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The editors at the prominent science journal BioEssays recently published an editorial demanding government-mandated censorship of intelligent design. My colleagues and I had expected something like this before long. They singled out Evolution News in particular as a being in need of prejudicial treatment from the huge tech companies that dominate electronic media. If giants like Google or Facebook hesitate, then says biologist Dave Speijer, the government should Make them.

The threat is no joke. You were aware that censors are already at work suppressing other ideas on the Internet that they dont like. Intelligent design was next in line.

What can you do to make a meaningful statement in favor of free speech? Heres an idea: Get a copy of the new book from Discovery Institute Press, Evolution & Intelligent Design in a Nutshell, the most accessible and up-to-date introduction to ID thats ever been released. It goes on sale today on Amazon, in paperback and Kindle formats.

The five authors, led by Thomas Y. Lo, cover the range of evidence for design in under 150 pages. The origin of the universe, the origin of life, the Cambrian explosion, and more theres no subject we cover at Evolution News that is left out, but it is all treated in a way that anyone can understand.

Why is it an effective counter to the bullies at BioEssays who want to shut down views that point to an underlying purpose in the cosmos?

As Dr. Lo writes in his Introduction, shuffling objective evidence of design under the rug is something that science textbooks have been doing for decades. He tells a moving story about his own journey to maturity as a scientist and as a religious believer, how his Christian faith unraveled when he was a young man, only to be regained as he realized what had been left out of his education: cosmological evidence of creation ex nihilo at the Big Bang, the fine-tuning of the universe, the truth about 19th-century German zoologists Ernst Haeckels classic embryo drawings, the puzzle of the Cambrian event that Charles Darwin acknowledged but that the textbooks papered over or ignored altogether.

He recalls one scientist, University of San Francisco biologist Paul Chien, whom he heard give a lecture thirty years ago. Dr Chien explained the challenge of the Cambrian explosion to standard Darwinian accounts of evolution. Today, Dr. Chien contributed a chapter to the Nutshell book that includes his own personal stories of visiting key Cambrian fossil sites.

The textbooks leave most or all of this out. In the same tradition, todays censors are bent on keeping minds closed. But they are more dangerous because of the way technology has turned social media platforms into potential bottlenecks.

So get Evolution & Intelligent Design in a Nutshell for yourself, or share it with a friend, or with a student. The book is just in time because, under an endless lockdown in many places, theres a bull market for studying at home. You might have a high school student in your household, or a college student, who would benefit from the insights and crystal-clear presentation of Lo, Chien, and their co-authors, Eric Anderson, Robert Alston, and Robert Waltzer.

Arguments for intelligent design, conveyed in weighty tomes, can be daunting for the learner seeking an introduction. As chemist Marcos Eberlin quips, evolutionists hope you dont know chemistry. Sometimes it seems that ID proponents assume that you know not only chemistry, but biology, physics, mathematics, computer engineering, and philosophy, just for starters. Thomas Lo has done a service by cutting through much detail to the core of intelligent design.

For more on BioEssays and its call for suppression, see here:

You are not powerless. Stick it to the censors by ordering your copy now.

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Here's How to Fight Censorship In a Nutshell - Discovery Institute

Video sharing platformTikTok doesnt have a good track record when it comes to censorship. The app has previously come under fire for banning LGBTQ+ content in certain countries, blocking a user who criticised China, and suppressing posts by users it deemed ugly, poor, or disabled. Now, users are fighting back and standing in solidarity with black creators, who are unfairly penalised by TikTok.

Yesterday (May 19), TikTok users partook in a one-day black out on the app, in which they changed their profile pictures to the black power symbol, only followed and liked content from black creators, and urged non-black allies to avoid posting videos that day.

Dubbed the #ImBlackMovement, the idea came from Black Lives Matter Utah founder, Lex Scott, who posted a video on May 7 calling on creators to participate in the protest. Scott urged black users to create at least one video that brings awareness to the racism on TikTok. She added: This video can speak about how black creators are banned, how videos are being taken down, and how white racists are allowed to flourish.

TikTok users have frequently complained that their For You pages which offer a stream of content based on your previous activity rarely include creators of colour. But on Tuesday, the app was flooded with black power fists and videos from POCs, all hashtagged with#blackout2020,#blackvoicesheard,#iamblack, and more.

Speaking toCNN, Scott said: Watching the entire feed filled with black creators and artists is beyond emotional. This is powerful. Today is a moving day. It is beautiful beyond words. Users were also commenting on videos, proclaiming that their feeds were almost entirely dominated by creators of colour.

TikTok previously addressed criticisms of its moderation policies which the app admitted does censor certain users explaining that the rules represented an early blunt attempt at preventing bullying.

