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Daily Archives: October 22, 2018

Deep Fakes: A Looming Challenge for Privacy, Democracy, and National Security

Chesney, Robert and Citron, Danielle Keats, Deep Fakes: A Looming Challenge for Privacy, Democracy, and National Security (July 14, 2018). 107 California Law Review (2019, Forthcoming); U of Texas Law, Public Law Research Paper No. 692; U of Maryland Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2018-21. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3213954 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3213954

“Harmful lies are nothing new. But the ability to distort reality has taken an exponential leap forward with “deep fake” technology. This capability makes it possible to create audio and video of real people saying and doing things they never said or did. Machine learning techniques are escalating the technology’s sophistication, making deep fakes ever more realistic and increasingly resistant to detection. Deep-fake technology has characteristics that enable rapid and widespread diffusion, putting it into the hands of both sophisticated and unsophisticated actors. While deep-fake technology will bring with it certain benefits, it also will introduce many harms. The marketplace of ideas already suffers from truth decay as our networked information environment interacts in toxic ways with our cognitive biases. Deep fakes will exacerbate this problem significantly. Individuals and businesses will face novel forms of exploitation, intimidation, and personal sabotage. The risks to our democracy and to national security are profound as well. Our aim is to provide the first in-depth assessment of the causes and consequences of this disruptive technological change, and to explore the existing and potential tools for responding to it. We survey a broad array of responses, including: the role of technological solutions; criminal penalties, civil liability, and regulatory action; military and covert-action responses; economic sanctions; and market developments. We cover the waterfront from immunities to immutable authentication trails, offering recommendations to improve law and policy and anticipating the pitfalls embedded in various solutions.”

100 Websites That Shaped The Internet As We Know It

Gizmodod: 100 Websites That Shaped The Internet As We Know It – “The World Wide Web is officially old enough for us judge what it’s produced. That’s right, it’s time for the world to start building a canon of the most significant websites of all time, and the Gizmodo staff has opinions. What does a… Continue Reading

Government Must Now Obtain A Warrant To Compel Disclosure of Cell Phone Location Records

Via LLRX.com – The Government Must Now Obtain A Warrant To Compel Disclosure of Cell Phone Location Records – Attorney Charles Holster discusses the ramifications of the June 22, 2018 Supreme Court decision, Carpenter v. United States that held a warrant is required before a wireless telephone service provider may be compelled by a governmental… Continue Reading

The Corporate Research Project

The Corporate Research Project assists community, environmental and labor organizations in researching companies and industries. Our focus is on identifying information that can be used to advance corporate accountability campaigns. We play this role by: producing unique research  tools carrying out research projects, especially corporate and industry dossiers, for activist organizations and training activists in… Continue Reading

WSJ data visualizations that illustrate the rising costs of hurricanes in US

“The Wall Street Journal  [paywall] has created several data visualizations that illustrate the rising costs of hurricanes in the United States. Maps and graphs illustrate that the populations of coastal counties have increased significantly more than those in the rest of the mainland, which means there are more homes susceptible to damage. In addition, the… Continue Reading

Congress Considers Possible Responses to the Disappearance of a Saudi Journalist

EveryCRSReport.com – Congress Considers Possible Responses to the Disappearance of a Saudi Journalist October 18, 2018. IN10983. “Congress is considering potential responses to the disappearance and reported death of prominent Saudi Arabian journalist and former diplomatic advisor Jamal Khashoggi. Some members of Congress have requested additional information from the executive branch, raised the prospect of… Continue Reading

Are There Any Systemically Important Nonbanks?

EveryCRSreport.com – Are There Any Systemically Important Nonbanks?, October 17, 2018. IN10982. “During the 2008 financial crisis, problems at AIG, Bear Stearns, and Lehman Brothers led to broader financial instability or government “bailouts” in order to prevent instability. At the time, these firms were nonbank financial institutions and not generally subject to effective safety and… Continue Reading

LC – Foreign Law Web Archives

The Signal – Charles Hosale: “Law and government are major areas of web archiving at the Library of Congress, and feature prominently among the event and thematic collections available on loc.gov. The Law Library, which holds the largest collection of legal materials in the world, also coordinates the collection of Law websites through five significant… Continue Reading

12 Authors Write About the Libraries They Love

American Libraries – “For most readers and writers—and book lovers in general—the library holds a special place of honor and respect. The New York Times asked 12 authors to describe their local public libraries or share a memory of a library from their past. Here is what Barbara Kingsolver, Curtis Sittenfeld, Neil Gaiman, Amy Tan,… Continue Reading

C-SPAN video – Impact of Westward Expansion on Native Americans

“C-SPAN and the Aspen Institute: Impact of Westward Expansion on Native Americans (50 min video, transcript included) Yale University history professor Ned Blackhawk and Patricia Limerick of the Center of the American West discussed the interactions between Native Americans and white settlers in the 19th century. They talked about the impact of trade alliances on… Continue Reading

How Bloomberg’s “Pessimist’s Guide” gives readers a look into the future

Storybench: “Jeremy Scott Diamond, a developer and designer for Bloomberg graphics, helped create last December’s “Pessimist’s Guide to 2018,” a recurring piece designed to give users a look into the future. Based on the top-trending news articles from the previous year, the project gives readers possible scenarios that could play out nationally and globally. Storybench… Continue Reading