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LSEs Professor Shakuntala Banaji and Ram Bhat explain why hate and disinformation campaigns against Muslims in India have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some commentators naively assumed that a life-threatening pandemic would bring citizens together, and be enough to suspend if not completely stop the now endemic barrage of disinformation targeted at Indian Muslims. However, COVID-19 has simply added a new dimension to the hate speech and disinformation circulated about Muslim communities in India.

The BJP, RSS and Sangh Parivar campaign of producing hate and inciting violence against Muslims in India runs as a well-oiled machine that has internal complexity and leaves the ruling party with plenty of scope for plausible deniability when their supporters resort to murder. The steps in this manufacture and circulation of violent disinformation often involve both mainstream and social media. Notorious journalists and anchors known to support the BJP Government and the Hindutva cause raise apparently legitimate doubts: in this case, the faux troubling questions centred around the intentions of a Muslim gathering in Delhi, the Tablighi Jamaat held prior to the announcement of lockdown, even when there was legitimate never any basis to such reports. At the same time, dispersed IT-cells and supporters of Hindutva groups and the ruling party on WhatsApp and other social media flood their various groups and online spaces with a parallel set of misinformation and disinformation-laden memes, questions, images, GIFs and speeches from politicians. This further casts aspersions on individual Muslims and suspicion on the Muslim communitys loyalty as citizens and human beings, accusing them of being Covid super-spreaders, and implicating them in a supposedly dastardly plot to infect Hindus by spitting on food, and infiltrating respectable middle class spaces through their jobs as sales-people, cooks, chauffeurs or watchmen.

In March 2020, within days, such networks of disinformation had led to entrenched rumours that Muslims were intentionally infecting Hindus through a range of behaviours. As a result, several spaces residential settlements and hospitals for instance illegally and unconstitutionally denied entry and service to some Muslims, resulting in further unnecessary deaths. In a parallel move, and implicitly supporting the BJP MLAs and supporters who were pushing the initial disinformation, the government of India banned 2,550 individuals from entering India for a period of ten years all of them foreign Tablighi Jamaat followers.

Meanwhile a more public and systemic disinformation campaign emanates from mainstream institutions. For instance, a civil society institution composed of ex-judges with ties to diaspora Hindutva groups, recently submitted a report that claimed to identify the instigators of the Delhi pogrom that took place in February 2020 and left 39 Muslims dead at the hands of Hindu far right mobs. This report which consists almost entirely of ideological fabrications, recasts Muslim dissidents protesting against discriminatory citizenship laws as urban naxals and anti-nationals. Even before such accusations had been made public, the Home Ministry had used the disarray caused by the pandemic as an opportunity to imprison Muslim democracy activists, and to take even moderately critical journalists from Kashmir and elsewhere into custody or slap them with false charges. So, why does all of this clearly authoritarian and anti-democratic misrepresentation and action against mainly Muslim citizens continue with virtually no protest from a majority of the Indian public? There are several reasons.

First, the nave notion that reporting or uncovering the truth and the facts will mitigate violence and undermine prejudice needs to be banished. Our research into hate speech and misinformation on WhatsApp suggests that upper and middle caste Hindu social media groups with an investment in the ideology of Hindu supremacy knowingly produce and share disinformation targeted against Muslims.

Second, less ideologically and politically embedded individuals within these groups share disinformation under the guise of more positive citizenship imaginaries: civic duty, protecting ones religion or ones community, national security, promoting good health and hygiene, promoting national unity and so on or do so to retain their position as key informants to the group without thought to the damage of sharing false information. Such deep-seated imaginaries disavow the violence perpetrated by the very people passing on the disinformation, project that violence onto the targeted communities, and legitimise anti-Muslim discrimination across India and the diaspora.

Rather than only countering disinformation with empirical facts or presenting the dangers of spreading hate amidst a pandemic, it is imperative for anti-racists, researchers and ethical journalists to look at the political history of Indian disinformation and to ask whose political interests are served by the sophisticated and systematic sharing of mediated and community-transmitted disinformation against Indian Muslims?

In India (and the diaspora), Hindu society is currently and has historically been controlled by a select few organisations and dominant caste individuals. The process of maintaining control through hegemony is required since a minority cannot control a majority by force alone. Muslims, as one of the largest distinct non-Hindu social groups in India, have consistently been cast as the threatening other by Hindu-chauvinist politics, literature and media. The Muslim as an enemy outsider has come to constitute the tie that binds disparate groups with competing social interests together into a mythical Hindu-ness. In the early years of the 20th century, such a production of Hinduism (via the Muslim) was transparent in the writings of early Hindutva functionaries and leaders.

