Weekly Roundup 2/14/2020
Recently, Twitter made changes to its privacy policy to protect its users from state actors taking advantage of its API to merge usernames to phone numbers. The move comes after Google, YouTube, Venmo and LinkedIn sent a cease-and-desist letter to Clearview AI, “a facial recognition app that scrapes images from websites and social media platforms.” Twitter, in a blogpost, says its effort is part of the platform’s transparent effort to protect users data and third-party abuse of its application.
Understanding what innovation is, and navigating within its scope in journalism has proved to be a challenge for media organizations seeking change. To provide guidance, due to the dynamic nuances of the newsroom, Dr. Julie Posetti in journalism innovation in the 2020s provides answers to pressing questions at the heart of journalism on what 'innovation in news' actually means.
Top weekly tech articles curated for you:
Disinformation
- To protect the validity of content posted online by journalists, Jigsaw, a child company of Alphabet, introduced its free tool 'Assembler,' that helps to detect fake photographs including those created with artificial intelligence.
- Advancements in Technology Has Countered Measures to Curbing Misinformation - As concerns about computational propaganda and misinformation triggered by advancement in technology continue to prompt public debates and discussions, there is a need to address the public's treatment of misinformation. In the newly released working paper from the NED, “Demand for Deceit: How the Way We Think Drives Disinformation,” Samuel Woodley and Katie Joseff examine the resurgence of authoritarian influence supported by the global misinformation space.
- Twitter Introduces a new rule and a label for online photos or videos to curb misinformation - The recent move will see videos or images that have been altered tagged as manipulated content. The social media platform says this technique was developed through input from public, civil society groups and academic experts.
Artificial Intelligence
- Reconciling Career Growth with the Use of AI in Job Search Amongst College Graduates - Career counselors are faced with the challenging task of helping college students navigate their odds when applying for entry-level positions. The current use of AI as gatekeepers to job opportunities can disenfranchise applicants based on grammar, facial expressions, and tone.
- AI Outlook: Hopes and Prospects discusses the implications of the exponential growth of artificial intelligence (AI), and how it is "tremendously crucial to underscore valuable tools developed through AI" that can augment effective governance and participation.
Cybersecurity
- The Washington Post takes an in depth look at the release of Facebook’s “off-Facebook” tracker, that shows how the social media platform tracks users' activity when they are offline. The article references laws like the California Consumer Privacy Act that seeks to hold platforms accountable to user’s data.
- Every device is a potential surveillance tool now - including your drawing tablet? Read about Wacom’s decision to include Google Analytics on its drawing tablets if you want a perspective on surveillance capitalism.
Open Internet
- Amnesty International took a closer look at targeted harassment of female politicians in India. The research looks at the effect of harassment on the political life of women, who are significantly underrepresented in politics.
- To create an open and accessible digital landscape for development, "the seven ‘A’ checklist to design with the user in digital development, provides guidance on what it looks like in practice.
- Will 2020 be The Year That Politicians Bring The Internet to Heel? “The pressures to apply the rule of law to the online world are local, regional and global.”
Tech News
To promote prosperity, nations must seek ways to innovate through entrepreneurship.- Provides case studies to prompt critical thinking in approaches towards development.
Democracy Food for Thought
“The Last Time Democracy Almost Died” goes down memory lane to look at another crisis era in American's democracy - the 1930s. Part of the response took advantage of the new technology of the time to foster more inclusive civic debate - which feels far away from 2020.