Washington Post: Children’s bicycle manufactures and retailers are bracing for rough times ahead as market research shows fewer kids are riding bikes, while prices for cycling equipment are almost certain to increase because of the Trump Administration’s tariffs on Chinese-made goods. The number of children ages 6 to 17 who rode bicycles regularly — more… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: June 2019
In Court, Facebook Blames Users for Destroying Their Own Right to Privacy
The Intercept: “In April 2018, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sat before members of both houses of Congress and told them his company respected the privacy of the roughly two billion people who use it. “Privacy” remained largely undefined throughout Zuckerberg’s televised flagellations, but he mentioned the concept more than two dozen times, including when he… Continue Reading
Transparency Caucus features tools to track legislative information
Alex Howell [includes video of the forum]: “On June 7, the Transparency Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives hosted a remarkable forum inside of the United States Capitol that featured ten presentations from government officials and members of civil society on innovative tools and technologies. Following is a run down of who spoke and… Continue Reading
How to combat health misinformation online: A research roundup
Journalist’s Resources: “Many Americans are turning to the internet with their health questions. And their use of the internet to seek answers isn’t limited to search engines and established health resources. Researchers at Microsoft analyzed survey and search data to find that “a surprising amount of sensitive health information is also sought and shared via… Continue Reading
NYT has a course to teach its reporters data skills and now they’ve open-sourced it
NiemanLab: “Should journalists learn to code?” is an old question that has always had only unsatisfying answers. (That was true even back before it became a useful heuristic for identifying Twitter jackasses.) Some should! Some shouldn’t! Helpful, right? One way the question gets derailed involves what, exactly, the question-asker means by “code.” It’s unlikely a… Continue Reading
AI Has Made Video Surveillance Automated and Terrifying
Vice – AI can flag people based on their clothing or behavior, identify people’s emotions, and find people who are acting “unusual.” “It used to be that surveillance cameras were passive. Maybe they just recorded, and no one looked at the video unless they needed to. Maybe a bored guard watched a dozen different screens,… Continue Reading
New plan to remove a trillion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
Washington Post – The new plan to remove a trillion tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere: Bury it – “It sounds like an idea plucked from science fiction, but the reality is that trees and plants already do it. Last month, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere surpassed 415 parts per million, the highest… Continue Reading
Semantic Sanity, A Personalized Adaptive Feed
“About Semantic Sanity – Semantic Sanity provides an adaptive ArXiv feed tailored to your research interests. This feed uses an AI model that recommends the latest papers across all ArXiv categories in Computer Science to help you stay up to date. Our AI model learns from you – when you indicate whether or not a paper… Continue Reading
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Calls for Limiting Collateral Consequences for People With Criminal Records
“More than 44,000 collateral consequences exist nationwide that continue to punish people with felony records long after the completion of their sentence. Today the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is releasing Collateral Consequences: The Crossroads of Punishment, Redemption and the Effects on Communities, a report highlighting the relevant data and arguments for and against the… Continue Reading
Federal Agencies Rank Last in Forrester Customer Experience Index
Forrester – “Small Gains To CX Quality Emerged Amidst Broad Stagnation – Forrester’s 2019 US Customer Experience Index (CX Index™) reveals that the overall quality of the US customer experience rose by an anemic 0.4 points, to 70.2. The report is based on Forrester’s CX Index methodology, which measures how well a brand’s CX strengthens… Continue Reading
The House Streamlines Subpoena Enforcement
LawFare: “The House of Representatives adopted a resolution on June 11 authorizing Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chair of the House Committee on the Judiciary, to go to court to pursue civil enforcement of subpoenas issued to Attorney General William Barr and former White House Counsel Don McGahn. Importantly, however, the measure also makes changes that will… Continue Reading
Regulating Big Tech: Legal Implications
CRS Legal Sidebar via LC – Regulating Big Tech: Legal Implications. June 11, 2019. “Amidst growing debate over the legal framework governing social media sites and other technology companies, several Members of Congress have expressed interest in expanding current regulations of the major American technology companies, often referred to as “Big Tech.” This Legal Sidebar… Continue Reading
