#Digital Rights

[sirladysketch]

Hey guys! I haven't seen any posts about this yet but since it seems like Tumblr is going to go ahead with the selling of all of our work, now is the perfect time to go through your settings on EACH BLOG that you run to turn off sharing! It's super easy, just a bit time consuming.

Here's the desktop directions:

Go to your Blog Settings

Scroll down to the Visibility section and turn off the Share with Third Party option

Remember to do this on EVERY BLOG YOU RUN!

Hopefully the mobile version isn't much different, I don't go on Tumblr on my phone so someone will have to make a new post or reblog the instructions on here.

Don't forget to glaze and poison your works with Nightshade, too! <3

[humanrightsconnected]

Read an article by the civic technology organization Pollicy to learn about the biggest challenges to digital rights for women and discover the different ways to advance women’s digital rights!

👉 http://bit.ly/3YJkUpb 

📸 by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

[varii-corvid]

so I'm learning about the indie web and how we as individuals can own our own content instead of relying on internet silos and walled gardens to own our data and lock us into services we can't find elsewhere. I want to start making my own websites. I might syndicate messages to this site, but I want to host the majority of my content on my own site and maybe even get my own NAS server to store and self host all the data. I think decentralization and democratization without the BS of surveillance capitalism would massively improve the internet, although web3 is not the solution to our problems since it actually puts more power into capitalist's hands. the devices we use and the data we own is an extension of our personal being, thus it is a cybernetic part of us. state and corporate surveillance is an assault on our persons and it should be recognized as such. the farming of people's data is unethical since it violates every aspect of a person's identity except their physical body. societal progress and technological advancement should not come at the cost of people's well-being and should enable the passion and self actualization of all beings. I think people should work on making their own websites and connecting peer to peer so we can build a collaborative internet. The indie web is so amazing and I think we should be working towards data self ownership. especially since it can be so much more useful than simply relying on social media for everything (also the techno optimist to neo luddite eco anarcist pipeline is real and more people should go through it tbh)

[akaratna]

This is a qualified victory for freedom of communication.

The consumer protections restored by this vote parallel those stipulated by the original Net Neutrality Order of 2015. However these protections remain subject to the whim of whatever party has control of the White House. The original order was overturned as soon as Trump took office, and the 2024 order can just as easily be voided by any administration that aligns with ISPs against the public.

To strengthen protections for our free access to information and communication, we need LEGAL, not merely regulatory, protections for net neutrality. We also need copyright protection and 4th Amendment protection for digital content and personal data that we generate through our internet usage. Laws codifying net neutrality, AND digital rights, AND users' ownership of all data they generate through internet use -- ALL need to be pursued at both the state and federal level, in order to protect us from arbitrary reversals of regulatory practice.

In addition, the 2024 net neutrality format includes a new wrinkle which empowers the FCC to shut down foreign providers deemed to be national security threats. This is a power that goes hand-in-hand with the Tik Tok ban and allows the government direct surveillance and control over our access to information from any 'unauthorized' source.

It is dangerous.

So. A qualified victory over corporate control of communications, but an intensification of State surveillance and control over our communications and thought.

[safety-pin-punk]

Hello, new-ish follower of yours here! First off, I think your blog is awesome, and that it is very cool that you also have a Blogger. Decentralize social media! Woo!

Second, if you're still doing patch ideas, do you have any for digital rights/anti-surveillance? I've seen a few really cool ones, like the chrome logo but the circle in the middle is an eye, and am looking for more ideas for my patch pants!

I hope your day/night is lovely!

HI HELLO TO YOU TOO THANK YOU FOR COMPLIMENTING MY BLOG!!! AGAIN, SO SORRY FOR NOT CHECKING WEB MORE OFTEN TO SEE ASKS THAT MOBILE JUST DOES NOT SHOW ME

And yes! I do have a blogger that I very infrequently update, but when I have spare time I try to. Its mostly so that if tumblr ever goes down I still have all my writing and shit, but I also agree the idea of decentralizing social media is very very cool!

