Thursday, December 26, 2019


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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