“‘Notability are notoriously byzantine, to say it kindly,’ the anonymous editor says. They hope the push to reform the guidelines will help compensate for the historic underrepresentation of women and minorities, since it’s not just women who find their path into Wikipedia blocked. ‘A lot of prejudice is unconscious and intersectional,’ says Lubbock. ‘Wikipedia is dealing not just with a gender inequality issue, but also racial and geographical inequalities.’
“Companies and governments are gaining new powers to follow people across the internet and around the world, and even to peer into their genomes. The benefits of such advances have been apparent for years; the costs — in anonymity, even autonomy — are now becoming clearer. The boundaries of privacy are in dispute, and its future is in doubt. Citizens, politicians and business leaders are asking if societies are making the wisest tradeoffs. The Times is embarking on this monthslong project to explore the technology and where it’s taking us, and to convene debate about how it can best help realize human potential.”
“Hackers are tapping in to cameras intended for home security, talking to children through the devices and even dropping racist remarks, according to multiple news reports. The intended purpose of a two-way talk function on the devices is to allow parents to check in on their children. But hackers are using them to wake people up in the middle of the night, and watch unsuspecting children.”
“There is the next frontier in political advertising: your personal location data, collected from apps you’ve downloaded that then take this sensitive information and sell it to third parties — including political campaigns. Love it or hate it, digital strategists see this location data as part of the future of political campaigns, as candidates and advocacy groups harness your personal whereabouts and leverage it to try to win your support. One campaign might know if you’ve passed by one of their lawn signs recently. Another might track whether you’ve been in a specific Catholic church in Dubuque, Iowa. Forces behind Trump, who three years ago said he considered data to be “overrated” in politics, are exploring this next iteration of digital campaign tools. And with the incumbent president’s vastly superior resources and innate appetite for digital experimentation, many leading Democrats are concerned that it is the GOP — not the digitally pioneering party of Barack Obama — that is mastering Silicon Valley’s tricks ahead of what’s expected to be the most expensive US presidential election ever.”
Source : How Trump allies are using your phone’s location to try and win your vote – Vox
“We are going to support the Department of Defense, this country is important. […] My view is that if big tech is turning their back on the Department of Defense, this country is in big trouble.”
Source : Jeff Bezos says Amazon wants to work more with the Pentagon – Reuters
“ Ultra-wideband technology is an industry-standard technology and is subject to international regulatory requirements that require it to be turned off in certain locations… iOS uses Location Services to help determine if iPhone is in these prohibited locations in order to disable ultra-wideband and comply with regulations… The management of ultra-wideband compliance and its use of location data is done entirely on the device, and Apple is not collecting user location data. When Apple introduced the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro this fall, it included a new chip called the U1 that enables ultra-wideband (UWB) for locating other devices in immediate proximity. Presently, it is only used for the phone’s AirDrop file-sharing feature, but it is expected to be used for other features such as augmented reality and the company’s rumored upcoming Tile competitor in the future. The brief flash of controversy on Twitter and tech blogs over this issue illustrates the challenges Apple faces with its privacy-oriente”
Source : The iPhone 11’s U1 chip necessitates constant geolocation checks, Apple says | Ars Technica
“On trouve dans le monde académique beaucoup de chercheurs qui ont le sentiment de ne jamais en faire assez. Ils passent leurs week-ends dans leur labo. Ils s’épuisent au travail. Le doute, c’est bien. Trop de doute, c’est malsain. Je le sais, je suis passé par là. Il faut lutter contre ce penchant délétère.”
Source : Pierre Vandergheynst, maître de la pensée computationnelle à l’EPFL – Le Temps
“Changing algorithms is easier than changing people: software on computers can be updated; the “wetware” in our brains has so far proven much less pliable. None of this is meant to diminish the pitfalls and care needed in fixing algorithmic bias. But compared with the intransigence of human bias, it does look a great deal simpler. Discrimination by algorithm can be more readily discovered and more easily fixed.”
Source : Biased Algorithms Are Easier to Fix Than Biased People – The New York Times
“Today, in 2019, if the company was a person, it would be a young adult of 21 and it would be time to leave the roost. While it has been a tremendous privilege to be deeply involved in the day-to-day management of the company for so long, we believe it’s time to assume the role of proud parents—offering advice and love, but not daily nagging!”
Source : A letter from Larry and Sergey
© 2025 no-Flux
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
