Yale Suspends Palestine Activist After AI Article Linked Her To Terrorism 148
Yale University has suspended a law scholar and pro-Palestinian activist after an AI-generated article from Jewish Onliner falsely linked her to a terrorist group. Gizmodo reports: Helyeh Doutaghi, the scholar at Yale Law School, told the New York Times that she is a "loud and proud" supporter of Palestinian rights. "I am not a member of any organization that would constitute a violation of U.S. law." The article that led to her suspension was published in Jewish Onliner, a Substack that says it is "empowered by A.I. capabilities." The website does not publish the names of its authors out of fear of harassment. Ironically, Doutaghi and Yale were reportedly the subject of intense harassment after Jewish Onliner published the article linking Doutaghi to terrorism by citing appearances she made at events sponsored by Samidoun, a pro-Palestinian group. [...]
Jewish Onliner is vague about how it uses AI to produce its articles, but the technology is known for making lots of mistakes and hallucinating information that is not true. It is quite possible that Jewish Onliner relied on AI to source information it used to write the article. That could open it up to liability if it did not perform fact-checking and due diligence on its writing. Besides the fact that Doutaghi says she is not a member of Samidoun, she attended events it sponsored that support Palestinian causes, Yale Law School said the allegations against her reflect "potential unlawful conduct."
Jewish Onliner is vague about how it uses AI to produce its articles, but the technology is known for making lots of mistakes and hallucinating information that is not true. It is quite possible that Jewish Onliner relied on AI to source information it used to write the article. That could open it up to liability if it did not perform fact-checking and due diligence on its writing. Besides the fact that Doutaghi says she is not a member of Samidoun, she attended events it sponsored that support Palestinian causes, Yale Law School said the allegations against her reflect "potential unlawful conduct."
sue the school (Score:3)
sue the school
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Re:sue the school (Score:4, Insightful)
I am not a lawyer, and I'm not American, but probably breach of contract and/or negligent investigation and/or negligent infliction of emotional distress, and a bunch of other things.
Yale is currently being sued for suspending someone accused of cheating on their exam: https://yaledailynews.com/blog... [yaledailynews.com]
In 2006, someone successfully sued Duke University for suspending them based of a false rape allegation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
I'm not going to continue Googling at this point.
But seeing as America has justice for the rich (like most countries) the equation is Yale's richness > Helyeh's richness, so I don't value her chance at success.
Re:sue the school (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, other than the fact she in fact has no association with any "terrorist" group. The 'actual' bit is functioning a little bit strangely in your assertion there.
While labeling groups you disagree with as "terrorists" might work rhetorically, it has no history of being particularly useful with Judges. "terrorism" has a very specific definition in law of "group on a terrorist watchlist", and I can assure you putting domestic protest groups on that watchlist because you simply disagree with them is going to last barely a paragraph in court before it gets angrily tossed by the judge on first ammendment grounds.
Re:sue the school (Score:4, Informative)
There's an article on the Samidoun website [samidoun.net] that says she's a member of their organization.
Now, their claim might be false, but if the organization claims you are a member, and you're attending and speaking at their events, do you still need to be on some sort of official membership list?
The organization got added to the list last year - under Biden. If Biden's organization felt the need to add it to the list, I figure that there's a good chance it actually is associated with terrorists.
Not that it is difficult, seeing as how the terrorists are in charge of Palestine, so any association with their government is associating with terrorists.
Re:sue the school (Score:5, Informative)
Hamas is only in charge of Gaza.
Re: sue the school (Score:3)
No, they are not. While their origins lie in the Muslim Brotherhood, it's like saying Georgia is the United States by another name. It's misleading and gives a sense of importance or might that isn't based on reality.
Re:sue the school (Score:5, Insightful)
Not that it is difficult, seeing as how the terrorists are in charge of Tel Aviv, so any association with the Netanyahu's government is associating with terrorists.
FTFY.
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It's kind of like the Moscow show trials - these are people so wrapped up in their own delusio
Re: sue the school (Score:2)
lol what? Biden was actively funding and encouraging the genocide in Gaza.
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Re: sue the school (Score:2)
Because only maga types are as stupid and disingenuous as you. Itâ(TM)s extremely obvious.
Re:sue the school (Score:5, Insightful)
Wrongful dismissal, duh.
Universities almost universally have charter protections for free speech, and a lot of this going after palestine advocates is blowing straight past those protections, and that would generally be more than enough to sue for wrongful dismissal.
Its a University, and while there are standards to be expected around conduct, this is pretty unnaceptable.
