Lawrence Summers, Washington Post; After 75 years of progress, was last week a hinge in history?
"We may have our first post-rational president. Trump has rejected the view of modern science on global climate change, embraced economic forecasts and trade theories outside the range of reputable opinion, and relied on the idea of alternative facts rather than evidence-based truth.
Even for conservative statesmen such as Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Henry Kissinger, the idea of a community of nations has been a commonplace...
In service of this theory, the president in the past two weeks renounced any claim to U.S. moral leadership by failing to convincingly reaffirm traditional U.S. security commitments to NATO and abandoning participation in the Paris global climate agreement...
What is to be done? The U.S. president is not America. The world will be watching to see whether Trump’s words and deeds represent an irrevocable turn in the nation’s approach to the world or a temporary aberration. The more that leading figures in U.S. society can signal their continuing commitment to reason, to common purpose with other nations, and to addressing global challenges, the more the damage can be contained. And, of course, Congress has a central role to play in preventing dangerous and destabilizing steps."
Monday, June 5, 2017
Harvard withdraws 10 acceptances for ‘offensive’ memes in private group chat; Washington Post, June 5, 2017
Samantha Schmidt, Washington Post; Harvard withdraws 10 acceptances for ‘offensive’ memes in private group chat
"The students in the spinoff group exchanged memes and images “mocking sexual assault, the Holocaust and the deaths of children,” sometimes directing jokes at specific ethnic or racial groups, the Crimson reported. One message “called the hypothetical hanging of a Mexican child ‘piñata time’” while other messages quipped that “abusing children was sexually arousing,” according to images of the chat described by the Crimson.
Then, university officials caught on. And in mid-April, after administrators discovered the offensive, racially charged meme exchanges, at least 10 incoming students who participated in the chat received letters informing them that their offers of admission had been revoked...
According to Harvard college admissions policies, the university reserves the right to withdraw an offer of admission if the admitted student “engages or has engaged in behavior that brings into question their honesty, maturity or moral character,” among other conditions, Dane told The Post."
"The students in the spinoff group exchanged memes and images “mocking sexual assault, the Holocaust and the deaths of children,” sometimes directing jokes at specific ethnic or racial groups, the Crimson reported. One message “called the hypothetical hanging of a Mexican child ‘piñata time’” while other messages quipped that “abusing children was sexually arousing,” according to images of the chat described by the Crimson.
Then, university officials caught on. And in mid-April, after administrators discovered the offensive, racially charged meme exchanges, at least 10 incoming students who participated in the chat received letters informing them that their offers of admission had been revoked...
According to Harvard college admissions policies, the university reserves the right to withdraw an offer of admission if the admitted student “engages or has engaged in behavior that brings into question their honesty, maturity or moral character,” among other conditions, Dane told The Post."
Supreme Court to decide if a warrant is needed to track a suspect through cellphone records; Washington Post, June 5, 2017
Robert Barnes, Washington Post; Supreme Court to decide if a warrant is needed to track a suspect through cellphone records
"The Supreme Court next term will decide whether law enforcement authorities need a warrant to track a suspect through his cellphone records, justices announced Monday.
The case seeks to resolve a digital-age question that has divided lower courts relying on past Supreme Court precedents about privacy."
"The Supreme Court next term will decide whether law enforcement authorities need a warrant to track a suspect through his cellphone records, justices announced Monday.
The case seeks to resolve a digital-age question that has divided lower courts relying on past Supreme Court precedents about privacy."
Friday, June 2, 2017
White House Waivers May Have Violated Ethics Rules; New York Times, June 1, 2017
Steve Eder and Eric Lipton, New York Times; White House Waivers May Have Violated Ethics Rules
"The Trump administration may have skirted federal ethics rules by retroactively granting a blanket exemption that allows Stephen K. Bannon, the senior White House strategist, to communicate with editors at Breitbart News, where he was recently an executive.
The exemption, made public late Wednesday along with more than a dozen other ethics waivers issued by the White House, allows all White House aides to communicate with news organizations, even if they involve a “former employer or former client.”"
"The Trump administration may have skirted federal ethics rules by retroactively granting a blanket exemption that allows Stephen K. Bannon, the senior White House strategist, to communicate with editors at Breitbart News, where he was recently an executive.
The exemption, made public late Wednesday along with more than a dozen other ethics waivers issued by the White House, allows all White House aides to communicate with news organizations, even if they involve a “former employer or former client.”"
A Player Falls Injured At The French Open, And Compassion Takes Over; NPR, June 1, 2017
Bill Chappell, NPR; A Player Falls Injured At The French Open, And Compassion Takes Over
"It's still early in the French Open, but the tournament has already seen a remarkable show of sportsmanship. On Thursday, Juan Martín del Potro climbed over the net to console his opponent, Nicolás Almagro, who was visibly upset by an injury that forced him to withdraw from their match...
As del Potro stepped over the net and walked toward him, Almagro collapsed on the clay court, his sobs clearly audible over the crowd's cheers of encouragement and appreciation. Del Potro, an Argentine who has faced his own injuries, talked quietly with Spain's Almagro before the two walked slowly back to the bench.
As he passed center court, Almagro, who at 31 is ranked No. 69 in the ATP's world tennis rankings, turned back to shake hands and hug del Potro, and to shake the chair umpire's hand.
"People first, tennis players second," the Roland Garros Facebook page stated."
