Beware: Facebook's "Soft Censorship"

September 5, 2014 (Tony Cartalucci - LocalOrg) - The Land Destroyer Report maintained a Facebook page under the name Anthony Cartalucci. Since 2009 it was used to express my personal thoughts regarding the news of the day, as well as share relevant links with followers. Today, Facebook, without warning or opportunity to appeal, decided that the Facebook account must be changed over to a "page." By doing so, all those following my account no longer would receive updates, because of Facebook's "news feed" filters.

The premise behind news feed filters is that people have too many "friends" and are following too many accounts, so they can't possibly manage all the content themselves. Therefore, Facebook will do it for them. We already know about the Facebook "experiment" where they intentionally manipulated the news feed of hundreds of thousands of Facebook users without their consent.

A report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) titled, "Experimental evidence of massive-scale emotional contagion through social networks," stated in its abstract that:

We show, via a massive (N = 689,003) experiment on Facebook, that emotional states can be transferred to others via emotional contagion, leading people to experience the same emotions without their awareness. We provide experimental evidence that emotional contagion occurs without direct interaction between people (exposure to a friend expressing an emotion is sufficient), and in the complete absence of nonverbal cues.Not only are the findings troubling - illustrating that Facebook possesses the ability to influence the emotions of its users unwittingly through careful manipulation of their news feeds - but the invasive, unethical methods by which Facebook conducted the experiment are troubling as well.

Clearly manipulating users' news feeds possesses powerful propaganda and mass-manipulative influence - surely influence those with the resources would be willing to pay for. And that is exactly what Facebook has arranged for with their new "reach" system. Facebook's own explanation is as follows:

Rather than showing people all possible content, News Feed is designed to show each person on Facebook the content that’s most relevant to them. Of the 1,500+ stories a person might see whenever they log onto Facebook, News Feed displays approximately 300. To choose which stories to show, News Feed ranks each possible story (from more to less important) by looking at thousands of factors relative to each person.

Those involuntarily forced to switch from standard accounts over to "pages" will notice the "boost" feature below each post. This is where you are required to pay Facebook money to ensure people who voluntarily followed you to receive content from you, actually receive it. Obviously, this confers a major advantage to well-funded start-ups, established media outlets, and large, corporate-driven propaganda machines. For the independent or freelance journalist, analyst, or activist, Facebook has gone from an open platform to a cage of soft censorship.

3 Lessons From Asia on Defeating a Techno-Dictatorship

Defeating the deluge of draconian tech legislation requires a deeper and wider strategy. Asia provides both a model and a sanctuary.


April 27, 2013 (LocalOrg) - Without a doubt, 3D printing has begun to shift paradigms. Already, small businesses are popping up around the world, providing both the printers themselves, and services for professional prototyping and small run production. Additionally, local institutions called "hackerspaces," are being built up in part around the the concept of personal manufacturing. 

3D printing may still appear to be a novelty - but if it is a novelty, it is one that is poised to cross over into the mainstream, transforming both the economy and society in profound ways. 3D printing has moved beyond prototyping and has found itself amid medical technology, biotechnology, small arms manufacturing, aerospace, and even architecture. And 3D printing is just one of many emerging "disruptive technologies," so named because they "disrupt" established paradigms, often at the expense of large multinational corporations, and to the benefit of individuals and communities. 

Images: 3D printing has gone from producing trinkets and prototypes, to opening the door to architecture and small arms manufacturing. The average person able to build shelter and a means of self-defense, as well as many other necessities that form the foundation of modern (and future) civilization, poses a direct threat to the current establishment - not just in the West, but around the world. 

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As the ability to access powerful technology reaches the desktop of mere plebeians, predictably special interests are erecting firewalls in the form of regulations, laws, taxes, and fear-mongering spread across the corporate media. Pushing on the buttons of manufactured "hot issues" like gun control - the fear of gun owners circumventing even the strictest legislation by merely pushing "print" gives the establishment "a foot in the door" to begin regulating and tempering the emergence of personal manufacturing, just as it has done to justify SOPA, ACTA, CISPA, and other draconian, monopolistic pieces of Internet legislation.

Corbett Report Episode 262 – Solutions: Pirate Internet

March 24, 2013 (Corbett Report) -

From SOPA and PIPA to ACTA to CISPA to the TPP and now back to CISPA, internet activists have been caught up in a deliberately bewildering game of whack-a-mole with freedom-crushing legislation. Now, ISPs are doing an end run around the whole legislative process altogether and voluntarily collaborating with the entertainment industry to spy on their own customers. All of this is enough to leave concerned netizens demoralized, and in the war of attrition that is exactly the goal. Join us today on The Corbett Report as we explore a real, grassroots, alternative solution to the problem of internet censorship that can help to end this government/corporate control over our communication once and for all.  

Continue reading here for show notes and links to download the episode.

Art Hack Day, Brooklyn NYC February 28 - March 2

February 25, 2013 (via Core77) - Over 50 artists, designers, and hackers will be assembling in Brooklyn New York's 319 Scholes gallery space for an Art Hack Day and following exhibition. It is an exercise in collaborative development leveraging technology, design, and art. The theme is "God mode," a popular feature included in many games that endows a user with temporary invincibility. The Art Hack Day will focus on this theme of invincibility and how it applies to "backdoors" integrated into modern technology that enables eavesdropping on our everyday communications.

