Saturday, September 28, 2019


Who do you want to win and by how much?
Researchers easily breached voting machines for the 2020 election
The voting machines that the US will use in the 2020 election are still vulnerable to hacks. A group of ethical hackers tested a bunch of those voting machines and election systems (most of which they bought on eBay). They were able to crack into every machine, The Washington Post reports. Their tests took place this summer at a Def Con cybersecurity conference, but the group visited Washington to share their findings yesterday.
A number of flaws allowed the hackers to access the machines, including weak default passwords and shoddy encryption. The group says the machines could be hacked by anyone with access to them, and if poll workers make mistakes or take shortcuts, the machines could be infiltrated by remote hackers.




Is this an overreaction?
New federal rules limit police searches of family tree DNA databases
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released new rules yesterday governing when police can use genetic genealogy to track down suspects in serious crimes—the first-ever policy covering how these databases, popular among amateur genealogists, should be used in law enforcement attempts to balance public safety and privacy concerns.
But these searches also raise privacy concerns. Relatives of those in the database can fall under suspicion even if they have never uploaded their own DNA. (One study found that 60% of white Americans can now be tracked down using such searches .) And even those who have shared their DNA may not have given informed consent to allow their data to be used for law enforcement searches.
The policy says “forensic genetic genealogy” should generally be used only for violent crimes such as murder and rape, as well as to identify human remains. (The policy permits broader use if the ancestry database’s policy allows such searches.) Police should first exhaust traditional crime solving methods, including searching their own criminal DNA databases.
The policy also bars police from using a suspect’s DNA profile to look for genes related to disease risks or psychological traits. [??? Bob]




Lawyers for the defense?
Five Key Considerations to Developing Defensible AI
In a recent survey published by Forbes, 91% of enterprises said they expect AI to deliver new business growth in the next five years.
The rapidly expanding implementation of artificial intelligence in society means that, inevitably, lawyers will be faced with putting artificial intelligence on the witness stand.
… What should companies implementing AI solutions do now to ensure that they can effectively defend their use of AI when the machine becomes the witness? This article offers some thoughts on developing AI in a defensible way in order to be prepared should the AI system itself become the focal point of a lawsuit.
Pay Attention to the Data Used to Train Your AI
Understand the Black Box
Develop AI in an Ethically Responsible Way
Be Mindful of Privacy Regulations
Always Look to Improve Results




Worth a look!
Get Your Copy of the Free Practical Ed Tech Handbook
Last Sunday I published the updated 2019-20 version of my popular Practical Ed Tech Handbook.
Learning to Program
Augmented and Virtual Reality
Video creation and flipped lessons



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