Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Monthly Archives: September 2021

Our Favorite Ad Blockers and Browser Extensions to Protect Privacy

Wirecutter: “Everything you do online—from browsing to shopping to using social networks—is tracked, typically as behavioral or advertising data. But browser extensions are simple, generally free add-ons that you can use to slow down or break this type of data collection, without completely ruining your experience of using the internet. Privacy almost always comes at the cost of usability. Sometimes a browser extension might cause a website to display text strangely, prevent embedded images or tweets from loading on a page, or remove the little social media buttons that make it easy to share an article. But in exchange for the occasional slight headache, companies will have a harder time tracking what you do online. Not all browsers offer the exact same extensions, but Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox are the two most popular browsers, and the ones I focus on here. (Most Chrome extensions will also work with Microsoft Edge, Brave, Opera, and Vivaldi, though we haven’t fully tested them.) Of the two, I recommend Firefox if you prioritize privacy, as it’s much more focused on privacy out of the box compared with Chrome. Regardless of which browser you use, a pack of extensions can increase your privacy by decreasing your exposure to trackers, as well as have the welcome side effect of boosting your security. I’ve included links for both Chrome and Firefox, along with alternatives to our favorites, if they exist. As for other browsers, Apple’s Safari isn’t bad when it comes to privacy, but it lacks wide support for popular browser extensions. Edge is based on Chromium and will work with the bulk of the Chrome extensions in this article, we haven’t tested it thoroughly. Brave is one of the more popular privacy-first browsers, but even it isn’t free of privacy-related controversies. The Tor Browser is the go-to for anonymity, especially in censored countries, but it’s unusable for most people as a daily browser. Dozens of other lower-profile browsers exist, but few get the security updates and support that most of us need in the software we use all day..”

Bridging the gap? An analysis of genderpay gap reporting in six countries

ZDNet – “Australia has scored equal last with the UK in a new global gender pay gap study published by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s Collect London. The report, Bridging the gap [PDF], ranked gender pay gap reporting systems across 11 indicators in Australia, France, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.… Continue Reading

Discriminatory AI and the Law Legal Standards for Algorithmic Profiling

von Ungern-Sternberg, Antje, Discriminatory AI and the Law – Legal Standards for Algorithmic Profiling. (June 29, 2021). Draft Chapter, in: Silja Vöneky, Philipp Kellmeyer, Oliver Müller and Wolfram Burgard (ed.) Responsible AI, Cambridge University Press (Forthcoming), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3876657 “Artificial Intelligence is increasingly used to assess people (profiling) and helps employers to find qualified… Continue Reading

Study – More Than Half of Police Killings Are Mislabeled

The New York Times: “Police killings in America have been undercounted by more than half over the past four decades, according to a new study that raises pointed questions about racial bias among medical examiners and highlights the lack of reliable national record keeping on what has become a major public health and civil rights… Continue Reading

Mental Health and the Legal Profession

Denno, Deborah W. and Green, Bruce A., Mental Health and the Legal Profession (June 28, 2021). 89 Fordham L. Rev. 2415-25 (2021) (Foreward and Dedication), Fordham Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 3875507, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3875507 “The Fordham Law Review’s Symposium collection on Mental Health and the Legal Profession is dedicated to the memory… Continue Reading

‘Speaking Portraits’ Make It Unsettlingly Easy to Turn Still Photos Into Animated Deepfakes

Gizmodo: “Earlier this year, social media was briefly taken over by seemingly everyone using MyHeritage’s Deep Nostalgia feature to bring old photos to life. The company whose AI technology powers Deep Nostalgia, D-ID, is taking that technology one step further, turning still headshot photos into videos that move and say whatever a user wants. As… Continue Reading