Essay by Eric Worrall
No constitutional guarantee = free speech at the pleasure of politicians. But even the USA is at risk from attempts to shut down free speech.
The Issue
Misinformation and disinformation pose a threat to the safety and wellbeing of Australians, as well as to our democracy, society and economy.
In January 2023, the Minister for Communications announced that the Australian Government would introduce new laws to provide the independent regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), with new powers to combat online misinformation and disinformation.
The new powers will enable the ACMA to monitor efforts and require digital platforms to do more, placing Australia at the forefront in tackling harmful online misinformation and disinformation, while balancing freedom of speech.
The proposed powers would:
- enable the ACMA to gather information from digital platform providers, or require them to keep certain records about matters regarding misinformation and disinformation
- enable the ACMA to request industry develop a code of practice covering measures to combat misinformation and disinformation on digital platforms, which the ACMA could register and enforce
- allow the ACMA to create and enforce an industry standard (a stronger form of regulation), should a code of practice be deemed ineffective in combatting misinformation and disinformation on digital platforms.
The ACMA will not have the power to request specific content or posts be removed from digital platform services.
The ACMA powers will strengthen and support the existing voluntary framework established by the Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation (the voluntary code), and will extend to non-signatories of the voluntary code.
These powers are consistent with the key recommendations in the ACMA’s June 2021 Report to government on the adequacy of digital platforms’ disinformation and news quality measures.
We want to hear your feedback on the proposed legislation. It’s easy to have your say—simply read the exposure draft Bill and the supporting documents and:
- Make a submission below by clicking the ‘Have your say’ button.
- Email us in writing, via video, or by sending an audio recording to information.integrity@infrastructure.gov.au.
Relevant documentation
The Guidance Note for the exposure draft Bill provides an explanation of the key parts of the Bill. For a short explanation of some of the Bill’s key elements, please see the fact sheet.
Source: https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/have-your-say/new-acma-powers-combat-misinformation-and-disinformation
- Exposure Draft Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023
- Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023—guidance note
- Communications Legislation Amendment (Combatting Misinformation and Disinformation) Bill 2023—fact sheet
More information;
New disinformation laws
21 March 2022
The Australian Government will introduce legislation this year to combat harmful disinformation and misinformation online.
The legislation will provide the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) with new regulatory powers to hold big tech companies to account for harmful content on their platforms.
The new powers follow the release of a report by ACMA on the adequacy of digital platforms’ disinformation and news quality measures, including the effectiveness of the Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation which was launched by industry in February 2021. The report highlights that disinformation and misinformation are significant and ongoing issues.
The growth of disinformation and misinformation erodes trust in democratic institutions and causes harm to individuals and businesses. Digital platforms must take responsibility for what is on their sites and take action when harmful or misleading content appears.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, rampant disinformation and misinformation on social media undermined public health efforts to contain and treat the virus. More than 4 in 5 Australians reported having experienced COVID-19 misinformation in the 18 months to June 2021.
The new powers include:
- Information gathering powers which will incentivise greater platform transparency and improve access to Australia-specific data on the effectiveness of measures to address disinformation and misinformation
- Additional powers to register and enforce industry codes or make industry standards to encourage platforms to be ambitious in addressing the harms of disinformation and misinformation. These will provide ACMA with the ability to hold platforms to account should their voluntary efforts prove inadequate or untimely.
A Misinformation and Disinformation Action Group will be established, bringing together key stakeholders across government and the private sector to collaborate and share information on emerging issues and best practice responses.
The Government will consult on the scope of the new powers ahead of introducing legislation into the Parliament in the second half of 2022.
For more information on the report, visit www.acma.gov.au/report-government-adequacy-digital-platforms-disinformation-and-news-quality-measures
Source: https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/department/media/news/new-disinformation-laws
Although the draft laws seem a little vague about what the government believes constitutes disinformation, there seems little doubt climate skepticism will be included in the scope of these new laws. Federal Climate Minister Chris Bowen has indicated he thinks climate skeptic narratives are “fundamentally dishonest”.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen criticises ‘right-wing commentators’
Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has taken aim at “right-wing commentators” in Australia.
Catie McLeod@catiemcleod
October 10, 2022 – 2:27PMAustralian “right-wing commentators” are pedalling a “fundamentally dishonest narrative” about the energy crisis in Europe, a Labor cabinet minister has said.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said he’d “seen plenty” of these people attempting to blame energy shocks in the wake of the Ukraine war on a too-rapid transition to renewables.
