Twitter Programming - Still Holding My Accounts to Ransom & Insisting on Raping My Privacy

ꕤ HEY SHAREHOLDERS TWITTER TWATS  [CLICK image for enlargement / clarity] Twitter Programming Still Holding My Accounts to Ransom & Insisting on Raping My Privacy TWITTER LOSSES 2013 £645 million 2014 £578 million 2015 £431 million (first 3 quarters 2015) LINK | Post ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- ꕤ

Twitter - Australian Defence Force - Social Media Feel-Good Propaganda Gone Wrong

ꕤ Article SOURCE https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/30492016/muslim-navy-captain-has-twitter-account-deleted-after-anti-islam-group-complains/  [CLICK image for enlargement / clarity] Twitter - Australian Defence Force Social Media Propaganda Gone Wrong https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/30492016/muslim-navy-captain-has-twitter-account-deleted-after-anti-islam-group-complains/ Muslim navy Captain has twitter account deleted following complaint     Kate Burke     January 5, 2016, 3:19 pm Video Navy captain in hot water over twitter account A twitter account allegedly belonging to the navy’s most senior Muslim officer has been shut down after it retweeted a post mocking Tony Abbott and backed the Grand Mufti’s controversial response to the Paris terror attacks. Captain Mona Shindy, the Chief of Navy’s strategic adviser on Islamic affairs, is understood to have run the account @navyislamic until it was deleted shortly before Christmas following at least one complaint. In September, the social media account retweeted counter-terrorism expert Anne Aly, on the night of the leadership change, The Australian reports. “Wait. Did our new PM just give a speech and not mention boats, death cult, security, death cult, terrorism, national security and death cult?” the tweet read. In October, the account was used to attack a new Queensland-based political party called the Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA), which was launched by controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders. “Real shame to see these extreme ill informed fringe groups threatening #community #cohesion. #auspol #teamhumanrace” the tweet from October 22 stated. Captain Shindy was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in last year’s Australia Day honours and was named the Telstra NSW Businesswoman of the Year in November.Source: AAP. Then in November, five days after the Paris terror attacks, @navyislamic tweeted the hashtag #IStandWithTheMufti. The tweet described the Grand Mufti Ibrahim Abu Mohamed, whose comments on Islamic extremism were widely criticised following the deadly attacks, as a “righteous & courageous man who categorically denounces” Islamic State and terrorism. Captain Shindy, who is a 26-year veteran of the navy and head of its Guided Missile Frigate Program, also called for the word ‘Islam’ to be removed from reporting on Islamic state in policy talk in an essay published in June. The Australian reports she also called for ‘frank, fearless debate‘ about the ‘root cause and triggers’ of Islamic grievances, which she said included foreign policy double standards and the fact that young Australian Muslims felt they had been marginalised. A Defence Department spokesperson told the newspaper the navy had consolidated its social media platforms in order to achieve a ‘single source’ and ‘strengthen its messaging in synch with its support to traditional media’. The Guardian reports the Twitter account was deleted 12 days after the head of the ALA Debbie Robinson, wrote to the Australian Defence Force asking the navy to distance itself from the account or delete it. “It is completely unacceptable for an official defence Twitter account to criticise any registered political party in Australia,” Robinson, who has previously described Islam as a ‘dangerous idealogy’ said in a press release. Captain Shindy who is currently on leave, has declined to comment on the matter. News break – January 5 https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/30492016/muslim-navy-captain-has-twitter-account-deleted-after-anti-islam-group-complains/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Even though it's not PC to admit this, I will anyway:  those headscarves in a professional or institutional Western setting do my head in.  I think it's because they're so incongruous. Just as Western attire does not have a place in traditional Eastern settings, I think traditional Eastern attire is misplaced in a Western setting.  Yet Western institutions (dominated by liberal and/or culturally Marxist ideology) adapt to what is alien rather, than insisting on the reverse.  Geert Wilders in Netherlands is perfectly entitled to lobby to shape Netherlands in accordance with the best interests of his European / Dutch ethnic, historic, cultural, social, and political heritage, without censure for what amounts to legitimate concerns pertaining to matters that impact on his heritage. Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA), I've just quickly checked on here. From surface information in the ABC article, the ALA sound a reasonable political movement (and political choice), rather than a 'fringe' option. It's a fair call, I think.  Those representing Australian institutions officially ought to abstain from criticism of Australian political movements, if they're the rules.  ꕤ

Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA) - Senate Candidates - Oct 2015 - ABC Article

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-21/australian-liberty-alliance-candidates-unveiled-amid-racism-fear/6874336 Australian Liberty Alliance: Geert Wilders unveils Senate candidates amid warnings over 'blatant racism' 7.30  By Lauren Day Updated 22 Oct 2015, 8:57am SUMMARY Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA) officially launched in Perth, Oct 2015 keynote speaker:  Dutch politician Geert Wilders media had to register in advance for:  press conference that followed last minute location notification by text 'word quickly spread' (more like was quickly disseminated, by the press -- so that means the press cannot be trusted.) result:  Wilders was harassed by fascist left protesters interfering with political freedom of attendees Australian Liberty Alliance -- anti-Islamisation party -- policies:  banning full face coverings -- 10-year moratorium on resident visas - Islamic -- removal of Australia from UN Charter of Refugees Inspired by: Party for Freedom -- Dutch politician Geert Wilders Standing for Senate: Kirralie Smith (NSW) Anti-halal campaigner Bernard Gaynor former Army officer (QLD) one-time Katter's Australia Party candidate { dumped by KAP for anti-gay comments } Debbie Robinson (WA) president Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA) also president: 'secretive anti-Islam group the Q Society' Q Society:  funded Geert Wilders visit Debbie Robinson (WA) Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA) "We're not in this for a career as politicians, we're genuinely concerned about what's happening to Australia as a result of multiculturalism and the divisiveness that it's causing and the damage that it's doing to Australia." In the other camp: Suresh Rajan reportedly 'concerned' that Robinson does not think highly of religious scripture, as commented on by Wilders ie along lines that religion 'barbaric' etc '"The statements are very very dangerous, they're statements that will incite a great deal of hatred towards a group of people and they are without any basis whatsoever in fact," he said.' [comment:   ... I think most ppl would be able to provide him with numerous examples of barbarity etc associated with this particular ideology] Suresh Rajan appears to be warning that domestic terrorism recruiters campaigning for 'radicalisation' will use nationalist campaign to their own ends, by exploiting 'disaffected youth' [comment:  guess if that's the pricetag / better to deal with it sooner rather than later] Article goes on: West Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam dismissed their chances at the next federal election. "Nobody's been able to establish I guess a really hard-line racist political formation in Australia," he said.    "I'm really proud of that, I think there are good reasons for that and I think this attempt will fail too but the provocation and the attempt at establishing that kind of thing is actually tremendously harmful and actually quite risky." http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-21/australian-liberty-alliance-candidates-unveiled-amid-racism-fear/6874336 ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT By 'hard line racist' Ludlam would surely mean a openly or firmly nationalist Australian political party ( ... gee, or maybe even a vaguely nationalist Australian political party, seeing there isn't anything remotely resembling the slightest nod to nationalism among the mainstream parties). Rather than being proud of the fact that Australian nationalism has had no representation or voice in Australia, I would be gravely concerned. If it is 'tremendously harmful' and 'quite risky' to have a nationalist movement in Australia, then it sounds like Australians ought to be seriously concerned -- which sort of vindicates the existence of a nationalist movement, in the first place, it would seem. What the ALA proposes sounds perfectly reasonable to me:  a 10-year moratorium on immigration and freedom from the constraints of international treaties that prevent exercise of tailor-made, selective immigration policy that suits Australian interests. As for the proposed laws on face-coverings:  I also don't think it's unreasonable to insist that those that choose to live in the West adapt to the West. Other than what I've read here in this article, I really don't know anything about the ALA.  They sound OK so far.  Picked a good name, too. PS --  It's worthwhile considering that the journalists that released information concerning that Dutch politician's whereabouts, ahead of his appearance at the ALA event, potentially put his life in danger.   The guy is under 24/7 watch because of threats to his life.   So what does that say about (a) the issues and (b) journalists. ꕤ

'Top Secret' - Game or British Acclimatisation PsyOp?

