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Monthly Archives: August 2021

New STOA study on deepfakes and European policy

European Parliamentary Research Service: “…Cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have enabled the production of highly realistic videos that manipulate how people look, and the things that they appear to say or do. These fabrications are commonly referred to as ‘deepfakes’. The Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) commissioned a study to examine… Continue Reading

Why we should build for wildlife as well as people

BBC Future – “From green roofs to bee bricks and hedgehog drawers, there are plenty of ways to make sterile buildings more accommodating to nature….Part of the problem is that human civilisation, so dependent on built infrastructure, has colonised swathes of land once home to wildlife. While just 1% of the planet’s habitable land is… Continue Reading

Not a single federal agency received an ‘A’ in a new Senate cybersecurity report card

Popular Science: “On Tuesday, members from the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee released a bipartisan report [PDF] that states that seven out of the eight federal agencies they reviewed still have not met the basic cybersecurity standards needed to protect the sensitive data they stored and maintained.  The report was led by… Continue Reading

Former Harvard Law Dean Who Wants Government to Save the News Business

Washington Monthly – “In an interview, Martha Minow argues the constitution doesn’t merely allow government to keep journalism outlets afloat, but requires it…In her new book, Saving the News: Why the Constitution Calls for Government Action to Preserve Freedom of Speech, Harvard Law professor (and former dean) Martha Minow argues that government policies to keep… Continue Reading

The voices of women in tech are still being erased

MIT Technology Review: “TikTok’s decision to use a woman’s voice without her permission is only one recent example of a problem that some mistakenly think we’ve moved past… When we think of women in computing, we often think about how, both literally and figuratively, they have been silenced more often than they’ve been listened to.… Continue Reading

Challenges Faced by Employees with Disabilities amid the Return to In-Person Work

Bill of Health – by Doron Dorfman, Associate Professor of Law at Syracuse University College of Law: “…calls for getting back to the office raise particular quandaries for employees with disabilities, many of whom have disproportionally borne the brunt of pandemic layoffs. First, there are those who started a new job remotely during the pandemic and… Continue Reading

The Knowledge Work Demand Index

Braintrust: “Enterprises are facing an unprecedented talent gap, but are they relying on an old approach to solve it? The demand for knowledge workers is surging. COVID-19 pushed businesses to accelerate their digital transformations by as much as 6 years in the United States. Knowledge workers are driving this innovation for enterprises. In order to… Continue Reading

You Don’t Really Own the Digital Movies You Buy

The New York Times Wirecutter: “As the entertainment industry shifts its distribution strategy to let people buy or rent movies closer to—or simultaneously with—their release in theaters, you may find yourself amassing a larger digital library than you’ve had in the past. But when you buy a movie from a digital service like Amazon Prime… Continue Reading

The Difference Between Delta, Delta Plus, and Lambda

Lifehacker: “Delta Plus, a variant of a variant, is the latest strain of the COVID-causing coronavirus to hit the news. (A previously-known variant, Lambda, is also making headlines today.) Still, so far, there’s nothing to panic more about: Delta is scary enough. What’s the difference between Delta and Delta Plus? Delta is the more-transmissible strain… Continue Reading