Pluralistic: 28 Aug 2021 – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow

Digital Ethics
ACLU on Twitter
BREAKING: Today a court held that our case challenging Clearview AI’s privacy-destroying conduct — the capture of millions of people’s unique identifying faceprints without their knowledge or consent — can proceed.— ACLU (@ACLU) August 27, 2021
EU agency advises against using search & browsing history for credit scores - The Record by Recorded Future
The European Union's lead data protection supervisor has recommended on Thursday that personal data such as search queries & internet browsing history should not be used for the assessment of credit scores and creditworthiness.
#AppleToo has collected nearly 500 stories of workplace issues - Protocol — The people, power and politics of tech
It plans to begin sharing them publicly next week.
Energy Hogs: Can World's Huge Data Centers Be Made More Efficient?
The gigantic data centers that power the internet consume vast amounts of electricity and emit as much CO2 as the airline industry. To change that, data companies need to turn to clean energy sources and dramatically improve energy efficiency.
People are hiring out their faces to become deepfake-style marketing clones
AI-powered characters based on real people can star in thousands of videos and say anything, in any language.
Ethics and Values in Design: A Structured...
Science and Engineering Ethics - A variety of approaches have appeared in academic literature and in design practice representing “ethics-first” methods. These approaches typically...
Pluralistic: 24 Aug 2021 – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
The New Antitrust/Data Privacy Law Interface
Antitrust theory portrays data privacy as a factor, like quality, that improves with competition. This Essay argues that view, though not inaccurate, is incomplete. It offers a new account of how data privacy interests have begun to clash at the margins with antitrust law, particularly in the digital economy.
AI Can Guess Your Race Based On X-Rays, and Researchers Don't Know How - VICE
Experts say medical images like X-Rays and CT scans allow algorithms to determine a patient's race—and warn it could lead to bias and discrimination.
Opinion | We built a system like Apple’s to flag child sexual abuse material — and concluded the tech was dangerous
There’s a reason civil liberties groups are calling for Apple to abandon its system.
DIVERSish | Meet the Winners - YouTube
Diversity: we’ve got this nailed, right? Wait a minute… Didn’t we just forget 1.3 billion disabled people?
Join the #valuable500 movement at https://www.thev...
No need to swap data for drinks, says privacy body - BBC News
Some pub ordering apps ask too many questions, but you can refuse, says the information watchdog.
The Taliban Have Seized U.S. Military Biometrics Devices
Biometric collection and identification devices were seized last week during the Taliban’s offensive.
How to do transparency well
Transparency is a key principle in all privacy laws* and it’s easy to see why. Secretive collection and use of personal information doesn’t usually end well. Telling people upfront what personal information you want or need, and why, helps them make informed decisions. Decisions about which organisa
Mala in se: Definition, Crimes & Examples - Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com
In this lesson, we'll go over the definition of 'mala in se' crimes. We will also distinguish between these types of crimes and ''mala prohibita''...
The Morally Troubling ‘Dirty Work’ We Pay Others to Do in Our Place
A new book by Eyal Press examines ethically fraught jobs on which our society depends and which we implicitly condone even as we pay other people to do them.
Adam Bomb on Twitter
Just tell me the reason isn’t what I think it is, @Uber pic.twitter.com/5Tn1sYZnSS— Adam Bomb (@_Adam_Bomb_) August 15, 2021
Episode 2 of Breaking the Black Box: When Algorithms Decide What You Pay - YouTube
You may not realize it, but every website you visit is created, literally, the moment you arrive. Each element of the page — the pictures, the ads, the text, the comments — live on computers in different places and are sent to your device when you request them.
That means that it’s easy for companies to create different web pages for different people. Sometimes that customization is helpful, such as when you see search results for restaurants near you. Sometimes it can be creepy, such as when ads follow you around from website to website. And sometimes customization can cost you money, research has shown. Orbitz showed higher-priced hotels to owners of Mac computers, for instance. Staples offered the same products at higher prices to people living in certain ZIP codes.
See the whole series here: ProPublica.org/blackbox
Apple and Google still have an LGBTQ problem
Silicon Valley should get out of the business of regulating sexually explicit materials – its actions against NSFW material put marginalised groups at even more risk
Tell Congress to Pass the Safe Connections Act and Make It Easier for Survivors to Escape Domestic Violence
We all know that, in the 21st century, it is difficult to lead a life without a cell phone. It is also difficult to change your number—the one all your friends, family, doctors, children’s schools, and so on—have for you. It’s especially difficult to do these things if you are trying to leave an abusive situation where your abuser is in control of your family plan and therefore has access to your phone records. Thankfully, the Safe Connections Act (S. 120) would change that.
Tell Congress: survivors of domestic violence should have an easy way to separate their phones from their abusers’ control.
The ethicist will see you now: unravelling dilemmas at a decision-making helpline | Australian lifestyle | The Guardian
For 30-years, Ethi-call has fielded quandaries from parents, professionals and more – but the pandemic has ushered in a new raft of predicaments
AI Weekly: The road to ethical adoption of AI
Adopting AI responsibly isn't easy. Challenges stand in the way -- but they can be overcome with careful design considerations.
AI datasets are prone to mismanagement, study finds
A Princeton study finds that popular AI datasets are prone to mismanagement, and that retractions rarely have the intended effect.
Deleting unethical data sets isn’t good enough
The AI research community has tried to scrub away its past. But the internet is forever
Twitter is changing the contrast of buttons again after complaints of eye strain
The update shows the importance of choice in accessibility
To stop online abuse against women, we must reform digital spaces
This piece was written by Azmina Dhrodia and originally published by Thomson Reuters Foundation. While we can’t quickly unwind the sexism that drives abuse, we can redesign our digital spaces and change the online environments that allow this misogyny to thrive, writes Azmina Dhrodia. (Ed
Women allege that NSO spyware was used to steal and leak their private photos
Female journalists and activists say they had their private photos shared on social media by governments seeking to intimidate and silence them.
Eva on Twitter
Good news! You can finally stop people from sharing files with you by blocking them in Google Drive. I bet you're not even slightly surprised that this turned out to be something abusive ex-partners use to harass survivors. pic.twitter.com/OX5B7OWmoC— Eva (@evacide) August 8, 2021
Do you like to read? I can take over your Kindle with an e-book
Research By: Slava Makkaveev Introduction Since 2007, Amazon has sold tens of millions of Kindles, which is impressive. But this also means that tens of millions of people could have potentially been hacked through a software bug in those same Kindles. Their devices could be turned into bots or their private local networks could be... Click to Read More