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ANKARA, Turkey (AP) The Turkish presidents ruling party is submitting draft legislation to parliament that would enable the government to tighten its grip on social media, an official said Tuesday. The opposition fears the legislation will lead to greater censorship in the country.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has greatly concentrated powers into his own hands during 17 years in office, vowed this month to bring social media platforms under control following a series of tweets that allegedly insulted his daughter and son-in-law after they announced the birth of their fourth child on Twitter. At least 11 people were detained for questioning over the tweets.

The nine-article draft legislation would force social media companies with more than 1 million daily users in Turkey such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to establish a formal presence or assign a representative in Turkey who would be accountable to Turkish authorities legally and for tax purposes.

A social media company or its representative would also be required to respond within 48 hours to complaints about posts that violate personal and privacy rights.

The social media giants would be obliged to assign a representative within 30 days after the legislation comes into force, or face gradually increasing fines and bandwidth reductions of up to 90%, ruling party legislator Ozlem Zengin told reporters.

We aim to put an end to insults, swearing, to harassment made through social media, Zengin said, adding that the measures sought to balance freedoms with rights and laws.

Our priority is not to close down the social media providers. We are aware of the importance in our lives, she said.

Opposition parties, however, have expressed concerns that the governments plans are aimed at further limiting the Turkish publics ability to access social media and reach independent news and information in an environment dominated by pro-government media.

Thousands of websites already remain blocked in Turkey. In January, the government lifted a more than two-year ban on Wikipedia after Turkeys top court declared it unconstitutional. Turkey halted access to the online encyclopedia after it refused to remove content the government deemed offensive. The Turkish government has also banned YouTube and Twitter in the past.

Meanwhile, at least 76 journalists and other media workers remain behind bars, according to The Journalists Union of Turkey. The Committee to Protect Journalists has labeled Turkey one of the worlds top jailers of journalists.

The draft bill is scheduled to be debated in the general assembly next week, Zengin added.

The legislation is expected to pass with the votes of the ruling party and its nationalist allies.

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This story has been updated to correct the day of the week in the summary and lead to Tuesday instead of Friday.

Excerpt from:
Turkeys ruling party moving to tighten grip on social media - Seattle Times

Starting in the final year of former special counsel Robert Muellers investigation, President Donald Trump would periodically repeat to his personal lawyer and political advocate Rudy Giuliani a key, three-word phrase. Control the agenda, hed privately tell his attorney, according to three people whove heard the president say this.

Trump would deploy the phrase specifically when commenting on, and attaboying, Giulianis latest television appearances, media hits that would at times turn comically combative, careen off the rails, and seem to create bigger public-relations headaches than they were worth. No matter, the president typically advised. So often, the point wasnt to keep the peace but to kick up dust, take the fight to the media, and to try to force news outlets to cover and discuss topics on Trumps terms, all in the hopes of swaying, or muddying, public opinion.

Its one strategy that has served this president well on and off, with perhaps the biggest payoff the outcome of the 2016 election. But the presidents preferred media strategy of omnipresence doesnt always pay off. It didnt stop the House from falling to the Democrats in the 2018 midterms, and Trump and Giulianis devotion to the tactic arguably triggered the chain reaction that led to the president getting impeached.

Especially if Trump is in an electoral or political bind, as with the midterm elections, he will demand to his staff that he get as many interviewers into the Oval Office as possible, and that as many of his exclusives on TV and cable news get aired as quickly as possible. To Trump, virtually all of his political woes can be fixed if he can just command an ungodly amount of media attention. He clings to this notion even when it is dramatically challenged, such as earlier this year when his regular presence at the White House coronavirus briefings ravaged his poll numbers, led to senior aides begging him to stop doing them, and eventually resulted in the president halting his appearances.

But now, with his daily on-camera briefings long goneand his 2020 campaign struggling against Joe Biden in the midst of Trumps handling of a global pandemic, a shattered U.S. economy, and a mass protest movementthe president and his White House are once again returning to the familiar game plan and mounting yet another media blitz to satisfy Trumps impulses. Several sources close to the president say he feels the move will improve his 2020 chances, as various other attempts at a campaign reboot and retooling fell flat or ended in utter disaster.

