• COMPUTER DATA SECURITY FEARS HAVE BEEN EXACERBATED now that the pandemic has necessitated much of the world working from home, especially with media reports “shedding light on serious security holes… including vulnerabilities in Amazon’s Alexa platform that could allow attackers to access personal info… and that 98%% of all IoT device traffic is unencrypted.” Newest concern relates to Ring’s ‘Robot Drone’ – a $250 autonomous security camera that can fly around home & yard on programmed paths “gathering sensitive personal data about daily life, habits & preferences” of owners & neighbors. “Privacy features do include camera blockage when in the charging base, and a ‘hummm’ at certain volume, so it’s clear when the camera is in motion & recording… but, for privacy advocates, issues involve unauthorized access to processing/ storing/ cloud transmission/ etc.”   [THREATPOST – 9/25/20]
  • “TODAY’S CULTURE OF WHITE PROGRESSIVES AND THEIR MINORITY PROTEGEES emerged from the White Liberals who purged Conservatives from academia, and now represent 91% of all University faculty with miniscule percentage in liberal arts… They learned from Progressive academia of a previous generation that there is no such thing as Objectivity or Neutrality, and that all knowledge claims are about Power… So, today, they’re in no mood to argue about social reality, and only to assert ‘morality,’ turning it into a moral Certainty in which grievance is mixed with aggression and narcissism… With little interest in persuasion, they instantly read every resistance to their designs on norm universalization as immoral and, like children coddled by sympathetic elders, were shocked once they left home to find that the big bad world disagreed with them, insisting that to argue against their norms makes someone a bad person. Rather, what is demanded is for others to become and believe as a White Progressive… For a while, unleashing the moral rebellion in their ranks was a good weapon to wave, until they found themselves purged by their own revolutionary guards. It was all fun & games until the mob came for them.” [TABLETMAG – 9/13/20]
  • BEYOND THE ALREADY DEMONSTRATED BIAS OF INTERNET PLATFORM COMPANIES, arguments are that they are also impeding war crimes and criminal prosecutions. In Q1 this year, Facebook alone removed 93% of posts which were “flagged by automatic systems – half without any human viewer moderating – based on algorithms designed to scrub extremist propaganda and snuff videos… in accordance with stringent ‘content moderation policies’ adopted under pressure from activists & governments… However, since removed content is not regulated, this policy has inadvertently eliminated evidence against terrorists and other criminals which is often posted by human-rights groups or by the actual perpetrators (of war crimes or just psychopaths) bragging about their exploits… Since many also inadvertently give away their location, human-rights groups and law enforcement agencies globally have begun pressing for requirements that internet platforms preserve content or pass it on to independent archives… One Syrian non-profit group estimates that over 367K YouTube videos and over 120K Tweets it had catalogued thru mid-2020 have disappeared.” [ECONOMIST – 9/26/20]
  • CALIFORNIA GREATLY EXPANDED REPORTING RULES FOR EMPLOYEES VS. CONTRACTORS THIS YEAR. However, for many industries & circumstances, the rules were then loosened in ‘Emergency Legislation’ passed this month. Subject to documentation (like distinct entity invoicing & payment terms for services provided) exclusions can now apply to Licensed & Registered businesses, to more professional services, and to certain workers in entertainment/insurance/financial services industries. The legislation is complex, so payroll practices should be reviewed by HR or Legal support.
  • THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK:

      A recent 50-state survey of millennials between age 20 – 40 found nearly two-thirds completely unaware of the WWII Nazi genocide campaign which killed “biologically inferior groups” including homosexuals and 6 million Jews, 10% of whom said they’d had never even heard the word Holocaust.  [LBN EXAMINER -9/27/20]

     “As alleged ‘public health experts’ proclaim that the danger posed by NOT rioting is greater than the danger from Wuhan virus, BUT the danger from going to church/work/school or protesting the utter thrashing of the U.S. Constitution is unconscionable BECAUSE of Wuhan, we’re at a point to say that the entire virus scare was nothing more or less than a massive fraud perpetrated upon the American people by ‘experts’ who were determined to fundamentally change the way the country lives and is organized and governed.”  [RED STATE – 6/7/20]