Two of the world's biggest video streaming giants, Netflix and Google's YouTube, seem to have varying opinions when it comes to sleep.&nbsp;

While Google recently announced rolling out a feature that lets YouTube users set a "Take a break" reminder to limit prolonged viewing, Netflix's CEO Reed Hastings last month noted sleep as the company's biggest competition.&nbsp;

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Sleep is my greatest enemy.
— Netflix US (@netflix) <a href="https://twitter.com/netflix/status/854100194098520064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2017</a></blockquote>
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“We’re competing with sleep, on the margin. And so, it’s a very large pool of time,” Hastings noted.&nbsp;

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And only then can you learn how to defeat it.
— Netflix US (@netflix) <a href="https://twitter.com/netflix/status/854105985903771649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2017</a></blockquote>
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Netflix enjoys close to 125 million users worldwide, but Hastings had previously admitted having got "YouTube envy”.

Google recently announced rolling out a feature that lets YouTube users set a "Take a break" reminder to limit prolonged viewing

Two of the world's biggest video streaming giants, Netflix and Google's YouTube, seem to have varying opinions when it comes to sleep. While Google recently announced rolling out a feature that lets YouTube users set a "Take a break" reminder to limit prolonged viewing, Netflix's CEO Reed Hastings last month noted sleep as the company's biggest competition. Sleep is my greatest enemy. — Netflix US (@netflix) April 17, 2017 × “We’re competing with sleep, on the margin. And so, it’s a very large pool of time,” Hastings noted. And only then can you learn how to defeat it. — Netflix US (@netflix) April 17, 2017 × Netflix enjoys close to 125 million users worldwide, but Hastings had previously admitted having got "YouTube envy”.

While Netflix competes with sleep, YouTube wants users to 'take break'

Facebook is now exploring the option of creating its own cryptocurrency, report said on Saturday.&nbsp;

According to the tech website Cheddar, Facebook is "very serious about it".&nbsp;

The social media giant has not given out too much information but they plan to use cryptocurrency primarily for facilitating payments on the website.&nbsp;

As per further reports, the company is also trying other ways to leverage the tokenized digital currency and its underlying blockchain technology across its platform, too.'

The idea was developed by David Marcus, who had was reportedly leading a new blockchain division at Facebook “to explore how to best leverage Blockchain across Facebook, starting from scratch.” Before joining the company, he was the president of PayPal, which facilitates transactions between users in Facebook’s Messenger app.

Global spending on Blockchain solutions is expected to reach $2.1 billion in 2018, more than double of the $945 million spent in 2017, market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) said earlier this year.&nbsp;

Facebook has over two billion users globally and launching cryptocurrency will allow them to make payments using a virtual currency like Bitcoin.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

The social media giant has not given out too much information but they plan to use cryptocurrency primarily for facilitating payments on the website

Facebook is now exploring the option of creating its own cryptocurrency, report said on Saturday. According to the tech website Cheddar, Facebook is "very serious about it". The social media giant has not given out too much information but they plan to use cryptocurrency primarily for facilitating payments on the website. As per further reports, the company is also trying other ways to leverage the tokenized digital currency and its underlying blockchain technology across its platform, too.' The idea was developed by David Marcus, who had was reportedly leading a new blockchain division at Facebook “to explore how to best leverage Blockchain across Facebook, starting from scratch.” Before joining the company, he was the president of PayPal, which facilitates transactions between users in Facebook’s Messenger app. Global spending on Blockchain solutions is expected to reach $2.1 billion in 2018, more than double of the $945 million spent in 2017, market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) said earlier this year. Facebook has over two billion users globally and launching cryptocurrency will allow them to make payments using a virtual currency like Bitcoin.

Facebook planning to create its own cryptocurrency: Reports

Lately, I can't log onto Facebook without being asked to consider my own motivations for using the site.

As a researcher who focuses on online communities, I'm accustomed to this running meta-narrative about what it is I'm actually doing online — but usually, that narrative plays inside my head, not all the way down the feed I'm scrolling through.

It's like my research questions have sprung to life these days: What's Facebook all about, anyway? Is this even fun? If it's not fun … what is it, exactly?

This is an exciting time in the very short history of social media use.

Facebook's users are becoming critical of the systems into which they’ve been conscripted. This is an important moment: Will public opinion follow the same well-worn cycle of outrage and acceptance, or will it jump the tracks and begin engaging Facebook on new, more challenging terms?

Researchers have been asking tough questions about Facebook for the past decade, but even armed with the most prestigious credentials, they pose a much smaller threat than educated consumers. And without consumer outrage, government regulation seems unlikely to move forward.

'Sound and fury'

So far, at least in my own feed, the same old script is being followed to the letter. The soul-searching is punctuated by passionate cris-de-coeur from the feed's more opinionated characters: Wake up, sheeple! If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product — remember? Quit Facebook! Encrypt your data! Smash your phone under the heel of your steel-toed boots!

Next, right on cue, the incisive social commentators swoop in to remind us that these calls are coming from inside the house. "Pretty ironic that you're posting all this stuff on Facebook!" To which everyone silently rolls their eyes in resignation.

Cue the gallows humor about how we're all under constant surveillance, rinse and repeat. The human condition's same old two-step. Sound and fury, signifying nothing.

That this discursive cycle was triggered by the revelations earlier this year that voter profiling company Cambridge Analytica obtained the Facebook data of 50 million American accounts is beside the point.

This is only the latest in a long series of such leaks about data mining. In 2017, approximately 200 million registered voters' personal data stored by voter profiling company Deep Root Analytics was accidentally made public. The previous year, Russian hackers accessed a large cache of voter information owned by the Democratic National Committee.

What this latest go-round is revealing is that these are industry practices that will carry on undisturbed, regardless of what Mark Zuckerberg says or does. This is not a Zuckerberg problem anymore it's a problem with an advertising model that is the industry standard.

Most of us Facebook users have been on the platform for about a decade, and perhaps our outrage is our growing pains.

We've gained some critical distance through time spent on the platform. We are less easily distracted by the ostensible fun the platform offers. And we appear to be compelled to ask questions about Facebook we've never asked before

Must ask different questions

Fenwick McKelvey, co-director of the Media History Research Centre at Concordia University’s Milieux Institute for Art, Culture and Technology, wishes that the media would start asking different questions about how data is being used by platforms like Facebook.

"The media narrative still assumes that the goal of these platforms (like Facebook) is to expose people to information," McKelvey told me. "But it's less and less about that — the goal is to manage and control people's behaviour.”

Among the urgent questions media commentators should be asking, McKelvey believes, is how online advertisers are deploying user data to subtly nudge people. He provides the illustrative example of SnapChat — a company with relatively strong privacy settings in place — that leaks data to advertisers with dizzying granularity that reflects the industry standard.

Through SnapChat's protocols, your phone informs advertisers how much time passes between the moment you're served one of their ads and the moment you make a purchase at their business, either online or in person.

Every time you walk into a retailer with your phone's location services on, you are leaking data about your consumption habits.

Perhaps we should be burrowing even deeper into Facebook's business practices.

Facebook tends to rely on the fact that most of its data collection practices are laid bare in its terms of service. But according to Martin French, an assistant professor of sociology at Concordia, Facebook’s notion of "consent" is flimsy at best.

Most unaware of how their data is being used

"Facebook reportedly changed its policies after 2015 to stop app developers accessing information on app users' network. But for me, the question is: Are Facebook users, in the real world, actually aware of the changing ways their data is being used, and the policies that purportedly govern these uses?" wonders French.

French posits that based on research that has been done on who reads and understands social media privacy policies, most users are unaware of how their data is actually being used. The "consent" that Facebook is talking about when they refer to an agreement with their users is not really a kind of consent that conforms to any dictionary definition of that term.

The consensus among social scientists who study life online is that whatever dynamics play out online have offline analogs.

We've had a decade to incorporate Facebook into our lives, and like any learning process, our success with it has been uneven.

We're at a critical moment as users of Facebook. It's our responsibility to educate ourselves about the implications of our participation. Deactivating our accounts won't change how our personal data is valued to advertisers.

But perhaps, as we become mature users of social media, we can begin to demand that limits be set on how and when our data is bought and sold.

