2024-07-17
Huge investigation from @proof__news today: We reveal the trove of YouTube videos that are being used to train AI models (including Anthropic's Claude). Yes, it includes all your favorite YouTubers - from @hankgreen to @MrBeast to @khanacademy. https://www.proofnews.org/...
Proof
Investigation: Apple, Nvidia, Anthropic, and others trained their AI on a dataset containing YouTube video transcripts, including from the WSJ, MrBeast, and MIT
Creators claim their videos were used without their knowledge — AI companies are generally secretive about their sources of training data …
2024-05-02
Thank you for this pioneering lawsuit @EthanZ! Our relationship with social media would be so much better if we could break the platforms' stranglehold on the algorithms. My piece on the need for algorithmic choice: https://www.nytimes.com/... https://www.wired.com/...
Wired
Ethan Zuckerman sues to stop Meta from blocking his planned Unfollow Everything 2.0 extension that would let Facebook users tune or even turn off their Feed
Academic Ethan Zuckerman is suing Meta to win protections for add-ons that help researchers study the platform and give users more control over their feeds.
2024-02-21
Hallelujah! The feature journalists (and many others) have been wanting forever. Thank you @signalapp @mer__edith
Wired
Messaging app Signal finally rolls out usernames in beta, letting users conceal their phone numbers; Signal still requires inputting a phone number to register
We tested the end-to-end encrypted messenger's new feature aimed at addressing critics' most persistent complaint. Here's how it works.
2023-08-16
Important first step in curtailing the unfettered commercial market for personal data! Also @alfredwkng too humble to note his own seminal reporting on data brokers: https://themarkup.org/...
CNBC
At a White House roundtable, the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau touts Fair Credit Reporting Act rules to crack down on harmful data broker practices
like payment history or criminal history — as a consumer report under the FCRA. That would trigger new accountability requirements. Tonya Riley / @tonyajoriley : The 2nd proposed r...
2023-03-22
A better solution is to pass laws that set minimum standards for all of our tech companies — starting with a comprehensive data privacy law. As @evan_greer says let's stop “xenophobic showboating” and get serious about tech regulation.
Techdirt
Instead of myopically fixating on TikTok, the US should pass a real privacy law to regulate data brokers who sell info on US citizens to anyone, including China
It would also set a dangerous precedent, which could encourage other nations to ban US tech, force US tech companies to sell assets or further force tech companies to comply with state censorship.
Techdirt
Instead of myopically fixating on TikTok, the US should pass a real privacy law to regulate data brokers who sell info on US citizens to anyone, including China
A better solution is to pass laws that set minimum standards for all of our tech companies — starting with a comprehensive data privacy law. As @evan_greer says let's stop “xenophobic showboating” and get serious about tech regulation.
Bloomberg
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce posts TikTok CEO Shou Chew's prepared testimony, outlining a ~$1.5B plan to host US data on Oracle servers and more
TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew plans to tell Congress his app does more to protect young users than rival social media platforms …
Ban TikTok? Most of the national security allegations against TikTok could just as easily be levied against the U.S. tech giants. So let's pass laws forcing all tech to serve us better. My latest for @nytopinion: https://www.nytimes.com/...
Bloomberg
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce posts TikTok CEO Shou Chew's prepared testimony, outlining a ~$1.5B plan to host US data on Oracle servers and more
TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew plans to tell Congress his app does more to protect young users than rival social media platforms …
Ban TikTok? Most of the national security allegations against TikTok could just as easily be levied against the U.S. tech giants. So let's pass laws forcing all tech to serve us better. My latest for @nytopinion: https://www.nytimes.com/...
Techdirt
Instead of myopically fixating on TikTok, the US should pass a real privacy law to regulate data brokers who sell info on US citizens to anyone, including China
It would also set a dangerous precedent, which could encourage other nations to ban US tech, force US tech companies to sell assets or further force tech companies to comply with state censorship.