As far as the patches go, if you are still wanting some ideas, this is what I got for you (sorry this ones a bit out of my wheel house but I tried my best):

"Big Brother is Watching" from 1984 (honestly just an awesome anti surveillance / dystopian novel)

"Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -Edward Snowden

This patch from etsy that looks cool

'Destroy The Surveillance Society'

I'm gonna ask people to add more in the notes cause thats all I got for this one

[ebookporn]

Roald Dahl eBooks automatically updated: Report

Updating newly printed editions of the Roald Dahl books, and removing “problematic” phrases and terms like “fat” or “ugly” is one thing. But automatically updating the eBook versions of these books that people might have purchased in expectation of getting the classic, original edition of Dahl’s tomes?

George Orwell had no idea how right he was.

This is as good a time as any, by the way, to offer a reminder that tends to keep escaping people — it’s that buying an eBook from a digital retailer like Amazon does not mean you are buying a book that you now own entirely yourself. You are buying, instead, the privilege of licensing a digital version of that book — it is in no way similar to that stack of novels on the nightstand by your bed.

READ MORE

[bugkrumch]

Physical media discourse on here feels... weird (this is a long post)

I agree on a fundamental level that the move towards drm-based streaming licenses is bad, and that the perpetual-personal-content license (read: the license most DVDs are under) is a thing we should maintain, at least as a stopgap until the vanguard of communism empowers us to rewrite IP law.

That said, the language positioning Physical vs Digital, the insistence that anything other than physical media is bad, and the upholding of DVDs as a gold standard, all read to me as kinda tech-iliterate, and thus ignorant of the real issue at hand.

The primary issue with streaming, which folks on Tumblr *have* correctly identified, is to do with Access control.

The primary issue with streaming is that it requires a regular subscription payment, to exclusively view content under a license that can be revoked at any time for any reason.

This is the mechanism by which Netflix can kick you off your friend's account, this is also the mechanism by HBO can scrub Infinity Train from existence as a tax write-off.

This system is unequivocally bad, and the reason it's bad is because of DRM and Access Control. This may seem pedantic, but is an important distinction.

Let's take a look at DVDs now. Most DVDs are distributed under a license that grants you perpetual access to view in a private setting, but not to redistribute the content.

This is what that FBI warning that plays at the top of every DVD is trying to tell you, and is why ripping a DVD, while simple, is technically illegal.

Because the video file is hard-encoded into the DVD, and its proliferation largely predates the IOT zeitgeist, *most* DVDs don't contain any access control measures beyond that legal text, but this is not universal.

This is a great video outlining FlexPlay, an ill-faded technology that used a disk with light-sensitive material, that over the course of about a week or two, blacked out the disk rendering its contents un-viewable.

I bring this up because it highlights two issues.

One, DVDs aren't a physically resilient technology.

Disks are fragile, and even moderate scratches or damage can render a disk unreadable. This is a point of contention retro gamers have had for years, because while their NES cartridges still work, their PS1 disks don't.

This is not even to mention how the plastic of every broken disk still exists somewhere in the world, and will for centuries.

Two, it shows that IP conglomerates, have been at this for years, and won't be stopped in putting Access control into DVDs.

This means that buying DVDs of new shows forever is not an end-game solution. Unless you are content to stop consuming new media, eventually you're going to encounter a DRM protected disk.

To use another more recent example, remember when the Xbox One came out? They had this giant controversy over how playing a game locally on the disk still required online access to Microsoft's servers.

Your physical media could be locked right up for any reason by the platform itself. How can we trust that if DVDs or Blu Ray made a comeback that they would not suffer the same fate?

So where do we go from here, if physical media isn't safe?

Let's consider what digital video *is*. It's a file, same as any other. .mp4 .mov

Some, like .mp4 support DRM-encryption (although don't always contain any). Others, like .ogv exist free from DRM, thanks open source software developers.

Likewise, with a DRM encrypted digital file, because all of the data is hosted locally, just encrypted, there are ways to remove or bypass that encryption, because the VAST majority of cyber-security depends on a lack of knowledge.

This website has a number of very good resources both on drm-free digital storage mediums, and the process of removing certain types of DRM from digital files, (and was my primary resource for this paragraph)

https://www.defectivebydesign.org/so_youve_got_some_questions_do_you#:~:text=To%20avoid%20DRM%20and%20other,webm)%2C%20or%20Daala.

Storing your media as unlocked files presents the best of both worlds.

You have full control over access to your media, you own those files just as much as you own the hard drive you store them on.

You can buy media online, so long as the distributor gives you a media file instead of a streaming portal. You can also choose to obtain media files through other means, that's none of my business.

