College Hazing Gang Rape Rituals, US Customs Officers 'Rape Table' Ritual, Secret Facebook rules on what violence, self-harm and child abuse can be posted

- New Lawsuit Alleges Baylor Players Gang-Raped Women As 'Bonding Experience'
- U.S. Customs Officers Allegedly Assaulted Coworkers In ‘Rape Table’ Ritual
- Leak: Secret Facebook rules on what violence, self-harm and child abuse can be posted


Describes violence




New Lawsuit Alleges Baylor Players Gang-Raped Women As 'Bonding Experience'
May 17, 2017  Camila Domonoske
A new federal lawsuit against Baylor University accuses football players of drugging and gang-raping young women as part of a hazing or bonding ritual — and the university of failing to investigate the pervasive sexual assault.

The players often took photographs and videos as they carried out the gang rapes, the suit alleges. It was filed by "Jane Doe," who says she was raped by four to eight Baylor players in February 2012. Her Title IX suit says the school's "deliberately indifferent response" effectively denied her educational opportunities.

The suit also describes dogfighting at football parties and burglaries carried out by football players, without consequence.

The alleged assaults and other criminal activities took place during former head football coach Art Briles' tenure at the school in Waco, Texas.

Briles and former university President Ken Starr were both removed from their posts last year after a wave of sexual assault allegations against Baylor players.

The school's regents said last May they were "horrified," "shocked" and "outraged" to learn about the sexual violence that was happening on campus — and the "mishandling of reports" by the university.....

The suit also describes a culture of sexual assault woven into hazing rituals:

    "Upon information and belief, prior to Plaintiff's arrival at Baylor, members of the Baylor football team had already developed a system of hazing their freshman recruits by having them bring or invite freshman females to house parties hosted by members of the football team. At these parties, the girls would be drugged and gang raped, or in the words of the football players, 'trains' would be run on the girls.

    "The gang rapes were considered a 'bonding' experience for the football players.

    "Photographs and videotapes of the semi-conscious girls would be taken during the gang rapes and circulated amongst the football players. Based upon investigation, Plaintiff has confirmed that at least one, 21-second videotape of two female Baylor students being gang raped by several Baylor football players was circulated amongst football players.....
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/17/528804172/new-lawsuit-alleges-baylor-players-gang-raped-women-as-bonding-experience



U.S. Customs Officers Allegedly Assaulted Coworkers In ‘Rape Table’ Ritual
One victim says it’s too extreme to be called “hazing.”
By Hilary Hanson   May 13, 2017

Several officers of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency have come forward with bombshell allegations against their colleagues at Newark Airport in New Jersey.

Three officers told NBC New York they were sexually assaulted as part of disturbing rituals that involved being duct-taped to a table other officers called the “rape table.” The victims said that while no one ever removed their clothes, other officers would forcibly rub their genital areas on the victims strapped to the table, as well as grab them. This practice has been happening for years, according to the officers.

One victim said that “hazing” is an understatement of what happened to them.

“Hazing wouldn’t do this justice,” CBP officer Vito Degironimo told NBC. “This is complete assault. They take you in a room and your fellow officers are all watching as officers grab you.”....

Charlie Smith, who was identified by the Daily Beast as a CBP agent,  corroborated the trio’s allegations in an interview with the news outlet, saying he’s heard stories of 17 similar assaults.

“Everybody has the same story,” he told The Daily Beast. “Their MO is always the same. There’s a supervisor who turned the lights off in the room. They’d call [the victim] into the room, so it was pitch-black when he came in. They threw him down on the table and did what they did.”....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/customs-officers-newark-hazing-rape-table_us_5915d7bce4b0031e737d4297 


Revealed: Facebook's internal rulebook on sex, terrorism and violence
Leaked policies guiding moderators on what content to allow are likely to fuel debate about social media giant’s ethics
Nick Hopkins Sunday 21 May 2017

Facebook’s secret rules and guidelines for deciding what its 2 billion users can post on the site are revealed for the first time in a Guardian investigation that will fuel the global debate about the role and ethics of the social media giant.

The Guardian has seen more than 100 internal training manuals, spreadsheets and flowcharts that give unprecedented insight into the blueprints Facebook has used to moderate issues such as violence, hate speech, terrorism, pornography, racism and self-harm.
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There are even guidelines on match-fixing and cannibalism.

The Facebook Files give the first view of the codes and rules formulated by the site, which is under huge political pressure in Europe and the US.

They illustrate difficulties faced by executives scrabbling to react to new challenges such as “revenge porn” – and the challenges for moderators, who say they are overwhelmed by the volume of work, which means they often have “just 10 seconds” to make a decision.

“Facebook cannot keep control of its content,” said one source. “It has grown too big, too quickly.”

Many moderators are said to have concerns about the inconsistency and peculiar nature of some of the policies. Those on sexual content, for example, are said to be the most complex and confusing.....

The Guardian has seen documents supplied to Facebook moderators within the last year. The files tell them:
 
    Remarks such as “Someone shoot Trump” should be deleted, because as a head of state he is in a protected category. But it can be permissible to say: “To snap a bitch’s neck, make sure to apply all your pressure to the middle of her throat”, or “fuck off and die” because they are not regarded as credible threats.
    Videos of violent deaths, while marked as disturbing, do not always have to be deleted because they can help create awareness of issues such as mental illness.
    Some photos of non-sexual physical abuse and bullying of children do not have to be deleted or “actioned” unless there is a sadistic or celebratory element.
    Photos of animal abuse can be shared, with only extremely upsetting imagery to be marked as “disturbing”.....
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/may/21/revealed-facebook-internal-rulebook-sex-terrorism-violence


Leak: Secret Facebook rules on what violence, self-harm and child abuse can be posted
Internal Facebook documents advising moderators on what content is to be censored or allowed has leaked.
By Darlene Storm, Computerworld  May 22, 2017

Facebook allows users to livestream self-harm, post videos of violent deaths and photos of non-sexual child abuse, but comments which threaten to harm President Donald Trump are to be deleted, according to Facebook’s secret rule books for monitoring what its 2 billion users can post.

The Guardian got hold of leaked copies of over 100 internal Facebook manuals and documents that tell moderators how to handle content which includes violence, sex, hate speech, terrorism, nudity, self-harm, revenge porn and more controversial content – even cannibalism.

The giant social network has increasingly come under fire for how it handles disturbing content and for depending too heavily on users to report such content. At the beginning of May, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would hire 3,000 more people – on top of the 4,500 moderators it had – “to review the millions of reports we get every week.”

The leaked internal guidelines were given to Facebook moderators “within the last year,” the Guardian said. The documents show the fine line Facebook teeters on when deciding what content to censor without being accused of squashing free speech.....
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3197551/internet/leak-secret-facebook-rules-on-what-violence-self-harm-and-child-abuse-can-be-posted.html