New researches

Sunday, June 12, 2022

Hawaii Tree Canopy, LinkedIn, Telegram, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, June 12, 2022

Hawaii Tree Canopy, LinkedIn, Telegram, More: Sunday ResearchBuzz, June 12, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Governor of Hawaii: DLNR News Release: Kaulunani Urban And Community Forestry Program Announces Hawaiʻi Tree Canopy Viewer. “The first tree canopy viewer is now available in Hawaiʻi for communities to use to explore tree resources and make management decisions. The interactive viewer shows the extent and location of the tree canopy across the state.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Search Engine Land: 5 new tools for LinkedIn creators to get more followers, visibility. “LinkedIn today announced new tools and features that should help make creators more visible, discoverable, and followable. You must have Creator Mode turned on and a public profile to access these features.”

How-To Geek: Telegram’s Premium Subscription Is Coming in June. “Telegram, a popular messaging app, has been planning a premium option since at least 2020 to support development costs. Now we have our first details about the upcoming subscription, called Telegram Premium.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Vice: I Tried to Adopt a Traumatized Sims 4 Baby From Instagram. “Sims like these are lovingly created and then put up for adoption by Simmers on Instagram, which they more commonly refer to Simstagram. Most Simmers use Instagram for roleplay, given that it’s a social media platform focused mainly on still images. They pretend their Sims run the Instagrams themselves, posting as if they were influencers. Storylines run the gamut from pregnant runaway teens to more generic family drama, and just like real influencers, these Sims grow up, get married, and eventually have kids or adopt them.”

Bloomberg: Nextdoor’s Quest to Beat Toxic Content and Make Money. “The social media site is trying to shed its reputation for dividing neighborhoods. But what is the platform without all the awkward comments and uncomfortable politics?”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Politico: Google gets UK antitrust probe into app payments. “Google got a third antitrust probe from U.K’s competition watchdog, adding scrutiny of its app store payments to earlier investigations into advertising rules for in-app billing, the authority said Friday.”

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein: Plaintiffs and Google Agree to $118 Million Settlement of Pay Equity Class Action. “In addition to monetary relief, the Settlement provides that an independent third party expert will analyze Google’s leveling-at-hire practices and that an independent labor economist will review Google’s pay equity studies. The post-settlement work will be supervised by an external Settlement Monitor over the next three years.”

NBC News: Wickr, Amazon’s encrypted chat app, has a child sex abuse problem — and little is being done to stop it. “Wickr Me, an encrypted messaging app owned by Amazon Web Services, has become a go-to destination for people to exchange images of child sexual abuse, according to court documents, online communities, law enforcement and anti-exploitation activists.”

Saudi Gazette: Non-Saudis banned from publishing ads on social media. “The General Commission for Audiovisual Media has issued a circular banning non-Saudis from publishing advertisements on the social media. The commission noted that the practice of posting ads on social media by those who do not have a license for it is a violation of Saudi Arabia’s Labor Law, as well as the rules for dealing with expatriates.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Algonquin College: AC students developing resource database on the Yazidi genocide. “Learners in the at Algonquin College are developing an online resource cataloguing the genocide against the Yazidi people. In partnership with Yazidi Legal Network, the resource will serve as a database on crimes against Yazidis for human-rights lawyers and activists. Yazidis are Kurmanji-speaking peoples indigenous to Kurdistan. Canada has officially recognized the genocide of the Yazidi people by Daesh, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).”

CNET: Google Cloud Calculates 100 Trillion Digits of Pi. “Google’s cloud service has shattered a record it first broke in 2019, calculating 100 trillion digits of pi, Google Cloud said in a release Wednesday. This is the second time the cloud infrastructure setup has churned out an unprecedented number of digits for the mathematical constant. Last time it took pi to 31.4 trillion digits.”

Washington Post: Your kids’ apps are spying on them. “Apps are spying on our kids at a scale that should shock you. More than two-thirds of the 1,000 most popular iPhone apps likely to be used by children collect and send their personal information out to the advertising industry, according to a major new study shared with me by fraud and compliance software company Pixalate. On Android, 79 percent of popular kids apps do the same.” Good morning, Internet…

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June 12, 2022 at 05:29PM
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Saturday, June 11, 2022

Words Without Borders, Air Quality, LinkedIn, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, June 11, 2022

Words Without Borders, Air Quality, LinkedIn, More: Saturday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, June 11, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Publishers Weekly: Words Without Borders Reboots. “The nonprofit organization Words Without Borders launched in 2003 to aid in publishing works from countries and cultures underrepresented in English-first language regions. WWB now has an archive of 12,000 published pieces across 140 countries and 130 languages. Though their mission has not changed, there are several new developments planned to expand the literary conversation.”

