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Did Mark Zuckerberg Really Create Facebook? – Collective Evolution

Posted by M. C. on July 2, 2019

Mark Zuckerberg, and all of us who were there from the beginning, are lying to you and using your personal life as a government-controlled experiment in brain-washing and mind-control – basically a weaponized system of the military (CIA especially) that got out of control.

https://www.collective-evolution.com/2019/07/01/did-mark-zuckerberg-really-create-facebook/

By

CE Staff Writer

In Brief

  • The Facts:A letter alleged to be written by a Facebook insider who was Mark Zuckerberg’s lover from their freshman year at Harvard brings into question the notion that Mark Zuckerberg was the creator of Facebook.
  • Reflect On:Can we feel that larger and larger revelations from insiders, challenging our mainstream perception of what is real and true, are starting to awaken us from a controlled illusion put in place by powers that do not have our best interests at heart?

An explosive letter alleged to be written by a Facebook insider who was Mark Zuckerberg’s lover from their freshman year at Harvard was hand-delivered to a member of the Anonymous Patriot’s Conclave a few days ago and published on their American Intelligence Media website (aim4truth.org).

For those with any interest in knowing whether or not Mark Zuckerberg is really the boy-genius founder of Facebook and author of the essential computer source code that anchors today’s social media giants, calling this letter ‘explosive’ may even be an understatement.

In terms of its authenticity, AIM said this as a preamble to the letter:

American Intelligence Media has been able to quickly verify that many of the claims insinuated in this “Zuckerberg Dossier” are true and this leads us to conclude that the document is authentic and exactly what it appears to be. The true authorship of this Zuckerberg Dossier is evident to members of the Conclave, but that supposition is speculation and the Conclave does not deal in speculation. Though, if one were to listen carefully to the admission of guilt by Sean Parker (a long-time executive of Facebook) which he made repeatedly before the press, you will hear that Sean knew all about the true creation of the social media giant and its evil intents and fingers the culprits.

Therefore, it is not hard at all to figure out who may have written this expose on Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook evil. You can even see the true motivation for writing this “tell all” about Zuckerberg at this time in history, just as Facebook is facing all kinds of charges, including  anti-trust violations.

From my perspective, I have tried to establish the credibility of this letter in terms of its consistency and its coherence with established facts, as well as with many of the other allegations surrounding this matter. Piecing together many aspects of this story, let’s see if we can arrive at a cohesive whole that appears to be the likeliest of explanations for what is going on now at Facebook and in the social media arena in general.

LifeLog

Our story starts with a project called ‘LifeLog,’ the handiwork of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)

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The Tech Industry’s Psychological War on Kids – Richard Freed – Medium

Posted by M. C. on June 29, 2019

According to B.J. Fogg, the “Fogg Behavior Model” is a well-tested method to change behavior and, in its simplified form, involves three primary factors: motivation, ability, and triggers. Describing how his formula is effective at getting people to use a social network, the psychologist says in an academic paper that a key motivator is users’ desire for “social acceptance,”

While social media and video game companies have been surprisingly successful at hiding their use of persuasive design from the public, one breakthrough occurred in 2017 when Facebook documents were leaked to The Australian. The internal report crafted by Facebook executives showed the social network boasting to advertisers that by monitoring posts, interactions, and photos in real time, the network is able to track when teens feel “insecure,” “worthless,” “stressed,” “useless” and a “failure.” Why would the social network do this? The report also bragged about Facebook’s ability to micro-target ads down to “moments when young people need a confidence boost.”

https://medium.com/@richardnfreed/the-tech-industrys-psychological-war-on-kids-c452870464ce

Richard Freed

“We called the police because she wrecked her room and hit her mom… all because we took her phone,” Kelly’s father explained. He said that when the police arrived that evening, Kelly was distraught and told an officer that she wanted to kill herself. So an ambulance was called, and the 15-year-old was strapped to a gurney, taken to a psychiatric hospital, and monitored for safety before being released. Days after being hospitalized, Kelly was brought to my office by her parents who wanted to get help for their troubled girl.

Kelly’s parents spoke first. They said that their daughter’s hospitalization was the culmination of a yearlong downward spiral spurred by her phone obsession. Kelly had been refusing to spend time with her family or focus on school. Instead, she favored living her life on social media. A previously happy girl and strong student, Kelly had grown angry, sullen, and was now bringing home report cards with sinking grades. Kelly’s parents had tried many times in prior months to set limits on their daughter’s phone use, but she had become increasingly defiant and deceitful, even sneaking on her phone at all hours of the night.

