Anne T. Gilliland, Scholarly Communications Officer, University Libraries, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill via Association of Research Libraries; Issue Brief: The General Data Protection Regulation: What Does It Mean forLibraries Worldwide?
"Although GDPR is an EU regulation, it has implications for businesses and institutions that collect data even outside the EU. Anne T. Gilliland, scholarly communications officer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries, explains some of the key provisions of GDPR and why its impact reaches worldwide. Gilliland notes that the research library community has ties to Europe and EU citizens. Libraries must therefore consider the implications GDPR will have on their own privacy policies and how to ensure compliance with these new rules. As staunch defenders of privacy rights, libraries have an opportunity to ensure robust protection of users’ rights. Because GDPR has not yet gone into effect, there is no case law or other binding guidance regarding GDPR compliance.
The Association of Research Libraries will continue to monitor developments on GDPR and will publish a follow-up piece focusing on implementation. In the meantime, the following resources may be useful:
• EU’s GDPR Information Portal
• Library of Congress, “Online Privacy Law: European Union”
• LIBER, Webinar Video: “GDPR & What It Means for Researchers”"
Thursday, May 31, 2018
New Institute Aims for Global Leadership in Computer Modeling and Simulation; PittWire, May 30, 2018
PittWire; New Institute Aims for Global Leadership in Computer Modeling and Simulation
"At Pitt, the plan is to pair AI and machine learning researchers with individuals from academia, industry, nonprofits and the government to develop algorithms designed to address their specific problems and to use modeling experiments to provide concrete solutions.
“One day, presidents and cabinet officers, C-suites and lab directors will say, ‘Don’t tell me what your gut says, tell me what the evidence says; show me your models, show me the possible futures and the best interventions,’” said [Paul] Cohen."
"At Pitt, the plan is to pair AI and machine learning researchers with individuals from academia, industry, nonprofits and the government to develop algorithms designed to address their specific problems and to use modeling experiments to provide concrete solutions.
“One day, presidents and cabinet officers, C-suites and lab directors will say, ‘Don’t tell me what your gut says, tell me what the evidence says; show me your models, show me the possible futures and the best interventions,’” said [Paul] Cohen."
Why Are Academics Upset With Facebook's New Privacy Rules?; Forbes, May 4, 2018
Kalev Leetaru, Forbes; Why Are Academics Upset With Facebook's New Privacy Rules?
"Putting this all together, there is something inherently wrong with a world in which academics condemn Facebook for conducting consent-free research on its users, only to turn around and condemn the company again when it tries to institute greater privacy protections that would prevent academics from doing the same, all while those very same academics partner with Facebook to create a new research initiative that entirely removes consent from the equation and where ethical considerations are unilaterally TBD, to be figured out after researchers decide what they want to do with two billion people’s private information. Cambridge University’s ethics panel gives us hope that there are still some institutions that believe in the ethical protections that took decades to build, only to fall like dominoes in the digital “big data” era. In the end, it is not just the social media giants and private companies rushing to commercialize our digital selves and stave off any discussion of privacy protections – the academic community is running right alongside helping to clear the way."
"Putting this all together, there is something inherently wrong with a world in which academics condemn Facebook for conducting consent-free research on its users, only to turn around and condemn the company again when it tries to institute greater privacy protections that would prevent academics from doing the same, all while those very same academics partner with Facebook to create a new research initiative that entirely removes consent from the equation and where ethical considerations are unilaterally TBD, to be figured out after researchers decide what they want to do with two billion people’s private information. Cambridge University’s ethics panel gives us hope that there are still some institutions that believe in the ethical protections that took decades to build, only to fall like dominoes in the digital “big data” era. In the end, it is not just the social media giants and private companies rushing to commercialize our digital selves and stave off any discussion of privacy protections – the academic community is running right alongside helping to clear the way."
An American Alternative to Europe’s Privacy Law; The New York Times, May 30, 2018
Tim Wu, The New York Times; An American Alternative to Europe’s Privacy Law
"To be sure, a European-style regulatory system operates faster and has clearer rules than an American-style common-law approach. But the European approach runs the risk of being insensitive to context and may not match our ethical intuitions in individual cases. If the past decade of technology has taught us anything, it is that we face a complex and varied array of privacy problems. Case-by-case consideration might be the best way to find good solutions to many of them and, when the time comes (ifthe time comes), to guide the writing of general federal privacy legislation.
