and by extension, my students need to explain these to the CISO

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3601001/6-board-of-directors-security-concerns-every-ciso-should-be-prepared-to-address.html?upd=1608642841748

6 board of directors security concerns every CISO should be prepared to address

The COVID pandemic and spike in cybercriminal activity has raised interest in security among corporate boards. These are the concerns and questions CISOs say they are now hearing from them.

I think we need an “Underwriter’s Lab” for software.

https://www.bespacific.com/how-u-s-agencies-trust-in-untested-software-opened-the-door-to-hackers/

How U.S. agencies’ trust in untested software opened the door to hackers

Politico – The government doesn’t do much to verify the security of software from private contractors. And that’s how suspected Russian hackers got in: “The massive monthslong hack of agencies across the U.S. government succeeded, in part, because no one was looking in the right place. The federal government conducts only cursory security inspections of the software it buys from private companies for a wide range of activities, from managing databases to operating internal chat applications. That created the blind spot that suspected Russian hackers exploited to breach the Treasury Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the National Institutes of Health and other agencies. After embedding code in widely used network management software made by a Texas company called SolarWinds, all they had to do was wait for the agencies to download routine software updates from the trusted supplier…

Dystopian ethics.

https://dilbert.com/strip/2020-12-22

Perhaps not as ‘figured out’ as we’d like.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55399509

Facebook child abuse detection hit by new EU rules

Facebook has switched off some of its child abuse detection tools in Europe in response to new rules from the EU.

The company said it has had no choice but to do so, since the new privacy directive bans automatic scanning of private messages.

The change only applies to messaging services rather than all content uploaded to Facebook.

However, there is no change in the UK, where measures are "consistent with applicable laws", Facebook said.

The problem has emerged despite warnings from child protection advocates that the new privacy rules effectively ban automated systems scanning for child sexual abuse images and other illegal content.

Papers, Citizen!

https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/12/21/1015353/covid-vaccine-passport-digital-immunity-record/

Will you have to carry a vaccine passport on your phone?

… You may have heard about using “vaccine certification” or “immunity passports,” analog or digital tools to prove you’re vaccinated. Some experts champion them as a way to get back to normal life, while others warn about privacy risks and the potential for discrimination and abuse.

These debates are mostly speculative, but underlying issues of privacy, verification, and ethical use aren’t unique to the vaccine. Governments and businesses already use covid-related records every day to make decisions about who can do what. Here’s what we know.

For the implementers…

https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-protection/ccpa-vs-gdpr-spot-the-difference/

CCPA vs GDPR – Spot the Difference

For more than two years, the GDPR has been one of the most pressing pieces of data protection legislation that organisations handling data on EU residents had to get to grips with. Its strict regulations meant that companies compliant with the GDPR would also be likely to comply with the data protection standards in any territory outside of the EU as well. The status quo changed in July however, when the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA) began to be enforced.

While there are many similarities between CCPA and the GDPR, there are some subtle yet significant differences many of those planning to do business in California need to be aware of.

(Related)

https://fpf.org/blog/a-deep-dive-into-new-zealands-new-privacy-law-extraterritorial-effect-cross-border-data-transfers-restrictions-and-new-powers-of-the-privacy-commissioner/

A DEEP DIVE INTO NEW ZEALAND’S NEW PRIVACY LAW: EXTRATERRITORIAL EFFECT, CROSS-BORDER DATA TRANSFERS RESTRICTIONS AND NEW POWERS OF THE PRIVACY COMMISSIONER

Last week, on December 1st, the newly amended Privacy Act 2020 (Act) of New Zealand came into force. The act was passed by the New Zealand Parliament on June 20, 2020 and made significant changes to the 1993 law, Privacy Act 1993. The amendments cover a broad range of topics including the extraterritorial scope of the law, new mandatory data breach notification requirements, changes to “compliance notices” as a key enforcement tool of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, to data subject access requests, restrictions on cross-border transfers of personal information, and the enforcement regime overall.

