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Daily Archives: September 16, 2018

Google Knows Where You’ve Been, but Does It Know Who You Are?

Google Knows Where You’ve Been, but Does It Know Who You Are? (New York Times Magazine)

“The overwhelming volume of this information demonstrates just how deep, and inescapable, our relationships with the company have become. And it can be sneakily transformative. To see months of your own search history repeated back to you in list form is to suffer a strange mixture of your most mundane and anxious—and largely forgotten—moments….

“We’re often aware that Google is logging our whereabouts. Google Search, for example, helps us find all sorts of things, and it uses our location to try to supply more relevant information (by guessing the language we speak, for starters). Obviously Google Maps gives us particulars about where we are and where we’re going. The more creative, indirect ways in which Google employs our location data can be noticeably helpful, too, or at least technically impressive. (Yes, Google, good guess. That is the restaurant I went to — but I would not like to review it, thanks.) More often, however, the details of place and movement are being processed in the background, where that information is recorded because it can be, and made available to tools we largely take for granted. These tools are good at showing us what Google wants, as well at what it thinks it knows. It is something else to see what Google hasWhen you stare down from on high at the last few years of your life — as recorded by your laptop and phone, and then self-subpoenaed from your Google account — your first impulse is forensic. And whether you assume the role of defense, prosecution, judge or juror, you’ll have plenty to work with. If you fully opt in to certain Google products (in my case, various Google apps on an iPhone, including Google Maps), years of location history will be rendered as glowing circles, shaded from violet to green to yellow to red and overlaid on a map of the world. To explore this data is to toggle, in seconds, among wildly disparate emotional states: surprise, disorientation, curiosity, disappointment…”

Hard Words Why aren’t kids being taught to read?

American Public Media Reports – “…The basic assumption that underlies typical reading instruction in many schools is that learning to read is a natural process, much like learning to talk. But decades of scientific research has revealed that reading doesn’t come naturally. The human brain isn’t wired to read. Kids must be explicitly taught how… Continue Reading

The Marine Conservation Planning Database

The Conservation Planning Database: “Given international policy targets and growing recognition of a biodiversity crisis, the number and total extent of protected areas is set to increase significantly in the next few decades. To ensure this planned expansion is effective in halting biodiversity loss, it is critical that new protected areas (and other conservation actions)… Continue Reading

Costs of Government Interventions in Response to the Financial Crisis: A Retrospective, updated September 12, 2018

EveryCRSReport.com – Costs of Government Interventions in Response to the Financial Crisis: A Retrospective, updated September 12, 2018. “In August 2007, asset-backed securities (ABS), particularly those backed by subprime mortgages, suddenly became illiquid and fell sharply in value as an unprecedented housing boom turned into a housing bust. Losses on the many ABS held by… Continue Reading

Even in Better Times, Many Americans Are Farther Behind. Here’s Why.

The New York Times: “Americans’ household earnings are finally stretching back to their pre-recession heights. But feeling secure and comfortable isn’t only a measure of how much money you have. It’s also a measure of how much you have compared with others. For many, that is one reason that recent financial progress may seem overshadowed… Continue Reading

Ten years after Lehman’s collapse, these ten risks could cause the next crisis

Quartz: “On Sept. 15, 2008, a credit crunch turned into a full-blown crisis when New York-based investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed. The global recession that followed is still too fresh in many people’s memories to be considered history. But 10 years on, the state of the financial system suggests that the crisis has been relegated… Continue Reading

50-state survey of social media privacy legislation

“Social media and related issues in the workplace can be a headache for employers. Seyfarth Shaw LLP’s Social Media Practice Group is pleased to provide you with an easy-to-use guide to social media privacy legislation and what employers need to know. The Social Media Privacy Legislation Desktop Reference 2017-2018: [h/t Joe] Describes the content and… Continue Reading

Satellite Images and Shadow Analysis: How The Times Verifies Eyewitness Videos

The New York Times: Understanding the times Visual investigations based on social media posts require a mix of traditional journalistic diligence and cutting-edge internet skills. “Visual investigations based on social media posts require a mix of traditional journalistic diligence and cutting-edge internet skills. In an effort to shed more light on how we work, The… Continue Reading

Security Risks of Government Hacking

Schneider on Security: “Some of us — myself included — have proposed lawful government hacking as an alternative to backdoors. A new report from the Center of Internet and Society looks at the security risks of allowing government hacking. They include: Disincentive for vulnerability disclosure Cultivation of a market for surveillance tools Attackers co-opt hacking… Continue Reading

Secretary Zinke and the Great Public Lands Wholesale

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will offer up nearly 4 million acres of public lands for lease this year, much of it for dirt cheap “The United States is now likely the world’s largest oil producer. Even so, the Trump administration continues its sprint to lease the nation’s public lands to energy companies. From September through… Continue Reading

Your Social Security Number isn’t suspended. Ever.

FTC.gov: “A caller says that he’s from the government and your Social Security Number (SSN) has been suspended. He sounds very professional. So you should do exactly what he says to fix things…right? Wrong. The FTC has gotten reports about scammers trying to trick people out of their personal information by telling them that they… Continue Reading