Tech

Dr. Robert Epstein , the senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology and a panelist on Breitbart News’ “ Masters of the Universe ” town hall on Internet freedom, joined SiriusXM hosts Rebecca Mansour and Joel Pollak on Thursday’s Breitbart News Tonight to warn of technology firms’ growing political power. Epstein pointed to Google’s dominance of the Internet search market. “As it happens, 90 percent of search around the world is conducted on just one search engine,” noted Epstein. “There’s never been a precedent for anything like this, ever. You’ve got one company that’s controlling search around the world.” Epstein added, “That’s a power to shift opinions that’s in the hands of a handful of people in one particular town in Northern California, affecting people around the world, with no way to counteract what they’re doing, with no competitors out there.” LISTEN : Mansour requested Epstein’s commentary on social … [Read more...] about Robert Epstein’s Midterm Warning: Big Tech Can ‘Shift Upwards of 12 Million Votes’

Breitbart News Network’s (BNN) live Town Hall event “Masters of the Universe”: Big Tech vs. Free Speech and Privacy will be live-streamed Thursday from New Orleans, LA. “Big tech is the biggest threat to free speech at this moment in time, and there is no fiercer advocate for the first amendment than Breitbart News,” said Alex Marlow, editor-in-chief of Breitbart. “Never has so much power been concentrated in the hands of so few people, and Silicon Valley elites have, thus far, been able to operate with virtually zero transparency. The Masters of the Universe are unfathomably influential, secretive, and they are surveilling all of us right now, stockpiling our data for their own purposes. It’s time we broaden the discussion.” Marlow will moderate the town hall, which starts at 8:00 p.m. Eastern/7:00 p.m. local at Andrea’s Restaurant in Metairie, LA, and will be live-streamed above as well as on Breitbart News’ Facebook Page. The event will feature a panel of America’s … [Read more...] about WATCH NOW – Breitbart News Town Hall: ‘Masters of the Universe’ Big Tech vs. Free Speech and Privacy

PragerU has released a statement on its plans to further battle Google’s censorship of its content. In a statement published on its website , PragerU announced that it has filed an appeal of its lawsuit against Google over alleged censorship of their content on Google-owned video streaming website YouTube. PragerU, which was founded by conservative radio host Dennis Prager and produces short, graphics-based videos relating to conservatism, has recently claimed that “Google/YouTube uses their restricted mode filtering not to protect younger or sensitive viewers from ‘inappropriate’ video content, but as a political gag mechanism to silence PragerU.” PragerU’s statement details its plans to challenge Google and YouTube further: “On Monday, the law firm of Browne George Ross LLP, attorneys for PragerU, officially filed an appeal of its lawsuit against Google Inc. and its subsidiary YouTube, LLC. with the Ninth Circuit Court,” reads the statement. “With the filing, PragerU … [Read more...] about PragerU: Tech Giants Turning into ‘Authoritarian Tyrants’

In a nutshell: The UK's coin-producing Royal Mint will soon recycle discarded phones and laptops to extract gold, silver, and other precious metals from the devices using a "revolutionary" world-first technology. The Royal Mint has partnered with Canadian start-up Excir to use the extraction tech, which is able to recover 99% of the metals found in electronic waste. It said the chemistry selectively targets and extracts precious metals from circuit boards in seconds. The gold can then be melted into ingots and used for Royal Mint products. The Royal Mint plans to recover the precious metals at room temperature at its main site in Wales, instead of the e-waste piling up in landfills or being sent outside the UK to be processed at high temperatures in smelters. Initial use of the technology has already yielded gold with a purity of 999.9. When fully scaled up, it could potentially recover palladium, silver, and copper, too. The mint produces more than 3.3 billion coins and … [Read more...] about The UK’s Royal Mint is using “revolutionary” new tech to recover gold from e-waste

Following recent reports that Google employees plotted to alter search results but didn’t take action, Breitbart News thought it best to recap some of the times that Google actually manipulated search results. Breitbart News reporter Allum Bokhari reported recently that following the introduction of President Trump’s temporary travel ban, Google employees plotted to alter search results to oppose the President’s policies. Bokhari writes : Google employees brainstormed ways to tweak the tech giant’s search functions to encourage users to push back against Trump policies following the President’s proposed travel ban on certain countries in 2017, according to a report on Tucker Carlson Tonight that was also confirmed by the Wall Street Journal. …Google did not deny the existence of the emails, but insisted that none of the ideas discussed were ever acted upon. “These emails were just a brainstorm of ideas, none of which were ever implemented,” a company spokeswoman … [Read more...] about 5 Times Google Manipulated Search, YouTube, and News Results | Breitbart