Google Blog: Get some fresh air outdoors with Google. “As temperatures heat up and summer officially begins across the United States, many of us are taking the opportunity to explore the great outdoors. If you have an adventure on the horizon, here are two ways you can use Google tools to stay safe and healthy during your summer activities.”

Search Engine Journal: LinkedIn Expands Audio Events To All Users. “LinkedIn is expanding audio-only live events, first introduced in January in a beta test, to all users who have Creator Mode turned on. Audio-only live events are LinkedIn’s answer to the success of apps like Clubhouse, and features like Twitter Spaces.”

USEFUL STUFF

I love Joy Okumoko’s MakeUseOf roundups because she comes up with some crazy-creative ideas. MakeUseOf: How to Turn Your Images Into Paint-by-Number Templates: The 5 Best Free Sites. “If you’re like many artists today, perhaps you can trace your love for the arts back to your precious little coloring books. Paint-by-number templates offer another great opportunity for novices to get their first start in the arts. As an artist or an art entrepreneur, one way of leaving a lasting legacy is by turning your images into paint-by-number templates so others can learn how to become artists, and better appreciate all the hard work artists invest in their craft.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

BBC: YouTube accused of not tackling Musk Bitcoin scam streams. “YouTube is being criticised for failing to tackle a network of cyber-criminals streaming fake Elon Musk videos to scam viewers. The criminals are hijacking YouTube accounts and using the videos to promote bogus cryptocurrency giveaways. BBC News found dozens of these streams being watched by tens of thousands of people over four days this month.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Techdirt: US Copyright Small Claims Court Opens Its Doors Next Week. Two Questions Remain: Will Anyone Use It… And Is It Constitutional?. “We’ve been talking about the problems of the US government setting up a copyright trolling small claims court for over a decade now. But, Congress finally passed a law to create one (with no debate and no hearings) by sneaking it into a ‘must-pass’ funding bill at the end of the year in 2020. It’s taken a year and a half but the Copyright Office is finally set to launch it sometime next week. Of course there are two big questions associated with it: um, will anyone actually use it and… is it constitutional?”

The Guardian: Apple and Google’s mobile browser ‘stranglehold’ may face UK investigation. “The UK competition watchdog is considering launching an investigation into Apple and Google’s dominance of the mobile browser market after finding the tech companies have a ‘stranglehold’ on a range of areas including app stores.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Rochester: Digital justice through data dictionaries. “Historically, collections have been described in ways that reflect not only academic priorities and academic privilege, but also the frequently white, heterosexual perspective of the academy. So, the chosen terminology may also not reflect what is important to particular communities about content they may have created or resources that address their experiences. For members of the Black or LGBTQAI+ communities, this practice could make some resources virtually undiscoverable. The River Campus Libraries (RCL) is participating in a new University of Rochester project that seeks to bring long-overdue change to this realm.”

NiemanLab: How science helps fuel a culture of misinformation. “Institutions often incentivize scientists going for tenure to focus on quantity rather than quality of publications and to exaggerate study results beyond the bounds of rigorous analysis. Scientific journals themselves can boost their revenue when they are more widely read. Thus, some journals may pounce on submissions with juicy titles that will attract readers. At the same time, many scientific articles contain more jargon than ever, which encourages misinterpretation, political spin, and a declining public trust in the scientific process. Addressing scientific misinformation requires top-down changes to promote accuracy and accessibility, starting with scientists and the scientific publishing process itself.”

AFP: Old tricks, new crises: how US misinformation spreads . “With gun control under debate and monkeypox in the headlines, Americans are facing a barrage of new twists on years-old misinformation in their social media feeds. Accurate news stories about mass shootings have attracted eyeballs but algorithms have also spurred baseless conspiracy theories from trolls who want to push lies to attract traffic. And thousands have unwittingly shared them on Facebook, Twitter and other sites.” Good afternoon, Internet…

June 12, 2022 at 12:36AM
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Friday, June 10, 2022

Hurricane Agnes, Editing Finding Aids, Yubo, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, June 9, 2022

Hurricane Agnes, Editing Finding Aids, Yubo, More: Thursday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, June 9, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

Fox43: New website marks the 50th anniversary of Hurricane Agnes, highlights efforts to prepare for future storms. “As the 50th anniversary of the storm nears, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and emergency management leaders from several states affected by the hurricane have teamed up to create a new website that chronicles the history of Hurricane Agnes and highlights efforts to prepare for future storms.”

