Lawsuit: Twitter 'Knowingly Permitted' Terrorists to Use Social Network
The lawsuit is being filed by the family of an American defense contractor who was gunned down while training security forces in Jordan. ISIS took credit for the killing.
By Michael Bott
The family of a Florida defense contractor killed in a November terror attack while training security forces in Jordan is suing Twitter, claiming the company has knowingly allowed terrorist groups such as ISIS to use its social network to spread extremist propaganda.
According to court documents filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco, Lloyd "Carl" Fields Jr. was killed by a Jordanian police captain he was training at the International Police Training Center in Amman, which is operated and funded in part by the U.S. State Department. ISIS took credit for the attack, which also took the life of another American contractor, according to the lawsuit.
Thousands of farmer suicides prompt India to set up $1.3bn crop insurance scheme
Crop failure protection comes after two years of drought led to a spate of farmer suicides in India’s rural heartland
India’s government has approved a $1.3bn insurance scheme for farmers to protect against crop failures, saying it was intended to put a halt to a spate of suicides.
Two successive years of drought have battered the country’s already struggling rural heartland, with farmer suicides in rural areas regularly hitting the headlines.
More than 300,000 farmers have killed themselves in India since 1995.
Under the new scheme, farmers will pay premiums of as little as 1.5% of the value of their crops, allowing them to reclaim their full value in case of natural damage, the government said.
“The scheme will be a protection shield against instances of farmer suicides because of crop failures or damage because of nature,” home minister Rajnath Singh said on Wednesday after the cabinet approved the scheme.
EU launches first-ever rule of law review against Poland
The European Commission has launched a probe into policy changes in Poland that may clash with EU law. It is the first time such a move has been initiated by the EU against a member state.
Speaking after a lengthy meeting of the EU executive on Wednesday, European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans said: "today we have decided that the (European) Commission will carry out a preliminary assessment on this matter under the rule of law framework."
The unprecedented move is in response to new policies introduced by the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party upon its election in October. These include measures implemented last week that would give the government more control over state news organizations. Changes to the nomination process for Poland's judicial system raised eyebrows in Brussels as well.
The rule of law investigation could lead to the application of Article 7 of the Treaty of the European Union, which would see Poland's voting rights within the bloc suspended.
Five images that Chinese authorities didn’t want you to see in 2015
In 2015, those tasked with policing China’s social media networks certainly weren’t short of work. At least that’s the conclusion reached by a school of journalism based in Hong Kong, which put together a list of the country’s most heavily censured images. From Winnie the Pooh to the ‘toad’ president, the images that ended up in the crosshairs of censurers might not be what you expect.
Last December, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke out in favor of a world body tasked with governing cyberspace, which would recognize “every state’s right” to police its own internet. The official goal of this new strategy, baptized ‘cyber sovereignty’, would be to fight against terrorism and cyber crime. Yet the Chinese leader’s underlying aim was also to justify Beijing’s draconian censuring of its own internet.
According to the Hong Kong-based Journalism and Media Studies Centre, 2015 was a particularly busy year for China’s internet censurers. The school uses a tool called ‘Weiboscope’ to monitor the country’s censured web content. It found that it takes censurers between 28 minutes and two and a half hours to delete a post deemed ‘inappropriate’. China’s net police are nothing if not efficient.
Last December, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke out in favor of a world body tasked with governing cyberspace, which would recognize “every state’s right” to police its own internet. The official goal of this new strategy, baptized ‘cyber sovereignty’, would be to fight against terrorism and cyber crime. Yet the Chinese leader’s underlying aim was also to justify Beijing’s draconian censuring of its own internet.
According to the Hong Kong-based Journalism and Media Studies Centre, 2015 was a particularly busy year for China’s internet censurers. The school uses a tool called ‘Weiboscope’ to monitor the country’s censured web content. It found that it takes censurers between 28 minutes and two and a half hours to delete a post deemed ‘inappropriate’. China’s net police are nothing if not efficient.
The text messages that led to 'El Chapo'
Updated 0102 GMT (0902 HKT) January 14, 2016
Drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, a two-time prison escapee, surely is no stranger to flirting with danger.
But his admiration for one particular actress apparently led to his capture and imprisonment with security measures tougher than a ball-and-chain.
The role of Kate del Castillo, a Mexican and American actress, in brokering the meeting between the fugitive drug trafficker and actor Sean Penn for a magazine interview has been reported.
But transcripts of text messages (Blackberry Messenger, to be precise) between Guzman, his associates and del Castillo were published Wednesday by the Mexican newspaper Milenio, adding a fresh layer of detail.
If you're reading this with Internet Explorer, stop in the name of security
Starting Jan. 12, Microsoft will stop supporting older versions of Internet Explorer as it tries to move users to its newer Edge browser. The lack of technical support and upgrades will expose anyone using older IE versions to myriad security risks.
The end of the 'e' is near. The lowercase vowel that millions of Internet users clicked on to browse the Web for 20 years is fast becoming a relic of the Information Age as Microsoft Corp. ends support for all but the newest versions of Internet Explorer.
Effective Jan. 12, people using IE versions 7, 8, 9, and 10 will no longer receive updates, security patches, or technical support from Microsoft except in some limited situations where they might be running it with certain versions of Windows.
Microsoft announced its end of life plans for the pioneering browser more than a year ago. Even so, tens of millions of users, including thousands of companies worldwide, are expected to continue to use the obsolete browsers and expose themselves to potentially serious security issues in the process. In fact, security analysts expect to see a spike in attacks targeting users running older versions of IE and want them to update as soon as possible.
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