Facebook rejects German demand to allow fake names

 Facebook will fight a German privacy watchdog's demand to allow users to register with fake names, insisting Tuesday that its current practice fully complies with the law.
The California-based social networking site has long required users to register with their real names — a policy that the data protection commissioner of Schleswig-Holstein state says is in breach of German law and European rules designed to protect free speech online.
The commissioner, Thilo Weichert, ordered Facebook on Monday to rescind its real name policy immediately.
"We believe the orders are without merit, a waste of German taxpayers' money and we will fight it vigorously," Facebook said in a statement. The company claims that its real name policy is intended to protect users.
Weichert told The Associated Press that Facebook has two weeks to respond. If it fails to comply with the order, his office can impose a penalty against the company, said Weichert.
The maximum fine would be only €50,000 ($66,000) — peanuts for a multinational company, but nevertheless a symbolic blow that could also lead to a tougher stance from other German and European privacy regulators.
"We have the right to prevent this data protection breach," he said. "Theoretically we can order the website blocked, but that would be disproportionate."
German privacy rules have posed a legal headache for Facebook, Google and other web giants in recent years. The country has strict laws on data protection that give consumers significant rights to limit the way companies use their information.
Weichert has previously warned investors against buying Facebook shares, warning that the company's "business model will implode" because Facebook users' private information is used in breach of European law.

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Is Facebook the New Walmart?

It’s hard to keep up with the ways we are being duped daily, living in a fast-paced society of convenience, unlimited social sharing and a desire to get more for less. Numbed from the sheer quantity of what we take in, we forget that for every action, is a reaction.
Danish philosopher, theologian, poet and social critic Søren Aabye Kierkegaard summed it up when he said “As a result of knowing and being everything possible, one is in contradiction with oneself.”
If the philosopher/social critic were here today, what would he say of our use of social media. Could he have ever predicted such a worldwide platform could exist? And while we’re hitting him up with questions, what would he say about Sam Walton’s exercise in creating products at rock bottom prices for people who find worth in consuming?
MORE: The Twitter Counterrevolution
The price we pay for free and discount has implications and direct blood ties to a dark psychology that has increasingly become embedded in our DNA.
Take for instance when Facebook bought Instagram last April. Despite already being disillusioned by Facebook on a number of cloudy privacy issues, fresh cries went up decrying the injustice of a massive company growing massively bigger.
Mashable’s 20 Witty Reactions to the buy showcased a mix of reactions from being taken by “the man,” to snarky posts on preparing to lose identity…again.
Just this past mid-December, Kevin Systrom co-founder of Instagram, issued a statement clarifying the Instagram Terms of Service, which are already easy enough for the Everyman to understand: “From the start, Instagram was created to become a business,” Systrom said.
As if we didn’t know.
“Their drive to be the total digital representation of every person on the planet is having huge impacts on personal privacy, ownership of our personal digital creations, and expansion of government’s ability to intrude in their citizens’ lives.”
Yet the idea that our private lives have been packaged into products, are social collateral for sale, is troubling to many, but maybe not troubling enough to abandon Instagram and other mass social media platforms.
A friend recently posted on Facebook regarding the Instagram invasion of privacy “This whole thing is ridiculous and people just need to embrace social media for what it is... ugh.” 
We might ask just what “it” is and why it smells ripe of social injustice.
Alex Steed, Partner at Knack Factory, a creative content firm based in Portland, Maine, says that, if we need comparisons, Facebook just might be the post-modern, digital Walmart.
“Walmart came around in the age of the uninformed consumer, and they built an empire. The consumer is now more informed, ironically, because of Facebook and other platforms like it,” Steed tells TakePart. “In that way, its greatest strength, the fact that everyone uses it to pass along information, is its greatest weakness, which is that the platform could be used to spread information about the terrible things it is doing.”
He adds that companies and organizations can clearly still cross lines and anger the public. But when people become dependent on services, and accustomed to the role providers play in their lives, it becomes more and more difficult to divest oneself.
From cheap packs of underwear at Walmart to a morning status post on Facebook, have we become addicted to these bargain services that come at the cost of environment, personal property and even death?
It’s okay. Everyone else is doing it. You’re just a drop in a huge bucket.
A Stanford study titled “Social Networking and Ethics” dives deep into the psychology of social media and a “digital totalitarianism” that uses the power of information rather than physical force as a means of control, “a trend which itself would beg for ethical contextualization.”
The study says that through these social networking technologies, “the urgent need for attention to this phenomenon is underscored by the fact that it is reshaping how human beings initiate and/or maintain virtually every type of ethically significant social bond or role: friend-to-friend, parent-to-child, co-worker-to co-worker, employer-to-employee, teacher-to-student, neighbor-to-neighbor, seller-to-buyer, and doctor-to-patient, to offer just a partial list.”
Erik Ritchie, Vice president of Strategy at Salt Branding, wouldn’t go so far as to say that either Facebook or Walmart are totalitarian in nature, but he does believe they share a similar characteristic: Their societal costs are essentially hiding from their customers/users.
“In the case of Walmart, their efforts to drive down costs at all costs have had ripple effects that negatively impact the global environment and the livelihood and work conditions experienced by their direct employees and those employed by their suppliers. In the case of Facebook, their drive to be the total digital representation of every person on the planet is having huge impacts on personal privacy, ownership of our personal digital creations, and expansion of government’s ability to intrude in their citizens’ lives,” Ritchie tells TakePart.
He adds that only when the true costs incurred by these companies are placed front and center in a meaningful way to all consumers can we expect change.
Computer scientist, composer, visual artist, and author, Jaron Lanier frames the point cynically when he says: “The only hope for social networking sites from a business point of view is for a magic formula to appear in which some method of violating privacy and dignity becomes acceptable.”
It doesn’t take a fresh pair of reality goggles to see we may already be there.

