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Federal government departments are using increasingly powerful cyber-snooping equipment to monitor the social media lives of millions of Australians.

A dramatic public confrontation between the Immigration Department and a Sydney political activist over her Facebook page has resulted in accusations that mass-electronic surveillance is being used to keep tabs on political dissent.

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Other large government departments including Centrelink, Defence and Social Services have done mass monitoring of social media activity.

Do you know more? Send your confidential tips to ps@canberratimes.com.au

Centrelink's parent agency, the mammoth Department of Human Services, even has its own software, developed by the CSIRO and operated by a social media team of 10 public servants.

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) hires private sector contractors who can monitor more than half-a-billion ''pieces'' of social media each day on sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Flickr and blogs.

Several commercially available social media-tracking platforms, some of them in routine use by public service online media teams, can easily track the web activities of protest groups and their individual members.

Immigration experimented several years ago with powerful software called Radian6, which can provide surveillance across a range of social web platforms, but decided not to adopt the application for in-house use.

The department's key research contractor said the monitoring undertaken for Immigration was about ''taking the temperature of society'' and that no reputable research company would help government departments compile ''hit lists'' of political opponents.

Original post:
Every move you make ... govt cyber snoops scouring the tweets

An incident involving the Fayette County Animal Control Officer and the euthanizing of a dog has received a lot of attention on social media. On Thursday, April 10, Fayette County Sheriff Steve Kessler and Fayette County Prosecutor Carl Harris released a statement concerning the incident.

On Tuesday, March 11 it was reported that a dog had bitten a child near Elizabeth Street in Oak Hill. The boy who was bitten needed 21 stitches to treat the dog bite. Animal Control Officer Russell Parker captured the dog and spoke with the child's parents and the dog's owner. The owner of the animal told Parker the dog had not been vaccinated against rabies and asked for the dog to be euthanized.

On March 12 the Sanitarian for the Fayette County Health Department talked with Officer Parker and personnel at the Fayette County Animal Control Shelter about the need to quickly euthanize the dog. However, the only person at the shelter licensed to euthanize animals was unavailable to perform the procedure until late in the afternoon. The need for urgency in this case was in order to keep the child who was bitten from the need to undergo a lengthy vaccination process (rabies is universally fatal for humans and animals if left untreated).

Officer Parker advised the county sanitarian that he could euthanize the animal by shooting it, which is allowed by the WV Code "In an emergency or in a situation in which a dog cannot be humanely destroyed in an expeditious manner." Parker killed the dog at the Animal Control Shelter and sent the head to be tested for rabies.

(CLICK HERE to read the WV Code on Euthanasia by Shooting)

A formal complaint was filed by Carrie Carr,the Director of the Animal Control Center, on March 13 in connection with the incident. She told deputies that Officer Parker had to shoot the animal more than one to kill it, which is not in compliance with the WV Code (which can be read at the link above).

The Fayette County Sheriff's Office conducted and investigation into what happened. During the investigation it was found that Officer Parker used a small-caliber rifle to kill the dog. Parker had to fire a total of three shots to complete the task.

(CLICK HERE to read the full press release including the findings of the investigation)

Sheriff Kessler and Prosecuting Attorney Harris agreed that while the dog unquestionably suffered pain inthe incident, there was no evidence that Officer Parker acted maliciously when killing the animal. The Sheriff has now put policies in place to ensure an incident like this does not occur again. The Sheriff also said that Officer Parker has been disciplined.

"I fully understand that certain employees of the Fayette County Animal Control Center and their friends and associates are unhappy with my decision not to terminate Russell Parker's employments as the Fayette County Animal Control Officer," said Sheriff Kessler. "I'm certainly not defending what he did, and if an incident even remotely similar to this occurs in the future then I would certainly dismiss him from his employment. That being said, given the totality of the circumstances in this case, I do not believe that terminating his employment is appropriate at this time. The job of Animal Control Officer is a dirty, nasty and dangerous job and the pay is not much above minimum wage. Animal Control Officer Parker has been injured several times during the course of his employment while dealing with vicious animals, but he continues to do his work each day with enthusiasm and no small degree of skill."

Read more:
Fayette Sheriff, Prosecutor issue statement on botched dog euthanizing incident

Please be advised that departmental representatives from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada will hold a technical briefing on the First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act.

