British lawmakers have issued a hard-hitting report, accusing Facebook and other social media platforms of deliberate breach of user privacy. The report was prepared by the Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport Committee on the issue of social media disinformation following an 18-month inquiry. The legislature published it on its website on Sunday.

The body said Facebook was “intentionally and knowingly” violating data privacy laws. It said it had come to the conclusion after studying internal Facebook emails handed to them by a company named Six4Three, which, itself, is suing Facebook for allegedly harming its business.

“The evidence that we obtained from the Six4Three court documents indicates that Facebook was willing to override its users’ privacy settings,” the parliamentary report read. Doing so would enable Facebook “to transfer data to some app developers, to charge high prices in advertising to some developers, for the exchange of that data, and to starve some developers—such as Six4Three—of that data, thereby causing them to lose their business,” it added.

“The guiding principle of the ‘move fast and break things’ culture often seems to be that it is better to apologize than ask permission,” said committee chairman Damian Collins, Reuters reported.

Therefore, the report said, Facebook and other big tech companies had to be made subject to a compulsory code of ethics to tackle data abuse as well as, what the lawmakers called, bullying of smaller firms.

A Facebook spokesperson has, however, told The Hill that documents obtained from the Six4Three are inaccurate. “As we’ve said many times, the documents Six4Three gathered for their baseless case are only part of the story and are presented in a way that is very misleading without additional context,” the official said.

The parliamentary investigation was launched after a whistleblower named Christopher Wylie alleged that political consultancy company Cambridge Analytica had obtained the data of millions of users from Facebook.

The report has accused Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg of failure to live up to his leadership and personal responsibilities.

Over the course of the inquiry, British lawmakers have asked Zuckerberg to turn up for explanation before them. He has failed to do so on three occasions, prompting the committee to censure him for “contempt” towards the Parliament.

Presstv

Wheel chaired Augustine Kontchou Koumegni is slowly but surely moving towards his end. We understand his ancestors are calling!! We gathered that the former Minister of State for Communications in the CPDM crime syndicate attempted to release some memoirs but cancelled the event.

Kontchou who lied on numerous occasions to the Cameroonian people over the killings at the University of Yaounde was nicknamed “Zero Mort”. As a former Cameroon government spokesman, Kontchou is expected to reveal the ins and outs of his time with Biya. But is anyone really interested?

The former Biya acolyte has reportedly struggled to make a comeback into politics but suffered a massive stroke. Putting pen to paper is now a thing of the past. One former acquaintance said Kontchou feels so abandoned by the regime.

He added: “I think this is a really difficult time for him. He’s rethinking how he wasted his time serving Biya and the CPDM, all the decisions he made. Look at the Momos and the Kamtos from the West region, they’re all doing really well, and he’s the odd one out. He’s not been able to carve out a new life ever since he was sacked from government.”

So what else has Kontchou been up to and how will he be remembered? What has Kontchou been doing?  Simply enjoying his wheel chair!!

Rita Akana

Epiphany on 6 January is celebrated throughout Europe – with France’s ‘galette des rois’ cake, in Spain’s ‘cabalgata’ parade and in Italy’s broomstick-riding ‘Befana’ who brings presents. In Ireland, however, the day is known as Women’s Christmas.

Women’s Christmas, Nollaig na mBan in Irish Gaelic, or Little Christmas as it is alternatively known, is traditionally the day when women are able to rest after their hard work over the Christmas period. They gather with friends, possibly exchanging gifts, and don’t do any work for a day – instead leaving men to cook for them, look after the children and run the household.

The men of Ireland weren’t altogether delighted by the role-reversal. An Irish proverb went like this: “Nollaig na bhfear, Nollaig Mhor Maith; Nollaig na mBan, Nollaig gan Mhaith”, which means “Men’s Christmas: a fine big Christmas; women’s Christmas, a no-good Christmas”.

Before 1958, January 6 was the only day of the year when women in Ireland were allowed into pubs. Groups of women would pool together the money they had saved, and go and drink and eat in the pub.

Previously, women in Ireland would only set foot in a pub if they were chaperoned by a man. Those who braved the male-dominated domain of the Irish bar were viewed as not respectable. Women today go out with their friends to a local pub or a restaurant to celebrate. Businesses across Ireland have begun to take advantage of the day’s popularity with deals and promotions.

The day has also been used by feminist activists as an opportunity to celebrate women’s achievements and inspire change. The Irish Writers Centre in Dublin hosts an event on the day which pays tribute to Irish female writers and the Glasnevin Cemetery Museum runs a tour about women who shaped the nation.

This year HerStory, a cultural activism project, organised a festival to quite literally shed a light on the lives and achievements of important women throughout history and culture. On the eve of Women’s Christmas, buildings across Dublin were illuminated with projections of famous or influential women, from 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg, to Irish footballer Anne O’Brien and Fuamnach, a witch from medieval Irish mythology.

The year 2018 was significant for women’s rights in Ireland. A hundred years after Irish women won the right to vote, they came out in huge numbers to vote on whether to repeal or keep the Eighth Amendment in the Irish Constitution, a law that grants equal right to life for the mother and the unborn child. The Republic voted to overturn the country’s draconian abortion ban by a landslide.

The first day of 2019 saw abortion services legally available for the first time, as well as new measures against coercive control in abusive relationships passed into law.

But the gender equality battle is not yet won. The Gender Equality Index 2017, produced by the European Institute for Gender Equality, highlights how Ireland still has progress to make on gender equality in the household: 90% of Irish women do cooking and housework every day for at least one hour, compared to only 50% men.

Culled from France 24

The media landscape in Cameroon will be enriched today with the official launching of a new television station called Renaissance 237 TV.

The Television channel that begins streaming online today has been described as a Pro-Maurice Kamto media though no official statement has been released from the party.

However, the President of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement Maurice Kamto shared a flyer on his Facebook Page announcing the launch of the television station.

Youths of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement have been mobilising online in the past days to offer their support to the initiative as they believe controlling the media sphere is an important tool in their fight against the regime in Yaounde.

The launch of the Renaissance 237 TV will be followed by that of another pro Kamto TV called Generation Change TV on December 31 in the United States of America.

Source: Journal du Cameroun