“The price of gas in Europe is around nine times that of renewables, and yet some geniuses argue the problem is too much reliance on renewables,” Mr Bowen said on Monday.
“This is the latest catchcry of those who seek to deny and delay action in Australia, like we haven’t had enough denial and delay in Australia over the last ten years.”
…
Read more: https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/climate-change-and-energy-minister-chris-bowen-criticises-rightwing-commentators/news-story/07ab5a2d06c3edd56de74975aac8392b
The obvious premise behind these laws, that the government or government appointed experts have the wisdom to decide what constitutes disinformation, is absurd.
Look at the embarrassment Facebook faced when they had to backflip on censoring Covid lab leak theories, after Fauci hinted that a lab leak was a possibility.
Update on May 26, 2021 at 3:30PM PT:
In light of ongoing investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and in consultation with public health experts, we will no longer remove the claim that COVID-19 is man-made or manufactured from our apps. We’re continuing to work with health experts to keep pace with the evolving nature of the pandemic and regularly update our policies as new facts and trends emerge.
…
Read more: https://about.fb.com/news/2020/04/covid-19-misinfo-update/
Were people wrong to suggest Covid might have leaked from a lab, until Fauci gave permission to discuss this possibility?
Imagine a future where people like Fauci or Bowen decide what constitutes a legitimate public conversation, in all aspects of public life. Because that is where Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Europe, and perhaps even the USA are headed, if we don’t start pushing back against these ill considered attempts to constrain our freedom.
Companies like Facebook are dancing a fine line between legitimate content moderation and editorialising. Nobody wants social media sites full of obscene and criminal sexualised underage material, with anti-censorship laws so strict that social media companies are powerless to remove such filth. Yet at the same time there are legitimate arguments that heavy handed social media censorship is already impeding the right of US citizens to enjoy their constitutional guarantee of free speech.
Social media companies are very much the town square of today’s world. This especially applied during the recent Covid lockdown, when people were prohibited from socialising in person – an issue which I believe has not received sufficient recognition.
Of course, US citizens enjoy protections which Australians do not. Australians, unlike Americans, have no constitutional free speech guarantee, so we are a lot more vulnerable to these kinds of encroachments on our freedom.
Australians have been invited to comment on these proposed laws. I urge all Australians to respond, and to contact your federal MP and Senators, to tell them exactly what we think of politicians trying to constrain our freedom to share our opinions with our fellows.
It is bad enough in the US with a constitutional prohibition against such things. Giving politicians the ability to control what can be discussed will be abused in their favor.
Not politicians. Bureaucrats. Politicians would have to persuade a majority of Parliament what should be
disinformationcensored. Bureaucrats don’t have to persuade anyone. They rule by autocratic decree and citizens can do nothing to change it.If Prigozhin can have an FBI bounty just for trolling Hillary Clinton, certainly pressuring GAFA to remove content should be bounty-able.
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/counterintelligence/yevgeniy-viktorovich-prigozhin/yevgeniy-vicktorovich-prigozhin3.pdf
Also, how come the US Constitution doesn’t protect Prigozhin troll farms aka his free speech rights against the FEC?
The idea of the Bill of Rights NOT applying to Russians in Russia is frankly bizarre.
The very notion of asking the question would have been alien to the founding fathers.
Speaking of Prigozhin:
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4064431-wagner-chief-says-russias-war-in-ukraine-intended-to-benefit-elites-accuses-moscow-of-lying/
“In a video released on his Telegram channel and circulated widely on the internet, Prigozhin countered Russian President Vladimir Putin’s argument that invading Ukraine was necessary to denazify and demilitarize the country. Putin has also accused Kyiv of persecuting ethnic Russians and of acting as a puppet and “battering ram” against Russia on behalf of Western allies.
“The war was not needed to return our Russian citizens and not to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine,” Prigozhin said in the video, claiming it was instead launched to benefit Russian leaders.
“The war was needed by oligarchs. It was needed by the clan that is today practically ruling in Russia.”
Prigozhin claimed the goal of the “special military operation,” the official name for the war in Russia, was to install pro-Russian and Putin ally Viktor Medvedchuk, who is living in exile in Russia, as president of Ukraine and to divide up the assets of the country.
