#Focal Elegia Headphones

[thelisteningpost]

New Focal Elegia Headphones

Focal have just released their first audiophile circum-aural closed-back headphones, the Elegia's, which we are so excited to have now available for purchase.

Utilizing French-made technology, Focal have yet again produced a stunning headphone dedicated to sound that music lovers will adore. These remarkable headphones are of exceptional quality and will not cease to impress those who listen to them!

Focal's mission, to integrate the best of its technologies into a set of high-end closed-back headphones to experience absolute sound everywhere and anywhere, has undoubtedly been accomplished with the new and impeccable Elegia headphones. Continue reading on our TLPCHC TLPWLG website :: https://www.listeningpost.co.nz/New-Focal-Elegia-Headphones-__I.253681__N.81089

[highendheadphones]

Focal Elegia Closed Back Headphones Now On Demo!

Hi All,

Focal really have hit the spot with their range of open back headphones released over the last couple of years which have been very popular indeed so it is great news that they have now added a closed back to their range with the Elegia which we are pleased to say we now have on permanent demo, priced at £799 these are definitely going to carry on Focal’s success in the headphone market.

If you’d like a listen anytime or to compare against other closed back headphones on the market please feel free to get in touch to book an appointment in our dedicated headphone shop.

http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk/focal-headphones/focal-elegia-closed-back-headphones

Cheers,

Paul.

[macnews-org]

Early Black Friday Deals Nov. 19: 12% off Apple Watch Series 8, $15 off Xbox Series S, 53% off Netgear Orbi Pro Mesh Wi-Fi, more

Early Black Friday Deals Nov. 19: 12% off Apple Watch Series 8, $15 off Xbox Series S, 53% off Netgear Orbi Pro Mesh Wi-Fi, more

Saturday’s best deals include $491 off Focal Elegia High-Fidelity Headphones, $200 off a Sony Wireless Subwoofer, 20% off a Lego Creator Noodle Shop, and much more. Best deals for November 19 AppleInsider checks online stores daily to uncover discounts and offers on hardware and other products, including Apple devices, smart TVs, accessories, and other items. The best offers are compiled into our…

[creation-plus]

Focal Elegia High-Fidelity Closed-Back Circum-Aural Headphones

Focal Elegia High-Fidelity Closed-Back Circum-Aural Headphones

Price: (as of – Details) Elegia is an audiophile circum-aural closed-back pair of headphones from Focal. The ergonomic design makes themincredibly comfortable and offers excellent sound isolation, making these headphones the ideal solution for longlistening sessions. Continuing its headphone development programme, the Focal RandD team has introduced severalnew innovations, all with incredible…

[michaeldiaszkirindage]

Focal Celestee review | TechRadar

Focal Celestee review | TechRadar

30-second review Focal, the renowned speaker manufacturer, jumped into the headphone space several years ago and made an immediate impact on the space. Its line up of open- and closed-back headphones became some of the most recommended headphones for audio enthusiasts.  Most recently, Focal revisited its closed-back offering and discontinued the Elegia in favor of the new Celestee, which we’ll be…

[bigjoe11]

FOCAL ELEGIA CLOSED‑BACK HEADPHONES REVIEW Read Here "Although the Elegia uses a closed enclosure, it has two vents; one is part of the driver itself while the second vent is actually built into the logo design in the centre of the earcup.

[hifilounge]

The New Focal Stellia Closed Back Headphones Now on Demo!

Hi Everyone,

Well this one came out of the blue, last week Focal announced their new Highend closed back headphones, the Stellia, and today we had 2 pairs arrive, I had no idea they were this imminent but it is great news as from what I can tell this is a closed back version of the Utopia which I consider to be one of the best headphones currently available, so if Focal can get a similar performance from a closed back they are going to have a real winner on their hands.

At the moment I consider the Sennheiser HD820 to be the best closed back headphone on the planet but just maybe it’s reign at the top is about to come to an end, we’ll find out tomorrow once we get them un boxed and up and running.

http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk/focal-headphones/focal-stelia-closed-back-headphones

Introducing the Focal Digital Headphone Amp - Arche!

Again, another surprise from Focal, they are about to release their own digital headphone amplifier called Arche, what is unique about this is that it will have presets built in to get the best from which ever Focal headphone you own from the Elegia to the Utopia which is a cool idea.

This isn’t due for another couple of months but needless to say we will have it on demo once available.

http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk/focal-headphones/focal-arche-headphone-amp-dac

Regards,

[teiraymondmccoy78]

How blockchain technology can — and can’t — prevent sexual assault

How blockchain technology can — and can’t — prevent sexual assault

For the ongoing series, Code Word, we’re exploring if — and how — technology can protect individuals against sexual assault and harassment, and how it can help and support survivors.

This story explores how projects like Callisto and LegalFling are using blockchain technology to store vital information on assaults and record consent.

When many think of blockchain, they think of cryptocurrencies. But as one of the most exciting new fields of emerging technology, there is an incredibly wide array of use cases for blockchain — as well as many empty promises and scams.

When it comes to combating the age old problem of how to prevent sexual assault, it’s clear we need to look for new ways to do so. Blockchain’s ability to store and record information and anonymize records holds promising potential in this area.

