IBL News

Author: IBL News

  • An MITx Course on edX Explores Solutions for the Massive and Persistent World Poverty

    An MITx Course on edX Explores Solutions for the Massive and Persistent World Poverty

    IBL News | New York

    MITx launched on edX.org an 11-week, free course for learners interested in solving the massive and persistent economic poverty in the world.

    The Challenges of Global Poverty is taught by two Nobel Prize instructors: Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee, Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics, winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, and Esther Duflo, Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics in the Department of Economics, winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.

    The course–part of the MITx MicroMasters program in Data, Economics, and Development Policy—challenges economics to provide solutions.

    The authors pose the following questions:

    “Is extreme poverty a thing of the past? What is economic life like when living under a dollar per day? Are the poor always hungry? How do we make schools work for poor citizens? How do we deal with the disease burden? Is microfinance invaluable or overrated? Without property rights, is life destined to be “nasty, brutish, and short”? Should we leave economic development to the market? Should we leave economic development to non-governmental organizations (NGOs)? Does foreign aid help or hinder? Where is the best place to intervene?”

     

     

  • Parler May Never Get Back Online: Vendors Don’t Want Any Business with the App

    Parler May Never Get Back Online: Vendors Don’t Want Any Business with the App

    IBL News | New York

    The alternative micro-blogging platform favored by Trump supporters, Parler, may never get back online—said its CEO, John Matze yesterday.

    Following the mob assault on the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday, cloud service providers and business vendors—including Stripe, American Express, Twilio, and Slack—have severed ties with Parler. They cited the likelihood of harassment they could face.

    John Matze said to Reuters that the best thing would be if Parler could get back on AWS (Amazon Web Services).

    On Monday, Parler–which claims 12 million users and a valuation of a billion dollars—filed a lawsuit against AWS-Amazon after being suddenly cut off by the giant cloud service. Two days before, Apple and Google had kicked Parler from their app stores.

    On Tuesday, AWS filed exhibits that showed it had warned Parler last year about threatening language on its site.

    Telegram Eliminates Violent Channels

    With social platforms reevaluating their policies in light of the storming of the U.S. Capitol, Telegram announced yesterday a crackdown on violent channels. The alternative to WhatsApp messaging service said that it removed dozens of public channels in the last 24 hours.

  • Private Messaging Signal Becomes the #1 App on Apple’s and Google’s Stores

    Private Messaging Signal Becomes the #1 App on Apple’s and Google’s Stores

    IBL News | New York

    Yesterday, the encrypted secure messaging app, Signal, became yesterday the Number 1 free app on Apple Store and Google Play.

    It got 1.3 million downloads only on Monday. Overall, it has been installed 63.1 million times, according to Apptopia data analytics website.

    A competitor, Telegram, also surged to the second position.

    The appeal of Signal is that, in light of current events, the company cannot access any messages or calls made by users on the app, contrary to Twitter, or WhatsApp—property of Facebook.

    Messaging apps have more users—on average 30% more—than social media. Usually, conservative protesters turn to secretive messaging apps, especially in the last week following the crackdown by Facebook, Apple, Amazon, and other big tech companies.

    Meanwhile, WhatsApp downloads dramatically dropped in both app stores, despite its promise claiming that “Facebook will not have access to its users’ private messages, calls, shared locations, contacts, or groups.”

    Elon Musk, the tech billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX, also recommended Signal, after criticizing Facebook and Twitter.

  • Parler Social App Sues AWS-Amazon For Suspending Its Cloud Hosting Service

    Parler Social App Sues AWS-Amazon For Suspending Its Cloud Hosting Service

    IBL News | New York

    Alternative social platform Parler.com filed a lawsuit against AWS-Amazon yesterday “for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act in combination with Defendant Twitter”.

    The legal move followed AWS-Amazon’s decision to suspend Parler from its cloud hosting service, leaving the social media startup in the dark at 4:30 am ET Monday.

    In the filing, Parler claimed that “AWS’s decision is apparently motivated by political animus.”

    In addition, “AWS is also breaching it[s] contract with Parler, which requires AWS to provide Parler with a thirty-day notice before terminating service, rather than the less than thirty-hour notice AWS actually provided.”

