Editorial Board, The Washington Post; There’s hope for federal online privacy legislation
"A FEW months ago, every day seemed to bring with it a new technology
scandal. Now, each day seems to bring a new policy proposal to fix the
problem. Even the companies support action from Congress. The gaps
between the proposed solutions so far offer some insight into areas of
agreement — and more important, disagreement — that will define the
fight to come."
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Dutch surgeon wins landmark 'right to be forgotten' case; The Guardian, January 21, 2019
Daniel Boffey, The Guardian; Dutch surgeon wins landmark 'right to be forgotten' case
"A Dutch surgeon formally disciplined for her medical negligence has won a legal action to remove Google search results about her case in a landmark “right to be forgotten” ruling...
Google and the Dutch data privacy watchdog, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, initially rejected attempts to have the links removed on the basis that the doctor was still on probation and the information remained relevant.
However, in what is said to be the first right to be forgotten case involving medical negligence by a doctor, the district court of Amsterdam subsequently ruled the surgeon had “an interest in not indicating that every time someone enters their full name in Google’s search engine, (almost) immediately the mention of her name appears on the ‘blacklist of doctors’, and this importance adds more weight than the public’s interest in finding this information in this way”...
The European court of justice established the “right to be forgotten” in a 2014 ruling relating to a Spanish citizen’s claim against material about him found on Google searches. It allows European citizens to ask search engines to remove links to “inadequate, irrelevant or … excessive” content. About 3 million people in Europe have since made such a request."
"A Dutch surgeon formally disciplined for her medical negligence has won a legal action to remove Google search results about her case in a landmark “right to be forgotten” ruling...
Google and the Dutch data privacy watchdog, Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens, initially rejected attempts to have the links removed on the basis that the doctor was still on probation and the information remained relevant.
However, in what is said to be the first right to be forgotten case involving medical negligence by a doctor, the district court of Amsterdam subsequently ruled the surgeon had “an interest in not indicating that every time someone enters their full name in Google’s search engine, (almost) immediately the mention of her name appears on the ‘blacklist of doctors’, and this importance adds more weight than the public’s interest in finding this information in this way”...
The European court of justice established the “right to be forgotten” in a 2014 ruling relating to a Spanish citizen’s claim against material about him found on Google searches. It allows European citizens to ask search engines to remove links to “inadequate, irrelevant or … excessive” content. About 3 million people in Europe have since made such a request."
Monday, January 21, 2019
Trademark Fight Over Vulgar Term’s ‘Phonetic Twin’ Heads to Supreme Court; The New York Times, January 21, 2019
Adam Liptak, The New York Times; Trademark Fight Over Vulgar Term’s ‘Phonetic Twin’ Heads to Supreme Court
"The Supreme Court apparently thinks the question is more complicated, as it agreed this month to hear the government’s appeal.
If nothing else, the court can use Mr. Brunetti’s case to sort out just
what it meant to say in the 2017 decision, which ruled for an
Asian-American dance-rock band called the Slants. (The decision also
effectively allowed the Washington Redskins football team to register
its trademarks.)
The justices were
unanimous in ruling that the prohibition on disparaging trademarks
violated the First Amendment. But they managed to split 4 to 4 in most
of their reasoning, making it hard to analyze how the decision applies
in the context of the ban on scandalous terms."
Scientist Who Edited Babies’ Genes Is Likely to Face Charges in China; The New York Times, January 21, 2019
Austin Ramzy and Sui-Lee Wee, The New York Times; Scientist Who Edited Babies’ Genes Is Likely to Face Charges in China
"Dr. He’s announcement raised ethical concerns about the long-term effects of such genetic alterations,
which if successful would be inherited by the child’s progeny, and
whether other scientists would be emboldened to try their own
gene-editing experiments.
Scientists
inside and outside China criticized Dr. He’s work, which highlighted
fears that the country has overlooked ethical issues in the pursuit of
scientific achievement. The Chinese authorities placed Dr. He under
investigation, during which time he has been kept under guard at a guesthouse at the Southern University of Science and Technology in the city of Shenzhen."
Once Centers Of Soviet Propaganda, Moscow's Libraries Are Having A 'Loud' Revival; NPR, January 21, 2019
Lucian Kim, NPR; Once Centers Of Soviet Propaganda, Moscow's Libraries Are Having A 'Loud' Revival
"In recent years, the city's team in charge of libraries has discarded almost all traditional concepts of what a public library is.
"We have a different idea from the way things used to be. A library can be a loud place," says Maria Rogachyova, the official who oversees city libraries. "Of course there should be some quiet nooks where you can focus on your reading, but our libraries also host a huge amount of loud events."...
The library now has its own website, Facebook page and even YouTube channel.
"Moscow libraries aren't competing with modern technology, they're trying to use it," says Rogachyova. "The rise of electronic media shouldn't spell the death of libraries as public spaces.""
"In recent years, the city's team in charge of libraries has discarded almost all traditional concepts of what a public library is.
"We have a different idea from the way things used to be. A library can be a loud place," says Maria Rogachyova, the official who oversees city libraries. "Of course there should be some quiet nooks where you can focus on your reading, but our libraries also host a huge amount of loud events."...
The library now has its own website, Facebook page and even YouTube channel.
"Moscow libraries aren't competing with modern technology, they're trying to use it," says Rogachyova. "The rise of electronic media shouldn't spell the death of libraries as public spaces.""
The ethics of gene editing: Lulu, Nana, and 'Gattaca; Johns Hopkins University, January 17, 2019
Johns Hopkins University; The ethics of gene editing: Lulu, Nana, and 'Gattaca
"Under the direction of Rebecca Wilbanks, a postdoctoral fellow in the Berman Institute of Bioethics and the Department of the History of Medicine, the students have been immersing themselves during in the language and principles of bioethics and applying what they learn to their understanding of technology, with an emphasis on robotics and reproductive technology in particular.
To help them access such heady material, Wilbanks put a spin on the course format. For the Intersession class—titled Science Fiction and the Ethics of Technology: Sex, Robots, and Doing the Right Thing—students explore course materials through the lens of science fiction.
