^TagTechnocracy

^{Type
post

Author
Caitlin Bassett
Date
September 15, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Law, Social Media

Tagged
Big Tech, Clarence Thomas, First Amendment, Florida, Free speech, Greg Abbott, House Bill 20, NetChoice, Ron DeSantis, Senate Bill 7072, Texas}

Texas Governor Signs Law Curbing Big Tech Censorship

_{A similar law in Florida was halted by a federal judge. Will Texas's law face the same legal battle?} _{Caitlin Bassett

September 15, 2021

4

Censorship, Law, Social Media}

Last Thursday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed House Bill 20 into law, legislation that would prohibit social media companies from banning users for their political beliefs and provide users with a legal remedy for unfair discriminatory behavior. The law is very similar to legislation passed earlier this year in Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 7072 into law at the end of May. Within days, technology trade groups had filed a lawsuit, and on June 30, a federal judge stopped the bill in its tracks with a preliminary injunction. For the bill’s proponents, the law’s intention is to protect the free speech rights of state citizens when using social media. “Freedom of speech is under attack in Texas,” said Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
August 25, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Economics

Tagged
Big Tech, COSM 2021, Featured, Peter Thiel}

Peter Thiel Speaking in Person at COSM, Seattle, November 10

_{As a world class venture capitalist, he is known for bluntness about what works and what doesn’t} _{News

August 25, 2021

3

Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Economics}

COSM 2021 is the place to be, November 10–12, to get the inside track on the converging technologies remaking the world as we know it. This year, iconic Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel will be speaking in person, addressing the question “Is Technology Soaring or Slumping?” At the first COSM in October 2019, Peter Thiel spoke by interactive video. Not one to mince words, he told the attendees bluntly that Silicon Valley is losing its touch and compared universities today to the Catholic Church at its worst. He has a remarkable history in both areas. He has been a prime mover in PayPal, Facebook, Palantir, Airbnb, Lyft, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX. And he had intended to found a university. But, Read More ›

China from space on realistic model of planet Earth with network. Concept of digital technology, connectivity and travel.

^{Type
post

Author
Heather Zeiger
Date
August 16, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Global Technology

Tagged
antitrust, Big Tech, Big Tech (China), China, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Didi Global Inc.}

What’s Behind China’s Crackdown on Big Tech?

_{Both China and the U.S. are treating big tech with a heavy hand, but under different motivations} _{Heather Zeiger

August 16, 2021

9

Business and Finance, Global Technology}

In a previous article I looked at Chinese regulators’ crackdown on Didi Global, China’s ride-hailing service. Didi is one of several Chinese tech giants that have been tamed in the past nine months. Prior to Didi, Ant Group, Tencent, Meituan, and Pinduoduo were all quelled by regulators. After Didi, regulators targeted Full Truck Alliance and Kanzhun. They recently shut down online for-profit tutoring and have banned mining cryptocurrencies in China. Thus far, the Chinese government’s actions have resulted in almost $1 trillion net losses for the Chinese tech sector. The two big questions are, Why now? and, relatedly, Who’s next? SupChina has a well-organized explainer on China’s Big Tech Crackdown here. Another helpful resource is this video from DW, “How China is tightening control of its tech companies”: According to SupChina, China’s Read More ›

Justice and law concept. Gavel on sounding block in hand's Male judge at a courtroom, working with document law books, report the case on table in modern office.

^{Type
post

Author
Caitlin Bassett
Date
August 8, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Law, Social Media

Tagged
Big Tech, Big Tech censorship, censorship, Chris Cox, Clare Morell, Communications Decency Act, First Amendment, Free speech, Josh Hawley, Philip Hamburger, Ron DeSantis, Ron Wyden, Section 230, The Tyranny of Big Tech (book)}

Section 230: What Is It and Why the Controversy?

