British Science Week: Our partnership for 2019: Operation Weather Rescue. “This year, our Zooniverse citizen science partnership is with Operation Weather Rescue. They’re a team of researchers who are working tirelessly to digitize old weather records. Their project utilises the tried and tested method of people power; drawing on invaluable help from members of the public by asking them to enter pieces of historical weather information into their database. For British Science Week, we have identified two decades of important historical weather data that has never been digitised – and we need your help to rectify this.”
UK
The Guardian: Facebook labelled ‘digital gangsters’ by report on fake news
The Guardian: Facebook labelled ‘digital gangsters’ by report on fake news. “Facebook deliberately broke privacy and competition law and should urgently be subject to statutory regulation, according to a devastating parliamentary report denouncing the company and its executives as ‘digital gangsters’. The final report of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee’s 18-month investigation into disinformation and fake news accused Facebook of purposefully obstructing its inquiry and failing to tackle attempts by Russia to manipulate elections.”
The Guardian: Parliamentary report set to savage ‘duplicitous’ Facebook
The Guardian: Parliamentary report set to savage ‘duplicitous’ Facebook. “Facebook cannot be trusted to regulate itself and must be subject to sweeping new legislation, a parliamentary report will announce on Monday. It will also call on the government to launch an independent investigation into foreign interference in British elections since 2014. The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport select committee will publish what is expected to be a landmark report into fake news and disinformation at midnight on Sunday night.”
B&T: Britain To Review Facebook And Google’s Impact On Journalism
B&T: Britain To Review Facebook And Google’s Impact On Journalism. “The British competition regulator is set to conduct a study into the digital advertising market, in order to determine the effect Facebook and Google are having on journalism. The statement from digital, culture, media and sport secretary Jeremy Wright, comes in the wake of the Cairncross Review, which explored possibilities for a sustainable future for journalism.”
UK Authority: UK may lose access to verified medicines database
UKAuthority: UK may lose access to verified medicines database. “Patients will be at risk from fake medicines if the UK leaves the EU without a deal because access to a new EU-wide database could be lost, pharmaceutical leaders have warned.”
Scottish Daily Record: ‘Lawless’ social media giants ‘will be forced to remove harmful content’ after tragic teen suicide
Scottish Daily Record: ‘Lawless’ social media giants ‘will be forced to remove harmful content’ after tragic teen suicide. “Social media networks could be forced to remove harmful content or risk breaking the law under plans being drawn up by the Government. If the proposals go ahead, Facebook and apps such as Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter will be forced to take down illegal content and protect vulnerable users.”
Voice of America: Social Media Giants Blamed for British Teenage Suicides
Voice of America: Social Media Giants Blamed for British Teenage Suicides. “In the past eight years, the suicide rate among British teenagers has nearly doubled. Last year around 200 schoolchildren killed themselves. Tech giants do not bear all of the responsibility for the deaths, their critics say, but they are abetting them by not doing enough to help stop them. Amid growing public uproar, the British government has said next month, it will unveil groundbreaking legislation designed to enforce a legal duty of care on such firms.”