Over the last four decades, incremental social reforms and uneven capitalist development has necessitated a more sophisticated approach to building the idea of a Hindu nation. The old broadcasting technologies of writing, radio and television are inadequate to account for proliferation of identities. In many states of India, intermediary caste groups have become extremely influential Lingayats and Vokkaligas in Karnataka, Kammas and Reddys in Andhra Pradesh, Marathas in Maharashtra, Jats in Haryana and so on. Social media platforms and applications powered by global digital networks have begun to be put to use in significant ways for political goals in contemporary societies. The basic architecture of othering Muslims to constitute Hinduness and Hindu nationalism remains a historical fact. The affordances of platforms and devices, as well as new possibilities of differentiated mass distribution, present enormous potential to produce the idea of India as a Hindu nation with an internal enemy community in new ways. The fabricated association of Muslims with the spread of Covid-19 is a prime example.

In different locations, depending on the class and caste composition in a given society, the same vicious anti-Muslim imaginaries are incubated either as a health and hygiene problem, a religious provocation, a national security threat or danger to other communities through extreme fecundity and population growth. Disinformation distribution networks are built like inverse pyramids where local actors (often younger males with some basic computer skills looking for entrepreneurial opportunities) receive money from shadowy firms or NGOs (with very loose and hard to trace links to the BJP party), are able to inflect broad imaginaries with local contexts. Other groups engage in disinformation not only for money but also as a way to get noticed as a rising political personality.

This design ensures that anti-Muslim disinformation is tremendously flexible, local and persuasive to those who are already looking for confirmation of their hatred and deep-seated prejudice. Mirroring white rightwing Islamophobia, common features of disinformation in India today include the use of extreme emotions and images. Disinformation frequently hinges on the use of shocking images that seek to elicit a strong emotion in the user, compelling him or her to share it with others. The active attachment of the idea of sharing of information against the Muslim other as a form of civic duty and national security further enhance the likelihood of misinformations journey from a systemic propaganda towards less ideologically embedded sections of a community.

Another tactic used is the embedding of disinformation in a constant flow of banal messaging from trusted elders or community leaders, which ensures that users are habituated both to receiving and to sharing content without much intellectual pause or critique. Receiving and forwarding messages in a particular group or across groups is a mark of sociality and acceptance in those groups. In fact, belonging to a group without being seen to share comes to be seen and understood as suspicious: a performance of (Hindu/caste) group loyalty is thus a facet in the spread of malevolent misinformation and disinformation.

Given that discrimination, violence and disinformation against Muslims is an extensive historical and political problem in India and the diaspora just as violence and misinformation against social groups such as Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus is a problem in neighbouring Pakistan, strategies for countering it need both short and long-term solutions. Short term solutions involve a far stronger commitment from mainstream media organisations, governments and social media companies on ideas about civil and human rights and the right to life rather than the current and narrow emphasis on free speech as defined by those in powerful positions, as well as a recognition of the multiple forms taken by Islamophobic rhetoric. Long-term solutions include the building of a culture of anti-racism, historical awareness and critical media literacy from childhood upwards, involving widespread open discussions about linkages between technologies of representation and political power, as well as pointing towards the benefits for all of a society with less violence and more equity and solidarity.

This post was originally published on the Students Against Hindutva Ideology blog and is reposted with thanks. This article represents the views of the authors, and not the position of the Media@LSE blog, nor of the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Featured image: Photo by Reiner Knudsen on Unsplash

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Disinformation against Indian Muslims during the COVID-19 pandemic - EUROPP - European Politics and Policy

First and foremost, the City Paper is deeply appreciative of the support our donors and sponsors have provided, even during this challenging time for the entire community. Thank you. We do not take your support for granted.

Yesterday, I finally signed the City Papers Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Obtaining tax-exempt status is the holy grail for most nonprofit organizations, and, if granted, it will allow us to solicit much-needed grants in order to fulfill our mission, participate in local, nonprofit initiatives, and for our supporters: retroactively transform your donations into tax-deductible contributions.

The application is a behemoth, and the I.R.S. is notorious for being strict with this document. It includes all of our financial information, conflicts of interest, business plan, and more. The average time frame for approval once an application is filed is 8-9 months. We retained the local law firmPoznak Dyer Kanar Schefsky Thompson PLC for the filing, and were very appreciate of their guidance, counsel, and support. Once approved, in the same spirit and manner we treat all of our important documents and financial information, we will make the entire application, which clocks in at over 50 pages, available to the public.

