conservatives
Latest
An independent report on Facebook’s alleged liberal bias tells us nothing
Conservatives have long lamented that Facebook has a liberal, or anti-conservative, bias. Since the 2016 election, the company has been grilled on the issue by the White House more than once. In an attempt to clear the air, Facebook enlisted an independent third-party to decide once and for all if it does indeed have an anti-conservative bias. Last year, it asked former Republican Senator Jon Kyl and his team at Covington & Burling LLP to conduct a review of the company's policies. The results are in, and for the most part, they tell us nothing.
App flaw let anyone access UK Conservative politicians' data
The UK Conservative party is learning a hard lesson about the importance of basic security measures in mobile apps. Users have discovered that you could log into the party's conference app using only an attendee's email address, providing access to all kinds of sensitive data. And when many of the conference participants are politicians who registered with their email addresses at Parliament... you can guess what happened next.
Steve Bannon and Breitbart spent months trying to sabotage Twitter
BuzzFeed News released a report today detailing efforts made by Steve Bannon, Milo Yiannopoulos and Breitbart News to damage Twitter. For about a year, they explored various ways to bring down the platform, tactics that included legal action, an anti-Twitter editorial campaign and attempts to push down the company's stock price.
What the Conservative election manifesto means for UK tech
Strong and stable. Strong and stable. Strong and stable. Following Labour and the Liberal Democrats, the Conservative party has put forward its manifesto for the UK general election in June. Many of its 86 pages focus on strong leadership, a strong economy (are you getting the picture?) and the need for a "smooth, orderly" exit from the European Union. A large chunk, however, is also dedicated to science and technology, and how the government would support research, technical training and fledgling startups. In fact, the government considers "fast-changing technology" to be one of five key pillars essential to its success in the next parliament.
Facebook's Trending Topics may source more conservative news
According to a group who recently met with Facebook, the social media giant may very well be changing the way it chooses and identifies Trending Topics. This news arrives in light of a recent controversy regarding how and what the site identifies as trending news.
UK government cuts home solar rewards by 65 percent
As part of its commitment to renewable energy, the UK government offers financial contributions to those who have solar panels installed at their home. This "Feed-in Tariff" pays homeowners to generate their own power, which not only feeds the appliances in their home, but can also then be sold back to the grid by way of an "export tariff". Currently, the Feed-in Tariff sits at 12.47 pence per kilowatt hour, but the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) confirmed today that payments will be reduced to 4.39 pence from next month, a drop of 65 percent.
UK government torn over plans to censor 'extremist' TV shows
The Home Secretary Theresa May wants to give Ofcom, the UK's communications regulator, the ability to block shows with extremist content before they're shown on TV. The Queen's Speech will detail some of the Conservative government's legislative plans next week, and it's already been confirmed that Ofcom will be given "a strengthened role" to tackle broadcasters perceived to be showing extremist content. The new powers will be part of a new Counter-Extremism Bill which includes immigration restrictions for extremists and the power to close premises where extremists are thought to be influencing others.
UK government plans to block porn sites without age verification
It's election season in the UK, so get ready for a near-endless stream of new policies, proposals and promises from the major political parties. The latest from the Conservatives is actually an old idea that's been kicking around since last autumn: to force sites containing adult material to introduce proper age checks. It goes beyond the UK government's rather unpopular porn filters, which ISPs are now forced to offer customers as an "unavoidable choice." Simply highlighting the feature was supposed to encourage adoption, particularly from parents, but the latest figures from Ofcom suggest its impact has been limited. Now, the Conservatives want "effective age verification controls" for all online pornography, and plan to block sites which refuse to implement proper checks.
