NYC wants a chief algorithm officer to counter bias, build transparency; Ars Technica, November 25, 2019

Kate Cox, Ars Technica; NYC wants a chief algorithm officer to counter bias, build transparency

"It takes a lot of automation to make the nation's largest city run, but it's easy for that kind of automation to perpetuate existing problems and fall unevenly on the residents it's supposed to serve. So to mitigate the harms and ideally increase the benefits, New York City has created a high-level city government position essentially to manage algorithms."

China Didn’t Want Us to Know. Now Its Own Files Are Doing the Talking.; The New York Times, November 24, 2019

Adrian Zenz, The New York Times;

China Didn’t Want Us to Know. Now Its Own Files Are Doing the Talking.

More disclosures reveal the full impact of the government’s repression of ethnic minorities — well beyond re-education camps.

"This Sunday, the contents of two more sets of documents — all of which I have reviewed — are being disclosed. Among the first batch, also leaked, is a confidential telegram signed by Zhu Hailun, Xinjiang’s deputy party secretary, which details how local authorities should manage and operate the “vocational skills training centers” — a euphemism for the internment camps. (All translations here are mine.) The second set of documents, a large cache of files and spreadsheets from local governments, reveals the internment campaign’s devastating economic and social impact on the families and communities it targets...

Thanks to these new document disclosures, we now have hard evidence — and the government’s own evidence — that in addition to implementing a vast internment program in Xinjiang, the Chinese Communist Party is deliberately breaking up families and forcing them into poverty and a form of indentured labor. For all its efforts at secrecy, the Chinese government can no longer hide the extent, and the reach, of its campaign of repression in Xinjiang.

Some important elements are still unknown. The total internment figure remains a well-guarded secret. (Based on the new evidence, I have revised my own estimate: I think that between 900,000 and 1.8 million people have been detained in Xinjiang since the spring of 2017.) Also missing from the official documents that have surfaced so far are precise records of how the detainees are treated and how, exactly, the process of re-education works. (About those things, however, we have witness accounts.) The confidential telegram and local files do not mention the use of physical violence — but for one notable exception. The telegram states that people who resist brainwashing must be singled out for “assault-style re-education.” Yet another sinister understatement, and it suggests that force and torture may, in fact, be widely used."

Data leak reveals how China 'brainwashes' Uighurs in prison camps; BBC, November 24, 2019

BBC; Data leak reveals how China 'brainwashes' Uighurs in prison camps

"The leaked Chinese government documents, which the ICIJ have labelled "The China Cables", include a nine-page memo sent out in 2017 by Zhu Hailun, then deputy-secretary of Xinjiang's Communist Party and the region's top security official, to those who run the camps...

The memo includes orders to:

• "Never allow escapes"
• "Increase discipline and punishment of behavioural violations"
• "Promote repentance and confession"
• "Make remedial Mandarin studies the top priority"
• "Encourage students to truly transform"
• "[Ensure] full video surveillance coverage of dormitories and classrooms free of blind spots"

The documents reveal how every aspect of a detainee's life is monitored and controlled: "The students should have a fixed bed position, fixed queue position, fixed classroom seat, and fixed station during skills work, and it is strictly forbidden for this to be changed.

"Implement behavioural norms and discipline requirements for getting up, roll call, washing, going to the toilet, organising and housekeeping, eating, studying, sleeping, closing the door and so forth."...

The leaked documents also reveal how the Chinese government uses mass surveillance and a predictive-policing programme that analyses personal data."

I used to hate Mister Rogers. Then I discovered how much I needed him.; The Washington Post, November 22, 2019

Martha Manning, The Washington Post; I used to hate Mister Rogers. Then I discovered how much I needed him.

"Mister Rogers gave comfort. He didn’t sell it. He didn’t knock us over the head with it. It wasn’t cool or sexy or easy. He considered the space between the television set and the viewer to be “sacred,” something millions of children understood — and that their parents forgot.

That’s a shame, because we were the ones who needed Mister Rogers’s wisdom most of all. The big words, long explanations and instructions about how to be and what to do that we favored often gave us little solace. Instead, we needed an honest voice who considered the darkness and met it with hope, who recognized self-hatred and met it with compassion.

As a child, Mister Rogers became extremely frightened by something on the news and wondered how he would ever be safe. His mother gave him simple but profound advice. “Always look for the helpers,” she told him, with the quiet certainty that they could always be found. Who are the helpers right here, right now, in our troubled lives?"

Anti-harassment policy raises First Amendment questions; University of Pittsburgh University Times, November 18, 2019

Marty Levine, University of Pittsburgh University Times; Anti-harassment policy raises First Amendment questions

"Members of the University Senate’s Faculty Affairs committee say they have met with University officials and voiced concerns that a proposed new anti-harassment measure may potentially stifle classroom discussion and require the entire Pitt community to report suspicious speech to University authorities.

After the meeting, the policy was pulled from a vote before Faculty Assembly."

‘I don’t know what to believe’ is an unpatriotic cop-out. Do better, Americans.; The Washington Post, November 19, 2019

Margaret Sullivan, The Washington Post;

‘I don’t know what to believe’ is an unpatriotic cop-out. Do better, Americans.

"Roberts, the Times article and Florida Man all point to the same thing: A lot of Americans don’t know much and won’t exert themselves beyond their echo chambers to find out.

This is the way a democracy self-destructs...

Subscribe to a national newspaper and go beyond the headlines into the substance of the main articles; subscribe to your local newspaper and read it thoroughly — in print, if possible; watch the top of “PBS NewsHour” every night; watch the first 15 minutes of the half-hour broadcast nightly news; tune in to a public-radio news broadcast; do a simple fact-check search when you hear conflicting claims.

For those who can’t afford to subscribe to newspapers, almost all public libraries can provide access...

As Walter Shaub, former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, noted Tuesday on Twitter, it was on Nov. 19, 1863, that President Lincoln challenged his fellow citizens to rise to a “great task.”

Americans must dedicate themselves to ensuring, Lincoln urged in the Gettysburg Address, “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

So, too, in this historic moment.

After all, authoritarianism loves nothing more than a know-nothing vacuum: people who throw up their hands and say they can’t tell facts from lies.

And democracy needs news consumers — let’s call them patriotic citizens — who stay informed and act accordingly.

Flag-waving is fine. But truth-seeking is what really matters."

Shepard Smith, Late of Fox News, Gives $500,000 to a Free Press Group; The New York Times, November 21, 2019

Michael M. Grynbaum, The New York Times; Shepard Smith, Late of Fox News, Gives $500,000 to a Free Press Group

"“Our belief a decade ago that the online revolution would liberate us now seems a bit premature, doesn’t it?” Mr. Smith said in his customary Mississippi lilt. “Autocrats have learned how to use those same online tools to shore up their power. They flood the world of information with garbage and lies, masquerading as news. There’s a phrase for that.”...

The Committee to Protect Journalists, founded in 1981, works to advance press freedoms, particularly in dictatorial and autocratic countries. In recent years, speakers at its gala have increasingly referred to Mr. Trump’s attacks on the press and the hostile atmosphere faced by American journalists.

On Thursday, the group presented its Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award to Zaffar Abbas, the editor of a daily Pakistani newspaper, Dawn. The other honorees were Patrícia Campos Mello, a journalist at a Brazilian publication, Folha de S. Paulo; Neha Dixit, a freelance investigative journalist in India; two Nicaraguan broadcast journalists, Lucía Pineda Ubau and Miguel Mora, who were imprisoned for 172 days on false charges; and Maxence Melo Mubyazi, a journalist in Tanzania."

Congress Introduces AM-FM Act to Revise Copyright Law for Terrestrial Radio; Variety, November 21, 2019

Jem Aswad, Variety; Congress Introduces AM-FM Act to Revise Copyright Law for Terrestrial Radio

"Senator Marsha Blackburn and Rep. Jerrold Nadler today introduced the Ask Musicians for Music Act (AM-FM), which aims to revise existing copyright law for radio stations and musicians.

Under the current copyright system, radio stations can use sound recordings over their airwaves without paying royalties to creators who own a stake in the sound recordings. The AM-FM Act would require all radio services to pay fair-market value for the music they use...

“When music creators share their wonderful gift with the world, we hear songs that inspire and unite us. We should encourage such thriving talent and ensure the music community is properly compensated for their work,” said Senator Blackburn, who introduced the bill in the Senate. “The AM-FM Act will reward singers, songwriters and musicians for their hard work when their music is played on the radio.”

 

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives. “The United States is an outlier in the world for not requiring broadcast radio to pay artists when playing their music, while requiring satellite and internet radio to pay,” he said. “This is unfair to both artists and music providers. I’m proud to sponsor the Ask Musician for Music Act of 2019 which would give artists and copyright owners the right to make a choice to allow AM/FM radio to use their work for free or to seek compensation for their work. The bill would also allow them to negotiate rates with broadcasters in exchange for permission for it to be aired.”"

