V Afrike si bývalý ľudožrút číta Bibliu. Okoloidúci turista, Európan, sa mu začne vysmievať. "Ale ste tu pekne primitívni, m v Európe už dávno tým hlúpostiam neveríme..."
"Biely gentleman," odpovedá Afričan, "keby sme tú knihu nepoznali,už dávno by ste sa varili v kotli."
Som filantrop a snažím sa vidieť v každom človeku dobrú bytosť, lebo nikto sa nenarodil ako zloduch.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=516300225918547
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=516300225918547
Ahoj. Tady je táta. Prosím tě, je maminka poblíž telefonu?
Není, tati. Je nahoře v ložnici se strýčkem Pavlem.
Po kratičké pauze.
Ale zlatíčko, ty přece nemáš žádného strýčka Pavla....
Ale ano. A je právě nahoře v ložnici s maminkou.
... Pauza.
Hmm, dobrá, prosím tě, můžeš pro mě něco udělat?
Polož telefon na stůl, jdi nahoru zaťukej na dveře od ložnice a řekni
mamince, že jsi právě slyšela moje auto, jak zastavilo dole před domem.
Ano tati, hned to bude....
Za pár minut opět u sluchátka.
Udělala jsem to, tati.
No, a co se stalo?
No, maminka, celá vyděšená vyskočila úplně nahá z postele, pobíhala po
ložnici a ječela, pak zakopla o kobereček # nabrala hlavou o skříň a teď
leží na zemi a vůbec se nehýbe!
Bože!!! A co strýček Pavel?
Taky vyskočil celý nahý z postele. Byl taky celý vyděšený a vyskočil
zadním oknem přímo do bazénu. Myslím, že nevěděl, že jsme ho před týdnem
vypustili, abychom ho mohli vyčistit. Spadnul na dno a myslím, že je mrtvý.
Dlouhá pauza....
Ještě delší pauza.....
Ještě delší pauza.....
Pak se opatrně ozve: My máme bazén ???
Opět pauza....
Tati...??????
opět pauza..
Je tam číslo telefonu 86573122444 ?
Ne, ne to je omyl!!!
Pardon...
Odkaz pre pána čo včera stratil Iphone 11.
PRESTAN MI UŽ VOLAŤ NA MÔJ NOVY MOBIL!!!
Tonko mesiace trénoval Capoeiru (Kapueru.)
Teraz pred tým, ako dostane na hubu, vždy zatancuje ... 😆😆
Lékař k pacientovi: "Musíte s tím pitím okamžitě přestat. Váš poslední krevní vzorek se vypařil dřív než jsem ho mohl vyšetřit."
Príde kovboj k malému chlapčekovi a hovorí mu:
- Daj si chlebík, sirôtka.
Chlapček mu na to :
- Ujo, ale je mám mamu aj otca. Hľa, tam stoja.
Kovboj vytiahne kolt. Nasledujú dve rany a vraví:
- Daj si chlebík, sirôtka....
😂😋🤣
V obchodnom dome prijali nového predavača. Na záverečnú si ho išiel vedúci skontrolovať.
„Koľko ste dnes vybavili zákazníkov?“
„Jedného.“
„Iba jedného? Bežne predavači vybavia 80 až 100 zákazníkov. A akú ste mali tržbu?“
„Štyridsať dvetisíc päťsto tridsať dva eur a dvadsať päť centov.“
„A to od jedného zákazníka? Čo ste mu predali?“
„Predal som mu rybársky háčik.
Potom som mu povedal, že keď má háčik, bude asi potrebovať aj udicu, tak som mu predal aj udicu.
A že keď už má aj udicu, tak by sa mu zišiel aj podberák.
A keď už má takúto výbavu na ryby, tak by sa mu zišiel aj motorový čln. Ak tomu som mu predal aj vozík na ten čln.“
„A to všetko, pretože si prišiel kúpiť rybársky háčik?“
„Nie. On prišiel kúpiť menštruačné vložky pre manželku. Tak som mu poradil, že ak má manželka menštruáciu, nech ide radšej na ryby.“
- Krava! - zakričal som postaršej cyklistke
Ona mi ukázala stredný prst a hneď potom v plnej rýchlosti narazila do kravy
No čo, aspoň som sa pokúsil...
Meteorologický ústav hľadá pracovníka. Plat 700 € ale pocitovo 1500€..
https://www.facebook.com/skromne/photos/a.365483930923989/732716670867378/?type=3&theater
Skromne Meme je o tom, že Igor využije tento protest ako zámienku na návrh zákona, ktorým obmedzí túto formu protestu pre všetkých. O tom, že nám po kúskoch kradnú práva. sorry, ja som po celý život ten pes, čo breše aj keď karavána/parný valec ide ďalej, už sa nezmením.
https://www.facebook.com/NitraIbaNitra/videos/1691753770948400/
It was a good laugh until you realized your photographer was in real pain. Good one!
Pause GIF
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1691753770948400
jasné že je to celé podvod! viem to od začiatku.ale prečo??? prečo niekto potrebuje zastaviť celý svet???
Lol ľudia, nebláznite skusali ste niekedy manazovat aspon 3 ľudí v nejakom projekte? Donútiť ľudí pracovať na spoločnom cieli je sakra ťažké, nieto ešte ked to ma byt tajné, celosvetové, so zahrnutim xy krajin a inštitúcií. A trosku menej egocentrizmu by vam nezaskodilo. Jasne, cely svet maka, aby len nas ovládal, my sme proste strasne dôležiti, vsak.
Svet je náhodný. Potreba vidieť vo všetkom nejaky plan a inscenaciu v pozadí je... Sice prirodzená, ale mylna.
These birds are endangered in NZ and, in order to try and breed more, they invented helmets that the parrot would climb onto to do his business and the sperm could then be collected for the breeding program. That might be what the parrot is doing
I hope he didnt get too many scratches but the bird was soo funny
Chlapík s holou hlavou a drevenou nohou bol pozvaný na maškarný ples. Nevedel, čo si obliecť, tak napísal požičovňu kostýmov, aby mu dala radu. Dostal opäť odpoveď:
" Vážený pane, pripravili sme pre vás pirátsky oblek - šatku s lebkou a krížovými nohami na hlave a s drevenou nohou budete vyzerať presne ako pirát."
Ale to chlapa urazilo a odpisalo im, ze taketo vybavenie len zvýrazni jeho postihnutie.
Tak mu požičovňa poslala ďalší návrh:
" Drahý pane, ospravedlňte nás za predchádzajúcu ponuku. Teraz vám navrhujeme kostým mnícha. Sutana ti zakryje drevenú nohu a s holou hlavou budeš vyzerať presne ako mních."
Ale to toho chlapa ešte viac nahnevalo a napísal im, že maska len odpúta pozornosť od jeho drevenej nohy na plešatú hlavu!
Po niekoľkých dňoch dostal menší balíček z požičovne kostýmov s čokoládovou námrazou, drvenými orechami a list:
" Drahý pane, posielame vám čokoládovú polevu, nalejte si ju na plešatú hlavu, posypete ju orechami a strčte si tú drevenú nohu Budete vyzerať presne ako čokoládový nanuk!"
Tonko mesiace trénoval Capoeiru (Kapueru.)
Teraz pred tým, ako dostane na hubu, vždy zatancuje ... 😆😆
https://www.facebook.com/NitraIbaNitra/videos/1691753770948400/
hlavny problem je ze dnes uz nevieme komu a comu verit. lebo aj toto video postrihalo kadeco. ja viem z usa taketo. je tam sukromne zdravotnictvo. ak clovek zomrie v nemocnici na infarkt, dostane nemocnica za hospitalizaciu 2000 usd. ale ked mal covid a napisu ze akoze zomrel na covid, tak dostanu 9000 usd. takze je to len ochota klamat za peniaze.
Aj ti mŕtvi su celosvetový podvod... Dalsie konšpiracie
Ľudia vy ste vážne ovce, naozaj si myslíte že nejaký jouda z detskej izby svojich rodičov odhalil celosvetové sprisahanie?
Len dopredu hovorim ze ja som v tychto veciach nestranny a pocuvam obe strany zo zvedavosti ale najviac postihnute su vyspele krajiny ako sa da overit kade tade, a potopit si vlastnu ekonomiku ma aky zmysel prosim vas ked ju vlady este same dotuju v podobe roznych dotacii pre ludi a firmy, aj USA (To je otazka nehajim ziaden z nazorov)
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How the Internet Will Be the Downfall of the Current Education System
And how it’s already happening.
Sandeep Kaler
Sandeep Kaler
Follow
Jul 11, 2018 · 5 min read
Unless you live under a rock, I’m absolutely certain that you spend majority of your time on the internet. Whether you’re sending emails, scrolling through Facebook, or even shopping, it’s all happening on the internet. But one major problem I’m seeing is the reluctance of the education system, especially post secondary, to adapt to using the internet to become more accessible. And some of you will argue against this. And you’ll raise the points that “most profs posts things online now” and to me, that’s totally irrelevant. We’ve been able to do that using the internet since the late 90s. What I’m talking about runs a lot deeper.
Every year, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, enter post secondary institutions with the hopes of learning something new. Something they’ll be able to build a life based around. Yet at the end of the 4 years (assuming the standard university degree) most end up disappointed, and see it as a huge waste of their time and money. So what the hell is happening? I think we need to take a closer look at what’s happening at the day to day experience of the university lifestyle.
What’s the biggest benefit of going to a post secondary institution? If you ask me, it’s the abundance of experience and knowledge that the faculty possess. We have tons of profs and instructors that have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience throughout their years. They’ve literally dedicated their lives to studying a certain topic, and sharing their knowledge with people around them. But that’s not exactly happening. Instead, we have a bunch of people that see it as a waste of time to do anything beyond what’s expecting of a “typical” prof or instructor. Basically, they teach and go home.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are some very involved profs. They go out of their way to help, and absolutely love sharing their experiences with students. It’s the majority that I’m talking about. So why is this a problem?
With the rise of the internet, we now have access to information that we used to have to go to university for. So we don’t actually have to go there anymore to get it. Instead, we can use our phone and learn what an electrical engineering student would learn by paying $10000 a year, but while sitting on the toilet. So what’s the university degree really worth?
It became very clear to me early on, and I mean way back when I was in high school, that the value of education doesn’t stop at (and in most cases isn’t directly tied to) the specific concept you learn. So many students in high school used to say things like “when the hell will I ever use Pythagora’s Theorem in real life??” and that’s where they go wrong. The thing to take away isn’t the theorem, it’s the critical thinking skills that you obtain by learning it. The fact that you learned a new concept, literally creates new connections in your brain. It allows you to think better than you could before. It’s the same thing as the university degree. So many students wonder what the point of the degree is, if they’re never going to use anything they learned during their time in university. And at this point in time, they’ve never been more correct. The reason being, all of the concepts they learn are readily and freely available. Now I don’t mean Wikipedia articles, or Yahoo Answers. I mean, YouTube literally has lectures from some of the top schools in the world. You can literally access lectures from MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, and so on, all through YouTube, or Open Courseware made available by these schools. You can access the assignments, the course outlines, syllabus, everything, online. So how relevant is the whole system if the select few that are at the top are already giving their stuff out for free?
In the future, with the rise of AR and VR, we’ll be able to access lectures from the best instructors in the world. It’ll literally be that they teach a concept about the rainforests, and some VR program will then take them to the rainforest to show them the exact thing in action. And so my question is, how relevant will the remainder of the universities and instructors really be? What value will they bring to the table? Why should anyone ever attend their lectures?
So what do we do? What’s the call to action? Here’s what I believe. As students, for the first 20 or so years of our lives we spend majority of our lives with teachers, profs, and the school system in general. If the educators are not stepping up and bringing value to students beyond some crap on a chalkboard that they copied out of a textbook, they will lose. Being a bullshit teacher/instructor will be eliminated. It’s funny because people think mundane jobs like truck and taxi drivers are gonna be replaced by AI and technology and everyone is losing their mind over that. What about the more advanced jobs? Instead of losing to AI, it’ll be that crappy teachers lose out to their colleagues. Everyone’s gonna love going to Ms. DiBiase’s music class because she’s an awesome teacher that encourages students to do well, shares her experiences, and brings them something beyond what’s already available in a book, or online tutorial. Meanwhile Mr. Jones is gonna lose out simply because he doesn’t have much to offer besides a bunch of textbook crap.
So I implore you, if you’re a teacher, educator, or instructor of any sort, doesn’t even have to be in a school, please start sharing your experiences. Please start bringing value to students beyond the concepts you teach. They can learn that stuff anywhere. What they can’t get anywhere is the uniqueness of your experience. They can’t get what you’ve learned throughout your lifetime. That’s the variable that makes you a teacher that they’ll remember forever. Being able to inspire and encourage the students that you interact with on a daily basis matters. It makes a huge difference if you’re able to change a student’s perspective simply by sharing an experience or idea that you have.
Experience is the intangible thing. That’s what people are paying for. Not some crap written in a textbook.
Until next time,
Keep it positive.
Keep Relaksing.
51
Education
Schools
Internet
Future
Experience
51 claps
Sandeep Kaler
WRITTEN BY
Sandeep Kaler
Follow
Grad school, engineering, and a whole whack load of thoughts. Wanna listen instead? Check out: www.Anchor.fm/relaksation
Write the first response
More From Medium
7 In 10 College Students Find Legacy Admissions Unfair | The University Network
Jackson Schroeder
How to Teach Remotely Using Screencastify
Peter Crowe in Age of Awareness
How we learn remotely
Tiago Pedras in The New Digital School
Three Ways to Make our Schools More Globally Minded
Leading With Open Eyes and Full Hearts
Matt Trammell, Ed.D. in Age of Awareness
Grad School Reflections
Nick DeMott
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Andrew B. Raupp in Data Driven Investor
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How the Internet Will Be the Downfall of the Current Education System
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How the Internet Will Be the Downfall of the Current Education System
And how it’s already happening.
Sandeep Kaler
Follow
Jul 11, 2018 · 5 min read
Unless you live under a rock, I’m absolutely certain that you spend majority of your time on the internet. Whether you’re sending emails, scrolling through Facebook, or even shopping, it’s all happening on the internet. But one major problem I’m seeing is the reluctance of the education system, especially post secondary, to adapt to using the internet to become more accessible. And some of you will argue against this. And you’ll raise the points that “most profs posts things online now” and to me, that’s totally irrelevant. We’ve been able to do that using the internet since the late 90s. What I’m talking about runs a lot deeper.
Every year, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, enter post secondary institutions with the hopes of learning something new. Something they’ll be able to build a life based around. Yet at the end of the 4 years (assuming the standard university degree) most end up disappointed, and see it as a huge waste of their time and money. So what the hell is happening? I think we need to take a closer look at what’s happening at the day to day experience of the university lifestyle.
What’s the biggest benefit of going to a post secondary institution? If you ask me, it’s the abundance of experience and knowledge that the faculty possess. We have tons of profs and instructors that have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience throughout their years. They’ve literally dedicated their lives to studying a certain topic, and sharing their knowledge with people around them. But that’s not exactly happening. Instead, we have a bunch of people that see it as a waste of time to do anything beyond what’s expecting of a “typical” prof or instructor. Basically, they teach and go home.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are some very involved profs. They go out of their way to help, and absolutely love sharing their experiences with students. It’s the majority that I’m talking about. So why is this a problem?
With the rise of the internet, we now have access to information that we used to have to go to university for. So we don’t actually have to go there anymore to get it. Instead, we can use our phone and learn what an electrical engineering student would learn by paying $10000 a year, but while sitting on the toilet. So what’s the university degree really worth?
It became very clear to me early on, and I mean way back when I was in high school, that the value of education doesn’t stop at (and in most cases isn’t directly tied to) the specific concept you learn. So many students in high school used to say things like “when the hell will I ever use Pythagora’s Theorem in real life??” and that’s where they go wrong. The thing to take away isn’t the theorem, it’s the critical thinking skills that you obtain by learning it. The fact that you learned a new concept, literally creates new connections in your brain. It allows you to think better than you could before. It’s the same thing as the university degree. So many students wonder what the point of the degree is, if they’re never going to use anything they learned during their time in university. And at this point in time, they’ve never been more correct. The reason being, all of the concepts they learn are readily and freely available. Now I don’t mean Wikipedia articles, or Yahoo Answers. I mean, YouTube literally has lectures from some of the top schools in the world. You can literally access lectures from MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, and so on, all through YouTube, or Open Courseware made available by these schools. You can access the assignments, the course outlines, syllabus, everything, online. So how relevant is the whole system if the select few that are at the top are already giving their stuff out for free?
In the future, with the rise of AR and VR, we’ll be able to access lectures from the best instructors in the world. It’ll literally be that they teach a concept about the rainforests, and some VR program will then take them to the rainforest to show them the exact thing in action. And so my question is, how relevant will the remainder of the universities and instructors really be? What value will they bring to the table? Why should anyone ever attend their lectures?
So what do we do? What’s the call to action? Here’s what I believe. As students, for the first 20 or so years of our lives we spend majority of our lives with teachers, profs, and the school system in general. If the educators are not stepping up and bringing value to students beyond some crap on a chalkboard that they copied out of a textbook, they will lose. Being a bullshit teacher/instructor will be eliminated. It’s funny because people think mundane jobs like truck and taxi drivers are gonna be replaced by AI and technology and everyone is losing their mind over that. What about the more advanced jobs? Instead of losing to AI, it’ll be that crappy teachers lose out to their colleagues. Everyone’s gonna love going to Ms. DiBiase’s music class because she’s an awesome teacher that encourages students to do well, shares her experiences, and brings them something beyond what’s already available in a book, or online tutorial. Meanwhile Mr. Jones is gonna lose out simply because he doesn’t have much to offer besides a bunch of textbook crap.
So I implore you, if you’re a teacher, educator, or instructor of any sort, doesn’t even have to be in a school, please start sharing your experiences. Please start bringing value to students beyond the concepts you teach. They can learn that stuff anywhere. What they can’t get anywhere is the uniqueness of your experience. They can’t get what you’ve learned throughout your lifetime. That’s the variable that makes you a teacher that they’ll remember forever. Being able to inspire and encourage the students that you interact with on a daily basis matters. It makes a huge difference if you’re able to change a student’s perspective simply by sharing an experience or idea that you have.
Experience is the intangible thing. That’s what people are paying for. Not some crap written in a textbook.
Until next time,
Keep it positive.
Keep Relaksing.
51
Education
Schools
Internet
Future
Experience
51 claps
WRITTEN BY
Sandeep Kaler
Follow
Grad school, engineering, and a whole whack load of thoughts. Wanna listen instead? Check out: www.Anchor.fm/relaksation
Write the first response
More From Medium
7 In 10 College Students Find Legacy Admissions Unfair | The University Network
Jackson Schroeder
How to Teach Remotely Using Screencastify
Peter Crowe in Age of Awareness
How we learn remotely
Tiago Pedras in The New Digital School
Three Ways to Make our Schools More Globally Minded
Leading With Open Eyes and Full Hearts
Matt Trammell, Ed.D. in Age of Awareness
Grad School Reflections
Nick DeMott
STEMerica: Roaring Into The 2020s
Andrew B. Raupp in Data Driven Investor
What is wrong with online counselling courses?
Jade Farrington
Discover Medium
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Make Medium yours
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
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How the Internet Will Be the Downfall of the Current Education System
And how it’s already happening.
Sandeep Kaler
Follow
Jul 11, 2018 · 5 min read
Unless you live under a rock, I’m absolutely certain that you spend majority of your time on the internet. Whether you’re sending emails, scrolling through Facebook, or even shopping, it’s all happening on the internet. But one major problem I’m seeing is the reluctance of the education system, especially post secondary, to adapt to using the internet to become more accessible. And some of you will argue against this. And you’ll raise the points that “most profs posts things online now” and to me, that’s totally irrelevant. We’ve been able to do that using the internet since the late 90s. What I’m talking about runs a lot deeper.
Every year, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, enter post secondary institutions with the hopes of learning something new. Something they’ll be able to build a life based around. Yet at the end of the 4 years (assuming the standard university degree) most end up disappointed, and see it as a huge waste of their time and money. So what the hell is happening? I think we need to take a closer look at what’s happening at the day to day experience of the university lifestyle.
What’s the biggest benefit of going to a post secondary institution? If you ask me, it’s the abundance of experience and knowledge that the faculty possess. We have tons of profs and instructors that have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience throughout their years. They’ve literally dedicated their lives to studying a certain topic, and sharing their knowledge with people around them. But that’s not exactly happening. Instead, we have a bunch of people that see it as a waste of time to do anything beyond what’s expecting of a “typical” prof or instructor. Basically, they teach and go home.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are some very involved profs. They go out of their way to help, and absolutely love sharing their experiences with students. It’s the majority that I’m talking about. So why is this a problem?
With the rise of the internet, we now have access to information that we used to have to go to university for. So we don’t actually have to go there anymore to get it. Instead, we can use our phone and learn what an electrical engineering student would learn by paying $10000 a year, but while sitting on the toilet. So what’s the university degree really worth?
It became very clear to me early on, and I mean way back when I was in high school, that the value of education doesn’t stop at (and in most cases isn’t directly tied to) the specific concept you learn. So many students in high school used to say things like “when the hell will I ever use Pythagora’s Theorem in real life??” and that’s where they go wrong. The thing to take away isn’t the theorem, it’s the critical thinking skills that you obtain by learning it. The fact that you learned a new concept, literally creates new connections in your brain. It allows you to think better than you could before. It’s the same thing as the university degree. So many students wonder what the point of the degree is, if they’re never going to use anything they learned during their time in university. And at this point in time, they’ve never been more correct. The reason being, all of the concepts they learn are readily and freely available. Now I don’t mean Wikipedia articles, or Yahoo Answers. I mean, YouTube literally has lectures from some of the top schools in the world. You can literally access lectures from MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, and so on, all through YouTube, or Open Courseware made available by these schools. You can access the assignments, the course outlines, syllabus, everything, online. So how relevant is the whole system if the select few that are at the top are already giving their stuff out for free?
In the future, with the rise of AR and VR, we’ll be able to access lectures from the best instructors in the world. It’ll literally be that they teach a concept about the rainforests, and some VR program will then take them to the rainforest to show them the exact thing in action. And so my question is, how relevant will the remainder of the universities and instructors really be? What value will they bring to the table? Why should anyone ever attend their lectures?
So what do we do? What’s the call to action? Here’s what I believe. As students, for the first 20 or so years of our lives we spend majority of our lives with teachers, profs, and the school system in general. If the educators are not stepping up and bringing value to students beyond some crap on a chalkboard that they copied out of a textbook, they will lose. Being a bullshit teacher/instructor will be eliminated. It’s funny because people think mundane jobs like truck and taxi drivers are gonna be replaced by AI and technology and everyone is losing their mind over that. What about the more advanced jobs? Instead of losing to AI, it’ll be that crappy teachers lose out to their colleagues. Everyone’s gonna love going to Ms. DiBiase’s music class because she’s an awesome teacher that encourages students to do well, shares her experiences, and brings them something beyond what’s already available in a book, or online tutorial. Meanwhile Mr. Jones is gonna lose out simply because he doesn’t have much to offer besides a bunch of textbook crap.
