Is Twitter Actively Censoring Human Rights Activists in Palestine?

Quick background: earlier today, IDF soldiers stormed a relief flotilla/convey headed towards Gaza carrying food, medical supplies, and other relief materials in an attempt to bypass a blockade of the Gaza territories. The raid on the flotilla resulted in the death of 16 aid workers.

A post on twitpic earlier today asks

Can’t get why #flotilla is not trending; censored, why?

and articles on the web search for explanations, since it’s very clear that flotilla is indeed a trending topic, going by the trendistic results (see below).

Some are saying that twitter needs to manually approve trending topics to prevent abuse, etc. but there’s something that doesn’t add up: why is twitter actively blocking searches for #flotilla?

You can check it out for yourself: for the past hour or so, searching twitter for #flotilla turns up the dreaded “Something is technically wrong” page but searching for any other #topic works!

As they say, the proof is in the pudding (images after the jump):

Continue reading

VIPeR: The Israeli Murder Machine

Israel has just unveiled its newest way of “defending itself” that would “reduce the risk to it’s forces [IDF].” It’s called the VIPeR, and no, despite the spelling, it’s not a warez team. It’s an autonomous hand-to-hand fighting machine, that has an onboard Uzi submachine gun and grenade storage. It’s supposed to be able to enter combat zones on its own, and engage enemy fighters. According to its manufacturer, Elbit Systems, it’ll be used to move “undeterred by stairs, rubble, dark alleys, caves or narrow tunnels.” It has an onboard camera that lets it aim, and a hell of a lot of ammo in case it misses.

That’s rather scary. A robot – that can fight, kill, & plant bombs – all indiscrimanetly of course. The last time we checked, AI wasn’t in production yet, so we highly doubt the “VIPeR” can tell the difference between civillian and “guerilla fighter.”

If it’s an indiscrimate killing machine, remotely deployed to “combat zones,” it’s going to kill all the wrong people. If you’ve ever been to Lebanon or Palestine, you’d realize just why this is such a ridiculous deception: there are no “combat zones,” just combatants amongst civillians. All of them are next-door-neighbors, fathers, brothers, children. They’re not fighting against an army, they’re fighting against armed citizens and rebels. There’s a big difference.

Continue reading