A defining fact of our existence today is that we share more of ourselves with Silicon Valley than with our accountants, lawyers and doctors. It is about time the law caught up with that."
"To be sure, a European-style regulatory system operates faster and has clearer rules than an American-style common-law approach. But the European approach runs the risk of being insensitive to context and may not match our ethical intuitions in individual cases. If the past decade of technology has taught us anything, it is that we face a complex and varied array of privacy problems. Case-by-case consideration might be the best way to find good solutions to many of them and, when the time comes (ifthe time comes), to guide the writing of general federal privacy legislation.
A defining fact of our existence today is that we share more of ourselves with Silicon Valley than with our accountants, lawyers and doctors. It is about time the law caught up with that."
[Podcast] "Roseanne" and ethics in business; Marketplace, May 29, 2018
[Podcast] Kai Ryssdal and Molly Wood, Marketplace, "Roseanne" and ethics in business
"When we called up business ethicist Greg Fairchild from the University of Virginia this morning, we expected to have a wide-ranging conversation to get at Kai's question of a few weeks back: Are there market-based solutions to ensure better ethics? We didn't expect we'd have such a timely case study in Disney-owned ABC and "Roseanne." The network canceled its show hours after a racist tweet from star Roseanne Barr. We got the Darden School of Business professor's reaction as the news played out in the way it always seems to these days: fast, furious and on Twitter."
"When we called up business ethicist Greg Fairchild from the University of Virginia this morning, we expected to have a wide-ranging conversation to get at Kai's question of a few weeks back: Are there market-based solutions to ensure better ethics? We didn't expect we'd have such a timely case study in Disney-owned ABC and "Roseanne." The network canceled its show hours after a racist tweet from star Roseanne Barr. We got the Darden School of Business professor's reaction as the news played out in the way it always seems to these days: fast, furious and on Twitter."
How a Pentagon Contract Became an Identity Crisis for Google; The New York Times, May 30, 2018
Scott Shane, Cade Metz and Daisuke Wakabayashi, The New York Times; How a Pentagon Contract Became an Identity Crisis for Google
"The polarized debate about Google and the
military may leave out some nuances. Better analysis of drone imagery
could reduce civilian casualties by improving operators’ ability to find
and recognize terrorists. The Defense Department will hardly abandon
its advance into artificial intelligence if Google bows out. And
military experts say China and other developed countries are already
investing heavily in A.I. for defense.
But
skilled technologists who chose Google for its embrace of benign and
altruistic goals are appalled that their employer could eventually be
associated with more efficient ways to kill."
Tuesday, May 29, 2018
ABC just took a moral stand on Roseanne. Spoiler alert: Donald Trump won't.; CNN, May 29, 2018
Chris Cillizza, CNN; ABC just took a moral stand on Roseanne. Spoiler alert: Donald Trump won't.
"ABC's decision to cancel Roseanne Barr's eponymous show following a racist comment she made about former Obama administration official Valerie Jarrett on Twitter was shocking for two reasons.
First, because it amounted to a TV network drawing a moral line in the sand -- insisting that no amount of money or ratings gave Roseanne the right to express views that ABC described in a statement as "abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values."
Second, because that decision to take a moral stand represents a stark contrast from the moral relativism preached by the president of the United States.
Donald Trump is different from anyone who has held the office before him in all sorts of ways. But, to my mind, the biggest -- and most critical -- difference between Trump and his predecessors is his total abdication of the concept of the president as a moral leader for the country and the world."
"ABC's decision to cancel Roseanne Barr's eponymous show following a racist comment she made about former Obama administration official Valerie Jarrett on Twitter was shocking for two reasons.
First, because it amounted to a TV network drawing a moral line in the sand -- insisting that no amount of money or ratings gave Roseanne the right to express views that ABC described in a statement as "abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values."
Second, because that decision to take a moral stand represents a stark contrast from the moral relativism preached by the president of the United States.
Donald Trump is different from anyone who has held the office before him in all sorts of ways. But, to my mind, the biggest -- and most critical -- difference between Trump and his predecessors is his total abdication of the concept of the president as a moral leader for the country and the world."
Why thousands of AI researchers are boycotting the new Nature journal ; Guardian, May 29, 2018
Neil Lawrence, Guardian;
Many in our research community see the Nature brand as a poor proxy for
academic quality. We resist the intrusion of for-profit publishing into
our field. As a result, at the time of writing, more than 3,000
researchers, including many leading names in the field from both
industry and academia, have signed a statement refusing to submit, review or edit for this new journal.