_{Does Section 230 provide Big Tech too much power, or is it necessary for the moderation of misinformation and inappropriate content?} _{Caitlin Bassett

August 8, 2021

10

Censorship, Law, Social Media}

At the center of the controversy between free speech and the rights of private companies lies Section 230, the controversial U.S. code dating back to 1996. Toward the end of his term in 2020, former President Donald Trump famously tweeted that Section 230 should be “completely terminated.” Sen. Josh Hawley, Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard voiced their support, but by and large, the sentiment was met with fierce resistance. Advocates for the reform (or complete repeal) of Section 230 argue that it shields Big Tech companies from accountability when they engage in politically-motivated censorship and content moderation. Supporters of Section 230 argue that it is essential to keep the internet free of misinformation and vile or obscene material. Section 230 Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Caitlin Bassett
Date
July 29, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Law, Social Media

Tagged
ACLU, Amazon, Big Tech, Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), Facebook, First Amendment, Florida, Florida and Big Tech, Google, Jen Psaki, NetChoice, Ron DeSantis, Twitter}

Federal Judge Strikes Down Florida Big Tech Law

_{The judge ruled that the law violates the First Amendment rights of social media companies} _{Caitlin Bassett

July 29, 2021

4

Censorship, Law, Social Media}

A federal judge struck down the recent Florida legislation aimed at reigning in the censorship powers of Big Tech, hours before it was set to go into effect. Within days of Governor DeSantis signing the bill into law in May, NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) filed a lawsuit, representing the biggest names in social media (such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Amazon). They argued that the new law is a violation of their First Amendment rights as private companies. On June 30, Judge Robert L. Hinkle of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida ruled in favor of NetChoice and CCIA, issuing a preliminary injunction on the law after determining that it violates the First Amendment Read More ›

^{Type
podcast

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
June 17, 2021

Tagged
backpropogation, Big Tech, Joe Bordogna, National Science Foundation (NSF), Vannevar Bush}

Paul Werbos: Can the NSF Return to Its Former Glory?

_{Robert J. Marks

June 17, 2021

1}

Dr. Robert J. Marks and Dr. Paul Werbos pick up where they left off: the National Science Foundation (NSF) and its research in machine intelligence. Dr. Werbos praises the NSF as “the greatest temple of truth in human history” – that is, until recently. What happened? Who is responsible for its recent failings? And is there hope for return to Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Caitlin Bassett
Date
June 8, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Law, Social Media

Tagged
Big Tech, Big Tech censorship, Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), Facebook, First Amendment, Florida, Florida and Big Tech, Fourteenth Amendment, Free speech, Google, John Snyder, NetChoice, Ron DeSantis, Section 230, Senate Bill 7072, Twitter}

Big Tech Sues Florida Over New Censorship Law

_{Facebook, Twitter, and Google are fighting back against a Florida law that seeks to reign them in} _{Caitlin Bassett

June 8, 2021

4

Censorship, Law, Social Media}

Technology trade companies representing Facebook, Twitter, and Google are suing Florida over its new law regulating the editorial and censorship powers of large social media platforms. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 7072 into law on May 24, the first of its kind in the nation to curb the powers of online companies to remove and censor content and users. NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) – technology trade groups that have been vocal about their opposition to the law – filed the lawsuit against Florida the following Thursday in Tallahassee federal court. DeSantis and other supporters of the new law argue that its purpose is to safeguard the First Amendment rights of ordinary Florida citizens Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
May 24, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Religion, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
Big Tech, Caitlin Bassett, China (crackdown on religions), Erik J. Larson, Heather Zeiger, John McCarthy, Live not by Lies (book), Myth of Artificial Intelligence (book), Norbert Wiener, Rod Dreher, Shoshan Zuboff, Surveillance Capitalism (book), United States (and mass surveillance)}

How Much of Your Income — and Life — Does Big Tech Control?

_{Erik J. Larson reviews the groundbreaking book Surveillance Capitalism, on how big corporations make money out of tracking your every move} _{News

May 24, 2021

7

Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Religion, Surveillance, Technocracy}

In a review of Shoshana Zuboff’s groundbreaking Surveillance Capitalism (2019), computer science historian Erik J. Larson recounts a 1950s conflict of ideas between two pioneers, Norbert Wiener (1894-1964) and John McCarthy (1927–2011). Wiener warned, in his largely forgotten book The Human Use of Human Beings (1950), about “new forms of control made possible by the development of advancing technologies.” McCarthy, by contrast, coined the term “artificial intelligence” (1956), implying his belief in “the official effort to program computers to exhibit human-like intelligence.” His “AI Rules” view came to be expressed not in a mere book but in — probably — hundreds of thousands of media articles warning about or celebrating the triumph of AI over humanity. If you are skeptical Read More ›

Electronics Engineer Works with Robot Checking Voltage and Program Response time. Computer Science Research Laboratory with Specialists Working.

