Monday, October 05, 2020

A question without an answer?

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2020/10/05/nist-crowdsourcing-challenge-privacy/?web_view=true

NIST crowdsourcing challenge aims to de-identify public data sets to protect individual privacy

NIST has launched a crowdsourcing challenge to spur new methods to ensure that important public safety data sets can be de-identified to protect individual privacy.

The Differential Privacy Temporal Map Challenge includes a series of contests that will award a total of up to $276,000 for differential privacy solutions for complex data sets that include information on both time and location.





...and when the pandemic is over, we’ll still have all that lovely data. Colorado is planning to release an App.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/03/covid-app-exposure-notification-apple-google.html

States are finally starting to use the Covid-tracking tech Apple and Google built — here’s why

If the system works properly, the apps will provide push alerts to any user who came in close contact with another app user who tested positive for the coronavirus. Users can also use the apps to alert everyone they were near that they tested positive without revealing their name or phone number.

For health bodies and governments, the apps could help slow the spread of the coronavirus by identifying people who might test positive that could be missed by other methods, such as contact tracing.

The U.S. does not have a national app strategy, unlike other countries, so the development of the apps falls to the state level.





A peek at the future? (It’s not paranoia if they really are out to get you.)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-says-government-breakup-of-instagram-whatsapp-would-be-complete-nonstarter-11601803800?mod=djemalertNEWS

Facebook Says Government Breakup of Instagram, WhatsApp Would Be ‘Complete Nonstarter’

A government effort to break up Facebook Inc. from Instagram and WhatsApp would defy established law, cost billions of dollars and harm consumers, according to a paper company lawyers have prepared in the wake of rising antitrust legal threats.

The 14-page document, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, offers a preview of the social-media giant’s defense as federal antitrust enforcers and members of Congress continue to pursue investigations into Facebook’s power and past competitive behavior





Not sure subscriptions are the way to go.

https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/10/5/21497859/google-facebook-california-privacy-law-internet-cpra

Google and Facebook hate a proposed privacy law. News publishers should embrace it.

While most of America is focused on the presidential vote, Californians have another important decision to make at the polls this November. They’re being asked to approve what will likely become the internet privacy law for the United States.

Proposition 24, also known as the California Privacy Rights and Enforcement Act of 2020 (CPRA), is supposed to expand a landmark California privacy law that passed two years ago; there’s a good chance Californians will approve this one, too. It’s framed as legislation that will better protect their privacy — in particular, sensitive data such as Social Security numbers, race, religion, and health information.

And while the proposed law technically governs the use and sale of data for Californians, California has an enormous impact on the tech industry, which means CPRA will become the de facto law for all of the US.

… News publishers are also increasingly interested in trying to sell subscriptions instead of relying on digital ads. CPRA can help there by letting publishers offer subscriptions to consumers who opt out of having their data shared with other parties.

Some CPRA critics think this provision puts a price on “privacy.” I would argue that it gives news publishers the flexibility to decide on their own business model, and gives consumers an opportunity to understand how content gets funded.





Perspective. Our government should have one…

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/technology/trump-india-hib-visas.html

Trump Cracks Down on Visas. Indian Firms May Benefit.

As the president clashes with the courts, some companies and investors say tougher limits on temporary work visas will help push jobs overseas.

When President Trump suspended a raft of visa programs in June, including temporary permits for highly technical foreign workers known as H-1B visas, he portrayed the order as a victory for the American work force. Further overhauls were in the works, he said weeks later,so that no American worker is replaced ever again.”

Experts say restrictions will do little to accomplish their stated goal of encouraging companies to hire Americans instead of workers from abroad. In fact, limits on H-1B visas may have the unintended effect of spurring American companies to shift even more work abroad.

Already, Indian outsourcing companies are working to cast the new restrictions as an opportunity to do just that.





Perspective.

https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2020/10/3/the-end-of-the-american-internet

The end of the American internet

When Netscape launched in 1994 and kicked off the consumer internet, there were maybe 100m PCs on earth, and over half of them were in the USA. The web was invented in Switzerland, and computers were invented in the UK, but the internet was American. American companies set the agenda and created most of the important products and services, and American attitudes, cultures and laws around regulation and speech dominated.

This is not quite so true anymore. 80-90% of internet users are now outside the USA, there are more smartphone users in China than in the USA and western Europe combined, and the creation of venture-based startups has gone global.





Win those water fountain arguments?

https://www.bespacific.com/quote-investigator/

Quote Investigator

Quote Investigator – “This website records the investigatory work of Garson O’Toole who diligently seeks the truth about quotations. Who really said what? This question often cannot be answered with complete finality, but approximate solutions can be iteratively improved over time.



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