Our propaganda is better than Russian propaganda. Maybe.
U.S.
Cybercom contemplates information warfare to counter Russian
interference in 2020 election
Military cyber officials are developing
information warfare tactics that could be deployed against senior
Russian officials and oligarchs if Moscow tries to interfere in the
2020 U.S. elections through hacking election systems or sowing
widespread discord, according to current and former U.S. officials.
One option being explored by U.S. Cyber Command
would target senior leadership and Russian elites, though probably
not President Vladimir Putin, which would be considered too
provocative, said the current and former officials who spoke on the
condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. The
idea would be to show that the target’s sensitive personal data
could be hit if the interference did not stop, though officials
declined to be more specific.
Training students to obey.
Colleges
are turning students’ phones into surveillance machines
Washington
Post –
“When Syracuse University freshmen walk into professor Jeff Rubin’s
Introduction to Information Technologies class, seven small Bluetooth
beacons hidden around the Grant Auditorium lecture hall connect with
an app on their smartphones and boost their “attendance points.”
And when they skip class? The SpotterEDU
app
sees that, too, logging their absence into a campus database that
tracks them over time and
can sink their grade.
It also alerts Rubin, who later contacts students to ask where
they’ve been. His 340-person lecture has never been so full.
“They
want those points,” he said. “They know I’m watching and acting
on it. So, behaviorally, they change.”
Short-range phone sensors and campuswide WiFi networks are empowering colleges across the United States to track hundreds of thousands of students more precisely than ever before. Dozens of schools now use such technology to monitor students’ academic performance, analyze their conduct or assess their mental health. But some professors and education advocates argue that the systems represent a new low in intrusive technology, breaching students’ privacy on a massive scale. The tracking systems, they worry, will infantilize students in the very place where they’re expected to grow into adults, further training them to see surveillance as a normal part of living, whether they like it or not…
Background.
A starting point for my lecture.
What
Should Privacy Awareness Training Include?
A
question for my students.
What
the HiQ vs. LinkedIn Case Means for Automated Web Scraping
… The
implications of the litigation between LinkedIn and HiQ are profound,
but the case itself is simple enough to understand. It centered
around LinkedIn’s invocation of the Computer
Fraud and Abuse Act in
a cease-and-desist letter to HiQ.
HiQ
is a data analytics firm that provides business intelligence based on
publicly-available data scraped from LinkedIn. Like many businesses
today, they depend on access to public-facing data to be able to
function. One of the unspoken but very salient questions raised by
the case is where the line between public and private data lies.
… During
the case, the EFF filed an amicus brief that emphasized to the court
how vital scraping is to a number of industries. Web scraping isn’t
just used commercially. It is vital for research and has a number
of other beneficial uses.
The
Ninth Circuit affirmed that any data that required no authorization
to access and was freely available by default was fair game for
scraping. As the court pointed out, ‘authorization’ to access
data is implicit unless steps are taken to restrict general access.
… LinkedIn
appears to have interpreted the court’s ruling as meaning that any
and all data that requires a login is private and LinkedIn can revoke
access to it. As a result, LinkedIn is now requiring users to login
before being able to browse the platform.
… Finally,
the case touches on one of the most important data and privacy
issues of our time.
Who actually owns our personal data? The Ninth Circuit’s ruling
would appear to affirm that it is us that owns our data. Any
platforms we share that data with are merely licensed to use it, they
don’t own it outright.
It seems easier to copy the flawed thinking of
others than to think on one’s own.
Why
Americans Should Worry About the New EU Copyright Rules
Berkman
Klein Center – Julia Reda –
“Last
spring, 200,000 Europeans took to the streets to protest against a
new EU copyright law that risks to restrict online culture and block
vast numbers of legal online communications such as memes, reaction
gifs, video game reviews or remixes. It
is the latest clash between a generation that has grown up with the
Internet as a means of cultural expression and a much older
generation of lawmakers who prioritize the interests of entertainment
companies over online culture.
Although the protests were sparked by EU legislation, US academics
and activists should be paying close attention. Ever since the
adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation, EU regulation of
online platform companies has become a topic of global interest. Not
only are European policy-makers keener than their US counterparts to
regulate the mostly American tech companies that have gained
significant market power over the last two decades. For better or
for worse, the
European Union has increasingly become capable of setting global
regulatory standards,
through the inclusion of its internet legislation in trade
agreements, or by making compliance with these rules a precondition
for accessing the vast EU market of over 500 million consumers..”
Big Data means GIGO writ large.
No
artificial intelligence without data architecture
… "The real value created by consumers
lies in how we make sense of this data. As this data becomes
meaningful, new applications are constantly emerging where we can use
these meanings. At this point, both new areas of use emerge, and AI
provides better predictions for these uses," Daghelian said.
"The best example is health care. As the areas of use develop,
better patient care emerges. Or just take a look at customer
services. Better customer service is now available. Look at
production, there are new applications that can make millions of
dollars. AI makes sense of this data and leads to new applications
in new fields. If we look at the applications of AI in the field of
production and business, we see that it remains as single-digit
figures. But it is moving very fast. Even in 12 months, great
progress is being made. A year later, as
our customers build better data infrastructure, we will see more and
more AI applications in large areas. And companies will
begin to take advantage of these practices and rapidly increase their
success."
Dilbert on persuasion.
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