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Google has been summoned to the Cabinet Office over adverts from several big organisations appearing next to inappropriate material. Photograph: Virginia Mayo/AP

A French advertising group that has clients including O2, EDF and Royal Mail has become the first of the major global marketing companies to pull all its ad spend from Google and YouTube.

Havas, the worlds sixth largest marketing services group, spends about 175m on digital advertising on behalf of clients in the UK annually.

The firm said it had taken the step after talks with Google had broken down because the tech company had been unable to provide specific reassurances, policy and guarantees that their video or display content is classified either quickly enough or with the correct filters.

It comes after Google was forced to review its ad policies when the UK government joined a number of organisations, including the Guardian, BBC and Transport for London, in pulling advertising from Google and YouTube. Google has been summoned to the Cabinet Office.

Havas UK spends about 500m on all forms of advertising a year and has clients including Dominos, Emirates and the BBC. It said that the black list applies to all YouTube and digital display advertising on Googles network.

We have a duty of care to our clients in the UK marketplace to position their brands in the right context where we can be assured that that environment is safe, regulated to the degree necessary and additive to their brands objectives, said Paul Frampton, Havas UK chief executive and country manager.

Our position will remain until we are confident in the YouTube platform and Google Display Networks ability to deliver the standards we and our clients expect.

Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the worlds largest marketing services group WPP, was critical of Google but fell short of blacklisting the company from its UK advertising schedule.

We have always said Google, Facebook and others are media companies and have the same responsibilities as any other media company, said Sorrell. They cannot masquerade as technology companies, particularly when they place advertisements.

In a growing crisis for the tech giant, members of the Commons home affairs select committee wrote to Google to express disappointment that the government and major brands were still being placed alongside inappropriate content.

In its letter, the committee, chaired by Yvette Cooper, demanded that Google refund organisations whose adverts appeared linked to offensive videos.

Ronan Harris, managing director of Google UK, said: Weve begun a thorough review of our ads policies and brand controls, and we will be making changes in the coming weeks to give brands more control over where their ads appear across YouTube and the Google Display Network.

Harris said last year Google removed nearly 2bn bad ads from its systems, removed over 100,000 publishers from its AdSense programme and prevented ads from serving on over 300m YouTube videos.

The inappropriate content included YouTube videos of American white nationalists, a hate preacher banned in the UK and a controversial Islamist preacher.

Ads for the Guardians membership scheme are understood to have been placed alongside a range of extremist material after an agency acting on the media groups behalf used Googles AdX ad exchange, which uses programmatic trading.

The use of programmatic trading, which automates the process of buying and selling advertising online, is increasingly controversial, raising concerns that it both hurts media revenues and supports extremist material.

Media owners such as YouTube and many thousands of other publishers make their advertising slots available within the programmatic system for advertisers to bid on. This process is handled through digital trading desks used by media agencies, which plan, book and execute campaigns on behalf of their advertising clients.

These connect with exchanges such as AdX, which is owned by Google, to in turn run ads around media such as videos on YouTube. Google also delivers ads to many other third-party sites.

An investigation by the Times claimed that as well as taxpayer-funded ads from the government, ads from several media and retail companies including Channel 4, the BBC, Argos and LOral also appeared alongside extremist content on Google and YouTube.

A government spokeswoman said: Digital advertising is a cost-effective way for the government to engage millions of people in vital campaigns such as military recruitment and blood donation.

Google is responsible for ensuring the high standards applied to government advertising are adhered to and that adverts do not appear alongside inappropriate content. We have placed a temporary restriction on our YouTube advertising pending reassurances from Google that government messages can be delivered in a safe and appropriate way.

Google has been summoned for discussions at the Cabinet Office to explain how it will deliver the high quality of service government demands on behalf of the taxpayer.

Phil Smith, director general of Isba, which has some 450 members, called for changes to Googles advertising policies.

More needs to be done now to protect the reputation of responsible advertisers on digital platforms, he said. Isba urges Google immediately to review its policies and controls on the placement of advertising and to raise the bar to eliminate the risk of brands being damaged by inappropriate context.

