"Renowned former CBS news anchor Dan Rather chimed in on the disturbing story that Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of more than 170 U.S. TV stations, had forced its local news outlets to read the same script decrying “false news.”...
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Dan Rather Has Scathing Words For Sinclair News Anchors Reading ‘Propaganda’; HuffPost, April 2, 2018
Andy McDonald, HuffPost; Dan Rather Has Scathing Words For Sinclair News Anchors Reading ‘Propaganda’
"Renowned former CBS news anchor Dan Rather chimed in on the disturbing story that Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of more than 170 U.S. TV stations, had forced its local news outlets to read the same script decrying “false news.”...
"Renowned former CBS news anchor Dan Rather chimed in on the disturbing story that Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of more than 170 U.S. TV stations, had forced its local news outlets to read the same script decrying “false news.”...
John Oliver: Sinclair Broadcasters ‘Like Members Of A Brainwashed Cult’; HuffPost, April 2, 2018
Rebecca Shapiro, HuffPost; John Oliver: Sinclair Broadcasters ‘Like Members Of A Brainwashed Cult’
"[John Oliver] was back Sunday night with this message:
“Nothing says ‘we value independent media’ like dozens of reporters forced to repeat the same message over and over again like members of a brainwashed cult.”
"[John Oliver] was back Sunday night with this message:
“Nothing says ‘we value independent media’ like dozens of reporters forced to repeat the same message over and over again like members of a brainwashed cult.”
After the Facebook scandal it’s time to base the digital economy on public v private ownership of data; Guardian, March 31, 2018
Evgeny Morozov, Guardian; After the Facebook scandal it’s time to base the digital economy on public v private ownership of data
"Finally, we can use the recent data controversies to articulate a truly decentralised, emancipatory politics, whereby the institutions of the state (from the national to the municipal level) will be deployed to recognise, create, and foster the creation of social rights to data. These institutions will organise various data sets into pools with differentiated access conditions. They will also ensure that those with good ideas that have little commercial viability but promise major social impact would receive venture funding and realise those ideas on top of those data pools.
Rethinking many of the existing institutions in which citizens seem to have lost trust along such lines would go a long way towards addressing the profound sense of alienation from public and political life felt across the globe. It won’t be easy but it can still be done. This, however, might not be the case 10 or even five years from now, as the long-term political and economic costs of data extractivism come to the surface. The data wells inside ourselves, like all those other drilling sites, won’t last for ever either."
"Finally, we can use the recent data controversies to articulate a truly decentralised, emancipatory politics, whereby the institutions of the state (from the national to the municipal level) will be deployed to recognise, create, and foster the creation of social rights to data. These institutions will organise various data sets into pools with differentiated access conditions. They will also ensure that those with good ideas that have little commercial viability but promise major social impact would receive venture funding and realise those ideas on top of those data pools.
Rethinking many of the existing institutions in which citizens seem to have lost trust along such lines would go a long way towards addressing the profound sense of alienation from public and political life felt across the globe. It won’t be easy but it can still be done. This, however, might not be the case 10 or even five years from now, as the long-term political and economic costs of data extractivism come to the surface. The data wells inside ourselves, like all those other drilling sites, won’t last for ever either."
A radical proposal to keep your personal data safe; Guardian, April 3, 2018
Richard Stallman, Guardian; A radical proposal to keep your personal data safe
"Journalists have been asking me whether the revulsion against the abuse of Facebook data could be a turning point for the campaign to recover privacy. That could happen, if the public makes its campaign broader and deeper.
Broader, meaning extending to all surveillance systems, not just Facebook. Deeper, meaning to advance from regulating the use of data to regulating the accumulation of data. Because surveillance is so pervasive, restoring privacy is necessarily a big change, and requires powerful measures.
The surveillance imposed on us today far exceeds that of the Soviet Union. For freedom and democracy’s sake, we need to eliminate most of it. There are so many ways to use data to hurt people that the only safe database is the one that was never collected. Thus, instead of the EU’s approach of mainly regulating how personal data may be used (in its General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR), I propose a law to stop systems from collecting personal data."
"Journalists have been asking me whether the revulsion against the abuse of Facebook data could be a turning point for the campaign to recover privacy. That could happen, if the public makes its campaign broader and deeper.
Broader, meaning extending to all surveillance systems, not just Facebook. Deeper, meaning to advance from regulating the use of data to regulating the accumulation of data. Because surveillance is so pervasive, restoring privacy is necessarily a big change, and requires powerful measures.
The surveillance imposed on us today far exceeds that of the Soviet Union. For freedom and democracy’s sake, we need to eliminate most of it. There are so many ways to use data to hurt people that the only safe database is the one that was never collected. Thus, instead of the EU’s approach of mainly regulating how personal data may be used (in its General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR), I propose a law to stop systems from collecting personal data."
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Sinclair's Propaganda Bomb Is What Media Critics Have Warned About Since Reagan; Esquire, April 2, 2018
Charles P. Pierce, Esquire; Sinclair's Propaganda Bomb Is What Media Critics Have Warned About Since Reagan
[Kip Currier:
During my undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh, I spent my junior year in Kobe, Japan, attending a Japanese university and living with a Japanese chemistry professor emeritus and his wife. Toward the end of my year there, my Japanese skills had gotten proficient enough to have some really "meaty", impactful discussions. I've never forgotten a conversation I had with my host mother, Haruko, who shared her experiences as a 20-something housewife raising her young sons in the waning days of World War II, while her husband taught at one of the Japanese Naval Colleges on the Japan Sea.
U.S. forces were poised to land in Japan and the Japanese state media were disseminating stories about all manner of alleged atrocities the media said would occur if the Americans were to step on Japanese soil. My host mother Haruko said that because the Japanese Imperial Army controlled the media, the populace, people like her, had no access to information other than what the state media put out via radio and newspapers. As an island archipelago with no land borders with other nations, this was especially true for Japan. Years later, she said she came to understand how they had been misled by the Imperial Army's disinformation and propaganda. I never forgot how important information--access to the truth--is.
Access to information--truthful, trusted, verifiable information--is the linchpin of a free and independent press, informed citizenry, and healthy, functioning, questioning democracies. James Madison's 1822 admonition about information, cited in the excerpt below, is as timely as ever.]