University of North Carolina: University Libraries releases guide to conscious editing for finding aids and catalog records. “The guide compiles practices that staff at the Wilson Special Collections Library have refined as they update, edit and create new archival finding aids. Finding aids are documents that describe the contents of archival collections. They help researchers identify materials of potential interest.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

ABC News: Yubo app allegedly used by Uvalde gunman adds new ‘safety features’ following shooting. “Representatives of the social media app Yubo said on Tuesday that the platform is adding new safety features and updating its usage guidelines following news that the accused Robb Elementary School gunman allegedly used the app to send disturbing messages that appear to have gone unnoticed in the days leading up to the deadly shooting.”

Engadget: Google adds auto-transcription and simplified grading to its education tools. “Many students have returned to in-person classes, but that isn’t stopping Google from making online education more viable. The company has updated Classroom and Workspace for Education with a host of features that improve life for teachers and students alike.”

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: 7 Apps That Let You Stream Local News for Free. “If you have cut the cord, accessing local news through your TV can be complicated. The good news is you don’t need a costly cable package to stay on top of what’s happening in your neighborhood. Nowadays, there are plenty of free sites and apps that let you stream local news directly to your TV or smartphone. Here are our top picks if you’d like to stream local news channels for free.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Rolling Stone: The Jan. 6 Committee Wants Twitter’s Internal Slack Messages. Twitter Is Fighting It. “Twitter is fighting a Jan. 6 committee request for its employees’ internal communications — including Slack messages about moderating Tweets related to the Capitol attack, three sources familiar with the matter tell Rolling stone.”

New York Times: How ‘Trustless’ Is Bitcoin, Really?. “In myth, the cryptocurrency is egalitarian, decentralized and all but anonymous. The reality is very different, scientists have found.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Ars Technica: Making blockchain stop wasting energy by getting it to manage energy. “One of the worst features of blockchain technologies like cryptocurrency and NFTs is their horrific energy use. When we should be wringing every bit of efficiency out of our electricity use, most blockchains require computers to perform pointless calculations repeatedly. The obvious solution is to base blockchains on useful calculations—something we might need to do anyway…. A paper released this week adds another option to this list.”

PR Newswire: Deep Analytics Opens EOD Data Hub for Beta Testing by Explosive Ordnance Disposal Experts (PRESS RELEASE). “Deep Analytics LLC, a leading developer of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for the DoD, has completed initial development of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) image data hub where experts can share photographs and details of improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The EOD Data Hub is now open for beta testing by military ordnance disposal personnel and public safety bomb technicians.”

OTHER THINGS I THINK ARE COOL

CFB Esquimalt Lookout Navy News: Electronics technician establishes digital library in the Congo. “The digital library employs [Nzolantima] Swasisa’s high-tech invention called Lokole – a tiny black box of computer components that harnesses free satellite internet signals available in Africa. It can provide web and email access within a 25-metre radius for 100 users. Swasisa notes only 18 per cent of Congo’s 90 million citizens have internet access.” Good afternoon, Internet…

June 10, 2022 at 01:05AM
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Facebook Update, June 9, 2022

Facebook Update, June 9, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Axios: Meta reorganization aims to decentralize Facebook’s AI efforts. “Facebook parent Meta announced a broad reorganization of its AI efforts Thursday, a move that will embed more work within product teams and will also see a top AI executive leave the company. Why it matters: Like rivals Google and Microsoft, Meta is looking to make sure that machine learning and AI are used broadly throughout the company, not locked away in research units.”

Washington Post: Top executive Sheryl Sandberg is leaving Facebook. “Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg is leaving the company, she announced Wednesday in a post on the flagship site.”

CNET: Facebook Parent Meta to Change Stock Ticker Symbol to META on June 9. “Facebook parent company Meta Platforms said Tuesday its stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol META on June 9, replacing the FB symbol it went public with a little more than a decade ago.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

CNN: Sheryl Sandberg’s complicated legacy at Facebook. “In the hours after Sandberg announced her planned departure on Wednesday, she was praised by a number of prominent figures in tech and media…. Other industry watchers, however, stressed the negative impacts from Facebook that emerged during her watch and pointed the finger at her for not doing more to prevent them.”

Axios: Sheryl Sandberg’s advertising jackpot. “Sheryl Sandberg grew Meta’s revenue from $272 million in 2008 to nearly $118 billion in 2021. That’s over 43,000% higher. Why it matters: Depending on who you ask, the corporate growth story she’s responsible for is one of the most impressive in history — or one of the most reckless.”

CNBC: Javier Olivan, who’s replacing Sheryl Sandberg at Meta, built his career on international expansion. “Sheryl Sandberg is one of the most visible figures in Silicon Valley. Javier ‘Javi’ Olivan, who’s succeeding Sandberg as operating chief at Facebook owner Meta, is a virtual unknown off campus.”

indy100: OnlyFans creator says she had sex with Facebook employees to get Instagram account back. “OnlyFans creator Kitty Lixo spilt the beans on the No Jumper podcast where she explained how she managed to get her profile (with over 196,000 followers) restored after she slept with Meta employees (previously known as Facebook).”

