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Companies that provide Microsoft, Google, and others with AI data-labeling services often hire minors, which can be traumatic

 

Niamh Rowe / Wired:

 

 

Like most kids his age, 15-year-old Hassan spent a lot of time online. Before the pandemic, he liked playing football with local kids in his hometown of Burewala in the Punjab region of Pakistan. But Covid lockdowns made him something of a recluse, attached to his mobile phone.

 

“I just got out of my room when I had to eat something,” says Hassan, now 18, who asked to be identified under a pseudonym because he was afraid of legal action.

 

But unlike most teenagers, he wasn’t scrolling TikTok or gaming. From his childhood bedroom, the high schooler was working in the global artificial intelligence supply chain, uploading and labeling data to train algorithms for some of the world’s largest AI companies.

 

The raw data used to train machine-learning algorithms is first labeled by humans, and human verification is also needed to evaluate their accuracy. This data-labeling ranges from the simple—identifying images of street lamps, say, or comparing similar ecommerce products—to the deeply complex, such as content moderation, where workers classify harmful content within data scraped from all corners of the internet. These tasks are often outsourced to gig workers, via online crowdsourcing platforms such as Toloka, which was where Hassan started his career.

 

A friend put him on to the site, which promised work anytime, from anywhere. He found that an hour’s labor would earn him around $1 to $2, he says, more than the national minimum wage, which was about $0.26 at the time. His mother is a homemaker, and his dad is a mechanical laborer.

 

“You can say I belong to a poor family,” he says.

 

When the pandemic hit, he needed work more than ever. Confined to his home, online and restless, he did some digging, and found that Toloka was just the tip of the iceberg.

“AI is presented as a magical box that can do everything,” says Saiph Savage, director of Northeastern University’s Civic AI Lab.

 

“People just simply don’t know that there are human workers behind the scenes.”

 

At least some of those human workers are children. Platforms require that workers be over 18, but Hassan simply entered a relative’s details and used a corresponding payment method to bypass the checks—and he wasn’t alone in doing so. WIRED spoke to three other workers in Pakistan and Kenya who said they had also joined platforms as minors, and found evidence that the practice is widespread.

“When I was still in secondary school, so many teens discussed online jobs and how they joined using their parents’ ID,” says one worker who joined Appen at 16 in Kenya, who asked to remain anonymous.

 

After school, he and his friends would log on to complete annotation tasks late into the night, often for eight hours or more.

 

Read more here:

Companies that provide Microsoft, Google, and others with AI data-labeling services are inadvertently hiring minors, often exposing them to traumatic content

 

 

 

— Techmeme

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Experts: Terrorists utilize generative AI tools to evade hashing algorithms techs use to remove extremist content

—  Experts are finding thousands of examples of AI-created content every week that could allow terrorist groups and other violent extremists to bypass automated detection systems.

 

David Gilbert / Wired:

 

 

EXTREMIST GROUPS HAVE begun to experiment with artificial intelligence, and in particular generative AI, in order to create a flood of new propaganda. Experts now fear the growing use of generative AI tools by these groups will overturn the work Big Tech has done in recent years to keep their content off the internet.

 

 

“Our biggest concern is that if terrorists start using gen AI to manipulate imagery at scale, this could well destroy hash-sharing as a solution,” Adam Hadley, the executive director of Tech Against Terrorism, tells WIRED. “This is a massive risk.”

 

For years, Big Tech platforms have worked hard to create databases of known violent extremist content, known as hashing databases, which are shared across platforms to quickly and automatically remove such content from the internet. But according to Hadley, his colleagues are now picking up around 5,000 examples of AI-generated content each week. This includes images shared in recent weeks by groups linked to Hezbollah and Hamas that appear designed to influence the narrative around the Israel-Hamas war.

 

“Give it six months or so, the possibility that [they] are manipulating imagery to break hashing is really concerning,” Hadley says. “The tech sector has done so well to build automated technology, terrorists could well start using gen AI to evade what’s already been done.”

 

Other examples that researchers at Tech Against Terrorism have uncovered in recent months have included a neo-Nazi messaging channel sharing AI-generated imagery created using racist and antisemitic prompts pasted into an app available on the Google Play store; far-right figures producing a “guide to memetic warfare” advising others on how to use AI-generated image tools to create extremist memes; the Islamic State publishing a tech support guide on how to securely use generative AI tools; a pro-IS user of an archiving service claiming to have used an AI-based automatic speech recognition (ASR) system to transcribe Arabic language IS propaganda; and a pro-al-Qaeda outlet publishing several posters with images highly likely to have been created using a generative AI platform.

