Protect Your Privacy
No, your phone isn’t ‘listening’ to you — but it’s probably tracking you
08.03.20
Mozilla
True
Firefox
When I found out I was pregnant in October 2018, I had planned to keep the news a secret from family for a little while — but my phone seemed to have other ideas.
Within just a few hours of finding out the news, I was being bombarded with ads for baby gear, baby clothes and diapers on Facebook, Instagram and pretty much any other site I visited — be it my phone or on my computer.
Good thing my family wasn't looking over my shoulder while I was on my phone or my secret would have been ruined.
I'm certainly not alone in feeling like online ads can read your mind.
When I started asking around, it seemed like everyone had their own similar story: Brian Kelleher told me that when he and his wife met, they started getting ads for wedding rings and bridal shops within just a few weeks. Tech blogger Snezhina Piskov told me that she started getting ads for pocket projectors after discussing them in Messenger with her colleagues. Meanwhile Lauren Foley, a writer, told me she started getting ads for Happy Socks after seeing one of their shops when she got off the bus one day.
When online advertising seems to know us this well, it begs the question: are our phones listening to us?
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUxNTYwMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTEwMjk4Nn0.BQh4lujFOvTYhhCSEMFBazanbWOfSK5BT0KMLJzskG0/img.jpg?width=980" id="b06ca" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dbe3c33fee14b00955e2847973dc5b35" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Mozilla</small></p><p>"There is a common myth that companies like Facebook are using the microphone on your device to passively listen to all your conversations," says Marshall Erwin, Senior Director of Trust and Security at Mozilla and cybersecurity expert who worked for Congress during the Snowden disclosures in 2013. "This isn't the case."<br></p><p>However, your phone — just like your computer — is collecting your personal data.</p><p>It's collecting this data with <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/what-is-a-web-tracker/" target="_blank">cookies and other web trackers</a> embedded in the sites you visit, with the data you provide freely when you create social media profiles, use apps or buy things online, with your location data, and with your device ID. </p><p>"Your phone is the most complete surveillance device invented by mankind," says <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/bruce-schneier" target="_blank">Bruce Schneier</a>, adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and renowned security technologist. "It knows where you live, it knows where you work, it knows when you wake up and when you go to sleep. It knows who you sleep with. It knows you better than your spouse."</p><p>"Surveillance is the business model of the internet," he adds.</p><p>For example, Schneier tells me, "the fact that we are talking is recorded somewhere and we actually don't know which of our cell phone companies is selling that data. We don't know which apps on our phone are grabbing that data and using it."</p><p>Pretty much everything we do on our computers or our phones — which, remember, are mini-computers we carry around all day — produces personal data. </p><p>Our data is often then bought, sold, and correlated against other data to create a profile of who we are. That profile is in turn targeted in a variety of ways.</p><p>For example, internet advertisers, Erwin explains, can use it "to anticipate and target ads related to what you are thinking and talking about, without actually having to listen to your conversations."</p><p>For example, a shoe manufacturer could use your data to target you simply because you're in your 30s and you seem interested in sports. But they might also target you because you googled running trails or you recently visited a running hobbyist website. Meanwhile, a politician might use it to target you because you are white and live in a battle-ground state.</p><p>It's easy to use (or misuse) your data.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUxNTYwNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTk3MDk0OX0.wVn-NIzX12g7jlbsoxT-4v539d25YHHhVM2uCcmZ7sA/img.jpg?width=980" id="4c9b6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0c12b89d3ccd6ac2a88fe15f943a2367" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Mozilla</small></p><p>"Data is what powers a lot of misinformation because it is easier to influence people with malicious messages if those messages are highly targeted towards susceptible groups or populations," explains Erwin.<br></p><p>He continues, "Our data can be misused in discriminatory advertising, where job or housing ads are targeted to only certain racial groups, in violation of people's basic rights."</p><p>Personal data can also be targeted by malicious actors, especially when the apps on our phone aren't secure. For example, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/technology/tiktok-security-flaws.html" target="_blank">the app TikTok had vulnerabilities</a> that allowed hackers to manipulate and retrieve user personal information. </p><h2>So what can you do to protect yourself?