- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Massachusetts College Decides Criticizing The Chinese Government Is Hate Speech, Suspends Conservative Student Group
by jim bell 23 Oct '21

23 Oct '21

Massachusetts College Decides Criticizing The Chinese Government Is Hate Speech, Suspends Conservative Student Group https://share.newsbreak.com/36stzgws Tech Dirt from the highly-educated-but-apparently-low-on-common-sense dept A college has done something dumb and unconstitutional. Not all that surprising. Neither is the response, coming from Adam Steinbaugh and FIRE (Foundation for Rights in Education). Emerson College may be a private university, but that doesn't mean it can just ignore the First Amendment. In fact, it says it won't ignore these rights, which obligates it to uphold them. This is Emerson College in its own words (archived link in case the college decides to disappear it): As an institution dedicated to Communication and the Arts, the first amendment of the US Constitution is of high importance. The right to freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of political belief and affiliation, freedom from discrimination, freedom of peaceful assembly, and petition of redress or grievances is not only a right but a community responsibility. [...] The College encourages students to present ideas, express their individuality and culture, and be open to thoughts or life styles that differ from their own. Truly inspiring. And Emerson College truly respects this right. Except when it doesn't. Emerson College suspended a campus chapter of conservative student group Turning Point USA on Oct. 1 after members passed out stickers critical of China’s government. The "conservative group" was Turning Point USA, one created and led by unfortunate human being Charlie Kirk and supported by people who think Charlie Kirk actually has anything useful to offer anyone. No matter what anyone thinks about TPUSA (including me!), this response is not only overblown, but completely ignores the content of the stickers Emerson (and some of its students) got all investigatory about. Under pressure from other student groups who accused TPUSA of anti-Asian bias and xenophobia, including the Emerson Chinese Student Association, the college launched an investigation into the group. In an Instagram video, the TPUSA chapter said the stickers are critical of the Chinese government, not the Chinese people. On Oct. 1, the TPUSA chapter’s leaders received a letter from Julie Rothhaar-Sanders, Emerson’s director of community standards, stating that the college had launched a formal investigation of TPUSA under Emerson’s Bias-Related Behavior and Invasion of Privacy policies. While the investigation is active, TPUSA faces “interim action,” meaning the group is barred from normal activities, such as hosting events or reserving campus space for meetings. Is this really "anti-Asian bias" and/or "xenophobia?" This is the sticker in question, which references a famous meme that originated in a multiplayer game: If you can't see the picture, it features a little "Among Us" spaceman guy dressed in red with a hammer-and-sickle insignia. Underneath it is the phrase "China Kinda Sus." "Sus" being short for "suspicious." Notably it does not say "Chinese people are sus" or "Orientals are sus" or anything else that suggests this sticker refers to anything but the country and, by extension, its government. Is China kinda sus? You be the judge. It refuses to recognize Taiwan as a country, has turned Hong Kong's government into an extension of its own following months of pro-democracy protests, subjects its citizens to intrusive, omnipresent surveillance, censors its citizens and companies providing internet services, and is engaged in the ongoing persecution of certain minorities. That's all pretty "sus." Yet, the college chose to believe this was actually an offensive thing to say and bypassed its own stated support for protecting First Amendment rights to limit TPUSA's activities on campus. That has led to FIRE and Adam Steinbaugh not-too-gently reminding the college about First Amendment protections and the college's promise to respect these rights. This is from FIRE's letter [PDF]: The stickers distributed at Emerson and elsewhere are critical of China’s government. They follow a long tradition of student protests on American college campuses criticizing foreign nations, whether those opposing South Africa’s apartheid or, more recently, the government of Israel. Freedom of expression entails the right to criticize not only our own government, but those of foreign nations, even when that criticism is offensive to the “dignity” of those states or threatens to upend “vital national interest[s.]” Even if the college is concerned about its obligations under Title VII, which requires it to investigate and respond to allegations of hostile student environments, this sticker ain't it. First, the speech is not based on race, ethnicity, or national origin. The stickers do not invoke or traffic in stereotypes associated with people of Chinese descent or origin. Instead, the stickers are speech critical of China’s government. The stickers utilize the familiar emblem of the sole governing party of the country, superimposed over a video game character bearing the same red color of China’s flag. The sticker’s text (“China kinda sus”) refers to the name of the country, not its people. Criticism of a foreign government is not inherently criticism of the people it purports to represent, even if people who hail from, descend from, or support that particular nation find that criticism personally offensive. Second, even assuming the stickers’ message was capable of being construed as speech based on race, ethnicity, or national origin, it does not rise to the level of peer-on-peer harassment as properly defined under the law. If Emerson wants to stay out of the lawsuit defendant business, it will drop this investigation and reinstate TPUSA's rights and privileges. If it would rather continue to pretend that criticism of a foreign government is somehow harassment of the student body, it should probably give its legal counsel department heads up that it will be expected to defend the indefensible in the near future. Oh, and even if you could make the argument that the combination of TPUSA and its stickers were problematic, Emerson took all this up a notch when its Twitter account started "hiding" any tweet that referenced China, including images of Winnie the Pooh. In case you don't recall, China has a longstanding policy of censoring images of Winnie the Pooh because its President, Xi Jinping, vaguely resembles the fictional bear. Wow. Emerson College—which is investigating a student group for stickers critical of China’s government—is hiding tweet replies that mention China. *Including ones that only show Winnie the Pooh, which is censored in China because people mockingly compare him to Xi Jinping.* https://t.co/PhwjFwnOHopic.twitter.com/q0A6dgUF2s — Sarah McLaughlin (@sarahemclaugh) October 7, 2021 So, yeah, an American college was literally hiding tweets in the identical manner as the Chinese government, to avoid upsetting the Chinese President. Of course, that only resulted in a lot more posts about Winnie the Pooh, nearly all of which Emerson College has hidden. It also blocked users who were tweeting Winnie the Pooh images. Kinda sus, actually. And really, doesn't live up to the promise of a college that "encourages students to present ideas, express their individuality and culture, and be open to thoughts or life styles that differ from their own." Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community. Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis. While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you. –The Techdirt Team Filed Under: 1st amendment, charlie kirk, china, free speech, hate speech, kinda sus, massachusetts, winnie the pooh, xi jinping Companies: emerson college Shared from NewsBreak