"We sometimes think future technology might challenge our ethical sensibilities, but science fiction is good at exploring how ethics is connected to a certain way of life that happens to include technology," says Wilbanks, who is writing a book on how science fiction influenced the development of emerging forms of synthetic biology. "As our way of life changes together with technology, so might our ethical norms.""
Sunday, January 20, 2019
Facebook Backs University AI Ethics Institute With $7.5 Million; Forbes, January 20, 2019
Sam Shead, Forbes; Facebook Backs University AI Ethics Institute With $7.5 Million
The TUM Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence, which was announced on Sunday, will aim to explore fundamental issues affecting the use and impact of AI, Facebook said...
"We will explore the ethical issues of AI and develop ethical guidelines for the responsible use of the technology in society and the economy. Our evidence-based research will address issues that lie at the interface of technology and human values," said TUM Professor Dr. Christoph Lütge, who will lead the institute.
"Facebook is backing an AI ethics institute at the Technical University of Munich with $7.5 million.
The TUM Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence, which was announced on Sunday, will aim to explore fundamental issues affecting the use and impact of AI, Facebook said...
"We will explore the ethical issues of AI and develop ethical guidelines for the responsible use of the technology in society and the economy. Our evidence-based research will address issues that lie at the interface of technology and human values," said TUM Professor Dr. Christoph Lütge, who will lead the institute.
"Core questions arise around trust,
privacy, fairness or inclusion, for example, when people leave data
traces on the internet or receive certain information by way of
algorithms. We will also deal with transparency and accountability, for
example in medical treatment scenarios, or with rights and autonomy in
human decision-making in situations of human-AI interaction."
Last year, TUM was ranked 6th in the world for AI research by the Times Higher Education magazine behind universities like Carnegie Mellon University in the USA and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore."
Saturday, January 19, 2019
‘It was getting ugly’: Native American drummer speaks on the MAGA-hat wearing teens who surrounded him; The Washington Post, January 19, 2019
Antonio Olivo Cleve R. Wootson Jr., The Washington Post; ‘It was getting ugly’: Native American drummer speaks on the MAGA-hat wearing teens who surrounded him
"The images in a series of videos that went viral on social media Saturday showed a tense scene near the Lincoln Memorial.
In
them, a Native American man steadily beats his drum at the tail end of
Friday’s Indigenous Peoples March while singing a song of unity for
indigenous people to “be strong” in the face of the ravages of
colonialism that now include police brutality, poor access to health
care and the ill effects of climate change on reservations.
Surrounding
him are a throng of young, mostly white teenage boys, several wearing
Make America Great Again caps, with one standing about a foot from the
drummer’s face wearing a relentless smirk."
Activists: Chechen Authorities Order Families to Kill LGBT Family Members, Also Pay Ransoms; The Daily Beast, January 18, 2019
Anna Nemtsova, The Daily Beast; Activists: Chechen Authorities Order Families to Kill LGBT Family Members, Also Pay Ransoms
"Since 2017, Russian and international LGBT networks have managed to help 150 Chechen victims of violence escape to Western countries. To evacuate one gay person from Chechnya abroad, volunteers have to raise up to 4,000 euros ($4,544)."
Inside Facebook's 'cult-like' workplace, where dissent is discouraged and employees pretend to be happy all the time; CNBC, January 8, 2019
Salvador Rodriguez, CNBC; Inside Facebook's 'cult-like' workplace, where dissent is discouraged and employees pretend to be happy all the time
"Former employees describe a top-down approach where major decisions are made by the company's leadership, and employees are discouraged from voicing dissent — in direct contradiction to one of Sandberg's mantras, "authentic self."...
"All the things we were preaching, we weren't doing enough of them. We weren't having enough hard conversations. They need to realize that. They need to reflect and ask if they're having hard conversations or just being echo chambers of themselves.""
"Former employees describe a top-down approach where major decisions are made by the company's leadership, and employees are discouraged from voicing dissent — in direct contradiction to one of Sandberg's mantras, "authentic self."...
"All the things we were preaching, we weren't doing enough of them. We weren't having enough hard conversations. They need to realize that. They need to reflect and ask if they're having hard conversations or just being echo chambers of themselves.""
Why these young tech workers spent their Friday night planning a rebellion against companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook; Recode, January 18, 2019
, Recode; Why these young tech workers spent their Friday night planning a rebellion against companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook
“If I go into an industry where I’m building things that impact people,” he says, “I want to have a say in what I build.""
"“We’re interested in connecting, bringing together, and organizing the
workers in tech to help us fight big tech,” Ross Patton tells the crowd.
A software engineer for a pharmaceutical technology startup, he’s an
active member of the Tech Workers Coalition, a group dedicated to
politically mobilizing employees in the industry to reform from within...
A couple of earnest college students head to the front of
the room to talk to the speakers who had just presented, asking them
for advice on organizing. One of them, a computer science student at
Columbia University, says he has ethical concerns about going into the
industry and wanted to learn about how to mobilize.
“If I go into an industry where I’m building things that impact people,” he says, “I want to have a say in what I build.""
Thursday, January 17, 2019
Anil Dash on the biases of tech; The Ezra Klein Show via Vox, January 7, 2019
Ezra Klein, The Ezra Klein Show via Vox; Anil Dash on the biases of tech
[Kip Currier: Excellent podcast discussion of ethics and technology issues by journalist Ezra Klein and Anil Dash, CEO of Glitch and host of the tech podcast Function.
One particularly thought-provoking, illustrative exchange about the choices humans make in designing and embedding certain values in AI algorithms and the implications of those choices (~5:15 mark):
"“Marc Andreessen famously said that ‘software is eating the world,’ but it’s far more accurate to say that the neoliberal values of software tycoons are eating the world,” wrote Anil Dash.
Dash’s argument caught my eye. But then, a lot of Dash’s arguments catch my eye. He’s one of the most perceptive interpreters and critics of the tech industry around these days. That’s in part because Dash is part of the world he’s describing: He’s the CEO of Glitch, the host of the excellent tech podcast Function, and a longtime developer and blogger.
