The Edge | 07/24/18
The Edge is a daily round up of the most important, or at least the most interesting, reads in technology policy.
CryptoChainCoin
US health care companies begin exploring blockchain technologies
Climate Change
White House moving ahead with plans to unravel vehicle emissions standards, including California’s
Privacy
Researchers at the Georgetown Law estimated in 2016 that half of all American adults are in law enforcement facial recognition databases.
What do Facial Recognition Technologies Mean for our Privacy? | Admittedly, this piece does not engage as aggressively with the policy implications of facial recognition technologies as others have.
Data4Policy
The results suggest that the jobs most at risk of automation require basic digital skills, like word processing, spreadsheet management, or social media use, and few to no soft skills, like administrative positions. In addition to highlighting the skills necessary for current labor market openings in Italy, the authors identified a new group of occupations — including a whole host of analyst positions — that have recently emerged that require both hard and soft skills.
Applying Machine Learning Tools on Web Vacancies for Labour Market and Skill Analysis
Coming Online
And people in both the Digital North and the Digital South are equally likely to get news from social media. That’s partly a result of decreasing social media use for news in the Digital North, as well as a rise in news on social platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram in many parts of the developing world.
As Emerging Economies Bring their Citizens Online, Global Trust in Internet Media is Changing
Innovation and IP
As drafted, the legislation would (among other things) broaden CFIUS’s jurisdiction to include non-passive minority-position investments in “critical technology” companies. It would also expand the U.S. export-control regime by creating an interagency process to identify and limit the transfer of “emerging and foundational technologies.”
The Innovation-Security Conundrum in U.S.-China Relations | More countries, including- haltingly- the United States, are beginning to recognize the strategic consequences of falling behind in AI and other emerging technologies. Read this excellent overview of the newest draft of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act. It is interesting that trade may be the most sophisticated component of US AI strategy so far.
The Cyber
NSA Chief Confirms he Set Up Task Force to Counter Russian Hackers
“Those kind of technologies literally undermine, through the technology itself, state open government laws and policies,” said Daniel Bevarly, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition. “And they come on top of the misuse of other technologies, like people using their own private email and cellphones to conduct business.”
Do Private Messaging Apps Undermine State Public Record Laws?
Report off the Attorney General’s Cyber Digital Task Force | DOJ has published a report on countering malign influence operations. The report lays out the measures DOJ will be taking to secure the electoral process and undermine IOs. I can’t help but wonder how this will read in 5, 10, 50 years time.
And finally, today in ‘ominous headlines’…
Microsoft reveals first known Russian hacking attempt aimed at 2018 midterms
And
Russian Hackers Reach U.S. Utility Control Rooms, Homeland Security Officials Say
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