1 0

Labour would put 10,000 extra police on streets, vows Jeremy Corbyn
by professor rat 23 Oct '21

23 Oct '21

And in related news . . . JULIAN " ‘[The military] protects the sovereignty of Australia. It protects the independence of Australia.' ASSANGE July, 2013

1 0

How can I sign up for Worldcoin without being shot by Alec Baldwin?
by professor rat 23 Oct '21

23 Oct '21

https://www.somagnews.com/startup-wants-to-distribute-1-billion-cryptocurre… To sign up for Worldcoin you don’t need to have any money, but you can say that it costs an arm and a leg. That’s because the startup validates that the person is really real, before earning their cryptocurrency, scanning their iris using custom hardware Palantir , sorry, orbs. Once your health is assured you may donate a pint of blood to Peter Thiel and receive 30 pieces of silver Worldcoin.

1 0

Stefan Claas on Turkey
by professor rat 23 Oct '21

23 Oct '21

Marx, "British Politics" (April 7, 1853), Collected Works, Vol. 112, p.7: " . . The real point at issue always is, Turkey in Europe--the great peninsula to the south of the Save and Danube. This splendid territory has the misfortune to be inhabited by a conglomerate of different races and nationalities, of which it is hard to say which is the least fit for progress and civilization.. ." Sorry - that was Karl, not Stefan. I get them confused. My bat.

1 0

There can only be men here
by professor rat 22 Oct '21

22 Oct '21

JULIAN " Capitalism+atheism+feminism = sterility " ASSANGE. 2017

2 1

Re: I hate this NFT hype ...
by Punk-BatSoup-Stasi 2.0 22 Oct '21

22 Oct '21

On Fri, 22 Oct 2021 22:22:55 +0200 Stefan Claas <spam.trap.mailing.lists(a)gmail.com> wrote: > BTW. Did you know that they once paid a ransom and later they were > attacked again so that a team from Israel helped them to fix their > issue? > I didn't know that. Thanks for the pointer.