Several new projects promise to use blockchain to circumvent government censorship, store information on reported assaults, create databases, and record consent. In this article, we take a look at how effective these initiatives actually are.

Ethereum and #MeToo

China’s internet is infamously censored, and the government has often used it as a form of control over dissidence and political activity. Because of this, the #MeToo movement hasn’t really gained momentum in the country until recently. Earlier this year, Chinese student activists ignited the movement in their country by using blockchain technology to surpass government censorship.

Prior to this, posts referring to the feminist movement were frequently removed from social networking sites such as WeChat and Weibo.

Stories vanished, including that of a decades-old sexual assault case where Peking University (PKU) student. The student, Gao Yan, committed suicide after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a professor.

Recently, eight PKU students submitted a freedom of information request to the school to open Gao Yan’s case records. One of the students, Yue Xin, published an open letter claiming she faced harassment and intimidation from the faculty in efforts to make her back down.

Institutional and governmental pressure has forced activists and survivors to find a different route to share their stories. Despite activist attempts to keep Xin’s letter from also being censored (including republishing it upside-down) it was also removed from social media — but now it’s on the Ethereum blockchain for good.

Keeping #MeToo alive in countries that wish to block it out is just one example of blockchain being used to help sexual assault survivors, but it’s not the only blockchain initiative preserving important records.

Callisto and game theory

Another such promising blockchain project is Callisto, a San Francisco-based tech non-profit which seeks to empower survivors to report incidents. Since 2015, they’ve been focusing on sexual assault cases at universities, an initiative titled “Callisto Campus.” So far, it’s been launched in 13 campuses and has supported over 149,000 students.

Callisto offers survivors three options: record abuse, issue a report, or store a report until another survivor files a similar report against the same perpetrator. The last option is based on “information escrows” ― a system which keeps a sexual assault report confidential until at least one other person has accused the same individual of assault.

How exactly does this project utilize the blockchain? To encourage victims to come forward and report attacks, Callisto employs game theory, a mathematical tool which models situations of conflict.

As stated in its white paper, “In game theory terms, there is a first-mover disadvantage with high consequences for a victim when accusing a perpetrator. That disadvantage comes from the disclosure and resulting exposure of the victim, opening the victim up to consequences (countermoves in game theory) of retaliation, disbelief by authorities, reputation damage, and stigma.”

“Callisto’s solution leverages the two key facts described in the previous section to eliminate first mover disadvantage: we enable the likely multiple victims of a perpetrator to know they are not alone and create a path for them to act together.”

This approach disincentivizes retaliation by alleged attackers, reduces disbelief in victims, and lowers the likelihood the accusers will face damage to their reputationwhile reporting.

Blockchain technology also helps to encrypt and anonymize the reports: “Callisto approaches the problem of protecting the victims’ (and the perpetrators’) privacy through comprehensive use of privacy-preserving encryption technologies and user authentication practices. Personal information of users, their accounts of incidents, and the identities of perpetrators they provide are protected by encryption from before that data leaves the user’s personal computer.”

The data stays encrypted, until it is decrypted “on the personal workstation of a Callisto Legal Options Counselor. In addition, even Counselors cannot see incident or perpetrator identity information unless more than one user has identified the same perpetrator.”

“Access to user accounts are protected by multi-factor authentication, strong password requirements, and email verification. User activity on the platform cannot be linked to identifying user account information.”

According to Callisto, 15 percent of reports found a match causing them to report simultaneously.

Jess Ladd, the founder and CEO of Callisto, further illustrated how Callisto’s technology works in her TED Talk:

On average, one in five women and one in 13 men will be assaulted during their undergraduate career in the United States. Less than 10 percent will ever report their assault to the police and those who do, on average, wait 11 months to make their report. 

Survivors using Callisto Campus took four months to report their sexual assault experience, which is three times faster than the national average of 11 months.

According to Callisto, the service has increased the chances a survivor will report, the speed of their reporting, and the detection of serial sexual perpetrators on college campuses. They also claim survivors who visit their school’s Callisto Campus website are five times more likely to report their assault than those who do not.

An anonymous male survivor of sexual assault said: “It was hard to imagine coming forward in an immediately public way, but to start by chronicling what had occurred would have been a helpful and important first step.”

Apps putting consent on the blockchain

Blockchain tech has also been employed in projects seeking to approach issues of consent. The app LegalFling, for example, allows users to secure their explicit consent before engaging in a sexual act with one or more persons with just one swipe.

Once all participants have confirmed their consent, it uses contracts stored on the blockchain to let users specify consent, along with things like “explicit language” and use of protection.

But LegalFling and other projects like it have faced criticism, as they operate on a dangerous and deeply flawed representation of one-time consent. As anti-sexual violence organization, RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) explains, “Giving consent for one activity, one time, does not mean giving consent for increased or recurring sexual contact.”

LegalFling does address this on their site: “’No’ means ‘no’ at any time. Being passed out means ‘no’ at any time.” The company acknowledges consent recorded on the app is automatically “null” and “void” if someone is passed out. But the app itself doesn’t leave room for someone to withdraw their consent.

Stephanie Alys, co-founder of MysteryVibe, a company that creates personalized pleasure products said during her talk at the TNW Conference last year that there’s a difference between seeking consent and seeking agreement – and the latter is what you get when you hand someone a contract.