When Kelly’s latest report card revealed a number of failing grades, her parents felt compelled to act. They told Kelly early in the afternoon on the day the police were called that she would need to turn in her phone by 9 p.m. But when the time came, Kelly refused, and a pushing match ensued between her and her parents, concluding in the violent tantrum that led the girl to be hospitalized.

I asked Kelly, who was sitting in a corner, to help me understand her perspective on that evening. She didn’t respond and instead glared at her parents. But then, surprising everyone in the room, she cried, “They took my f***ing phone!” Attempting to engage Kelly in conversation, I asked her what she liked about her phone and social media. “They make me happy,” she replied.

The Undoing of Families

As Kelly and her family continued their appointments with me in the coming months, two concerns dominated our meetings. The first was that Kelly’s unhealthy attachment to her phone continued, causing almost constant tension at home. The second concern emerged during my meetings with Kelly’s parents alone. Even though they were loving and involved parents, Kelly’s mom couldn’t help feeling that they’d failed their daughter and must have done something terribly wrong that led to her problems…

“Machines Designed to Change Humans”

Nestled in an unremarkable building on the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California, is the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, founded in 1998. The lab’s creator, Dr. B.J. Fogg, is a psychologist and the father of persuasive technology, a discipline in which digital machines and apps — including smartphones, social media, and video games — are configured to alter human thoughts and behaviors. As the lab’s website boldly proclaims: “Machines designed to change humans.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Banks Will Soon Be Obsolete | The Nestmann Group

Posted by M. C. on June 26, 2019

Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple haven’t exactly done a great job of protecting user data. But traditional banks aren’t doing much better – a recent study from security consultancy Positive Technologies revealed that more than half of banks with an online presence allow fraudulent transactions and theft of funds.

There will be nothing crypto about your spending habits. The government and the ankle grabbing digital banks will make sure of that.

https://www.nestmann.com/banks-will-soon-be-obsolete

By Mark Nestmann

Last week, social networking giant Facebook announced that it plans to create what it calls an “alternative financial system” based on a cryptocurrency called the Libra. The crypto will be backed by a basket of currencies to keep its value stable.

Pundits immediately pronounced that the Libra could represent the beginning of the end for traditional banking. But while Facebook’s plunge into this space is the most ambitious effort by a Fortune 500 company to profit from the crypto market, the company hasn’t exactly done a stellar job of protecting user data. That makes me skeptical of its ability to safeguard your money.

Last October, Facebook announced that hackers had compromised more than 30 million accounts by taking advantage of vulnerabilities that have now been patched. A month later, researchers uncovered a vulnerability in Facebook Messenger that hackers could use to reveal the identity of the people with whom you exchanged messages. And who can forget the seemingly innocent quizzes that were used to gain access to 50 million Facebook accounts in an effort to affect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election?

It’s one thing to load photos of your cat doing stupid tricks onto your Facebook account. It’s quite another to trust the company with your money. Although Facebook says that Libra’s governance model will ensure “separation between social and financial data,” I suspect Libra will appeal mainly to people who don’t have bank accounts and have no practical way to open them. Facebook cited a figure of 1.7 billion adults in this category, with nearly half of them living in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, and Pakistan.

Still, the launch of the Libra is a proverbial shot across the bow for the banking industry. And it couldn’t come too soon.

Our global financial system is built on the flawed foundation of a poorly understood concept called fractional reserve banking…

The biggest risk of fractional reserve banking is, of course, the “bank run.” If a bank lends out too much of the funds on reserve and everyone wants their money at once, the bank won’t be able to pay everyone. Deposit insurance schemes evolved in the 20th century to shield bank customers from this possibility. As a result, bank customers in most countries treat their deposits, including those that are uninsured, as if they’re 100% backed by actual reserves.

Then came the 2013 Cyprus financial crisis and the collapse of the country’s banking system. In exchange for a €10 billion bailout from the European Central Bank, Cyprus agreed to force uninsured depositors to submit to a “bail-in.” Instead of getting their money back, depositors holding uninsured accounts that exceeded €100,000 received stock in the failed bank. Uninsured depositors at the worst-capitalized bank that failed lost all their money.