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-01-10-where-in-the-world-is-edward-snowden 'Top Secret' - Game or British Acclimatisation PsyOp?  http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-01-10-where-in-the-world-is-edward-snowden Simon Parkin Simon Parkin is an award-winning writer and journalist from England, a regular contributor to The New Yorker, The Guardian and a variety of other publications. Where in the world is Edward Snowden? The game that puts you in search of history's most notorious whistleblower. SUMMARY: James Long British graduate in theoretical physics product, game:  Top Secret casts player as NSA employee tasked with following intel to source deciding who knows what & whether to help whistleblower blurs reality & fantasy (Snowden group + fiction) 1,000 scattered fragments / disjointed, non-linear journey played out entirely in your actual email programme to begin: send an email to member of your 'NSA team' surveillance reports return, with 'metadata' James Long "Every email you send and receive while playing the game can be intercepted by the real government," he says. "So we have a game about surveillance in which your play itself is subject to surveillance." Top Secret supports Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption method used by Edward Snowden James Long "I'm nakedly partisan and a huge fan of Snowden. I believe the government has gone too far with mass surveillance." James Long "One of the reasons you play as an NSA analyst is that it allows the game to present the viewpoints of those in the security services. You are free to make up their own mind and decide how far you'll go when invading the lives of others. For change to happen you have to start a debate. It doesn't matter if people disagree with you as long as they are talking about the issue." http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-01-10-where-in-the-world-is-edward-snowden Guardian Article http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/10/video-game-makers-james-long-top-secret BY THE SAME WRITER / BRIEF VERSION ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT So, is this really a game or is it a GCHQ acclimatisation to mass surveillance and a take-the-NSA-POV PsyOp? ꕤ

Twitter - Social Media - Decommercialisation & Alternate Funding Models (Prof Christian Fuchs, University of Westminster)