In this conversation, Dash and I discuss his excellent list of the 12 things everyone should know about technology. This episode left me with an idea I didn’t have going in: What if the problem with a lot of the social technologies we use — and, lately, lament — isn’t the ethics of their creators or the revenue models they’re built on, but the sheer scale they’ve achieved? What if products like Facebook and Twitter and Google have just gotten too big and too powerful for anyone to truly understand, much less manage?"
[Kip Currier: Excellent podcast discussion of ethics and technology issues by journalist Ezra Klein and Anil Dash, CEO of Glitch and host of the tech podcast Function.
One particularly thought-provoking, illustrative exchange about the choices humans make in designing and embedding certain values in AI algorithms and the implications of those choices (~5:15 mark):
Ezra Klein: "This feels really important to me because something I'm afraid of, as you move into a world of algorithms, is that algorithms hide the choices we make. That the algorithm says you're not viable for this mortgage. The algorithm says that this Donald Trump tweet should be at the top of everybody's feeds. And when it's the algorithm, that detachment from human beings gives it a kind of authority. It's like some gatekeeper saying this is what you should be looking at..."...
Anil Dash: "That's right. The algorithm is availing of the fact that it's still the people at that company making the choice. And when YouTube chooses to show disturbing content as "related videos" to my 7-year old son, that is a choice that people at YouTube are making, and people at Google and Alphabet are making. And that when they say "well, the algorithm did it." It's like "well, who made the algorithm?" And you can make it not do that. And I know you could do that because, for example, if it were a copyrighted version of a Beyonce song, you'd instantly stop it from being shared. So the algorithm is a set of choices about values and what you want to invest in. And that is, to that point, technology has values is not neutral."]
"“Marc Andreessen famously said that ‘software is eating the world,’ but it’s far more accurate to say that the neoliberal values of software tycoons are eating the world,” wrote Anil Dash.
Dash’s argument caught my eye. But then, a lot of Dash’s arguments catch my eye. He’s one of the most perceptive interpreters and critics of the tech industry around these days. That’s in part because Dash is part of the world he’s describing: He’s the CEO of Glitch, the host of the excellent tech podcast Function, and a longtime developer and blogger.
In this conversation, Dash and I discuss his excellent list of the 12 things everyone should know about technology. This episode left me with an idea I didn’t have going in: What if the problem with a lot of the social technologies we use — and, lately, lament — isn’t the ethics of their creators or the revenue models they’re built on, but the sheer scale they’ve achieved? What if products like Facebook and Twitter and Google have just gotten too big and too powerful for anyone to truly understand, much less manage?"
Why 1984 Isn't Banned in China: Censorship in the country is more complicated than many Westerners imagine.; The Atlantic, January 13, 2019
Amy Hawkins, Jeffrey Wasserstrom, The Atlantic; Why 1984 Isn't Banned in China:
"Western commentators often give the impression that Chinese
censorship is more comprehensive than it really is, due, in part, to a
veritable obsession with the government’s handling of the so-called
three T’s of Taiwan, Tibet, and Tiananmen. A 2013 article in The New York Review of Books states,
for example, that “to this day Tiananmen is one of the neuralgic words
forbidden—not always successfully—on China’s Internet.” Any book,
article, or social-media post that so much as mentions these words, the
conventional wisdom holds, is liable to disappear.
Even when it comes to the “three T’s,” though, things are a bit less simple than they appear."
Censorship in the country is more complicated than many Westerners imagine.
Even when it comes to the “three T’s,” though, things are a bit less simple than they appear."
Why Won’t John Roberts Accept an Ethics Code for Supreme Court Justices?; Slate, January 16, 2019
, Slate; Why Won’t John Roberts Accept an Ethics Code for Supreme Court Justices?
"Supreme Court justices also face ethics questions. Is it permissible for justices to provide anonymous leaks to the press about their private conferences? May they criticize political candidates, speak at meetings of partisan legal organizations, or raise funds for charities? May they vacation with litigants in the middle of a pending case or comment on legal issues or proceedings in lower courts? May clerks and court staff be assigned to work on the justices’ private books and memoirs? These are not hypotheticals. At least one justice has engaged in each of these activities in past years, and there is no definitive code of conduct that prohibits them."
"Supreme Court justices also face ethics questions. Is it permissible for justices to provide anonymous leaks to the press about their private conferences? May they criticize political candidates, speak at meetings of partisan legal organizations, or raise funds for charities? May they vacation with litigants in the middle of a pending case or comment on legal issues or proceedings in lower courts? May clerks and court staff be assigned to work on the justices’ private books and memoirs? These are not hypotheticals. At least one justice has engaged in each of these activities in past years, and there is no definitive code of conduct that prohibits them."
Tuesday, January 15, 2019
Princeton collaboration brings new insights to the ethics of artificial intelligence; Princeton University, January 14, 2019
Molly Sharlach, Office of Engineering Communications, Princeton University; Princeton collaboration brings new insights to the ethics of artificial intelligence
"Should machines decide who gets a heart transplant? Or how long a person will stay in prison?
"Should machines decide who gets a heart transplant? Or how long a person will stay in prison?
The growing use of artificial intelligence in both
everyday life and life-altering decisions brings up complex questions of
fairness, privacy and accountability. Surrendering human authority to
machines raises concerns for many people. At the same time, AI
technologies have the potential to help society move beyond human biases
and make better use of limited resources.
“Princeton Dialogues on AI and Ethics”
is an interdisciplinary research project that addresses these issues,
bringing engineers and policymakers into conversation with ethicists,
philosophers and other scholars. At the project’s first workshop in fall
2017, watching these experts get together and share ideas was “like
nothing I’d seen before,” said Ed Felten, director of Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP). “There was a vision for what this collaboration could be that really locked into place.”
The project is a joint venture of CITP and the University Center for Human Values,
which serves as “a forum that convenes scholars across the University
to address questions of ethics and value” in diverse settings, said
director Melissa Lane, the Class of 1943 Professor of Politics.
Efforts have included a public conference, held in March 2018, as well
as more specialized workshops beginning in 2017 that have convened
experts to develop case studies, consider questions related to criminal
justice, and draw lessons from the study of bioethics.
