A Storm on the Horizon? “Twister” and the Implications of the Blockchain and Peer-to-Peer Social Networks for Online Violent Extremism

Abstract

“Twister,” developed by Miguel Freitas, is a social network platform centered around micro-blogging, much like Twitter. However, rather than relying on centralized servers owned and maintained by a single firm, Twister users operate a blockchain combined with distributed hash table (DHT)–like and BitTorrent-like protocols to both make posts and send private messages, and also to receive entries from other users. Twister’s raison d’etre is that it offers a social networking platform that cannot be censored and cannot itself censor. The software does not record the Internet Protocol addresses users use to access the service, nor does it notify other users of an account’s online/offline status. Growing adoption of blockchain services means that it is possible that the concept of decentralized social networks could become a norm. It is suggested in this article that blockchain-based peer-to-peer social networks present challenges to the current counterextremist practices for content removal and censorship. While there are methods to disrupt usage of blockchain-based peer-to-peer services, these approaches may have the net harm of curtailing bona fide use of legal and novel technologies. Given this opportunity cost, non-transitory online violent extremist content may need to be tolerated.     

Compensation to landowners for use of bauxite lands in Jamaica: assessing the legal issues

Bauxite companies in Jamaica have increasingly begun to feel the ire of the owners of bauxite lands who believe that they have been denied reasonable compensation for the use of their lands by bauxite companies for the purposes of mining bauxite. The Mining Act speaks to the landowner being fairly and reasonably compensated for the damage done to the surface rights of the land during the bauxite mining process. It does not consider how a landowner should be compensated when the bauxite company unlawfully acquires the landowner’s property. Where property has been compulsorily acquired, the landowner must be adequately compensated.     

Designer Psychostimulants in Urine by Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry,

Designer psychostimulants are known by recreational drug users to produce a complex array of adrenergic and hallucinogenic effects. Many of these drugs are not targeted during routine toxicology testing and as a consequence, they are rarely reported. The purpose of this study was to develop a procedure for the detection of 15 psychostimulants in urine using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS), specifically 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐bromophenethylamine (2C‐B), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐chlorophenethylamine (2C‐C), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐methylphenethylamine (2C‐D), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐ethylphenethylamine (2C‐E), 2,5‐dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C‐H), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐iodophenethylamine (2C‐I), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐ethylthiophenethylamine (2C‐T‐2), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐isopropylthiophenethylamine (2C‐T‐4), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐propylthiophenethylamine (2C‐T‐7), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐bromoamphetamine (DOB), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐chloroamphetamine (DOC), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐ethylamphetamine (DOET), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐iodoamphetamine (DOI), 2,5‐dimethoxy‐4‐methylamphetamine (DOM), and 4‐methylthioamphetamine (4‐MTA). Analytical recoveries using solid‐phase extraction were 64–92% and the limit of detection was 0.5 ng/mL for all drugs except 2C‐B (1 ng/mL). The assay was evaluated in terms of analytical recovery, precision, accuracy, linearity, matrix effect, and interferences. The technique allows for the simultaneous detection of 15 psychostimulants at sub‐ng/mL concentrations.     

Determinants of Pregnancy Wantedness: Profiling the Population from an Interventionist Perspective

Although the incidence of unwanted pregnancies has declined since the early 1970s (Pratt and Horn, 1985; Anderson, 1981; Westoff, 1981), large proportions of women continue to experience unwanted pregnancies (Forrest, 1987; Pratt, 1985). Of particular concern to researchers is the well-being of mothers and children from pregnancies that are unwanted or unplanned. In 1982, among women who were ever married, 10 percent of all births were unwanted, and 28 percent mistimed. Among never-married women, fully 25 percent of all births were unwanted, and about half the remaining births were mistimed (Pratt and Horn, 1985). The focus of this research is the exploration of determinants of wantedness among women whose first pregnancies result in live births. Our analyses reflect interest in whether and how pregnancy wantedness is affected by family background characteristics, early formed attitudes, value systems, and socioeconomic aspirations, as well as maternal socio-demographic status at the time of the pregnancy. Policy implications emerge from the findings, particularly concerning differences and similarities in the process determining unwanted first births for blacks and whites.     

Peter Brooks,Troubling Confessions: Speaking Guilt in Law and Literature; Mariana Valverde,Diseases of the Will: Alcohol and the Dilemmas of Freedom

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique -