The Fight for the "Right to Repair"; Smithsonian.com, 7/13/16

Emily Matchar, Smithsonian.com; The Fight for the "Right to Repair" :

"The problem, Gordon-Byrne says, began in earnest in the late 1990s. Companies were increasingly embedding software in their products, and claiming that software as their intellectual property. Companies would argue that they needed to control repairs as a way of maintaining security and customer experience, reasons Gordon-Byrne calls “all fake.”...

The problem isn’t limited to traditional home electronics. A farmer may have paid for his or her John Deere tractor, a piece of farm equipment that can run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. But John Deere still owns the software that runs the tractor, and trying to fix it without going to an authorized repair center could put the farmer afoul of copyright laws. This means that, in order to make legal repairs, a farmer in a rural area might have to haul a broken 15-ton tractor for hundreds of miles to an authorized dealer or repair shop. In the harvest season, this could mean a crushing loss of revenue.

Nor does the problem only harm consumers. Independent repair professionals, from camera shop owners to computer technicians, suffer, saying the lack of access to repair parts and manuals makes them unable to do their jobs."

With Obama, the Personal Is Presidential; New York Times, 7/15/16

Timothy Egan, New York Times; With Obama, the Personal Is Presidential:

"It’s not fair to give him his due as a person, his high grade for character, for being scandal-free in his private life, just because a potential successor has no character, no class, and breaches a new wall of civility every time he opens his mouth. If Obama had bragged about infidelities and the size of his genitals, if Obama had talked about wanting to date his own daughter and reduced women to a number on a hotness scale, it would be about race. But when Donald Trump says such things, nobody ties it to his being white, nor should they. Trump is a singular kind of vulgarian.

And those who praise Obama as a model father or husband for the black family do him a disservice. He’s a model, without asterisk for race. It’s a hard thing to go nearly eight years as the most powerful man in the world without diminishing the office or alienating your family. He’s done that, and added a dash of style and humor and a pitch-perfect sense for being consoler in chief.

As we saw again this week, when he took the deep breath for us, when he begged us not to let hearts turn to stone when the world is a quarry of hate, he is at his best when the rest of us are at our worst. We will long remember him singing “Amazing Grace” at that service for people slaughtered in a Charleston church, their deaths a hate crime. And we may well remember him trying to wring something teachable from the ambush of police officers; their deaths also a hate crime.

“All of us, we make mistakes,” he said. “And at times we are lost. And as we get older, we learn we don’t always have control of things — not even a president does. But we do have control over how we respond to the world. We do have control over how we treat one another.”"

Pokemon Go spurs lawyers to stop and consider legal issues; ABA Journal, 7/13/16

Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal; Pokemon Go spurs lawyers to stop and consider legal issues:

"Some lawyers say Pokemon Go, an “augmented reality” game, raises legal issues and public safety concerns. Alabama lawyer Keith Lee, writing at his Associate’s Mind blog, says his legal questions include:

Does placing a Pokemon character on a private property, without permission, affect the owner’s interest in exclusive possession of the property? Does it create an attractive nuisance? Does owning real property extend property rights to intellectual property elements that are placed on it? Is there liability for placing the characters on private property or in dangerous locations?

Michigan lawyer Brian Wassom raises other legal issues in a post for the Hollywood Reporter’s THR, Esq. blog. Augmented reality games can lead to competition for the use of the same physical spaces, disrupting the ability of players and nonplayers to enjoy the place, and possibly leading to violence, he says. Could government limit the players in a public space? Would that bring a First Amendment challenge?"

Extreme Anger Management: Is It O.K. to Kill the Hulk’s Alter Ego?; New York Times, 7/14/16

George Gen Gustines, New York Times; Extreme Anger Management: Is It O.K. to Kill the Hulk’s Alter Ego? :

[Spoilers]

"Marvel’s heroes have found themselves divided in the mini-series Civil War II and the conflict has taken another victim. In Wednesday’s issue, Bruce Banner, the alter ego of the Incredible Hulk, is killed by his fellow hero Hawkeye, who believed he was preventing an even more horrible future from coming to pass: a rampage by the green behemoth that would have left even more heroes dead.

Like the 1956 short story “Minority Report” by Phillip K. Dick, Marvel’s champions are dealing with questions of free will and determinism. They have encountered Ulysses, who has the power to see the future. Some of the heroes, led by Captain Marvel, want to use that knowledge to prevent crimes before they occur, while others, who stand behind Iron Man, wonder about the ethics of prosecuting people for crimes they might commit."

Meet Your New Librarian of Congress; Smithsonian.com, 7/14/16

Erin Blakemore, Smithsonian.com; Meet Your New Librarian of Congress: Carla Hayden will make history as the first African-American in the role—and the first woman:

"In the past, presidential nominations tended to focus on patronage and vague qualifications, and the role did not require that the librarian have served as a professional librarian at any time. Former Librarians of Congress carried out what was, in effect, a lifetime term. As a result, the the institution has only had 13 leaders in its 216-year-long history. That recently changed when Congress passed a bill limiting the term of the Librarian of Congress to 10 years.

Hayden had to undergo a confirmation hearing and political gridlock before being confirmed to the position by a 74-18 vote, McGlone reports. Just what does her post entail? In short, she’ll be responsible for overseeing the nation’s largest cultural institution, but her job will have other perks (and challenges). Not only does the Librarian of Congress name the nation’s Poet Laureate, but she oversees the Copyright Office, makes critical exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, oversees the National Recording Registry and National Film Registry and serves as the public face of books in the United States.

It’s a tall order—but one that America’s newest Librarian of Congress seems enthused to take on. Hayden tells Fritze that she looks forward to opening “the treasure chest that is the Library of Congress even further and [making] it a place that can be found and used by everyone.”"

From A Murrow Moment To A Murrow Mindset: How Not To Normalize Donald Trump; Huffington Post, 7/11/16

Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post; From A Murrow Moment To A Murrow Mindset: How Not To Normalize Donald Trump:

"You can feel the press itching to normalize Trump, and relieve them from having to reluctantly abandon the safe shelter of “balance” and “objectivity,” and call Trump out. But Trump is a candidate who has broken so many rules of the political process, so the press can use this opportunity to break, and discard, the obsolete rules of political coverage that are clearly not working this cycle. What we need is not just a Murrow moment but a sustained Murrow mindset.