We see no role for closed access or author-fee publication in the
future of machine-learning research. We believe the adoption of this new
journal as an outlet of record for the machine-learning community would
be a retrograde step."
"Biometric Privacy Laws: Best Practices for Compliance and Litigation Update"; American Bar Association Continuing Legal Education Webinar, May 30, 2018 1 PM - 2 PM ET
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The past 18 months have seen a major spike in class action lawsuits alleging that companies have improperly collected and handled biometric information, the vast majority of which asserted claims under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). In this program, a panel that includes attorneys representing employers, as well as both defendants and plaintiffs in litigation, will discuss the current state of biometrics litigation under BIPA and other state laws, what companies should do to comply, and what recent legal trends portend for the future of biometric privacy law."
Controversy Hides Within US Copyright Bill; Intellectual Property Watch, May 29, 2018
Steven Seidenberg, Intellectual Property Watch; Controversy Hides Within US Copyright Bill
"In a time when partisanship runs wild in the USA and the country’s political parties can’t seem to agree on anything, the Music Modernization Act is exceptional. The MMA passed the House of Representatives on 25 April with unanimous support. And for good reason. Almost all the major stakeholders back this legislation, which will bring some badly needed changes to copyright law’s treatment of music streaming. But wrapped in the MMA is a previously separate bill – the CLASSICS Act – that has been attacked by many copyright law experts, is opposed by many librarians and archivists, and runs counter to policy previously endorsed by the US Copyright Office."
"In a time when partisanship runs wild in the USA and the country’s political parties can’t seem to agree on anything, the Music Modernization Act is exceptional. The MMA passed the House of Representatives on 25 April with unanimous support. And for good reason. Almost all the major stakeholders back this legislation, which will bring some badly needed changes to copyright law’s treatment of music streaming. But wrapped in the MMA is a previously separate bill – the CLASSICS Act – that has been attacked by many copyright law experts, is opposed by many librarians and archivists, and runs counter to policy previously endorsed by the US Copyright Office."
The Demise Of Copyright Toleration; Techdirt, May 24, 2018
Robert S. Schwartz, Techdirt; The Demise Of Copyright Toleration
"Although denying fair use, these content owners were acknowledging a larger truth about copyright, the Internet, and even the law in general: It works largely due to toleration. Not every case is clear; not every outcome can be enforced; and not every potential legal outcome can be endured. Instead, “grey area” conduct must be impliedly licensed, or at least tolerated.
Counsel then or now could not have cited a single court holding on whether the private, noncommercial recording of a song is a lawful fair use. Long before the Supreme Court in Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. said that video home recording from broadcasts as a fair use, the music industry could have pursued consumers for home audio recording from vinyl records. But the risk of losing and establishing a bad precedent was too great.
Toleration endured because fair use, and the practicalities of enforcement, had to be endured by content owners. They recognized that their own creative members also relied on fair use in adapting and building on the works of contemporaries as well as earlier generations. They also realized that offending consumers by suing them might not be a good idea – a reason (in addition to the possibility of losing) why the Sony plaintiffs dropped the individual consumer defendants they had originally named."
"Although denying fair use, these content owners were acknowledging a larger truth about copyright, the Internet, and even the law in general: It works largely due to toleration. Not every case is clear; not every outcome can be enforced; and not every potential legal outcome can be endured. Instead, “grey area” conduct must be impliedly licensed, or at least tolerated.
Counsel then or now could not have cited a single court holding on whether the private, noncommercial recording of a song is a lawful fair use. Long before the Supreme Court in Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. said that video home recording from broadcasts as a fair use, the music industry could have pursued consumers for home audio recording from vinyl records. But the risk of losing and establishing a bad precedent was too great.
Toleration endured because fair use, and the practicalities of enforcement, had to be endured by content owners. They recognized that their own creative members also relied on fair use in adapting and building on the works of contemporaries as well as earlier generations. They also realized that offending consumers by suing them might not be a good idea – a reason (in addition to the possibility of losing) why the Sony plaintiffs dropped the individual consumer defendants they had originally named."
Friday, May 25, 2018
Schools See Steep Drop in Librarians, New Analysis Finds; Education Week, May 16, 2018
Sarah D. Sparks and Alex Harwin, Education Week; Schools See Steep Drop in Librarians, New Analysis Finds
"“When we’ve talked to districts that have chosen to put resources elsewhere, we really do see more than one who have then come back and wanted to reinstate [the librarian],” said Steven Yates, the president of the American Association of School Librarians. “Not only do you lose the person curating the resources for informational and pleasure reading, but you lose the person who can work with the students on the ethical side—how do you cite? How do you determine a credible source of information?”"
"“When we’ve talked to districts that have chosen to put resources elsewhere, we really do see more than one who have then come back and wanted to reinstate [the librarian],” said Steven Yates, the president of the American Association of School Librarians. “Not only do you lose the person curating the resources for informational and pleasure reading, but you lose the person who can work with the students on the ethical side—how do you cite? How do you determine a credible source of information?”"
GDPR: US news sites blocked to EU users over data protection rules; BBC, May 25, 2018
BBC; GDPR: US news sites blocked to EU users over data protection rules
"The Chicago Tribune and LA Times were among those posting messages saying they were currently unavailable in most European countries.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives EU citizens more rights over how their information is used.
The measure is an effort by EU lawmakers to limit tech firms' powers."
"The Chicago Tribune and LA Times were among those posting messages saying they were currently unavailable in most European countries.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives EU citizens more rights over how their information is used.
The measure is an effort by EU lawmakers to limit tech firms' powers."
Why Every Media Company Fears Richard Liebowitz; Slate, May 24, 2018
Justin Peters, Slate; Why Every Media Company Fears Richard Liebowitz
"Key
to Liebowitz’s strategy is the pursuit of statutory damages. Under the
Copyright Act of 1976, federal plaintiffs can be awarded statutory
damages if they can prove “willful” infringement,
a term that is not explicitly defined in the text of the bill. (“What
is willful infringement? It’s what the courts say it is,” explained
Adwar. Welcome to the wonderfully vague world of copyright law!) If
a plaintiff had registered the work in question with the Copyright
Office before the infringement occurred or up to three months after the
work was initially published, then he or she can sue for statutory
damages, which can be as high as $150,000 per work infringed. That’s
a pretty hefty potential fine for the unauthorized use of a photograph
that, if it had been licensed prior to use, might not have earned the
photographer enough for a crosstown taxi.
“Photographers are basically small businesses. They’re little
men. But you have this powerful tool, which is copyright law,” said Kim,
the freelance photographer. The question that copyright attorneys,
media executives, and federal judges have been asking themselves for 2½
years is this: Is Richard Liebowitz wielding that tool responsibly? “He
offers [his clients] nirvana, basically. He essentially offers them: I
will sue for you, I don’t care how innocuous the infringement, I don’t
care how innocuous the photograph, I will bring that lawsuit for you and
get you money,” said attorney Kenneth Norwick. And the law allows him
to do it. So is Liebowitz gaming the system by filing hundreds of
“strike suits” to compel quick settlements? Or is he an avenging angel
for photographers who have seen their livelihoods fade in the internet
age? “They can call Richard Liebowitz a troll,” said Kim. “Better to be a
troll than a thief.”...
Over the past 2½ years, Liebowitz has attained boogeyman status in the
C-suites of major media organizations around the country. Like the
villain in a very boring horror movie featuring content management
systems and starring bloggers, his unrelenting litigiousness has
inspired great frustration amongst editors and media lawyers fearful
that they will be the next to fall victim to the aggravating time-suck
known as a Richard Liebowitz lawsuit. And he is probably all of the
things his detractors say he is: a troll, an opportunist, a guy on the
make taking advantage of the system. He is also a creature of the media
industry’s own making, and the best way to stop him and his disciples is
for media companies to stop using photographers’ pictures without
paying for them—and to minimize the sorts of editorial mistakes borne
out of ignorance of or indifference to federal copyright law. “People
should realize—and hopefully will continue to realize,” said Liebowitz,
“that photographers need to be respected and get paid for their work.”"
Thursday, May 24, 2018
New privacy rules could spell the end of legalese — or create a lot more fine print; The Washington Post, May 24, 2018
Elizabeth Dwoskin, The Washington Post; New privacy rules could spell the end of legalese — or create a lot more fine print
"“The companies are realizing that it is not enough to get people to just click through,” said Lorrie Cranor, director of the CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s former chief technologist. “That they need to communicate so that people are not surprised when they find out what they consented to.”
That has become more apparent in the past two months since revelations that a Trump-connected consultancy, Cambridge Analytica, made off with the Facebook profiles of up to 87 million Americans. Cranor said that consumer outrage over Cambridge was directly related to concerns that companies were engaging in opaque practices behind the scenes, and that consumers had unknowingly allowed it to happen by signing away their rights.
