Month: August 2024

While some observers explain the chaos that has erupted in the UK in the wake of an attack that resulted in the murder of three children as an outburst based on societal issues that have been bubbling beneath the surface for a long time – the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) sees”disinformation” as the main culprit.

Inaccurate or misleading posts on social media could serve as the trigger for protests and riots, and the NPCC, which is coordinating law enforcement in the UK, is focusing on “silenc(ing) those intent on spreading false news” – suggesting that this institution’s stance is that the unrest has no other meaningful deep underlying causes.

This is clear from the tone NPCC has taken, referring to “so-called protests” and, “criminals pretending to be protesters.” In other words, the crisis is simply down to “criminals” reading “fake news” on social media.

And so, it is disinformation that is “a huge driver” behind the violence, and, “we know a lot of those attending these so-called protests are doing so in direct response to what they’ve read online,” said a report on the NPCC site, quoting its public order lead, B.J. Harrington.

Harrington also revealed that the police acted “swiftly” across the country to make 147 arrests in connection to the clashes – adding that he expects that number to increase.

Regarding posts NPCC considers to be fake news and disinformation, this official noted that “high profile accounts” are to blame for their proliferation.

And, NPCC – but not only – is “working hard” to “silence those intent on spreading false news.”

Harrington said that law enforcement is achieving this together with communities and “our partners” – without naming the latter. But he did inform the public that both police officers and intelligence teams are engaged in identifying people involved.

As soon as the protests, which in places turned violent, erupted, a number of former and current government and intelligence officials immediately blamed “foreign meddling” and “misinformation” for the turn the events took after the fatal Southgate stabbing attack.

The new British prime minister, Keir Starmer, wasted no time in using the context of the unrest to announce that the much-criticized by civil rights and privacy advocates live fa

The post UK Police Blame Social Media for Unrest appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

The tried-and-tested method of controlling protests – various forms of internet blackouts imposed by governments – seems to have failed in Bangladesh, as reports on Monday say that PM Sheikh Hasina has resigned and left the country.

But before that happened, Bangladesh was thrown into waves of turmoil when initially peaceful student protests against the High Court reintroducing a government job quota system turned deadly, claiming more than 100 lives.

The latest outbreak of violence follows that of last month which resulted in about 200 deaths, while mobile internet was shut down for 11 days at that time.

On Sunday, before her reported resignation after 15 years in power, PM Hasina’s government ordered mobile internet to be shut down again as part of the measures meant to stop the protests and clashes. Other measures included a nationwide curfew and the closing of banks and other private and government offices.

The internet shutdown announced on Sunday was the second in three weeks, reports said, noting the high economic cost of this decision, as well as curfews – currently estimated at $10 billion.

The news about renewed mobile internet blackouts came from mobile phone operators, who said they were ordered to shut down 4G services. Also on Sunday, Facebook appeared to be blocked for some users.

Ahead of the students’ march announced last Friday, the government asked that Facebook and its Messenger be blocked by operators, but according to reports, this was not limited only to these platforms.

On the last day of July, Wednesday, a previous block of YouTube and Facebook was lifted. Earlier that month, broadband internet was also blocked, with this measure partially relaxed on July 23.

Five days later, mobile internet, as well as Facebook, TikTok, WhatsApp, and YouTube were made available again after 10 days.

But this to-and-fro did not yield the desired results, and so the government’s last-ditch effort to curb the violence by restricting communications came on Sunday.

Imposed internet outages are often used as a tool of censorship around the world, as governments try to push their policies, or control events. If Bangladesh is anything to go by, the only result is massive damage to the economy.

The post Internet Blackouts Backfire as Protests Escalate in Bangladesh appeared first on Reclaim The Net.

A researcher found a vulnerability that would let hackers strategically downgrade a target’s Windows version to reexpose patched vulnerabilities. Microsoft is working on fixes for the issue.