^{Type
post

Author
Denyse O'Leary
Date
April 5, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Data Privacy, Military, Surveillance

Tagged
Ashton Carter, Big Data, Bureaucracy (and science advances), China, China (competitiveness in AI), Great Reset, Gregory Chaitin, Patent filings, Silicon Valley, U. S. Department of Defense, United States (competitiveness in AI), Walter Isaacson}

Has the United States Lost Silicon Valley?

_{Once on friendly terms with the U,S, Department of Defense, Silicon Valley must consider the views of its friends in China} _{Denyse O'Leary

April 5, 2021

8

Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Data Privacy, Military, Surveillance}

Recently, we learned that China had, for the first time, surpassed the United States in AI patent filings: The development was revealed by Li Yuxiao, Deputy Head of the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace Studies at the 7th World Internet Conference (WIC), reports SCMP. With this, China is now bolstering its position of being a leader in AI. As per the report, China had filed more than 110,000 artificial intelligence patents last year, more than the patents filed by the United States but the number of patents filed by the country has not been disclosed. “China surpasses US for the first time in artificial intelligence patent filings” at TECHregister (November 27, 2020) Now, people have been claiming that innovative competitiveness is Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Caitlin Bassett
Date
March 31, 2021

Categorized
Censorship, Social Media, Technocracy

Tagged
Alphabet Inc, Big Tech, Facebook, Google, Heritage Foundation, Jack Dorsey, Ken Buck, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, The Heritage Foundation, Twitter}

Influential Think Tank Declines Big Tech Donations

_{The Heritage Foundation declined six-figure donations from Big Tech companies Facebook and Google in 2020, citing repeated censorship of conservative views} _{Caitlin Bassett

March 31, 2021

3

Censorship, Social Media, Technocracy}

News website Axios obtained letters signed by Heritage Foundation‘s departing President Kay Coles James (pictured), addressed to the CEOs of both Facebook and Google in October 2020, explaining why Heritage felt compelled to decline the six-figure contributions from the companies. “We cannot in good conscience take money from a company that repeatedly, and blatantly, suppresses conservative speech on your platforms,” reads the letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai. A similar statement is made in the letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Heritage declined $225,000 from Google, and returned $150,000 that came from Facebook. The Heritage Foundation made several accusations against the companies in its letters, including: that Facebook suppressed their reach by blocking referral traffic; that Facebook targeted Heritage with third-party fact-checkers; and that Google Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
March 26, 2021

Categorized
Data Privacy, Ethics, Surveillance, Technocracy

Tagged
Big Tech, Cell phones, Elizabeth Kolbert, Karl D. Stephan, Liquid modernity, Zygmunt Bauman}

Getting Used to Liquid Modernity

_{The only constant of liquid modernity is change, chiefly of the self, but also of the self's surroundings} _{News

March 26, 2021

7

Data Privacy, Ethics, Surveillance, Technocracy}

(Reprinted with permission from the Engineering Ethics Blog of Karl Stephan (pictured) of the Ingram School of Engineering at Texas State University) I do not own a conventional smart phone. Instead, I intentionally use a style of flip phone whose rugged case and physical numeric keypad buttons won’t be injured by a drop of three or four feet to a concrete surface. It can receive some texts on its small screen, and I can even send texts after a fashion with the twelve numeric keys, tapping them rapidly one to four times to select the correct letter or punctuation mark. It won’t do capitals, but you can read texts from me without capitals and still get the message. It took me a while to Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
March 18, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Censorship, Social Media

Tagged
Big Social Media, Big Tech, Decentralization (of social media), Gallup poll on social media, Maryland (taxing social media), Reality czar, Section 230, Social media (federal control), Social media (new entrants), Social media (polls), social media (pressure to share wealth), Social media (state control), Social media (taxing social media), Timothy Head}

Can Big Tech and Big Social Media Be Reined In?

