Eurosphere agenda: “Commission won’t call Castro a dictator…”French primaries…

http://ift.tt/2fNMDlP

Commission won’t call Castro a dictator

 EUobserver.com – Headline News

The EU executive says that a statement decribing the former Cuban leader as a “hero for many” is balanced and suggests that the use of the word dictator by a commissioner doesn’t reflect its position.

France’s next President could be an Islamophobic “Thatcherite” who wants to dismantle the social safety net

Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow

The Trump election gave real legitimacy to Europe’s fascist parties, including France’s Marine Le Pen of the National Front; and in the absence of real, left-win alternatives for populist discontent, the only real opposition to these authoritarians is coming from the hard right parties, which are swinging even further to the right to try to gain back some of their supporters.

What you need to know about the French left primary

EurActiv.com by Jean-Christophe Catalon

The right has chosen François Fillon, now it is up to the left to choose its candidate for the 2017 presidential election.

France election: Socialists scramble to avoid split after Fillon win

 BBC News | Europe | World Edition

France’s ruling Socialists scramble to avoid a damaging split over the spring presidential election.

Can conservative Fillon keep France’s far-right at bay?

 EurActiv.com

Francois Fillon, having clinched the presidential nomination for the right-wing Republicains party, will now join a far bigger battle for the future of France, the European Union and mainstream politics in the West.

France election: Fillon floors rival in conservative primaries

BBC News | Europe | World Edition

Francois Fillon takes the conservative ticket in France’s presidential election by a landslide.

Maltese Presidency unveils photos of Europa building

EurActiv.com by Georgi Gotev

EurActiv.com is happy to unveil the Europa building, expected to be opened during the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU, starting 1 January 2017. Photographs of the Brussels location for future EU summits were kindly provided by the presidency.

[Analysis] Fillon’s EU vision: France leading a ‘Europe of nations’

EUobserver.com – Headline News

The centre-right presidential candidate, who just won his party’s primary, wants a “more political” EU that would focus on security and the economy.

Commissioners at odds over Castro legacy

urActiv.com by Matthew Tempest

The death at the weekend of the revolutionary Cuban leader Fidel Castro saw sharp differences of opinion within EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s cabinet.

Notes on Associate EU Citizenship for Brits after Brexit

 Jon Worth

There has been quite some heated reaction to Guy Verhofstadt saying he backs the idea of individual Brits somehow being able to retain EU citizenship after Brexit, for a fee (Guardian story here). This builds on the initial proposal of Luxembourg liberal MEP Charles Goerens.

This is a pretty complicated and multi-faceted debate, and I will try to take apart each aspect of it.

A huge victory for Belgium’s CETA opponents: Paul Magnette’s speech

 open Democracy News Analysis – by Paul Magnette

A patched deal allows CETA to pass to the next stage. But Belgium gained important concessions. We translate the historic parliamentary speech by the Minister-president of Wallonia in Namur on October 14, 2016.

Debate: Italy facing crucial referendum

euro|topics

The Italians will vote on a complex constitutional reform on December 4 that among other things foresees a smaller Senate. However according to observers the referendum is no longer about reform but a vote for or against Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and the potential consequences of a government crisis for all Europe. What is really at stake in Italy?

Debate: Change of government in Denmark

euro|topics

As of Monday Denmark has a new centre-right government. A coalition made up of the Liberal Party, the Liberal Alliance and the Conservative People’s Party has taken over from the minority government of the Liberal Party which had ruled the country up to then. The Danish media are scathingly critical of Prime Minister Løkke Rasmussen’s plans.

Debate: Can Fillon beat Le Pen?

euro|topics

After his clear victory in the primaries, François Fillon will be the conservative candidate in France’s presidential election next year. Seen as embodying traditional values, the former prime minister is considered an economic liberal hardliner. Commentators discuss his chances against National Front leader Le Pen should the two face each other in a second round of voting.

EU and IMF in effort to unblock Greek bailout talks

 EUobserver.com – Headline News

Finance ministers from the main eurozone countries will meet IMF negotiators on Friday as Greece warns of new delays in the bailout programme.

Europhiles worried by Fillon’s lead over Juppé

 EurActiv.com by Aline Robert

Soigneusement évitée durant la primaire de la droite, la question européenne devrait s’inviter dans le débat pour le second tour. Le sujet représente en effet une ligne de fracture majeure entre les deux candidats en lice.