Bank regulators around the world quickly took notice, and by the end of 2014, decided to extend the bail-in model worldwide. Deposits in banks that are “too big to fail” will be “promptly recapitalized” with their “unsecured debt.” This avoids the taxpayer-funded bailouts that proved so politically unpopular during the 2008–2009 financial crisis.

And the largest chunk of unsecured debt is your bank deposits. Insolvent banks will recapitalize themselves by converting your deposits into stock…

Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Apple haven’t exactly done a great job of protecting user data. But traditional banks aren’t doing much better – a recent study from security consultancy Positive Technologies revealed that more than half of banks with an online presence allow fraudulent transactions and theft of funds. But security is likely to gradually improve, and the tech giants will provide much-needed competition for what was for many years an effective payments monopoly by fractional reserve banks.

I look forward to the day when the fractional reserve banking system takes its last breath.

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mark of the beast

The Mark of the Beast

 

 

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Guardians of money bristle at Zuckerberg’s new financial order

Posted by M. C. on June 24, 2019

Having custody of your own assets rather than depositing them in a bank is a totally different paradigm

The obvious Facebook concerns aside, digital money that the owner can actually control is the problem.

Bitcoin was originally envisioned as private banking. No one could stick it’s nose in your business. Facebook’s Libra? Forgettaboutit.

Privacy – there will be none, this is a Facebook/CIA project. Control – It’s extent is yet to be seen. Don’t get your hopes up.

The point of digital currency from a government/bankster perspective is to control your “money”. The bank wants to charge you to store your electrons. Interest? That’s funny!

Everyone wants to know your business. There will be no “crypto”.

The government wants banks to be able to shut you off at the flick of a switch. The bank and the government want to be able to give you haircut when things get bad.

This is a war on you and your cash.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/guardians-of-money-bristle-at-zuckerberg-s-new-financial-order-1.1277277

Alastair Marsh

–With assistance from Michelle Jamrisko.

Facebook Inc. was hours away from the formal announcement of its ambitious foray into financial services, but French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire was already broadcasting his discontent.

“It’s out of the question’’ that the social-media giant’s digital money compete with sovereign currencies, Le Maire said.

That was just the first shot in a torrent of criticism and skepticism from policy makers around the world. U.S. House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters promised an aggressive response from Congress. Former European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio called the initiative “unreliable and dangerous.”

Led by the social network with more users than the combined population of China and the U.S., the project represents a potential challenge that the guardians of money have never faced: a global currency they neither control nor manage. And while the megabanks and their regulators face no short-term threat to their command of finance, advocates of cryptocurrency say the future has arrived and that there’s no turning back.

“It is the beginning of a new financial system where current gatekeepers are substantially less relevant,’’ said Joey Krug, co-chief investment officer at Pantera Capital, founded in 2013 as the first U.S. investment firm focused on Bitcoin.

Called Libra, Facebook’s new currency will launch as soon as next year. It will initially be used for sending money among friends, family and businesses through the Messenger and WhatsApp services and then be used for routine transactions.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s ambitions extend beyond simply minting a new coin. The Libra token would contribute to a fairer world, where those now excluded from the banking system would have ready access to cheap and easy payments and financial services, according to a company white paper.

Libra is the latest example of how tech companies including Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc have ventured into the financial industry, offering everything from payments to money management and lending. While finance currently makes up a fraction of their business, giant companies with huge customer bases have the potential to trigger rapid changes in the industry and introduce new risks, according to a report Sunday by the Bank for International Settlements.

“Technology is changing the basis of competition,’’ says Huw van Steenis, senior adviser to Bank of England Governor Mark Carney. “It’s tearing up walls between businesses. It’s not just Facebook trying to do a currency.’’

Moving into the heavily regulated financial-services industry via cryptocurrencies, which are seen by many officials as nothing more than a conduit for financing illicit activities, Facebook has shown little reluctance to lessen its confrontation with authorities…

Meanwhile, Waters said Libra is “like starting a bank without having to go through any steps to do it,” and that it’s seeking to “compete with the dollar without having any regulatory regime that’s dealing with them.”

While Libra is designed to be less volatile than cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and is backed by a basket of securities and traditional currencies, some question how a technology company will interact with the monetary system. “I’m not entirely convinced that a tech company, at the end of the day, can be held accountable,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank in Singapore.