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Problem being, considering our current president, what are the odds that, in this case, he'll attempt to pardon the university? Never mind that it's a civil case and likely state level?
I figure that this sort of stuff is often a show by the universities of "bending their knee" to placate Trump.
Meanwhile, I'd expect discovery to get intense. The university will want to show that the AI article is correct, so deep dive into her life, both will want further information about the article, so discovery/deposit
Re:sue the school (Score:4, Insightful)
Wrongful dismissal, duh.
Universities almost universally have charter protections for free speech, and a lot of this going after palestine advocates is blowing straight past those protections, and that would generally be more than enough to sue for wrongful dismissal.
Its a University, and while there are standards to be expected around conduct, this is pretty unnaceptable.
While the concept that Universities are havens of free speech, they are not. Indeed, a professor at KSU was fired because of his opinion on how to treat children with gender dysphoria. The courts agreed, https://www.christianpost.com/... [christianpost.com] The Biden administration supported his firing and is issuing another appeal.
https://www.insidehighered.com... [insidehighered.com]. After the Trump election in 2016, Prof, James Bowley wrote an email that got him fired From Milsaps university in Mississippi.
Professor Stuart Reges was fired from University of Washington because he expressed his opinion on indigenous land and is now suing UW. https://www.thefire.org/news/l... [thefire.org].
Professor Jason Kilborne go University of Chicago lost his job after using this in a finals test The December 2020 final exam in civil procedure included a hypothetical in which a plaintiff alleged that her managers had called her a “n- - - - -” and a “b- - - -.” Kilborn’s exam included only the first letter of the word followed by underlined blanks. Some students were upset by the question., so he had to take diversity training, a suspension and financially punished https://www.abajournal.com/new... [abajournal.com] .
This one is interesting as these were law students, who would be traumatized if they ever had a court case.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/heal... [msn.com]. Doctor Alan Josephson was fired for not supporting the present official trans communities regarding transitioning children
the dean of the medical school, Dr Toni Ganzel said directly "Doctor Josephson's view doesn't reflect the culture we are trying so hard to promote" In other words, conform or be cast out. 40 year career ended after demoting him from division head to junior faculty member, then fired. Because he didn't have the right opinion.
No, Universities are about conform or be cast out, that has nothing to do with free speech. If they want your opinion, they will tell you what it is.
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On what basis would you sue them
Usually these suits take the form of a failure to follow due process (and the harms that resulted from that failure) or from defamation (saying things about the student that weren't true).
But Yale should make it easy on itself, it should just say it threw her out because she was a DEI admit because is a woman. I think the current administration and Supreme Court would allow it.
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Never gonna work. Look around at America now.
She is brown, and not rich. The people at Yale are neither. Even were it to be proven they acted inappropriately, 'rich' and 'white' beats trivialities like 'laws' now.
Problem with federal funding (Score:5, Interesting)
"Yale’s peer institution, Columbia, lost $400 million in federal funding last week after being named on a list of schools accused of tolerating antisemitism. On Monday, the Trump administration announced that Yale was among 60 schools that could face funding cuts if federal investigations show evidence that they have permitted antisemitic behavior."
It seems she is actually linked to the 'terrorist' group, "The news site cited postings referring to appearances she made on panels at Samidoun-sponsored events, but a lawyer for Dr. Doutaghi said she is not a member of Samidoun." Of course, "terrorist group" being a label created by the US government.
I don't think the situation has anything to do with AI.
Re:Problem with federal funding (Score:4, Informative)
And Samidoun linked itself to Hamas and Hezbollah, and officially called for "death to Canada", so the link to terrorism is real enough.
Not a hallucination and nothing to do with AI.
Re:Problem with federal funding (Score:5, Funny)
And Samidoun ... officially called for "death to Canada",
Big deal - Trump himself has done that.
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Re: Problem with federal funding (Score:2, Informative)
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Sigh... unfortunately I can't disagree with anything you've posted. And now I'm depressed.
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Welp, that would do it.
Though looking around, I don't seem to be the only one figuring that this is at least somewhat performative in order to keep/protect federal funding.
Looking at the article itself, it mentions that Samidoun is sanctioned by the fed already.
And sorry, but under Trump, just supporting Palestine is a deportable offense. And Samidoun was added to the sanction list last year, thus under Biden.
If she isn't a US Citizen, I'd advise her to be very, very careful right now.
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Yep, which is why it's good if it all goes away along with the Dept of Ed.
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Go to the source (Score:5, Informative)
Well, Samidoun, which is sanctioned by the US and Canada as a terrorist group, has this article on its own website [samidoun.net] that says that Helyeh is "a member of the international Samidoun Network".