Irrespective of simpler explanations, the impact and success of the GDPR will hinge upon whether companies will try to force users to consent to their tracking or targeting as condition for access to their services, said Alessandro Acquisti, a Carnegie Mellon computer science professor and privacy researcher. "This will tell us a lot regarding whether the recent flurry of privacy policy modifications demonstrates a sincere change in the privacy stance of those companies or is more about paying lip service to the new regulation. The early signs are not auspicious.""
"“The companies are realizing that it is not enough to get people to just click through,” said Lorrie Cranor, director of the CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s former chief technologist. “That they need to communicate so that people are not surprised when they find out what they consented to.”
That has become more apparent in the past two months since revelations that a Trump-connected consultancy, Cambridge Analytica, made off with the Facebook profiles of up to 87 million Americans. Cranor said that consumer outrage over Cambridge was directly related to concerns that companies were engaging in opaque practices behind the scenes, and that consumers had unknowingly allowed it to happen by signing away their rights.
Irrespective of simpler explanations, the impact and success of the GDPR will hinge upon whether companies will try to force users to consent to their tracking or targeting as condition for access to their services, said Alessandro Acquisti, a Carnegie Mellon computer science professor and privacy researcher. "This will tell us a lot regarding whether the recent flurry of privacy policy modifications demonstrates a sincere change in the privacy stance of those companies or is more about paying lip service to the new regulation. The early signs are not auspicious.""
Why you’re getting so many emails about privacy policies; Vox, May 24, 2018
Emily Stewart, Vox; Why you’re getting so many emails about privacy policies
“People are concerned about privacy, hate speech, disinformation, and we aren’t leading on solutions to these concerns that would at the same time preserve the free flow of information,” Kornbluh said. “You don’t want some governments saying, ‘We’re combating fake news,’ and compromising human rights.”"
"The United States hasn’t given up its seat on the table,
but it could certainly take a bigger role than it has in order to ensure
that other countries, when they do implement regulations on tech and
information, aren’t going too far.
“People are concerned about privacy, hate speech, disinformation, and we aren’t leading on solutions to these concerns that would at the same time preserve the free flow of information,” Kornbluh said. “You don’t want some governments saying, ‘We’re combating fake news,’ and compromising human rights.”"
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
No one’s ready for GDPR; The Verge, May 22, 2018
Sarah Jeong, The Verge; No one’s ready for GDPR
"The General Data Protection Regulation will go into effect on May 25th, and no one is ready — not the companies and not even the regulators...
GDPR is only supposed to apply to the EU and EU residents, but because so many companies do business in Europe, the American technology industry is scrambling to become GDPR compliant. Still, even though GDPR’s big debut is bound to be messy, the regulation marks a sea change in how data is handled across the world. Americans outside of Europe can’t make data subject access requests, and they can’t demand that their data be deleted. But GDPR compliance is going to have spillover effects for them anyway. The breach notification requirement, especially, is more stringent than anything in the US. The hope is that as companies and regulatory bodies settle into the flow of things, the heightened privacy protections of GDPR will become business as usual. In the meantime, it’s just a mad scramble to keep up."
"The General Data Protection Regulation will go into effect on May 25th, and no one is ready — not the companies and not even the regulators...
GDPR is only supposed to apply to the EU and EU residents, but because so many companies do business in Europe, the American technology industry is scrambling to become GDPR compliant. Still, even though GDPR’s big debut is bound to be messy, the regulation marks a sea change in how data is handled across the world. Americans outside of Europe can’t make data subject access requests, and they can’t demand that their data be deleted. But GDPR compliance is going to have spillover effects for them anyway. The breach notification requirement, especially, is more stringent than anything in the US. The hope is that as companies and regulatory bodies settle into the flow of things, the heightened privacy protections of GDPR will become business as usual. In the meantime, it’s just a mad scramble to keep up."
Ethics and tech – a double-edged sword; Computer Weekly, May 2018
James Kitching, Computer Weekly; Ethics and tech – a double-edged sword
"Big corporations can no longer afford to ignore ethics in their decision-making. Customers expect a higher level of social capital from the companies they deal with and this can have a big effect on whether those companies succeed or fail.
This is not a new conundrum specific to tech – remember the UK hearings relating to tax avoidance, which included the likes of Starbucks as well as Google. What accountants were advising their clients wasn’t illegal. The creative schemes they came up with were allowed under UK law – but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that the way they were dealing with tax was seen by the public and the media as immoral and unethical.