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2016/1/8/technology/how-save-twitter-itself  [CLICK image for enlargement / clarity] Social Media - Decommercialisation & Alternate Funding Models http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2016/1/8/technology/how-save-twitter-itself How to save Twitter from itself     Christian Fuchs 8 Jan, 11:55 AM     Technology Industries EXTRACT [ ... ] But unlike it’s peers, while Twitter’s business also relies on advertising, it isn’t profitable. It made losses of £645 million in 2013, £578m in 2014, and £431m in the first three quarters of 2015. Its share value has dropped from more than $US60 at its highest in December 2013 to a low of $US22 in January 2016. By comparison, Facebook made a profit of £2 billion in 2014. For Twitter, its speed and ephemerality are so high that advertising logic seems contravened. The bursting of the dotcom bubble in 2000 showed the dangers of precariously-funded internet companies’ floating on stock markets. So perhaps chief executive Jack Dorsey feels that changing Twitter’s technological design will fix its economic problems, increasing the length of users’ attention span — and therefore the amount of time in front of adverts — with an increase in the length of tweets. But over the ten years since it launched, Twitter users have become accustomed to how Twitter works and may continue using it as they always have. Twitter finds itself in a bind: immensely popular but unprofitable, with no guarantee that what introducing 10,000 character tweets will change this as neither current nor alternative design promise large profits. Twitter’s economic crisis reflects the crisis in our public sphere. New technologies are often accompanied by a certain fetishism, that either celebrates it as a technological fix to all society’s ills, or demonises it as bringing about the end of civilisation. The arrival of social media is no different: some see it as the harbinger of digital democracy and a revitalised public sphere, while others argue that it makes us stupid and lowers the tone. In truth neither is right, because communications both shape society and are shaped by it. We need to slow down. Just like the slow food movement, we also need slow media that give us time to develop discussion. This inevitably means rolling back the capitalist logic of advertising sales so the focus can be on quality content, not monetising adverts. De-commercialisation and de-acceleration are strategies for saving the media. [comment:  I'm all for decommercialising, but definitely not for de-acceleration.] I grew up in Austria, where the national public service broadcaster ORF hosted the evening television discussion program Club 2 several times a week. This format’s unique feature was potentially unlimited airtime, which often resulted in hours-long, in-depth discussions of contemporary issues lasting into the morning hours. Club 2 was prototypical slow media.  [comment:  it sounds like state stasi propaganda hell,  catering to & exploiting the liberal left intelligentsia to brainwash the public ... that might bother to watch this slow propaganda crap.] If social media’s commercial logic is flawed, without tackling the capitalist political economy Twitter’s proposed changes are not enough. A more radical approach would be to turn Twitter into a non-commercial, non-profit platform without advertising that substitutes accumulation and speed for striving to foster sustained communication and debate.  [comment:  I'm all for no adverising, but as for the rest of it:  noooooooo.  It's the speed of information flow that is the attraction and the benefit of the platform, from which you pick & choose what you wish to follow up more fully.] Think that’s impossible? Non-commercial logic works for Wikipedia — one of the most popular sites on the web — which is a non-profit funded by grants, donations and some paid services it offers. [comment:  Wikipedia is OK to get some basic INITIAL key facts, while bearing in mind that you are reading bias & propaganda.  It is TAINTED information that is shaped by various propagandist editors who withhold vital facts, in their quest to spin the subject positively.  It's biased and distorted.  Various interest groups (and PR companies) have their hooks in it, so it's something of a joke.] Why shouldn’t it also work for Twitter? Radical improvements require the de-commodification of online communication — something that would require fundamental design and political-economic changes, and also the development of alternative funding models, such as a participatory media fee — a tax that advertising-based companies pay to access the audiences that generate their profits.  [comment:  WTF?  A 'participatory media fee' is commercialisation rather than decommercialisation.  And 'advertising-based' access to audience is going to amount to (a) some privacy robbing tactic and (b) adversing in some form.] The internet’s potential is vast. It’s important not to be sidetracked by profits but to use it to foster political debate and understanding in a world of global violence, economic crisis, and environmental catastrophe. The social media age has not yet developed its Club 2: we must make the move from social media capitalism towards a public sphere-focused social media and a media that is held in the commons — only then can social media become truly social. The Conversation Christian Fuchs, Professor of Social Media, University of Westminster This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2016/1/8/technology/how-save-twitter-itself ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT The proposal: "we must make the move from social media capitalism towards a public sphere-focused social media and a media that is held in the commons" sounds good in theory. But if the proposal results in more Wikipedia-style bias and propaganda that's dominated by interest groups, then it's not much of a proposal.  Those that are sufficiently motivated can learn a great deal from speedy internet information exchange that can be followed up according to one's inclinations. What we need is a no advertising and no censorship Twitter-style fast information exchange highway or bulletin board that discourages corporate spamming of any kind:  even the 'benign'. What would be cool is internet info 'rooms' (or channels), where you can tick certain boxes (of what is acceptable to you in terms of politics and censorship), so that you can narrow the pool of information down to something like:  non-liberal (PC) and uncensored, if you lean that way.  By the same token, uptight old people, bible-bashers, and delicate creatures who can't handle reality without being 'triggered', can opt for either a censored liberal heaven of their own choosing, or if this is too complicated to police on their behalf, they can be shown the cyber-door to existing commercial options. ꕤ

