You could see this one coming. Is the First Amendment a defense?

https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/14/class-action-suit-against-clearview-ai-cites-illinois-law-that-cost-facebook-550m/

Class action suit against Clearview AI cites Illinois law that cost Facebook $550M

Just two weeks ago Facebook settled a lawsuit alleging violations of privacy laws in Illinois (for the considerable sum of $550 million ). Now controversial startup Clearview AI, which has gleefully admitted to scraping and analyzing the data of millions, is the target of a new lawsuit citing similar violations.

Clearview made waves earlier this year with a business model seemingly predicated on wholesale abuse of public-facing data on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and so on. If your face is visible to a web scraper or public API, Clearview either has it or wants it and will be submitting it for analysis by facial recognition systems.

Just one problem: That’s illegal in Illinois, and you ignore this to your peril, as Facebook found.

The lawsuit, filed yesterday on behalf of several Illinois citizens and first reported by Buzzfeed News, alleges that Clearview “actively collected, stored and used Plaintiffs’ biometrics — and the biometrics of most of the residents of Illinois — without providing notice, obtaining informed written consent or publishing data retention policies.”

An unreasonable request? Doesn’t the EU do much the same?

https://www.securityweek.com/twitter-facebook-fined-not-moving-user-data-russia

Twitter, Facebook Fined for Not Moving User Data to Russia

A court in Moscow fined Twitter and Facebook 4 million rubles each Thursday for refusing to store the personal data of Russian citizens on servers in Russia, the largest penalties imposed on Western technology companies under internet use laws.

The fines of nearly $63,000 are the first five-figure fines levied on tech companies since Russia adopted a flurry of legislation starting in 2012 designed to tighten the government’s grip on online activity.

… Commenting on Thursday’s court rulings, Roskomnadzor said Twitter and Facebook would be fined 18 million rubles ($283,000) each if they don’t comply this year.

Last year, Twitter and Facebook were fined the equivalent of $47 each for violating the same personal data regulation. The punishment had no effect on the two companies, so in December Russian authorities increased the fines.

Oh yeah, Privacy. We were going to address that someday.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ring-facebook-google-personal-information-privacy-settings-change/

Ring to tighten privacy amid concerns it shares customer data with Facebook and Google

Ring, the Amazon-owned maker of smart-home doorbells and web-enabled security cameras, is changing its privacy settings two weeks after a study showed the company shares customers' personal information with Facebook, Google and other parties without users' consent.

The change will let Ring users block the company from sharing most, but not all, of their data. A company spokesperson said people will be able to opt out of those sharing agreements "where applicable." The spokesperson declined to clarify what "where applicable" might mean.

This is the first such ruling I recall. Once identified, will they try to re-gruntle this disgruntled customer?

Melbourne dentist granted court order forcing Google to unmask anonymous critic

SBS News reports:

The Federal Court of Australia has granted a Melbourne dentist an order which forces tech giant Google to reveal the identification of an anonymous online reviewer.

The lawyer for a Melbourne dentist who received an anonymous online negative review has welcomed the decision by an Australian Federal Court judge compelling Google to release the identity of the reviewer.

Dr Matthew Kabbabe claims the reputation of his Melbourne dental practice has suffered, following a scathing review left by a disgruntled customer late last year.

Read more on SBS News.

Need I say, Architecture!

https://www.cio.com/article/3526445/top-enterprise-architecture-tools.html?upd=1581774929612

Top 13 enterprise architecture tools for 2020

These popular and emerging EA tools offer businesses everything they need to support enterprise architecture and digital transformation.

Enterprise architecture (EA) tools help organizations align business objectives with IT goals and infrastructure. These tools help manage information related to EA while helping companies plan roadmaps for digital transformation. They offer collaboration, reports, testing, simulations and more to help organizations create and implement models for better business and IT processes, development and architecture.

One Architecture perspective.

https://enterprisetalk.com/featured/aiot-convergence-of-artificial-intelligence-with-the-internet-of-things/

AIoT – Convergence of Artificial Intelligence with the Internet of Things

Last such great convergence occurred in the late 1990s as mobile phones and the internet collided to change the course of human history. The convergence of AI and the IoT will bring in a similar revolution on an even grander scale.

