Change in
direction: A story
at CityLab.com examines why the state of Arkansas has moved to rescind a
2011 ban on community-financed broadband networks. The state is the least
connected in the U.S., according to one group, and residents have complained
about “lousy” broadband options.
White and male: The Artificial Intelligence too white and too male, according to research from the AI Now Institute at New York University. About 80 percent of AI professors are men, and just 15 percent of the AI research staff at Facebook and 10 percent at Google are women, notes a story on the research at The Verge. Racial minorities also make up a small percentage of AI staff at large tech vendors.
Comey vs. encryption:
Former U.S. FBI Director James Comey, who pushed for ways for law enforcement
agencies to break into encrypted devices while he was in government, now says
he would have taken a different approach to the encryption debate, the Washington
Post reports. Comey says it was “dumb” to launch the encryption debate by
criticizing U.S. tech companies. However, he still believes law enforcement
agencies need access to encrypted communications.
Censorship vs.
disinformation: The Ukraine government is battling disinformation coming
from Russia by cracking down on Internet speech, JustSecurity.org
reports. Ukraine in essence is becoming more like Russia to battle Russia,
the story suggests.
Fake news as malware: Organizations battling fake news should treat it more like its computer malware, suggests a story at The Parallax. Social media sites and other organizations should take on a more “adversarial style of thinking,” said Sara-Jayne Terp, founder of cybersecurity consulting company Bodacea Light Industries.
Encryption is under threat around the world. It’s up to each of us to take action.
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