If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. It will take serious research and serious access to information ever to figure out which came first, the WEF chicken, or the WEF egg. But this unelected, informal group of highly influential global elites has often been able to either seemingly predict, or seemingly help make happen – some major trends and events that affect the whole world. After all, one of the first places where careful observers could see a clear shift toward making not only “mis/disinformation” a thing – but presenting it as a powerfully harmful one, in need of all sorts of new rules, policies, and laws – have been the World Economic Forum (WEF) gatherings. WEF founder Klaus Schwab keeps beating the same drum – and why wouldn’t he? The narrative has clearly taken root and is being parroted the world over. Now we have the 2023-2024 WEF report, and in there Schwab continues to lament about “the rise” of what the group and its “executive arms” (be they in governments, or legacy media) choose to consider as “mis/disinformation.” “Global collaboration” on this and other select topics (such as “transition to a green economy”) is what Schwab inevitably wants more of – but also, what he calls collaboration between governments, businesses, and civil society. If you read “business” as Big Tech, and “civil society” as various censorship, fact-checking outfits formally masquerading as benevolent non-profits – you have what is, at least in the US, officially investigated and strongly suspected to be unlawful collusion to suppress free speech. Regardless of what interpretation of this “collaboration” may be true, Schwab just wants more of it. He makes it clear in the annual report that provides an overview of “the 10 centers and the Forum’s initiatives, coalitions and flagship reports, as well as the latest progress from the Forum’s core functions, leadership, and governance.” Yet another “cusp of a profound systemic transformation” is ahead of us, if the WEF founder is to be believed. Schwab talks about “transformative shifts,” lists five of those, and one is “Societal polarization and rise of misinformation.” Here, Schwab says polarization is happening because of the need for people to “reaffirm” their identities. That, in and of itself, is a very interesting observation – but Schwab interprets it as a force-feeding “cultural, political, ideological and social divides and the rise of mis and disinformation.” Pacifying people in need of reaffirming, as he put it, their identities, seems to be the proposed solution, as this part of the “essay” suggests: “Inclusive dialogues, promoting mutual understanding and creating environments where diverse views and identities can coexist harmoniously.” If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Klaus Schwab Calls for “Global Collaboration” To Combat “Misinformation” appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. Canada is about to start grappling with yet another piece of divisive and controversial proposed legislation, this one coming from the opposition Conservatives, and heavily touching on online age verification. The bill that is set to be presented when the parliament resumes work this month, according to its proponents, deals with protecting Canadians on the internet while also managing to protect their civil liberties. However, despite what those promoting the bill are saying, the situation is not as clear-cut as all that: the consequences of the plan could also see some online anonymity tools swept away. The idea revolves around giving online harassment victims a chance to go to a judge and ask that the person behind the bullying be unmasked. Furthermore, the bill’s ambition is to bring clarity to various scenarios and criminal thresholds for these events – specifically, those under which “online operators (like social media platforms) must disclose the identity of an alleged abuser.” Still under the real or hyped-up notion of “clarity” that the opposition says the present government has been unable to provide with its legislation, is the idea to make repeated criminally harassing material sent anonymously “an aggravating factor.” This last bit refers to the so-called burner accounts, and here, although the bill does not clarify (pun intended) the real-world person behind such an account must be identified. Meanwhile, the only way to know if the same perpetrator had sent material from multiple anonymous accounts would be to identify them. The implication is clearly there when the draft mentions that online operators “must disclose the identity of an alleged abuser.” All this brings up the question – identify them how? And that road inevitably leads to a method involving age verification. Despite the authors of the bill taking pains to assure both the parliament and the public that this will be done with proper privacy-preserving measures in place, the concept of online age verification remains one inherently restrictive and exclusionary. But the bill’s authors seem keen to cover all the talking points: at once promising “privacy-preserving trustworthy age verification,” legal protection for online harassment victims, and, separately, inevitably, they’re also “thinking of the children” (“the new Conservative legislation will provide mechanisms specifically designed to protect minors who are online,” as one commentator said), plus – platforms who don’t comply will face “penalties and consequences.” The upcoming bill is being pitted against the government’s much-criticized Bill C-63, and the hope is to place this new legislative effort in a positive light in comparison. If you're tired of censorship and dystopian threats against civil liberties, subscribe to Reclaim The Net. The post Canadian Conservatives Propose Bill for Online Digital ID Verification and Anonymity Restrictions appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

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Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver came away with Emmy Awards on Sunday for most outstanding talk series and scripted variety show, respectively, for the year spanning June 1, 2023, through May 31, 2024. However, Hollywood’s definition of what makes “outstanding” comedy appears to be different than most people's, as evidenced by the two shows track record over that span. Hollywood really loves The Daily Show. This year marks the show’s 13th award in the category, but this win came without a permanent host. One of those hosts, Michael Kosta, was in the anchor chair for the season premiere on October 16, and he and guest Ian Bremmer proceeded to blame everybody but Hamas for the October 7 attacks. On October 25, Desus Nice showed his lack of comedic cleverness by calling new House Speaker Mike Johnson “a dick,” while Kosta and Charlamagne tha God accused Johnson of religious hypocrisy on the 30thfor not wanting to ban seafood. On November 13, Leslie Jones ranted that Sen. Tim Scott is a “[bleep]-ed ass anti-abortion, anti-gay, Milk Dud-looking mother[bleep]!"       On February 22, Desi Lydic labeled it “unmoderated” to claim that the integrity of women’s sports is a women’s issue. A week later, Kosta commented on Sen. Mitch McConnell’s decision to stand down as GOP Senate leader by blaming him for school shootings. For Easter, Lydic showed her theological illiteracy by claiming Jesus would approve of Transgender Visibility Day. This was after Grace Kuhlenschmidt declared Christmas to be “the queerest holiday of all.” After Iran attacked Israel in April, Jon Stewart knew who to blame for the world’s foreign policy crises: The United States and capitalism. Speaking of April and Israel, Jordan Klepper blamed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the anti-Semitic demonstrations on college campuses. If one theory of laughter is that it is a coping mechanism or a relief valve, The Daily Show’s favorite way to vent about Donald Trump is to torture a piñata while cursing in Spanish. Meanwhile, Last Week Tonight’s victory was its second consecutive in the scripted variety show category. Before that, it had won outstanding variety talk series for seven straight years. Oliver fancies himself as a thinking man’s comedian, someone who spends his show only discussing one or two topics but who uses humor to highlight the topic’s absurdities, hypocrisies, or moral failings. However, on November 7, he took the side of the Satanic Temple against Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, “But when it comes to responding to such wide-spreading devastation [pro-life laws], you could do a lot worse than the single best ‘Your mom’ joke of all time. Especially when you add in that one of that group's co-founders even said, in 1950, Samuel Alito's mother did not have options, and look what happened.’”     On February 18, Oliver bought a motorhome and tried to bribe Justice Clarence Thomas off the Court, “It's worth $2.4 million, and it's got a full bedroom—yes, that's a king bed—one and a half baths, a fucking fireplace, four TVs, a washer-dryer, and I quote, ‘Residential-sized fridge.’ … So that's the offer. A million dollars a year, Clarence, and a brand new condo on wheels, and all you have to do in return is sign the contract and get the fuck off the Supreme Court.” This is what passes for “outstanding” for Hollywood; no wonder people are going elsewhere to get their comedic entertainment.