Futile?

https://www.bespacific.com/civil-rights-groups-move-to-block-expansion-of-facial-recognition-in-airports/

Civil rights groups move to block expansion of facial recognition in airports

The Verge: “A coalition of civil rights groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union have filed an objection to the proposed expansion of Customs and Border Protections facial recognition at land and sea ports. The National Immigration Law Center, Fight for the Future, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are also participating in the motion, alongside twelve others. Filed in November, CBP’s proposed rule would expand the biometric exit system, authorizing the collection of facial images from any non-citizen entering the country. But in a filing on Monday, the final day of the comment period, the coalition argued that those measures are too extreme.

CBP’s proposed use of face surveillance at airports, sea ports, and the land border would put the United States on an extraordinarily dangerous path toward the normalization of this surveillance,” said Ashley Gorski, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, in a statement to reporters. “The deployment of this society-changing technology is unnecessary and unjustified.”…

Explaining why you need to explain Explainable AI

https://www.zdnet.com/article/explaining-explainable-ai/

Explaining explainable AI

… AI systems making inexplicable decisions are your governance, regulatory, and compliance colleagues' worst nightmare. But aside from this, there are other compelling reasons for shining a light into the inner workings of AI. For one, as more and more companies adopt AI, they find that the business stakeholders who will rely on AI for their workflows won't trust decisions if they don't have at least a general understanding of how they were made. Also, opaque AI obfuscates the "second-order insights," such as nonintuitive correlations that emerge from the inner workings of a machine-learning model.

… To understand the business and technology trends critical to 2021, download Forrester's complimentary 2021 Predictions Guide here.

Perspective.

https://insidebigdata.com/2020/12/21/big-data-industry-predictions-for-2021/

Big Data Industry Predictions for 2021

2020 has been year for the ages, with so many domestic and global challenges. But the big data industry has significant inertia moving into 2021. In order to give our valued readers a pulse on important new trends leading into next year, we here at insideBIGDATA heard from all our friends across the vendor ecosystem to get their insights, reflections and predictions for what may be coming. We were very encouraged to hear such exciting perspectives. Even if only half actually come true, Big Data in the next year is destined to be quite an exciting ride.

Two years. Can you be ready in time?

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3601123/cpra-explained-new-california-privacy-law-ramps-up-restrictions-on-data-use.html#tk.rss_all

CPRA explained: New California privacy law ramps up restrictions on data use

The California Privacy Rights Act more closely aligns with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation. Mid-sized companies not yet GDPR compliant face the biggest impact.

In November, Californians approved a ballot measure, Proposition 24, a.k.a. the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), to create a new consumer data privacy agency. It puts California yet another step ahead of other states in terms of privacy productions for consumers—and data security requirements for enterprises.

… The law goes into effect on January 1, 2023, Lee says, and enforcement will begin six months later. "Companies essentially have two years to prepare," she says.

At last, a word of caution.

https://chiefexecutive.net/ceos-ai-is-not-a-magic-wand/

CEOs: AI Is Not A Magic Wand

… Earlier this year, a joint study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan Management Review found that only 11 percent of the firms that have deployed artificial intelligence sees a “sizable” return on their investments.

… What, then, is the main culprit? According to researchers, it seems to be a lack of strategic direction during the implementation process.

“The people that are really getting value are stepping back and letting the machine tell them what they can do differently,” Sam Ransbotham, a professor at Boston College who co-authored the report, commented. “The gist is not blindly applying AI.”

(Related)

https://insights.dice.com/2020/12/21/managers-should-learn-a-i-and-machine-learning-skills-too/

Managers Should Learn A.I. and Machine Learning Skills, Too

Given all the focus on building A.I. and machine-learning applications, you might be forgiven for thinking that these technologies are largely the providence of software developers and engineers. But while those technologists are certainly building the next generation of “smart” apps and services, it’s important to note that A.I. and machine learning skills are going to become increasingly important to everyone—including managers.

“A.I. is not going to replace managers but managers that use A.I. will replace those that do not,” Rob Thomas, senior vice president of IBM’s cloud and data platform, recently told CNBC.

Trying to understand the new anti-trust?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/technology/antitrust-case-google-facebook.html

The Antitrust Case Against Big Tech, Shaped by Tech Industry Exiles

Three years ago, before she became an antitrust scholar whose work laid the blueprint for a new wave of monopoly lawsuits against Big Tech, Dina Srinivasan was a digital advertising executive bored with her job and worried about the bleak outlook for the industry.