There are still many questions about how it will operate and its success is far from guaranteed. Yet the endeavor is being taken seriously by the financial-services industry because of Facebook’s scale and its already vast impact on the world.

While Facebook is now trying to sign up banks to the association governing the token, its new system is a challenge to banks that often act as middlemen in virtually all transactions, according to Charles McGarraugh, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner who has moved into the digital world as head of markets at cryptocurrency-wallet provider Blockchain.com.

“We are witnessing a re-orientation of financial services,’’ said McGarraugh. “Having custody of your own assets rather than depositing them in a bank is a totally different paradigm and a superior system to the too-big-to-fail construct that dominates the market now.’’

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UD/RK Samhälls Debatt | Ett rättframt, öppet och ...

 

 

 

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Elizabeth Warren’s Antitrust Crusade – LewRockwell

Posted by M. C. on June 19, 2019

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/06/dom-armentano/elizabeth-warrens-antitrust-crusade/

By

Elizabeth Warren has made antitrust a major public policy issue in her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. She has argued that several high-tech companies such as Amazon, Google and Facebook are just too big and that they should be broken up by the Justice Department in a major antitrust initiative.

Let’s be clear. Using antitrust regulation to break up large companies is an economic and civil liberties nightmare. Those who advocate such policies always fall victim to what Friedrich Hayek termed the “fatal conceit; that is, the assumption that regulators (and the courts) somehow know better than market participants how goods and services should be produced and sold…

Elizabeth Warren has maintained that Amazon, Facebook, and Google are just too big; but too big for whom? She must know that simply being “too big” is not a violation of antitrust law. Indeed, the traditional mission of antitrust is to protect consumers from the high prices and anti-competitive practices established through “conspiracy” or through the exercise of “monopoly power” in some relevant market. Yet Facebook, Amazon and Google do not charge high prices; indeed, they do not charge ANY explicit price at all but secure the bulk of their revenue through advertising. And even if some of their economic or privacy practices are determined to be questionable at some point, that alone would hardly justify any legal divestiture.

The fact remains that all of these companies are successful because consumers freely and repeatedly use their services. They all compete in legally open markets where other firms are free to raise capital and offer alternatives. Disgruntled consumers that choose not to use the free services of Amazon or Google can easily mouse click to other search engines (Bing in the case of Google) and several other online retailers in the case of Amazon. And, of course, no one is forced to participate in the Facebook universe at all (your author does not) and opting out (if you are in) is always possible. So from a strict price and choice perspective, it would be difficult to make a convincing argument that divestiture is justified or would produce the results intended…

Antitrust has a very checkered past and those who advocate its use would do well to study its history more closely. After all, there is almost no economic problem, real or imagined, that cannot be made worse by inappropriate government regulation. Antitrust is no exception.

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The U.S. Wrongfully Deports Its Own Citizens | Especially ...

 

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Facebook unveils ‘its most invasive and dangerous form of surveillance yet’ with launch of Libra cryptocurrency

Posted by M. C. on June 18, 2019

“If you’re concerned with Facebook knowing too much or having too much access to your private data or social graph, the GlobalCoin will give Facebook even more direct access to your financial information,”

This project is the antithesis of bitcoin and is another step towards total control of data and users.”

Bitcoin was “crypto” because the transactions were to be private. Facebook…crypto to you but no one else.

I am continually amazed to see what people use plastic to pay for. Alcohol for one. Credit card companies, the state (in PA), liqour control board (in PA) and who knows who else. One has to be very naive not to realize this is data banked.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/9319668/facebook-launch-libra-cryptocurrency/

FACEBOOK is launching cryptocurrency next year that will allow people to move money from their smartphone into a digital “wallet”.

The currency is known as Libra, which the social network says it has “no special role” in governing and will manage equally with a group of big companies.

Experts have branded the move a dangerous power grab that marks Facebook’s “most invasive” form of surveillance yet.

So far, Facebook has enlisted 28 firms, including Spotify and Uber, who each had to invest a minimum of £8million to be a founding member of the Libra Association, an independent not-for-profit membership organisation.

It wants to attract 100 businesses in time for launch, which it is aiming for the first half of 2020.