“This is no time for men who oppose Senator McCarthy’s methods to keep silent,” Murrow said on the air in 1954. “We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of a republic to abdicate his responsibilities... We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the defenders of freedom wherever it continues to exist in the world. But we cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home... Cassius was right. ‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.’ Good night, and good luck.”"

Marvel had one Avenger kill another. It’s a turning point in Civil War II.; Vox, 7/14/16

Alex Abad-Santos, Vox; Marvel had one Avenger kill another. It’s a turning point in Civil War II. :

[Spoilers]

"The trial gives Bendis the structure to really spell out the personalities at play, and to let him fiddle with Captain Marvel, Iron Man, and Hawkeye’s individual points of view. At the same time, we get to see three different interpretations of who Bruce Banner is but don’t get to witness what actually happened.

And it’s hard to cleave Bendis’s interpretation of Hawkeye without thinking of recent examples from American reality, specifically the shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of police. To be clear: Civil War II and crossover events like it are planned out far in advance, and months and months before the recent tragedies in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Texas. But the ideas and debate surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement and police accountability extend far beyond this month’s tragedies."

To Boldly Go Where No Fan Production Has Gone Before; Slate, 7/13/16

Marissa Martinelli, Slate; To Boldly Go Where No Fan Production Has Gone Before:

"The issues at the heart of the Axanar case are complex—in addition to copyright infringement, CBS and Paramount are accusing the Axanar team of profiting from the production by paying themselves salaries, among other things. Abrams, who directed 2009’s Star Trek and 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, promised during a fan event back in May that the lawsuit would be going away at the behest of Justin Lin, the Beyond director who has sided, surprisingly, with Axanar over Paramount. But despite Abrams’ promise, the lawsuit rages on, and in the meantime, other Trekkie filmmakers have had to adapt. Federation Rising, the planned sequel to Horizon, pulled the plug before fundraising had even started, and Star Trek: Renegades, the follow-up to Of Gods and Men that raised more than $132,000 on Indiegogo, has dropped all elements of Star Trek from the production and is now just called Renegades. (Amusingly, this transition seems to have involved only slight tweaks, with the Federation becoming the Confederation, Russ’ character Tuvok becoming Kovok, and so on.) Other projects are stuck in limbo, waiting to hear from CBS whether they can boldly go forth with production—or whether this really does spell the end of the golden age of Star Trek fan films.

Axanar may very well have crossed a line, and CBS and Paramount are, of course, entitled to protect their properties. But in the process, they have suffocated, intentionally or otherwise, a robust and long-standing fan-fiction tradition, one that has produced remarkable labors of love like Star Trek Continues, which meticulously recreated the look and feel of the 1960s show, and an hourlong stop-motion film made by a German fan in tribute to Enterprise—a project almost eight years in the making. It’s a tradition that gave us web series like Star Trek: Hidden Frontier, which was exploring same-sex relationships in Star Trek well before the canon was ready to give us a mainstream, openly gay character."

An Open Letter From Technology Sector Leaders On Donald Trump’s Candidacy For President; Huffington Post, 7/14/16

Alec Ross, Huffington Post; An Open Letter From Technology Sector Leaders On Donald Trump’s Candidacy For President:

"We are inventors, entrepreneurs, engineers, investors, researchers, and business leaders working in the technology sector. We are proud that American innovation is the envy of the world, a source of widely-shared prosperity, and a hallmark of our global leadership.

We believe in an inclusive country that fosters opportunity, creativity and a level playing field. Donald Trump does not. He campaigns on anger, bigotry, fear of new ideas and new people, and a fundamental belief that America is weak and in decline. We have listened to Donald Trump over the past year and we have concluded: Trump would be a disaster for innovation. His vision stands against the open exchange of ideas, free movement of people, and productive engagement with the outside world that is critical to our economy—and that provide the foundation for innovation and growth."

Scholars Steeped in Dead Politicians Take On a Live One: Donald Trump; New York Times, 7/12/16

Jim Dwyer, New York Times; Scholars Steeped in Dead Politicians Take On a Live One: Donald Trump:

"Now Mr. McCullough and Ken Burns, the filmmaker and author, have assembled a group of distinguished American historians to speak about the candidacy of Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, in videos being posted to a Facebook page, Historians on Donald Trump.

It is a diverse, honored group — including, among others, Robert A. Caro, Ron Chernow, David Levering Lewis, William E. Leuchtenberg, Vicki Lynn Ruiz — that speaks with alarm about Mr. Trump’s candidacy and his place in the march of American history.

Mr. McCullough, raised in a Republican home and now aligned with no party, said the prospect of a Trump presidency so distressed him that he felt he could not remain publicly detached...

Mr. McCullough said he contacted Mr. Burns after seeing him tell this year’s graduating class at Stanford University that despite 40 years of avoiding advocacy in his work, he no longer had “the luxury of neutrality or ‘balance’ or even of bemused disdain.” After a few conversations, Mr. McCullough said, the two men came up with a plan: “Why don’t we see if we can round up some other people who care about the American story, and who have given so much of their life’s work to it, see if they are willing to step out and make themselves heard.”"

Top American Historians Find a Modern Way to Rip Donald Trump; Daily Beast, 7/13/16

Eleanor Clift, Daily Beast; Top American Historians Find a Modern Way to Rip Donald Trump:

"“I just finished a children’s book on Grover Cleveland. I know all of them [the former presidents], and they are deeply flawed—but none of them have the glaring flaws of Donald Trump. Those of us who spend our lives studying American history are upset about the rise of Trump. There’s been nobody like him. I wish there were a Murrow [Edward R.] or a Cronkite [Walter] to expose him,” Burns said, voicing nostalgia for the giants of the journalistic past who took on Joe McCarthy and his communist witch hunts, and brought the truth about the Vietnam War into American living rooms.

Today’s media, for whatever reason, has failed, said Burns."

