The Tech War Over InfoWars | Hearts of Darkness | Bitcoin and PR Philanthropy

“Man is the cruelest animal.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

“Animals don’t behave like men,’ he said. ‘If they have to fight, they fight; and if they have to kill they kill. But they don’t sit down and set their wits to work to devise ways of spoiling other creatures’ lives and hurting them. They have dignity and animality.” – Richard Adams

The Tech War Over InfoWars: Over the weekend big tech firms reacted to mounting public pressure to address “hate speech” on their platforms. Apple’s Tim Cook and Eddy Cue decided to pull five of Alex Jones’ InfoWars podcasts from their platform. They were followed hours later by Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook team, who pulled four of Jones’ pages from their platform. Next was YouTube’s Susan Wojcicki and Spotify’s Daniel Ek, who banned some of Jones’ content after learning about Apple’s decision. While the different firms’ decisions were made independently, critics say making fundamental determinations about what speech is allowable, on a vague, case-by-case basis from public pressure or actions taken by competitors, is problematic. Said otherwise, it seems like Apple as the trillion dollar behemoth created a domino effect. And the other platforms realized they would look bad for keeping fake news hosted on their sites if they didn’t follow Apple’s lead. That’s called leadership by followership.

David French, a First Amendment litigator and senior writer for National Review, saidcompanies need a consistent approach, by outlining clear policies about speech on their platforms. Unfortunately, that still doesn’t solve the problem of hate speech, conspiracy theories and misinformation. To address those issues, a group of First Amendment advocates urged Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to change its rules to enable public service journalism and research on its social media news site, excuse us, platform. Currently the media giant’s terms of service bar the automated collection of public information, a practice that researchers call “scraping,” and the creation of temporary research accounts. Automated collection allows journalists and researchers to generate statistical insights into patterns and information flows. This is a particularly pressing issue as reporters and researchers investigate the spread of misinformation and Russian interference, in the 2016 election and the upcoming 2018 midterms, through platforms such as Facebook’s.

A North Korean Dictator’s Art of the Deal: Just last month President Trump tweeted his continued confidence in North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un’s intent to honor their handshake agreement at their June summit in Singapore. You know, the one where Kim would get rid of all his nuclear weapons? Unfortunately, on Fox News Tuesday morning, National Security adviser John Bolton had to admit that Kim “has not taken the steps we feel are necessary to denuclearize.” But he added: “We’re going to continue to apply maximum pressure to North Korea until they denuclearize, just as we are to Iran.” (WaPo)

Will Sadr Be Worse than Saddam Hussein?: Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is very pro-America, and although his party didn’t do so well in the country’s national elections in May, there was still hope he might keep his position in a new coalition government. But this summer has been a hotbed of discontent in the Shiite heartland, with daily sit-ins and demonstrations over poor basic services being increasingly attributed to Abadi’s leadership. Firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and Shiite militia leader Hadi al-Amiri are gaining popularity. If they take over, and Abadi is booted out, the new Iraqi administration will undoubtedly be less sympathetic to Washington, and more open to Iran. This is an inconvenient prospect for President Trump, who has just re-imposed sanctions on Tehran, and threatened military action. (WaPo)

Trump’s Twitter Diplomacy Policy Against Iran: President Trump has tweeted that any countries doing business with Iran will no longer have trade paths with the United States. This follows the reinstatement of sanctions on the Middle Eastern country – a decision that Trump claims is in the name of working toward world peace. Iranian officials see these sanctions as the US turning its back on diplomacy, but other countries have not taken the threat lightly, as seen by German car maker Daimler halting business with Iran. (BBC)

Student Protests in Bangladesh: It began July 29 as a protest over road safety issues, when two Bangladeshi buses racing each other killed two teenagers by plowing into the crowd waiting at a bus stop. The student protest morphed into days of widespread demonstrations over the larger problems of poor governance, nepotism and corruption. At first the government’s response was cautious, but on Saturday police began using force against protestors. Bangladesh’s next general election is December 31, 2018. A spokesperson for Amnesty International opined that the government’s sudden use of force could reflect the Awami League’s anxiety over its electoral prospects, saying: “They want to crush these protests immediately…As elections loom they are nervous about people coming out onto the streets.” (NYT)

Blurred Identities: Singapore is a young country that has worked to maintain a balance between encouraging its Chinese cultural heritage and promoting a Singaporean national identity. Now, concerns are increasing that a strengthening China could tip the carefully orchestrated balance, by seeking to convert existing cultural affinities among Singaporean Chinese into loyalty to the Chinese “motherland.” (NYT)

Double Crossing Partners Collide in a Courtroom: The trial of the first individual to be prosecuted by special counsel Robert Mueller’s team continues in an Alexandria, Virginia federal courtroom. President Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is charged with bank and tax fraud. Prosecutors allege Manafort parked millions of dollars he was paid by a Russia-friendly Ukrainian political party in secret foreign banks to avoid paying taxes, then lied to obtain bank loans when the money ran out.

Defense lawyers are claiming Manafort’s deputy, Rick Gates, was committing crimes unbeknownst to Manafort. On Monday Gates testified both he and Manafort had knowingly committed crimes. Gates also testified he had embezzled money from Manafort. On Tuesday, in response to a searing question from the judge, Gates admitted that while Manafort kept a close eye on his finances, he didn’t know about the money Gates was embezzling. Gates also said he’d taken responsibility for his actions but Manafort hadn’t. Defense counsel then pointed out that Gates never repaid the money. (WaPo)

– “Francisco Joaquin is 63 and retired. And he’s quite possibly D.C.’s oldest intern.” (WaPo)

– “Pentagon Cracks Down on Soldiers’ GPS Tracking Apps: The US military has issued an order to immediately begin restricting soldiers’ use of GPS tracking apps in areas deemed to be sensitive or dangerous.” (BBC)

– “Last Surviving Crew Member Has ‘No Regrets’ About Bombing Hiroshima: ‘After 73 years, I do not regret what we did that day. All war’s hell,’ he said. ‘The Japanese started the war; it was our turn to finish it.’’’ (NPR)

– “How Tech Billionaires Hack Their Taxes With a Philanthropic Loophole.” (NYT)

– “Cryptocurrency May Explain Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s Mysterious Asset Surge: The Silicon Valley Community Foundation, one of the first U.S. charities to accept donations of cryptocurrency, may have held billions of dollars worth of them at the end of last year, when their values were near their peak.” (SF Chronicle)

– A German woman and her partner were sentenced to twelve and a half years in prison for selling their child to abusers on the darknet. The couple had admitted to selling the boy to multiple men, charging upwards of eleven thousand dollars. Others on trial include a forty-four year old German man who was allowed to rape the boy, but not kill him due to the mother’s protection. The shocking details of the case have many calling for an overhaul of Germany’s child welfare facilities. (Guardian)

– An eighty-three year old man has been taken into custody after being accused of kidnapping a thirteen year old girl and sexually abusing her for fifteen years. Jago was the village healer and the girl’s parents had brought her to him to heal her and reported that she went missing soon after. Forced to stay in a small prison-like cave during the day, the man allegedly brought the woman to his house at night and raped her. If found guilty, Jago faces up to fifteen years in jail. (BBC)

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