New Reddit Anti-Bullying Policy

Sam Seder

Reddit is updating its policies on harassment and bullying. They will be taking a more active role to protect individuals while hoping to maintain their hands-free approach to moderation and community building, writes the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Site administrators wrote on Friday that they are changing their practices “to prohibit attacks and harassment of individuals through Reddit…”

They defined harassment as: “Systematic and/or continued actions to torment or demean someone in a way that would make a reasonable person (1) conclude that Reddit is not a safe platform to express their ideas or participate in the conversation, or (2) fear for their safety or the safety of those around them.”

Administrators praised the social media network’s growth since its launch 10 years ago and also addressed a growth in harassment directed at individuals, writs the CBC.

They addressed specifically the posting of people’s private information, or links to people’s private information, without their consent (known as doxing).

Majority Report discusses it.

(Updated article)

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/05/14/reddit-is-finally-introducing-an-anti-harassment-policy/

http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/reddit-targets-bullying-sexism-and-doxing-with-new-anti-harassment-policy-1.3075928

Is Indiana’s Governor Making An ‘About-Face’ On New Law?

Indiana Governor Mike Pence said today that he “mishandled” the passage of a religious freedom law and he now wants a piece of legislation to “clarify” that it does not give anyone the right to discriminate in the state.

“This law does not give anyone a license to deny services to gay and lesbian couples. I could have handled that better this week,” he said, according to ABC News.

The move comes just as the House of Representatives in Arkansas passed amendments to a similar religious freedom bill that is expected to be signed into law when the governor signs the complete version, something that has already announced that he plans to do.

Pence said that he has been working with state legislators and businesses “literally around the clock” to work through the controversy, saying that “discrimination was never part of his plan.”

“I don’t believe for a minute that it was the intention of the general assembly. … It certainly wasn’t my intent but I can appreciate that that’s become the perception … and we need to confront that and we need to confront that boldly,” he said.

The changes that Pence mentioned are expected to be put into a “stripped version” of an election-related bill that is supposed to be debated Wednesday or Thursday by a conference committee. That is what Indiana’s Republican speaker of the House’s spokesman Brian Bosma told ABC News.

USA Today Sports Writer Says NCAA Should Pull Out Of Indiana

Nancy Armour was a sports writer for Associated Press prior to becoming a sports columnist for USA Today.

In a recent article, Armour states:

“The NCAA should be applauded for swiftly and strongly expressing its disapproval of Indiana’s new law that cloaks discrimination in ‘religious freedom.’

“But it can’t stop there.

“It is too late to pull this year’s Final Four from Indianapolis, given it is next weekend and there’s no other city that would have an arena and several thousand hotel rooms available. But the NCAA can – and should – tell Indiana lawmakers that their prejudice and mean-spiritedness has cost the state the privilege of hosting any other collegiate sporting event.”

Irish Anti-Gay Group Claims Homosexuality Causes Cancer

An Irish campaigning group has launched a series of extraordinary attacks against same-sex couples, including claims that same-sex couples die younger, are more prone to cancer, and are more likely to abuse and injure children, according to Newsweek.

“The Alliance for the Defence of the Family and Marriage (ADFAM), an initiative based in Ireland which claims to ‘promote and defend the traditional family,’ has been distributing the leaflets to spread their beliefs this week.”

Secular Talk

Not Much Market For ‘Survivalists’ House

According to the AP, there isn’t much of a market for a $250,000-plus, 100-acre property that may also be booby-trapped.

The sale of the compound owned by a now-jailed pair of tax evaders who held off police during a nine-month armed standoff is beset by problems.  High bidders have only seven days to come up with the financing for the property they have to buy largely sight-unseen because it could be filled with hidden explosives.

No bidders showed up at an Aug. 15 auction at federal court in Concord, N.H., where Deputy Chief U.S. Marshal Brenda Mikelson went through the motions of soliciting a minimum bid of $250,000 on the Plainfield compound where “survivalist” fugitives Ed and Elaine Brown holed up in 2007.

The Browns were ultimately captured by U.S. marshals posing as two of the supporters who thronged the compound.

An auction is also being held for a commercial property owned by the Browns in Lebanon, N.H., where Elaine Brown had her dental office. The minimum bid on that property is set at $507,500.

Efforts to sell the two properties have been in the planning stages since 2013. As of this week, Lebanon is owed $286,242 in back taxes for the property; Plainfield is owed $198,908.

Plainfield town administrator Steve Halleran is frustrated by the delays, saying the taxes owed by the Browns’ property far exceed any other in town.

“We’ve been given assurances we’re getting our money,” Halleran said. “Nothing would speak to that more than an actual check.”

Mikelson said talks are underway to possibly hire a professional auctioneer and change the conditions of the sale to give high bidders more time to arrange financing.

“That time frame of seven days is really tight for average people,” she said.

Another obstacle: Concerns that booby traps and explosives may be buried on the densely wooded property mean federal officials still won’t let interested bidders tour it. Buyers who are prepared to ante up a hefty bid on the Plainfield property have to do it with little access.

During his trial in 2009, Ed Brown testified that explosives in the woods around their home were there to scare intruders, not hurt them. But in a radio interview during the standoff, he said if authorities came to kill him or arrest him, “the chief of police in this town, the sheriff, the sheriff himself will die. This is war now, folks.”

Elaine and Ed Brown are in their 70s. Elaine Brown is serving 35 years in prison; Ed Brown is serving 37 years.

Ebola Discrimination?

The new United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein expressed alarm on Thursday over anti-African prejudices arising from the Ebola crisis, warning against what he described as ill-conceived quarantine enforcements and discriminatory travel restrictions.

The high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein expressed concern about their budget as well.

“I have to say I am shocked, shocked that just six weeks into the job I am already having to look at making cuts because of our current financial situation,” he said in his first news conference since formally taking over the job on Sept. 1st.

At a time when the United States and Europe are growing increasingly alarmed about the spread of Ebola from West Africa and seeking ways to minimize it, Mr. Zeid protested against restrictive actions, including criminal penalties, that he said could have the opposite effect.

“Only a response that is built on respect for human rights will be successful in quashing the epidemic,” he said.

“We must also beware of ‘us’ and ‘them,’ a mentality that locks people into rigid identity groups and reduces all Africans — or all West Africans, or some smaller, national or local group — to a stereotype.”

As the global response to the crisis accelerates, he said, “it is also vital that every person struck down with Ebola be treated with dignity, not stigmatized or cast out.”