It seems like a particularly relevant theme in the wake of Arron Swartz' tragic hounding and subsequent suicide at the hands of corporate special interests and their servants in our allegedly representative government, and the roll-out of RIAA and MPAA "6 strikes" intellectual property scam, which will surely leverage this "invincibility" to enforce their contrived, self-serving legislation. 

See the Art Hack Day website for more information.

Quickest Way to Kill 3D Printing - Get the Government Involved

February 14, 2013 (LocalOrg) - The US State of the Union speech made by US President Barack Obama excited many across the tech community. Obama mentioned 3D printing as one of several emerging technologies that might help revitalize US industry.

Image: A screenshot taken from the "enhanced broadcast" of President Obama's State of the Union speech. Seen napping and slumped in their seats, are the vanguards of corporate special interests, ever ready in bi-partisan fashion to betray their voters in the service of big-business special interests, and who, along with whoever occupies the Oval Office, are the cause of America's decline in the first place.

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Aaron Swartz protesting SOPA. (Demand Progress)

Unfortunately, what many in the tech community seem not to realize, or have forgotten in their moment of presidential aggrandizing, is that Obama represents bi-partisan servitude to corporate-financier interests, the very interests that off-shored the planet's most advanced and capable manufacturing base in human history in the first place. They also seem to have quickly forgotten that additionally, Obama represents the same big-business interests that hounded one of the tech community's own, Aaron Swartz, literally to death in an intellectual property witch-hunt that allegedly drove Swartz to commit suicide.

WiFi + USB Drive = Your Own Mini-Internet (Freedom)

January 19, 2013 (LocalOrg) - Worried about draconian Internet laws? Creeping surveillance? The inability to share with others without being criminalized? The Internet is still a tool of tremendous power, but a deep rot has set in. We have caught it early and we are fighting to stop this rot, but there are other options we can begin exploring to hedge our bets, enhance our current efforts of fighting against corporate monopolies, and eventually, build an Internet of the people, by the people, for the people - big-telecom monopolies not welcomed.

Image: The PirateBox in use on a handheld device. Once the PirateBox is up and running, either on a standalone device like the one pictured to the right (background), or on your laptop as described here, it will appear as another WiFi network for people in range to connect to. Once connected files can be freely shared, and there is even a chat client users can communicate with. It is just as useful as a file server for a small business, as it is for circumventing the draconian criminalization of Internet file sharing. 

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Fighting Back Against the "Intellectual Property" Racket

Aaron Swartz protesting SOPA. (Demand Progress)

January 13, 2013 (LocalOrg/Tony Cartalucci) - In your standard dictatorship, activists are brought out back and shot.

In the United States' crypto-dictatorship, activists are bullied by the state until they go bankrupt, are buried under a mountain of legal woes, are publicly discredited or humiliated, or as in the case of activist and Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz, made to crack under the constant pressure, and (allegedly) commit suicide.

While superficially the United States may seem more progressive, a dead activist bullied to death for his political views, is a dead activist - whether it was a bullet in the back of the head by SS officers, or a mountain of litigation dumped upon someone by the US Department of Justice.

We are All Aaron Swartz.

Swartz was an active opponent of the media industry's various assaults on Internet freedom and sharing, including the scandalous SOPA/PIPA and ACTA bills. He was the director of Demand Progress, which pursued the following campaigns:

Sharing is Not a Crime: A Battle Plan to Fight Back

December 7, 2012 (LocalOrg) - The Battlefield: Christopher Dodd was at one point an alleged elected representative of the people. As a US Senator he was charged with upholding the Constitution and laws of the people, and representing the interests of voters in his state of Connecticut - for 30 years. In reality, Dodd didn't represent the people, and instead, represents corporate special-interests - and unfortunately, Dodd is not the exception.

In early 2011, it was announced that Dodd - after retiring from 30 years in the Senate - would take up a leading role at the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA) for a $1.5 million annual salary. Immediately, the retired Senator would lead the charge to pass the notorious Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), with his incestuous business-government ties visibly rippling through the US House and Senate as well as through the corporate-dominated media.

Decentralizing Telecom

December 2, 2012 (LocalOrg) SOPA, ACTA, the criminalization of sharing, and a myriad of other measures taken to perpetuate antiquated business models propping up enduring monopolies - all have become increasingly taxing on the tech community and informed citizens alike. When the storm clouds gather and torrential rain begins to fall, the people have managed to stave off the flood waters through collective effort and well organized activism - stopping, or at least delaying SOPA and ACTA.

However, is it really sustainable to mobilize each and every time multi-billion dollar corporations combine their resources and attempt to pass another series of draconian rules and regulations? Instead of manning the sandbags during each storm, wouldn't it suit us all better to transform the surrounding landscape in such a way as to harmlessly divert the floods, or better yet, harness them to our advantage?

In many ways the transformation has already begun.