The ability to capture data through IoT is a large scale evolution that has exploded on the scene over the past five years. These new advancements have been accompanied by new concerns and threats associated with privacy and security. Large volumes of confidential company information and user data are tempting targets for dark web hackers as well as the global government entities. The high level of risk has also brought in newer and more responsibilities that accompany the increased capability.

Sensors are now applied to almost everything. This indicates that infinitely more data can be collected from every transaction or process in real-time. IoT devices are the front line of the data collection process in manufacturing environments and also in the customer service departments. Any device with a chipset can potentially be connected to a network and begin streaming data 24/7.

Obvious, but not commonly known. Parallels the changes businesses must make to remain competitive.

https://warontherocks.com/2020/02/the-abcs-of-ai-enabled-intelligence-analysis/

THE ABCS OF AI-ENABLED INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS

From July 2014 to April 2015, a period of about 10 months, experts estimate there were 23 million tweets involved in the self-proclaimed Islamic State’s online marshalling of support and influence operations. These tweets contained critical information about the group’s leadership, information narratives, and even indications of tactical activities. While the Islamic State didn’t tweet its way into Mosul, this open-source data was of significant intelligence value. But it’s impossible for any given analyst to sort and understand 23 million tweets manually. This illustrates the dilemma that recent advances in technology pose for traditional methods of intelligence analysis: The digitization of human society has made huge amounts of information available for analysis. This information comes from an ever-increasing number of sources, like online social networks, digital sensors, or ubiquitous surveillance, and has been increasingly useful for intelligence. Too much information is being produced too quickly for an intelligence analyst to even comprehend it using current analysis techniques and software, much less derive meaningful intelligence from it or verify its veracity.

The changing information environment will force the conduct of military intelligence analysis to change too. This change cannot simply be the acquisition of some new analysis software or implementation of a new policy, but rather must be more comprehensive changes across all military intelligence organizations. To meet the new realities of the information environment, and by corollary the new realities of intelligence analysis, the whole of military intelligence needs to modernize in three areas. First, military intelligence organizations like the Army G-2, the J-2, and Futures Command should continue modernizing the tools and infrastructure supporting intelligence analysis and make these changes more broadly available to the force. Second, the military intelligence schoolhouse ought to update how it trains and develops intelligence analysts. Third, military intelligence research organizations — like Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity and elements within U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command — need research into potential disruptive technologies to maintain the integrity of intelligence analysis.

Security tools.

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2020/02/the-private-internet-access-android-app-is-being-open-sourced/

The Private Internet Access Android app is being open sourced

Private Internet Access (PIA) is open sourcing its Android VPN app and dependencies code to the public as part of its commitment to open sourcing all clients in the name of transparency and privacy. The Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community is a cornerstone of everything we enjoy on the internet.

… Private Internet Access first announced their plans to open source their VPN client software on all platforms in 2018. Over the last few years, PIA has open sourced its Chrome Extension, Firefox Add-On,, Private Internet Access tunnel for Apple Platforms, and Desktop client. The open source PIA desktop client even includes the code for how to allow users to resolve Handshake names. It is with great pleasure that the PIA team releases the code for the PIA VPN Android App to the public for anyone to review.

Links to all of the repositories can be found at pia-foss on Github. More information on PIA’s FOSS codebases can also be found here

We’re trying to help our students navigate the new interview process.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pkekvb/cost-cutting-algorithms-are-making-your-job-search-a-living-hell

Cost Cutting Algorithms Are Making Your Job Search a Living Hell

More companies are using automated job screening systems to vet candidates, forcing jobseekers to learn new and absurd tricks to have their résumés seen by a human.

Policy: Double check before taking any irreversible action.

https://dilbert.com/strip/2020-02-15

Perspective.

https://www.natlawreview.com/article/ransomware-attacks-predicted-to-occur-every-11-seconds-2021-cost-20-billion

Ransomware Attacks Predicted to Occur Every 11 Seconds in 2021 with a Cost of $20 Billion

Election security takes planning. No evidence of that here.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/nevada-democrats-say-theyll-replace-their-caucus-app-with-a-google-form/

Nevada Democrats Say They’ll Replace Their Caucus App With iPads And A Google Form

In just two days, Nevadans will begin early voting in the state’s Democratic caucuses. For the past few weeks, it’s been unclear how those votes would be integrated into the overall vote tallies after Nevada Democrats were spooked by the chaos in Iowa’s Democratic primary and decided to toss a previous plan to use an app. But today, the state Democratic party revealed how it intends to incorporate those early votes into the live caucuses on Feb. 22: “a simple, user-friendly calculator.”