"It's still early in the French Open, but the tournament has already seen a remarkable show of sportsmanship. On Thursday, Juan Martín del Potro climbed over the net to console his opponent, Nicolás Almagro, who was visibly upset by an injury that forced him to withdraw from their match...
As del Potro stepped over the net and walked toward him, Almagro collapsed on the clay court, his sobs clearly audible over the crowd's cheers of encouragement and appreciation. Del Potro, an Argentine who has faced his own injuries, talked quietly with Spain's Almagro before the two walked slowly back to the bench.
As he passed center court, Almagro, who at 31 is ranked No. 69 in the ATP's world tennis rankings, turned back to shake hands and hug del Potro, and to shake the chair umpire's hand.
"People first, tennis players second," the Roland Garros Facebook page stated."
LeBron may or may not be a better player than Jordan, but he's a better man; Guardian, June 1, 2017
Damon Young, Guardian; LeBron may or may not be a better player than Jordan, but he's a better man
"Anyway, while the debate about their games and their talents and their respective grades of greatness remains relevant, there’s no argument that the 32-year-old LeBron far surpasses both the 32-year-old Jordan and today’s 54-year-old Jordan in integrity and bravery. And not the contrived, SkipBaylian artificial measure of character that bases and assesses a man’s testicular fortitude on his LinkedIn profile and whether he possesses an arbitrary “clutch gene,” but real actual character."
"Anyway, while the debate about their games and their talents and their respective grades of greatness remains relevant, there’s no argument that the 32-year-old LeBron far surpasses both the 32-year-old Jordan and today’s 54-year-old Jordan in integrity and bravery. And not the contrived, SkipBaylian artificial measure of character that bases and assesses a man’s testicular fortitude on his LinkedIn profile and whether he possesses an arbitrary “clutch gene,” but real actual character."
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Twitter Fails E.U. Standard on Removing Hate Speech Online; New York Times, May 31, 2017
Mark Scott, New York Times; Twitter Fails E.U. Standard on Removing Hate Speech Online
"Twitter has failed to meet European standards for removing hate speech online, figures to be published Thursday show, as pressure mounts, particularly on the Continent, for tech companies to do more to tackle such harmful material.
The battle between European policy makers and tech companies over what should be permitted online has pitted freedom of speech campaigners against those who say hate speech — in whatever form — has no place on the internet.
In this standoff, European officials have called on Silicon Valley companies to take down at least 50 percent of the hate speech from their services once they are notified, and they signed up the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Google to a voluntary code of conduct last year to combat the rising tide of harmful content online."
"Twitter has failed to meet European standards for removing hate speech online, figures to be published Thursday show, as pressure mounts, particularly on the Continent, for tech companies to do more to tackle such harmful material.
The battle between European policy makers and tech companies over what should be permitted online has pitted freedom of speech campaigners against those who say hate speech — in whatever form — has no place on the internet.
In this standoff, European officials have called on Silicon Valley companies to take down at least 50 percent of the hate speech from their services once they are notified, and they signed up the likes of Twitter, Facebook and Google to a voluntary code of conduct last year to combat the rising tide of harmful content online."
Trump is abdicating all the country’s moral power; Washington Post, June 1, 2017
Eugene Robinson, Washington Post; Trump is abdicating all the country’s moral power
"With his backward policies and his tiresome antics, President Trump seems to be trying his best to do something that ought to be impossible: make the U.S. presidency irrelevant to world progress...
Trump is abdicating all moral power. The world has no choice but to move on."
"With his backward policies and his tiresome antics, President Trump seems to be trying his best to do something that ought to be impossible: make the U.S. presidency irrelevant to world progress...
Trump is abdicating all moral power. The world has no choice but to move on."
Rethinking Ethics Training in Silicon Valley; The Atlantic, May 26, 2017
Irina Raicu, The Atlantic; Rethinking Ethics Training in Silicon Valley
"I work at an ethics center in Silicon Valley.
I know, I know, “ethics” is not the first word that comes to mind when most people think of Silicon Valley or the tech industry. It’s probably not even in the top 10. But given the outsized role that tech companies now play, it’s time to focus on the ethical responsibilities of the technologists who help shape our lives.
In a recent talk, technologist Maciej Ceglowski argued that “[t]his year especially there’s an uncomfortable feeling in the tech industry that we did something wrong, that in following our credo of ‘move fast and break things,’ some of what we knocked down were the load-bearing walls of our democracy.”...
I work in an applied ethics center, and we do believe that technology can help democracy (we offer a free ethical-decision-making app, for example; we even offer a MOOC—a free online course—on ethical campaigning!). For it to do that, though, we need people who are ready to tackle the ethical questions—both within and outside of tech companies."
"I work at an ethics center in Silicon Valley.
I know, I know, “ethics” is not the first word that comes to mind when most people think of Silicon Valley or the tech industry. It’s probably not even in the top 10. But given the outsized role that tech companies now play, it’s time to focus on the ethical responsibilities of the technologists who help shape our lives.
In a recent talk, technologist Maciej Ceglowski argued that “[t]his year especially there’s an uncomfortable feeling in the tech industry that we did something wrong, that in following our credo of ‘move fast and break things,’ some of what we knocked down were the load-bearing walls of our democracy.”...
I work in an applied ethics center, and we do believe that technology can help democracy (we offer a free ethical-decision-making app, for example; we even offer a MOOC—a free online course—on ethical campaigning!). For it to do that, though, we need people who are ready to tackle the ethical questions—both within and outside of tech companies."