Instead of tools to help people battle a legal case in the event that they’re accused of sexual assault or harassment – which is what LegalFling seems to be – more education and discussion on what consent means, and how everyone has the right to it, is needed.

Blockchain can’t get rid of rape culture

An app like LegalFling doesn’t leave room for someone to withdraw their consent. Swiping “okay” beforehand is therefore not an accurate indicator of consensual sex, but this doesn’t mean blockchain can’t help prevent assault.

As in the case of Callisto and #MeToo activists utilizing the Ethereum blockchain, this technology can be of help, both in prevention and to survivors, as it anonymizes cases and records data that can never be altered. However, as shown in the case of LegalFling, technology cannot replace cultural change and better sex education.

Technology is black and white, but the world of humans is not. We can never solely rely on technology to protect us, because technology can never be a replacement for a healthy sexual culture, where consent is respected and discussed openly.

Read next: Focal Elegia Review: Neutral hi-fi headphones you can actually commute with

Source link https://ift.tt/2zWsN15

[highendheadphones]

The New Focal Stellia Closed Back Headphones Now on Demo!

Hi Everyone,

Well this one came out of the blue, last week Focal announced their new Highend closed back headphones, the Stellia, and today we had 2 pairs arrive, I had no idea they were this imminent but it is great news as from what I can tell this is a closed back version of the Utopia which I consider to be one of the best headphones currently available, so if Focal can get a similar performance from a closed back they are going to have a real winner on their hands.

At the moment I consider the Sennheiser HD820 to be the best closed back headphone on the planet but just maybe it’s reign at the top is about to come to an end, we’ll find out tomorrow once we get them un boxed and up and running.

http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk/focal-headphones/focal-stelia-closed-back-headphones

Introducing the Focal Digital Headphone Amp - Arche!

Again, another surprise from Focal, they are about to release their own digital headphone amplifier called Arche, what is unique about this is that it will have presets built in to get the best from which ever Focal headphone you own from the Elegia to the Utopia which is a cool idea.

This isn’t due for another couple of months but needless to say we will have it on demo once available.

http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk/focal-headphones/focal-arche-headphone-amp-dac

[macnews-org]

Daily deals Oct. 7: $200 off M2 MacBook Pro, AirPods for $90, $100 off iPad mini 6, more

Daily deals Oct. 7: $200 off M2 MacBook Pro, AirPods for $90, $100 off iPad mini 6, more

Friday’s best deals include $80 off AirPods Pro, $561 off Focal Elegia closed-back headphones, 20% off 12.9-inch Smart Keyboard Folio, and much more. Best deals October 7 AppleInsider checks online stores daily to uncover discounts and offers on hardware and other products, including Apple devices, smart TVs, accessories, and other items. The best offers are compiled into our regular list for our…

[adrianjenkins952wblr]

How blockchain technology can — and can’t — prevent sexual assault

How blockchain technology can — and can’t — prevent sexual assault

For the ongoing series, Code Word, we’re exploring if — and how — technology can protect individuals against sexual assault and harassment, and how it can help and support survivors.

This story explores how projects like Callisto and LegalFling are using blockchain technology to store vital information on assaults and record consent.

When many think of blockchain, they think of cryptocurrencies. But as one of the most exciting new fields of emerging technology, there is an incredibly wide array of use cases for blockchain — as well as many empty promises and scams.

When it comes to combating the age old problem of how to prevent sexual assault, it’s clear we need to look for new ways to do so. Blockchain’s ability to store and record information and anonymize records holds promising potential in this area.

Several new projects promise to use blockchain to circumvent government censorship, store information on reported assaults, create databases, and record consent. In this article, we take a look at how effective these initiatives actually are.

Ethereum and #MeToo

China’s internet is infamously censored, and the government has often used it as a form of control over dissidence and political activity. Because of this, the #MeToo movement hasn’t really gained momentum in the country until recently. Earlier this year, Chinese student activists ignited the movement in their country by using blockchain technology to surpass government censorship.

Prior to this, posts referring to the feminist movement were frequently removed from social networking sites such as WeChat and Weibo.

Stories vanished, including that of a decades-old sexual assault case where Peking University (PKU) student. The student, Gao Yan, committed suicide after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a professor.

Recently, eight PKU students submitted a freedom of information request to the school to open Gao Yan’s case records. One of the students, Yue Xin, published an open letter claiming she faced harassment and intimidation from the faculty in efforts to make her back down.

Institutional and governmental pressure has forced activists and survivors to find a different route to share their stories. Despite activist attempts to keep Xin’s letter from also being censored (including republishing it upside-down) it was also removed from social media — but now it’s on the Ethereum blockchain for good.

Keeping #MeToo alive in countries that wish to block it out is just one example of blockchain being used to help sexual assault survivors, but it’s not the only blockchain initiative preserving important records.

Callisto and game theory

Another such promising blockchain project is Callisto, a San Francisco-based tech non-profit which seeks to empower survivors to report incidents. Since 2015, they’ve been focusing on sexual assault cases at universities, an initiative titled “Callisto Campus.” So far, it’s been launched in 13 campuses and has supported over 149,000 students.