“Our vision is to take ethics seriously as a
discipline, as a body of knowledge, and to try to take advantage of what
humanity has understood over millennia of thinking about ethics, and
apply it to emerging technologies,” said Felten, Princeton’s Robert E.
Kahn Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs.
He emphasized that the careful implementation of AI systems can be an
opportunity “to achieve better outcomes with less bias and less risk.
It’s important not to see this as an entirely negative situation.”"
Top ethics and compliance failures of 2018; Compliance Week, December 17, 2018
Jaclyn Jaeger, Compliance Week; Top ethics and compliance failures of 2018
"Shady data privacy practices, allegations of financial misconduct, and widespread money-laundering schemes make up Compliance Week’s list of the top five ethics and compliance failures of 2018. All impart some key compliance lessons."
Data Sheet—How the Tech Industry Needs to Evolve to Care More About People; Fortune, January 14, 2019
Aaron Pressman and Adam Lashinsky, Fortune; Data Sheet—How the Tech Industry Needs to Evolve to Care More About People
"Good morning from Redmond, Wash., where I’m spending the day soaking up some wisdom at Microsoft.
In preparation for my day I perused this “top 10 tech issues for 2019” post that Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote on LinkedIn, which Microsoft owns. I somehow expected this list to focus on the top commercial aspects of tech in the coming year. But that’s not what Smith, Microsoft’s top lawyer and policy executive who has written recently on the need for regulations around facial recognition, means by “issues.”
Instead, Smith is focused on the interplay between big technology companies and society. Topics like privacy, ethical artificial intelligence, protectionism, “disinformation,” and the human impacts of technology top his list.
The technology industry has been branded over the years as not caring all that much about people. Even the industry’s leading humanist, Steve Jobs, ultimately judged the success of his wares by whether they delighted customers, not if they were good for society. The industry is evolving.
I’ll share what I learn tomorrow."
"Good morning from Redmond, Wash., where I’m spending the day soaking up some wisdom at Microsoft.
In preparation for my day I perused this “top 10 tech issues for 2019” post that Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote on LinkedIn, which Microsoft owns. I somehow expected this list to focus on the top commercial aspects of tech in the coming year. But that’s not what Smith, Microsoft’s top lawyer and policy executive who has written recently on the need for regulations around facial recognition, means by “issues.”
Instead, Smith is focused on the interplay between big technology companies and society. Topics like privacy, ethical artificial intelligence, protectionism, “disinformation,” and the human impacts of technology top his list.
The technology industry has been branded over the years as not caring all that much about people. Even the industry’s leading humanist, Steve Jobs, ultimately judged the success of his wares by whether they delighted customers, not if they were good for society. The industry is evolving.
I’ll share what I learn tomorrow."
Monday, January 14, 2019
Leading With Ethics; Forbes, January 7, 2019
Janine Schindler, Forbes; Leading With Ethics
If you’re searching for the answer to the ongoing dilemma of how to nurture an environment of trust, accountability and respect in the workplace, start with practicing ethical leadership in all levels of management.
To be an ethical leader, you must demonstrate ethical behavior — not just when others are looking, but all the time and over time. Consistently doing what's right, even when it's difficult, should be an integral part of a leader’s makeup. If you behave in an ethical manner when you’re in the spotlight, but avoid responsibility, cut corners and value profit above people behind closed doors, it is inevitable you’ll be found out."
"In today’s high-visibility world with the
constant social media avalanche, it’s more important than ever to
ensure that, as a leader, your ethical message is consistent. Anyone out
there can talk the talk, but if you don’t truly believe in the
importance of ethical behavior in your business career, it will become
apparent to your employees, your peers and to the people occupying the
C-suite.
If you’re searching for the answer to the ongoing dilemma of how to nurture an environment of trust, accountability and respect in the workplace, start with practicing ethical leadership in all levels of management.
To be an ethical leader, you must demonstrate ethical behavior — not just when others are looking, but all the time and over time. Consistently doing what's right, even when it's difficult, should be an integral part of a leader’s makeup. If you behave in an ethical manner when you’re in the spotlight, but avoid responsibility, cut corners and value profit above people behind closed doors, it is inevitable you’ll be found out."
Saturday, January 12, 2019
Trump’s bizarre statement on China dishonors us all; The Washington Post, January 11, 2019
Dana Milbank, The Washington Post; Trump’s bizarre statement on China dishonors us all
"Asked an unrelated question on the White House South
Lawn on Thursday, Trump volunteered a comparison between Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.)
— and the leaders of the People’s Republic of China.
“I find China, frankly, in many ways, to be far more honorable
than Cryin’ Chuck and Nancy. I really do,” he said. “I think that China
is actually much easier to deal with than the opposition party.”
China, honorable?
China, which is holding a million members of religious minorities in concentration camps for “reeducation” by force?
China, which, according to Trump’s own FBI director, is, by far, the leading perpetrator of technology theft and espionage against the United States and is “using illegal methods” to “replace the U.S. as the world’s leading superpower”?
China, whose state-sponsored hackers were indicted just three weeks ago and accused of a 12-year campaign of cyberattacks on this and other countries?
China, whose ruling Communist Party has caused the extermination of tens of millions
of people since the end of World War II, through government-induced
famine, the ideological purges of the Cultural Revolution, and in mowing
down reformers in Tiananmen Square?
Trump has a strange sense of honor. In April, he bestowed the same adjective on
the world’s most oppressive leader, North Korea’s nuclear-armed
dictator: “Kim Jong Un, he really has been very open and I think very
honorable from everything we’re seeing.”
Now,
the president is declaring that China’s dictatorship, by far the
world’s biggest international criminal and abuser of human rights and
operator of its most extensive police state, is more honorable than his
political opponents in the United States.
In
Trump’s view, your opponents are your enemies — and your actual enemies
are your friends. How can you negotiate with a man who thinks like this?"
University Data Science Programs Turn to Ethics and the Humanities; EdSurge, January 11, 2019
Sydney Johnson, EdSurge; University Data Science Programs Turn to Ethics and the Humanities
"These days a growing number of people are concerned with bringing more talk of ethics into technology. One question is whether that will bring change to data-science curricula...