“It just felt like, OK, Facebook and Google were going to win and everybody else is going to lose and that’s just the way the cards were stacked,” Ms. Srinivasan said. “I don’t think this was widely understood.”

So she quit her job at a unit of WPP, the world’s largest advertising agency, and pursued something she hadn’t done since her days as a law student at Yale: writing a legal treatise.

With no background in academia but an insider’s understanding of the digital ad world and a stack of economics books, she wrote a paper with a novel theory — that Facebook harmed consumers by extracting more and more personal data for using its free services. This year, she argued in another paper that Google’s monopoly in advertising technology allowed for the type of self-dealing and insider trading that would be illegal on Wall Street.

… When Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, accused Facebook of buying up rivals to illegally crush the competition as part of a multistate lawsuit against the company earlier this month, she noted that consumers paid the price with reduced privacy protections. That notion of consumer harm is the crux of Ms. Srinivasan’s thesis in her paper, “The Antitrust Case Against Facebook.”

When Texas and nine other states filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google last week, the complaint identified many of the same conflicts of interest as Ms. Srinivasan’s paper, “Why Google Dominates Advertising Markets” in the Stanford Technology Law Review. The lawsuit said Google controlled every part of the digital advertising pipeline and used it to give priority to its own services, acting as “pitcher, batter and umpire, all at the same time.”

Tools for learners…

https://www.makeuseof.com/firefox-add-ons-research-students/

17 Essential Firefox Add-Ons for Research Students

Improve your research skills with these essential Firefox add-ons for students and researchers.

For your Security planning.

https://www.databreaches.net/maintaining-privilege-over-forensic-data-breach-reports/

Maintaining privilege over forensic data-breach reports

Steven Morphy, James Shreve, and Luke Sosnicki of Thompson Coburn LLP offer some commentary on difficulties in the current climate about claiming that forensic data-breach reports are privileged. After discussing some recent decisions, they offer some takeways to help entities. The first tip is:

At the most basic level, companies should involve outside counsel in all aspects of its breach investigation, and counsel must hire the outside consultant to investigate the breach. If possible, the company should consider retaining a different cybersecurity firm than the company previously hired to conduct any prior review of the company’s data management systems. If challenged, this could allow the company to more clearly show the retention was specific to, and in anticipation of, ensuing litigation.

Read more on JDSupra.

I wonder what they think they can decrypt…

https://www.pogowasright.org/europol-and-the-european-commission-inaugurate-new-decryption-platform-to-tackle-the-challenge-of-encrypted-material-for-law-enforcement-investigations/

Europol and the European Commission Inaugurate New Decryption Platform to Tackle the Challenge of Encrypted Material for Law Enforcement Investigations

This week Europol launched an innovative decryption platform, developed in close cooperation with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. It will significantly increase Europol’s capability to decrypt information lawfully obtained in criminal investigations.

The launch of the new decryption platform marks a milestone in the fight against organised crime and terrorism in Europe. In full respect of fundamental rights and without limiting or weakening encryption, this initiative will be available to national law enforcement authorities of all Member States to help keep societies and citizens safe and secure. A virtual inauguration ceremony brought together senior representatives from Europol, the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the Commission.

… Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) will operate the platform and leverage its in-house expertise in providing the most effective support to national Member State investigations.

Source: Europol

Now here is an interesting question.

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Clement_Arlotti/publication/347262176_Ethique_computationnelle_un_oxymore_Elements_de_mise_en_relation_de_l'intelligence_artificielle_avec_l'ethique_et_la_philosophie_du_risque/links/5fd90016a6fdccdcb8cc8704/Ethique-computationnelle-un-oxymore-Elements-de-mise-en-relation-de-lintelligence-artificielle-avec-lethique-et-la-philosophie-du-risque.pdf

Ethique computationnelle : un oxymore?

Can ethical reasoning be translated into computational form or algorithms? From Leibnitz to Bentham, this question has already been debated and nowadays, artificial intelligence proposes that the emerging field of computational ethics provides positive solutions to that problem. For this purpose, artificial autonomous agents — be they autonomous vehicles or operation research systems for medical applications— will thoroughly exploit machine-learning techniques.