Sulu, “Star Trek” and queer sci-fi: LGBT diversity has been there all along—now it’s gone mainstream; Salon, 7/12/16

Scott Eric Kaufman, Salon; Sulu, “Star Trek” and queer sci-fi: LGBT diversity has been there all along—now it’s gone mainstream:

"Which is, of course, the most significant issue — how to represent historically underrepresented communities, especially when doing so within the confines of a franchise that, however progressive it was when originally produced, was still originally produced in America during the 1960s. Should members of the LGBTQ community be treated as deviations from the “norm” who require acceptance, or simply as people whose sexuality or gender identification is a fundamental, if incidental, fact of who they are?

Roberts clearly argues that it should be the latter, whereas Takei believes that the character of Sulu will be fundamentally altered — an “unfortunate” revision of his original conception — if he happens to homosexual in the new film. In this respect, Takei is out of step with how science fiction has evolved since Roddenberry first envisioned life aboard the Starship Enterprise, at least inasmuch as straightness is no longer considered the default among characters whose sexuality isn’t a central feature of the narrative."

A Fight to Make Two Classic Songs Copyright Free to You and Me; New York Times, 7/12/16

Ben Sisario, New York Times; A Fight to Make Two Classic Songs Copyright Free to You and Me:

"Legal experts say that such cases show the difficulties in determining the proper limits of copyright, which is meant to encourage creators by giving them limited monopolies over their works. Yet the terms have gradually increased with the lobbying of corporate owners.

“We can respect the rights of creators, but creators are often in the position of building on other works, and there has to be freedom for that, too,” said James Boyle, a Duke University law professor and the author of “The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind.”

As an example of art that builds freely on pre-existing work, Professor Boyle pointed to the tradition of folk music — exactly the realm from which “This Land” and “We Shall Overcome” grew.

The tension is heightened when it comes to material considered essential heritage. The family of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has used copyright to prevent his “I Have a Dream” speech — delivered at the March on Washington in 1963, where “We Shall Overcome” was most famously performed — from appearing in documentaries. Yet they also once allowed it to be used in a cellphone commercial."

Arlington National Cemetery wants people to stop catching Pikachu on its hallowed ground; Washington Post, 7/12/16

Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Washington Post; Arlington National Cemetery wants people to stop catching Pikachu on its hallowed ground:

"“We do not consider playing ‘Pokémon Go’ to be appropriate decorum on the grounds of [Arlington National Cemetery]. We ask all visitors to refrain from such activity,” the cemetery’s Twitter account said Tuesday afternoon...

Arlington National Cemetery is the final resting place for more than 400,000 veterans and their families, according to the cemetery’s website. The cemetery holds funeral services Monday through Saturday at a rate of 3,000 per year. Many of the fallen from the United States’ recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried in Section 60, their graves often adorned with their photos, notes from loved ones and empty beer bottles left by comrades.

The cemetery, in addition to discouraging Pokémon Go playing, also frowns upon running, bicycle riding and horseplay throughout its grounds."

Holocaust Museum to visitors: Please stop catching Pokémon here; Washington Post, 7/12/16

Andrea Peterson, Washington Post; Holocaust Museum to visitors: Please stop catching Pokémon here:

""Playing the game is not appropriate in the museum, which is a memorial to the victims of Nazism," Andrew Hollinger, the museum's communications director, told The Post. "We are trying to find out if we can get the museum excluded from the game."

The Holocaust Museum's plight highlights how apps that layer a digital world on top of the real one can create awkward situations, especially since the owners of the physical locations often cannot weigh in on how their spaces are being used...

Hollinger stressed that the museum is generally pro-technology and encourages visitors to use social media to share how their experiences with the exhibits moved them. "But this game falls very much outside that," he said."

Pokémon Go: 9 questions about the game you were too embarrassed to ask; Vox, 7/13/16

Alex Abad-Santos, Vox; Pokémon Go: 9 questions about the game you were too embarrassed to ask:

"8) What’s this I’ve heard about Pokémon appearing at the Holocaust Museum and ground zero?

According to the Washington Post, there are people using the game at the Holocaust Museum. There are also reports of people using the app at the 9/11 Memorial. Many people are understandably upset that people are flicking their phones and playing Pokémon in a solemn place.

This problem is the fault of both the developer of Pokémon Go and its players.

Basically, the game features landmarks called PokéStops, where you can collect various items that will help you in your Pokémon-catching quest. And the Holocaust Museum and Ground Zero memorial are PokéStops.

And, yes, that’s weird and inappropriate."

Experts weigh privacy against better internet in FCC proposal; FedScoop, 7/12/16

Jeremy Snow, FedScoop; Experts weigh privacy against better internet in FCC proposal:

"Tech experts struggled to find a compromise for the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to improve privacy rights for internet users during a contentious Senate committee meeting Tuesday.

Academics and tech advocates argued back and forth over the balance between digital privacy and broadband access during a Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation meeting, sparked by the controversial proposal, which could limit internet service providers' access to users' information but could also deal a blow to some consumers' internet quality, according to Matthew Polka, American Cable Association president and CEO...

“In the end, this proceeding isn’t about any particular company or practice,” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement. “It’s about providing baseline protections for consumers.”"

Senator Al Franken demands Pokémon Go release privacy information; Guardian, 7/12/16

Mazin Sidahmed, Guardian; Senator Al Franken demands Pokémon Go release privacy information:

"The insanely popular Pokémon Go is collecting users’ data and sharing it with anonymous third parties, Senator Al Franken of Minnesota said in a letter to the company’s CEO on Tuesday.

The lawmaker wrote a letter to Niantic Inc’s John Hanke on Tuesday with a list of demands for further information regarding the app’s privacy settings.

“I am concerned about the extent to which Niantic may be unnecessarily collecting, using, and sharing a wide range of users’ personal information without their appropriate consent,” he wrote.

Franken, who sits on the Senate subcommittee on privacy, technology, and the law, accused the company of collecting users’ information and potentially sharing it with third-party service providers. He highlighted that most users are children and the app’s default setting is to automatically collect data, with users having to specifically “opt-out”."

Everything Librarians Need To Know About Pokemon Go!; Where We're Going, We Don't Need Shelves, July 2016

Where We're Going, We Don't Need Shelves; Everything Librarians Need To Know About Pokemon Go! :

[Kip Currier: Though the blogger's enthusiasm for welcoming Pokemon Go players to libraries is admirable, nothing in the post mentions ANY of the significant Pokemon Go privacy concerns that have been identified.]