Watch some of the videos from yesterdays black out below.

Continue reading here:
TikTok users protest the unfair censorship of black creators - Dazed

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) A White House petition was created last week after news broke that the Twitter accounts of Chinese dissidents started to disappear after a controversial Chinese-American artificial intelligence (AI) expert was hired to serve on the company's board.

On May 11, Twitter announced in a press release that it was hiring Li Fei-Fei (), an AI expert and former vice president of Google, to its board of directors as a "new independent director" with immediate effect. Li quit Google in 2018 after a trail of leaked internal emails revealed that she appeared to be more concerned about the public relations damage to Google's image if news broke about the company's work on Project Maven than the ethical issues raised by over 3,000 Google employees.

Project Maven is a U.S. Department of Defense AI project that seeks to use the technology to help military drones select targets from video footage.

During her tenure at Google, there is no public record of Li objecting to the controversial Project Dragonfly, which was meant to be a search engine that would suit China's censorship rules, as she opened an AI research facility in Beijing.

When she took the helm of Google's new AI center in Beijing, Li was quoted in Chinese media as using the CCP slogan "stay true to our founding mission" and said that "China has awakened." In addition, Li allegedly has ties to a student association that is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP's) United Front, according to Radio Free Asia.

Caption reads: "Li Fei-fei returns to the motherland to take charge of the Google AI Chinese team: Stay true to our founding mission, China has awakened." (Screenshot of Weibo post)

A week after Li joined Twitter, a Chinese writer who goes by the handle Caijinglengyan (), discovered that four of his accounts were simultaneously deleted on May 18. He did not receive an explanation until May 23, when he was told his accounts had been taken down for violating Twitter's rules against posting identical content on duplicate accounts.

He countered that he had only posted content on one of the accounts and used the other to retweet the original post. He pointed out that Twitter does not have a policy precluding a person from having more than one account.

The writer stated that he believes the real reason for his account cancellations was that, on May 17, he tweeted that Twitter's new board member has a "red background." In the post, he alleged that she is a member of a student association affiliated with the CCP's United Front and has close ties with "Second Generation" and "Third-Generation Reds."

Caijinglengyan claimed that many other Twitter accounts used by Chinese dissidents were suddenly suspended without notice. After he contacted them, he found that they had also criticized Li or started commenting about Li just before their accounts were banned.

The writer listed @beacon__news () and @kevinheaven9 (Calvin) as other Twitter users who found their Twitter accounts suddenly shut down. He claimed that one Twitter user simply wrote "Li Fei-Fei is coming, I have to run," and soon found that both his primary account and secondary account had been suspended.

French-based Chinese dissident Wang Longmeng () wrote that Twitter's ban on those who criticized Li and exposed her background "was undoubtedly related to Li Feifei's appointment as a director, because criticism and negative information were banned, which is Beijing characteristic," reported Liberty Times. He believes that Twitter was quickly "dyed red" after Li took charge.

On May 20, a petition was created on the White House website titled "Call for a thorough investigation on Twitter's violation of freedom of speech." The creator of the petition wrote that Twitter is suppressing criticism of the CCP and suspending dissident accounts while pro-Beijing accounts remain unscathed.

The petition listed May 18 as a date when many "anti-CCP" Twitter users found their accounts permanently suspended. The author of the document pointed out Li's involvement with Project Maven and alleged that she was engaged in extensive military-technical programs while running Google's AI center in Beijing.

The document then alleged that Li continues to have "close ties with top leaders of the CCP." The petition closed by calling on the U.S. government to investigate "Twitter's violation of freedom of speech, and on Dr. FeiFei Li's collaborations with the CCP, a threat to national security."

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Petition calls for investigation into Twitter... - Taiwan News

Two years after its launch and the EU's data protection rules have been used to muzzle journalists in Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia, according to new research.

And NGOs have been targeted in Poland, after one provided searchable access to public data contained in the Polish National Court Register.

Known as the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR, the EU rules have been commended for protecting privacy rights, but also with promises of hefty penalties for violations by big techs firms and others.

But some national authorities have also used it to intimidate and censor media. Among them was the head of Slovakia's data protection authority, Soa Ptheov.

Last December, she suggested a possible 10m fine against a Czech investigative outlet called Investigace.cz unless they revealed their anonymous sources.

"Ptheov clearly abused her power and harassed journalists," said Beata Balogova, editor-in-chief of Slovakia's largest independent newspaper Sme, in an email on Monday (25 May).

Investigace.cz had obtained a video featuring Marian Koner, the suspected mastermind behind the murder of journalist Jn Kuciak. The video shows Koner installing a camera inside the office of Slovakia's former general prosecutor Dobroslav Trnka.

