In order to prepare Rainbow 6 Siege for expansion into China, Ubisoft announced that it will be making some global censor cuts to the game's visuals to remove gore and references to sex and gambling.
In a blog post, Ubisoft explained:
A Single, Global Version
We want to explain why these changes are coming to the global version of the game, as opposed to branching and maintaining two parallel builds. We want to streamline our production time to increase efficiency
By maintaining a single build, we are able to reduce the duplication of work on the development side. This will allow us to be more agile as a development team, and address issues more quickly.
Ubisoft provided examples of their censorship:
Icons featuring knives become fists
Icons featuring skulls are replaced
Skulls in artwork are fleshed out into faces
Images of slot machines are removed
Blood spatters are removed from a Chinese landscape painting
Its probably not a good idea to leave much money in a Skype or XBox Live account as Microsoft can now seize it if they catch you using a vaguely offence word
Microsoft has just inflicted a new 'code of conduct' that prohibits customers communicating nudity, bestiality, pornography, offensive language, graphic violence and criminal activity, whilst allowing Microsoft to steal the money in your
account.
If users are found to have shared, or be in possession of, these types of content, Microsoft can suspend or ban the particular user and remove funds or balance on the associated account.
It also appears that Microsoft reserves the right to view user content to investigate violations to these terms. This means it has access to your message history and shared files (including on OneDrive, another Microsoft property) if it thinks
you've been sharing prohibited material.
Unsurprisingly, few users are happy that Microsoft is willing to delve through their personal data.
Microsoft has not made it clear if it will automatically detect and censor prohibited content or if it will reply on a reporting system. On top of that, Microsoft hasn't clearly defined its vague terms. Nobody is clear on what the limit on
offensive language is.
Facebook has files a patent that describes a method of using the devices of Facebook app users to identify various wireless signals from the devices of other users.
It explains how Facebook could use those signals to measure exactly how close the two devices are to one another and for how long, and analyses that data to infer whether it is likely that the two users have met. The patent also suggests the app
could record how often devices are close to one another, the duration and time of meetings, and can even use its gyroscope and accelerometer to analyse movement patterns, for example whether the two users may be going for a jog, smooching or
catching a bus together.
Facebook's algorithm would use this data to analyse how likely it is that the two users have met, even if they're not friends on Facebook and have no other connections to one another. This might be based on the pattern of inferred meetings, such
as whether the two devices are close to one another for an hour every Thursday, and an algorithm would determine whether the two users meeting was sufficiently significant to recommend them to each other and/or friends of friends.
I don't suppose that Facebook can claim this patent though as police and the security services have no doubt been using this technique for years.
The Satanic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts is suing Netflix and producers Warner Brothers over a statue of the goat-headed deity Baphomet that appears in the TV series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina .
The temple is claiming that Netflix and Warners are violating the copyright and trademark of the temple's own Baphomet statue, which it built several years ago.
Historically, the androgynous deity has been depicted with a goat's head on a female body, but The Satanic Temple created this statue with Baphomet having a male chest an idea that was picked up by Netflix.
The Temple is seeking damages of at least $50 million for copyright infringement, trademark violation and injury to business reputation. In the Sabrina storyline, the use of the statue as the central focal point of the school associated with
evil, cannibalism and possibly murder is injurious to TST's business, the Temple says in its suit.
Speaking at the Web Summit conference in Lisbon, Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, has launched a campaign to persuade governments, companies and individuals to sign a Contract for the Web with a set of principles intended to
defend a free and open internet.
Contract for the Web CORE PRINCIPLES
The web was designed to bring people together and make knowledge freely available. Everyone has a role to play to ensure the web serves humanity. By committing to the following principles, governments, companies and citizens around the world can
help protect the open web as a public good and a basic right for everyone.
GOVERNMENTS WILL
Ensure everyone can connect to the internet so that anyone, no matter who they are or where they live, can participate actively online.
Keep all of the internet available, all of the time so that no one is denied their right to full internet access.
Respect people's fundamental right to privacy so everyone can use the internet freely, safely and without fear.
COMPANIES WILL
Make the internet affordable and accessible to everyone so that no one is excluded from using and shaping the web.
Respect consumers' privacy and personal data so people are in control of their lives online.