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
A Vocal Defender of Ethics Has Fans — and Foes; New York Times, May 30, 2017
Nicholas Fandos, New York Times; A Vocal Defender of Ethics Has Fans — and Foes
"Ethics have been thrust to the forefront in President Trump’s Washington, where the president’s own vast holdings and those of his asset-rich cabinet and advisers from businesses and lobbying firms have raised many accusations of conflicts of interest...
Rick Thomas, a close friend who helped recruit Mr. Shaub to the agency almost two decades ago, said Mr. Shaub had more or less made his peace with his role, even if it means he may be fired before his term’s end. He recalled that when Mr. Shaub was first weighing whether to speak out in opposition to Mr. Trump’s conflict of interest plan, the director turned to a line from Albus Dumbledore, the sagacious wizard who tutors Harry Potter in the ways of the world.
“Something to the effect that, ‘There will be a time when we must choose between what’s easy and what’s right,’” Mr. Thomas recalled Mr. Shaub saying over the phone.
“Believe me,” he said, “there was a lot of angst over that.”"
"Ethics have been thrust to the forefront in President Trump’s Washington, where the president’s own vast holdings and those of his asset-rich cabinet and advisers from businesses and lobbying firms have raised many accusations of conflicts of interest...
Rick Thomas, a close friend who helped recruit Mr. Shaub to the agency almost two decades ago, said Mr. Shaub had more or less made his peace with his role, even if it means he may be fired before his term’s end. He recalled that when Mr. Shaub was first weighing whether to speak out in opposition to Mr. Trump’s conflict of interest plan, the director turned to a line from Albus Dumbledore, the sagacious wizard who tutors Harry Potter in the ways of the world.
“Something to the effect that, ‘There will be a time when we must choose between what’s easy and what’s right,’” Mr. Thomas recalled Mr. Shaub saying over the phone.
“Believe me,” he said, “there was a lot of angst over that.”"
Lies vs. B.S.; New York Times, May 31, 2017
David Leonhardt, New York Times; Lies vs. B.S.
"Even if [Donald Trump's lies] are not meant to persuade, they are typically intended to distract people from reality. That is, his untruths about the House’s health care bill aren’t merely intended to distinguish his supporters from his opponents. They are also intended to obscure the reality that the bill would deprive millions of people of health insurance.
His untruths about his tax plan, immigrants, voter fraud, crime and manyother subjects serve a similar purpose. They attempt to create enough confusion about basic facts that Trump’s preferred policies, and his kleptocratic approach to government, can start to sound sensible. In reality, those policies would benefit the affluent (starting with his own family) at the expense of most Americans.
In this way, Trump’s untruths resemble classic lies. They aren’t merely unconcerned with truth. They are opposed to it. A crucial response, insufficient though it may be, is to document the falseness of his statements with simple evidence."
"Even if [Donald Trump's lies] are not meant to persuade, they are typically intended to distract people from reality. That is, his untruths about the House’s health care bill aren’t merely intended to distinguish his supporters from his opponents. They are also intended to obscure the reality that the bill would deprive millions of people of health insurance.
His untruths about his tax plan, immigrants, voter fraud, crime and manyother subjects serve a similar purpose. They attempt to create enough confusion about basic facts that Trump’s preferred policies, and his kleptocratic approach to government, can start to sound sensible. In reality, those policies would benefit the affluent (starting with his own family) at the expense of most Americans.
In this way, Trump’s untruths resemble classic lies. They aren’t merely unconcerned with truth. They are opposed to it. A crucial response, insufficient though it may be, is to document the falseness of his statements with simple evidence."
The Bullshitter-in-Chief; Vox, May 30, 2017
Matthew Yglesias, Vox; The Bullshitter-in-Chief
"The common thread of the Trumposphere is that there doesn’t need to be any common thread. One day Comey went soft on Clinton; the next day he was fired for being too hard on her; the day after that, it wasn’t about Clinton at all. The loyalist is just supposed to go along with whatever the line of the day is.
This is the authoritarian spirit in miniature, assembling a party and a movement that is bound to no principles and not even committed to following its own rhetoric from one day to the next. A “terrific” health plan that will “cover everyone” can transform into a bill to slash the Medicaid rolls by 14 million in the blink of an eye and nobody is supposed to notice or care. Anything could happen at any moment, all of it powered by bullshit."
"The common thread of the Trumposphere is that there doesn’t need to be any common thread. One day Comey went soft on Clinton; the next day he was fired for being too hard on her; the day after that, it wasn’t about Clinton at all. The loyalist is just supposed to go along with whatever the line of the day is.
This is the authoritarian spirit in miniature, assembling a party and a movement that is bound to no principles and not even committed to following its own rhetoric from one day to the next. A “terrific” health plan that will “cover everyone” can transform into a bill to slash the Medicaid rolls by 14 million in the blink of an eye and nobody is supposed to notice or care. Anything could happen at any moment, all of it powered by bullshit."
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Canadian privacy threatened by U.S. border searches, watchdog says; The Canadian Press via Toronto Star, May 30, 2017
The Canadian Press via Toronto Star; Canadian privacy threatened by U.S. border searches, watchdog says
"Canadian privacy could be imperilled by apparent U.S. plans to demand cellphone and social media passwords from foreign visitors, a federal watchdog says.
In a letter to the House of Commons public safety committee, privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien warns the recent pronouncements from the Trump administration could mean intrusive searches — even at preclearance facilities in Canada...
