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Congressman Jim Jordan has demanded that Stanford Universitys Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO) clarify its role and activities related to election-related speech monitoring ahead of the 2024 election, citing concerns about potential First Amendment violations and censorship.

The Committee on the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government are conducting oversight of how and to what extent the Executive Branch has coerced or colluded with companies and other intermediaries to censor lawful speech, Representative Jordan wrote in a June 24 letter, which was obtained by National Review.

As part of the investigation, the committee subpoenaed documents about work relating to content moderation.

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Given the SIOs role in the censorship of Americans in the lead-up to the 2020 election, and your clients repeated false and/or misleading statements to the Committee and the Select Subcommittee, we remain concerned about what actions the SIO or its remnants will take in the lead-up to the 2024 election that are antithetical to the First Amendment and Americans right to free expression, Representative Jordan stated.

Jordans letter concludes his letter by asking whether or not SIO will support any monitoring, analysis, or research of Americans election-related speech in the lead-up to the 2024 election and whether it intends to work with any part of the Executive Branch.

The congressman asked for responses to his queries by July 1.

The purpose of SIO, which is a part of Stanfords Cyber Policy Center, is to investigate disinformation, especially on social media. It has pledged that it will, by monitoring speech online, defend democracy.

However, skeptics say that SIO, more than anything else, results in undue censorship, especially if it acts in coordination with the federal government, as noted by The Stanford Review.

Some commentators say the research center is in decline, with its founding director, Alex Stamos, having resigned from his position in November 2023.

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An article from Platformer on June 13 reported that Stanfords administration is quietly dismantling SIO in response to criticism because the university seems to have calculated that the lab had become more trouble than it is worth. Representative Jordan responded to the Platformer article by posting to X on June 14, Free speech wins again!

However, the universityclarified in a June 17 update that Stanford has not shut down or dismantled SIO as a result of outside pressure. SIO does, however, face funding challenges as its founding grants will soon be exhausted.

Campus Reform has contacted Stanford University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.

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Jim Jordan demands answers over censorship from Stanford's 'disinformation' center - Campus Reform

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Opponents of new Idaho library law say it creates censorship - KXLY Spokane

Helping Putin to round up dissidents

Fruit-themed cargo cult Apple, has, in its infinite wisdom, decided to remove several apps offering virtual private network (VPN) services from the Russian AppStore, following a polite request from Roskomnadzor, Russias ever-vigilant media regulator.

Apple has graciously removed VPN services such as ProtonVPN, Red Shield VPN, NordVPN, and Le VPN, making it easier for Tsar Putin to chase dissidents and track messages to foreign countries.

Those fortunate enough to reside in Russia will no longer be able to download these services. However, users who already have them on their phones can continue using them, albeit without the luxury of updates.

Red Shield VPN posted a notice from Apple on X stating that their app would be removed following a request from Roskomnadzor because it includes content that is illegal in Russia.

Since the delightful commencement of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has introduced the most charmingly strict online censorship and has blocked numerous independent media outlets and popular social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram, and X.

VPN services have become progressively more elusive in Russia since the recent ban on advertising and popularising VPNs came into effect, which includes the prohibition of web pages with instructions on how to set VPNs up.

Despite gallantly suspending all sales of its products in Russia in March 2022, Jobs Mob has dutifully complied with Russian government regulations. Since 2023, it has removed at least 19 apps from the Russian AppStore.

At Roskomnadzors behest, in March, Apple removed an app developed by the late Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalnys team that was designed to help Russians choose who to vote for to maximise the impact of the anti-Putin vote, in a move that echoed the removal of another Navalny-designed app in 2021.

While the Tame Apple Press has been claiming that the move is not about money and Jobs Mob has to obey the rules of the country in which it does business, it is worth pointing out that Mozilla told Roskomnadzor where to shove it.

Read more from the original source:
Apple agrees to Russian censorship - Fudzilla

Roberto Medronho is a Rector at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. This op-ed was published in Portuguese in the Brazilian newspaper O Globo. It has been lightly edited for publication at Tech Policy Press.

Last week we were surprised by a request for a public hearing in the Public Security and Organized Crime Committee in the Brazilian Congress, which aims to question the results of research conducted by Netlab, our renowned laboratory at the School of Communication of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The request calls professors to the Public Security and Organized Crime Committee, hoping to censor science in Brazil by criminalizing their research. Therefore, this is not just an attack on the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro but on the entire Brazilian academic community.

The laboratory is being targeted over its research agenda, which addresses the problem of disinformation. Netlab's research, which has a special focus on socio-environmental issues and internet scams, has gained prominence in the main Brazilian media outlets in the last month due to the climate tragedy that occurred in Rio Grande do Sul (a large state in the south of Brazil), which left 160 dead and 629,000 people without homes due to flooding. The disaster was heavily affected by a fake news firehose campaign to manipulate public opinion and also by hundreds of thousands of scams requesting false donations, diverting help from the victims of the climate tragedy to fill the pockets of fraudsters. Furthermore, Netlab has distinguished itself over the years for producing numerous research studies of incalculable value to society. A source of great pride for UFRJ, the lab provides evidence using scientific methodology that supports public policies and assists managers and authorities in decision-making roles.