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Taliban not demanding Afghan power monopoly

 Taliban representatives at a conference did not insist on total power in Afghanistan and pledged to grant rights to women that the militant Islamist group itself brutally suppressed in the past, according to a Taliban statement received Sunday.
The pledges emerged from a rare meeting last week involving Taliban and Kabul government representatives.
The less strident substance and tone came in a speech delivered at a conference in France. The French hosts described it as a discussion among Afghans rather than peace negotiations.
It was hard to determine whether the softer line taken by the Taliban representatives reflected a real shift in policy or a salvo in the propaganda war for the hearts and minds of Afghans.
The speech said that a new constitution would protect civil and political rights of all citizens. It promised that women would be allowed to choose husbands, own property, attend school and seek work, rights denied them during Taliban rule, which ended with the 2001 U.S. invasion. The speech was emailed from Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
"We are not looking to monopolize power. We want an all-Afghan inclusive government," the speech said. It was delivered by two Taliban officials, Mawlawi Shahbuddin Dilawar and Muhammad Naeem during the conference on Thursday and Friday.
Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman said the government welcomed such talks but did not expect them to bridge the gap between the warring sides.
The United States started to embrace the idea of peace talks after President Barack Obama took office, but discussions stalled in recent years, despite the formation of an Afghan government council tasked with reaching out to the Taliban and the establishment of a Taliban political office in Qatar.
"The peace initiative is a process, and one or two or three meetings are not going to solve the problems. But we are hopeful for the future," Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai said. He said the government's preconditions for the talks with the Taliban have not changed: a cease-fire, recognition of the Afghan constitution, cutting ties with international terrorists and agreeing to respect the rights of Afghan citizens including women and children.
The Taliban speech reiterated the group's own longtime policies, declaring that the current constitution was "illegitimate because it is written under the shadow of (U.S.) B-52 aircraft" and that the Taliban remained the legitimate government of the country, a reference to the U.S.-led campaign that drove the Taliban from power.
It also called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces and said a 2014 national election was "not beneficial for solving the Afghan quandary" because it would take place while the country was still under foreign occupation.
Most NATO forces are scheduled to be withdrawn by 2014. The Kabul government and its international backers hope that a peace deal can be brokered with the Taliban and other militant groups before the pullout. NATO still has more than 100,000 troops, including 66,000 U.S. soldiers, on the ground. Washington is now determining the size of a scaled down force the United States will keep in Afghanistan after 2014.
"The occupation must be ended as a first step, which is the desire of the entire nation, because this is the mother of all these tragedies," the speech said.
The conference was also attended by the Hezb-e-Islami group, which is allied with the Taliban, and political opponents of President Hamid Karzai, whom the Taliban regard as a puppet of Washington.