In many situations, Therrien says in the letter, “it would appear that Canadians who wish to enter the U.S. will, at preclearance locations in Canada as well as at border points in the U.S., have to face the difficult choice of either accepting a search without grounds or forgoing their wish to travel to the U.S.”"
"Canadian privacy could be imperilled by apparent U.S. plans to demand cellphone and social media passwords from foreign visitors, a federal watchdog says.
In a letter to the House of Commons public safety committee, privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien warns the recent pronouncements from the Trump administration could mean intrusive searches — even at preclearance facilities in Canada...
In many situations, Therrien says in the letter, “it would appear that Canadians who wish to enter the U.S. will, at preclearance locations in Canada as well as at border points in the U.S., have to face the difficult choice of either accepting a search without grounds or forgoing their wish to travel to the U.S.”"
GLCR concerned for member safety and privacy after smoking bylaw change; Regina Leader-Post, May 30, 2017
Craig Baird, Regina Leader-Post; GLCR concerned for member safety and privacy after smoking bylaw change
"“In the past, and sometimes in very recent times, we have had incidents of eggs being thrown at the patio deck and instances of graffiti,” said Nathan Markwart, president of GLCR. “We have had times when members have been pushed, or subjected to lewd comments or gestures. This is what we want to avoid. We can avoid that through a reasonable exemption.”
Once the smoking bylaw change goes into effect on July 15, members will be required to smoke in the alley, or in the poorly lit parking lot behind the building.
Speaking to council on Monday night, Markwart asked for an exemption in the smoking bylaw to be put in place for patio smoking at the facility to protect the privacy and safety of its members.
“One of the main concerns, in addition to safety and security, was that of privacy of expression,” Markwart said. “There are members who may not feel comfortable identifying their attendance of the club, and may be struggling with their expression, be that gender expression or sexual orientation.”"
"“In the past, and sometimes in very recent times, we have had incidents of eggs being thrown at the patio deck and instances of graffiti,” said Nathan Markwart, president of GLCR. “We have had times when members have been pushed, or subjected to lewd comments or gestures. This is what we want to avoid. We can avoid that through a reasonable exemption.”
Once the smoking bylaw change goes into effect on July 15, members will be required to smoke in the alley, or in the poorly lit parking lot behind the building.
Speaking to council on Monday night, Markwart asked for an exemption in the smoking bylaw to be put in place for patio smoking at the facility to protect the privacy and safety of its members.
“One of the main concerns, in addition to safety and security, was that of privacy of expression,” Markwart said. “There are members who may not feel comfortable identifying their attendance of the club, and may be struggling with their expression, be that gender expression or sexual orientation.”"
US and Europe have different ideas about data and privacy; Beta News, May 30, 2017
Nigel Tozer, BetaNews; US and Europe have different ideas about data and privacy
"With a recent, but less publicized executive order from President Trump, there are things happening on both sides of the Atlantic with regard to personal data, and it looks like the US and the EU have very different ideas about which direction to take...
"With a recent, but less publicized executive order from President Trump, there are things happening on both sides of the Atlantic with regard to personal data, and it looks like the US and the EU have very different ideas about which direction to take...
Much of this you might not care about, but personal medical records, mental health, legal records, finance etc. or other areas probably cross the line for you, it's personal after all. The trouble is, the lines between what's shared and what’s kept truly private are blurring.
Some camps think that the pendulum has swung too far in favor of business, and that there should be a rebalancing with more power handed back to the individual. While this view can be found in the US as well, it's the EU that has chosen to legislate to protect its citizens. This comes in the form of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) coming into force in May 2018."
‘Hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment,’ Portland mayor says. He’s wrong.; Washington Post, May 30, 2017
Kristine Phillips, Washington Post; ‘Hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment,’ Portland mayor says. He’s wrong.
"Although the organizers of the rallies have a constitutional right to speak, “hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment,” Wheeler told reporters.
But history and precedent are not on Wheeler's side.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that hate speech, no matter how bigoted or offensive, is free speech.
Although certain forms of speech are not protected by the First Amendment, hate speech isn't one of them, Eugene Volokh, a law professor and free speech expert, wrote last month. For it to be banned, experts say, it must rise to the level of threat or harassment."
"Although the organizers of the rallies have a constitutional right to speak, “hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment,” Wheeler told reporters.
But history and precedent are not on Wheeler's side.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that hate speech, no matter how bigoted or offensive, is free speech.
Although certain forms of speech are not protected by the First Amendment, hate speech isn't one of them, Eugene Volokh, a law professor and free speech expert, wrote last month. For it to be banned, experts say, it must rise to the level of threat or harassment."
As Computer Coding Classes Swell, So Does Cheating; New York Times, May 29, 2017
Jess Bidgood and Jeremy B. Merrill, New York Times;
As Computer Coding Classes Swell, So Does Cheating
"In interviews, professors and students said the causes were not hard to pin down.
To some students drawn to the classes, coding does not come easily. The coursework can be time-consuming. Troves of code online, on sites like GitHub, may have answers to the very assignment the student is wrestling with, posted by someone who previously took the course.
“You’ve got kids who were struggling with spending a third of their time on their problem sets with the option to copy from the internet,” said Jackson Wagner, who took the Harvard course in 2015 and was not accused of copying. “That’s the reason why people cheat.”
Complicating matters is the collaborative ethos among programmers, which encourages code-sharing in ways that might not be acceptable in a class. Professors also frequently allow students to discuss problems among themselves, but not to share actual code, a policy that some students say creates confusion about what constitutes cheating."