Since our launch, even though the City Paper is a Michigan Domestic Nonprofit Corporation, we have operated at the federal level as a for-profit corporation. Essentially, we have all of the obligations of a corporation and enjoy none of the benefits of a nonprofit. Yesterdays application seeks to change that. We chose to launch and operate before filing because we know that our mission is critical to the health of the community, and we knew of the complexities and long time-frame involved in the application process.

We have made tremendous progress in making our community aware of the differences between a community-owned nonprofit news organization dedicated to fulfilling a mission and for-profit, conglomerate-owned organizations primarily dedicated to shareholders.

Even around the country, as our rare, mission-first model begins to replicate and spread, nonprofit news organizations are beginning to change the media landscape for the better. ProPublica, another nonprofit news organization, won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, journalisms most prestigious honor, along with the Anchorage Daily News, for a riveting series that revealed a third of Alaskas villages had no police protection, took authorities to task for decades of neglect, and spurred an influx of money and legislative changes.

The Salt Lake Tribune, the largest newspaper in Utah, actually transformed from a traditional for-profit media entity into a nonprofit news organization, creating a model (as well as inspiration) for other news organizations to follow. Nonprofit news organizations are the future of news as well as the solution to the decades-long decline and bleeding of traditional, for-profit media entities. Mega-mergers, buyouts, furloughs, position consolidations, new payment schemes, and cutting costs all the way to the bottom can only last so long. The drive to chase the almighty dollar at the expense of a decline in the quality of local journalism takes its toll.

This isnt to say that the reporters and editors at our local, for-profit news sources care more about shareholder value than they do about high-quality journalism. In fact, its probably the opposite, they are our neighbors and community members. However: the higher you climb the ladder, the more those priorities flip, and at the top brass level, its all about shareholder value.

When things are going well, the difference between a for-profit and a nonprofit news organizations is negligible. But when things arent going well thats when citizens and readers begin to see the true difference between those sets of priorities. No well-meaning local editor of a for-profit, conglomerate-owned newspaper will have any say over New York or San Francisco during tough times. Media consolidation leads to a loss of local control, and readers want important decisions about their local news sources made on Main Street, not Wall Street.

Local control and the nonprofit model, however, do come with enormous challenges. And we remain committed to facing those challenges head-on. Even with our limited resources, we continue to control the local news narrative. You are seeing more and more local news stories not just from us on the things we believe readers care about: in-depth local coverage of people and policies in government, education, business and the arts.

Since its launch, the City Paper has built key relationships and has grown into a niche publication favored by engaged citizens as Midlands authoritative source on area public policy issues. Earlier this year, we led the community conversation on the tragic and ongoing opioid epidemic in Midland. In a full print edition Special Report, we interviewed dozens of victim families, and learned and shared their stories; and talked to medical and public policy officials about what needs to happen to make an impact toward a solution. In May, after the historic flood of the Tittabawassee River and the failure of the Edenville and Sanford dams, we published another full print edition (as well as an online feature) Special Report entitled Weve lost everything.

COVID-19, just like with many other organizations, threw a wrench into City Paper operations earlier this year. Starting in March, the City Paper stopped conducting in-person meetings, and the staff started working from home. Our board of directors did not meet from January to July during the pandemic, canceling two meetings. We also briefly paused the production and delivery of our print edition in order to facilitate social distancing and due to the closures of most of our newsstand locations, continuing to deliver our news report on our mobile, Web, and social media platforms.

As far as news coverage, we have striven to cover the pandemic in a responsible manner. For us, that means breaking news on things such as the first confirmed case in Midland, but staying away from horse race and fear-driven daily updates on confirmed cases or deaths. As always, our news report is driven by the people and policies which impact our community most, carefully balanced by our current resources.

In January, we partnered with M.B.A. students from Northwood Universitys DeVos Graduate School of Management on strategy and market analysis. The class, MBA 654 Competitive Strategy & Marketing Practicum, was taught by Dr. Matthew OConnor (who also served on the City Papers board of directors).

Students selected various local companies and organizations to partner with on marketing and strategy and the City Paper was honored to be one of the selected organizations. From the programs flyer: Your business receives valuable research through the project, and student consultants reinforce their understanding of business fundamentals while applying cutting-edge management practices to strategic and marketing issues and opportunities.

The four talented graduate students who worked with us Christian Barry, Mark Thomas, Marissa Dudek, and Brenden Campbell submitted their final report and recommendations for the City Paper earlier this year. The document is a detailed examination of the City Papers current practices, proposed processes, market research survey results, detailed recommendations, and more. The City Paper remains deeply appreciative of the partnership with Northwood and for the students steadfast dedication and hard work.