"Not only is this a cautionary tale about media consolidation—Sinclair is inches away from owning stations in Chicago and Los Angeles—it’s also a cautionary tale about the imbalance between labor and management in a very visible industry. When the mash-up appeared this weekend, anonymous Sinclair employees leapt to the electric Twitter machine to talk about the read-or-die pressure on the employees in the company’s local stations. And, when this happens in the context of an administration dedicated to keeping people stupid enough to believe all its lies, you have reached a critical mass driving the country inexorably toward the result of Mr. Madison’s great warning:
[Kip Currier:
During my undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh, I spent my junior year in Kobe, Japan, attending a Japanese university and living with a Japanese chemistry professor emeritus and his wife. Toward the end of my year there, my Japanese skills had gotten proficient enough to have some really "meaty", impactful discussions. I've never forgotten a conversation I had with my host mother, Haruko, who shared her experiences as a 20-something housewife raising her young sons in the waning days of World War II, while her husband taught at one of the Japanese Naval Colleges on the Japan Sea.
U.S. forces were poised to land in Japan and the Japanese state media were disseminating stories about all manner of alleged atrocities the media said would occur if the Americans were to step on Japanese soil. My host mother Haruko said that because the Japanese Imperial Army controlled the media, the populace, people like her, had no access to information other than what the state media put out via radio and newspapers. As an island archipelago with no land borders with other nations, this was especially true for Japan. Years later, she said she came to understand how they had been misled by the Imperial Army's disinformation and propaganda. I never forgot how important information--access to the truth--is.
Access to information--truthful, trusted, verifiable information--is the linchpin of a free and independent press, informed citizenry, and healthy, functioning, questioning democracies. James Madison's 1822 admonition about information, cited in the excerpt below, is as timely as ever.]
"Not only is this a cautionary tale about media consolidation—Sinclair is inches away from owning stations in Chicago and Los Angeles—it’s also a cautionary tale about the imbalance between labor and management in a very visible industry. When the mash-up appeared this weekend, anonymous Sinclair employees leapt to the electric Twitter machine to talk about the read-or-die pressure on the employees in the company’s local stations. And, when this happens in the context of an administration dedicated to keeping people stupid enough to believe all its lies, you have reached a critical mass driving the country inexorably toward the result of Mr. Madison’s great warning:
“A popular Government, without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both.”"
Confessions Of A Former Sinclair News Director; Huffington Post, April 2, 2018
Aaron Weiss, Huffington Post; Confessions Of A Former Sinclair News Director
"Only Sinclair forces those trusted local journalists to lend their credibility to shoddy reporting and commentary that, if it ran in other countries, we would rightly dismiss as state propaganda...
When Deadspin’s genius supercut of Sinclair’s latest promo went viral last weekend, my heart broke for the anchors who were used to make the equivalent of a proof-of-life hostage video. They know what they’re being conscripted to do, but most of them have no choice in the matter. They’re trapped by contracts, by family obligations and by an industry that is struggling to stay relevant in an era of changing media habits.
The anchors who were forced to decry “fake news” put their own credibility on the line, accusing “some members of the media” of pushing “their own personal bias and agenda,” when nothing could be further from the truth...
There’s nothing inherently wrong with journalism that wears its bias on its sleeve. At some point, local news may transform into something more like the cable news landscape, with hosts who are paid to share their perspective and commentary. But that requires honesty on the part of station owners, and it requires embracing a diversity of viewpoints on the air. That’s the exact opposite of what Sinclair is doing to local broadcasting today."
"Only Sinclair forces those trusted local journalists to lend their credibility to shoddy reporting and commentary that, if it ran in other countries, we would rightly dismiss as state propaganda...
When Deadspin’s genius supercut of Sinclair’s latest promo went viral last weekend, my heart broke for the anchors who were used to make the equivalent of a proof-of-life hostage video. They know what they’re being conscripted to do, but most of them have no choice in the matter. They’re trapped by contracts, by family obligations and by an industry that is struggling to stay relevant in an era of changing media habits.
The anchors who were forced to decry “fake news” put their own credibility on the line, accusing “some members of the media” of pushing “their own personal bias and agenda,” when nothing could be further from the truth...
There’s nothing inherently wrong with journalism that wears its bias on its sleeve. At some point, local news may transform into something more like the cable news landscape, with hosts who are paid to share their perspective and commentary. But that requires honesty on the part of station owners, and it requires embracing a diversity of viewpoints on the air. That’s the exact opposite of what Sinclair is doing to local broadcasting today."
As Sinclair’s sound-alike anchors draw criticism for ‘fake news’ promos, Trump praises broadcaster; Washington Post, April 2, 2018
Paul Farhi, Washington Post; As Sinclair’s sound-alike anchors draw criticism for ‘fake news’ promos, Trump praises broadcaster
"Tim Burke had a simple idea: Take clips of dozens of TV news anchors all spouting the same lines and mash them up into one video. The idea, he said, was to expose how one company, Sinclair Broadcast Group, had turned its many local newscasts into a national megaphone for its corporate views.
So Burke, the video director at Deadspin, pieced together video of anchors at 45 Sinclair-owned stations across the United States, all reading from a script that the Maryland-based company recently distributed to its stations about the perils of “fake news” and how it is “extremely dangerous to our democracy.”
The result was a massively viral video that sparked broad mainstream media attention, incited an angry tweet from President Trump, and prompted a national conversation about the perils of enabling companies such as Sinclair to control an ever-larger number of TV stations."
"Tim Burke had a simple idea: Take clips of dozens of TV news anchors all spouting the same lines and mash them up into one video. The idea, he said, was to expose how one company, Sinclair Broadcast Group, had turned its many local newscasts into a national megaphone for its corporate views.
So Burke, the video director at Deadspin, pieced together video of anchors at 45 Sinclair-owned stations across the United States, all reading from a script that the Maryland-based company recently distributed to its stations about the perils of “fake news” and how it is “extremely dangerous to our democracy.”
The result was a massively viral video that sparked broad mainstream media attention, incited an angry tweet from President Trump, and prompted a national conversation about the perils of enabling companies such as Sinclair to control an ever-larger number of TV stations."
News Anchors Reciting Sinclair Propaganda Is Even More Terrifying in Unison; New York Magazine, April 1, 2018
New York Magazine; News Anchors Reciting Sinclair Propaganda Is Even More Terrifying in Unison
"The anchors were forced to read the so-called journalistic responsibility messages word for word by their employer, the conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest owner of television stations in the country. The features were one of Sinclair’s now infamous “must-run” segments, consisting of conservative commentary that every Sinclair-owned station is required to air.
Think Progress rounded up many of the “fake stories” segments for a chilling video on Friday, but Deadspin’s Timothy Burke published a much more terrifying version on Saturday, which at one point shows 30 of the segments synced up in unison..."
"The anchors were forced to read the so-called journalistic responsibility messages word for word by their employer, the conservative-leaning Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest owner of television stations in the country. The features were one of Sinclair’s now infamous “must-run” segments, consisting of conservative commentary that every Sinclair-owned station is required to air.