The Coat of Arms Said ‘Integrity.’ Now It Says ‘Trump.’; New York Times, May 28, 2017
Danny Hakim, New York Times;
“In the United States, the Trump Organization took Mr. Davies’s coat of arms for its own, making one small adjustment — replacing the word “Integritas,” Latin for integrity, with “Trump.”
Joseph D. Tydings, a Democrat and former United States senator from Maryland who is the grandson of Mr. Davies, learned that Mr. Trump was using the emblem, at least at Mar-a-Lago, when he visited the property. Mr. Trump had never asked permission...
The organization has trademarked the Davies coat of arms in the United States, which has far less attachment to such symbols. It is used on the company’s website and is a prominent branding detail of Mr. Trump’s many American golf courses and resorts — emblazoned on golf balls, shirts and bottles of body lotion.
When the Trump Organization created a Civil War memorial at the golf course near Washington commemorating a battle and a “river of blood” that never occurred, a plaque marking the fictitious event was embossed with the coat of arms."
The Coat of Arms Said ‘Integrity.’ Now It Says ‘Trump.’
“In the United States, the Trump Organization took Mr. Davies’s coat of arms for its own, making one small adjustment — replacing the word “Integritas,” Latin for integrity, with “Trump.”
Joseph D. Tydings, a Democrat and former United States senator from Maryland who is the grandson of Mr. Davies, learned that Mr. Trump was using the emblem, at least at Mar-a-Lago, when he visited the property. Mr. Trump had never asked permission...
The organization has trademarked the Davies coat of arms in the United States, which has far less attachment to such symbols. It is used on the company’s website and is a prominent branding detail of Mr. Trump’s many American golf courses and resorts — emblazoned on golf balls, shirts and bottles of body lotion.
When the Trump Organization created a Civil War memorial at the golf course near Washington commemorating a battle and a “river of blood” that never occurred, a plaque marking the fictitious event was embossed with the coat of arms."
How Congress dismantled federal Internet privacy rules; Washington Post, May 30, 2017
Kimberly Kindy, Washington Post; How Congress dismantled federal Internet privacy rules
"When Senate Republicans passed the bill the following day on a narrow party-line vote, the issue finally exploded across the Internet and in mainstream, liberal and conservative media.
"When Senate Republicans passed the bill the following day on a narrow party-line vote, the issue finally exploded across the Internet and in mainstream, liberal and conservative media.
Sunday, May 28, 2017
'No grey areas': experts urge Facebook to change moderation policies; Guardian, May 22, 2017
Jamie Grierson, Guardian;
"Facebook’s ethical standards should not be decided “behind closed doors”, the former chair of an influential parliamentary committee has said after the Guardian revealed the social media giant’s secret rules for moderating extreme content.
Yvette Cooper, chair of the home affairs select committee before parliament was dissolved for the upcoming election, said the files – used by Facebook to moderate violence, hate speech, terrorism, pornography, racism and self-harm – underlined a need for more transparency.
A report from the cross-party committee last month concluded social media companies, including Facebook, should face fines of tens of millions of pounds for failing to remove extremist and hate-crime material."
'No grey areas': experts urge Facebook to change moderation policies
"Facebook’s ethical standards should not be decided “behind closed doors”, the former chair of an influential parliamentary committee has said after the Guardian revealed the social media giant’s secret rules for moderating extreme content.
Yvette Cooper, chair of the home affairs select committee before parliament was dissolved for the upcoming election, said the files – used by Facebook to moderate violence, hate speech, terrorism, pornography, racism and self-harm – underlined a need for more transparency.
A report from the cross-party committee last month concluded social media companies, including Facebook, should face fines of tens of millions of pounds for failing to remove extremist and hate-crime material."
Revealed: Facebook's internal rulebook on sex, terrorism and violence; Guardian, May 21, 2017
Nick Hopkins, Guardian;
Revealed: Facebook's internal rulebook on sex, terrorism and violence
"Facebook’s secret rules and guidelines for deciding what its 2 billion users can post on the site are revealed for the first time in a Guardian investigation that will fuel the global debate about the role and ethics of the social media giant.
The Guardian has seen more than 100 internal training manuals, spreadsheets and flowcharts that give unprecedented insight into the blueprints Facebook has used to moderate issues such as violence, hate speech, terrorism, pornography, racism and self-harm...
The Facebook Files give the first view of the codes and rules formulated by the site, which is under huge political pressure in Europe and the US."
Python Meets Plato: Why Stanford Should Require Computer Science Students to Study Ethics; Stanford Review, May 15, 2017
Antigone Xenopoulos , Stanford Review; Python Meets Plato: Why Stanford Should Require Computer Science Students to Study Ethics
"Ethical questions inevitably arise with innovation. But they are often an afterthought. Simplistic justifications can often replace serious ethical consideration. For example, when the tension between privacy and security is perceived as zero-sum, privacy often takes the backseat. With clients demanding quick turnaround, and engineers often lacking a profound understanding of civil liberty concerns, privacy often falls through the cracks. While software requires us to consider both privacy and security, the two issues are still perceived as mutually exclusive. Take the Apple v. FBI fight last year, for example. To whom did Apple owe its allegiance? Its clientele, the government, or itself? Should the firm have prioritized national security or consumer privacy?
