.”

Fight for the Future has long called for strong Federal data privacy legislation, a ban on the use of personal data to power recommendation algorithms, and an end to manipulative design features like auto play, infinite scroll, and intrusive notifications. Representative Frost rightly points out that there are many things we can do to crack down on Big Tech abuses without empowering extreme right wing attorneys general to attack trans kids and censor content they don’t like. We hope other members of Congress will join him in speaking out against misguided legislation like KOSA, so that we can work together toward meaningful legislation that addresses the harms of Big Tech without throwing marginalized kids and human rights under the bus.

[serious2020]

National Black Radical Organizing Conference - Community Movement Builders

National Black Radical Organizing Conference – Community Movement Builders — Read on communitymovementbuilders.org/national-black-radical-organizing-conference/

[a-kinda-nerdy-girl]

Listen I'm not usually patriotic, unless it's the olympics and american women are freaking killing it. Then I basically turn into a bald eagle.