Google Introduces Its New Censorship Tool: the Google News Initiative (GNI)

Google has partnered with the United Nations, World Health Organization and others in a new global censorship tool that was recently introduced. Google News Lab is “a team within the Google News Initiative (GNI) whose mission is to collaborate with journalists to fight misinformation”. GNI uses “Fact Check Tools” to eliminate dissent. The goal is to have one point of view that Google calls ‘Data Commons’. A critic wrote that Google’s algorithms are designed to delete websites that criticize topics such as Covid-19 statistics, the World Bank, the FBI’s crime statistics, PharmGKB database and a one-world global government.

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Google has partnered with the United Nations, World Health Organisation and others in a new global censorship tool that was introduced last Monday, according to LaToya Drake, head of Google News Lab.

Google News Lab is “a team within the Google News Initiative whose mission is to collaborate with journalists to fight misinformation” and other things. And, the Google News Initiative (“GNI”) “works with publishers and journalists to fight misinformation.” The GNI and its Lab seem to be one and the same thing with the Lab simply being a page on the GNI website.

Below are the short descriptions from GNI’s ‘About’ page.  The titles are misleading.  For example, following the ‘Our partners’ hyperlink contained in the words “learn more” does not lead to a list or overview of its partners.  It leads to ‘Case Studies’: Some “stories” about “how news organisations around the world are growing their news coverage and digital businesses.”  After which Google advertises some other of its products and invites the reader to “sign up for our newsletter.”

We truly have entered the era of George Orwell’s Doublethink and Doublespeak.

Google’s Global Censorship Tool

Last week, Swiss software developer Dejan Georgiev tweeted: “Google’s new global censorship tool was introduced today [7 August] at 9:10 am via an email press release.”

Read full article here…




Google Tests Artificial Intelligence (AI) Tool That Is Able to Write News Articles

Google is testing a product called Genesis that uses artificial intelligence technology to produce news stories, pitching it to news organizations including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal’s owner, News Corp. A professor of journalism wrote that if AI “is misused by journalists and news organizations on topics that require nuance and cultural understanding, then it could damage the credibility not only of the tool but of the news organizations that use it.” If AI stories are not edited and checked carefully, the technology could spread misinformation and affect how traditionally written stories are perceived.

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Google is testing a product that uses artificial intelligence technology to produce news stories, pitching it to news organizations including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal’s owner, News Corp, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The tool, known internally by the working title Genesis, can take in information — details of current events, for example — and generate news copy, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the product.

One of the three people familiar with the product said that Google believed it could serve as a kind of personal assistant for journalists, automating some tasks to free up time for others, and that the company saw it as responsible technology that could help steer the publishing industry away from the pitfalls of generative A.I.

Some executives who saw Google’s pitch described it as unsettling, asking not to be identified discussing a confidential matter. Two people said it seemed to take for granted the effort that went into producing accurate and artful news stories.

A Google spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Times and The Post declined to comment.

“We have an excellent relationship with Google, and we appreciate Sundar Pichai’s long-term commitment to journalism,” a News Corp spokesman said in a statement, referring to Google’s chief executive.

Jeff Jarvis, a journalism professor and media commentator, said Google’s new tool, as described, had potential upsides and downsides.

“If this technology can deliver factual information reliably, journalists should use the tool,” said Mr. Jarvis, director of the Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York.

“If, on the other hand, it is misused by journalists and news organizations on topics that require nuance and cultural understanding,” he continued, “then it could damage the credibility not only of the tool but of the news organizations that use it.”

Read full article here…




Censored: BlackRock Employee Says “You Got 10K? You Can Buy a Senator”

O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) is behind the latest hidden camera sting that recorded Serge Varlay, a recruiter for Blackrock that has $9.5 trillion of assets under management, saying that banks and hedge funds like BlackRock, “run the world” and can buy politicians like senators and even the president of the United States. Varlay, on the topic of the Russia-Ukraine war, said that “we don’t want the conflict to end” because the war helps BlackRock, which is currently investing in Ukraine, make money. He gave an example of destroying grain silos in Ukraine that would cause shortages and a profit can be made by investing in other wheat suppliers. He said that “it’s exciting when shit goes wrong. Right?” Varlay admitted that the mainstream news is propaganda and that pundits like Jim Cramer give false information that should be ignored. He recommended a stock tracker that follows politicians and to follow their trades.

