Issue #22

marketing vs. activism & the promise of encryption

Daniel Krueger
June 30, 2023

Welcome back to TheBetterWeb newsletter!

This is the round-up of my Better Web week. Five links about communication, tech, and tools for a progressive world. If you are an activist or trying to make the world a better place, I provide you with information and references for your daily business.

Feel free to forward the newsletter, share it, or recommend it to friends and collaborators. I'm also grateful for any feedback. To do so, just hit reply in the email program, or text me via Linkedin or Twitter.

Furthermore, you should know that I’m part of Acter, where we build a secure and effective tool for community organizing. Get updates on LinkedIn and Twitter.

And here we go.

1. What happened this week?

Apple opposes encrypted messages scan

This is great news for encrypted messaging: Apple joined the opposition against planned laws in the United Kingdom and the European Union. The Online Safety Bill in the UK and ChatControl in the EU are intended to enable decoding encrypted messages under the pretext of taking action against child abuse and pornography.

Decrypt private messages is against many laws, but it just doesn't bother the UK government or the EU Commission. Now that Apple has joined the broad opposition, which includes the messengers Signal and WhatsApp, the governments can’t ignore the protest anymore. At least I hope so.

Apple joins opposition to encrypted message app scanning

WhatsApp and iMessage could be forced to scan for child abuse images under the Online Safety Bill.

www.bbc.com/news/technology-66028773

2. Climate Crisis

Iranian City hottest in the world in late spring

The Iranian city of Zabol won the world record for the hottest place this spring. With almost 51 degrees Celsius it’s close to impossible to live an everyday life, go to school, shop and work physically.

This is a direct consequence of the climate change and it’s more than urgent to act and organize accordingly.

Climate Crisis: Iranian City, hottest in World on Thursday, hits Record for late Spring Heat, at 50.8 °C [123.44 °F]

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) The Iranian city of Zabol in the northern part of the Sistan and Baluchistan province won the global high temperature sweepstakes on June 22, according to the Spanish meteorological site OGIMET , coming in at 50.8 °C . It is the first time in 60 years that a city in the north of that province recorded a temperature higher than 50 °C in spring, even the last day of spring. As long as Iran has been recording temperatures, Zabol only got to 51 °C once, in the summer of 1970. Human-caused climate change, from burning fossil

juancole.com/2023/06/climate-iranian-thursday.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

3. Campaigning

12 LinkedIn profile examples

While Twitter, like its owner Elon Musk, is getting crazier and Mastodon can't really replace the Blue Bird, LinkedIn is becoming more and more interesting for activists and NGOs. It is actually a business network, change makers increasingly start to network there with like-minded people, too.

As with other networks, you should follow certain rules on LinkedIn. It begins with the right profile. Here are twelve good examples of LinkedIn profiles.

💡 Think smart: LinkedIn is made for business professionals – nevertheless train your skills and turn LinkedIn into a change professionals network!

12 Killer LinkedIn Profile Examples to Inspire You to Update Your Own

LinkedIn is a paradise for many types of business professionals, and if you are not finding success on the platform, it might just come down to your

nealschaffer.com/linkedin-profile-examples

4. Campaigning

Marketers as activists

Activism is cool, marketing is cold business, right? No! If you need publicity, you need communication and marketing skills.

This blog is run by a marketer who shares his knowledge.

💡 Think smart: Clever change makers use marketing tools and seek expert advice to reach and impact the right audience.

marketing aX borders - marketing aX borders

Welcome to marketing across borders, a destination and blog for global marketing strategy content, resources, best practices, analysis and tales.

marketingacrossborders.blog

5. Online privacy & security

The promise of a new messenger

This excellent article explains how the author tests Converso, a new and supposedly encrypted messenger. It turns out that there is no encryption and, moreover, one can easily access private information.

What it shows: Don't believe everything you are promised. When it comes to really important data, check twice which service you trust.

Testing a new encrypted messaging app's extraordinary claims

How I accidentally breached a nonexistent database and found every private key in a 'state-of-the-art' encrypted messenger called Converso.

crnkovic.dev/testing-converso

Just nice!

Butt Drugs Commercial

In 2010 Butt Drugs from Corydon, Indiana released its nowadays famous commercial. It is so well and badly done at the same time that it immediately went viral. Unfortunately, Butt Drugs recently announced its closure. RIP!

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