Think Progress rounded up many of the “fake stories” segments for a chilling video on Friday, but Deadspin’s Timothy Burke published a much more terrifying version on Saturday, which at one point shows 30 of the segments synced up in unison..."
Monday, April 2, 2018
Machine learning as a service: Can privacy be taught?; ZDnet, April 2, 2018
Robin Harris, ZDNet; Machine learning as a service: Can privacy be taught?
"Machine learning is one of the hottest disciplines in computer science today. So hot, in fact, that cloud providers are doing a good and rapidly growing business in machine-learning-as-a-service (MLaaS).
But these services come with a caveat: all the training data must be revealed to the service operator. Even if the service operator does not intentionally access the data, someone with nefarious motives may. Or their may be legal reasons to preserve privacy, such as with health data.
In a recent paper, Chiron: Privacy-preserving Machine Learning as a Service Tyler Hunt, of the University of Texas, and others, presents a system that preserves privacy while enabling the use of cloud MLaaS."
"Machine learning is one of the hottest disciplines in computer science today. So hot, in fact, that cloud providers are doing a good and rapidly growing business in machine-learning-as-a-service (MLaaS).
But these services come with a caveat: all the training data must be revealed to the service operator. Even if the service operator does not intentionally access the data, someone with nefarious motives may. Or their may be legal reasons to preserve privacy, such as with health data.
In a recent paper, Chiron: Privacy-preserving Machine Learning as a Service Tyler Hunt, of the University of Texas, and others, presents a system that preserves privacy while enabling the use of cloud MLaaS."
Can Europe Lead on Privacy?; The New York Times, April 1, 2018
Tom Wheeler, The New York Times; Can Europe Lead on Privacy?
"The United States government has a lot of explaining to do. Why is it that American internet companies such as Facebook and Google are required to provide privacy protections when doing business with European consumers but are free to not provide such protections for Americans? Why is it that Americans’ best privacy hope is the secondary effect of interconnected networks rather than privacy protections designed for Americans? Why shouldn’t Americans also be given meaningful tools to protect their privacy?"
"The United States government has a lot of explaining to do. Why is it that American internet companies such as Facebook and Google are required to provide privacy protections when doing business with European consumers but are free to not provide such protections for Americans? Why is it that Americans’ best privacy hope is the secondary effect of interconnected networks rather than privacy protections designed for Americans? Why shouldn’t Americans also be given meaningful tools to protect their privacy?"
Why privacy is an alien concept in Chinese culture; South China Morning Post, April 2, 2018
Luisa Tam, South China Morning Post; Why privacy is an alien concept in Chinese culture
"Views on privacy differ wildly between Chinese and Western cultures. People in the West place considerable emphasis on privacy and often go to great lengths to defend it because they cherish and respect individualism. But when you talk about privacy to Chinese, a common reaction you get is: “What privacy?”"
"Views on privacy differ wildly between Chinese and Western cultures. People in the West place considerable emphasis on privacy and often go to great lengths to defend it because they cherish and respect individualism. But when you talk about privacy to Chinese, a common reaction you get is: “What privacy?”"
Add Data Privacy to List of Brexit Bumps for EU, UK; Bloomberg, April 2, 2018
Giles Turner, Bloomberg; Add Data Privacy to List of Brexit Bumps for EU, UK
"The smooth transfer of personal data between the European Union and the U.K. — from bank details to your Uber bill — is vital for almost every British business. The U.K. is intent on maintaining that relationship following Brexit. The EU isn’t making any promises."
"The smooth transfer of personal data between the European Union and the U.K. — from bank details to your Uber bill — is vital for almost every British business. The U.K. is intent on maintaining that relationship following Brexit. The EU isn’t making any promises."
Facebook Is Not the Problem. Lax Privacy Rules Are.; The New York Times, April 1, 2018
The Editorial Board, The New York Times; Facebook Is Not the Problem. Lax Privacy Rules Are.
"Many businesses will struggle to comply with the European Union’s new rules, and officials in member countries will have a hard time enforcing it consistently. “We will have a learning curve,” said Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, who heads France’s privacy regulator, the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés. “We will have to adjust.”
But it is increasingly clear that businesses will figure out how to live with and make money under tougher privacy rules. Some companies are also planning to apply some or all of the data protection requirements to all of their customers, not just Europeans. And other countries have or are considering adopting similar rules. Throughout history, meatpackers, credit card companies, automakers and other businesses resisted regulations, arguing they would be ruined by them. Yet, regulations have actually benefited many industries by boosting demand for products that consumers know meet certain standards.
Facebook and other internet companies fear privacy regulations, but they ought not to. Strong rules could be good for them as well as for consumers."
"Many businesses will struggle to comply with the European Union’s new rules, and officials in member countries will have a hard time enforcing it consistently. “We will have a learning curve,” said Isabelle Falque-Pierrotin, who heads France’s privacy regulator, the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés. “We will have to adjust.”
But it is increasingly clear that businesses will figure out how to live with and make money under tougher privacy rules. Some companies are also planning to apply some or all of the data protection requirements to all of their customers, not just Europeans. And other countries have or are considering adopting similar rules. Throughout history, meatpackers, credit card companies, automakers and other businesses resisted regulations, arguing they would be ruined by them. Yet, regulations have actually benefited many industries by boosting demand for products that consumers know meet certain standards.
Facebook and other internet companies fear privacy regulations, but they ought not to. Strong rules could be good for them as well as for consumers."
Sunday, April 1, 2018
Musk and Zuckerberg are fighting over whether we rule technology—or it rules us; Quartz, April 1, 2018
Michael J. Coren, Quartz; Musk and Zuckerberg are fighting over whether we rule technology—or it rules us
"Firmly in Zuckerberg’s camp are Google co-founder Larry Page, inventor and author Ray Kurzweil, and computer scientist Andrew Ng, a prominent figure in the artificial intelligence community who previously ran the artificial intelligence unit for the Chinese company Baidu. All three seem to share the philosophy that technological progress is almost always positive, on balance, and that hindering that progress is not just bad business, but morally wrong because it deprives society of those benefits.
Musk, alongside others such as Bill Gates, the late physicist Stephen Hawking, and venture investors such as Sam Altman and Fred Wilson, do not see all technological progress as an absolute good. For this reason, they’re open to regulation...
Yonatan Zunger, a former security and privacy engineer at Google has compared software engineers’ power to that of “kids in a toy shop full of loaded AK-47’s.” It’s becoming increasingly clear how dangerous it is to consider safety and ethics elective, rather than foundational, to software design. “Computer science is a field which hasn’t yet encountered consequences,” he writes."
