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Apr 5 16 5:16 PM
Knowing you're being watched online can have a 'chilling effect on democratic discourse', the study said Government surveillance of the internet may cause people to self-censor and avoid voicing controversial opinions, a new study has suggested. The study looks at how knowledge of surveillance can cause a "chilling effect on democratic discourse" online, and paints a worrying picture of the future of free speech on the internet.For her research, Wayne State University's Elizabeth Stoycheff looked through the lens of the 'Spiral of Silence' theory, which describes the tendency of people to keep quiet when they think their views go against those of the majority.The findings were based on online surveys conducted by a group of participants, which built up a profile of each by asking them questions about their media consumption, political views and personality traits. During the survey, a random group of participants were selected to be given a message which "primed" them to perceive their online activity was being monitored by the US government.
Government surveillance of the internet may cause people to self-censor and avoid voicing controversial opinions, a new study has suggested.
The study looks at how knowledge of surveillance can cause a "chilling effect on democratic discourse" online, and paints a worrying picture of the future of free speech on the internet.
For her research, Wayne State University's Elizabeth Stoycheff looked through the lens of the 'Spiral of Silence' theory, which describes the tendency of people to keep quiet when they think their views go against those of the majority.
The findings were based on online surveys conducted by a group of participants, which built up a profile of each by asking them questions about their media consumption, political views and personality traits.
During the survey, a random group of participants were selected to be given a message which "primed" them to perceive their online activity was being monitored by the US government.
Read more @ http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/technology/government-surveillance-stops-people-sharing-controversial-opinions-online-study-suggests-34581359.html
No need for backdoors or weakened encryption when clever policing does the job.Key evidence that helped convict two British men last week for terrorist offences was reportedly obtained from a locked phone using a simple but highly effective ruse. According to CNN, which cited a source close to the investigation, undercover police officers visited Junead Khan, 25, of Luton posing as company managers and asked to check his driver and work records. "When they disputed where he was on a particular day, he got out his iPhone and showed them the record of his work. The undercover officers asked to see his iPhone and Khan handed it over," CNN reported. At that point they apparently arrested Khan and changed the password settings on the iPhone to prevent it from becoming locked. Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Police's counter terrorism command, told CNN: "Via that phone we knew that they'd been in contact with Daesh fighters in Syria via text message, via e-mails but also using social media applications but also there was a vast amount of extremist and terrorist material on there in relation to how to make a bomb, for instance, but also material that related to atrocities overseas."
Key evidence that helped convict two British men last week for terrorist offences was reportedly obtained from a locked phone using a simple but highly effective ruse.
According to CNN, which cited a source close to the investigation, undercover police officers visited Junead Khan, 25, of Luton posing as company managers and asked to check his driver and work records.
"When they disputed where he was on a particular day, he got out his iPhone and showed them the record of his work. The undercover officers asked to see his iPhone and Khan handed it over," CNN reported. At that point they apparently arrested Khan and changed the password settings on the iPhone to prevent it from becoming locked.
Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Police's counter terrorism command, told CNN: "Via that phone we knew that they'd been in contact with Daesh fighters in Syria via text message, via e-mails but also using social media applications but also there was a vast amount of extremist and terrorist material on there in relation to how to make a bomb, for instance, but also material that related to atrocities overseas."
Read more @ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/04/iphone-terror-crypto-uk-police/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~
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