What that means, exactly, is still a bit unclear. In a memo sent to campaigns Thursday and shared with FiveThirtyEight, the party wrote that “the caucus calculator will only be used on party-purchased iPads provided to trained precinct chairs and accessed through a secure Google web form.”

The memo didn’t provide any specifics about whether the calculator would be accessed through the Google form, or whether the Google form itself is the calculator.

(Related)

https://www.justsecurity.org/68665/the-simple-lessons-from-a-complicated-iowa-caucus/

The Simple Lessons from a Complicated Iowa Caucus

… The first lesson is clear: Anything computerized can fail for a slew of reasons, from hacking to software defects to inadequate training of election workers. This includes tablets, voting machines, ballot scanners, electronic poll books, and apps on phones and tablets.

That is why a central tenet of the joint election protection work of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University and Common Cause is to push states and counties to rigorously test equipment before it’s rolled out to voters, and to have backups for every critical part of the election, such as ballots, poll books, and voter registration databases. It’s important that officials have plenty of those supplies on hand so that they don’t run out, and to make sure workers understand how to use the backups.

(Related)

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/akw7mp/sloppy-mobile-voting-app-used-in-four-states-has-elementary-security-flaws

'Sloppy' Mobile Voting App Used in Four States Has 'Elementary' Security Flaws

MIT researchers say an attacker could intercept and alter votes, while making voters think their votes have been cast correctly, or trick the votes server into accepting connections from an attacker.

For my Disaster Recovery lecture.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/02/coronaviruss-effects-on-global-markets-will-be-delayed/606508/

Coronavirus Is a Data Time Bomb

So far, less than 0.0008 percent of the humans on Earth have been diagnosed with the coronavirus known as COVID-19. But thanks to the circulation of disease and capital, the whole world has been affected.

Chinese manufacturing cities such as Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, are intimately entangled with the supply chains of the entire world. That means that both the disease and the containment measures enacted to control it (take, for example, the quarantine still in place for 70 million people) will have a dramatic effect on businesses across disparate industries.

For my continuing education.

https://teachprivacy.com/the-myth-of-the-privacy-paradox/

The Myth of the Privacy Paradox

I have posted to SSRN a copy of my latest draft article, The Myth of the Privacy Paradox. It’s available for download for free.

Here’s the abstract:

In this article, I deconstruct and critique the privacy paradox and the arguments made about it. The “privacy paradox” is the phenomenon where people say that they value privacy highly, yet in their behavior relinquish their personal data for very little in exchange or fail to use measures to protect their privacy.

Because politicians have done such a lousy job we haven’t been able to clear it up in 200 years?

https://www.cleveland.com/open/2020/02/ohio-to-use-artificial-intelligence-to-probe-state-regulations.html

Ohio to use artificial intelligence to evaluate state regulations

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted said his staff will use an AI software tool, developed for the state by an outside company, to analyze the state’s regulations, numbered at 240,000 in a recent study by a conservative think-tank, and narrow them down for further review.

… “This gives us the capability to look at everything that’s been done in 200 years in the state of Ohio and make sense of it,” Husted said. [prior to this, nonsense? Bob]

The project is part of two Husted-led projects — the Common Sense Initiative, a state project to review regulations with the goal of cutting government red tape, and InnovateOhio, a Husted-led office that aims to use technology to improve Ohio’s government operations

Resource.

https://www.bespacific.com/lc-new-online-collection-military-legal-resources/

LC – New Online Collection: Military Legal Resources

In Custodia Legis: “This collection includes material from the William Winthrop Memorial Library at the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG) is the legal arm of the United States Army, established on July 29, 1775 by General George Washington. Judge Advocates are stationed in the United States and abroad. They are most known for representing soldiers during courts-martial, but their duties encompass a wide range of legal disciplines. Selections of their physical library collection have been digitized and made available to the public online, including primary source materials and publications in the field of military law. The collection is divided into three webpages to best highlight the type of material available: JAG Legal Center & School Materials, Historical Materials, and Military Law and Legislative History. These pages contain the digitized material, as well as descriptions of the collections and, in some cases, historical and contextual significance. The three webpages organize the collection with drop-down menus, under which you can find the descriptions and links to the PDFs…”