So far, theres no evidence the media blitz is working.

Since late last month, Trump has done interviews with Telemundo, Gray Television, CBS, Townhall, The Washington Post, Sinclair, Fox News, and Fox Business. As of this weekend, the presidents standing in most of the public polling against presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee Biden remained at a punishing low. And on Sunday, Fox aired yet another sit-down with Trump, which even some of the presidents closest allies saw as a waste of time.

Hes going to get a certain percentage of Fox viewers voting for him no matter what, so it makes no sense to take a risk like that this late in the election cycle, especially when hes not winning.

In an interview with Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace, whom Trump has previously derided as a Mike Wallace wannabe, the president claimed the vast majority of new COVID-19 cases in the United States were merely young people with the sniffles and said of the rising death toll, It is what it is. Elsewhere in the interview, Trump got into a strange debate over his recent cognitive test results, with Trump claiming that the exam questions get very hard and Wallace clarifying that one of those questions just asks the patient to correctly identify an image of an elephant.

No, no, no, the president snapped back at the Fox News anchor. You see, thats all misrepresentation.

Not everyone dwelling in Trumpworld or serving the president found the back-and-forth helpful. A senior White House official told The Daily Beast on Sunday afternoon that there is no rational reason for the president to have done Wallaces show at this time. Asked why Trump decided to do Fox News Sunday now, another source close to the president immediately replied, I dont fucking know.

This person added, Hes going to get a certain percentage of Fox viewers voting for him no matter what, so it makes no sense to take a risk like that this late in the election cycle, especially when hes not winning.

And on Sunday, Anthony Scaramucci, Trumps former White House communications director who has since become a vocal Trump foe, posted to Twitter that the Chris Wallace interview is Bidens campaign ad. (Later in the day, the former vice presidents campaign officials indeed seized on soundbites from the sit-down.)

Still, others in the presidents orbit sought to work the refs and simply make Wallace the problem.

Chris Wallace seems to have been taking lessons from Jim Acosta. Hes focusing on petty and divisive levels rather than get into the real issues, former Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), a current Trump surrogate, told The Daily Beast on Sunday evening, adding, I would like to see a similar no-holds-barred interview of Joe Biden.

Elsewhere in the no-holds-barred interview, the Fox host told the president that, with less than four months to go until the election in November, at this point youre losing. He described the results of a new Fox News poll that had Biden leading Trump, 49 percent to 41 percent, among registered voters.

First of all, Im not losing because those are fake polls, the president replied. They were fake in 2016 and now theyre even more fake.

See the article here:
Trump Tries One More Media Blitz to 'Control the Agenda.' It Isn't Working. - The Daily Beast

When the news about the NBA having a hotline inside the Orlando bubble came out, people started cracking jokes on Chris Paul.

The Oklahoma City Thunder star has, over his career, involved himself into discussions with referees for the smallest of breaches from the opponents. It didnt take long for the netizens to joke about Paul using the hotline.

Ina recent appearance on The Steam Room with TNTs Ernie Johnson, Paul talked about the all the jokes around him and the hotline. He said he wasnt aware of the jokes until his wife showed him.

I didnt know, to tell you the truth. I didnt know till my wife said something to me about it, Paul said. My wife cracked a joke about it. But I mean, it is what it is. I cant control that.

I didnt see all of them, he went on. My wife sent me something about it. But I dont even know.

One thing that Paul will be aiming for inside the Orlando Bubble is to take his team to a deep postseason run. Oklahoma have had a good regular season in spite of losing their star man Russell Westbrook last summer. Prior to the leagues suspension, they were fifth in a tight Western Conference with 40 wins in 64 games.

Continuing to lead the team even at the age of 35, Paul is showing why he is the point god. Paul moved to the Thunder last summer as a part of the trade deal that saw Westbrook move to Houston Rockets. In 63 appearances this season, Paul has averaged 17.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 6.8 assists. As the season is set for a restart, it will be interesting to see how far the Thunder will go.

