Wednesday, October 11, 2017

How Russia harvested American rage to reshape US politics: World Economic Outlook

“The global recovery is continuing, and at a faster pace. The picture is very different from early last year, when the world economy faced faltering growth and financial market turbulence. We see an accelerating cyclical upswing boosting Europe, China, Japan, and the United States, as well as emerging Asia. The latest World Economic Outlook has therefore upgraded its global growth projections to 3.6 percent for this year and 3.7 percent for next—in both cases 0.1 percentage point above our previous forecasts, and well above 2016’s global growth rate of 3.2 percent, which was the lowest since the global financial crisis.






Barnaby Joyce High Court case: 'Bliss in ignorance' defence would create more chaos, says Tony Windsor's lawyer



DHS is now going to use a private contractor to answer Centrelink calls



Nicholas Confessore and Daisuke Wakabayashi – The New York Times – YouTube videos of police beatings on American streets. A widely circulated internet hoax about Muslim men in Michigan collecting welfare for multiple wives. A local news story about two veterans brutally mugged on a freezing winter night.  All of these were recorded, posted or written by Americans. Yet all ended up becoming grist for a network of Facebook pages linked to a shadowy Russian company that has carried out propaganda campaigns for the Kremlin, and which is now believed to be at the center of a far-reaching Russian program to influence the 2016 presidential election.
  • See also: The New Yorker, The Fake News Fallacy – “…Yet, even among this information anarchy, there remains an authority of sorts. Facebook and Google now define the experience of the Internet for most people, and in many ways they play the role of regulators. In the weeks after the election, they faced enormous criticism for their failure to halt the spread of fake news and misinformation on their services. The problem was not simply that people had been able to spread lies but that the digital platforms were set up in ways that made them especially potent. The “share” button sends lies flying around the Web faster than fact checkers can debunk them. The supposedly neutral platforms use personalized algorithms to feed us information based on precise data models of our preferences, trapping us in “filter bubbles” that cripple critical thinking and increase polarization. The threat of fake news was compounded by this sense that the role of the press had been ceded to an arcane algorithmic system created by private companies that care only about the bottom line…” 
  • and EFF – With Facebook, Twitter in the Crosshairs of Investigators Probing Russian Interference, Let’s Consider The Risks of Applying Election Ad Rules to the Online World – “…We can’t emphasize enough what’s at stake here. Social media and digital communications have an enormous role in elections. On the whole, this is a good thing, because it creates many new avenues for Americans to communicate, share, participate, debate, and organize. Online speech rules must maintain our ability to speak out—anonymously if we choose—about candidates, elections, and issues. At the same time, American elections should be decided by Americans and not subject to foreign influence. The rules that surround our elections should be carefully created to protect American voters and not just at the moment of voting. Our right to participate and voice our opinions must not be compromised on the way to preventing foreign intervention in our elections…”
  • Does America – need – Librarians (rhetorical question) – You may want to share these articles, and the Lessons Learned, and the Lessons that remain to be Learned, each and every day, when engaging with the behemoths of “social media.”


'After a data breach': OAIC helps prepare for new obligations. 
A lost device or information sent to the wrong person could trigger a compulsory data notification breach. New resources are available to prepare.

 



Doing data in DC: the appliance of science to city administration.
One municipality is improving services by hiring 15 social scientists for City Hall. The Centre for Public Impact explored how it's working

  Generals told: start talking to the press.
The US Defense Secretary is hoping to end a misperception among some senior leaders that they should keep quiet: "Communications is the job of the commander, not just the public affairs officer."


The future of payments for government.
Discover how a world of smart devices with integrated payment capabilities will revolutionise the way you interact with citizens.





How Melbourne activists ICAN won a Nobel prize.
"From the outset we were up against the harsh reality that none of the nuclear-armed countries were serious about fulfilling their binding obligation to disarm. In fact, they were doing the opposite."