1 0

Re: Assange's Case
by professor rat 22 Oct '21

22 Oct '21

JULIAN " Being guilty of aggravated rape has nothing to do with our party" A. Broinowski. Wikileaks Party NSW candidate for au Senate. 2013. "... Mr Assange agreed that some level of privacy was necessary for the successful operation of the military ..." http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/drive/assange-i-can-rule-from-… JULIAN " ‘[The military] protects the sovereignty of Australia. It protects the independence of Australia.' ASSANGE July, 2013 Julian Assange · LRB 6 March 2014 http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n05/andrew-ohagan/ghosting … Mar 6, 2014 - I wouldn't say this publicly, but Hitler wrote Mein Kampf in prison..." Jul 20, 2015 - Julian Assange: To be honest, I don't like the word transparency; cold dead glass is transparent..." JULIAN " “People with strong principles don’t survive for long ” ASSANGE quoted in " Risk" released in 2017. May 20, 2017 - Julian Assange announced “the proper war is just commencing...”

1 0

I hate this NFT hype ...
by Stefan Claas 22 Oct '21

22 Oct '21

Hi all, I am currently noodling around with an idea, how to link a (digital) item to, for example, a Bitcoin address and would like to hear your thoughts. I would appreciate it if you read my thread. https://groups.google.com/g/sci.crypt/c/SYeA5AuonSg Regards Stefan

4 19

Defend Jews against hateful bigotry
by professor rat 22 Oct '21

22 Oct '21

" . . . the best safeguard for Jews against discrimination lies in strong alliances with other targeted groups in a push for strengthened federal and state legislation and enforcement against hate crimes and all forms of bigotry. . . " https://www.smh.com.au/national/fighting-anti-semitism-needs-solidarity-not… So long as the state exists not everything it does need be opposed

2 3

Hacks: Dutch Lab Decrypts Tesla Vehicle Data Storage
by grarpamp 22 Oct '21

22 Oct '21

All vehicles should destroy data after every few drive cycles or trips, let users choose. Otherwise vehicle refits will and should appear on free market to provide that, just raw motor and battery, no computer storage or anything else needed. Dutch Government Lab Decrypts Tesla's Data Storage System, Finds "Far More Data Than Previously Aware Of" https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/dutch-forensic-lab-sa… We may soon find out whether or not Tesla has been deceptive in presenting its driver data. According to Reuters, a Dutch government's forensic lab says it has decrypted the car's data-storage system, which has uncovered "a wealth of information that could be used to investigate serious accidents." But the best part: the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) says it has found "far more data than investigators had previously been aware of". How unexpected. The NFI said that the decrypted data proved that Tesla stores information about Autopilot usage, speed, accelerator pedal position, steering wheel angle and brake usage. Some of the data can be available for over a year, the report says. Francis Hoogendijk, a digital investigator at the NFI, said: “These data contain a wealth of information for forensic investigators and traffic accident analysts and can help with a criminal investigation after a fatal traffic accident or an accident with injury." For example, one investigation took place when the NFI looked into a collision involving a Tesla using Autopilot behind a car that braked hard. The investigation showed that the driver of the Tesla reacted with the expected response time, but the collision happened because the Tesla was too close. Aart Spek, NFI investigator, told Reuters: "That makes it interesting, because who is responsible for the following distance: the car or the driver?" The lab said it decided to forego seeking the data from Tesla in favor of reverse engineering data logs for it. The NFI said it was “in order to objectively investigate them," which we're guessing is a kind way to say "side-step Elon Musk's bullshit". Data storage has been in question since Tesla announced earlier this year it had established a site in China to help store data. Tesla provides data in the Netherlands when a court orders it to do so, but now the NFI knows exactly what kind of data the carmaker is storing and for how long. “You cannot claim what you do not know, so it’s helpful that we now know what else is being stored,” the NFI said. "Tesla however only supplies a specific subset of signals, only the ones requested, for a specific timeframe, whereas the log files contain all the recorded signals," the institute added. We're sure this revelation will catch the ear of the NHTSA, who is in the midst of a broad 700,000+ vehicle investigation into Tesla's Autopilot and its potential involvement in accidents involving emergency vehicles.

1 0