Callisto offers survivors three options: record abuse, issue a report, or store a report until another survivor files a similar report against the same perpetrator. The last option is based on “information escrows” ― a system which keeps a sexual assault report confidential until at least one other person has accused the same individual of assault.

How exactly does this project utilize the blockchain? To encourage victims to come forward and report attacks, Callisto employs game theory, a mathematical tool which models situations of conflict.

As stated in its white paper, “In game theory terms, there is a first-mover disadvantage with high consequences for a victim when accusing a perpetrator. That disadvantage comes from the disclosure and resulting exposure of the victim, opening the victim up to consequences (countermoves in game theory) of retaliation, disbelief by authorities, reputation damage, and stigma.”

“Callisto’s solution leverages the two key facts described in the previous section to eliminate first mover disadvantage: we enable the likely multiple victims of a perpetrator to know they are not alone and create a path for them to act together.”

This approach disincentivizes retaliation by alleged attackers, reduces disbelief in victims, and lowers the likelihood the accusers will face damage to their reputationwhile reporting.

Blockchain technology also helps to encrypt and anonymize the reports: “Callisto approaches the problem of protecting the victims’ (and the perpetrators’) privacy through comprehensive use of privacy-preserving encryption technologies and user authentication practices. Personal information of users, their accounts of incidents, and the identities of perpetrators they provide are protected by encryption from before that data leaves the user’s personal computer.”

The data stays encrypted, until it is decrypted “on the personal workstation of a Callisto Legal Options Counselor. In addition, even Counselors cannot see incident or perpetrator identity information unless more than one user has identified the same perpetrator.”

“Access to user accounts are protected by multi-factor authentication, strong password requirements, and email verification. User activity on the platform cannot be linked to identifying user account information.”

According to Callisto, 15 percent of reports found a match causing them to report simultaneously.

Jess Ladd, the founder and CEO of Callisto, further illustrated how Callisto’s technology works in her TED Talk:

On average, one in five women and one in 13 men will be assaulted during their undergraduate career in the United States. Less than 10 percent will ever report their assault to the police and those who do, on average, wait 11 months to make their report. 

Survivors using Callisto Campus took four months to report their sexual assault experience, which is three times faster than the national average of 11 months.

According to Callisto, the service has increased the chances a survivor will report, the speed of their reporting, and the detection of serial sexual perpetrators on college campuses. They also claim survivors who visit their school’s Callisto Campus website are five times more likely to report their assault than those who do not.

An anonymous male survivor of sexual assault said: “It was hard to imagine coming forward in an immediately public way, but to start by chronicling what had occurred would have been a helpful and important first step.”

Apps putting consent on the blockchain

Blockchain tech has also been employed in projects seeking to approach issues of consent. The app LegalFling, for example, allows users to secure their explicit consent before engaging in a sexual act with one or more persons with just one swipe.

Once all participants have confirmed their consent, it uses contracts stored on the blockchain to let users specify consent, along with things like “explicit language” and use of protection.

But LegalFling and other projects like it have faced criticism, as they operate on a dangerous and deeply flawed representation of one-time consent. As anti-sexual violence organization, RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) explains, “Giving consent for one activity, one time, does not mean giving consent for increased or recurring sexual contact.”

LegalFling does address this on their site: “’No’ means ‘no’ at any time. Being passed out means ‘no’ at any time.” The company acknowledges consent recorded on the app is automatically “null” and “void” if someone is passed out. But the app itself doesn’t leave room for someone to withdraw their consent.

Stephanie Alys, co-founder of MysteryVibe, a company that creates personalized pleasure products said during her talk at the TNW Conference last year that there’s a difference between seeking consent and seeking agreement – and the latter is what you get when you hand someone a contract.

Instead of tools to help people battle a legal case in the event that they’re accused of sexual assault or harassment – which is what LegalFling seems to be – more education and discussion on what consent means, and how everyone has the right to it, is needed.

Blockchain can’t get rid of rape culture

An app like LegalFling doesn’t leave room for someone to withdraw their consent. Swiping “okay” beforehand is therefore not an accurate indicator of consensual sex, but this doesn’t mean blockchain can’t help prevent assault.

As in the case of Callisto and #MeToo activists utilizing the Ethereum blockchain, this technology can be of help, both in prevention and to survivors, as it anonymizes cases and records data that can never be altered. However, as shown in the case of LegalFling, technology cannot replace cultural change and better sex education.

Technology is black and white, but the world of humans is not. We can never solely rely on technology to protect us, because technology can never be a replacement for a healthy sexual culture, where consent is respected and discussed openly.

Read next: Focal Elegia Review: Neutral hi-fi headphones you can actually commute with

Source link https://ift.tt/2zWsN15

[bobbynolanios88]

How blockchain technology can — and can’t — prevent sexual assault

How blockchain technology can — and can’t — prevent sexual assault

For the ongoing series, Code Word, we’re exploring if — and how — technology can protect individuals against sexual assault and harassment, and how it can help and support survivors.

This story explores how projects like Callisto and LegalFling are using blockchain technology to store vital information on assaults and record consent.

When many think of blockchain, they think of cryptocurrencies. But as one of the most exciting new fields of emerging technology, there is an incredibly wide array of use cases for blockchain — as well as many empty promises and scams.