Americans and Privacy: Concerned, Confused and Feeling Lack of Control Over Their Personal Information; Pew Research Center, November 15, 2019

Brooke Auxier, Lee Rainie, Monica Anderson, Andrew Perrin, Madhu Kumar, and Erica Turner, Pew Research Center;

Americans and Privacy: Concerned, Confused and Feeling Lack of Control Over Their Personal Information

Majorities think their personal data is less secure now, that data collection poses more risks than benefits, and believe it is not possible to go through daily life without being tracked

"Data-driven products and services are often marketed with the potential to save users time and money or even lead to better health and well-being. Still, large shares of U.S. adults are not convinced they benefit from this system of widespread data gathering. Some 81% of the public say that the potential risks they face because of data collection by companies outweigh the benefits, and 66% say the same about government data collection. At the same time, a majority of Americans report being concerned about the way their data is being used by companies (79%) or the government (64%). Most also feel they have little or no control over how these entities use their personal information, according to a new survey of U.S. adults by Pew Research Center that explores how Americans feel about the state of privacy in the nation.

Americans’ concerns about digital privacy extend to those who collect, store and use their personal information. Additionally, majorities of the public are not confident that corporations are good stewards of the data they collect. For example, 79% of Americans say they are not too or not at all confident that companies will admit mistakes and take responsibility if they misuse or compromise personal information, and 69% report having this same lack of confidence that firms will use their personal information in ways they will be comfortable with."

Why Business Leaders Need to Understand Their Algorithms; Harvard Business Review, November 19, 2019

Mike Walsh, Harvard Business Review; Why Business Leaders Need to Understand Their Algorithms

"Leaders will be challenged by shareholders, customers, and regulators on what they optimize for. There will be lawsuits that require you to reveal the human decisions behind the design of your AI systems, what ethical and social concerns you took into account, the origins and methods by which you procured your training data, and how well you monitored the results of those systems for traces of bias or discrimination. Document your decisions carefully and make sure you understand, or at the very least trust, the algorithmic processes at the heart of your business.

Simply arguing that your AI platform was a black box that no one understood is unlikely to be a successful legal defense in the 21st century. It will be about as convincing as “the algorithm made me do it.”"

Consumer DNA Testing May Be the Biggest Health Scam of the Decade; Gizmodo, November 20, 2019

Ed Cara, Gizmodo; Consumer DNA Testing May Be the Biggest Health Scam of the Decade

"This test, as well as many of those offered by the hundreds of big and small DNA testing companies on the market, illustrates the uncertainty of personalized consumer genetics.

The bet that companies like 23andMe are making is that they can untangle this mess and translate their results back to people in a way that won’t cross the line into deceptive marketing while still convincing their customers they truly matter. Other companies have teamed up with outside labs and doctors to look over customers’ genes and have hired genetic counselors to go over their results, which might place them on safer legal and medical ground. But it still raises the question of whether people will benefit from the information they get. And because our knowledge of the relationship between genes and health is constantly changing, it’s very much possible the DNA test you take in 2020 will tell you a totally different story by 2030."

The collapse of the information ecosystem poses profound risks for humanity; The Guardian, November 19, 2019

Lydia Polgreen, The Guardian; The collapse of the information ecosystem poses profound risks for humanity

"When the scientists behind the Doomsday clock published their yearly assessment of how close we are to planetary doom, they added a new dimension to the dual threats of nuclear proliferation and climate change, namely “the intentional corruption of the information ecosystem on which modern civilization depends”.

What we’ve seen in recent years isn’t just the collapse of informational authority. It is the destruction of the pact between the purveyors of quality information and the businesses that wanted to reach the consumers of that information...

Just as companies decarbonize their businesses, they should think carefully about how they contribute to the destruction of our information ecosystem and choose to reach consumers on platforms that slow rather than increase the pace of information ecosystem collapse."

The flat-Earth conspiracy is spreading around the globe. Does it hide a darker core?; CNN, November 18, 2019

Rob Picheta, CNN; The flat-Earth conspiracy is spreading around the globe. Does it hide a darker core?

"But the alleged rapid growth of a movement so enthusiastically rejecting fundamental scientific beliefs does have some worried.

"It seems that increasingly, people don't trust scientists and experts, or their motives," Douglas says. "More research needs to be done in this area, and I'm sure there are some positive consequences to believing in conspiracy theories, but early indications suggests that they are more harm than help.""