 

Beyond detailing the threat posed by generative AI tools that can tweak images, Tech Against Terrorism has published a new report citing other ways in which gen AI tools can be used to help extremist groups. These include the use of autotranslation tools that can quickly and easily convert propaganda into multiple languages, or the ability to create personalized messages at scale to facilitate recruitment efforts online. But Hadley believes that AI also provides an opportunity to get ahead of extremist groups and use the technology to preempt what they will use it for.

 

“We’re going to partner with Microsoft to figure out if there are ways using our archive of material to create a sort of gen AI detection system in order to counter the emerging threat that gen AI will be used for terrorist content at scale,” Hadley says. “We’re confident that gen AI can be used to defend against hostile uses of gen AI.”

The partnership was announced today, on the eve of the Christchurch Call Leaders’ Summit, a movement designed to eradicate terrorism and extremist content from the internet, to be held in Paris.

“The use of digital platforms to spread violent extremist content is an urgent issue with real-world consequences,” Brad Smith, vice chair and president at Microsoft said in a statement. “By combining Tech Against Terrorism’s capabilities with AI, we hope to help create a safer world both online and off.”

 

While companies like Microsoft, Google, and Facebook all have their own AI research divisions and are likely already deploying their own resources to combat this issue, the new initiative will ultimately aid those companies that can’t combat these efforts on their own.

“This will be particularly important for smaller platforms that don’t have their own AI research centers,” Hadley says. “Even now, with the hashing databases, smaller platforms can just become overwhelmed by this content.”

 

The threat of AI generative content is not limited to extremist groups. Last month, the Internet Watch Foundation, a UK-based nonprofit that works to eradicate child exploitation content from the internet, published a report that detailed the growing presence of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) created by AI tools on the dark web.

 

The researchers found over 20,000 AI-generated images posted to one dark web CSAM forum over the course of just one month, with 11,108 of these images judged most likely to be criminal by the IWF researchers. As the IWF researchers wrote in their report, “These AI images can be so convincing that they are indistinguishable from real images.”

 

 

 

— Techmeme

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Alibaba and JD.com reported YoY sales increases for Singles Day, but this year also, neither company provided overall revenue figures

  • Analysts estimate the leaders chalked up single-digit gains
  • Newer platforms like PDD and Douyin may have far outpaced them

 

 

Sarah Zheng / Bloomberg:

 

—  China’s Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com reported sales increases for Singles’ Day, after the e-commerce giants offered steep discounts 

 

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and JD.com Inc. reported sales increases during China’s most important shopping festival, yet likely lagged newer entrants from social media platforms like ByteDance Ltd.’s     Douyin during a muted year for consumer spending.

Analysts scrambled for clues after China’s two e-commerce leaders again failed to disclose overall revenue numbers during Singles’ Day, the annual bargains extravaganza built around a Nov. 11 event that Alibaba popularized over a decade ago. Historically a barometer for Chinese consumer sentiment, it’s become much harder to parse since companies stopped providing precise figures during the turmoil of the Covid era.

 

Online transactions across the three largest platforms — Alibaba’s Tmall, JD.com’s main portal and PDD Holdings Inc.’s China-only Pinduoduo service — likely slipped about 1% to 923.5 billion yuan ($127 billion) during the festival, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Ada Li estimated, calculating based on retail channel data tracked by Syntun. While a smaller piece of the pie, streaming platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou Technology grew transactions by 19%, according to Li’s analysis.

Others painted a slightly rosier picture. Alibaba and JD likely managed 1% to 3% growth in gross merchandise value over the three- to four-week period leading up to Nov. 11, when merchants embarked on their discounting spree, Goldman Sachs estimated. PDD, which targets lower-income and rural markets, racked up growth of 20%, analyst Ronald Keung estimated.

Alibaba and JD.com report earnings this week and should offer more insight into whether domestic consumption has recovered.

“The slowing growth shows we need to roll out large-scale economic stimulus measures that are strong enough to lift market confidence and drive up the economy,” Ren Zeping, a well-known economist who was formerly a researcher at the State Council’s Development Research Center, wrote Monday.

“Consumers are becoming more mature and rational as they go after high value for money. Their perception of brands is also changing, and domestic brands with high value for money are rising.”

 

 

Read more here:

Alibaba and JD.com reported YoY sales increases for Singles Day, but neither company provided overall revenue figures for the event for the second straight year

 

 

 

— Techmeme

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An in-depth look at a covert Russian operation to get dual-use specialist microchips, which are protected by EU export controls, into the hands of the state

—  A rare look inside a covert Russian-led operation to get strategic technology protected by European export controls into the hands of the state

 

 

Financial Times:

 

As their yacht bobbed on the Mediterranean in July 2021, Marc Rocchi snapped a picture of the slightly doughy Russian man in baggy swimming trunks, dozing with his head propped against the helm. The French businessman would later say that he only knew the Russian by his first name, Maxim.