*Kathryn Jezer-Morton is a Doctoral student, at Concordia University

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-stay-on-facebook-its-complicated-93906">original article</a>.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Facebook's users are becoming critical of the systems into which they’ve been conscripted

Lately, I can't log onto Facebook without being asked to consider my own motivations for using the site. As a researcher who focuses on online communities, I'm accustomed to this running meta-narrative about what it is I'm actually doing online — but usually, that narrative plays inside my head, not all the way down the feed I'm scrolling through. It's like my research questions have sprung to life these days: What's Facebook all about, anyway? Is this even fun? If it's not fun … what is it, exactly? This is an exciting time in the very short history of social media use. Facebook's users are becoming critical of the systems into which they’ve been conscripted. This is an important moment: Will public opinion follow the same well-worn cycle of outrage and acceptance, or will it jump the tracks and begin engaging Facebook on new, more challenging terms? Researchers have been asking tough questions about Facebook for the past decade, but even armed with the most prestigious credentials, they pose a much smaller threat than educated consumers. And without consumer outrage, government regulation seems unlikely to move forward. 'Sound and fury' So far, at least in my own feed, the same old script is being followed to the letter. The soul-searching is punctuated by passionate cris-de-coeur from the feed's more opinionated characters: Wake up, sheeple! If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product — remember? Quit Facebook! Encrypt your data! Smash your phone under the heel of your steel-toed boots! Next, right on cue, the incisive social commentators swoop in to remind us that these calls are coming from inside the house. "Pretty ironic that you're posting all this stuff on Facebook!" To which everyone silently rolls their eyes in resignation. Cue the gallows humor about how we're all under constant surveillance, rinse and repeat. The human condition's same old two-step. Sound and fury, signifying nothing. That this discursive cycle was triggered by the revelations earlier this year that voter profiling company Cambridge Analytica obtained the Facebook data of 50 million American accounts is beside the point. This is only the latest in a long series of such leaks about data mining. In 2017, approximately 200 million registered voters' personal data stored by voter profiling company Deep Root Analytics was accidentally made public. The previous year, Russian hackers accessed a large cache of voter information owned by the Democratic National Committee. What this latest go-round is revealing is that these are industry practices that will carry on undisturbed, regardless of what Mark Zuckerberg says or does. This is not a Zuckerberg problem anymore it's a problem with an advertising model that is the industry standard. Most of us Facebook users have been on the platform for about a decade, and perhaps our outrage is our growing pains. We've gained some critical distance through time spent on the platform. We are less easily distracted by the ostensible fun the platform offers. And we appear to be compelled to ask questions about Facebook we've never asked before Must ask different questions Fenwick McKelvey, co-director of the Media History Research Centre at Concordia University’s Milieux Institute for Art, Culture and Technology, wishes that the media would start asking different questions about how data is being used by platforms like Facebook. "The media narrative still assumes that the goal of these platforms (like Facebook) is to expose people to information," McKelvey told me. "But it's less and less about that — the goal is to manage and control people's behaviour.” Among the urgent questions media commentators should be asking, McKelvey believes, is how online advertisers are deploying user data to subtly nudge people. He provides the illustrative example of SnapChat — a company with relatively strong privacy settings in place — that leaks data to advertisers with dizzying granularity that reflects the industry standard. Through SnapChat's protocols, your phone informs advertisers how much time passes between the moment you're served one of their ads and the moment you make a purchase at their business, either online or in person. Every time you walk into a retailer with your phone's location services on, you are leaking data about your consumption habits. Perhaps we should be burrowing even deeper into Facebook's business practices. Facebook tends to rely on the fact that most of its data collection practices are laid bare in its terms of service. But according to Martin French, an assistant professor of sociology at Concordia, Facebook’s notion of "consent" is flimsy at best. Most unaware of how their data is being used "Facebook reportedly changed its policies after 2015 to stop app developers accessing information on app users' network. But for me, the question is: Are Facebook users, in the real world, actually aware of the changing ways their data is being used, and the policies that purportedly govern these uses?" wonders French. French posits that based on research that has been done on who reads and understands social media privacy policies, most users are unaware of how their data is actually being used. The "consent" that Facebook is talking about when they refer to an agreement with their users is not really a kind of consent that conforms to any dictionary definition of that term. The consensus among social scientists who study life online is that whatever dynamics play out online have offline analogs. We've had a decade to incorporate Facebook into our lives, and like any learning process, our success with it has been uneven. We're at a critical moment as users of Facebook. It's our responsibility to educate ourselves about the implications of our participation. Deactivating our accounts won't change how our personal data is valued to advertisers. But perhaps, as we become mature users of social media, we can begin to demand that limits be set on how and when our data is bought and sold. *Kathryn Jezer-Morton is a Doctoral student, at Concordia University This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

Opinion: Why do we stay on Facebook? It's complicated

Facebook&rsquo;s latest attempt to tackle the non-consensual sharing of sexual pictures (often known as &ldquo;revenge porn&rdquo;) appeared so wrong-headed that at first, it seemed like a joke. But the social network has made clear its system of asking users to send in explicit images that they don&rsquo;t want to appear on the site is a real pilot programme being tested in Australia.

Facebook&rsquo;s motivation is right and proper: To help women (and men) worried that their ex-partners may shame or manipulate them by uploading sexual images taken during the relationship. This unwanted sharing can have devastating consequences. Even the threat that the images could be shared can be used by controlling, violent abusers to force their victims into line, as has been recognised by a new Scottish law to criminalise this.

To prevent people falling victim to this practice, users are urged to use Facebook&rsquo;s Messenger app to send themselves any pictures at risk of being shared. Facebook will then &ldquo;hash&rdquo; the image, creating a numerical fingerprint of it. The picture itself can then be deleted and Facebook has said images will not be stored permanently on their servers. When another Facebook user uploads a picture, it will be run through the database of hashes. If it matches an image in the database, it will be blocked and cannot be posted or shared on Facebook.

Would this work? If a picture uploaded by a vengeful ex is identical to the one uploaded by their frightened victim then yes, it will be blocked. But there is nothing to stop the ex-uploading it to another site and linking to it on Facebook, even if it wouldn&rsquo;t appear on Facebook itself.

But what if the ex-realises why they have been blocked and changes the picture slightly? Hashes work for identical pictures. Alex Stamos, chief security officer for Facebook, said that simple changes like re-sizing should not fool the hash. It&rsquo;s not clear whether cropping it, adding a filter or scribbling on the background will create a different hash that will fail to match.

The security implications surrounding this are significant. First, just sending an image is a risk. The user is creating a copy of the photo that could be hacked or intercepted, especially if their phone or computer is stolen. Then there is the possibility of human error by the user. It seems likely at least some people will accidentally send the images to someone else in their contact list instead of to themselves.

Finally, there is the enormous issue of how far we can trust Facebook and its staff. This is a small pilot and is likely to be run to tight standards. But further issues will likely appear if it is scaled up. In order to create a hash, the picture has to be seen by a member of Facebook&rsquo;s staff. Antigone Davis, Facebook&rsquo;s global head of safety, says the images will only be seen by &ldquo;a specially trained representative from our community operations team&rdquo;. Doubtless in the pilot, these people will be well vetted.

But if this was to be rolled out to Facebook&rsquo;s billion-strong community of users, this team would have to be enormously expanded. The mind-bending work of ill-paid, ill-trained and replaceable community moderators has been well documented. These people, tempted by the idea of a first-rung on a career as a fashionable company, can be traumatised by the endless viewing of horrific pictures of animal cruelty, car crashes and sexual violence, and often burn out within months.

Can Facebook guarantee that these photos, trustingly uploaded by desperate people trying to break free from damaging relationships, will only be seen by responsible staff? Or will they, over time, be farmed out to subcontractors, trainees and people who are themselves damaged by constant exposure to violence and sex online. However good Facebook&rsquo;s own security is, there would be little to stop a disgruntled, bored or malicious employee simply taking pictures of their screen with their phone and uploading them to another site.

Then there is the corporation itself. The company has a long history of controversial changes to its terms and conditions, including how they use and retain users&rsquo; data, even after people have quit the platform. They have fought court cases brought by revenge porn victims who feel failed by the system, in one case by a British 14-year-old.

This is a well-meaning initiative, but it&rsquo;s just not clear that we can trust this commercial organisation to make the right decisions about how they hold this most sensitive data. Stamos has complained that the company gets criticised for imperfect solutions. It&rsquo;s true that partial solutions are better than none, and those pre-emptive solutions are better than clean-ups when the damage is done. But this is a solution that carries its own risk.

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" rel="nofollow" target="blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/facebook-wants-your-nude-photos-to-prevent-revenge-porn-heres-why-you-should-be-sceptical-87390" rel="nofollow" target="blank">original article</a>.

