ManFriday article in the Daily Mail

One of the huge problems with AI and automated decision software is that it picks up the bias of its creators. So software written by Silicon Valley dude-bros is unlikely to treat women fairly.

Quite. A programmer friend of mine has also pointed this out to me.

Right. Thanks Sweary. I am now going to really concentrate on the children thing. It is so important that people like you aren't silenced about this. Every child who gets started of on the puberty blocker route is another tragedy waiting to happen.
I am going to start a new letter writing effort concentrating on this. And I have other plans too...

Sarahar, crispbutty, supermatch and the others... I won't waste my time on you and I hope others won't either.

I don't. I have better things to do with my time.

@MsMcWoodle - I get threatened with police reports for every ManFriday action. The changing rooms had them reporting me for sharing photos of women without their consent (they were pictures of me and I think I consented) and they also complain about us going into the changing rooms.

They also appear to be keeping a dossier of things I said that they disagree with. I am not positive about Mermaids and say I think transing children and telling them they can change sex is child abuse. I won’t stop saying this because it’s true. This is where they’re countering about libel and civil action.

The shadow ban is clearly due to being a woman with an opinion.

Sarahar, crispbutty, supermatch and the others... I won't waste my time on you and I hope others won't either.
I know what you're up to I'm sure others do too.
Mumsnet wouldn't let me say what I think of you on here but you will never stop people from telling the truth. Men can't become women. Nobody thinks that they can, even you.
Deal with it.

@Ereshkigal I would hope I'm not alone in questioning and being concerned about the Twitter software's ability to perform this thought policing in a rational and proportionate way

One of the huge problems with AI and automated decision software is that it picks up the bias of its creators. So software written by Silicon Valley dude-bros is unlikely to treat women fairly.

Me too.

@SwearyG, if it comes to crowdfunding, I will donate.

Sweary - can you say specifically what you are supposed to have done?

@AvaBelmont, thanks, it's always best to get this direct from the person who was actually there. For some reason I had it in my head that you were a Guider and Be had been training you.

It's good that we have a copy and paste response to all the disingenuous transactivists who suggest we rely on the Equality Act.

So yes, Stonewall are going after female-only spaces, and we can reasonably infer that the Equality Act will be next in their sights.

YYY. I'd forgotten that manifesto commitment.

Oh thank you Procrastinator1 I hope it won’t come to that but if the threats morph into anything real then I might have to go down that route.

The TRAs hate it when we take any action and they always do this in the aftermath so I think it’s mainly hot air. It’s supposed to frighten me into submission and it’s not going to work. Let them build up their dossier of evidence against me and let them serve proceedings on me. I have no career, no children, nothing they can attack. I’ve come through years of anorexia. They can’t do anything worse to me than that.

re Twitter shadow banning: under the GDPR you may have a right to challenge Twitter's automated decisions.

I was the one who spoke in Newcastle about the TRAs coming after the Equality Act after they'd cracked GRA reform. I'd actually been to a session earlier that week about the GRA which was run by a local trans support/lobbying organisation called Be, not by the Guides - I'm not a Guide Leader. The transperson running it spoke about the fact that, although the EA has sex exemptions, they were being worked around by lots of organisations. And that the EA would be next in their sights.

@SwearyG
I'm so sorry to hear that you are having to deal with threats of police and civil action. Have you got legal support? Is crowdfunding necessary?

@averylongtimespartacus I'm afraid I can't remember more, but in my search for citable confirmation I found Stonewall's response to the Women and Equality Select Committee's inquiry into transgender equality, and I found the following in their recommendations:

A review of the Equality Act 2010 to include ‘gender identity’ rather than ‘gender reassignment’ as a protected characteristic and to remove exemptions, such as access to single-sex spaces

So yes, Stonewall are going after female-only spaces, and we can reasonably infer that the Equality Act will be next in their sights.

@SarahAr, we see the plan, we see that relaxing the GRA is just the beginning, and we know that we are fighting for our right to female-only services without which we cannot fully live our lives.

That’s super shit R0wantrees. How do we fix our “standing” if we’re hidden. It makes me wonder what the TRAs are up to too as my tweets get lots of positive impacts. I have emailed Twitter support but won’t hold my breath for a response.

This is so annoying, but I suppose slightly flattering because we’ve obviously caused some upset by showing the public are not pro Self ID.

When Twitter’s software decides that a certain user is “detract[ing] from the conversation,” all of that user’s tweets will be hidden from search results and public conversations until their reputation improves. And they won’t know that they’re being muted in this way;

I would hope I'm not alone in questioning and being concerned about the Twitter software's ability to perform this thought policing in a rational and proportionate way.

However, the consequences are enormous. The law underpins social conventions. Women's spaces are protected principally by those conventions. At the moment women can challenge someone they think should not be there, confident that the person being challenged would need to respond. Bring in self-ID and they can simply say that "I am a woman because I say I am a woman".

This.

@R0wantrees. I regularly search my name from an alt account (mainly to see what my political opponents are saying about me from behind their blockwalls - can be illuminating) but it does reassure me that my Tweets are coming up on searches. Should they disappear then I would be able to investigate it.

@SarahAr I keep hearing the argument that the GRA is just about birth certificates, with the implication that it is little consequence. If that is so then you could just argue to repeal the whole thing.

However, the consequences are enormous. The law underpins social conventions. Women's spaces are protected principally by those conventions. At the moment women can challenge someone they think should not be there, confident that the person being challenged would need to respond. Bring in self-ID and they can simply say that "I am a woman because I say I am a woman".

I understand why women are unhappy and concerned about this. If we go ahead with self-ID those concerns aren't going to disappear. They will grow and fester. I do not want to be a victim of that. We must retain the need for objective evidence before someone can change their legal sex to protect women and protect the relationship between women and transwomen.

@TimeLady

Yes, and at Carlisle, but it's quite a journey and the Harrogate women's sessions would require time off work. At Newcastle, I could go in after work if I wanted, and I really miss that.

And when we say no we’re threatened (have had threats of police action and civil action today) and shut down (am shadowbanned).

Sweary I've just seen this re Twitter's recently changed shadow banning policy, did you know about it?

Twitter Announces More Shadow Banning For Those Having A ‘Negative Impact’

"When Twitter’s software decides that a certain user is “detract[ing] from the conversation,” all of that user’s tweets will be hidden from search results and public conversations until their reputation improves. And they won’t know that they’re being muted in this way; Twitter says it’s still working on ways to notify people and help them get back into its good graces. In the meantime, their tweets will still be visible to their followers as usual and will still be able to be retweeted by others. They just won’t show up in conversational threads or search results by default…

You’ve heard of Twitter jail? Let’s call this Twitter purgatory.

All of this shadow banning will be handled by an algorithm, meaning who gets banned will depend mostly on the reactions of other people. "

hotair.com/archives/2018/05/15/twitter-announces-shadow-banning-negative-impact/

There's a link to the interview on the thread below. I thought it was really refreshing to hear people listening and showing respect for each other despite disageeing about some things important to them.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3265312-Venices-interview-with-Geordie-transwomen-Now-thats-what-I-call-a-talk-show