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If Pastor Martin Niemöller was alive today...

FSF Warns Windows 11 'Deprives Users of Freedom and Digital Autonomy'

"October 5 marks the official release of Windows 11, a new version of the operating system that doesn't do anything at all to counteract Windows' long history of depriving users of freedom and digital autonomy," writes Free Software Foundation campaigns manager Greg Farough.

"While we might have been encouraged by Microsoft's vague, aspirational slogans about community and togetherness, Windows 11 takes important steps in the wrong direction when it comes to user freedom." Microsoft claims that "life's better together" in their advertising for this latest Windows version, but when it comes to technology, there is no surer way of keeping users divided and powerless than nonfree softwarechoosing to create an unjust power structure, in which a developer knowingly keeps users powerless and dependent by withholding information. Increasingly, this involves not only withholding the source code itself, but even basic information on how the software works: what it's really doing, what it's collecting, and how often it's snitching on users. "Snitching" may sound dramatic, but Windows 11 will now require a Microsoft account to be connected to every user account, granting them the ability to correlate user behavior with one's personal identity. Even those who think they have nothing to hide should be wary of sharing potentially all of their computing activity with any company, much less one with a track record of abuse like Microsoft...

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( A slew of TECH and SECURITY links! )

Report: In 2017 America's CIA Plotted to Kidnap Julian Assange From Ecuador

"In 2017, as Julian Assange began his fifth year holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London, the CIA plotted to kidnap the WikiLeaks founder," reports Yahoo News, "spurring heated debate among Trump administration officials over the legality and practicality of such an operation."

The report is based on conversations with more than 30 former U.S. officials, "eight of whom described details of the CIA's proposals to abduct Assange." Some senior officials inside the CIA and the Trump administration even discussed killing Assange, going so far as to request "sketches" or "options" for how to assassinate him. Discussions over kidnapping or killing Assange occurred "at the highest levels" of the Trump administration, said a former senior counterintelligence official. "There seemed to be no boundaries...."

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6/11/21 - UK Lawmakers Ask Biden To Drop Charges Against WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange

A cross-party group of 24 British members of Parliament wrote to President Joe Biden on Friday asking him to drop all charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. CNET News adds:

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6/14/21 - NSA Leaker Reality Winner Released Early for Good Behavior

Reality Winner, a former NSA intelligence contractor who leaked a classified hacking report to the press in 2017, was released on Monday from prison for good behavior, her attorney said. From a report:

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When the FBI Seizes Your Messages from Big Tech, You May Not Know for Years

When America's law enforcement investigators serve tech companies with subpoenas or search warrants,"the target of the investigation has no idea their data is being seized," the Washington Post pointed out this weekend.

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Prosecutors in Mexico Seeking Arrest Warrants For More Than 30 Scientists

Mexico's scientific community has reacted with outrage after the country's chief prosecutor requested arrest warrants for 31 scientists, researchers and academics on accusations of organised crime, money laundering and embezzlement -- charges that could land them alongside drug cartel kingpins in one of the country's most notorious lockups.

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NSO Group CEO Says Law-Abiding Citizens Have 'Nothing To Be Afraid Of'

[VISUAL] The Overlapping Infrastructure of Urban Surveillance, and How to Fix It

This is an important article, looking at what we all feared was coming: The use of the term, "terrorist," to put away political opponents - or people just not liked.  It's a global trend.  This article comes from Just Security, which has a liberal bent, as you can see Here and Here.  Nevertheless, it tends to be right-on here...

Opening Pandora’s Box: New “Threats” in the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy

... This is not only happening in the Philippines. In every continent on the globe, authorities are using counterterrorism (CT) as an excuse to attack human rights and fundamental freedoms. In Hong Kong, a vague and overbroad National Security Law has conflated terrorism, secession, and subversion. Egypt has arrested human rights defenders on phony terrorism charges. Hungary has used counterterrorism laws against refugees and migrants. The El Salvador government has branded environmental protesters as “extremists.” Nigerian authorities have justified a crackdown on political protests as “counter-terrorism.” Belarus has branded journalist Roman Protasevich a terrorist for criticising the government. And, in Cambodia, critics of the government pandemic response are labeled “terrorists.” ...