Whatever Googles editorial policy, advertising should only be sold against content that is safe for brands. Isba would further encourage Google to withdraw immediately from sale any advertising inventory which it cannot guarantee as a safe environment for advertising, to restore advertiser confidence and to allow a thorough review of systems, processes and controls to take place.

Isba suggested that Google should review placing ads immediately against newly uploaded YouTube content before it has been classified. Google should ensure that content is quarantined until properly categorised, Smith said.

Dan Brooke, Channel 4s chief marketing and communications officer, said the company was extremely concerned about its advertising being put alongside offensive material on YouTube.

It is a direct contravention of assurances our media-buying agency had received on our behalf from YouTube, he added. As we are not satisfied that YouTube is currently a safe environment, we have removed all Channel 4 advertising from the platform with immediate effect.

David Pemsel, the Guardians chief executive, wrote to Google to say it was unacceptable for its advertising to be misused in this way and the media group would be withdrawing its advertising until Google could provide guarantees that this ad misplacement via Google and YouTube will not happen in the future.

In a week which saw increasing political pressure on tech firms, representatives from Google, Twitter and Facebook were hauled in front of department of Culture, Media and Sport on Tuesday morning.

In a meeting at the department, they faced hard questions from Matt Hancock, the minister for digital and culture policy, over claims that they were not doing enough to curb the spread of fake news. The DCMS select committee is currently investigating the matter.

In the afternoon they then faced a further battering from the home affairs select committee, which accused them of commercial prostitution for failing to stem a flood of hate speech and extremist propaganda on their platform.

In a letter to Google, the committee also expressed shock that videos by banned far-right group National Action still appeared online despite heated exchanges between MPs and tech companies earlier this week.

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French advertising giant pulls out of Google and YouTube - The Guardian

Abena Hutchful holds a sign in support of Marissa Alexander at the 50th Anniversary of The March On Washington. (Tony Savino/Corbis via Getty Images)

Unfortunately, Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville, Fla., is a living embodiment of the vicious discrepancies of our criminal justice systemboth against black defendants and against women.

In late January, Alexander was finally able to be done with her debt to the stateone she paid for with years of her life, and more than $10,000 in cash (in Florida, prisoners have to pay for their ankle-device and cost of monitoring as well as drug testing.)

Her case, though unfortunately not uncommon, gained notoriety especially in light of the Trayvon Martin travesty, in which George Zimmerman was able to use Floridas Stand Your Ground law to escape punishment for the shooting death of 17-year-old unarmed teen, Trayvon Martin.

In 2010, days after giving birth, Alexander fired a warning shot (with a legal, registered gun) against her documented, and admittedly abusive estranged husband who was attacking her. She was not able to claim self-defense and use Stand Your Ground.

The judge in Alexanders case instructed the jury that, when considering whether Alexander had acted in self-defense, she had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that her husband Rico Gray was committing aggravated battery when she fired. The jury came back with a guilty verdict in 12 minutes.

The judge in the Zimmerman murder trial instructed the jury that Zimmerman had no duty to retreat. He was fully acquitted.

Adding insult to grievous injury, the same prosecutor from the Zimmerman case, Angela Corey had the discretion to add a 10-20-Life sentencing enhancement, which requires a 20-year minimum sentence when a firearm is discharged.

Truthout reports that the Florida Department of Corrections has noted that Black people are more than twice as likely as white or Latino people to have the enhancement added to their sentence. And so it was with Alexander. Corey decided to add that enhancement, and Alexander was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Also, though women commit murder far less often than men, they typically receive longer sentences for killing their male partners than do men who kill female partners, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Estimates range between 40 to 80 percent of women convicted of murder acted in self-defense against their abusers. Alexander didnt even kill or harm Rico Gray. She just fired a warning shot.

In 2013, an appeals court overturned Alexanders conviction, and the prosecutor once again charged Alexander with three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Alexander faced up to 60 years. Eventually, she agreed to a plea bargain that included time served for nearly three years she spent in prison.

In January, the mother of three was officially done with her two-year sentence of home confinement and electronic monitoring.

Truth-out reports that after midnight on Jan. 26, she drove to her sisters house where she, her mother and her sister had a toast to her freedom. The next morning, she took her six-year-old daughter to breakfast before dropping her off at school; something that shed never before been able to do. That night, she took her 16-year-old twins to dinner. That weekend, family and friends threw a party in her honor. And finally, on Sunday, Alexander put a baseball cap on and headed to a local bar to watch the football game in anonymity.

