The Edge | 07/20/18
The Edge is a daily round up of the most important, or at least the most interesting, reads in technology policy.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
(dis)Information
“People sometimes worry that Azerbaijan will shut down Facebook,” said Katy Pearce, a communications professor at the University of Washington who has studied the platform’s use in that country. “Why would it? Facebook is the most effective tool of control the government has.”
A Global Guide to State Sponsored Trolling, by Michael Riley & Lauren Etter & Bibhudatta Pradhan | It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that the 2016 interference campaign does not represent the end, or even the beginning, of state-sponsored social media manipulation operations. Read this excellent comparative study of how repressive regimes approach social networks.
CryptoChainCoin
Various organizations and intelligence agencies no doubt run enough nodes on popular blockchain networks to maintain private repositories of user IP addresses and their associated Bitcoin addresses.
Bitcoin Money Laundering and Mueller’s 12: A Blockchain Analysis of the July 13th Mueller Indictment | A detailed breakdown of how bitcoin factors into the recent indictment.
IBM thinks blockchains can help reduce carbon emissions | One has to hope that this carbon credit token isn’t managed by a proof-of-work blockchain. “Yeah, we realize a ton of great efficiencies by tokenizing. Unfortunately, they’re all offset by the carbon we burned mining the token.”
The Cyber
I don’t want to characterize private conversations we’re having with people in the industry. We’re not there yet for sure. And if we can’t get there, there may be other remedies, like legislation, that would have to come to bear.
FBI director: Without compromise on encryption, legislation may be the ‘remedy’ | ‘FBI Director Shines Spotlight on Going Dark Debate’ — Please hire me to write headlines.
Singapore personal data hack hits 1.5m, health authority says| “Data taken include names and addresses but not medical records, other than medicines dispensed in some cases.”
China has targeted specific chemical subsectors including: engineering plastics, high-end polyolefin plastics, polyurethane, high performance rubber, high performance fiber and composite materials, functional membrane materials, fluorosilicone materials, electronic chemicals, and 3D printing materials.
Small Business Innovation Protection Act of 2017 | This bill provides for, among other things, the “development of high-quality training for small businesses related to domestic and international protection of intellectual property”.
Are you Still Watching?
Senate Wants Netflix, Spotify to Send out Federal Emergency Alerts | Never let Wild Wild Country come between you and your air-raid shelter again.
Like the Edge? Subscribe to MetaPolicy and never miss an update.