So I implore you, if you’re a teacher, educator, or instructor of any sort, doesn’t even have to be in a school, please start sharing your experiences. Please start bringing value to students beyond the concepts you teach. They can learn that stuff anywhere. What they can’t get anywhere is the uniqueness of your experience. They can’t get what you’ve learned throughout your lifetime. That’s the variable that makes you a teacher that they’ll remember forever. Being able to inspire and encourage the students that you interact with on a daily basis matters. It makes a huge difference if you’re able to change a student’s perspective simply by sharing an experience or idea that you have.
Experience is the intangible thing. That’s what people are paying for. Not some crap written in a textbook.
Until next time,
Keep it positive.
Keep Relaksing.
51
Education
Schools
Internet
Future
Experience
51 claps
WRITTEN BY
Sandeep Kaler
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Self-Discovery in Modern Life: How Our Choices Reveal Our Identity
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Self-Discovery in Modern Life: How Our Choices Reveal Our Identity
By A.J. Drenth
Our modern age is well viewed as the age of the individual. It used to be that our path in life—our religion, our career, our social class, etc.—was largely determined by the family we happened to be born into. There was little in the way of choice for individuals. Fortunately, nobody seemed all that bothered by it, because it wasn’t part of the culture. And if culture doesn’t teach us to expect or desire certain things, we often don’t notice if they’re missing.
In today’s world, culture dictates that we all partake in a process called self-discovery. In many respects, it’s a modern rite of passage, not unlike Christian baptism or rushing for a fraternity. If we want to be technical about it, self-discovery begins way back in infancy, as soon as we start making distinctions between self and world. But the part of self-discovery that we really care about hinges on questions like: “How do I describe or define myself?” or “What do I really believe and care about?” or “What do I want to do with my life?”
Personality typology is a commonly used tool for self-discovery. By outlining the typical molds, or types, that human beings tend to inhabit, typology might be viewed as a sort of shortcut or roadmap for self-understanding. To some extent, type is also a counterforce to the most juiced up versions of individualism. Namely, by associating ourselves with a certain type, we’re essentially agreeing to forfeit some measure of personal uniqueness. This suggests that maybe we’re not the rogue individualists we fancy ourselves to be. Maybe there’s a part of us that longs for solidarity, that wants to belong to something bigger than ourselves.
It’s unfortunate that we sometimes miss this point. By identifying so strongly with our type, we can almost forget that there are others with our same type facing similar challenges. We forget that being a certain type means belonging to a community, and that there are countless others sharing our struggles.
It’s this same communal concern that prompts us to seek insight and inspiration from role models. In these kindred spirits we find a much-needed sense of support and validation, even if only through the imagination. Even extreme individualists want some sort of tribe or network of affiliations.
To extraverts, this may all seem rather obvious, as the extraverted self is generally more distributed and interconnected. But introverts, especially INFP, INTP, INFJ and INTJ types, are more apt to emphasize their uniqueness and downplay the ways in which their identity is intermingled with others.
Choices as Data for Self-Discovery
In actuality, our identities may be no less interdependent than they were in previous eras. Perhaps the only difference is we now get to choose who we ally ourselves with. And if the choices we make say something about who we are, it follows that we can learn a lot about ourselves by analyzing our choices. With each new choice, part of our personality becomes more evident or well-established. Reflecting on our choices is thus an important path to self-knowledge.
Writer Joan Didion once mused that “I don’t know what I think until I write it down.” In its essence, writing is nothing but a string of choices. And like other forms of choice making, it offers concrete insight into who we are and what we believe. Without choice, we are merely inchoate potential. Our choices give form and materiality to who we are. They are data for self-understanding.
Instagram is another medium for choice making and identity exploration. What one chooses to photograph or share is assumed to reflect one’s tastes, interests, and social life. Our Netflix viewing habits, including the “Recommended for You” suggestions, also provide clues about who we are. It’s a bit eerie how specific some of Netflix’s genre recommendations can be (e.g., “Dark crime dramas with a strong female lead”), as though Netflix has somehow pinpointed the core of our viewing preferences. Similarly, Facebook uses personal data algorithms to determine which ads and products will most strongly appeal to us.
The modern identity is a fusion of one’s friends, family, work, status, and culture, in conjunction with political, intellectual, religious, aesthetic, and entertainment preferences. Of these, the only non-choice elements are our biological and cultural roots. Everything else is discretionary.
Are Our Choices Really Free?
Clearly, the choices we make reveal something about who we are. And because our culture delegates the vast majority of choices to the individual—both big and small—it seems entirely natural for us to believe that our choices are truly free. Even the word “choice” assumes a freedom as a starting point.
Since this isn’t the place for a deep dive into the age-old, “free will vs. determinism” debate, I’ll spare you the pain of a lengthy diatribe on the topic. What I will say, however, is that at least from an identity perspective, unfettered free will doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Let me explain.
Even as infants, we exhibit or develop certain preferences in that some things are simply more interesting to us than others. Ergo, we end up paying more attention to those things. For instance, as discussed in my recent post, Cognitive Styles of Thinkers vs. Feelers, some infants and toddlers are more compelled by things like dolls and faces, while others are drawn to trucks and moving objects. Moreover, because certain preferences show up in infancy prior to acculturation, chances are they’re innate and thus not freely chosen. But even if the original choice was somehow freely made, the fact remains that, if we pay attention to something long enough, it starts paving a trail in the brain which makes it easier to repeat in the future. And when choices give way to habitual preferences or perspectives, freedom is effectively supplanted by automatism.
So whenever our “choices” spring from one of our most frequented brain pathways, then what is most significant, from an identity perspective, is not so much the specific choice itself, but the nature of the underlying pathway. In other words, we’re more concerned with understanding the main thoroughfares of our personality than the myriad side streets, the “forest” (N) more than the “trees” (S). What matters most is not the specific content of your Instagram posts, but the deeper set of traits, motivations, and preference pathways that inform them.
This of course assumes that we’re seeking something resembling a coherent and unified identity. And we know that some personality types are more interested in undertaking this sort of project than others. But just to be clear, everyone has some version of a coherent identity. It’s simply more conscious (or consciously sought after) for some people than it is for others.
Real Choice
The truth is I’m probably being a bit unfair in suggesting that the side streets of our personality are less important than the main drags. One could argue that some of the best things in life happen on the side streets, often when we’re least expecting it.
In fact, a reliable way of enriching our lives is to intentionally deviate from our beaten path. And this is where real choice enters the picture.
Real choice places us outside our comfort zone. It exposes us to new and unfamiliar modes of being. Making real choices can shift our consciousness in ways that surprise and delight. It’s emblematic of the wonderful human capacity to step into the unknown—to check out a new side street—even when doing so feels like walking into a dark alley.
If you’re looking to clarify your personality, identity, life path and more, be sure to explore our online course, Finding Your Path as an INFP, INTP, ENFP or ENTP.
Related Posts:
Why INFJ, INTJ, INFP, & INTP Types Struggle in Modern Life
Introverts & Extraverts in the Smartphone Era
Millennials & the Rise of an Intuitive Culture
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About A.J. Drenth
A.J. is a four-time author and recognized authority on personality typology. He founded Personality Junkie® in 2009 which has since grown to see over three million annual visitors. His work has been referenced in numerous publications and he currently boasts the two best-selling INTP books worldwide. Read A.J.'s bio here.
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You think you are free?
Under the guise of doing what's best for us or ensuring our security, governments around the world are exercising more and more control over our lives.
Image Credit:Illustration: Nino Jose Heredia/Gulf News
Published: 23:40 February 25, 2008
By Linda S. Heard, Special to Gulf News
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Watching old movies makes me sad. I'm inevitably reminded of a kindlier, gentler world without cameras that spy on populations, where overseas travelling was pleasurable and privacy was an individual's right.
Nowadays, states are usurping responsibilities that are rightfully those of their citizens. Western so-called democracies, in particular, are supposed to have governments that are servants of the people, whereas, in fact, the opposite is true. Under the guise of doing what's best for us or ensuring our security, governments are exercising more and more control over our lives. And, tragically, we are facilitating this erosion of our own freedoms, mostly because we're not even aware it's happening.
The US and Britain are leading the pack in this encroaching Orwellian nightmare. "War is peace; Freedom is slavery; Ignorance is strength," wrote George Orwell in his book Nineteen Eighty-Four. In recent years, they have waged wars in the name of peace, put entire populations under their thumb in the name of freedom while government spin and a compliant media serve to keep people ignorant about their leaders' true motives.
If we only knew it we are being indoctrinated to offer up our personal freedoms to save ourselves from a horrible fate at the hands of nicotine, calories and Al Qaida. We are being taught to fear asylum seekers, climate change, crazed terrorists and even each other. Western governments are perfecting the politics of fear because fearful populaces will do their bidding without question and willingly subject themselves to control.
Britain has become a master of this technique. It currently holds a data base containing the DNA of 4.5 million people, arrested for both serious crimes and minor infractions. The police have found this tool so useful they are pushing to expand it to cover everyone in the country although the Home Office has rejected the idea for the moment.
By 2012 Britons over 16 will be required to hold biometric ID cards checkable by police, immigration and customs officials as well as public and private bodies such as travel agencies, airlines, banks and even retailers.
By 2010, Britain is also expected to incorporate Radio Frequency Identification memory chip in passports designed to carry a wealth of personal data on travellers.
Embedded
Further, there is a plan to embed RFID chips in vehicle number plates allowing authorities the capability of identifying any vehicle anywhere in all weathers. RFID chips have been embedded on every packet of cigarettes manufactured in the UK since October last year, while others have been fitted to trash cans officially to boost the rate of garbage recycling. Pets entering Britain from abroad are also chipped.
Apparently, the government is also considering injecting prisoners with RFID tags. If that goes ahead it's surely the slippery slope to babies being chipped at birth.
US has forced European airlines to hand over 19 pieces of information on travellers prior to their departure and wants to extend this one-way data flow to passengers over-flying the US en route to Central America and the Caribbean. UK wants the system to be used throughout Europe and domestically.
Not only do authorities want to control Britons' movements, they are also after their thoughts. Remember the Orwellian Thought Police, who used surveillance methods and psychological profiles to interpret the future goals of potential dissenters and deviants? This is already happening in the UK where people can expect to be caught on camera up to 300 times per day and where their phone calls and internet browsing is routinely monitored.
Earlier this month, three British Appeal judges had the good sense to quash the convictions of five young Muslims, prosecuted for simply downloading "extremist propaganda" from the internet. There was no other evidence against them and no proof they intended to act on any message contained in such material. In other words, their initial conviction was purely based on thought crime. The judgment read: "Literature may be stored in a book or on a bookshelf, or on a computer drive, without any intention on the part of the possessor to make any future use of it all."
Big Brother Britain isn't working. Indeed, the prisons are full to over-flowing and violent crime is on the up-and-up, much of it fuelled by drugs and alcohol. You've surely heard the expression "give a dog a bad name ..." Could it be that when law-abiding citizens are pre-judged as criminals some of them might conclude "What the heck"?
But Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four isn't exactly where Britain is headed. The reality is a combination of Orwell's theories and those set-out in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
As the American author Neil Postman wrote in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death whereas "Orwell feared the truth would be concealed from us, Huxley feared the truth would be droned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture" consumed by "an almost infinite appetite for distractions".
In a way they were both right. Unless we tear ourselves away from our pretty toys and distractions just long enough to remove our rose-coloured specs, freedom will be obsolete except as a slogan above the gate of the Ministry of Truth.
Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She can be contacted at lheard@gulfnews.com.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/facebook-tracking-stop/
2. Facebook Pixel
The Facebook pixel “is an analytics tool that allows you to measure the effectiveness of your advertising by understanding the actions that people take on your website.” Sounds great, right? For a website owner, a Facebook pixel grants insight into how effective your advertising is. It does this by tracking the actions of the people using the site and feeding back to Facebook.
As with Facebook tracking via the Like and Share social plug-ins, the crux of the issue is whether Facebook provides enough information to users to make informed decisions regarding data tracking.
3. Facebook Cookies
Facebook places a cookie on your computer if you have a Facebook account. It also places a cookie on your computer if you use “Facebook Products, including our website or apps, or visit other websites and apps that use Facebook Products (including the Like button or other Facebook Technologies).”
Regardless of whether you have an account, if you even use a site using a Facebook Product, you receive a Facebook tracking cookie.
Facebook Tracks Users, Even Without an Account
I often hear people say they are free from Facebook tracking because they do not have an account. Well, the joke is on them (or us? All of us?!). One of the reasons Facebook’s advertising works so well is the immense amount of websites and services feeding data back to Facebook’s advertising arm. That includes data gathered using the methods laid out above.
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When you visit one of these sites, regardless of your Facebook user status, Facebook receives an IP address, location, browser details, and more. And the best bit of all? Facebook tracking cookies never expire.
Brave
Brave is a Chromium-based browser with a complete focus on privacy and security. It features an interesting approach to whitelisting: adding tiny micro-payments for your favorite publications.
6 Niche Social Networks to Use Instead of Facebook
5. Huggle (For Real-Life Friends)
6. Coach.me (For Building Habits)
Use the Off-Facebook Activity Tool to Stop Being Stalked by Ads Online
Who Is Fighting On Your Behalf Against The NSA And For Privacy?
Who Is Fighting On Your Behalf Against The NSA And For Privacy?
Who Is Fighting On Your Behalf Against The NSA And For Privacy?
Joshua Lockhart October 7, 2013
These days, everywhere you go on the Internet, there is something posted about the NSA. For some of you, it may be annoying, but truth be told, this is a very important issue, and you should be paying attention. Short and simple version: The NSA spies. On everyone. And it sucks. (If you aren’t up to date, check out our earlier article on PRISM.)
Why Email Can't Be Protected From Government Surveillance
“If you knew what I know about email, you might not use it either,” said the owner of secure email service Lavabit as he recently shut it down. "There is no way to do encrypted...
Read More
Fortunately, there are several Internet activism groups out there who are fighting on your behalf for privacy. They also are doing their best to educate netizens on these matters. Below are just a few of them that are incredibly active, and hopefully, they’ll help you become more aware of the status on the NSA scandal.
Can You Really Be Anonymous Online?
We all have things we'd rather not tell the world about. I think it's time we clear up a few things about anonymity online -- and answer once and for all, whether it's really possible.
Read More
Open Rights Group
The Open Rights Group is a UK-based citizens’ privacy rights organization. In short, the Open Rights Group is a bit of a lobbyist organization, representing the desires of citizens to policy-makers who are active in privacy laws. Furthermore, with Neil Gaiman on the staff, one could say it’s a pretty strong little group.
That said, with the NSA being an American-based issue that has carried over into the international arena, the Open Rights Group works for awareness and organization when it comes to this realm of privacy. It’s understood that the NSA pretty much spies on everyone, so the Open Rights Group is doing its best to figure out the best approach to this problem.
Electronic Privacy Information Center
EPIC has been fighting for privacy rights since 1994, so it’s been around for quite a while. The organization aims to bring public attention to privacy issues across multiple fronts. That said, it’s not just against the NSA. As a matter of fact, EPIC publishes all kinds of hot button issues ranging from Facebook privacy all the way to government surveillance.
EPIC’s website is a great place to visit if you want to get clued in on the most recent updates on Internet privacy. Everything is very current, so it’s definitely worth checking out. Furthermore, you can sign up for EPIC’s petition to the NSA (pictured above) right on the site.
Mozilla
Firefox and Thunderbird — both are very familiar names. That said, the organization that develops them — which makes other open source products for users everywhere — is an active participant in the battle against NSA spying.
The non-profit backs the website StopWatching.us (which is oh so cleverly named), and it is also organizing a rally in Washington on October 26th to protest mass surveillance. That said, you can also visit StopWatching.us to sign their petition which demands Congress to reveal the full extent of the NSA spying program.
American Civil Liberties Union
You’ve probably heard of the ACLU — the group that is popular for its long-lasting love-hate relationship with the rights of American citizens. Fortunately, the group has joined the fight against the NSA, and that said, this is one contender with a whole lot of street cred.
We know that the NSA scandal isn’t just a battle happening on American turf. However, since the NSA is backed by the US government, it’s nice to know that at least one strong entity exists on American soil.
The Internet Defense League
There are plenty of jokes about Reddit – “Man! If we post enough memes, maybe the NSA will stop watching us!”
However, the social aggregator is actually part of a bigger cause: the Internet Defense League. The IDL is a group that consists of several popular websites (many of which contain typical Internet fare, like cat pictures) which have all agreed to raise a “cat signal” of sorts to alert the world whenever government powers are trying to infringe on netizens’ rights.
You can join the league as well by adding a special code to your own website. The league accepts donations to fund campaign materials (like upcoming television commercials) to make the general public more aware.
Conclusion
Privacy is a bigger deal than ever these days, and infringement on the rights of the citizens of the world seems to be much more popular among both companies and government entities than before. However, the question is this: will people just stand there and take it? Also, is this okay?
Fortunately, the above groups are out there taking it to the streets, so to speak. They also provide opportunities for you to join them and fight for your privacy rights as well. That said, you should visit them for both education and a way to take on the NSA.
What other groups do you know of that are fighting on your behalf against the NSA? Have you done your part to fight the NSA? What have you done to protect your privacy rights?
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5 Brilliant Ways Tech-Savvy People Worked Around Censorship
PC & MOBILE LIFESTYLE HARDWARE FREE STUFF VIDEOS ABOUT WHATNERD BLOCKS D.
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WEB CULTURE
5 Brilliant Ways Tech-Savvy People Worked Around Censorship
Dann Albright February 12, 2015
An ad-hoc mesh network, spreading across Havana, connects people without Internet access. Hot air balloons carry news of the outside world, and American TV shows, to the people of North Korea.
When it comes to protesting oppressive regimes, brutal anti-demonstration tactics, and widespread censorship, the Internet is an invaluable tool. But what happens when you can’t rely on the Internet? What if the stranglehold of censorship is too tight, physical access is restricted, or the threat of repercussions is too great? Here are five stories of overcoming adversity to share information in the most difficult of situations.
Why The Next 10 Years Looks Bad for Internet Censorship
Although denizens of the world are learning more about censorship and learning new ways to counteract it, the outlook for the future of Internet freedom isn't looking good.
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Havana’s Wi-Fi Network
The citizens of Cuba have very limited access to the Internet. The government claims that the US embargo has prevented the movement of advanced technology into the country, but activist organizations say that the government uses this as an excuse to censor information and charge exorbitant fees for access.
Whatever the case, it’s very expensive to get on the internet in Cuba. In a country where the average wage is around $25 per month, many people can’t afford to have a computer and access to the web, but Cubans have become very good at improvising ways to get around the problems they face.
havana-sunset
For example, Havana’s StreetNet (SNet) is a wi-fi only information-sharing network; for around $200, a group of computers can be fit with extra-powerful wi-fi antennas and the proper cabling to form a node for the network, which communicates with other computers directly – without access to the internet.
An AP story reported that the network shares popular TV shows and movies, and lets users play games, share files, check sports scores, and even access a downloaded version of Wikipedia that’s regularly updated by users with access to the internet.
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Owning wi-fi equipment in Cuba requires a special license from the government, which many — if not most — SNet users don’t have. This means that the network violates Cuban law, which puts it at risk of being shut down. However, the users of SNet police themselves when it comes to content, and the government has turned a blind eye to the network. To keep it that way, there are rules: no pornography, political discussions, anything that could be considered critical of the government, or even file-sharing outside of prescribed hours.
The almost 9,000 users of the network, as long as they obey these rules, feel safe using it. It seems impossible that the government wouldn’t know of such a large network, but its continued existence suggests that they’ll allow it as long as no one causes trouble
Balloon-Dropping the Outside World into North Korea
As we saw in Matt’s article about the technological situation in North Korea, censorship and the limitation of physical access to the internet prevent the vast majority of North Koreans from seeing what the world outside of the country looks like. But activists in South Korea are doing what they can to smuggle information over the border.
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One imaginative tactic that they’ve used to do this is to loft 20-foot-tall helium balloons over the border from a mountain on the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone. The balloons are painted with anti-regime slogans and carry packages of DVDs, USB drives, radios, and thousands of leaflets detailing life in the outside world. A timer is attached to each balloon, and once they’ve traveled deep into North Korean territory, the timer goes off, the balloon is popped, and the payload is dropped into the countryside.
Obviously, this isn’t the most subtle way to get information into the country. North Korea does know about these drops, and has made a number of threats against the organizations that send the balloons. One of these groups, Fighters for a Free North Korea, has been threatened by Pyongyang — in one case, the South Korean government took the threat so seriously that 300 policemen were sent to the launch site. Park Sang Hak, the leader of the group, was arrested as he tried to make it to another site. He was kept in jail for six hours, then released.
This certainly wasn’t the only time Park was threatened. The Atlantic reports that a North Korean assassin tried to kill him in Seoul, in 2011, with a poisoned needle hidden in a pen. A tip-off from the South Korean government saved his life.
As long as the totalitarian Kim regime rules the DPRK, Fighters for a Free North Korea will loft their balloons across the border, bringing hardware, information, and even American TV shows to North Koreans – evidently Desperate Housewives is quite popular.
Using Old-School Tech in Syria
Since the beginning of the Arab Spring, technology has played a significant role for both governments and rebels. Telecomix, a hacker collective, has done a great deal to support the people behind uprisings around the Arab world, including Egypt, Syria, and Libya.
Unlike Anonymous, Lulzsec, and Lizard Squad, Telecomix is more interested in creation and assistance than desctruction and irritation (though, to be fair, some people hold the former groups up as freedom fighters). Telecomix has been branded as a sort of “international tech support” for people living under oppressive regimes. For example, when communicating with rebels who were attempting to hold Tahrir Square, Telecomix sent them instructions for creating a mesh network, and taking standard clock radios and turning them into two-way radios so that protestors could stay organized.
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tahrir-square
Since the start of the civil war in Syria, Bashar al-Assad’s government has tried to control or disrupt access to the Internet — not only to block communication between rebel cells, but also to keep videos and reports of atrocities and war crimes from reaching the outside world. Access to the internet around the country is spotty, and can go down completely in a city or region before an attack.
Despite the governmental crackdown, Telecomix has been finding ways to help Syrian rebels communicate, share information, and get news to and from the outside world. They spread messages through Facebook and Twitter with numbers that allow Syrians to access to dial-up internet, and another number where they can leave a message and have it tweeted.
Telecomix and Anonymous also put together a PDF of useful dial-up numbers and radio frequencies, then found ways to fax them into the country. Telecomix distributed online safety tips, to help keep people safe and avoid internet surveillance. The support of Telecomix helped Syrian citizens stay safe, and helped rebels keep in touch with each other and the outside world.
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Of course, helping the rebels is a double-edged sword. Many international organizations and governments have expressed concerns over the tactics used not only by al-Assad, but also by the rebel militants, who — much like the current regime — carefully tailor the messages and views they present to the world.