"Firmly in Zuckerberg’s camp are Google co-founder Larry Page, inventor and author Ray Kurzweil, and computer scientist Andrew Ng, a prominent figure in the artificial intelligence community who previously ran the artificial intelligence unit for the Chinese company Baidu. All three seem to share the philosophy that technological progress is almost always positive, on balance, and that hindering that progress is not just bad business, but morally wrong because it deprives society of those benefits.
Musk, alongside others such as Bill Gates, the late physicist Stephen Hawking, and venture investors such as Sam Altman and Fred Wilson, do not see all technological progress as an absolute good. For this reason, they’re open to regulation...
Yonatan Zunger, a former security and privacy engineer at Google has compared software engineers’ power to that of “kids in a toy shop full of loaded AK-47’s.” It’s becoming increasingly clear how dangerous it is to consider safety and ethics elective, rather than foundational, to software design. “Computer science is a field which hasn’t yet encountered consequences,” he writes."
THE TRICKY ETHICS OF THE NFL'S NEW OPEN DATA POLICY; Wired, March 29, 2018
Ian McMahan, Wired; THE TRICKY ETHICS OF THE NFL'S NEW OPEN DATA POLICY
"SINCE 2015, EVERY player in the National Football Leaguehas been part cyborg. Well, kind of: Embedded in their shoulder pads is an RFID chip that can measure speed, distance traveled, acceleration, and deceleration. Those chips broadcast movement information, accurate to within six inches, to electronic receivers in every stadium. Even the balls carry chips.
So far, that data has stayed within the walls of each individual team, helping players and coaches understand offensive and defensive patterns. But this week, the NFL’s competition committee made good on its intention to share data on all 22 players after every game—with all the teams.
That move will give competitors a greater understanding of player movement across the league. But it could also begin to change the essence of the game. Much of the challenge of sports is the ability to quickly process and react to information, an instinctual gift of great coaches and players. By stripping away some of the uncertainty of competition, data will shift who holds that analytical advantage—and introduce some new ethical questions."
"SINCE 2015, EVERY player in the National Football Leaguehas been part cyborg. Well, kind of: Embedded in their shoulder pads is an RFID chip that can measure speed, distance traveled, acceleration, and deceleration. Those chips broadcast movement information, accurate to within six inches, to electronic receivers in every stadium. Even the balls carry chips.
So far, that data has stayed within the walls of each individual team, helping players and coaches understand offensive and defensive patterns. But this week, the NFL’s competition committee made good on its intention to share data on all 22 players after every game—with all the teams.
That move will give competitors a greater understanding of player movement across the league. But it could also begin to change the essence of the game. Much of the challenge of sports is the ability to quickly process and react to information, an instinctual gift of great coaches and players. By stripping away some of the uncertainty of competition, data will shift who holds that analytical advantage—and introduce some new ethical questions."
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It?; The New York Times, March 31, 2018
Sapna Maheshwari, The New York Times; Hey, Alexa, What Can You Hear? And What Will You Do With It?
"The Electronic Privacy Information Center has recommended more robust disclosure rules for internet-connected devices, including an “algorithmic transparency requirement” that would help people understand how their data was being used and what automated decisions were then being made about them.\
Sam Lester, the center’s consumer privacy fellow, said he believed that the abilities of new smart home devices highlighted the need for United States regulators to get more involved with how consumer data was collected and used.
“A lot of these technological innovations can be very good for consumers,” he said. “But it’s not the responsibility of consumers to protect themselves from these products any more than it’s their responsibility to protect themselves from the safety risks in food and drugs. It’s why we established a Food and Drug Administration years ago.”"
"The Electronic Privacy Information Center has recommended more robust disclosure rules for internet-connected devices, including an “algorithmic transparency requirement” that would help people understand how their data was being used and what automated decisions were then being made about them.\
Sam Lester, the center’s consumer privacy fellow, said he believed that the abilities of new smart home devices highlighted the need for United States regulators to get more involved with how consumer data was collected and used.
“A lot of these technological innovations can be very good for consumers,” he said. “But it’s not the responsibility of consumers to protect themselves from these products any more than it’s their responsibility to protect themselves from the safety risks in food and drugs. It’s why we established a Food and Drug Administration years ago.”"
Sheryl Sandberg: Facebook business chief leans out of spotlight in scandal; Guardian, March 29, 2018
Sheryl Sandberg, Guardian; Sheryl Sandberg: Facebook business chief leans out of spotlight in scandal
"As the public bayed “Where’s Mark?”, his right-hand woman, Sheryl Sandberg, has avoided much of the scrutiny, despite the fact that she is the architect of Facebook’s data-centric advertising business and a highly skilled communicator.
As the social network faces its biggest reputation crisis yet, critics are asking if the author of Lean In, a book about leadership in business, is choosing to lean out of the limelight.
"As the public bayed “Where’s Mark?”, his right-hand woman, Sheryl Sandberg, has avoided much of the scrutiny, despite the fact that she is the architect of Facebook’s data-centric advertising business and a highly skilled communicator.
As the social network faces its biggest reputation crisis yet, critics are asking if the author of Lean In, a book about leadership in business, is choosing to lean out of the limelight.
“It’s truly remarkable that Sandberg hasn’t come under greater public scrutiny for this crisis, since she is widely perceived to be the ‘adult’ who was hired to manage these kinds of political situations in a savvy way for the company,” said Kara Alaimo, assistant professor of public relations at Hofstra University.
Roger McNamee, a venture capitalist who said he encouraged Mark Zuckerberg to hire Sandberg, and who helped poach her from Google about a decade ago, pointed out the executive had long been “applauded for Facebook’s extraordinary growth and profitability”. “Now that the dark side of that success has been exposed, she needs to do a better job of accepting responsibility for the consequences of the choices she makes,” he said."
RIP John Sulston, open science hero and father of the Human Genome Project; BoingBoing, March 9, 2018
Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing; RIP John Sulston, open science hero and father of the Human Genome Project
"Sulston won the Nobel in 2002 and was a force for open science and access to knowledge. His two claims to greatness were his contributions to genomics and his moral leadership. He will be missed."
"Sulston won the Nobel in 2002 and was a force for open science and access to knowledge. His two claims to greatness were his contributions to genomics and his moral leadership. He will be missed."
How to download a copy of everything Google knows about you; CNBC, March 30, 2018
Todd Haselton, CNBC; How to download a copy of everything Google knows about you
"If you use Google services, there's a really easy way to download everything you have stored on the company's servers.
