Data dictators, health surveillance policies & disinformation warfare | The Web This Week

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Tweet like its 2016 — Two years ago, Twitter introduced an algorithm to deliver tweets based on users’ interests. Now it’s letting users switch back to the classic chronological view. Here’s how to make the change (Mashable).

Silicon violence — The US Department of Defense has invited tech companies and researchers to join its efforts to build machine learning tech for military use. A Washington Post Editorial says they should accept the invite.

Predicting child abuse — The Guardian revealed that councils in the UK have developed or purchased predictive analytics tools to identify families in which children are at risk of child abuse. This comes as councils look for ways to reduce budgets in the face of government cuts.

Power rangers — As we delegate more decision making power to machines, how are we holding that power accountable? Writing in The Guardian, mathematics lecturer Hannah Fry says we should keep five simple questions in mind as we consider regulating algorithms.

Falling, but not fast enough — Quartz cited A4AI mobile pricing data in a piece about the cost of internet access in Africa, noting that while coming down, high prices mean internet access remains out of reach for many people.

Kenya jumps on the tax-wagon — Another week, another country looks at raising taxes on internet services. Kenya’s proposed finance bill would raise duty on telephone and internet data services from 10% to 15% (Techweez).

Stars and satellites — Mexico’s first indigenous telecommunications network says it will use satellite technology to deliver internet services — plans it hopes will expand its offering of internet services to small towns at a fraction of the cost of commercial providers (Global Voices).

Report — State of mobile internet connectivity 2018, GSMA.

Lots of promise, little progress — We’ve launched the latest edition of the Open Data Barometer, focusing on 30 governments that have made concrete commitments to champion open data. The report finds that while there is some progress, governments have a long way to go to fulfil their open data promises. Here’s our take on the findings.

Data dictators — In a bid to control data about the country, a bill in Tanzania would criminalise the collection, analysis and publishing of data without the government’s permission. Researchers could face minimum fines of $4,440 and three-year jail terms, according to Quartz.

Open science — Eleven European countries, including the UK, France and the Netherlands, have signed up to a plan that would require research that receives public funding to be published in open-access journals so it is freely available. This is a sharp departure from the current for-profit publication model (The Economist).

Health surveillance policies — Life insurance company John Hancock will now only sell insurance policies that come with health data tracking through smartwatches and fitness devices. While the company said customers will benefit from discounts, Matt Stoller from the Open Markets Institute said: “Naturally the American dystopian surveillance state will combine insurance with fat-shaming. Welcome to hell” (BBC).

A safer internet of things — California lawmakers have drafted legislation to regulate Internet of Things (IoT) devices to beef up consumer privacy. Internet-connected devices, from home security cameras to children’s toys, have been plagued by security flaws that have exposed users’ data (MIT Technology Review).

Browse in peace — Both Apple’s Safari browser and Mozilla’s Firefox have added features that restrict companies’ use of cookies to track what users read, watch and research across the web (Associated Press). Will this put a dent in Google Chrome’s 65%+ market share?

Is Facebook’s crackdown working? — Findings in a new working paper from Stanford and New York University suggest Facebook’s efforts to suppress false news engagement are working. While heavily caveated, the report found engagement with false stories dropped by 50% between November 2016 and July 2018 (Slate).

Disinformation warfare — As Macedonia prepares to vote in a referendum that could pave the way for NATO membership, Russia is engaged in a cyber-based misinformation campaign in an effort to depress turnout, keep the country out of NATO, and ultimately bolster Russia’s influence in the region, writes the New York Times.

Malaysia’s ‘fake news’ bill lives, for now — The reforming government’s plan to ditch the previous administration’s ‘Anti-Fake News Act’ has been blocked by the Senate, which rejected the repeal. Article 19 called on the country’s parliament to scrap the bill on the grounds that it restricts human rights and crushes free expression.

REPORT — Alternative Influence: Broadcasting the reactionary right on YouTube, Rebecca Lewis, Data & Society.

Strong words from Washington — After US FCC Chairman Ajit Pai called California’s pending net neutrality legislation “radical” and “illegal”, the bill’s author, California Senator Scott Weiner shot back, saying Pai has “abdicated his responsibility to ensure an open internet”. The California governor has two more weeks to sign the bill (TechCrunch).

New research from the Alliance for Affordable Internet on mobile pricing datawas cited in articles in Biztech Africa, which noted people in Africa spend an average of 8.7% of their income on mobile data, in Quartz, which flagged that in some countries, 1GB of data costs as much as $35, and in the Daily Independent, Nigeria and Business Ghana.

Quartz also mentioned A4AI’s mobile pricing data in a separate piece about the importance of healthy competition between network providers in delivering quality, affordable internet.

A4AI will be one of a number of stakeholders to participate in public hearings held by the Competition Commission in South Africa as part of the Data Services Market Enquiry, investigating the high prices of internet services in the country (The South African & Business Tech).

The new edition of our Open Data Barometer was cited in Ukrainian media, which highlighted the country’s improved Barometer performance over five years (Pravda, ICTV, Na chasi — Ukrainian).

Our Women’s Rights Online research on the digital gender divide was mentioned in a piece about continued barriers to women’s internet access in Mozambique and Rwanda, syndicated in a number of outlets (Club of Mozambique, AllAfrica, Greenwatch Dhaka, Mondiaal Nieuws — Dutch, Data news — French).