_{A number of strategies to limit their power or make them share the wealth are being evaluated, both among governments and private think tanks} _{News

March 18, 2021

8

Business and Finance, Censorship, Social Media}

Big Tech’s recent censorship moves have revived the debate about what, exactly, the new social media are? Are they publishers like HarperCollins or carriers like Ma Bell? Section 230 of the U.S. Communications Decency Act exempts the Bigs from liability as publishers. But, unlike carriers, they can act against messages in their system that they don’t like. Generally, they benefit from a fuzziness that is not granted to other institutions. It’s probably not accidental that most Big Social Media are domiciled in the United States. Canada, to name just one other country, does not offer Twitter that protection. The scale of the conflict is expected to grow and a number of strategies to limit the Big Social Media’s power or Read More ›

Finger touching phone with social media concept and dark background

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
March 11, 2021

Categorized
Data Privacy, Social Media, Surveillance

Tagged
Ad Nauseam, Big Tech, Conscious data contribution, Data poisoning, Data poisoning by internet users, Data strikes, Hanlin Li, Microsoft (Tay), Nicholas Vincent, Tay (chatbot)}

Why Do Some People Try To Poison Big Tech’s Data Well?

_{Some social media users confuse Big Tech about their interests so as to preserve privacy and rein in relentless marketing campaigns} _{News

March 11, 2021

5

Data Privacy, Social Media, Surveillance}

Here’s an article on a theme you probably didn’t expect to read about in a top tier tech magazine: How to poison the data Big Tech collects about you. It’s certainly evidence of the growing discontent with Monopoly Power and Big Surveillance: Now researchers at Northwestern University are suggesting new ways to redress this power imbalance by treating our collective data as a bargaining chip. Tech giants may have fancy algorithms at their disposal, but they are meaningless without enough of the right data to train on. Karen Hao, “How to poison the data that Big Tech uses to surveil you” at Technology Review (March 5, 2021) Researchers Nicholas Vincent and Hanlin Li presented a paper at the recent Association Read More ›

Beginning of the game, Two chess teams in front of different color white and black on the chessboard

^{Type
post

Author
Caitlin Bassett
Date
March 10, 2021

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Censorship

Tagged
Algorithms, Antonio Radić, Artificial Intelligence, Ashique KhudaBukhsh, Big Tech, chess, Human in the loop, Rupak Sarkar, social media, YouTube}

AI Flags “Black” and “White” Language of Chess as Racist

_{New research shows the weakness of depending on AI to accurately flag racist online content} _{Caitlin Bassett

March 10, 2021

5

Artificial Intelligence, Censorship}

Last summer, artificial intelligence algorithms took down a video on YouTube’s most popular chess channel mid-livestream and flagged it as containing “harmful and dangerous” content. New research into the incident indicates that artificial intelligence algorithms programmed to scan for racist and other hateful speech online may be to blame. On June 27, 2020, the host of the most popular chess chanel on YouTube, Antonio Radić, Croatian chess player, was conducting a livestream with chess Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura. Around the one-hour-and-twenty-minute mark of the discussion of chess, the video was cut off and removed from Radić’s channel. When Radić (or anyone else) tried to access the video, they were met with a message from YouTube: “We’ve removed this video because it Read More ›

Hand holding smartphone with media icons and symbol

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
March 5, 2021

Categorized
Business and Finance, Economics, Law

Tagged
Android, App stores, Apple (company), Arizona, Big Tech, Google, iPhone, Matt Stoller, Monopoly (in business), North Dakota, Steve Jobs}

Arizona Fights Back Against Big Tech App Store Monopoly

_{North Dakota’s anti-monopoly legislation was defeated but Arizona’s passed} _{News

March 5, 2021

3

Business and Finance, Economics, Law}

Big tech, flexing political muscles, is starting to get pushback at the state level. Political analyst Matt Stoller tells us a tale of two states: A loser and a winner: Two weeks ago, Apple and Google managed to defeat a major bill in North Dakota to force competition in app stores. This week, the Arizona House of Representatives defied the tech giants and passed the very same bill… Matt Stoller, “Apple Threatens North Dakota, Suffers Crushing Loss in Arizona: “A Lot of It is Just Fear”” at Substack Even sovereign states like Australia have felt the heat from pushing back against the likes of Facebook. Facebook blocked access to the Australian government’s Facebook pages during the forest fire season, due Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 26, 2021

Categorized
Social Media, Technocracy

Tagged
Amazon, Amazon (delisting books), Big Tech, Books (delisting), Deplatforming, discrimination, Featured, John West, Kara McKinney, Parler, political discrimination, Seattle}

Could a Seattle Law Hobble Amazon’s Unaccountable Censorship?