</h2><p>Well, the bad news is that there's no way to fully protect your data.</p><p>"Your data isn't under your control," says Schneier, "Your email is held by Google, your photos are held by someone else, your files are on some company's hard drive and your financial purchases are held by credit card companies. Your data is not yours anymore."</p><p>"That's the baseline," he continues. "There's largely nothing you can do about it."</p><p>But you can take steps to limit the collection of your data.</p><h3>1. Turn on your privacy controls.</h3><p>"A lot of tech companies provide ways for people to enhance their privacy and to decrease the amount of data collected about them," explains Erwin. "These privacy settings are often off by default, however, and need users to turn them on."</p><h3>2. Use a browser that turns those privacy protections by default.</h3><p>Mozilla protects users' data by turning on privacy features by <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/06/04/when-it-comes-to-privacy-default-settings-matter/" target="_blank">default in the Firefox browser</a>.</p><p>"For example, our Enhanced Tracking Protection feature prevents third parties from tracking you and building a profile of your activity from the websites you visit," says Erwin. "And our DNS over HTTPS (DoH) feature protects that same data from people spying in the middle of the network, encrypting DNS traffic and ensuring it is only disclosed to parties with strong privacy practices."</p><h3>3. Use private browsing.</h3><p>Private browsing — or incognito mode — allow you to browse the web without saving your browsing history. How? They automatically clear cookies and your cache, making it a little harder to track you and target you with ads. </p><p>If you use Firefox, you can also use enhanced tracking protection, which blocks a number of trackers before they're even placed on your device in the first place. </p><h3>4. Avoid public WiFi.</h3><p>Public wifi networks are less secure and it's easier for your data to be hacked.</p><h3>5. Use a VPN.</h3><p>The Mozilla VPN is available on Windows and Android devices and it will help keep you safe online by protecting your data, IP address and location. It also encrypts your activity and communications. </p><h3>6. Adjust your phone settings</h3><p>Watch this video for tips on how to do that:</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cc04d300d0a52d104d9e7ec0b48aefa0"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7NzHRiOZ3EQ?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Data Detox: Smartphones | Firefox</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NzHRiOZ3EQ" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p>
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Democracy
The Facebook advertising boycott has changed everyone's favorite social media platform forever
08.14.20
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Sometimes a boycott succeeds when it fails.
Although the general aim of a boycott is to hurt profits, there are times when the symbolism of a boycott gives birth to a constant, overt and irreversible new optic for a company to nurse.
When the boycott of Facebook began in June and reached its peak in July, it gathered thousands of brands who vocalized their dissatisfaction with the platform.
The boycott, under the hashtag #StopHateForProfit, was launched by civil rights groups. By July brands were fully behind removing their ad spending - resulting in a small financial dent for the social media juggernaut, but a forceful bludgeoning in the press.
<p>Although Facebook still saw growth during the boycott, the social network was left with no choice but to address its own long standing apathy towards hate speech and disinformation. With copious amounts of money constantly flowing through the company, it's clear that in many ways the Facebook executive team see their reputation among activists and the public as a more elusive form of intangible capital.</p><p>Intangible capital that they cannot afford to burn through at the rate they currently are. </p><p>Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg once again attempted to rebuff the assertions that Facebook has done little to stem hate speech and misinformation on their platform.</p><p>"Some seem to wrongly assume that most of the content on our services is about politics, news, misinformation or hate," Zuckerberg said.</p><p>"These make up a small part of the content on our services, although they are all things that people generally tell us they'd like to see even less of. We do not profit from misinformation or hate," he continued.</p><p>"We completely agree that we don't want hate on our platforms, and we stand firmly against it," Sandberg said. "We don't benefit from hate speech. We never have. Users don't want to see it. Advertisers don't want to be associated with it."