Does AI constitute a jury of my peers?

http://journals.rudn.ru/law/article/view/25256

ELECTRONIC CIVIL PROCEEDINGS IN INDONESIA, THAILAND, MALAYSIA

Electronic court proceedings are now becoming a prerequisite for the effective functioning of the entire judicial system. The introduction of digital technologies in the judicial process is one of the tasks of reform, and its speed, cost-effectiveness and accessibility depend on it. The research purpose of this article is to identify common positive and negative features of the process of integrating modern technologies into civil proceedings in Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. It is proved that: 1) Legal regulation of application of technical means in civil proceedings are not often in line with modern realities; 2) It is necessary to create conditions to secure judicial form of protection of rights and lawful interests by means of digital technologies; 3) The judicial form of protection of rights online is a guarantee of its implementation; 4) Implementation of procedural actions with the help of digital technical means needs simplification; 5) The general trend in reforming the civil process is wider application of artificial intelligence technologies. Comparative legal analysis of foreign legislation and literature demonstrates different levels of e-justice achievement in the countries under study, among which Malaysia is a leader in integrating modern information and telecommunications technology in civil proceedings; 6) The level of implementation of the digital agenda varies depending on the type of legal proceedings.

Sounds like they are for more AI in police work.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-64849-7_1

Analysis of Factors Influencing the Adoption of Artificial Intelligence for Crime Management

Despite the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its potential to produce deep insights and predictions, its adoption and usage are still limited in the area of crime management. Over the years, crime rates have been increasing in India, and law enforcement agencies face enormous challenges given the increasing population, urbanization, limited resources, and ineffective conventional models of reactive and investigative policing. There is an unprecedented opportunity for AI to be leveraged together with new policing models such as intelligence-led policing and predictive policing for effective crime management. In this research-in-progress paper, we offer a deeper understanding of factors significant for the adoption intention of AI for crime management in India. Further, on the practical front, the study will help law enforcement agencies to effectively leverage AI and implement innovative policing models for crime management.

I doubt it is simple.

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/A-Simple-Mathematical-Model-of-Politics-(I)-Huang/f1ecb814cf6c2935993d65e481178539ba212cf6

A Simple Mathematical Model of Politics

Politics is everywhere. In this paper, I propose a simple model to demonstrate political behavior in human society.

A long list, getting longer.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/18/google-antitrust-cases-in-us-and-europe-overview.html

Google’s antitrust mess: Here are all the major cases it’s facing in the U.S. and Europe

Soon I’ll have to buy multiple trash cans so the house AI can tell me how to break down my trash for optimum societal benefit. (And then I’ll toss the damn camera into one of the trash cans.)

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/18/tech/compology-artificial-intelligence/index.html

Here's why some McDonald's restaurants are putting cameras in their dumpsters

… Since 2013 his San Francisco-based startup, Compology, has used cameras and artificial intelligence to monitor what's thrown into dumpsters and trash containers at businesses such as McDonald's restaurants and Nordstrom department stores. The point is to make sure dumpsters are actually full before they're emptied and to stop recyclable materials like cardboard from being contaminated by other junk so it, too, doesn't become waste.

… "Once we saw the bags of trash go inside the cardboard containers, we sent a notification to the people on site via text message, letting them know that they should remove it before the truck comes the next morning and telling them that putting trash in the recycling container is a form of contamination, which they should not do in the future," he said.

Worthy of a class at the college level? Not if it’s done right.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90587364/teachable-alexa-ai

You can now teach Alexa how to do new things—a baby step toward ‘general’ AI

We are still a very long way from a “general” artificial intelligence—a machine that can learn and comprehend any task or concept a human can. But Amazon is taking a small step toward it with a new feature that lets you teach its Alexa personal assistant how to do new things.

A uniform format makes it easier to grade code (and find errors)

https://www.makeuseof.com/keeping-code-clean-with-prettier/

Keeping Your Code Clean With Prettier

Code formatting seems like a trivial subject, but it’s something that can affect the quality and correctness of your code, how it gets version controlled, and how you collaborate with others. If you don’t want to get bogged down in details of where every last brace goes, however, try outsourcing the problem to open-source tool, Prettier. https://prettier.io/

… (For an alternative with much finer-grained control over every last formatting detail, try eslint.)