So even if it was an AI article, it seems like it wasn't hallucinating about the connection.
Re:Go to the source (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, but by dskoll is part of the IRA terrorist group... or at least it's really easy to say it whether it is true or not.
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I thought it was fairly obvious that I picked an effectively defunct organization as a pre-emptive defense against people who don't understand satire -- even sometimes when you you make it very clear that it is satire by directly stating that it is. You also obviously missed the point that it was being stated on _this_ website. Slashdot. No less an authoritative source than the website of an organization deemed a terrorist organization. Ultimately, the point that you've missed is that material links to a te
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Do terrorist organizations often falsely claim people are members rather than that they are not? How much corroborating evidence of her involvement with them do you require before an investigation is warranted? Is independent reporting of her attendance at sponsored events sufficient?
She hasn't been imprisoned; she has been suspended from her job pending investigation.
From what I have seen of her work, I don't know why she would have come here in the first plac
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Do terrorist organizations often falsely claim people are members rather than that they are not? How much corroborating evidence of her involvement with them do you require before an investigation is warranted? Is independent reporting of her attendance at sponsored events sufficient?
Firstly, in regards to false claims, terrorist organizations do indeed make false claims often. Usually in the form of either taking credit for things they did not do, or denying participation in things they did do. When they take credit for things they did not do, clearly they are, in fact, falsely claiming people are members. As for corroborating evidence before an investigation is warranted, it depends on what you mean by investigation. A mention on a website certainly might be enough for a search for ot
Re:Go to the source (Score:5, Interesting)
I wrote that Samidoun was sanctioned by the USA and Canada as a terrorist group. That is a fact. Whether or not you choose to agree with that doesn't affect how the USA and Canada apply their anti-terrorism laws.
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Why would the official web site for an organization claim someone as a member, if that someone wasn't a member? What's the advantage here?
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I can think of a few reasons. The simplest is just self-promotion and fundraising. Name-dropping prominent people in a protest movement could draw people in to join or donate to your organization. Aside from that there's false-flag reasons, basically naming people with the express intent that it will cause US agencies to target them unreasonably and create popular uproar. This is, for example, clearly the modus operandi of Hamas. The horrific October 7th attacks had a purpose beyond expressing Palestinian o
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Re:Go to the source (Score:4, Insightful)
They are a solidarity group for Palestinian prisoners. They are accused for raising funds for a Palestinian militant group, but the evidence is mostly from Israel so is likely fabricated.
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Re: Go to the source (Score:2)
Because Israel has a long history of fabricating "evidence" against Palestinians. For anyone paying attention, the default position must be that Israel is lying and to demand damning evidence to take them seriously.
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Actually, there's video of the Samidoun leader calling for death to Canada and the USA [youtube.com] and expressing solidarity with Hamas and Hezbollah. Is that part of "solidarity" with Palestinian prisoners?
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"dskoll is a member of the international Slashdot network"
By your logic, you now work for Slashdot and we can blame you for dupes.
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If you were an official representative of Slashdot, your logic would apply. But you aren't and so it doesn't.
Re: Go to the source (Score:2)
How do you know? Management's actions are largely opaque here. You never know who's doing what.
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You've never posted a dupe comment, so you clearly are not part of /. management.
This is the same crap from the '50s (Score:2, Insightful)
After Goldwater lost the super rich figured out they could alter their tactics and win. They took over the churches and the news media and the media in general. They had a few setbacks with gay rights in the '70s and '80s because the networks wanted gays on TV to bring in ratings (it was considered salacious back then and television had
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Re:This is the same crap from the '50s (Score:4, Interesting)
They became "left-wing" to oppose Bush's invasion of Iraq. That's not left-wing, that's opposing neocons.
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It was really anti-neoconservatism that first made me give a shit about political parties at all.
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Re: This is the same crap from the '50s (Score:2)
Traditionally tech is libertarian. It only seems left wing when the issues of the day are smoking weed, micro dosing shrooms, and not paying taxes. When the issues of the day turn to regulating the tech industry, their politics then look right wing.
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Joe McCarthy died in 1957.
Ronald Reagan became president in 1980.
Re:This is the same crap from the '50s (Score:4, Informative)
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I believe Reagan did that back when he was president of the Screen Actors Guild - he was ratting out other actors and actresses.
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This article provides additional context (rather more sympathetic to Reagan) [latimes.com].
Re:This is the same crap from the '50s (Score:4, Informative)
Re: This is the same crap from the '50s (Score:5, Interesting)
Whoâ(TM)s censoring speech right now?