"What does any of this have to do with libraries?

In the Pokemon Video Games, players catch and train Pokemon in order to compete at Gyms. Pokemon Gyms, in the Pokemon Universe, are places where trainers can compete and battle for prestige, earn badges, and make their Pokemon bigger, badder, and better.

In Pokemon Go, Gyms are attached to free, safe, public places that all players can get to.

This means us, the libraries.

Thousands of libraries across the country have been made virtual Gyms, and this has already caused an increase of foot traffic for our buildings, attracting teens and young adults who may not typically be library patrons. Personally, I believe this is a huge blessing. It opens doors for new patrons, it gives librarians the ability to make connections with a section of our demographics we don’t normally get the chance to talk to, and it gives us the opportunity to do some really, really fun programs and displays.

So what do I do with this information?

- Firstly, get the app! You can get it on any Android or Apple IOS smartphone. If you don’t have one, or aren’t comfortable with technology, grab a coworker who is and explore it together. You don’t need to be a fan of Pokemon or a fan of video games to explore and get an idea of what it looks like. It’s also important for you to find out if your library is a Gym or a Pokestop."

The Trusted Grown-Ups Who Steal Millions From Youth Sports; New York Times, 7/7/16

Bill Pennington, New York Times; The Trusted Grown-Ups Who Steal Millions From Youth Sports:

"A county court judge had ordered Mr. Farley to repent publicly to club members as part of his guilty plea, and so there he stood, in front of a throng of children sitting cross-legged on a grassy ball field waiting to play. The club’s leaders were so fearful that an irate parent might charge or assault Mr. Farley that they hired security to maintain order...

Yet with the growth and development has come a long list of embezzlement and other corruption cases unfolding in a void of oversight and regulation and capitalizing on community trust.

Across the country, people who volunteered as treasurers and other officers for Little Leagues and sports clubs have been prosecuted for pilfering gobs of money from the coffers: $220,000 in Washington, $431,000 in Minnesota, $560,000 in New Jersey, and so on, according to law enforcement authorities, league officials, experts on nonprofit organizations and news reports."

In the age of Donald Trump, is it time to revisit media ethics?; Washington Post, 7/11/16

Robert Gebelhoff, Washington Post; In the age of Donald Trump, is it time to revisit media ethics? :

"Still, the questions the media needs to consider go beyond election coverage. How much weight should news outlets give reader interest when deciding what to cover? If a story — about Cecil the lion or the color of a dress, for example — generates a lot of discussion, is the media obligated to spend as much time on it as other, more pressing content? And if readers don’t seem to be interested in a story with substance — such as the civil war in Yemen, for example — should outlets assign it fewer resources?

These aren’t new questions by any means, but they become more important as newsrooms shrink and the demand for coverage increases. How will the changing media landscape impact the quality of content? Will important coverage fall through the cracks, especially at the local level? To what extent should consumers be held accountable for how journalism has been transformed?"

Quit bugging me: China censors beetle named after President Xi; Agence France-Presse via Guardian, 7/12/16

Agence France-Presse via Guardian; Quit bugging me: China censors beetle named after President Xi:

"But Chinese censors have ordered that all references to Wang’s bug be removed from the internet, the China Digital Times said.

The US-based website, which tracks censorship in China, cited authorities telling media: “All websites find and delete the article ‘Entomologists Report: Scholars Use ‘Daddy Xi’ to Name a New Type of Beetle’ and related information.”

“Daddy Xi”, or “Xi Dada”, is an avuncular nickname for the president that was once promoted in official propaganda but has since been downplayed.

A search for the beetle’s Chinese name on China’s Sina Weibo social media platform on Tuesday yielded only a message stating that no search results could be shown due to “relevant laws and policies”."

How technology disrupted the truth; Guardian, 7/12/16

Katharine Viner, Guardian; How technology disrupted the truth:

"When a fact begins to resemble whatever you feel is true, it becomes very difficult for anyone to tell the difference between facts that are true and “facts” that are not. The leave campaign was well aware of this – and took full advantage, safe in the knowledge that the Advertising Standards Authority has no power to police political claims. A few days after the vote, Arron Banks, Ukip’s largest donor and the main funder of the Leave.EU campaign, told the Guardian that his side knew all along that facts would not win the day. “It was taking an American-style media approach,” said Banks. “What they said early on was ‘Facts don’t work’, and that’s it. The remain campaign featured fact, fact, fact, fact, fact. It just doesn’t work. You have got to connect with people emotionally. It’s the Trump success.”...

Now, we are caught in a series of confusing battles between opposing forces: between truth and falsehood, fact and rumour, kindness and cruelty; between the few and the many, the connected and the alienated; between the open platform of the web as its architects envisioned it and the gated enclosures of Facebook and other social networks; between an informed public and a misguided mob.

What is common to these struggles – and what makes their resolution an urgent matter – is that they all involve the diminishing status of truth. This does not mean that there are no truths. It simply means, as this year has made very clear, that we cannot agree on what those truths are, and when there is no consensus about the truth and no way to achieve it, chaos soon follows."

RBG Just Risked Her Legacy to Insult Trump; Slate, 7/12/16

Mark Joseph Stern, Slate; RBG Just Risked Her Legacy to Insult Trump:

"To be clear, what Ginsburg is doing right now—pushing her case against Trump through on-the-record interviews—is not just unethical; it’s dangerous. As a general rule, justices should refrain from commenting on politics, period. That dictate applies to 83-year-old internet folk heroes as strictly as it applies to anybody else who dons judicial robes. The independence of our judiciary—and just as critically, its appearance of impartiality—hinges on a consistent separation between itself and the other branches of government. That means no proclamations of loyalty to any candidate, or admissions of distaste of any other."

The Legal and Ethical Ramifications of Letting Police Kill Suspects With Robots; Motherboard, 7/9/16

Jason Koebler, Motherboard; The Legal and Ethical Ramifications of Letting Police Kill Suspects With Robots:

"What are the guidelines for remotely killing a human?

Chief Brown said Dallas police “placed a device on [the robot’s] extension” that later exploded, suggesting that the robot was improvised on the fly. Given the extreme circumstances, it’s unlikely that the Dallas police department has published guidelines about when it’s OK to remotely kill a suspect (we’ve asked and will update if we hear back). Law enforcement will inevitably need those.