 

But he knew the purchases Maxim had been making for years had been essential to the survival of Ommic, a French microchip manufacturer of which Rocchi was then director-general.  Desperate to keep the flow of chips moving, just a few months earlier Rocchi had flown to Greece to hand-deliver Maxim a shipment of 230 microchips — €45,000 worth. Maxim had, at one point, offered Rocchi “cash and women.” But Rocchi said he declined — he needed Maxim’s business to keep Ommic afloat.

 

Rocchi always knew his business partner was buying microchips on behalf of a Russian state enterprise, and that Maxim used a network of intermediaries to get them out of France and into Russia. And he also knew Maxim was working on behalf of Istok, which Rocchi described as a state research body. Istok is in fact a state-owned technology company that makes electronic warfare systems for the Russian military.

 

Today, Ommic has closed and Rocchi is awaiting trial in France, having been indicted in March. He denies charges of sending secrets to a foreign power that could harm the national interest, exporting dual-use goods to Russia, and submitting false documents.  According to sources familiar with the investigation, Rocchi has previously argued to police that the goods and information sent by Ommic were not subject to controls, disputed that sensitive information was ever sent abroad and said that other people were responsible for any false documents. He has declined to comment to the Financial Times.

 

The photograph was a rare slip in what appears to be a decades-long Russian intelligence operation. The man pictured, Maxim Ermakov, has been sanctioned by the US and UK governments in the past fortnight as part of a major crackdown on the networks that Moscow’s intelligence services use to procure advanced western technology for President Vladimir Putin’s war machine. He did not respond to a request to comment. This rare account of the activities of such a network illustrates how difficult it is for western governments to tackle Russian state smuggling operations, and prevent western technology from being used by Russian industry and the military.

 

Specialist microchips, such as the high-performance gallium nitride and gallium arsenide-integrated circuit boards that Ommic made, are vital to Russian defence manufacturers such as Istok. According to Le Parisien, a senior French defence official told investigators that the chips were a “sensitive, strategic technology”

 

Marc Rocchi being interviewed at a convention in China in 2018 © YouTube
Eoin Sugrue, left, and his brother Denis, in Limerick, Ireland, in 1983. Both brothers have links to Maxim Ermakov © public domain sourced / access rights from WS Collection / Alamy Stock Photo

 

 

Read more here:

An in-depth look at a covert Russian operation to get dual-use specialist microchips, which are protected by EU export controls, into the hands of the state

 

 

 

— Techmeme

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The Firsd Tea Sustainability Perspectives 2023 report finds tea outperforms coffee in 4 key sustainability areas

Firsd Tea’s new report suggests industry experts view some sustainability efforts in tea more favorably than in coffee

… the discovery that tea is perceived as performing relatively well in these sustainability areas came as a breath of fresh air.

— Jason Walker, Marketing Director, Firsd Tea

SECAUCUS, N.J. – According to a new report from Firsd Tea, the largest importer of Chinese tea in the U.S., most professionals in tea and related industries—such as coffee and cocoa—say the tea industry outperforms coffee across four key sustainability focus areas.

 

Firsd Tea Sustainability Perspectives 2023 is the second annual survey that continues a first-of-its-kind global 2022 study to gauge opinions of tea sustainability among associated experts.

 

Specifically, most respondents in 2023 viewed tea as performing “very well or somewhat well” regarding reducing its environmental impact (75%), workers’ rights (64%), gender equity (58%), and improving the livelihood of smallholder farmers (66%) when compared with coffee and cocoa sectors.

 

“With so much negative news about the environment in the press, the discovery that tea is perceived as performing relatively well in these sustainability areas came as a breath of fresh air,” Firsd Tea marketing director, Jason Walker, explains. He adds, “What’s so compelling about our global 2023 study’s findings compared with those in 2022 is that a larger slice of our respondents were actually from the coffee industry this go-around.” Coffee professionals comprised 36% of this year’s vs. 19% of last year’s study.

 

Apart from revealing tea’s notable perceived performance in key sustainability areas, the study also found:

  • Most survey-takers remain worried about the effects of climate change on their business operations (80% in 2022 vs. 75% in 2023).

 

  • Tea is still considered the most sensitive industry to the effects of climate change by most professionals in tea and related industries (93% in 2022 vs. 95% in 2023).

 

  • Most respondents in tea and related industries still agree Organic Certification is the most important standard to consumers (84% in 2022 vs. 88% in 2023).

 

  • Compared with Firsd Tea’s 2022 study, Vietnam (+37%), Kenya (+33%), China (+26%), and Sri Lanka (+26%) saw outstanding perceived sustainability improvements in 2023.