“They were stealing loads in Donbas, they wanted more,” Prigozhin said, likely referring to the Russian-backed resistance launched in eastern Ukraine in 2014. He also said there was never any plan for Ukraine or the Western security alliance NATO to attack Russia.”
So now we get the Real Story from a Kremlin insider. The Ukraine war was started for plain old greed and for Putin’s ego.
And speaking of the “rebellion”, I haven’t heard a very good analysis of the situation. It seems, based on Prigozhin’s actions, that the only reasonable conclusion is that he had been talking to other Russian generals (reported in the press) and he got assurances from them that if he approached Moscow, they would join with him to pressure or overthrow Putin.
But the generals never materialized for one reason or another, so Prigozhin had no choice but to withdraw.
Putin has caused great harm to Russia. Something will have to give eventually.
US citizens have more light weapons than all police in the world and nearly allow politicians to sh*t on them. It’s depressing.
see Irelands newest irish joke
talk about bigbrothers thought crime
?
What’s the joke?
Be quiet … its for your own good.
Some disinformation providers are more equal than others. He who controls the definitions controls destiny.
A large amount of “disinformation” comes directly from the government.
People Bowen, Andrews, and many others, lie through their teeth, every time they open their mouths.
And let’s not even mention the ABC !!
I believe it would be 100% factual to write, “I believe that Bowen is incompetent”, or, “Bowen will cause blackouts with his policies for renewable power to replace coal fired power stations”.
Writing anything about Andrews is already punishable by rubber bullets and jail time, so I won’t believe anything about him.
Oops, I meant it to be I believe on the second Bowen point too, just in case you misread it and think it is a self supporting fact…. Or is it?
If Bow-wow puts himself forward as the “arbiter of truth”, …
Australians will end up with the combined knowledge of a single-celled amoeba.
Labor/Fabians = Wolves in Sheep’s clothing.
“Federal Climate Minister Chris Bowen has indicated he thinks
climate skeptic narratives are “fundamentally dishonest.”
_____________________________________________________________________
In a world of propaganda, the truth is always a conspiracy.
Minister Bowen didn’t say exactly that, but that what he means.
Bowen is either fundamentally ignorant of climate science, or, if not, then *he* is fundamentally dishonest.
Just fundamentally ignorant… period. !
I confirm that I personally experienced misinformation on broadcast television during the pandemic. Time and time again I heard that certain injections were safe and effective.
Up with that I will not put.
For example –
“the vaccines will stop you getting COVID and also stop you transmitting it to family, loved ones, friends and work colleagues”.
but you did up with that put
Story tip.
It’s not just Australia – Ireland is set to introduce stronger hate speech laws which are similarly vague and ill-defined, that again could be used beyond the original scope of the legislation, simply to make it easier to get convictions.
Would this be classed as disinformation?
story tip
OPEC Forecasts 23% Rise in Global Oil Demand Through 2045 (investopedia.com)
A sampling of true AUS misinformation and disinformation:
This comment’s provable reality should nicely trigger the proposed AUS law. Just not as probably intended. AUS Boomerang!
It´s not just IPCCs AR6 and espicially the resumé to politicians and the medias which stands for mis- and disinformation here in the 20s.
The WHO emphatically declared on March 28, 2020, that SARS-CoV-2 was not airborne (except in the case of very specific “aerosol-generating medical procedures”) and that it was “misinformation” to say otherwise. This statement actually qualifies as one of the largest errors in the history of public health.
Talk about the semmelweis-reflex …
What were the historical reasons for the resistance to recognizing airborne transmission during the COVID‐19 pandemic? – Jimenez – 2022 – Indoor Air – Wiley Online Library
… In the private words of a public health advisor to a national government, “an approach is needed that will allow (us) to save face.” To save face. I think thats what they in chinese calls dui lian – sticking togehter, read, cover up their own mis- and disinformation…!!
Governments and legacy media around the world are constantly colluding to promote various narratives. They cannot tolerate competition for the minds if the masses and are doing everything they can to shut down any contradiction. Governments have done this throughout history. (E.g. over 2,000 years ago, three travelers to the town of Bethlehem brought a story about a newly born ruler who might challenge the current regime’s authority. That didn’t end well for hundreds of local newborns and young boys.)
Every story has at least two sides. Each side calls the other party’s story “disinformation.” So it comes to this: At least 50% of all news NEEDS TO BE DISINFORMATION. Otherwise the whole story is not being told.
Let’s hope the legislation fails. History gives many examples where an ideological or intuitive belief was used to stymie true scientific enquiry/debate.