Failure in architecture? Perhaps just politicians who thought they understood computing?

https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/what-the-iowa-caucus-tells-us-about-cavalier-approaches-to-technology/

What the Iowa Caucus Tells Us About Cavalier Approaches to Technology

As details emerge about the tech issues that have delayed the results of the Iowa caucus and thrown the public into states of confusion and frustration, I marvel at the familiarity of the story to anyone who has spent long enough working on the front lines of enterprise technology.

… reports so far focus on the haphazard roll-out of a new voting app designed to facilitate (ostensibly) the transmission of results from caucus locations to centralized election monitors. A number of problems appear to have occurred with this process – ranging from caucus-site volunteers being unable to log-in to report results to rumored compromising by outside parties to scramble the results-logging process. Whatever the final assessment, it’s certainly not too early to call this a disaster, with a bungled roll-out as catalyst.

(Related) Elections come every two years. The Census had 10 years to prepare.

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/12/805159481/watchdog-warns-census-faces-cybersecurity-hiring-risks-before-national-rollout

Watchdog Warns Census Faces Cybersecurity, Hiring Risks Before National Rollout

… The bureau recently discovered during testing that its main IT system for collecting online census responses was not able to allow enough users to fill out census forms at the same time "without experiencing performance issues," according to the GAO report released to the public on Wednesday during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing. Bureau officials have decided to switch to a backup system that they say will allow as many as 600,000 users to respond to the census online simultaneously.

A worry for my Architecture students.

https://www.cio.com/article/3521049/telltale-signs-of-it-dysfunction-and-how-to-fix-it.html

Telltale signs of IT dysfunction — and how to fix it

The role of IT is evolving, and digital transformation has brought with it a new set of responsibilities and assumptions that can lead to IT dysfunction. An explosion of new initiatives, the need to produce more quickly, constant interaction with the business, managing third-party cloud environments instead of traditional data centers — with so much coming at IT these days, it’s little wonder that organizational tensions and challenges are rising.

Despite the focus on technology, some industry analysts say the root of today’s dysfunction can be traced to lingering silos in the business, organizational structures that measure performance vertically instead of horizontally, and an unwillingness to collaborate, which is fundamental to a corporate-wide, shared digital strategy.

Washington tries again.

https://fpf.org/2020/02/12/a-new-model-for-privacy-in-a-new-era-evaluating-the-washington-privacy-act/

A New U.S. Model for Privacy? Comparing the Washington Privacy Act to GDPR, CCPA, and More

… In Washington State, a new comprehensive privacy law is moving quickly: last week, the Washington Privacy Act (SSB 6281 ) was voted out of the Washington Senate Ways & Means Committee, and appears likely to be voted on by the Senate. If approved, it will reach the House, which is currently considering (and amending) an almost identical companion bill. The deadline for the bill to be voted on by both Senate and House (including, if applicable, resolving any differences) is March 12, 2020.

Privacy more than pays for itself? What a concept!

https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/companies-with-data-privacy-practices-enjoy-big-financial-benefits/

Companies With Data Privacy Practices Enjoy Big Financial Benefits

Businesses investing in their privacy experience pronounced financial benefits, a new Cisco study suggests. According to the paper, entitled ‘Cisco Data Privacy Benchmark Study 2020’, businesses see an average return of 2.7 times on their original investment when they bankroll data privacy practices — confirming for the first time what had long been suspected by privacy advocates.

Computers and the Law, not just laws that include the word ‘computer?’ Should I encourage my Computer Science majors to go to Law School?

https://www.bespacific.com/why-are-lawyers-writing-code/

Why are Lawyers writing code?

British Legal Technology Forum: “We find ourselves in the midst of the 4th Industrial Revolution, and this digital transformation brings with it a need for change in our working practices. There is a shift towards a more innovative, fresh and connected way of doing business. Organisations that are digitally savvy, in every sector, are leading the way and growing exponentially. The legal sector is no exception – indeed in many ways, lawyers are ahead of the game. Legal firms are embracing digital legal software – reimagining their business, streamlining processes, integrating real-time systems, providing mobile access and automating routine tasks. As part of this, increasing numbers of lawyers are choosing to find out more about what is going on behind the technology that is transforming the way they work. Some want to become more familiar with technology ‘buzz words’ so they can converse knowledgeably with suppliers and optimise the use of their software. Others are learning to code for themselves. With apps and Artificial Intelligence (AI) becoming a lynchpin in the way forward-thinking legal firms now operate, and with these technologies so heavily reliant on coding, it is clear to see why lawyers are taking an interest… and why on Twitter #LawyersWhoCode is on the rise…”

More contact is probably good.

https://www.citylab.com/equity/2020/02/nextdoor-social-network-neighborhood-public-agency-app/605812/

Nextdoor Wants to Be a One-Stop Shop for Police

… The new Nextdoor for Public Agencies app, which launched publicly on February 12, enables police and fire departments, public schools, and City Hall agencies to post updates, push out alerts geo-targeted to reach specific neighborhoods, and read their messages on the go.

I like it, but it’s not for everyone.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4agak3/this-app-automatically-cancels-and-sues-roboallers

This App Automatically Cancels and Sues Robocallers

DoNotPay, the family of consumer advocacy services meant to protect people from corporate exploitation, is launching a new app aimed at helping end our long national nightmare surrounding robocalls by giving you a burner credit card to get their contact details then giving you a chatbot lawyer to automatically sue them.

I might have to try some of these.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomvanderark/2020/02/12/how-to-teach-artificial-intelligence/#311071205eac

How To Teach Artificial Intelligence

… A World Economic Forum report indicated that 89% of U.S.-based companies are planning to adopt user and entity big data analytics by 2022

… First, everyone needs to be able to recognize AI and its influence on people and systems, and be proactive as a user and citizen. Second, everyone should have the opportunity to use AI and big data to solve problems. And third, young people interested in computer science as a career should have a pathway for building AI.

Recognizing AI. AI4K12 is an initiative of leading computer scientists that have identified five big ideas that every student should know about AI:

• Computers perceive the world using sensors.
• Agents maintain representations of the world and use them for reasoning.
• Computers can learn from data.
• Intelligent agents require many types of knowledge to interact naturally with humans.
• AI applications can impact society in both positive and negative ways.

… The MIT Media Lab developed a middle school AI+Ethics course that hits many of these learning objectives.

… For high school students interested in AI, data science and more broadly in computer science, a dedicated pathway or academy is a great option. A recommended course sequence includes:

• 9th: Computer Science Discovery (a free introductory course from Code.org)
• 10th: AP Computer Science Principles (a free course from Code.org)
• 11th: Introduction to Data Science (a free class from UCLA used in LAUSD)
• 12th: college credit Python course (AP CS Java class is an option, but Python is more commonly used in data science and AI)

… A new college credit option is the MicroBachelors Program in Computer Science Fundamentals from edX (the three courses are free; the credit costs $500).

Industry certifications are an increasingly popular supplement to (or even replacement for) college credit courses. AWS Educate offers free cloud computing courses and stackable badges. Google also offers cloud training and certification.

Microsoft offers many training classes resulting in certificates. They have bundled resources into Imagine Academy, a set of resources used by schools in 135 countries.

Perspective.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/fbi-bec-scams-accounted-for-half-of-the-cyber-crime-losses-in-2019/

FBI: BEC scams accounted for half of the cyber-crime losses in 2019

The FBI received 467,361 internet and cyber-crime complaints in 2019, which the agency estimates have caused losses of more than $3.5 billion, the bureau wrote in its yearly internet crime report released today.

The FBI said that almost half of the reported losses -- an estimated $1.77 billion -- came from reports of BEC (Business Email Compromise), also known as EAC (Email Account Compromise) crimes.

[The report: https://pdf.ic3.gov/2019_IC3Report.pdf

(Related)

https://cyware.com/news/total-number-of-breached-records-increased-by-284-to-cross-15-billion-in-2019-3585faaf

Total Number of Breached Records Increased by 284% to Cross 15 Billion in 2019

… According to a report from Risk Based Security, the total number of records exposed due to data breaches has increased by 284% in 2019. In total, there were over 15.1 billion records exposed due to 7,098 breaches reported last year.

