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It's reported today in Hong Kong that more RSS apps are disappearing from Apples App Store in China in a new crackdown on feed readers. Apple removed two additional apps that pull content from RSS feeds, allowing Chinese users to access articles that might normally be blocked by the countrys Great Firewall.

Fiery Feeds and Reeder both acknowledged on Twitter that their iOS apps had been removed in the country. They cited a 2017 tweet by Inoreader, another popular RSS service, which posted a letter from Apple saying its app was removed in China because it included content that is illegal in the country. Inoreader said the entire service was blocked in April this year.

Apple has been repeatedly criticized for capitulating to the Chinese government by complying with censorship requests. The company has removed VPN apps, which let users bypass the Great Firewall, and news apps that include The New York Times and Quartz . Apple also removed a map app in Hong Kong that tracked protest activities. For more on this read Hong Kong's Abacus report.

However, Apple's CEO is on record stating that Apple will comply with the law of the land where they do business. This was repeated again in a February 2020 report which stated "Apple said in its statement that free expression 'is central to our company and its success' but that it is obliged to 'comply with local laws and to protect the safety of our customers and employees'", including by removing apps.

Removing apps and complying with governments is the cost of doing business in certain countries. In context, President Trump is now beginning a tech war with China, and while the ban of WeChat and TikTok apps is still in the courts, more than likely the ban will eventually go into action with Apple and Google removing the apps from their respective app stores.

Where it gets trickier is when a country like Russia demanded that Apple change their Maps app, like in the case of Crimea in 2019 where Apple complied. There are 114 UN members that don't support Russia's position on Crimea including the United States.

Choosing to support Russia's position on their Maps App as simply a cost of doing business in Russia, to many, crosses the line and shouldn't be a part of Apple's so-called "values."

Additionally, the group called "+SumOfUs.org" pressed Apple at this year's shareholder meeting. Their issue is not knowing what Apple's position is on the slave labor situation in China regarding Uighur people. If it's the law of the land for Apple to close their eyes to Apple's Chinese manufacturers using Uighur slave labor, will Apple look the other way and allow it to happen as a cost of doing business? That's when compliance with the "laws of the land" would dangerously cross the line. Unfortunately, trying to prove this situation is close to impossible being that the U.S. press is severely suppressed in China.

At the end of the day, while we hope that +SumOfUs.org will continue to press Apple on this and other related human right issues the news of removing a few RSS feed apps from the App Store isn't seen as a major issue.

The rest is here:
Apple complies with Censors in China and removes two RSS Feeds from their iOS App Store - Patently Apple

For avid gamers, competitive players, and content creators, having a display that can keep up with your high demands is crucial, but picking the right monitor can be a sea of confusion. Thankfully, LGs new 27GN950 solves the problem by ticking all the boxes for a regular gamer to a full-time content creator.

Normally, picking a monitor would be a process of deciding what is most important for you; high-resolution vs high-refresh rate, accurate colors vs fast response time. These are all regular head-scratchers when choosing a display.

But, the ambitious 27GN950 attempts to eradicate this one-or-the-other choice, and, as some of the influencers who have tried it attest, is successful.

The headline specs are impressive even on paper: An IPS panel, which ensures better viewing angles and color accuracy, 4K resolution, 144Hz refresh rate, 10bit color, Hardware Calibration, and 1ms GtG response time. This is all music to the ears of a gamer, as well as a content creator or editor.

Its also NVIDIA G-Sync compatible and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro compatible, meaning you should never see any screen-tearing. Pair the LG 27GN950 with a 20-series NVIDIA GPU or one of the latest AMD cards, and youll be able to take advantage of Display Stream Compression (DSC), allowing 4K at 144Hz.

If you play games, particularly FPS games, and hope to be at least somewhat competitive, hopefully youve already switched from a regular TV to a gaming monitor. If you have, youll know that going back simply isnt an option. The reduced input delay, thanks to instant 1ms response time, and the faster refresh rates that a monitor provides, are literal game-changers, that can give you a genuine advantage in games.

Of course, the LG 27GN950 meets these standards for what to expect from a top-performing gaming monitor, but what makes it unique is its versatility. You dont need to sacrifice one feature, say, high refresh rate, for another, like accurate color.

If you play games competitively, the monitor is probably the second-most important part of your setup, after your rig itself. Ensuring snappy response times, high refresh rate, minimal ghosting or screen-tear, can be a life-or-death difference in-game.

As this new monitor from LG hits the market, some of the most knowledgable influencers in gaming tech have been reviewing the model, and testing if it meets its ambitious goals.

Linus Tech Tips is one of the largest tech channels on all of YouTube, with a particular focus on gaming hardware. They pitted the LG 27GN950 against some of its rivals.

So, yes, the 27GN950 is great for gaming, but this monitor is 4K it probably makes the most sense for gamers who also, are creators, LTT said. And it delivers there too out of the box, the color accuracy on our unit was squarely in professional territory.

