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Monthly Archives: February 2022

Court Blocks Maryland’s Library E-book Law

Publishers Weekly: “In a rebuke to Maryland state legislators, a federal judge has granted the Association of American Publishers’ motion for a preliminary injunction, blocking Maryland officials from enforcing the state’s new library e-book law. “It is clear the Maryland Act likely stands as an obstacle to the accomplishment of the purposes and objectives of… Continue Reading

Facial recognition firm Clearview AI tells investors it’s seeking massive expansion beyond law enforcement

Washington Post via MSN: “The facial recognition company Clearview AI is telling investors it is on track to have 100 billion facial photos in its database within a year, enough to ensure “almost everyone in the world will be identifiable,” according to a financial presentation from December obtained by The Washington Post. Those images —… Continue Reading

Study – Social media echo chambers spread vaccine misinformation

Source: Bjarke Mønsted et al, Characterizing polarization in online vaccine discourse—A large-scale study, PLOS ONE (2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0263746 “Vaccine hesitancy is currently recognized by the WHO as a major threat to global health. Recently, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a growing interest in the role of social media in the propagation of… Continue Reading

Radar Interference Tracker: A New Open Source Tool to Locate Active Military Radar Systems

bellingcat: “The Radar Interference Tracker (RIT) is a new tool created by Ollie Ballinger that allows anyone to search for and potentially locate active military radar systems anywhere on earth. Click here to access the tool and read on for a full description of  how to use it (as well as learning about the fascinating research… Continue Reading

AI-synthesized faces are indistinguishable from real faces and more trustworthy

AI-synthesized faces are indistinguishable from real faces and more trustworthy. PNAS February 22, 2022 119 (8) e2120481119; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2120481119. “Artificial intelligence (AI)–synthesized text, audio, image, and video are being weaponized for the purposes of nonconsensual intimate imagery, financial fraud, and disinformation campaigns. Our evaluation of the photorealism of AI-synthesized faces indicates that synthesis engines have passed… Continue Reading

LGBT Identification in U.S. Ticks Up to 7.1%

Gallup: “The percentage of U.S. adults who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or something other than heterosexual has increased to a new high of 7.1%, which is double the percentage from 2012, when Gallup first measured it. Gallup asks Americans whether they personally identify as straight or heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender as… Continue Reading

Americans’ Trust in Scientists, Other Groups Declines

“Americans’ confidence in groups and institutions has turned downward compared with just a year ago. Trust in scientists and medical scientists, once seemingly buoyed by their central role in addressing the coronavirus outbreak, is now below pre-pandemic levels. Overall, 29% of U.S. adults say they have a great deal of confidence in medical scientists to… Continue Reading