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An independent report on Facebook’s alleged liberal bias tells us nothing
Conservatives have long lamented that Facebook has a liberal, or anti-conservative, bias. Since the 2016 election, the company has been grilled on the issue by the White House more than once. In an attempt to clear the air, Facebook enlisted an independent third-party to decide once and for all if it does indeed have an anti-conservative bias. Last year, it asked former Republican Senator Jon Kyl and his team at Covington & Burling LLP to conduct a review of the company's policies. The results are in, and for the most part, they tell us nothing.
FCC proposes '988' for quick access to national suicide prevention line
The FCC wants accessing a national suicide prevention line to be as simple as dialing 988. In a report sent to Congress today, staff members recommend that the FCC designate 988 as the 3-digit dialing code for a nationwide suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline.
Facebook fact-checker says more work is needed to curb fake news
Facebook knows its platform is awash with fake news, and since December 2016 -- after facing criticism about its failure to stem the spread of fake news in the run-up to the presidential election -- the company has been working with a number of fact-checking firms in a bid to review and debunk false information on the site. One such firm, UK fact-checking charity Full Fact, has now released a report outlining its work and findings from the first six months of its partnership with the tech giant.
Facebook plans to double its minority employees in the next five years
Facebook is more diverse than it was six years ago, but the company admits it has a long way to go. Today, Facebook released its 2019 Diversity Report, and while it employs more women and minorities than it did a few years ago, it's still predominantly male. In the US, the majority of its employees are White or Asian. But those numbers are expected to change. In the next five years, Facebook hopes at least half of its workforce will be women, under-represented minorities, people with disabilities and veterans.
Axon won’t use facial recognition tech in its police body cameras
Axon, a major supplier of police body cameras and software, announced today that it will not include face-matching technology in its body cameras -- at least not yet. The decision follows a report from Axon's independent AI ethics board, which concluded that face recognition technology is not reliable enough to justify its use in body cameras. According to the report, there is "evidence of unequal and unreliable performance across races, ethnicities, genders and other identity groups."
UN study finds female voice assistants reinforce harmful stereotypes
For the record, the appropriate response to being called a slut isn't, "I'd blush if I could." But that's what Siri is programmed to say. According to a report by the United Nations, the fact that most voice assistant are gendered as young women is reinforcing harmful stereotypes that women are docile and eager to please, even when they're called lewd names.
Twitter makes it easier to report election tweets that deliberately mislead people
With a number of high profile elections taking place around the world in the coming months, social media platforms are gearing themselves up for the inevitable onslaught of fake news and misleading information. Twitter has announced that it's doubling down on its efforts in this area with a new feature that will let users report this kind of problematic content directly.
Mueller report forced Congress to find PCs with disc drives
On top of redactions and other issues with the the Mueller report, Congress is facing a potential technological block. The document will be released to lawmakers, sometime between 11AM and noon ET today, on a ... CD, according to the Associated Press. Disc drives are becoming difficult to find, especially on Mac computers, but luckily the House judiciary staff was prepared. According to a tweet from CBS's Rebecca Kaplan, "they still have a computer with a working CD-ROM drive."
Microsoft says FCC data on improved broadband coverage is misleading
It's a well-known fact that large swathes of the US remain without broadband connectivity -- indeed, some $22 billion has been poured into closing this gap over the past five years. However, exactly how many Americans are going without is up for debate. As a new blog post by Microsoft explains, "official" data from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can't be trusted.
Major UN report says climate change is worse than first thought
Even if nations stick to the Paris agreement and keep global warming below two degrees, it will still be a major disaster for the planet, according to a blockbuster UN report on climate change. What's more, we now have less time to act than previously thought. If governments don't take massive action over the next decade, we could see severe food shortages, increased forest fires and large scale coral reef die-offs by 2040. The report also predicts more serious issues, including the potential migration of tens of millions of people that would increase the risk of wars.
UK politicians blame Facebook for the rise of fake news
After an 18 month investigation, the UK parliament has issued a scathing report on the handling of fake news and illegal election ads by tech companies, especially Facebook. The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee said Facebook "obfuscated" information and refused to probe potential Russian abuse until forced to by the US Senate. Worst of all, the social network helped spread disinformation and hatred against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar. "Facebook is releasing a product that is dangerous to consumers and deeply unethical," the report states.