The request seeks to call into question the fact that the laboratory is funded by public and philanthropic foundation resources for its research. Indeed, most research generated in Brazil depends on public resources, and this should continue to be the case. However, public resources for research are scarce in light of the immense demands and challenges posed to cutting-edge scientific and technological development, especially for those requiring large-scale data processing and high investments. In this regard, we applaud all researchers, laboratories, and institutions that manage to supplement their budgets by presenting projects to public funds and highly competitive private national and international philanthropic foundations, as Netlab of UFRJ does.

This strategy follows a familiar playbook used in other countries by far-right agents aiming to censor science through parliamentary or congressional action. In this case, the goal is to inhibit studies on disinformation and pressure researchers to abandon their research topics during an election year, as will take place in Brazil in 2024. And it is precisely because we are familiar with this playbook, which recalls the darkest times of dictatorship in our country's history, that we reaffirm our commitment to independent research. We declare that we will not be intimidated by manipulations and threats to our universitys autonomy, academic independence, and freedom of research, which are the pillars of the Public University and a conquest of the democratic rule of law.

We will not tolerate censorship of scientific research, nor will we allow the criminalization of professors, researchers, and the academic community when research results are displeasing to anyone. We at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro will continue our social mission to contribute to solving the problems of our society. Thus, we call on the Brazilian population to remain vigilant in defense of free science, without censorship and with the necessary resources, which is fundamental for the economic, social, and political development of our country and to guarantee national sovereignty.

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Far-Right Seeks to Censor Science and Criminalize Researchers Studying Disinformation in Brazil | TechPolicy.Press - Tech Policy Press

The Mozilla Foundation, the entity behind the web browser Firefox, is blocking various censorship circumvention add-ons for its browser, including ones specifically to help those in Russia bypass state censorship. The add-ons were blocked at the request of Russias federal censorship agency, Roskomnadzor the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media according to a statement by Mozilla to The Intercept.

Following recent regulatory changes in Russia, we received persistent requests from Roskomnadzor demanding that five add-ons be removed from the Mozilla add-on store, a Mozilla spokesperson told The Intercept in response to a request for comment. After careful consideration, weve temporarily restricted their availability within Russia. Recognizing the implications of these actions, we are closely evaluating our next steps while keeping in mind our local community.

Stanislav Shakirov, the chief technical officer of Roskomsvoboda, a Russian open internet group, said he hoped it was a rash decision by Mozilla that will be more carefully examined.

Its a kind of unpleasant surprise because we thought the values of this corporation were very clear in terms of access to information, and its policy was somewhat different, Shakirov said. And due to these values, it should not be so simple to comply with state censors and fulfill the requirements of laws that have little to do with common sense.

Developers of digital tools designed to get around censorship began noticing recently that their Firefox add-ons were no longer available in Russia.

On June 8, the developer of Censor Tracker, an add-on for bypassing internet censorship restrictions in Russia and other former Soviet countries, made a post on the Mozilla Foundations discussion forums saying that their extension was unavailable to users in Russia.

The developer of another add-on, Runet Censorship Bypass, which is specifically designed to bypass Roskomnadzor censorship, posted in the thread that their extension was also blocked. The developer said they did not receive any notification from Mozilla regarding the block.

Two VPN add-ons, Planet VPN and FastProxy the latter explicitly designed for Russian users to bypass Russian censorship are also blocked. VPNs, or virtual private networks, are designed to obscure internet users locations by routing users traffic through servers in other countries.

The Intercept verified that all four add-ons are blocked in Russia. If the webpage for the add-on is accessed from a Russian IP address, the Mozilla add-on page displays a message: The page you tried to access is not available in your region. If the add-on is accessed with an IP address outside of Russia, the add-on page loads successfully.

Roskomnadzor is responsible for control and supervision in telecommunications, information technology, and mass communications, according to the Russias federal censorship agencys English-language page.

In March, the New York Times reported that Roskomnadzor was increasing its operations to restrict access to censorship circumvention technologies such as VPNs. In 2018, there were multiple user reports that Roskomnadzor had blocked access to the entire Firefox Add-on Store.

According to Mozillas Pledge for a Healthy Internet, the Mozilla Foundation is committed to an internet that includes all the peoples of the earth where a persons demographic characteristics do not determine their online access, opportunities, or quality of experience. Mozillas second principle in their manifesto says, The internet is a global public resource that must remain open and accessible.

The Mozilla Foundation, which in tandem with its for-profit arm Mozilla Corporation releases Firefox, also operates its own VPN service, Mozilla VPN. However, it is only available in 33 countries, a list that doesnt include Russia.

The same four censorship circumvention add-ons also appear to be available for other web browsers without being blocked by the browsers web stores. Censor Tracker, for instance, remains available for the Google Chrome web browser, and the Chrome Web Store page for the add-on works from Russian IP addresses. The same holds for Runet Censorship Bypass, VPN Planet, and FastProxy.

In general, its hard to recall anyone else who has done something similar lately, said Shakirov, the Russian open internet advocate. For the last few months, Roskomnadzor (after the adoption of the law in Russia that prohibits the promotion of tools for bypassing blockings) has been sending such complaints about content to everyone.

The rest is here:
Mozilla Firefox Blocks Add-Ons to Circumvent Russia Censorship - The Intercept