Something to consider for home WiFi security? Not without risks.
https://www.muo.com/tag/hide-wifi-network-prevent-detected/
How to Hide Your Wi-Fi Network: Everything You Need to Know
More on how everyday surveillance is being used. We probably don’t even need the stuff from three letter agencies.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/05/opinion/capitol-attack-cellphone-data.html
They Stormed the Capitol. Their Apps Tracked Them.
Times Opinion was able to identify individuals from a trove of leaked smartphone location data.
… A source has provided another data set, this time following the smartphones of thousands of Trump supporters, rioters and passers-by in Washington, D.C., on January 6, as Donald Trump’s political rally turned into a violent insurrection. At least five people died because of the riot at the Capitol. Key to bringing the mob to justice has been the event’s digital detritus: location data, geotagged photos, facial recognition, surveillance cameras and crowdsourcing.
… While there were no names or phone numbers in the data, we were once again able to connect dozens of devices to their owners, tying anonymous locations back to names, home addresses, social networks and phone numbers of people in attendance. In one instance, three members of a single family were tracked in the data.
… There is an argument to be made that this data could be properly used by law enforcement through courts, warrants and subpoenas. We used it ourselves as a journalistic tool to bring you this article. But to think that the information will be used against individuals only if they’ve broken the law is naïve; such data is collected and remains vulnerable to use and abuse whether people gather in support of an insurrection or they justly protest police violence, as happened in cities across America last summer.
So, is there an answer?
Predictive policing is still racist—whatever data it uses
Training algorithms on crime reports from victims rather than arrest data is said to make predictive tools less biased. It doesn’t look like it does.
… many developers of predictive policing tools say that they have started using victim reports to get a more accurate picture of crime rates in different neighborhoods. In theory, victim reports should be less biased because they aren’t affected by police prejudice or feedback loops.
But Nil-Jana Akpinar and Alexandra Chouldechova at Carnegie Mellon University show that the view provided by victim reports is also skewed.
Change, the final frontier.
https://hbr.org/2021/02/why-is-it-so-hard-to-become-a-data-driven-company
Why Is It So Hard to Become a Data-Driven Company?
… For the third consecutive year, investment in data and AI initiatives has been nearly universal, with 99.0% of firms reporting investment in data and AI according to findings from a newly released executive survey from NewVantage Partners, a strategic advisory firm that I founded in 2001 to advise Fortune 1000 companies on data leadership issues. But this year, despite growing investment, it appears most companies are struggling to maintain momentum.
… After nearly a decade after of performing this survey, we’ve noted two significant trends. First, mainstream companies have steadily invested in Big Data and AI initiatives in efforts to become more data-driven: 91.9% of firms report that the pace of investment in these projects is accelerating, and 62.0% of firms reporting data and AI investments of greater than $50 million. Second, findings from this year’s survey suggest that even with record levels of committed investment, firms are continuing to struggle to derive value from their Big Data and AI investments and to become data-driven organizations. Often saddled with legacy data environments, business processes, skill sets, and traditional cultures that can be reluctant to change, mainstream companies appear to be confronting greater challenges as demands increase, data volumes grow, and companies seek to mature their data capabilities.
… What’s at the root of this slow progress? For the fifth consecutive year, executives report that cultural challenges — not technological ones — represent the biggest impediment around data initiatives. In the 2021 survey, 92.2% of mainstream companies report that they continue to struggle with cultural challenges relating to organizational alignment, business processes, change management, communication, people skill sets, and resistance or lack of understanding to enable change.
The odds are eight to five against Trump moving to Nevada.
Nevada bill would allow tech companies to create governments
Planned legislation to establish new business areas in Nevada would allow technology companies to effectively form separate local governments.
Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak announced a plan to launch so-called Innovation Zones in Nevada to jumpstart the state’s economy by attracting technology firms, Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Wednesday.
… Zone requirements would include applicants owning at least 78 square miles (202 square kilometers) of undeveloped, uninhabited land within a single county but separate from any city, town or tax increment area. Companies would have at least $250 million and plans to invest an additional $1 billion in their zones over 10 years.
The zones would initially operate with the oversight of their location counties, but would eventually take over county duties and become independent governmental bodies.