Merry Christmas ethical hackers.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/websites-legally-hack/

5 Websites That Teach You How to Hack Legally

To learn ethical hacking, you have to hack like a criminal but be smart about it. Get started with these websites you can legally hack.

(Related) For those of us who can’t wait to hack a self-driving car…

https://thenextweb.com/shift/2020/12/18/autonomous-vehicle-makers-should-be-held-responsible-for-accidents-says-law-commission/

Autonomous vehicle makers should be held responsible for accidents, says Law Commission

What do you call the person behind the wheel of a self-driving car? Are they a passenger or owner or are they still the driver? Whatever they’re called, the UK‘s Law Commission says they shouldn’t be held responsible if their “autonomous” vehicle is in an accident.

Under a new proposal from the UK‘s Law Commission, the “user in charge” of the vehicle would not be prosecuted for careless or dangerous driving, speeding, or breaking red lights when the car was in self-driving mode, the Telegraph reports.

Failure of the people charged with protecting the country…

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/18/suspected-russian-hack-on-us-is-much-worse-than-first-feared.html

Suspected Russian hack is much worse than first feared: Here’s what you need to know

The scale of a sophisticated cyberattack on the U.S. government that was unearthed this week is much bigger than first anticipated.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said in a summary Thursday that the threat “poses a grave risk to the federal government.”

It added that “state, local, tribal, and territorial governments as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private sector organizations” are also at risk.

CISA believes the attack began at least as early as March.

… “The magnitude of this ongoing attack is hard to overstate,” former Trump Homeland Security Advisor Thomas Bossert said in a piece for The New York Times on Thursday. “The Russians have had access to a considerable number of important and sensitive networks for six to nine months.”

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the accusations, according to the Tass news agency.

(Related)

https://www.makeuseof.com/microsoft-confirms-solarwinds-breach/

Microsoft Confirms SolarWinds Breach Affecting Core Products

… An NSA advisory released on 17 December 2020 referenced Microsoft products such as Azure and Active Directory, which the technology giant later confirmed.

… Other targets include the US Energy Department and, perhaps most worryingly of all, the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the US nuclear arsenal.

Microsoft's report indicates that around 80 percent of affected organizations are based in the US. There are also victims in the UK, Belgium, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Israel, and the UAE. More victims are expected to appear in the coming days and weeks.

(Related)

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/17/biden-hints-at-a-tougher-stance-against-state-sponsors-of-cyberattacks.html

Joe Biden warns he will be tough on state sponsors of cyberattacks, as U.S. suffers massive hack

…This timeline suggests that it will be Biden, not outgoing President Donald Trump, who is ultimately responsible for determining what retaliatory actions, if any, are warranted against those behind the attacks. Biden will take office on Jan. 20.

Trump has yet to personally respond to the latest attack. White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Tuesday that the administration is “taking a hard look on this.”

We’ll see…

https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/16/22179245/facial-recognition-bill-ban-rejected-massachusetts-governor-charlie-baker-police-accountability

Massachusetts governor won’t sign facial recognition ban

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker has refused to sign a law banning most government use of facial recognition. The Boston Globe reported last week that Baker sent an omnibus police reform bill back to state lawmakers, asking for changes that included striking the facial recognition rules.

Massachusetts legislators passed the first major state-level facial recognition ban, following a model set by individual cities like Boston and San Francisco. The bill says public agencies, including police departments, can’t use or acquire biometric surveillance systems. It makes exceptions for running facial recognition searches against a motor vehicles registration database, as long as police obtain a warrant or demonstrate “immediate danger” that requires a search. It would help fill a gap left by federal lawmakers, who haven’t passed a nationwide framework for using potentially invasive facial recognition technologies.

But in a letter to lawmakers, Baker said the reform package “ignores the important role [facial recognition] can play in solving crime.” His office told the Globe that he plans to veto the bill if lawmakers don’t make changes.

Beware of active cell phone users!

https://www.vice.com/en/article/7k94a9/gun-detection-ai-is-being-trained-with-homemade-active-shooter-videos

Gun Detection AI is Being Trained With Homemade ‘Active Shooter’ Videos

Companies are using bizarre methods to create algorithms that automatically detect weapons. AI ethicists worry they will lead to more police violence.