“You don't just throw algorithms at data. You need to look at it, understand how it was collected, and ask yourself: ‘How can I be responsible with the data and the people from which it came?’” says Cathryn Carson, a UC Berkeley historian with a background in physics who steered the committee tasked with designing the schools’ data-science curriculum.The new division goes a step further than adding an ethics course to an existing program. “Computer science has been trying to catch up with the ethical implications of what they are already doing,” Carson says. “Data science has this built in from the start, and you’re not trying to retrofit something to insert ethics—it's making it a part of the design principle.”"
Friday, January 11, 2019
In Memory of Lawrence Roberts The man who actually got the internet going has passed away.; Slate, January 3, 2019
Morten Bay, Slate; In Memory of Lawrence Roberts
The man who actually got the internet going has passed away.
"Why, you may ask, have you never heard of Larry Roberts if he was so influential in developing and implementing technologies still in use five decades later?
First of all, no single person is the “mother” or “father” or the internet. Hundreds of people contributed to its emergence, even in the early years. Second, we unfortunately often confuse achievements with likability and communication skills. The people lauded in the media as internet “fathers,” such as Vint Cerf, Leonard Kleinrock, and Tim Berners-Lee, have all made invaluable contributions. But they’re also excellent storytellers and charming personalities. The soft-spoken Larry Roberts and his stern demeanor didn’t work well on TV, and he spoke in technical facts rather than sound bites. But Roberts, driven by his credo of faster knowledge sharing for civilization’s sake, did more than anyone else to get the job done. Where others theorized, Roberts executed."
Health Misinformation Is Rampant on Instagram; The Atlantic, January 10, 2019
Video, The Atlantic; Health Misinformation Is Rampant on Instagram
"When it comes to health advice, don’t take Instagram’s word for it. The platform is rampant with misinformation about wellness, argues the Atlantic staff writer Amanda Mull. Behind many fads are Instagram influencers with perceived authority on health and wellness—the majority of whom have no real nutritional training or expertise."
"When it comes to health advice, don’t take Instagram’s word for it. The platform is rampant with misinformation about wellness, argues the Atlantic staff writer Amanda Mull. Behind many fads are Instagram influencers with perceived authority on health and wellness—the majority of whom have no real nutritional training or expertise."
Rahaf al-Qunun has been granted asylum in Australia, Thai official says; CNN, January 11, 2019
; Rahaf al-Qunun has been granted asylum in Australia, Thai official says
"Her online campaign was so successful that Saudi charge d'affaires Abdalelah Mohammed A. al-Shuaibi told Thai officials through a translator: "We wish they had confiscated her phone instead of her passport."
Qunun later tweeted the video of that meeting and wrote that her "Twitter account has changed the game against what he wished for me.""
"Her online campaign was so successful that Saudi charge d'affaires Abdalelah Mohammed A. al-Shuaibi told Thai officials through a translator: "We wish they had confiscated her phone instead of her passport."
Qunun later tweeted the video of that meeting and wrote that her "Twitter account has changed the game against what he wished for me.""
Thursday, January 10, 2019
The 20 Best TV Dramas Since ‘The Sopranos’; The New York Times, January 10, 2019
The New York Times; The 20 Best TV Dramas Since ‘The Sopranos’
"2014-2017
"2014-2017
Damon Lindelof, creator:..
One question the show was always asking was, “How can
you emotionally invest in anyone, if you think that they could just slip
out of existence in a second?”
Obviously that’s something we contend with in a
nondeparture world, because people die. But that feeling of, “I now have
an excuse to not emotionally connect to anyone” gets magnified in a
world where 2 percent of the world’s population just slipped out."
Keep your tidy, spark-joy hands off my book piles, Marie Kondo; The Washington Post, January 10, 2019
Ron Charles, The Washington Post; Keep your tidy, spark-joy hands off my book piles, Marie Kondo
"“Books are the reflection of your thoughts and
values,” Kondo says, and she’s right, but then she’s so wrong when she
goes on to tell her television audience: “By tidying books, it will show
you what kind of information is important to you at this moment.”
That’s
the problem with Kondo’s method. It presumes a kind of
self-consciousness that no real lover of literature actually feels. We
don’t keep books because we know “what kind of information is important
to us at this moment.” We keep them because we don’t know.
So
take your tidy, magic hands off my piles, if you please. That great
jumble of fond memories, intellectual challenges and future delights
doesn’t just spark, it warms the whole house."
What we gain from keeping books – and why it doesn’t need to be ‘joy’ ; The Guardian, January 7, 2019
Anakana Schofield, The Guardian; What we gain from keeping books – and why it doesn’t need to be ‘joy’
"The metric of objects only “sparking joy” is deeply problematic when applied to books. The definition of joy (for the many people yelling at me on Twitter, who appear to have Konmari’d their dictionaries) is: “A feeling of great pleasure and happiness, a thing that causes joy, success or satisfaction.” This is a ludicrous suggestion for books. Literature does not exist only to provoke feelings of happiness or to placate us with its pleasure; art should also challenge and perturb us.
We live in a frantic, goal-obsessed, myopic time. Everything undertaken has to have a purpose, outcome or a destination, or it’s invalid. But art doesn’t care a noodle about your Apple watch, your fitness goals, active lifestyle, right swipes, career and surrender on black pudding. Art will be around far longer than Kondo’s books remain in print. Art exists on its own terms and untidy timeline."
"The metric of objects only “sparking joy” is deeply problematic when applied to books. The definition of joy (for the many people yelling at me on Twitter, who appear to have Konmari’d their dictionaries) is: “A feeling of great pleasure and happiness, a thing that causes joy, success or satisfaction.” This is a ludicrous suggestion for books. Literature does not exist only to provoke feelings of happiness or to placate us with its pleasure; art should also challenge and perturb us.
We live in a frantic, goal-obsessed, myopic time. Everything undertaken has to have a purpose, outcome or a destination, or it’s invalid. But art doesn’t care a noodle about your Apple watch, your fitness goals, active lifestyle, right swipes, career and surrender on black pudding. Art will be around far longer than Kondo’s books remain in print. Art exists on its own terms and untidy timeline."