I donâ(TM)t see democrats arresting people and trying to deport them before the courts can act.
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Which was part of the problem. here you have multiple people directly tied to terrorist groups, helping to fund them, and distributing their material and biden did nothing about it.
I can't. Posting something on the internet does not make it true
Slashdot internet AI news
-------------
will_die helped al-queda commit 9/11. will_die is a middle eastern jihadist that has publicly said Christians should be killed and down with america. will_die is a dangerous terrorist that should be deported immediately.
You better be prepared for ICE coming for you, terrorist scum!
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Re: This is the same crap from the '50s (Score:2)
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Re: This is the same crap from the '50s (Score:2)
Well, what does your username say about you?
I usually do not reply to you vile vermin, but what it says about me is i can read a newspaper.
Re: This is the same crap from the '50s (Score:2)
"supporting palestine itself is not an issue, the US government does it, the issue is when you are funding and directly tied to groups in palestine that are recognized terrorist groups."
Like Netanyahu.
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Which was part of the problem. here you have multiple people directly tied to terrorist groups, helping to fund them, and distributing their material and biden did nothing about it.
If they provide material support of terrorist organizations - charge them with that and lets have presumption of innocence play out in courts. This is not what happening here - Trump administration is deporting people that were legally in the country without charging them with a crime. This is clear violation of 1A.
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What do you mean by "censorship"?
Does calling people "terrorists" for disliking a fat Nazi piece of shit count? How about pushing for legalizing that name calling?
https://dailyboulder.com/house... [dailyboulder.com]
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It means you can't say things I disagree with or that make me look bad.
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So does calling people "terrorists" for disliking a piece of Nazi shit count? Or is it censorship only when you don't like it?
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Oh look, another retard who hasn't kept up with the last 35 years of current events.
It turns out that the Kremlin archives (opened to western researchers in the early 1990s) and the Venona intercepts have essentially vindicated McCarthy. According to official Soviet records and communications, nearly everyone that McCarthy named actually was a Soviet agent.
Not surprising, really, since McCarthy had access to all of our intelligence. Also, not surprising since all investigation into communist infiltration
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Blue Penguin: Cites "bs propaganda"
Red Penguin: To defend bs propaganda
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Re:This is the same crap from the '50s (Score:4, Informative)
"of the 159 people who were identified on lists used or referenced by McCarthy, evidence only substantially proved that nine of them had aided Soviet espionage efforts—while several hundred Soviet spies were actually known based on Venona and other evidence, most were never named by McCarthy."
Note also that McCarthy was probably gay, which is another case of closeted gay people persecuting other gay people.
This seems like a red herring (Score:2)
The principle here is simple. A journalistic outlet or blogger reported on a story and asserted that a person was involved with a terrorist organization. The university made its choice. Whether the outlet was or was not correct is a matter for the courts if the subject decides to sue for defamation or libel. AI doesn't really matter here, and plenty of anonymous reporting has indeed happened for legitimate, non-nefarious reasons.
If the subject does decide to sue the author, then discovery will turn up what
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Open and shut defamation? (Score:2)
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She does and moreover, she is a member of it.
https://web.archive.org/web/20250302133741/https://samidoun.net/2022/07/fedayin-screening-in-iran-highlights-case-of-georges-ibrahim-abdallah/
AI isn't reliable (Score:3)
and often produces hallucinations. Its use to accuse people of crimes on random websites isn't okay. However, in this particular case
This lady says she's not a member of the Samidoun. Yet, Samidoun itself says that she IS a member of Samidoun.
https://web.archive.org/web/20250302133741/https://samidoun.net/2022/07/fedayin-screening-in-iran-highlights-case-of-georges-ibrahim-abdallah/
and she participated in a Samidoun-organized event in support of a "Palestinian political prisoner", who is in fact a convicted Lebanese terrorist, Georges Abdallah, complicit in the murders of two people, one of them a military USA officer.
The Samidoun isn't designated as a terrorist organization in the USA, but it is in other nations, like Canada. Also, Samidoun is an object of USA sanctions.
This contradiction of words means that either the Samidoun or this lady is lying, and I personally am more inclined to believe that this lady is the liar. She brings bad publicity for the university, including by supporting anti-American terrorists like the aforementioned Mr. Abdallah. If it was my decision, I would suspend her too, without batting an eye.
If there was any harassment against her and Yale, it was well deserved. I can imagine that Americans don't like terrorists who murder their servicemen.
Everything I stated here is derived from the article I cited in the beginning, and unfortunately, it isn't an AI hallucination.