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Police say Afghan policewoman kills US adviser

An Afghan policewoman killed an American adviser at the Kabul police headquarters on Monday, a senior Afghan police official said.
Kabul's Deputy Police Chief Mohammad Daoud Amin said it has not been determined whether the killing was intentional or accidental and that an investigation is under way. He declined to elaborate on the circumstances of the killing or give more details.
It was also not known whether the victim was a U.S. military or civilian adviser. The NATO military command said it was looking into reports of the shooting but had no independent information.
More than 50 international troops have been killed by Afghan soldiers or police this year, and a number of other assaults — insider attacks as they are known — are still under investigations. NATO forces, due to mostly withdraw from the country by 2014, have speeded up efforts to train and advise Afghan military and police units before the pullout.
The surge in insider attacks is throwing doubt on the capability of the Afghan security forces to take over from international troops and has further undermined public support for the 11-year war in NATO countries.
More than 50 Afghan members of the government's security forces also have died this year in attacks by their own colleagues. Taliban militants claim such attacks reflect a growing popular opposition to both foreign military presence and the Kabul government.

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Police shut down roads to stop India rape protests

 Authorities shut down roads in the heart of India's capital on Monday to put an end to a week of demonstrations against the brutal gang-rape of a woman on a moving bus.
Thousands of armed police and paramilitary troops blocked roads in central New Delhi to prevent protesters from marching to the presidential palace. A small group of demonstrators gathered at a venue about a kilometer (less than a mile) away from India's parliament to press the government to ensure the security of women in the city.
The city ground to a halt as commuters found themselves caught in massive traffic jams after most roads in central Delhi were barricaded by police.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed for calm and promised that the government would take tough action to prevent crimes against women. There has been outrage across India over the Dec. 16 rape that left the young woman in critical condition in a hospital.
"Anger at this crime is justified, but violence will serve no purpose," Singh told protesters.
He assured them that the government would "make all possible efforts to ensure security and safety of women in this country."
Police have used tear gas and water cannons and hit protesters with batons during the protests, leading to widespread criticism of authorities for the use of excessive force.
The demonstrations have continued despite repeated promises by Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde that he will consider protesters' demands that all six suspects who have been arrested following the attack face the death penalty.

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Afghan policewoman kills US adviser, police say