Continue reading here:
I Cant Control That.: NBPA President Chris Paul Reacts to the Snitch Hotline Havoc on Social Media - Essentially Sports

Nevada Gaming Control has ruled in favor of the BetMGM sportsbook in a controversy stemming from dozens of parlay wagers from June that were centered on baseball games that had already started, multiple sources told ESPN.

The decision will allow BetMGM to void more than $200,000 in outstanding parlay bets that were placed by a group of bettors in the early-morning hours between 1:30-3:30 a.m. PT on June 28 on the self-serve kiosks at Bellagio in Las Vegas and on the sportsbook's mobile betting app. The parlays included KBO League and Chinese Professional Baseball League games that had already started, but were left available for betting because of a bookmaker's error, according to ROAR Digital, the company that operates BetMGM sports betting.

Approximately 50 parlays were placed after the games started, sources told ESPN, including a 10-leg parlay that would've paid $137,107.38 and was promoted on social media by BetMGM, before eventually being deleted. Some bettors were able to cash tickets before the sportsbook realized the error and could stop payments. All the outstanding bets will be rescinded.

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BetMGM on Tuesday declined comment regarding the Nevada Gaming Control (NGC) decision. A spokesperson for Nevada Gaming Control said they have no comment.

At least two of the bettors believed to be involved confirmed to ESPN that the bets are being rescinded.

Neither BetMGM's house rules in Nevada or NGC regulations include language explicitly addressing bets placed on events that have already started, which is commonly referred to as "past-posting" in the sports betting and horse racing communities. NGC regulations prohibit sportsbooks from unilaterally rescinding wagers without written approval from gaming control.

Traditionally, situations involving past-posting for modest amounts were settled amicably, with sportsbooks offering to pay the bet but refusing to take further action from the customer, or refunding the bet and continuing to allow the bettor to play. But veteran Las Vegas bookmakers have struggled to recall a past-posting situation involving sums as large as the one at Bellagio.

"That is not a rule. That is not a regulation," Mac VerStandig, a prominent Las Vegas-based gaming attorney, told ESPN. "That is not something that is printed on the wall at any of the sportsbooks."

Betting on Korean baseball increased in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic with most major U.S. sports halted. The games air mostly overnight in the U.S. All four of the Korean baseball games that were included in the parlay tickets began at 1 a.m. and ended before 4 a.m. PT.

Many of the parlays included the NC Dinos to beat the Doosan Bears in a game that stayed under the over/under total nine runs. The Dinos broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with a three-run homer at 2:28 a.m. PT and ultimately won 5-0.

"This is sort of the perfect storm [for the sportsbook], where you have reduced staffing because of the pandemic," said VerStandig, who has handled previous issues involving past-posting. "You have international events that are being wagered upon heavily because of the pandemic, and the large potential payouts of the parlays are not raising suspicions because there's absence of domestic action.

"With the four major American sports on hiatus, a gambler has to gamble. It's the thing out there. ESPN is televising it. So, it does seem like the perfect storm."

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Sources -- Nevada Gaming Control to allow BetMGM to void more than $200K in 'past-posted' bets - ESPN

Last Wednesday, Twitter suffered the biggest hacking attack in its history. A scammer got into its system, probably by hacking the account of someone working in the company, and acquired some of the special privileges that internal staff possess in order to do their work. This enabled the intruder to take over the accounts of some very prominent Twitter users, including Barack Obama, though not interestingly Donald Trump, to send out invitations to donate Bitcoin to a particular cryptographic wallet that would then return twice the amount donated.

Youd have to be pretty dumb to fall for this, though apparently some people did. In fact, it was just a variation on a known scam-genre. What made it distinctive was the spoofing of accounts of prominent people.

We now know a bit about how this was accomplished, essentially via activating a password-reset process. Twitter says theres no evidence that most users passwords were compromised. Its less forthcoming about whether the direct messages (DMs) sent by the compromised accounts were accessed. If they were, this might turn out to be a really big deal because, scandalously, DMs are still not encrypted.

