A
‘loss of Internet’ horror story. Could it happen here?
India
Shut Down Kashmir’s Internet Access. Now, ‘We Cannot Do
Anything.’
Pharmacists
can’t restock medicines; workers aren’t being paid. But the
government still loves to block the internet for “peace and
tranquillity.”
… Shopkeepers
said that vital supplies like insulin and baby food, which they
typically ordered online, were running out. Cash was scarce, as
metal shutters covered the doors and windows of banks and A.T.M.s,
which relied on the internet for every transaction. Doctors said
they could not communicate with their patients.
… While
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promoted the rapid adoption of the
internet, particularly on smartphones, to modernize India and bring
it out of poverty, the country is also the world leader in shutting
down the internet.
The
country has increasingly deployed communications and internet
stoppages to suppress potential protests, prevent rumors from
spreading on WhatsApp, conduct elections and even stop students from
cheating on exams. Last year, India blocked the internet 134 times,
compared with 12 shutdowns in Pakistan, the No. 2 country, according
to Access Now, a global digital rights group, which said its data
understates the number of occurrences.
… “Kashmir
has become invisible even to itself,”
said Gurshabad Grover, a senior policy officer at the Center for
Internet and Society in Bangalore, quoting a
recent line in
The Indian Express. The center published a report
last year on the social and economic toll of internet shutdowns
across
India.
The
United Nations has repeatedly condemned
government-ordered internet shutdowns as
a violation of human rights.
But
that has not deterred India from routinely using the tool. Under
India’s laws, authorities at even the local level can easily shut
down internet access in the name of ensuring “peace and
tranquillity.”
(Related)
Which raises the question…
How
Sustainable are Russia’s Plans to Fully Control Internet?
The
Russian government has been planning to up
its control over the Web for
quite some time, and now it has all but done it. Passed by the Duma
this spring, the so-called “Independent Internet Law” takes
effect on November 1. Though its pretext appears noble at a first
glance — protection against cyberattacks and foreign pressure —
its real purpose is very much clear to both involved parties: the
government and the Russian people.
The
hacks should be interesting.
Alexa,
time for class: How one university put an Echo Dot in every dorm room
… Saint
Louis University -- the oldest university west of the Mississippi, in
fact -- is the first to put smart speakers in dorm rooms.
… Each
dorm room comes equipped with an SLU-emblazoned, second-gen Echo Dot
and instructions on how to use it, what students can ask and what to
do if there are technical issues.
The
network of 2,300 Echo Dots is powered by Amazon's Alexa for Business
platform. A private SLU skill built through Amazon Web Services is
enabled on each Echo Dot. That skill can answer more than 135
questions about campus events, building hours, even nearby food
options.
Students
can stream music, podcasts and live radio through iHeartRadio and
call any phone number,
including contacts in SLU's directory of student services.
… there's
no personally identifiable information recorded, stored or handed
over to the SLU team. Each Echo Dot is labeled with a sticker
containing the dorm room number and a MAC address, but there's no
data gathered on which room is asking which questions.
Interesting
idea, but this will only work if you opt out of almost everything.
How
Data Privacy Laws Can Fight Fake News
… Data
privacy laws like the European General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) are not
intended to address harmful speech. Their main goal is giving users
greater control over their personal data, allowing people to check
what data has been stored, opt out of data sharing, or erase their
data entirely. Personal data generally includes information directly
or indirectly linking accounts to real-life individuals, like
demographic characteristics, political beliefs, or biometric data.
By
limiting access to the information that enables personalized ad
targeting and polarization loops, data privacy laws can render
disinformation a weapon without a target. Absent the detailed data
on users’ political beliefs, age, location, and gender that
currently guide ads and suggested content, disinformation has a
higher chance of being lost in the noise.
Worth
a half-hour of your time?
Governance
in the Age of AI
Artificial
intelligence is a powerful technology with capabilities that are open
to use by state and non-state actors. In this conversation Azeem
Azhar, De Kai, and Joanna Bryson discuss how governance should adapt
as our institutions are challenged by unintended consequences of the
technology and its creators.
Joanna,
De Kai, and Azeem also discuss:
- Why rule-based systems fall short of protecting us against the unintended consequences of technology.
- The value of cross-cultural dialogue in establishing common values to guide the governance of AI globally.
- The role of the leading technology companies in regulating the industry.
Listen
and subscribe to this podcast via Apple
Podcasts |
Google
Podcasts
Some
interesting stuff.
High-Profile
Jitters Over AI
Also,
Kroger to build automated warehouses and why weather forecasting will
never be perfect.
Editor’s
note: Elsewhere is a column that highlights ideas from other media
platforms we believe are worth your attention.
How
clever of them. Perhaps they should attend the Privacy Foundation’s
November 1 seminar on “Artificial Intelligence and Ethics”
ABA
Votes to Urge Legal Profession to Address Emerging Legal and Ethical
Issues of AI
Robert
Ambrogi – LawSites:
“The American Bar Association’s House of Delegates, its
policy-making body, voted this week to approve a resolution urging
courts and lawyers to address the emerging ethical and legal issues
related to the usage
of artificial intelligence in the practice of law.
Among the AI-related issues the profession should address, the ABA
said, are bias, explainability, and transparency of automated
decisions made by AI; ethical and beneficial usage of AI; and
controls and oversight of AI and the vendors that provide AI…”
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