‘Absolutely No Mercy’: Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims; The New York Times, November 16, 2019

Austin Ramzi  and Chris Buckley, The New York Times; ‘Absolutely No Mercy’: Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims

 "The directive was among 403 pages of internal documents that have been shared with The New York Times in one of the most significant leaks of government papers from inside China’s ruling Communist Party in decades. They provide an unprecedented inside view of the continuing clampdown in Xinjiang, in which the authorities have corralled as many as a million ethnic Uighurs, Kazakhs and others into internment camps and prisons over the past three years. 

The party has rejected international criticism of the camps and described them as job-training centers that use mild methods to fight Islamic extremism. But the documents confirm the coercive nature of the crackdown in the words and orders of the very officials who conceived and orchestrated it.

Even as the government presented its efforts in Xinjiang to the public as benevolent and unexceptional, it discussed and organized a ruthless and extraordinary campaign in these internal communications. Senior party leaders are recorded ordering drastic and urgent action against extremist violence, including the mass detentions, and discussing the consequences with cool detachment.

Children saw their parents taken away, students wondered who would pay their tuition and crops could not be planted or harvested for lack of manpower, the reports noted. Yet officials were directed to tell people who complained to be grateful for the Communist Party’s help and stay quiet."

Giant Publisher Macmillan Goes To War Against Libraries; TechDirt, November 15, 2019

Mike Masnick, TechDirt; Giant Publisher Macmillan Goes To War Against Libraries

"In September, librarians around the US launched a campaign -- ebooksforall.org urging Macmillan to rethink this awful plan:

This embargo limits libraries’ ability to provide access to information for all. It particularly harms library patrons with disabilities or learning issues. One of the great things about eBooks is that they can become large-print books with only a few clicks, and most eBook readers offer fonts and line spacing that make reading easier for people who have dyslexia or other visual challenges. Because portable devices are light and easy to hold, eBooks are easier to use for some people who have physical disabilities.
Macmillan is the only major publisher restricting public libraries’ ability to purchase and lend digital content to their communities. Before the embargo took effect, we collected 160,000 signatures from readers who urged Macmillan not to go through with their plan. And we delivered these signatures in person to CEO John Sargent. Sadly, he did not listen."

Finding Truth Online Is Hard Enough: Censors Make It A Labryinth; The New York Times, November 13, 2019

Suzy Hansen, The New York Times; Finding Truth Online Is Hard Enough: Censors Make It A Labryinth

"The most insidious and damaging effect of this political purgatory is that many Turks may not even know what information they are missing...

A heavily censored society not only loses access to information; it ceases to know itself. The greatest loss the Turks face under Erdogan might be their knowledge of one another."

AI and gene-editing pioneers to discuss ethics at Stanford; Stanford News, November 12, 2019

Ker Than, Stanford News; AI and gene-editing pioneers to discuss ethics at Stanford

"Upon meeting for the first time at a dinner at Stanford earlier this year, Fei-Fei Li and Jennifer Doudna couldn’t help but note the remarkable parallels in their experiences as scientists.

Both women helped kickstart twin revolutions that are profoundly reshaping society in the 21st century – Li in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and Doudna in the life sciences. Both revolutions can be traced back to 2012, the year that computer scientists collectively recognized the power of Li’s approach to training computer vision algorithms and that Doudna drew attention to a new gene-editing tool known as CRISPR-Cas9 (“CRISPR” for short). Both pioneering scientists are also driven by a growing urgency to raise awareness about the ethical dangers of the technologies they helped create."

Why Businesses Should Adopt an AI Code of Ethics -- Now; InformationWeek, November 14, 2019

Gary Grossman, InformationWeek; Why Businesses Should Adopt an AI Code of Ethics -- Now

"Adherence to AI ethics breeds trust

According to Angel Gurria, Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD): “To realize the full potential of [AI] technology, we need one critical ingredient. That critical ingredient is trust. And to build trust we need human-centered artificial intelligence that fosters sustainable development and inclusive human progress.” To achieve this, he adds that there must be an ethical dimension to AI use. This all underscores the urgency for companies to create and live by a responsible AI code of ethics to govern decisions about AI development and deployment.

The EU has developed principles for ethical AI, as has the IEEE, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Tencent and other countries and corporations. As these have appeared in only the last couple of years, AI ethics is very much an evolving field. There is an opportunity and critical need for businesses to lead by creating their own set of principles embodied in an AI code of ethics to govern their AI research and development to both further the technology while also helping to create a better tomorrow."

