Monthly archives: February, 2019

Scientists Are Totally Rethinking Animal Cognition

The Atlantic – What science can tell us about how other creatures experience the world – “…Jains move through the world in this gentle way because they believe animals are conscious beings that experience, in varying degrees, emotions analogous to human desire, fear, pain, sorrow, and joy. This idea that animals are conscious was long …

Subjects: Civil Liberties

Discrimination In The Age Of Algorithms

Via NBER – Discrimination In The Age Of Algorithms. Jon Kleinberg, Jens Ludwig, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Cass R. Sunstein. #25548 [h/t Mary Whisner] “The law forbids discrimination. But the ambiguity of human decision-making often makes it extraordinarily hard for the legal system to know whether anyone has actually discriminated. To understand how algorithms affect discrimination, …

Subjects: AI, Civil Liberties, Legal Research

Microsoft really doesn’t want you to use Internet Explorer anymore

The Verge: “Microsoft killed off the Internet Explorer brand nearly four years ago, choosing Edge as its modern browser for Windows 10. Internet Explorer lived on as plumbing for Windows and for business compatibility, but Microsoft isn’t supporting it with new web standards – it’s legacy code. Chris Jackson, a cybersecurity expert in Microsoft’s Windows …

Subjects: Cybersecurity, Internet, Microsoft

Sherlock at scale: Law enforcement enters the connected age

GNC: “Crime is common,” Sherlock Holmes said in the 1892 novel, The Adventure of the Copper Beeches. “Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell.” Holmes famously used his intellect to make deductions about crimes and solve them. For him, logic was the linchpin, helping …

Subjects: Government Documents, Internet, Knowledge Management, Legal Research

How America uses its land

Bloomberg: “There are many statistical measures that show how productive the U.S. is. Its economy is the largest in the world and grew at a rate of 4.1 percent last quarter, its fastest pace since 2014. The unemployment rate is near the lowest mark in a half century. What can be harder to decipher is …

Subjects: Environmental Law

Why data, not privacy, is the real danger

NBCNews: “While it’s creepy to imagine companies are listening in to your conversations, it’s perhaps more creepy that they can predict what you’re talking about without actually listening…First, understand that privacy and data are separate things. Your privacy — your first and last name, your Social Security number, your online credentials — is the unit …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, E-Commerce, Internet, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media