Quartz: “Florida’s Supreme Court has ruled on something that most social media users already know: Facebook friendships are not real. Specifically, the court said in a Nov. 15 opinion that a Facebook friendship between a judge and an attorney does not mean the judge is too biased to preside over that attorney’s case. Ruling on an appeal… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: November 2018
Operation Infektion: Russian Disinformation: From The Cold War To Kanye
Opinion Video Series | Operation Infektion By Adam B. Ellick and Adam Westbrook The New York Times, November 12, 2018 WATCH: This is a three-part film series. Scroll down at this link and click to play any episode… “Russia’s meddling in the United States’ elections is not a hoax. It’s the culmination of Moscow’s decades-long campaign to tear… Continue Reading
Google News may shut over EU plans to charge tax for links
The Guardian – Search engine is lobbying hard to stop proposed tax, aimed at compensating news publishers – “Google’s top news executive has refused to rule out shutting down Google News in EU countries, as the search engine faces a battle with Brussels over plans to charge a “link tax” for using news stories. Richard Gingras,… Continue Reading
Amazon Announces a Security Change That May Help Companies Using AWS to Avoid Data Breaches
Fortune: “Amazon is finally offering a simple way for its cloud services customers to lock down data stored at its Simple Storage Service (S3) with one fell swoop. This change should help companies in the Fortune 500 and mom-and-pops down the street avoid embarrassing breaches of data. Customers of Amazon Web Services (AWS) routinely leave… Continue Reading
How Podcasts Became a Seductive and Sometimes Slipper Mode of Storytelling
The New Yorker – In our frenetic age, audio narratives offer a rare opportunity for slow immersion. But this intimacy can become manipulative. By Rebecca Mead: “…Eighty-odd years after [Walter Benjamin, the German philosopher and cultural critic, published an essay titled “The Storyteller”], we are living in a new golden age of it, in the… Continue Reading
International law regarding use of force
Oxford University Press Blog: “Through the power of precedent, international incidents involving the use of force help to clarify the meaning and interpretation of jus ad bellum, the corpus of rules arising from international custom and the United Nations Charter that govern the use of force. UN Charter Article 2(4) forbids states from using force… Continue Reading
Tracking Property Transactions in Philadelphia using official dataset
“The City of Philadelphia has released a dataset of 3.7 million records detailing all property transactions that occurred in the city over the past twenty years. The dataset includes information such as properties’ market values, mortgages, and deeds. Prior to the dataset’s release, Philadelphia residents often had to visit City Hall to learn about property… Continue Reading
Poll – America sours on social media giants
Axios Poll – Does social media do more to help or hurt democracy and free speech? “Silicon Valley has a big and growing problem: Americans have rising concerns with its most popular products and a growing majority wants big social media companies regulated, according to new poll conducted by Survey Monkey for “Axios on HBO.”… Continue Reading
US-CERT issues guide on how to properly dispose of your electronic devices
ZDNet – “Over the past few years, there have been numerous reports, and studies about how second-hand devices that have been put up for sale still contained information from previous owners, exposing those individuals to scams, blackmailing, or identity theft. This week, the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), a division part of the… Continue Reading
Electing the House of Representatives – visualizations and data 1840-2016
Electing the House of Representatives, 1840-2016: “This project aims to recapture the role of Congress as an equal branch in governing, worthy of studying side-by-side with the Presidency, by offering comprehensive and fine-grained data on the history of Congressional elections. To understand the most momentous periods of reform in American political history, we must give… Continue Reading
How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive
The Atlantic – How the Ballpoint Pen Killed Cursive – Thicker ink, fewer smudges, and more strained hands: an Object Lesson “…The ballpoint’s universal success has changed how most people experience ink. Its thicker ink was less likely to leak than that of its predecessors. For most purposes, this was a win—no more ink-stained shirts,… Continue Reading
Harvard 50-State Criminal Justice Debt Reform Builder
Criminal Justice Policy Program at Harvard Law School, 50-State Criminal Justice Debt Reform Builder – “Criminal justice debt – the system of fees and fines in the criminal justice system – has serious consequences. The Criminal Justice Debt Reform Builder brings transparency to this area of significant legal complexity: it gives easier access to state… Continue Reading