Organisations must think beyond the black-and-white letter of the law. In the current climate, this means saying: “Yes, this is legal, but I don’t necessarily think it is going to be viewed as socially acceptable.”
Gone are the days when the excuse “but it is legal” will wash with the media, the government and the public at large."
"Big corporations can no longer afford to ignore ethics in their decision-making. Customers expect a higher level of social capital from the companies they deal with and this can have a big effect on whether those companies succeed or fail.
This is not a new conundrum specific to tech – remember the UK hearings relating to tax avoidance, which included the likes of Starbucks as well as Google. What accountants were advising their clients wasn’t illegal. The creative schemes they came up with were allowed under UK law – but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that the way they were dealing with tax was seen by the public and the media as immoral and unethical.
Organisations must think beyond the black-and-white letter of the law. In the current climate, this means saying: “Yes, this is legal, but I don’t necessarily think it is going to be viewed as socially acceptable.”
Gone are the days when the excuse “but it is legal” will wash with the media, the government and the public at large."
Monday, May 21, 2018
How the Enlightenment Ends; The Atlantic, June 2018 Issue
Henry A. Kissinger, The Atlantic; How the Enlightenment Ends
The Enlightenment started with essentially philosophical insights spread by a new technology. Our period is moving in the opposite direction. It has generated a potentially dominating technology in search of a guiding philosophy. Other countries have made AI a major national project. The United States has not yet, as a nation, systematically explored its full scope, studied its implications, or begun the process of ultimate learning. This should be given a high national priority, above all, from the point of view of relating AI to humanistic traditions.
AI developers, as inexperienced in politics and philosophy as I am in technology, should ask themselves some of the questions I have raised here in order to build answers into their engineering efforts. The U.S. government should consider a presidential commission of eminent thinkers to help develop a national vision. This much is certain: If we do not start this effort soon, before long we shall discover that we started too late."
"Heretofore confined to specific fields of activity, AI research now seeks to bring about a “generally intelligent” AI capable of executing tasks in multiple fields. A growing percentage of human activity will, within a measurable time period, be driven by AI algorithms. But these algorithms, being mathematical interpretations of observed data, do not explain the underlying reality that produces them. Paradoxically, as the world becomes more transparent, it will also become increasingly mysterious. What will distinguish that new world from the one we have known? How will we live in it? How will we manage AI, improve it, or at the very least prevent it from doing harm, culminating in the most ominous concern: that AI, by mastering certain competencies more rapidly and definitively than humans, could over time diminish human competence and the human condition itself as it turns it into data...
The Enlightenment started with essentially philosophical insights spread by a new technology. Our period is moving in the opposite direction. It has generated a potentially dominating technology in search of a guiding philosophy. Other countries have made AI a major national project. The United States has not yet, as a nation, systematically explored its full scope, studied its implications, or begun the process of ultimate learning. This should be given a high national priority, above all, from the point of view of relating AI to humanistic traditions.
AI developers, as inexperienced in politics and philosophy as I am in technology, should ask themselves some of the questions I have raised here in order to build answers into their engineering efforts. The U.S. government should consider a presidential commission of eminent thinkers to help develop a national vision. This much is certain: If we do not start this effort soon, before long we shall discover that we started too late."
Friday, May 18, 2018
States Offer Information Resources: 50+ Open Data Portals; Forbes, April 30, 2018
Meta S. Brown, Forbes; States Offer Information Resources: 50+ Open Data Portals
Today, with more 200,000 datasets, it’s a lot more popular. Still, real-life demands for information about our governments, people and economy exceed the supply of available data.
The creation of a centralized portal for federal government data has fostered open data initiative across the country. Dozens of cities have established their own open data portals (here are 90 examples).
In the 50 years since the federal Freedom of Information Act was passed, US states have been gradually introducing similar laws (see freedom of information laws by state). Likewise, many are now developing state-level open data portals.
These state data resources vary in style and depth. Some look much like data.gov, and include a wide variety of datasets. But not every state has a comprehensive data portal yet, let alone deep selections of data.
Here’s a listing of general and geographic open data portals for US states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico..."
"The United States federal open data portal, data.gov, launched in May, 2009, with just 47 datasets. It was not an instant hit.
Today, with more 200,000 datasets, it’s a lot more popular. Still, real-life demands for information about our governments, people and economy exceed the supply of available data.
The creation of a centralized portal for federal government data has fostered open data initiative across the country. Dozens of cities have established their own open data portals (here are 90 examples).