Image Credit:&nbsp;Shutterstock

Facebook attempts to tackle the non-consensual sharing of sexual pictures but it appears to be an imperfect solution

Facebook’s latest attempt to tackle the non-consensual sharing of sexual pictures (often known as “revenge porn”) appeared so wrong-headed that at first, it seemed like a joke. But the social network has made clear its system of asking users to send in explicit images that they don’t want to appear on the site is a real pilot programme being tested in Australia. Facebook’s motivation is right and proper: To help women (and men) worried that their ex-partners may shame or manipulate them by uploading sexual images taken during the relationship. This unwanted sharing can have devastating consequences. Even the threat that the images could be shared can be used by controlling, violent abusers to force their victims into line, as has been recognised by a new Scottish law to criminalise this. To prevent people falling victim to this practice, users are urged to use Facebook’s Messenger app to send themselves any pictures at risk of being shared. Facebook will then “hash” the image, creating a numerical fingerprint of it. The picture itself can then be deleted and Facebook has said images will not be stored permanently on their servers. When another Facebook user uploads a picture, it will be run through the database of hashes. If it matches an image in the database, it will be blocked and cannot be posted or shared on Facebook. Would this work? If a picture uploaded by a vengeful ex is identical to the one uploaded by their frightened victim then yes, it will be blocked. But there is nothing to stop the ex-uploading it to another site and linking to it on Facebook, even if it wouldn’t appear on Facebook itself. But what if the ex-realises why they have been blocked and changes the picture slightly? Hashes work for identical pictures. Alex Stamos, chief security officer for Facebook, said that simple changes like re-sizing should not fool the hash. It’s not clear whether cropping it, adding a filter or scribbling on the background will create a different hash that will fail to match. The security implications surrounding this are significant. First, just sending an image is a risk. The user is creating a copy of the photo that could be hacked or intercepted, especially if their phone or computer is stolen. Then there is the possibility of human error by the user. It seems likely at least some people will accidentally send the images to someone else in their contact list instead of to themselves. Finally, there is the enormous issue of how far we can trust Facebook and its staff. This is a small pilot and is likely to be run to tight standards. But further issues will likely appear if it is scaled up. In order to create a hash, the picture has to be seen by a member of Facebook’s staff. Antigone Davis, Facebook’s global head of safety, says the images will only be seen by “a specially trained representative from our community operations team”. Doubtless in the pilot, these people will be well vetted. But if this was to be rolled out to Facebook’s billion-strong community of users, this team would have to be enormously expanded. The mind-bending work of ill-paid, ill-trained and replaceable community moderators has been well documented. These people, tempted by the idea of a first-rung on a career as a fashionable company, can be traumatised by the endless viewing of horrific pictures of animal cruelty, car crashes and sexual violence, and often burn out within months. Can Facebook guarantee that these photos, trustingly uploaded by desperate people trying to break free from damaging relationships, will only be seen by responsible staff? Or will they, over time, be farmed out to subcontractors, trainees and people who are themselves damaged by constant exposure to violence and sex online. However good Facebook’s own security is, there would be little to stop a disgruntled, bored or malicious employee simply taking pictures of their screen with their phone and uploading them to another site. Then there is the corporation itself. The company has a long history of controversial changes to its terms and conditions, including how they use and retain users’ data, even after people have quit the platform. They have fought court cases brought by revenge porn victims who feel failed by the system, in one case by a British 14-year-old. This is a well-meaning initiative, but it’s just not clear that we can trust this commercial organisation to make the right decisions about how they hold this most sensitive data. Stamos has complained that the company gets criticised for imperfect solutions. It’s true that partial solutions are better than none, and those pre-emptive solutions are better than clean-ups when the damage is done. But this is a solution that carries its own risk. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Image Credit: Shutterstock

Facebook wants your nude photos to prevent 'revenge porn' - but be careful

Under Hitler, Germany experienced the consequences of a nation caving into propaganda and hate speech. This may explain its government&rsquo;s urgency to enact a new law, known as the &ldquo;Facebook Act,&rdquo; in response to the recent alarming rise of hate speech online.

Canada is experiencing a similar rise.

Media marketing company Cision documented a six-fold rise - that&rsquo;s a 600 per cent increase - in the amount of intolerant and hate speech in social media postings by Canadians between November 2015 and November 2016. Hashtags such as #banmuslims, #siegheil, #whitegenocide and #whitepower were widely used on popular social media platforms such as Twitter.

Some analysts blame Trump. But Canadian media outlets shouldn&rsquo;t be too smug about their adherence to the practice of fair and balanced journalism.

A group of scholars at Ryerson University conducted a critical analysis of how the Canadian media covered the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Canada between September 2015 and April 2016. They found several news outlets played a major role in reinforcing the negative image of Syrian refugees and Muslims in the public eye.

The refugees were subject to &quot;othering,&quot; the practice of depicting nonwhite cultures as &quot;alien,&quot; and highlighting differences rather than shared values or interests. The new arrivals from Syria were stereotyped, criminalised (especially men) and perceived as passive, lacking agency, vulnerable, needy and a drain on government resources. Male Syrian refugees were viewed as security threats and female Syrian refugees as voiceless, oppressed and desperate.

My research study investigates the way youth view their role in society as it relates to refugees, and how they regard and interpret online propaganda.

The $74 million question

The European Commission recently announced a new set of guidelines and principles for online platforms to prevent content inciting hatred, violence and terrorism, and Twitter began implementing its new rules for fighting hate on Nov. 1.

Should Canada follow in Germany&rsquo;s footsteps and enact a law that would pressure social networks to remove offensive posts within 24 hours or risk fines of up to $74 million for failing to comply? Adopting new regulations forcing social media platforms to respond swiftly could be an effective intervention to halt the spread of hate speech online. However, it could also prove to be challenging, as moderators wade into complex language and often get it wrong. Ultimately, we need to adopt a systematic response to hateful and dangerous rhetoric online.

The German social media law has been the subject of criticism since it was announced. Some critics say the law is too broad while others warn it could be the executioner of free speech. The thin line between hate speech and free speech is the focus of many concerned Canadians.

In Canada, hate speech is addressed in the recently updated Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46). However, the applicability of this law to online hate speech is a frequent subject of debate that produces conflicting conclusions. In particular, the Defenses section of the code outlines cases where the proponents of hate speech could be exempted.

Distinguishing hate speech from fear speech - speech originating from fear and masked with terms and expressions usually associated with hate - is by itself a great challenge. Motion 103 (M-103), which condemns Islamophobia in Canada, and was passed in the House of Commons this Spring, is perceived by some Canadians to be suppressing free speech.

How to stop hate online?

Extremist parties, politicians and their fans have all successfully taken advantage of social media platforms to spread messages filled with racism and intolerance - even incitement to radical views.

Right-wing activists and the movements they espouse now total more than 100 organised groups in Canada. They are more visible and also better connected than ever before.

Stopping hate speech and extremist views on social media may be an impossible mission.

Yet, a majority of Canadians get their news about politics through social media giants such as Facebook. Facebook says 84 per cent of young Canadians actively use the social media platform.

&quot;The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it,&quot; said Joseph Goebbels, Hitler&rsquo;s minister of propaganda and national enlightenment.

According to the Shannon and Weaver Model of Communication, created in 1948 by mathematician and electronic engineer Claude Elwood Shannon and scientist Warren Weaver, every communication includes an information source, a message, a transmitter, a receiver, a destination and a noise source.

If we apply the communication model to online hate speech, we can identify the information sources as the propagandists, including extremist parties. They craft a simple, direct message such as &ldquo;Muslims are terrorists&rdquo; and transmit it through social media posts.

The destination is the audience the propagandists are focused on manipulating. This audience belongs to a whole spectrum, ranging from supporters of the idea to an audience that is outraged by it.

The receiver is the system used by the audience to decode the message and interpret it. The noise source includes the laws, acts, filtering and flagging strategies put in place to prevent the message from reaching the destination.

So far, it has been proven that the sender of hate speech is unstoppable and the noise source lacks efficiency since hate speech not only persists but also is on the rise.

Therefore, we must shift our tactics. We could, for example, focus on the receiver and the destination of the hate-filled message. We could teach the audience - youth in particular - how to withstand digital hate speech propaganda.

Youth need to be part of the solution

Conversations that characterise millennials as passive consumers of news with little and incidental exposure to world events could not be more wrong. A study conducted by the Media Insight Project in 2015 found youth between the age of 18 and 24 are &quot;anything but &#39;newsless&#39;&quot; passive or uninterested in civic issues.

Instead, they consume news and information in strikingly different ways than previous generations and their paths &quot;to discovery are more nuanced and varied than some may have imagined&quot;.&nbsp;Social media plays a large role in their news consumption.

Many youths are critical of media content and their choice of the information and the news they read online is far from random. They often see or experience direct or indirect racial discrimination online or witness unproductive, uncivil or disturbing Facebook discussions.

They recognise the agendas and algorithms behind the posts that pop up on their walls, and they hunger for an influential voice that would disrupt the discourses about issues that affect their lives.

Yet, fearing a backlash, a majority of youth choose to remain bystanders in an era where their social media presence and skills are needed the most. They remain &quot;power users (frequent users),&quot; instead of &quot;powerful users (influential users).&quot;

Youth could be our best candidates to be these agents of change, given their familiarity with social media. For this to happen, young people need to develop civic online reasoning and identify ways to leverage the power of social media for &quot;greater control, hate speech and ugly online conversations around Syrian refugees are mainly orchestrated to spread fear among people who might otherwise be members of actual or prospective welcoming communities. A campaign to counter propaganda, led by agents of change, is important to counterbalance the negative influence and allow host societies to make informed choices.voice and influence over issues that matter most in their lives.&quot;

They need to understand where their political tolerance and intolerance comes from and understand the concerns, emotions and values that generate public attitudes.

Many argue that education is not enough. However, equipping and empowering youth to disrupt the messaging transmitted by radical extremists or parties with racist agendas start with the pedagogy of understanding oneself.

The power of self-knowledge

My research study involved 126 in-depth interviews with 42 youth between 18 and 24 years old from Canada, the U.K., France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Greece and Lebanon. During the interviews, I engaged these young participants in the process of learning about themselves using tools I adapted from Personal Construct Psychology.

I wanted to understand how they viewed their role in the integration and inclusion of refugees in their societies, in a context where the image of refugees was deeply influenced by social media, especially after terror attacks.