Libra is supported by a reserve of the world’s best assets and the world’s most trusted central banks, who gave the cryptocurrency “general cautious support”, according to David Marcus, who started exploring blockchain at Facebook a year ago.

“Libra holds the potential to provide billions of people around the world with access to a more inclusive, more open financial ecosystem,” he explained.

The social network is hoping that its collaborative approach can ease volatility concerns of existing blockchains and cryptocurrencies.

Facebook will operate its own digital wallet for people to spend Libra, known as the Calibra Wallet, which will be available in WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and as a standalone app.

Users will be able to send money to each other initially, at low to no cost, the social network said.

Eventually, it intends to open the Calibra Wallet up to additional services, so that people can pay bills, buy goods by scanning a code or accessing public transport…

Not everyone was singing the project’s praises.

Phil Chen, Decentralized Chief Officer at HTC, said the move was part of a “dangerous” power grab by Facebook.

“If you’re concerned with Facebook knowing too much or having too much access to your private data or social graph, the GlobalCoin will give Facebook even more direct access to your financial information,” he told The Sun. “It’s not just access to the information of your transactions, it’s direct access to your wealth and capital.
If the top-line question about Facebook and antitrust is about whether to break it up and spin off the likes of WhatsApp and Instagram – well this global coin is the most invasive and dangerous form of surveillance they have devised thus far. This will easily become the most dangerous antitrust case in history.
If this is launched and adopted worldwide, we’re bound to see Facebook as the top 10 biggest companies for the next 100 years that have complete ownership of the customer and their data from their social graph to every transaction recorded through Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram.
This project is the antithesis of bitcoin and is another step towards total control of data and users.”

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Exclusive: Facebook’s Process to Label You a ‘Hate Agent’ Revealed

Posted by M. C. on June 14, 2019

…and as we saw with the Daily Beast doxing story, the platform will publicize private information on their users to assist the media in hitjobs on regular American citizens…

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/06/13/exclusive-facebooks-process-to-label-you-a-hate-agent-revealed/

by ALLUM BOKHARI

Facebook monitors the offline behavior of its users to determine if they should be categorized as a “Hate Agent,” according to a document provided exclusively to Breitbart News by a source within the social media giant.

The document, titled “Hate Agent Policy Review” outlines a series of “signals” that Facebook uses to determine if someone ought to be categorized as a “hate agent” and banned from the platform.

Those signals include a wide range of on- and off-platform behavior. If you praise the wrong individual, interview them, or appear at events alongside them, Facebook may categorize you as a “hate agent.”

Facebook may also categorize you as a hate agent if you self-identify with or advocate for a “Designated Hateful Ideology,” if you associate with a “Designated Hate Entity” (one of the examples cited by Facebook as a “hate entity” includes Islam critic Tommy Robinson), or if you have “tattoos of hate symbols or hate slogans.”…

Facebook will also categorize you as a hate agent for possession of “hate paraphernalia,” although the document provides no examples of what falls into this category.

The document also says Facebook will categorize you as a hate agent for “statements made in private but later made public.” Of course, Facebook holds vast amounts of information on what you say in public and in private — and as we saw with the Daily Beast doxing story, the platform will publicize private information on their users to assist the media in hitjobs on regular American citizens…

The Benjamin addition reveals that Facebook may categorize you as a hate agent merely for speaking neutrally about individuals and organizations that the social network considers hateful. In the document, Facebook tags Benjamin with a “hate agent” signal for “neutral representation of John Kinsman, member of Proud Boys” on October 21 last year…

Here’s how “hate speech” — both on and off Facebook — will be categorized by the platform, according to the document:

Individual has made public statements, or statements made in private and later made public, using Tier 1, 2, or 3 hate speech or slurs:

3 instances in one statement or appearance = signal
5 instances in multiple statements or appearances over one month = signal

If you’ve done this within the past two years, Facebook will consider it a hate signal…

Are you a source at Facebook or any other corporation who wants to confidentially blow the whistle on wrongdoing or political bias at your company? Reach out to Allum Bokhari securely at allumbokhari@protonmail.com.

Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. 

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Identity Politics

 

 

 

 

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Facebook’s new public policy manager for Ukraine is nationalist hawk who volunteered with fascist party during US-backed coup | The Grayzone

Posted by M. C. on June 8, 2019

Put simply, Facebook is not making any pretense of being balanced and impartial. The big tech corporation has hired someone as biased as possible, a hardline right-wing nationalist with extensive experience working in the Ukrainian government.