Finding Cracks in the Great Firewall of China
Unlike North Korea, China’s system for restricting free access to the Internet is quite sophisticated — access to the Internet is encouraged, and there are more internet users in China than any other country on earth. While attempting to become one of the world’s foremost nations, Beijing has invested a great deal of money and effort in increasing Internet access.
But they don’t promote completely unrestricted, open access to all of the content that’s out there. Their censorship technology is some of the most complex in the world, and it’s often created by big-name American companies like Cisco. Both Google and Yahoo have been implicated in helping the Chinese government censor information, or access potentially incriminating e-mails.
great-firewall
The Great Firewall of China, though, isn’t invincible. Many activists are working on ways to bypass internet censorship put in place by the government. Dynamic Internet Technologies (DIT), founded by a Chinese-born software engineer in the United States, uses a program called FreeGate to look for weaknesses in the wall and exploit them. It allows unrestricted anonymous access to sites that are censored by the Chinese government, by hosting them on quickly-changing temporary URLs.
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As the Chinese get better at fighting back, DIT gets better at advancing its tactics — the app is updated frequently, and has gone through many iterations. The founder of DIT also gets information into the country by sending millions of e-mails to subscribers of banned publications and activist groups — the e-mails contain links to the proxy network of sites, giving recipients access to restricted information.
Starting Fires with Messaging in Hong Kong
Hong Kong has seen a great deal of unrest lately, with protests in the country gaining international attention. But to keep protestors from sharing information with each other and mainland China, both the Hong Kong and Chinese governments have restricted access to the Internet and information-sharing capabilities on social networks.
To get around these restrictions, a new type of messaging app has been adopted by many in Hong Kong. It’s called FireChat, and it allows users to post to public chatrooms without accessing the Internet. It uses cellular networks, wi-fi, phones’ cell radios, and Bluetooth to create a mesh network between phones. Even if a cell network or wi-fi isn’t available, messages can be relayed through phones that are in close proximity.
hong-kong-protests
The app is in wide use in Hong Kong, with over 100,000 users. A reported 33,000 users accessed the service at one time last September. Protesters use the app to post about required supplies, share protest tactics, and spread rumors about government actions.
Because of the unruly nature of public forums, the information spread through FireChat can be questionable. Nevertheless, it’s proven a valuable tool in Hong Kong, as well as in Taiwan, Iran, and other places where communication is limited or risky. Because Internet access is necessary to download the app, its use in mainland China is limited. Open Garden, the publishers of the app, are reportedly working on ways to get it into the country (you can read a great interview with the CEO of Open Garden about their aspirations at PBS).
Innovation Prevails
The Internet is usually described as a bastion of information freedom (which, of course, includes hatred, bigotry, and other shameful sorts of speech), but people in many countries face limited access and highly censored sources of information. Despite governments’ ruthless censoring and access-limiting tactics, determined groups of citizens continue to find ways to share information, both with each other and the world at large.
It’s a constant game of cat-and-mouse. But, at least for now, the mice are doing surprisingly well.
What other ways have you heard of citizens using to get around censorship? Have you participated in any of these attempts to help information-deprived countries? Do you think that the tight grip of totalitarian regimes can last? Share your thoughts below!
Image credits: Brick wall Via Shutterstock, Havana (Habana) in sunset via Shutterstock, Mona Sosh via Wikimedia Commons, Computer keyboard the Chinese flag on it via Shutterstock, Wing1990hk via Wikimedia Commons.
Explore more about: Bluetooth, Internet Censorship, Mesh Networks, Wi-Fi.
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Dann Albright
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Dann is a content strategy and marketing consultant who helps companies generate demand and leads. He also blogs about strategy and content marketing at dannalbright.com.
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Joel Lee April 10, 2020
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The novel coronavirus and COVID-19 have turned the entire world upside-down. We’re stuck at home without much to do, and there’s only so much Netflix you can watch before you start feeling cabin fever.
It might be months, or even years, before society goes back to normal—if it ever does—so we have no choice but to get used to how things are now. And that means finding ways to keep ourselves entertained without leaving the house.
Is your well running dry? We’ve compiled a master list of ideas for you! In between staying up-to-date with trustworthy COVID-19 news, check out the following things you can do from the comfort of your home.
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Doing Stuff With Friends Remotely
Bored During Self-Isolation? 100+ Tips for Staying Entertained and Engaged omegle video chat online strangers featured
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Watch movies and TV shows in sync together:
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https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/services-avoid-free-speech/
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INTERNET SECURITY
3 Popular Online Services to Avoid If You Value Free Speech
Ben Stegner April 11, 2018
Free speech is under attack.
But in this case, it’s not under siege from a government. Instead, some of the most popular online services have made it clear that they don’t want certain types of speech on their platforms. If you’re someone who values the inalienable human right of freedom of speech, you may want to stay away from them out of principle, or to avoid having your accounts locked.
Let’s examine three of the most hostile companies towards free speech today, including examples of hypocrisy in applying their rules.
1. Microsoft
Microsoft is the most recent company to take worrying action against free speech. While the company has always had terms preventing use of its services for illegal content, recent updates to the Microsoft Services Agreement have left many feeling concerned.
Most of the changes are bland, except for one bullet that activist Jon Corbett pointed out:
“In the Code of Conduct section, we’ve clarified that use of offensive language and fraudulent activity is prohibited. We’ve also clarified that violation of the Code of Conduct through Xbox Services may result in suspensions or bans from participation in Xbox Services, including forfeiture of content licenses, Xbox Gold Membership time, and Microsoft account balances associated with the account.”
The relevant change reads as follows:
“Don’t publicly display or use the Services to share inappropriate content or material (involving, for example, nudity, bestiality, pornography, offensive language, graphic violence, or criminal activity).”
Don’t Be Offensive
The “offensive language” wording is what’s worrying here. With these changes, Microsoft has effectively said that if you use any of its dozens of services to say anything offensive, you could lose access to your entire account. And in 2018, nearly anything could offend someone.
If you’re a long-time Microsoft account user, losing access to your account could be catastrophic. You’d lose your Windows 10 account login, Outlook mail, OneDrive files, Office 365 subscription, and Skype account. Plus, if you didn’t notice, the Xbox “forfeiture of content licenses” means that you’d lose access to all digital games you own on Xbox Live.
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All because you had a sexy call over Skype with your significant other, cursed at someone in anger in an online game, or used Office 365 to write an essay that offended a reader?
Further, it’s a bit hypocritical to include “graphic violence” as an offense, since Microsoft approves many video games with intense violence on Xbox. So playing Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty is OK, but uploading a violent video to OneDrive isn’t?
Thankfully, Microsoft doesn’t plan to search through your data looking for offenses. But it does proclaim:
“When investigating alleged violations of these Terms, Microsoft reserves the right to review Your Content in order to resolve the issue.”
Thanks to vague terminology like “offensive language”, “publicly”, and “investigating”, Microsoft is essentially allowing itself to remove your account if it feels like it. What constitutes an “investigation”? You’re probably fine swearing in Skype chats with friends, but you’d better not “offend” anyone “publicly” or your account is gone.
2. Google
Microsoft’s vague wording is concerning, but it’s nothing compared to Google’s actions. You could choose from lots of examples of this since Google has so many services and products, but we’ll highlight a few.
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Perhaps the best-known recent example of Google’s inability to deal with differing opinions is the firing of James Damore. Damore was an engineer at Google who published an internal memo, later leaked, that argued differences between men and women may account for some of the gender representation in tech.
This idea proved too radical for the management at Google, with CEO Sundar Pichai claiming that Damore’s memo “advanc[ed] harmful gender stereotypes”. Pichai then stated that Damore’s memo caused problems with other employees because “[p]eople must feel free to express dissent.” Apparently this freedom didn’t apply to Damore.
Clearly, Google’s creed for diversity is only based on superficial characteristics like skin color and sexual orientation. Diversity of ideas is not a priority.
Google’s Hypocrisy
With Google being so holy as to crush any tidbit of diversity injustice, you’d think that it expands those protections to its service, right? That would explain why Google fought to protect a law that allows Backpage, a service notoriously used for the sex trafficking of children, to continue to serve as a place for enabling horrific crimes.
So stating that men and women have biological differences is unforgivably offensive, but Google is happy to spend money to make it easier for pimps to purchase teenage girls to sell for sex. Is this really the company you want deciding what shows up in search results?
On its Play Store, the marketplace for Android apps, Google banned alternative social network Gab’s app. Google explained the reasoning to Ars Technica:
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“In order to be on the Play Store, social networking apps need to demonstrate a sufficient level of moderation, including for content that encourages violence and advocates hate against groups of people.”
Gab’s offense is that unlike most other offerings, it’s a social network “for creators who believe in free speech, individual liberty, and the free flow of information online.” Google doesn’t like this, so it simply removes the app. Thankfully, you can sideload it if you’re interested.
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Again, Google’s hypocrisy is clear. The company allows a multitude of Reddit apps on the Play Store, all of which enable access to many of the service’s “hateful” subreddits, various explicit content, and depictions of brutal violence. But since Reddit’s politics align more with Google’s than Gab’s do, it’s not a problem.
YouTube Censorship
YouTube is rampant with censorship. After the recent advertiser scares, it’s understandable that Google would want to tighten its controls on what ads appear where. As it states:
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“[W]e’re taking a tougher stance on hateful, offensive and derogatory content. This includes removing ads more effectively from content that is attacking or harassing people based on their race, religion, gender or similar categories.”
Given Google’s episode with James Damore, who can guess what it will say is “harassing”? PragerU, which provides instructional videos about history and politics, has seen many of its videos demonetized. Whether or not you agree with the channel’s videos, it’s hard to argue that their content is not suitable for advertisers. Many conservative channels simply discussing ideas have seen similar demonetization.
A video comparing Nazism and communism from PragerU is demonetized, while BuzzFeed’s “Porn Stars Teach Couples Sex Moves” still has an ad.
YouTube has announced that it plans to ban videos promoting guns or providing instructions on how to make legal modifications, yet videos on how to build bombs remain.
A creator who uploaded a video on how to help victims of a shooting was demonetized, with YouTube explaining on Twitter that it had a policy not to run ads on videos about tragedies. However, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel’s video on the shooting still featured ads.
What’s scary is that Google effectively serves as many people’s gateway to the internet. A staggering 75 percent of all web searches are made through Google. If Google removes something from its search index, it’s almost as if it doesn’t exist. And as we’ve seen, Google is both rampantly hypocritical and happy to remove content that it doesn’t agree with from its services whenever it feels like it.
3. Twitter
Twitter (our guide explains how to use it) doesn’t have nearly the authority of Google, but the social networking service has been happy to censor dissenting opinions nonetheless.
One of the biggest censorship concerns with Twitter is its verification system. Users who are deemed to be “of public interest” receive a blue check mark next to their names so others know they’re authentic. This lets you know that you’re really following Justin Bieber or another popular account, and not a parody or impostor. These users also receive prominence in searches and replies.
For a long time, Twitter only verified accounts on its own volition. A few years ago, Twitter started allowing anyone in certain spheres, such as entertainment, sports, or journalism, to apply for verification. This was never intended to show that Twitter endorsed the person’s views, but simply that they were actually who they claimed.
After this change, many users claimed that Twitter was endorsing racial supremacists and other “hateful” accounts via verification. Thus, Twitter announced in November 2017 that it was revamping verification. The company is still in the process of doing so, but the verified FAQ page states that reasons for removal may include:
“Promoting hate and/or violence against, or directly attacking or threatening other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease. Supporting organizations or individuals that promote the above.”
As a result of this, several controversial accounts lost their verification status. However, verified accounts from users like Kate Morgan receive no punishment for tweeting that all men should be murdered.
Note that these rules state you can lose verification for behaviors outside of Twitter. That means the company can watch what you do and cut you off if you do something it doesn’t like. So Twitter lamented that verification was seen as an endorsement by some, then proceeded to turn it into an endorsement.
Dropping the Twitter Ban Hammer
Aside from verification, Twitter regularly bans users for questionable offenses. Popular YouTuber Bunty King has been banned several times for “abusive behavior,” the most recent incident of which being a text-based meme intended as a joke.
Writer Milo Yiannopoulos was also banned by Twitter in 2016 for “targeted abuse” of actress Leslie Jones shortly after the release of the remade Ghostbusters film. The actual offense? Yiannopoulos commented on Jones’s tweet about receiving hate mail after the movie’s release.
While fans of Yiannopoulos may have taken more hostile actions, he didn’t do anything “abusive” other than ridicule Jones’s tweets. This might have been in poor taste, but it certainly wasn’t abusive.
Shortly after, Twitter permanently banned Yiannopoulos. If public figures are responsible for their fans’ actions, what about fans of Justin Bieber who cut themselves? Jones, on her own volition, decide to quit using Twitter because of the incident (though she returned a few days later).
After this, Twitter stepped up its rules to prevent these scenarios, with its updated enforcement philosophy stating:
“While we welcome everyone to express themselves on our service, we will not tolerate behavior that harasses, threatens, or uses fear to silence the voices of others.”
Leslie Jones’s voice was not “silenced”—she voluntarily stepped away from Twitter for two days. Ironically, permanently banning someone does silence their voice. Twitter also states the following:
“When determining whether to take enforcement action, we may consider a number of factors, including (but not limited to) whether the behavior is directed at an individual, group, or protected category of people”
What’s a “protected category of people”? Only Twitter knows the secret behind its identity politics. Protected groups certainly don’t include white people, as racist website The Root is allowed to continue on Twitter with tweets like this:
Online Free Speech Is Important
We should stress that private companies have the right to do as they please—if you don’t like a company’s policies, you can use another. And we’re not objecting to these services taking action against terrorism, child abuse, and similar crimes.
However, the blocking of ideas that these companies don’t agree with is worrying. Free speech is a vital component of our dialog today because it’s how we sharpen our ideas. The best way to shut down a bad idea is to present a better one, not to silence the ones voicing the bad idea.
This also isn’t meant as a political article. While we’ve mainly discussed censorship of conservative ideas here, it’s simply because companies like Google and Twitter don’t usually step in to censor ideas from the other side. The double standards are a problem.
While it’s easy enough to look the other way when the speech being silenced is something you don’t like, who’s to say that these giant corporations won’t come after your opinions next? Their demonstrable hypocrisies show that they’re not fair, so you should think twice about using these services if you value freedom of expression.
If you’re interested, we’ve covered more about why you should stop using Google.
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Image Credit: londondeposit/Depositphotos
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18 COMMENTSWRITE A COMMENT
Ben Stegner
1511 articles
Ben is a Deputy Editor and the Sponsored Post Manager at MakeUseOf. He holds a B.S. in Computer Information Systems from Grove City College, where he graduated Cum Laude and with Honors in his major. He enjoys helping others and is passionate about video games as a https://www.medium.
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Online Free Speech Is Important
We should stress that private companies have the right to do as they please—if you don’t like a company’s policies, you can use another. And we’re not objecting to these services taking action against terrorism, child abuse, and similar crimes.
However, the blocking of ideas that these companies don’t agree with is worrying. Free speech is a vital component of our dialog today because it’s how we sharpen our ideas. The best way to shut down a bad idea is to present a better one, not to silence the ones voicing the bad idea.
This also isn’t meant as a political article. While we’ve mainly discussed censorship of conservative ideas here, it’s simply because companies like Google and Twitter don’t usually step in to censor ideas from the other side. The double standards are a problem.
While it’s easy enough to look the other way when the speech being silenced is something you don’t like, who’s to say that these giant corporations won’t come after your opinions next? Their demonstrable hypocrisies show that they’re not fair, so you should think twice about using these services if you value freedom of expression.
If you’re interested, we’ve covered more about why you should stop using Google.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/stop-facebook-selling-browsing-data-weekly-facebook-tips/
Tom
August 23, 2018 at 3:40 am
I believe that Facebook collects more than just browsing data. I have a pseudo Facebook account that i use to view FB accounts of anyone we look to hire for work on our property. That account is somehow stealing information from my real LinkedIn account.
REPLY
Tonty
March 4, 2018 at 4:24 pm
thank you for the eye opening information. for all the concern, the moments of intent, and the windows of opportunity, yours has opened one of those windows and the fresh air is flowing in.
I do not consider myself all that tech savvy but your step by step allowed me to execute the procedure enough to where i will read the other articles as well.
again, my thanks.
T
Why You Should Stop Using Facebook in 2018
4. Questionable Privacy Practices
Facebook has obfuscated and complicated its privacy settings for as long as anyone can remember.
Don’t believe us? Here’s a Zuckerberg quote from The Guardian in 2010:
“Simply put, many of you thought our [privacy] controls were too complex. Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls; but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the mark.”
Can you honestly say the situation is any better today, eight years later? Yes, Facebook does offer a privacy setting for almost everything—but you need an entire manual to find every hidden option. It’s deliberately not user-friendly.
4. Questionable Privacy Practices
Facebook has obfuscated and complicated its privacy settings for as long as anyone can remember.
Don’t believe us? Here’s a Zuckerberg quote from The Guardian in 2010:
“Simply put, many of you thought our [privacy] controls were too complex. Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls; but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the mark.”
Can you honestly say the situation is any better today, eight years later? Yes, Facebook does offer a privacy setting for almost everything—but you need an entire manual to find every hidden option. It’s deliberately not user-friendly.
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So, why are the privacy settings so confusing? Well, here’s a quote from Facebook’s privacy policy in 2005:
“No personal information that you submit to Facebook will be available to any user of the website who does not belong to at least one of the groups specified by you in your privacy settings.”
And here’s a quote from the current policy:
“When you use third-party apps, websites or other services that use, or are integrated with [Facebook], they may receive information about what you post or share. […] We use all the information that we have about you to show you relevant ads. […] And we transfer information to vendors, service providers, and other partners.”
We barely need to say any more; the quotes tell their own story. Facebook wants you to overlook settings so it can use your data.
If you want a deeper understanding of Facebook’s privacy violations, these tools can help.
What Happens When Social Networks Know Your Genetic Information?
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What Happens When Social Networks Know Your Genetic Information?
Angela Randall October 20, 2015
Have you ever considered getting a DNA test to find out more about your heritage? If you have, you might be thinking that it’s private, and will simply give you a bit of information that will never affect anyone else. You’d be wrong.
DNA by its very nature tells people everything there is to know about your ancestors, and can quickly show that you are closely related to someone. Where’s the harm in that? Well it depends on who knows.
Consider some of the most information-powerful companies on the planet: social networks. What if they had your DNA?
How Much Does Ancestry Already Know?
Okay, so it’s clear that Ancestry knows all about people who are related to each other, by blood and marriage. There is anecdotal evidence in the system, right alongside scanned birth, death and marriage certificates from every country in the world. Professional historians and amateur genealogists tracing their own family trees have pieced together a vast database of people and their relationships to one another.
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They also have an increasing amount of actual DNA to back up the connections they have in the database. They realize this is valuable data and Ancestry.com CEO Tim Sullivan says they are well on the way to providing their customers with health information from their records.
“We actually do think that health is a pretty natural extension of the core mission to help everyone discover, preserve and share their family history.” Tim Sullivan.
In fact, the AncestryDNA database has over 800,000 records from around the world already. This number is rapidly reaching the 900,000 records boasted by 23AndMe, a company that specifically deals with genetic testing.
I just wanna say I saw this one coming. My mom keeps trying to buy me an ancestry DNA test and I'm like, nah https://t.co/Wso2xn9wXY
— Robin (@caulkthewagon) October 16, 2015
What Happens When One Company Knows Too Much?
It’s actually a little unnerving to think about how much Ancestry already knows. But think on this: What if Facebook bought Ancestry? Think of all those long-dead relatives getting Facebook shadow profiles with DNA links to all the living descendants.
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Imagine how upsetting it could be to get “You might know…” suggestions for the milkman you had as a kid. Think about how fun it would be to host a large family reunion with Facebook suggesting all your neighbor’s kids should be invited.
Cops are asking http://t.co/vNPO4f4Eau and 23andMe for their customers’ DNA http://t.co/k9OjPCBrlK
— Hacker News (@newsycombinator) October 17, 2015
If you’re scoffing that this wouldn’t happen, consider that 23AndMe is a company that is backed by Google. Google already knows just about everything there is to know about what you do, what you like, and who you’re in contact with. It even has a social network most people have forgotten about.
And while Ancestry might not know who you chat to the most on a daily basis, once you get married and start having kids, they have a pretty good idea. You could say they’re more of a long-term social network — they just don’t value your everyday social data as much as your life-changing events.
Law Enforcement Can Obtain Your Genetic Data
The cops really are interested in this genetic data, and if it’s sitting around in a public database, you can be sure they’ll be demanding access to it if there’s a case to close — and we all know there are plenty of cold cases lying around. So, expect your information will be searched.
Now, you might think that companies holding on to important medical information would have to abide by privacy laws like the HIPAA, but as they’re just regular companies who do not always hold medical licenses, this isn’t the case. That genetic information is currently considered in exactly the same way that your other social network data is — and is handed over in much the same way. Perhaps as a society we should rethink this.
23andme & http://t.co/rvUtBQs6Q8 aggregated world's DNA; cops obliged them by demanding it http://t.co/kCatPP7ABX pic.twitter.com/nW2cuC5wqp
— Masque of the Red Death (@doctorow) October 17, 2015
“Law Enforcement Purposes. Covered entities may disclose protected health information to law enforcement officials for law enforcement purposes under the following six circumstances, and subject to specified conditions: (1) as required by law (including court orders, court-ordered warrants, subpoenas) and administrative requests; (2) to identify or locate a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person; (3) in response to a law enforcement official’s request for information about a victim or suspected victim of a crime; (4) to alert law enforcement of a person’s death, if the covered entity suspects that criminal activity caused the death; (5) when a covered entity believes that protected health information is evidence of a crime that occurred on its premises; and (6) by a covered health care provider in a medical emergency not occurring on its premises, when necessary to inform law enforcement about the commission and nature of a crime, the location of the crime or crime victims, and the perpetrator of the crime.” — HIPAA
If you’ve never committed a crime, you might not be worried about this. But, given that familial DNA leads to a lot of false positives, you might easily be called in for questioning in regards to something that had nothing to do with you. And aside from this being a scare, it could potentially ruin your reputation if the news got leaked, even if you did nothing wrong.
Familial DNA Could Expose Your Family Members
Don’t forget that your genetic information is not just your own, as you share a lot in common with all of your blood relations. Once you’ve given your DNA for testing, you’ve inadvertently shared the private data of every person you’re related to, whether you know them or not.
This means that they too might be considered a suspect in a crime they’re innocent of, or worse as you’ll see.
A Wealth of Knowledge For Your Doctor… And Your Insurer
These companies collecting DNA are doing so with supposedly useful purposes in mind, and one such purpose is that it will improve your medical history, and hence your treatment. All this information would be incredibly useful in the right hands.
Imagine if your doctor could easily see the genetic markers present in your family? What if they also could see what the death certificates of all your ancestors said? They could be on the lookout for certain diseases and give you preventative treatment in advance — Great!