She recounts to the outlet the struggle of home monitoring which forced her to recount her every move; sometimes human error messed her schedule up and she was unable to attend church services or take her children to the park. Still, she says, In the grand scheme of things, you cannot compare home confinement to prisons. Yet, the rigor of it, leaves a lot of room for errorand reimprisonment.

I feel like its money-making. Period, she told Truthout. You are putting people in the position that they are trying to pay for something that is difficult for them to pay for, she said of the fees that most people on monitors are required to pay. Those that cant keep up with the fees are sent back to jail. Whatever money you paid to the system, they got, but youre back in jail so now the taxpayers are paying for you. Its a mess.

I find myself wanting to stay in my house just like I was doing before, she added, noting that she hasnt become fully accustomed to the fact that she is free to go to the store or simply step outside her house when she wishes, without repercussions.

In February, Alexander spoke before the Senate Rule Committee in favor of Senate Bill 128, which would shift the burden of proof from the defendant to the state in Stand Your Ground hearings.

Im just going to give you three numbers, she stated before the committee. Number one. Number 12. And number 20. For me, one shot, a 12-minute verdict got me 20 years. I did go through a Stand Your Ground hearing. And in that hearing, you could tell the court and the prosecution struggled with that because it was difficult. With that said, putting a defendant in the position where they have to bear the burden of proof, in my opinion, removes your Constitutional right, the Fifth Amendment.

She also started the Marissa Alexander Justice Project, and penned a memoir.

Im going to be part of whats already out there and use my experiences and my name to bring more to it, Alexander said. Im not separate from anybody. This will be my contribution in solidarity.

Read more at Truthout.org.

Originally posted here:
Marissa Alexander Speaks: The Current System, 'It's a Mess' - The Root

In 1920, the Senate rejected, for a second time, the Treaty of Versailles by a vote of 49 in favor, 35 against, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval. (Photo by US Army Signal Corps/US Army Signal Corps/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Today is Sunday, March 19, the 78th day of 2017.

Todays Highlight in History:

On March 19, 1917, a divided U.S. Supreme Court, in Wilson v. New, upheld 5-4 the eight-hour work day for interstate railroad workers.

On this date:

In 1863, the Confederate cruiser Georgiana, was scuttled off Charleston, South Carolina, on its maiden voyage to prevent it from falling into Union hands.

In 1920, the Senate rejected, for a second time, the Treaty of Versailles (vehr-SY) by a vote of 49 in favor, 35 against, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed for approval.

In 1931, Nevada Gov. Fred B. Balzar signed a measure legalizing casino gambling.

In 1942, during World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered men between the ages of 45 and 64, inclusive, to register for non-military duty.

In 1945, during World War II, 724 people were killed when a Japanese dive bomber attacked the carrier USS Franklin off Japan (the ship was saved). Adolf Hitler ordered the destruction of German facilities that could fall into Allied hands in his so-called Nero Decree, which was largely disregarded.

In 1951, Herman Wouks World War II novel The Caine Mutiny was first published by Doubleday.

In 1965, the wreck of the Confederate cruiser Georgiana was discovered by E. Lee Spence, 102 years to the day after it was scuttled.

In 1977, the series finale of Mary Tyler Moore aired on CBS-TV, ending the situation comedys seven-season run.

In 1979, the U.S. House of Representatives began televising its floor proceedings; the live feed was carried by C-SPAN (Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network), which was making its debut.

In 1987, televangelist Jim Bakker resigned as chairman of his PTL ministry organization amid a sex and money scandal involving Jessica Hahn, a former church secretary.

In 1997, artist Willem de Kooning, considered one of the 20th centurys greatest painters, died in East Hampton, New York, at age 92.

In 2003, President George W. Bush ordered the start of war against Iraq. (Because of the time difference, it was early March 20 in Iraq.)