When it comes to combating the age old problem of how to prevent sexual assault, it’s clear we need to look for new ways to do so. Blockchain’s ability to store and record information and anonymize records holds promising potential in this area.

Several new projects promise to use blockchain to circumvent government censorship, store information on reported assaults, create databases, and record consent. In this article, we take a look at how effective these initiatives actually are.

Ethereum and #MeToo

China’s internet is infamously censored, and the government has often used it as a form of control over dissidence and political activity. Because of this, the #MeToo movement hasn’t really gained momentum in the country until recently. Earlier this year, Chinese student activists ignited the movement in their country by using blockchain technology to surpass government censorship.

Prior to this, posts referring to the feminist movement were frequently removed from social networking sites such as WeChat and Weibo.

Stories vanished, including that of a decades-old sexual assault case where Peking University (PKU) student. The student, Gao Yan, committed suicide after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a professor.

Recently, eight PKU students submitted a freedom of information request to the school to open Gao Yan’s case records. One of the students, Yue Xin, published an open letter claiming she faced harassment and intimidation from the faculty in efforts to make her back down.

Institutional and governmental pressure has forced activists and survivors to find a different route to share their stories. Despite activist attempts to keep Xin’s letter from also being censored (including republishing it upside-down) it was also removed from social media — but now it’s on the Ethereum blockchain for good.

Keeping #MeToo alive in countries that wish to block it out is just one example of blockchain being used to help sexual assault survivors, but it’s not the only blockchain initiative preserving important records.

Callisto and game theory

Another such promising blockchain project is Callisto, a San Francisco-based tech non-profit which seeks to empower survivors to report incidents. Since 2015, they’ve been focusing on sexual assault cases at universities, an initiative titled “Callisto Campus.” So far, it’s been launched in 13 campuses and has supported over 149,000 students.

Callisto offers survivors three options: record abuse, issue a report, or store a report until another survivor files a similar report against the same perpetrator. The last option is based on “information escrows” ― a system which keeps a sexual assault report confidential until at least one other person has accused the same individual of assault.

How exactly does this project utilize the blockchain? To encourage victims to come forward and report attacks, Callisto employs game theory, a mathematical tool which models situations of conflict.

As stated in its white paper, “In game theory terms, there is a first-mover disadvantage with high consequences for a victim when accusing a perpetrator. That disadvantage comes from the disclosure and resulting exposure of the victim, opening the victim up to consequences (countermoves in game theory) of retaliation, disbelief by authorities, reputation damage, and stigma.”

“Callisto’s solution leverages the two key facts described in the previous section to eliminate first mover disadvantage: we enable the likely multiple victims of a perpetrator to know they are not alone and create a path for them to act together.”

This approach disincentivizes retaliation by alleged attackers, reduces disbelief in victims, and lowers the likelihood the accusers will face damage to their reputationwhile reporting.

Blockchain technology also helps to encrypt and anonymize the reports: “Callisto approaches the problem of protecting the victims’ (and the perpetrators’) privacy through comprehensive use of privacy-preserving encryption technologies and user authentication practices. Personal information of users, their accounts of incidents, and the identities of perpetrators they provide are protected by encryption from before that data leaves the user’s personal computer.”

The data stays encrypted, until it is decrypted “on the personal workstation of a Callisto Legal Options Counselor. In addition, even Counselors cannot see incident or perpetrator identity information unless more than one user has identified the same perpetrator.”

“Access to user accounts are protected by multi-factor authentication, strong password requirements, and email verification. User activity on the platform cannot be linked to identifying user account information.”

According to Callisto, 15 percent of reports found a match causing them to report simultaneously.

Jess Ladd, the founder and CEO of Callisto, further illustrated how Callisto’s technology works in her TED Talk:

On average, one in five women and one in 13 men will be assaulted during their undergraduate career in the United States. Less than 10 percent will ever report their assault to the police and those who do, on average, wait 11 months to make their report. 

Survivors using Callisto Campus took four months to report their sexual assault experience, which is three times faster than the national average of 11 months.

According to Callisto, the service has increased the chances a survivor will report, the speed of their reporting, and the detection of serial sexual perpetrators on college campuses. They also claim survivors who visit their school’s Callisto Campus website are five times more likely to report their assault than those who do not.

An anonymous male survivor of sexual assault said: “It was hard to imagine coming forward in an immediately public way, but to start by chronicling what had occurred would have been a helpful and important first step.”

Apps putting consent on the blockchain

Blockchain tech has also been employed in projects seeking to approach issues of consent. The app LegalFling, for example, allows users to secure their explicit consent before engaging in a sexual act with one or more persons with just one swipe.

Once all participants have confirmed their consent, it uses contracts stored on the blockchain to let users specify consent, along with things like “explicit language” and use of protection.

But LegalFling and other projects like it have faced criticism, as they operate on a dangerous and deeply flawed representation of one-time consent. As anti-sexual violence organization, RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) explains, “Giving consent for one activity, one time, does not mean giving consent for increased or recurring sexual contact.”

LegalFling does address this on their site: “’No’ means ‘no’ at any time. Being passed out means ‘no’ at any time.” The company acknowledges consent recorded on the app is automatically “null” and “void” if someone is passed out. But the app itself doesn’t leave room for someone to withdraw their consent.