Ancestry DNA https://t.co/RvkZhGXTeg
— Diet Husband (@marcbutcavage) October 15, 2015
And if Facebook had the information, they would probably allow advertisers to use it, and you can bet pharmaceutical companies would target adverts on Facebook to you, suggesting you get tested for certain things or ask your doctor for a particular drug. This could actually be potentially useful, especially if you didn’t know your family’s medical history some reason.
Now, what if your medical insurer could see the same information? Would they be willing to insure you? If you were almost certainly going to end up suffering from a disease that required expensive treatment, probably not.
And what if your insurer knew that information because someone else in your family got a DNA test once? How would you feel about that? How will your great-great-grandchildren feel about that if it’s you that gets tested?
Would your immediate family be affected if a genetic test proved (or disproved) paternality somewhere along the line? What if your grandfather could potentially be served targeted Facebook adverts for lawyers, suggesting that his kids weren’t really his? If Facebook had the genetic information this would be quite normal.
How an AncestryDNA Hint Led Me to a Picture of My Great-Grandfather https://t.co/phyFaXOYqS via @ancestry
— Antonia Cabral "John McCain" Forever (@silverncopper) October 6, 2015
Could You Get Genetic Analysis Anonymously?
As there are many great reasons for wanting to get your DNA analysed, some people might try to do so anonymously. But it won’t actually keep you anonymous, as there are already too many ways to find out who the DNA belongs to.
Just think about it. For starters, you’re most likely going to use a credit card to purchase the kit (23AndMe require you to use your own card deliberately), and you are sharing an awful lot of information in your credit card number, along with your name and address (easily obtained via your bank). You probably gave them your address when you asked them to post you the results, anyway.
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Now, even just with the DNA test results, say you are quite clearly shown to be related to Ann, Mary and Bob who all live in the same town. It’s not rocket science to work out the rest, as researchers have shown on multiple occasions.
With the wealth of social network information tied in with that data, you don’t even need to be a sleuth. It’s right there.
App used 23andMe's DNA database to block people from sites based on race and gender http://t.co/cGF7LNNqhJ by @pavsmo via @FastCompany
— Impeachment Hearings ??? (@nfb11) October 17, 2015
What Will Happen In The Future?
We can’t honestly know how this genetic information will be used in the future, and yet we’re doing nothing to protect public privacy. We certainly can’t expect these databases to stay in the hands of the people who currently have them. Security threats aside, valuable databases are sold every day, sometimes just by buying the company outright.
Adding social media data to genetic data makes it all too easy for people to link our biological and social networks. Who knows what that will lead to?
Could you do this to your family? Have you already given your DNA without thinking through the possibilities? Tell us.
Explore more about: Facebook, Genealogy, Genetic Engineering, Google, Online Privacy.
Affiliate Disclosure: By buying the products we recommend, you help keep the site alive. .
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Angela Randall
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Ange is an Internet Studies & Journalism graduate who loves working online, writing and social media.
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10 Things You Should Never Share on Social Media
Ben Stegner Updated April 24, 2020
While social media is great for keeping up with family and friends, you can easily share too much on platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
A lot of people worry about what these companies will do with your data, but in reality, we give away more information ourselves than we think.
In this article, we look at some of the things you should never share on social media. Sharing these things could harm your privacy and safety.
1. Travel Plans
Facebook Leaving Vacation
Think twice before bragging about your amazing upcoming vacation or posting pictures while on a weekend trip. You never know who could see this information and use it to break into your home.
If someone knows where you live and has malicious intent, knowing that you’ll be thousands of miles away for two weeks is an open invitation to rob your home.
As a safer alternative, don’t share any details or pictures about your trip until after you return. While this is less exciting, it doesn’t advertise to the world that you’re not at home for an extended period.
2. Location Data
In addition to your smartphone tracking your GPS coordinates, your browser also has a general idea of where you are based on your IP address and/or signed-in accounts. This is called geolocation, and it’s often used on social media to tag your post with your current location.
Before you post on any social network, check to see if the site adds your location data automatically and disable it before posting. Most of the time, there’s no reason to share your location with everyone who can see the post.
Did you also know that most photos contain metadata that shows the exact location where the picture was taken? If you aren’t aware of this, the photos you post on social media could compromise your privacy.
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This caution also extends to your physical address or phone numbers. You should never share your address or phone number on a public channel, as there’s no telling who could get hold of the information.
3. Personally Identifying Information
Sites like Facebook are full of valuable data for people who use social engineering to steal your identity on social media. You should therefore avoid sharing information that’s used to verify your identity, such as your full date of birth. Never share photos of your driver’s license, passport, or credit card, which contain personal information that you don’t want to make public.
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It’s also vital to keep an eye out for the “fun quizzes” that do the rounds on social media every so often. These ask you to answer questions such as where you went to school, what was the name of your first pet, etc.
These types of questions are often used as security questions to protect your online accounts. Thus, making these answers public could allows hackers to break into your accounts, so avoid them.
4. Personal Complaints and Rants
Social media is not the place to air your personal grievances. If you want to complain about your boss, coworkers, or relatives, social media is a terrible place to do so. It’s likely that someone will see it and let the person know, resulting in a messy situation.
A lot of people use their social media accounts as a place to complain, for some reason. As a healthier alternative, why not start a private journal where you can rant all you want? However you choose to do it, keeping your anger off the public square of social media is a smart idea.
Note that many companies offer customer service on social media, so this doesn’t apply to getting help with a legitimate complaint.
5. Self-Incriminating Evidence
I’m driving drunk too much henny last night
— ichigo (@PrettyVerde) April 12, 2020
While you definitely don’t want to get fired over a joke or incendiary comment, it’s something else entirely to break the law and leave the evidence on social media for all to see.
It’s unlikely that you’ll see any truly heinous crimes admitted to on Facebook or Twitter. However, you may very well come across incidents where people make light of driving drunk or taking selfies on the highway.
Some even share photos of their drug stashes, illegal firearms, or cash that they’ve stolen. This also applies to explicit photos of yourself—it’s a terrible idea to post those on any social platform.
Do everyone (including yourself) a favor by never posting anything like that on social media. The few likes you might get aren’t worth the damage to your reputation or even going to jail for committing a crime.
6. Expensive New Purchases
Many people love to share pictures of their new toys on social media. Whether you just got a new phone, laptop, car, TV, piece of jewelry, or anything else, you shouldn’t make the purchase public on social media.
For starters, these kinds of posts contribute to a major problem that affects most social networks: social media amplifies our insecurities and feelings of failure. When you post highlights from your life, it can inadvertently cause others to become envious and resentful.
The second reason is more practical. Telling the world that you have a shiny new toy could result in some people wanting to steal it or take advantage of you in some way. An extreme case would be announcing that you won the lottery. If people think you’re well-off because of what you can afford, they might look to use that to their advantage.
7. Personal Advice
Facebook Advice
We’ve all seen people ask for home sickness remedies or legal advice on social media. No matter how sure of yourself you might be, it’s in everyone’s best interest (including your own) that you don’t give medical or legal advice to people over social media. This is true even if you’re a doctor or lawyer.
The key point is that you simply don’t (can’t) know all of the facts. If someone is sick or in trouble, they should seek professional help. This also applies to advice on exercise, weight loss, diet, finance, relationships, and other sensitive topics.
It’s best to stay quiet on all of this because if you give advice that ends up harming someone, they could pursue legal action against you.
8. Scammy Giveaways and Contests
Bill Gates Fake Giveaway
Social networks are prime ways for companies to run giveaways and contests, mainly because it’s so easy to click “Share” and not think twice about it. While there are plenty of legitimate giveaways on Facebook and the like, you should think carefully before sharing them all of the time.
If you constantly share giveaways, contests, and invites to Facebook games, you’re probably annoying your friends. Even more importantly, some of these so-called contests are actually scams in disguise. You could unknowingly spread malware or trick people into giving away sensitive data.
To be on the safe side, you should be wary of all posts that heavily encourage sharing and ask for personal details.
9. Privileged Inside Information
It’s an easy mistake to accidentally post private information on a public channel. However, you should be careful about exposing insider information on social media. If you’re aware of protected details at your job, don’t share those anywhere, especially online.
Talking about someone who’s going to be laid off next week, your company’s strategy for the new year, and other insider info could get you in big trouble.
10. Anything You Don’t Want to Make Public
This is a bit of a catch-all for anything not covered above. If there’s one rule that you should live by on social media, it’s this: never post anything that you wouldn’t want the whole world to see.
On the internet, once something has been published, it’s pretty much impossible to remove it completely. Even if you set your content to “friends only,” there’s no way to know who’s actually seen your posts and photos, saved them, or shared them with someone else.
So if you post something today and regret it two years down the road, you may be able to delete it from your account, but it can never be completely erased from the internet. A good rule of thumb is to never post or share anything that you wouldn’t want to put on the front page of a newspaper.
What You Shouldn’t Share Online
In this article, we’ve looked at what not to post on social media for your own good. The truth is that we really can’t trust social media. So even the smallest mistakes, which may seem fine at the time, can have terrible consequences when you least expect them.
With all this negativity, don’t forget that you can start enjoying social media again by making a few tweaks to your use of social media. So don’t lose heart completely.
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Explore more about: Facebook, Online Privacy, Online Security, Personal Safety, Twitter.
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Ben Stegner
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Ben is a Deputy Editor and the Sponsored Post Manager at MakeUseOf. He holds a B.S. in Computer Information Systems from Grove City College, where he graduated Cum Laude and with Honors in his major. He enjoys helping others and is passionate about video games as a https://www.medium.
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Real Online Privacy for Beginners: 60+ Essential Tips and Warnings
Joel Lee March 30, 2020
Companies and governments are spying on you all over the internet and beyond. We have all kinds of tips to help you reclaim your privacy online!
Every year, we lose a little bit more of what little online privacy we have left. Our activities are tracked from site to site, and it doesn’t matter where you live because nobody is safe from these prying eyes—unless you know how to protect yourself.
Don’t want your internet activity tracked? Creeped out by the idea of corporations listening in on your conversations? Tired of shady businesses profiting off of your personal information? Here’s what you need to know, and do!
Understanding Basic Online Privacy
Real Online Privacy for Beginners: 60+ Essential Tips and Warnings Antivirus Testing Keylogger
If you’ve never quite “bought into” the idea or importance of online privacy, we don’t blame you. It can often sound like exaggerated and unnecessary paranoia over nothing! We recommend checking out these introductory articles:
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Real Online Privacy for Beginners: 60+ Essential Tips and Warnings google chrome password protections featured
These days, the moment you connect to the internet, you start leaving traces of who you are and what you’ve done with every single action. Protecting your privacy is hard, but not impossible:
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facebook-privacy-scandal
Social media companies are some of the worst offenders when it comes to privacy violations. Most of them rely on your personal info to turn a buck—and no one is looking out for you, so you need to look out for yourself:
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We have several articles specifically written for better privacy on Facebook. Given how flippant the company has been regarding personal information on their social network, we highly recommend heeding these tips if you still use Facebook:
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Can You Really See Who Viewed Your Facebook Profile?
Don’t neglect your personal privacy on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook:
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WhatsApp has also been a recurring subject of privacy-related issues. If you’re a regular WhatsApp user, here are a few things you need to know:
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Online Privacy via VPNs
windscribe-vpn
One of the best ways to protect your personal privacy online is to use a virtual private network (VPN). Don’t worry, VPNs are a lot simpler and easier to use than it sounds. Here’s what you need to know:
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Online Privacy and Your Emails
Don’t want others peeking at your emails? Want to send emails that can’t be traced back to you?
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6. Disconnect Facebook
Facebook is well known for its privacy issues. Like Google, Facebook monetizes your data and sells it to advertisers. But it isn’t just on the Facebook site that the social media giant hoovers up your data. Any site that features a social login option is also selling your data. Similarly, sites with social media plugins that allow you to Like or Tweet create the same issue.
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Disconnect Facebook blocks Facebook from tracking you around the internet and increases your privacy when you’re not using the social media site.
Download: Facebook Disconnect (Free)
7. Privacy Badger
Privacy Badger is a script and tracker-blocking Chrome extension developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Privacy Badger is not specifically to block ads, but it may well block some advertisements from displaying.
The EFF has a very strong focus on protecting privacy, and Privacy Badger receives frequent updates to make sure it is blocking as many trackers as possible. Once installed, you can click the Privacy Badger icon and see what level of tracking is taking place on each site you visit. Trackers are color-coded depending on their status, such as being an intrusive third-party tracker and so on.
Download: Privacy Badger (Free)
What Does Facebook Know About You? Why You Should Delete Facebook
Of course, this isn’t an isolated case. Your right to privacy is continually being infringed upon. Your smartphone spies on you. Meanwhile, Google knows plenty about you. The UK Government has even drafted a bill to give them permission to keep an eye on your online activities.
Things look grim, I know, but don’t get too paranoid. Yes, it’s easy to become complacent and give away a large part of your identity. Facebook is using your data to sell things. Most companies do. Magazines and newspapers, for instance, have guides to their audience, demographic details to allow writers and editors to tailor their content in order to sell more copies. For accessibility, we have to volunteer a certain amount of information about ourselves.
If Facebook’s grip on your data particularly worries you, there are measures you can take to protect yourself. And don’t forget to manage your Facebook app approvals.
What efforts do you go to in order to stop Facebook’s monopoly of privacy? Are you concerned about similar social networks like Twitter and LinkedIn? Maybe you’ve even ditched Facebook? Let us know below.
"then they suggested ID. i think thats too intrusive for a social website to request."
Well this is just the start, and everyone that ever used this evil website enabled this kind of overreach into our lives. Hell, the entire EU is talking about forcing its subjects to use their EU ID to log on to the internet. Expect more of this in the future, the age of privacy is ending.
4 Reasons Why Facebook Is a Security and Privacy Nightmare
Ultimately, he knows that Facebook’s future is dependent on keeping shareholders happy. To keep shareholders happy, Facebook needs to make copious amounts of cash. And to make copious amounts of cash, he has to play fast and loose with users’ data.
3. Government and Private Surveillance
You can split the issue of surveillance into two parts: government and a private company.
Government Surveillance
Oh, how the East German Stasi must have longed for a tool like Facebook. Can you imagine a better way for a repressive regime to monitor its citizens?
But the surveillance doesn’t end with dictatorships and secret police. People living in “democracies” are also under threat from Facebook’s cooperation with security forces.
Governments across North America and Europe now frequently order Facebook to give up users’ data to help them discover crimes, establish motives, prove or disprove alibis, and reveal communications. Much of it goes under the guise of “fighting terrorism,” but that’s a catch-all term whose meaning is becoming increasingly diluted.
And how does Facebook respond to the requests? Frankly, it rolls over meekly and gives the governments what they want.
If you’re in the US, the only exception is unopened inbox messages that are less than 181 days old. To access those, governments need a warrant and probable cause.
The company even tells you that it hands over data in its data policy (which replaced the Facebook privacy policy). It says the following:
“We may also share information when we have a good faith belief it is necessary to prevent fraud or other illegal activity, [or] to prevent imminent bodily harm […] This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, courts, or other government entities.”
Furthermore, in early 2018, the United States announced it was going to start vetting people’s social media profiles as part of its requirements for granting an entry visa. It’s only a matter of time until other countries follow suit.
If you don’t fancy giving the White House complete access to your Facebook life just to go on holiday to Disneyland, it’s better to reach for the delete button.
32 Essential Internet Terms Everyone Must Know
Godwin’s law is an old internet maxim that states as an online discussion progresses, the chances increase that someone will bring up a comparison to Hitler. While it sounds silly, it’s fascinating to see it in action on forums, Facebook comment conversations, and similar.
8 Ridiculous EULA Clauses You May Have Already Agreed To
3. Sold Your Soul? April Fools!
You might joke about having to “sell your soul” when you sign a contract. But for over 7,500 people who shopped at former UK video game store GameStation on April Fool’s Day 2010, this was more literal than they thought.
On that day, GameStation updated its website terms and conditions with the following:
By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non-transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul. Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamesation.co.uk or one of its duly authorized minions.
We reserve the right to serve such notice in 6 (six) foot high letters of fire, however we can accept no liability for any loss or damage caused by such an act. If you a) do not believe you have an immortal soul, b) have already given it to another party, or c) do not wish to grant Us such a license, please click the link below to nullify this sub-clause and proceed with your transaction.
Unsurprisingly, just 12 percent of people clicked the link to nullify the contract. They received a coupon for their prudence, though the company had mercy and nullified their soul rights the next day.
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8 Ridiculous EULA Clauses You May Have Already Agreed To
Ben Stegner Updated August 26, 2019
You’ve probably agreed to dozens of End User License Agreements (EULA) in your life, but have you ever actually read any of them? Pretty much every piece of software and web service in existence requires you to accept the terms and conditions before you use them, but most people just scramble to click the I Accept button.
Many EULAs contain thousands of words of confusing legalese, which can at times hide crazy terms and conditions. Let’s look at some funny EULAs from the past and present to see what zany clauses you’ve probably agreed to.
1. Amazon Lumberyard Comes Back to Life
Amazon Lumberyard is a free game engine. Anyone can use it to build or host a game; it integrates with Twitch streaming and Amazon’s AWS cloud platform.
In section 57.10 of the AWS EULA, Amazon states that you should not use Lumberyard with critical systems like medical devices or nuclear facilities. But it makes one exception to this:
However, this restriction will not apply in the event of the occurrence (certified by the United States Centers for Disease Control or successor body) of a widespread viral infection transmitted via bites or contact with bodily fluids that causes human corpses to reanimate and seek to consume living human flesh, blood, brain or nerve tissue and is likely to result in the fall of organized civilization.
So if the zombie apocalypse ever happens, it’s good to know that you won’t face any legal repercussions for running your X-ray service on Amazon Lumberyard.
2. Don’t Build Nuclear Weapons With iTunes
The iTunes EULA makes mention that nobody from US-embargoed countries or certain lists can use the software. However, a much more drastic clause closes out this section:
You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture, or production of nuclear, missile, or chemical or biological weapons.
At last, the long-time argument is settled: Apple expressly forbids you from using iTunes to create nuclear missiles. Make sure you don’t accidentally activate the nuke function when you’re cleaning up the iTunes interface.
How to Make iTunes Usable Again in 7 Simple Steps
iTunes was once great, but it's awful now. Restore Apple's music player to its former glory with these essential cleanup tips.
Read More
3. Sold Your Soul? April Fools!
You might joke about having to “sell your soul” when you sign a contract. But for over 7,500 people who shopped at former UK video game store GameStation on April Fool’s Day 2010, this was more literal than they thought.
On that day, GameStation updated its website terms and conditions with the following:
By placing an order via this Web site on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2010 Anno Domini, you agree to grant Us a non-transferable option to claim, for now and for ever more, your immortal soul. Should We wish to exercise this option, you agree to surrender your immortal soul, and any claim you may have on it, within 5 (five) working days of receiving written notification from gamesation.co.uk or one of its duly authorized minions.
We reserve the right to serve such notice in 6 (six) foot high letters of fire, however we can accept no liability for any loss or damage caused by such an act. If you a) do not believe you have an immortal soul, b) have already given it to another party, or c) do not wish to grant Us such a license, please click the link below to nullify this sub-clause and proceed with your transaction.
Unsurprisingly, just 12 percent of people clicked the link to nullify the contract. They received a coupon for their prudence, though the company had mercy and nullified their soul rights the next day.
4. Free Money for Wading Through a EULA
PC Pitstop, a computer maintenance tool, created perhaps one of the most well-known funny contract agreements of all time. In 2005, the company added the following “special consideration” clause to its EULA [sic]:
A special consideration which may include financial compensation will be awarded to a limited number of authorize licensee to read this section of the license agreement and contact PC Pitstop at consideration@pcpitstop.com. This offer can be withdrawn at any time.
As it turns out, it took four months and over 3,000 downloads of the software before someone wrote in about this. They were rewarded with a $1,000 prize. Does this inspire you to start digging for something similar in the software you use?
5. Far Cry Enforces Morality
Just like software, video game license agreements can be strange as well. If you decide to purchase Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon from Steam, you should be aware of this restriction in the game’s EULA:
It is not permitted: [ . . . ] To use it contrary to morality or the laws in force,
What standard of morality does this go by? Some regard it as immoral to play an M-rated violent video game in the first place. Perhaps it would be “contrary to morality” to, say, use the box that the game comes in to hit someone. But this is a digital game, so even that doesn’t apply.
Of course, this EULA is also buried under a link on the right side of the page that’s extremely easy to miss. So we don’t expect Steam to start a moral panic anytime soon.
6. Tumblr’s Versatile Usernames
Tumblr’s Community Guidelines page defines some behavior that’s prohibited on the service. It, of course, contains the usual banned practices like spam, deception, and violent content.
One of the categories is Username/URL Abuse or Squatting. This makes sense on the surface, but reading the details raises more questions:
Tumblr’s usernames/URLs are meant for the use and enjoyment of all of our users. Don’t squat, hoard, amass, accumulate, accrue, stockpile, rack up, buy, trade, sell, launder, invest in, ingest, get drunk on, cyber with, grope, or jealously guard Tumblr usernames/URLs.
If you find a way to get drunk on a Tumblr username, please let us know. We’d love to see how that works.
7. Arbitration Clauses
If a company ever does you serious wrong, you’d probably consider pursuing legal action to make it right. However, nearly every EULA nowadays includes an arbitration clause. Essentially, this means that by using the service, you waive your right to sue or join a class-action lawsuit.
Should you want to make a case against the company, you’ll have to settle it out of court. A third-party arbiter will hear both arguments and decide.
As you’d imagine, this doesn’t bode well for the user. The company will almost certainly have a team of lawyers, while you’ll be standing alone. Arbitration is also quite expensive, meaning most people probably won’t bother to pursue it anyway.
Here’s an example of how this sounds in Instagram’s EULA:
ARBITRATION NOTICE: You agree that disputes between you and us will be resolved by binding, individual arbitration and you waive your right to participate in a class action lawsuit or class-wide arbitration. We explain some exceptions and how you can opt out of arbitration below.
Companies sometimes update their terms of service to include an arbitration clause. For example, in 2011, Sony’s PlayStation Network went through an extended outage after it suffered a severe data breach that exposed over 70 million users’ information. A class action lawsuit was organized against Sony due to the damage. Afterward, Sony updated its terms of service to prevent people from suing the company like this again.
Some organizations include a method of allowing you to opt out of arbitration. However, you typically must do so within a short time of creating your account and have to opt out by mail. As you’d expect, not many people know about this or bother to do it.
8. EULAs May Change at Any Time
As if all the above confusion wasn’t enough, most EULAs reserve the right to change their contents at any time. This means that even if you take the time to read and understand the current EULA, it might change to something totally different in the future.