 An Afghan policewoman shot and killed an American adviser outside the police headquarters in Kabul on Monday, the latest in a rising tide of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies, senior Afghan officials said.
The woman, identified as Afghan police Sgt. Nargas, had entered a strategic compound in the heart of the capital and shot the adviser with a pistol as he came out of a small shop with articles he had just bought, Kabul Governor Abdul Jabar Taqwa told The Associated Press.
The woman was taken into Afghan custody shortly after the attack.
Earlier, she had asked bystanders where the governor's office was located, the governor said. As many Afghans, the policewoman uses only one name.
A NATO command spokesman, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Lester T. Carroll, said the woman was arrested after the incident. The slain adviser was a contractor whose identity wasn't immediately released.
The attack occurred outside the police headquarters in a walled, highly secure compound which also houses the governor's office, courts and a prison. Kabul Deputy Police Chief Mohammad Daoud Amin said an investigation was under way.
"We can confirm that a civilian police adviser was shot and killed this morning by a suspected member of the Afghan uniformed police. The suspected shooter is in Afghan custody," Carroll said.
The killing came just hours after an Afghan policeman shot five of his colleagues at a checkpoint in northern Afghanistan late Monday. The attacker then stole his colleague's weapons and fled to join the Taliban, said deputy provincial governor in Jawzjan province, Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani.
More than 60 international allies, including troops and civilian advisers, have been killed by Afghan soldiers or police this year, and a number of other insider attacks as they are known are still under investigations. NATO forces, due to mostly withdraw from the country by 2014, have speeded up efforts to train and advise Afghan military and police units before the pullout.
The surge in insider attacks is throwing doubt on the capability of the Afghan security forces to take over from international troops and has further undermined public support for the 11-year war in NATO countries. It has also stoked suspicion among some NATO units of their Afghan counterparts, although others enjoy close working relations with Afghan military and police.
As such attacks mounted this year, U.S. officials in Kabul and Washington insisted they were "isolated incidents" and withheld details. An AP investigation earlier this month showed that at least 63 coalition troops — mostly Americans — had been killed and more than 85 wounded in at least 46 insider attacks. That's an average of nearly one attack a week. In 2011, 21 insider attacks killed 35 coalition troops.
There have also been incidents of Taliban and other militants dressing in Afghan army and police uniforms to infiltrate NATO installations and attack foreigners.
In February, two U.S. soldiers — Lt. Col. John D. Loftis and Maj. Robert J. Marchanti, died from wounds received during an attack by an Afghan policeman at the Interior Ministry in Kabul. The incident forced NATO to temporarily pull out their advisers from a number of ministries and police units and revise procedures in dealing with Afghan counterparts.
The latest known insider attack took place Nov. 11 when a British soldier, Capt. Walter Reid Barrie, was killed by an Afghan army soldier during a football match between British and Afghan soldiers in the restive southern province of Helmand.
More than 50 Afghan members of the government's security forces also have died this year in attacks by their own colleagues. Taliban militants claim such attacks reflect a growing popular opposition to both foreign military presence and the Kabul government.
In Sunday's attack, Jawzjani, the provincial official, said the attacker was an Afghan policeman manning a checkpoint in Dirzab District who turned his weapon on five colleagues before fleeing to the militant Islamist group.

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Afghan policewoman kills US adviser in Kabul