This is particularly important if you ever decide to quit Google and delete your account entirely, but still want a record of your Google Calendar, an archive of the pictures in Google Photos or a copy of everything in Gmail. It's also useful if you want a reminder of everything Google knows about you.
We already showed you how to download a copy of everything Facebook knows about you. Now here's how to download an archive of your footprint on Google.
A reminder: downloading your data doesn't delete it. Think of it as a backup."
"If you use Google services, there's a really easy way to download everything you have stored on the company's servers.
This is particularly important if you ever decide to quit Google and delete your account entirely, but still want a record of your Google Calendar, an archive of the pictures in Google Photos or a copy of everything in Gmail. It's also useful if you want a reminder of everything Google knows about you.
We already showed you how to download a copy of everything Facebook knows about you. Now here's how to download an archive of your footprint on Google.
A reminder: downloading your data doesn't delete it. Think of it as a backup."
Everything you need to know about a new EU data law that could shake up big US tech; CNBC, March 30, 2018
Arjun Kharpal, CNBC; Everything you need to know about a new EU data law that could shake up big US tech
"You may have heard of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). But most likely you haven't because it sounds boring, but it's really important and CNBC has a guide to help you understand it.
It's a piece of European Union (EU) legislation that could have a far-reaching impact on some of the biggest technology firms in the world including Facebook and Google.
So here's your guide to the GDPR."
"You may have heard of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). But most likely you haven't because it sounds boring, but it's really important and CNBC has a guide to help you understand it.
It's a piece of European Union (EU) legislation that could have a far-reaching impact on some of the biggest technology firms in the world including Facebook and Google.
So here's your guide to the GDPR."
Report: Facebook Staff Suddenly Concerned About Privacy, Specifically Theirs; Gizmodo, March 31, 2018
Tom McKay, Gizmodo; Report: Facebook Staff Suddenly Concerned About Privacy, Specifically Theirs
"The ridiculous mess over at Facebook has continued to get worse, with staff allegedly in a full-on “uproar” over the fallout of the leak of consumer hardware VP Andrew Bosworth’s 2016 memo claiming things like terrorism and cyberbullying suicides were justifiable side effects of the site’s continued growth.
Per the New York Times, what began as widespread concern over the company’s Cambridge Analytica data-sharing scandal has now apparently transformed into a sort of panic over possible further leaks of potentially damaging internal information like Bosworth’s memo. While some staff are urging greater transparency, others have turned to shredding emails and demanding leakers be found and dealt with..."
"The ridiculous mess over at Facebook has continued to get worse, with staff allegedly in a full-on “uproar” over the fallout of the leak of consumer hardware VP Andrew Bosworth’s 2016 memo claiming things like terrorism and cyberbullying suicides were justifiable side effects of the site’s continued growth.
Per the New York Times, what began as widespread concern over the company’s Cambridge Analytica data-sharing scandal has now apparently transformed into a sort of panic over possible further leaks of potentially damaging internal information like Bosworth’s memo. While some staff are urging greater transparency, others have turned to shredding emails and demanding leakers be found and dealt with..."
Promises, promises: Facebook’s history with privacy; Washington Post, March 30, 2018
Ryan Nakashima, Washington Post; Promises, promises: Facebook’s history with privacy
"“We’ve made a bunch of mistakes.” ‘’Everyone needs complete control over who they share with at all times.” ‘’Not one day goes by when I don’t think about what it means for us to be the stewards of this community and their trust.”
Sound familiar? It’s Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressing a major privacy breach — seven years ago .
Lawmakers in many countries may be focused on Cambridge Analytica’s alleged improper use of Facebook data, but the social network’s privacy problems go back more than a decade. Here are some of the company’s most notable missteps and promises around privacy."
"“We’ve made a bunch of mistakes.” ‘’Everyone needs complete control over who they share with at all times.” ‘’Not one day goes by when I don’t think about what it means for us to be the stewards of this community and their trust.”
Sound familiar? It’s Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressing a major privacy breach — seven years ago .
Lawmakers in many countries may be focused on Cambridge Analytica’s alleged improper use of Facebook data, but the social network’s privacy problems go back more than a decade. Here are some of the company’s most notable missteps and promises around privacy."
Here are the internal Facebook posts of employees discussing today’s leaked memo; The Verge, March 30, 2018
Casey Newton, The Verge; Here are the internal Facebook posts of employees discussing today’s leaked memo
"The publication of a June 2016 memo describing the consequences of Facebook’s growth-at-all-costs triggered an emotional conversation at the company today. An internal post reacting to the memo found employees angry and heartbroken that their teammates were sharing internal company discussions with the media. Many called on the company to step up its war on leakers and hire employees with more “integrity.”...
Nearly 3,000 employees had reacted to Bosworth’s memo when The Verge viewed it, responding with a mixture of likes, “sad,” and and “angry” reactions."
"The publication of a June 2016 memo describing the consequences of Facebook’s growth-at-all-costs triggered an emotional conversation at the company today. An internal post reacting to the memo found employees angry and heartbroken that their teammates were sharing internal company discussions with the media. Many called on the company to step up its war on leakers and hire employees with more “integrity.”...
Nearly 3,000 employees had reacted to Bosworth’s memo when The Verge viewed it, responding with a mixture of likes, “sad,” and and “angry” reactions."
More advertisers drop Laura Ingraham's Fox News show despite apology to David Hogg; Los Angeles Times, March 30, 2018
Stephen Battaglio, Los Angeles Times; More advertisers drop Laura Ingraham's Fox News show despite apology to David Hogg
"Ingraham is often the fourth most-watched program in all of cable news with about 2.6 million viewers nightly.
Ingraham's apology came quickly, considering that Fox News commentators have typically resisted backing down when under attack for their controversial statements. But the support and sympathy for Hogg and other Parkland students has prompted advertisers to continue to bail from her program.
Hogg did not accept Ingraham's apology. He told the New York Daily News on Friday that Ingraham will have to admit she slandered his classmates in her coverage of their gun protests....
Ingraham said at the end of her Friday program that she will be on vacation with her children next week. Fill-in hosts will appear on "The Ingraham Angle" in her absence."
"Ingraham is often the fourth most-watched program in all of cable news with about 2.6 million viewers nightly.
Ingraham's apology came quickly, considering that Fox News commentators have typically resisted backing down when under attack for their controversial statements. But the support and sympathy for Hogg and other Parkland students has prompted advertisers to continue to bail from her program.
Hogg did not accept Ingraham's apology. He told the New York Daily News on Friday that Ingraham will have to admit she slandered his classmates in her coverage of their gun protests....
Ingraham said at the end of her Friday program that she will be on vacation with her children next week. Fill-in hosts will appear on "The Ingraham Angle" in her absence."
Quixotic Approaches To Circumventing Censorship, Using Books And Music; TechDirt, March 30, 2018
Glyn Moody, TechDirt; Quixotic Approaches To Circumventing Censorship, Using Books And Music
"The topic of censorship crops up far too much here on Techdirt. Less common are stories about how to circumvent it. The two which follow are great examples of how human ingenuity is able to find unexpected ways to tackle this problem. The first story comes from Spain, and concerns a banned book...
Update: The Finding Fariña site has now been censored. So far, there's no sign of a mirror site being set up outside Spanish jurisdiction, which would seem the obvious response."
"The topic of censorship crops up far too much here on Techdirt. Less common are stories about how to circumvent it. The two which follow are great examples of how human ingenuity is able to find unexpected ways to tackle this problem. The first story comes from Spain, and concerns a banned book...
Update: The Finding Fariña site has now been censored. So far, there's no sign of a mirror site being set up outside Spanish jurisdiction, which would seem the obvious response."
The Outrage Over Kevin Williamson; New York Times, March 30, 2018
Bret Stephens, New York Times; The Outrage Over Kevin Williamson
"Shouldn’t great prose and independent judgment count for something? Not according to your critics. We live in the age of guilt by pull-quote, abetted by a combination of lazy journalism, gullible readership, missing context, and technologies that make our every ill-considered utterance instantly accessible and utterly indelible. I jumped at your abortion comment, but for heaven’s sake, it was a tweet. When you write a whole book on the need to execute the tens of millions of American women who’ve had abortions, then I’ll worry...
The real question, then, isn’t what kinds of arguments are “acceptable.” It’s what kinds are, or ought to be, acceptable to liberals. In The Huffington Post, one writer proposes that the answer is none. This is the liberalism of the 9- year-old sticking fingers in his ears and saying: nah-nah-nah-nah-nah. Anyone still wondering how Donald Trump became president need look no further.
The wiser test of acceptability is whether an argument is thoughtful, thought-provoking and offered in good faith. That holds true even if the views aren’t politically representative. Last I checked, you and I were hired as columnists, not party ideologues or demographic segments."
"Shouldn’t great prose and independent judgment count for something? Not according to your critics. We live in the age of guilt by pull-quote, abetted by a combination of lazy journalism, gullible readership, missing context, and technologies that make our every ill-considered utterance instantly accessible and utterly indelible. I jumped at your abortion comment, but for heaven’s sake, it was a tweet. When you write a whole book on the need to execute the tens of millions of American women who’ve had abortions, then I’ll worry...
The real question, then, isn’t what kinds of arguments are “acceptable.” It’s what kinds are, or ought to be, acceptable to liberals. In The Huffington Post, one writer proposes that the answer is none. This is the liberalism of the 9- year-old sticking fingers in his ears and saying: nah-nah-nah-nah-nah. Anyone still wondering how Donald Trump became president need look no further.
The wiser test of acceptability is whether an argument is thoughtful, thought-provoking and offered in good faith. That holds true even if the views aren’t politically representative. Last I checked, you and I were hired as columnists, not party ideologues or demographic segments."
Friday, March 30, 2018
iPhone update adds privacy 'transparency'; BBC News, March 29, 2018
BBC News; iPhone update adds privacy 'transparency'
"Apple has updated its iOS, MacOS and tvOS operating systems to give people more information about how their personal data is collected and used.
"Apple has updated its iOS, MacOS and tvOS operating systems to give people more information about how their personal data is collected and used.
After updating, customers will see new information screens when they use Apple-made apps that collect personal data, such as App Store.
The change comes ahead of new EU data protection rules, which take effect on 25 May."
What Congress Should Ask Mark Zuckerberg; The Atlantic, March 28, 2018
Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic; What Congress Should Ask Mark Zuckerberg
"Mark Zuckerberg will be headed to Washington. No one knows precisely when or to whom, but he himself has said he would be “happy” to testify.
That he has never been before Congress is one of those minor miracles that only technology companies seem capable of generating through their bulky “policy” (i.e. lobbying) teams and still considerable popularity.
But times are changing and in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica affair, Facebook processes that have been known for years are coming under the most intense scrutiny they’ve ever received. Senator Ron Wyden, for example, has already submitted a formidable list of questions to Facebook.
I’m most interested in pinning down the facts around Cambridge Analytica and political advertising generally. But Facebook is multifaceted, so I reached out to a dozen close observers of the company to see what they wanted to ask Facebook’s CEO."
"Mark Zuckerberg will be headed to Washington. No one knows precisely when or to whom, but he himself has said he would be “happy” to testify.
That he has never been before Congress is one of those minor miracles that only technology companies seem capable of generating through their bulky “policy” (i.e. lobbying) teams and still considerable popularity.
But times are changing and in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica affair, Facebook processes that have been known for years are coming under the most intense scrutiny they’ve ever received. Senator Ron Wyden, for example, has already submitted a formidable list of questions to Facebook.
I’m most interested in pinning down the facts around Cambridge Analytica and political advertising generally. But Facebook is multifaceted, so I reached out to a dozen close observers of the company to see what they wanted to ask Facebook’s CEO."
Thursday, March 29, 2018
The Most Important Self-Driving Car Announcement Yet; The Atlantic, March 28, 2018
Alexis C. Madrigal, The Atlantic; The Most Important Self-Driving Car Announcement Yet
"With Waymo’s most recent announcement, now is the time to think through these larger questions. They are bigger and harder because they cannot be answered by technological proof. They involve power—Alphabet’s power, the power of labor, the power of local governments to control their jurisdictions.
Let’s assume Waymo is wildly successful. They take over the ride-sharing market from human drivers in both ride-hailing companies and traditional taxicabs. In so doing, they’ll complete the shift in consumer spending on car transportation from thousands of taxicab drivers across thousands of cities to one technology company. It’s not unlike thousands of newspapers making money from classifieds and then a couple of technology companies taking all of that revenue. It’s certainly easier to buy stuff from other people now, but local journalism is in a hopeless business situation."
"With Waymo’s most recent announcement, now is the time to think through these larger questions. They are bigger and harder because they cannot be answered by technological proof. They involve power—Alphabet’s power, the power of labor, the power of local governments to control their jurisdictions.
Let’s assume Waymo is wildly successful. They take over the ride-sharing market from human drivers in both ride-hailing companies and traditional taxicabs. In so doing, they’ll complete the shift in consumer spending on car transportation from thousands of taxicab drivers across thousands of cities to one technology company. It’s not unlike thousands of newspapers making money from classifieds and then a couple of technology companies taking all of that revenue. It’s certainly easier to buy stuff from other people now, but local journalism is in a hopeless business situation."
