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Daily Archives: April 13, 2020

How Apple And Google Are Going To Enable Contact Tracing

JOEKENT.NYC: “This post is a technical translation of the contact tracing specification Apple and Google recently released, aimed at folks that are interested in understanding the implications for security, privacy, and usage. If you are not familiar with contact tracing, I suggest you first read this blog post that explains the topic and the various methodologies that are being used and developed globally. At a high level, the way this technology works is by having an app on your phone broadcast a random, unique identifier over the device bluetooth antenna, and simultaneously listen for other phones broadcasting their identifiers. Your phone keeps a log of everyone you come into contact with who is running this app and is broadcasting advertisements over the Bluetooth service. It is important to note, Bluetooth is not the same as GPS, it cannot determine your physical location. Your contact list is simply a giant list of random numbers representing other devices that were near you at some point. If you test positive for COVID-19, you can upload the unique identifiers your phone was previously broadcasting to the cloud. Meanwhile, everyones phone will be pulling down a list of identifiers that tested positive on a frequent basis so they can compare them to their own contact list. If a match between the cloud list and your local list is found, you will be notified to self-isolate and follow CDC guidelines…”

Rapid Expert Consultation on the Effectiveness of Fabric Masks for the COVID-19 Pandemic

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Rapid Expert Consultation on the Effectiveness of Fabric Masks for the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 8, 2020). Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/25776. “In response to a request from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a… Continue Reading

The Judge Will See You On Zoom, But The Public Is Mostly Left Out

The Marshall Project – Volunteers who monitor courts across the country say they are getting little access to online-only proceedings. “…Monitoring court hearings has become difficult, in some cases even impossible, for dozens of court watch programs scattered throughout cities and towns in the country. They rely on volunteers to sit in open court and… Continue Reading

SCOTUS to Break Tradition Hold Oral Arguments by Teleconference

“The Court will hear oral arguments by telephone conference on May 4, 5, 6, 11, 12 and 13 in a limited number of previously postponed cases.  The following cases will be assigned argument dates after the Clerk’s Office has confirmed the availability of counsel: 18-9526, McGirt v. Oklahoma 19-46, United States Patent and Trademark Office… Continue Reading

Demand sharing unleashes the “power of pull” for your science research

Bruce Aron – Medium – PLEASE NOTE: This is a draft of a bit of the Open Scientist Handbook. There are references/links to other parts of this work-in-progress that do not link here in this blog. Sorry. But you can also see what the Handbook will be offering soon. “Why is Demand Sharing so important… Continue Reading

Everywhere School

A calendar of educational livestreams for kids during the COVID-19 pandemic – “Everywhere School is a gateway to live, educational video content created by people and institutions around the internet created during the Covid-19 Pandemic. We don’t produce any streams ourselves: we simply curate our favourites, presenting what’s live and what’s scheduled for the hours… Continue Reading