Facebook will ban ads that tell people in US not to vote

Agencies
July 1, 2019

Washington, Jul 1: Facebook Inc will ban ads that discourage people from voting ahead of the 2020 US presidential election, according to its second annual Civil Rights Audit published on Sunday.

Facebook pledged to put its new “don’t vote” policy prohibition into effect in the fall, before the 2019 US elections on Nov. 5, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in a blog post announcing the report.

Last year, Facebook expanded its policies against voter suppression by banning posts that spread misinformation on voting methods, election dates and times, and polling locations. Those rules include banning intimidation tactics such as misrepresentations on whether votes will be counted.

The new “don’t vote” policy is in its developmental stages and the company is seeking advice from voting organisations.

Facebook said the policy is likely to only apply in the United States in its initial release and will not include the policing of organic posts from users.

Facebook said it works proactively to remove malicious election-related content. The company is now encompassing “do not vote” ads in its efforts to ward off coordinated efforts to influence elections.

The social media giant has been used to spread misinformation about previous elections.

US intelligence agencies say there was an extensive Russian cyber-influence operation during the 2016 campaign aimed at helping President Donald Trump get elected. Russia has repeatedly denied the allegations.

“We focused on ads because there is a targeted component in them,” Facebook Public Policy Director Neil Potts said. “We recognise it as a political tactic, which is much more in line with voter suppression.”

Ads telling people to “boycott the election” disproportionately targeted African American Facebook users, according to Ian Vandewalker, senior council at the Brennan Centre for Justice.

The world’s biggest social network also pledged to introduce a new misinformation policy in the fall ahead of the 2020 US Census, prohibiting misrepresentations of Census requirements or methods, it said.

Facebook began conducting the annual Civil Rights Audit in 2018 to address concerns from underrepresented communities and advocacy groups on its platform.

The company has come under scrutiny over its hands-off approach to the content posted on its platform. It does not ban most forms of misinformation, instead posting warnings downgrading misleading material so it reaches fewer people.

Russian influence on US elections has sparked heavy criticism of Facebook; however, it helped the company identify key tactics used in misinformation campaigns.

Facebook set up its first war room in October 2018 to combat misinformation campaigns during the US midterm elections. Similar war rooms were set up this year in Brazil, India and Europe ahead of elections.

Facebook’s next Civil Rights Audit progress report is set to be released early next year.

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News Network
July 28,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 28: Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Monday alleged that BJP is trying to destabilise the Congress government in Rajasthan.

"It is the duty of the Governor to act according to the decision of the state cabinet. But he is acting like a central government puppet," he said at a protest organised here by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC).

He said the Congress is protesting across the country to save democracy and save the constitution.

"We are not fighting through violence. We are protesting peacefully. The Constitution has given the right to protest in a democratic system," he said.

He accused the BJP of "being disrespectful" to the Constitution.

"Governments must walk within the framework of the Constitution. The Constitution gives everyone rights and duties. BJP destabilises elected governments and buys our legislators by horse-trading by spending crores of money. The same thing happened in Karnataka as well," he alleged.

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Agencies
July 24,2020

Pune, Jul 24: Agile and dexterous, 85-year-old Shantabai Pawar wields sticks with absolute ease as she displays 'lathi-kathi' on the streets of Pune.

A video of her, displaying her skills in the Indian martial art form for livelihood, has gone viral on social media.

Pawar told media persons that she learnt the art form when she was only eight and has been practising it since then. The ancient martial art s believed to be linked to Dombari community, a nomadic tribe in Maharashtra.

"I have been pursuing the art of lathi-kathi since I was eight. I have never left it. It is part of me and it is an honour to practice it. My father taught me this. He taught me to work hard," Pawar told media persons.

In the video, the sari-clad octogenarian takes a warrior-like stride and effortlessly rotates a stick several times in a second in her hand and around her head and then does it with two sticks together with a smile on her face. She also tosses a stick in the air and catches it with ease.

The assembled gathering is impressed and enthused.

"People come and say, 'Well done Daadi!' I practice it to earn money for my children and grandchildren," she said.

Pawar leaves her home in the morning in the conditions created by coronavirus and performs the art form on roads and streets.

"I go to various areas to perform the art form and people give money," she said.

The artiste also uses thali and stick to gather the attention of people as most of them are indoors due to conditions created by COVID-19.

Senior citizens have been advised against venturing out due to their greater susceptibility to coronavirus but Pawar said she is not afraid to step out.

"People do advise me to not go out due to fear of COVID-19 but I am not scared. Whenever I step out, I pray to my God and he has kept me safe so far," she said.

Aishwarya Kale, a dancer and the person who uploaded the video on social media, said that it is "only an artist who can understand what help another artist needs".

"I was in that area shopping for some items and it was then I saw her performing and thought that I should film her and upload her video on social media. But I never thought that the video would go viral and she would receive financial help not just from people in the country but overseas as well," Kale told media persons.

"She is now getting honour for her craft that she couldn't get in the last 85 years. I feel good that through my small video, her art form has become viral," she added. 

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Agencies
July 18,2020

New Delhi, Jul 18: India's national cybersecurity agency CERT-in, has warned people of credit card skimming spreading across the world through e-commerce platforms.

Attackers are typically targeting e-commerce sites because of their wide presence, popularity and the environment LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP), the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) said in a notice on Thursday.

Recently, attackers targeted sites which were hosted on Microsoft's IIS server running with the ASP.NET web application framework, it said.

Some of the sites affected by the attack were found to be running ASP.NET version 4.0.30319, which is no longer officially supported by Microsoft and may contain multiple vulnerabilities, CERT-In said.

The notice also included a list of best practices for website developers including the use of the latest version of ASP.NET web framework, IIS web server and database server.

The advisory is based on research by Malwarebytes which found that this skimming campaign likely began sometime in April this year.

Credit card skimming has become a popular activity for cybercriminals over the past few years, and the increase in online shopping during the pandemic means additional business for them, too, Malwarebytes said in a blog post, adding that attackers do not need to limit themselves to the most popular e-commerce platforms.

Researchers from global cybersecurity and anti-virus brand Kaspersky had warned in December last year that more cybercriminal groups will target online payment processing systems in 2020. 

It said that over the past couple of years, so-called JS-skimming (the method of stealing of payment card data from online stores), has gained immense popularity among attackers. 

Kaspersky researchers in their report said they are currently aware of at least 10 different actors involved in these type of attacks.

Their number will continue to grow during the next year, the report said, adding that the most dangerous attacks will be on companies that provide services such as e-commerce as-a-service, which will lead to the compromise of thousands of companies.

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