_{John West discusses Amazon’s vulnerability in Seattle with Kara McKinney at Tipping Point} _{News

February 26, 2021

4

Social Media, Technocracy}

Recently, John West, Managing Director of the Discovery Institute’s Center for Science & Culture, offered some thoughts at Tipping Point about Seattle legislation that could stymie Big Tech’s growing tendency toward viewpoint discrimination: Everyone is wondering what we can do about Big Tech censorship and it turns out there is a law on the books in progressive Seattle just waiting to be used. John West, “Big Tech Discrimination with John West” at Tipping Point (February 25, 2021) He’s referring to this law which forbids discrimination on the basis of, among other things, political ideology, seen as: any idea or belief, or coordinated body of ideas or beliefs, relating to the purpose, conduct, organization, function or basis of government and related Read More ›

Get Out of Jail Board Game Prison Free Escape

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
February 13, 2021

Categorized
Social Media

Tagged
Big Social Media, Big Tech, CitizenGo, Debanking, Deplatforming, Depublishing, Jordan Peterson, Josh Hawley, Lifesite, Michael Cook, Michael Lind, New Class War (book), Publishers vs. carriers, Section 230, Stasi}

Prof: America Now Has Two Constitutions — Yours and Big Tech’s

_{People who are being debanked, depublished, and deplatformed are discovering that, whatever the Constitution says, they don’t have rights if Big Tech says they don’t} _{News

February 13, 2021

7

Social Media}

University of Texas prof Michael Lind (pictured), asks us to think about the growing problem of Big Tech power as if we were living in an old time film about a corrupt county: Imagine that you are a resident in a low-population county in 1950. You run afoul of the small group of families who are effectively in charge. Your political and legal rights are unimpaired. You are free to vote and you are free to sue in municipal and county and state courts. The police treat you with unfailing courtesy and respect. But strange things start to happen. The only newspaper in the county refuses to take ads for your business. The only bank in the county announces that Read More ›

Department store shop class luxury, near the Red Bridge, historical buildings of Saint-Petersburg. In the background the city and St. Isaac's Cathedral dome of golden color, in the evening at sunset.

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
October 9, 2020

Categorized
Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Global Technology, Surveillance

Tagged
capitalism, CNA Adversary Analysis Group, entrepreneurship, Facial Recognition, Featured, Free enterprise, National Technologies Initiative, Ntech Lab, Robert J. Marks, Rostec, Russia, Samuel Bendett, Silicon Valley}

Russia Aims to Close the Technology Gap With the United States

_{Independent since 1991, the vast nation offers a government version of Silicon Valley culture} _{News

October 9, 2020

10

Artificial Intelligence, Business and Finance, Global Technology, Surveillance}

In this week’s podcast, “AI development in Russia, Part 1,” Walter Bradley Center director Robert J. Marks talks with Samuel Bendett about Russia’s struggles to develop AI for entrepreneurship and free enterprise, rather than military uses. It turns out to be mainly a cultural struggle, as historic institutions must adapt to an environment where market dominance is more important than military dominance. Mr. Bendett, who is fluent in Russian and English, is an advisor to the Russia Studies Program and the Center for Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence of the CNA Adversary Analysis Group. And how is Russia faring? https://episodes.castos.com/mindmatters/Mind-Matters-103-Samuel-Bendett.mp3 From the transcript: (Show Notes, Resources, and a link to the complete transcript follow.) Robert J. Marks (pictured): What I want Read More ›

Finally froze while looking for this shot, but it was worth it.

^{Type
podcast

Author
Robert J. Marks
Date
October 8, 2020

Tagged
academia, Artificial Intelligence, entrepreneurship, Facial Recognition, facial recognition systems, government, image recognition system, Investment, Russia, Samuel Bendett, Silicon Valley, speech recognition software, STEM fields, Venture capital}

AI Development in Russia — Part 1

_{Robert J. Marks

October 8, 2020

1}

What is happening in Russia right now with regards to non-military development of artificial intelligence? Samuel Bendett and Robert J. Marks discuss Russian non-military development of AI, entrepreneurship, and free enterprise. Show Notes 00:46 | Introducing Samuel Bendett, advisor with the CNA Adversary Analysis Group 01:37 | Samuel Bendett’s background 02:14 | Russian non-military development of AI 09:28 | Taking Read More ›