“With any new technology that the police use, what precautions should be taken to make sure that things don’t go badly wrong? The Dallas robot appears to have been a jury-rigged one,” Joh told me. “But if police robots become part of the future, how do we ensure that such robots aren’t taken over by third parties? The current landscape of easily hacked devices isn’t very assuring in this regard.”"

In Russia and China, Big Brother is watching you online; Washington Post, 7/8/16

Editorial Board, Washington Post; In Russia and China, Big Brother is watching you online:

"HARD TO believe, but a court in Perm, a Russian city near the Ural Mountains, recently convicted Vladimir Luzgin, 37, and fined him 200,000 rubles, or about $3,100, for posting a simple and true historical fact. Mr. Luzgin wrote on Vkontakte, a Russian social media platform like Facebook, that the Soviet Union collaborated with Nazi Germany to invade Poland in September 1939. He was prosecuted under a law signed by President Vladimir Putin in May 2014 against “rehabilitation of Nazism,” a law that declared its intent was to oppose glorification of Nazism but that human rights activists say was intended to discourage historical debate...

The Cyberspace Administration of China, a powerful censorship agency, took yet another step July 3 when it issued new rules to punish websites that publish unverified content, rumors, hearsay, conjecture and fake news. “Unverified” in this context means “unapproved,” and the real significance of the announcement is to warn websites that news is not what’s trending, but what the Communist Party bosses say it is, period.

Both Russia and China seek to tame the wild and free nature of the Internet, sharing a dangerous and illiberal vision that information should be a ward of the state."

The Internet was supposed to foster democracy. China has different ideas.; Washington Post, 7/10/16

Simon Denyer, Washington Post; The Internet was supposed to foster democracy. China has different ideas. :

"President Xi says he wants an Internet that is “clear and bright” but in April told leaders of the country’s top Internet companies, as well as officials and academics, that he did not want to shut down criticism entirely.

Indeed, he called for “more tolerance and patience” toward netizens and said he welcomed online criticism “whether mild or fierce,” as long as it arises from goodwill, the People’s Daily reported.

Authorities then apparently censored negative reactions to his speech on social media."

Soledad O’Brien: Seek Out the Curious and the Fastidious; New York Times, 6/10/16

Adam Bryant, Corner Office, New York Times; Soledad O’Brien: Seek Out the Curious and the Fastidious:

[Interview with Soledad O'Brien, chief executive of Starfish Media Group, a production company]

"How do you hire?

You hire for character and teach people skills. And environment is very important to me. It’s important to me that people aren’t unpleasant and that they treat each other respectfully. It’s hard to be creative when there’s someone or something that’s really irking you.

So are you a person of integrity who makes the environment a really nice space? I will watch how they treat the person at the front desk versus me. We have people spend time with other people who they think wouldn’t necessarily be assessing them for a job.

I also think there are two qualities you can’t teach people. You have to want to understand something, and I don’t think you can teach people to be curious. You can interest people in a topic and they become curious, but I think you’re born interested in things or you’re not.

And I’m obsessed with attention to detail. I don’t know that you can teach that — either that triggers you to stay for the next two hours to fix something, or you’re the kind of person who will just let it slide.

What advice do you give to new college grads?

It goes back to what my parents always said. I think hard work does get you really far. And treating people well gets you really far — farther than I think it gets credit for in the greater world."

Roger Ailes opts for secrecy, cowardice in face of Gretchen Carlson suit; Washington Post, 7/9/16

Erik Wemple, Washington Post; Roger Ailes opts for secrecy, cowardice in face of Gretchen Carlson suit:

"“It is repulsive that Ailes is trying to force this extremely serious matter into a secretive, rigged system where Ms. Carlson’s chances of getting justice are far lower even if everything she alleges is true,” notes Bland. “The problems of secrecy in arbitration are really highlighted in this case — you look at all of the women who have come forward with very similar stories, and you can see why Ailes would prefer to keep a lid on all of this by avoiding the public court system where the evidence becomes a matter of public record.” That’s something to keep in mind the next time Chris Wallace or Bret Baier gripes about breakdowns in government transparency.

Another thing to consider is that Carlson worked at Fox News for 11 years, presiding in some way over thousands of hours of programming. Over all those hours, Carlson was adjudged reliable and honest enough such that Ailes and his lieutenants placed their precious Fox News audience in her hands. Now, all of the sudden, she has become the source for her lawyers’ dissemination of “one false and defamatory statement after another.” Even you, Roger Ailes, can’t have it both ways."

Don’t Klingon to the past, George Takei. A gay Sulu is right for Star Trek 2016; Guardian, 7/10/16

Ryan Gilbey, Guardian; Don’t Klingon to the past, George Takei. A gay Sulu is right for Star Trek 2016:

"There is always a tension in sexual identity between being accepted as normal and insisting on difference. There’s no manual for handling it in fiction. But if there were, Pegg’s approach would deserve a special mention. It is the nearest equivalent to the manner in which most heterosexual people will experience LGBT lifestyles: regardless of how strongly some might insist otherwise, they will already know people who are gay, bisexual or transgender. They may be friends with them, related to them, or work alongside them. They just might not know it yet.

Where Takei has erred, it seems, is in misunderstanding a modern phenomenon – the movie reboot, which by its very nature starts again from scratch.

He may well be interpreting the reinvention of Sulu as an act of hostility, as though the filmmakers are overwriting his old Sulu with their sparkling new one. But the two can exist side by side. One doesn’t cancel out the other – the TV episodes haven’t been removed from syndication, and you can still see the many Star Trek movies Takei was in. (Although, as Pegg pointed out in his late-1990s TV series Spaced, you might want to avoid the odd-numbered ones.) The newer Star Treks are like cover versions that introduce unexpected flavours. They no more tamper with Roddenberry’s vision than Talking Heads’ herky-jerky post-punk spin on Take Me to the River diminishes Al Green’s jubilant original.

Takei, who came out in 2005 at the age of 68, is a marvellous ambassador for equality. However, a person who has found openness and acceptance in his own life but who imposes restrictions on the means by which others do so in theirs can easily risk looking ungracious. It would be better for all concerned if he didn’t cling on – or Klingon – to the past."

