Motherboard – LiveLeak, the Infamous Site for Beheading Videos, Is Gone

May 062021
 

For almost 15 years the website LiveLeak shocked and entertained the internet. If you wanted to see uncensored and horrifying footage of war and violence that YouTube wouldn’t allow, then LiveLeak would serve it up to you. In 2014, Business Insider called it “The Islamic State’s favorite site for beheading videos.” Now, LiveLeak is gone, replaced with a softer sounding video website called ItemFix that eschews the violence and gore that made LiveLeak a staple of the dark side of the internet. “Nothing lasts forever though and—as we did all those years ago—we felt LiveLeak had achieved all that it could and it was time for us to try something new and exciting,” LiveLeak co-founder Hayden…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qj88w7/liveleak-the-infamous-site-for-beheading-videos-is-gone

 2021-05-06  Comments Off on Motherboard – LiveLeak, the Infamous Site for Beheading Videos, Is Gone

CounterPunch.org – Cancel Culture Conundrums

May 062021
 

Cancel culture is at a crossroads, seems to me.  And I might as well be at the center of it.  If I wasn’t before, I appear to be now.
But what is cancel culture?  Isn’t that a rightwing term used to excuse bigoted behavior and avoid accountability for said behavior?  Yes, that’s how the right uses the concept — as a weapon against the rest of society.
And that’s all I’ll say about that.  Now to the left.  Cancel culture on the left also exists.  The people claiming otherwise are part of the left’s version of cancel culture.  (Note to anarchists:  when I use the term “left,” this includes you, too.  We can argue about the semantics of…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/05/06/cancel-culture-conundrums/

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World Socialist Web Site (en) – Howard University students and educators protest elimination of classical studies department

May 062021
 

The attack on classical studies is part of a broader assault on the humanities, art and culture in American society.

External feed Read More at the Source: http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/05/06/howa-m06.html

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Ballot Access News – Ohio Initiative Proponents Will Seek a Ruling in U.S. District Court that Constitution Requires Petitioning Relief During Covid

May 062021
 

On May 5, the proponents of several Ohio initiatives filed this brief in U.S. District Court, in Thompson v DeWine, s.d., 2:20cv-2129. This is the case over petitioning relief for initiatives. Although the Sixth Circuit denied injunctive relief (and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to get involved), that doesn’t necessarily mean Ohio’s policy is constitutional. The proponents of the initiatives will seek a ruling that Ohio violates the First Amendment by its policy. Here is the brief.

External feed Read More at the Source: http://ballot-access.org/2021/05/05/ohio-initiative-proponents-will-seek-a-ruling-in-u-s-district-court-that-constitution-required-petitioning-relief-during-covid/

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Ars Technica – Twitter’s latest robo-nag will flag “harmful” language before you post

May 062021
 

Enlarge / Before you tweet, you might be asked if you meant to be so rude. (credit: Getty Images / Sam Machkovech)
Want to know exactly what Twitter’s fleet of text-combing, dictionary-parsing bots defines as “mean”? Starting any day now, you’ll have instant access to that data—at least, whenever a stern auto-moderator says you’re not tweeting politely.
On Wednesday, members of Twitter’s product-design team confirmed that a new automatic prompt will begin rolling out for all Twitter users, regardless of platform and device, that activates when a post’s language crosses Twitter’s threshold of “potentially harmful or offensive language.” This follows a number of limited-user tests of the notices beginning in May of last year. Soon, any robo-moderated…

External feed Read More at the Source: https://arstechnica.com/?p=1762846

 2021-05-06  Comments Off on Ars Technica – Twitter’s latest robo-nag will flag “harmful” language before you post