EFF: Twitter users have a First Amendment right not to be blocked by President Trump

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation has told a court that Donald Trump's blocking of users who criticize him on Twitter is a violation of their First Amendment rights. The digital rights group says that people have a "constitutional right to receive government messages transmitted through social media and participate in the forums created by them."

The EFF argues that Trump's use of Twitter has become a hallmark of his presidency, and by blocking individuals he is denying them access to the policy details and other information he frequently disseminates through tweets.

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Mark Zuckerberg denies Facebook is anti-Trump

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Yesterday, Donald Trump used his favorite medium of Twitter to complain that -- as well as some media outlets -- Facebook was opposed to him. Mark Zuckerberg has now responded, speaking out to deny the claim.

He said: "Trump says Facebook is against him. Liberals say we helped Trump. Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don't like. That's what running a platform for all ideas looks like." The Facebook founder also backtracked on his earlier dismissal of the social network's influence on the election as "crazy."

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Trump takes to Twitter to complain that Facebook is anti-Trump

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Facebook is currently under investigation for displaying advertisements placed by Russia to try to influence the 2016 presidential election against Hillary Clinton, but Donald Trump is convinced that the social network is against him.

In a tweet, the president set out a simple accusation: "Facebook was always anti-Trump." Dredging up his bugbear of "fake news" he also made the same claim of television networks and newspapers. More than this, he suggests that there may have been collusion between those he regards as being "anti-Trump."

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Why hasn't Twitter banned Trump or deleted his provocative tweets about North Korea?

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Donald Trump has been a divisive character for many years, and this trend that has continued with his presidency. On Twitter, his unique approach to dealing with world issues and global leaders has caused, to varying degrees, amusement, disgust and horror. In particular, his recent handling of North Korea has raised concern.

His continual references to Kim Jong-un as Little Rocket Man, and his suggestion that the leader and Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho "won't be around much longer" and that the US may have "no choice but to totally destroy" North Korea has been seen by the Asian country as "a clear declaration of war". People are asking why Twitter has not taken action against such naked threats on its platform. Now the company has spoken out, explaining that the "newsworthiness" of Trump's tweets is why they have been left untouched.

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Warning issued: Russia tried to hack election systems in at least 21 US states and was successful in some

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Russian hackers successfully compromised election systems in some states during the 2016 election. There have long been suggestions that Russia tried to influence the outcome of the Trump vs Clinton election, and now the Department of Homeland Security has informed 21 states that their systems were targeted.

This means that the DHS has concerns about almost half of the states of America, but so far only Illinois has been confirmed as having been successfully compromised.

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Kaspersky software banned from US government systems over concerns about Russia

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The Department of Homeland Security has told US government agencies to remove Kaspersky software from their systems. The directive was issued because of concerns about influence exerted over the company by the Russian government.

Government agencies have been given three months to identify and start to remove Kaspersky's security products. Kaspersky has constantly denied connections to the Russian government, but the US is simply not willing to take the risk.

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Facebook says it is likely Russia paid for polarizing political ads during US election

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Speculation about Russian interference in the US election that saw Donald Trump propelled to presidency has been rife for months. Now Facebook has conceded that it's likely that a group operating out of Russia was responsible for taking out $100,000 worth of advertising that "focus[ed] on amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum."

The ads appeared between 2015 and 2017, and touched on polarizing topics such as gun rights, LGBT issues, race and immigration. Facebook is quick to point out that the advertising related to "inauthentic" accounts and Pages and that these have now been closed down, and the social network continues to help with federal inquiries into attempts to control the outcome of the 2016 election.

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Donald Trump loses legal battle over iTrump app

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President Trump has lost a six-year legal battle against the creator of an iOS app.

Tom Scharfeld is the man behind iTrump -- an app designed to teach people how to play the trumpet. He successfully represented himself in court, and prevailed over the US president, earning the right to retain the iTrump trademark.

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Department of Justice wants to identify 1.3 million visitors to anti-Trump site

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The Department of Justice is trying to force a web host to reveal the IP addresses of over 1.3 million visitors to an anti-Trump website. The DoJ is also requesting contact information, email content and photos.

The site -- #DisruptJ20 -- was used to organize protests against Donald Trump on the day of his inauguration. DreamHost says that it is fighting the warrant that has been issued, because the "information could be used to identify any individuals who used this site to exercise and express political speech protected under the Constitution's First Amendment. That should be enough to set alarm bells off in anyone's mind."

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Will Trump avoid military action against North Korean ICBMs?

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We’re just a blind man and an 11 year-old boy, but Fallon and I have been learning a lot about North Korean ballistic missiles and the news is sobering for a world already in crisis. Not only does North Korea have missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, that has been a well known fact in intelligence circles (not just at our house) since early 2016. The North Koreans probably have a 10-20 kiloton nuclear device of deliverable size and even if they don’t it’s easy to send a dirty bomb instead. Our capability for monitoring such activity from space isn’t as good as we’d like or even as good as we already claim. Oh, and we have a reckless President who likes to make threats and might see war as a useful distraction at this point in his Presidency.

Uh-oh.

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Congress continues Kaspersky probe fearing 'nefarious activities against the United States'

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US suspicions about Kaspersky's links to Vladimir Putin are not diminishing. The government has been tracking the Russian security company, and now Congress is seeking information from 22 government agencies about the firm.

The US House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology has written to the agencies asking for documents, citing fears that Kaspersky Lab's products could be used to carry out "nefarious activities against the United States."

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NSA says it is 'not the best time' to create a US-Russia cyber unit

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When Donald Trump met with Vladimir Putin, the pair apparently discussed the idea of the two nations forming an "impenetrable Cyber Security unit." It's an unlikely partnership, to say the least, and NSA Director Mike Rogers has voiced his disapproval of the move.

Given the, erm, interesting relationship between the US and Russia, the controversy surrounding Russia's possible hacking of the last election, and Trump's ongoing problems defending himself over rumored Russian ties, it's perhaps little surprise that the NSA chief says "now is probably not the best time" for the two superpowers to work together on such a project.

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Department of Homeland Security lifts airline laptop ban

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The Department of Homeland Security has lifted the ban on laptops on flights into the US from Middle Eastern and North African countries. The controversial ban, introduced by the Trump administration back in March, was almost extended to all international flights, but has now been scrapped altogether.

Airports have introduced enhanced security measures, and this means that the restrictions on portable electronic devices is no longer considered necessary.

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Trump and Putin discussed creating an "impenetrable Cyber Security unit" -- but it's not happening

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The meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was always going to generate a great deal of interest. After the two presidents had their first (official) meeting on Friday, Trump tweeted on Sunday that the pair has discussed "forming an impenetrable Cyber Security unit."

Considering Trump has accused Russia of hacking the US election, such an arrangement would seem unlikely. Nonetheless, the topic was broached. It was brought up "so that election hacking, & many other negative things, will be guarded and safe." But it didn’t take Trump long to back down from the idea.

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Facebook fights gagging order that prevents it telling users about US government search warrants

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Currently barred from telling three of its users about government search warrants seeking to gain access to their information, Facebook is fighting back. The social network is challenging what it says is a threat to freedom of speech.

Documents filed at a Washington DC appeal court show that Facebook wants to notify the users about the warrants so they have an opportunity to object to them. The company cites the First Amendment in seeking to let users know about the warrants, at least one of which relates to protests against Donald Trump.

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