The technical briefing will be followed by a media availability with the Honourable Bernard Valcourt, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development in the House of Commons Foyer.

Technical Briefing Thursday, April 10, 2014 10:10 a.m EDT National Press Theatre 165 Sparks Street

For media interested in attending the technical briefing in person, please note access to the National Press Theatre is restricted to media accredited through the Parliamentary Press Gallery. For more information on accreditation, contact Terry Guillon, Chief of the Press Gallery, at 613-992-4511 or terry.guillon@parl.gc.ca

Media who would like to take part in the conference call must dial 613-960-7526 or 1-877-413-4814 and enter pass code 1299597 at least 10 minutes before the call is scheduled to begin.

The briefing is for background information only, not for attribution.

Information for media availability with Minister Valcourt 11:30 a.m. EDT House of Commons Foyer

For more information: Erica Meekes Press Secretary Office of the Honourable Bernard Valcourt 819-997-0002

AANDC Media Relations Line 819-953-1160

Read more:
Technical briefing and media availability on the First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act

Clive Palmer says current cross media laws were drawn up before the internet era, but regional media rules don't need fixing. Photo: Eddie Jim

Clive Palmer says he would consider voting for the repeal of cross media ownership laws even though it could benefit Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which publishes newspapers that have been critical of the Palmer United Party (PUP) leader.

The PUP gained a third upper house seat in last weekend's re-run of the Western Australia Senate election. A voting alliance negotiated last October between the PUP and the Motoring Enthusiast Party means Mr Palmer will control a crucial bloc of four votes, which the Coalition will need to pass legislation opposed by the Labor Party.

News Corp owns The Australian, Herald Sun and The Daily Telegraph newspapers, as well as half of pay television service Foxtel.

The Australian has run several articles questioning, among other things, Mr Palmer's treatment of employees at his Palmer Coolum Resort dinosaur park in Queensland, his business dealings, as well as a raft of legal cases he has initiated. Mr Palmer last year threatened to sue Mr Murdoch and accused his ex-wife Wendi Deng of being a Chinese spy.

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Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull is conducting a regulatory review of the media sector, including legislation that prevents a single entity owning more than two of either a newspaper, TV licence or radio licence in a metropolitan market, although the government is not expected to put forward any proposed changes to Parliament until September.

"You've got to put aside any animosity people may have and look at the issues in a professional way," Mr Palmer told Fairfax Media.

"You want independence. You don't want too much concentration of media ownership.

"However, when these laws were originally drawn up, we didn't have the internet and a lot of other things - we need to have a good look at it before we make a decision."

See the article here:
Clive Palmer mulls vote for cross media law change

Feature Article of Tuesday, 8 April 2014

Columnist: Braimah, Sulemana

By Sulemana Braimah, Executive Director, Media Foundation for West Africa.

The ECOWAS is about to roll out a major health sector intervention aimed at eliminating malaria from the region through the application of a substance called biolarvicides. Biolarvicdes, which is said to be very effective in killing malaria-bearing mosquitoes at their larvae development stage, is said to have been applied successfully to eliminate malaria in other parts of the world.

So far, very significant preparatory activities have been undertaken. The construction of three strategic factories in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria, for the production of the anti-malarial substance is underway. The first of what is expected to be a series of region-wide sensitisation meetings to discuss strategies for implementing the programme, also took place in Abidjan on March 31, 2014.

The application of biolarvicides for the elimination of malaria across the West Africa region is scheduled to commence on May 28, a day celebrated annually as ECOWAS Day.

Even though there have been several malaria control and prevention programmes in the region over the years, two things make the impending campaign different, significant and promising. Firstly, it is arguably the first time there is going to be a region-wide anti-malaria programme led by the ECOWAS. Secondly, it is the first time, there is going to be such a broad anti-malaria programme through the application of biolarvicides.

Unfortunately, even though the date set for the commencement of the application of biolarvicdes is just a month away, there has been barely any public awareness of the entire programme. This is definitely not good for the programme.

For a major health programme such as the one under reference, public awareness, understanding and support is very crucial and this is where the media comes in.

Given that the media (both traditional and new media) remain the main sources of public information, and also the fact that they continue to wield enormous influence in setting public agenda, the malaria elimination programme will require massive support from the media in order to succeed.

See the article here:
Why the ECOWAS Malaria Campaign Must Prioritise Media Involvement