The video, released on Twitter, has been seen nearly 10 million times and has received over 100,000 likes. But despite its popularity, search engines like Google appear to be suppressing its reach. According to Yahoo Finance, BlackRock is the second-largest institutional shareholder of Google (Alphabet Inc.), owning nearly 366,000,000 shares valued at $44.5 billion.

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Just the News:     https://justthenews.com/accountability/james-okeefe-responds-after-blackrock-bombshell-seemingly-suppressed-google




British Godfather of AI, 75, QUITS Google over Fears the ‘Scary’ Tech He Pioneered 

Geoffrey Hinton, 75, helped to design the systems that became the bedrock of artificial intelligence (AI), like ChatGPT and Google Bard, but now he says that part of him regrets making them. He fears that AI could prompt the proliferation of misinformation and replace people in the workforce. The technology poses a serious risk to ‘drudge’ work and could upend the careers of people working as paralegals, personal assistants and translators. Hinton accused Google of not being a ‘proper steward’ for AI technologies. Elon Musk, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and the late Stephen Hawking are among the most famous critics of AI who believe it poses a ‘profound risk to society and humanity’ and could have ‘catastrophic effects’. If humans lose control of AI then it will be considered to have reached singularity, which means it has surpassed human intelligence and has independent thinking. AI would no longer need or listen to humans, allowing it to steal nuclear codes, create pandemics and spark world wars.

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The ‘Godfather of Artificial Intelligence‘ has sensationally resigned from Google and warned the technology could upend life as we know it.

Geoffrey Hinton, 75, is credited with creating the technology that became the bedrock of A.I. systems like ChatGPT and Google Bard.

But the Turing prize winner now says a part of him regrets helping to make the systems, that he fears could prompt the proliferation of misinformation and replace people in the workforce.

He said he had to tell himself excuses like ‘if I didn’t build it, someone else would have’ to prevent himself from being overwhelmed by guilt.

He drew comparisons with the ‘father of the atomic bomb’ Robert Oppenheimer, who was reportedly distraught by his invention and dedicated the rest of his life to stopping its proliferation.

Speaking to the New York Times about his resignation, he warned that in the near future, A.I. would flood the internet with false photos, videos and texts.

These would be of a standard, he added, where the average person would ‘not be able to know what is true anymore’.

The technology also posed a serious risk to ‘drudge’ work, he said, and could upend the careers of people working as paralegals, personal assistants and translators.

Some workers already say they are using it to cover multiple jobs for them, undertaking tasks such as creating marketing materials and transcribing Zoom meetings so that they do not have to listen.

‘Maybe what is going on in these systems, is actually a lot better than what is going on in the [human] brain,’ he said, explaining his fears.

‘The idea that this stuff could actually get smarter than people — a few people believed that.

‘But most people thought it was way off. And I thought it was way off. I thought it was 30 to 50 years or even longer away.

‘Obviously, I no longer think that.’

Read full article here…




‘Google Is a Vaccine Company,’ and They’re Harvesting Your Data

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that Google is a vaccine company as it’s parent company, Alphabet, has a series of subsidiary companies that manufacture vaccines and has partnered with other pharma companies. Google has a $761 partnership with Glaxo. Google is harvesting medical information, including coughs and other information picked up by Siri’s surveillance system, and then they sell it to pharma companies.

Link for video:   https://rumble.com/v1e2yq5-google-is-a-vaccine-company-and-theyre-harvesting-your-data.html

Ever wondered why after you search for a new bike, couch, car, etc., you see such ads pop up when you browse the internet? Or when you tell your significant other to remember to pick up dog food, you ‘coincidentally’ later see an ad for it? Essentially, your internet footprint, what you say, what you search is being tracked by the tech companies.

Now, Google is arguably the worst offender, and they are in bed with the vaccine industry. Essentially, they are a vaccine company themselves.

Here’s why, per Robert F. Kennedy Jr:

• Google’s parent company, Alphabet and Verily, have a series of sister subsidiaries of Google that manufacture flu and other vaccines.

• Google has a $761 million partnership with Glaxo Pharmaceutical.

• They’re harvesting medical information, then selling it to the pharmaceutical companies or partnering with pharmaceutical companies that can use that information.

Read full article here…




Republicans Say Google Spam Filter Cost Them $2 Billion from Donors

Google’s practice of filtering Republican campaign emails into spam folders cost the party $2 billion in donations since 2019, GOP lawmakers and the head of the Republican National Committee said. It is estimated that only 32% of GOP emails made it into the intended recipients and donors and the rest were delivered to spam.

