The Daily Populous

Thursday January 4th, 2018 evening edition

image for Facebook declines to say why it deletes certain political accounts, but not others

Facebook is declining to say why it appears to be picking and choosing political leaders to censor at the request of the US government after it deleted the social media accounts of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

The Silicon Valley technology company deleted Kadyrov’s Instagram and Facebook profiles after the United States imposed travel and economic sanctions on him over allegations of human rights abuses.

Facebook declined to explain why it had deleted some accounts but not others under US sanctions law.

A company spokeswoman told the Guardian: “We operate under the constraints of US laws, which vary by circumstance.”.

It seems as though Facebook is picking and choosing compliance, which suggests there is government involvement Jillian York, Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Kadyrov is an ally of Vladimir Putin and was added to the sanctions list with four other Russians in December.

However, because Facebook uses the US state department’s categorisation of terrorist organisation it blocks these politicians from having a presence on its platforms. »

After beating cable lobby, Colorado city moves ahead with muni broadband

Authored by arstechnica.com

The city council in Fort Collins, Colorado, last night voted to move ahead with a municipal fiber broadband network providing gigabit speeds, two months after the cable industry failed to stop the project.

Last night's city council vote came after residents of Fort Collins approved a ballot question that authorized the city to build a broadband network.

The Fort Collins City Council voted 7-0 to approve the broadband-related measures, a city government spokesperson confirmed to Ars today. »

Surprise as DNA reveals new group of Native Americans: the ancient Beringians

Authored by theguardian.com

Genetic analysis of a baby girl who died at the end of the last ice age shows she belonged to a previously unknown ancient group of Native Americans.

A baby girl who lived and died in what is now Alaska at the end of the last ice age belonged to a previously unknown group of ancient Native Americans, according to DNA recovered from her bones.

The newly-discovered group, named “ancient Beringians”, appears to have split off from the founding population of Native Americans about 20,000 years ago. »

Jon Bernthal to his "alt-right" Punisher fans: "Fuck them"

Authored by avclub.com

In some ways, Marvel’s The Punisher—a guy powered by little more than boundless rage, easy access to guns, and a spirit of classic, all-American murderous industriousness—is the quintessential conservative superhero.

That doesn’t mean the Netflix show’s star, Jon Bernthal, has any time for the modern trolls of the internet right-wing, though, bluntly telling any “alt-right” fans of his work that they can promptly go fuck themselves.

According to Bernthal, he’s proud to play a character whose symbol appears on the jackets and helmets of American soldiers fighting in foreign countries. »