In the 50 years since the federal Freedom of Information Act was passed, US states have been gradually introducing similar laws (see freedom of information laws by state). Likewise, many are now developing state-level open data portals.
These state data resources vary in style and depth. Some look much like data.gov, and include a wide variety of datasets. But not every state has a comprehensive data portal yet, let alone deep selections of data.
Here’s a listing of general and geographic open data portals for US states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico..."
Thursday, May 17, 2018
New Guidelines For Tech Companies To Be Transparent, Accountable On Censoring User Content; Intellectual Property Watch, May 7, 2018
Intellectual Property Watch; New Guidelines For Tech Companies To Be Transparent, Accountable On Censoring User Content
"The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called on Facebook, Google, and other social media companies today to publicly report how many user posts they take down, provide users with detailed explanations about takedowns, and implement appeals policies to boost accountability.
EFF, ACLU of Northern California, Center for Democracy & Technology, New America’s Open Technology Institute, and a group of academic experts and free expression advocates today released the Santa Clara Principles, a set of minimum standards for tech companies to augment and strengthen their content moderation policies. The plain language, detailed guidelines call for disclosing not just how and why platforms are removing content, but how much speech is being censored. The principles are being released in conjunction with the second edition of the Content Moderation and Removal at Scale conference. Work on the principles began during the first conference, held in Santa Clara, California, in February.
“Our goal is to ensure that enforcement of content guidelines is fair, transparent, proportional, and respectful of users’ rights,” said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Nate Cardozo."
"The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called on Facebook, Google, and other social media companies today to publicly report how many user posts they take down, provide users with detailed explanations about takedowns, and implement appeals policies to boost accountability.
EFF, ACLU of Northern California, Center for Democracy & Technology, New America’s Open Technology Institute, and a group of academic experts and free expression advocates today released the Santa Clara Principles, a set of minimum standards for tech companies to augment and strengthen their content moderation policies. The plain language, detailed guidelines call for disclosing not just how and why platforms are removing content, but how much speech is being censored. The principles are being released in conjunction with the second edition of the Content Moderation and Removal at Scale conference. Work on the principles began during the first conference, held in Santa Clara, California, in February.
“Our goal is to ensure that enforcement of content guidelines is fair, transparent, proportional, and respectful of users’ rights,” said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Nate Cardozo."
We Need Chief Ethics Officers More Than Ever; Forbes, May 16, 2018
Dan Pontefract, Forbes; We Need Chief Ethics Officers More Than Ever
"It is from the medical community that the high-tech community may learn its greatest lesson.
"It is from the medical community that the high-tech community may learn its greatest lesson.
Create a Chief Ethics Officer role, and an in-house ethics team made up not only of lawyers but educators, philosophers, doctors, psychologists, sociologists, and artists.
Furthermore, as universities such as Carnegie Mellon University begin introducing undergraduate degrees in artiticial intelligence, ensure the program has a strong ethics component throughout the entire curriculum.
Only then—when ethics is outside of the compliance department and it is interwoven into academic pedagogy—will society be in a better place to stem the tide of potentially unwanted, technological advances."
MIT Now Has a Humanist Chaplain to Help Students With the Ethics of Tech; The Atlantic, May 16, 2018
Isabel Fattal, The Atlantic; MIT Now Has a Humanist Chaplain to Help Students With the Ethics of Tech
"Even some of the most powerful tech companies start out tiny, with a young innovator daydreaming about creating the next big thing. As today’s tech firms receive increased moral scrutiny, it raises a question about tomorrow’s: Is that young person thinking about the tremendous ethical responsibility they’d be taking on if their dream comes true?
Greg Epstein, the recently appointed humanist chaplain at MIT, sees his new role as key to helping such entrepreneurial students think through the ethical ramifications of their work. As many college students continue to move away from organized religion, some universities have appointed secular chaplains like Epstein to help non-religious students lead ethical, meaningful lives. At MIT, Epstein plans to spark conversations about the ethics of technology—conversations that will sometimes involve religious groups on campus, and that may sometimes carry over to Harvard, where he has held (and will continue to hold) the same position since 2005.
I recently spoke with Epstein about how young people can think ethically about going into the tech industry and what his role will look like..."
"Even some of the most powerful tech companies start out tiny, with a young innovator daydreaming about creating the next big thing. As today’s tech firms receive increased moral scrutiny, it raises a question about tomorrow’s: Is that young person thinking about the tremendous ethical responsibility they’d be taking on if their dream comes true?