Develop technologies that support the best in humanity and challenge the worst so the web really is a public good that puts people first.
CITIZENS WILL
Be creators and collaborators on the web so the web has rich and relevant content for everyone.
Build strong communities that respect civil discourse and human dignity so that everyone feels safe and welcome online.
Fight for the web so the web remains open and a global public resource for people everywhere, now and in the future.
We commit to uphold these principles and to engage in a deliberative process to build a full "Contract for the Web", which will set out the roles and responsibilities of governments, companies and citizens. The challenges facing the web
today are daunting and affect us in all our lives, not just when we are online. But if we work together and each of us takes responsibility for our actions, we can protect a web that truly is for everyone.
Gab, the social media site that prides itself as being uncensored, has been forced offline by its service providers after it became clear that the alleged Pittsburgh shooter Robert Bowers had a history of anti-semitic postings on the site.
Formed in August 2016 after Twitter began cracking down on hate speech on its social network, Gab describes itself as a free speech website and nothing more. But the platform has proved popular among the alt-right and far right, including the man
accused of opening fire on a synagogue in Pennsylvania on Saturday, killing 11.
In the hours following the attack, when the suspect's postings were discovered on the site, Gab's corporate partners abandoned it one by one. PayPal and Stripe, two of the company's payment providers, dropped it, arguing that it breached policies
around hate speech.
Cloud-hosting company Joyent also withdrew service on Sunday, giving Gab 24 hours notice of its suspension, as did GoDaddy, the site's domain registrar, which provides the Gab.com address. Both companies said the site had breached their terms of
service.
Gab responded in a statement:
We have been systematically no-platformed by App Stores, multiple hosting providers, and several payment processors, the company said in a statement posted to its site. We have been smeared by the mainstream media for defending free expression
and individual liberty for all people and for working with law enforcement to ensure that justice is served for the horrible atrocity committed in Pittsburgh.
Gab is back online following censorship in the wake of the anti-Semitic shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The social network had been banned by its hosting provider Joyent and domain registrar GoDaddy, and blacklisted by other services such as
PayPal , Stripe and Shopify.
Now, Gab has come back online and has found a new hosting provider in Epik. According to a blog post published on November 3rd, Epik CEO Robert Monster spoke out against the idea of digital censorship and decided to provide hosting privileges to
Gab because he looks forward to partnering with a young, and once brash, CEO who is courageously doing something that looks useful.
Prior to Google's bosses being called in to answer for its policy to silence conservative voices, it has filed a statement to court saying that even if it does discriminate on the basis of political viewpoints. It said:
Not only would it be wrong to compel a private company to guarantee free speech in the way that government censorship is forbidden by the Constitution, but it would also have disastrous practical consequences.
Google argued that the First Amendment appropriately limits the government's ability to censor speech, but applying those limitations to private online platforms would undermine important content regulation. If they are bound by the same First
Amendment rules that apply to the government, YouTube and other service providers would lose much of their ability to protect their users against offensive or objectionable content -- including pornography, hate speech, personal attacks, and
terrorist propaganda.
In order to prepare Rainbow 6 Siege for expansion into China, Ubisoft announced that it will be making some global censor cuts to the game's visuals to remove gore and references to sex and gambling.
Microsoft has just inflicted a new 'code of conduct' that prohibits customers communicating nudity, bestiality, pornography, offensive language, graphic violence and criminal activity, whilst allowing Microsoft to steal the money in your
account.
Facebook has files a patent that describes a method of using the devices of Facebook app users to identify various wireless signals from the devices of other users.
The Satanic Temple in Salem, Massachusetts is suing Netflix and producers Warner Brothers over a statue of the goat-headed deity Baphomet that appears in the TV series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina .
Speaking at the Web Summit conference in Lisbon, Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, has launched a campaign to persuade governments, companies and individuals to sign a Contract for the Web with a set of principles intended to
defend a free and open internet.
Gab, the social media site that prides itself as being uncensored, has been forced offline by its service providers after it became clear that the alleged Pittsburgh shooter Robert Bowers had a history of anti-semitic postings on the site.
Prior to Google's bosses being called in to answer for its policy to silence conservative voices, it has filed a statement to court saying that even if it does discriminate on the basis of political viewpoints. It said:
