Julia Carrie Wong, The Guardian; What is QAnon? Explaining the bizarre rightwing conspiracy theory
"Meet Q
On 28 October 2017, “Q” emerged from the primordial swamp of the
internet on the message board 4chan. In a thread called “Calm Before the
Storm”, and in subsequent posts, Q established his legend as a
government insider with top security clearance who knew the truth about a
secret struggle for power involving Donald Trump, the “deep state”, Robert Mueller, the Clintons, pedophile rings, and other stuff.
Since then, Q has continued to drop “breadcrumbs” on 4chan
and 8chan, fostering a “QAnon” community devoted to decoding Q’s
messages and understanding the real truth about, well, everything...
Imagine a mix of Pizzagate, InfoWars and the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, multiplied by the power of the internet...
For years now, YouTube has been a quagmire of conspiracy theories,
the more outrageous and thinly sourced the better. Under pressure from
the mainstream media for the platform’s tendency to promote inflammatory
and false information in the aftermath of mass shootings and other
breaking news events, YouTube has introduced reforms that it claims will promote more “authoritative” news sources.
A YouTube spokesperson provided a statement that did not directly
address the Guardian’s questions about the Hanks videos, but noted that
the company’s work to “better surface and promote news and authoritative
sources” is “still in its early stages”."
Thursday, August 2, 2018
What Is QAnon: Explaining the Internet Conspiracy Theory That Showed Up at a Trump Rally; The New York Times, August 1, 2018
Justin Bank, Liam Stack and Daniel Victor, The New York Times;
What Is QAnon: Explaining the Internet Conspiracy Theory That Showed Up at a Trump Rally
"Why should I care about a fringe corner of the internet?
Because
QAnon is not limited to a fringe corner of the internet. In addition to
its front-and-center presence at Mr. Trump’s rally, it has been
promoted by celebrities including Roseanne Barr and Curt Schilling, the former baseball star who has a podcast for Breitbart.
The
paranoid worldview has crossed over from the internet into the real
world several times in recent months. On more than one occasion, people
believed to be followers of QAnon have shown up — sometimes with weapons
— in places that the character told them were somehow connected to
anti-Trump conspiracies.
“The
biggest danger is you are one mentally unstable person away from the
next massive incident that defines whatever happens next,” Mr. Decker
said. “The next Pizzagate, which for better or worse did define the
political conversation for a while.”"
‘We are Q’: A deranged conspiracy cult leaps from the Internet to the crowd at Trump’s ‘MAGA’ tour; The Washington Post, August 1, 2018
; ‘We are Q’: A deranged conspiracy cult leaps from the Internet to the crowd at Trump’s ‘MAGA’ tour
What Tuesday’s rally in Tampa made apparent is that devotees of these falsehoods — some of which are specific to faith in the president, others garden-variety nonsense with racist and anti-Semitic undertones — don’t just exist in the far reaches of the Web."
"The thread invited “requests to Q,” an anonymous
user claiming to be a government agent with top security clearance,
waging war against the so-called deep state in service to the 45th
president. “Q” feeds disciples, or “bakers,” scraps of intelligence, or
“bread crumbs,” that they scramble to bake into an understanding of the
“storm” — the community’s term, drawn from Trump’s cryptic reference
last year to “the calm before the storm” — for the president’s final conquest over elites, globalists and deep-state saboteurs.
What Tuesday’s rally in Tampa made apparent is that devotees of these falsehoods — some of which are specific to faith in the president, others garden-variety nonsense with racist and anti-Semitic undertones — don’t just exist in the far reaches of the Web."
The Shape of Mis- and Disinformation; Slate, July 26, 2018
[Podcast] April Glaser and Will Oremus, Slate; The Shape of Mis- and Disinformation
"In recent weeks, Facebook and YouTube have strained to explain why they won’t ban
Alex Jones’ Infowars, which has used its verified accounts to spread
false news and dangerous conspiracy theories on the platforms.
Meanwhile, the midterms are approaching, and Facebook won’t say
definitively whether the company has found any efforts by foreign actors
to disrupt the elections. Facebook did recently say
that it will start to remove misinformation if it may lead to violence,
a response to worrisome trends in Myanmar, India, other countries. The
social media platforms are being called on to explain how they deal with
information that is wrong—a question made even more complicated because
the problem takes so many forms.
To understand the many forms of misinformation and
disinformation on social media, we recently spoke with Claire Wardle,
the executive director of First Draft,
a nonprofit news-literacy and fact-checking outfit based at Harvard
University’s Kennedy School, for Slate’s tech podcast If Then. We
discussed how fake news spreads on different platforms, where it’s
coming from, and how journalists might think—or rethink—their role in
covering it"
China takes its political censorship global. Will America resist?; The Washington Post, July 26, 2018
The Washington Post; China takes its political censorship global. Will America resist?
"The Xi regime claims that any public speech
criticizing Communist Party propaganda is a grave offense to 1.3 billion
Chinese people. Never mind that Twitter and Instagram are blocked in
China: Beijing is trying to enforce its political censorship outside its
borders and online. That can’t be tolerated. The whole world cannot
become a “safe space” for Chinese sensitivities.
By
accommodating China’s political demands, even partially, airlines are
abetting a false depiction of U.S. policy on Taiwan and playing into
China’s game, said Samantha Hoffman, visiting fellow at the Mercator
Institute for China Studies...
The Chinese government is also trying
to expand its domestic “social credit system” to apply to foreign
firms. It’s Beijing’s way of shaping international norms according to
its criteria, Hoffman explained in a report for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute."
Google 'working on censored search engine' for China; The Guardian, August 1, 2018
Alex Hern and agencies, The Guardian; Google 'working on censored search engine' for China
"The Chinese human rights community said Google acquiescing to China’s censorship would be a “dark day for internet freedom”.
“It is impossible to see how such a move is compatible with Google’s ‘Do the right thing’ motto, and we are calling on the company to change course,” said Patrick Poon, China Researcher at Amnesty International.
“For the world’s biggest search engine to adopt such extreme measures would be a gross attack on freedom of information and internet freedom. In putting profits before human rights, Google would be setting a chilling precedent and handing the Chinese government a victory."
"The Chinese human rights community said Google acquiescing to China’s censorship would be a “dark day for internet freedom”.
“It is impossible to see how such a move is compatible with Google’s ‘Do the right thing’ motto, and we are calling on the company to change course,” said Patrick Poon, China Researcher at Amnesty International.
“For the world’s biggest search engine to adopt such extreme measures would be a gross attack on freedom of information and internet freedom. In putting profits before human rights, Google would be setting a chilling precedent and handing the Chinese government a victory."
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
'Peanuts' First Black Character Franklin Turns 50; NPR, July 30, 2018
Cecilia Lei and James Delahoussaye, NPR; 'Peanuts' First Black Character Franklin Turns 50
"It was especially defining for a 6-year-old Robb Armstrong, author of Fearless: A Cartoonist's Guide to Life and creator of JumpStart, one of the most widely syndicated black comic strips ever.
"1968 is a very vivid year for me," Armstrong told NPR's Renee Montagne in an interview for Weekend Edition. Two months after King was killed, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Armstrong's older brother also died that year, just 30 days before Franklin's debut.
For Armstrong, a young black boy who declared to his mother at the age of 3 that he was going to be a cartoonist, Franklin's inclusion was extraordinary."
"It was especially defining for a 6-year-old Robb Armstrong, author of Fearless: A Cartoonist's Guide to Life and creator of JumpStart, one of the most widely syndicated black comic strips ever.
"1968 is a very vivid year for me," Armstrong told NPR's Renee Montagne in an interview for Weekend Edition. Two months after King was killed, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Armstrong's older brother also died that year, just 30 days before Franklin's debut.
For Armstrong, a young black boy who declared to his mother at the age of 3 that he was going to be a cartoonist, Franklin's inclusion was extraordinary."
Honey Badger may not care, but the ‘creative genius’ who took him viral just won a big victory; The Washington Post, August 1, 2018
Antonia Farzan, The Washington Post; Honey Badger may not care, but the ‘creative genius’ who took him viral just won a big victory
"In June 2015, Gordon filed a lawsuit alleging
trademark infringement. The U.S. District Court for the Central District
of California granted summary judgment to the greeting card company,
saying that the cards were expressive works protected by the First
Amendment. Gordon appealed.
On Monday, the appeals court reversed the lower court’s decision, allowing his lawsuit to continue.
In an opinion published Monday,
the three-judge panel said that Gordon’s lawsuit against Drape
Creative, Inc. and Papyrus-Recycled Greetings, Inc. presents a question
that should be tried before a jury: Did the greeting cards add any
artistic value that would be protected by the First Amendment, or did
they simply appropriate the goodwill associated with Gordon’s trademark?"
Tuesday, July 31, 2018
Big Data Is Getting Bigger. So Are the Privacy and Ethical Questions.; The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 31, 2018
Goldie Blumenstyk, The Chronicle of Higher Education; Big Data Is Getting Bigger. So Are the Privacy and Ethical Questions.
"Big data is getting bigger. So are the privacy and ethical questions.
The next step in using “big data” for student success is upon us. It’s a little cool. And also kind of creepy.
This new approach goes beyond the tactics now used by hundreds of colleges, which depend on data collected from sources like classroom teaching platforms and student-information systems. It not only makes a technological leap; it also raises issues around ethics and privacy.
Here’s how it works: Whenever you log on to a wireless network with your cellphone or computer, you leave a digital footprint. Move from one building to another while staying on the same network, and that network knows how long you stayed and where you went. That data is collected continuously and automatically from the network’s various nodes.
Now, with the help of a company called Degree Analytics, a few colleges are beginning to use location data collected from students’ cellphones and laptops as they move around campus. Some colleges are using it to improve the kind of advice they might send to students, like a text-message reminder to go to class if they’ve been absent."
"Big data is getting bigger. So are the privacy and ethical questions.
The next step in using “big data” for student success is upon us. It’s a little cool. And also kind of creepy.
This new approach goes beyond the tactics now used by hundreds of colleges, which depend on data collected from sources like classroom teaching platforms and student-information systems. It not only makes a technological leap; it also raises issues around ethics and privacy.
Here’s how it works: Whenever you log on to a wireless network with your cellphone or computer, you leave a digital footprint. Move from one building to another while staying on the same network, and that network knows how long you stayed and where you went. That data is collected continuously and automatically from the network’s various nodes.
Now, with the help of a company called Degree Analytics, a few colleges are beginning to use location data collected from students’ cellphones and laptops as they move around campus. Some colleges are using it to improve the kind of advice they might send to students, like a text-message reminder to go to class if they’ve been absent."
Reporting ‘with neither fear nor favor’ earns ethics award for MPR, NPR reporters; Minneapolis Public Radio (MPR), July 30, 2018
Bob Collins, Minneapolis Public Radio (MPR); Reporting ‘with neither fear nor favor’ earns ethics award for MPR, NPR reporters
"To uphold the SPJ Code of Ethics, reporting on your own company is to tread in uncertain territory. You don’t produce a story like this, for example, without taking a fair amount of personal and professional risk.
That’s also true in the case of Folkenflik and Kelly, who outed their bosses’ apparent ability to look the other way with rumors of news boss Michael Oreskes’ behavior toward female subordinates.
Kelly’s interview of NPR CEO Jarl Mohn remains a textbook example of how to ask tough questions."
"To uphold the SPJ Code of Ethics, reporting on your own company is to tread in uncertain territory. You don’t produce a story like this, for example, without taking a fair amount of personal and professional risk.
That’s also true in the case of Folkenflik and Kelly, who outed their bosses’ apparent ability to look the other way with rumors of news boss Michael Oreskes’ behavior toward female subordinates.
Kelly’s interview of NPR CEO Jarl Mohn remains a textbook example of how to ask tough questions."
Monday, July 30, 2018
Open data offer risks and rewards for conservation; Editorial, July 24, 2018
Editorial, Nature;
"In a Perspective published this week in Nature Ecology & Evolution (A. I. T. Tulloch et al. Nature Ecol. Evol. 2, 1209–1217; 2018), conservation experts offer a way to help scientists and officials to decide when to publish such sensitive information — and when not to. It’s the latest development in an ongoing debate that pits advocates of open data against those who take a harder line and want more restrictions. The authors warn that a default position in which location data are withheld if a species is identified as being of high biological significance and under high threat — as recommended by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility — risks missing out on the benefits of data sharing.
To aim for a more balanced approach, the scientists drew up a decision tree to help people judge what to do with information gained from wildlife monitoring and surveys. A series of steps asks questions such as “Could data be used to mitigate threats to species?” and “Would sharing location data increase risk of species decline through increased visitation?” In some cases — fish spawning locations for one, because the fishing industry would love to target them — the recommendation is to keep everything from the name of a species to its location under wraps. But in other cases, the need for secrecy is trumped by the possible benefits of transparency. Open data could help local communities fight to protect a habitat when development is threatening a species."
Open data offer risks and rewards for conservation
"In a Perspective published this week in Nature Ecology & Evolution (A. I. T. Tulloch et al. Nature Ecol. Evol. 2, 1209–1217; 2018), conservation experts offer a way to help scientists and officials to decide when to publish such sensitive information — and when not to. It’s the latest development in an ongoing debate that pits advocates of open data against those who take a harder line and want more restrictions. The authors warn that a default position in which location data are withheld if a species is identified as being of high biological significance and under high threat — as recommended by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility — risks missing out on the benefits of data sharing.
To aim for a more balanced approach, the scientists drew up a decision tree to help people judge what to do with information gained from wildlife monitoring and surveys. A series of steps asks questions such as “Could data be used to mitigate threats to species?” and “Would sharing location data increase risk of species decline through increased visitation?” In some cases — fish spawning locations for one, because the fishing industry would love to target them — the recommendation is to keep everything from the name of a species to its location under wraps. But in other cases, the need for secrecy is trumped by the possible benefits of transparency. Open data could help local communities fight to protect a habitat when development is threatening a species."
Saturday, July 28, 2018
Tech president tightening ethics controls after money scandals; Atlanta Journal Constitution, July 27, 2018
The University System of Georgia, as it happens, will have an ethics awareness week in mid-November, noted Chancellor Steve W. Wrigley in an email to Peterson last week. “I expect a strong and visible presence and participation from you and your senior leadership team,” Wrigley wrote...
On June 5, Tech removed Andrew Gerber from his leadership role at the affiliated Georgia Tech Research Institute, a spokeswoman said on Friday. Gerber, who was paid about $400,000 a year, subsequently resigned.
Gerber was the focus of an April report by Channel 2 Action Newsthat said GTRI had spent more than $1 million on employee “morale” events. The spending included $73,000 for Georgia Aquarium visits by employees and their families, $109,000 for a staff picnic at Six Flags, $26,000 at a Braves game, nearly $12,000 for go-karts and laser tag at Andretti’s and $7,300 at Topgolf, including more than $1,000 in cocktails, beer and wine."
The framers worried about corruption. Their words may now haunt the president.; The Washington Post, July 27, 2018
Editorial Board, The Washington Post; The framers worried about corruption. Their words may now haunt the president.
"The government is certain to appeal, and the matter will probably be settled in a higher court. Nonetheless, the judge’s ruling opens the way for fact-finding to proceed in the case against Mr. Trump, meaning the plaintiffs may now seek financial records of his hotel and business — as well as his tax returns, which the president has refused to divulge.
In cutting through the definitional underbrush, it’s fair to think of the emoluments clauses as the means by which the framers intended to impede corruption and ensure officials would be beholden to the public interest, not private interests. Mr. Trump has seemed heedless of such distinctions. This lawsuit could change that."
"The government is certain to appeal, and the matter will probably be settled in a higher court. Nonetheless, the judge’s ruling opens the way for fact-finding to proceed in the case against Mr. Trump, meaning the plaintiffs may now seek financial records of his hotel and business — as well as his tax returns, which the president has refused to divulge.
In cutting through the definitional underbrush, it’s fair to think of the emoluments clauses as the means by which the framers intended to impede corruption and ensure officials would be beholden to the public interest, not private interests. Mr. Trump has seemed heedless of such distinctions. This lawsuit could change that."
Thursday, July 26, 2018
2018 National Trademark Exposition, July 27-28, 2018, Washington, D.C.
2018 National Trademark Exposition
Exhibitors
- 1000 Cranes, LLC
- American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA)
- DC Rollergirls
- Edible IP, LLC (DBA Edible Arrangements)
- Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital
- Global Brand Council, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- International Trademark Association (INTA)
- Looshes Labs LLC
- Microsoft
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Cente
- National Park Service (United States Department of the Interior) and National Park Foundation
- NumbersAlive!
- Politics and Prose
- Safeway
- Segway Inc.
- Tenneco Automotive
- The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
- Under Armour, Inc.
- Velcro Companies
- YMCA
Gwyneth Paltrow didn't want Condé Nast to fact-check Goop articles; The Guardian, July 25, 2018
Sam Wolfson, The Guardian; Gwyneth Paltrow didn't want Condé Nast to fact-check Goop articles
"“I think for us it was really like we like to work where we are in an expansive space. Somewhere like Condé, understandably, there are a lot of rules,” Paltrow told the Times, adding that they were a company that “do things in a very old-school way”.She argued that they were interviewing experts and didn’t need to check what they were saying was scientifically accurate. “We’re never making statements,” she said. Elise Loehnen, Goop’s head of content, added that Goop was “just asking questions”."
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
Why public libraries are still essential in 2018; Forbes, July 24, 2018
Constance Grady, Vox; Why public libraries are still essential in 2018: Libraries exist for the public. Amazon exists to maximize profits.
Enter Mourdoukoutas’s now-deleted op-ed, whose central thrust was that the roles traditionally performed by libraries — lending books, of course, but also serving as community gathering places — are now performed better by “third places” like Starbucks and bookstore-cafes. And since Amazon’s brick-and-mortar bookstores are equipped with easy access to the comprehensive Amazon database of books around the world, the article concluded, Amazon bookstore-cafes are superior to libraries."
"This past weekend, Forbes published and then took down a
controversial article. “This article was outside of this contributor’s
specific area of expertise, and has since been removed,” said Forbes, after significant backlash.
The article in question? An op-ed arguing that libraries are a waste of
taxpayer money and should be replaced by Amazon stores.
Libraries do seem to be outside of author Panos
Mourdoukoutas’s areas of expertise; he’s a professor who specializes in
world economy. (A popular tweet suggested that Mourdoukoutas paid for
the privilege to be published on Forbes, though it turned out to be an error;
he’s a paid blogger for Forbes.) But both the article itself and the
backlash against it point to a profound anxiety centered on libraries
and the question of whether they should be up for debate.
If we take it as read that public libraries exist and are
good and important, then we’re saying that the services they provide
are basic rights that it is our government’s responsibility to
safeguard. If we suggest that libraries shouldn’t exist — that they’re a
waste — then we call into question the rights that they protect.
Enter Mourdoukoutas’s now-deleted op-ed, whose central thrust was that the roles traditionally performed by libraries — lending books, of course, but also serving as community gathering places — are now performed better by “third places” like Starbucks and bookstore-cafes. And since Amazon’s brick-and-mortar bookstores are equipped with easy access to the comprehensive Amazon database of books around the world, the article concluded, Amazon bookstore-cafes are superior to libraries."
Artificial Intelligence Shows Why Atheism Is Unpopular; The Atlantic, July 23, 2018
Sigal Samuel, The Atlantic;
"Even harder to sway may be those concerned not with the methodology’s technical complications, but with its ethical complications. As Wildman told me, “These models are equal-opportunity insight generators. If you want to go militaristic, then these models tell you what the targets should be.”...
Nevertheless, just like Wildman, Shults told me, “I lose sleep at night on this. ... It is social engineering. It just is—there’s no pretending like it’s not.” But he added that other groups, like Cambridge Analytica, are doing this kind of computational work, too. And various bad actors will do it without transparency or public accountability. “It’s going to be done. So not doing it is not the answer.” Instead, he and Wildman believe the answer is to do the work with transparency and simultaneously speak out about the ethical danger inherent in it.
“That’s why our work here is two-pronged: I’m operating as a modeler and as an ethicist,” Wildman said. “It’s the best I can do.”"
Artificial Intelligence Shows Why Atheism Is Unpopular
"Even harder to sway may be those concerned not with the methodology’s technical complications, but with its ethical complications. As Wildman told me, “These models are equal-opportunity insight generators. If you want to go militaristic, then these models tell you what the targets should be.”...
Nevertheless, just like Wildman, Shults told me, “I lose sleep at night on this. ... It is social engineering. It just is—there’s no pretending like it’s not.” But he added that other groups, like Cambridge Analytica, are doing this kind of computational work, too. And various bad actors will do it without transparency or public accountability. “It’s going to be done. So not doing it is not the answer.” Instead, he and Wildman believe the answer is to do the work with transparency and simultaneously speak out about the ethical danger inherent in it.
“That’s why our work here is two-pronged: I’m operating as a modeler and as an ethicist,” Wildman said. “It’s the best I can do.”"
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
My terrifying deep dive into one of Russia's largest hacking forums; The Guardian, July 24, 2018
Dylan Curran, The Guardian;
[Kip Currier: I had a similar reaction to the author of this article when I attended a truly eye-opening 4/20/18 American Bar Association (ABA) Intellectual Property Law Conference presentation, "DarkNet: Enter at Your Own Risk. Inside the Digital Underworld". One of the presenters, Krista Valenzuela with the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell in West Trenton, New Jersey, did a live foray into the Dark Web. The scope of illicit activities and goods witnessed in just that brief demo was staggering and evoked a feeling that scenes of "black market" contraband and "bad actors" endemic to dystopian sci-fi fare like Blade Runner 2049 and Netflix's Altered Carbon are already part of the present-day real-world.]
"It’s fascinating to see how this community works together to take down “western” systems and derive chaos and profit from it. Typically, hackers in first-world countries are terrified to work together due to the multiplicative risk of a group being caught. In Russia, however, the authorities don’t seem to care that these hackers are wreaking havoc on the west. They are left to their own devices, and most users on this forum have been regular members for over six years.
A lot of the information on this forum is incredibly worrying, even if a lot of it is harmless 15-year-olds trying to be edgy and hack their friend’s phones. In any case, it’s important to know these communities exist. The dark underbelly of the internet isn’t going anywhere."
My terrifying deep dive into one of Russia's largest hacking forums
[Kip Currier: I had a similar reaction to the author of this article when I attended a truly eye-opening 4/20/18 American Bar Association (ABA) Intellectual Property Law Conference presentation, "DarkNet: Enter at Your Own Risk. Inside the Digital Underworld". One of the presenters, Krista Valenzuela with the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell in West Trenton, New Jersey, did a live foray into the Dark Web. The scope of illicit activities and goods witnessed in just that brief demo was staggering and evoked a feeling that scenes of "black market" contraband and "bad actors" endemic to dystopian sci-fi fare like Blade Runner 2049 and Netflix's Altered Carbon are already part of the present-day real-world.]
"It’s fascinating to see how this community works together to take down “western” systems and derive chaos and profit from it. Typically, hackers in first-world countries are terrified to work together due to the multiplicative risk of a group being caught. In Russia, however, the authorities don’t seem to care that these hackers are wreaking havoc on the west. They are left to their own devices, and most users on this forum have been regular members for over six years.
A lot of the information on this forum is incredibly worrying, even if a lot of it is harmless 15-year-olds trying to be edgy and hack their friend’s phones. In any case, it’s important to know these communities exist. The dark underbelly of the internet isn’t going anywhere."
Monday, July 23, 2018
Embracing the privacy-first mindset in the post-GDPR world; AdNovum Singapore via Enterprise Innovation, July 23, 2018
Leonard Cheong, Managing Director, AdNovum Singapore via Enterprise Innovation; Embracing the privacy-first mindset in the post-GDPR world
"Privacy is a fundamental human right.
This is the proclamation that Apple made when updating their App Store policies to ensure that application developers can’t access consumer data without consent, in a bid to demonstrate their commitment to data privacy.
As the world becomes more digital, privacy has indeed become more sought after and consumers today are only willing to share data with companies they trust. On 25 May 2018 the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation or EU-GDPR came into effect, sparking numerous conversations on privacy, ethics and compliance."
"Privacy is a fundamental human right.
This is the proclamation that Apple made when updating their App Store policies to ensure that application developers can’t access consumer data without consent, in a bid to demonstrate their commitment to data privacy.
As the world becomes more digital, privacy has indeed become more sought after and consumers today are only willing to share data with companies they trust. On 25 May 2018 the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation or EU-GDPR came into effect, sparking numerous conversations on privacy, ethics and compliance."
We Need Transparency in Algorithms, But Too Much Can Backfire; Harvard Business Review, July 23, 2018
Kartik Hosanagar and Vivian Jair, Harvard Business Review; We Need Transparency in Algorithms, But Too Much Can Backfire
"Companies and governments increasingly rely upon algorithms to make decisions that affect people’s lives and livelihoods – from loan approvals, to recruiting, legal sentencing, and college admissions. Less vital decisions, too, are being delegated to machines, from internet search results to product recommendations, dating matches, and what content goes up on our social media feeds. In response, many experts have called for rules and regulations that would make the inner workings of these algorithms transparent. But as Nass’s experience makes clear, transparency can backfire if not implemented carefully. Fortunately, there is a smart way forward."
"Companies and governments increasingly rely upon algorithms to make decisions that affect people’s lives and livelihoods – from loan approvals, to recruiting, legal sentencing, and college admissions. Less vital decisions, too, are being delegated to machines, from internet search results to product recommendations, dating matches, and what content goes up on our social media feeds. In response, many experts have called for rules and regulations that would make the inner workings of these algorithms transparent. But as Nass’s experience makes clear, transparency can backfire if not implemented carefully. Fortunately, there is a smart way forward."
Facebook's pledge to eliminate misinformation is itself fake news ; The Guardian, July 20, 2018
Judd Legum, The Guardian; Facebook's pledge to eliminate misinformation is itself fake news
"The production values are high and the message is compelling. In an 11-minute mini-documentary, Facebook acknowledges its mistakes and pledges to “fight against misinformation”.
“With connecting people, particularly at our scale, comes an immense amount of responsibility,” an unidentified Facebook executive in the film solemnly tells a nodding audience of new company employees.
An outdoor ad campaign by Facebook strikes a similar note, plastering slogans like “Fake news is not your friend” at bus stops around the country.
But the reality of what’s happening on the Facebook platform belies its gauzy public relations campaign."
"The production values are high and the message is compelling. In an 11-minute mini-documentary, Facebook acknowledges its mistakes and pledges to “fight against misinformation”.
“With connecting people, particularly at our scale, comes an immense amount of responsibility,” an unidentified Facebook executive in the film solemnly tells a nodding audience of new company employees.
An outdoor ad campaign by Facebook strikes a similar note, plastering slogans like “Fake news is not your friend” at bus stops around the country.
But the reality of what’s happening on the Facebook platform belies its gauzy public relations campaign."
Sunday, July 22, 2018
The Essay That Helped Bring Down the Soviet Union; The New York Times, July 20, 2018
Natan Sharansky, The New York Times; The Essay That Helped Bring Down the Soviet Union
[Sakharov's] message was unsettling and liberating: You cannot be a good
scientist or a free person while living a double life. Knowing the truth
while collaborating in the regime’s lies only produces bad science and
broken souls."
[Kip
Currier: It's enlightening and inspiring to be reminded of the
courageous stance that Soviet Union-residing nuclear physicist, dissident activist, and 1975 Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov took 50 years ago, via his influential essay, “Thoughts on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence
and Intellectual Freedom”. His ideas and invocations
on the importance of freedom to think, individual responsibility, moral leadership,
and the advancement of human rights for persons living in both open and
closed societies are as timely and indispensable today as they were in
1968.]
"Fifty years ago this Sunday, this paper devoted
three broadsheet pages to an essay that had been circulating secretly
in the Soviet Union for weeks. The manifesto, written by Andrei
Sakharov, championed an essential idea at grave risk today: that those
of us lucky enough to live in open societies should fight for the
freedom of those born into closed ones. This radical argument changed
the course of history.
Sakharov’s
essay carried a mild title — “Thoughts on Progress, Peaceful Coexistence
and Intellectual Freedom” — but it was explosive. “Freedom of thought
is the only guarantee against an infection of mankind by mass myths,
which, in the hands of treacherous hypocrites and demagogues, can be
transformed into bloody dictatorships,” he wrote. Suddenly the Soviet
Union’s most decorated physicist became its most prominent dissident...
Farting unicorn row: artist reaches settlement with Elon Musk; The Guardian, July 21, 2018
Damien Gayle, The Guardian; Farting unicorn row: artist reaches settlement with Elon Musk
"A Colorado artist says he has reached a settlement with Elon Musk after challenging the Tesla tycoon’s use of a farting unicorn motif that he had drawn as an ironic tribute to electric cars.
Musk used the cartoon image on Twitter, without attribution, to promote his Tesla electric car range, and ignored Tom Edwards’ attempts to come to a licensing arrangement, telling the artist’s daughter it would be “kinda lame” to sue."
"A Colorado artist says he has reached a settlement with Elon Musk after challenging the Tesla tycoon’s use of a farting unicorn motif that he had drawn as an ironic tribute to electric cars.
Musk used the cartoon image on Twitter, without attribution, to promote his Tesla electric car range, and ignored Tom Edwards’ attempts to come to a licensing arrangement, telling the artist’s daughter it would be “kinda lame” to sue."
It’s impossible to lead a totally ethical life—but it’s fun to try; Quartz, July 15, 2018
Ephrat Livni, Quartz; It’s impossible to lead a totally ethical life—but it’s fun to try
"It’s true that practically everything we do in life has ethical repercussions. “Any decision that has an impact on others now or in the future is an ethical choice,” explains ethicist Christopher Gilbert, author of the new book There’s No Right Way To Do the Wrong Thing. Gilbert says it’s useful to consider ethics like a moral ladder. On the lowest rung, you think only of yourself. Past the middle rung, you’re thinking of the decision’s influence on some. And on the highest rungs, you’re wondering how every choice impacts all affected by it. “When we step up that ladder and consistently strive to stay at the top rung, we are living an ethical life,” he says.
Will we be at the top rung all of the time? Almost certainly not. But the answer isn’t to throw up our hands. Rather, we can keep on trying, every day and throughout our lives, to approach the world thoughtfully and consider the implications of our individual actions on others."
"It’s true that practically everything we do in life has ethical repercussions. “Any decision that has an impact on others now or in the future is an ethical choice,” explains ethicist Christopher Gilbert, author of the new book There’s No Right Way To Do the Wrong Thing. Gilbert says it’s useful to consider ethics like a moral ladder. On the lowest rung, you think only of yourself. Past the middle rung, you’re thinking of the decision’s influence on some. And on the highest rungs, you’re wondering how every choice impacts all affected by it. “When we step up that ladder and consistently strive to stay at the top rung, we are living an ethical life,” he says.
Will we be at the top rung all of the time? Almost certainly not. But the answer isn’t to throw up our hands. Rather, we can keep on trying, every day and throughout our lives, to approach the world thoughtfully and consider the implications of our individual actions on others."
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Two men charged with stealing more than $8 million in rare books from Carnegie Library; The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 20, 2018
Paula Reed Ward, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Two men charged with stealing more than $8 million in rare books from Carnegie Library
[Kip Currier: This is a deeply troubling "library theft" and "breach of the public trust" story, with enormous implications about ethics, management, leadership, and Board responsibility and oversight. It'll definitely be a case study in my courses at the University of Pittsburgh and in the ethics textbook I'm writing.
Reading the Perry Mason-esque True Crime-confessional details (e.g. Priore: "greed came over me. I did it, but Schulman spurred me on") in The Post-Gazette's front-page article brought to mind the oft-heard adage "Crime doesn't pay"--a favorite slogan of the FBI, starting in 1927, and then used in the comic strip Dick Tracy in 1931.]
"It ranks as one of the largest library thefts in history.
Greg Priore, 61, of Oakland, who worked as the sole archivist and manager of the library’s rare book room since 1992, is charged with theft, receiving stolen property, conspiracy, retail theft, library theft, criminal mischief and forgery.
John Schulman, 54, of Squirrel Hill, who owns Caliban Book Shop, is charged with theft, receiving stolen property, dealing in proceeds of illegal activity, conspiracy, retail theft, theft by deception, forgery and deceptive business practices...
“Priore explained that he took a lot of maps and pictures – in all possibly 200 items – from the Oliver Room. Priore then stated ‘You got me, I screwed up.’ He also stated, ‘Please tell [library executive director] Mary Frances [Cooper] I am sorry and I let the whole place down.’”"
[Kip Currier: This is a deeply troubling "library theft" and "breach of the public trust" story, with enormous implications about ethics, management, leadership, and Board responsibility and oversight. It'll definitely be a case study in my courses at the University of Pittsburgh and in the ethics textbook I'm writing.
Reading the Perry Mason-esque True Crime-confessional details (e.g. Priore: "greed came over me. I did it, but Schulman spurred me on") in The Post-Gazette's front-page article brought to mind the oft-heard adage "Crime doesn't pay"--a favorite slogan of the FBI, starting in 1927, and then used in the comic strip Dick Tracy in 1931.]
"It ranks as one of the largest library thefts in history.
Greg Priore, 61, of Oakland, who worked as the sole archivist and manager of the library’s rare book room since 1992, is charged with theft, receiving stolen property, conspiracy, retail theft, library theft, criminal mischief and forgery.
John Schulman, 54, of Squirrel Hill, who owns Caliban Book Shop, is charged with theft, receiving stolen property, dealing in proceeds of illegal activity, conspiracy, retail theft, theft by deception, forgery and deceptive business practices...
“Priore explained that he took a lot of maps and pictures – in all possibly 200 items – from the Oliver Room. Priore then stated ‘You got me, I screwed up.’ He also stated, ‘Please tell [library executive director] Mary Frances [Cooper] I am sorry and I let the whole place down.’”"
Friday, July 20, 2018
The intelligence community has never faced a problem quite like this; The Washington Post, July 19, 2018
The Washington Post; The intelligence community has never faced a problem quite like this
"The American intelligence community has never faced a
problem quite like President Trump — a commander in chief who is
suspected by a growing number of Republicans and Democrats of deferring to Russia’s views over the recommendations of his own intelligence agencies.
“There
are almost two governments now,” worries John McLaughlin, a former
acting CIA director. He discusses the Trump conundrum with the same
vexation as a dozen other former intelligence officials I’ve spoken with
since the president’s shockingly acquiescent performance onstage Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
How
are current intelligence chiefs handling this unprecedented situation?
They are operating carefully but correctly, trying to balance their
obligations to the president with the oaths they have sworn to protect
and defend the Constitution. The officials continue to serve the elected
president, but they are also signaling that they work for the American
people."
Trump Wants Putin to Keep Meddling to Get Himself Reelected; The Daily Beast, July 19, 2018
Margaret Carlson, The Daily Beast; Trump Wants Putin to Keep Meddling to Get Himself Reelected
"From the gist of special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictments, Trump knows how sophisticated, how costly the Russian actions were, and how likely they are to take place again. Yet he’s made no moves to deny Putin a glide path to a sequel, no elevating election security to a priority as he did for the calamitous separating children at the border, which has all the money and attention in the world.
To the contrary, the White House hasn’t spearheaded anything close to the kind of Manhattan Project that protecting our democracy deserves, not even the cost-free appointment of an election czar, or a request to Silicon Valley to help. Small efforts to counter voting machine fraud, bots, fake news (the real kind) go along at a snail’s pace at the FBI and Homeland Security. Congress has allotted a mere $380 million, a pittance to the cause. It’s likely that Russia is putting more money into interfering in 2020 than the U.S. is putting in to stopping it."
"From the gist of special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictments, Trump knows how sophisticated, how costly the Russian actions were, and how likely they are to take place again. Yet he’s made no moves to deny Putin a glide path to a sequel, no elevating election security to a priority as he did for the calamitous separating children at the border, which has all the money and attention in the world.
To the contrary, the White House hasn’t spearheaded anything close to the kind of Manhattan Project that protecting our democracy deserves, not even the cost-free appointment of an election czar, or a request to Silicon Valley to help. Small efforts to counter voting machine fraud, bots, fake news (the real kind) go along at a snail’s pace at the FBI and Homeland Security. Congress has allotted a mere $380 million, a pittance to the cause. It’s likely that Russia is putting more money into interfering in 2020 than the U.S. is putting in to stopping it."
Stop calling it ‘meddling.’ It’s actually information warfare.; The Washington Post, July 17, 2018
The Washington Post; Stop calling it ‘meddling.’ It’s actually information warfare.
"“And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!” That’s the catchphrase that comes at the end of “Scooby-Doo” cartoons, always right at the moment when some monster turns out to just be a creepy old man in a mask. The zany adventures are over — until the next episode.
That’s the appropriate use of the word “meddling.” It is not, however, an appropriate word to use when referring to the ongoing Russian attacks on American democracy that gained prominence in the 2016 presidential election and will accelerate as we head into the November midterms. This isn’t “Scooby-Doo.” The stakes couldn’t be higher, and the monsters we face are real...
"“And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!” That’s the catchphrase that comes at the end of “Scooby-Doo” cartoons, always right at the moment when some monster turns out to just be a creepy old man in a mask. The zany adventures are over — until the next episode.
That’s the appropriate use of the word “meddling.” It is not, however, an appropriate word to use when referring to the ongoing Russian attacks on American democracy that gained prominence in the 2016 presidential election and will accelerate as we head into the November midterms. This isn’t “Scooby-Doo.” The stakes couldn’t be higher, and the monsters we face are real...
But
that phrase is woefully inadequate. These continuing attacks are
neither meddling nor “interference,” another euphemism. They’re a part
of gibridnaya voyna — Russian for “hybrid warfare.” The best term for what we’re talking about would be “information warfare.
One
of the jarring realizations of the 21st century is that democratic
governments are only as good as the quality of information that their
voters receive. Influence the information flow voters receive, and
you’ll eventually influence the government."
Thursday, July 19, 2018
Shadow Politics: Meet the Digital Sleuth Exposing Fake News; Wired, 7/18/18
Issie Lapowsky, Wired; Shadow Politics: Meet the Digital Sleuth Exposing Fake News
"After about 36 hours of work, during which his software crashed dozens of times under the weight of all that data, he was able to map out these links, transforming the list into an impossibly intricate data visualization. “It was a picture of the entire ecosystem of misinformation a few days after the election,” Albright says, still in awe of his discovery. “I saw these insights I’d never thought of.”
And smack in the center of the monstrous web, was a giant node labeled YouTube."
"After about 36 hours of work, during which his software crashed dozens of times under the weight of all that data, he was able to map out these links, transforming the list into an impossibly intricate data visualization. “It was a picture of the entire ecosystem of misinformation a few days after the election,” Albright says, still in awe of his discovery. “I saw these insights I’d never thought of.”
And smack in the center of the monstrous web, was a giant node labeled YouTube."
“I Was Devastated”: Tim Berners-Lee, the Man Who Created the World Wide Web, Has Some Regrets; Vanity Fair, July 1, 2018
Katrina Brooker, Vanity Fair; “I Was Devastated”: Tim Berners-Lee, the Man Who Created the World Wide Web, Has Some Regrets
"For now, chastened by bad press and public
outrage, tech behemoths and other corporations say they are willing to
make changes to ensure privacy and protect their users. “I’m committed
to getting this right,” Facebook’s Zuckerberg told Congress in April.
Google recently rolled out new privacy features to Gmail which would
allow users to control how their messages get forwarded, copied,
downloaded, or printed. And as revelations of spying, manipulation, and
other abuses emerge, more governments are pushing for change. Last year
the European Union fined Google $2.7 billion for manipulating online
shopping markets. This year new regulations will require it and other
tech companies to ask for users’ consent for their data. In the U.S.,
Congress and regulators are mulling ways to check the powers of Facebook
and others.
But
laws written now don’t anticipate future technologies. Nor do
lawmakers—many badgered by corporate lobbyists—always choose to protect
individual rights. In December, lobbyists for telecom companies pushed
the Federal Communications Commission to roll back net-neutrality rules,
which protect equal access to the Internet. In January, the U.S. Senate
voted to advance a bill that would allow the National Security Agency
to continue its mass online-surveillance program. Google’s lobbyists are
now working to modify rules on how companies can gather and store
biometric data, such as fingerprints, iris scans, and facial-recognition
images."
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
One Job AI Won't Replace? Chief Ethics Officer; Fortune, July 17, 2018
Robert Hackett, Fortune; One Job AI Won't Replace? Chief Ethics Officer
"We’ve heard the warnings: The robots are coming, and they’re coming for your job.
Whose roles will be safe as the usurper, artificial intelligence, enters the workforce? Jeetu Patel, chief product officer at Box (box, -1.65%), a cloud storage and file-sharing company, says the secure ones will be those who fine-tune the machines’ moral compasses.
“I think chief ethics officer will be a big role in the AI world,” Patel said at a breakfast roundtable at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colo. on Tuesday morning. “Lots of jobs will be killed, but ethics jobs will move forward.”"
"We’ve heard the warnings: The robots are coming, and they’re coming for your job.
Whose roles will be safe as the usurper, artificial intelligence, enters the workforce? Jeetu Patel, chief product officer at Box (box, -1.65%), a cloud storage and file-sharing company, says the secure ones will be those who fine-tune the machines’ moral compasses.
“I think chief ethics officer will be a big role in the AI world,” Patel said at a breakfast roundtable at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, Colo. on Tuesday morning. “Lots of jobs will be killed, but ethics jobs will move forward.”"
“A shameless lie”: Holes poked in Donald Trump’s assertion that he misspoke when praising Putin; Salon, July 17, 2018
Shira Tarlo and Joseph Neese, Salon; “A shameless lie”: Holes poked in Donald Trump’s assertion that he misspoke when praising Putin
"As controversy mounted over his assertion that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin's word over the findings of the U.S. intelligence community, President Donald Trump attempted to walk back his remarks, in part, by claiming that "other people" could have also meddled in the 2016 presidential election."
"As controversy mounted over his assertion that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin's word over the findings of the U.S. intelligence community, President Donald Trump attempted to walk back his remarks, in part, by claiming that "other people" could have also meddled in the 2016 presidential election."
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
This sad, embarrassing wreck of a man; The Washington Post, July 17, 2018
The Washington Post; This sad, embarrassing wreck of a man
The explanation is in doubt; what needs to be explained — his compliance — is not. Granted, Trump has a weak man’s banal fascination with strong men whose disdain for him is evidently unimaginable to him. And, yes, he only perfunctorily pretends to have priorities beyond personal aggrandizement. But just as astronomers inferred, from anomalies in the orbits of the planet Uranus, the existence of Neptune before actually seeing it, Mueller might infer, and then find, still-hidden sources of the behavior of this sad, embarrassing wreck of a man."
"Americans elected a president who — this is a safe
surmise — knew that he had more to fear from making his tax returns
public than from keeping them secret. The most innocent inference is
that for decades he has depended on an American weakness, susceptibility
to the tacky charisma of wealth, which would evaporate when his tax
returns revealed that he has always lied about his wealth, too. A more
ominous explanation might be that his redundantly demonstrated
incompetence as a businessman tumbled him into unsavory financial
dependencies on Russians. A still more sinister explanation might be
that the Russians have something else, something worse, to keep him
compliant.
The explanation is in doubt; what needs to be explained — his compliance — is not. Granted, Trump has a weak man’s banal fascination with strong men whose disdain for him is evidently unimaginable to him. And, yes, he only perfunctorily pretends to have priorities beyond personal aggrandizement. But just as astronomers inferred, from anomalies in the orbits of the planet Uranus, the existence of Neptune before actually seeing it, Mueller might infer, and then find, still-hidden sources of the behavior of this sad, embarrassing wreck of a man."
After a stunning news conference, there’s a newly crucial job for the American press; The Washington Post, July 16, 2018
The Washington Post; After a stunning news conference, there’s a newly crucial job for the American press
If
any such pride is to continue in the hours and days ahead, news
organizations need to step up to the job of driving home to American
citizens the larger picture, too.
"Journalism, writ large, can be proud of the
Associated Press’s Jon Lemire and Reuters’s Jeff Mason, who asked
well-honed, incisive questions on Monday and asked them in just the
right way. (Historical note: Lemire, back in October 2016, was thrown
out of a room by Trump’s campaign people, as the candidate called him a
“sleazebag” for asking tough questions about sexual misconduct claims
against him.)
Mason and Lemire held Trump’s feet to the fire.
It’s not
enough to offer such pallid assessments as those we’ve heard too often,
that “this is outside the norm,” or “there’s little precedent for what
we’re hearing.
Clarity of purpose and moral force are called for. They are not always in ample supply by a too-docile press corps.
Fallows called Monday’s news conference a “moment of truth” for Republican lawmakers
So, too, for American journalists."
We are a deeply stupid country; The Washington Post, July 16, 2018
The Washington Post; We are a deeply stupid country
"How foolish are we?
We
brainlessly criticized Russia when it invaded Georgia and Ukraine. We
idiotically protested when Russia poisoned people in Britain. Like
dunces, we punished Russians for killing human rights activists. Morons
that we are, we complained when Russia shot down a passenger jet. And then, revealing ourselves to be truly daft and inane, we blamed Russia for interfering in our election.
Standing
at Putin’s side Monday, Trump let the world know just how doltish the
people are who made this judgment, including the cretins at the CIA and
the nitwits on the Senate Intelligence Committee. “I have President
Putin; he just said it’s not Russia,” Trump announced. “I don’t see any
reason why it would be” Russia."
Trump and Putin vs. America; The New York Times, July 16, 2018
Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times;Trump and Putin vs. America
"Listening to Trump, it was as if Franklin Roosevelt had announced after
Pearl Harbor: “Hey, both sides are to blame. Our battleships in Hawaii
were a little provocative to Japan — and, by the way, I had nothing to
do with the causes for their attack. So cool it.”
"Listening to Trump, it was as if Franklin Roosevelt had announced after
Pearl Harbor: “Hey, both sides are to blame. Our battleships in Hawaii
were a little provocative to Japan — and, by the way, I had nothing to
do with the causes for their attack. So cool it.”
Monday, July 16, 2018
UN Report Sets Forth Strong Recommendations for Companies to Protect Free Expression; Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), June 27, 2018
Jillian C. York, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF);
UN Report Sets Forth Strong Recommendations for Companies to Protect Free Expression
"Through Onlinecensorship.org and various other projects—including this year’s censorship edition of our annual Who Has Your Back? report—we’ve highlighted the challenges and pitfalls that companies face as they seek to moderate content on their platforms. Over the past year, we’ve seen this issue come into the spotlight through advocacy initiatives like the Santa Clara Principles, media such as the documentary The Cleaners, and now, featured in the latest report by Professor David Kaye, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
Toward greater freedom, accountability, and transparency
The Special Rapporteur’s latest is the first-ever UN report to focus on the regulation of user-generated content online, and comes at a time of heated debate on the impact of disinformation, extremism, and hateful speech. The report focuses on the obligations of both State actors and ICT companies. It aims at finding user-centered, human rights law-aligned approaches to content policy-making, transparency, due process, and governance on platforms that host user-generated content."
Thursday, July 12, 2018
OIF Responds to Library Bill of Rights Meeting Room Amendment; American Libraries, July 10, 2018
American Libraries;
OIF Responds to Library Bill of Rights Meeting Room Amendment
"“As cited in the interpretation, there are two prominent cases addressing public library meeting rooms. One involved religion. One involved a white supremacist group. In both cases, the library prohibiting the groups use of space lost lawsuits and were forced to change their policies.
“The Library Bill of Rights Meeting Room amendment should serve as a catalyst for library staff to review or establish policies with assistance from their legal counsel. We encourage libraries to adopt policies that govern meeting space use while meeting the needs of the community that they serve."
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
Is ‘Balanced Intellectual Property’ Code For ‘Anti-Intellectual Property’?; Above The Law, June 28, 2018
Krista L. Cox, Above The Law;
Is ‘Balanced Intellectual Property’ Code For ‘Anti-Intellectual Property’?
"The copyright and patent system in the United States acknowledges both the need to incentivize innovation as well as the need for public access. It is a utilitarian view that promotes further creation. Advocating for a system that incentivizes the creator or inventor while simultaneously protecting the interest of the public isn’t an anti-intellectual property stance, it’s one that encourages more creative works and innovations."
Monday, July 9, 2018
How Using A Drone Changed The Way This Photographer Saw Inequality; HuffPost, July 3, 2018
Amanda Duberman, HuffPost;
How Using A Drone Changed The Way This Photographer Saw Inequality
"A few years ago, Johnny Miller got a drone.
The photographer was studying anthropology at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and used his drone to take a video of him and his friends hiking local Table Mountain. Watching the footage he shot, Miller was stunned at how an aerial view gave him a completely different perspective on an area he’d looked at dozens of times.
“That was the moment when I realized that the drone had this ability and this power to make you see things very differently,” he told HuffPost. “And I wondered if you could look at social issues the same way.”"
Sunday, July 8, 2018
The U.S. government recruited black men to watch them die; The Washington Post, July 3, 2018
[Podcast] Retropod, The Washington Post; The U.S. government recruited black men to watch them die
"The Tuskegee syphilis experiment is a horrific piece of American history."
"The Tuskegee syphilis experiment is a horrific piece of American history."
The legacy of Thomas Parran is more troubling than you thought; The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 8, 2018
Scott W. Stern, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; The legacy of Thomas Parran is more troubling than you though
"University of Pittsburgh trustees last month voted to remove from a university building the name of Thomas Parran, who served as U.S. surgeon general from 1936 to 1948 and was founding dean of Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health.
For decades, Parran has been notorious for overseeing the infamous Tuskegee syphilis experiments, in which the government withheld treatment from poor black men with syphilis in rural Alabama from 1932 to 1972. In more recent years, Parran gained additional notoriety for his role in overseeing an even crueler study the government conducted in Guatemala, in which government officials intentionally infected female sex workers with syphilis. So, the renaming was long overdue.
However, there is another way Thomas Parran’s legacy remains with the residents of Pittsburgh — one that virtually no one knows about."
"University of Pittsburgh trustees last month voted to remove from a university building the name of Thomas Parran, who served as U.S. surgeon general from 1936 to 1948 and was founding dean of Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health.
For decades, Parran has been notorious for overseeing the infamous Tuskegee syphilis experiments, in which the government withheld treatment from poor black men with syphilis in rural Alabama from 1932 to 1972. In more recent years, Parran gained additional notoriety for his role in overseeing an even crueler study the government conducted in Guatemala, in which government officials intentionally infected female sex workers with syphilis. So, the renaming was long overdue.
However, there is another way Thomas Parran’s legacy remains with the residents of Pittsburgh — one that virtually no one knows about."
FCC Refuses to Back Down From Plan to Strip Phone and Internet Subsidies for American Indians; Gizmodo, July 7, 2018
A.J. Dellinger, Gizmodo;
FCC Refuses to Back Down From Plan to Strip Phone and Internet Subsidies for American Indians
"Late last year, the Federal Communications Commission under Ajit Pai voted to make it harder for American Indians to receive subsidies for broadband internet service. Despite legal challenges, the commission decided this week not to reverse its position, opting instead to continue to deny expanded assistance for phone and internet access...
The FCC under Ajit Pai has taken particular interest in dismantling much of the Lifeline program, which helps to make broadband internet and both landline and mobile phone services available to low-income Americans."
OLPC’s $100 laptop was going to change the world — then it all went wrong; The Verge, April 16, 2018
Adi Robertson, The Verge; OLPC’s $100 laptop was going to change the world — then it all went wrong
[Kip Currier: Very interesting April 2018 article in The Verge about the One Laptop Per Child initiative.]
"Thirteen years ago, OLPC told the world that every child should get a laptop. It never stopped to prove that they needed one."
[Kip Currier: Very interesting April 2018 article in The Verge about the One Laptop Per Child initiative.]
"Thirteen years ago, OLPC told the world that every child should get a laptop. It never stopped to prove that they needed one."
Friday, July 6, 2018
Pruitt is gone. Congress still doesn’t care about ethics.; The Washington Post, July 6, 2018
The Washington Post; Pruitt is gone. Congress still doesn’t care about ethics.
The foundational principle that public service is a public trust is now on the ropes. Those in Congress who share responsibility for Pruitt’s ethical failures will find it difficult to avoid looking hypocritical if they demand ethical conduct from appointees in this administration or the next. Gowdy is a notable exception, but he is leaving Congress. It is time for his colleagues to step up their oversight of this administration’s ethical failings. The road to redemption may require an acknowledgment of responsibility for failing to oversee the EPA’s administrator and a recommitment to enforcing government ethics. As for the executive branch, Trump can start by curtailing his praise of the current holder of the title “most unethical Cabinet member in modern history.”"
"The damage to the executive branch ethics program is profound. A bad ethical tone from the top, which began with Trump’s refusal to divest his conflicting financial interests, continues to erode that program. Trump’s commendation of the departing Pruitt is as strong a statement as a leader can send to devalue the importance of ethics in government.
The foundational principle that public service is a public trust is now on the ropes. Those in Congress who share responsibility for Pruitt’s ethical failures will find it difficult to avoid looking hypocritical if they demand ethical conduct from appointees in this administration or the next. Gowdy is a notable exception, but he is leaving Congress. It is time for his colleagues to step up their oversight of this administration’s ethical failings. The road to redemption may require an acknowledgment of responsibility for failing to oversee the EPA’s administrator and a recommitment to enforcing government ethics. As for the executive branch, Trump can start by curtailing his praise of the current holder of the title “most unethical Cabinet member in modern history.”"
Ethics Watchdog Releases One-Word Statement On Pruitt Resignation; HuffPost, July 5, 2018
Ryan Grenoble, HuffPost; Ethics Watchdog Releases One-Word Statement On Pruitt Resignation
"What is there to say when you run an ethics watchdog and a man The Washington Post labeled “easily the most corrupt senior official in the federal government” has just resigned?
Not much. At least nothing that doesn’t involve four-letter words.
Reacting to news that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned Thursday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released a one-word statement, attributed to Executive Director Noah Bookbinder: “Good.”"
"What is there to say when you run an ethics watchdog and a man The Washington Post labeled “easily the most corrupt senior official in the federal government” has just resigned?
Not much. At least nothing that doesn’t involve four-letter words.
Reacting to news that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned Thursday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released a one-word statement, attributed to Executive Director Noah Bookbinder: “Good.”"
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