Although the scam itself was laughable, the implications for Twitter and the world are not. When it launched in 2006, Twitter looked like a rather sweet joke but it has now morphed into a blend of things, both positive and negative: the worlds newswire; a conduit for all kinds of good, bad and indifferent information; a battleground for what the Oxford scholar Philip Howard once called Lie Machines; and Donald Trumps megaphone.

So what happens on Twitter now really matters. In 2013, for example, a hacker took over the Associated Press account and falsely reported that there had been two explosions in the White House and that President Obama had been injured. The stock market briefly dropped like a stone.

One of the things the pandemic has done is to make everyone realise the extent to which the internet and the services that run on it has become the critical infrastructure of 21st-century life. A survey of 2,000 Americans conducted last week, for example, found that 77% of those interviewed said they dont know what theyd do on a daily basis without the technology; similar experiences are reported everywhere.

The kinds of lockdown weve experienced would have been impossible to manage in the pre-internet age. Take just one example. Last December, Zoom had 10 million daily meeting participants; by last month, that figure had grown to 300 million. Much the same is reported for Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Ciscos Webex and other conferencing tools.

There are, however, a couple of major downsides to this massive increase in our dependence on the technology. The first concerns what security specialists call the attack surface the different points where a hacker can try to intrude on, and exploit, an environment. The key to computer security is to reduce the attack surface as much as possible. However, the pandemic has forced us to make it as large as possible.

We now have hundreds of millions of non-technical employees working from home on insecure laptops, using flaky (and often hackable) network connections to ferry sensitive or confidential data to and from their physical workplaces. In other words, the lockdown has created a hackers dreamworld an unimaginable forest of low-hanging fruit.

The result? Cybercrime is one of the fastest-growing businesses. An IBM spokesman was reported the other day as saying the company had seen a 6,000% increase in Covid-related spam at the height of the pandemic. A typical example (from US experience): an email dispatched to people who are desperate for PPP [the US Paycheck Protection Program]. It installs malware into their computers, steals all their information [and] says, If you dont pay us a ransom we will infect you and your family with Covid-19. Hospitals in Europe dealing with coronavirus patients have had ransomware attacks. The FBI is reporting a massive increase in attacks. And so it goes on.

The second, and potentially more lethal, downside of the pandemic comes from the failure of social-media platforms to curb virus-related disinformation. It has become abundantly clear since 2016 that Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter are unable to control, effectively, the volume of conspiracy theories, disinformation and other garbage that pollute their privately owned public spaces.

At the root of this incapacity lie two factors. One is the sheer scale of the volume of content that has to be moderated; machine-learning technology can help with this but it is clearly not up to coping with the malign ingenuity of manipulative humans. The other is that the business models of the platforms, which prioritise user engagement, militate against more robust editorial control.

Given that, as societies try to recover from the pandemic, an alarming scenario begins to loom. It goes like this: a vaccine is invented and countries embark on massive vaccination programmes. However, conspiracy theorists use social media to oppose the programme and undermine public confidence in the vaccination drive. It will be like the anti-MMR campaign but on steroids.

What we have learned from the coronavirus crisis so far is that the only way to manage it is by coherent, concerted government action to slow the transmission rate. As societies move into a vaccination phase, then an analogous approach will be needed to slow the circulation of misinformation and destructive antisocial memes on social media. Twitter would be much improved by removing the retweet button, for example. Users would still be free to pass on ideas but the process would no longer be frictionless. Similarly, Facebooks algorithms could be programmed to introduce a delay in the circulation of certain kinds of content. YouTubes recommender algorithms could be modified to prioritise different factors from those they currently favour. And so on.

Measures such as these will be anathema to the platforms. Tough. In the end, they will have to make choices between their profits and the health of society. If they get it wrong then regulation is the only way forward. And governments will have to remember that to govern is to choose.

John Naughton is an Observer columnist

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Recovery from Covid-19 will be threatened if we don't learn to control big tech - The Guardian