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Frances Haugen, the whistleblower who released a trove of internal documents and data from Facebook and testified in front of lawmakers about the social network’s behavior, is now looking to start a non-profit focused on holding companies like Meta accountable, according to a report from Politico. The organization, which Haugen wants to call Beyond the Screen, plans to focus on three main goals: educating lawyers who could potentially be going up against social media companies, incentivizing investors to look into how socially responsible a tech company is before giving it money, and giving regulators and researchers an inside look into how platforms work. Politico reports that Haugen is currently working with two other people on the project, and is looking to raise around $5 million in funding to get it off the ground. The report also mentions that she has already received at least some funding from some currently unnamed backers. Haugen hopes that Beyond the Screen can give lawyers a leg up when they’re involved with class-action lawsuits against social media giants by making sure they know what to look for when filing.  » Read More

A polyamory advocacy group is calling on Facebook to allow users to list more than one romantic partner on their profiles. In an open letter last week, the Organization for Polyamory and Ethical Non-monogamy (OPEN), told the tech giant that Facebook’s current relationship status feature was ‘exclusionary’ towards people who practise ethical non-monogamy. ‘By restricting users to one relationship status (and one tagged partner) on their Profile, non-monogamous individuals are arbitrarily prevented from expressing the full range of their connections on the Facebook App,’ said the letter. Currently Facebook allows users to indicate that they’re ‘in an open relationship’ but the group finds this ‘limited’. The letter argues that since Facebook does not restrict the number of ‘family members’ that can be listed on a user’s profile, it should allow users to ‘indicate all of their romantic and intimate partners, without limit’. ‘By expanding the recognition of non-monogamous relationships on the Facebook App, Meta will improve users’ ability to present their most authentic self on their Profile,’ said the letter addressed to Tom Alison,  » Read More

It’s no secret that Facebook, with Mark Zuckerberg steering the ship, has long been attuned to rival products capable of diminishing its social networking dominance. Put simply, if people are chatting or sharing media content, Facebook desperately wants it to happen under its own umbrella. This all-encompassing strategy became evident when the company purchased Instagram for $1 billion in 2012. Though the purchase at the time was widely mocked, it quickly became apparent that it was an unabashedly brilliant move on Facebook’s part. Just a few years later, Facebook doled out a whopping $16 billion for the messaging service WhatsApp. The impetus for both acquisitions was simple: people were increasingly spending time on other social networking applications. Naturally, Mark Zuckerberg viewed this as a threat. Facebook’s most dangerous rival yet These days, Facebook faces a new and arguably more potent rival: TikTok. The popular video service, currently the most visited website in the world, is a haven for influencers, celebrities, brands, and of course, everyday individuals across the world. With people spending more time sharing and consuming videos on TikTok,  » Read More

The Arizona Cardinals are now exactly 12 weeks away from the start of the 2022 regular season. In 84 days, they will take the field at State Farm Stadium in Week 1 to take on the Kansas City Chiefs. No. 84 is currently worn by tight end David Wells and has been worn by many players, dating back to the 1950s. Below are a number of players who have worn No. 84 over the years below. Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify. Latest show: Previous shows: and 2021 (after Zach Ertz trade): TE Demetrius Harris © (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) 2015-2018: TE Jermaine Gresham © (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) 2011-2014: TE Rob Housler © Mark J.  » Read More

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Police Department fired an officer in April who got the words 'pure evil' tattooed on his knuckles and refused to remove the tattoos.CPD records show former officer Eric Weyda received the tattoos last December. A CPD Internal Investigations Section investigation determined Weyda's tattoos violated department policy. Weyda was guilty of insubordination because he refused to remove the tattoos, according to the IIS investigation. Cincinnati Police Department Former Cincinnati Police Officer Eric Weyda "Weyda was dismissed from CPD for failure of good behavior and insubordination," CPD spokeswoman Emily Szink wrote in an email response to the WCPO 9 I-Team's questions. "Weyda has appealed his dismissal and filed a grievance with the Fraternal Order of Police."CPD records show the department initially responded to Weyda's 'pure evil' knuckle tattoos by giving him an Evaluation Supplement Log (ESL), the lowest level of discipline.ESLs are used to supplement annual performance reviews. Weyda was also transferred from patrol to the police impound lot.  » Read More