"Ethical questions inevitably arise with innovation. But they are often an afterthought. Simplistic justifications can often replace serious ethical consideration. For example, when the tension between privacy and security is perceived as zero-sum, privacy often takes the backseat. With clients demanding quick turnaround, and engineers often lacking a profound understanding of civil liberty concerns, privacy often falls through the cracks. While software requires us to consider both privacy and security, the two issues are still perceived as mutually exclusive. Take the Apple v. FBI fight last year, for example. To whom did Apple owe its allegiance? Its clientele, the government, or itself? Should the firm have prioritized national security or consumer privacy?
Schools like Stanford should work to change this mindset by including an ethical requirement for engineering degrees. Stanford should require Computer Science majors to take a course on computer and information ethics...
Engineers aim to improve the human condition and improve people’s livelihoods. If computer scientists do not consider the moral consequences of their inventions, they will always fall short of achieving this goal. Neither technology nor innovation exist in a bubble. Stanford ought to require computer scientists to study computer and information ethics. Giving students the tools to create harm, without giving them the tools to understand it, is itself unethical."
Engineers aim to improve the human condition and improve people’s livelihoods. If computer scientists do not consider the moral consequences of their inventions, they will always fall short of achieving this goal. Neither technology nor innovation exist in a bubble. Stanford ought to require computer scientists to study computer and information ethics. Giving students the tools to create harm, without giving them the tools to understand it, is itself unethical."
The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak, the Anonymous Messaging App; New York Times, May 27, 2017
Valeriya Safronova, New York Times; The Rise and Fall of Yik Yak, the Anonymous Messaging App
"At the end of that year, Mr. Droll and Mr. Buffington laid off 60 percent of their employees, and last month, they shut down the operation, selling off intellectual property and employee contracts to Square Inc., a mobile payment company, for $1 million. A few months earlier, Hive, a college-based chat app with a similar color scheme to Yik Yak’s, popped up in the iTunes and Google Play stores, with Mr. Buffington in one of the screenshots. Whether it was an attempt at reinvention under the Yik Yak umbrella or a side project is unclear, but it is no longer available...
Morgan Hines, who will start her fourth year at Northeastern University in Boston this fall, never encountered nastiness on Yik Yak. “I thought it was funny,” she said. “It formed a lot of camaraderie between students. There would be random shout-outs to things happening on campus, like people who are attractive or being annoying in the library, or a fire alarm going off at 4 a.m.”
But Ms. Hines criticized Yik Yak’s hyper-localization. “Yik Yak was for pockets of people on campus,” she said. “If the fire alarm went off at 4 a.m., it only went off at your building, so no one else will give it a thumbs-up.”
That hyper-localization is also what made the cases of harassment particularly galling. Ms. Musick, one of the plaintiffs, said, “With Yik Yak, in the back of your mind, you know they’re not from around the world or other parts of the state, they’re right there in your classroom, in your dining hall. On a campus with 4,500 students, that’s a pretty small group of people. This isn’t some creepy guy in his mom’s basement in Indiana.”"
"At the end of that year, Mr. Droll and Mr. Buffington laid off 60 percent of their employees, and last month, they shut down the operation, selling off intellectual property and employee contracts to Square Inc., a mobile payment company, for $1 million. A few months earlier, Hive, a college-based chat app with a similar color scheme to Yik Yak’s, popped up in the iTunes and Google Play stores, with Mr. Buffington in one of the screenshots. Whether it was an attempt at reinvention under the Yik Yak umbrella or a side project is unclear, but it is no longer available...
Morgan Hines, who will start her fourth year at Northeastern University in Boston this fall, never encountered nastiness on Yik Yak. “I thought it was funny,” she said. “It formed a lot of camaraderie between students. There would be random shout-outs to things happening on campus, like people who are attractive or being annoying in the library, or a fire alarm going off at 4 a.m.”
But Ms. Hines criticized Yik Yak’s hyper-localization. “Yik Yak was for pockets of people on campus,” she said. “If the fire alarm went off at 4 a.m., it only went off at your building, so no one else will give it a thumbs-up.”
That hyper-localization is also what made the cases of harassment particularly galling. Ms. Musick, one of the plaintiffs, said, “With Yik Yak, in the back of your mind, you know they’re not from around the world or other parts of the state, they’re right there in your classroom, in your dining hall. On a campus with 4,500 students, that’s a pretty small group of people. This isn’t some creepy guy in his mom’s basement in Indiana.”"
Amazon's first New York bookstore blends tradition with technology; Guardian, May 26, 2017
Tom McCarthy, Guardian;
Amazon's first New York bookstore blends tradition with technology
"Also unique here: the section called “Page turners: books Kindle readers finish in three days or less”. Amazon can track how quickly people who purchase books on Kindle read them, a company spokesperson explained, without explaining how."
Saturday, May 27, 2017
Acts of kindness inspire in Manchester; Washington Post, May 25, 2017
[Video] Elyse Samuels, Washington Post; Acts of Kindness Inspire in Manchester
"After a deadly terrorist attack in Manchester, England, on May 23, city residents came together to care for one another and pay tribute to victims of the bombing."
"After a deadly terrorist attack in Manchester, England, on May 23, city residents came together to care for one another and pay tribute to victims of the bombing."
Something is not right; Washington Post, May 26, 2017
Ruth Marcus, Washington Post; Something is not right
"In the middle of one night
"In the middle of one night
Miss Clavel turned on the light
And said, “Something is not right!”
— “Madeline,” by Ludwig Bemelmans, 1939...
