News of the Cyber World

[kyonides]

Senate Unanimously Passes Bill to Ban TikTok on All Government Devices Amid National Security Concerns

The “No TikTok on Government Devices Act,” was first introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in April 2021 and will essentially follow up on steps already taken by the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense and The Transportation Security Administration to ban the video application from being used on federal government devices.

Specifically, the bill (pdf) requires the Office of Management and Budget to develop standards for executive agencies that require TikTok and any successor application by its owner to be pulled from any device issued by the U.S. or a government corporation.

The bill does include exceptions for law enforcement activities, national security interests, and security researchers in some circumstances.

Although it passed the Senate unanimously on Wednesday, Hawley’s bill will still need to be passed by the House and signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Documents Uncover Secret Twitter Portal
US Government Used to Censor COVID-19 Content

In its ongoing probe into Twitter’s censorship practices, America First Legal has obtained a fourth set of documents (pdf) exposing a secret Twitter portal, which U.S. government officials used to censor dissenting COVID-19 views in violation of the First Amendment. It’s a revelation Elon Musk described as “extremely concerning.”

The documents reveal that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was collaborating with UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and Mafindo to mitigate “disinformation.” Mafindo is a Facebook third-party fact-checking partner based in Indonesia that is funded by Google, known to have censored searches for keywords like Coronavirus, and COVID-19 as well as blocking information regarding adverse reactions and deaths caused by COVID-19 vaccines. Facebook started its third-party fact-checking program in 2016, working with fact-checkers from around the world who are certified by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter to rate and review the accuracy of the content on their platform... However, among their advisory board, U.S.-based representatives appear to be from liberal-leaning outlets such as the Washington Post and PolitiFact, which is owned by Poynter.

On March 10, 2021 email from a US Public Policy employee at Facebook to several CDC employees spoke of the social media giant’s “weekly sync with CDC” and how the CDC was “to invite other agencies as needed.”

A March 24, 2021 email from the same Facebook employees to CDC employees said “this is my regular FB meeting and they would like to discuss 2 misinformation topics” and “misinformation that was removed.”

On May 10, 2021, a Twitter employee recommended to a CDC official to enroll in Twitter’s Partner Support Portal, which he described as “the best way to get a spreadsheet like this reviewed.”

On May 11, 2021, the CDC official enrolled her personal Twitter account into Twitter’s Partner Support Portal, which allowed “a special, expedited reporting flow in the Twitter Help Center.”

Posts that Facebook would delete—which the CDC or any other public health authority deemed as “false and likely to contribute to imminent violence of physical harm”—included:

• Claims that COVID-19 is no more dangerous than the common flu or cold.
  
• Claims that COVID-19 cannot be transmitted in certain climates, weather conditions, or locations.
  
• Claims that for the average person, something can guarantee prevention from getting COVID-19 or can guarantee recovery from COVID-19 before such a cure or prevention has been approved.
  
• Claims that COVID-19 tests cause cancer.
  
• Claims about the availability or existence of COVID-19 vaccines.
  
• Claims about the safety or serious side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.
  
• Claims about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.
  
• Claims about how the COVID-19 vaccine was developed or its ingredients.
  
• Claims involving conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines or vaccine programs.
  

Editor's Notes

Concerning cancer issues I will leave a news article and an official source here as references.

Fact Check-Nasal swabs sterilised with ethylene oxide are safe to use;
the sterilisation process is tightly regulated by international standards 

National Cance Institute - Ethylene Oxide

What is ethylene oxide?

At room temperature, ethylene oxide is a flammable colorless gas with a sweet odor. It is used primarily to produce other chemicals, including antifreeze. In smaller amounts, ethylene oxide is used as a pesticide and a sterilizing agent. The ability of ethylene oxide to damage DNA makes it an effective sterilizing agent but also accounts for its cancer-causing activity.
...
Despite these precautions, workers and people who live near industrial facilities that produce or use ethylene oxide may be exposed to ethylene oxide through uncontrolled industrial emissions. The general population may also be exposed through tobacco smoke and the use of products that have been sterilized with ethylene oxide, such as medical products, cosmetics, and beekeeping equipment.

Which cancers are associated with exposure to ethylene oxide?

Lymphoma and leukemia are the cancers most frequently reported to be associated with occupational exposure to ethylene oxide. Stomach and breast cancers may also be associated with ethylene oxide exposure.

So we've got 2 postures that somehow contradict themselves. Ethylene oxide CAN be found in nasal swabs so there's SOME chance that the substance could react negatively if stuck deep in your nose. We hope it doesn't because it's a regulated substance, but keep in mind that some tests could have been produced in places like China where we can't fully verify its compliance to international regulations.

This means that there were some motives for a group of people to distrust those swabs, especially because some doctors or nurses or technicians could be so brute as to hit the thin membrane that separates the nasal passage from the brain itself.

Are they right or wrong?  I guess only time will tell.

Questioning the efficacy of ANY medication or treatment is a valid practice that depending on the pharmaceutical company's reaction might let it get improved or made more secure than previous versions or not. Sometimes they simply include important notes like contraindications for people's safety. Usually, people claim that they were ignored by Big Pharma or their government. An open discussion could have prevent anybody from falsely judging anybody of lying or harming other parties' reputation.

In regards of the ingredients, I can only say that nobody has been able to prove stuff like that vaxxes include graphene or nanobots or weird micro-surveillance chips and similar stuff. Thus, some or all of those theories might only be good for novels where facts don't matter as much as in newspaper articles.

Twitter Suspends Accounts Tracking Private Jets,
Changes Doxxing Policy Over ‘Risk of Physical Harm’

Twitter has suspended multiple accounts that tracked the movements of private planes—including those belonging to Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos—and announced changes to its doxxing policy, prohibiting sharing of real-time location information or linking to external sources that share such data, citing a “risk of physical harm.”

Twitter Safety said in a series of posts on Dec. 15 that the social media platform had updated its Private Information policy that bans sharing someone else’s live location “in most cases.”
...
Users will still be able to share their own live location on Twitter, and content that shares live location information pertaining to public events or engagements, such as concerts, will also be allowed.

“Tweets that share someone else’s historical (not same-day) location information are also not prohibited by this policy,” Twitter Safety said.

In line with the new policy, Twitter has suspended the jet tracking accounts of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk.
...
Sweeney told Protocol earlier this year that Musk had offered him $5,000 to shut down the jet-tracking account over security concerns. The teenager said he made a counteroffer of $50,000 or an internship opportunity with him but Musk did not take him up on the offer.
...
Sweeney’s personal Twitter account has also been suspended.

The teenager said on Mastodon that Musk “gave me no warning” before permanently suspending his account.

 Well, I do think the teenager always knew why he got suspended right away, still, he's playing the victim's role here before the eyes of the media.