I also wanted to discover what knowledge and skills they developed through the process of understanding themselves by identifying their construct systems - the &quot;lenses&quot; they used when decoding digital propaganda targeting sensitive and controversial issues such as the Syrian refugee crisis.

Through our discussions, each of these 42 young people had an &quot;aha moment.&quot;

Regardless of their geographical locations or the ways they experienced the refugee crisis and the recent terror attacks, they had the same sudden realisation. Not only could they control how social media influenced them, but they also had a role to play in shaping the image of refugees through what they shared online.

They became critical of media content. They developed empathy towards both refugees and people who rejected newcomers. They moved from passive bystanders to became confident agents of change, ready to play a leadership role in counterbalancing the digital hate speech propaganda against refugees.

To eradicate digital hate speech propaganda, we need to prevent propagandists from reaching their objectives.

Laws such as Germany&rsquo;s &quot;Facebook Act&quot; constitute one piece of the solution. The other key is to make sure audiences are trained to better withstand manipulation.

Our youth, once equipped and empowered, are our best candidates to disrupt the messages spread by propagandists and to pursue the mission of putting a stop to hate speech.

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" rel="nofollow" target="blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-trump-effect-in-canada-a-600-per-cent-increase-in-online-hate-speech-86026" rel="nofollow" target="blank">original article</a>.

Anti-hate laws and self-awareness education for audiences is essential to eradicate digital hate speech propaganda

Under Hitler, Germany experienced the consequences of a nation caving into propaganda and hate speech. This may explain its government’s urgency to enact a new law, known as the “Facebook Act,” in response to the recent alarming rise of hate speech online. Canada is experiencing a similar rise. Media marketing company Cision documented a six-fold rise - that’s a 600 per cent increase - in the amount of intolerant and hate speech in social media postings by Canadians between November 2015 and November 2016. Hashtags such as #banmuslims, #siegheil, #whitegenocide and #whitepower were widely used on popular social media platforms such as Twitter. Some analysts blame Trump. But Canadian media outlets shouldn’t be too smug about their adherence to the practice of fair and balanced journalism. A group of scholars at Ryerson University conducted a critical analysis of how the Canadian media covered the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Canada between September 2015 and April 2016. They found several news outlets played a major role in reinforcing the negative image of Syrian refugees and Muslims in the public eye. The refugees were subject to "othering," the practice of depicting nonwhite cultures as "alien," and highlighting differences rather than shared values or interests. The new arrivals from Syria were stereotyped, criminalised (especially men) and perceived as passive, lacking agency, vulnerable, needy and a drain on government resources. Male Syrian refugees were viewed as security threats and female Syrian refugees as voiceless, oppressed and desperate. My research study investigates the way youth view their role in society as it relates to refugees, and how they regard and interpret online propaganda. The $74 million question The European Commission recently announced a new set of guidelines and principles for online platforms to prevent content inciting hatred, violence and terrorism, and Twitter began implementing its new rules for fighting hate on Nov. 1. Should Canada follow in Germany’s footsteps and enact a law that would pressure social networks to remove offensive posts within 24 hours or risk fines of up to $74 million for failing to comply? Adopting new regulations forcing social media platforms to respond swiftly could be an effective intervention to halt the spread of hate speech online. However, it could also prove to be challenging, as moderators wade into complex language and often get it wrong. Ultimately, we need to adopt a systematic response to hateful and dangerous rhetoric online. The German social media law has been the subject of criticism since it was announced. Some critics say the law is too broad while others warn it could be the executioner of free speech. The thin line between hate speech and free speech is the focus of many concerned Canadians. In Canada, hate speech is addressed in the recently updated Criminal Code (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46). However, the applicability of this law to online hate speech is a frequent subject of debate that produces conflicting conclusions. In particular, the Defenses section of the code outlines cases where the proponents of hate speech could be exempted. Distinguishing hate speech from fear speech - speech originating from fear and masked with terms and expressions usually associated with hate - is by itself a great challenge. Motion 103 (M-103), which condemns Islamophobia in Canada, and was passed in the House of Commons this Spring, is perceived by some Canadians to be suppressing free speech. How to stop hate online? Extremist parties, politicians and their fans have all successfully taken advantage of social media platforms to spread messages filled with racism and intolerance - even incitement to radical views. Right-wing activists and the movements they espouse now total more than 100 organised groups in Canada. They are more visible and also better connected than ever before. Stopping hate speech and extremist views on social media may be an impossible mission. Yet, a majority of Canadians get their news about politics through social media giants such as Facebook. Facebook says 84 per cent of young Canadians actively use the social media platform. "The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it," said Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s minister of propaganda and national enlightenment. According to the Shannon and Weaver Model of Communication, created in 1948 by mathematician and electronic engineer Claude Elwood Shannon and scientist Warren Weaver, every communication includes an information source, a message, a transmitter, a receiver, a destination and a noise source. If we apply the communication model to online hate speech, we can identify the information sources as the propagandists, including extremist parties. They craft a simple, direct message such as “Muslims are terrorists” and transmit it through social media posts. The destination is the audience the propagandists are focused on manipulating. This audience belongs to a whole spectrum, ranging from supporters of the idea to an audience that is outraged by it. The receiver is the system used by the audience to decode the message and interpret it. The noise source includes the laws, acts, filtering and flagging strategies put in place to prevent the message from reaching the destination. So far, it has been proven that the sender of hate speech is unstoppable and the noise source lacks efficiency since hate speech not only persists but also is on the rise. Therefore, we must shift our tactics. We could, for example, focus on the receiver and the destination of the hate-filled message. We could teach the audience - youth in particular - how to withstand digital hate speech propaganda. Youth need to be part of the solution Conversations that characterise millennials as passive consumers of news with little and incidental exposure to world events could not be more wrong. A study conducted by the Media Insight Project in 2015 found youth between the age of 18 and 24 are "anything but 'newsless'" passive or uninterested in civic issues. Instead, they consume news and information in strikingly different ways than previous generations and their paths "to discovery are more nuanced and varied than some may have imagined". Social media plays a large role in their news consumption. Many youths are critical of media content and their choice of the information and the news they read online is far from random. They often see or experience direct or indirect racial discrimination online or witness unproductive, uncivil or disturbing Facebook discussions. They recognise the agendas and algorithms behind the posts that pop up on their walls, and they hunger for an influential voice that would disrupt the discourses about issues that affect their lives. Yet, fearing a backlash, a majority of youth choose to remain bystanders in an era where their social media presence and skills are needed the most. They remain "power users (frequent users)," instead of "powerful users (influential users)." Youth could be our best candidates to be these agents of change, given their familiarity with social media. For this to happen, young people need to develop civic online reasoning and identify ways to leverage the power of social media for "greater control, hate speech and ugly online conversations around Syrian refugees are mainly orchestrated to spread fear among people who might otherwise be members of actual or prospective welcoming communities. A campaign to counter propaganda, led by agents of change, is important to counterbalance the negative influence and allow host societies to make informed choices.voice and influence over issues that matter most in their lives." They need to understand where their political tolerance and intolerance comes from and understand the concerns, emotions and values that generate public attitudes. Many argue that education is not enough. However, equipping and empowering youth to disrupt the messaging transmitted by radical extremists or parties with racist agendas start with the pedagogy of understanding oneself. The power of self-knowledge My research study involved 126 in-depth interviews with 42 youth between 18 and 24 years old from Canada, the U.K., France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Greece and Lebanon. During the interviews, I engaged these young participants in the process of learning about themselves using tools I adapted from Personal Construct Psychology. I wanted to understand how they viewed their role in the integration and inclusion of refugees in their societies, in a context where the image of refugees was deeply influenced by social media, especially after terror attacks. I also wanted to discover what knowledge and skills they developed through the process of understanding themselves by identifying their construct systems - the "lenses" they used when decoding digital propaganda targeting sensitive and controversial issues such as the Syrian refugee crisis. Through our discussions, each of these 42 young people had an "aha moment." Regardless of their geographical locations or the ways they experienced the refugee crisis and the recent terror attacks, they had the same sudden realisation. Not only could they control how social media influenced them, but they also had a role to play in shaping the image of refugees through what they shared online. They became critical of media content. They developed empathy towards both refugees and people who rejected newcomers. They moved from passive bystanders to became confident agents of change, ready to play a leadership role in counterbalancing the digital hate speech propaganda against refugees. To eradicate digital hate speech propaganda, we need to prevent propagandists from reaching their objectives. Laws such as Germany’s "Facebook Act" constitute one piece of the solution. The other key is to make sure audiences are trained to better withstand manipulation. Our youth, once equipped and empowered, are our best candidates to disrupt the messages spread by propagandists and to pursue the mission of putting a stop to hate speech. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Trump effect in Canada: A 600 per cent increase in online hate speech

Social Weaver is unique because it combines a large data bank with local community knowledge and relevant content to help parents make decisions

