https://www.eurasiareview.com/15122020-big-brother-in-disguise-the-rise-of-a-new-technological-world-order-oped/

It had the potential for disaster.

Early in the morning of Monday, December 15, 2020, Google suffered a major worldwide outage in which all of its internet-connected services crashed, including Nest, Google Calendar, Gmail, Docs, Hangouts, Maps, Meet and YouTube.

The outage only lasted an hour, but it was a chilling reminder of how reliant the world has become on internet-connected technologies to do everything from unlocking doors and turning up the heat to accessing work files, sending emails and making phone calls.

A year earlier, a Google outage resulted in Nest users being unable to access their Nest thermostats, Nest smart locks, and Nest cameras. As Fast Company reports, “This essentially meant that because of a cloud storage outage, people were prevented from getting inside their homes, using their AC, and monitoring their babies.”

Welcome to the Matrix.

Twenty-some years after the Wachowskis’ iconic film, The Matrix, introduced us to a futuristic world in which humans exist in a computer-simulated non-reality powered by authoritarian machines—a world where the choice between existing in a denial-ridden virtual dream-state or facing up to the harsh, difficult realities of life comes down to a blue pill or a red pill—we stand at the precipice of a technologically-dominated matrix of our own making.

https://www.metro.us/several-u-s-tech-firms/

Several technology companies including Snap Inc, Pinterest, Dropbox and eBay announced a coalition on Tuesday that would advocate the benefits of Section 230, a decades-old law protecting internet firms.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects tech companies from liability over content posted by users, and has been under attack from U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers. They have criticized internet platforms’ content moderation decisions and accused them of stifling conservative voices.

Trump said earlier this month that he would veto the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act unless it includes a measure eliminating the law.

The coalition, Internet Works, said on Tuesday it aims to ensure that policymakers understand “the potential unintended consequences of blunt changes to the law”, including limiting effective content moderation efforts.

“This coalition brings new voices and diverse perspectives to Washington’s current Section 230 debate, which too often focuses on the largest internet platforms,” it said https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/internet-leaders-launch-internet-works-301192507.html.

The coalition also includes GoDaddy Inc, Tripadvisor and the Wikimedia Foundation.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/canadian-fashion-mogul-peter-nygard-arrested-in-winnipeg_3619488.html

WINNIPEG—Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard has been arrested in Winnipeg.

Court records show Nygard was arrested under the Extradition Act and is to appear in a Winnipeg courtroom this afternoon.

The designer is facing a class-action lawsuit in the United States alleging the sexual assault of dozens of women.

Fifty-seven women—including 18 Canadians—have joined the lawsuit, which alleges that Nygard used violence, intimidation, bribery and company employees to lure victims and avoid accountability for decades.

Nygard has denied all allegations and blames a conspiracy caused by a feud with his billionaire neighbour in the Bahamas.

That suit was put on pause in the summer by a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Reasons for the stay in the suit were sealed, however, the court docket at the time said the stay resulted from a government motion that named three federal prosecutors.

The Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York did not respond to a request for comment at the time.

Nygard stepped down as chairman of his company after the FBI and police in New York City raided his offices in February.