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Cloudflare blocks trans harassment forum Kiwi Farms following escalation of 'targeted threats'
DNS and internet security provider Cloudflare has blocked Kiwi Farms, an infamous forum known for its online and real-world harassment campaigns.
New York State AG investigates Discord, Twitch roles in Buffalo mass shooting
New York State is launching an investigation into the roles Discord, Twitch and other sites may have played in the Buffalo mass shooting.
8chan returns without its most notorious community
The anonymous forum 8chan is back, although it might not be the anything-goes site it once was. The newly rebranded 8kun launched on November 3rd with many of 8chan's boards having made the migration. There's now a more prominent disclaimer that 8kun will remove any content deemed illegal in the US, however. The site operators (including Ron Watkins, the son of 8chan owner Jim Watkins) are clearly aware of the former site's reputation as a haven for racist mass shooters' manifestos and other illegal activity, and they don't want 8kun to be cut off like its predecessor was in August. That may also be reflected in what you don't see on the site.
After Math: Plead the fifth
With Dave Chappelle coming back to Netflix for the one, two, three, four, fif time later this month, we're taking a look at all of this week's headlines that will make you want to plead against self-incrimination.
Beto O'Rourke wants to hold internet companies liable for hate speech
If some politicians have their way, internet companies might be held responsible for hate that exists on their platform. Presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke has proposed amending the Communication Decency Act's Section 230, which protects internet companies from being held liable for their users' actions, to "remove legal immunity" for sites and providers that "knowingly promote" material that spurs violence. The operators of a community like 8chan, for example, might have been held responsible for routinely allowing the extremism that led to shootings in places like Christchurch and O'Rourke's hometown of El Paso.
US Homeland Security Committee subpoenas 8chan owner
The House Committee on Homeland Security has subpoenaed 8chan owner Jim Watkins to testify before congress after the site was linked to a deadly mass shooting in El Paso. "At least three acts of deadly white supremacist extremist violence have been linked to 8chan in the last six months," wrote Chairman Bennie G. Thompson and Ranking Member Mike Rogers.
Peer-to-peer 8Chan mirror makes users responsible for its child porn
It's been a few days since Cloudflare stopped providing security protections to 8Chan, which led to the notorious site going offline. While 8Chan's leaders are still trying unsuccessfully to bring the site back, some of its users have found a way to reach it through some rather unusual and potentially problematic methods. An extensive report from The Daily Beast details how some users are accessing the site via ZeroNet, a decentralized, peer-to-peer network for hosting content that's similar to BitTorrent. But due to how ZeroNet works, some users are getting worried that they're hosting child pornography.
White House invites tech companies to discuss violent online extremism
The White House plans to host a meeting with tech companies to discuss the rise of violent online extremism. According to The Washington Post, this is the Trump administration's first major engagement on the issue after the recent mass shooting in Texas left 22 people dead. Trump is scheduled to be at fundraisers in the Hamptons, so he may not attend.
House committee asks 8chan owner to testify over extremist content
Politicians are still determined to investigate 8chan's role in fueling extremism even though the site is effectively out of commission. The House's Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson and Ranking Member Mike Rogers have sent a letter to 8chan owner Jim Watkins asking him to testify about the site's efforts to "investigate and mitigate" the appearance of extremist content, including white supremacist material. The politicians were concerned that 8chan has been linked to three mass shootings in 2019 (Christchurch, Poway and El Paso), with the attackers reportedly posting letters or manifestos on the site shortly before committing the murders.
The internet is racing to cut ties with 8chan after another deadly shooting
Less than an hour before this weekend's deadly mass-shooting in El Paso, Texas, the suspect appears to have posted a rambling post filled with white nationalist and racist statements on 8chan. After a day of waffling, Cloudflare announced it would cut the security services it had provided the far-right site. That exposed 8chan to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, and for a time, the site was down. But 8chan soon found a way back online. Now, internet infrastructure companies are playing whack-a-mole, pulling the plug as other services step in to help 8chan get back online.
Cloudflare cuts off extremist site 8chan after multiple shootings
Cloudflare has announced that it will no longer provide security services to the far-right site 8chan following the deadly, mass shooting by a white nationalist in El Paso, Texas. That will open 8chan up to distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, starting at midnight PDT, that could permanently disable the site unless it's able to find another security service.
New Zealand ISPs block websites hosting Christchurch shooting video
Internet providers in New Zealand aren't relying solely on companies like Facebook and YouTube to get rid of the Christchurch mass shooter's video. Major ISPs in the country, including Vodafone, Spark and Vocus, are working together to block access at the DNS level to websites that don't quickly respond to video takedown requests. The move quickly cut off access to multiple sites, including 4chan, 8chan (where the shooter was a member), LiveLeak and file transfer site Mega. The block goes away the moment a site complies, and Vodafone told Bleeping Computer that a "number of sites" were unblocked that way.
THQ Nordic did an 8chan AMA and it went as well as you'd think
The marketing team at THQ Nordic woke up on Monday morning, made some coffee, powered on their computers and decided to host an AMA on a website blacklisted by Google in 2015 for hosting "suspected child abuse content."
Why PayPal’s crackdown on ASMR creators should worry you
In June, China banned and excised videos of sound effects while claiming to cleanse its internet of pornography. YouTube had already demonetized the genre in a sex panic; now PayPal is banning people for life and holding individuals' funds, ignorant of the facts and marching lockstep to the tune of 8chan trolls enacting a campaign to punish "whores." The most bitter punchline in all this? A tiny percentage of the entire video genre is even remotely sexual, and those suffering — female creators — aren't even making sex content.