But, if the legislation does not fail, there just might be a glimmer of a silver lining in the situation. It may happen that various institutions – such as the Aussie Bureau of Meteorology – may be put under the microscope more closely.
Let’s hope so.
Doubtful they will, since no one will be allowed to ask the right questions.
Social media platforms are already censoring and supporting government sanctioned dogma. This new legislation may just add enough costs to make the platforms unprofitable in Australia causing them to withdraw services. Nothing lost there. It would benefit productivity.
At worst, they will need to employ more Australians to work on the filtering and, without PWC guidance to minimise their tax returns, they may actually provide a net benefit to the country.
Not to mention the mental health of a vast swathe of today’s youth caused by the climate hypocrites.
my netproviders swapped to a usa mailservice couple yrs ago
since then?
its amazing how many mails n links manage to be refused
and recently gmail recipients mails bounce back with stuipd messages about not having “authority”
meanwhile I get 30 spammails a day avg
and Im forced to use IMAP which is a trove for hackers
SMTP options removed with zero notice
Two years ago, this video would have been classified as disinformation and removed from YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaD8qEWJglY
It is now permitted because the presentation was given in the EU parliament.
It appears the Covid experience has been in gestation for about the same time as the CO2 induced global warming experience. A bright light is now being shone on the Covid conspiracy now. We can only hope that CO2 induced global warming gets the same attention and the perpetrators are exposed as the scoundrels they are.
Reality will prevail and China does not have enough coal to achieve NetZero for the rest of the world with anything resembling the current standard of living in the developed world.
If that’s the case, Bowen needs to be fined for spreading misinformation.
Quite. The gas price has been as low as 1.9p/kWh or £19/MWh recently in the UK. Meanwhile the average price for renewables including ROC and REGO subsidies and CFD payments is probably 10 times higher. The CFD average has been running at over £170/MWh – 9 times higher than gas.
Lock him up!
I’m sure the Aussie authorities will publish their list of Official Facts and Truths Which Must Never Be Questioned any day now.
Censoring “disinformation” is simply censorship. Who defines “disinformation”? Rather than having representatives of the people decide exactly what it is, Australia wants to give that power to bureaucrats insulated from being removed by the people in elections. What omniscient, perfectly moral supreme being will be tasked with analyzing and deciding who’s been bad or good? Santa Claus? God? Angels?
The authors of the constitution of the U.S. weighed and debated this problem 235 years ago and decided that no one should be given that power. Let the people debate and persuade. It’s such an important right that it was the first amendment to the constitution.
Congress [government] shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
It’s still the gold standard. It should be self-evident that censoring free speech is a big step down the road to serfdom. Censorship is a defining characteristic of every oppressive regime on earth.
“Censoring “disinformation” is simply censorship. Who defines “disinformation”?”
That is the central question.
Whoever does the defining will have their own biases. The way around this is to hear both sides of the story, i.e., no censorship. The truth will out eventually, in such a situation.
Canada is well down the same path. The latest proposal is to outlaw “residential school denialism” whereby if you question the existence of unmarked graves of indigenous pupils—which have yet to be demonstrated by excavation of residential school grounds—you could be charged.
I had an interesting experience earlier this year. An Agence France Presse factchecker contacted me about a Facebook group. A small group of members believe that petroleum comes from deep within the Earth and thus will never run out. Well, of course that idea has been around a long time and it is not worth debunking (as our David Middleton once did a while ago). The factchecker wanted to put a rider on this group if I confirmed that their premise was nonsense. My response was why bother, who cares about what some peripheral bunch thinks about something like this.
the great reset coming fast
If one cannot argue against the consensus, progress in science grinds to a halt. The future is looking very…stagnant.
I would have said “bleak”
George Orwell would say “I warned you”. Sifting fact from fiction has always been a challenge. My grandmother, true sceptic that she was, always said “believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see”. I think she was about right.
IMHO The best protection against disinformation is a good education and a dose of scepticism. It doesn’t help that politicians and the MSM lie like their jobs depend on it.
Their jobs do depend on it – behind every career politician or MSM journalist there are many others with daggers drawn, ready to jump in and take over, willing to double down on the lies and corruption. Competence for the job is no longer a requirement.
Yes, we already have a disinformation problem. It’s called the Leftwing Media.