Google’s practice of filtering Republican campaign emails into spam filters cost the party $2 billion in donations since 2019, GOP lawmakers and the head of the Republican National Committee said.

Republicans made the calculation based on a North Carolina State University study that found Google, the nation’s largest email platform, flagged more Republican campaign emails as spam than Democratic emails during the 2020 election season, and ended up sending as few as 32% of GOP emails to inboxes.

“Big Tech has been silencing conservative voices and actively working against Republicans for multiple cycles,” Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Rick Scott and National Republican Campaign Committee Chair Tom Emmer said in a joint statement.

Google’s email suppression — which affects the GOP’s fundraising and GOTV efforts — is another egregious example. Silicon Valley oligarchs are suppressing free political speech,” they said in the statement.

Google denies filtering spam for political purposes and said email users can set their preferences to prevent the campaign messages from ending up in the spam folder.

Read full article here…




Brave Browser Is a Privacy Alternative to Google’s Chrome and Search Engine

Google’s search engine is biased, censored, and tracks its users. Brave is a new browser that has acquired Tailcat, the open search engine that will become the foundation of Brave Search. Brave will not track you, will not filter or manipulate your search results, and will not sell your data. It is available on all mobile, tablet and desktop operating systems. It is set to acquire Tailcat search-engine technology soon and will become the first major alternative to Google’s Chrome browser plus Google search engine. -GEG

Brave Search is coming just as millions are migrating from
Big Tech platforms to more private and secure solutions 

Today Brave announced the acquisition of Tailcat, the open search engine developed by the team formerly responsible for the privacy search and browser products at Cliqz, a holding of Hubert Burda Media. Tailcat will become the foundation of Brave Search. Brave Search and the Brave browser constitute the industry’s first independent, privacy-preserving alternative to Google Chrome and Google Search, which rely on tracking users across sites and have 70 percent and 92 percent market share, respectively.

Under the hood, nearly all of today’s search engines are either built by, or rely on, results from Big Tech companies. In contrast, the Tailcat search engine is built on top of a completely independent index, capable of delivering the quality people expect, but without compromising their privacy. Tailcat does not collect IP addresses or use personally identifiable information to improve search results.

Brave Search will join the family of privacy-preserving Brave products as consumers are increasingly demanding user-first alternatives to Big Tech. The Brave browser saw unprecedented growth in 2021, reaching over 25 million monthly active users. This mirrored the impressive migration to Signal, the privacy messaging platform, after WhatsApp announced a change to their privacy policies requiring data-sharing with Facebook.

Privacy is becoming mainstream. The Brave browser provides the stringent protections users demand, and Brave Search is being developed according to the same principles:

  1. Brave Search is private: it does not track or profile users.
  2. Brave Search is user-first: Brave serves the user first, not the advertising and data industries.
  3. Brave Search offers choice: We will provide options for ad-free paid search and ad-supported search. We are working on bringing private ads to search, as we’ve done for Brave user ads.
  4. Brave Search is independent: We will rely on anonymized contributions from the community to improve and refine Brave Search. Prior to this innovation, producing quality results could be achieved only by Big Tech companies, which took many years and tens of billions of dollars to crawl the entire Web continually.
  5. Brave Search is transparent: we will not use secret methods or algorithms to bias results. We will explore multiple community-curated open ranking models to ensure diversity, and prevent algorithmic biases and outright censorship.
  6. Brave Search is seamless: we will offer best-in-class integration between the browser and search without compromising privacy, from personalization to instant results as the user types.
  7. Brave Search is open: we do not believe in walled gardens and, as such, we will offer Brave Search to power other search engines.

Read full article here…




Elon Musk Praises China as ‘More Responsible’ than America

In a recent interview, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk praised China  and stated that they could “possibly” be more “more responsible” to their citizen’s happiness than America is, despite China’s violations against human rights. Since opening a Tesla production plant in Shanghai, Musk has been extremely positive about China and said that there are a lot of “smart, hard-working people” there while characterizing people in the US “entitled” and “complacent.”

In a recent interview, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk praised China for being “more responsible” than the U.S.

The Express reports that in a recent interview with Business Insider, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was questioned about the “ethical limitations” of operating in China. Musk stated that so far he has had a positive experience with Chinese government officials and stated that they could “possibly” be more “more responsible” to their citizen’s happiness than America is.