 

  • Most respondents in tea and related industries report improved outlooks on progress made in sustainability from 10 years ago, the current state of sustainability in tea, and the trajectory for the next 10 years.

 

“We are honored to continue this essential research to encourage stakeholders across tea and related industries to reflect on and prioritize sustainability,” explains Firsd Tea executive director, Shengyuan Chen.

 

The study derives its results from a three-month long survey conducted from May 2023 to July 2023 in collaboration with Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, a 120+ year-old publication covering the global tea and coffee industries from origin through the supply chain. Princeton-based Crothers Consulting administered the survey to 100 voluntary respondents conducting business in tea and related sectors (e.g. coffee, wine and cocoa).

 

For the full Firsd Tea Sustainability Perspectives 2023 Report, click here.

 

About Firsd Tea:

Firsd Tea is the U.S. subsidiary of parent company, Zhejiang Tea Group, Ltd. (ZJT), China’s largest tea exporter and the world leader in green tea exports. Founded in 1950, ZJT has been the largest tea producer and exporter in China for 25 consecutive years. The company has remained one of the leading and most technologically advanced manufacturers and innovators in the Chinese tea industry. ZJT boasts strategic collaboration with the Science Department of Zhejiang University as well as the Hangzhou Tea Research Institute of All China Federation of Supply and Marketing Co-operatives. Zhejiang Tea Group’s portfolio of products include EU compliant conventional teas and organic teas (first organic tea producer in China since 1989), decaf teas (one of only two companies in China who have a CO2 decaf facility) and chemical solvent-free tea extractions, including instant teas, tea polyphenols, and EGCG.

 

About the Firsd Tea Sustainability Perspectives study:

The Firsd Tea Sustainability Perspectives study is an annual, first-of-its-kind global tea report that derives its findings from a survey of voluntary respondents conducting business in tea and related industries (e.g. coffee, sugar cane, wine and cocoa). Survey responses are primarily generated by website posting and subscriber outreach by Firsd Tea and The Tea & Coffee Trade Journal, direct messaging on platforms such as LinkedIn, and word-of-mouth networking. Industry-specific organizations also promote the survey by sharing it with their respective stakeholders.

 

— Source: Firsd Tea
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‘Against the Tide,’ ‘The Monk and the Gun’ among Mumbai Film Festival winners

Sarvnik Kaur’s documentary “Against the Tide” has won the Golden Gateway Award at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival.

 

The film previously won awards at Sundance, Sydney and Seattle. Diwa Shah’s San Sebastian winner “Bahadur: The Brave” received Mumbai’s Silver Gateway Award.

 

The festival’s Gender Sensitivity Award, decided by India’s Film Critics Guild, was won by Leesa Gazi’s “Barir Naam Shahana” “(A House Named Shahana).” The Special Jury Award went to Kanu Behl’s “Agra,” which premiered at Cannes earlier this year.

 

The Rashid Irani Young Critics’ Choice Award, a program created by the festival to nurture young writers on cinema, was won by Shahrukhkhan Chavada’s “Kayo Kayo Colour?” Dominic Sangma’s Locarno title “Rimdogittanga” “(Rapture)”  won the NETPAC Award.

 

This year, global media company Civic Studios teamed with the festival to create a new category of award, the Light Camera Impact Award. This award recognized two short films focusing on subjects of climate, sexuality, and caste – “Blackhole” by Pradyumna Patil and “Praan Pratishthana” “(Consecration)” by Pankaj Sonawane. “Flowering Man” by Soumyajit Ghosh Dastidar got a special mention in this category.

 

The IMDb Audience Choice Award was won by Pawo Choyning Dorji’s “The Monk and the Gun.”

 

Filmmakers selected for the festival’s self-explanatory Jio MAMI Select – Filmed on iPhone initiative include Archana Atul Phadke, Faraz Ali, Prateek Vats, Saurav Rai and Saumyananda Sahi. They will be mentored by Vishal Bhardwaj who directed the iPhone short “Fursat,” Vikramaditya Motwane “(Jubilee)” and Rohan Sippy “(Bluffmaster).”

 

The closing ceremony was hosted by actor Kalki Koechlin “(Goldfish).”

 

The festival opened with Hansal Mehta’s “The Buckingham Murders,” starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, opened the festival on Oct. 27. The closing film, Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla,” screened at the festival on Nov. 3. MUBI owns all rights to “Priscilla” in India. The film will release across the country via MUBI in partnership with PVR Inox Pictures.