    “Last month, Defendant Amazon Web Services, Inc. (“AWS”) and the popular social media platform Twitter signed a multi-year deal so that AWS could support the daily delivery of millions of tweets. AWS currently provides that same service to Parler, a conservative microblogging alternative and competitor to Twitter,” the filing reads.

    “When Twitter announced two evenings ago that it was permanently banning President Trump from its platform, conservative users began to flee Twitter en masse for Parler. The exodus was so large that the next day, yesterday, Parler became the number one free app downloaded from Apple’s App Store.”

    The suit came as Google and Apple also took action against Parler in the wake of a pro-Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol, suspending it from their app store Friday.

    Parler filed its lawsuit before U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein in the Western District of Washington. Rothstein was appointed to the federal bench by President Jimmy Carter in 1980.

  • Apple, Google, and AWS Kick Parler Off—the Social Media App Used by Trump’s Supporters

    Apple, Google, and AWS Kick Parler Off—the Social Media App Used by Trump’s Supporters

    IBL News | New York

    Apple, Google, and AWS/Amazon kick Parler off their platform this weekend, arguing that it has not sufficiently examined its users’ posts, allowing “dangerous and harmful content” that incites violence and lawless action.

    For example, a post, written by L. Lin Wood, a lawyer who had sued to overturn Mr. Trump’s election loss, posted on Parler on Thursday morning: “Get the firing squad ready. Pence goes FIRST.” The post was viewed at least 788,000 times.

    Another message—from a user called @Ronglaister—stated: “Sounds like war! It would be a pity if someone with explosives training were to pay a visit to some AWS Data Centers – the locations of which are public knowledge.”

    Parler—the alt-tech micro-blogging service and alternative to Twitter—has a significant user base of Donald Trump supporters, as well as users banned from mainstream social networks.

    Over the past months, it became one of the fastest-growing apps in the U.S. This Saturday, Parler was listed as the Number 1 in the App Store. Yesterday, it was fighting for its survival, according to its CEO, John Matze, as the service could soon go offline for not being able to find a new hosting service.

    “Big tech really wants to kill competition” and “completely remove free speech of the internet,” he said in a statement online and in several interviews. John Matze also revealed that “every vendor from text messages to email providers to our lawyers all ditched us too on the same day”. [Watch the interview below].

    After President Trump was kicked off Twitter, Parler was a logical choice to become his next megaphone.

    In a letter to Parler on Saturday, AWS/Amazon said that it had sent the micro-blogging company 98 examples of posts promoting violence that were still active. “It’s clear that Parler does not have an effective process to comply with Amazon’s rules.”

    On Friday, Apple gave Parler 24 hours to clean up its app or face removal from the App Store. On Saturday, Apple told the company its measures were inadequate and blocked iPhone owners from downloading the Parler app. (Users who already have installed the app will still be able to use it, as long as it is online.)

    “We have always supported diverse points of view being represented on the App Store, but there is no place on our platform for threats of violence and illegal activity,” Apple said in a statement.

    Several social media startups have promised to offer “unbiased” and “free speech” to Trump supporters, such as Gab.com / MeWe, Rumble, DuckDuckgo, Brave Browser, Telegram, Dlive, CloutHub, and MyMilitia.

    De-Platforming Trump

    On the other hand, several Silicon Valley companies announced they were cutting off President Trump and his supporters from using their services, in light of last Wednesday’s riot at the U.S. Capitol.

    So far, the firms that are de-platforming the President are the following: Stripe, Snap, Pinterest, Spotify, TikTok, Shopify, PayPal, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, AWS/Amazon, Apple, and Google.

  • Twitter Permanently Suspends President Trump’s Account

    Twitter Permanently Suspends President Trump’s Account

    IBL News | New York

    Twitter permanently suspended yesterday President Trump’s @realDonaldTrump account “due to the risk of further incitement for violence.”

    In a blog-post explaining its decision, Twitter argued that the two latest Donald Trump’s tweets “were likely to inspire others to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021, and that there are multiple indicators that they are being received and understood as an encouragement to do so.”

    The two mentioned tweets were posted by the President on Friday, January 8th:

    “The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape, or form!!!”