The Ethical Dilemma at the Heart of Big Tech Companies; Harvard Business Review, November 14, 2019

Emanuel Moss and Jacob Metcalf, Harvard Business Review; The Ethical Dilemma at the Heart of Big Tech Companies

"The central challenge ethics owners are grappling with is negotiating between external pressures to respond to ethical crises at the same time that they must be responsive to the internal logics of their companies and the industry. On the one hand, external criticisms push them toward challenging core business practices and priorities. On the other hand, the logics of Silicon Valley, and of business more generally, create pressures to establish or restore predictable processes and outcomes that still serve the bottom line.

We identified three distinct logics that characterize this tension between internal and external pressures..."

I'm the Google whistleblower. The medical data of millions of Americans is at risk; The Guardian, November 14, 2019

Anonymous, The Guardian; I'm the Google whistleblower. The medical data of millions of Americans is at risk

"After a while I reached a point that I suspect is familiar to most whistleblowers, where what I was witnessing was too important for me to remain silent. Two simple questions kept hounding me: did patients know about the transfer of their data to the tech giant? Should they be informed and given a chance to opt in or out?

The answer to the first question quickly became apparent: no. The answer to the second I became increasingly convinced about: yes. Put the two together, and how could I say nothing?

So much is at stake. Data security is important in any field, but when that data relates to the personal details of an individual’s health, it is of the utmost importance as this is the last frontier of data privacy.

With a deal as sensitive as the transfer of the personal data of more than 50 million Americans to Google the oversight should be extensive. Every aspect needed to be pored over to ensure that it complied with federal rules controlling the confidential handling of protected health information under the 1996 HIPAA legislation."

GQ, Nat Geo and Cosmo are banned in Arizona prisons. A judge said the rules need to explain why.; The Washington Post, November 12, 2019

Lateshia Beachum, The Washington Post; GQ, Nat Geo and Cosmo are banned in Arizona prisons. A judge said the rules need to explain why.

"The Arizona Department of Corrections must define clear rules about what prisoners can read, according to a district judge...

The judge’s decision underscores the problem of censoring inmate reading material and the indeterminate manner in which jails and prisons prohibit or grant what incarcerated people can read, prisoner rights advocates say."

Senior Trump official embellished résumé, had face on fake Time cover; NBC News, November 12, 2019

Dan De Luce, Laura Strickler and Ari Sen, NBC News; Senior Trump official embellished résumé, had face on fake Time cover

"A senior Trump administration official has embellished her résumé with misleading claims about her professional background — even creating a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it — raising questions about her qualifications to hold a top position at the State Department. 

An NBC News investigation found that Mina Chang, the deputy assistant secretary in the State Department's Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations, has inflated her educational achievements and exaggerated the scope of her nonprofit's work.

She was being considered for an even bigger government job, one with a budget of more than $1 billion, until Congress started asking questions about her résumé."

Engineers need a required course in ethics; Quartz, November 8, 2019

Kush Saxena, Quartz; Engineers need a required course in ethics

"The higher education sector cannot ignore its role in preparing students for the future of work as quite literally the purpose it serves. That includes integrating ethics into comprehensive computer science curricula.

Universities like MIT are leading the way by creating research collaborations across disciplines such as law and government, finding ways to embed topics around the societal impact of computing into the technical curriculum.

This type of rigorous education shouldn’t be accessible only to students who can get into elite universities. As more jobs require engineering skills, all institutions—from coding boot camps to community college courses to advanced state-funded PhD programs—need to follow suit."

Whodunit in the Library: Someone Keeps Hiding the Anti-Trump Books; The New York Times, November 10, 2019

Mike Baker, The New York Times;Whodunit in the Library: Someone Keeps Hiding the Anti-Trump Books

"Ms. Ammon said she asked the caller to provide a list of books that should be in the stacks, and while the person failed to provide one, she suspects the library already has whatever might be on it.

“We serve the entire community,” Ms. Ammon said...

Through it all, Ms. Ammon said, the library has managed to maintain the diversity of its shelves. In the nonfiction stacks, a book by Al Franken, the former Democratic senator, sits right next to one by Newt Gingrich, the former Republican congressman.

“The Dewey decimal system is a great equalizer,” Ms. Ammon said."

Citrus County, Fla., leaders don’t like the New York Times. That doesn’t justify keeping it out of their libraries.; The Washington Post, November 9, 2019

Anthony Marx, The Washington Post; Citrus County, Fla., leaders don’t like the New York Times. That doesn’t justify keeping it out of their libraries.

"Libraries have always been at the foundation of our democracy, existing to arm the public with the information people need to make informed decisions and reach logical conclusions. Libraries are trusted sources of this information precisely because they do not judge, reject or accept the information based on politics or opinion. They provide it, and as technology has changed over the decades, they adapt to provide it the way patrons want it.