 

This year the festival hosted masterclasses with jury head Mira Nair, excellence in cinema recipients Mani Ratnam and Luca Guadagnino, festival chair Priyanka Chopra Jonas and juror David Michôd. The festival’s Industry Connect Symposium featured a keynote from leading producer Siddharth Roy Kapur and included case studies of Shubhashish Bhutiani’s Venice winner “Hotel Salvation” and Bauddhayan Mukherji’s Durban winner “The Violin Player.”

 

 

— Variety

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Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan set cameos in Salman Khan’s ‘Tiger 3’

The super spies of producer Aditya Chopra’s spy universe are set to converge in Yash Raj Films’ “Tiger 3.”

 

Hrithik Roshan’s Kabir from “War” and Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan from “Pathaan” are set to join Salman Khan’s Avinash Singh Rathore and Katrina Kaif’s Zoya Humaini Rathore in the film, Variety has learned.

 

The spy universe kicked off with the Tiger franchise, starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, beginning with “Ek Tha Tiger” (2012) and “Tiger Zinda Hai” (2017) and continued with “War” (2019), starring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff and “Pathaan” (2023), starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone.

 

In the Tiger franchise, Salman Khan plays Avinash Singh Rathore, AKA Tiger, who belongs to Indian intelligence agency RAW and Kaif plays Zoya Humaini Rathore, an ex-agent from Pakistan’s ISI. In “War,” Roshan is rogue RAW agent Kabir Dhaliwal and Shroff his protégé Khalid Rahmani. In “Pathaan,” Shah Rukh Khan plays exiled RAW agent Pathaan and Padukone ISI agent Rubina Mohsin.

 

In “Tiger 3,” directed by Maneesh Sharma “(Band Baaja Baaraat),” Tiger is in peril after being framed as enemy number one and goes on a life-threatening mission to hunt down his enemies. Tiger wants to clear his name for his country, for his family and he won’t stop at anything. Emraan Hashmi plays the antagonist Aatish Rehman.

 

“Aditya Chopra has set the wheels in motion for a full convergence of super spies within the YRF spy universe,” an industry source told Variety. “No one knows this but along with Pathaan, Kabir too will make his appearance in ‘Tiger 3.’ A handful of people know how Adi is visualising Kabir in ‘Tiger 3’ and this information is being kept under wraps to be only revealed when it releases in theaters on Nov. 12.”

 

The four spy universe films so far have together grossed some $300 million.

 

The Tiger character had an extended cameo in “Pathaan” and the film also featured Colonel Sunil Luthra (Ashutosh Rana), who first appeared in “War” and is expected to be in “Tiger 3” as well. Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan will headline “Tiger vs Pathaan,” which is expected to commence principal photography in January 2024. NTR Jr, star of Oscar- and Golden Globe-winner “RRR,” will feature alongside Hrithik Roshan in “War 2,” one of the future installments in the spy universe.

 

“Tiger 3” will release in India on Nov. 12, the day of India’s biggest festival, Diwali, in the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages. It will release in North American one day earlier on Nov. 11.

 

 

— Variety (EXCLUSIVE)

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On Instagram, journalists and creators inside Gaza see a surge in followers as they document the Israel-Hamas war

—  One journalist has added more than 12 million followers.  The work highlights some of the challenges and dangers of covering the conflict.

 

 

NBC News:

 

Before early October, Motaz Azaiza’s Instagram account documented life in Gaza to about 25,000 followers with a mix of daily life and the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Hamas.

 

That began to change in the days after Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel and the retaliation on Gaza. Since then, more than 12.5 million people have begun following Azaiza’s feed, which has become a daily chronicle of Israeli strikes.

Many other journalists, digital creators and people active on social media based in the region have seen a similar uptick in followers. Plestia Alaqad, a journalist whose work has been featured by NBC News, has gained more than 2.1 million, according to the social media analytics company Social Blade. Mohammed Aborjela, a digital creator, gained 230,000. Journalist Hind Khoudary drew 273,000 in the last five days of October. Photographer and videographer Ali Jadallah added more than 1.1 million.

 

Those surges have made Instagram, an app generally associated with lighthearted social media posts and lifestyle influencers, a suddenly crucial view into Gaza. The app has previously been embraced by some journalists, most notably photojournalists, but the sudden increase in followers appears to have no precedent.

 

The posts can at times be difficult to absorb. Most if not all appear to be firsthand videos rather than recycled content: People pulled from rubble, children crying over the bodies of their parents, and to-camera accounts of what the journalists are seeing and feeling.

 

The unfiltered coverage, as seen in the Instagram post below, adds a unique element to the broader journalistic efforts to capture what’s happening in Gaza.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CzBI6aigIqX/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

 

It’s a role that Instagram may not fully embrace (parent company Meta has broadly moved away from the news), but it appears the company is doing little to discourage the growth of the accounts. The app has rules against graphic content but does make exceptions for posts that are “newsworthy and in the public interest.” Some posts are initially covered by a “sensitive content” warning.