Something is really not right when all this is done to help pay for trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the richest Americans. When it is built on an edifice of fairy-tale growth projections exacerbated by fraudulent accounting, double-counting savings from this supposed growth.
We are all Miss Clavel now, or should be."
Episode 774: Unspeakable Trademark; NPR, Planet Money, May 26, 2017
[Podcast] Jacob Goldstein, Ailsa Chang, NPR, Planet Money;
"Warning: This episode has explicit language, for unavoidable and soon-to-be obvious reasons...
Today on the show, a fight over a band name that turns into a fight about free speech. It goes all the way to the Supreme Court."
Episode 774: Unspeakable Trademark
"Warning: This episode has explicit language, for unavoidable and soon-to-be obvious reasons...
Today on the show, a fight over a band name that turns into a fight about free speech. It goes all the way to the Supreme Court."
White House Backs Down on Keeping Ethics Waivers Secret; New York Times, May 26, 2017
Eric Lipton, New York Times;
"“It’s a victory for checks and balances, the rule of law and the independent oversight of the Office of Government Ethics, and the news media,” Mr. Eisen said. ”With any bully, when you punch them in the nose, they back down.”...
Former senior officials with the Office of Government Ethics said that in the 39-year history of the agency, which was created in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, they could not remember an instance in which the White House had similarly tried to block, or even to discourage, an effort to collect ethics compliance data."
White House Backs Down on Keeping Ethics Waivers Secret
"“It’s a victory for checks and balances, the rule of law and the independent oversight of the Office of Government Ethics, and the news media,” Mr. Eisen said. ”With any bully, when you punch them in the nose, they back down.”...
Former senior officials with the Office of Government Ethics said that in the 39-year history of the agency, which was created in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, they could not remember an instance in which the White House had similarly tried to block, or even to discourage, an effort to collect ethics compliance data."
Ethics, Quants and Cold-Calling; Bloomberg, May 25, 2017
Matt Levine, Bloomberg;
"Ethics.
Ethics, Quants and Cold-Calling
"Ethics.
I used to be a lawyer, and lawyers have a code of ethics. Now I am a journalist, and journalists have a code of ethics. One thing that strikes me about these codes is that they are opposites. Oversimplifying massively, the basic rule for a lawyer is that your obligations are to your client, and you have to act in her best interests, even if that is against the interests of accuracy; legal ethics is then mostly a set of exceptions to this principle. Oversimplifying massively, the basic rule for a journalist is that your obligations are to the public, and you should be accurate even if that is against the interests of the people you talk to; journalistic ethics is then mostly a set of exceptions to this principle. In both cases the exceptions are huge and important: You're not supposed to lie to the public as a lawyer, or mislead your sources as a journalist, etc; none of this is meant to be any sort of ethical advice. But if someone says to you "oh yeah I murdered someone," as a lawyer, your baseline expected response would be not to tell anyone; as a journalist, your baseline expected response would be to tell everyone.
Obviously these opposite rules make sense in their respective contexts; the role of a lawyer is different from that of a journalist, and each profession's ethics are well adapted to doing their jobs usefully. Still it is weird to think of them as "ethics." They are both functional systems adapted to the work of their professions, not absolute moral-ethical rules handed down by a higher power. Keeping a murderer's secret is not absolutely ethical for humans, and disclosing that secret is not absolutely ethical for humans; each is ethical or unethical depending on its social context."
The U.K. Pleads with Congress to Change an Outdated Privacy Law to Help Fight Terrorism; MIT Technology Review, May 26, 2017
Mike Orcutt, MIT Technology Review;
"[Paddy] McGuinness pleaded with Congress to make a “technical adjustment” to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which among other things prohibits U.S. technology companies from disclosing stored communications to foreign governments. Instead, foreign law enforcement officials must request that data via the time-consuming Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty process, which can take months.
McGuinness said that since many criminals in the U.K. communicate using products and services made by U.S. companies, this “arbitrary” legal hurdle is causing crimes to go unsolved and criminals unpunished (see “Why Congress Can’t Seem to Fix This 30-Year-Old Law Governing Your Electronic Data”).
The U.K. Pleads with Congress to Change an Outdated Privacy Law to Help Fight Terrorism
"[Paddy] McGuinness pleaded with Congress to make a “technical adjustment” to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which among other things prohibits U.S. technology companies from disclosing stored communications to foreign governments. Instead, foreign law enforcement officials must request that data via the time-consuming Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty process, which can take months.
McGuinness said that since many criminals in the U.K. communicate using products and services made by U.S. companies, this “arbitrary” legal hurdle is causing crimes to go unsolved and criminals unpunished (see “Why Congress Can’t Seem to Fix This 30-Year-Old Law Governing Your Electronic Data”).
Colm Tóibín Knows You’re Secretly Weak; Daily Beast, May 27, 2017
William O'Connor, Daily Beast;
Colm Tóibín Knows You’re Secretly Weak
"For Tóibín, “weakness is really something we need to know about.” Fresh on the author’s mind is something that just happened in the news. “I saw the other day with the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, there’s something he clearly should do. I mean he was clearly set up, and he really had to take some action. We’re constantly living with events where somebody should do something and we can watch them deciding not to do it.”
So for Agamemnon, clearly he should have put a stop to the sacrifice of his daughter. “In the case of Clytemnestra, it’s that once she begins, she cannot stop. She will commit the most appalling atrocities,” he explains. But, “the one that matters most is Orestes. What I wanted to suggest is that in us all is Orestes.”