Despite all of this, the commissioners of Citrus County chose to reject the library system’s request. I am well aware of the financial difficulties public libraries face...

This is a misguided decision. Public libraries are not in place to further the political agenda of any party or position. Whether those holding the purse strings favor any particular journal or not should be irrelevant. At the New York Public Library, we offer hundreds of periodicals from all sides of the political aisle. I will tell you that I do not agree with the political slant of some of the papers we make available. And that is exactly how it should be.

Libraries give members of the public the tools they need to be fully informed participants in civic society."

Hunters Point Library Confronts Accessibility Issues; Library Journal, November 4, 2019

Lisa Peet, Library Journal; Hunters Point Library Confronts Accessibility Issues

"QPL is assessing the situation with the Department of Design and Construction and Steven Holl Architects, de Bourbon said. (As of press time, Steven Holl Architects had not responded to LJ’s request for comment.) “As we move forward with new projects,” she said, “we will be even more proactive in addressing the needs and circumstances of every single customer.”

“I hope that libraries who are working on inclusiveness can see this as a cautionary tale,” said Machones. “There clearly needs to be more oversight in all stages of planning to ensure nothing like this happens again. There needs to be opportunities for staff and the community to analyze and respond to plans at every stage. If there are members of your community that are not able to participate in input sessions, then go to them and ask them for their input. Your library will better serve the community if your plans reflect everyone in it.”

Such inclusive input might be positioned as a mandate in all aspects of service for the library, Machones suggested. “I would have regular community conversations to learn about what ways the library could improve. I also would recommend the library undergo an inclusive services assessment,” such as the Inclusive Services Assessment and Guide developed for Wisconsin Public Libraries."

NNS Spotlight: Nonprofit uses data research to spur change in communities; Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS), November 6, 2019

Caroline White, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS); NNS Spotlight: Nonprofit uses data research to spur change in communities

"Numbers can tell only part of a story.

They mean nothing without context.

And that’s where Data You Can Use steps in. The nonprofit works to provide useful local data so organizations can create change on a community level.

“In some of these neighborhoods, people have a fear of research because they’ve always been the subject, but they never see the results. That can be very damaging,” said Katie Pritchard, executive director and president of Data You Can Use. “If you’re only telling one part of the story, it doesn’t help anyone.”...

“We wanted to find a better way to measure the impact of what we do,” [Barb] Wesson [the outcomes manager] said. “One of the things Data You Can Use does really well that I don’t do at all is qualitative data analysis, and that’s what we needed.”"

Commissioners call New York Times ‘fake news,’ deny library funding for digital subscriptions; Tampa Bay Times, November 4, 2019

Josh Fiallo, Tampa Bay Times; Commissioners call New York Times ‘fake news,’ deny library funding for digital subscriptions

"Sandy Price, the advisory board chairman for the county’s libraries, told the Citrus County Chronicle she was disappointed with the commissioners’ decision to block the funding. She also said she was concerned with the reason behind the blocking, specifically citing Carnahan’s comments about the New York Times being ‘fake news.’

“Someone’s personal political view does not have a place in deciding what library resources are available for the entire county,” Price told the Chronicle on Monday. “Libraries have to ensure all points of view are represented.”

Despite all five commissioners railing against the request during the commission meeting, feedback that he received in the days after caused Commissioner Brian Coleman to loosen his stance on the request.

Coleman originally said of the funding request: “I support President Trump. I would say they put stuff in there that’s not necessarily verified."

Two days after the meeting, however, Coleman told The Chronicle he wanted to re-address the topic at a future meeting.

“Our decision should have been impartial, instead of having it become a personal thing," Coleman told the Chronicle."

What if "Sesame Street" Were Open Access?; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), October 25, 2019

Elliot Harmon, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); What if "Sesame Street" Were Open Access?

"The news of iconic children’s television show “Sesame Street”’s new arrangement with the HBO MAX streaming service has sent ripples around the Internet. Starting this year, episodes of “Sesame Street” will debut on HBO and on the HBO MAX service, with new episodes being made available to PBS “at some point.” Parents Television Council’s Tim Winter recently told New York Times that “HBO is holding hostage underprivileged families” who can no longer afford to watch new “Sesame Street” episodes.

The move is particularly galling because the show is partially paid for with public funding. Let's imagine an alternative: what if “Sesame Street” were open access? What if the show’s funding had come with a requirement that it be made available to the public?"