</p><p>This is a lie. </p><p>Many of Facebooks top performing posts, advertisements and public figures peddle a deluge of white supremacy, conspiracy theories, homophobia, misogyny, death threats, coronavirus misinformation and just about every other form of information that can be mangled and weaponized for public consumption. </p><p>However, Facebook has more recently made one symbolic step towards something resembling integrity. </p><p>Facebook took down a video posted by the Trump campaign in which he claimed children were "virtually immune" to the coronavirus. This is generally regarded by the majority of health experts as completely false and flies in the face of any basic level of logical thought. The reason for it being removed from Facebook was due to it being in violation of the social network's rules against misinformation about coronavirus. This represents a positive small step forward for the social media giant, a small step in a marathon of decency that should have been started over a decade ago.</p><p>The boycott began what will be a series of future reality checks for Facebook, as they can no longer plead ignorance or impartiality. In a statement, the boycott organizers <a href="https://www.stophateforprofit.org/july-30-statement?utm_medium=email&utm_source=ind&utm_campaign=shfp2020&utm_content=e08" target="_blank">said</a>, "This movement will not go away until Facebook makes the reasonable changes that society wants. The ad pause in July was not a full campaign — it was a warning shot across Facebook's bow."</p><p>The fact is, despite what Zuckerberg and Sandberg would have you believe, that Facebook is molding the national consciousness and finds itself dangerously close to irrevocably poisoning the body politic. </p><p>There is a small window within which to salvage what integrity remains, but consistently denying their own faults does nothing to begin this vital process.</p>
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Protect Your Privacy
No, your phone isn’t ‘listening’ to you — but it’s probably tracking you
08.03.20
Mozilla
True
Firefox
When I found out I was pregnant in October 2018, I had planned to keep the news a secret from family for a little while — but my phone seemed to have other ideas.
Within just a few hours of finding out the news, I was being bombarded with ads for baby gear, baby clothes and diapers on Facebook, Instagram and pretty much any other site I visited — be it my phone or on my computer.
Good thing my family wasn't looking over my shoulder while I was on my phone or my secret would have been ruined.
I'm certainly not alone in feeling like online ads can read your mind.
When I started asking around, it seemed like everyone had their own similar story: Brian Kelleher told me that when he and his wife met, they started getting ads for wedding rings and bridal shops within just a few weeks. Tech blogger Snezhina Piskov told me that she started getting ads for pocket projectors after discussing them in Messenger with her colleagues. Meanwhile Lauren Foley, a writer, told me she started getting ads for Happy Socks after seeing one of their shops when she got off the bus one day.
When online advertising seems to know us this well, it begs the question: are our phones listening to us?
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUxNTYwMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwOTEwMjk4Nn0.BQh4lujFOvTYhhCSEMFBazanbWOfSK5BT0KMLJzskG0/img.jpg?width=980" id="b06ca" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dbe3c33fee14b00955e2847973dc5b35" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Mozilla</small></p><p>"There is a common myth that companies like Facebook are using the microphone on your device to passively listen to all your conversations," says Marshall Erwin, Senior Director of Trust and Security at Mozilla and cybersecurity expert who worked for Congress during the Snowden disclosures in 2013. "This isn't the case."<br></p><p>However, your phone — just like your computer — is collecting your personal data.</p><p>It's collecting this data with <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/what-is-a-web-tracker/" target="_blank">cookies and other web trackers</a> embedded in the sites you visit, with the data you provide freely when you create social media profiles, use apps or buy things online, with your location data, and with your device ID. </p><p>"Your phone is the most complete surveillance device invented by mankind," says <a href="https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty/bruce-schneier" target="_blank">Bruce Schneier</a>, adjunct lecturer in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and renowned security technologist. "It knows where you live, it knows where you work, it knows when you wake up and when you go to sleep. It knows who you sleep with. It knows you better than your spouse."</p><p>"Surveillance is the business model of the internet," he adds.</p><p>For example, Schneier tells me, "the fact that we are talking is recorded somewhere and we actually don't know which of our cell phone companies is selling that data. We don't know which apps on our phone are grabbing that data and using it."</p><p>Pretty much everything we do on our computers or our phones — which, remember, are mini-computers we carry around all day — produces personal data. </p><p>Our data is often then bought, sold, and correlated against other data to create a profile of who we are. That profile is in turn targeted in a variety of ways.