Where Health Insurance is more important than salary? Should I teach my students to not give a damn?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/average-tenure-of-a-ciso-is-just-26-months-due-to-high-stress-and-burnout/

Average tenure of a CISO is just 26 months due to high stress and burnout

Report: The vast majority of interviewed CISO executives (88%) report high levels of stress, a third report stress-caused physical health issues, half report mental health issues.

… In November 2019, internet and DNS security firm Nominet surveyed 800 CISOs and executives from companies in the US and UK in order to put the topic to bed and discover how much of a role stress plays for CISOs across the industry.

The survey's results paint a gloomy picture about one of today's most in-demand jobs. According to the numbers:

• 88% of CISOs reported being "moderately or tremendously stressed"
• 48% of CISOs said work stress has had a detrimental impact on their mental health
• 40% of CISOs said that their stress levels had affected their relationships with their partners or children
• 32% said that their job stress levels had repercussions on their marriage or romantic relationships
• 32% said that their stress levels had affected their personal friendships
• 23% of CISOs said they turned to medication or alcohol

Is this where the FBI got the idea?

https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-officials-say-huawei-can-covertly-access-telecom-networks-11581452256

U.S. Officials Say Huawei Can Covertly Access Telecom Networks

U.S. officials say Huawei Technologies Co. can covertly access mobile-phone networks around the world through “back doors” designed for use by law enforcement, as Washington tries to persuade allies to exclude the Chinese company from their networks.

Another try for the perfect Privacy law?

Arizona House of Representatives Proposes New Privacy Law

Kevin Heaphy of Ryley Carlock & Applewhite writes:

Last week, the Arizona House of Representatives proposed HB 2729, a new privacy law. HB 2729 is more narrow than the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in several ways, and has a few kinks to be ironed out. However, it shows that Arizona, like many states, has an interest in passing privacy legislation in 2020. Let’s take a closer look at HB 2729.

[…]

Similar to other privacy laws, HB 2729 would not apply to controllers collecting several specific categories of data, such as employment data, data subject to HIPAA, and data collected pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). HB 2729 also would not apply to state or local go

Read more on National Law Review.

As Cronavirus spreads, so could temperature checks.

Temperature checks at all Shanghai Metro stations

Privacy gets sacrificed when public health is at serious risk. Chen Huizhi reports on fever screenings at Metro stations in Shanghai:

Temperature screenings for Metro passengers have been introduced at all stations in Shanghai as of Wednesday, says the city’s Metro operator.

There are 751 temperature screening points at Metro stations, with 231 using thermal imagers and 520 using hand-held sensors, the company said.

Metro operators remind all passengers to wear masks when entering stations. Those not wearing masks will be turned away.

Read more on Shine.cn.

No surprise?

https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-protection/facebook-earnings-call-warns-investors-that-privacy-regulations-will-cut-into-profits-going-forward/

Facebook Earnings Call Warns Investors That Privacy Regulations Will Cut Into Profits Going Forward

… Facebook looked to downplay its strong Q4 earnings, warning that future quarterly reports would probably show reduced revenue growth. Part of the initial assessment included increased expenses due to operational changes mandated by the Cambridge Analytica decision. While the $5 billion fine (which Facebook paid over the first two quarters of 2019) is a very manageable amount for a company that has been pulling about $55 billion annually in revenue, that is not the final cost. Facebook is also required to implement improved privacy regulations and data security controls, more closely monitor third-party developers, and overhaul the upper levels of the company’s corporate structure. The company stated that it would need to put new technology in place and hire more staff to comply with all of these terms. Current compliance costs have already risen 66%, up to $12.3 billion annually.