Google is tweaking their search engine in a new effort to combat “fake news” and “hate speech.” “Today, in a world where tens of thousands of pages are coming online every minute of every day, there are new ways that people try to game the system,” proclaimed Ben Gomes, vice president of engineering, in a post on Google’s official blog . “The most high profile of these issues is the phenomenon of ‘fake news,’ where content on the web has contributed to the spread of blatantly misleading, low quality, offensive or downright false information.” “We’re taking the next step toward continuing to surface more high-quality content from the web,” Gomes continued, adding, “This includes improvements in Search ranking, easier ways for people to provide direct feedback, and greater transparency around how Search works.” These new changes to Google’s signature search engine will include the ability for users to flag and report “inappropriate” search autocomplete predictions. Users will … [Read more...] about Google Changing Search Engine to Combat ‘Fake News’ and ‘Hate Speech’

In an effort to combat “fake news,” Google has launched a new feature on their search engine titled “Fact Check” which adds a label to certain links indicating whether they have been confirmed by partisan fact-checkers Snopes and Politifact. Mashable reports that this new fact-checking feature was already implemented in some countries in October of 2016 but will now be rolled out globally in multiple languages. Now when you search for a news item, you should see results with a tag that states which claim is being fact-checked, which organization did the fact-check, and a summary of the story’s credibility with a “true” or “false” rating. This feature will also be implemented on Google News, where news articles will be deemed true or false by Snopes and Politifact. Google has also stated that due to the nature of the system, some search results may return conflicting ratings depending on which organization fact-checked the story. Google has listed a number of rules for … [Read more...] about Google Launches ‘Fact Check’ Label for Search Results

Google has launched a new series of workshops which aim to teach teenagers how to tackle “fake news” and “hate speech.” “Internet Citizens” will be run by Google’s YouTube in cities across the United Kingdom for those between the ages of 13 and 18. The workshops “are intended to raise awareness around issues such as tolerance, empathy and abuse online,” according to The Guardian . “Nearly all of us will have come across comments or content online that shocked or even offended us, sometimes leaving us feeling isolated or powerless to change the conversation,” said YouTube’s head of public policy , Naomi Gummer. “And for young people in particular, this sense of vulnerability can be heightened if it’s difficult to judge whether a piece of content is real, especially when something is shared on social media by a trusted friend. That’s why we’re launching Internet Citizens.” “This is just one part of our commitment to a better web… Alongside this, we are exploring more … [Read more...] about Google Launches Anti-‘Fake News’ and ‘Hate Speech’ Workshops for Teens

Top executives from the UK arms of Facebook, Twitter, and Google appeared in front of the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday and were grilled about an apparent failure to tackle ‘hate speech’ on their platforms. The committee directed most of their intense scrutiny towards Google in regards to videos posted on YouTube that are “peddling hate,” according to Labour MP Chuka Umunna. Focusing on videos uploaded by the ex-KKK leader David Duke and the now proscribed extremist organization National Action, Umunna accused Peter Barron, the vice president of communications and public affairs at Google Europe of profiting off of these videos, along with allowing the individuals themselves to make money as well. “Your operating profit in 2016 was $30.4 billion. Now, there are not many business activities that somebody openly would have to come and admit… that they are making money and people who use their platform are making money out of hate,” Umunna said. “You, as an outfit, are … [Read more...] about Facebook, Twitter and Google Criticized by MPs for Being ‘Soft’ on Hate Speech

A group of major U.S. advertisers, including AT&T, Verizon, and Johnson & Johnson have withdrawn their advertising from Google , despite the company’s pledge to crack down on “offensive” and “extremist” content. AT&T claimed to be “deeply concerned” about their adverts appearing alongside content on YouTube promoting “hate.” “We are deeply concerned that our ads may have appeared alongside YouTube content promoting terrorism and hate,” said AT&T in a statement , pulling all Google advertisements except for search results. “Until Google can ensure this won’t happen again, we are removing our ads from Google’s non-search platforms.” Verizon’s Sanette Chao also claimed in a statement that the company “took immediate action” after learning that their adverts were appearing on certain websites. “Once we were notified that our ads were appearing on non-sanctioned websites, we took immediate action to suspend this type of ad placement and launched an … [Read more...] about Major Advertisers Withdraw from Google Despite Company’s Crackdown on ‘Offensive’ Content