This excerpt from Hulu’s EULA is just one instance of this:
We may need to make changes to these Terms from time to time for many reasons. [ . . . ] You should look at these Terms regularly [ . . . ] Any material change to these Terms will be effective automatically 30 days after the revised Terms are first posted or, for users who register or otherwise provide opt-in consent during this 30-day period, at the time of registration or consent, as applicable.
They all note that by continuing to use the service, you agree to the updated terms. We hope you periodically monitor the EULA for every service and software you use to make sure you still agree with everything!
Weird Terms and Conditions Abound
We’ve looked at just a few of the funny and wild EULA clauses in popular software. There are certainly more in the wild, but they’re difficult to track down because nobody reads them.
While some of these are funny, others are worrying. Social media sites claim complete ownership of everything you post to them, and most services reserve the right to kick anyone off for any reason they see fit.
We’re not legal experts, but the validity of these EULAs has been controversial. It seems doubtful that a judge would hold you to something in a so-called “clickwrap” license. Nevertheless, companies don’t stop fitting as much insanity as they can into them.
For more laughs, have a look at the most ridiculous Windows errors of all time.
The 12 Most Ridiculous Windows Errors of All Time
You probably see plenty of boring Windows error messages every day. Come enjoy some ridiculous ones, just for laughs.
Read More
Explore more about: iTunes, Software Licenses.
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Ben Stegner
1511 articles
Ben is a Deputy Editor and the Sponsored Post Manager at MakeUseOf. He holds a B.S. in Computer Information Systems from Grove City College, where he graduated Cum Laude and with Honors in his major. He enjoys helping others and is passionate about video games as a https://www.medium.
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Help End Google’s Search Monopoly: Use Something Else
Tim Brookes August 1, 2014
Despite being a free and open platform for expression, commerce and communication, Internet monopolies still exist. That probably says more about us as netizens than it does about the companies in control.
Google is so ubiquitous it has reached verb status, and it’s what most of us turn to when looking for something online. Monopolies are bad, and Google’s is directly affecting the way your favourite online content is produced.
They might be good at search, but we’ve only got ourselves to blame for the status quo.
What Monopoly?
This isn’t an article about ditching your Android phone, nor am I going to implore you to switch your email provider or take out an Office 365 subscription. Keep chatting on Hangouts, adding new events to your Google Calendar and hold on to that new Chromebook you just bought. This relates solely to Google Search, arguably the company’s flagship “product” and one of the Internet’s greatest success stories.
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We all know the story by now: created in a garage by two PhD students at Stanford, Google shot to success for its implementation of boolean operators and a superior search algorithm that smoked every search engine of the time. It only took a few years of common usage before the term “to Google something” essentially meant to “search the Internet” despite the company’s best efforts otherwise.
The present day Google wields a massive amount of power, much of it down to the huge volume of search requests it processes. According to NetMarketShare, Google deals with 69.8% of global search requests, with its closest rival being Baidu purely on the basis that it caters for the swelling Chinese online population. In the US alone Google snapped up 67.6% of May 2014’s queries according to comScore’s latest figures.
We created, adopted and embraced the Internet as a platform for freedom of speech and expression – so why do we all use the same search engine?
The Problem
There’s nothing wrong with a company being good at something and when Google first brought light to the darkest corners of the web, the Internet sorely needed good search engines. As businesses, blogs, shopping sites and more embraced the online world, they needed a way of being found. This created a culture of dependence on the search engines, and with it the rather dull practice of search engine optimization (SEO).
For the early Internet, Google was just too good. To this day in the US the search engine deals with nine billion more searches per calendar month than Microsoft does with Bing. With so many websites dependent on your service, this can really throw a spanner in the works when you start making changes to the way those 12.5 billion monthly searches are performed.
Which beggars the question – how do you determine whether one link is better than another, using an algorithm? This is a difficult job for any search engine provider, but when the vast majority of search queries are funneled through the same tube, the actions of one company are felt so much more strongly. Nobody expects Google to rank its search results by hand, but it’s hard not to question the accuracy of a computer algorithm that can bury your content and any advertising revenue you had overnight.
The most recent of these changes concerns Panda, a filter Google introduced in 2011 to help remove websites with low quality content from search results. The May 2014 update was felt around the Web on sites like ours, though the biggest losers were hit hard and sites like eBay and Digital Trends had their Google traffic cut by 70% and 50% respectively. Conversely some of the winners saw huge swings in their favour, I’m sure quotations database ThinkExist and celebrity dating blog WhosDatedWho were overjoyed with their 250% traffic boosts.
The ball is always in Google’s court – they control the search game. This breeds a culture of tailoring content to what Google wants, with the problem being that nobody really knows what this is. Most “SEO experts” will tell you they know how to get your site ranking highly, but really they have no greater insight into what goes on behind the scenes than you do.
We’re not bitter, that’s not the point of this article. An over-reliance on search traffic is a dangerous game for any website or publication to play, and MakeUseOf is all too familiar with the benefits of loyal readers. We live in a world of constant change, so the reshuffling of content is something we’re going to have to get used to. That doesn’t change the fact that one player in the online world has a huge impact on the way content is being produced now and into the future.
Any self-respecting publication with bills to pay and an interest in ranking highly in Google’s results is currently tailoring their content to what Google wants. That’s why monopolies are bad: one company holds the deciding vote, regardless of whether they want it or not. We can’t blame Google for wanting to tidy up results, there are a lot of low quality content producers using SEO to drive advertising traffic.
What Can We Do?
Switching away from Google won’t fix much of the Web’s reliance on search engines, nor will it suddenly mean that algorithms used to find poor quality content will suddenly improve either. That said, if we were to use more varied search providers, the traffic wouldn’t be quite so concentrated in Google’s favour. When Google makes changes, the effects wouldn’t be quite so severe, and more importantly there would be less need to tailor content to Google’s algorithms.
By spreading ourselves more thinly and using alternatives to Google Search, we would start to more evenly distribute the responsibility of ranking the Web’s content. Without a monopoly, no one company would be able to dictate what constitutes as “good” Web content. You might even discover that some of the alternatives to Google are doing some pretty innovative things after all.
So what should you use instead? Bing, Yahoo, Ask and AOL are next in line according to popularity, but others do exist. One of our very favourites here at MakeUseOf is DuckDuckGo, a search engine with that uses a few clever features to set its apart from Google. You should also consider these semantic search engines or one these tailor-made crawlers.
Get A Better Search Experience With Duck Duck Go
It seems that there are a couple of services and Linux distributions (such as Linux Mint) that are switching over to Duck Duck Go as their default search engine. So why the heck are they...
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Even if you find yourself somehow drawn to Google Search out of sheer habit, consider changing the default search engine on just a few of your devices. You might break the habit before long, or discover that you really love Bing (unlikely, I know).
Don’t Hate Google
The people who work for Google love the Web as much as you do, but in this instance they’re the “bad guys” due to their early victory in the search game. You should keep your Android phone, continue to organise your life with Google Calendar and wear that Gmail address proudly – but consider the wider implications of your search habits.
With analysts predicting that Facebook will lose 80% of its users by 2017, distributing Google’s search power a little more evenly doesn’t seem like quite such an impossible trend to embrace.
Which search engine will you be switching to? Maybe you’re not convinced, and an Internet ranked by Google doesn’t seem so bad. Turn it up in the comments, below.
Image Credits: Don’t go! (ucumari / Valerie)
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Why Google Was Fined: Antitrust and Technology Explored
Bertel King July 25, 2018
The European Union has hit Google with a €4.3 billion fine, the equivalent of $5 billion. This is the largest fine any government organization has ever given for antitrust violations.
What did Google do to warrant this kind of attention, and was it justified? Let’s take a look.
Why Did the EU Fine Google?
The EU provides three primary reasons for the fee, all related to Android:
Google requires Android phone manufacturers to preinstall Google’s Search app and the Chrome browser if they want access to the Play Store.
Google paid certain large phone manufacturers and mobile network operators to exclusively preinstall the Search app on their devices
Additionally, Google prevented manufacturers that preinstalled any Google apps from selling a single smart mobile device running an alternative (or forked) version of Android.
The EU views these as anticompetitive measures that Google used to solidify the dominance of its search engine. Google’s interest in Android, after all, has always been about managing the shift from desktop PCs to mobile devices without being left behind.
Help End Google's Search Monopoly: Use Something Else
We created, adopted and embraced the Internet as a platform for freedom of speech and expression – so why do we all use the same search engine predominantly?
Read More
Background Context
It’s hardly been a year since Google faced a then-breaking €2.4 billion ($2.8 billion) fine from the EU for different monopolistic practices. That case involved highlighting Google Shopping results over alternative price comparison sites.
Google Shopping was allegedly able to surpass alternative price comparison services not because it was better, but because it was integrated directly into the world’s most popular search engine.
To understand the most recent Google case, we must first take a look at Google’s relationship to other companies in the Android ecosystem.
The Open Source Nature of Android
Android is, for the most part, an open source project. Companies such as Samsung, HTC, LG, and Amazon are free to use Android in their products however they wish.
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Many companies have adopted Android as a way to save money. They can deliver a fully functional device without having to do the research and hire the engineers needed to build an operating system from scratch. Individuals are free to use Android in any capacity as well.
Google’s Relationship With OEMs and Carriers
Google doesn’t license Android or charge any fees. Instead, Google places terms and conditions on granting access to the Play Store and other Google apps. The recent EU case centered around these conditions.
If a company wants to sell a device that comes with the Play Store, it must also provide Google Search. Google doesn’t require Chrome to be the default browser, but it has provided financial incentives for some manufacturers and carriers to do so. It is less concerned with OEMs providing alternative interfaces, such as Samsung’s Experience (formerly TouchWiz), HTC’s Sense, and LG’s UX.
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The Importance of App Stores
Many choose smartphones based on the available apps. The lack of apps was a reason Windows Phone failed to gain momentum. Many iPhone users stick with the Apple ecosystem because of iMessage and FaceTime. Google’s app integration is the reason a large number of people choose Android.
App stores have a chicken and egg problem. People don’t want to use an app store that has few apps. And developers have little reason to put software in an app store with relatively few users.
Unlike Apple, Google didn’t make the Play Store a success by providing its own devices. Instead, other companies used Android to create phones that people wanted. Customers purchased Motorola Droid, HTC One, and Samsung Galaxy devices. Nexus hardware only appealed to a limited audience. It’s only with the recent Pixel devices (our Pixel 2 review) that Google’s mobile hardware has entered the mainstream.
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So without these companies, the Play Store would not have gained enough market share to attract developers. And now that the Play Store is as large as it is, Google leverage it as a way to get companies to do what it wants.
Uneasy Alliances
When a manufacturer enters a relationship with Microsoft, it’s agreeing to ship a Windows product. Android manufacturers, however, are not in the business of making Google phones. They make their own devices, which happen to run Android and use the Play Store.
If Google wants Android to provide a more consistent and ubiquitous experience, akin to Chromebooks, then it’s left trying to force Android manufacturers to change their existing behavior. But that’s a complicated affair when the companies involved are as much competitors as they are allies. It’s even more complicated by the fact that Google’s Android strategy doesn’t only involve dominance on mobile, but dominance as a search engine, web browser, email provider, and more.
Learning From Past Antitrust Cases
While there are differences in Google’s case, the company is still catching flak for the same reason Microsoft did—engaging in monopolistic and anti-competitive behavior. Here are two past cases involving Microsoft:
In 2004, the European Commission fined Microsoft €497 million ($784 million). This was for leveraging its near-monopoly in the PC desktop market to make Windows Media Player dominant over other media players. The result was Windows XP Edition N, which came without Windows Media Player or Movie Maker.
The following year, the Korean Fair Trade Commission made similar rulings, resulting in Windows XP K and KN.
In 2009, the EU alleged that Microsoft’s bundling of internet Explorer with Windows violated antitrust law. This came in response to a complaint that Opera, which made a competing browser, filed in 2007. Rather than provide users with an option to download alternative browsers, it chose to ship a version of Windows without a browser entirely. This lead to Windows 7 E.
In both cases, manufacturers were free to choose the media player or web browser of their choice, and they largely stuck with Microsoft’s offerings. Consumers, on the other hand, were stuck with install disks that costed the same amount but were missing expected functionality.
Apple’s Lawsuit
Google and Microsoft are hardly alone here. In 2012, the United States government took Apple and several major book publishers to court for allegedly conspiring to raise and fix the price of ebooks. The publishers settled, but Apple went to court. In the end, Apple had to pay a $450 million fine.
Why was Apple in this situation in the first place? A major part of the selling pitch for the iPad, launched in 2010, were ebooks. Apple was using its influence as a tech manufacturer to gain dominance in and help shape the digital book publishing industry.
Questions to Consider
Looking at these cases, here are a few questions to keep in mind:
Should companies stay in their lane? Governments don’t like for companies to grow large in one area and then use that size to quickly become competitive in another industry.
Is the landscape changing too quickly? Two decades ago, web browsers and media players came in boxes. They added features that were not built into the operating system. It was a cultural norm to buy software this way, and companies could make a living doing it. Now, much of this software comes as part of our PCs and mobile devices. We might even view a product as deficient for lacking them.
Are the lines too unclear? A company that provides an operating system and a bundle of integrated software or services is now competing in dozens of industries. When is it doing what consumers expect, and when is it going too far?
Are centralization and monopoly two sides of the same coin? The Apple App Store and Google Play dominate the mobile landscape. That means two companies effectively manage and police the software that we all use on our phones. Is this fine, or should the law push the industry toward app stores that are less centralized?
How much do borders matter? Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, and similar are all giant American companies whose influence reaches all over the world. Don’t be surprised if institutions try to limit that power. Global politics impact the way people interact with giant tech companies from other countries as well, such as Huawei (China), Samsung (Korea), and Sony (Japan).
Back to Google and this $5 billion fine: going forward, the company may have to rethink its relationship with Android OEMs and its business strategy. Is it not enough to continue getting a cut of every sale that goes through Google Play?
We also have to ask ourselves: At what point is a tech company simply too big? Check out how you can use Android without Google if you’re interested in breaking away.
How to Use Android Without Google: Everything You Need to Know
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Do More With Your Android Phone: 70+ Tips and Tricks You Should KnowIs a Truly Decentralized Internet Possible? How It Could Work With Blockchain
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Bertel King
318 articles
Bertel is a digital minimalist who writes from a laptop with physical privacy switches and an OS endorsed by the Free Software Foundation. He values ethics over features and helps others take control over their digital lives.
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9 Alternative Apps You Need to Quit Facebook for Good
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9 Alternative Apps You Need to Quit Facebook for Good
Megan Ellis December 17, 2019
Facebook’s reputation is in the gutter right now. Privacy scandals, unchecked snooping, and the mishandling of user data all mean that trust in the company has hit a new low.
The fact that Facebook owns other major services such as Instagram and WhatsApp only heightens concerns over its activities. So what do you need to do to quit Facebook completely?
In this article, we list the apps you’ll need if you want to quit the Facebook ecosystem entirely. They’re the best alternatives to Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Reasons to Quit the Facebook Ecosystem
Many people are choosing to quit Facebook’s ecosystem completely. But why is this the case?
Firstly, Facebook’s acquisition of popular services means that these services may no longer live up to their original philosophies. For example, the founders of WhatsApp had promised users that the service would never serve ads, but plans are underway to do just that.
Secondly, Facebook’s successful advertising business gives it more incentive to harvest user data across a variety of services. This just makes the fallout even worse when data leaks occur. And Facebook’s security and privacy issues are a nightmare for some consumers.
4 Reasons Why Facebook Is a Security and Privacy Nightmare
Facebook is no longer the king of the social media castle. If you value your anonymity, security, and privacy, here are some great reasons to quit Facebook today.
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When it comes to the security of that data, Facebook’s apparent intentions to link these apps through a central platform is another major cause for concern. Leaks from this integrated system could cause even more fallout for users.
Alternatives to Facebook
Facebook will continue to be a social media behemoth for the foreseeable future. No other platform measures up to its userbase. But there are some Facebook alternatives out there you can try…
MeWe: Privacy-Centric Social Network
If you’re specifically looking for a social network that values user privacy, MeWe may be for you. The social network vows to never serve ads, track users, or sell their data.
But how exactly would this free service make money then? MeWe offers a variety of small subscription plans for certain features, such as extra cloud storage and a secret chat app. It also has a business service called MeWePro that provides an alternative revenue source.
Download: MeWe for Android | iOS (Free)
Diaspora
Diaspora is another Facebook alternative that provides a decentralized platform. The creators of Diaspora identify three core values of the site: decentralization, freedom, and privacy.
Rather than one organization running the entire platform, Diaspora is spread across independent servers (which Diaspora calls “pods”). In fact, if you have the right knowledge, you can even start up your own server.
Users choose which pods they want to join and you don’t have to sign up with your real name. Most pods focus on certain topics, such as photography, nature, technology, or other interests.
Sign Up: Diaspora for Web (Free)
Vero
Vero addresses some of the biggest annoyances when using Facebook. Namely, algorithm-influenced feeds, data mining, and advertisements.
The app’s creators vow that users won’t have to deal with these using Vero. Posts are shown chronologically for the audiences that you select. Meanwhile, there are no ads on the social network.
Vero also has messaging features, a sleek interface, and a variety of features that make it an interesting competitor for Facebook. In terms of monetization, the company plans to eventually introduce a subscription. However, the app continues to let users register for a free lifetime subscription.
Download: Vero for Android | iOS (Free)
Alternatives to WhatsApp
WhatsApp outpaces even Facebook in terms of popularity. But plans to monetize the app through ads and integrate it into the Facebook ecosystem further have many wondering about possible WhatsApp alternatives to use instead.
Consider using these messaging apps instead…
Telegram
Telegram is one of the most popular alternatives to WhatsApp. This messaging app prioritizes encryption, security, and seamless connectivity. The company’s promise to keep the app free forever, with no ads or subscription fees, is another appealing selling point.
Features such as syncing one cloud account across platforms and its availability on desktop mean that you won’t be sacrificing flexibility if you switch from WhatsApp to Telegram.
Download: Telegram for Android | iOS (Free)
Signal
Signal, an open-source messaging app owned by a non-profit foundation, prioritizes user privacy. However, it should be noted that a now-patched bug was discovered in September 2019. The bug left phone calls vulnerable to interception from hackers.
The app has attracted support from privacy groups and advocates thanks to its encryption protocols, support for disappearing messages, and the ability to directly download the APK instead of using an app store.
One thing that makes Signal significantly different to other messaging apps is that you can choose to make it your default SMS app.
Other great features include:
The ability to add a lock screen to the app
Advanced controls for notifications
An incognito keyboard option
Download: Signal Private Messenger for Android | iOS (Free)
Wire
Wire is a messaging and collaboration platform created with the involvement of Skype co-founder Janus Friis. It features many of the core features we’ve come to expect from messaging apps, such as group chats and video calling, making it a solid WhatsApp alternative.
Wire provides a free, personal plan for private messaging, as well as paid professional plans for enterprises and businesses that want to use it for collaboration among employees.
Regardless of your plan, however, the service includes end-to-end encryption and a secure platform.
Download: Wire for Android | iOS | Desktop (Free, subscription available)
Alternatives to Instagram
While not created by Facebook, Instagram was acquired by the company in 2012. Since then it has played an increasingly prominent role in Facebook’s advertising platform.
If you want to use a photo-sharing platform that has access to a like-minded community, without being part of the Facebook brand, here are some Instagram alternatives to try…
VSCO
VSCO is a popular mobile photo-editing app that lets you share your creations with the VSCO community. Rather than relying on advertising, the developers monetize the app with an optional subscription plan. Free users still have access to a certain number of filters, editing tools, and community sharing.
Just like Instagram, you can follow other VSCO users and browse hashtags to discover pictures. The VSCO devs also curate photos from users that are then featured on the app’s Discover page.
Download: VSCO for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
EyeEm
EyeEm is a photo-sharing platform that caters mainly towards professional photographers. The platform lets you sell your images and receive feedback from other photographers.
Users maintain copyright over their images. However, if your images are accepted on the EyeEm market, the platform sells licenses at a predetermined price with a 50-50 earnings split between you and EyeEm.
However, sharing images on the marketplace is not required on the app. Photographers who do choose to sell can still sell their images elsewhere too.
Download: EyeEm for Android | iOS (Free)
500px
500px is another Instagram alternative aimed towards photographers who want to share their work. However, it also features the community aspects of Instagram, allowing you to follow other users and topics. When you log into the app, you have a home feed just like Instagram.
You can also complete various quests or challenges within the app. Much like EyeEm, you can choose whether you want to submit certain images to the platform’s licensing marketplace. Contributors get paid up to 60 percent of the license price.
Download: 500px for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
More Reasons to Use Alternatives to Facebook’s Apps
If you’re still not convinced that you need to quit the Facebook ecosystem, the company’s privacy issues could be the deciding factor. But is the company’s track record really that bad?
There are actually a variety of tools that keep track of Facebook’s privacy violations and understand the alternative options out there. Check out our guide listing the tools you need to understand the risks of using Facebook to find out more.
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Megan Ellis
106 articles
Megan decided to unite her Honors Degree in New Media and lifetime of geekiness to pursue a career in tech and gaming journalism. You can usually find her writing about a variety of topics and drooling over new gadgets and games.
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https://www.demilked.com/celebrities-with-their-younger-selves-ard-gelinck
126 Amazing Social Media Statistics and Facts
Užívateľské čísla
4Chan: 27,7 milióna
Airbnb: 150 miliónov používateľov
Facebook: 2,449 miliárd používateľov
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Hygienic fascism: Turning the world into a 'safe space' — but at what cost?
Others, particularly in our academic establishment, endorse censorship as superior to Western freedoms. Writing in The Atlantic, two law professors suggested that in the “debate over freedom or control,” China “was largely correct and the U.S. was wrong.” Still others have suggested, due to Trump’s often bumbling or ill-informed remarks, that networks not cover presidential press conferences. This same spirit is being embraced by some of the internet’s moguls — Twitter, Facebook, Google and YouTube — to monitor and censor comments, even those of medical professionals, that are not considered congruent with the accepted iteration of “science.”
Igor Matovič má čas nakladať v komentároch na facebookovej stránke Zomri: Slabučké, chlapci
Igor Matovič má čas nakladať v komentároch na facebookovej stránke Zomri: Slabučké, chlapci
Premiér propaguje satirickú stránku, zároveň sa mu však nepáčilo, že v sobotu pridala veľmi málo meme obrázkov, ktoré si z neho a ostatných politikov uťahujú.
Igor Matovič sa v sobotu večera na sociálnej sieti zameral na satirickú stránku Zomri. Podľa všetkého je jeho obľúbeným večerným rituálom pozrieť si všetky meme obrázky, tentokrát ho však admini sklamali. „Zomri umrelo,“ napísal premiér a posťažoval sa, že pridali veľmi málo obrázkov. „Hmm, dnes už nikto ništ negarantuje,“ zamyslel sa.
Jeho status sa však okamžite k majiteľom Zomri dostal a pridali aspoň niekoľko nových postov, aby predsedu vlády potešili. Igor Matovič im však nič nedaroval a rozhodol sa, že bude kvalitu príspevkov svojím subjektívnym názorom v trnavskom nárečí hodnotiť.
