Category: Society

aclu.org

Tech giants, including Google, are fighting with Internet Service Providers over all of the internet users’ rights to a secure DNS.
The DNS is the first step in connecting a user to the website she wants to view, and it’s also the least secure step, where ISP’s can easily spy on their users.
Google and Firefox are advocating that users should be able to at least choose a secure DNS, but the ultimate goal is to make it the standard.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on January 13, 2020

Financial institutions in India are rolling out data protection systems that aim to give consumers and businesses complete control over their financial data.
Essentially, one will have a joint account that accumulates all of one’s financial info, and will be able to choose which data to share with an institution.
Whereas in the West, it’s the other way around - we don’t know how much, or what kind of data institutions have about us, and we can’t control how they use it.
The main challenge in introducing the system will be to help Indians understand it, as much of the population is poorly educated.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on January 13, 2020

pri.org

Study links 200,000 military veteran deaths to long-term exposure to PM 2.5 pollution.
Minority groups were more affected by the issue than white americans.
Previous studies linked PM 2.5 to several illnesses, and this study adds dementia, hypertension and kidney disease to the list.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on January 8, 2020

Study shows that just two American organizations are responsible for 54% of anti-vaccination ads on Facebook.
They target women and parents of young children, and carefully craft their messages to avoid being removed due to violation of Facebook’s new ad terms.
In contrast, pro-vaccination ads come from 83 healthcare organizations, and they do get removed due to violation of Facebook’s terms.
This shows just how easy it is to spread misinformation on Facebook, and how imperfect the platform’s terms and moderation mechanisms are.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on November 15, 2019

pcmag.com

Russia has implemented a long-planned internet bill that aims to close off all outside internet services, and replace them with Russian equivalents.
This could usher in similar legislation in other countries, possibly leading to “splinternets” -- an internet of multiple government-controlled, walled-off ecosystems.
Ultimately this harms the global, open nature of the internet, but Russia is unlikely to close off everything due to conflicts of business nature.
While the aim is to prevent cyber crime and war, some experts say due to the nature of cybersecurity, this might not be a strong solution.

Bulleted by Michał Słupski
on November 1, 2019

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