In doing so, the company is breaking down the separation between social media and state.

Social media IS the state.

On social media, Kateryna Kruk proudly identifies herself as a “Euromaidan activist,” referencing the US government-backed 2013 and 2014 movement to oust Ukraine’s democratically elected President Viktor Yanukovych.

https://thegrayzone.com/2019/06/04/facebook-public-policy-manager-ukraine-kateryna-kruk/

By Ben Norton

When Facebook hired a new public policy manager for Ukraine, the mega-corporation chose one of the most biased candidates possible: a hawkish jingoist who has worked extensively with the Ukrainian government and the European Union.

Kateryna Kruk, who has served as Facebook’s first public policy manager for Ukraine since late May, was an active participant in Ukraine’s 2014 US-backed coup, in which far-right ultra-nationalists violently ousted a democratically elected government accused by the West of getting too close to Russia and replaced it with a pro-NATO one.

During the coup, Kruk volunteered with the fascistic Svoboda party, and defended the extreme-right group from criticism. She is a nationalist hardliner who compares Russian President Vladimir Putin to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, reduces all pro-Russian forces in Ukraine to “terrorists,” and opposes any kind of negotiations with Moscow.

Facebook’s new public policy manager for Ukraine publicly cheered when Turkey shot down a Russian plane, has called for martial law, and claims that Russians are incapable of keeping promises. She has even gone so far as to refer to the Kremlin as a “terrorist organization.”

An investigation by The Grayzone found that Kateryna Kruk said she “thanked” and “blessed” a boy who joined the Ukrainian neo-Nazi militia known as the Azov Battalion. She also gloated over fascist violence against Ukrainian communist politicians, and repeatedly called for the Communist Party of Ukraine to be banned.

The fact that someone with these extreme political views will be policing content for Facebook is already troubling, and raises concerns about whether she will censor sources that she disagrees with. But Kruk’s recent work history presents even more questions about bias and potential conflicts of interest.

The Ukrainian government’s favorite info-warrior…

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CREEPY: Amazon and Facebook Both Want to Read Human Emotions

Posted by M. C. on June 3, 2019

Facebook wants “emotionally sensitive” robots

Amazon has announced it’s developing a personal assistance robot, so the new emotional technology could easily be integrated into this at-home robot as a means to “serve the consumer better.”

Walmart was also looking into to monitoring your biometric data, pulse, and location from the sensors on a shopping cart handle.

Amazon’s own facial “Rekognition” software erroneously and hilariously identified 28 members of Congress as people who have been arrested for crimes.

One step away from psychologically sensitive. Will you pass the CIA’s Facebook’s definition of psychologically “normal”?

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/06/03/creepy-amazon-facebook-both-want-read-human-emotions/

Aaron KESEL

Facebook and Amazon’s insanity only seems to continue with no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Now, the two big conglomerate giants want to move into the uncharted territory of reading human emotions, both in their own ways.

Facebook wants a robot that has five senses which can read human emotions. Facebook wants “emotionally sensitive” robots that can explore the world, identify objects and people and enable its users to make more friends, .

The robots would be fitted with wheels or tank-like caterpillar treads that would allow them to trundle about their environment.

Alternatively, such robots could be fitted out with drive systems that would allow them to move around underwater, fly through the air or float in space, Facebook suggest in their patent.

I am not sure why anyone would trust Facebook with data ever again, let alone biometric data, after all the numerous scandals Activist Post has documented including data mining. But to each their own I guess.

Amazon is also looking into reading human emotions in a completely different way by utilizing a voice-activated wearable device, that will sense its wearer’s state of mind by the tone of voice, Bloomberg reported...

Amazon has announced it’s developing a personal assistance robot, so the new emotional technology could easily be integrated into this at-home robot as a means to “serve the consumer better.” A horrifically terrifying thought indeed…

Previously, Activist Post reported that Walmart was also looking into to monitoring your biometric data, pulse, and location from the sensors on a shopping cart handle.

This news comes as hundreds of retail stores — and soon thousands — are investigating using biometric facial recognition software FaceFirst to build a database of shoplifters to aid in the fight against theft,  Activist Postreported.

