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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
February 26,2020

Unnao, Feb 26: Ever heard of someone wishing a 'bright future' for the dead? In a bizarre incident in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district, a village head issued a death certificate with the wish for an elderly man who had died last month.

The incident took place in the Sirwariya village in Asoha block where an elderly person Laxmi Shankar died after a prolonged illness on January 22.

His son went to the village head Babulal and requested him to issue a death certificate that he needed for some financial transactions.

Babulal not only issued the death certificate, but also 'wished' 'a bright future for the deceased' on the document.

The village head wrote in the death certificate -- "Main inke ujjwal bhavishya ki kaamna karta hoon (I wish him a bright future)."

The letter went viral on the social media on Monday after which the village head apologised for the error and issued a new death certificate.

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Agencies
May 19,2020

Cybersecurity researchers on Monday warned of a Trojan malware campaign which is targeting India's co-operative banks using COVID-19 as a bait.

Seqrite, the enterprise arm of IT security firm Quick Heal Technologies, detected the new wave of Adwind Java Remote Access Trojan (RAT) campaign.

Researchers at Seqrite warned that if attackers are successful, they can take over the victim's device to steal sensitive data like SWIFT logins and customer details and move laterally to launch large scale cyberattacks and financial frauds.

According to the researchers, the Java RAT campaign starts with a spear-phishing email which claims to have originated from either the Reserve Bank of India or a nationalised bank.

The content of the email refers to COVID-19 guidelines or a financial transaction, with detailed information in an attachment, which is a zip file containing a JAR based malware.

Upon further investigation, researchers at Seqrite found that the JAR based malware is a Remote Access Trojan that can run on any machine which has Java runtime enabled and hence it can impact a variety of endpoints, irrespective of their base operating system.

Once the RAT is installed, the attacker can take over the victim's device, send commands from a remote machine, and spread laterally in the network.

In addition, this malware can also log keystrokes, capture screenshots, download additional payloads, and extract sensitive user information, Seqrite said, adding that such attack campaigns can effectively jeopardise the privacy and security of sensitive data at the co-operative banks and result in large scale attacks and financial frauds.

To prevent such attacks, users need to exercise ample caution and avoid opening attachments and clicking on web links in unsolicited emails.

Banks should also keep their operating systems updated and have a full-fledged security solution installed on all the devices, Seqrite advised.

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