The Intercept: Google Shut Out Privacy And Security Teams From Secret China Project. “Google’s leadership considered Dragonfly so sensitive that they would often communicate only verbally about it and would not take written notes during high-level meetings to reduce the paper trail, two sources said. Only a few hundred of Google’s 88,000 workforce were briefed about the censorship plan. Some engineers and other staff who were informed about the project were told that they risked losing their jobs if they dared to discuss it with colleagues who were themselves not working on Dragonfly.”
Monthly Archives: November 2018
Google Blog: A new look for Google Translate on the web
Google Blog: A new look for Google Translate on the web. “It’s been twelve years since the launch of Google Translate, and since then Translate has evolved to keep up with the ways people use it. Initially translating between English and Arabic only, we now translate 30 trillion sentences per year across 103 languages. Google Translate has become an essential tool for communicating across languages, and we recently redesigned the Translate website to make it easier to use.”
Reuters: Does Google harm local search rivals? EU antitrust regulators ask
Reuters: Does Google harm local search rivals? EU antitrust regulators ask. “EU antitrust regulators have asked Google’s rivals if the internet search giant unfairly demotes local search competitors, according to a questionnaire seen by Reuters, a move which could lead to a fourth case against the Alphabet (GOOGL.O) unit.”
MakeUseOf: Instagram Can Now Describe Photos to Visually Impaired Users
MakeUseOf: Instagram Can Now Describe Photos to Visually Impaired Users. “Instagram has added two new features designed to make it easier for visually impaired people to use Instagram. These features mean screen readers will be able to accurately describe what’s in photos uploaded to Instagram.”
University of Massachusetts Lowell: Event Unveils Digital Archive Celebrating Lowell’s Southeast Asian Communities
University of Massachusetts Lowell: Event Unveils Digital Archive Celebrating Lowell’s Southeast Asian Communities. “The archive is designed to be used by the public, students, teachers, researchers and scholars. In it, users will find documents and oral histories from the Indochinese Refugee Foundation (IRF), a Lowell-based organization active from 1977 through 1985 that helped Southeast Asian immigrants settle in the region in the wake of the Vietnam War and to escape Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime. The organization was founded by Hai and Lan Pho, former UMass Lowell faculty, and UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Moloney served as the IRF’s executive director before joining the university. The archive also includes works by photographer James Higgins, who documented the Southeast Asian-American experience and life in Lowell in a series of photo books from 1983 to 1997; the books, now out of print, are available on the new digital platform. Other items in the archive include materials from Lowell’s Angkor Dance Troupe and Burmese community.”
Ars Technica: Facebook pondered, for a time, selling access to user data
Ars Technica: Facebook pondered, for a time, selling access to user data. “A failure to adequately redact a public court document from February 2017 shows that, back in 2012, Facebook considered charging companies at least $250,000 for access to one of its primary troves of user data, the Graph API. In April 2014, Facebook changed the way the previously permissive Graph API works. The social media giant restricted some data access and eliminated all access to the earlier version by June 2015.”
Nieman Lab: CrossCheck launches in Nigeria, with 16 newsrooms working together to fight misinformation
Nieman Lab: CrossCheck launches in Nigeria, with 16 newsrooms working together to fight misinformation. “Facebook is used by 24 million Nigerians every month, but the platform has only four people, from third-party fact-checking organizations, working to combat misinformation there, BBC Africa Eye reported earlier this year in an investigation into how fake news in the country has led to violence and murder.”
Phys .org: ‘Murder map’ reveals medieval London’s meanest streets
Phys. org: ‘Murder map’ reveals medieval London’s meanest streets. “Stabbed by a lover with a fish-gutting knife. Beaten to death for littering with eel skins. Shot with an arrow during a student street brawl. Shanked by a sore loser after late-night backgammon. These were just some of the ways to die violently in the city of London during the 14th century, as catalogued in the ‘Coroners’ Rolls’: the records of the medieval official tasked with documenting sudden and unnatural death – whether accident, suicide or homicide. Now, University of Cambridge criminologist Professor Manuel Eisner has plotted all cases of murder from the surviving rolls – covering the years 1300 to 1340 – onto a digital map of the old city to show for the first time the ‘hot spots’ of lethal violence in medieval London.”
TechCrunch: Facebook launches Watch Party for all, tests Live PiP commentating
TechCrunch: Facebook launches Watch Party for all, tests Live PiP commentating. “Facebook Watch has failed to capture viewers with its content, so it’s hoping to differentiate through the company’s core strength: social. Today Facebook fully launches Watch Party, its co-viewing feature where users can see and comment on the same video at the same time, to all profiles and Pages around the world.”
Hyperallergic: As the Getty Digitizes the Archives of the Woman’s Building, Artists Remember Its History
Hyperallergic: As the Getty Digitizes the Archives of the Woman’s Building, Artists Remember Its History. “Earlier this month, the Getty Research Institute announced it was awarded a ‘Save America’s Treasures’ grant to process 11 collections related to the Woman’s Building, the seminal Los Angeles-based center for feminist art that operated from 1973 to 1991. The $284,400 grant, administered by the National Park Service and the Institute of Museums and Library Services, will provide about half the budget for a two-year project of preserving, processing, and digitizing holdings already at the Institute. “
Washington Post: Facebook, Twitter crack down on AI babysitter-rating service
Washington Post: Facebook, Twitter crack down on AI babysitter-rating service. “Predictim, a California-based start-up, analyzes babysitters’ online histories, including on Facebook and Twitter, and offers ratings of whether they are at risk of drug abuse, bullying or having a ‘bad attitude.’ Facebook said it dramatically limited Predictim’s access to users’ information on Instagram and Facebook a few weeks ago for violating a ban on developers’ use of personal data to evaluate a person for decisions on hiring or eligibility.”
Bloomberg: Marriott Hit by Starwood Hack That Ranks Among Biggest Ever
Bloomberg: Marriott Hit by Starwood Hack That Ranks Among Biggest Ever. “The attack is troubling not just because of its sheer size, but also the level of detail potentially stolen by the attackers. The hack affects some 500 million guests, and for about 327 million of them, the data included passport numbers, emails and mailing addresses, Marriott said. Some credit card details may also have been taken.”
Google Blog: Bringing Google Fi to more people on Android and iOS
Google Blog: Bringing Google Fi to more people on Android and iOS. “Starting today, Project Fi is available on more phones: our plan now works with the majority of Android devices and iPhones. And since we’re officially expanding our device support, we’re making our name more official, too: we’re now Google Fi.”
Pew: Teens who are constantly online are just as likely to socialize with their friends offline
Pew (PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW PEW!): Teens who are constantly online are just as likely to socialize with their friends offline. “Close to half of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 say they are on the internet ‘almost constantly,’ and more than nine-in-ten are social media users. These highly plugged-in youth, however, are just as likely as their less-connected peers to socialize regularly with their friends in person, according to a new analysis of Pew Research Center survey data.”
Baseline: International Tennis Hall Of Fame Courts Fashion
Baseline: International Tennis Hall Of Fame Courts Fashion. “‘Couture curious?’ asks the International Tennis Hall of Fame, alluding to its new style-centric exhibit. The surefire reply: Yes. More. One doesn’t truly need to ask for more from this, the Hall of Fame’s first-ever digital exhibit, titled ‘Courting Fashion.’ “