Backcountry.com breaks its silence amid trademark lawsuit controversy to apologize and say “we made a mistake”; The Colorado Sun, November 6, 2019

Jason Blevins, The Colorado Sun; Backcountry.com breaks its silence amid trademark lawsuit controversy to apologize and say “we made a mistake”

"“To be fair, this is not about Marquette Backcountry Skis. It’s about the small nonprofits, it’s about the guides and the small businesses they targeted. This has all been about the lawsuits filed against the people in front of me and the ones coming for the people behind me,” [David] Ollila said. “What we’ve witnessed here is that it takes 25 years to build a business and a reputation and it can be lost very quickly with these poor decisions. I wonder how the market will react to this. I wonder if they can be forgiven.”...

“This boycott isn’t about a word,” [Jon Miller] said. “What is happening is that a corporation has a stranglehold over our culture in a battle over a word they literally don’t even own.”"

Trump administration sues drugmaker Gilead Sciences over patent on Truvada for HIV prevention; The Washington Post, November 7, 2019

Christopher Rowland, The Washington Post; Trump administration sues drugmaker Gilead Sciences over patent on Truvada for HIV prevention

"The Trump administration took the rare step Wednesday of filing a patent infringement lawsuit against pharmaceutical manufacturer Gilead Sciences over sales of Truvada for HIV prevention, a crucial therapy invented and patented by Centers for Disease Control researchers."

Rights group files federal complaint against AI-hiring firm HireVue, citing ‘unfair and deceptive’ practices; The Washington Post, November 6, 2019

Drew Harwell, The Washington Post; Rights group files federal complaint against AI-hiring firm HireVue, citing ‘unfair and deceptive’ practices

"The Electronic Privacy Information Center, known as EPIC, on Wednesday filed an official complaint calling on the FTC to investigate HireVue’s business practices, saying the company’s use of unproven artificial intelligence systems that scan people’s faces and voices constituted a wide-scale threat to American workers."

After food-delivery robots were benched, Pitt tests putting them back on the sidewalks; The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 1, 2019

Bill Schackner, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; After food-delivery robots were benched, Pitt tests putting them back on the sidewalks

"Last week, the San Francisco-based company and dining services vendor Sodexo resumed testing. Earlier, the gizmos were pulled from the streets after a doctoral student using a wheelchair said one blocked her access to a sidewalk on Forbes Avenue.

Pitt spokesman Kevin Zwick said officials are still hoping to formally debut the robots this fall. A handful of other universities nationwide are using the Starship robots...

The 2-foot tall, six-wheeled devices that resemble rolling coolers are programmed to navigate the campus and can be operated remotely as they cross streets around campus. The plans have drawn a range of reactions from those who depend on takeout or find themselves navigating crowded streets with the bots."

For Vulnerable Populations, the Thorny Ethics of Genetic Data Collection; Undark, September 30, 2019

Adrian Pecotic, Undark; For Vulnerable Populations, the Thorny Ethics of Genetic Data Collection

To be equitable, genetics research needs more diverse samples. But collecting that data could present ethical issues.

"“When we do genetic studies, trying to understand the genetic basis of common and complex diseases, we’re getting a biased snapshot,” said Alicia Martin, a geneticist at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute, a biomedical and genomics research center affiliated with Harvard and MIT.

Research to capture these snapshots, called genome-wide association studies, can only draw conclusions about the data that’s been collected. Without studies that look at each underrepresented population, genetic tests and therapies can’t be tailored to everyone. Still, projects intended as correctives, like All of Us and the International HapMap Project, face an ethical conundrum: Collecting that data could exploit the very people the programs intend to help."

How Machine Learning Pushes Us to Define Fairness; Harvard Business Review, November 6, 2019

David Weinberger, Harvard Business Review; How Machine Learning Pushes Us to Define Fairness

"Even with the greatest of care, an ML system might find biased patterns so subtle and complex that they hide from the best-intentioned human attention. Hence the necessary current focus among computer scientists, policy makers, and anyone concerned with social justice on how to keep bias out of AI. 

Yet machine learning’s very nature may also be bringing us to think about fairness in new and productive ways. Our encounters with machine learning (ML) are beginning to  give us concepts, a vocabulary, and tools that enable us to address questions of bias and fairness more directly and precisely than before."

Elisa Celis and the fight for fairness in artificial intelligence; Yale News, November 6, 2019

Jim Shelton, Yale News; Elisa Celis and the fight for fairness in artificial intelligence

"What can you tell us about the new undergraduate course you’re teaching at Yale?