All of Us program wants to change the face of medicine; University of Pittsburgh: University Times, January 8, 2019
Susan Jones, University of Pittsburgh: University Times; All of Us program wants to change the face of medicine
"Dr. Steven Reis wants all of you to become part of All of Us.
Pitt received a $46 million award in 2016 from National Institutes of Health to build the partnerships and infrastructure needed to carry out the All of Us initiative, which seeks to gather health information from 1 million people nationwide to create a database to study different diseases and other maladies, and in the process change the face of medicine.
In Pennsylvania, Pitt is responsible for recruiting 120,000 participants and by early this week had reached 11,610. Nationally, there are more than a dozen other organizations now gathering participants and more than 80,000 people have enrolled nationwide. There are between 40 and 50 people working on the project at Pitt...
The institute “supports translational research, meaning how to get research from the bench to the bedside, to the patient, to practice, to the community, to health policy,” Reis said...
The information will be stored in a secure central database created by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Verily Life Sciences (a Google company) and the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass. Volunteers will have access to their study results, along with summarized data from across the program."
"Dr. Steven Reis wants all of you to become part of All of Us.
Pitt received a $46 million award in 2016 from National Institutes of Health to build the partnerships and infrastructure needed to carry out the All of Us initiative, which seeks to gather health information from 1 million people nationwide to create a database to study different diseases and other maladies, and in the process change the face of medicine.
In Pennsylvania, Pitt is responsible for recruiting 120,000 participants and by early this week had reached 11,610. Nationally, there are more than a dozen other organizations now gathering participants and more than 80,000 people have enrolled nationwide. There are between 40 and 50 people working on the project at Pitt...
The institute “supports translational research, meaning how to get research from the bench to the bedside, to the patient, to practice, to the community, to health policy,” Reis said...
The information will be stored in a secure central database created by Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Verily Life Sciences (a Google company) and the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass. Volunteers will have access to their study results, along with summarized data from across the program."
Accenture CEO: Diversity and Inclusion Start From Within; Fortune, January 8, 2019
Damanick Dantes, Fortune; Accenture CEO: Diversity and Inclusion Start From Within
"Good leaders succeed by not only treating employees well, but also by measuring the results of building an inclusive work environment. After all, “the real driver of culture [outside of good leadership] is about how it feels to come into work every day,” Sweet says."
"Good leaders succeed by not only treating employees well, but also by measuring the results of building an inclusive work environment. After all, “the real driver of culture [outside of good leadership] is about how it feels to come into work every day,” Sweet says."
Pennsylvania High Court Decision Regarding Data Breach Increases Litigation Risk for Companies Storing Personal Data; Lexology, January 8, 2019
Ropes & Gray LLP
, Lexology; Pennsylvania High Court Decision Regarding Data Breach Increases Litigation Risk for Companies Storing Personal Data
"This decision could precipitate increased data breach class action litigation against companies that retain personal data. No state Supreme Court had previously recognized the existence of a negligence-based duty to safeguard personal information, other than in the narrow context of health care patient information."
"This decision could precipitate increased data breach class action litigation against companies that retain personal data. No state Supreme Court had previously recognized the existence of a negligence-based duty to safeguard personal information, other than in the narrow context of health care patient information."
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
Genetic data on half a million Brits reveal ongoing evolution and Neanderthal legacy; Science, January 3, 2019
Ann Gibbons, Science; Genetic data on half a million Brits reveal ongoing evolution and Neanderthal legacy
"For years, evolutionary biologists couldn't get their rubber-gloved hands on enough people's genomes to detect the relatively rare bits of Neanderthal DNA, much less to see whether or how our extinct cousins' genetic legacy might influence disease or physical traits.
But a few years ago, Kelso and her colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, turned to a new tool—the UK Biobank (UKB), a large database that holds genetic and health records for half a million British volunteers. The researchers analyzed data from 112,338 of those Britons—enough that "we could actually look and say: ‘We see a Neanderthal version of the gene and we can measure its effect on phenotype in many people—how often they get sunburned, what color their hair is, and what color their eyes are,’" Kelso says. They found Neanderthal variants that boost the odds that a person smokes, is an evening person rather than a morning person, and is prone to sunburn and depression."
"For years, evolutionary biologists couldn't get their rubber-gloved hands on enough people's genomes to detect the relatively rare bits of Neanderthal DNA, much less to see whether or how our extinct cousins' genetic legacy might influence disease or physical traits.
But a few years ago, Kelso and her colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, turned to a new tool—the UK Biobank (UKB), a large database that holds genetic and health records for half a million British volunteers. The researchers analyzed data from 112,338 of those Britons—enough that "we could actually look and say: ‘We see a Neanderthal version of the gene and we can measure its effect on phenotype in many people—how often they get sunburned, what color their hair is, and what color their eyes are,’" Kelso says. They found Neanderthal variants that boost the odds that a person smokes, is an evening person rather than a morning person, and is prone to sunburn and depression."
Justices Would Get Ethics Code Under New Democrat Bill; The National Law Journal, Janaury 7, 2019
Tony Mauro
and Marcia Coyle, The National Law Journal;
Justices Would Get Ethics Code Under New Democrat Bill
The bill is the latest of repeated efforts by Congress to impose an ethics code on the Supreme Court, which is exempt from the code first promulgated in 1973 by the Judicial Conference.
"The first bill introduced by the Democratic-led House of Representatives last week contains a provision that would include U.S. Supreme Court justices for the first time in a newly created code of conduct.
If passed, the provision could raise separation-of-powers issues and would likely irritate the high court, which covets its independence and its special status under the Constitution. The provision could also revive the controversy over ethics complaints against Justice Brett Kavanaugh that were dismissed last month because he is now on the Supreme Court, outside the purview of existing judicial ethics rules.
H.R. 1, dubbed the “For the People Act,” is a wide-ranging bill that covers issues of transparency, corruption, ethics and campaign finance reform."