Solving parenting problems with technology: The Social Weaver Story Sumedha Khoche was a marketing professional who was busy building multi-billion dollar brands for P&G, when her life changed forever in 2012. With the arrival of her first child, followed by the second one a few years later, time acquired a whole new meaning. What also changed was how she spent her time. Spending hours looking through multiple sites to find information became a process that was frustrating and very time-consuming. From basic, everyday things like where to buy a stroller or a birthday cake for her son, to bigger decisions like which paediatrician or pre-school to choose for her daughter, she found that there just wasn’t a one-stop solution to getting this information online. “When I was trying to organise my daughter’s first birthday celebration, the experience was frustrating; I spent days trying to figure out a caterer and couldn’t compare any options. The time, effort and cost were just not what my uber-generation is used to!” she says. What she needed, she realised, was a reliable resource that combined information relevant to her with local community knowledge. As she began talking to other parents, starting with her childhood friend Kaivalya Gundu - a tech professional with years of experience in product management and business analysis - she realised that it was not a problem she faced alone; this seemed to be a common problem for many parents in Singapore and it soon emerged that it was a viable business opportunity for South East Asia as well. As avid travellers, both Khoche and Gundu had always loved the value and simplicity of sites like Tripadvisor, which made travel planning such a breeze. And this was what they needed: a ‘tripadvisor for parents’, that could make local parenting decisions as simple and straightforward. When they test-drove the idea of creating such a platform, the response was resoundingly positive. It was an a-ha moment. Finally, in 2017, along with Kaivalya Gundu, Khoche decided to take the plunge and launch Social Weaver. What is Social Weaver? Named after the Social Weaverbird, which builds spectacular community nests, this platform aims at being an online ‘nest’ of parenting wisdom. It is a one-stop, reliable content-community-commerce platform that allows you to discover and book local services, write in queries and review products or services through any web or mobile device. It has a curated database of 4000 recommended service providers in Singapore, spread across a hundred categories, so the answers to your parenting queries from pregnancy to pre-school and beyond are only a click away. The site also aims to be the go-to marketplace for service providers to connect with parents, making their own associated marketing and administration processes much more efficient and effective. × “Social Weaver as an idea is very relatable. Being the parent of a 6-year-old myself, I could completely relate to the problem that we were trying to solve by building a one-stop solution for all parenting needs,” says Gundu, who is the CPO. The site also aims to be the go-to marketplace for service providers to connect with parents, making their own associated marketing and administration processes much more efficient and effective. “Ultimately, our mission is to help parents spend more time with their kids and less time researching online. We want to make the discovery and booking of great services instant and fuss-free, so we simplify the process for both parents and service providers,” adds CEO Khoche. For time-starved and stressed young parents today, having access to relevant information, local community knowledge and the experiences and practical tips for other parents is invaluable. As nuclear families grow, young mums and dads are feeling the pressure of having to tackle parenting without support and wisdom of an older generation. But Social Weaver is here to fill that gap. Friends in business, making it work Starting a business with a close friend can be a tricky thing. × 25 years ago, when two little girls living next door to each other decided to start a business - a lending library for kids - it didn't quite go as planned. “Most of the books didn’t come back. But that’s because we didn’t have defined processes and roles at the time, so we couldn’t work it out effectively,” laughs Khoche. This time around, however, these two friends have set the ground rules for their business from the start. That, they say, is very important when working in a team. While they are both co-founders, each of them is solving her own unique problem, but with the same goal in mind. For Khoche, as CEO, resource allocation and getting the right processes in place is key. She drives the vision for the company, while as CPO, Gundu defines and manages the end-to-end functionality of the product and works directly with the tech team. Both work together to develop the roadmap for the business based on market needs. “We are both interested in the best product that we can build, to help parents save time. So we are on the same page and we do this by keeping the lines of communication open. We respect each other’s opinions,” says Khoche. But starting a business with a close friend can be a tricky thing. Did either of them any reservations? Having been involved with the idea right from its inception - by being Khoche’s voice of reason through the process of setting up the company and participating in all the initial surveys - quitting her own corporate job to join Social Weaver as a co-founder and CPO was a very natural step for Gundu. “It helps that she (Khoche) is very professional and transparent. And the trust was there from the start. She really does her homework and doesn’t do anything she is not passionate about, so I know that whatever she does is with the aim of adding value. For me, the standard fears one would normally have when joining a start-up were not there,” Gundu says. The experiences and skills they gained from working for bigger companies have given them a huge advantage in dealing with these situations. × Gundu has always been Khoche’s sounding board and because they have known each other for so many years and been through a lot together, they recognise each other’s strengths. So the mutual trust that you might not have with a normal business partner was already there. Although they have their fair share of arguments - which they feel is also healthy - they are both committed to driving Social Weaver in the same direction, working not as two individuals but as one. “Kaivalya knows the processes because she has a tech background; she knows both the business side and the tech side. She knows how to spot bugs early, is a fantastic software tester and is very good at customising user cases,” says Khoche, “and this is core to our business when we are trying to build something scalable. She’s very detail orientated, whereas I tend to be more macro in my approach. We have different temperaments, but we are similar in the way we work.” Lessons from corporate life The life of an entrepreneur has not been without its challenges. But both these women at the helm of Social Weaver feel that the experiences and skills they gained from working for bigger companies have given them a huge advantage in dealing with these situations. Khoche says that, during her time at P&G and Pepsico, she learnt end-to-end marketing, from making sales calls & helping distributors with their ROI, to understanding consumer insights, brand launches, TV commercials and digital marketing. But more than that, she learnt to put people first. “In the last 10 years, I have met thousands of parents across Asia - literally lived their lives and walked in their shoes and it’s been such a humbling experience. For one, you stop seeing only numbers on a spreadsheet but see people, their joys and their challenges and get inspired to make their life better in a small yet meaningful way. Even when we designed Social Weaver, the starting point was in-depth research with parents across South-East Asia so we could create something that put their needs first.” The most critical and lasting lesson they have learnt from corporate life, however, has been the respect for people and the focus on doing the right thing. × Working in Indian start-ups as well as with financial giants such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America, Gundu, on the other hand, was often challenged by engineers who couldn't see why she – without a background in engineering – was managing them. “I learnt to read the code, even though I couldn’t write it,” she says. She also had to deal with slow decision-making processes and lot of uncertainty, which she now says helps her face start-up issues with ease. The most critical and lasting lesson they have learnt from corporate life, however, has been the respect for people and the focus on doing the right thing. “We are starting Social Weaver on the foundation of these values and will percolate in all aspects of our operations,” affirms Khoche. Gundu adds they have also learnt not to be apologetic about what they are doing. “We are here because we are trying to achieve something. We wanted to be part of something that was going to bring about a change, so we are very confident in what we are doing and are not fazed by put-downs,” she says. Challenging the future While there have been issues like technical snags, bugs in the system and delays in timelines – issues that every start-up faces - the growing team at Social Weaver is enthusiastic about the future. “I am lucky to have my childhood friend as a partner with me on this journey. I’m proud of the team and what they’ve accomplished in such a short span of time. We have also been fortunate to have a great set of angel investors who also bring a lot of experience and knowledge to the table,” says Khoche. So far, the beta learnings have proved to be invaluable; the site has had more than 19,000 page views so far and over 5,000 parents are following them on social media, even before their launch. There are many exciting developments, such as a mobile app, cool new CRM features and chatbots in the pipeline for the future.

How an online platform is making parenting easy

Wal-Mart Stores Inc&nbsp;reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday, saying it benefited from cleaner and more efficient US stores, investments in technology that improved online shopping and higher employee wages that fostered better customer service. 
 
The world&#39;s largest retailer has been spending heavily to entice consumers back to its stores with better stocked shelves, and improving its e-commerce business by investing in new warehouses that can deliver online shipments faster. 
 
Last week, it announced the acquisition of online startup Jet.com for over $3 billion to better compete with Amazon.com Inc&nbsp;. 
 
Wal-Mart also increased entry level wages to $10 an hour earlier this year and said it will invest $2.7 billion in employee compensation and training over two years, a move it said contributed to improved service in its stores. 
 
These steps, analysts said, helped Wal-Mart to raise its fiscal-year forecast and buck a string of weak results from higher-end brick-and-mortar competitors like Target Corp, Macy&#39;s Inc&nbsp;and Kohls Corp&nbsp;. Target cut its fiscal-year profit outlook on Wednesday after quarterly sales fell more than expected. 
 
Wal-Mart US Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran said on a conference call that the company&#39;s customers were still cautious with their spending but were visiting stores more often and buying more items. Store visits increased 1.2 percent, and the average size of an order rose 0.4 percent during the second quarter ended on July 31.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;We are seeing a steady improvement in the US business, and it is responding favourably to the changes we are making,&quot; he said. 
 
The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said sales were strong for grocery items and apparel but weak for electronics. 
 
&quot;Walmart&#39;s strategic investments are generating traction, which is especially meaningful, given a large portion of its customer base remains challenged,&quot; said Moody&#39;s analyst Charlie O`Shea.&nbsp; 
 
The retailer said it was difficult to quantify the effects of low gasoline prices and unseasonably warm weather, but those factors contributed to overall sales growth. 
 