It’s called “Data Science Ethics.” I came in with an idea of what I wanted to do, but I also wanted to incorporate a lot of feedback from students. The first week was spent asking: “What is normative ethics? How do we even go about thinking in terms of ethical decisions in this context?” With that foundation, we began talking about different areas where ethical questions come out, throughout the entire data science pipeline. Everything from how you collect data to the algorithms themselves and how they end up encoding these biases, and how the results of biased algorithms directly affect people. The goal is to introduce students to all the things they should have in their mind when talking about ethics in the technical sphere.

The class doesn’t require coding or technical background, because that allows students from other departments to participate. We have students from anthropology, sociology, and economics, and other departments, which broadens the discussion. That’s very valuable when grappling with these inherently interdisciplinary problems."

A library wanted a New York Times subscription. Officials refused, citing Trump and ‘fake news.’; The New York Times, November 5, 2019

Antonia Noori Farzan, The Washington Post; A library wanted a New York Times subscription. Officials refused, citing Trump and ‘fake news.’

"“Someone’s personal political view does not have a place in deciding what library resources are available for the entire county,” Sandy Price, the chairwoman for the library’s advisory board, told the Chronicle. “Libraries have to ensure all points of view are represented.”"

Scientists With Links to China May Be Stealing Biomedical Research, U.S. Says; The New York Times, November 4, 2019

Gina Kolata, The New York Times; Scientists With Links to China May Be Stealing Biomedical Research, U.S. Says
 
"The investigations have fanned fears that China is exploiting the relative openness of the American scientific system to engage in wholesale economic espionage. At the same time, the scale of the dragnet has sent a tremor through the ranks of biomedical researchers, some of whom say ethnic Chinese scientists are being unfairly targeted for scrutiny as Washington’s geopolitical competition with Beijing intensifies...

The alleged theft involves not military secrets, but scientific ideas, designs, devices, data and methods that may lead to profitable new treatments or diagnostic tools.

Some researchers under investigation have obtained patents in China on work funded by the United States government and owned by American institutions, the N.I.H. said. Others are suspected of setting up labs in China that secretly duplicated American research, according to government officials and university administrators...

The real question, [Dr. Michael Lauer, deputy director for extramural research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md] added, is how to preserve the open exchange of scientific ideas in the face of growing security concerns. At M.D. Anderson, administrators are tightening controls to make data less freely available."

An unseemly meeting at the US Supreme Court raises ethics questions; Quartz, November 2, 2019

Ephrat Livni, Quartz; An unseemly meeting at the US Supreme Court raises ethics questions

"“A case isn’t finished until the opinion is out,” Roth noted. So, any meeting between a justice and an advocate who has expressed positions on a matter is problematic because it undermines public trust in the judge’s ability to be fair. He calls these engagements failures of a “basic ethics test” and is concerned about how commonly these failures occur...

Roth believes that everyone, whatever their political party or ideological tendencies, should be concerned about these kinds of engagements by the justices. And he doesn’t think it’s too much to ask that members of the bench not interact with the people and institutions who’ve broadcast their views in amicus briefs while those cases are open, if only to maintain that precious appearance of neutrality."

Facebook and Twitter spread Trump’s lies, so we must break them up; The Guardian, November 3, 2019

Robert Reich, The Guardian; Facebook and Twitter spread Trump’s lies, so we must break them up 

"The reason 45% of Americans rely on Facebook for news and Trump’s tweets reach 66 million is because these platforms are near monopolies, dominating the information marketplace. No TV network, cable giant or newspaper even comes close. Fox News’ viewership rarely exceeds 3 million. The New York Times has 4.7 million subscribers.

Facebook and Twitter aren’t just participants in the information marketplace. They’re quickly becoming the information marketplace."

Amber Heard: Are We All Celebrities Now? Only a federal law can stop "revenge porn"; The New York Times, November 4, 2019

Amber Heard, The New York Times; Amber Heard: Are We All Celebrities Now? Only a federal law can stop "revenge porn"

"This is precisely why “revenge porn,” the term often used to describe this abuse, is the wrong name: It is focused on intent rather than consent. What matters is not why the perpetrator disclosed the images; it is that the victim did not consent to the disclosure.

That is why laws against nonconsensual pornography should look like laws against other privacy violations, like the laws that prohibit the unauthorized disclosure of a broad range of private information, such as medical records and Social Security numbers.

Because the patchwork of state laws fails to truly protect intimate privacy, it is vital that Congress pass legislation that does. And that is why in May, I spoke at the news conference for the introduction of the Stopping Harmful Image Exploitation and Limiting Distribution (SHIELD) Act, a bipartisan federal bill introduced by Representatives Jackie Speier of California and John Katko of New York.

Every person, from the most famous to the most obscure, from the privileged to the poor, deserves privacy."