Typo in the heading. Should be: Australia Advances Daft “Disinformation” Free Speech Lockdown Laws
Yep
That’s the way I read it the first time. 🙂
Sharri Markson on the usual suspects and their unelected taxeating lickspittles-
Australian government’s plan for ‘Orwellian style’ misinformation laws (msn.com)
It is said that the US refused to provide France with catapultes after the Irak invasion controversies. I have no idea if there is a grain of truth.
France attitude was ugly and indefensible in the case of criticism of Irak invasion, but I see punishment for the French navy as a defensible US reaction in that particular case. Saddam is still gone (and Trump is still wrong: Saddam was no enemy “that we know”; nobody knew what he was up to).
But now the US needs to get ready to apply financial sanction to rogue allies like Australia, like the West did to Russia.
mate usa already made sure aus is stuffed
lousy fd35s for billions+ now dudsubs secondhand
neither of which we can maintain or sort without expensive ongoing contracts etc etc
and got albo the tard to pony up yet another few mil in arms and machinery to the ukies after we already gave m more than enough
when we have buggerall already to defend us at home anyway
and we are NOT in Nato, but acting as if..
Have you ever considered capitalizing proper names and punctuating your sentences? Your posts would be far more readable.
The French criticism of the Iraq war stemmed from the belief that the in-country UN arms inspectors should be allowed to do their job and that France was one of three contenders for a massive Iraqi oil contract. Then Bush and Blair decided to invade just before the oil contract could be awarded – no wonder France was annoyed.
That’s only partly true. France had been supplying arms to Iraq for decades and was owed many billions of francs when the war broke out- money they were then likely never to get.
The USA had been doing exactly the same – after the overthrow of the Shah and Khomeini seizing power, the west was pouring arms into Iraq in order for them to fight Iran. The US 30 year old gas shells found in old dumps in Iraq had been supplied through Italy, with US/NATO blessing. If Saddam Hussein had been tried in the Hague, he would have been able to identify an embarrassingly large number of ex-world leaders, foreign secretaries and diplomats that he had close dealings with.
And Oliver North was arranging Phantom 4 spares for Iran via Israel and Turkey, and turning blind eyes to arms for oil with South Africa and China during the Iran/Iraq War. You may recall Kissinger “It’s a pity they can’t both lose.” The US, and indeed other suppliers (Gulf Cooperation Council, USSR and friends) were inclined to agree, at least until after the oil price crash in 1986, after which it became too costly for the GCC.
They made it up with Total oil deals, while the US was hand wringing about perceptions with the “no blood for oil” crowd.
French crooked right winger prime Chirac at the time had offered “civilian” fission tech to Saddam, with the Osirak plant, with technical options that according to the CEA (our dept of energy, sort of) was not a proliferation risk, but others saw any fission reactor (and fissionable material) in Irak as a risk. The plant was nicknamed Ô Chirac (in homage to Chirac who was too close to Saddam) by Israelis who then destroyed it.
Then that crooked right winger (moving to center left) now Président Chirac send a very crooked foreign minister to the UN to protest Bush plan to attack Saddam.
Bush admin was Saddam as a nuclear risk and also as an Islamic terror risk.
I’m with Bush 100% and against Trump on that one.
Even if Bush plans for Irak were ill advised, in the context of being in bed with Saddam’s Irak so much, France should have had the decency to go to the swimming pool (traditional French excuse for no excuse leave) when that was voted on.
France had a long history of supplying arms to Iraq and was owed billions of francs – it was thus lukewarm about the war against Saddam.
They were $30bn down by the end of the Iran/Iraq war, although they did get to demonstrate that Super Etendards and Exocets are actually of limited use against supertankers (reason: when the missile pierces the tank there is no oxygen available to get things going – so just a dribble of oil comes out through the puncture hole, while the crude is a good dissipator of kinetic energy). The French were actually the lead Desert Storm contingent headed for Baghdad before being called off.
The Super-Étendard was truly an excellent plane that lasted very long time, retired by France only in 2016, after 42 years (of course like the F-16, it isn’t the same exact tech as the first iterations, many improvements were made and the latest planes very a lot more versatile).
The AM39 Exocet missile sent by the Super-Étendard did well during the Malouine war, so “cocorico” even though it’s sad for our ally.
Is it debatable that Australia, Italy, Ukraine and UK interference in the 2016 US election, which (according to the repeal Obamacare turncoat) is an act of war?
(At least Ukraine came up clean about some of it.)