For my Architecture students.

https://www.infoq.com/articles/book-review-agile-machine-learning/

Q&A on the Book Agile Machine Learning

Key Takeaways

• Invest in metrics - these are your customers
• The unknowns in data projects are different to those in traditional software engineering projects and so customers and sponsors need to learn how to understand progress and expectations
• Plan for mitigation - the only certain thing about data is that it will contain errors, so design for data mitigation from the start
• A data engineer or scientist needs to be an expert in communicating with data - invest in this skill

What would Siri have to do to influence voters? How subtle could it be?

https://www.bespacific.com/siri-will-now-answer-your-election-questions/

Siri will now answer your election questions

TechCrunch: “Apple’s built-in voice assistant won’t help you figure out who to vote for, but it will be able to update you on different races around the U.S. during election season, as well as deliver live results as votes are counted. The new feature, announced today, is part of Apple News’ 2020 election coverage, which also includes a series of curated news, resources and data from a variety of sources, with the goal of serving users on both sides of the political spectrum. With the added Siri integration, you’ll be able to ask the assistant both informational queries, plus those requiring real-time information. For example, you may ask Siri something like “When are the California primaries?,” which is a more straightforward question, or “Who’s winning the New Hampshire primaries?,” which requires updated information. Siri will speak the answers to the question in addition to presenting the information visually, which makes the feature useful from an accessibility standpoint, too. The live results are being delivered via the Associated Press, Apple says. The company is also leveraging the AP’s real-time results in its Apple News app in order to give county-by-county results and a national map tracking candidate wins by each state primary, among other things…”

Some day, an AI will teach this course.

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/technology/seattle-university-launches-public-course-to-bring-the-ethics-of-artificial-intelligence-to-the-masses/

AI is here to stay, but are we sacrificing safety and privacy? A free public Seattle U course will explore that

… Launched last week, the free, online course for businesses is the first step in a Microsoft-funded initiative to merge ethics and technology education at the Jesuit university.

… The course — developed by Colaner, law professor Mark Chinen and adjunct business and law professor Tracy Ann Kosa — explores the meaning of ethics in AI by looking at guiding principles proposed by some nonprofits and technology companies. A case study on facial recognition in the course encourages students to evaluate different uses of facial-recognition technology, such as surveillance or identification, and to determine how the technology should be regulated. The module draws on recent studies that revealed facial-analysis systems have higher error rates when identifying images of darker-skinned females in comparison to lighter-skinned males.

… The six-to-eight-hour online course is designed to encourage those on the front end of AI deployment, such as managers, to understand the ethical issues behind some of the technologies. Students test their understanding of the self-paced course through quizzes at the end of each module.

Can’t hurt.

https://fpf.org/2020/02/11/new-privacy-101-video-series-helps-school-district-leaders-protect-student-data/

New “Privacy 101” Video Series Helps School District Leaders Protect Student Data

In recognition of Safer Internet Day, the Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) today released a new “Student Privacy 101” video series that is designed to help school leaders better understand federal and state privacy laws and protect sensitive student data.

… The “Student Privacy 101” video series includes:

• An introductory video that previews the challenges and opportunities around collecting and safeguarding student data in the digital age.
• A short video on legal compliance, providing concise information about the requirements and role of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA);
• An brief overview of the most common privacy risks and how to avoid them.
• A discussion on transparency, including advice on collecting community feedback, and engaging and informing parents about a school’s data collection practices.

Could be useful even for non-lawyers.

https://www.hldataprotection.com/2020/02/articles/news-events/webinar-invitation-from-regulation-to-litigation-ccpa-litigation-defense/

Webinar Invitation — From Regulation to Litigation: CCPA Litigation Defense

The United States’ first comprehensive privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), took effect on January 1, 2020, creating significant new consumer privacy rights and significant obligations for businesses. Much of the dialogue to date has focused on compliance with this new law. Now, businesses need to focus on preparing to defend against CCPA-based litigation.

This webinar will explore the CCPA’s litigation impact and strategies for defending your interests.

… Thursday, February 27, 2020 01:00 – 02:00 PM ET To register, please click here.

Because some day I might want to be social…

https://www.bespacific.com/a-beginners-guide-to-reddit/

A Beginner’s Guide to Reddit

Search Engine Journal – A Beginner’s Guide to Reddit: How to Get Started & Be Successful – “In this Reddit guide, you will learn what Reddit is, why it is such an important social platform, and what makes it different than all the other social platforms. You will also learn what you need to consider in order to successfully get started on Reddit. Reddit is a social media platform, that allows any individual to create and manage their own community, which Reddit calls a sub-reddit. The entire platform is a social aggregation site, where individuals curate content they either find around the web or create themselves. They then submit it to their sub-reddit to allow other Reddit users to ability to comment, discuss, and ultimately vote on the content, pushing the most popular content up to the top of the page and moving less popular content down and out of view…”