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I can imagine that Americans don't like terrorists who murder their servicemen.
What do you mean? We cowtow to Israel all the time despite them murdering our servicemen AND U.S. citizens.
How convenient (Score:2)
A Jewish group, hiding behind AI so its members can't be known, claiming an educator who supports Palestine is part of a terrorist group.
I would say do the same thing to Jewish educators, but I'm certain I'd be called anti-semitic.
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Good. (Score:2)
She is a pro-terrorist, pro-Iran socialist who was only here to spread poison through our society. Send her home, I'll be glad of it.
Samidoun, a pro-Palestinian group ? (Score:2)
Oct 2024 [treasury.gov]: “Today
> It comes as the Trump administration has launched a relentless campaign to silence any speech sympathetic to the Pale
Almost all protestors are linked to terrorism (Score:2)
Almost anyone who has been protesting in the U.S. over the last decade has probably found themselves at a protest organized by Russian groups linked to terrorism.
Need more free speech proponents on /.
Ah yes! (Score:2)
Remember how the Boston marathon bomber was "identified" by the mob and hounded? This is simply the next iteration.
So, yes, Yale CAN be sued for acting on this.
They will certainly lose, in time.
I can only hope the loss will be large enough to make them think before acting on unverified, anonymous reporting.
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Fuck Israel. Fuck LGBTQ. Fuck every last one of these censorious fucks.
I don't know about getting back to normalcy, but if you stop swearing, you won't get censored as much.
On other websites. On Slashdot, swearing is fine. We're fucking cool that way.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/1... [nytimes.com]
"‘Buying Quiet’: Inside the Israeli Plan That Propped Up Hamas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gambled that a strong Hamas (but not too strong) would keep the peace and reduce pressure for a Palestinian state...
Re:Censorship from all sides (Score:4, Insightful)
There are different aspects to what is going on that you are glossing over. First, you have official news organizations. Those news organizations are held to standards when it comes to reporting. Then, you have pseudo-news organizations. Fox News is actually classified as "entertainment", even though it has the name Fox News. Realistically, Democrats could force Fox News to either re-classify itself as a News agency and be held to the standards, or remove the "News" from its name.
Then, you have social media, which is NOT considered "News". Because the government is not involved, any private corporation can set rules for what it allows for content and what it does not. So, social media is not held to any sort of free speech standard, it's not set up or funded by the government.
DEI is a completely different issue. Suggesting that no group should be discriminated against due to racism, sexism, or xenophobia shouldn't be seen as a bad thing. You could complain about groups pushing their presence beyond what would be seen as "fair representation", but that has nothing to do with DEI.
From the end of your post, it seems that you are one of those who suffer from xenophobia, or just can't handle that there are people out there who are not like you in their preference for religion or their sexual preferences(or identity for that matter). Basically, you start with what could be a fair complaint, and then quickly show that there is nothing rational about your thinking.
Re: Censorship from all sides (Score:2)
Sure, sure. Race blind hiring. Just setup HQ in a wealthy white neighborhood near a largely white and Asian university, fill your board with alumni, and begin engaging in "race blind" hiring. Perfect.
Hey, why is everyone so fucking white around here? Must be all that meritocracy...
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You can't get back to normal. Not until you stop participating in the low-IQ shock culture war that made you believe that one side was a "DEI fanatic". While you make those claims you are part of the system. If you want to be part of the solution you need to leave the system that made you put two groups into complete arbitrary boxes.
Fuck Israel. Fuck LGBTQ.
I'm beginning to think that your wife left you for another man ... after getting a sex change. In which toilet did an LGBTQ person touch you? Mens or womens? Equating LGBTQ with
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Fuck Israel. Fuck LGBTQ.
All at once? I've been to some kinky parties, but that sounds like one hell of an orgy.
Re:How much fact checking do you need? (Score:4, Insightful)
Also, not everyone in Gaza is part of Hamas.
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Sure sounds like Hamas is running the entire show with a puppet agency in place as a diversion, and regardless Hamas was in power in Palestine, so you're not going to get out of the problem. Palestine is a majority Islamic nation, which has the same problem, Islam is essentially a terrorist organization with a religious front. I say that because international antiterrorism intelligence put the total number of radicalized / extremists at ~20%. When 1/5th of a movement is
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Sure sounds like Hamas is running the entire show with a puppet agency in place as a diversion,
I have no idea why you think that after reading the Wikipedia article you linked to. You must have really bad reading comprehension. Maybe you don't know the difference between the west bank and gaza. Maybe you are stupid.