Was Australia sanctioned?
We have similar complaints, here in the UK, about Obama’s blatant and high-handed political interference in the Brexit referendum, an internal matter. The fact that it backfired bigly is probably due to Obama’s condescension and the British bloody-mindedness.
Yes, Obama likes to stick his nose in everyone’s business.
Tim Scott, a black Republican presidential candidate gave a speech the other day telling people they are not victims and encouraging them to better themselves and telling them the United States was the best place in the world for them to do so.
Of course, this is anathema to radical Democrats like Obama, who wants everyone to think of themselves as victims, who can only be helped by Democrats, so Obama rushed out and gave an interview where he denigrated Republican efforts to reach out to minorities implying that Tim Scott and Republicans didn’t have a clue about race, or how to make things better. Tim Scott has probably done more to better black lives in his few short years in office than Obama ever has. Trump and Scott teamed up to promote enterprise zones in poor neighborhoods, when Trump was president, and by all accounts is a big success.
I would love to see a debate between Tim Scott and Barack Obama. I think Tim Scott would wipe the floor with him. I also think Tim Scott will make an excellent vice president for Donald Trump. Democrats need every black vote to win, and with Tim Scott on the ticket, a lot of black Democrats are going to vote for him. That’s what Obama is afraid of.
I always got the impression that Obama thought everyone in the world, apart from himself, was an idiot and treated them accordingly. The Democrats were, historically, the party of Southern slave owners, their racial politics have always been to divide and rule; Democrat presidents, since Johnson, have bought black votes with free money or promises of same. Not a very nice track record and yet, it’s the GOP that get’s vilified and pilloried in the MSM and media. It’s a very, very crazy world we live in!
“I always got the impression that Obama thought everyone in the world, apart from himself, was an idiot and treated them accordingly.”
I agree with that.
Obama thinks he is the smartest person in the room.
Joe Biden thinks he is the smartest person in the room.
These “smart guys” have almost destroyed the United States with their stupid ideas.
Ever read all of MLK’s “I have a dream” speech?
The most famous part is his dream was that his daughters would be judged on the quality of their character rather than the color of their skin.
In the US we closer that than ever before. Then along came Obama.
That’s right. Obama was, and is, a divider, not a uniter.
All radical Democrats are dividers. It suits their political purposes.
“Is it debatable that Australia, Italy, Ukraine and UK interference in the 2016 US election, which (according to the repeal Obamacare turncoat) is an act of war?”
It might be an act of war, had any of those efforts had any effect on the elections. But they did not have any noticeable effect.
The interference that had the greatest effect was the Hillary Clinton disinformation plan to tie Trump to the Russians and claiming the Russians helped Trump get elected, and this interference continued after Trump was elected, perpetrated by Obama-Biden henchmen (and women:), and continues to this day.
No, what American citizens have to worry about as far as election interfernce goes, is all on the domestic side. Foreign influence is much ado about nothing. But it does make for a good conspiracy theory, and a premise for investigating Republcians.
I did not wanted to say it was an act of war from my own POV, but according to major US political figures Russia’s cyber actions were ones:
https://theintercept.com/2018/02/19/a-consensus-emerges-russia-committed-an-act-of-war-on-par-with-pearl-harbor-and-911-should-the-u-s-response-be-similar/
And then there is Senator John McCain supporting protesters in Kiev in 2013 and protesters welcoming that support.
Ukrainian power cannot claim to ignore who John McCain is and what he is pushing.
The radical Left in the U.S. were promoting fear of foreign interference in U.S. elections as a means to try to put the blame on Trump and Republicans.
There is no evidence that any foreign entity had any substantial influence on the elections. In 2016, for example, the Russians funded a pro-Trump rally and a pro-Clinton rally at the same time. And other than these two things, they did little else. And I’ll bet you never even heard that the Russians funded a Trump and a Clinton rally at the same time. That’s how ineffective they were: Nobody even knew they did this, other than a few people who were actually involved. No news coverage. No influence. No nothing.
Foreigners influencing American votes is much ado about nothing. It’s a false alarm put out by the radical Left as a means to attack Republicans.