Online sales growth accelerated sequentially for the first time in more than five quarters, rising 11.8 per cent from 7 per cent in the first quarter.&nbsp; 
 
Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs said e-commerce growth was stronger in the United States than in major overseas markets, mainly because of its larger third-party seller business and the continued roll-out of online grocery pickup options. 
 
Wal-Mart has added 7 million items to its website this year, bringing the total to 15 million. This compares with 200 million on online rival Amazon.com Inc&nbsp;. 
 
The company raised its fiscal-year earnings outlook to between $4.15 and $4.35 a share, including an estimated hit of 5 cents from the Jet.com acquisition, from a previous range of $4 to $4.30. 
 
Second-quarter earnings per share of $1.07, excluding a gain from the sale of Wal-Mart&#39;s e-commerce business in China and other items, exceeded the analysts&#39; average estimate by 5 cents.&nbsp; 
 
Sales at US stores open at least a year rose 1.6 per cent, excluding fuel prices, to beat expectations in their eighth straight quarter of growth.&nbsp; 
 
International sales fell 6.6 pe rcent to $28.6 billion but increased 2.2 per cent on a currency-neutral basis. Total revenue rose 0.5 per cent to $120.9 billion.&nbsp; 
 
Wal-Mart&#39;s shares rose as much as 2.8 per cent earlier in the trading day. They were up 1.8 per cent at $74.23 in afternoon trade. 
 
(Reuters)

Improved online shopping was another factor behind the US retailer's higher-than-expected result

Wal-Mart Stores Inc reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Thursday, saying it benefited from cleaner and more efficient US stores, investments in technology that improved online shopping and higher employee wages that fostered better customer service. The world's largest retailer has been spending heavily to entice consumers back to its stores with better stocked shelves, and improving its e-commerce business by investing in new warehouses that can deliver online shipments faster. Last week, it announced the acquisition of online startup Jet.com for over $3 billion to better compete with Amazon.com Inc . Wal-Mart also increased entry level wages to $10 an hour earlier this year and said it will invest $2.7 billion in employee compensation and training over two years, a move it said contributed to improved service in its stores. These steps, analysts said, helped Wal-Mart to raise its fiscal-year forecast and buck a string of weak results from higher-end brick-and-mortar competitors like Target Corp, Macy's Inc and Kohls Corp . Target cut its fiscal-year profit outlook on Wednesday after quarterly sales fell more than expected. Wal-Mart US Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran said on a conference call that the company's customers were still cautious with their spending but were visiting stores more often and buying more items. Store visits increased 1.2 percent, and the average size of an order rose 0.4 percent during the second quarter ended on July 31. "We are seeing a steady improvement in the US business, and it is responding favourably to the changes we are making," he said. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said sales were strong for grocery items and apparel but weak for electronics. "Walmart's strategic investments are generating traction, which is especially meaningful, given a large portion of its customer base remains challenged," said Moody's analyst Charlie O`Shea. The retailer said it was difficult to quantify the effects of low gasoline prices and unseasonably warm weather, but those factors contributed to overall sales growth. Online sales growth accelerated sequentially for the first time in more than five quarters, rising 11.8 per cent from 7 per cent in the first quarter. Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs said e-commerce growth was stronger in the United States than in major overseas markets, mainly because of its larger third-party seller business and the continued roll-out of online grocery pickup options. Wal-Mart has added 7 million items to its website this year, bringing the total to 15 million. This compares with 200 million on online rival Amazon.com Inc . The company raised its fiscal-year earnings outlook to between $4.15 and $4.35 a share, including an estimated hit of 5 cents from the Jet.com acquisition, from a previous range of $4 to $4.30. Second-quarter earnings per share of $1.07, excluding a gain from the sale of Wal-Mart's e-commerce business in China and other items, exceeded the analysts' average estimate by 5 cents. Sales at US stores open at least a year rose 1.6 per cent, excluding fuel prices, to beat expectations in their eighth straight quarter of growth. International sales fell 6.6 pe rcent to $28.6 billion but increased 2.2 per cent on a currency-neutral basis. Total revenue rose 0.5 per cent to $120.9 billion. Wal-Mart's shares rose as much as 2.8 per cent earlier in the trading day. They were up 1.8 per cent at $74.23 in afternoon trade. (Reuters)

Wal-Mart rides on higher store visits to boost quarterly earnings

United States House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on Saturday she has been flooded with &quot;obscene and sick&quot; calls and text messages after a hacker linked to Russia posted personal contact information online for her and hundreds of other Democratic lawmakers and aides. 
 
Pelosi sent a letter to colleagues warning them to take precautions and said she was changing her phone number after a hacker identified as &quot;Guccifer 2.0&quot; posted the personal cellphone numbers and email addresses on Friday.&nbsp; 
 
The posted information appeared to have been gained in the electronic breach of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the fundraising and campaign arm of Democrats in the House of Representatives. 
 
Other Democratic campaign groups, including the Democratic National Committee, also were targeted by the cyber attack, which was made public late last month. 
 
&quot;On a personal note, I was in the air flying from Florida to California when the news broke. Upon landing, I have received scores of mostly obscene and sick calls, voicemails and text messages,&quot; Pelosi told her colleagues, urging them to keep their phones and incoming text messages away from their family members and children. 
 
&quot;This is a sad course of events, not only for us, but more importantly for our country,&quot; said Pelosi, who earlier in the week blamed Russia for the cyber attack and called it an &quot;electronic Watergate&quot; akin to the 1972 burglary at Democratic Party headquarters that ultimately brought down Republican President Richard Nixon. 
 
John Ramsey, the House`s chief information security officer, sent a memo to lawmakers and aides whose information had been made public urging them to change passwords for all their accounts and to consider changing their non-House email addresses. 
 
He said the hacker had uploaded a spreadsheet with a mix of House and personal email addresses and cellphone numbers for &quot;nearly every&quot; House Democrat and &quot;an assorted number of Republicans,&quot; and similar information for hundreds of staffers. 
 
&quot;Along with the Excel file, `Guccifer 2.0` uploaded documents that included the account names and passwords for an assortment of subscription services used by the DCCC. Initial analysis identifies some members` home addresses, along with their spouse`s name, marital status, and religion,&quot; the memo said. 
 
US intelligence officials have concluded that Guccifer 2.0 is an individual or group operating with or for the GRU, the Russian military intelligence agency. Russia has denied involvement in the breach. 
 
The potential Russian involvement in the cyber attack has ignited a fierce campaign debate, with Democrats accusing the Russians of trying to aid Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. 
 
But US officials suspect the operation and others directed at the DNC and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton`s campaign were more likely an attempt to pursue email chains into classified networks or in search of national security policy information than to influence the November 8 US election. 
 
&quot;The Russian assumption probably is that it doesn`t matter much who wins the election, because Wall Street and other powerful lobbies really run the country,&quot; one of the officials said on Saturday, speaking like the others on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence assessments. 
 
&quot;The old Soviet belief hasn`t faded completely when it comes to foreign policy,&quot; the official said. 
 
(Reuters)

Contact details and email addresses of hundreds of Democratic lawmakers outed online by hacker identified as Guccifer 2.0

United States House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said on Saturday she has been flooded with "obscene and sick" calls and text messages after a hacker linked to Russia posted personal contact information online for her and hundreds of other Democratic lawmakers and aides. Pelosi sent a letter to colleagues warning them to take precautions and said she was changing her phone number after a hacker identified as "Guccifer 2.0" posted the personal cellphone numbers and email addresses on Friday. The posted information appeared to have been gained in the electronic breach of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the fundraising and campaign arm of Democrats in the House of Representatives. Other Democratic campaign groups, including the Democratic National Committee, also were targeted by the cyber attack, which was made public late last month. "On a personal note, I was in the air flying from Florida to California when the news broke. Upon landing, I have received scores of mostly obscene and sick calls, voicemails and text messages," Pelosi told her colleagues, urging them to keep their phones and incoming text messages away from their family members and children. "This is a sad course of events, not only for us, but more importantly for our country," said Pelosi, who earlier in the week blamed Russia for the cyber attack and called it an "electronic Watergate" akin to the 1972 burglary at Democratic Party headquarters that ultimately brought down Republican President Richard Nixon. John Ramsey, the House`s chief information security officer, sent a memo to lawmakers and aides whose information had been made public urging them to change passwords for all their accounts and to consider changing their non-House email addresses. He said the hacker had uploaded a spreadsheet with a mix of House and personal email addresses and cellphone numbers for "nearly every" House Democrat and "an assorted number of Republicans," and similar information for hundreds of staffers. "Along with the Excel file, `Guccifer 2.0` uploaded documents that included the account names and passwords for an assortment of subscription services used by the DCCC. Initial analysis identifies some members` home addresses, along with their spouse`s name, marital status, and religion," the memo said. US intelligence officials have concluded that Guccifer 2.0 is an individual or group operating with or for the GRU, the Russian military intelligence agency. Russia has denied involvement in the breach. The potential Russian involvement in the cyber attack has ignited a fierce campaign debate, with Democrats accusing the Russians of trying to aid Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. But US officials suspect the operation and others directed at the DNC and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton`s campaign were more likely an attempt to pursue email chains into classified networks or in search of national security policy information than to influence the November 8 US election. "The Russian assumption probably is that it doesn`t matter much who wins the election, because Wall Street and other powerful lobbies really run the country," one of the officials said on Saturday, speaking like the others on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence assessments. "The old Soviet belief hasn`t faded completely when it comes to foreign policy," the official said. (Reuters)

Democrat leader gets 'obscene' calls and texts as party dogged by another hack

Wal-Mart Stores Inc , vying to better challenge Amazon.com Inc , will pay about $3 billion for internet retailer Jet.com and its innovative pricing software in the largest-ever deal for an e-commerce startup. 
 