Musk stated: “When I meet with Chinese government officials, they’re always very concerned about this. Are people going to be happy about a thing? Is this going to actually serve the benefit of the people? It seems ironic, but even though you have sort of a single-party system, they really actually seem to care a lot about the well-being of the people. In fact, they’re maybe even more sensitive to public opinion than what I see in the US.”

Business Insider’s interviewer and the CEO of the tech firm Axel Springer SE, Mathias Döpfner, questioned Musk on his statement noting China’s extremely poor human rights record. Döpfner stated: “China doesn’t care about human rights. How could there ever be an equal and level playing field. Do you really see an opportunity for Western democracies to win?”

Musk responded by discussing AI, praising American firms such as Google and Deepmind for their superiority over similar Chinese companies, stating: “China’s putting a lot of effort into AI. And they may be making progress. But I’ve not seen progress that is close to Google and DeepMind.”

Read full article here…




Google Chrome Users May Have Been Impacted by a Massive Spying Campaign

Google Chrome extensions, which have been downloaded more than 32-million times, were used to spy on the browser’s users in a massive global surveillance campaign. Awake Security reported it found at least 111 “malicious or fake” Chrome extensions capable of taking screenshots, stealing login credentials and capturing passwords as users typed them. The campaign impacted a wide range of sectors including financial services, healthcare and government organizations. Awake linked the spyware to Galcomm, an Israeli web-hosting company that claims to manage around 250,000 browser domains. The company refuted parts of Awake’s report, saying 25% of the domains Awake claimed to have checked were not Galcomm domains or had been deleted, but said little about the other 75%. Google says all the extensions flagged by Awake have since been removed. -GEG

Google Chrome extensions downloaded more than 32 million times were used to spy on the popular browser’s users in a massive global surveillance campaign, according to a new report.

The report, from cybersecurity firm Awake Security, found at least 111 “malicious or fake” Chrome extensions capable of taking screenshots, stealing login credentials and capturing passwords as users typed them. The campaign impacted a wide range of sectors including financial services, healthcare and government organizations, it added.

Extensions allow users to add features and capabilities to their browsers, such as a recently popular one that allows multiple laptops to stream Netflix shows simultaneously and another from Google that lets users flag suspicious websites.

But the new report highlights the potential for fraudulent extensions to do harm and compromise a wide variety of systems.

“The actors behind these activities have established a persistent foothold in almost every network,” researchers at Awake said.

Read full article here…




Google Bans ZeroHedge, Threatens the Federalist Over Readers’ Comments

Google demonetized ZeroHedge from its ad platform and threatened to drop The Federalist after finding ‘racist’ content in the comments sections of both websites. Most conservative content now is censored or banned. Senator Josh Hawley noted Google’s double standard of removing ZeroHedge for content in the comments section it does not monitor, but simultaneously the tech giant claims that the content it hosts and modifies IS NOT their speech under Section 230 of a law that gives tech companies immunity from being sued over content. -GEG

Elected officials reacted to Google’s threat of demonetization of the Federalist, which would restrict ad revenues to the news media outlet. Sean Davis, co-founder of the Federalist, spoke with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson on Tuesday’s edition of the latter’s eponymous TV program, describing coordination between NBC, Google, and a foreign left-wing organization in Europe.

NBC worked with the Center for Countering Digital Hate, an organization that smears conservative websites — including Breitbart News — while advocating digital boycotts and blacklists against them.

Rep. Josh Hawley (R-MO) noted Google’s application of a standard to the Federalist that it does not apply to itself.

Read full article here…




Ex-Google Worker Warns ‘Killer Robots’ Could Cause Accidental Mass Atrocities


Laura Nolan, who resigned from Google last year in protest at being sent to work on a project to enhance US military drone technology, has called for a ban on all artificial intelligence killing machines not operated by humans, because they have the potential to do “calamitous things that they were not originally programmed for.” She said that anything from a change in the weather to a lack of understanding complex human behavior could throw the robots off course and that they always should be controlled by humans. [There is no suggestion in the article that Google is involved in the development of autonomous weapons systems – nor is there any sugestion that it is not.] -GEG

A new generation of autonomous weapons or “killer robots” could accidentally start a war or cause mass atrocities, a former top Google software engineer has warned.