Maltese Presidency unveils logo, priorities

 EurActiv.com by Georgi Gotev

Malta, which will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 January 2017, has unveiled its logo and priorities, its overarching objective being to restore trust in the Union.

EU citizens enjoy longer lives, but not health equality

 EurActiv.com by Sarantis Michalopoulos

Europeans live almost 7 years more compared to 1990, but this does not necessarily mean that these years are healthy, a new report has found

Related posts:

1. Eurosphere agenda: “Trump victory to spur EU military union”
2. Eurosphere agenda: The most expensive cities in Europe: London and Copenhagen
3. Eurosphere agenda: “Row over Syria policy
4. Eurosphere agenda: “Spain and Portugal top the list as holidaymakers seek safety…
5. Eurosphere agenda: Czarny Protest…Brexit event.. Hungary and its crackdown on opposition press…

Vía Erkan’s Field Diary http://ift.tt/2gtVaIJ

Filed under: Uncategorized

Cyberculture agenda: Pew Report: “The Political Environment on Social Media”

http://ift.tt/2f8Oz89

The Political Environment on Social Media

Pew Internet Rss Feed: Reports by Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech

In a political environment defined by widespread polarization and partisan animosity, even simple conversations can go awry when the subject turns to politics. In their in-person interactions, Americans can (and often do) attempt to steer clear of those with whom they strongly disagree.

1. Political content on social media

 Pew Internet Rss Feed: Reports

For several election cycles, Pew Research Center has documented the extent to which Americans are turning to social media for political information and action. The current political environment – featuring exceptionally high levels of interest in the election, partisan antipathy and political polarization – makes for an especially complex atmosphere for today’s social media users. The typical social media user inhabits a digital world that contains a wide mix of connections, ranging from close friends and family members to public figures or distant acquaintances. Often these friend networks represent a potentially combustible mixture of conflicting political opinions, and this intermingling of the personal and the political can lead to frustration and annoyance for users as they attempt to make their way through these digital spaces.

2. The tone of social media discussions around politics

 Pew Internet Rss Feed: Reports

As political discussions move into otherwise personal social media spaces, users are confronted with a range of social challenges, such as navigating posts from friends and family members that they vehemently disagree with or find offensive. This survey highlights the contradictions and tradeoffs (as well as benefits) of social media interactions in an era of widespread political polarization and partisan antipathy. For many social media users, this influx of political content is a source of frustration and annoyance. A substantial share of social media users are worn out by the tone and volume of political material they encounter on these platforms and view social media as an inherently angry and disrespectful medium in comparison to other venues for discussing politics.

3. Social media and political engagement

Pew Internet Rss Feed: Reports

For those who are heavily interested in politics, social media offers an especially compelling environment for engaging with news, information and discussion about political issues. But although social media can help facilitate connections to the causes people care about, it can also expose these same users to negative or aggressive speech and require them to more attentively curate their social feeds.

4. Public attitudes towards online gig work

Pew Internet Rss Feed: Reports

While a relatively small share of Americans engage in technology-mediated “gig work,” a substantially larger share has utilized these services as consumers. And in addition to asking about workers’ experiences using online platforms to perform tasks or services for others, Pew Research Center asked a series of questions of the broader public in order to gauge their views about these new modes of work (note: these findings were taken from a separate survey conducted in late 2015, see the Methodology section of this report for more details). Overall, their attitudes reflect a mixture of positive and negative views, along with a healthy dose of uncertainty about the relative merits of gig work.

3. Capital platforms: online selling and home sharing

 Pew Internet Rss Feed: Reports

Digital work platforms allow users to earn money from their labor – in other words, their time or skills. But other platforms allow them to earn money from their capital (in other words, things that they own or possess). This survey examined two types of these capital platforms: home-sharing sites, where people can rent out all or part of their homes for a short period of time, and online selling platforms, where users can sell items ranging from used goods to their own personal handicrafts.

Surveillance Self-Defense Against the Trump Administration

 The Intercept by Micah Lee

On Tuesday, Americans handed the U.S. presidency to a racist, xenophobic, authoritarian, climate science-denying, misogynistic, revenge-obsessed ego-maniac — and with it control over a vast and all-too-unaccountable intelligence apparatus; and in a speech less than three weeks ago, Trump promised to sue all of the women who have come forward with sexual assault accusations against him.

 

Internet Pirates More Likely to Pay Than Law-Abiding Counterparts

TorrentFreak

Each year, The Internet Foundation In Sweden (IIS) produces a report titled ‘Swedes and the Internet.’ As its name suggests, the report aims to shine light on how people behave online.

