Page 24 - aruba-today-20190504

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Saturday 4 May 2019
Facebook bans 'dangerous individuals' cited for hate speech

By BARBARA ORTUTAY appears to be painting it —
AP Technology Writer it's just enforcing its existing
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — policy.
After years of pressure to "There will always be more
crack down on hate and purveyors of hate speech
bigotry, Facebook has that try to come on these
banned Louis Farrakhan, platforms," he said. "Will ad-
Alex Jones and other ex- vocates have to push year
tremists, saying they violat- after year just to get (a
ed its ban on "dangerous handful of) individuals off?
individuals." At this rate it seems likely.
The company also re- And this doesn't address
moved right-wing person- the problem of what hap-
alities Paul Nehlen, Milo pens at the margins."
Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Facebook has previously
Watson and Laura Loomer, suspended Jones from its
along with Jones' site, In- flagship service temporar-
fowars, which often posts ily; this suspension is per-
conspiracy theories. The manent and includes In-
latest bans apply to both stagram. Twitter has also
Facebook's main service banned Loomer, Jones and
and to Instagram and ex- Yiannopoulos, though Far-
tend to fan pages and oth- rakhan, the leader of the
er related accounts. This combination of file photo shows minister Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, Nation of Islam long known
in Tehran, Iran, on Nov. 8, 2018, left, and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in Washington on Sept. 5,
Decried as censorship by 2018, right. for provocative comments
several of those who got Associated Press widely considered anti-Se-
the ax, the move signals a mitic, still had an account
renewed effort by the so- megaphone that Face- Critics praised the move said Keegan Hankes, se- Thursday. So did Watson,
cial media giant to remove book has provided the likes but said there is more to be nior research analyst for who rose to popularity as
people and groups pro- of Jones, Yiannopoulos and done on both Facebook the Southern Poverty Law editor-at-large at Infowars
moting objectionable ma- others over the years. But and Instagram. Center, which tracks hate and has nearly a million fol-
terial such as hate, racism it does not address what "We know that there are groups in the U.S. lowers on the site.
and anti-Semitism. might be done with lesser still white supremacists Dipayan Ghosh, a former Facebook said the newly
Removing some of the known figures and those and other extremist fig- Facebook executive and banned accounts violated
best-known figures of the who stay on the margins of ures who are actively using an internet policy expert at its policy against danger-
U.S. political extreme takes what Facebook's policies both platforms to spread Harvard, said the ban isn't ous individuals and organi-
away an important virtual allow. their hatred and bigotry," as big a step as Facebook zations. q

Cyber officials call for coordinated 5G security approach

By KELVIN CHAN and KAREL try," especially its "model of pany welcomed the meet-
JANICEK governance." ing's "collaborative ap-
PRAGUE (AP) — Cyberse- "Security and risk assess- proach."
curity officials from dozens ments of vendors and net- "As the EU continues its
of countries drew up a work technologies should deliberations, we firmly
blueprint on Friday to coun- take into account rule of believe that any future se-
ter threats and ensure the law," it said. curity principles should be
safety of next generation U.S. officials have urged based on verifiable facts
mobile networks that their their allies to factor in the and technical data."
nations are set to start de- laws and legal system of a At the meeting in Prague,
ploying. country where a 5G suppli- the cybersecurity officials
Officials hammered out a er is based, saying that Chi- came mainly from coun-
set of non-binding propos- na's lack of independent tries that are strategic al-
als published at the end of judiciary means compa- lies, including European
a two-day meeting orga- nies have no legal recourse Union member states, the
nized by the Czech govern- if they don't want to com- United States and its Asia-
ment to discuss the security ply with Beijing's orders. Pacific allies including Aus-
of new 5G networks. Joshua Steinman, an advisor to US President Donald Trump on The U.S. has called for an tralia, Japan and South Ko-
cyber issues, adjusts his glasses prior the start of The Prague 5G
The meeting comes amid a Security Conference in Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, May outright ban on Huawei rea and Singapore. NATO
simmering global battle be- 2, 2019. but European allies have and European Union offi-
tween the U.S. and China's Associated Press balked. The European cials also participated but
Huawei, the world's biggest Commission has issued rec- China and Russia were not
maker of network infra- denied the allegations. be aimed at raising the bar ommendations that call for present.
structure equipment. Officials called for a coop- for Chinese suppliers. The risk assessments as well as Europe has become a key
The U.S. has been lobbying erative approach to secu- document said "security factoring in the legal sys- battleground in the war
allies to ban Huawei from rity, saying that they didn't and risk assessment of ven- tems of the countries where over whether to ban Hua-
5G networks over concerns want to target specific dors and network technol- 5G suppliers are headquar- wei, with countries gear-
China's government could countries or companies. ogies" should be taken into tered. ing up to deploy the new
force the company to give The proposals reflected the account, as well as "the Huawei's global cyberse- networks, starting with the
it access to data for cy- U.S. concerns, though some overall risk of influence on curity and privacy officer, auction of radio frequen-
berespionage. Huawei has wording also appeared to a supplier by a third coun- John Suffolk, said the com- cies this year.q