Social Panic – Page 63 – Opinion: Factfulness on propaganda, media, social media and privacy

WSJ: #Google let’s most any software company read your #Gmail

July 3, 2018 Edward MS

Software developers scan hundreds of millions of emails of users who sign up for email-based services. Disclosures are often buried in user agreements. Source: Tech’s ‘Dirty Secret’: The App Developers Sifting Through Your Gmail – WSJ They also let employees of those companies personally read your email: this is “common practice”. As already suggested on this blog, they data mine the hell of our emails, logging your purchases, financial records, travel records and more. For companies that want data for…

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Part 7: We should all be like Denmark, remember?

July 2, 2018 Edward MS

Occupy Democrats is an online, social media-based, for profit publisher of emotion laden political propaganda posters targeting those who view themselves as left wing. In 2016, Occupy Democrats used social media to distribute this propaganda through shares and likes. Every claim on this widely distributed and shared poster is essentially false – or two that are highly misleading at best (see links below for excruciating details.) Note their last item: SHARE if America should follow their lead! Occupy Democrats wants…

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More examples: Facebook’s dossier for advertising is bogus

July 1, 2018 Edward MS

Facebook’s advertising interests thinks I’m interested in the California Democratic Party *AND* Republicans for the Rule of Law. Seriously? I have no relation with either political party or group. Only one of these ads involves someone we’ve interacted with (Sarita Dua, and outstanding real estate broker in the Portland area). Paging down through their list, may be 1 in 20 or 30 ads has any relevancy. That’s lame for a targeted advertising network that supposedly knows so much about us.

Reporter resigns after falsely saying shooter wore a political hat

June 30, 2018 Edward MS

Berry’s apology came after his earlier controversial tweet, in which he posted an image of the president’s “Make America Great Again” hat and implied that Jarrod Ramos dropped one on The Capital Gazette’s newsroom floor before gunning down five people Thursday. The tweet has been removed. … Berry lamented that his tweet “feeds the warped minds of people who think we wake up every day and try to push an agenda.” Source: Springfield Republican reporter resigns after tweet about Maryland…

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If its on social media, it must be true …

June 28, 2018 Edward MS

Appeared on Facebook. It’s a misquote, taken out of context, says Snopes. (June 28th – the original post has been replaced and rewritten with the following) Violence broke out at a protest over removal of Confederate related statutes at a protest in Charlottesville, VA. Trump said: “I think there is blame on both sides,” the president said in a combative exchange with reporters at Trump Tower in Manhattan. “You had a group on one side that was bad. You had…

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The joy of living in a fact-free world of official government propaganda #Cellphone #Crashes #Propaganda

June 27, 2018 Edward MS

WCSO is the Washington County Sheriff’s Office. They put out this social media poster on Twitter, regarding cell phone usage / distracted driving and fatalities. They cite ODOT Crash Analysis & Reporting, 2015. But check the details. Per the ODOT report just 1 of the 73 pedestrian fatalities was linked to cell phone usage (see page 18, fatal pedestrian accident data). 0.7% of all accidents and 0.5% of accidents having a fatality were linked to cell phone usage. Most people…

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News: Being overly dramatic

June 26, 2018 Edward MS

The Intercept published an article about likely locations of NSA voice and data intercept equipment located in AT&T “central office” network switching locations. They’ve promoted the article on Twitter with this poster: The statement they’ve written is basically true but is written using numerous emotional click bait words to exaggerate. Each of those attributes are features that make perfect sense and have nothing to do with their likely co-location of NSA surveillance gear. The intent in the above wording is…

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News: The difference between percent and percentile

June 25, 2018 Edward MS

This is a frequent error in news reports: In 2015, Frappuccinos were 14 percent of Starbucks revenue: Year-to-date, however, the drink’s sales are down 3 percent — and now account for only 11 percent of the company’s revenue. Source: Starbucks has a ‘void in innovation’ and healthy beverages won’t turn the tide 3 percent of 14 percent is 0.4 percent, not 3 percent. What should have been written is “sales are down 3 percentile points“. As dictionary.com says Never leave…

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Political misinformation is harder to correct than health misinformation – especially among the educated

June 24, 2018 Edward MS

We have covered this phenomena before. The first information people receive, even if subsequently proven to be incorrect, is what stays in people’s minds. This is one of the reasons that propaganda based on lies is often successful. It is very hard to refute erroneous propaganda statements. New research indicates that corrections have a moderate influence on belief in misinformation. ….“The alarming growth of misinformation and the limited repercussions for non-institutional actors for knowingly or unknowingly misleading the public turned…

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