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<\/a><\/p>\nBy\u00a0Aaron Kesel
\nActivist Post<\/p>\n
Mozilla, the non-profit organization which runs the Firefox internet browser, said Wednesday it was launching an effort against \u201cfake news,\u201d as fact-checking software backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and George Soros\u00a0got its first run-out in public to shape our Orwellian nightmare of future truth arbiters.<\/p>\n
Mozilla said it was \u201cinvesting in people, programs and projects\u201d in a new initiative to \u201cdisrupt misinformation online\u201d calling for a \u201cMozilla Information Trust Initiative,\u201d or MITI for short,\u00a0Business Insider<\/em>\u00a0reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n They further stated the \u201cinternet\u2019s ability to power democratic society suffers greatly\u201d because of fabricated stories, such as the \u201cPope endorsing Donald Trump for the U.S. presidency\u201d or a \u201cdead FBI agent killed in a mysterious fire with information on former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton\u201d \u2013 just two examples of stories that turned out to be bogus.<\/p>\n Mozilla\u2019s innovations director, Katharina Borchert,\u00a0told<\/a>\u00a0AFP<\/em>\u00a0that the organization was working on tools for Firefox and better online education with media groups, universities, and tech activists.<\/p>\n The \u201cMozilla Information Trust Initiative\u201d comes just as an automated real-time fact-checking engine dubbed the \u201cbullshit detector\u201d was demonstrated in London.<\/p>\n The group that created the fact-checking engine, Full Fact foundation, is backed by Omidyar and our favorite billionaire tycoon Soros.<\/p>\n The organization stated its software is \u201ccapable\u201d of spotting lies in real-time and was used to fact-check a live debate at the House of Commons. How that objective was achieved isn\u2019t clear since it\u2019s likely automated A.I., but algorithms are not 100% accurate.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the proponents of propaganda and misinformation become more sophisticated in their use of technology, it is important that fact checkers do not fall behind in our fight against it,\u201d Full Fact said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an important investment in the future of fact-checking,\u201d Stephen King, of the Omidyar Network, told\u00a0The Guardian<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cYou only have to look at the number of initiatives that have risen up to address this challenge, either by tech companies or other organizations to see how worrying this phenomenon is to so many,\u201d Borchert added.<\/p>\n I worry more about those who want to act as fact checkers, blatantly ignoring propaganda and fake news by the MSM while targeting alternative media and dictating what is and isn\u2019t important for public consumption.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether it\u2019s become a big enough priority is perhaps a better question,\u201d Borchert said, arguing that it was time for rival\u00a0news\u00a0organizations to \u201crally around\u201d each other to confront the spread of fake news.<\/p>\n Then you have\u00a0Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales,\u00a0planning<\/a>\u00a0to launch a crowd-funded news service called Wikitribune to help combat\u00a0fake news<\/a>.<\/p>\n So you have all these people, some of whom have even once advocated for a free and open Internet, now advocating for controlling the flow of information under the moniker of \u201cfake news.\u201d<\/p>\n How about all the fake news spread by the CIA and intelligence services called planted propaganda usually for pushing war? Especially as a new\u00a0report\u00a0<\/a>questions the veracity of claims made by a shady firm Cloudstrike that \u201cRussia hacked the election\u201d \u2013 how about that fake news?<\/p>\n Putting the future of what we believe in anyone\u2019s hands, let alone artificial intelligence, seems reckless; but a system backed by Soros and\u00a0Omidyar seems like a dangerously stupid idea that can only lead to a path paved toward Orwellian censorship the likes of which even George Orwell couldn\u2019t have imagined.<\/p>\n