The market research that our Northwood University partners conducted revealed some interesting thoughts from our readers. The City Paper is fiercely nonpartisan. But Ive often said, the folks usually most concerned about how partisan we are tend to be the most partisan themselves. Some of our reader comments did not disappoint.

High quality slightly leaning Democratic, said one reader, followed by another comment: Alternative to Midland Daily News, but with a bend to the right.

I suppose if the left thinks youre right and the right thinks youre left, youre doing just fine.

Along with filing our application for tax-exemption, the City Paper also adopted a new Conflict of Interest Policy to ensure we adhere to the highest ethical standards when it comes to nonprofit organizations. To that end, each Director will sign an annual Disclosure of Financial Interests, which the City Paper will make public. We are committed to remaining the most transparent, ethical, and accountable media organization in the area. Weve also reduced the number of our Directors to seven to increase our nimbleness and better reflect our current size. At our annual meeting this year, we welcomed A.J. Hoffman to our Board of Directors. Mr. Hoffman is the co-host of the Small Market Podcast, a local podcast on sports. He graduated from Central Michigan University with a degree in journalism.

Our staff also used some of the added down-time during the peak months of the pandemic to work on new strategies for the City Paper which will guide us in our work toward improving the community. We focused on four major areas: increasing and diversifying our readership, focusing on how to best serve and recognize our donors, placing an emphasis on technology, and growing our operating revenue ambitiously. Part of that plan, on the editorial side, is to place more emphasis on what we believe to be the long-term future of news in general: mobile and audio platforms.

We have also redesigned our print edition, which is a monthly digest of the news found on our other media platforms. We tailored the new print edition toward the reader base and audience which, over the last year or so, weve developed with our journalism. That audience is engaged in our community, influential, well-educated and affluent. While its tempting to think of the City Paper solely through our print newspaper, we have to do a better job of emphasizing that our print edition is just one way we deliver our journalism and fulfill our mission.

Most of the world is still stuck in a print-centric line-of-thinking when it comes to news organizations. Introductions to the City Paper are often met with questions such as So are you a weekly? or Whats your circulation? Those are print-centric ways of thinking of our organization, which instead should be thought of as a public charity first, and a news organization which uses all forms of media audio, mobile and Web, and yes, print in order to fulfill our mission.

We will soon be releasing our 2019 financials and tax filings. As Im sure you know, the City Paper is deeply committed to transparency. We believe our readers deserve to know who gives us money. We fulfill this obligation with our Donor Wall in print and on the Web which also allows our donors to take pride in helping to make our community a better place. I am very proud to announce that, in 2019, 100 percent of dollars from donors and sponsors were used on mission-fulfilling activities. CharityWatch, a noted charity watchdog, rates nonprofits that spend at least 75 percent of their income on mission work as efficient. Our unique model includes a diversified revenue stream so that our administrative and overhead costs are covered by our advertising revenue.

Finally, one of the most important aspects of our editorial strategy is to embrace and adapt the technologies which enable us to tell our stories more effectively. We must reject that Luddite apprehensions and juvenoia that doomed the Old Media dinosaurs when it comes to new media platforms and opportunities. We are extremely excited to announce that the City Paper will have a mobile app for both Apple and Android devices which we aim to have available for our readers in the coming days. The apps will allow our users and readers to read the City Paper, but most importantly, they will give our readers the chance to receive news alerts on the areas of coverage most important to them: local government, education, business, or the arts.

Triton Legal PLC, a criminal defense law firm based in Bay City, stepped up to help sponsor our new mobile app. Their support helped significantly to defray the cost of developing, testing, building, and submitting our apps. We are very grateful for their support and were proud that they are a Community Partner with the City Paper.

The City Paper should produce journalism so compelling and valuable to readers that theyre inspired to support us financially. Only 30 people do today. We believe this is the ultimate measure of an engaged audience, so we must focus our efforts on moving more readers from their initial experience with our organization and our journalism into experiences that bring them closer to a Modern Explorers membership.

Please know that even a small donation of $10 helps us tremendously. You can make a difference and help to improve your community today. Please consider donating to the City Paper if you can afford it.

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We look to other successful nonprofit news organizations, such as The Texas Tribune, Voice of OC and Voice of San Diego, and even N.P.R. We dont seek to replicate their models, mostly because that would be inappropriate considering the size of the news market here in Midland, however we do seek to use their ideas and even their language in a scaled-down, tailored fashion designed to serve our community.