 

Instagram and other social media apps have come under some scrutiny over concerns that pro-Palestinian voices have been censored or suppressed. Meta confirmed in October that the company had accidentally limited the reach of some posts but said the problem was a bug that did not apply to one specific type of content and denied any censorship.

 

Meta also worked with the people behind the account Eye on Palestine after the company said it had detected a possible hacking attempt. That account had already been among the most-followed accounts focused on Palestinians before the war, with about 3.5 million followers. The account is back online after a multiday outage and now has more than 7 million.

 

The emergence of Instagram also comes as the social media platform X, once the go-to destination for journalists and witnesses to breaking news, has come under fire for its shortcomings around misinformation related to the conflict. Telegram is also a popular app for unfiltered updates but has a relatively small user base in the U.S.

 

A Meta spokesperson declined to make anyone from Instagram available for an interview.

 

Foreign journalists covering the Israel-Hamas war are facing enormous challenges obtaining firsthand information, and that dynamic is having a deep effect on the world’s understanding of what’s happening especially in Gaza, according to organizations that monitor press freedom.

 

The obstacles for reporters are wide-ranging even for a war zone. These include physical danger to journalists, lack of access to Gaza itself and the logistical challenges of operating within Gaza such as electricity and internet blackouts.

 

Many major media operations including NBC News have sent reporters to Israel to cover Hamas’ attack and the ongoing conflict, during which more than 1,400 people in Israel have been killed and more than 200 have been taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. More than 9,000 people have been killed in Gaza from the Israeli counteroffensive, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

 

Few foreign reporters are believed to be in Gaza, according to journalists outside the territory. Israel and Egypt control entry to Gaza and have not allowed in foreign journalists, according to a petition this week signed by nearly 100 French journalists demanding access to the strip, France 24 reported Tuesday.

 

Marc Owen Jones, an associate professor of Middle East studies at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar who closely follows social media, said the accounts are important “precisely because of the chaotic and toxic information environment that is so heavily mediated and sanitised.”

 

“It is so hard for anyone to get into Gaza that these journalists using Instagram are one of the only windows into bearing witness,” he said in a text message.

 

Those challenges were most apparent last Friday when a near-total communications blackout and Israeli bombing made it almost impossible to tell what was happening in Gaza. Also Friday, Reuters reported that Israel’s military had told international news organizations that it could not guarantee the safety of their journalists operating in Gaza.

 

As communication systems were gradually restored, voices from Gaza began to cut through the silence on social media.

 

A video of Khoudary and Azaiza uploaded on Saturday served as a sort of public service announcement confirming they were alive. Many commenters expressed their concern, worried that their lack of posts meant they had been hurt or killed. Neither responded to interview requests.

 

They both said they were struggling to get in touch with family members in other parts of the Gaza Strip.

 

“We don’t know where our families are and we don’t know if they’re ok and we really need to know what they’re going through because yesterday was a very bad night,” Khoudary said. “It was one of the deadliest nights on the Gaza strip.”

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cy8gT7PtfwX/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

 

More than 30 journalists and media workers have been killed in the conflict as of Tuesday, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a press freedom organization based in New York. Another nine journalists were reported missing or detained, it said.

 

Sherif Mansour, the Middle East and North Africa program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said any journalist working in Gaza is in danger.

 

“In a way, the people who are needed the most are the ones who are most vulnerable right now,” Mansour, who is based in the U.S., said in a phone interview.

 

He said that Hamas has contributed to the censorship of journalists within Gaza including through harassment.

 

“It’s basically hard to get by or be able to do work, but there has always been enough people trying to tell the story,” he said.

 

A regular stream of videos and images has made it out of Gaza, but the spread of misinformation and unverified claims — often in the form of legitimate content that is old or inaccurately described — has added to the challenge of verifying information from the region. On Instagram, many of the Palestinian journalists are verified, which means Instagram confirmed the identity of the person behind the account.

 

Jones noted that declining trust in the media has pushed some people to seek information directly from firsthand sources.

 

“They are also providing unfiltered coverage that has a raw and authentic quality, and the current distrust of the mainstream media is not helped by the more sanitised (for understandable reasons) content,” he wrote.

 

 

CORRECTION (Nov. 3, 2023, 9:30 a.m. ET): A pervious version of this article misstated Marc Owen Jones’ position at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar. He is an associate professor, not assistant.

 

— Techmeme

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New Jersey Photography Forum announces opening of 29th Juried International Photography Exhibit ‘Our Best’

The NJ Photography Forum opened its 29th International Photography Exhibit, “Our Best,” online and in person on Nov. 1, 2023.