Covering issues from social media to smartphones, gambling, and of course, content consumption and file-sharing, the survey of 3,000 citizens aged 11-years-old and up has provided interesting insights in previous years. 2016 is no different.

 

In the Trump Era, Leaking and Whistleblowing Are More Urgent, and More Noble, Than Ever

The Intercept by Glenn Greenwald

For the past 15 years, the U.S. government under both parties has invented whole new methods for hiding what it does behind an increasingly impenetrable wall of secrecy. From radical new legal doctrines designed to shield its behavior from judicial review to prosecuting sources at record rates, more and more government action has been deliberately hidden from the public.

How Facebook Is Transforming Disaster Response

Wired Top Stories by Cade Metz

From Safety Check to crisis-detection algorithms and internet drones, the social media behemoth is becoming a vital tool in catastrophic situations.

Google’s Real-Time Map of Voter Issues Is Totally Captivating

Wired Top Stories by Robbie Gonzalez

The map provides a fascinating glimpse at America’s electoral process in action.

How the Internet tricked you into thinking Trump wouldn’t win

The Next Web by Matthew Hughes

How could we be so wrong? In the months leading up to the election, like many others, I was convinced that Hillary Clinton was on a smooth course to victory. Trump, I rationalized, was too divisive. Too extreme. Too much of a political outsider. Every day, I would religiously turn to Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight for comforting statistics about how Clinton was besting Trump in the polls. It seemed like a sure thing. And then last night happened.

Trump’s Big Data Mind Explains How He Knew Trump Could Win

Wired Top Stories by Issie Lapowsky

Inside Team Trump, some saw this coming.

Your Vote Counts. But How Does Your Ballot Get Counted?

Wired Top Stories by Emma Grey Ellis

Here are the steps between voters casting their ballots and a country hearing their results.

How the Bot-y Politic Influenced This Election

MIT Technology Review

Nearly 20 percent of all election-related tweets come from an army of influential robots.

The 2016 Election Exposes the Very, Very Dark Side of Tech

Wired Top Stories by Issie Lapowsky

Over the past 19 months, we’ve seen what can happen when technology is misused. T

A (Largely) Jargon-Free Guide to ICANN

Slate Articles by Danielle Kehl

This article is part of the “Who Controls the Internet?” installment ofFuturography, a series in which Future Tense introduces readers to the technologies that will define tomorrow. Future Tense is a collaboration among Arizona State University, New America, and Slate. On Thursday, Nov. 10, Future Tense will hold an event in Washington, D.C., titled “Will the Internet Always Be American?” For more information and to RSVP, visit the New America website.

How the tech industry got Donald Trump elected

 The Next Web by Matthew Hughes

Donald Trump is going to be the 45th President of the United States. For better or for worse, this is a reality that we now have to live with. Amidst the anger and fear, people are looking for someone to blame.

A tale of tech giants: How Philips competes with the likes of Google to reinvent an entire industry

The Next Web by Melissa Thompson

Disruption. There’s a reason startups use this buzzword – they’re all about trying new things, testing them, and doing it all over again. As fast-moving startups continue to topple incumbent companies, more traditional organizations must figure out how to stay relevant.

Anti-Piracy Group Uses ‘Pirated’ Code on its Website

 TorrentFreak

Copyright is a double-edged sword. Those who sharpen one side often get cut by the other, with all the painful consequences that come with it.

That’s exactly what’s happening to the Business Software Alliance (BSA) this week.

 

5 best free apps for sexting

Mashable! by Amy-Mae Turner

Snapchat may be most folks’ ephemeral messaging app of choice, but it’s by no means the only one, or even the best.

79 Percent of Online Americans Use Facebook (Study)

 All Facebook by David Cohen

It’s common knowledge that Facebook is the dominant social network in terms of user base, but a new report from Pew Research Center showed just how dominant it is.

Related posts:

1. Journalism agenda: Social Media giants react to fake news phenomena after the damage already done…
2. Cyberculture agenda: Obama and hackers… The Typical #Twitter User…”Technology’s Impact on Workers…
3. Journalism agenda: “eight promising business models for email newsletters
4. Cyberculture agenda: “A Worldwide Survey of Encryption Products…
5. Cyberculture agenda: “Turkey Submits Highest Volume of Removal Requests to Twitter…”The Growing Problem of Bots That Fight Online…

Vía Erkan’s Field Diary http://ift.tt/2f8Jc8R

Filed under: Uncategorized