- 1984? -
Big Brother is another term for a government that is constantly watching and monitoring its citizenry, regardless of whether the activities of its citizenry are legal or not. As technology advances, so do the tools for Big Brother's oversite. The citizens under Big Brother's ever watchful eye, typically do not like or support being so closely monitored by the government, even if the government considers it for the good of all.
This has led to the government/s continuing of its Big Brother programs in more secretive and subtle ways in order to not cause alarm or outcry from its citizenry. It seems that private industry is not working or colluding with government, whether willfully or not, in order to further this Big Brother agenda.
Here are two notable examples from just one company that I believe show that the government is influencing if not forcing private companies to adhere to government programs and planning. Both examples come from Google and its parent company.
The first example has to do with the commercial Bail Bonding industry. For those who do not know or are unaware, in the United States, anyone accused of a crime must be taken before a judge or magistrate to determine the outcome of the accusation and the accused. Sometimes this decision process, called a court trial, can sometimes takes many days, weeks, months and possibly years while in the meantime, the accused would remain in a jail awaiting the outcome of the trial. While awaiting the trial process, the US Constitution has provided the 8th Amendment which allows for a person accused of a crime to pay for Bail in order to face their accusation and trial while free from incarceration.
Although the idea and laws for Bail go back to English Common Law, Bail in the United States has come under recent attack. There are some who believe that U.S. Bail Law as it stands today is unconstitutional and unfair to those of modest means. The argument goes that only the rich can afford to pay for bail and be released while going to court trial. The Bail industry counters that there are discounts offered along with payment plans that facilitate getting out of jail under a Bail Bond. Proponents on both sides have valid arguments and points, whose merit is not the point of this article but rather the fact that a private party with no actual directly vested interested in this Bail Bond argument has actually taken a side in this argument.
Google and Alphabet inc, the parent company of Google, have come out in support of Bail Reform. Although Alphabet inc, mostly through Google, is an internet company that has no direct ties to the Bail Industry, it does allow for advertising from privately owned businesses in the Bail Industry. Well, that is about to change with Google announcing that they will no longer allow ads from Bail Bond company starting in July of 2018. Facebook has also agreed to disallow Bail Bond advertising. Google, Facebook and other groups believe that Bail Bond ads take advantage of poor people of color and will no longer allow "abusive" ads.
The Cryptocurrency market has also been affected by private companies such as Facebook and Google that are attempting to force their political agendas on the rest us. The cryptocurrency world has been around for the last 9 years when Bitcoin officially launched in 2009. Fast forward to the end of 2017 with Bitcoin nearing a $20,000 price tag, and that put the world on notice that Bitcoin was no fluke afterall. Up until this time, Google, Facebook and other internet resources where in full swing of accepting crypto-ads.
Yet, once the price of Bitcoin went down, which it has done many many times before, in early 2018, that is when the political agenda against cryptocurrency began to take off. Now everyone who had previously dismissed Bitcoin as a "beanie baby" or Tulip mania fad was either changing there tune in support, or becoming increasingly afraid of the financial revolution cryptocurrency would bring forth. Those afraid of the crypto-revolution have stepped up their agenda to either stop or hinder cryptocurrency.
Facebook, Google and other web portals have since stopped accepting ads for cryptocurrency and/or ICO's. These companies have the right to not accept ads they deem offensive of harmful. Therefore if they feel Bail Bonds or Crypto advertising will hurt those that use their services and happen to see these questionable ads, then that is perfectly fine.
If these companies feel that they are doing a service to the community they serve by protecting them from harmful ads, then great.
But what if these companies are not so altruistic in their actions of restricting and censoring information. One thing is to not accept paid advertising for ideas or business you do not believe in but is denying or covering up information altruistic or self serving?
It seems that as of recent, Google news has stopped putting cryptocurrency news on its front page. Google news is mostly an aggregator of news, but it would generally always have cryptocurrency news on its front page, especially in the last year. Now you will not find a single news story on its front page. Same thing for Yahoo, another news aggregator. As cryptocurrency gained popularity and price, so did the amount of front page new stories on Yahoo. Yet, now you will only find a very select few articles that mention cryptocurrency on the Yahoo front page.
The U.S. news media is now the weapon of choice for the ultimate in misinformation and censorship.
Maybe that is why RT news is becoming more popular?
Full Steem Ahead!
@streetstyle
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Pic 1- flickr