And you can do some really cool stuff like setting up a self-hosted media server, allowing you streaming-like remote access to all of your media, without ceding any ownership over that media. (Jellyfin is the most popular open-source solution but there are others) https://jellyfin.org/

And absolutely none of this is to mention the ways in which you can SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY, WHO MOST LIKELY HAS STREAMING OPTIONS.

In the US most public libraries maintain Kanopy and hoopla memberships, allowing you to access streamed content from your local library.

This has the added benefit of keeping the library's usage statistics up, which often helps them with securing more funding.

While you don't own the media, you also don't have to pay for it, and you crucially don't have to give your money to streaming services and IP hoarders.

It requires 0 technical background, and presents a more sustainable and equitable view of what streaming can look like.

So in conclusion:

Make sure you own the content you're paying for, and accept nothing less.

Don't be convinced that your DVDs are immune.

Learn some basics about networking, filetypes, cyber security and self-hosting if you really care about this stuff.

Support Open Source Software

Support Your Local Library

[b3aches]

Congress has resurrected the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), a bill that would increase surveillance and restrict access to information in the name of protecting children online. KOSA was introduced in 2022 but failed to gain traction, and today its authors, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), have reintroduced it with slight modifications. Though some of these changes were made in response to over 100 civil society organizations and LGBTQ+ rights groups’ criticisms of the bill, its latest version is still troubling. Today’s version of KOSA would still require surveillance of anyone sixteen and under. It would put the tools of censorship in the hands of state attorneys general, and would greatly endanger the rights, and safety, of young people online. And KOSA’s burdens will affect adults, too, who will likely face hurdles to accessing legal content online as a result of the bill.

If you live in the US, you should contact your congressional representatives in the House and Senate and tell them to oppose KOSA.

[mitchipedia]

WhatsApp, the dominant messaging platform in the U.K., tells the government to bugger off regarding legislation that would ban end-to-end encryption.

[southeastasianists]

Myanmar is no stranger to authoritarian military rule and accompanying media restrictions but for a brief decade, between 2011 and 2021, it began to emerge from its dark torpor of five decades dominated by dour and censored state broadcasting and newspapers into the twenty-first century world of ubiquitous mobile phones and social media. Mobile phone SIM cards, which cost several thousand dollars in the 2000s under military rule fell to US$1.50 in the second half of 2014 when the first foreign firms started operations in the country. Facebook on mobile phones became the de facto communication tool in the country – leapfrogging email and fixed line phone networks – and also the main source of news (Simpson 2019).

This liberating, but unregulated, media environment had enormous social and economic benefits, but also resulted in the proliferation of hate speech aimed at minorities, particularly the Rohingya (Simpson and Farrelly 2021b). Nevertheless, access to these technologies, accompanied by a decade of political and economic reforms, created a trajectory towards a more open, democratic and transparent society, albeit from a very low base.

This progress came crashing down on 1 February 2021 when the military deposed the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government, which had been re-elected in a landslide the previous November. That morning, the military arrested State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, the president and other NLD parliamentarians and activists and took over the machinery of government. Mass protests around the country were followed by internet and social media bans and restrictions and widespread repression that constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity (Andrews 2022; Fortify Rights 2022; Human Rights Watch 2021; Simpson 2021a).

A new Cyber Security Law had been in development under the NLD government and the military junta, the State Administration Council (SAC), released a draft for comment soon after the coup. There was significant criticism from business groups and NGOs but a new updated draft, which was distributed in early 2022 was even worse (Free Expression Myanmar 2022). There was vocal domestic and international opposition to the new draft and, at the time of writing (June 2022), the feedback was still being considered by the SAC’s cyber security committee. This article provides a brief history of censorship and media restrictions in Myanmar and analyses the human rights implications of the new draft Cyber Security Law

[laurenfoxmakesthings]

[humanrightsconnected]

The latest IFEX brief on news about free expression in Asia is out now. Check it out 👇!

[ellies-hollywood]

Please please please show your support for the Internet Archive by signing this petition! Support them in any way you can and spread the word. If we do not fight this, millions of sources of knowledge, culture, art, and history will be lost because of the corporate greed of a few publishing companies! Our local libraries will be next. This is an assault on access to knowledge and knowledge itself, and we cannot let it stand!