Stephanie Alys, co-founder of MysteryVibe, a company that creates personalized pleasure products said during her talk at the TNW Conference last year that there’s a difference between seeking consent and seeking agreement – and the latter is what you get when you hand someone a contract.

Instead of tools to help people battle a legal case in the event that they’re accused of sexual assault or harassment – which is what LegalFling seems to be – more education and discussion on what consent means, and how everyone has the right to it, is needed.

Blockchain can’t get rid of rape culture

An app like LegalFling doesn’t leave room for someone to withdraw their consent. Swiping “okay” beforehand is therefore not an accurate indicator of consensual sex, but this doesn’t mean blockchain can’t help prevent assault.

As in the case of Callisto and #MeToo activists utilizing the Ethereum blockchain, this technology can be of help, both in prevention and to survivors, as it anonymizes cases and records data that can never be altered. However, as shown in the case of LegalFling, technology cannot replace cultural change and better sex education.

Technology is black and white, but the world of humans is not. We can never solely rely on technology to protect us, because technology can never be a replacement for a healthy sexual culture, where consent is respected and discussed openly.

Read next: Focal Elegia Review: Neutral hi-fi headphones you can actually commute with

Source link https://ift.tt/2zWsN15

[mccartneynathxzw83]

How blockchain technology can — and can’t — prevent sexual assault

How blockchain technology can — and can’t — prevent sexual assault

For the ongoing series, Code Word, we’re exploring if — and how — technology can protect individuals against sexual assault and harassment, and how it can help and support survivors.

This story explores how projects like Callisto and LegalFling are using blockchain technology to store vital information on assaults and record consent.

When many think of blockchain, they think of cryptocurrencies. But as one of the most exciting new fields of emerging technology, there is an incredibly wide array of use cases for blockchain — as well as many empty promises and scams.

When it comes to combating the age old problem of how to prevent sexual assault, it’s clear we need to look for new ways to do so. Blockchain’s ability to store and record information and anonymize records holds promising potential in this area.

Several new projects promise to use blockchain to circumvent government censorship, store information on reported assaults, create databases, and record consent. In this article, we take a look at how effective these initiatives actually are.

Ethereum and #MeToo

China’s internet is infamously censored, and the government has often used it as a form of control over dissidence and political activity. Because of this, the #MeToo movement hasn’t really gained momentum in the country until recently. Earlier this year, Chinese student activists ignited the movement in their country by using blockchain technology to surpass government censorship.

Prior to this, posts referring to the feminist movement were frequently removed from social networking sites such as WeChat and Weibo.

Stories vanished, including that of a decades-old sexual assault case where Peking University (PKU) student. The student, Gao Yan, committed suicide after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a professor.

Recently, eight PKU students submitted a freedom of information request to the school to open Gao Yan’s case records. One of the students, Yue Xin, published an open letter claiming she faced harassment and intimidation from the faculty in efforts to make her back down.

Institutional and governmental pressure has forced activists and survivors to find a different route to share their stories. Despite activist attempts to keep Xin’s letter from also being censored (including republishing it upside-down) it was also removed from social media — but now it’s on the Ethereum blockchain for good.

Keeping #MeToo alive in countries that wish to block it out is just one example of blockchain being used to help sexual assault survivors, but it’s not the only blockchain initiative preserving important records.

Callisto and game theory

Another such promising blockchain project is Callisto, a San Francisco-based tech non-profit which seeks to empower survivors to report incidents. Since 2015, they’ve been focusing on sexual assault cases at universities, an initiative titled “Callisto Campus.” So far, it’s been launched in 13 campuses and has supported over 149,000 students.

Callisto offers survivors three options: record abuse, issue a report, or store a report until another survivor files a similar report against the same perpetrator. The last option is based on “information escrows” ― a system which keeps a sexual assault report confidential until at least one other person has accused the same individual of assault.

How exactly does this project utilize the blockchain? To encourage victims to come forward and report attacks, Callisto employs game theory, a mathematical tool which models situations of conflict.

As stated in its white paper, “In game theory terms, there is a first-mover disadvantage with high consequences for a victim when accusing a perpetrator. That disadvantage comes from the disclosure and resulting exposure of the victim, opening the victim up to consequences (countermoves in game theory) of retaliation, disbelief by authorities, reputation damage, and stigma.”

“Callisto’s solution leverages the two key facts described in the previous section to eliminate first mover disadvantage: we enable the likely multiple victims of a perpetrator to know they are not alone and create a path for them to act together.”

This approach disincentivizes retaliation by alleged attackers, reduces disbelief in victims, and lowers the likelihood the accusers will face damage to their reputationwhile reporting.

Blockchain technology also helps to encrypt and anonymize the reports: “Callisto approaches the problem of protecting the victims’ (and the perpetrators’) privacy through comprehensive use of privacy-preserving encryption technologies and user authentication practices. Personal information of users, their accounts of incidents, and the identities of perpetrators they provide are protected by encryption from before that data leaves the user’s personal computer.”

The data stays encrypted, until it is decrypted “on the personal workstation of a Callisto Legal Options Counselor. In addition, even Counselors cannot see incident or perpetrator identity information unless more than one user has identified the same perpetrator.”

“Access to user accounts are protected by multi-factor authentication, strong password requirements, and email verification. User activity on the platform cannot be linked to identifying user account information.”

According to Callisto, 15 percent of reports found a match causing them to report simultaneously.

Jess Ladd, the founder and CEO of Callisto, further illustrated how Callisto’s technology works in her TED Talk:

On average, one in five women and one in 13 men will be assaulted during their undergraduate career in the United States. Less than 10 percent will ever report their assault to the police and those who do, on average, wait 11 months to make their report. 

Survivors using Callisto Campus took four months to report their sexual assault experience, which is three times faster than the national average of 11 months.

According to Callisto, the service has increased the chances a survivor will report, the speed of their reporting, and the detection of serial sexual perpetrators on college campuses. They also claim survivors who visit their school’s Callisto Campus website are five times more likely to report their assault than those who do not.

An anonymous male survivor of sexual assault said: “It was hard to imagine coming forward in an immediately public way, but to start by chronicling what had occurred would have been a helpful and important first step.”

Apps putting consent on the blockchain

Blockchain tech has also been employed in projects seeking to approach issues of consent. The app LegalFling, for example, allows users to secure their explicit consent before engaging in a sexual act with one or more persons with just one swipe.

Once all participants have confirmed their consent, it uses contracts stored on the blockchain to let users specify consent, along with things like “explicit language” and use of protection.

But LegalFling and other projects like it have faced criticism, as they operate on a dangerous and deeply flawed representation of one-time consent. As anti-sexual violence organization, RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) explains, “Giving consent for one activity, one time, does not mean giving consent for increased or recurring sexual contact.”

LegalFling does address this on their site: “’No’ means ‘no’ at any time. Being passed out means ‘no’ at any time.” The company acknowledges consent recorded on the app is automatically “null” and “void” if someone is passed out. But the app itself doesn’t leave room for someone to withdraw their consent.

Stephanie Alys, co-founder of MysteryVibe, a company that creates personalized pleasure products said during her talk at the TNW Conference last year that there’s a difference between seeking consent and seeking agreement – and the latter is what you get when you hand someone a contract.

Instead of tools to help people battle a legal case in the event that they’re accused of sexual assault or harassment – which is what LegalFling seems to be – more education and discussion on what consent means, and how everyone has the right to it, is needed.

Blockchain can’t get rid of rape culture

An app like LegalFling doesn’t leave room for someone to withdraw their consent. Swiping “okay” beforehand is therefore not an accurate indicator of consensual sex, but this doesn’t mean blockchain can’t help prevent assault.

As in the case of Callisto and #MeToo activists utilizing the Ethereum blockchain, this technology can be of help, both in prevention and to survivors, as it anonymizes cases and records data that can never be altered. However, as shown in the case of LegalFling, technology cannot replace cultural change and better sex education.

Technology is black and white, but the world of humans is not. We can never solely rely on technology to protect us, because technology can never be a replacement for a healthy sexual culture, where consent is respected and discussed openly.

Read next: Focal Elegia Review: Neutral hi-fi headphones you can actually commute with

Source link https://ift.tt/2zWsN15

[courtneyvbrooks87]

How blockchain technology can — and can’t — prevent sexual assault

How blockchain technology can — and can’t — prevent sexual assault

For the ongoing series, Code Word, we’re exploring if — and how — technology can protect individuals against sexual assault and harassment, and how it can help and support survivors.

This story explores how projects like Callisto and LegalFling are using blockchain technology to store vital information on assaults and record consent.

When many think of blockchain, they think of cryptocurrencies. But as one of the most exciting new fields of emerging technology, there is an incredibly wide array of use cases for blockchain — as well as many empty promises and scams.

When it comes to combating the age old problem of how to prevent sexual assault, it’s clear we need to look for new ways to do so. Blockchain’s ability to store and record information and anonymize records holds promising potential in this area.

Several new projects promise to use blockchain to circumvent government censorship, store information on reported assaults, create databases, and record consent. In this article, we take a look at how effective these initiatives actually are.

Ethereum and #MeToo

China’s internet is infamously censored, and the government has often used it as a form of control over dissidence and political activity. Because of this, the #MeToo movement hasn’t really gained momentum in the country until recently. Earlier this year, Chinese student activists ignited the movement in their country by using blockchain technology to surpass government censorship.

Prior to this, posts referring to the feminist movement were frequently removed from social networking sites such as WeChat and Weibo.

Stories vanished, including that of a decades-old sexual assault case where Peking University (PKU) student. The student, Gao Yan, committed suicide after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by a professor.

Recently, eight PKU students submitted a freedom of information request to the school to open Gao Yan’s case records. One of the students, Yue Xin, published an open letter claiming she faced harassment and intimidation from the faculty in efforts to make her back down.

Institutional and governmental pressure has forced activists and survivors to find a different route to share their stories. Despite activist attempts to keep Xin’s letter from also being censored (including republishing it upside-down) it was also removed from social media — but now it’s on the Ethereum blockchain for good.

Keeping #MeToo alive in countries that wish to block it out is just one example of blockchain being used to help sexual assault survivors, but it’s not the only blockchain initiative preserving important records.