"Questionable Ethics"; Pearls Before Swine, 7/9/16

Stephan Pastis, Pearls Before Swine

"Questionable Ethics"

New Censorship and Copyright Restrictions in UK Digital Economy Bill; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), 7/8/16

Jeremy Malcolm, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF); New Censorship and Copyright Restrictions in UK Digital Economy Bill:

"This week a new Digital Economy Bill [PDF] has been tabled before the United Kingdom Parliament, tackling a diverse range of topics related to electronic communications infrastructure and services. Two of these give us serious concern, the first being a new regime restricting access to online pornography, and the other an expansion of criminal liability for copyright infringement."

Privacy Shield deal lets US tech firms transfer European customers' data again; Guardian, 7/8/16

Jemima Kiss, Guardian; Privacy Shield deal lets US tech firms transfer European customers' data again:

"Privacy Shield, the new commercial data transfer pact, was provisionally agreed by the EU and the US in February and will come into effect on Tuesday.

The EU’s top court had struck down the previous data transfer agreement, Safe Harbour, on concerns about intrusive US surveillance – leaving companies, including Google, Facebook and MasterCard, in legal limbo...

“It (the Privacy Shield) is fundamentally different from the old Safe Harbour: it imposes clear and strong obligations on companies handling the data and makes sure that these rules are followed and enforced in practice,” Ansip and Jourova said.

The United States will create an ombudsman within the state department to field complaints from EU citizens about US spying and has ruled out indiscriminate mass surveillance of Europeans’ data."

Do You Own Your Own Fingerprints?; Bloomberg, 7/7/16

Dune Lawrence, Bloomberg; Do You Own Your Own Fingerprints? :

"There’s one place where people seeking privacy protections can turn: the courts. A series of plaintiffs are suing tech giants, including Facebook and Google, under a little-used Illinois law. The Biometric Information Privacy Act, passed in 2008, is one of the only statutes in the U.S. that sets limits on the ways companies can handle data such as fingerprints, voiceprints, and retinal scans. At least four of the suits filed under BIPA are moving forward. “These cases are important to scope out the existing law, perhaps point out places where the law could be improved, and set principles that other states might follow,” says Jeffrey Neuburger, a partner at law firm Proskauer Rose.

The bankruptcy of fingerprint-scanning company Pay By Touch spurred BIPA’s passage. Hundreds of Illinois grocery stores and gas stations used its technology, allowing customers to pay with the tap of a finger. As the bankrupt company proposed selling its database, the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union drafted what became BIPA, and the bill passed with little corporate opposition, says Mary Dixon, legislative director of the Illinois ACLU."

Man falsely connected to the shooting by Dallas police is now getting ‘thousands’ of death threats; Washington Post, 7/8/16

Ben Guarino, Washington Post; Man falsely connected to the shooting by Dallas police is now getting ‘thousands’ of death threats:

"Amid the confusion, a man in a camouflage T-shirt briefly became one of the most sought individuals in the United States.

Late Thursday, the Dallas Police Department sparked a manhunt for Mark Hughes though a Twitter post, writing, “This is one of our suspects. Please help us find him!”...

Dallas, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile: should Facebook show violent videos?; Guardian, 7/8/16

Moira Weigel, Guardian; Dallas, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile: should Facebook show violent videos? :

"Facebook’s community standards appear to recognize the political significance of these types of videos. “In many instances, when people share this type of content, they are condemning it or raising awareness about it,” it reads.

Zuckerberg posted his own statement about Castile’s shooting, saying: “The images we’ve seen this week are graphic and heartbreaking, and they shine a light on the fear that millions of members of our community live with every day. While I hope we never have to see another video like Diamond’s, it reminds us why coming together to build a more open and connected world is so important – and how far we still have to go.”

But these videos call up old debates about the ethics of representation. Does increasing the visibility of violence lead to justice for the victims of violence? Does the video itself constitute a form of redress? Does consuming such imagery sensitize and politicize viewers? Or does it exhaust us – or worse, encourage a perverse kind of voyeurism?

In short, should these kind of videos be produced, watched and circulated?"

In Dallas, another example of perils of reporting breaking news; Washington Post, 7/8/16

Paul Farhi, Washington Post; In Dallas, another example of perils of reporting breaking news:

"Thanks to the speed and ubi­quity of digital media, readers, viewers and listeners know more than ever about any unfolding incident or disaster. But they also know less, thanks to the unfiltered, uncorroborated and just plain inaccurate factoids that poison the news ecosystem like a toxic chemical. It’s not just inaccurate reporting alone; TV news panels and people on social media compound questionable facts by repeating them and speculating about them.

“We keep relearning this lesson over and over,” says W. Joseph Campbell, a communications professor at American University and the author of “Getting It Wrong,” a book about epic journalism mistakes. “With any tragedy, you see it again and again.”"

Abraham Lincoln’s lesson for Trump: America’s at its best when we respect individual dignity; The Conversation via Salon, 7/8/16

Donald Nieman, The Conversation via Salon; Abraham Lincoln’s lesson for Trump: America’s at its best when we respect individual dignity:

"Lincoln believed that America’s commitment to equality and human dignity made it great. He criticized those who denied that the Declaration of Independence applied to African-Americans as “blowing out the moral lights around us.” In announcing his support for emancipation as president, he argued that it would preserve America’s role as “the last best hope of earth.”

If Trump wants to “make America great,” he can learn a lot from Lincoln. He can begin by following Lincoln’s example and appeal to “the better angels of our nature” rather than to fear. He should realize that we are at our best when we respect individual dignity, not when we stigmatize groups because of their race, sex, identity or religion.

Or he can join the Know Nothings. The party enjoyed a meteoric rise in 1854 but splintered over slavery and fizzled in the 1856 presidential election. Today, Lincoln is remembered for expanding our understanding of freedom and equality. In contrast, the Know Nothings’ appeal to fear and bigotry reminds us only of our worst instincts."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Marches In Toronto Pride Parade; Huffington Post Canada, 7/3/16

Huffington Post Canada; Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Marches In Toronto Pride Parade:

"Canada's largest Pride parade marked another milestone Sunday as a sitting prime minister marched for the first time in a colourful celebration that was tempered by last month's shooting massacre in Orlando, Fla...

