Cynicism & Hope
I firmly believe in the fundamental importance of freedom of speech. Without it, freedom dies, and democracy is impossible. I don’t believe in censorship, because censorship always leads to tyranny.…
censorship
Facebook Is Not News. Time For The Exodus From Big Tech To Increase From A Steady Torrent To A Flood
42% of people globally use Facebook as their news source. That should be a chilling fact to anyone who still has some functioning grey matter. “Google” it, has become synonymous…
Globe and Mail Letter
Today’s Globe and Mail contains a letter to the editor from yours truly (second from the bottom) in response to an op-ed criticizing those who take offence at J.K. Rowling’s…
Globe and Mail Letter
Today’s Globe and Mail contains a letter to the editor from yours truly (second from the bottom) in response to an op-ed criticizing those who take offence at J.K. Rowling’s…
Welcome To The Brave New World
Speaking of censorious scrupulosity…. While censorship is rising rapidly, with Google, Facebook and Twitter, as well as the major media, controlling and restricting what people can see or read, say…
Flash-Drive Revolution – AND – Who To Trust?
Amidst Protests, Uprisings, Simmering Revolt and Revolution, and A New Renaissance Emerging, vs Reactionary Efforts of The Establishment Powers of Entrenched Global Neo-Feudal Corporate Oligarchy To Resist Change, and…
The Sins of Assange
“Assange’s arrest represents an abuse of power, highlighting not only how true journalism has now been banished in the West, but also how politicians, journalists, news agencies and think-tanks collude…
Use TOR to Access the BBC on the “Dark Web”
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has launched on the dark web to help those in authoritarian regimes access international news. To access the the site one only need the Tor…
Testifying at Parliament on Social Media Oversight
My address to the House of Commons Committee on Justice and Human Rights, on how government can or should combat the spread of hatred on social media platforms. Democracy’s most…
Watch This Anti-Palm Oil Ad Banned in the UK
Palm oil gets used in plenty of consumer goods and processed foods, as a result the demand for palm oil increases every year. The problem with using palm oil is…
Are facts inflammatory?
Inflammatory is the word I was told the Connection used this week in rejecting an ad by mayoral candidate John Trude*. That ad challenged some of the claims of one…
Keep ’em separated
Recently the Government of Canada included on its summer student funding program a check box that asks whether the business (non-profit/agency/charity/etc.) applying for federal tax funding complies with Canadian law.…
How the far-right co-opted “free speech”
This column was published at Maclean’s on May 1, 2017 It was the third time in as many months that supporters of President Donald Trump gathered in Berkeley, Calif., the…
Even Massive Multinationals Support Net Neutrality
Net neutrality is what allows the internet to be what it is, and without it the internet would be pretty much useless. The Trump administration is presently trying to eliminate…
Facebook’s Secret Censorship Rules Protect White Men from Hate Speech But Not Black Children
Internal Facebook documents reviewed by ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom, reveal that the social media behemoth’s censors often condone hate speech by white men but punish racialized minorities and…
The Censorship and Persecution of Former Black Panther Jalil Muntaqim
Jalil Muntaqim, one of the longest held political prisoners in the world today, has been in the SHU at Attica prison in upstate New York, since December 6th for teaching…
Jalil Arbitrarily Denied Books including HIS OWN
On October 7, 2015, Jalil was arbitrarily denied receipt of four books after they had been approved by the package room. Jalil would like folk to write to Commissioner Annucci…
Mailroom Censorship at Attica
On October 7, political prisoner Jalil Muntaqim was denied 4 books which arrived for him at Attica Correctional Facility. Muntaqim is a former member of the Black Panther Party and…
CBC: Google ordered to remove ‘right to be forgotten’ stories after ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling
The new EU ‘right to be forgotten’ ruling conflicts with our right to knowledge and free expression. Why should people like web companies, politicians, or governments force search engines and…
…Then They Came for Me…
Online comments on news stories: a problem for everyone Syrian refugee stories on news sites are prompting some backlash in the comments section of some websites By Bal Brach, CBC…