The ‘Democratic party hack’ was an attempt by an unnamed internal whistleblower to bring to light many dodgy practices; there was zero evidence of an outside hack and the ‘expert’ cybersecurity company had a proven track record of finger-pointing at Russia rather than investigate a system. John Podesta’s email password at the time was ‘password’ – I kid you not; the Democrats had a seriously outdated and naive view of cybersecurity and it bit them in the a$$.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/04/09/398492643/french-network-tv5monde-is-hacked-by-cyber-caliphate-group
For context, the most common questions from non experts in France about that cyber attack were “what the heck is TV5Monde?” and “is there really such international French TV called TV5Monde?“. It’s a channel taxpayers don’t know about even though they pay for it. It’s an extremely unimportant target with extremely lacking security.
That was in 2015. But later TV5 Monde was actually hacked by muh Russia; but that was the same event. The Cyber Caliphate attack, as attributed via forensics (not just a revendication), was then attributed (by forensics) to “APT 28” (Fancy Bear).
There was extremely little commentary on the same attack could be attributed to two extremely different origins and actors with distinct goals.
(There is usually little commentary on important stuff in France.)
The hockey stick graph from Michael Mann has long since been discredited,but the memory lives on as some type of shape-shifter magic.
For example, here is a brand new hickey stick graph for the sexually confused.
Geoff S
Good stuff! – You’ve got some balls posting that graph up..I’m waiting for old mate N.S. to poke a few holes in it…LOL!! – And submit and alternate “renewable” view of the subject..
I call bs on this graph – typical to try to flatten the previous ‘bump’ around the 70’s from the East German ‘female’ athletes!
I agree. They didn’t have swimsuits to tuck “the bumps” back then. 😎
That’s funny! 🙂
You should send this to Riley Grimes.
They keep on telling us that they are many and we are few so why are they so afraid of us? It is a bizarre dynamic.
Tyranny always fears the truth getting out.
They are afraid because they don’t have the truth on their side and they fear others will discover this. So they want to shut you up,before you spill the beans.
australian constitution is about as much “protection” TO the people as 1ply loopaper
written BY the UK and the landlord sets to make sure the hoipolloi stayed in their places!
we have rights..ha a few and for little
like this proposal we will bitch and they will ignore us and do as they please
It’s amazing and frightening to see the Left take George Orwell’s 1984 as a guide rather than as a warning.
From the article: “Although the draft laws seem a little vague about what the government believes constitutes disinformation”
That’s the whole idea:This way they can describe anything they want as disinformation. Anything that doesn’t go along with the government narrative will be determined to be disinformation.
Australian politicians are following in the footsteps of the Nazi Disinformation Chief, Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels would enthusiastically endorse this Australian legislation.
Western politicans are racing down the totalitarian path, and censorship is one of the first steps totalitarians take.
So basically the West is moving towards a Russian style media where the only news is from the state media. But even then, as shown with the evens in Russia this week the truth does filter through.
On the upside, when I visited Cuba and talked to some locals and one or two Russian tourists that weren’t blind drunk about what their views were on Climate Change and Net Zero? They didn’t have a clue what I was on about. Funny that.
I will judge for myself what is real and what is fake, by assessing numerous, various inputs and source credibility etc
I will not be ‘told’ or instructed what is truth, or deceit, by anyone and accept it as gospel – I shall seek the truth, no matter how insidiously hidden, rewritten or censored
Your electrical misinformation demands will be flexibly supplied and you will be happy-
It’s official: California must clip peak demand as it wrestles with solar duck | RenewEconomy
Of course this is not about the truth. It is about power and also providing protection to idiots who can’t think critically, with the intent that they never be held accountable for the harm done by their cretinous decisions and policies.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You want to get on Nostr, no centralised servers means no way for any government to censor you. Take a look at nostr.com.
Private groups that label something as wrong? OK
Government saying something is wrong and then having the authority to shut it down or prosecute? Hell NO!
How long before someone in power shuts down someone in the same party that’s running against them shuts them down?
Stalin did that but his approach was more … terminal.
Private groups that label something as wrong? OK
As long as they’re doing it on their own and not with government involvement (see Twitter files)
“More than 4 in 5 Australians reported having experienced COVID-19 misinformation in the 18 months to June 2021.”
They listened to the government?
Hello leftists: Please give an example of the misinformation and disinformation that you are so fervently seeking to silence, because it seems like every time you call something that, it turns out to be true.
Nobody is being called out for misinformation or disinformation for saying what is obviously not true (santa claus is real, aliens are our overlords, etc.), they are only being accused of such for saying things that are controversial, ie not yet established in fact. This is purely censorship and propaganda, and from the people who told you they were the champions of tolerance and civil rights.