Trudeau said the Florida tragedy is a reminder that "we can't let hate go by.''

"We have to speak up anytime there is intolerance or discrimination,'' he said as the 36th annual parade kicked off.

Prominent in the procession was a pair of marchers who held a large black banner that read "Orlando'' and "We march for those who can't.''"

Bookseller abductions: China demands Lam Wing-kee return from Hong Kong; Reuters via Guardian, 7/5/16

Reuters via Guardian; Bookseller abductions: China demands Lam Wing-kee return from Hong Kong:

"A statement issued by the Ningbo Public Security Bureau said Lam had broken his bail terms by failing to return to the mainland for further investigation after his initial eight months in detention, Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper reported.

Lam was one of five booksellers whose disappearances over the past year have been linked to the Causeway Bay Books store that had specialised in publishing and selling books about China’s leaders, including President Xi Jinping...

The disappearances have prompted fears that mainland Chinese authorities may be using tactics that erode the “one country, two systems” formula under which Hong Kong has been governed since its return to China from British rule in 1997."

In 'Ten Years,' A Dystopian Vision Of Hong Kong's Future Under China; NPR, 7/7/16

Alan Yu, NPR; In 'Ten Years,' A Dystopian Vision Of Hong Kong's Future Under China:

"When Ten Years debuted in December 2015, Hong Kong cinemas sold out moments after publicizing showtimes. People crowded into informal public screenings. Crowdfunding campaigns later brought the film to Canada, Germany, the U.K. and Australia. It premiered in the U.S. at the New York Asian Film Festival on July 4 and will soon be available on demand.

But it has been banned in China, where a state media editorial in January — since taken down — condemned it as "absurd" and a "thought virus."

In the film, made for about $64,000, five directors imagine five different vignettes of what Hong Kong will be like in 2025.

It's a dispiriting vision: Local children are indoctrinated to spy on adults in scenes reminiscent of China's Cultural Revolution. A pro-democracy activist burns herself in front of the British Consulate to protest the U.K. handing Hong Kong back to China in 1997. Chinese government officials stage a murder to help usher in harsh national security laws.

Ten Years won Best Picture at the Hong Kong Film Awards in April — though the honor was never mentioned on the mainland, where a broadcast of the awards ceremony was cut off. The film has earned more than 10 times its budget at the Hong Kong box office. It's popular because it shows the hopes and fears of Hong Kong citizens living under Chinese rule, and because, in some ways, real life has caught up with the plot."

Legal, but Not Political, Clarity on the Clinton Emails; New York Times, 7/5/16

Editorial Board, New York Times; Legal, but Not Political, Clarity on the Clinton Emails:

"Mrs. Clinton’s desire to shield her private communications from public scrutiny may be understandable to supporters of her presidential campaign. But in leading one of the most sensitive departments in the federal government, she did little to improve what Mr. Comey called “the security culture of the State Department in general, and with respect to use of unclassified email systems in particular,” that “was generally lacking in the kind of care for classified information found elsewhere in the government.”

As Mrs. Clinton said in the past, and her campaign reiterated on Tuesday, her decision to use private email was a mistake. She remains, far and away, the most experienced and knowledgeable candidate for the presidency, particularly when compared with Mr. Trump. But she has done damage to her reputation by failing to conform to the established security policies of the department she ran and by giving evasive or misleading answers about her actions and motivations. If there was ever a time that Mrs. Clinton needed to demonstrate that she understands the forthrightness demanded of those who hold the nation’s highest office, this is that moment."

Adding Classes and Content, Resurgent Libraries Turn a Whisper Into a Roar; New York Times, 7/4/16

Winnie Hu, New York Times; Adding Classes and Content, Resurgent Libraries Turn a Whisper Into a Roar:

"Far from becoming irrelevant in the digital age, libraries in New York City and around the nation are thriving: adding weekend and evening hours; hiring more librarians and staff; and expanding their catalog of classes and services to include things like job counseling, coding classes and knitting groups.

No longer just repositories for books, public libraries have reinvented themselves as one-stop community centers that aim to offer something for everyone. In so doing, they are reaffirming their role as an essential part of civic life in America by making themselves indispensable to new generations of patrons...

Nationally, public libraries are redefining their mission at a time when access to technology, and the ability to use it, is said to deepen class stratification, leaving many poor and disadvantaged communities behind. Sari Feldman, president of the American Library Association, said library workers had shown people how to file online for welfare benefits and taught classes in science, technology, engineering and math to children who could not afford to go to summer camps. “All libraries are having a renaissance,” Ms. Feldman said. “We’re seeing that libraries have really stepped up to take on roles that are needed in a community.”"

The Theology of Donald Trump; New York Times, 7/5/16

Peter Wehner, New York Times; The Theology of Donald Trump:

"And should your conscience tell you that Mr. Trump might not be the right choice, Robert Jeffress, the influential pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, explains that “any Christian who would sit at home and not vote for the Republican nominee” is “motivated by pride rather than principle.”

This fulsome embrace of Mr. Trump is rather problematic, since he embodies a worldview that is incompatible with Christianity. If you trace that worldview to its source, Christ would not be anywhere in the vicinity.

Time and again Mr. Trump has shown contempt for those he perceives as weak and vulnerable — “losers,” in his vernacular. They include P.O.W.s, people with disabilities, those he deems physically unattractive and those he considers politically powerless. He bullies and threatens people he believes are obstacles to his ambitions. He disdains compassion and empathy, to the point where his instinctive response to the largest mass shooting in American history was to congratulate himself: “Appreciate the congrats for being right.”

What Mr. Trump admires is strength. For him, a person’s intrinsic worth is tied to worldly success and above all to power. He never seems free of his obsession with it."

PBS misfires on the Fourth of July; Washington Post, 7/5/16

Editorial Board, Washington Post; PBS misfires on the Fourth of July:

"To PBS, patriotism apparently means airing fake fireworks.

On television Monday night, PBS’s “A Capitol Fourth” broadcast treated viewers to a stunning spectacle: red, white and blue fireworks flung into relief against a clear sky. There was only one problem: In reality, the rockets’ red glare was muted by mist and clouds — PBS’s version of the show was spliced together from previous years’ displays, when the weather was fairer. “It was the patriotic thing to do,” PBS said in a tweet.