Greg Epstein, the recently appointed humanist chaplain at MIT, sees his new role as key to helping such entrepreneurial students think through the ethical ramifications of their work. As many college students continue to move away from organized religion, some universities have appointed secular chaplains like Epstein to help non-religious students lead ethical, meaningful lives. At MIT, Epstein plans to spark conversations about the ethics of technology—conversations that will sometimes involve religious groups on campus, and that may sometimes carry over to Harvard, where he has held (and will continue to hold) the same position since 2005.
I recently spoke with Epstein about how young people can think ethically about going into the tech industry and what his role will look like..."
The tragedy of ‘deaccessioning’ books from university libraries; ABA Journal, May 2018
Bryan A. Garner, ABA Journal; The tragedy of ‘deaccessioning’ books from university libraries
"Book research is well-nigh irreplaceable to the skillful researcher. It can’t, and shouldn’t, be fully superseded by online research, which of course has its own splendors but also its own limitations.
So it’s disheartening to hear what’s happening to our libraries. A lead Associated Press article on Feb. 7 reports that “as students abandon the stacks in favor of online reference material, university libraries are unloading millions of unread volumes in a nationwide purge.” Some books are being hauled off to permanent storage sites; others are being sold en bloc to used-book dealers; and still others are being thrown into dumpsters.
Given that half the library collection at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania has been “uncirculated for 20 years or more,” university administrators decided to purge 170,000 volumes. “Bookshelves are making way for group-study rooms and tutoring centers, ‘makerspaces’ and coffee shops,” the article reports. Oregon State University librarian Cheryl Middleton, president of the Association of College and Research Libraries, is quoted as saying, “We’re kind of like the living room of the campus. We’re not just a warehouse.”
Traditional scholars are outraged. One calls this jettisoning of books “a knife through the heart.” He’s right, of course."
"Book research is well-nigh irreplaceable to the skillful researcher. It can’t, and shouldn’t, be fully superseded by online research, which of course has its own splendors but also its own limitations.
So it’s disheartening to hear what’s happening to our libraries. A lead Associated Press article on Feb. 7 reports that “as students abandon the stacks in favor of online reference material, university libraries are unloading millions of unread volumes in a nationwide purge.” Some books are being hauled off to permanent storage sites; others are being sold en bloc to used-book dealers; and still others are being thrown into dumpsters.
Given that half the library collection at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania has been “uncirculated for 20 years or more,” university administrators decided to purge 170,000 volumes. “Bookshelves are making way for group-study rooms and tutoring centers, ‘makerspaces’ and coffee shops,” the article reports. Oregon State University librarian Cheryl Middleton, president of the Association of College and Research Libraries, is quoted as saying, “We’re kind of like the living room of the campus. We’re not just a warehouse.”
Traditional scholars are outraged. One calls this jettisoning of books “a knife through the heart.” He’s right, of course."
Why ‘Fahrenheit 451’ Is the Book for Our Social Media Age; The New York Times, May 10, 2018
Ramin
Bahrani, The New York Times;
Why ‘Fahrenheit 451’ Is the Book for Our Social Media Age
[Kip Currier: Looking forward to seeing this May 19th-debuting HBO adaptation of Ray Bradbury's ever-timely Fahrenheit 451 cautionary intellectual freedom tale, starring Michael B. Jordan as a book-burning-fireman-turned-book-preserver.]
Why ‘Fahrenheit 451’ Is the Book for Our Social Media Age
[Kip Currier: Looking forward to seeing this May 19th-debuting HBO adaptation of Ray Bradbury's ever-timely Fahrenheit 451 cautionary intellectual freedom tale, starring Michael B. Jordan as a book-burning-fireman-turned-book-preserver.]
"Bradbury believed that we wanted the
world to become this way. That we asked for the firemen to burn books.
That we wanted entertainment to replace reading and thinking. That we
voted for political and economic systems to keep us happy rather than
thoughtfully informed. He would say that we chose to give up our privacy
and freedom to tech companies. That we decided to entrust our cultural
heritage and knowledge to digital archives. The greatest army of firemen
will be irrelevant in the digital world. They will be as powerless as
spitting babies next to whoever controls a consolidated internet. How
could they stop one person, hiding in his parents’ basement with a
laptop, from hacking into thousands of years of humanity’s collective
history, literature and culture, and then rewriting all of it … or just
hitting delete?
And who would notice?"
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