 

There are 66 works by 31 artists  for this year’s show selected from hundreds of entries which came from across the U.S and around the globe. The show will remain available online until Jan. 15, 2024. The in-person exhibit will be on display at the Watchung Arts Center in Watchung, N.J. from Nov. 1, through Dec. 3, 2023.

 

Nancy Ori, Director of the NJ Photography Forum and the Curator of the exhibit was very enthusiastic about the response to the call for submissions and says, “the emotional impact of the pieces range from mysterious and thought provoking, to stunning black and whites and digitally enhanced pieces, to traditional and beautiful color works. The variety of creative ideas and processing techniques has produced a stunning exhibit.”

 

There will be an Opening Reception and Holiday Art Fair: Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023, 1-4 p.m. (EST) at the Watchung Arts Center, Watchung, N.J. on the circle. The reception is free and open to the public. Wine and refreshments will be served.

 

The public is also invited to attend an online conference via Zoom moderated by the Curator to review the exhibit and hear from some of the artists on Nov. 18, 2023 from 3-5 p.m. eastern time. Contact Nancy Ori to get the link.

 

At the same time as the Our Best exhibit is in the Main Gallery of the Watchung Art Center, the New Jersey Photography Forum will also be showing The Best One, works by the members of the Forum’s Exhibit Committee in the more intimate downstairs gallery. Both exhibits can be viewed during regular gallery hours.

 

All of the images will be for sale with a portion of the proceeds going to support the Watchung Arts Center.

 

Four years ago, The New Jersey Photography Forum celebrated the 25th anniversary of its founding. The group is dedicated to furthering the interests of professional and serious photographers living or working in the Metro area. Under the direction of Nancy Ori, the NJPF has grown to be the largest and most recognized group of fine art exhibiting photographers in the state.

 

The monthly meetings are held virtually using Zoom or in-person at the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey in Summit when possible. Meeting attendees are encouraged to share expertise and advance their skills. At each meeting, member and guest photographers have an opportunity to show their work as well as have access to a wide variety of current creative and technical information through informal presentations and demonstrations. Exhibition possibilities within the fine art community are constantly being explored with the group producing as many as a dozen group exhibits each year at various venues. These opportunities have become an invaluable resource for Metro area photographers interested in becoming fine art exhibitors.

 

The Watchung Arts Center offers new art exhibitions each month, performances of music, comedy, improv and classes for children and adults in art, photography, dance, yoga, and more. Visit the Watchung Arts Center website at: www.watchungarts.org for exhibit visitation times and current activities. The center is located at 18 Stirling Road in Watchung, N.J. on the circle.

 

You can learn more about the New Jersey Photography Forum by visiting their web site at www.njphotoforum.com where you will also find a link to the online exhibit or by contacting Nancy Ori at nancyori@comcast.net

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Six Flags Magic Mountain breaks ground on California’s largest solar energy project

Phase One for New 12.37-Megawatt Solar Carport Structure Begins on November 1

 

LOS ANGELES — (BUSINESS WIRE) — #SixFlagsMagicMountain — Six Flags Magic Mountain, the undisputed Thrill Capital of the World, in partnership with Solar Optimum and DSD Renewables (DSD), today announced the official ground breaking of a new 12.37-megawatt solar carport and energy storage system. The Six Flags Magic Mountain project is the largest single-site commercial renewable energy project in California and largest solar project allocated toward a for-profit organization in the United States.

 

“We’re thrilled to be breaking ground on this monumental project and taking the next step towards a cleaner, greener future,” said Six Flags Magic Mountain Interim Park President Jeff Harris.

 

“We’re continuing to make advancements towards improving and protecting the environment, and are honored to be industry leaders, paving the way for other theme park companies around the world. Our partners and established solar and renewable energy industry experts at Solar Optimum and DSD Renewables, as well as our partners with Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger’s Office, have been instrumental in bringing this project to fruition, allowing us to break ground at an increased timeline. Getting a glance at what this massive structure will bring to our parks and community is simply remarkable,” he added.

