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Daily Archives: March 18, 2018

Paper – Law, Metaphor, and the Encrypted Machine

Gill, Lex, Law, Metaphor, and the Encrypted Machine (March 12, 2018). Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper No. 72, Volume 13, Issue 16, 2018. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3138684

“The metaphors we use to imagine, describe and regulate new technologies have profound legal implications. This paper offers a critical examination of the metaphors we choose to describe encryption technology in particular, and aims to uncover some of the normative and legal implications of those choices. Part I provides a basic description of encryption as a mathematical and technical process. At the heart of this paper is a question about what encryption is to the law. It is therefore fundamental that readers have a shared understanding of the basic scientific concepts at stake. This technical description will then serve to illustrate the host of legal and political problems arising from encryption technology, the most important of which are addressed in Part II. That section also provides a brief history of various legislative and judicial responses to the encryption “problem,” mapping out some of the major challenges still faced by jurists, policymakers and activists. While this paper draws largely upon common law sources from the United States and Canada, metaphor provides a core form of cognitive scaffolding across legal traditions. Part III explores the relationship between metaphor and the law, demonstrating the ways in which it may shape, distort or transform the structure of legal reasoning. Part IV demonstrates that the function served by legal metaphor is particularly determinative wherever the law seeks to integrate novel technologies into old legal frameworks. Strong, ubiquitous commercial encryption has created a range of legal problems for which the appropriate metaphors remain unfixed. Part V establishes a loose framework for thinking about how encryption has been described by courts and lawmakers — and how it could be. What does it mean to describe the encrypted machine as a locked container or building? As a combination safe? As a form of speech? As an untranslatable library or an unsolvable puzzle? What is captured by each of these cognitive models, and what is lost? This section explores both the technological accuracy and the legal implications of each choice. Finally, the paper offers a few concluding thoughts about the utility and risk of metaphor in the law, reaffirming the need for a critical, transparent and lucid appreciation of language and the power it wields.”

30 Companies Getting the Most From the Government

24/7 Wall St: “As an economic power, the U.S. government is a juggernaut without equal. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. government spent $4.0 trillion in 2017. While the largest shares of the federal government’s annual expenditures go towards benefit programs like Social Security and Medicaid, hundreds of billions of federal dollars also… Continue Reading

NYT, Guardian – How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions

During the election cycle in 2016, my FB page was routinely slammed with hateful and biased ads. This made no sense at the time, as I was not affiliated with any groups online, I did not opine about the candidates, and I did not “like” or “share” posts, and I do not use apps. I… Continue Reading

Ongoing series of nonverbal algorithm assembly instructions based on IKEA methodology

“IDEA is a series of nonverbal algorithm assembly instructions by Sándor P. Fekete, Sebastian Morr, and Sebastian Stiller. They were originally created for Sándor’s algorithms and datastructures lecture at TU Braunschweig, but we hope they will be useful in all sorts of context. We publish them here so that they can be used by teachers,… Continue Reading

Inside the Comics Collection of the World’s Largest Medical Library

Hyperallergic – “In 2016, the National Library of Medicine started collecting “graphic medicine” — materials that use comics to teach the public about illness and health. Millions of books, journals, manuscripts, and images fill the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world’s largest medical library, on the grounds of the National Institutes of Health. The documents cover the long… Continue Reading

Circulating Ideas: The Library Interview Podcast

Circulating Ideas: The Library Interview Podcast – “Circulating Ideas facilitates conversations about the innovative people & ideas allowing libraries to thrive in the 21st century. Brought to you with support from listeners like you.” These free podcasts engage librarians who work in all sectors of our profession, and share their knowledge and perspectives on a wide… Continue Reading

Cyberattacks Put Russian Fingers on the Switch at Power Plant

“New computer screenshots released by the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday made clear that Russian state hackers had the foothold they would have needed to manipulate or shut down power plants.” Nicole Perlroth and David Sanger in the NYT: Cyberattacks Put Russian Fingers on the Switch at Power Plants. “The Trump administration accused Russia… Continue Reading

Preaching to the choir – Why Reading Books Should be Your Priority, According to Science

Inc., Christina DesMarais: “More than a quarter–26 percent–of American adults admit to not having read even part of a book within the last year. That’s according to statistics coming out of the Pew Research Center. If you’re part of this group, know that science supports the idea that reading is good for you on several… Continue Reading

Why do people go to Wikipedia? A survey suggests it’s their desire to go down that random rabbithole

NeimanLab: “What’s motivated people to visit the Wikipedia pages they’re reading? Wikipedia recently tried to answer that question at scale by asking a sample of Wikipedia readers last June, “Why are you reading this article today?” It seems a lot of people go to Wikipedia for earnest, serious, information-seeking reasons. The study collected 215,000 responses… Continue Reading

Research – Published Versions Of Papers In Costly Academic Titles Add Almost Nothing The Freely-Available Preprints They Are Based On

Tech Dirt: “The open access movement believes that academic publications should be freely available to all, not least because most of the research is paid for by the public purse. Open access supporters see the high cost of many academic journals, whose subscriptions often run into thousands of dollars per year, as unsustainable for cash-strapped… Continue Reading