Ptheov was told by the Slovak parliament in April to step down over the affair.

But Balogova said Ptheov should never have been given the job in the first place, due to her previous work history with Koner.

"The case of Ptheov shows how the former government massively underestimated the issue of data protection and its potential abuse," said Balogova.

Several politicians in Slovakia have also gone after the Sme newspaper itself, claiming their own personal data protection rights have been violated.

The newspaper had reported about their connections with Koner, and published parts of conversations over the applications Threema or Viber.

Access Now, an international NGO, drew similar conclusions.

In a report out on Monday, it said some public authorities are misusing the law to stifle journalism and undermine the work of civil society.

Estelle Mass, a senior policy analyst at the Access Now, signalled out Slovakia's Ptheov as one of the most alarming cases when it comes to GDPR.

She said the European Commission needs to take action to make sure authorities do not abuse the data protection rules.

"If actions are not taken to address and eliminate such behaviour, press freedom and the right to data protection are at risks as the GDPR could ultimately be perceived as a tool for oppression despite the fact that it is precisely the opposite," said Mass, in an email.

Slovakia is not alone.

In 2018, Romania's data protection authority threatened journalists with a 20m fine unless they revealed their sources.

The reporters had uncovered links between Liviu Dragnea, the president of the ruling Social Democratic Party and a Romanian company involved in large-scale fraud.

Romania's data protection authority claimed forcing journalists to reveal their sources "is not likely to violate the professional secrecy of journalists" because the source of their leak was a suitcase.

Meanwhile in Hungary, the GDPR was used to force the local publisher of Forbes magazine to recall from newsstands an issue featuring a list of Hungary's wealthiest people.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based NGO, said the EU data law must not be used as a tool to target reporters.

"If EU legislation is being misused to support those who would wish to censor, then resolving those loopholes needs to be given high priority," said Tom Gibson, the NGO's representative in Europe, in an emailed statement.

For its part, the European Commission notes that Article 85 of the GDPR states that EU states need to "provide for exemptions or derogations" when such data is processed "for journalistic purposes".

Continue reading here:
EU data protection rules abused to censor media - EUobserver

Breitbart News reported Monday that Vice President Mike Pence informed the electrical outlet that the Trump management is not going to tolerate huge technology firms that attempt to silence conservatives on social media sites, specifically throughout the 2020 political election.

Pence stated that when it concerns Google, Facebook, Twitter as well as various other significant web systems, President Donald Trump has made it very clear this censorship of Republican- beneficial sights will not be undesirable.

Well, the president has made it very clear that we are not going to tolerate censorship on the Internet and social media against conservatives, Pence informed Breitbart News throughout a meeting on SiriusXM.

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Over the weekend break, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was thinking about developing a panel to examine prejudice versus conservatives by huge technology.

President Trump is considering establishing a panel to review complaints of anticonservative bias on social media, according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that would likely draw pushback from technology companies and others, the Wall Street Journal reported. The plans are still under discussion but could include the establishment of a White House-created commission that would examine allegations of online bias and censorship, these people said.

Outspoken Hollywood conventional James Woods was put on hold by Twitter previously this month.

Pence informed Breitbart News that conservatives considering in will certainly be critical to notifying the general public with exact details throughout the political election.

The great news is there arein addition to Breitbartthere are great and consistent voices bringing the facts to the American people, Pence stated. While many in the mainstream media have been after this president, after this administration, since before our inauguration, its been that chorus of voices on the Internet that have brought forth the truth and the facts to the American people.

The Vice President proceeded, Whether it be the whole Mueller investigation or the Russia hoax or whether it be the impeachment that was brought forward and rejected by the Senate, its been those voices thats made a difference for America, and we have every confidence going forward that were going to make sure the First Amendment rights of people who cherish freedom and cherish what this president has been able to do for this country are preserved, and I have every confidence that with that great army of conservative thinkers on the Internet were going to drive toward a great victory come November.

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Pence later on stated, Look, I couldnt be more proud to be vice president to President Donald Trump. In our first three years, this is a president who rebuilt our military, who appointed more principled conservatives to our courts than any president in history. This is a president who revived the American economy after the slowest post-cession recovery in history under the Obama administration. Millions of jobs created through tax cuts, regulatory relief, unleashing American energy, free and fair trade.

And this is a president who has led our nation through one of the greatest challenges in the last century that has saved lives, Pence stated, describing Trumps feedback to the coronavirus dilemma.

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Mike Pence Says 'We're Just Not Going To Tolerate' Censoring Conservatives On Social Media - The Union Journal