Monday, May 28, 2018

Big Brother Goes Digital

"For legal reasons I neither confirm nor deny that the following articles are relevant to anything. You just might find them interesting reading, that's all..."

Big Brother Goes Digital via at  latitude ;-) NYRB

 Right war, wrong weapons

New York - the Latitude of Stories

How historically accurate is The Big Short? | Film | The Guardian

I read an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal this week entitled “How Jeffrey Immelt’s ‘Success Theater’ Masked the Rot at GE.” In it, authors Thomas Gryta, Joann Lublin, and David Benoit describe how the Immelt and his top leaders, “projected an optimism about GE’s business and its future that didn’t always match the reality of its operations or its markets.”
I was fascinated by the article because it described the kind of pervasive good news culture that I have seen in some of my client organizations. Is ‘Success Theater’ Masking Rot in Your Organization?

We’re so proud to have been awarded gold employer status for our LGBTI inclusion at this year’s #AWEI2018 awards. Congratulations to all winners! 🎉www.prideinclusionprogr… #InclusionAwards2018 twitter.com/PrideDivers…
1 day ago · Twitter

Potential Spy Devices Which Track Cellphones, Intercept Calls Found All Over DC MD VA - NBC News4 I-Team – Washington, DC – “The technology can be as small as a suitcase, placed anywhere at any time, and it’s used to track cell phones and intercept calls. The News4 I-Team found dozens of potential spy devices while driving around Washington, D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia “While you might not be a target yourself, you may live next to someone who is. You could still get caught up,” said Aaron Turner, a leading mobile security expert. The device, sometimes referred to by the brand name StingRay, is designed to mimic a cell tower and can trick your phone into connecting to it instead. The News4 I-Team asked Turner to ride around the capital region with special software loaded onto three cell phones, with three different carriers, to detect the devices operating in various locations. “So when you see these red bars, those are very high-suspicion events,” said Turner. If you live in or near the District, your phone has probably been tracked at some point, he said

EFF – Victory For The First Amendment..Lawsuit Against President Trump Brought by Twitter Users He Blocked
“President Donald Trump’s blocking of people on Twitter because they criticize him violates the First Amendment, a federal judge in New York ruled today in a resounding victory for freedom of speech and the public’s right to communicate opposing political views directly to elected officials and government agencies. The ruling comes in a lawsuit filed by the Knight First Amendment Institute alleging the president and his communications team violated the First Amendment by blocking seven people from the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account because they criticized the president or his policies. The seven individuals include a university professor, a surgeon, a comedy writer, a community organizer, an author, a legal analyst, and a police officer.


Woman says her Amazon device recorded private conversation, sent it out to random contact Kiro7 


You know that silly fear about Alexa recording everything and leaking it online? It just happened The Register My sister-in-law has from the get-go refused to go to any home with an Alexa in it.




Boris Johnson duped by pranksters pretending to be Armenian PM Politico 





Food: a class issue Stumbling and Mumbling (UserFriendly)



Retweeted
Announcing the Festival of Dangerous Ideas 2018 Back & more dangerous than ever with a new venue, new date & new danger! Watch the video to find out more.


Public service review can spur much-needed modernisation
Peter Shergold: "The government's review can help transform the Australian Public Service to reinvigorate its traditional virtues in a manner suited to the 2020s." (AFR)




 

Princeton Dialogues of AI and Ethics: Launching case studies Freedom to Tinker. “This [assessment] is essential in order to identify the positive opportunities presented by AI and unleash these technologies’ capabilities in 
the most socially advantageous way possible while being mindful of potential harms.” Lol no.

Defending Digital Democracy Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. I’ve urged that the test for intellectual honesty on election security is treating hand-marked paper ballots, hand-counted in public, as a real option. Oddly, or not, this project, fronted by Robby Mook and Matt Rhoades (campaign managers for Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney) fails that test. (Note that “DIgital Democracy,” though catchy, is also question-begging; as one of Benteley’s programming proverbs has it: “The cheapest, fastest, and most reliable components of a computer system are those that aren’t there.” In this case, the best way to ensure “digital democracy” is to remove the digital part.) Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. I’ve urged that the test for intellectual honesty on election security is treating hand-marked paper ballots, hand-counted in public, as a real option. Oddly, or not, this project, fronted by Robby Mook and Matt Rhoades (campaign managers for Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney) fails that test. (Note that “DIgital Democracy,” though catchy, is also question-begging; as one of Benteley’s programming proverbs has it: “The cheapest, fastest, and most reliable components of a computer system are those that aren’t there.” In this case, the best way to ensure “digital democracy” is to remove the digital part.)





Guide to handle complaints and aggressive customers
Victorian Ombudsman Deborah Glass introduces a new best-practice guide for dealing with what is politely termed “challenging behaviour” from citizens.




 
 

Addressing profit shifting in the mining sector through excessive interest deductions: our advice


Guest blog: Illicit Financial Flows: Damaging the foundations of justice

Above the Law – You’re Bad at Legal Research, and Your Judge Knows It: “One reason artificial intelligence is a hot topic in law: When attorneys miss precedents, the stakes are high.