Racial recognition, Uganda’s gossip tax & Europe’s next privacy battle| The Web This Week
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Racial recognition — China is exporting sophisticated facial recognition software to Africa, with a partnership with Zimbabwe recently confirmed. The deal gives Chinese companies access to vast new datasets to help train their AI on a more diverse range of faces and races (Quartz).
Ad sales plunge — As the EU’s new data protection regulation went into effect, Digiday reported that programmatic ad-buying — automated buying of online advertising — has plummeted in Europe. Meanwhile advocacy group EDRi celebrated the GDPR as ‘a new philosophy of respect’ for individual rights.
Europe’s next privacy battle — With the GDPR now on the books, the tech industry in Europe has turned to the ePrivacy Directive, a measure that seeks to give users greater privacy of their electronic communications. Lobbyists are working furiously to have it stopped (New York Times).
Gagging clause dropped — In a win for free speech advocates, a cybercrime law went into effect in Kenya on Wednesday without a ban on “false information” as originally planned, after journalists and bloggers won a court order blocking the rules (Reuters).
Cold Turkey — The Turkish government has strengthened its power to censor the internet, with a law requiring streaming and digital TV services to registerwith the country’s media watchdog, which has the power to hand out penalties, censor content and block access. There’s a fear that online news platforms will also face more government control, threatening key independent voices (The Economist).
Who’s behind the beans? — Facebook’s new rules on transparency around political ads are proving tricky to implement, with benign ads being caught in the net. Among those being mislabeled are Bush’s Beans, a cat rescue centre and a Thai fusion restaurant (Slate).
Battle for the ages — Hundreds of companies, including Amazon, Ikea and T-Mobile, face a class-action lawsuit in which they’re accused of age discrimination by targeting recruitment ads on Facebook by age, often excluding older workers (Vox).
AI-gait — Like a fingerprint, the way we walk is unique. Now computer scientists have developed a system that recognises individuals by their gait. The ability to identify people at a distance without their knowledge ignites a slew of privacy concerns (Gizmodo).
Myth of the gig economy — Many people join the ‘gig economy’ looking for independence. This is a trap, says Alison Griswold in Quartz, who argues your human boss is replaced with an algorithm.
AI predict a riot — Researchers at the University of Southern California claim that their AI algorithm is able to use Twitter posts to predict when protests will escalate into violence (Digital Trends).
Guinea foul — Facebook will be shut down in Papua New Guinea for a monthwhile the government identifies fake accounts and studies the impact of the social network on the country (Post Courier).
Pay to say — Uganda passed a new tax on users of social media services, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber. Users will have to pay 200 shillings [$0.05, £0.04] per day to use the platforms. The same bill includes a 1% tax on mobile money transactions (BBC).
Apple pushed on Telegram — Russia called for Apple to help to quash the encrypted messaging app Telegram, asking the company to remove Telegram from the country’s app store and to block push notifications for existing Russian users (AFP). Meanwhile, Telegram founder Pavel Durov says Apple has already blocked iOS app updates since Russia first tried to shut down the service two months ago (Engadget).
REPORT — Disconnected: A Human Rights-Based Approach to Network Disruptions, by Jan Rydzak for the Global Network Initiative.
Gold standard in the Golden State — California is a step closer to reinstating strong net neutrality rules as bill S.B. 822 cleared the state Senate and has now moved to the state Assembly (The Verge).
How social media became ‘women’s work’ — An effective social media presence is crucial for modern organisations. Wired looks at how social media roles — often overlooked and undervalued — have become dominated by women.
Musk’s mob — Female journalists are frequently confronted with online abuse and vitriol at a level not faced by their male counterparts. Writing for The Daily Beast, Erin Biba documents the Twitter backlash she faced after challenging Elon Musk about his comments about journalists.
BBC Africa spoke to Nnenna Nwakanma, our Senior Policy Manager, about how the GDPR might impact people in Africa and what African countries can learn from the new EU data protections. “EU citizens are not more data-worthy than African, Asian or American citizens,” she said. Listen to the interview here.
Nanjira Sambuli, our Digital Equality Advocacy Manager, was also interviewed about GDPR, speaking about the insufficiency of data protections across Africa, with CGTN Africa.
Web Foundation and A4AI research on internet affordability was cited in a Reuters piece about Uganda’s social media tax. The article was widely reprinted.
In an interview with NRC Handelsblad ahead of delivering the ACM Turing Award Lecture in Amsterdam, our Founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee emphasised the responsibility we all have to protect the free and open web as we work to ensure everyone has access.
Web Foundation research on artificial intelligence was cited in a piece about Ethiopia’s emerging AI sector (Undark).
The Open Data Barometer was cited in an article in El Pais about the positive impact that new technologies can have on budget transparency and government tenders (Spanish).
Dhanaraj Thakur, Senior Research Manager, was quoted in a blog post from UNESCO calling for human rights and ethical standards to govern artificial intelligence. Dhanaraj emphasised the need for strong data protections, open data sets and for a more inclusive sector. Dhanaraj was also mentioned in another UNESCO post about efforts to build Internet Universality Indicators.
Along with Mozilla and the Internet Society, the Web Foundation spearheaded an open letter calling for G20 countries to adopt a digital agenda that puts people and their rights front and centre (IP Watch).
Infobae mentioned the Web Foundation as a co-chair of the Women 20 (W20) process in a piece covering the W20’s first face-to-face meeting to discuss the recommendations W20 will deliver to G20 leaders later this year (Spanish). The Web Foundation is focused on the digital inclusion track of the W20.
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