Ten years ago: President George W. Bush marked the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war with a plea for patience to let his revised battle plan work; Congress new Democratic leaders retorted that no patience remained. A methane gas explosion in a Siberian coal mine killed 110 workers. Death claimed rhythm-and-blues singer-songwriter Luther Ingram at age 69 and TV performer Calvert DeForest, aka Larry Bud Melman, at age 85.

Five years ago: An assailant on a motorbike opened fire with two handguns in front of a Jewish school in the southern French city of Toulouse, killing a rabbi, his two young sons and a girl. (The gunman, French-born Mohammed Merah, was killed in a gunfight with police after a 32-hour standoff at his apartment; he had also killed three French paratroopers.) The federal Justice Department announced it had begun an investigation into the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida by a neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman.

One year ago: A FlyDubai Boeing 737 plunged into the ground near the airport in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing all 62 people on board. A Turkish suicide bomber killed five people, including two Americans, in Istanbuls main pedestrian shopping street; Turkish officials said the bomber was linked to Islamic State. Protesters blocked a main highway leading into the Phoenix suburb where Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump was staging a campaign rally alongside Arizonas contentious sheriff, Joe Arpaio.

2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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Today in History: March 19 - WTOP

Murderah - Lef We Black Man Alone is a hard-hitting song from Canadian deejay Chatta. She produced it for her RaggaNational label.

The single is inspired by controversial incidents involving police and black men throughout the United States.

Its a known fact that young black men are being targeted and treated unfairly all over the world. Black men are more likely to be harassed, maimed, arrested, and endure a violent demise by the police, than men from other races, Chatta said. It is absolutely mortifying to think about what happened to Trayvon Martin, and so many others after him in recent times.

Martin, 17, was killed by George Zimmerman, a man of Latin descent, in Florida in February 2012. The shooting sparked global outrage and drew even more fury when Zimmerman was acquitted of murder.

Murderah - Lef We Black Man Alone and its music video were released in February, celebrated as Black History Month.

I chose to release this single in February because I wanted to bring this issue to the attention of the world during Black History Month, letting our men know that we care, and we are aware the problem still exists, said Chatta.

A physician by profession, Chatta (given name Tricia Edwards) was born in Toronto to Jamaican parents. She has been recording since 2003; her EP, The Speed of Consciousness, was released in 2004.

Continued here:
Chatta gets militant in latest song - Jamaica Observer

Considerations for youth and social networking Part 4: Sharing photos Helping youth make decisions about photos they share online.

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Christine Heverly, Michigan State University Extension

According to a 2015 Pew Research, 92 percent of teenagers 13-17 years old report going online daily and 71 percent are using at least one social networking site. With this high usage of social networking and teenagers going online, there are many factors adults should consider when helping youth navigate their usage of social networking sites. This article specifically looks at helping youth with the photos they share online. Adults need to help youth understand the different outcomes of sharing a photo online and to others.

Youth should consider the following two major factors.

Disappearing doesnt mean gone forever. With youth using disappearing apps like Snapchat, they need to understand that photo isnt necessarily gone. Once a youth sends the photo to another person, that person can easily share the photo with others. One should never assume your content is 100 percent safe from other people taking the information and sharing with someone else.

Youth could lose out on opportunities. The pictures one chooses to share online help paint a picture for others to make judgements about that youth. Potential jobs, college admission officers, scholarship selection committees, etc. could possibly see the photos that are being shared online. That could mean a youth may miss out on a job, scholarship or another opportunity.

To help adults educate youth about taking time to consider the outcomes of sharing photos online, Michigan State University Extension has some questions parents or other adults should share with youth:

Youth enjoy sharing photos through social media tools, so it is extremely important to help them understand what they share online can be seen by others, even if that wasnt the original intent. Adults should help youth understand that every picture that is shared with others paints a picture of that youth. Others can use this information to make assumptions about the youth or even locate a youth.

Technology changes, apps come and go, and the next wave in social media platforms will come about, but that doesnt change the guidelines youth should consider around the photos they are sharing. Adults should continually be reminding youth they need to take a few moments to think before sharing a photo.

Check out this previous articles in this series below, and watch for future articles that will continue to explore different areas of sharing information on social networks.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit http://expert.msue.msu.edu, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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Considerations for youth and social networking Part 4: Sharing photos - Michigan State University Extension