Prihlásiť / Registrovať
6
NEWS
6
Viktor Kniš
dnes 10:25
Čas čítania: 0:49
Igor Matovič má čas nakladať v komentároch na facebookovej stránke Zomri: Slabučké, chlapci
Premiér propaguje satirickú stránku, zároveň sa mu však nepáčilo, že v sobotu pridala veľmi málo meme obrázkov, ktoré si z neho a ostatných politikov uťahujú.
Igor Matovič sa v sobotu večera na sociálnej sieti zameral na satirickú stránku Zomri. Podľa všetkého je jeho obľúbeným večerným rituálom pozrieť si všetky meme obrázky, tentokrát ho však admini sklamali. „Zomri umrelo,“ napísal premiér a posťažoval sa, že pridali veľmi málo obrázkov. „Hmm, dnes už nikto ništ negarantuje,“ zamyslel sa.
Jeho status sa však okamžite k majiteľom Zomri dostal a pridali aspoň niekoľko nových postov, aby predsedu vlády potešili. Igor Matovič im však nič nedaroval a rozhodol sa, že bude kvalitu príspevkov svojím subjektívnym názorom v trnavskom nárečí hodnotiť.
Administrátori stavili na istotu, uťahovali si z exkapitána Andreja Danka, ktorému minister obrany za OĽaNO počas týždňa zobral vojenskú hodnosť. Premiér Matovič má však oveľa vyššie nároky, dokonca sa mu nepáčil ani vtip o šuflíku. Ten je referenciou práve na predsedu vlády, ktorý zverejnil obsah jednej zásuvky s predmetmi, ktoré sú pravdepodobne majetkom Petra Pellegriniho. Šéfovi víťazného hnutia vo voľbách sa nepáčil ani vtip o ňom samom.
ČÍTAJ TIEŽ
Premiér Igor Matovič: Sulík mi berie dve tretiny životnej energie
Zdroj: Zomri Reprofoto
Zdroj: Zomri Reprofoto
Zdroj: Zomri Reprofoto
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TAGY: Igor Matovič
SKRYŤ 6 KOMENTÁROV
ODOSLAŤ
od najoblúbenejších
od najnovších
jozef II
10:51
Rozdiel je že Danko si tu hodnosť kapitána aj nechal zapísať,čiže v registroch zàložàkov bol vedený ako kapitán a Fico si ju zapísať nedal čiže mu ostala hodnost s akou skončil zvs.to by debilkovci na zomri mohli vedieť
Odpovedať
8
⠀
10:59
Ked jeho predchodcovia mali cas vytahovat nam peniaze z vrecka.. napisat komentar zas tak vela nezaberie ;)
Odpovedať
7
rimmoff
13:01
Ale zato trápny je riadne.
Odpovedať
2
⠀
15:19
slova su jedna vec.. pozeraj na ciny
Odpovedať
2
Frank Hliva
13:53
Vidím že Refresher sleduje každý Matovičov krok, Matovič už nemôže ani na WC bez toho aby sa o tom verejnosť nedozvedela.
Popravde ja mám z Matoviča občas tiež dosť zmešané pocity. Ale tie pozitívne zatiaľ prevažujú.
Odpovedať
5
za posledné dni sa to tu riadne zvrhlo na štýl nového času... škoda -_-
Internet Safety for Kids: 17 Cyber Safety Experts Share Tips for Keeping Children Safe Online
With the internet being an open book, parents need to guard their children’s online privacy as the “net does not forget” anything that a child may say, do or post online. Parents should google their children’s names once a month and discuss any inappropriate findings with their children. This helps protect their children’s online safety and also helps ensure that their digital trail will not harm them in the future.
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DARPA Wants to Recycle Space Junk Into New Satellites
DARPA Wants to Recycle Space Junk Into New Satellites
DARPA Wants to Recycle Space Junk Into New Satellites
DARPA Wants to Recycle Space Junk Into New Satellites
By Space.com Staff October 20, 2011
Artist's impression of a servicing satellite (left) — to be developed under the U.S. military's Phoenix program — preparing to remove a still-functioning antenna from a defunct satellite (right) in geosynchronous orbit.
(Image: © DARPA)
The United States Department of Defense is looking for ways to repurpose space junk thousands of miles above Earth back into valuable satellite parts, or even completely new spacecraft.
The military's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has started a program called Phoenix, which seeks to recycle still-functioning pieces of defunct satellites and incorporate them into new space systems on the cheap.
The Phoenix program aims to use a robot mechanic-like vehicle to snag still-working antennas from the many retired and dead satellites in geosynchronous orbit — about 22,000 miles (35,406 kilometers) above Earth — and attach them to smaller "satlets," or nanosatellites, launched from Earth.
"If this program is successful, space debris becomes space resource," DARPA director Regina Dugan said in a statement.
Space debris — an accumulation of defunct satellites, spent rocket stages and other junk in orbit — has become a huge problem. There is so much junk up there that collisions among debris pieces could start to increase exponentially, leading to an ever-growing mound of rubble in orbit, a recent report from the U.S. National Research Council warned. [Photos: Space Debris Images & Cleanup Concepts]
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How it would work
If it works, Phoenix could save the military a lot of money on launch costs, DARPA officials said. Antennas are big and bulky, requiring a lot of fuel to get off the ground, while lofting the antenna-less "satlets" would be much cheaper.
The Phoenix program envisions launching a "tender" vehicle, the mechanic-like satellite servicing system, into geosynchronous orbit. The tender would be equipped with grasping mechanical arms and remote vision systems. The satlets would then be launched separately as extra payloads hitching rides into space aboard other satellites.
The tender vehicle would cruise over to a satlet, pluck it out of its housing and ferry it to the appropriate defunct satellite. The tender would then switch the antenna over from the retired satellite to the satlet, creating a "new," and relatively cheap, satellite using previously useless space junk.
New technology needed
Phoenix will require the development of new technologies, DARPA officials said, calling on the expertise of scientists and engineers in many fields.
"Satellites in GEO are not designed to be disassembled or repaired, so it's not a matter of simply removing some nuts and bolts," said David Barnhart, DARPA's Phoenix program manager. "This requires new remote imaging and robotics technology and special tools to grip, cut, and modify complex systems, since existing joints are usually molded or welded."
The Phoenix program can look to some ground-based tech as a starting point, officials said. For example, it may incorporate elements of today's telerobotics systems that allow doctors to perform surgery on patients thousands of miles away, as well as advanced remote imaging systems that enable oil drillers to view the ocean floor thousands of feet underwater.
But these capabilities would need to be re-engineered to operate in space, to meet the challenges imposed by the microgravity, high-vacuum and harsh-radiation environment of space.
The Phoenix program is also specifically looking for technologies to help develop a new class of satlets that can be launched more economically to geosynchronous orbit via existing ride-along services with commercial satellites, DARPA officials said. The agency plans to host two industry days next month for scientists and engineers interested in pitching ideas for the Phoenix program, they added.
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Ďalších 5 Tipov Na To, Ako Byť Obľúbený, Aj Keď Si Iný
„Najlepší spôsob, ako vyhrať hádku, je vyhnúť sa jej.“ – Dale Carnegie
2.Nemusíš vyčnievať úplne vo všetkom
Čo robia zle „uvedomelí“ ľudia alebo osoby, ktoré začínajú meniť svoj život o 180 stupňov, je snaha byť iný vo všetkom.
Získavajú mindset, že byť ovcou je zlé, mainstream robí len tie najhoršie veci a musíš mať na všetko iný názor ako spoločnosť.
V skutočnosti sme si ale viac podobní ako rozdielni, preto sa aj vo veľa prípadoch nevedomky správame ako mainstream.
Počúvame tú istú hudbu, jeme to isté jedlo, venujeme sa tým istým športom, rovnako sa zabávame.
Pozor, hovorím o väčšine, nie o všetkých! Je jasné, že fitness tréner nebude jesť fast foody ako ostatní, zato ale môže počúvať populárnu mainstreamovú hudbu.
Na druhú stranu fanúšik alternatívneho rocku sa môže často stravovať v McDonalde.
Chcem tým povedať, aby si sa nesnažil byť iný za každú cenu.
„V skutočnosti sme si viac podobní ako rozdielni.“ – Maya Angelou
3.Nebuď namyslený a pohŕdavý
4.Nebuď pokrytec
„Len jedna osoba je horšia ako klamár. Je to klamár, ktorý je tiež pokrytec.“ – Tennessee Williams, americký dramatik
V predchádzajúcom článku si sa dozvedel mojich prvých 5 tipov k tomu, ako byť viac obľúbený. Ak sa ti článok nejakým záhadným spôsobom neobjavil na FB alebo v emailovej schránke, tak ti odporúčam, aby si si ho prečítal NA TOMTO MIESTE.
V tomto pokračovaní sa dozvieš ďalších 5 rád, ktoré ti pomôžu k väčšej príťažlivosti v spoločnosti.
Všimol som si, že niektorí ľudia, ktorí sa zmenili, majú tendenciu dokazovať si za každú cenu svoju pravdu, pričom neakceptujú realitu druhých.
V živote sa stretneš aj s osobami, ktoré majú trochu iné, zato ale rovnako triezve pohľady na život, ako ty. A aj keď sa odlišujete v skúsenostiach, mal by si si takých ľudí ceniť a zamerať sa na spoločné veci.
Práve v takých ľuďoch musíš vyhľadávať podporu, lebo aj oni si prešli zmenou ako ty a sú teraz tiež uvedomelejší.
Preto tento článok obsahuje prevažne rady, ako sa správať pri ľuďoch, s ktorými až tak nesúhlasíš, ale prešli ste si podobnou vnútornou premenou.
A verím, že posledný bod tohto dvojdielneho článku ti otvorí oči a možno aj vyvolá povestný „Wau“ efekt.
Tu je mojich zvyšných 5 tipov.
1.Nehádaj sa
Väčšina hádok je zbytočných, o ničom, kazia vzťahy a je to len bitka dvoch eg (=ego v množnom čísle :D). Ešte horšie to môže byť, ak zvýšiš hlas a začneš druhú stranu urážať (viď. štvrtý bod v pôvodnom článku tejto témy).
A samozrejme, po takejto hádke ste obaja prehrali.
Nauč sa hneď na začiatku rozpoznať riziko, uvedomiť si, že vaše egá sú dotknuté a okamžite prestať prilievať olej do ohňa.
Ak sa chceš vyhnúť hádke, tak ignoruj ich útok. Len zmeň tému alebo povedz: „Teraz o tom nehovorme, čo tvoj včerajší deň? Ako sa ti darilo?“
„Najlepší spôsob, ako vyhrať hádku, je vyhnúť sa jej.“ – Dale Carnegie
Verím, že si už natoľko vyrovnaná osoba, že hádky nezačínaš. Druhých ale neovplyvníš, oni sa s tebou budú chcieť hádať a budú ti chcieť dokázať ich mainstreamovú pravdu, obzvlášť keď si iný.
A je len na tebe, či tvoje ego prijme pozvánku do tejto slovnej bitky alebo nie.
Čo ak si sa náhodou dostal do hádky?
Poviem ti tajomstvo, ako vždy vyhrať hádku s druhými. Prehraj ju!
Možno krútiš hlavou, ale prehra v tomto prípade znamená výhru pre oboch.
Spomeň si, keď si naposledy zadupal súpera do zeme. Cítil sa nadšený, mal ťa stále rád, rozprávali ste sa aj minútu po incidente alebo ste na seba len urazene čučali?
Pravdepodobne ste sa urazili a nejakú dobu ani nerozprávali. Ak toto berieš ako výhru, tak ti držím palce v živote a hádaj sa smelo ďalej.
V skutočnosti ste ale obaja prehrali a to kvôli tomu, že si nedokázal odstúpiť z tejto slovnej bitky.
Viem, že je neúprimné, ak naschvál uznáš súperovi pravdu, ale kašlať na úprimnosť, v hre je predsa oveľa viac.
Na záver len poviem, že je veľký rozdiel medzi diskusiou a hádkou. Diskusia je o výmene názorov, faktov, téma je zmysluplná a vždy sa odohráva v pokojnej a priateľskej atmosfére.
Hádka nie je nič iné ako nezmyselný, emocionálny spor s vykrikovaním urážok.
2.Nemusíš vyčnievať úplne vo všetkom
Čo robia zle „uvedomelí“ ľudia alebo osoby, ktoré začínajú meniť svoj život o 180 stupňov, je snaha byť iný vo všetkom.
Získavajú mindset, že byť ovcou je zlé, mainstream robí len tie najhoršie veci a musíš mať na všetko iný názor ako spoločnosť.
V skutočnosti sme si ale viac podobní ako rozdielni, preto sa aj vo veľa prípadoch nevedomky správame ako mainstream.
Počúvame tú istú hudbu, jeme to isté jedlo, venujeme sa tým istým športom, rovnako sa zabávame.
Pozor, hovorím o väčšine, nie o všetkých! Je jasné, že fitness tréner nebude jesť fast foody ako ostatní, zato ale môže počúvať populárnu mainstreamovú hudbu.
Na druhú stranu fanúšik alternatívneho rocku sa môže často stravovať v McDonalde.
Chcem tým povedať, aby si sa nesnažil byť iný za každú cenu.
„V skutočnosti sme si viac podobní ako rozdielni.“ – Maya Angelou
Byť iný neznamená dištancovať sa od ľudí. Práve naopak, malo by ti to pomôcť spojiť sa s nimi a vybudovať ešte lepšie vzťahy. To ale nedokážeš, ak sa s nimi v ničom nezhodneš.
Je v poriadku v niečom vyčnievať, zvlášť v tých najdôležitejších veciach. A aj by si mal, ak chceš od života viac. Ale nemal by si sa snažiť byť iný nasilu a vo všetkom, ak to tak sám necítiš.
Je blbosť spochybňovať a nesúhlasiť s každým názorom alebo robiť všetko obrátene ako spoločnosť.
Ak ti na tom záleží, tak OK, ak to ale robíš kvôli pozornosti alebo kvôli dokazovaniu toho, že si „uvedomelý“, môžeš si spôsobiť viac škody ako úžitku.
3.Nebuď namyslený a pohŕdavý
Tu snáď nemusím nič vysvetľovať alebo máš nebodaj rád namyslených ľudí, ktorí pohŕdajú každým, kto má nižší sociálny status ako oni?
Priznám sa, že je veľká sranda zhadzovať ich nafúknuté egá, keďže takíto ľudia bývajú aj pokrytcami. Ale určite nemám záujem s nimi tráviť čas. Namyslenosť nie je príťažlivá vlastnosť.
Pohŕdanie a ponižovanie druhých tiež nie je hrdinský čin, ako by si mohli títo ľudia myslieť.
Verím, že čitatelia Dušanovho blogu s tým nemajú problém, ale ak sa tu náhodou nájde niekto s nezdravým sebavedomím, tak verím, že sa zamyslí nad týmto citátom.
„Pokiaľ chceš vedieť, aký niekto v skutočnosti je, všimni si, ako sa chová k slabším, nie seberovným.“ – Sirius Black (J.K.Rowlingová)
Bez ohľadu na to, ako druhá osoba vyzerá a ako nízko ju vidíš v tvojich očiach, musíš k nej chovať rešpekt.
Nevieš, aká je jej minulosť, čo cíti hlboko vnútri a aké sú jej dôvody, preto nemáš žiadne právo odpísať niekoho len kvôli nižšiemu (povrchnému) statusu.
A ešte na margo toho nízkeho sebavedomia. Ak ťa to tvoje trápi, určite klikaj na TOTO VLÁKNO, kde nájdeš celú hromadu článkov, ktoré ti ho dajú zaručene dokopy.
4.Nebuď pokrytec
Stavím sa, že aj ty máš vo svojom sociálnom kruhu pár ľudí, ktorí hovoria jedno a robia iné.
Ľudí, ktorí si nedokážu stáť za slovom a klamú seba a svoje prostredie.
Môžeš si predstaviť situáciu, keď chalan na rande povie atraktívnej babe to, čo chce ona počuť, len aby sa jej zapáčil.
Alebo ak niekto vrámci networkingu hovorí s nejakým slávnym človekom, vtiera sa a predhadzuje mu falošné komplimenty.
Nebuď ako oni. Každým jedným pokryteckým činom strácaš rešpekt. Prichádzaš o česť, hrdosť a hodnotu v očiach druhých, keďže sa nedokážeš držať vlastných hodnôt.
Tvoje slová nie sú stotožnené s tvojimi činmi.
Pokrytectvo je mix klamstva a popierania vlastnej osoby. A ľudia, ktorí sú si sebou neistí a klamú, nie sú ani obľúbení, pamätaj.
Preto si daj pozor na to, čo vyslovíš. Spoločnosť sa nevysmeje tým, ktorí reálne pracujú na svojom sne, ale tým, ktorí majú len veľké reči a „skutek utek“.
„Len jedna osoba je horšia ako klamár. Je to klamár, ktorý je tiež pokrytec.“ – Tennessee Williams, americký dramatik
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Ak sa ti myšlienky v článku páčia, tak si daj od tohto náruživého čítania menšiu pauzičku a lajkni MOTIVATION-MANa na Facebooku. Zaistíš si tým to, že ti ďalšie zaujímavé články neujdú. Jeden klik a o ďalšie nadupané riadky budeš mať postarané. Tak šup.
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5.Spoj sa s ľuďmi emocionálne, nie logicky
Ak sa ťa spýtam, čo robí ľudí milovaných, obdivovaných a rešpektovaných, tak pravdepodobne odpovieš:
• peniaze
• moc
• sláva
• oblečenie
• krása
alebo nematerialistické:
• štedrosť
• slušnosť
• odvaha
• česť
• inteligencia
This Little Known Healing Method Helps People Overcome Addiction, Depression And Trauma
This Little Known Healing Method Helps People Overcome Addiction, Depression And Trauma
Posted on 2020/01/6
TAGS: DEPRESSION, INTERVIEW, OPINION
By Mike Sygula / Truth Theory
Julia Nguyen is a personal development coach, hypnotherapist and a Rapid Transformational Therapy Practitioner. She is helping her clients with overcoming blocks in their lives. Her expertise ranges from anxiety and confidence issues to areas like depression and addiction. I heard about the creator of Rapid Transformational Therapy – Marisa Peer before. I have watched some of her interviews in the past, what struck me is some of the claims she made about how people with massive addiction problem could be healed in a few short sessions. I thought, I would like to know if this is really true and here I met Julia, who is using this exact method regularly with her clients.
I decided to conduct an interview with her and find out more…
Firstly, I would like to know more about Rapid Transformational Therapy. What makes it different from other treatments for depression, addiction or anxiety?
RTT is amazing because it works fast, is natural, and comes with no side effects. It helps you get to the root cause of a problem rapidly and extract it. Once we can find the root cause, we can effectively and rapidly release any beliefs formed from that root cause.
Using RTT we have the ability to access the subconscious mind allowing us to uncover, reprogram and upgrade limiting beliefs, and find the root cause of any mental or physical issue, pattern or behavior providing complete freedom and healing.
My areas of specialty are Confidence, Self-Esteem, Money Blocks, Public Speaking, Fear of Visibility, Procrastination, Self-Sabotage, Anxiety and Depression.
RTT works on a wide range of issues, including but not limited to: Anxiety, Depression, Addictions, Pain Control, Infertility, Insomnia, Weight Loss, Fears & Phobias, Motivation, Procrastination, Compulsive Behavior, Chronic Stress, Confidence, Money Blocks, Bad Habits and more…
From what I understand, every mental issue has its root cause in some events that happened in the past? Could you elaborate more on that? Where do these limiting beliefs come from? Also, how physical issues are related to mental blocks?
From my experience, most people develop mental health issues due to a variety of different factors. Past traumatic events in their life are usually one of the main contributing factors.
The first seven years of a child’s development is an extremely important time. Most children experience some type of traumatic event which can range from being neglected, criticized, invalidated, verbal or sexual abuse. Because the child is unable to process the trauma at this age, they internalize it through creating a belief related to these events that happened, the belief usually breaks down to the idea that “I am not enough” or “I am not loved” or “The world is not safe.” This belief becomes embedded in the child’s mind, carrying on into adulthood, forever altering the person’s experience of the world. These internalizations can lead to anxiety, depression, or low self-esteem and a range of limiting beliefs that the person begins to operate from. Most people will carry on with their lives not realizing how these beliefs can affect their daily lives and decisions. This comes back to the root problem of the internalization of these experiences that manifest in the subconscious. As adults, we are better able to process traumatic events, although this is not always the case especially if we developed learned helplessness or never had access to learn healthy coping mechanisms.
When you think a thought it causes a biochemical reaction in your body. The thought will signal a release of hormones and chemicals in your body. The hormones are detrimental to your health if you are thinking negative thoughts constantly because it causes stress to the body. Thus if we are constantly operating from a negative belief system, we will ultimately affect our physical health. When we are thinking negative thoughts we are releasing hormones that will induce the stress response in our bodies. Prolonged stress in the body can lead to physical illnesses that will manifest as a result.
Could you also explain how the treatment looks like, how long it might take?
With RTT, we can access the events we have endured that led us to this deeply ingrained belief through hypnosis and regression. There are three parts to the therapy; hypnosis, regression, and positive suggestions (recorded for the client to listen to for 30 days). During regression, we review past memories and tie them together to understand how these memories formed a negative belief. Then the client is able to have clarity on how they developed their negative beliefs, this revelation leads to an understanding that is enough to cause a shift in their perspective, that they are no longer a helpless child or victim. Additionally, there are a few other tools we can use in RTT to transform the client’s beliefs. After the session, the client is sent home with a hypnosis recording which they have to listen to for 30 days. The recording is filled with positive suggestions that help reinforce and ingrain the new positive beliefs and changes we made during the session. RTT can be done in person or online. It is effective both ways due to the nature of the therapy.
Could you also share an example of a story of a client that had their life transformed with your help and RTT?
One of my clients came to me because she was struggling with alcohol addiction and depression. While we were doing her RTT session, we uncovered events during her childhood where she was bullied. As we were reviewing these scenes that came up during the regression, she discovered that she had a deep-rooted belief that she felt that she was different than everyone else. Because she felt different, she was unable to cope with reality without using alcohol. The alcohol helped her numb the pain of feeling different from everyone else. This feeling of being different caused her to isolate herself which fueled her depression. Once we finished our session, she had a better understanding of how depression and alcohol abuse developed in her life. Having this new understanding as well as developing new positive beliefs helped her release the belief that she is different and does not belong. 30 days after our session, she is still free from using alcohol and has messaged me that she finally “knew there is a chance of a better future for [her].”
Ok, That’s amazing, thank you for sharing it all with us.
How can people reach out to you if they want to learn more about RTT?
You can contact me with any questions about RTT below:
julia@thedreamlifefoundation.com
If you struggle with any of the issues mentioned, you can reach out to me for a free 30-minute consultation call HERE
Check out Julia’s website:
Rapid Transformational Therapy
And make sure you follow her on Instagram
Image credit: 123RF
Share on Facebook
Written by: Mike Sygula
Mike Sygula is a blogger, entrepreneur and activist promoting alternative ideas to raise public consciousness of the important issues facing humankind. He is the founder of Truth Theory.