As we get used to a more socially distant world, we are also implementing a plan to consistently publish more content. During the peak of the pandemic, we decided to use our limited resources on developing the tools which will allow us to fulfill our mission more effectively. Now that were at the end stages of those plans, its time to devote more of our resources toward our journalism. We aim to do that by making smarter choices about what we cover and when we cover it, establishing more writing opportunities for community members, and trying to establish sponsor-led explanatory and investigative reporting that draws in readers and serves our community. And we will seek deeper connections with our donors and readers, pursuing the market penetration already seen by the Daily News, and by way of enhanced editorial coverage, new media partnerships and live events, once the world returns back to normal.

Michael Westendorf is Executive Editor & CEO of Chemical City Paper.

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The Future of Nonprofit News in Midland Chemical City Paper - Chemical City Paper

Portland police will work to keep the far-right group Proud Boys, planning an End Domestic Terrorism rally in Delta Park on Saturday, separate from counter-protesters holding a simultaneous demonstration in Peninsula Park, Portlands police chief and his deputy chief said Thursday.

Our primary goal is to keep these groups out of contact with one another, completely, Deputy Chief Chris Davis said. Thats really the safest way to get through this.

Police have cancelled officers' days off and plan to have a large uniformed officer presence while also working to regulate traffic. Police have the lawful authority to control traffic to maintain public safety, yet Davis acknowledged that blocking off large traffic arteries would require more resources.

The city of Portlands Parks and Recreation Bureau denied a permit to the Proud Boys to hold their gathering at the North Portland park, finding that its large crowd estimate violated the governors emergency restrictions barring groups of more than 50 people from gathering to avoid the spread of the coronavirus amid the pandemic.

Enrique Tarrio, international chair of the Proud Boys, said his group didnt expect to receive the permit but is continuing with its plans to demonstrate at Delta Park. Counter-protesters plan to rally more than three miles away at Peninsula Park at the same time.

Police are still making last-minute arrangements in an effort to bolster the law enforcement presence in the city Saturday. Oregons Gov. Kate Brown will hold a news conference Friday morning, and is expected to lend Oregon State Police support to Portland police crowd control efforts, despite the state agencys initial reservations.

So far, Oregon State Police, Multnomah County Sheriffs Office, Milwaukie and Lake Oswego police departments have agreed to provide some type of assistance, and the Police Bureau is looking for more help.

Our goal is to be able to keep folks apart, Lovell said, acknowledging that small factions of the larger groups may break off.

Were trying to posture ourselves so we can respond to those areas," the police chief said. "At the end of the day, we cant be everywhereMy hope is theyll stay in the areas theyre talking about.

While the chiefs said federal officers wont be involved in assisting police on Saturday, they acknowledged that a Portland police incident commander asked for their help Wednesday night when a Molotov cocktail, or improvised explosive, was thrown at officers, causing a fire in the street outside Central Precinct.

It got so violent out here, and Federal Protective Service called and asked if we needed their help, and our incident commander decided that we did, Davis said. We do not anticipate asking for their assistance on Saturday. That was more of an emergency need in the moment.

Portlands City Council had barred Portland police from communicating with federal officers on crowd control measures during protests, yet adopted a carve-out clause in mid-August that allowed Portland police to communicate and coordinate with state U.S. Marshals Service employees and locally assigned agents with the Federal Protective Service.

At the start of a Police Bureau press conference Thursday, the Bureau played a video that captured the throwing of an explosive device Wednesday night at officers outside Central Precinct, which immediately ignited a fire on Southwest Second Avenue and sent officers running away from the flames. One officers boot caught on fire, according to police and prosecutors.

This type of violence accomplishes nothing, does nothing to advance the goals of the community, Lovell said. "Its troubling to see that after 100 plus days this kind of violence is continuing in our city.

Three people were accused of either attempting to set a fire or causing damage to the downtown precinct Wednesday night.

Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt said he was thankful that no Portland police or firefighters were injured. There is no justification for a person to ever throw an incendiary device, to set fire to buildings or to engage in other violent and destructive behavior, Schmidt said in a statement.

We have already seen too much violence, harm and even death during past demonstrations. For those who are thinking about traveling to Oregon to engage in criminal conduct our message is clear: Stay away. For people who attend the events: Leave your weapons behind. Dont give someone who wants to promote violence a platform by engaging with them.

While police said their preference would be that participants from either group not carry guns on Saturday, the state has an open carry law that allows for the carrying of a concealed weapon with a permit.

Yet police will be working to enforce a city firearms regulation that makes it illegal to carry a loaded firearm if the person with the gun doesnt have an Oregon concealed handgun permit, the deputy chief said. Permits from outside the state arent sufficient, Davis said.

