POST 392 B NOW OR NEVER (URGENT NOTICE)

Warm Greetings.  Many thanks to 'Access Now Express' for this special edition. The main points of all that is worrisome about 5G is expressed here and this is the tip of the iceberg. As I see it digital rights is human rights and with robotics workers rights and the list can be extended.

Courtesy  A collection of thoughts and ideas illustrated by FreeDOM 

Do you want to be a print out or cyborg or a AI  figment of imagination? (Geoff)

The battle for digital rights at Davos This week thousands of world leaders gathered in Davos for the World Economic Forum, and Access Now's Brett Solomon brought your insights to the discussions shaping the global agenda. In this special issue of the Access Now Express, we highlight key digital rights issues raised at the forum: internet governance, artificial intelligence (AI) and facial recognition, and the nexus between technology and the climate crisis.

Fighting to #SaveDotOrg

Domain sale could do irreparable harm to millions of charities, NGOs warn On Wednesday in Davos, the directors of 11 global NGOs released a new open letter warning against the transfer of control of the .ORG top-level domain to a private equity firm. "Certain public goods should never be for sale," said Kenneth Roth of Human Rights Watch. "We don't auction off the town square. Similarly, ICANN shouldn't approve the sale of .ORG, which is the essential haven where civic groups gather the world over." READ MORE VIA REUTERS

Facing off on surveillance

The secretive company that might end privacy as we know it Clearview AI is a facial recognition app with a database of more than three billion images, reportedly culled from sources such as Facebook, YouTube, and Venmo. It could easily be weaponized for crimes like stalking or foreign spying and its use of images from Facebook would violate the company's terms of service. But if your face is already in the database, it's too late to opt out. "Absent a very strong federal privacy law, we're all screwed," said Al Gidari, a privacy expert at Stanford Law School. READ MORE VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES

The E.U. is funding dystopian artificial intelligence projects Last week the news broke that government leaders in the European Union are considering a five-year ban on AI-powered facial recognition in public spaces. If lawmakers are so concerned about the risks, why are flawed and ethically questionable AI systems being tested and implemented across Europe? READ MORE VIA EURACTIV

Microsoft president Brad Smith calls for AI regulation in Davos "We should not wait for the technology to mature before we start to put principles, and ethics, and even rules in place to govern AI," said Smith at a forum press briefing. However, in contrast to Google's Sundar Pichai, he has appeared reluctant to embrace an outright ban on the use of facial recognition technology, arguing that we should "address this problem with a scalpel instead of a meat cleaver." READ MORE VIA GEEKWIRE

Black-boxed politics: opacity is a choice in AI systems Facial recogition is only one of the problematic uses of AI, and its use in decision-making for everything from content moderation to criminal justice to welfare services threatens the rights to equality and non-discrimination. Consensus continues to build behind regulation of AI that is based on the international human rights framework, including following principles of transparency. As part of his research on AI as a Mozilla Fellow, our own Daniel Leufer joins co-authors Agata Foryciarz and Katarzyna Szymielewicz to counter the misconception that AI systems have to be a "black box." READ MORE VIA MEDIUM

We're banning facial recognition. We're missing the point. Renowned security expert Bruce Schneier, a board member at Access Now, points out that facial recognition technology is just one of many tools used in the modern mass surveillance apparatus, and efforts to dismantle it must consider the laws, policies, and technologies for its three components: identification, correlation, and discrimination. READ MORE VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES

Confronting the climate crisis

Microsoft wants to erase its carbon footprint — past and future There are a number of ways that the tech sector can address the climate crisis, but it is of paramount importance to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. Here's how Microsoft plans to do just that. READ MORE VIA WEF

AI and climate change: how they're connected and what we can do about it This piece by Roel Dobbe and Meredith Whittaker of the AI Now Institute, published in October, digs into what we do and do not know about the role of AI and the tech industry in the climate crisis, exploring ways that policymakers can address the industry's "outsized" impact. READ MORE VIA AI NOW INSTITUTE

Looking ahead

A sneak peek: AI and human rights at RightsCon Costa Rica, June 9-12 We have now closed the Call for Proposals for the ninth iteration of RightsCon, our annual conference on human rights in the digital age. We received more than twice as many proposals on AI as we did last year, and proposed topics range from how to operationalize the Toronto Declaration, to how the Global South will decolonize AI, to intersectional feminism in the age of AI. If you'd like to stay up-to-date on the program as it develops, consider subscribing to the RightsCon Rundown. READ MORE VIA ACCESS NOW

On the RightsCon agenda: technology in the time of climate crisis Costa Rica is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, and home to a rich tapestry of indigenous cultures and communities. In case you missed it, this post looks at how we aim to center the cross-cutting work of environmental defenders and indigenous activists, and push for sustainable approaches to technology and human rights across our program. We will also offset the carbon footprint of all local and international travel to the conference. Learn more and get your Early Bird ticket while they last! READ MORE VIA ACCESS NOW

Courtesy Scientific American

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2020/01/24/publicis-funds-newsguard.aspx?cid_source=dnl&cid_medium=email&cid_content=art1HL&cid=20200124Z2&et_cid=DM441030&et_rid=796477427

This is a vitally important article by Dr Mercola and also could include deplatforming.

FROM LINK BELOW

WHILST I SUPPORT THE IMAGE ABOVE AND HAVE SHOWN GRAPHS AND WRITTEN ABOUT IT A  GREAT DEAL -----WE MUST CURTAIL  OUR PER CENT OF THE CHANGE.

GMO FOODS, ADDITIVES, POLLUTION OF ALL SORTS AND CHEMTRAILS WHICH ARE THE MAJOR CAUSE OF WEATHER CHANGE, SATELLITES BY THE THOUSAND REFLECTING STUFF, YES ALL THAT BUT NEVER THE LESS A NATURAL CYCLE AND ADDING TOWARDS THE 6TH EXTINCTION. 

https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/soros-linked-group-joins-msm-to-censor-and-purge-climate-change-skeptics-on-youtube_01212020

Peyo a wonderful Horse--it made me weep.

After all that stuff above Peyo I felt to end on the hope and love of Peyo and all our dearest cousins in nature and those humans who feel compassion and deep respect for life and its gifts.

I have seen and known humans and animals that yes, trees and plants and special places that have a 'something' in them that is beyond logic and technical scientific academic logic, intellect and nohow. I feel this in me at times a special glow and smile, a smile from the heart. How I wish I could feel this more often.

Be Well and Smiling.

Geoff