See Article HERE

EFF Sues US Postal Office For Records About Covert Social Media Spying Program (eff.org)

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service and its inspection agency seeking records about a covert program to secretly comb through online posts of social media users before street protests, raising concerns about chilling the privacy and expressive activity of internet users. From the press release: Under an initiative called Internet Covert Operations Program, analysts at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the Postal Service's law enforcement arm, sorted through massive amounts of data created by social media users to surveil what they were saying and sharing, according to media reports. Internet users' posts on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, and Telegraph were likely swept up in the surveillance program. USPIS has not disclosed details about the program or any records responding to EFF's FOIA request asking for information about the creation and operation of the surveillance initiative. In addition to those records, EFF is also seeking records on the program's policies and analysis of the information collected, and communications with other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), about the use of social media content gathered under the program.

Media reports revealed that a government bulletin dated March 16 was distributed across DHS's state-run security threat centers, alerting law enforcement agencies that USPIS analysts monitored "significant activity regarding planned protests occurring internationally and domestically on March 20, 2021." Protests around the country were planned for that day, and locations and times were being shared on Parler, Telegram, Twitter, and Facebook, the bulletin said. "We're filing this FOIA lawsuit to shine a light on why and how the Postal Service is monitoring online speech. This lawsuit aims to protect the right to protest," said Houston Davidson, EFF public interest legal fellow. "The government has never explained the legal justifications for this surveillance. We're asking a court to order the USPIS to disclose details about this speech-monitoring program, which threatens constitutional guarantees of free expression and privacy."

We hand over our lives' information and Facebook grows by monetising it, (and sharing it with intelligence agencies).  New groups put out information and analysis on FB, and FB profits, by placing ads, maintaining popularity, tracing your moves, etc.  In Australia, the government thought to level the playing field - offsetting this intrinsic tax - by setting a fee on FB for carrying news sites.  FB responded by saying, "You don't understand how FB works!" and proceeded to block ALL news sites in Australia, both internally and internationally.  They waged this gross coercion, "with a heavy heart."

We've seen meetings in US Congress regarding FB, and other politically correct Big Tech blockers, and nothing ever comes of them.  Why?  Because they probably said, "We are private companies, and we can do, something like, ban entire countries, if we want to."  Gone are the days when companies were responsible to government charters of working for the punblic good.

Once given the unprecedented freedom to act as neutral platforms, though not being controlled as actual utilities, so long as they manage the most dangerous of posts, Big Tech companies have taken this into becoming actual PUBLISHERS, controlling any and all information.  Because, now, they are global, and powerful.  It has been sad and entertaining to watch, over the years, people rush like lemmings into FB, making it THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN, only to become confused when, one day, they are all finally frozen in a system of control and censorship.  Duh!  How did THAT happen?!  It's called corporate monopolisation - corporatism - plus the will to power and self-important narcissism.  Happens every time.  But, every few generations, people just stupidly let it happen, all over again.

Facebook has banned Australians from viewing or sharing news: Here's what it means for you:

Facebook's botched Australia news ban hits health departments

Treasurer says Facebook has 'damaged its reputation'

"Time to revive MySpace," they are saying.  (The platform was owned by the infamous 'Australian' mogul, Rupert Murdoch).  I'm kind of glad no one ever mentions flocking to LiveJournal.  Because it's safe here.  I don't want any of them freaky normatives rushing in here and ruining the neighbourhood, do you?

I warned people, back when Alex Jones was banned.  My my voice on this was itself cancelled out.  Since then, Big Tech giants have COLLUDED to influence elections, ban a president, ban hypotheses on elections and viruses, and ban great progressives like Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Glenn Greenwald.

At the same time, cancel culture has been tearing down historical statues and setting buildings on fire.  There is a wall around WDC based on a predictable and planned event which looks very much like a false flag.  So, one of the main conspirators calls for investigations - like the Warren Report and the 9/11 Commission, both of which were JOKES.  These are terrible times, and China is just sitting on the sidelines, laughing.

Stay strong, Australia!