Twitter 10,000 Character Plan Meets Backlash

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/12087357/Removing-Twitters-140-character-limit-is-Jack-Dorseys-biggest-gamble-yet.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/12087357/Removing-Twitters-140-character-limit-is-Jack-Dorseys-biggest-gamble-yet.html Removing Twitter's 140-character limit is Jack Dorsey's biggest gamble yet Reaction to the possibility of 10,000 character tweets has been overwhelmingly negative, but Jack Dorsey has his reasons By James Titcomb 3:08PM GMT 07 Jan 2016 When Jack Dorsey sent the first tweet on March 21 2006, it was still 294 days until Steve Jobs would unveil the iPhone. There were no apps, and mobile phone messages were almost exclusively sent by text. The limits of text messages were precisely how Dorsey and his fellow founders arrived at the 140-character limit that came to define Twitter. Before the smartphone era, tweets were designed to be sent by text, which were limited to 160 characters (the extra 20 was set aside for usernames). In the 10 years since, we’ve all bought smartphones, and text messages have been replaced by apps. Twitter itself has also changed – adding photos, hashtags, polls, faves (now hearts) and more, but the 140-character cap has remained the same, a defining feature (if not the defining feature) of the social network that set it apart from the likes of Facebook. Until now. On Tuesday it emerged that Twitter plans to raise the character limit on tweets, probably to 10,000. Dorsey confirmed this with a tweet of his own a few hours later defending the move. Many Twitter devotees met the prospect with an instant backlash, and it’s easy to see why. A huge part of Twitter’s appeal, they say, is that tweets are short (if not always sweet). The cap allows users to keep up with the dozens of tweets a minute that pop up on their feeds, and it forces the public figures, pundits and comedians to keep things concise. Long tweets would probably be displayed as 140 characters with a "read more" button to see longer ones, but opponents still felt the change would ruin the magic of Twitter: hashtags were started up in protest. But it’s also easy to see why Twitter wants to change things. "We’ve spent a lot of time observing what people are doing on twitter, and we see them taking screenshots of text and tweeting it," Dorsey wrote in his own screenshotted statement (weighing in at 1,315 characters).  [comment: they're taking screenshots of SPECIFIC PORTIONS of text that convey a SPECIFIC message or point to readers - often from ARCHIVED news content.] "Instead, what if that text…was actually text? Text that could be searched. Text that could be highlighted. That’s more utility and power." [comment:  it's not worth the effort b/c anything searched, highlighted & 'published' on Twitter shall wind up in some Twitter deletion black hole.  Far better off saving, editing & posting data independently of Twitter in-house offerings instead of doing the Twitter platform any freebie favours.  Even basic retweets are getting deleted from Twitter b/c some wanker or other doesn't maybe fancy the comment or hastag marked up on the retweet.  Once again, Twitter sucks balls.] The bigger picture is that Twitter is in trouble. Monthly users grew by just 3 million in the third quarter of last year, against 13 million a year earlier. Twitter remains lossmaking. Dorsey, who was brought back as chief executive last year, has promised to revive Twitter with a host of new initiatives.  [comment:  most of those 'monthly users' that 'grew' are users the Twitter Stasi have blocked (by way of malicious reporting, sh*tty programming or active censorship) who have had to get back on the platform by setting up another account ... lol  F*ck you, Twitter.  Die soon.] Unlike other new ideas like Moments, the recently-launched feature that replaces the Twitter timeline with packages of tweets summarising events, extending tweets isn’t really an attempt to coax more people onto the platform. But it could keep more people on Twitter who are on Twitter already. People who might instead follow a link; post on a blogging platform; or, as Dorsey did, link to an screenshot of text.  [comment:  screw Twitter and their 'packages' -- just another way of attempting to influence public participants.  Assh*les.] In this way, it follows a similar pattern to other things Twitter has done to make tweets "richer" – allowing images, videos and gifs to be embedded, introducing polls and so on. Twitter was losing eyeballs to YouTube, and fixed it. Now, it is losing them to Tumblr, Medium and Facebook, and wants to fix that.  [comment:  I detest polls, as there's always an ulterior motive:  in this case furnishing Twitter with free information probably.  Refuse to give these censoring and politically suppressing corporate assh*les any freebies.  Ignore their sh*tty polls feature until it DIES.] The question is whether it can accomplish this without annoying the people that love the short format. One might argue that if you don’t want more than 140 characters, don’t use them, but many other people undoubtedly will, which could turn using Twitter into a process of opening and closing tweets, rather than the streamlined feed users are used to. Like all social networks, so much of Twitter’s product is its users, and so the success or failure of a new feature rests in how they apply it. Upping the character limit is expected by the end of March, so we won’t know whether this new idea will vastly improve Twitter or ruin it until then. What is certain is that this is one of the biggest gambles that Dorsey has taken so far. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/12087357/Removing-Twitters-140-character-limit-is-Jack-Dorseys-biggest-gamble-yet.html ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT "So much of Twitter's PRODUCT is its USERS". Hear that, Twitter asssssssssh******lessssssssssssssss? From the way twitter treats public participants on the platform, you would think the public user is the enemy. Die soon, you commercial, censoring, privacy-raping and politically-suppressing establishment and establishment-serving assh*les! ꕤ