</p><p>For example, internet advertisers, Erwin explains, can use it "to anticipate and target ads related to what you are thinking and talking about, without actually having to listen to your conversations."</p><p>For example, a shoe manufacturer could use your data to target you simply because you're in your 30s and you seem interested in sports. But they might also target you because you googled running trails or you recently visited a running hobbyist website. Meanwhile, a politician might use it to target you because you are white and live in a battle-ground state.</p><p>It's easy to use (or misuse) your data.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzUxNTYwNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTk3MDk0OX0.wVn-NIzX12g7jlbsoxT-4v539d25YHHhVM2uCcmZ7sA/img.jpg?width=980" id="4c9b6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0c12b89d3ccd6ac2a88fe15f943a2367" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">Mozilla</small></p><p>"Data is what powers a lot of misinformation because it is easier to influence people with malicious messages if those messages are highly targeted towards susceptible groups or populations," explains Erwin.<br></p><p>He continues, "Our data can be misused in discriminatory advertising, where job or housing ads are targeted to only certain racial groups, in violation of people's basic rights."</p><p>Personal data can also be targeted by malicious actors, especially when the apps on our phone aren't secure. For example, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/technology/tiktok-security-flaws.html" target="_blank">the app TikTok had vulnerabilities</a> that allowed hackers to manipulate and retrieve user personal information. </p><h2>So what can you do to protect yourself?</h2><p>Well, the bad news is that there's no way to fully protect your data.</p><p>"Your data isn't under your control," says Schneier, "Your email is held by Google, your photos are held by someone else, your files are on some company's hard drive and your financial purchases are held by credit card companies. Your data is not yours anymore."</p><p>"That's the baseline," he continues. "There's largely nothing you can do about it."</p><p>But you can take steps to limit the collection of your data.</p><h3>1. Turn on your privacy controls.</h3><p>"A lot of tech companies provide ways for people to enhance their privacy and to decrease the amount of data collected about them," explains Erwin. "These privacy settings are often off by default, however, and need users to turn them on."</p><h3>2. Use a browser that turns those privacy protections by default.</h3><p>Mozilla protects users' data by turning on privacy features by <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2019/06/04/when-it-comes-to-privacy-default-settings-matter/" target="_blank">default in the Firefox browser</a>.</p><p>"For example, our Enhanced Tracking Protection feature prevents third parties from tracking you and building a profile of your activity from the websites you visit," says Erwin. "And our DNS over HTTPS (DoH) feature protects that same data from people spying in the middle of the network, encrypting DNS traffic and ensuring it is only disclosed to parties with strong privacy practices."</p><h3>3. Use private browsing.</h3><p>Private browsing — or incognito mode — allow you to browse the web without saving your browsing history. How? They automatically clear cookies and your cache, making it a little harder to track you and target you with ads. </p><p>If you use Firefox, you can also use enhanced tracking protection, which blocks a number of trackers before they're even placed on your device in the first place. </p><h3>4. Avoid public WiFi.</h3><p>Public wifi networks are less secure and it's easier for your data to be hacked.</p><h3>5. Use a VPN.</h3><p>The Mozilla VPN is available on Windows and Android devices and it will help keep you safe online by protecting your data, IP address and location. It also encrypts your activity and communications. </p><h3>6. Adjust your phone settings</h3><p>Watch this video for tips on how to do that:</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cc04d300d0a52d104d9e7ec0b48aefa0"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7NzHRiOZ3EQ?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Data Detox: Smartphones | Firefox</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NzHRiOZ3EQ" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p>
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My father trafficked me throughout my entire childhood. It looked nothing like people think.
07.31.20
I saw this poster today and I was going to just let it go, but then I kept feeling tugged to say something.
While this poster is great to bring attention to the issue of child trafficking, it is a "shocking" picture of a young girl tied up. It has that dark gritty feeling. I picture her in a basement tied to a dripping pipe.
While that sounds awful, it's important to know that trafficking children in the US is not all of that. I can't say it never is—I don't know. What I do know is most young trafficked children aren't sitting in a basement tied up. They have families, and someone—usually in their family—is trafficking them.