The deal disclosed on Monday follows a five-year e-commerce acquisition spree in which Wal-Mart, the world&#39;s biggest traditional retailer, has already bought 15 startups, seeking the talent and technology to make it a dominant player online and narrow the massive gap with market leader Amazon. 
 
Wal-Mart&#39;s online division has underperformed against Amazon, posting its slowest growth in a year in the first quarter as it struggled to gain traction with consumers, especially millennials. 
 
Jet.com was launched by internet entrepreneur Marc Lore in July 2015 and includes software that can offer a customer lower prices as they add items to their shopping cart. 
 
Wal-Mart has said it would integrate that software into its main website while keeping Jet.com as a separate entity. 
 
&quot;One of the things we really like (about Jet) is that the customer is even more in-charge of the price that they pay,&quot; Chief Executive Doug McMillon said on a media call. 
 
McMillon said Wal-Mart will take time in getting the technology and design components from Jet and that they will grow both brands separately in the short-term. 
 
&quot;Over time, piece-by-piece, we will end up running a business that is simpler and not completely independent.&quot; 
 
McMillon said Lore would run its new US&nbsp;e-commerce business. Lore had cofounded Quidsi, the owner of sites like Diapers.com and Soap.com, which was sold to Amazon. 
 
&quot;Marc&#39;s e-commerce experience and success are obviously attractive,&quot; McMillon said. 
 
Wal-Mart&#39;s current head of global e-commerce Neil Ashe will leave the company at the end of the fiscal year. 
 
The decision to run Jet as an independent website is a good step because it can stay focused on growth, but the price Wal-Mart paid is high, UBS retail analyst Michael Lasser said in a note to clients. 
 
Wal-Mart said it would pay around $3 billion in cash and $300 million in shares for Jet, with some of that paid over time. Given Jet`s revenue of about $500 million, the cash purchase price represents six times Jet&#39;s revenue, according to analysts. 
 
Moody&#39;s retail analyst Charlie O`Shea said the acquisition gives Wal-Mart a leg-up on competitors in the race to be the No. 2 online retailer, citing the size of Jet.com`s online offerings and number of customers. Wal-Mart said Jet has added nearly 400,000 new shoppers monthly. 
 
&quot;The impact on Amazon will be fairly benign. However, this acquisition, in tandem with its joint-venture in China with JD.com, demonstrates that Walmart is attacking online retail with significant zeal,&quot; he said. 
 
In June, Wal-Mart said it sold its Chinese online grocery store in return for a stake in JD.com Inc, China&#39;s 2 e-commerce firm.&nbsp; 
 
Billions spent on online efforts 
 
Wal-Mart&#39;s first-quarter online sales grew 7 per cent, a weaker rate than any of the four quarters just before that. In 2015, Wal-Mart`s online sales rose 12.3 per cent to $13.7 billion, compared with a 16 per cent jump to $92.4 billion for Amazon.com. 
 
Wal-Mart has not said what it spent on acquisitions, but prior to the Jet.com deal it disclosed a total of $3.1 billion for e-commerce and digital projects, such as its platform and new warehouses, in the four fiscal years to January 2017. 
 
The deal should give Wal-Mart the scale to bolster its online presence, broaden its assortment of goods and offer the lowest prices at the same time, analysts said. 
 
Wal-Mart noted Jet has offered 12 million items in its first year of operation.&nbsp; 
 
Wal-Mart has said previously it wants to expand its online selection from around 10 million items to the tens of millions over the next few years. Rival Amazon has more than 200 million items for sale online. 
 
(Reuters)

Wal-Mart said it would pay around $3 billion in cash and $300 million in shares for Jet, with some of that paid over time

Wal-Mart Stores Inc , vying to better challenge Amazon.com Inc , will pay about $3 billion for internet retailer Jet.com and its innovative pricing software in the largest-ever deal for an e-commerce startup. The deal disclosed on Monday follows a five-year e-commerce acquisition spree in which Wal-Mart, the world's biggest traditional retailer, has already bought 15 startups, seeking the talent and technology to make it a dominant player online and narrow the massive gap with market leader Amazon. Wal-Mart's online division has underperformed against Amazon, posting its slowest growth in a year in the first quarter as it struggled to gain traction with consumers, especially millennials. Jet.com was launched by internet entrepreneur Marc Lore in July 2015 and includes software that can offer a customer lower prices as they add items to their shopping cart. Wal-Mart has said it would integrate that software into its main website while keeping Jet.com as a separate entity. "One of the things we really like (about Jet) is that the customer is even more in-charge of the price that they pay," Chief Executive Doug McMillon said on a media call. McMillon said Wal-Mart will take time in getting the technology and design components from Jet and that they will grow both brands separately in the short-term. "Over time, piece-by-piece, we will end up running a business that is simpler and not completely independent." McMillon said Lore would run its new US e-commerce business. Lore had cofounded Quidsi, the owner of sites like Diapers.com and Soap.com, which was sold to Amazon. "Marc's e-commerce experience and success are obviously attractive," McMillon said. Wal-Mart's current head of global e-commerce Neil Ashe will leave the company at the end of the fiscal year. The decision to run Jet as an independent website is a good step because it can stay focused on growth, but the price Wal-Mart paid is high, UBS retail analyst Michael Lasser said in a note to clients. Wal-Mart said it would pay around $3 billion in cash and $300 million in shares for Jet, with some of that paid over time. Given Jet`s revenue of about $500 million, the cash purchase price represents six times Jet's revenue, according to analysts. Moody's retail analyst Charlie O`Shea said the acquisition gives Wal-Mart a leg-up on competitors in the race to be the No. 2 online retailer, citing the size of Jet.com`s online offerings and number of customers. Wal-Mart said Jet has added nearly 400,000 new shoppers monthly. "The impact on Amazon will be fairly benign. However, this acquisition, in tandem with its joint-venture in China with JD.com, demonstrates that Walmart is attacking online retail with significant zeal," he said. In June, Wal-Mart said it sold its Chinese online grocery store in return for a stake in JD.com Inc, China's 2 e-commerce firm. Billions spent on online efforts Wal-Mart's first-quarter online sales grew 7 per cent, a weaker rate than any of the four quarters just before that. In 2015, Wal-Mart`s online sales rose 12.3 per cent to $13.7 billion, compared with a 16 per cent jump to $92.4 billion for Amazon.com. Wal-Mart has not said what it spent on acquisitions, but prior to the Jet.com deal it disclosed a total of $3.1 billion for e-commerce and digital projects, such as its platform and new warehouses, in the four fiscal years to January 2017. The deal should give Wal-Mart the scale to bolster its online presence, broaden its assortment of goods and offer the lowest prices at the same time, analysts said. Wal-Mart noted Jet has offered 12 million items in its first year of operation. Wal-Mart has said previously it wants to expand its online selection from around 10 million items to the tens of millions over the next few years. Rival Amazon has more than 200 million items for sale online. (Reuters)

Wal-Mart buying Jet.com to lift online sales, battle Amazon

Even though Apple&rsquo;s new iPhones will be unveiled in two months, rumours regarding their price have already surfaced online. According to a new leak the company will offer three iPhone variants namely iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 7 Pro. 
 
A report by Weibo shares the rumoured prices of the devices. 
 
iPhone 7 
 
32GB variant - CNY 5,288 (approximately Rs 52,900) 
 
64GB variant at CNY 6,088 (approximately Rs 60,900) 
 
256GB at CNY 7,088 (approximately Rs 70,900) 
 
iPhone 7 Plus 
 
32GB variant - CNY 6,088 (approximately Rs 60,900) 
 
128GB variant - CNY 6,888 (approximately Rs 68,900) 
 
256GB variant - CNY 7,888 (approximately Rs 78,900) 
 
iPhone 7 Pro 
 
32GB variant - CNY 7,088 (approximately Rs 70,900) 
 
128GB variant &ndash; CNY 7,888 (approximately Rs 78,900) 
 
256GB variant - 8,882 (approximately Rs 88,900) 
 
Additionally, the iPhone 7 is likely to drop the headphone jack, and will instead offer earpods with Lightning Connector. According to images shared on Weibo, the new EarPods look similar to the company existing earbuds. However, Apple has ditched the 3.5mm connector and now offers a reversible Lightning port for digital sound. 
 