Twitter Greed Growing - Plans to Spam Customers with Commercial Publishing - 10,000 characters

ꕤ Article SOURCE http://recode.net/2016/01/06/twitters-longer-tweets-pave-the-way-for-more-publisher-deals/  [CLICK image for enlargement / clarity] Twitter Greed Growing - Plans to Spam Customers with Commercial Publishing -  10,000 characters http://recode.net/2016/01/06/twitters-longer-tweets-pave-the-way-for-more-publisher-deals/ Twitter’s Longer Tweets Pave the Way for More Publisher Deals Kurt Wagner  |  By Kurt Wagner |  @KurtWagner8 January 6, 2016, 10:57 AM PST Now that we know Twitter is building a feature to let users share longer tweets, maybe as long as 10,000 characters, that could have big consequences for publishers. [ ... ] CEO Jack Dorsey pointed out that expanding the tweet length means regular users won’t need to share images of text to work around the current limit. But more importantly, the move paves the way for Twitter to actually host content on its platform, not just links to content. Expanded tweets will give publishers a chance to run stories directly on Twitter the same way they do now with Facebook’s Instant Articles, Snapchat Discover and Apple News. Twitter wouldn’t need to convince publishers that it’s a great place for their content — that has already been established by the fact that every publisher I know of has an active Twitter account (if not multiple Twitter accounts). Handing over content to Twitter could increase readership, too. Way more people see publisher tweets than actually click on their links. The benefit for Twitter, of course, is that hosting content keeps users inside of Twitter instead of clicking to venture off to other websites. Twitter COO and revenue boss Adam Bain, in an interview Tuesday with Re/code’s Peter Kafka, didn’t dismiss the idea. “It’s an interesting way to look at it,” he said. “We certainly have been helping content companies today bring video content closer to consumers.” He mentioned twice that Twitter and publishers are working to generate revenue “together.” Twitter could certainly benefit from a new revenue stream. The company’s user growth has basically flatlined, which means Twitter needs to come up with ways to make more money from the same pool of people already on the service. Twitter has been able to do this over the past year. Revenue in Q3 jumped almost 58 percent over the previous year despite user growth of just 11 percent. But there’s no doubt the company is looking for other forms of revenue to sustain that trend. Questions still remain, of course. What might ads tied to hosted content look like? Could Twitter put an ad inside a tweet? Imagine reading a headline in a tweet, expanding that tweet to read an article, and coming across some kind of ad midway through the story or along the right rail. It seems like a possibility, although Twitter has made no indication it’s thinking along these lines. Plus, don’t forget that Twitter and Google “teamed up” on a project that felt like it might offer something similar back in September, but that turned out to be more of a Google project without any content actually living on Twitter. Hosting content is the new “thing to do” for social platforms, and it certainly makes sense for Twitter. Longer tweets may just be step one. http://recode.net/2016/01/06/twitters-longer-tweets-pave-the-way-for-more-publisher-deals/ ---------------------- ꕤ ---------------------- COMMENT Hosting publisher content on 'social platforms' (as well as the annoying Twitter advertising spamming that they're already bugging participants with) is something of an oxymoron:  there's nothing 'social' about such an arrangement. By amping up commercialising, by hosting a heap of crap, by annoying public participants with advertising, by hosting large slabs of MSM, corporate, government & intelligentsia propaganda and spam, this platform is anything but 'social'. The sooner people find some other way to communicate information by cutting out the commercially motivated middle man, corporations, and the state, the better. Why aren't all those open source developers creating a real peoples' communication platform? ꕤ