An Afghan policewoman shot and killed an American adviser outside the police headquarters in Kabul on Monday, the latest in a rising tide of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies, senior Afghan officials said.
The woman, identified as Afghan police Sgt. Nargas, had entered a strategic compound in the heart of the capital and shot the adviser with a pistol as he came out of a small shop with articles he had just bought, Kabul Governor Abdul Jabar Taqwa told The Associated Press.
The woman was taken into Afghan custody shortly after the attack.
Earlier, she had asked bystanders where the governor's office was located, the governor said. As many Afghans, the policewoman uses only one name.
A NATO command spokesman, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Lester T. Carroll, said the woman was arrested after the incident. The slain adviser was a contractor whose identity wasn't immediately released.
The attack occurred outside the police headquarters in a walled, highly secure compound which also houses the governor's office, courts and a prison. Kabul Deputy Police Chief Mohammad Daoud Amin said an investigation was under way.
He said Nargas, a mother of four, had worked with a human rights department of the police for two years and had earlier been a refugee in Pakistan and Iran. She could enter the compound armed because as a police officer she was licensed to carry a pistol, the police official said. Amin did not know whether the killer and victim were acquainted.
"We can confirm that a civilian police adviser was shot and killed this morning by a suspected member of the Afghan uniformed police. The suspected shooter is in Afghan custody," Carroll said.
Canadian Brig. Gen. John C. Madower, a command spokesman in Kabul, called the incident "a very sad occasion" and said his "prayers are with the loved ones of the deceased."
The killing came just hours after an Afghan policeman shot five of his colleagues at a checkpoint in northern Afghanistan late Monday. The attacker then stole his colleague's weapons and fled to join the Taliban, said deputy provincial governor in Jawzjan province, Faqir Mohammad Jawzjani.
More than 60 international allies, including troops and civilian advisers, have been killed by Afghan soldiers or police this year, and a number of other insider attacks as they are known are still under investigations. NATO forces, due to mostly withdraw from the country by 2014, have speeded up efforts to train and advise Afghan military and police units before the pullout.
The surge in insider attacks is throwing doubt on the capability of the Afghan security forces to take over from international troops and has further undermined public support for the 11-year war in NATO countries.
It has also stoked suspicion among some NATO units of their Afghan counterparts, although others enjoy close working relations with Afghan military and police.
As such attacks mounted this year, U.S. officials in Kabul and Washington insisted they were "isolated incidents" and withheld details. An AP investigation earlier this month showed that at least 63 coalition troops — mostly Americans — had been killed and more than 85 wounded in at least 46 insider attacks. That's an average of nearly one attack a week. In 2011, 21 insider attacks killed 35 coalition troops.
There have also been incidents of Taliban and other militants dressing in Afghan army and police uniforms to infiltrate NATO installations and attack foreigners.
In February, two U.S. soldiers — Lt. Col. John D. Loftis and Maj. Robert J. Marchanti, died from wounds received during an attack by an Afghan policeman at the Interior Ministry in Kabul. The incident forced NATO to temporarily pull out their advisers from a number of ministries and police units and revise procedures in dealing with Afghan counterparts.
The latest known insider attack took place Nov. 11 when a British soldier, Capt. Walter Reid Barrie, was killed by an Afghan army soldier during a football match between British and Afghan soldiers in the restive southern province of Helmand.
More than 50 Afghan members of the government's security forces also have died this year in attacks by their own colleagues. Taliban militants claim such attacks reflect a growing popular opposition to both foreign military presence and the Kabul government.
In Sunday's attack, Jawzjani, the provincial official, said the attacker was an Afghan policeman manning a checkpoint in Dirzab District who turned his weapon on five colleagues before fleeing to the militant Islamist group.

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Off Fiscal Cliff, Obama Goes Golfing

Taking a break from the fiscal cliff negotiations, President Obama is spending the first day of his holiday vacation golfing with friends and aides, including longtime pal Bobby Titcomb, who was arrested last year on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute.
After arriving in Hawaii late last night, the president spent this morning at his family's vacation residence along the shores of Kailua, a quiet town on a stretch of beach on the east end of Oahu.
Shortly before noon, the president made the trip to the Kailua Marine Corps Base, where he is hitting the links at the Kaneohe Clipper course.
Obama is golfing with close aide Marvin Nicholson, White House chef Sam Kass, and childhood friends Mike Ramos and Titcomb, whom the president has known since they attended Honolulu's Punahou School together in the 1970s.
Titcomb was arrested in April 2011 in an undercover prostitution sting operation. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge and the conviction was reportedly later expunged from his record.
With negotiations over the deficit at a standstill and Congress closed for the Christmas holiday, the first family left Washington late Friday for their annual vacation in Obama's native state, his first vacation of the year.
The president told reporters in a hastily scheduled appearance in the briefing room that he would "see you next week." His return date is still to be determined.

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Reid urges quick appointment of Inouye successor

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is asking Hawaii's governor to act before the end of the year to fill the Senate vacancy created by the death of Daniel Inouye of Hawaii.
Reid says he's asked Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie to appoint Inouye's successor "with due haste." Reid says he wants to ensure Hawaii is fully represented "in the pivotal decisions" the Senate will be making.
Inouye died of respiratory complications last week, leaving Democrats down one seat as the Senate prepares for the possibility of voting on a measure that would avoid a "fiscal cliff" of tax hikes and spending cuts.
Hawaii Rep. Colleen Hanabusa is the favorite for the post. Inouye, a fellow Democrat, endorsed Hanabusa in a letter he sent to Abercrombie on the day he died.