Read More stories by Mike Sygula
This Little Known Healing Method Helps People Overcome Addiction, Depression And Trauma
Posted on 2020/01/6
TAGS: DEPRESSION, INTERVIEW, OPINION
By Mike Sygula / Truth Theory
Julia Nguyen is a personal development coach, hypnotherapist and a Rapid Transformational Therapy Practitioner. She is helping her clients with overcoming blocks in their lives. Her expertise ranges from anxiety and confidence issues to areas like depression and addiction. I heard about the creator of Rapid Transformational Therapy – Marisa Peer before. I have watched some of her interviews in the past, what struck me is some of the claims she made about how people with massive addiction problem could be healed in a few short sessions. I thought, I would like to know if this is really true and here I met Julia, who is using this exact method regularly with her clients.
I decided to conduct an interview with her and find out more…
Firstly, I would like to know more about Rapid Transformational Therapy. What makes it different from other treatments for depression, addiction or anxiety?
RTT is amazing because it works fast, is natural, and comes with no side effects. It helps you get to the root cause of a problem rapidly and extract it. Once we can find the root cause, we can effectively and rapidly release any beliefs formed from that root cause.
Using RTT we have the ability to access the subconscious mind allowing us to uncover, reprogram and upgrade limiting beliefs, and find the root cause of any mental or physical issue, pattern or behavior providing complete freedom and healing.
My areas of specialty are Confidence, Self-Esteem, Money Blocks, Public Speaking, Fear of Visibility, Procrastination, Self-Sabotage, Anxiety and Depression.
RTT works on a wide range of issues, including but not limited to: Anxiety, Depression, Addictions, Pain Control, Infertility, Insomnia, Weight Loss, Fears & Phobias, Motivation, Procrastination, Compulsive Behavior, Chronic Stress, Confidence, Money Blocks, Bad Habits and more…
From what I understand, every mental issue has its root cause in some events that happened in the past? Could you elaborate more on that? Where do these limiting beliefs come from? Also, how physical issues are related to mental blocks?
From my experience, most people develop mental health issues due to a variety of different factors. Past traumatic events in their life are usually one of the main contributing factors.
The first seven years of a child’s development is an extremely important time. Most children experience some type of traumatic event which can range from being neglected, criticized, invalidated, verbal or sexual abuse. Because the child is unable to process the trauma at this age, they internalize it through creating a belief related to these events that happened, the belief usually breaks down to the idea that “I am not enough” or “I am not loved” or “The world is not safe.” This belief becomes embedded in the child’s mind, carrying on into adulthood, forever altering the person’s experience of the world. These internalizations can lead to anxiety, depression, or low self-esteem and a range of limiting beliefs that the person begins to operate from. Most people will carry on with their lives not realizing how these beliefs can affect their daily lives and decisions. This comes back to the root problem of the internalization of these experiences that manifest in the subconscious. As adults, we are better able to process traumatic events, although this is not always the case especially if we developed learned helplessness or never had access to learn healthy coping mechanisms.
When you think a thought it causes a biochemical reaction in your body. The thought will signal a release of hormones and chemicals in your body. The hormones are detrimental to your health if you are thinking negative thoughts constantly because it causes stress to the body. Thus if we are constantly operating from a negative belief system, we will ultimately affect our physical health. When we are thinking negative thoughts we are releasing hormones that will induce the stress response in our bodies. Prolonged stress in the body can lead to physical illnesses that will manifest as a result.
Could you also explain how the treatment looks like, how long it might take?
With RTT, we can access the events we have endured that led us to this deeply ingrained belief through hypnosis and regression. There are three parts to the therapy; hypnosis, regression, and positive suggestions (recorded for the client to listen to for 30 days). During regression, we review past memories and tie them together to understand how these memories formed a negative belief. Then the client is able to have clarity on how they developed their negative beliefs, this revelation leads to an understanding that is enough to cause a shift in their perspective, that they are no longer a helpless child or victim. Additionally, there are a few other tools we can use in RTT to transform the client’s beliefs. After the session, the client is sent home with a hypnosis recording which they have to listen to for 30 days. The recording is filled with positive suggestions that help reinforce and ingrain the new positive beliefs and changes we made during the session. RTT can be done in person or online. It is effective both ways due to the nature of the therapy.
Could you also share an example of a story of a client that had their life transformed with your help and RTT?
One of my clients came to me because she was struggling with alcohol addiction and depression. While we were doing her RTT session, we uncovered events during her childhood where she was bullied. As we were reviewing these scenes that came up during the regression, she discovered that she had a deep-rooted belief that she felt that she was different than everyone else. Because she felt different, she was unable to cope with reality without using alcohol. The alcohol helped her numb the pain of feeling different from everyone else. This feeling of being different caused her to isolate herself which fueled her depression. Once we finished our session, she had a better understanding of how depression and alcohol abuse developed in her life. Having this new understanding as well as developing new positive beliefs helped her release the belief that she is different and does not belong. 30 days after our session, she is still free from using alcohol and has messaged me that she finally “knew there is a chance of a better future for [her].”
Ok, That’s amazing, thank you for sharing it all with us.
How can people reach out to you if they want to learn more about RTT?
You can contact me with any questions about RTT below:
julia@thedreamlifefoundation.com
If you struggle with any of the issues mentioned, you can reach out to me for a free 30-minute consultation call HERE
Check out Julia’s website:
Rapid Transformational Therapy
And make sure you follow her on Instagram
Image credit: 123RF
Share on Facebook
Written by: Mike Sygula
Mike Sygula is a blogger, entrepreneur and activist promoting alternative ideas to raise public consciousness of the important issues facing humankind. He is the founder of Truth Theory.
Read More stories by Mike Sygula
Keď sme na facebooku, nie sme to my. Ako nám podľa vedcov škodí?
No a teraz bude mať FB viac reklamy ako Markíza 😀. Napísanie odpovede O.K zaberie 5 minút než prejde reklamný blok a môžete odoslať. Ešte šťastie že FB je posledná vec na svete ktorá ma zaujíma.
Keď sme na facebooku, nie sme to my. Ako nám podľa vedcov škodí?
Michael Stefanone upozorňuje, že Facebook je v podstate založený na reklamách: „Nie je to nič iné, než stroj na reklamy,“ hovorí.
„Vzhľadom na každoročné zisky Facebooku si myslím, že je vhodné začať diskusiu, či bežné pravidelné používanie tejto platformy nevedie ku krátkodobému obmedzeniu inteligentného uvažovania,“ pokračuje sociológ.
„Myslím, že by sme k týmto spoločnostiam a ich sociálnym sieťam mali pristupovať opatrne,“ hovorí Stefanone, „ich cieľom nie je naše blaho.“
Sociálne siete z nás robia nekritických šíriteľov bludov. Kvôli čomu?
Ale veď presne na to vyvinuli internet.
Opakovanie je matka mudrosti.
Zabudlo sa na to porekadlo ale marketingovy magovia to znovu objavili. Ked nieco je mnohonasobne opakovane vacsina tomu uveri.
Co ma prekvapuje, je ze zo Slovenska sa stalo El Dorado marketerov. V poslednej dobe som uz nenasiel ZIADNU sk stanku (a je to jedno ci ma server na Slovensku alebo v USA) aby nemala nasadenych menej ako 100 trackovacich cookies. Predavaju profily navstevnikov a kedze vacsina trackerov su z US tak na GDPR zabudnite a agregaciou dat maju kompletne profily vratane telefonnych cisie. Co si myslite o tuch telefonatoch z Vanuatu, Burundy...
Preco? lebo facebook je zabava, prokrastinacia
News Stand
10.4.2020 10:48
2 0
A jedinci, ktori nie su lenivi, siria len pravdu? Ved vacsina ludi ani len nevie kde ju hladat. Aj vy si tu poniektori myslite, ze pravdu sa dozviete, ked budete volit nejaku stranu, nejakeho politika alebo sledovat nejake medium - take, kde je podla vas len pravda.
Ako povedal klasik "Verejnost vobec nevie co sa deje. Dokonca ani nevie, ze to nevie."
This Guy Is Selling All His Facebook Data on eBay
This Guy Is Selling All His Facebook Data on eBay
“I realized that I’d been selling my data for free for ages, and decided it was time to cash in.”
A VPN can protect your online privacy. But there's a catch
After US lawmakers vote to end online privacy rules, people are looking for ways to hide their browsing histories.
Your internet service provider can sell your browsing history to the highest bidder.
Well, sort of. The big catch is, now the VPN has your internet traffic and browsing history, instead of your ISP. What's to stop the VPN from selling your information to the highest bidder?
He said 80 percent of the time, most people don't care about privacy, like when they're on Facebook. But the other 20 percent of the time is when they care about their privacy and they're more likely to use a VPN app. This could be when they're googling a personal topic.
How can Facebook and its users burst the 'filter bubble'?
How can Facebook and its users burst the 'filter bubble'?
TECHNOLOGY 18 November 2016
By Sally Adee
Bubble trouble: we need to break out
Aminart/getty
In the wake of the US election, concerns are surfacing over the filter bubbles that mediate the information people see in their social media feeds.
Filter bubbles are formed by the algorithms social media sites like Facebook use to decide which information to show you, based largely on your own tastes. The idea is to keep you engaged, but the result may be a worldview skewed to fit your own preferences and biases. With 62 per cent of Americans getting their news from social media at least occasionally, the fear is that filter bubbles could affect how you make decisions in real life.
“If this window is filled with highly partisan and, in some cases, false news, then many people will be assessing political candidates and information on the basis of distorted and misleading information,” says Martin Moore at King’s College London.
So what can social media sites – and their users – do to burst these bubbles?
You can take control of your own feed. You don’t need to go to extremes, says Philip Howard at the Oxford Internet Institute – there’s no value to wading into the fever swamps of white nationalism or climate denialism, for example. But equally don’t unfriend people just because they didn’t vote like you.
Friend or foe?
“Your context is shaped by who you friend and unfriend,” he says. “Every time you tailor your feed to get rid of people whose opinions you don’t like, you add more boundaries to your reality.”
People who support losing political parties, he says, are particularly vulnerable and their bubbles may shrink further if they retreat into like-minded safety.
How to break out? It isn’t easy. Network effects reward extremists and drown out moderate views, says Cesar Hidalgo at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The problem is not so much the extremists on the other side of the political spectrum, but those on your own. “If you say something moderate, you might get chewed out,” he says. “Social network filter bubbles create an environment in which moderates have incentives not to speak. There’s a lot of enforcing going on.”
The filter bubble phenomenon is largely a design problem, says Hidalgo. Facebook and Google have already moved to restrict advertising on fake news sites, but this does not stop users sharing false information, and bubbles are made of more than just falsified news reports.
Hidalgo has other suggestions. Facebook, he says, ought to design a “flip feed” button. Its algorithms could identify your bias, then show you stories selected from the other end of the political spectrum. An alert could pop up when an algorithm detects that your feed is getting too closed off, and it could suggest people to friend or pages to follow with a view to widening your perspective.
Confirmation bias
Social networks might also introduce random, high-quality news stories into feeds, he says, or a Rotten Tomatoes-style reputation meter – an icon placed near the like button that could crowdsource people’s ratings on a story’s trustworthiness. Even if people manipulated it by scoring stories highly if they fit their confirmation bias, the button may serve as a reminder that not everything you read on the internet is true – something that’s easily overlooked in the rush to confirm your beliefs. “Unfortunately, we still have the problem of over-believing things,” says Hidalgo.
Howard says part of the problem is that all sources are presented in the same way, whether you’re looking at The New York Times or your neighbour’s blog. He thinks Facebook should divide and label content into news and other posts. That way, opinions and false information are not misinterpreted as legitimate news.
“It’s time for us to treat Facebook as a media firm,” says Howard. “They need to get a public editor and curate their content.”
If social media sites are unwilling to do that, he suggests that regulation could hold them to similar standards as journalists and broadcasters.
But Nathan Matias at MIT’s Center for Civic Media thinks we should avoid giving social networks even more authority over our reality. “Do we really want them to have even more control over our online existence?” he says. “Do we actually want to give Facebook the power to decide what’s true and what’s false?”
There’s another caveat. “We are still so early in our understanding of how social networks really work,” Matias says. We don’t know how much impact filter bubbles have on our views – in fact, “the idea of the filter bubble has never been empirically proven”.
And regardless of the effect of filter bubbles, Matias is sceptical about how useful “bursting” them would be. Filter bubbles don’t only exist in social media, after all, and how far outside your own worldview would you have to look in order to gain an unfiltered perspective – presuming such a thing is even possible?
In fact, maybe this new obsession with the filter bubble is itself viewed through a filter bubble. “In 2008, we celebrated when Obama used Facebook in creative ways to win the election,” says Howard.
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How can Facebook and its users burst the 'filter bubble'?
TECHNOLOGY 18 November 2016
By Sally Adee
Bubble trouble: we need to break out
Aminart/getty
In the wake of the US election, concerns are surfacing over the filter bubbles that mediate the information people see in their social media feeds.
Filter bubbles are formed by the algorithms social media sites like Facebook use to decide which information to show you, based largely on your own tastes. The idea is to keep you engaged, but the result may be a worldview skewed to fit your own preferences and biases. With 62 per cent of Americans getting their news from social media at least occasionally, the fear is that filter bubbles could affect how you make decisions in real life.
“If this window is filled with highly partisan and, in some cases, false news, then many people will be assessing political candidates and information on the basis of distorted and misleading information,” says Martin Moore at King’s College London.
So what can social media sites – and their users – do to burst these bubbles?
You can take control of your own feed. You don’t need to go to extremes, says Philip Howard at the Oxford Internet Institute – there’s no value to wading into the fever swamps of white nationalism or climate denialism, for example. But equally don’t unfriend people just because they didn’t vote like you.
Friend or foe?
“Your context is shaped by who you friend and unfriend,” he says. “Every time you tailor your feed to get rid of people whose opinions you don’t like, you add more boundaries to your reality.”
People who support losing political parties, he says, are particularly vulnerable and their bubbles may shrink further if they retreat into like-minded safety.
How to break out? It isn’t easy. Network effects reward extremists and drown out moderate views, says Cesar Hidalgo at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The problem is not so much the extremists on the other side of the political spectrum, but those on your own. “If you say something moderate, you might get chewed out,” he says. “Social network filter bubbles create an environment in which moderates have incentives not to speak. There’s a lot of enforcing going on.”
The filter bubble phenomenon is largely a design problem, says Hidalgo. Facebook and Google have already moved to restrict advertising on fake news sites, but this does not stop users sharing false information, and bubbles are made of more than just falsified news reports.
Hidalgo has other suggestions. Facebook, he says, ought to design a “flip feed” button. Its algorithms could identify your bias, then show you stories selected from the other end of the political spectrum. An alert could pop up when an algorithm detects that your feed is getting too closed off, and it could suggest people to friend or pages to follow with a view to widening your perspective.
Confirmation bias
Social networks might also introduce random, high-quality news stories into feeds, he says, or a Rotten Tomatoes-style reputation meter – an icon placed near the like button that could crowdsource people’s ratings on a story’s trustworthiness. Even if people manipulated it by scoring stories highly if they fit their confirmation bias, the button may serve as a reminder that not everything you read on the internet is true – something that’s easily overlooked in the rush to confirm your beliefs. “Unfortunately, we still have the problem of over-believing things,” says Hidalgo.
Howard says part of the problem is that all sources are presented in the same way, whether you’re looking at The New York Times or your neighbour’s blog. He thinks Facebook should divide and label content into news and other posts. That way, opinions and false information are not misinterpreted as legitimate news.
“It’s time for us to treat Facebook as a media firm,” says Howard. “They need to get a public editor and curate their content.”
If social media sites are unwilling to do that, he suggests that regulation could hold them to similar standards as journalists and broadcasters.
But Nathan Matias at MIT’s Center for Civic Media thinks we should avoid giving social networks even more authority over our reality. “Do we really want them to have even more control over our online existence?” he says. “Do we actually want to give Facebook the power to decide what’s true and what’s false?”
There’s another caveat. “We are still so early in our understanding of how social networks really work,” Matias says. We don’t know how much impact filter bubbles have on our views – in fact, “the idea of the filter bubble has never been empirically proven”.
And regardless of the effect of filter bubbles, Matias is sceptical about how useful “bursting” them would be. Filter bubbles don’t only exist in social media, after all, and how far outside your own worldview would you have to look in order to gain an unfiltered perspective – presuming such a thing is even possible?
In fact, maybe this new obsession with the filter bubble is itself viewed through a filter bubble. “In 2008, we celebrated when Obama used Facebook in creative ways to win the election,” says Howard.
More on these topics:
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TRENDING
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FREE
Why we still don't know what the death rate is for covid-19
Coronavirus: China wildlife trade ban could become law within months
Can you catch the coronavirus twice? We don’t know yet
Does a high viral load or infectious dose make covid-19 worse?
Coronavirus: Are there two strains and is one more deadly?
Magazine issue 3101 , published 26 November 2016
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Facebook will suggest more articles for you to read in News Feed to help fight its ‘filter bubble’
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Facebook will suggest more articles for you to read in News Feed to help fight its ‘filter bubble’
Facebook says it wants to create a more “informed community.”
By Kurt Wagner Apr 25, 2017, 10:00am EDT
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Many people believe that Facebook has a “filter bubble” problem — that is, you often see posts and news stories that align with your own personal beliefs and values.
Facebook’s News Feed is personalized, so it’s easy to avoid things you don’t want to see. Some believe it’s to blame for the spread of fake news on Facebook leading up to last year’s U.S. presidential election.
Facebook wants to fix that, or at the very least offer users more options when it comes to reading the news.
Beginning Tuesday, Facebook will start adding “related” articles from different publications underneath a news post about a trending topic in your News Feed.
For example: You may see a post about Syria from the New York Times in your feed, but Facebook might also add similar stories from the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and Fox News directly below it. Facebook already does this, but only after you’ve read the original story, in this scenario, from the New York Times. Now it will do so from the get-go.
Facebook says the goal of the update is to help “support an informed community,” which is another way of saying it wants to offer users alternative news sources. “[The update] should provide people easier access to additional perspectives and information, including articles by third-party fact-checkers,” Facebook wrote in a blog post.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has long argued that Facebook’s “filter bubble” is not an actual issue. Tuesday’s update feels like Facebook is, at the very least, acknowledging one might exist.
It’s tough to tell if publishers will love the change. The New York Times might not like the idea of having competitor stories appearing right below its own, though publishers probably won’t complain when they are included in a group of “related” articles.
Facebook says it doesn’t “anticipate Pages will see significant changes in reach” as part of the move, which Facebook is billing as a “test.”
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Measuring the Filter Bubble: How Google is influencing what you click
Measuring the "Filter Bubble": How Google is influencing what you click
FILED UNDER PRIVACY RESEARCH ON 4 DEC 2018
Over the years, there has been considerable discussion of Google's "filter bubble" problem. Put simply, it's the manipulation of your search results based on your personal data. In practice this means links are moved up or down or added to your Google search results, necessitating the filtering of other search results altogether. These editorialized results are informed by the personal information Google has on you (like your search, browsing, and purchase history), and puts you in a bubble based on what Google's algorithms think you're most likely to click on.
The filter bubble is particularly pernicious when searching for political topics. That's because undecided and inquisitive voters turn to search engines to conduct basic research on candidates and issues in the critical time when they are forming their opinions on them. If they’re getting information that is swayed to one side because of their personal filter bubbles, then this can have a significant effect on political outcomes in aggregate.
Back in 2012 we ran a study showing Google's filter bubble may have significantly influenced the 2012 U.S. Presidential election by inserting tens of millions of more links for Obama than for Romney in the run-up to that election. Our research inspired an independent study by the Wall Street Journal (paywall):
A Wall Street Journal examination found that the search engine often customizes the results of people who have recently searched for "Obama"—but not those who have recently searched for "Romney."
Now, after the 2016 U.S. Presidential election and other recent elections, there is justified new interest in examining the ways people can be influenced politically online. In that context, we conducted another study to examine the state of Google's filter bubble problem in 2018.
Summary of Findings
Google has claimed to have taken steps to reduce its filter bubble problem, but our latest research reveals a very different story. Based on a study of individuals entering identical search terms at the same time, we found that:
Most participants saw results unique to them. These discrepancies could not be explained by changes in location, time, by being logged in to Google, or by Google testing algorithm changes to a small subset of users.
On the first page of search results, Google included links for some participants that it did not include for others, even when logged out and in private browsing mode.
Results within the news and videos infoboxes also varied significantly. Even though people searched at the same time, people were shown different sources, even after accounting for location.
Private browsing mode and being logged out of Google offered very little filter bubble protection. These tactics simply do not provide the anonymity most people expect. In fact, it's simply not possible to use Google search and avoid its filter bubble.
For those interested in more details, we've written out everything below, as well as provided the underlying data and code. We hope this work encourages further study of this important issue.
Methodology
We asked volunteers in the U.S. to search for "gun control", "immigration", and "vaccinations" (in that order) at 9pm ET on Sunday, June 24, 2018. Volunteers performed searches first in private browsing mode and logged out of Google, and then again not in private mode (i.e., in "normal" mode). We compiled 87 complete result sets — 76 on desktop and 11 on mobile. Note that we restricted the study to the U.S. because different countries have different search indexes.
During analysis of the search results, we only looked at websites' top-level domains, for example www.cdc.gov/features/vaccines-travel and www.cdc.gov/vaccines/adults would both be treated as just cdc.gov.
Finding #1: Most people saw results unique to them, even when logged out and in private browsing mode.
To count variants of results, we noted the order of the major elements: the organic (regular) links, the news (Top Stories) infobox, and the videos infobox. We ignored ads, sections containing related searches, and other infoboxes. There were variations in these too, but we didn't consider them.
A quick note on ordering of links: You might think that as long as the same links are shown to users, the ordering of them is relatively unimportant, but that's not the case. A given link gets only about half as many clicks as the link before it and twice as many clicks as the link after it. In other words, link ordering matters a lot because people click on the first link much more than the second, and so on.
The amount of variations we saw for each search term is listed below. For this part of the study, we excluded mobile results because the number of infoboxes displayed can vary significantly between mobile and desktop. That's why it says 76 participants instead of the overall total of 87. We also controlled for location (more on that below).
Private browsing mode (and logged out):
"gun control": 62 variations with 52/76 participants (68%) seeing unique results.
"immigration": 57 variations with 43/76 participants (57%) seeing unique results.
"vaccinations": 73 variations with 70/76 participants (92%) seeing unique results.
Normal mode:
"gun control": 58 variations with 45/76 participants (59%) seeing unique results.
"immigration": 59 variations with 48/76 participants (63%) seeing unique results.
"vaccinations": 73 variations with 70/76 participants (92%) seeing unique results.
