transparency
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Apple launches a machine learning blog to placate its researchers
Apple hasn't always been very open about its technology or its research, but the company surprised everyone last year when AI director Russ Salakhutdinov announced that Apple would begin publishing its machine learning research. Shortly thereafter, it published its first AI paper in an academic journal and today Apple takes its transparency another step with the debut of its Machine Learning Journal.
Trump administration is killing its open data portal
Reversing yet another Obama-era practice, the Trump administration announced on Friday that it will not only be keeping its visitor logs secret for five years after Trump leaves office, but will be shuttering the Open.gov portal. This is where the previous administration posted visitor logs, financial disclosures and data on White House staff.
The full extent of Windows 10's data sharing is slightly alarming
Microsoft has repeatedly sworn that Windows 10 doesn't violate your privacy, but you've had to take its word on that when it hasn't outlined exactly what data it shares from your PC. At last, though, it's coming clean -- the company has started publishing a complete list of the diagnostic info it collects at the Basic level, and has posted a thorough summary of what it obtains at the Full level. While Microsoft already gave you a good sense of what to expect if you went with Full, the summary is much more thorough... and a little concerning given that it's the default level with a new Windows 10 installation.
NYPD filmed hundreds of BLM and Occupy protests without approval
Police are frequently fond of monitoring protesters, and that includes cops in New York -- NYPD cameras have been a mainstay at large protests over the past several years. However, it's now clear that the NYPD has been skirting internal rules in the process. The Verge has obtained documents showing that the force's video team not only captured over 400 Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street protests between 2011 and 2016, but doesn't appear to have received authorizations or legal reviews.
Twitter triples suspensions of pro-terrorist accounts in one year
If it wasn't already clear that Twitter is serious about stamping out pro-terrorist accounts, it is now. The social network has posted its transparency report for the second half of 2016, which reveals that it suspended over 376,000 accounts for backing terrorism. That's triple the 125,000 it took down one year earlier, and a still-hefty 60 percent more than the 235,000 accounts it pulled in the first half of 2016. While some officials still don't think Twitter is up to snuff (it's not proactively reporting extremist material to police, the UK says), there's no doubt that it's considerably more aggressive.
Trump's quiet war on data begins
Two months into the Trump presidency, there's still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the new administration. One big area of concern is how the executive branch will deal with the vast amounts of data collected by the government. Federal agencies like NASA and EPA conduct countless studies crucial to understanding our impact on climate change. Labor Department surveys are vital to determining the economic health of the country. Will the administration manipulate data that contradicts its political views? Will information become a tool of oppression? Turns out there's a simpler, but potentially just as troublesome possibility: The White House could simply make it disappear.
Once-banned Vigilante app now warns of nearby emergencies
Late last year, Sp0n released a Vigilante mobile app that was supposed to warn you of nearby crimes and emergencies. Or rather, it tried to release the app -- Apple quickly pulled the title after worrying that the name and focus encouraged users to thrust themselves into dangerous situations. After a few months of retooling, however, it's back. The newly rebadged Citizen for Android and iOS will still warn you when someone nearby has reported an emergency to 911, but the emphasis this time is on safety. If there's a robbery in progress down the street, you're encouraged to avoid it. If you are caught up in an incident, however, you'll have tools at your disposal.
New FCC chairman wants the agency to be more transparent
New FCC chairman Ajit Pai announced today that he wants the commission wants to be more transparent in how information on its proceedings is made available to the public. Pai detailed a new pilot program that will make documents relating to upcoming FCC Open Meetings available through the agency's website before those meetings take place. In the past, any documents circulated among members of the commission were kept under wraps until after the final vote on a matter.
Facebook finds more exaggerated ad data
After Facebook realized that it had been overstating video views for years, it conducted an internal review to search for more flaws messing with its ad data... and it's not happy with what it found. The social network reports that it found multiple problems with how it calculated or represented the info that marketers thrive on. It wasn't always counting end-to-end video playback properly, for example, since clip lengths would occasionally change when you started streaming. Facebook also over-reported how long people spent reading Instant Articles, and included more clicks and views than it should in some dashboards.
China now streams some court trials on the internet
In China, some court cases will now be streamed on the internet for the public to view across the country. The Chinese government isn't exactly known for transparency, but this is certainly a step in that direction. As you might expect, not all cases will be aired. The BBC reports "sensitive trials," like those of human rights activists, may be among the topics excluded from the program.
Many recovered Clinton emails won't go public before election
Hope you aren't waiting for the State Department to publish every last document from Hillary Clinton's private email server before making a voting decision -- you're going to be disappointed. A federal judge has set a schedule that will only publish 1,050 pages of recently recovered material (out of roughly 10,000 pages) by November 4th, mere days before the US presidential election on the 8th. The Department has promised to process 500 pages per month, so you won't get the full scoop until well after the next president takes office.