Laura Nolan, who resigned from Google last year in protest at being sent to work on a project to dramatically enhance US military drone technology, has called for all AI killing machines not operated by humans to be banned.

Nolan said killer robots not guided by human remote control should be outlawed by the same type of international treaty that bans chemical weapons.

Unlike drones, which are controlled by military teams often thousands of miles away from where the flying weapon is being deployed, Nolan said killer robots have the potential to do “calamitous things that they were not originally programmed for”.

There is no suggestion that Google is involved in the development of autonomous weapons systems. Last month a UN panel of government experts debated autonomous weapons and found Google to be eschewing AI for use in weapons systems and engaging in best practice.

Nolan, who has joined the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots and has briefed UN diplomats in New York and Geneva over the dangers posed by autonomous weapons, said: “The likelihood of a disaster is in proportion to how many of these machines will be in a particular area at once. What you are looking at are possible atrocities and unlawful killings even under laws of warfare, especially if hundreds or thousands of these machines are deployed.

“There could be large-scale accidents because these things will start to behave in unexpected ways. Which is why any advanced weapons systems should be subject to meaningful human control, otherwise they have to be banned because they are far too unpredictable and dangerous.”

Google recruited Nolan, a computer science graduate from Trinity College Dublin, to work on Project Maven in 2017 after she had been employed by the tech giant for four years, becoming one of its top software engineers in Ireland.

She said she became “increasingly ethically concerned” over her role in the Maven programme, which was devised to help the US Department of Defense drastically speed up drone video recognition technology.

Instead of using large numbers of military operatives to spool through hours and hours of drone video footage of potential enemy targets, Nolan and others were asked to build a system where AI machines could differentiate people and objects at an infinitely faster rate.

Google allowed the Project Maven contract to lapse in March this year after more than 3,000 of its employees signed a petition in protest against the company’s involvement.

“As a site reliability engineer my expertise at Google was to ensure that our systems and infrastructures were kept running, and this is what I was supposed to help Maven with. Although I was not directly involved in speeding up the video footage recognition I realised that I was still part of the kill chain; that this would ultimately lead to more people being targeted and killed by the US military in places like Afghanistan.”

Although she resigned over Project Maven, Nolan has predicted that autonomous weapons being developed pose a far greater risk to the human race than remote-controlled drones.

She outlined how external forces ranging from changing weather systems to machines being unable to work out complex human behaviour might throw killer robots off course, with possibly fatal consequences.

Read full article here…




Former Google Engineer Says Google Will Try to Prevent Trump from Being Re-Elected in 2020


Former Google engineer, Kevin Cernekee, said that there was political bias within the tech giant and a federal investigation through the Labor Board was initiated after he complained. He claimed to have been bullied and ultimately fired for his right-wing beliefs. He warned that Google’s agenda is to defeat President Donald Trump’s bid for re-election in 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5VHMpLlHeg

Friday on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” former Google
engineer Kevin Cernekee argued there was political bias within the tech
giant.

Cernekee claimed to have been bullied and ultimately fired for his
right-wing beliefs. However, Cernekee said it was his view that Google
would attempt to thwart President Donald Trump’s re-election in 2020.

Partial transcript as follows:

CARLSON: How ideological is the management at Google?

CERNEKEE: It’s highly ideological. You can see bias at every level at
the organization. One thing that I noticed that just handling routine
issues is plagued with bias. Like they will get a report, an email with a
liberal reporter complaining about something and they will jump on it
and they will fix the issue very, very quickly. In contrast, one thing
that I saw when I worked there was if you do a Google search for
“Crippled America,” which is Donald Trump’s book you would get results
that would show “Mein Kampf” instead of “Crippled America.” And I
reported that I filed a bug, I escalated it, I tried to run it up the
chain. They took nine months to fix that bug. They just stalled at every
opportunity. They assigned it to people who no longer work there. They
made every excuse in the book to avoid taking down something that made
Donald Trump look bad. And I saw a number of incidents just like that.

CARLSON: Do you think that Google will attempt to influence the
election outcome. Attempt to prevent Trump from being re-elected?

CERNEKEE: I do believe so. I think that’s a major threat. They have
openly stated that they think 2016 was a mistake. They thought Trump
should have lost in 2016. They really want Trump to lose in 2020. That’s
their agenda. They have very biased people running every level of the
company. They have quite a bit of control over the political process.
That’s something we should really worry about.

Read full article here…