Bloomberg
The House Committee on Energy and Commerce posts TikTok CEO Shou Chew's prepared testimony, outlining a ~$1.5B plan to host US data on Oracle servers and more
TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew plans to tell Congress his app does more to protect young users than rival social media platforms …
2023-03-20
Ban TikTok? Most of the national security allegations against TikTok could just as easily be levied against the U.S. tech giants. So let's pass laws forcing all tech to serve us better. My latest for @nytopinion: https://www.nytimes.com/...
NBC News
Source: in his upcoming testimony to Congress on March 23, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to reveal TikTok has 150M MAUs in the US, up from 100M in August 2020
When TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies before Congress on Thursday, he plans to unveil new internal data that suggests …
2023-01-30
ChatGPT is great at its job. But its job is to be a bullshit generator — an automated creator of plausible lies. “It is very good at being persuasive, but it's not trained to produce true statements” @random_walker says in my latest newsletter. /1 https://themarkup.org/...
The Markup
Q&A with Princeton CS professor Arvind Narayanan on why he calls ChatGPT a “bullshit generator”, his worries over its boom, developing his AI taxonomy, and more
2023-01-29
ChatGPT is great at its job. But its job is to be a bullshit generator — an automated creator of plausible lies. “It is very good at being persuasive, but it's not trained to produce true statements” @random_walker says in my latest newsletter. /1 https://themarkup.org/...
The Markup
Q&A with Princeton CS professor Arvind Narayanan on why he calls ChatGPT a “bullshit generator”, his worries over its boom, developing his AI taxonomy, and more
Hello, friends, — If you have been reading all the hype about the latest artificial intelligence chatbot … Mastodon: @JeroenJeremy@mastodon.green . Tweets: @random_walker , @juli...
2022-10-04
“Continuous surveillance and monitoring should not be used in education, work, housing” — White House AI Bill of Rights https://www.whitehouse.gov/...
Wired
The White House's new AI Bill of Rights, including helping opt out of algorithmic decision-making, is nonbinding and so will have little impact on companies
The draft's tenets include allowing citizens to opt out of algorithmic decision-making, which could reshape federal government—but not the private sector.
2022-09-06
Also, just have to say, I love @mer__edith's framing of AI as “surveillance derivatives” in her opening message. https://signal.org/... https://twitter.com/...
Washington Post
Signal appoints former Google manager Meredith Whittaker as its first president, helping shape strategy, comms, and policy
Meredith Whittaker, the former Google manager, is Signal's first president. She is out to convince users to pay for the free app.
Wow, what a great team! @signalapp is such important tech infrastructure and @mer__edith is a such fierce advocate for human-centered tech. https://twitter.com/...
Washington Post
Signal appoints former Google manager Meredith Whittaker as its first president, helping shape strategy, comms, and policy
Meredith Whittaker, the former Google manager, is Signal's first president. She is out to convince users to pay for the free app.
2022-07-25
Ten years ago, the Obama Administration called for some fairly weak privacy standards in a Privacy Bill of Rights. But it satisfied neither industry or critics and was dead on arrival. /2 https://www.theatlantic.com/ ...
Wired
A look at the bipartisan American Data Privacy and Protection Act, which privacy experts say might finally give the US a strong federal data protection law
But there's a catch: ADPPA doesn't set up or fund an agency to enforce the rules. It has no statutory fines and turns enforcement over to the FTC which is chronically underfunded and has limited fining authority.
Wired
A look at the bipartisan American Data Privacy and Protection Act, which privacy experts say might finally give the US a strong federal data protection law
All this action has created momentum for a federal privacy law- finally! This week, the House @energycommerce committee marked up a federal privacy bill known as #ADPPA. It is much stronger than anything the Obama Administration could have dreamed of. /7
Wired
A look at the bipartisan American Data Privacy and Protection Act, which privacy experts say might finally give the US a strong federal data protection law
In addition to baseline privacy requirements, it requires companies to assess whether their algorithms are discriminatory - and to fix them. It also allows individuals to sue companies directly for damages from privacy violations, with some limitations. /8 https://www.wired.com/...
Wired