Multnomah County Sheriffs Office and the Oregon State Police earlier in the week expressed reluctance to send their officers to assist in crowd control Saturday, citing Portland Mayor Ted Wheelers Sept. 10 ban on Portland police use of tear gas to disperse crowds.

Proud Boys are planning a rally at noon at Delta Park. Counter protests are planning a demonstration at Peninsula Park at the same time.

Oregon State Police Supt. Travis Hampton wrote to Portland police on Tuesday that the agency, busy responding to wildfires in the state, had serious reservations about helping with crowd control since the city police agencys use of tear gas is barred.

The state police would offer uniform patrol coverage to aid Portland police in "interdicting the criminal element'' before they arrive at events and maintain a mobile response for anticipated flash points, Hampton wrote to the bureau earlier in the week. " We will also make available, if you request, specialized vehicles and armor to aid in officer rescue and the transport of personnel."

The governor is expected to announce additional state police assistance on Friday.

Multnomah County sheriffs will provide patrol support and help cover dispatched calls from East Precinct, to free up Portland police officers to do crowd control, according to Chris Liedle, a sheriffs spokesman. The sheriffs office also will provide a mobile booking team of several deputies and transport vehicles to help transport and book people if arrests are made, he said.

We remain fluid, and our plans are subject to change as we get a better idea of the expected number of people attending events, event locations and event activities," Liedle said.

Moments before Lovell began addressing the media, the Proud Boys released a statement Thursday. Tarrio suggested that Portlands mayor and City Council need a mental health evaluation for having stripped law enforcement of their authority to maintain law and order.

If domestic terrorist groups confront the peaceful protest, Proud Boys will defend themselves in a legal and lawful manner. Several participants will be solely dedicated to gathering as much footage of these anarchists and turning it over to law enforcement for their swift arrest, Tarrio said in the statement, noting that police have declined to provide resources for their gathering.

In the Proud Boys' permit application that was denied, the group said it planned to use a trailer as a stage, with an American flag as a backdrop at Delta Park.

Counter-protesters are planning a simultaneous gathering at a different park.

We always show up to counter hate groups, said Effie Baum, an organizer with Popular Mobilization, or PopMob. But we dont have to let them dictate the terms of that engagement. Portland Jobs with Justice, Rose City Antifa and the Portland Democratic Socialists of America are among the other left-wing groups participating in the Peninsula Park event.

PopMob has circulated a flyer on social media that says, Calling All Everyday Antifascists: Join Us At Bloom - No Proud Boys in the Rose City.

Also Saturday, a Black-led group called J.U.I.C.E. PDX, standing for Justice, Unity, Integrity, Community, Equality, is planning to gather at the Vanport Historical Marker at 11:30 a.m. Speakers will talk at noon and a car caravan is anticipated to follow at 1 p.m.

Officer Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association, on Thursday continued to criticize the mayors ban on police use of CS gas, a type of tear gas, calling it the one essential tool thats been most effective for police in dispersing violent rioters when lives are in danger.

The bureaus use of tear gas has drawn multiple lawsuits against the city and a court-ordered preliminary injunction that had barred police from using tear gas except when lives or public safety are in danger. The mayors order on Sept. 10 banned its use as a crowd control tactic.

The men and women of the Portland Police Bureau will do everything in their power to keep the peace in our City. If any of our community members or officers are hurt or killed, we will hold our elected officials responsible," Turner said in a statement. "Reckless public policy has real consequences. Youve had your chance to lead. Youve failed to do so. I pray that our City is spared from further violence this weekend.

Cassie Miller, senior research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center, issued a statement in response to the Proud Boys' planned rally in Portland:

As alarming as the rally will be for the people of Portland, this is also an opportunity for local law enforcement agencies to look out for public safety. The police department must be proactive in managing the situation with adequate capacity to handle the crowds and prevent violence, particularly between Proud Boys and counter-protesters, Miller said.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com; 503-221-8212

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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Portland police say theyll work to keep Proud Boys, counter-protesters apart during rallies Saturday - OregonLive

Sheree Barbour holds her fist in the air as people protest the grand jury decision in the Breonna ... [+] Taylor case on September 23, 2020 in Denver, United States. (Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

The Seattle Police Department is aware of a video circulating on the internet that apparently shows an SPD bike officers bike rolling over the head of an individual laying in the street, said a September 24 press release from Seattle police. [UPDATE: According to a follow-up press statement, issued on September 24, the officer has been placed on administrative leave, said Seattle police.]

The incident was captured at protests that started last night after a grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, declined to indict officers for killing unarmed sleeping Black woman 26-year-old Breonna Taylor on March 13. Ex-officer Brett Hankison was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for firing into Taylors neighbors apartments.