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Beware the smart toaster: 18 tips for surviving the surveillance age; Guardian, March 28, 2018
Alex Hern and Arwa Mahdawi, Guardian; Beware the smart toaster: 18 tips for surviving the surveillance age
"Awareness of our digital footprint is one thing, but what are we to do about it? In the wake of the Facebook revelations, it’s clear that we can’t all keep clicking as usual if we value our privacy or our democracy. It’s still relatively early in the internet era and we are all still figuring it out as we go along. However, best practices when it comes to security and online etiquette are starting to emerge. Here’s a guide to some of the new rules of the internet."
"Awareness of our digital footprint is one thing, but what are we to do about it? In the wake of the Facebook revelations, it’s clear that we can’t all keep clicking as usual if we value our privacy or our democracy. It’s still relatively early in the internet era and we are all still figuring it out as we go along. However, best practices when it comes to security and online etiquette are starting to emerge. Here’s a guide to some of the new rules of the internet."
How Europe’s new privacy rule is reshaping the internet; The Verge, March 28, 2018
Russell Brandom, The Verge; How Europe’s new privacy rule is reshaping the internet
"The rule could also create a divide between the European Union and the rest of the internet. So far, most companies have aimed toward a single set of privacy rules for all users, which is why so many US users are noticing new privacy features and terms of service. But in many cases, it’s still easier to split off EU data, which could result in European users seeing a meaningfully different internet from the rest of the world.
On the other hand, it would be hard to make data collection more creepy at this point. So much of the internet is based on the free exchange of user data, especially the gnarly hairball that is the targeted advertising industry. That has real political consequences: the NSA can use the same system to track users across the web, and political firms like Cambridge Analytica can use it to quietly single out particular subgroups. We’ve spent the last 15 years thinking of lucrative things to do with that data, on the assumption that it would always be freely shareable. The GDPR is starting to roll it back, but the most profound changes will take years to play out, potentially reshaping the web as we know it."
"The rule could also create a divide between the European Union and the rest of the internet. So far, most companies have aimed toward a single set of privacy rules for all users, which is why so many US users are noticing new privacy features and terms of service. But in many cases, it’s still easier to split off EU data, which could result in European users seeing a meaningfully different internet from the rest of the world.
On the other hand, it would be hard to make data collection more creepy at this point. So much of the internet is based on the free exchange of user data, especially the gnarly hairball that is the targeted advertising industry. That has real political consequences: the NSA can use the same system to track users across the web, and political firms like Cambridge Analytica can use it to quietly single out particular subgroups. We’ve spent the last 15 years thinking of lucrative things to do with that data, on the assumption that it would always be freely shareable. The GDPR is starting to roll it back, but the most profound changes will take years to play out, potentially reshaping the web as we know it."
Facebook Changing Privacy Controls As Criticism Escalates; The Two-Way, NPR, March 28, 2018
Yuki Noguchi, The Two-Way, NPR; Facebook Changing Privacy Controls As Criticism Escalates
"Facebook responded to intensifying criticism over its mishandling of user data Wednesday by announcing new features to its site that will give users more visibility and control over how their information is shared. The changes, rolling out in coming weeks, will also enable users to prevent the social network from sharing that information with advertisers and other third parties.
"Last week showed how much more work we need to do to enforce our policies and help people understand how Facebook works and the choices they have over their data," Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan and Deputy General Counsel Ashlie Beringer wrote in a statement.
"We've heard loud and clear that privacy settings and other important tools are too hard to find and that we must do more to keep people informed," they said."
"Facebook responded to intensifying criticism over its mishandling of user data Wednesday by announcing new features to its site that will give users more visibility and control over how their information is shared. The changes, rolling out in coming weeks, will also enable users to prevent the social network from sharing that information with advertisers and other third parties.
"Last week showed how much more work we need to do to enforce our policies and help people understand how Facebook works and the choices they have over their data," Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan and Deputy General Counsel Ashlie Beringer wrote in a statement.
"We've heard loud and clear that privacy settings and other important tools are too hard to find and that we must do more to keep people informed," they said."
Apple CEO Tim Cook slams Facebook: Privacy 'is a human right, it's a civil liberty'; NBC, March 28, 2018
Elizabeth Chuck and Chelsea Bailey, NBC; Apple CEO Tim Cook slams Facebook: Privacy 'is a human right, it's a civil liberty'
"Privacy to us is a human right. It's a civil liberty, and something that is unique to America. This is like freedom of speech and freedom of the press," Cook said. "Privacy is right up there with that for us."
His comments are consistent with Apple's long-held privacy stance — which the company stood by even in the face of a legal quarrel with the U.S. government a couple of years ago, when it refused to help the FBI unlock an iPhone belonging to the man responsible for killing 14 people in San Bernadino, California, in December 2015."
"Privacy to us is a human right. It's a civil liberty, and something that is unique to America. This is like freedom of speech and freedom of the press," Cook said. "Privacy is right up there with that for us."
His comments are consistent with Apple's long-held privacy stance — which the company stood by even in the face of a legal quarrel with the U.S. government a couple of years ago, when it refused to help the FBI unlock an iPhone belonging to the man responsible for killing 14 people in San Bernadino, California, in December 2015."
A long awaited privacy awakening is here; CNN, March 28, 2018
Seth Fiegerman, CNN; A long awaited privacy awakening is here
"The resulting scandal has sparked a long awaited data awakening among internet users.
"People are digging in and looking at the data that's been collected on them," says Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT. "In the past, a lot of us have been willing to say we understand we are in this constant dance with commercial providers."
What's changed is people waking up to the fact that their data isn't just used to sell products, but also potentially to affect elections. "It just feels different," Zuckerman said."
"The resulting scandal has sparked a long awaited data awakening among internet users.
"People are digging in and looking at the data that's been collected on them," says Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT. "In the past, a lot of us have been willing to say we understand we are in this constant dance with commercial providers."
What's changed is people waking up to the fact that their data isn't just used to sell products, but also potentially to affect elections. "It just feels different," Zuckerman said."
Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you; Guardian, March 28, 2018
Dylan Curran, Guardian; Are you ready? This is all the data Facebook and Google have on you
"Want to freak yourself out? I’m going to show just how much of your information the likes of Facebook and Google store about you without you even realising it."
"Want to freak yourself out? I’m going to show just how much of your information the likes of Facebook and Google store about you without you even realising it."