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Early signs show Egypt's new constitution passing

Early indications showed Egyptians approved an Islamist-drafted constitution after Saturday's final round of voting in a referendum despite opposition criticism of the measure as divisive.
An official from the Muslim Brotherhood's political party, which backs Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, said that after nearly 4 million votes had been counted there was a majority of 74 percent in favor of the constitution.
Exit polls from the opposition National Salvation Front also showed the constitution passing, an official said.
Last week's first round returned 57 percent in favor of the constitution, according to unofficial data. The vote was split over two days as many judges refused to supervise the ballot.
The referendum committee may not declare official results for the two rounds until Monday, after hearing appeals.
Islamist backers of Mursi say the constitution is vital to move to democracy, nearly two years after an Arab Spring revolt overthrew authoritarian ruler Hosni Mubarak. It will provide stability for a weak economy, they say.
But the opposition accuses Mursi of pushing through a text that favors Islamists and ignores the rights of Christians, who make up about 10 percent of the population, as well as women.
"I'm voting 'no' because Egypt can't be ruled by one faction," said Karim Nahas, 35, a stockbroker, heading to a polling station in Giza, in greater Cairo.
At another polling station, some voters said they were more interested in ending Egypt's long period of political instability than in the Islamist aspects of the charter.
"We have to extend our hands to Mursi to help fix the country," said Hisham Kamal, an accountant.
VICE PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES RESIGNATION
Hours before polls closed, Vice President Mahmoud Mekky announced his resignation. He said he wanted to quit last month but stayed on to help Mursi tackle a crisis that blew up when the Islamist leader assumed wide powers.
Mekky, a prominent judge who said he was uncomfortable in politics, disclosed earlier he had not been informed of Mursi's power grab. The timing of his resignation appeared linked to the lack of a vice-presidential post under the draft constitution.
Rights groups reported alleged law violations during voting. They said some polling stations opened late, that Islamists illegally campaigned at some of them, and complained of voter registration irregularities, including listing of a dead person.
The new basic law sets a limit of two four-year presidential terms. It says sharia law principles remain the main source of legislation but adds an article to explain this further. It also says Islamic authorities will be consulted on sharia - a source of concern to Christians and other non-Muslims.
If the constitution passes, there will be parliamentary elections in about two months.
After the first round of voting, the opposition said alleged abuses meant the first stage of the referendum should be re-run.
But the committee overseeing the two-stage vote said its investigations showed no major irregularities in voting on December 15, which covered about half of Egypt's 51 million voters. About 25 million were eligible to vote in the second round.
MORE UNREST
If the charter is approved, the opposition says it is a recipe for trouble since it will not have received sufficiently broad backing and that it will not have been a fair vote.
"I see more unrest," said Ahmed Said, head of the liberal Free Egyptians Party and a member of the National Salvation Front, an opposition coalition formed after Mursi expanded his powers on November 22 and then pushed the constitution to a vote.
Protesters accused the president of acting like a pharaoh, and he was forced to issue a second decree two weeks ago that amended a provision putting his decisions above legal challenge.
Said cited "serious violations" on the first day of voting, and said anger against Mursi was growing. "People are not going to accept the way they are dealing with the situation."
At least eight people were killed in protests outside the presidential palace in Cairo this month. Islamists and rivals hurled stones at each other on Friday in Alexandria, the second-biggest city. Two buses were torched.
Late on Saturday, Mursi announced the names of 90 new members he had appointed to the upper house of parliament, state media reported, and a presidential official said the list was mainly liberals and other non-Islamists.
Mursi's main opponents from liberal, socialist and other parties said they had refused to take any seats.
Two-thirds of the 270-member upper house was elected in a vote early this year, with one third appointed by the president. Mursi, elected in June, had not named them till now. Mursi's Islamist party and its allies dominate the assembly.

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