Monster was hesitant to sit for an off-the-record interview with CNN, claiming he's been burned by journalists. And even after an hourlong conversation in his lakeside mansion, he would only offer on-the-record quotes through an attorney.
Epik's pivot to becoming the "free speech" alternative to Big Tech behemoths like GoDaddy has granted him visibility, which has been good for business. But now, Monster complains that he feels demonized by the media. Despite the nature of the content his company enables, he speculates that this media treatment -- he once referred to it in a talk as "persecution" -- has something to do with his last name, which is common in the Netherlands, where there exists a town called Monster on the western coast.
The son of parents who emigrated from the Netherlands in , Monster was raised in an atheist household and attended a private Quaker school in Philadelphia called Germantown Friends. Documents from governmental commissions evaluating military staff shortly after the war showed he told investigators he refused to treat Nazi soldiers, a decision that he said caused him "trouble and the usual threats" from the enemy. Arie also said he provided medical treatment for people in hiding, including members of the resistance and a few Canadian pilots.
The medical resistance group "Medisch Contact" vouched for Arie, saying he joined political protests against Nazis, wrote a letter of protest against the "Nazification" of health insurance and that "his morality is excellent.
Monster said his maternal grandfather, too, played an active role in resisting German occupation, providing food and shelter for the Allied paratroopers who would sometimes be dropped into the fields of his farm.
As a child, Rob Monster says, he often was sent to the Netherlands in the summers to work on the farm of his maternal grandparents. His grandfather paid him, and, Monster has said, he developed an early interest in money -- so much so he started trading stocks. An Ivy League alum who has been the CEO of several companies, Monster embraced Christianity later in life -- in -- and uses the language of redemption to explain his company's comparatively high tolerance for extremists.
Monster stresses that he isn't a free speech absolutist. Indeed, he has declined service for two of the web's fringiest elements -- such as a forum called 8chan and a neo-Nazi website called The Daily Stormer -- because they "propagate hate. Sensitive to claims of providing a safe harbor for hate speech, Epik dedicates a page on its website to displaying letters addressing account holders who have crossed the line. Still, Monster's definition of irredeemable hate speech is murky.
When shown a still-existing Nazi-themed Gab account -- which also bears the Daily Stormer name and prominently depicts swastikas and allusions to Hitler -- Monster told CNN he strongly disapproves of the material. Monster portrays his company's willingness to do business with White nationalists or people who "manifest genocidal thoughts" as a gesture of benevolence.
Asked what he thinks the media fails to understand about him, he told CNN: "I can deal with people who are very lost and see hope for them. But Monster has exhibited little interest in reflecting on the tragedies that prompted him to react in ways that have brought visibility -- and profits -- to Epik. In the wake of the Pittsburgh shooting, he published a blog post touting Epik as a bastion of free speech -- adorning the page with lofty pull quotes from Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin -- but made no mention of the horrific attack or the victims.
In the aftermath of the New Zealand shooting that killed dozens, Monster seemed to use his online restoration of the shooter's manifesto as a marketing opportunity. In a message on Gab informing people where they could find the shooter's "writing" on a peer-to-peer network that he called "effectively uncensorable," he added promotional language about how others could do the same using services provided by Epik. Monster told CNN in an email that it had not been his intent to turn the tragedy into a marketing opportunity, and that the link to the manifesto and the promotional message "should not have been in the same post.
Monster declined to say whether, if given the chance to do it over, he would again put the Christchurch content back online -- or whether he still thinks the attack could have been a false flag.
But when pressed, he condemned the Pittsburgh and Christchurch attacks. Giving money to his enemy. It started as a kind of news conference to discuss the breach but evolved into something like a late-night campfire chat, albeit with an element of the surreal. Monster recited prayers to ward off demons, warned participants not to mess with the hacked data because it is "cursed," and spoke in friendly tones with a motley cast of characters that included a neo-Nazi and a founder of Anonymous -- the hacktivist collective that claims responsibility for the attack on his company.
Through it all, Monster seemed oddly in his element and unguarded. About 15 minutes into the call, Monster cheerfully called out the presence of an unlikely participant: Aubrey "Kirtaner" Cottle, who describes himself as a founder of Anonymous. In other words -- Monster's enemy. Monster asked Cottle if he performed the hack. Cottle denied it, then added, "I would never, ever, ever, ever admit to a federal crime in a space like this.
Monster has referenced the number as having biblical connotations; Cottle took the gesture as a message. Cottle -- who said he lives modestly in Toronto -- acknowledged that he took Monster's money and used it for a trip to visit his young child in Philadelphia. Monster told CNN he believes Cottle is the culprit. Monster had another remarkable conversation during the call -- one that seemed to sum up his entire approach to online hate speech.
In , Heartland was exposed for its climate misinformation activity in Europe. David Armiak is research director with the Center for Media and Democracy. David joined CMD in , has conducted extensive investigations on dark money, corporate corruption, and right-wing networks, and is responsible for filing and analyzing hundreds of public records requests every year.
David has a strong research interest in social movements and political power, and has delivered many talks on the subject. He has a Bachelor's degree in philosophy and anthropology from Boston University and a Master's degree in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Nevermind their gangstalking tactics against opponents www. Other grad students in the Anthropology Department have been targeted for at least 15 years.
This is CIA tech and is the Secret behind the Secret Service, now using bodies like bots to accomplish economic objectives through the political economy. My advisor demanded I write a chapter dedicated to NSF funding I received that turned out to be something like an intelligence white paper I now realize. He entered parliament 30 years later after graduating from law school and working as a consultant.
In he became a mayor in the eastern county of Frederiksborg, and took over as deputy chairman for the Venstre party. When the party took power in , he was appointed interior and health minister, and in became finance minister, seen as the natural successor to Anders Fogh Rasmussen. In , at the age of 44, he became the youngest prime minister in Danish history -- but there was little time to celebrate. The country was in the grips of its worst economic crisis since on the back of a collapse in house prices and plunging domestic consumption.
In campaigning ahead of Thursday's election, Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt claimed credit for succeeding where Rasmussen's austerity measures failed, with rosy economic forecasts of two percent growth next year. When she called the election three weeks ago, the prime minister attacked Rasmussen's continued commitment to austerity and pledges to freeze public spending, which she said would "mess up" the recovery her government had achieved.
He also came under fire for claiming that unemployed Danes lack financial incentives to find work. Rasmussen fought back by talking tough on immigration, but voters leaning that way clearly cast their ballots for the DPP as rising numbers of asylum seekers became one of the top issues of the election. Political analysts said the Copenhagen terror attacks in February were not a direct campaign issue, but helped to keep immigration on the agenda.
Gunman Omar El-Hussein killed a Danish filmmaker outside a cultural centre before opening fire at a synagogue, killing a Jewish man, in twin attacks that shocked the country. Krot told the man. Angela Simmons caught fans by surprise on Jan.
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