<p>I'm pretty open about my story. My father trafficked me from the ages of about 5 or 6 until I was a teenager. Knowing this, I can say, I was never once tied up in a dark place such as this picture. It's important for people to educate themselves on what trafficking can really look like.<br></p><p>Many, many times I walked into an amusement parks dressing room—Hershey, Dorney, etc.—with my father, told to wait in the stall, and a few minutes later another man came in acting like he was looking for his daughter. And that easily, a "drop" was made. Out I would walk holding his hand, nothing anyone would think twice about. Usually I'd be given something like an ice cream cone, etc. </p><p>And like me, these children are often not treated "badly." I mean, yes, they're treated awfully and violated beyond words. I mean they're are not hit, tied up, or beat up. Most of the time, they're treated with fake kindness (which really fucks up children's trust later on in life). But they're often praised, given treats, and made to feel like what is happening is a good (and normal or because they're special).</p><p>How many vacations we went on where I was left for a minute at the pool, until a man came and I left with him for a while. Airports where I was passed over to another man in a crowd, looking like any girl going from her dad or uncle to her dad or uncle. Again, a public drop and nothing suspicious.</p><p>Most children trafficked in the US are so conditioned they don't know anything else. It's their normal. I think back as an adult and think, "Why didn't I scream out for help? Make a scene?" But I had to forgive my inner child. There was no reason I knew to scream out for help. I wasn't in danger; this was just my normal life.</p><p>I say all of this to simply say, it's really important we bring attention to child trafficking in the US. VERY important. And posters like this can get the conversation going, but we also need to educate people that it doesn't all look like this. I lived in Robesonia, a tiny nothing town. My father was a little league coach. My mother knew and helped some with these happenings; and she was just a stay-at-home, small town mom. These things happen everywhere and can look very normal.</p><p>Best thing we can do is talk to children. We don't need to be graphic; but teachers, schools, need to talk to children about things like this in a child-safe way. Assume these children aren't being taken to doctors. Teachers can make a huge difference. Talk to children. Go with your gut. Schools need to not be scared to act on what they feel. Conrad Wesier had a social worker in the elementary school who pulled me out of class on more than one occasion after teachers noticed "things" and it went nowhere. Social services were never notified. And they should have been. Period.</p><p>And what you can do is watch. Pay attention. Be mindful. If you're waiting in line at a park, notice who goes in and out with what child. If you see something; speak up. If you're wrong, fine you ruined someone's day, apologize. If you're right, you saved someone's life.<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ufi/reaction/profile/browser/?ft_ent_identifier=ZmVlZGJhY2s6MTAxNTgyMzUxOTMyNTE5NzA%3D&av=754553191" target="_blank"><em></em></a></p><p><em>This post originally appeared on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MelanieCholishsBook/posts/102675324870555" target="_blank">Melanie Cholish's Facebook page</a>. It has been edited lightly for publication. </em></p>
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5-year-old Cannon Hinnant's murder is a tragedy, but politicizing it is gross on every level
08.14.20
Every murder of an innocent person is tragic, but the cold-blooded killing of a child is too heinous to even think about. So when a man walks up to a 5-year-old riding his bike in broad daylight and shoots him in the head in front of his young sisters, it's completely reasonable that people would be horrified. It's an unthinkable and unforgivable act.
Cannon Hinnant didn't deserve to die like that. His parents didn't deserve to lose him like that. His sisters didn't deserve to be scarred for life like that. We can all agree that a horrible tragedy in every way.
His murderer—Hinnant's dad's next door neighbor, Darius Sessoms—deserved to be rounded up, arrested, and charged for the killing. And he was, within hours. He deserves to be punished to the full extent of the law, and history indicates that he assuredly will be. The system is working exactly as it's supposed to in this case. Nothing can be done to bring Cannon back, but justice is being served.
So why is #SayHisName trending with this story, when that hashtag has long been used in the movement for Black Lives? And why is #JusticeForCannon being shared when justice is already happening in this case? Why is #ChildrensLivesMatter a thing, when there's never been any question that that's the case?