Amazon, Apple and Google back Microsoft fight over US gag orders
Microsoft isn't going it alone in its lawsuit fighting gag orders for data requests. Amazon, Apple, Google and Mozilla have contributed to a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Microsoft's case against the US government over the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which lets officials bar companies from telling customers when officials want their info. In theory, the brief could sway the court's decision and have it deem the ECPA a violation of the constitutional right to be informed about searches and seizures.
WikiLeaks revealed private info for 'hundreds' of innocents
WikiLeaks will tell you that it's providing valuable transparency while respecting the privacy of innocent people, but the Associated Press isn't convinced that it's walking that fine line. It just published a report showing that Julian Assange and crew published sensitive details for "hundreds" of innocent people, including financial records, identity details and medical files. Among the examples, it identified teen rape victims. Many of last year's leaked Saudi Arabia cables exposed details that could potentially ruin lives in the conservative country, such as the name of a man arrested for being gay and people who've secretly gone into debt.
System helps spot bias in algorithms
There's no question that algorithms can be biased, producing results that reflect the creator's preconceived opinions. But how do you reliably detect signs of that bias? Carnegie Mellon researchers can help. They've developed a system that tests algorithms to see how much influence a given variable has over the outcome, giving you a sense of where bias exists. It could reveal when a credit score system is giving any weight to racial discrimination, or catch simple mistakes that put too much emphasis on a particular factor.
CIA and NSA doubled their searches for Americans' data in 2 years
So much for US intelligence scaling back its curiosity in the wake of Edward Snowden's leaks. An Office of the Director of National Intelligence transparency report has revealed that the CIA and NSA doubled the number of searches for the content of Americans' communications in an NSA database between 2013 and 2015. Where the two agencies made about 2,100 such requests three years ago, they searched 4,672 times last year. Just what triggered the spike isn't clear. There's a chance that some of the increase comes from repetitive searches (that is, running similar queries more than once), but they were also factors in 2013 -- the odds are that activity went up.
Google now encrypts over 75 percent of its internet traffic
How much progress has Google made on securing your internet traffic ever since Edward Snowden's leaks made it clear that encryption is crucial to maintaining privacy? Quite a bit, if you ask Google itself. As part of its latest Transparency Report, the search firm has revealed that over 75 percent of its internet requests use encryption. That's steep climb from just over 50 percent back at the start of 2014, just a few months after the scope of the US' mass surveillance became clear.
The NSA releases its first transparency report under the US Freedom Act
Back in June, President Obama signed the USA Freedom Act into law. The bill finally put limitations on the NSA's ability to bulk collect telephone data under the controversial section 215 of the Patriot Act. As part of the new bill, the NSA was compelled to release a transparency report detailing if it was meeting the privacy standards enacted by the Freedom Act. Today, the agency has published its first report, conducted by the NSA's Civil Liberties and Privacy Office (CLPO).
Politwoops is back preserving politicians' deleted tweets
Politwoops is back in action, capturing and storing the boneheaded mistakes of politicians around the world. Twitter pulled the plug on the site last June, claiming that it violated user privacy and its terms and conditions. However, newly reinstated CEO Jack Dorsey said that Twitter has a responsibility to aid public transparency and specifically called out Politwoops as the kind of organization he wants to support. After Twitter reinstated the site last week, it's now back online, and its parent, the Open State Foundation has added some features in the interim.
Twitter reinstates Politwoops for cataloging politicians' tweets
Back in June, Twitter pulled the plug on Politwoops, a site that cataloged the idiotic things that politicians post on the social networks. At the time, the company said the website violated its terms of use and that the collection of tweets was a privacy issue. Now, Twitter has reached agreements with The Sunlight Foundation and The Open State Foundation in regards to the site. Politwoops will be able to resume its storing of tweets, both published and deleted, in the US and abroad.
Seattle Police's hacker leaves the force
The hacker who helped the Seattle police department work on its transparency has left the force. Tim Clemans will no longer be developing auto-blurring software for dash-and-body cameras at the department due to what sounds like some politics between himself and leadership. It's something that Clemans actually predicted, according to The Stranger. The problems apparently started gestating as recently as August when one of the department's captains made a complaint that any and all changes to the 911 dispatch center needed his approval before being implemented. You see, Clemans developed an app that would highlight the most serious emergency calls automatically -- something the captain felt usurped his power despite it making dispatchers' jobs easier. Other staff members voiced their support saying Clemans had done "a tremendous job" with his work, lamenting his departure.