Monday, January 7, 2019
Will the world embrace Plan S, the radical proposal to mandate open access to science papers?; Science, January 3, 2019
Tania Rabesandratana, Science; Will the world embrace Plan S, the radical proposal to mandate open access to science papers?
""In the OA movement, it seems to a lot of people that you have to choose a road: green or gold or diamond," says Colleen Campbell, director of the OA2020 initiative at the Max Planck Digital Library in Munich, Germany, referring to various styles of OA. "Publishers are sitting back laughing at us while we argue about different shades" instead of focusing on a shared goal of complete, immediate OA. Because of its bold, stringent requirements, she and others think Plan S can galvanize advocates to align their efforts to shake up the publishing system...
"The combined weight of Europe and China is probably enough to move the system," says astrophysicist Luke Drury, of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and the lead author of a cautiously supportive response to Plan S by All European Academies, a federation of European academies of sciences and humanities.
If Plan S does succeed in bringing about a fairer publishing system, he says, a transition to worldwide OA is sure to follow. "Somebody has to take the lead, and I'm pleased that it looks like it's coming from Europe.""
""In the OA movement, it seems to a lot of people that you have to choose a road: green or gold or diamond," says Colleen Campbell, director of the OA2020 initiative at the Max Planck Digital Library in Munich, Germany, referring to various styles of OA. "Publishers are sitting back laughing at us while we argue about different shades" instead of focusing on a shared goal of complete, immediate OA. Because of its bold, stringent requirements, she and others think Plan S can galvanize advocates to align their efforts to shake up the publishing system...
"The combined weight of Europe and China is probably enough to move the system," says astrophysicist Luke Drury, of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and the lead author of a cautiously supportive response to Plan S by All European Academies, a federation of European academies of sciences and humanities.
If Plan S does succeed in bringing about a fairer publishing system, he says, a transition to worldwide OA is sure to follow. "Somebody has to take the lead, and I'm pleased that it looks like it's coming from Europe.""
Sunday, January 6, 2019
Supreme Court to decide if trademark protection can be denied to ‘scandalous’ brands; The Washington Post, January 4, 2019
Robert Barnes, The Washington Post; Supreme Court to decide if trademark protection can be denied to ‘scandalous’ brands
The case,Iancu v. Brunetti , will probably be heard at the Supreme Court in April."
"The Supreme Court agreed Friday to review a new
front in the battle over free speech and will decide whether trademark
protection can be refused to brands the federal government finds vulgar
or lewd.
The case involves a decision of the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to deny trademark registration to a
clothing line called FUCT.
The U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit struck down the century-old ban on
protecting “scandalous” and “immoral” trademarks as a First Amendment
violation, and the Department of Justice wants the Supreme Court to
reverse the decision...
2019 is the year to stop talking about ethics and start taking action: Here’s how.; Fast Company, January 4, 2019
Katharine Schwab, Fast Company;
"Do take a class (or just read the news)
There’s a better way to help designers and engineers act more ethically when developing technology–educate them.
That’s the idea behind a series of ethical tech classes that have sprung up in places like Carnegie Mellon University, where computer science professor Fei Fang began teaching a class called Artificial Intelligence for Social Good. The idea: If computer science students can learn to think about the potential impact of their code, they’ll be more likely to make ethical decisions. The Mozilla Foundation is also throwing its weight behind this idea, with a multi-year competition that offers cash prizes to encourage professors to come up with ways of teaching ethics to computer science students that won’t make them fall asleep at their desks.
As for folks who are out of school: Take an online class. Or just read the news. As the North Carolina State University study on codes of ethics pointed out, developers who were more informed about current events were more likely to make more responsible decisions about how to develop technology compared to those without knowledge of those events."
2019 is the year to stop talking about ethics and start taking action
Here’s how.
"With so little oversight from regulators and continued poor judgment on the part of big companies, both consumers and makers of tech were asking: What does it mean to develop technology in an ethical way?
So far, that question has instigated a lot of talk, but 2019 is the year to take action. How? Here are seven do’s and don’ts for any company or individual dedicated to developing ethical technology in 2019..."Do take a class (or just read the news)
There’s a better way to help designers and engineers act more ethically when developing technology–educate them.
That’s the idea behind a series of ethical tech classes that have sprung up in places like Carnegie Mellon University, where computer science professor Fei Fang began teaching a class called Artificial Intelligence for Social Good. The idea: If computer science students can learn to think about the potential impact of their code, they’ll be more likely to make ethical decisions. The Mozilla Foundation is also throwing its weight behind this idea, with a multi-year competition that offers cash prizes to encourage professors to come up with ways of teaching ethics to computer science students that won’t make them fall asleep at their desks.
As for folks who are out of school: Take an online class. Or just read the news. As the North Carolina State University study on codes of ethics pointed out, developers who were more informed about current events were more likely to make more responsible decisions about how to develop technology compared to those without knowledge of those events."
Saturday, January 5, 2019
How to protect your digital privacy from new Christmas presents; The Guardian, December 18, 2019
Alex Hern, The Guardian; How to protect your digital privacy from new Christmas presents
"Here are the best tips to protect your digital privacy, without resorting to Christmas gifts whittled from wood."
"Here are the best tips to protect your digital privacy, without resorting to Christmas gifts whittled from wood."
'Tracking every place you go': Weather Channel app accused of selling user data; Associated Press via The Guardian, January 4, 2019
Associated Press via The Guardian; 'Tracking every place you go': Weather Channel app accused of selling user data
"“Think how Orwellian it feels to live in a world where a private company is tracking potentially every place you go, every minute of every day,” Feuer said. “If you want to sacrifice to that company that information, you sure ought to be doing it with clear advanced notice of what’s at stake.”
A spokesman for IBM, which owns the app, said it had always been clear about the use of location data collected from users and will vigorously defend its “fully appropriate” disclosures."
"“Think how Orwellian it feels to live in a world where a private company is tracking potentially every place you go, every minute of every day,” Feuer said. “If you want to sacrifice to that company that information, you sure ought to be doing it with clear advanced notice of what’s at stake.”