 

Key components of the Six Flags Magic Mountain solar installation include:

  • A 637,000 square foot, 12.37-megawatt solar carport built over the main guest parking lot and team member parking lot;
  • The park will be able to offset 100% of its energy usage with solar power;
  • Estimated 3,544 guest parking spaces and 771 team member parking spaces;
  • Approximately 30 electric vehicle charging spaces in the guest parking lot;
  • Added shade coverage to keep cars cool for guests and team members;
  • Increased security systems and protection;
  • Battery storage system producing approximately 2 megawatts of power with up to 8-megawatt hours of capacity that can be deployed daily;
  • Produce 20.8 million kilowatt hours of energy annually, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of 2,874 homes;
  • Offset greenhouse gas emissions each year comparable to 34,194 barrels of oil consumed, 5,110 tons of waste recycled rather than landfilled, and 17,612 acres of U.S. forests;
  • Offset carbon dioxide equivalents each year comparable to taking 3,182 cars off the road, 37.8 million miles driven by an average gasoline-powered automobile, and 1.6 million gallons of gasoline consumed; and
  • Produce 517.89 million kilowatt hours of energy in a 25-year period, which offsets greenhouse gas energy consumption equivalent to 911 million miles driven by gasoline-powered automobiles and the carbon sequestration equivalent to 434.3 thousand acres of trees planted.

 

The Six Flags Magic Mountain project is the third solar installation for Six Flags. Properties in Northern California at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and New Jersey at Six Flags Great Adventure have also developed on-site solar capabilities with over 30 megawatts of fully operational solar power systems installed. These three sites will rank as the largest volume of onsite Solar PV systems for any U.S. organization with a combined total of 42.37 megawatts.

 

“We are excited to break ground on this solar-plus-storage project at Six Flags Magic Mountain and watch the Solar Optimum team work their installation magic. Solar canopies have always been an excellent use of otherwise underutilized space and this site, with its wide open parking lots, provides the perfect canvas to build on,” said Danielle Fidel, Senior Director, Developer Network at DSD. “Partnering with Solar Optimum through DSD’s Developer Network has allowed us to make this project a reality for Six Flags and we’re looking forward to it coming to life!”

 

“The Six Flags Magic Mountain solar project stands as the largest of its kind in the nation, boasting an impressive area exceeding 637,000 square feet of shade structures,” said Arno Aghamalian, CEO and Founder of Solar Optimum. “The magnitude of this undertaking is a marvel in itself, and as we initiate the construction phase, we are excited to offer a glimpse into what this project will evolve into by the year’s end.”

 

“Not only does this project rank as a remarkable national achievement, showcasing the integration of solar technology, carports, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging, but it is also a testament to the dedication and collaborative spirit of all those involved,” continued Aghamalian. “From the offices of the Governor and LA County Supervisor to SCE, our development partners, and a dedicated team of individuals, we are rapidly ushering this project to completion.”

 

For 63 years, Six Flags has been committed to protecting and improving the environment and its communities, striving toward the expansion of sustainability and ESG-related initiatives and efforts. By actively working to reduce the environmental impact of its amusement park operations, the company continues to make meaningful advancements in adopting solar power throughout its operations and otherwise reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For more information regarding Six Flags’ sustainability and ESG-related initiatives, visit sixflags.com.

 

About Six Flags Magic Mountain

Six Flags Magic Mountain, known as the Thrill Capital of the World, boasts 20 world-class roller coasters—more than any other theme park on the planet—and is home to more than 100 rides, games, and attractions, including roller coaster icons like Twisted Colossus, Tatsu, Goliath, and X2. For more information, visit www.sixflags.com/magicmountain.

 

About Six Flags Entertainment Corporation

Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is the world’s largest regional theme park company with 27 parks across the United States, Mexico and Canada. For 63 years, Six Flags has entertained hundreds of millions of guests with world-class coasters, themed rides, thrilling water parks and unique attractions. Six Flags is committed to creating an inclusive environment that fully embraces the diversity of our team members and guests. For more information, visit www.sixflags.com.

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About Solar Optimum

Solar Optimum is a Los Angeles-based solar, battery storage and roofing company that provides homeowners and businesses in California, Nevada, and Arizona with progressive, premium energy solutions – with unmatched value. Since 2008, Solar Optimum has been on a mission to educate and inspire its customers to become 100% energy independent, and with over 300 MW installed, thousands of customers have now reached that goal.

 

Solar Optimum’s premier certifications, top-of-the-line products and warranties, and award-winning customer service have earned Solar Optimum the position as the #1 ranked California EPC for Solar and Battery Storage and #2 ranked National EPC for Solar and Storage (in the Residential and Commercial category) according to Solar Power World International. To learn more, visit www.SolarOptimum.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

 

About DSD Renewables

DSD Renewables (DSD) is transforming the way organizations harness clean energy while building a more sustainable future. With unparalleled capabilities including development, structured financing, project acquisition and long-term asset ownership, DSD accelerates the deployment of renewable energy resources and creates significant value for our commercial, industrial, and municipal customers and partners. Backed by world-leading financial partners, our team brings a distinct combination of ingenuity, rigor, and accountability to every project we manage, acquire, own, and maintain. To learn more, visit DSDRenewables.com and connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.

Contacts

Alex French

sfmmpr@sixflags.com
661-400-3143