“If any of us talk about how we’re good people, or that under pressure we’d know exactly what to do, I’m not sure about that. And we all need to know that,” he says firmly. “All I’m trying to do is dramatize the gap between what we think we are and what we might become under certain pressures.”"
Colm Tóibín Knows You’re Secretly Weak
"For Tóibín, “weakness is really something we need to know about.” Fresh on the author’s mind is something that just happened in the news. “I saw the other day with the deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, there’s something he clearly should do. I mean he was clearly set up, and he really had to take some action. We’re constantly living with events where somebody should do something and we can watch them deciding not to do it.”
So for Agamemnon, clearly he should have put a stop to the sacrifice of his daughter. “In the case of Clytemnestra, it’s that once she begins, she cannot stop. She will commit the most appalling atrocities,” he explains. But, “the one that matters most is Orestes. What I wanted to suggest is that in us all is Orestes.”
“If any of us talk about how we’re good people, or that under pressure we’d know exactly what to do, I’m not sure about that. And we all need to know that,” he says firmly. “All I’m trying to do is dramatize the gap between what we think we are and what we might become under certain pressures.”"
Friday, May 26, 2017
Is Privacy Still a Big Deal Today?; Knowledge@Wharton, May 25, 2017
Kartik Hosanagar, and Tai Bendit, Knowledge@Wharton;
Is Privacy Still a Big Deal Today?
"Americans value their privacy, but they are also resigned to giving up their personal data in order to transact with a company. Is there a better way for both sides to get what they want? This opinion piece by Kartik Hosanagar (@khosanagar) and Tai Bendit examines that question. Hosanagar is a professor of technology and digital business at Wharton. He was previously a cofounder of online marketing firm Yodle Inc. Bendit is a senior at Wharton studying economics with a concentration in operations, information, and decisions. He is joining LinkedIn as a business strategy and analytics analyst.
A version of this article was previously published on LinkedIn."
A week that reveals how rotten today’s Republican Party is; Washington Post, May 26, 2017
Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post; A week that reveals how rotten today’s Republican Party is
"This is the state of the GOP — a refuge for intellectual frauds and bullies, for mean-spirited hypocrites who preach personal responsibility yet excuse the inexcusable.
Conventional wisdom says that Trump executed a hostile takeover of the GOP. What we have seen this week suggests a friendly merger has taken place. Talk radio hosts have been spouting misogyny and anti-immigrant hysteria for years; Trump is their ideal leader, not merely a flawed vehicle for their views. Fox News has been dabbling in conspiracy theories (e.g. birtherism, climate-change denial) for decades; now Republicans practice intellectual nihilism...
The country needs two parties and benefits from the ideas associated with classical liberalism (small “l”) — the rule of law (over the law of the jungle), respect for the dignity of every individual, prosperity-creating free markets (including trade), values-based foreign policy. The Republican Party no longer embodies those ideals; it undermines them in words and in deeds. It now advances ideas and celebrates behavior antithetical to democracy and simple human decency. Center-right Americans, we have become convinced, must look elsewhere for a political home."
"This is the state of the GOP — a refuge for intellectual frauds and bullies, for mean-spirited hypocrites who preach personal responsibility yet excuse the inexcusable.
Conventional wisdom says that Trump executed a hostile takeover of the GOP. What we have seen this week suggests a friendly merger has taken place. Talk radio hosts have been spouting misogyny and anti-immigrant hysteria for years; Trump is their ideal leader, not merely a flawed vehicle for their views. Fox News has been dabbling in conspiracy theories (e.g. birtherism, climate-change denial) for decades; now Republicans practice intellectual nihilism...
The country needs two parties and benefits from the ideas associated with classical liberalism (small “l”) — the rule of law (over the law of the jungle), respect for the dignity of every individual, prosperity-creating free markets (including trade), values-based foreign policy. The Republican Party no longer embodies those ideals; it undermines them in words and in deeds. It now advances ideas and celebrates behavior antithetical to democracy and simple human decency. Center-right Americans, we have become convinced, must look elsewhere for a political home."
Thursday, May 25, 2017
The Trump scandal that has nothing to do with Russia; Washington Post, May 24, 2017
E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post; The Trump scandal that has nothing to do with Russia
"And it is worth noting, as Ronald Brownstein did in the Atlantic, that in the five Rust Belt states that swung from Barack Obama to Trump, whites without a four-year college degree — the heart of the Trump constituency — “constitute most of those receiving assistance” from food stamps and the parts of Social Security that Trump would also slash. If Trump really wants people to go to work, how does he think taking money away from job training and college assistance will ease their path to self-sufficiency?
Martin Wolf, the Financial Times columnist, captured Trump’s ideology with precision when he called it “pluto-populism.” It involves “policies that benefit plutocrats, justified by populist rhetoric.”"
"And it is worth noting, as Ronald Brownstein did in the Atlantic, that in the five Rust Belt states that swung from Barack Obama to Trump, whites without a four-year college degree — the heart of the Trump constituency — “constitute most of those receiving assistance” from food stamps and the parts of Social Security that Trump would also slash. If Trump really wants people to go to work, how does he think taking money away from job training and college assistance will ease their path to self-sufficiency?
Martin Wolf, the Financial Times columnist, captured Trump’s ideology with precision when he called it “pluto-populism.” It involves “policies that benefit plutocrats, justified by populist rhetoric.”"
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