A spokesman for IBM, which owns the app, said it had always been clear about the use of location data collected from users and will vigorously defend its “fully appropriate” disclosures."
My column’s name does a disservice to the immigrants whose food I celebrate. So I’m dropping it.; The Washington Post, January 2, 2019
Tim Carman, The Washington Post; My column’s name does a disservice to the immigrants whose food I celebrate. So I’m dropping it.
"By writing about immigrant cuisines under a cheap-eats rubric, I have perpetuated the narrative that they should always be thought of as budget-priced...
Given this theory, I’ve had to ask myself uncomfortable questions, such as: Isn’t lumping certain cuisines under a cheap-eats banner only contributing to their low-class status? Am I not kneecapping, say, Central American cooks who toil in almost every kitchen in the District? Am I not telling these cooks that we, as Washingtonians, will never pay the same price for a Salvadoran, Guatemalan or Puerto Rican meal as we do for that plate of charred brassicas with mint chimichurri at the fancy New American restaurant where these immigrants are currently employed?...
By stripping this column of its previous name, I hope to remove at least one possible stigma about the restaurants that I decide to cover: that they are somehow “lesser” than the ones that might charge higher prices, have table service, offer a full bar or whatever confers prestige among diners. They are simply different in their approach. Many take just as much pride in their food as the chefs at the white-tablecloth restaurants do. I want to contribute to a society where it’s possible to esteem the high and low equally, each worthy of respect for what it does well."
Elena Ferrante: A writer’s talent is like a fishing net, catching daily experiences that can educate; The Guardian, January 5, 2019
Elena Ferrante, The Guardian; Elena Ferrante: A writer’s talent is like a fishing net, catching daily experiences that can educate
"There’s a very old function of literature that over time has lost currency, probably because of its dangerous proximity to the political and ethical spheres. I mean the idea that one of the purposes of a text is to instruct...
An individual talent acts like a fishing net that captures daily experiences, holds them together imaginatively, and connects them to fundamental questions about the human condition."
"There’s a very old function of literature that over time has lost currency, probably because of its dangerous proximity to the political and ethical spheres. I mean the idea that one of the purposes of a text is to instruct...
An individual talent acts like a fishing net that captures daily experiences, holds them together imaginatively, and connects them to fundamental questions about the human condition."
Think Riyadh’s Netflix ban was bad? Imagine if Hasan Minhaj was a Saudi citizen; The Guardian, January 4, 2019
, The Guardian; Think Riyadh’s Netflix ban was bad? Imagine if Hasan Minhaj was a Saudi citizen
"The government of Saudi Arabia makes it very clear that resistance to its regime is futile. It will not tolerate dissent; it is untouchable.
The kingdom has never claimed to be a democracy – or that it believed in free speech, the right to protest, or the right to collectively bargain for rights. There is no independent press."
"The government of Saudi Arabia makes it very clear that resistance to its regime is futile. It will not tolerate dissent; it is untouchable.
The kingdom has never claimed to be a democracy – or that it believed in free speech, the right to protest, or the right to collectively bargain for rights. There is no independent press."
China thinks it can arbitrarily detain anyone. It is time for change: The lack of global outcry over the detention of two Canadians virtually guarantees the next such case; The Guardian, January 3, 2019
Michael Caster, The Guardian;
"Despite this – and although China has detained hundreds of Chinese human rights defenders and numerous foreign nationals under this and similar provisions, not to mention the arbitrary imprisonment or disappearance of some one million Uyghurs and Kazakhs across Xinjiang – it has generated shockingly limited international blowback.
In each case where China has not been held accountable, it virtually guarantees the next.
Any country that systematically denies the rights of its own citizens, and flaunts international norms, should worry us all because such abuses, as we are increasingly seeing, don’t stop at the colour of one’s passport."
The lack of global outcry over the detention of two Canadians virtually guarantees the next such case
"Despite this – and although China has detained hundreds of Chinese human rights defenders and numerous foreign nationals under this and similar provisions, not to mention the arbitrary imprisonment or disappearance of some one million Uyghurs and Kazakhs across Xinjiang – it has generated shockingly limited international blowback.
In each case where China has not been held accountable, it virtually guarantees the next.
Any country that systematically denies the rights of its own citizens, and flaunts international norms, should worry us all because such abuses, as we are increasingly seeing, don’t stop at the colour of one’s passport."
Friday, January 4, 2019
Censoring China’s Internet, for Stability and Profit; The New York Times, January 2, 2019
Li Yuan, The New York Times; Censoring China’s Internet, for Stability and Profit
That in turn has created a growing and lucrative new industry: censorship factories."
"For Chinese companies, staying on the safe side of government censors
is a matter of life and death. Adding to the burden, the authorities
demand that companies censor themselves, spurring them to hire thousands
of people to police content.
Ethics Webinar: When an Attorney or Expert Screws Up; American Bar Association (ABA), Thursday, January 24, 2019
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| This program will address the ethical rules governing attorneys when they make a mistake or discover that someone else has made a mistake. The program also provides: |
Panelist(s): David Benkert (Ankura Consulting, Inc); Latoyia Watkins Pierce (AXA); Michael Leboff (Partner, Klein & Wilson); and Selena E. Molina (Associate, Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP) (Moderator) |
Thursday, January 3, 2019
To Deal With Trump, Look to Voltaire: Advice from the Enlightenment: In the face of crude bullying and humorless lies, try wit and a passion for justice. ; The New York Times, December 27, 2018
Robert Darnton, The New York Times; To Deal With Trump, Look to Voltaire
Advice from the Enlightenment: In the face of crude bullying and humorless lies, try wit and a passion for justice
"We are living through a climate change
in politics. Bigotry, bullying, mendacity, vulgarity — everything
emitted by the tweets of President Trump and amplified by his followers
has damaged the atmosphere of public life. The protective layer of
civility, which makes political discourse possible, is disappearing like
the ozone around Earth.
How can we
restore a healthy climate? There is no easy answer, but some historic
figures offer edifying examples. The one I propose may seem unlikely,
but he transformed the climate of opinion in his era: Voltaire, the
French philosopher who mobilized the power of Enlightenment principles
in 18th-century Europe."
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