Tag Archive for: amid

Facebook bans Holocaust denial amid rapid rise in “deceptive” content

Facebook's Menlo Park, California, headquarters as seen in 2017.

Enlarge / Facebook’s Menlo Park, California, headquarters as seen in 2017. (credit: Jason Doiy | Getty Images)

Facebook today is, once again, theoretically ramping up enforcement against hate speech, this time with a new policy prohibiting Holocaust denial on the platform.

The change is due to a “well-documented rise in anti-Semitism globally,” Facebook executive Monika Bickert wrote in a corporate blog post today.

The policy is a complete 180 for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who in a 2018 interview specifically described Holocaust denial as the kind of “deeply offensive” speech he nonetheless felt should be permitted on the platform. The next day, amid blowback, he “clarified” his position:

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Biz & IT – Ars Technica

Computer security expert shares tips on staying safe amid surge in cybercrime

National Cyber Security Alliance Executive Director Kelvin Coleman said it’s simple math, more people online has caused a sharp uptick in cybercrime. He’s seen a 400% increase fro …
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Amid pressure, Zoom will end-to-end encrypt all calls, free or paid

Stylized photo of a computer screen with the image of a padlock.

Enlarge (credit: Yuri Samoilov Follow / Flickr)

Under pressure from privacy and human rights advocates, Zoom said on Wednesday that it will make end-to-end encryption available to both paying and non-paying users of its video conferencing service.

Previously, Zoom said it would provide end-to-end encryption to paying customers and a less-robust form of encryption, known as transit encryption, to non-paying customers. Zoom said the two-tier offering would allow law enforcement to regulate illicit content coming from users who don’t have accounts and, hence, are harder to track. Paying users, by contrast, had more traceability and, hence, were less likely to use the platform for illegal purposes.

Critics in privacy and human rights circles said the Zoom plans threatened to make privacy a premium feature rather than something that’s available by default. The critics called on Zoom to provide the same protections for all users.

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Biz & IT – Ars Technica