A Needle In A Legal Haystack Could Sink A Major Supreme Court Privacy Case; NPR, March 28, 2018
Nina Totenberg, NPR; A Needle In A Legal Haystack Could Sink A Major Supreme Court Privacy Case
"The question in the case is whether a U.S. technology company can refuse to honor a court-ordered U.S. search warrant seeking information that is stored at a facility outside the United States...
...[A]s the case came to the justices, they were going to have to apply current advanced technology to the Stored Communications Act, a law enacted in 1986, several years before email even became available for wide public use.
Amazingly, just three weeks after the Supreme Court argument, lo and behold, a Congress famous for gridlock passed legislation to modernize the law...
Titled the Cloud Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data), the statute was attached to the 2,232 page, $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill."
"The question in the case is whether a U.S. technology company can refuse to honor a court-ordered U.S. search warrant seeking information that is stored at a facility outside the United States...
...[A]s the case came to the justices, they were going to have to apply current advanced technology to the Stored Communications Act, a law enacted in 1986, several years before email even became available for wide public use.
Amazingly, just three weeks after the Supreme Court argument, lo and behold, a Congress famous for gridlock passed legislation to modernize the law...
Titled the Cloud Act (Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data), the statute was attached to the 2,232 page, $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill."
Cambridge Analytica controversy must spur researchers to update data ethics; Nature, March 27, 2018
Editorial, Nature; Cambridge Analytica controversy must spur researchers to update data ethics
"Ethics training on research should be extended to computer scientists who have not conventionally worked with human study participants.
Academics across many fields know well how technology can outpace its regulation. All researchers have a duty to consider the ethics of their work beyond the strict limits of law or today’s regulations. If they don’t, they will face serious and continued loss of public trust."
"Ethics training on research should be extended to computer scientists who have not conventionally worked with human study participants.
Academics across many fields know well how technology can outpace its regulation. All researchers have a duty to consider the ethics of their work beyond the strict limits of law or today’s regulations. If they don’t, they will face serious and continued loss of public trust."
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
The Six Data Privacy Principles of the GDPR; Corporate Counsel, March 26, 2018
Amy Lewis, Corporate Counsel; The Six Data Privacy Principles of the GDPR
"Data privacy and personal data breaches have been in the news a lot recently. Over the past few years, companies have been collecting and processing ever-increasing amounts of data about their customers, employees, and users. As personal data becomes more valuable, governments around the world have begun the debate surrounding whether this data collection should be limited in favor of individuals’ fundamental right to privacy.
The Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the European Union’s answer to these debates. This new regulation strives to take the decisions regarding some uses of personal data out of the hands of companies and return control to the individuals that the data refer to—the data subjects. Any company that has a European presence or handles European residents’ personal data is subject to the GDPR. These companies will likely need to upgrade their data security and privacy procedures to meet the personal data handling requirements of the GDPR.
The GDPR’s data privacy goals can be summarized in six personal data processing principles: Lawfulness, Fairness and Transparency; Purpose Limitation; Data Minimization; Accuracy; Integrity and Confidentiality; and Storage Limitation."
"Data privacy and personal data breaches have been in the news a lot recently. Over the past few years, companies have been collecting and processing ever-increasing amounts of data about their customers, employees, and users. As personal data becomes more valuable, governments around the world have begun the debate surrounding whether this data collection should be limited in favor of individuals’ fundamental right to privacy.
The Global Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the European Union’s answer to these debates. This new regulation strives to take the decisions regarding some uses of personal data out of the hands of companies and return control to the individuals that the data refer to—the data subjects. Any company that has a European presence or handles European residents’ personal data is subject to the GDPR. These companies will likely need to upgrade their data security and privacy procedures to meet the personal data handling requirements of the GDPR.
The GDPR’s data privacy goals can be summarized in six personal data processing principles: Lawfulness, Fairness and Transparency; Purpose Limitation; Data Minimization; Accuracy; Integrity and Confidentiality; and Storage Limitation."
Monday, March 26, 2018
Europe is doing way more than the US to protect online privacy; Vox, March 26, 2018
Trevor Butterworth, Vox; Europe is doing way more than the US to protect online privacy
"Much commentary in the US has suggested that there is no way out of the dystopia that we’ve constructed for ourselves, short of deleting Facebook and turning away from Google. But that can be hard to do, so interconnected have Facebook and other platforms become with all sorts of internet services people depend on.
But Europe is about to point to a better way of balancing the interests of technological innovation and privacy concerns. It’s been undercovered by the US media, but the era of the data robber barons will be massively disrupted on May 25, when the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation Act, enshrining data protection as a fundamental human right, goes into effect."
"Much commentary in the US has suggested that there is no way out of the dystopia that we’ve constructed for ourselves, short of deleting Facebook and turning away from Google. But that can be hard to do, so interconnected have Facebook and other platforms become with all sorts of internet services people depend on.
But Europe is about to point to a better way of balancing the interests of technological innovation and privacy concerns. It’s been undercovered by the US media, but the era of the data robber barons will be massively disrupted on May 25, when the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation Act, enshrining data protection as a fundamental human right, goes into effect."
FTC, states increase pressure on Facebook on privacy; Associated Press via Chicago Tribune, March 26, 2018
Barbara Ortutay and Andrew Selsky, Associated Press via Chicago Tribune; FTC, states increase pressure on Facebook on privacy
"U.S. regulators and state attorneys general are increasing pressure on Facebook as they probe whether the company's data-collection practices have hurt the people who use its services.
The Federal Trade Commission confirmed news reports on Monday that it was investigating the company. Separately, the attorneys general for 37 U.S. states and territories sought details Monday on how Facebook monitored what app developers did with data collected on Facebook users and whether Facebook had safeguards to prevent misuse...
Facebook is also facing questions about reports that it collected years of contact names, telephone numbers, call lengths and information about text messages from Android users. Facebook says the data is used "to improve people's experience across Facebook" by helping to connect with others. But the company did not spell out exactly what it used the data for or why it needed it."
"U.S. regulators and state attorneys general are increasing pressure on Facebook as they probe whether the company's data-collection practices have hurt the people who use its services.
The Federal Trade Commission confirmed news reports on Monday that it was investigating the company. Separately, the attorneys general for 37 U.S. states and territories sought details Monday on how Facebook monitored what app developers did with data collected on Facebook users and whether Facebook had safeguards to prevent misuse...
Facebook is also facing questions about reports that it collected years of contact names, telephone numbers, call lengths and information about text messages from Android users. Facebook says the data is used "to improve people's experience across Facebook" by helping to connect with others. But the company did not spell out exactly what it used the data for or why it needed it."
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