In The News

Firms to ID Message Creators for India? TechCrunch

Manish Singh January 22, 2020
India’s regulators may be considering regulations that would require social media and instant-messaging firms to help authorities identify the source of messages and content. Law enforcement agencies would have to obtain court orders. “But regardless, asking companies to comply with such a requirement would be ‘devastating’ for international social media companies, a New Delhi-based policy...

Hitting Refresh on Privacy Policies: Brookings

Cameron Kerry and Caitlin Chin January 9, 2020
Technology and online applications have developed swiftly and many people still do not realize how much private information they release with every choice and click online. US legislators and policymakers express dissatisfaction with prrivate policies that regard issuance of notices, often lengthy and cryptic, as consent. A Brookings report highlights the problems with privacy policies: over-...

Norms for Cyberspace Stability: Project Syndicate

Joseph S. Nye Jr. December 30, 2019
The internet is vital communications infrastructure. The Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace with experts from 16 nations met over three years to consider security challenges, rules and norms for information technology. The aim: encourage safe, secure use of cyber services, manage change in peaceful and organized ways, resolve disputes and reduce tensions while relying on...

Satellites Help Solve the Climate Crisis: DW

Olivera Zivkovic December 26, 2019
Over the course of three decades, satellite images from space agencies like NASA and ESA demonstrate how Earth’s changing weather patterns affect land, water and communities. Satellites monitor the rising carbon dioxide levels, rising seas, flooding, global temperatures, tree loss and gains, and more. A mission under development known as the Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program, or EnMap, “...

Clash of Killer Robots? Japan Times

Daisuke Akimoto December 22, 2019
Development of robots, artificial intelligence and autonomous machines outpaces regulations and leads to human rights concerns. “Although no ‘fully autonomous’ weapon exists at this stage, several countries, such as the United States, Russia, China, South Korea, and Israel, are thought to have developed ‘semi-autonomous’ weapons equipped with artificial intelligence,” explains Daisuke Akimoto for...

Life Under the Algorithm: New Republic

Gabriel Winant December 21, 2019
Productivity fuels economic growth and wealth, and management increasingly relies on technologies to motivate workers to achieve greater speed. Yet wages do not grow at the same pace, and top company officers and investors collect most of the gains. “The decline of unions, the rise of inequality, the crisis of liberal democracy, and the changing face of American culture all, in one form or...

World’s First Liquid Hydrogen Ship: Bloomberg

Dan Murtaugh December 15, 2019
Kawasaki Heavy Industries launched the world’s first liquefied hydrogen carrier, the Suiso Frontier, a step in “tapping the carbon-free energy potential of the lightest element,” reports Dan Murtaugh for Bloomberg. “Hydrogen can be produced using water and electricity, and then stored and shipped and re-used to generate power, allowing countries with little space for wind and solar equipment to...