Keeping up with satellite tech.

https://www.pogowasright.org/a-new-satellite-can-peer-inside-buildings-day-or-night/

A New Satellite Can Peer Inside Buildings, Day or Night

Dan Robitzski reports:

A few months ago, a company called Capella Space launched a satellite capable of taking clear radar images of anywhere in the world, with incredible resolution — even through the walls of some buildings.

And unlike most of the huge array of surveillance and observational satellites orbiting the Earth, its satellite Capella 2 can snap a clear picture during night or day, rain or shine.

Read more on Futurism.

For history buffs.

https://www.bespacific.com/lc-complete-digitization-of-23-early-presidential-collections/

LC Complete Digitization of 23 Early Presidential Collections

Library of Congress Blog: “The Library of Congress has completed a more than two decade-long initiative to digitize the papers of nearly two dozen early presidents. The Library holds the papers of 23 presidents from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge, all of which have been digitized and are now available online. The Library plans to highlight each presidential collection on social media in the weeks leading up to the next presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021. “Arguably, no other body of material in the Manuscript Division is of greater significance for the study of American history than the presidential collections,” said Janice E. Ruth, chief of the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress. “They cover the entire sweep of American history from the nation’s founding through the first decade after World War I, including periods of prosperity and depression, war and peace, unity of purpose and political and civil strife.” The 23 presidential collections in the Library’s holdings, acquired through donation or purchase, are of such significant value that Congress enacted a law in 1957 directing the Library to arrange, index and microfilm the papers, an enormous job that concluded in 1976. With the dawn of the digital age, the collections of presidential papers were among the first manuscripts proposed for digitization. The conclusion of this effort marks the addition of more than 3.3 million images to the Library’s online archives…”

After a mere 95 years…

https://www.bespacific.com/january-1-2021-is-public-domain-day-works-from-1925-are-open-to-all/

January 1, 2021 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1925 are open to all

Duke Law, Center for the Study of the Public Domain – On January 1, 2021, copyrighted works from 1925 will enter the US public domain,1 where they will be free for all to use and build upon. These works include books such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, Ernest Hemingway’s In Our Time, and Franz Kafka’s The Trial (in the original German), silent films featuring Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, and music ranging from the jazz standard Sweet Georgia Brown to songs by Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, W.C. Handy, and Fats Waller. This is not just the famous last line from The Great Gatsby. It also encapsulates what the public domain is all about. A culture is a continuing conversation between present and past. On Public Domain Day, we all have a “green light,” in keeping with the Gatsby theme, to use one more year of that rich cultural past, without permission or fee. Works from 1925 were supposed to go into the public domain in 2001, after being copyrighted for 75 years. But before this could happen, Congress hit a 20-year pause button and extended their copyright term to 95 years.2 Now the wait is over. In 2021, there is a lot to celebrate. 1925 brought us some incredible culture. The Harlem Renaissance was in full swing. The New Yorker magazine was founded. The literature reflected both a booming economy, whose fruits were unevenly distributed, and the lingering upheaval and tragedy of World War I. The culture of the time reflected all of those contradictory tendencies. The BBC’s Culture website suggested that 1925 might be “the greatest year for books ever,” and with good reason. It is not simply the vast array of famous titles. The stylistic innovations produced by books such as Gatsby, or The Trial, or Mrs. Dalloway marked a change in both the tone and the substance of our literary culture, a broadening of the range of possibilities available to writers, while characters such as Jay Gatsby, Hemingway’s Nick Adams, and Clarissa Dalloway still resonate today.

How will people celebrate this trove of cultural material? The Internet Archive will add books, movies, music, and more to its online library. HathiTrust will make tens of thousands of titles from 1925 available in its digital repository. Google Books will offer the full text of books from that year, instead of showing only snippet views or authorized previews. Community theaters can screen the films. Youth orchestras can afford to publicly perform, or rearrange, the music. Educators and historians can share the full cultural record. Creators can legally build on the past—reimagining the books, making them into films, adapting the songs. Here are some of the works that will be entering the public domain in 2021. (To find more material from 1925, you can visit the Catalogue of Copyright Entries.)…”