Baraa Habab is a young Syrian man who discovered security-loopholes in Facebook but was ignored when he messaged the company with his concerns. He then hacked the account of one of the Facebook founders, forcing them to thank him and employ him, as well as adding his name to their honours list. The 25-year-old man from Damascus emerged after great suffering, as the war in Syria forced him to leave university, where he was studying Information Engineering and had to leave his country before achieving the dream of completing his studies. He worked hard alone, bearing the hardships of living abroad and scientific discovery in silence. He was far from the "many theoretical matters still taught at universities" and was taken by his passion for the world of programming far beyond what he expected. He worked patiently and diligently until he left his mark on the field of information security systems. This began in 2016 and 2017 when Baraa discovered a software error on Facebook. He wrote several times to them in Arabic and English,  » Read More

On February 21, 2002, I met my father. He had been briefly married to my mother, disappeared when I was an infant, and while we had spoken briefly when he appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, at my mother’s funeral on that day, we do not know each other.  Twenty years later, at age 56, I wanted to change that. I tracked down my father’s phone number and, lacking the courage to call, sent him a carefully constructed text message that read as follows: Hi ______. This is Teri Lynn, the daughter you had with Judy. I hope this message finds you happy and healthy! I will be in for a few days and was wondering if you would be interested in meeting for a short time?  He wrote back: Monday Wednesday or Thursday between 9 and 1. Please let me know.  When I sent a screenshot of our texts to my adult kids, one of them replied: You sound like a cheerleader and he sounds like he’s making a dental appointment!  » Read More

Home News Digital Art (Image credit: Dawid Sokołowski/Solen Feyissa via Unsplash) Big changes could be coming to the way your Facebook feed works. A leaked memo has revealed that Meta employees have been given a directive to make the Facebook news feed more like TikTok’s, in an effort to tempt back younger users.While Meta as a company is pivoting largely towards Mark Zuckerberg’s dream of the metaverse (check our our article explaining what is the metaverse if you’re still confused by the whole thing), Facebook continues to be an important part of funding that dream.A memo, sent in late April by Meta’s executive in charge of Facebook, Tom Alison, was obtained by The Verge (opens in new tab), and elucidates what the top strategic brains at the social network are thinking."The risk for us is that we dismiss this as being not valuable to people as a form of social communication and connection and we fail to evolve," Alison reportedly said in the memo.  » Read More

Bruce Frank, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention's sexual abuse task force, speaks during its annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif., Tuesday, June 14, 2022. Jae C. Hong/AP hide caption toggle caption Jae C. Hong/AP Bruce Frank, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention's sexual abuse task force, speaks during its annual meeting in Anaheim, Calif., Tuesday, June 14, 2022. Jae C. Hong/AP NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention put dissonance on display. The mass gathering Tuesday and Wednesday in Anaheim, Calif., entailed two days of bickering over hot-button religious topics — ordaining women, denouncing the LGBT movement, applauding abortion bans — interspersed with 15-minute blocks of worship, prayer and preaching. Repentance was the dominant theme of the spiritual interludes. There is much to repent for after the bombshell third-party investigation by Guidepost Solutions, authorized at last year's meeting. The report, made public May 22, revealed widespread silencing of abuse victims. The denomination even kept tabs on hundreds of credibly accused ministers but allowed them to move to other churches without sharing that information,  » Read More

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When you’re close to home you probably already know of coffee shops and restaurants that offer customers free public WiFi. If you work remotely, chances are you visit the same establishment over and over again because of their speedy WiFi network. If you’re visiting a town for the first time, you may find yourself looking for a cafe with great coffee and free WiFi. Rather than going from place to place to find one, Facebook has a little-known tool that can tell you everything from how good the coffee is, to if it has free WiFi. It’s in the Facebook smartphone app. Just open it wherever you are, go to the menu and look for settings and privacy. There you’ll see “Find Wi-Fi”. Using your precise location, Facebook shows you all of the nearby free WiFi networks. It’s incredibly useful if you’re visiting somewhere new. A recent search of the downtown district in New Orleans found dozens of shops, cafes, and coffee shops with free WiFi. If you tap on one of the listings,  » Read More