YouTube removed 8.3 million videos in the last quarter of 2017
YouTube removed 8.3 million videos between October and December 2017, according to the platform's first ever community guidelines enforcement report. The Google-owned video-sharing website found itself the target of criticism after reports came out last year that it hosts disturbing videos masquerading as kid-friendly content. YouTube said it has decided to release a quarterly enforcement report to "show the progress [it's] making in removing violative content from [its] platform." It's probably the website's way of saying "hey, we're not sitting on our hands here," since a lot of people are still questioning whether it's actually doing something to address the issue, considering Wired came across child-exploiting videos as recently as March.
Intel's diversity report shows slow growth for women and minorities
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich condemned hate speech and white supremacy on Twitter after the horrifying events in Charlottesville this weekend. On Monday, he resigned from Trump's American Manufacturing Council to "call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues..." Now, alongside a mid-year diversity report that documents some slow and flat growth in diversity at Intel, Krzanich is touting his company's "fast march" toward the full representation of women and unrepresented minorities in Intel's US-based workforce by 2018. That's only one year away.
Pilot error caused fatal Icon A5 plane crash, NTSB says
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined that the Icon A5 crash that killed two Icon employees was caused by pilot error and not a problem with the aircraft. The final determination was a "failure to maintain clearance from terrain while maneuvering at a low altitude," the report states. The situation was caused by a "mistaken entry into a canyon surrounded by steep rising terrain while at a low altitude for reasons that could not be determined."
Facebook is reportedly working on a tablet for video calls
Facebook's hardware aspirations go beyond virtual reality. The social network is working on a video calling device that'll feature a wide-angle lens, a mic, speakers, a touchscreen between 13-and-15 inches and will maybe even run Android, according to Bloomberg's sources. Like offerings from Amazon, the unnamed Facebook video device could only cost a "few hundred dollars" when it's ready to buy. The publication's sources say that could happen as soon as Facebook's F8 conference next spring. One potential feature is an auto-scanning camera that'd lock in on individual people in a room, a la how Microsoft's Kinect works. The piece of kit comes from Zuck's Building 8 lab, where developers and engineers cook up experimental ideas. Beyond the video calling tablet, apparently the social network is working on an AI-powered smart speaker of its own that'd cost $100 -- similar to Amazon's Echo line, Apple's forthcoming HomePod and Google Home.
Twitter is toying with a 'fake news' reporting feature
Twitter is working on a new tool to fight the spread of inaccurate, harmful and misleading articles online, according to The Washington Post. The company is apparently prototyping a feature that would allow users to flag tweets circulating false or injurious information, though the report says the project is still in the early stages and may never see the light of day.
Russia reportedly tried to hijack Pentagon Twitter accounts
The Russians aren't just hacking emails to influence US politics. According to a report sent to US counterintelligence officials last month, Russia has started to use Twitter in it's attack on our country. The report round that Russians sent infected messages to more than 10,000 Defense Department Twitter accounts, each tailored to the individuals' interests and tastes. The attached malware connected those users to a server that gave Russia access to the victim's Twitter account. Imagine thousands of legitimate Twitter users with the legitimacy of actual government officials sending out authentic-sounding misinformation and you'll have an idea of the panic this may have caused among intelligence officials.
FDA clears 23andMe to warn you about potential health risks
Good news for everyone who wants to do at-home DNA tests: 23andMe has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration to tell customers if they're at risk for 10 potentially debilitating diseases. "These are the first direct-to-consumer tests authorized by the FDA that provide information on an individual's genetic predisposition to certain medical diseases or conditions, which may help to make decisions about lifestyle choices or to inform discussions with a health care professional," the watchdog agency said in a statement. Previously, the FDA had stopped the company from offering this information back in 2013. The FDA softened its stance a bit in 2015.
Jawbone is reportedly leaving consumer for clinical wearables
It's no secret that things haven't been going well at Jawbone HQ. Last year, rumors came out that the company was halting the production of all its fitness trackers, and its customer service provider dropped it for unpaid services. Now a new report by TechCrunch says the wearable maker is fully abandoning consumer wearables to shift to the creation of products and services for clinicians and health care providers.
Government watchdog says SpaceX Falcon 9s are prone to cracks
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets apparently have a serious issue that could delay the company's manned missions. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Government Accountability Office investigated both Boeing and SpaceX -- the corporations that won NASA's space taxi contracts -- and found that Falcon 9's turbine blades suffer from persistent cracks. GAO's preliminary report says these turboblades' tendency to crack is a "major threat to rocket safety," since they pump fuel into Falcon 9's rocket engines.
