Tuesday, March 05, 2019

Tech industry titans suddenly love internet privacy rules






Formjacking: The Latest Threat to Paying Online
Formjacking works by inserting malicious code into the site, cyberthieves can steal your card number, security code, post code. Hackers can gain access to trustworthy sites through supply chain attacks or by going through a third-party integration like payments, analytics or chat.

SpaceX Crew Dragon:Launched and docked. Now, about that splashdown...


Champagne remains on ice until Demo-1 is bobbing about in the Atlantic


'You're sacked,' Labor leader Michael Daley tells Alan Jones and SCG Trust - The Age


Malcolm Turnbull and Tony Abbott won't be attending the launch of the NSW Liberals state election campaign, but Gladys Berejiklian says she isn't disappointed.










This is a chart about the world through the eyes of the US – 1900 to present Pudding – Russell Goldenberg: “There is always that one country on our collective conscious, and I wanted to know how that has changed over time. So I turned to the newspaper, since headlines have long been the catalyst for daily conversations about what is going on in the world. Most of that content is still preserved thanks to the New York Times archive. After looking at 741,681 section front headlines, I found out which countries around the world have preoccupied Americans the most each month since 1900…”
Dow Jones’ watchlist of 2.4 million high-risk individuals has leaked TechCrunch. “The data, since secured, is the financial giant’s Watchlist database, which companies use as part of their risk and compliance efforts.” Whoops.





 How a payday lending industry insider tilted academic research in its favor Washington Post 

 Spies Infiltrated Unions in Brazil The Intercept



Journalism’s perception problem



This is troubling. A poll published by the Columbia Journalism Review revealed that 60 percent of people believe reporters get paid by their sources either “sometimes or very often.”


Think about that: 60 percent. That’s out of 4,214 adults.


No reputable news organization gets paid by sources. Yet more than half of those polled think they do.


Here’s the thing: don’t just blame the public for believing that. It’s not only those polled who have the problem. It’s journalists who also have the problem — a perception problem. And journalists can work to fix it.

How? First, don’t dismiss the public’s distrust or misunderstanding of the media. Then search for reasons why the public thinks sources pay them. Is there something in their coverage that suggests they are being paid (or bought) by those they cover? Is there something in their behavior publicly or on social media that would lead so many to believe they are being paid by sources? Plus, journalists must ask if they ever accept free “stuff,” as Slate writes about when travel, entertainment, fashion and other reporters sometimes take gifts — something that should not happen.

Next, perhaps it’s time for more media outlets to better market themselves. TV news stations are excellent in this regard, advertising themselves as “trusted,” “reliable” and “dependable.” Perhaps other news organizations, particularly newspapers, should do more of that.

News organizations could be more transparent about how they do their jobs. They should give their audiences a peak behind the curtain more often to show how stories are put together. The New York Times does this on a regular basis, in part with its podcast "The Daily," often a behind-the-scenes look at and with the journalists at the Times. Increasingly, "how we did it" stories are appearing, like this one from The Washington Post explaining Roy Moore coverage, this example from the Tampa Bay Times about why the paper thought Legos were the best way to tell the story, or this great explainer from ProPublica on how it put together a package on maternal harm. The more the audience understands how stories are assembled, the more credible the stories might become, and the less room there is for audiences to believe sources are paying for coverage.

There is always going to be a distrust of the media, especially when some politicians and business and community leaders push back against negative coverage by calling it  “fake news” and journalists “enemy of the people.” But there are plenty of smart folks out there who still question the media’s fairness and objectivity and, therefore, have wild misconceptions about journalism. It’s partly up to journalists to recognize that and work to change those perceptions.




Are you being scanned? How facial recognition technology follows you, even as you shop
There are now more than 1,600 billboards installed into 41 Westfield centres across Australia and New Zealand. Scentre Group, Westfield Australia’s parent company, emphasises that all data collected is anonymous and that they are using facial detection, not facial recognition technology. This means generic information such as a shopper’s age and gender is collected rather than the technology using photo-matching databases to identify who customers are. However, under the current regulatory framework, neither Westfield nor Quividi need shoppers’ consent or knowledge to monitor and record them through facial detection by their Smartscreen billboard cameras.

Watch how you walk: AI gait-recognition technology is here
Chinese artificial intelligence company  Watrix says its software can identify a person from 50 metres away – even if they have covered their face or have their back to a camera




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