With no filter bubble, one would expect to see very little variation of search result pages — nearly everyone would see the same single set of results. That's not what we found.
Instead, most people saw results unique to them. We also found about the same variation in private browsing mode and logged out of Google vs. in normal mode.
Now, some search result variation is expected due to two factors that we controlled for. First, search results can change over time, such as the inclusion of time-sensitive links. We controlled for this factor by having everyone search at the same time.
Second, search results can change by location, such as the inclusion of local news articles. We controlled for this factor by checking all links by hand for this possibility, comparing them to the city and state of the volunteer. We saw very few local links for gun control (1 organic link, 1 news infobox link) and immigration (0), though more for vaccinations (15 organic links, 4 news infobox links).
To control for these local links, we replaced all of them with the same placeholder — localdomain.com for organic links and "Local Source" for infoboxes — in all of our analysis. This adjustment means two users whose results only differed by a different local domain in the same slot would not count as different. Interestingly, this adjustment didn't affect overall variation significantly.
Another reason you might expect some variation is testing of the search algorithm, where you show slightly different results to different people. In that case, you'd expect to see most people seeing the same results, with a few people seeing slight differences. What we saw, by contrast, was most people seeing different results.
Finding #2: Google included links for some participants that it did not include for others.
Google search results typically have ten organic links. While the ordering of those links really matters (i.e. link #1 gets ~40% of clicks, link #2 ~20%, link #3 ~10% and so on), we also wanted to know how many different domains were being displayed.
With no filter bubble, one would expect to see this total to be around ten. We saw significantly more. In private browsing mode, logged out of Google, and with local domains replaced with localdomain.com, here are the totals:
"gun control": 19 different domains
"immigration": 15 different domains
"vaccinations": 22 different domains
As you can see this clearly in the visualization above, some people were shown a very unusual set of results relative to the other participants, offered some domains seen by no-one else. If you were one of these people, you would have no way of knowing what you're missing.
Finding #3: We saw significant variation within the News and Videos infoboxes.
We also wanted to look at variation within the news (Top Stories) and videos infoboxes. We also saw significant variation within those, even though there are only three slots available. Again, these are for private browsing mode, logged out of Google, and with local domains replaced with "Local Source".
News infobox:
"gun control": 3 variations from 5 sources, appearing for 75/76 people. The most common variation was seen by 69 people (90%).
"immigration": 6 variations from 7 sources, appearing for 76/76 people. The most common variation was seen by 35 people (46%).
"vaccinations": 2 variations from 3 sources, appearing for 2/76 people. Each variation was seen by one person (1%).
Videos infobox:
"gun control": 12 variations from 7 sources, appearing for 75/76 people. The most common variation was seen by 24 people (32%).
"immigration": 6 variations from 6 sources, appearing for 75/76 people. The most common variation was seen by 42 people (55%).
"vaccinations": Not shown in the search results.
As an example, the Videos infobox for the "immigration" query showed the following six variations. As with organic search results, the ordering matters here because the second and third slots get far fewer clicks.
Today, MSNBC, NBC News (shown to 42 participants)
MSNBC, Today, NBC News (shown to 26 participants)
Today, MSNBC, MSNBC (shown to 4 participants)
MSNBC, Today, Today (shown to 1 participant)
New York Times, CNN, MSNBC (shown to 1 participant)
Today, MSNBC, RealClearPolitics (shown to 1 participant)
Remember, we had people search at the same time, and we changed all local-links to the be same, so this variation is not explained by time or location. And again, some people were real outliers; in fact, some didn't see the infoboxes at all.
Finding #4: Private browsing mode and being logged out of Google offered almost zero filter bubble protection.
Finally, we saw the variation in private browsing mode (also known as incognito mode) and logged out of Google as about the same as in normal mode. Most people expect both being logged out and going "incognito" to provide some anonymity. Unfortunately, this is a common misconception as websites use IP addresses and browser fingerprinting to identify people that are logged out or in private browsing mode.
If search results were more anonymous in these states, then we would expect everyone's private browsing mode results to be similar. That's not what we saw.
To test this more rigorously, we took the organic results, excluding ads and infoboxes, and:
Assigned each domain a letter (e.g. A for nytimes.com, B for wsj.com, etc.).
Made a string of letters for each person's results, e.g. ABDFJKMSL.
Compared these strings to see how similar they were to each other.
To do this comparison we counted domain changes between different sets of search results, reducing the differences to a number. For example, ABC -> ACB is one change. (Technically, we used a letter to represent each domain within each search result and calculated the Damerau-Levenshtein edit distance between them.)
We saw that when randomly comparing people's private modes to each other, there was more than double the variation than when comparing someone's private mode to their normal mode:
gun control:
Average of normal and private browsing mode (same user): 1.03
Average of private browsing mode (random user): 2.89
Average of private browsing mode (five closest users): 2.65
immigration:
Average of normal and private browsing mode (same user): 1.38
Average of private browsing mode (random user): 3.28
Average of private browsing mode (five closest users): 2.80
vaccinations:
Average of normal and private browsing mode (same user): 2.23
Average of private browsing mode (random user): 4.97
Average of private browsing mode (five closest users): 4.25
We often hear of confusion that private browsing mode enables anonymity on the web, but this finding demonstrates that Google tailors search results regardless of browsing mode. People should not be lulled into a false sense of security that so-called "incognito" mode makes them anonymous.
Study Data and Code
The data is available for download in two parts: Basic non-identifiable participant data, and raw data from the search results.
duckduckgo-filter-bubble-study-2018_participants.xls contains the instructions we sent to each participant, as well as basic anonymized data for each participant.
duckduckgo-filter-bubble-study-2018_raw-search-results.xls contains a separate sheet for search results per query and per mode (private and non-private). The results are listed as they appeared on the screen for each participant, showing both organic domains and infoboxes such as Top Stories (news), Videos, etc.
The code that we wrote to analyze the data is open source and available on our GitHub repository.
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Facebook's Filter Bubble Is Getting Worse
Facebook's Filter Bubble Is Getting Worse
New changes to the company's algorithm will make the social network even more of an echo chamber.
By Federico Nejrotti
Jul 1 2016, 3:00pmShareTweetSnap
PHOTO: RHETT MAXWELL/FLICKR
Hi there. If you're reading this piece, consider yourself lucky. Don't take it for granted. Especially if you're like the 62 percent of American adults who get their news from social media, as a recent Pew Research poll showed, and you usually find our posts on Facebook.
Facebook announced earlier this week that it will change the algorithm used to decide what every single user sees on their timeline. "Facebook was built on the idea of connecting people with their friends and family," Lars Backstrom, engineering director at Facebook, said in a statement. "Our top priority is keeping you connected to the people, places and things you want to be connected to — starting with the people you are friends with on Facebook. That's why today, we're announcing an upcoming change to News Feed ranking to help make sure you don't miss stories from your friends."
Now, why we should care about this announcement, and how are the first two paragraphs of this piece related?
The changes announced by Facebook will mainly impact one of the most important values for Facebook's brand and publisher-owned pages: "reach." This value shows how many users will be shown a certain post. In other words, how many users see that single update on their timeline.
Worse and worse
This premise takes us to the point. The condition created by this policy is often called a "filter bubble."
Social networks that use algorithms to define which updates are most relevant for their users tends to gradually supply the users with things that align with their established interests and opinions.
Take the recent media boom about Brexit, the controversial vote in the UK over whether to leave the European Union.
One pro-"Remain" Facebook user explained how hard has been for him to find posts from the opposing side. On the day the "Leave" campaign won, he looked for Facebook posts celebrating for the win—and came up short.
Facebook is becoming an echo chamber that prevents us from being confronted with opinions we don't agree with
It wasn't only about his News Feed list: He also tried to use the Facebook search function, also to no avail. It wasn't that there were no posts about how great the Leave victory was. It was that Facebook, having identified him as a Remain voter, just wasn't allowing him to see them.
An appeal to everyone I know who works at Twitter, Facebook, Google etc, and for the people who influence them Tom SteinbergJune 24, 2016
It's not just the opinions expressed in posts, but also where they're coming from. Facebook has a double interest here: On one side, it needs to be able to charge publishers money who want more exposure. On the other, it needs to boost the number of user interactions on the social network.
This mostly affects content published by Facebook pages. The owners of these Facebook pages are finding it harder and harder to reach the users who liked their page. The only solutions are to pay Facebook to boost the posts, or create content designed to be shared. "If a lot of your referral traffic is the result of people sharing your content and their friends liking and commenting on it, there will be less of an impact than if the majority of your traffic comes directly through Page posts," Backstrom explained in the announcement.
HOW FACEBOOK DECIDES WHAT POSTS TO SHOW USERS. IMAGE VIA TECHCRUNCH
This dynamic is what leads to the filter bubble. Facebook is becoming an echo chamber that prevents us from being confronted with opinions we don't agree with.
Raising awareness
This is about more than the news media's bottom line. A public inside the filter bubble will find itself enclosed in a shrinking infosphere, cut off from people who aren't like them.
Facebook says its new algorithm changes will emphasize posts that are "informative." Do you want to see information that is one-sided, or multi-faceted? Can you imagine a filter-bubbled newsstand? If you're a left-wing person, no right-wing magazines for you. Are you with Trump? There's a good chance your favorite newsstand will never tell you anything about Bernie Sanders.
In a certain way, maybe, we should now think of social networks as true social services, a public good—not simply a fun product from a company. The recent scandal over Facebook's "Now Trending" section, which was more influenced by human curators than the company let on, showed that people are starting to think about the ways in which news reaches them.
We're still grappling with all the implications of a public that gets its news from social media, and there is a long way to go before we understand it. But first of all we should remind ourselves that the "filter bubble" exists, and it's getting worse.
This article was originally published on Motherboard Italia.
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Defriend everyone on Facebook if you really want to see the world as it is
Agreeing with everyone on your feed is boring and creates political apathy. Shake things up and become a social media freedom fighter, working behind enemy lines
Romesh Ranganathan
Sun 4 Dec 2016 16.00 GMTLast modified on Sat 25 Nov 2017 03.59 GMT
With friends like these … Illustration: Guardian design
Messing around on Facebook recently, I was appalled to see a man I used to work with gleefully posting about Trump’s election win. I went through a mixture of emotions. First, there was the shock that I had allowed myself to be friends with such a man, because my capacity to make everything about me is impressive, even for a comedian. Second, I couldn’t believe that he could have the temerity to post something that disagreed with what we had all agreed on Facebook was “The Official Viewpoint”. Third, I realised that I probably shouldn’t be on Facebook at my wife’s birthday dinner.
What I should have done was thank him. It was the first time in ages that I had felt anything approaching an emotion on Facebook. Because I’ve only made friends with people who think like me, my newsfeed is nothing but the sound of people high-fiving each other for having the same opinion. It isn’t even an echo chamber. I am basically part of a Borg hive, speaking in unison on everything. If anyone disagreed with me, I would send them to unfriend exile, as if I were running some sort of Facebook North Korea, or Trump’s America.
I want to unfriend someone on Facebook but I don't want to hurt their feelings
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But if there is anything worse than pointless Facebook posts, it’s pointless Facebook posts that operate under the belief they are important. I would much rather see a picture of someone’s favourite BLT than yet another post from someone writing something banal such as “Racism is really out of order” before sitting back to watch the likes stack up while composing their next post: What’s worse – Bieber or slavery?
I get it. The world is a scary place and posting condemnation or worthy quotes enables us to feel OK about doing absolutely nothing about it. I am as guilty as anyone. I once donated £10 to a water charity and the next time the TV appeal came on, I shouted my support as if I had been involved in digging the wells.
I noticed a similar phenomenon following the Paris attacks. I imagine it was hugely warming to Parisians to know that so many of us had changed our profile pictures to the French flag. I took the radical step of assuming that all my friends knew that I probably condemned terrorism. To ignore it seems equally callous. It does look pretty bad when everybody is expressing grief about a tragedy and you share a link to “Why we should all be eating heirloom tomatoes”.
I regularly post my thoughts on Facebook. And it does feel good when people agree with you. I said something about the arguments for Brexit being misleading, and then basked in the glow of people telling me how spot on I was. I tried to ignore the fact that I was craving this approval more than the love of my family.
What was much more enjoyable, however, was when I posted something pro-Brexit. I declared that labelling all Leavers as thugs was offensive. What followed was invigorating. People called me stupid, and asked if I was in favour of racism. My likes were minimal, but the comments went through the roof. My blood boiled as I defended my argument, checking my feed every few seconds and striking blow after blow against my attackers. It was so exhilarating that I realised that I didn’t need my family at all.
It is not just left-leaning social media which are guilty of this. I recently visited the Britain First homepage and watched a video of some (and I paraphrase here) “patriots challenging the vile practice of halal meat”. I commented to say that I felt that the video looked more like a small group of misinformed people annoying some Indian restaurants. My comment was deleted and I was blocked from the group. Which I assume is the digital equivalent of being told to go back to where you come from – your homepage.
The answer to this is, of course, to mix up the people that you are friends with online, try to engineer a more balanced mix of opinions on your timeline, and obtain a more realistic gauge of how people see events and issues. It also combats apathy. There is a strong argument that everybody was so convinced by Facebook that Hillary’s ascendancy was a done deal, that they didn’t bother to vote. Ditto Brexit. I believe there is a far more interesting way to recalibrate your worldview: defriend everybody who agrees with you. Fill your Facebook with people who oppose everything you say. Suddenly you’ll become some sort of social media freedom fighter, working behind enemy lines. Engage with people, and try to open their minds to a different way of thinking. Be the guy who enrages people; subvert from within. Plus, when the first thing you wake up to in the morning is an anti-immigration Facebook post, you’ll find you won’t need that double espresso.
A friend of mine recently shared a borderline offensive post from Britain First about keeping British jobs for British workers. Instead of dismissing him, as I might have done pre-epiphany, I asked him about his views, and explained how and why I disagreed. And so, what I found by engaging with him was that he really was in fact as racist as I had initially assumed. So I blocked him. Some people actually are just tools.
Romesh Ranganathan’s Irrational is out now on DVD and digital download
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What You Don’t Know About How Facebook Uses Your Data
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What You Don’t Know About How Facebook Uses Your Data
Facebook’s user data extends far beyond the basic biographical information that most share. Facebook also tracks users on other sites and apps, collects so-called biometric facial data and allows marketers to target people who express an interest in certain health conditions.Credit...Jason Henry for The New York Times
By Natasha Singer
April 11, 2018
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, went to Capitol Hill this week to explain to members of Congress how the detailed personal information of up to 87 million Facebook users ended up in the hands of a voter-profiling company called Cambridge Analytica.
What Mr. Zuckerberg got instead, as he testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, was a grilling about Facebook’s own data-mining practices.
Representative Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan, for one, wanted to know about Facebook’s use of different types of tracking software to follow consumers’ activities on millions of non-Facebook sites all over the web.
“It doesn’t matter whether you have a Facebook account,” Ms. Dingell said to Mr. Zuckerberg. “Through those tools, Facebook is able to collect information from all of us.”
Facebook meticulously scrutinizes the minutiae of its users’ online lives, and its tracking stretches far beyond the company’s well-known targeted advertisements. Details that people often readily volunteer — age, employer, relationship status, likes and location — are just the start.
Facebook tracks both its users and nonusers on other sites and apps. It collects biometric facial data without users’ explicit “opt-in” consent.
And the sifting of users can get quite personal. Among many possible target audiences, Facebook offers advertisers 1.5 million people “whose activity on Facebook suggests that they’re more likely to engage with/distribute liberal political content” and nearly seven million Facebook users who “prefer high-value goods in Mexico.”
“Facebook can learn almost anything about you by using artificial intelligence to analyze your behavior,” said Peter Eckersley, the chief computer scientist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights nonprofit. “That knowledge turns out to be perfect both for advertising and propaganda. Will Facebook ever prevent itself from learning people’s political views, or other sensitive facts about them?”
Many other companies, including news organizations like The New York Times, mine information about users for marketing purposes. If Facebook is being singled out for such practices, it is because it is a market leader and its stockpiling of personal data is at the core of its $40.6 billion annual business.
Facebook uses a number of software tools to do this tracking. When internet users venture to other sites, Facebook can still monitor what they are doing with software like its ubiquitous “Like” and “Share” buttons, and something called Facebook Pixel — invisible code that’s dropped onto the other websites that allows that site and Facebook to track users’ activity.
Ms. Dingell asked Mr. Zuckerberg how many non-Facebook sites used various kinds of Facebook tracking software: “Is the number over 100 million?” He said he’d have to get back to her with an answer.
“There are common parts of people’s experience on the internet,” Matt Steinfeld, a Facebook spokesman, said in a statement. “But of course we can do more to help people understand how Facebook works and the choices they have.”
While a series of actions by European judges and regulators are trying to curb some of the powerful targeting mechanisms that Facebook employs, federal officials in the United States have done little to constrain them — to the consternation of American privacy advocates who say Facebook continues to test the boundaries of what is permissible.
Facebook requires outside sites that use its tracking technologies to clearly notify users, and it allows Facebook users to opt out of seeing ads based on their use of those apps and websites.
That has not stopped angry users from airing their grievances over Facebook’s practices.
In 2016, for example, a Missouri man with metastatic cancer sued Facebook. The suit, which sought class-action status, accused the tech giant of violating the man’s privacy by tracking his activities on cancer center websites outside the social network — and collecting details about his possible treatment options — without his permission.
Facebook persuaded a federal judge to dismiss the case. The company argued that tracking users for ad-targeting purposes was a standard business practice, and one that its users agreed to when signing up for the service. The Missouri man and two other plaintiffs have appealed the judge’s decision.
Facebook is quick to note that when users sign up for an account, they must agree to the company’s data policy. It plainly states that its data collection “includes information about the websites and apps you visit, your use of our services on those websites and apps, as well as information the developer or publisher of the app or website provides to you or us.”
But in Europe, some regulators contend that Facebook has not obtained users’ explicit and informed consent to track them on other sites and apps. Their general concern, they said, is that many of Facebook’s 2.1 billion users have no idea how much data Facebook could collect about them and how the company could use it. And there is a growing unease that tech giants are unfairly manipulating users.
“Facebook provides a network where the users, while getting free services most of them consider useful, are subject to a multitude of nontransparent analyses, profiling, and other mostly obscure algorithmical processing,” said Johannes Caspar, the data protection commissioner for Hamburg, Germany.
In 2015, for instance, the Belgian Privacy Commission ordered Facebook to stop systematically using “long-term and uniquely identifying” codes to track nonusers without their “unequivocal and specific consent.” The agency subsequently sued Facebook. In February, a judge in Brussels ordered Facebook to stop tracking “each internet user on Belgian soil” on other websites.
Facebook has appealed the decision. In his comments in the House hearing on Wednesday, Mr. Zuckerberg said Facebook tracked nonusers for security purposes — to ensure they could not scrape public data about Facebook users.
But, in one presentation on the case, Belgian regulators wrote: “Tracking nonusers for security purposes is excessive.”
And on Friday, the Italian Competition Authority said it was investigating Facebook for exercising “undue influence” by requiring users to let the company automatically collect all kinds of data about them both on its platform and off.
“Every single action, every single relationship is carefully monitored,” said Giovanni Buttarelli, the European data protection supervisor, who oversees an independent European Union authority that advises on privacy-related laws and policies. “People are being treated like laboratory animals.”
Regulators have won some victories. In 2012, Facebook agreed to stop using face recognition technology in the European Union after Mr. Caspar, the Hamburg data protection commissioner, accused it of violating German and European privacy regulations by collecting users’ biometric facial data without their explicit consent.
Outside the European Union, Facebook employs face recognition technology for a name-tagging feature that can automatically suggest names for the people in users’ photos. But civil liberties experts warn that face recognition technology could threaten the ability of Americans to remain anonymous online, on the street and at political protests.
Now a dozen consumer and privacy groups in the United States have accused Facebook of deceptively rolling out expanded uses of the technology without clearly explaining it to users or obtaining their explicit “opt-in” consent. On Friday, the groups filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission saying that the expansion violated a 2011 agreement prohibiting Facebook from deceptive privacy practices.
Facebook sent notices alerting users of its new face recognition uses and said it provides a page where they can turn the feature off.
Facebook has other powerful techniques with implications users may not fully understand.
One is a marketing service called “Lookalike Audiences,” which goes beyond the familiar Facebook programs allowing advertisers to target people by their ages or likes. The look-alike audience feature allows marketers to examine their existing customers or voters for certain propensities — like big spending — and have Facebook find other users with similar tendencies.
Murka, a social casino game developer, used the feature to target “high-value players” who were “most likely to make in-app purchases,” according to Facebook marketing material.
Some marketers worry that political campaigns or unscrupulous companies could potentially use the same technique to identify the characteristics of, for instance, people who make rash decisions and find a bigger pool of the same sort of Facebook users.
Facebook’s policies prohibit potentially predatory ad-targeting practices. Advertisers are able to target users using the look-alike service, but they do not receive personal data about those Facebook users.
Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a nonprofit group in Washington, however, warned that this look-alike marketing was a hidden, manipulative practice — on a par with subliminal advertising — and said it should be prohibited.
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In 2016, for example, a Missouri man with metastatic cancer sued Facebook. The suit, which sought class-action status, accused the tech giant of violating the man’s privacy by tracking his activities on cancer center websites outside the social network — and collecting details about his possible treatment options — without his permission.
But in Europe, some regulators contend that Facebook has not obtained users’ explicit and informed consent to track them on other sites and apps. Their general concern, they said, is that many of Facebook’s 2.1 billion users have no idea how much data Facebook could collect about them and how the company could use it. And there is a growing unease that tech giants are unfairly manipulating users.
In 2015, for instance, the Belgian Privacy Commission ordered Facebook to stop systematically using “long-term and uniquely identifying” codes to track nonusers without their “unequivocal and specific consent.” The agency subsequently sued Facebook. In February, a judge in Brussels ordered Facebook to stop tracking “each internet user on Belgian soil” on other websites.
SEEN ARTICLE? :: NSA selling our data to commercial interests : 1984
A few months ago, while looking for something else, I stumbled on an article which I swear talked about 2010 legislation that allowed the NSA to start selling our data to anyone, including commercial interests.
It might not seem like a big deal or distinction, but it is to me. Facebook sharing our data still depends on us using FB, or using something linked to it. Sharing to the government still in theory suffers constitutional protections that don't cover private entities to the same extent.
Data aggregators are some of the most obscure, increasingly consolidated businesses, collectors and purveyors of information, gossip and falsehoods via user-friendly dashboards for any business or agency who'll pay. They're so aggressively secretive they're suing researchers who were pinging systems, just looking for bias. There's no transparency, no way to know what they have on whom, nor who they share it with. No way to know if it's correct or even legal to share. If you can't see it, you can't regulate it. That amounts, in theory, to the practical nullification of all laws, such as FCRA, about how our data can be shared and used in re getting employment, housing, etc.
So if anyone has seen an article about the US government legally making a profit from whatever things they gather, on purpose or inadvertently, about all of us... and selling it... drop me a line or link?