Callisto and game theory

Another such promising blockchain project is Callisto, a San Francisco-based tech non-profit which seeks to empower survivors to report incidents. Since 2015, they’ve been focusing on sexual assault cases at universities, an initiative titled “Callisto Campus.” So far, it’s been launched in 13 campuses and has supported over 149,000 students.

Callisto offers survivors three options: record abuse, issue a report, or store a report until another survivor files a similar report against the same perpetrator. The last option is based on “information escrows” ― a system which keeps a sexual assault report confidential until at least one other person has accused the same individual of assault.

How exactly does this project utilize the blockchain? To encourage victims to come forward and report attacks, Callisto employs game theory, a mathematical tool which models situations of conflict.

As stated in its white paper, “In game theory terms, there is a first-mover disadvantage with high consequences for a victim when accusing a perpetrator. That disadvantage comes from the disclosure and resulting exposure of the victim, opening the victim up to consequences (countermoves in game theory) of retaliation, disbelief by authorities, reputation damage, and stigma.”

“Callisto’s solution leverages the two key facts described in the previous section to eliminate first mover disadvantage: we enable the likely multiple victims of a perpetrator to know they are not alone and create a path for them to act together.”

This approach disincentivizes retaliation by alleged attackers, reduces disbelief in victims, and lowers the likelihood the accusers will face damage to their reputationwhile reporting.

Blockchain technology also helps to encrypt and anonymize the reports: “Callisto approaches the problem of protecting the victims’ (and the perpetrators’) privacy through comprehensive use of privacy-preserving encryption technologies and user authentication practices. Personal information of users, their accounts of incidents, and the identities of perpetrators they provide are protected by encryption from before that data leaves the user’s personal computer.”

The data stays encrypted, until it is decrypted “on the personal workstation of a Callisto Legal Options Counselor. In addition, even Counselors cannot see incident or perpetrator identity information unless more than one user has identified the same perpetrator.”

“Access to user accounts are protected by multi-factor authentication, strong password requirements, and email verification. User activity on the platform cannot be linked to identifying user account information.”

According to Callisto, 15 percent of reports found a match causing them to report simultaneously.

Jess Ladd, the founder and CEO of Callisto, further illustrated how Callisto’s technology works in her TED Talk:

On average, one in five women and one in 13 men will be assaulted during their undergraduate career in the United States. Less than 10 percent will ever report their assault to the police and those who do, on average, wait 11 months to make their report. 

Survivors using Callisto Campus took four months to report their sexual assault experience, which is three times faster than the national average of 11 months.

According to Callisto, the service has increased the chances a survivor will report, the speed of their reporting, and the detection of serial sexual perpetrators on college campuses. They also claim survivors who visit their school’s Callisto Campus website are five times more likely to report their assault than those who do not.

An anonymous male survivor of sexual assault said: “It was hard to imagine coming forward in an immediately public way, but to start by chronicling what had occurred would have been a helpful and important first step.”

Apps putting consent on the blockchain

Blockchain tech has also been employed in projects seeking to approach issues of consent. The app LegalFling, for example, allows users to secure their explicit consent before engaging in a sexual act with one or more persons with just one swipe.

Once all participants have confirmed their consent, it uses contracts stored on the blockchain to let users specify consent, along with things like “explicit language” and use of protection.

But LegalFling and other projects like it have faced criticism, as they operate on a dangerous and deeply flawed representation of one-time consent. As anti-sexual violence organization, RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) explains, “Giving consent for one activity, one time, does not mean giving consent for increased or recurring sexual contact.”

LegalFling does address this on their site: “’No’ means ‘no’ at any time. Being passed out means ‘no’ at any time.” The company acknowledges consent recorded on the app is automatically “null” and “void” if someone is passed out. But the app itself doesn’t leave room for someone to withdraw their consent.

Stephanie Alys, co-founder of MysteryVibe, a company that creates personalized pleasure products said during her talk at the TNW Conference last year that there’s a difference between seeking consent and seeking agreement – and the latter is what you get when you hand someone a contract.

Instead of tools to help people battle a legal case in the event that they’re accused of sexual assault or harassment – which is what LegalFling seems to be – more education and discussion on what consent means, and how everyone has the right to it, is needed.

Blockchain can’t get rid of rape culture

An app like LegalFling doesn’t leave room for someone to withdraw their consent. Swiping “okay” beforehand is therefore not an accurate indicator of consensual sex, but this doesn’t mean blockchain can’t help prevent assault.

As in the case of Callisto and #MeToo activists utilizing the Ethereum blockchain, this technology can be of help, both in prevention and to survivors, as it anonymizes cases and records data that can never be altered. However, as shown in the case of LegalFling, technology cannot replace cultural change and better sex education.

Technology is black and white, but the world of humans is not. We can never solely rely on technology to protect us, because technology can never be a replacement for a healthy sexual culture, where consent is respected and discussed openly.

Read next: Focal Elegia Review: Neutral hi-fi headphones you can actually commute with

Source link https://ift.tt/2zWsN15

[henkeakerman]

Focal Elegia Review: Neutral hi-fi headphones you can actually commute with https://ift.tt/2LiJ2ua