Category «Social Media»

Tech Industry Pursues a Federal Privacy Law, on Its Own Terms

The New York Times: “In recent months, apparently, Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft and others have aggressively lobbied officials in the Trump administration and elsewhere to start outlining a federal privacy law. The law would have a dual purpose, they said: It would overrule the California law and instead put into place a kinder set of …

Subjects: Congress, Economy, Financial System, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

Does Google Actually Make Us Dumber? That Study – And Many Others – Were Just Called Into Question.

BuzzFeedNews: “Another spate of high-profile and provocative psychology studies have failed to replicate, dealing blows to the theories that fiction makes readers empathetic, for example, or that the internet makes us dumber. At a time when psychology researchers are increasingly concerned about the rigor of their field, five laboratories set out to repeat 21 influential …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Libraries, Social Media

Donald Trump, Twitter and Presidential Power to Interpret the Law for the Executive Branch

Lawfare – Posting by Jim Baker – Donald Trump, Twitter and Presidential Power to Interpret the Law for the Executive Branch “The president’s former attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty Tuesday [August 21, 2018] to several federal criminal violations, including making certain unlawful campaign contributions. The case was brought by the United States Attorney’s Office for …

Subjects: E-Government, E-Records, Government Documents, Legal Research, Social Media

CRS – Election Security: Issues in the 2018 Midterm Elections

Election Security: Issues in the 2018 Midterm Elections August 16, 2018 IN10955 In the wake of assessments about foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election, concerns have been mounting about the security of the 2018 midterm elections. Security efforts are complicated by the complex, multidimensional election life cycle, with each dimension involving a broad array …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Congress, Legal Research, Privacy, Social Media

Spyware Company Leaves ‘Terabytes’ of Selfies, Text Messages, and Location Data Exposed Online

“This story is part of When Spies Come Home, a Motherboard series about powerful surveillance software ordinary people use to spy on their loved ones. A company that markets cell phone spyware to parents and employers left the data of thousands of its customers—and the information of the people they were monitoring—unprotected online. The data …

Subjects: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, E-Mail, E-Records, Privacy, Social Media

How Teens and Parents Navigate Screen Time and Device Distractions

“54% of U.S. teens say they spend too much time on their cellphones, and two-thirds of parents express concern over their teen’s screen time. But parents face their own challenges of device-related distraction: “Amid roiling debates about the impact of screen time on teenagers, roughly half of those ages 13 to 17 are themselves worried …

Subjects: Education, Internet, Knowledge Management, Social Media

Fanning the Flames of Hate: Social Media and Hate Crime

Müller, Karsten and Schwarz, Carlo, Fanning the Flames of Hate: Social Media and Hate Crime (May 21, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3082972 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3082972 “This paper investigates the link between social media and hate crime using Facebook data. We study the case of Germany, where the recently emerged right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has …

Subjects: Civil Liberties, Legal Research, Social Media

How Facebook might make MRIs faster

CNNTech: Facebook’s artificial intelligence lab is working with New York University’s medical school to make MRI exams 10 times faster, which, if successful, would allow radiologists to complete a test in minutes. “Doctors use MRI — shorthand for magnetic resonance imaging — to get a closer look at organs, tissues and bones without exposing patients …

Subjects: AI, Health Care, Social Media

Facebook opens up to researchers – but not about 2016 election

NBC News – Facebook’s decision is a roadblock for experts who want to examine possible factors behind President Donald Trump’s victory: “Last month, academic researchers got word of a tantalizing offer. Facebook said it would give them a way to study how web addresses are shared on its social network, for the first time opening …

Subjects: Congress, Freedom of Information, Government Documents, Legal Research, Social Media