CategorySocial Media
Prof: Google Must Not Choose the Next President
Robert Epstein, a Clinton supporter in 2016, thinks Big Tech meddling is a risk. And, he says, he isn’t planning on suicideHe doesn’t want Silicon Valley to use its near-monopoly power over search engines and social media to manipulate the information available to the lone voter in the booth.
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A Closer Look at Google’s Search Engine Bias
If Google’s CEO honestly believes that there is no political bias, that is, in itself, a big part of the problem
Why Social Media Are So Addictive
It’s not hard science or magic. Specific characteristics explain social media's power
Google Engineer Reveals Search Engine Bias
He found Google pretty neutral in 2014; the bias started with the US 2016 electionThe algorithms—the series of commands to computers—“don’t write themselves,” Coppola says. People who have their own opinions may write them into an algorithm, knowingly or otherwise.
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We Built the Power Big Social Media Have Over Us
Click by click, and the machines learned the patterns. Now we aren’t sure who is in chargeWe’re stuck, working for free, training the Web giants’ ML systems to reap benefits for them while enduring (assuming we notice) the downsides.
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Jordan Peterson’s New “Thinkspot” Takes Shape
Analysts ask, can his proposed rules work?What about the problem of expecting people to pay? Perhaps most people are so used to getting their social media for free for the same reasons as turkeys get their feed for free—because they’re the product—that they willingly submit to censorship?
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The Internet Doesn’t Free Anyone by Itself
China is testing 100% surveillance on the Uighurs, a strategically critical minorityThe Uyghur people in Xinjiang province in northwest China spend their lives in a digital panopticon. Over 2.5 million Muslims are tracked via facial recognition software and cameras, and their cell phone monitored for any language that could be construed as religious. Over a million have been placed in so-called “vocational training centers” that are widely described as detention camps. Even when not detained, they live like prisoners: For Uyghurs in Xinjiang, any kind of contact from a non-Chinese phone number, though not officially illegal, can result in instant arrest. Most Uyghurs in Turkey have been deleted by their families on social media. And many wouldn’t dare try to make contact, for fear Chinese authorities would punish their relatives. Isobel Read More ›
You Think You Have Nothing To Hide?
Then why are Big Tech moguls making billions from what you and others tell them?The bottom line is this: if you think you don’t have anything to hide, then you don’t understand how the modern data economy really works, nor the impact of being caught in a riptide of public opinion.
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Is Data Privacy a Luxury Now?
In an age of constant connectedness and digital monitoring, access to privacy is becoming the new digital divide. Can you afford it?The people most likely to know how to protect their privacy are the well-informed. In an information society in the free world, as an information analyst notes, “well-informed” tends to correlate with well-educated (which in turn correlates with being better off).
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Fake News Thrives on Fears of a Robot Takeover
The motion graphics artist tried to explain that he faked the amazing robot videoThe convincing film was great for Tom’s Twitter feed but less great for what it says about our judgment as viewers. We believe too much AI hype.
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Is the Tech Industry Destroying the Free Market?
The internet drifts toward monopoly control due, in part, to its structure, not merely due to tech moguls’ plansOne potential solution could be the rise of edge computing, which distributes all data as close to the edge as possible.
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The Smartest Phone Is Silent in Class
While academics debate smartphones’ effect on teens, some hard facts begin to emerge
Social Media Censorship? Governments Weigh the Options
The United States may be going in the opposite direction from other Western countries
Scientific American: No Consensus on Smartphones’ Effect on Teen Brains
Others continue to wonder why teens seem comparatively fragile
Quell the Cell and Kids Do Well?
That sounds simplistic but it worked at a girls’ school in New ZealandHigh goals, discipline and, perhaps most critically, a ban on cellphones, have seen St Joseph’s Maori Girls College reach the top 10 for University Entrance in this year’s high-school league tables, the NZ Herald reports.
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AI Social Media Could Totally Manipulate You
Deep learning specialist: And the scary thing is, the AI needed is not especially advancedReaders familiar with The Two Towers will recall that that’s precisely what Worm-Tongue did to Theoden King: The king heard nothing but what was conveyed to him from his would-be overlord by Worm-tongue, until someone separated him, rather forcibly, from his "social medium."
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Maybe iGen really IS fragile
Did social media's troll frenzies trigger the campus war on ideas?