    Shortly thereafter, the President tweeted:

    “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”

    San Francisco, California—based Twitter acted after Facebook, Snapchat, Twitch and other platforms placed limits on the President. Facebook warred Trump from using its service for the remainder of his term.

    Cutting off  Trump from his favorite method of communicating directly with the public, Twitter caused a big disruption in the direct access of the President to the public and the press.

    Donald Trump—with 79.5 million followers—regularly tweeted dozens of times a day. He was the eighth-most followed account on the platform. Former President Barack Obama has the most followers at over 127 million, followed by Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Cristiano Ronaldo, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga.

    De-platforming Trump came as a surprise. When mentions of the possibility that social media companies would be banning him, he repeatedly replied, “They’ll never ban me.”

    Donald Trump Jr. was the only one on the President’s entourage responding. He tweeted: “We are living Orwell’s 1984. Free-speech no longer exists in America. It died with big tech and what’s left is only there for a chosen few.”

    • Axios: All the platforms that have banned or restricted Trump so far

  • Senator Warren Says that Betsy DeVos Resigned to Dodge the 25th Amendment

    Senator Warren Says that Betsy DeVos Resigned to Dodge the 25th Amendment

    IBL News | New York

    Education Secretary Betsy DeVos—who officially stepped down this Friday in the aftermath of the assault on the US Capitol—engaged in a dispute via Twitter with Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts [left, in the picture].

    Elizabeth Warren wrote this Thursday: “Betsy DeVos has never done her job to help America’s students”. “It doesn’t surprise me one bit that she’d rather quit than do her job to help invoke the 25th Amendment. Good riddance, Betsy. You were the worst Secretary of Education ever.”

    Betsy DeVos answered: “You know not of what you speak, @SenWarren.”

    She also pushed back against other voices who claimed she resigned to dodge a decision on President Trump’s removal under the 25th amendment.

    However, The New York Times reported that Ms. DeVos submitted her resignation after it became clear that Vice President Mike Pence would not invoke the 25th Amendment.

    In the last four years, DeVos had been extensively criticized by Democrats and Higher Ed leaders for supporting President Trump.

  • University Political Professors and Scientists Demand the Immediate Removal of President Trump

    University Political Professors and Scientists Demand the Immediate Removal of President Trump

    IBL News | New York

    Over two-hundred political professors and scientists from U.S. universities called yesterday on Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to immediately remove Donald Trump from the Presidency, either through the impeachment process or by invoking the 25th Amendment.

    In a letter written after a violent mob stormed the Capitol, they said that “Trump’s actions threaten American democracy” and “he is unwilling or unable to fulfill his oath to protect and defend the Constitution.” 

    They argued: “He has rejected the peaceful transfer of power, encouraged state legislators to overturn election results in their states, pressured a state official to change election results, and now incited a violent mob that shut down the counting of electoral votes and stormed the U.S. Capitol.“

     

  • Betsy DeVos Resigns as Education Secretary Because of “the Impact of Trump’s Rhetoric”

    Betsy DeVos Resigns as Education Secretary Because of “the Impact of Trump’s Rhetoric”

    IBL News | New York

    U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos submitted her resignation to President Trump yesterday after blaming him for “the impact of your rhetoric” on the mob’s assault on Capitol Hill. She was the second cabinet secretary to step down. Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary, also resigned on Thursday.

    In a letter to the President, Betsy DeVos said she would step down today Friday.

    “The behavior [of violent protesters overrunning the U.S. Capitol] was unconscionable for our country,” she added. “There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me.”

    Betsy DeVos was one of the first cabinet secretaries to condemn the violent mob. “The peaceful transfer of power is what separates American representative democracy from banana republics,” DeVos said in a tweet written hours after the storming of the Capitol.

  • The Top 40 Most Popular Courses at the Beginning of 2021 According to Class Central

    The Top 40 Most Popular Courses at the Beginning of 2021 According to Class Central

    IBL News | New York

    Forty courses released by Coursera, edX, Future, and Swayam registered the highest rating among ClassCentral.com’s users.

    The course directory webpage listed the following courses:

    On Coursera

     

    On edX

     

    On FutureLearn

     

    On Swayam