No, it was the wrong thing to do. PBS is a news and public affairs organization; its mission and its duty are to tell the truth. Americans who did not watch Monday’s fireworks in person, because they live elsewhere or, yes, because of the rain, expected to see what PBS promised: a live show, rain or shine. They did not expect to see a highlights reel — and many were taken in by the trick. It was a breach of trust from an institution consistently rated one of the most trustworthy in the country."

PBS used some stock footage for its fireworks show, and people were not happy; Washington Post, 7/4/16

Emily Yahr, Washington Post; PBS used some stock footage for its fireworks show, and people were not happy:

"As soon as the show ended, producers from Capital Concerts owned up to the fact that not all of its footage was from the live fireworks show. (In the first segment of the display, while singer Cassadee Pope was singing, some scenes did show a cloudy sky.) “We showed a combination of the best fireworks from this year and previous years. It was the patriotic thing to do,” the “Capitol Fourth” account tweeted...

A “Capitol Fourth” spokeswoman confirmed to us that because the weather was so overcast, the producers pulled together a combination of clips “to make the best television show.” She added this is the first time the producers have had to take such measures.

Still, some viewers were not happy that PBS wasn’t upfront about the pre-recorded nature of the fireworks..."

Juno probe enters Jupiter's orbit after 'amazing' Nasa mission – as it happened; Guardian, 7/5/16

Michael Slezak, Guardian; Juno probe enters Jupiter's orbit after 'amazing' Nasa mission – as it happened:

"Well, what a day. What an achievement.

After a five year journey from Earth, Juno the solar-powered spacecraft squeezed through a narrow band, skimming Jupiter’s surface, avoiding the worst of both its radiation belt and its dangerous dust rings.

It fired its main engine, slowing its velocity, and allowing it to get captured into Jupiter’s hefty orbit.

After it was complete, jubilant scientists fronted a press conference, and tore up a “contingency communication strategy” they said they prepared in case things went wrong.

“To know we can go to bed tonight not worrying about what is going to happen tomorrow, is just amazing,” said Diane Brown, a project manager from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Scott Bolton, principle investigator of the Juno mission told his colleagues: “You’re the best team ever! We just did the hardest thing Nasa has ever done.”"

NASA’s Juno orbiter set to arrive at Jupiter on Monday; Washington Post, 7/4/16

Rachel Feltman, Washington Post; NASA’s Juno orbiter set to arrive at Jupiter on Monday:

[Kip Currier: What a fitting testament NASA's Juno orbiter mission to Jupiter is to reason, shared human endeavor, and Open Science on this day, the USA's 240th birthday.]

"Take a break from your all-American cookout tonight to look up at the sky and think of Juno. On Monday, the football-field-size spacecraft will zip into Jupiter's orbit, allowing us to study the secrets of our solar system's biggest, oldest planet for the first time.

Other spacecraft have visited Jupiter before. But Juno will orbit closer than any of them – within 2,700 miles of the planet's cloud cover – and allow scientists to probe for data from beneath the giant planet's roiling, gassy surface.

"We're barreling down on Jupiter really quick," principal investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute said at a news briefing held at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab in California on Monday. "It's been an amazing journey."

Around 1:30 p.m. Eastern, he said, Juno passed Europa – the Jovian moon that has subsurface oceans where future missions may look for signs of life. Around half an hour later, it passed Io, the innermost moon.

"In one Jupiter rotation, we'll be there," said Jim Green, director of planetary science for NASA. "What a wonderful day to celebrate. It's a milestone for our country, but also for planetary science.""

Trump’s white supremacist tweets aren’t the problem. They’re a symptom of the problem.; Washington Post, 7/4/16

Paul Waldman, Washington Post; Trump’s white supremacist tweets aren’t the problem. They’re a symptom of the problem. :

"In my analysis of American politics I try as often as possible to put myself in the shoes of people I disagree with, to take their arguments seriously and understand where they’re coming from even when I’m convinced they’re wrong. And I’ve argued that there are perfectly rational reasons a committed Republican would grit their teeth and support Trump even if they found him to be an ignoramus and a buffoon. But there comes a point at which one would have to say: Even if a Trump presidency would deliver much more of what I would want out of government policy, from the Supreme Court to domestic policy to foreign policy, I simply cannot be a part of this. Donald Trump’s appeal to Americans is so rancid, so toxic, so foul that my conscience will not allow me to stand behind him, even with the occasional protest that I don’t agree with the latest vile thing he said, or the insistence that my fellow Republicans and I will do our best to restrain his ugliest impulses...

Donald Trump isn’t hoping that he can keep his bigotry a secret; he’s running on it and promising to enshrine it in federal government policy. He may not be responsible for all the things his fans say, and you might even excuse him for passing on some of their hate by mistake. What he is responsible for is all the reasons those people became his fans in the first place. It isn’t because of economic anxiety, or because he’s an outsider, or because he tells it like it is. It’s because Donald Trump appeals directly to the worst in us, and the worst of us.

And every Republican who stands with him, no matter how uncomfortable it makes them or how much they wish he would change, will have that stench on them for a long time to come."

Federal Judge Blocks All of Mississippi’s Vicious Anti-LGBTQ Law From Taking Effect; Slate, 7/1/16

Mark Joseph Stern, Slate; Federal Judge Blocks All of Mississippi’s Vicious Anti-LGBTQ Law From Taking Effect:

"Anti-LGBTQ activists just suffered their worst defeat since the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision—a rout so stinging and decisive that it calls into question the viability of their entire strategy post-Obergefell.

That drubbing came in the form of an astonishing 60-page opinion by U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves blocking every single part of Mississippi’s sweeping, vicious anti-LGBTQ segregation law from taking effect...

This is a landmark ruling, one whose breadth, depth, and analytical incisiveness cannot be easily rebuked. Reeves has given LGBTQ advocates their biggest triumph since Obergefell. Any state looking to pass a similar anti-LGBTQ “religious liberty” law has now been warned: The Constitution will not tolerate your efforts to discriminate against LGBTQ people under the feeble guise of selective religious freedom."