Their verdict for this all-encompassing monitor: If youre a gamer who also dabbles, or even works in, photo editing or video editing, or if you have a multi-monitor setup, or if you just really like 4K displays, then this is a fantastic monitor that almost does it all.

TimTheTatman is not only an avid gamer, but also one of the leading content creators on Twitch and YouTube. His aim and reaction time might also be a better representation of the rest of us mortals, rather than the elite pro players. He too is a big fan of LG monitors, and with his move to Florida now complete, hes setup with the 27GN950.

Of course, while he admires the technical specs, Tim is also a visual person, and highlights his love for the new Ultragear emblem, which features prominently on the backside. As a streamer, this monitor is perfect for Tims needs as an all-rounder, perfect for gaming and content creation.

For content creation specifically, the IPS 10-bit color display gives much more accurate and deep colors, so you know that what youre editing is an accurate representation. This is vital for both photo and video editing. Hardware calibration is also vital in this respect, and is also supported on the 27GN950. This allows for the monitors color settings to be tuned perfectly with built-in settings, and goes hand-in-hand with the 10-bit display.

For gamers, even more valuable than the words of experts or content creators, is the opinion of professional and elite players. Twitch streamer Brandon aceu Winn is known for his time as a competitive player in games including CS:GO, Apex Legends, and most recently, Valorant, praised for his almost inhuman aim.

To be a crisp aimer on FPS games, aceu obviously needs a snappy, responsive display and a crystal clear picture of his targets, which the GN750 provides. Unboxing the new monitor on stream, he explained we have gotten a beautiful piece of hardware to absolutely frag out in-game.

The visual design of this monitor is perhaps an understated aspect though. Gone is the regular placement of the logo on the front bezel, which allows for an even slimmer design around the display itself. Instead, the powerful new logo is emblazoned on the back, and matches the black/deep red color scheme which also follows on the stand.

The LG 27GN950 then, is a monitor capable of meeting all the needs of even the most demanding gamers, content creators and editors, while also fitting in perfectly with a sleek and modern setup. With the experts at LTT, and the streamers Aceu and TimTheTatman giving it their seal of approval, this monitor manages to pass its ambitious test with flying (and very accurate) colors.

To celebrate the launch of the 27GN950, LG are pitting the worlds top streamers against each other in the LG UltraGear face off. The tournament will take place on Riot Games new FPS, Valorant, and will determine which FPS background is best for dominating in the new game. Because Valorant mixes hero-shooters like Overwatch and Apex Legends, with tactical shooters like CS:GO and Call of Duty, the battle will decide which FPS player is the best at Valorant.

Four teams will be captained by streamers with different backgrounds:

The tournament will start on October 3, at 4pm ET. During the matches, drops will be available on the streamers channels. You can watch the official steam on LGs official Twitch and YouTube channels.

Read more:
Joe Rogan responds to claims that Spotify is censoring him - Dexerto

Shout Out UK on behalf of a coalition of organisations from the political education and democracy promotion sectors writes an open letter to the Department for Education concerning the censorship of extreme political content in schools.

Download PDF Letter (updated 08.46 06/10/2020)

Dear Mr Williamson,

We write this joint open letter as a coalition of organisations in the political education and democracy promotion sectors to raise our concerns about the Departments guidance on relationships, sex and health education (RSE) issued on Thursday 24th September 2020. We acknowledge that this guidance has been issued to schools in the context of RSE, not the PSHE umbrella it sits within, but we are nonetheless concerned about the precedent this may set for other aspects of the curriculum, and the impact it may have on teachers confidence to cover political topics.

The guidance states that: Schools should not under any circumstances use resources produced by organisations that take extreme political stances on matters, and provides a non-exhaustive list of examples. Our concerns revolve around this point in particular.

As advocates for widening access to education about political issues, we implore the government to consider that this regulation has the potential to censor the already minimal discussion of politics in schools. The guidelines serve to deny students the opportunity to engage with material from extreme sources in a classroom environment, precluding informed debate and discouraging critical thinking. Political education continues to be either inadequate or completely absent for most students in the UK; we want to ensure that any window of opportunity to discuss politics is as wide as possible.

With respect to this guidance, which is non-statutory implementation guidance, we seek urgent clarification on the following points:

Students must be armed with the Political and Media Literacy skills to ensure that they can understand and discuss political issues with a critical mindset. Extreme political organisations will exist whether or not schools are allowed to discuss them in the classroom, but this guidance deprives students of the chance to tackle them head-on. Politics necessitates dialogue and the continual contestation of ideas. Schools should be a safe place for this to happen without fear of recrimination or censorship.

Signed By

The views expressed in this letter represent those of the signatories and not necessarily their organisations or employers

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An open letter to the Department for Education concerning the censorship of extreme political content in schools - Shout Out UK

Popular podcaster Joe Rogan and his relationship with the streaming platform Spotify have made headlines in recent weeks, and he addressed some of the controversies during his recent podcast with comedian Tim Dillon. Rogan and Dillon spoke during episode No. 1544 of the Joe Rogan Experience about Spotify employees potentially wanting to censor and edit his podcast.

