Washington Post: National Archives exhibit blurs images critical of President Trump. “The Archives acknowledged in a statement this week that it made multiple alterations to the photo of the 2017 Women’s March showcased at the museum, blurring signs held by marchers that were critical of Trump. Words on signs that referenced women’s anatomy were also blurred. In the original version of the 2017 photograph, taken by Getty Images photographer Mario Tama, the street is packed with marchers carrying a variety of signs, with the Capitol in the background. In the Archives version, at least four of those signs are altered.” The National Archives has apologized for what it characterized as a “mistake.”
protests
Global Voices: Hirak protests and a presidential election triggered a surge of disinformation in Algeria
Global Voices: Hirak protests and a presidential election triggered a surge of disinformation in Algeria. “Algeria’s popular protest movement, ‘Hirak’ [meaning ‘movement’ in Arabic], brought a glimpse of online freedom, but also an aggressive wave of ‘fake news’ and disinformation on social media platforms. With little means to confront or fix the problem, the battle against the spread of disinformation is far from over.”
The Indian Express: Delhi Police film protests, run its images through face recognition software to screen crowd
The Indian Express: Delhi Police film protests, run its images through face recognition software to screen crowd. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Ramlila Maidan rally on December 22 — where he said there was no talk of NRC — was the first political rally where Delhi Police used a facial recognition software to screen the crowd. This was also the first time Delhi Police used a set of facial images collected from footage filmed at the city’s various protest events to filter ‘law and order suspects’ at the Prime Minister’s rally.”
New York Times: How Your Phone Betrays Democracy
New York Times: How Your Phone Betrays Democracy. “In the United States, and across the world, any protester who brings a phone to a public demonstration is tracked and that person’s presence at the event is duly recorded in commercial datasets. At the same time, political parties are beginning to collect and purchase phone location for voter persuasion.”
BBC: Hong Kong and mainland China gamers clash on GTA V
BBC: Hong Kong and mainland China gamers clash on GTA V. “The Hong Kong protests are being played out on Grand Theft Auto (GTA) V online. Players in Hong Kong realised they could dress up as protesters after a new update for the game was released earlier this month. They spread the word on LIHKG – which has been called the Hong Kong version of social news site Reddit – and started organising violent expeditions.”
BBC: Iran internet ‘disrupted’ ahead of protests
BBC: Iran internet ‘disrupted’ ahead of protests. “Internet services have been disrupted in parts of Iran amid reports it is being cut off ahead of planned anti-government protests on Thursday. BBC Persian audiences reported outages, while internet monitoring service NetBlocks confirmed a drop in usage.”
TechCrunch: India shuts down internet once again, this time in Assam and Meghalaya
TechCrunch: India shuts down internet once again, this time in Assam and Meghalaya. “India maintained a shutdown of the internet in the states of Assam and Meghalaya on Friday, now into 36 hours, to control protests over a controversial and far-reaching new citizen rule. The shutdown of the internet in Assam and Meghalaya, home to more than 32 million people, is the latest example of a worrying worldwide trend employed by various governments: preventing people from communicating on the web and accessing information.”