(DNA) 
 
 
 
&nbsp;

Additionally, the iPhone 7 is likely to drop the headphone jack, and will instead offer earpods with Lightning Connector

Even though Apple’s new iPhones will be unveiled in two months, rumours regarding their price have already surfaced online. According to a new leak the company will offer three iPhone variants namely iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 7 Pro. A report by Weibo shares the rumoured prices of the devices. iPhone 7 32GB variant - CNY 5,288 (approximately Rs 52,900) 64GB variant at CNY 6,088 (approximately Rs 60,900) 256GB at CNY 7,088 (approximately Rs 70,900) iPhone 7 Plus 32GB variant - CNY 6,088 (approximately Rs 60,900) 128GB variant - CNY 6,888 (approximately Rs 68,900) 256GB variant - CNY 7,888 (approximately Rs 78,900) iPhone 7 Pro 32GB variant - CNY 7,088 (approximately Rs 70,900) 128GB variant – CNY 7,888 (approximately Rs 78,900) 256GB variant - 8,882 (approximately Rs 88,900) Additionally, the iPhone 7 is likely to drop the headphone jack, and will instead offer earpods with Lightning Connector. According to images shared on Weibo, the new EarPods look similar to the company existing earbuds. However, Apple has ditched the 3.5mm connector and now offers a reversible Lightning port for digital sound. (DNA)

Leaked: Apple iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 7 Pro pricing spotted online

In China&#39;s eastern city of Hangzhou, Li could barely watch as Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo lined up a penalty kick in a finely-balanced Euro 2016 group match against Austria. Li had a reason to be nervous: He had bet tens of thousands of yuan on Portugal to win. 
 
With 10 minutes to go in the game in Paris, Real Madrid star Ronaldo hit the post, the game ended in a draw, and Li lost the money he had bet using Tencent Holdings Ltd&#39;s popular messaging app WeChat. 
 
Amid a surge of Chinese interest in global soccer, a side-effect has been a record spike in illegal gambling online, prompting multi-million dollar busts by police on betting rings, and tech giants like Tencent and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd cracking down on gambling activity on their apps. 
 
&quot;There are so many gamblers, groups and platforms during the European Cup though that I think it&#39;s really hard to find all of them,&quot; said Li, who asked only to use his surname as most online gambling in China is illegal. 
 
Li said he used a private chat group on WeChat where most of the betters were friends. Winnings were distributed via bank transfer, Alibaba-linked Alipay, WeChat or &#39;red packets&#39;, digital versions of traditional envelopes stuffed with cash. 
 
In the run-up to the UEFA European Football Championship final in Paris next Sunday, Chinese police say they have seen a surge in illegal online gambling. In a single bust last week, police in southern Guangdong arrested 147 people and froze funds worth nearly 100 million yuan ($15 million). 
 
Alibaba and Tencent acknowledge the issue and have anti-gambling systems in place to spot illegal behaviour. 
 
Ant Financial, the Alibaba affiliate which operates Alipay, has a three-tiered system to spot gambling, with computer systems analysing user behaviour and a line of human checks. 
 
&quot;If we find suspicious accounts, then we are going to freeze the account directly. It only takes a few hours from the first to the last step,&quot; said spokeswoman Miranda Shek, adding the firm was looking to add more anti-gambling staff. 
 
Reiterating a previous statement, Tencent said it is doing more to stamp out gambling on its platforms like WeChat, including restricting groups suspected of gambling behaviour and punishing individual account holders. It said it has put limits on more than 8,000 WeChat groups, and has limited the payment and &#39;red packet&#39; capabilities on more than 6,000 accounts. 
 
Soccer boom 
 
A soccer investment boom in China has helped propel interest in the game. Chinese firms have invested in overseas clubs, player agencies and media rights firms, and global soccer stars have moved to China in multi-million dollar deals. 
 
&quot;With the European Cup, everyone&#39;s betting on soccer but also over the last couple of years China&#39;s soccer market has developed rapidly. Big investments and star names create a real lure,&quot; said Hu Naijun, an assistant professor at the University of Science and Technology Beijing. 
 
The organiser of an online gambling group, who gave his name as Bao, said he and four other organisers had a pot of 5 million Yuan ($750,706) and that dozens of people would join for each game. 
 
&quot;In one night there will be millions placed in bets,&quot; he said, adding it had become a lucrative business. &quot;For the final, we&#39;ll probably go to Macau or Hong Kong and spend the whole week in the presidential suite.&quot; 
 
Li says he&#39;s still backing Portugal - who are through to the semi-finals - for Euro 2016 glory. 
 
&quot;I often can&#39;t watch, my heart just can&#39;t take it, I feel nervous at every chance. Especially when Ronaldo missed the penalty, I almost passed out,&quot; he said. 
 
($1 = 6.6604 Chinese yuan renminbi) 
 
(Reuters)&nbsp;

Investment boom has spiked public interest with betting rings reaping the benefit. Tencent and Alibaba are trying to stop gambling via apps

In China's eastern city of Hangzhou, Li could barely watch as Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo lined up a penalty kick in a finely-balanced Euro 2016 group match against Austria. Li had a reason to be nervous: He had bet tens of thousands of yuan on Portugal to win. With 10 minutes to go in the game in Paris, Real Madrid star Ronaldo hit the post, the game ended in a draw, and Li lost the money he had bet using Tencent Holdings Ltd's popular messaging app WeChat. Amid a surge of Chinese interest in global soccer, a side-effect has been a record spike in illegal gambling online, prompting multi-million dollar busts by police on betting rings, and tech giants like Tencent and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd cracking down on gambling activity on their apps. "There are so many gamblers, groups and platforms during the European Cup though that I think it's really hard to find all of them," said Li, who asked only to use his surname as most online gambling in China is illegal. Li said he used a private chat group on WeChat where most of the betters were friends. Winnings were distributed via bank transfer, Alibaba-linked Alipay, WeChat or 'red packets', digital versions of traditional envelopes stuffed with cash. In the run-up to the UEFA European Football Championship final in Paris next Sunday, Chinese police say they have seen a surge in illegal online gambling. In a single bust last week, police in southern Guangdong arrested 147 people and froze funds worth nearly 100 million yuan ($15 million). Alibaba and Tencent acknowledge the issue and have anti-gambling systems in place to spot illegal behaviour. Ant Financial, the Alibaba affiliate which operates Alipay, has a three-tiered system to spot gambling, with computer systems analysing user behaviour and a line of human checks. "If we find suspicious accounts, then we are going to freeze the account directly. It only takes a few hours from the first to the last step," said spokeswoman Miranda Shek, adding the firm was looking to add more anti-gambling staff. Reiterating a previous statement, Tencent said it is doing more to stamp out gambling on its platforms like WeChat, including restricting groups suspected of gambling behaviour and punishing individual account holders. It said it has put limits on more than 8,000 WeChat groups, and has limited the payment and 'red packet' capabilities on more than 6,000 accounts. Soccer boom A soccer investment boom in China has helped propel interest in the game. Chinese firms have invested in overseas clubs, player agencies and media rights firms, and global soccer stars have moved to China in multi-million dollar deals. "With the European Cup, everyone's betting on soccer but also over the last couple of years China's soccer market has developed rapidly. Big investments and star names create a real lure," said Hu Naijun, an assistant professor at the University of Science and Technology Beijing. The organiser of an online gambling group, who gave his name as Bao, said he and four other organisers had a pot of 5 million Yuan ($750,706) and that dozens of people would join for each game. "In one night there will be millions placed in bets," he said, adding it had become a lucrative business. "For the final, we'll probably go to Macau or Hong Kong and spend the whole week in the presidential suite." Li says he's still backing Portugal - who are through to the semi-finals - for Euro 2016 glory. "I often can't watch, my heart just can't take it, I feel nervous at every chance. Especially when Ronaldo missed the penalty, I almost passed out," he said. ($1 = 6.6604 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reuters)

In China football boom sparks online gambling craze

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft have unveiled a code of conduct with the European Commission that pledges to combat online hate speech.

In a press release, the EU Commissioners for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality pointed out the need for increased monitoring following the spate of terror attacks that have rocked Europe. 
 
&quot;The recent terror attacks have reminded us of the urgent need to address illegal online hate speech,&quot; said Vera Jourova in a statement.

&quot;Social media is unfortunately one of the tools that terrorist groups use to radicalize young people, and racists use to spread violence and hatred. This agreement is an important step forward to ensure that the internet remains a place of free and democratic expression, where European values and laws are respected.&quot;

The code of conduct outlines a raft of measures the IT companies have agreed to respect, including the commitment to remove illegal hate speech in less than 24 hours after being notified.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & Microsoft have signed an agreement to battle hate speech online.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Microsoft have unveiled a code of conduct with the European Commission that pledges to combat online hate speech. In a press release, the EU Commissioners for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality pointed out the need for increased monitoring following the spate of terror attacks that have rocked Europe. "The recent terror attacks have reminded us of the urgent need to address illegal online hate speech," said Vera Jourova in a statement. "Social media is unfortunately one of the tools that terrorist groups use to radicalize young people, and racists use to spread violence and hatred. This agreement is an important step forward to ensure that the internet remains a place of free and democratic expression, where European values and laws are respected." The code of conduct outlines a raft of measures the IT companies have agreed to respect, including the commitment to remove illegal hate speech in less than 24 hours after being notified.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube & Microsoft join hands to fight hate speech

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