The grand jurys decision sparked protests in Louisville and several other U.S. cities, including Portland, Chicago and Seattle.

Seattle police arrested 13 people during the overnight protests, police said.

In total, officers arrested 13 individuals for charges ranging from property destruction, resisting arrest and failure to disperse as well as assault on an officer, the police release said.

Multiple officers were injured to include one who was struck in the head with a baseball bat cracking his helmet.

One of the Seattle Police Departments responses to the overnight protests was the deployment of its armored bike squad, members of which have been previously captured on video allegedly carrying out acts of violence on protestors.

Last year, viral videos appeared to show officers using patrol bikes to battle counter-protesters at a pro-Trump march. The incidents were filmed in Seattle on December 7 at the Mega MAGA march. In one video, an officer tripped over the wheel of a patrol bike and appeared to charge toward the nearest counter-protester in a fit of pique. In a second video, an officer seemed to deliberately ride his bike into the back of a protester on the sidewalk.

In many recent videos shared on social media, bike cops are shown using interlocked bicycles to create mobile barriers, yelling as they inch forward: Move BACK! Move BACK!

In June, police departments in several cities came under fire for using patrol bikes to control crowds during demonstrations in response to the death of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis, on May 31.

The use of patrol bikes in crowd control by police officers has a long historyNew York Citys bike cop squad in 1895 was run by then Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt, a bike boom cyclist who wrote in his autobiography that any feat of daring which could be accomplished on [bicycles, the squad] were certain to accomplishbut the modern version was developed in Seattle in the 1990s.

Through a service called Tiger Mountain Tactical, Seattle Police Department bike squad officers have trained police forces around the U.S.

Tiger Mountain Tacticalor TMTdescribes itself as team of current law enforcement officers who have the most comprehensive knowledge and experience in police bicycle team operations.

TMTs lead instructor is Jim Dyment, a 28-year veteran of the Seattle Police Department. (Lieutenant Dyment did not respond to requests to be interviewed for this article.)

According to TMTs website, Dyment developed the first policy and training for bicycle crowd management stemming from experiences during the 1999 World Trade Organization Conference in Seattle.

A member of the National Guard joins the Seattle Police in quelling protests during the World Trade ... [+] Organization's (WTO) 1999 conference in Seattle. (Photo by Christopher J. Morris/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

50,000 people showed up to protest this meeting. Many of the protesters were well-organized, using cellphones to coordinate activities, foxing many of the old-school riot tactics of the citys mid-size police department. However, the citys bike copsnot yet sporting armor, except for polystyrene bike helmetswere able to hold their own, proving to be more mobile and flexible than officers in cars.

Writing for Law and Order magazine in April 2016, Dyment said: The police cyclist provides a constant presence within a crowd, which is a clear deterrent for criminal behavior.

One tactic Dyment teaches at TMT is the Mobile Fence Line.

This, he wrote, is a squad tactic that uses the coordinated movement (picking up the bicycle and moving it forward one or two steps) of the bicycle line to move forward. This is done in a manner that is disciplined, uniform and deliberate.

As described in a 2002 article written by the late Mike Goetz, a Seattle bike squad officer, another common police tactic is the crossbow.

For this tactic, the police squad forms a double-column behind the line, far enough behind so they can get a little speed up, wrote Goetz.

On command, the line makes a gap in the center, and the bikes ride through this gap.

Once they are in position, continued Goetz, the cover officers dismount and use their bikes as barriers. If the crowd becomes a threat, an application of [pepper] spray may be used. The lead riders make the arrest or tend to the injured person, and the squad retreats back through the line to safety. This maneuver must be conducted with enough speed and force to make a hole in the crowd, and completed quickly enough that the crowd does not have time to react.

Todays bike officers may be more armoredand more heavily armedbut, as Goetz wrote in 2002, bike cops are effective because they are fast and agile: The speed and mobility of the squad allow it to quickly outflank a crowd if it moves in an undesirable direction. A squad or two of bicycles positioned several blocks away from the action can be moved in a fraction of the time required to move a foot squad or even a vehicle squad, as bikes are not hampered by stairs, traffic, or a lack of roads.

Similarly, Dyment wrote in 2016 that bike squads have the ability to keep up with coordinated, fast-moving, and dynamic crowds.

Keep up? Yes. Rolling over the heads of prone protesters? No.

Headline changed September 24 from riding over a protestors head to running over. This more accurately describes the incident described in the article. A further update was added when Seattle police put the bike officer on administrative leave.