FaceFirst is designed to scan faces as far as 50 to 100 feet away…

However, facial recognition technology currently has a lot of problems. Activist Post has also reported how Amazon’s own facial “Rekognition” software erroneously and hilariously identified 28 members of Congress as people who have been arrested for crimes.

Activist Post previously reported on another test of facial recognition technology in Britain which resulted in 35 false matches and 1 erroneous arrest. We have further reported recently on a watchdog observing UK Metropolitan Police trials. Big Brother Watch stated the technology has misidentified members of the public, including a 14-year-old black child in a school uniform who was stopped and fingerprinted by police, as potential criminals in as much as 96 percent of scans…

In 2018 it was reported that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies were using this same Amazon Facial Rekognition technology to sift through surveillance data.

Defense One reports that “AI-Enabled Cameras That Detect Crime Before it Occurs Will Soon Invade the Physical World” are in the works and on display at ISC West, a recent security technology conference in Las Vegas.

Activist Post has previously reported in its own way that the rise of facial recognition technology is inevitable and, as a result, the death of one’s privacy is sure to come with it…

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Edward Snowden: With Technology, Institutions Have Made ‘Most Effective Means of Social Control in the History of Our Species’ | Common Dreams News

Posted by M. C. on June 3, 2019

“How many of you who have a Facebook account actually read the terms of service?” Snowden asked. “Everything has hundreds and hundreds of pages of legal jargon that we’re not qualified to read and assess—and yet they’re considered to be binding upon us.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/05/31/edward-snowden-technology-institutions-have-made-most-effective-means-social-control

NSA whistleblower says “new platforms and algorithms” can have direct effect on human behavior

by
Andrea Germanos, staff writer
Edward Snowden speaking via livestream on May 30, 2019 at Dalhousi University in Halifax

Edward Snowden speaking via livestream on May 30, 2019 at Dalhousi University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. (Screengrab/Vimeo)

 

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden said Thursday that people in systems of power have exploited the human desire to connect in order to create systems of mass surveillance.

Snowden appeared at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia via livestream from Moscow to give a keynote address for the Canadian university’s Open Dialogue Series.

Right now, he said, humanity is in a sort of “atomic moment” in the field of computer science.

“We’re in the midst of the greatest redistribution of power since the Industrial Revolution, and this is happening because technology has provided a new capability,” Snowden said.

“It’s related to influence that reaches everyone in every place,” he said. “It has no regard for borders. Its reach is unlimited, if you will, but its safeguards are not.”

Without such defenses, technology is able to affect human behavior.

Institutions can “monitor and record private activities of people on a scale that’s broad enough that we can say it’s close to all-powerful,” said Snowden. They do this through “new platforms and algorithms,” through which “they’re able to shift our behavior. In some cases they’re able to predict our decisions—and also nudge them—to different outcomes. And they do this by exploiting the human need for belonging.”

“We don’t sign up for this,” he added, dismissing the notion that people know exactly what they are getting into with social media platforms like Facebook.

“How many of you who have a Facebook account actually read the terms of service?” Snowden asked. “Everything has hundreds and hundreds of pages of legal jargon that we’re not qualified to read and assess—and yet they’re considered to be binding upon us.”

“It is through this sort of unholy connection of technology and sort of an unusual interpretation of contract law,” he continued, “that these institutions have been able to transform this greatest virtue of humanity—which is this desire to interact and to connect and to cooperate and to share—to transform all of that into a weakness.”

“And now,” he added, “these institutions, which are both commercial and governmental, have built upon that and… have structuralized that and entrenched it to where it has become now the most effective means of social control in the history of our species.”

“Maybe you’ve heard about it,” Snowden said. “This is mass surveillance.”

Listen to Snowden’s full remarks below. (He begins speaking around the 25-minute mark.)

Proceeds from the event went to the Montreal-based organization For the Refugees, which is working to obtain refugee status in Canada for the three families who sheltered Snowden in Hong Kong when he fled the U.S. to avoid being charged with violations under the Espionage Act.

Two of Snowden’s “guardian angels” arrived in Canada in March. The other five are still stuck in Hong Kong, the organization says, where they face the threat of deportation to their home countries of Sri Lanka and the Philippines, where they could face continued threats of persecution, torture, and possible death.

Snowden, in his remarks Thursday, said, “I owe them a debt that I’ll never be able to repay.”

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