Spotify has the exclusive licensing rights to the Joe Rogan Experience, and according to reports from media outlets, some employees have threatened to strike if they do not receive editorial control over Rogans podcast, taking issue with some of the subjects Rogan speaks about as well as what he says.

However, according to the podcaster and UFC commentator, Spotify has not spoken to him about censoring his show or about any internal company dialogue about the situation.

Listen, me on the outside reading these f****** articles, like Oh my God, Spotify is censoring Rogan, Rogan said. Spotify has said nothing. Listen to me, nothing. They havent said anything to my manager, they havent said anything to me. Theyve said nothing. Theyve apparently had meetings. But they have a lot of meetings. They have meetings about all sorts of shows. They have meetings about the music they have.

Its an open-minded company, Rogan continued. They treat their employees very well. They let them have discussions about things. And I dont know what these discussions are like. I dont know what happens, I really dont. But, in terms of them silencing me, zero. Theres been nothing.

Rogans conversation with Dillon about Spotify can be viewed below:

VideoVideo related to joe rogan responds to talk of spotify censoring his podcast2020-10-02T20:30:05-04:00

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In July, Rogan recorded a podcast with Abigail Shrier, a journalist, writer and author of the book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters. During the episode, Rogan and Shrier spoke about transgender people and transitioning. Some criticized the podcast, calling Rogan and Shrier transphobic.

Rogan said to Dillon, Is there somebody at Spotify complaining about the Abigail Shrier episode? Im sure. Im sure theres someone complaining about it. Is it a transphobic episode? Its not. Theyre wrong.

The podcaster defended his stance and the conversation he had with Shrier, saying that people should be able to have an open dialogue about transitioning, especially when it comes to children.

I dont know what the actual conversation has been from Spotify talking to these employees, but if these employees are listening, I would tell you emphatically I am not in any way anti-trans, Rogan said. Not in any way. I am 100 percent for people to be able to do whatever they want as long as it doesnt harm other people. If you choose to do anything, whatever you want, whatever your personal choice is, I am happy if youre happy.

Rogan said that he is 100 percent open-minded and he believes that he should be able to have conversations about controversial subjects like children transitioning. His rebuttal can be viewed here.

During his discussion with Dillon, Rogan said that sometimes when hes talking on the podcast, he says things he doesnt even mean as he is talking off the top of (his) head. He also said that if some Spotify employees have an issue with the conversations he has on the podcast, they should be even more concerned with the lyrics of some music on the platform.

Rogan told Hot New Hip Hop:

Im sure theyve had issues with other episodes as well, but like Ive said before: Im talking off the top of my head, and a lot of times, Im saying s*** I dont even mean, because Im saying it because this is a f****** podcast. And if you have a problem with people saying terrible s*** and you work for Spotify, maybe you should listen to some of the lyrics. Ok? Because some of the lyrics in some of the f****** music you guys play over and over and over again makes my s*** pale in comparison. Pale. If youre listening to some rap music right now Im not anti-rap, I love rap music. Im Im f****** saying, go back and listen to NWA. Go back and listen to some of the early s***. Like go back and listen to Ice-T, Cop Killer From the Body Count days. Whew.

READ NEXT: Dana White on UFC Superfight: Thats the Fight to Make, 100%

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Joe Rogan Responds to Talk of Spotify Censoring His Podcast - Heavy.com

With her book Outragesdescribed as"a long-overdue literary investigation into censorship and the life of a tormented trailblazer" by Oprah MagazineWolf chronicles the struggles and eventual triumph of John Addington Symonds, a Victorian-era poet, biographer, and critic who penned what became a foundational text on our modern understanding of human sexual orientation and LGBTQ+ legal rights.

Symonds, as Wolf highlights, was writing at a time when anything interpreted as homoerotic could be used as evidence in trials leading to harsh sentences under British law. Wolf sees a connective thread from those draconian laws of Victorian England to this moment, when marginalized people and groups are being targeted, silenced, and often jailed.

"Naomi Wolf'sOutragesis a vitally important book to discuss right now, not just because of its literary scholarship, which is superb, but because it speaks so clearly to the present societal moment. It's a moment that is incredibly dangerous, a potential turning point," according to Wolf's publisher, Margo Baldwin, of Chelsea Green Publishing.

Naomi Wolf 's most recent books include theNew York TimesbestsellersVagina,The End of America, andGive Me Liberty, in addition to the landmark bestsellerThe Beauty Myth. She lives in the Hudson River Valley.

This free event takes place Thursday, November 5th at 6:30pm through Zoom where registrants will have the opportunity to engage in conversation with the author.

SOURCE Chelsea Green Publishing

https://drnaomiwolf.com

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Censorship and the Dangers of Being Silenced - PRNewswire