Author Topic: Thought Crimes  (Read 1193 times)

griz

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Thought Crimes
« on: August 26, 2014, 04:31:46 PM »
Why do we even need the Onion when we have stories such as this.  .GOV just spent a million dollars to start up a data base that will:

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monitor “suspicious memes” and what it considers “false and misleading ideas,” with a major focus on political activity online.

What could possibly go wrong?  Here is the story:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/08/26/feds-creating-database-to-track-hate-speech-on-twitter/
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TechMan

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Truthy to analyze and visualize the diffusion of info on Twitter
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2014, 04:32:45 PM »
Actual website for the Truthy System.
http://truthy.indiana.edu/about

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We also plan to use Truthy to detect political smears, astroturfing, misinformation, and other social pollution. While the vast majority of memes arise in a perfectly organic manner, driven by the complex mechanisms of life on the Web, some are engineered by the shady machinery of high-profile congressional campaigns. Truthy uses a sophisticated combination of text and data mining, social network analysis, and complex networks models. To train our algorithms, we leverage crowdsourcing: we rely on users like you to flag injections of forged grass-roots activity. Therefore, click on the Truthy button when you see a suspicious meme!
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Hawkmoon - Never underestimate another person's capacity for stupidity. Any time you think someone can't possibly be that dumb ... they'll prove you wrong.

Bacon and Eggs - A day's work for a chicken; A lifetime commitment for a pig.
Stupidity will always be its own reward.
Bad decisions make good stories.

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Viking - The problem with the modern world is that there aren't really any predators eating stupid people.

TechMan

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Re: Thought Crimes
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2014, 04:34:27 PM »
Merged topics.
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Hawkmoon - Never underestimate another person's capacity for stupidity. Any time you think someone can't possibly be that dumb ... they'll prove you wrong.

Bacon and Eggs - A day's work for a chicken; A lifetime commitment for a pig.
Stupidity will always be its own reward.
Bad decisions make good stories.

Quote
Viking - The problem with the modern world is that there aren't really any predators eating stupid people.

AmbulanceDriver

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Re: Thought Crimes
« Reply #3 on: August 26, 2014, 04:38:11 PM »
What.

The [censored].

[censored].

I like the "astroturfing" reference.

Because remember, only the right wing nutjobs astroturf.  If it's anything on the left, it's all plainly arisen "organically"....

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"For some many people, attempting to process a logical line of thought brings up the blue screen of death." -Blakenzy

SADShooter

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Re: Thought Crimes
« Reply #4 on: August 26, 2014, 04:42:47 PM »
Tamara at VFTP offers a succinctly elegant take: http://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/

(edit for splling)
« Last Edit: August 26, 2014, 06:21:13 PM by SADShooter »
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fifth_column

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Re: Thought Crimes
« Reply #5 on: August 26, 2014, 05:35:23 PM »
I like the reference to the "shady machinery of high-profile congressional campaigns."  Like there are any non-shady congressional campaigns . . .
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will... The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. ― Frederick Douglass

No American citizen should be willing to accept a government that uses its power against its own people.  -  Catherine Engelbrecht

Perd Hapley

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Re: Thought Crimes
« Reply #6 on: August 26, 2014, 05:54:11 PM »
Obama was right - this is the most transparent administration in history. They certainly couldn't be trying to fool anyone with this kind of thing.
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Scout26

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Re: Thought Crimes
« Reply #7 on: August 26, 2014, 05:56:35 PM »
I'll make sure to save some space for everyone in Room 101.
Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants won't help.


Bring me my Broadsword and a clear understanding.
Get up to the roundhouse on the cliff-top standing.
Take women and children and bed them down.
Bless with a hard heart those that stand with me.
Bless the women and children who firm our hands.
Put our backs to the north wind.
Hold fast by the river.
Sweet memories to drive us on,
for the motherland.

griz

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Re: Thought Crimes
« Reply #8 on: August 26, 2014, 06:25:48 PM »
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To train our algorithms, we leverage crowdsourcing: we rely on users like you to flag injections of forged grass-roots activity. Therefore, click on the Truthy button when you see a suspicious meme!

Maybe I don't have enough knowledge of computer science, but isn't this absolutely guaranteed to skew the results for whichever crowd you are speaking to?  Sort of like asking the barber if you need a haircut.
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230RN

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Re: Thought Crimes
« Reply #9 on: August 26, 2014, 06:52:10 PM »
Words fail me.  Good thing, too.

Michael Fornoznik, 230RN
WHATEVER YOUR DEFINITION OF "INFRINGE " IS, YOU SHOULDN'T BE DOING IT.

zxcvbob

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Re: Thought Crimes
« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2014, 07:52:16 PM »
Interesting that they ripped-off the name from Stephen Colbert  ("truthiness")  You know they're not paying any royalties for it.
« Last Edit: August 26, 2014, 09:38:05 PM by zxcvbob »
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Hawkmoon

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Re: Thought Crimes
« Reply #11 on: August 26, 2014, 08:49:37 PM »
Time to go back to smoke signals and semaphores.

This can't be constitutional. I hope the EFF takes them to the woodshed over it.
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Scout26

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Re: Thought Crimes
« Reply #12 on: August 26, 2014, 10:23:39 PM »
Quote
To train our algorithms, we leverage crowdsourcing: we rely on users like you to flag injections of forged grass-roots activity. Therefore, click on the Truthy button when you see a suspicious meme!

I'm headed over to Bloomberg's "Everytown" website and I'll be pounding the "Truthy" button like a Crack crazed Chimp.....
Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants won't help.


Bring me my Broadsword and a clear understanding.
Get up to the roundhouse on the cliff-top standing.
Take women and children and bed them down.
Bless with a hard heart those that stand with me.
Bless the women and children who firm our hands.
Put our backs to the north wind.
Hold fast by the river.
Sweet memories to drive us on,
for the motherland.