<p>The complaint stems from the claim that the media isn't covering this story because the murderer is a Black man and the victim was white. It doesn't "fit the narrative," according to these complaints. "If the races were reversed, we'd see nothing but this story on the national news," say people foaming at the mouth on Twitter as they point to public support for Black Lives Matter protests and ask why there isn't a similar outrage for this little boy. </p><div id="5a00a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="11989f97a8c8ad58f18073206f4592fe"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1293245542563282945" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Will @KingJames speak up against this hate crime? #sayhisname #justiceforcannon https://t.co/4MsZTX0Tye</div> — Matt (@Matt)<a href="https://twitter.com/MattH1286/statuses/1293245542563282945">1597168739.0</a></blockquote></div><p>First of all, the story is being covered by news outlets. It's a popular media attack tactic to say that the media isn't covering a story, when it takes a 30 second Google search to find that it's not true. National media <span></span>outlets generally <a href="https://crcvc.ca/publications/media-guide/understanding/" target="_blank">don't report on individual crime cases</a>, so them not picking up an individual murder story immediately is the norm, not an exception. But it's certainly not being ignored. <br></p><p>Second of all, while every child's murder is undeniably tragic, it happens every day. Literally, an <a href="https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2018/crime-in-the-u.s.-2018/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-2.xls" target="_blank">average of three children </a>are murdered in the United States <em>every single day</em>. The vast majority of these crimes don't make headlines on the national news, because most of the time, the system works like it's supposed to. Families suffer terribly, but murderers are apprehended and convicted. Generally, individual murders—even of children—are considered local stories unless there's something in the story that pushes it into the national discourse. (For a BLM-related example, <a data-linked-post="2645954222" href="https://www.upworthy.com/how-many-ahmaud-arbery-is-it-going-to-take" target="_blank">Ahmaud Arbery's murder</a> didn't make national news when it happened, but rather <em>months later </em>when it came to light that the men who killed him hadn't even been arrested, much less charged or convicted.)</p><p>Third, the not-so-subtle racism in the hijacking of the #SayHisName hashtag is gross, as are the false equivalencies with the BLM movement. Cannon Hinnant was not killed by the police with impunity. He was not a victim of a justice system that disproportionately harms people with his skin color. His murderer is not walking free. BLM isn't just about Black people being murdered, otherwise the #SayHisName or #SayHerName hashtags would be used for every Black murder. It's about Black people being killed <em>with impunity </em><em>by agents of the state charged with protecting people</em>, or murdered by others and <em>justice not being served. </em>There's not an ongoing justice issue with children being murdered in broad daylight and their murderers walking free. </p><p>When I see people complaining that Cannon Hinnant's murder isn't getting the same outrage or attention as Black Lives Matter, I see people who willfully don't get the issue, which has been explained ad nauseam. What exactly is the justice people are calling for in this case? For Cannon Hinnant's murderer to be apprehended? Already done. For him to be charged with murder? Also already done. </p><div id="be353" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="6c8bdda7c33fae67b306aff69d9bcacd"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1294244440438198272" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">I've seen conservatives ask "where are the protests" for Cannon Hinnant:
1. The killer wasn't a civil servant
2. T… https://t.co/u18gUPFirp</div> — Fifty Shades of Whey (@Fifty Shades of Whey)<a href="https://twitter.com/davenewworld_2/statuses/1294244440438198272">1597406895.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Stop conflating a heinous individual tragedy with the fight against systemic injustice. And stop using a child's gruesome murder to discredit or demean or deflect from a social justice movement. There is little doubt that justice will be done in Cannon Hinnant's case. <br></p><p>By all means, be outraged that this little boy was murdered, but direct that outrage at his murderer, not at the individuals and groups calling for justice to be equally applied to all. Say his name if it makes you feel better, but don't politicize his death to hijack the movement for racial justice. Call for justice in a case where justice is already happening if you must—even though it doesn't makes sense—but ask yourself if you've put that same energy into the systemic racial injustices that have long been documented in this country. </p><p>Cannon Hinnant's murder is a tragedy, no question. But using his death as a political talking point is a travesty. Just stop. </p>
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