More:
Seattle Pioneered Bicycle Riot Control Tactics But Running Over Protestors Head Not In Manual - Forbes

Consumers can request a privacy blur over any pictures of their homes on Google Maps.(Photo: Videoblocks)

I use Google for so many things, from looking things up, handing my email and calendar, video chatting with my team, to peeking in on the Nest cam in my mother's living room. The company provides a slew of really great products. But you have to remember, you are also a product in their profit stream.

Lately, theres been an anti-Google movement with more people interested in options. You can use a different search site that wont track you. There are also private email servers and video sites that arent YouTube. Tap or click here for a list of Google alternatives.

Google Play Music is shutting down, which means all those songs youve gathered over the years could be lost forever.You can transfer your music collection over to YouTube Music and that likely means a paid subscription. If you want control and no monthly fees, set up your own music server. Tap or click here for the steps to set up your own music server on my site.

Here are some ways that Google has control over your data and what you can do about it:

As convenient as Google Maps and Street Viewis are, they can be unnerving when your house and address number are visible to anyone in a photo. You can request a privacy blur over any pictures of your home:

OpenGoogle Mapsor theStreet View galleryand look up your address.

Find and open the Street View photo you want to have blurred. The image has to show your face, home, or other identifying information.

In the bottom right, clickReport a problem. Complete the form.

ClickSubmit.

Once the photo is reported and blurred, theres no way for Google to reverse it. Make sure youre 100% certain about removing the image.

You have a public profile on Amazon:Here are 5 privacy settings every Amazon shopper needs to check now.

Do you use Google Assistant? Its a handy way to set reminders, get quick answers and much more. Google keeps tabs on those interactions with Google Assistant to improve its AI and personalize your account. If this creeps you out, delete those recordings.

Open yourGoogle Accountpage.

From the left navigation panel, click Data & personalization.

In theActivity controlspanel, click Web & App Activity, followed byManage Activity. From this page, youll see a list of your past activity and items with the microphone icon indicate a recording.

Next to the items you want to delete, select thethree-dot iconand thenDelete.

Google uses your search history to build a detailed profile about you that it shares with advertisers. This personalizes the ads and content you see. Its also part of the reason why data is such a big business.Tap or click here to see how much money your data can sell for online. Youll be shocked.

If you want to start removing your information from Google, your search history is where to begin. Heres how you can clear your search history and activity:

Go to myaccount.google.com and log in. Alternatively, go to google.com while logged in and clickthe circle icon in the upper right-hand corner with your image or initials inside. Then clickManage your Google Account.

Click Manage your data & personalization, located underPrivacy & Personalization.

. UndertheActivity controlspanel, you will see checkmarks next toWeb & App activity tracking,Location HistoryandYouTube History. Click each one to adjust your settings. You can toggle them off to stop further tracking.

Below Activity controls, click onMy ActivityunderActivityand timeline.

On the menu that appears in the left sidebar, clickDelete activity by. Select how far back you would like to delete your history in the pop-up menu. ClickDeleteto confirm.

Once youve followed these steps, not only will your search history be gone, but youll also have disabled tracking through apps, location history and YouTube views.

If you use Googles web browser, Chrome, youre also giving the company access to your web history. Go ahead and remove your Chrome browsing data, too.

To get started,open Chrome and click thethree-dot menu.

Hover overHistoryand click Historyat the top of the menu.

ClickClear browsing dataand select your date range for deletion.

From here, you can choose to delete your history, cookies and cache. Select the time range you want to wipe, from the past 24 hours to as early as the beginning of your browsing activity.

If you want to stay on top of information that pops up about you on social media (or the rest of the web), you can set up a free Google Alert for your name. Its an easy way to keep tabs on your online reputation.

Heres how to set up a Google Alert for your name:

VisitGoogle.com/alertsand type what you want Google to alert you about in the search bar.

ClickShow optionsto change settings for frequency, sources, language and region. You can also specify how many results you want and where you want them delivered.

ClickCreate Alert to start receiving alerts on yourself or other search topics that interest you.

What do you do if you want something about you on a website removed? Tap or click here for our step-by-step guide.

Need more help? Get concrete answers from me, along with other tech pros for 30 days for free. Sign up at GetKim.com, no promo code required.

Learn about all the latest technology on theKim Komando Show, the nation's largest weekend radio talk show. Kim takes calls and dispenses advice on today's digital lifestyle, from smartphones and tablets to online privacy and data hacks. For her daily tips, free newsletters and more, visit her website atKomando.com.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/2020/09/24/5-tips-help-keep-control-private-data-google-platforms/3485556001/

More here:
Blur your home on Maps and erase your data to remove your life from Googles grip - USA TODAY