SECURITY & LEGAL

NBC News: Family sues Meta, blames Instagram for daughter’s eating disorder and self-harm. “The case was filed on behalf of Alexis Spence, who was able to create her first Instagram account at the age of 11 without her parents’ knowledge and in violation of the platform’s minimum age requirement of 13. The complaint alleges that Instagram’s artificial intelligence engine almost immediately steered the then-fifth grader into an echo chamber of content glorifying anorexia and self-cutting, and systematically fostered her addiction to using the app. The lawsuit was filed by the Social Media Victims Law Center, a Seattle-based group that advocates for families of teens harmed online.”

Gizmodo: Meta’s Updated Privacy Policy Is a Simplified (And Terrifying) Explanation of What Data They’re Constantly Capturing . “The company formerly known as Facebook wants you to know it takes your privacy seriously. Giving you the illusion of control with a flashy re-designed Privacy Policy that details the alarming amount of data Meta has access to. With your consent, of course.”

CNET: Peter Thiel Departs Meta Board, Shareholder Proposals Voted Down. “Peter Thiel, an early investor in Facebook, departed the board of social network’s parent on Wednesday, as Meta shareholders rejected most proposals voted on at the company’s annual meeting on Wednesday. Thiel’s departure was expected. A board member since 2005, he said in February he wouldn’t seek reelection to the company’s board.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

NBC News: Facebook’s 2018 algorithm change boosted local GOP groups, research finds. “A change to Facebook’s recommendation system likely accounted for a disproportionate boost in visibility and engagement to conservative political groups on the social media platform starting in 2018, according to research published Wednesday. The research, published in the journal Research & Politics, looked at posts from the pages of nearly every county party in the U.S. and found a marked increase in shares, comments and reactions to Republican posts.”

Phys .org: 1 in 5 state GOP lawmakers in far-right Facebook groups, study says. “In a year-long review of the 7,383 seats in state legislatures in the 2021-2022 session, the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights (IREHR) found that 4,011 seats were held by Republicans. Of those GOP lawmakers, 872—21.74%—had joined far-right Facebook groups, according to the report, ‘Breaching the Mainstream.'”

June 9, 2022 at 06:52PM
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Early Florida Parish Archives, Iowa Election Misinformation, Black Art of the PNW, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, June 9, 2022

Early Florida Parish Archives, Iowa Election Misinformation, Black Art of the PNW, More: Thursday ResearchBuzz, June 9, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

University of South Florida: New “Lost Voices” exhibit translates and digitizes America’s oldest parish archive to provide rare insight into early Florida history. “A new online exhibit launched today by the University of South Florida’s La Florida: The Interactive Digital Archives of the Americas will provide the public with unprecedented insight into the daily lives and relationships of the multi-ethnic population that comprised St. Augustine, Fla. from the 16th-19th centuries. The Florida city is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in the continental U.S.” This is part one of a two-part release. The second part will be released “later this year” according to the announcement.

KWWL: Secretary of State Paul Pate launches website to counter election misinformation. “Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate has officially launched a new website today aimed at countering election misinformation ahead of today’s Primaries. The site contains a ‘Myth vs. Fact’ section that offers a breakdown of the security measures taking place to protect elections.”

Seattle Art Beat Blog: Crosscut launches Black Arts Legacies showcasing contemporary and historic Black creators in the Northwest. “Crosscut today launched Black Arts Legacies, a digital archive highlighting the roles Black artists have played in the Northwest’s cultural landscape. For its debut, Black Arts Legacies is featuring 26 creatives spanning decades and artistic disciplines.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Verge: Education Chromebooks are getting Figma, a very cool set of design tools. “Google for Education has announced a new partnership with Figma. The companies will bring Figma’s design and prototyping platform as well as its collaborative whiteboarding app FigJam to education Chromebooks. Schools can apply now to the beta program, which will begin over the summer.”

Thunderbird Blog: Welcome To The Thunderbird 102 Beta! Resources, Links, And Guides. “The wait for this year’s major new Thunderbird release is almost over! But you can test-drive many of the new features like the brand new Address Book, Matrix Chat support, import/export wizard, and refreshed visuals right now with the Thunderbird 102 Beta. Better still, you might be directly responsible for improving the final product via your feedback and bug reports.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

The Guardian: ABC to abolish 58 librarian and archivist jobs with journalists to do archival work . This is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, not the American network. “Archivists and librarians at the ABC are in shock after management unveiled plans to abolish 58 positions and make journalists research and archive their own stories. Reporters and producers working on breaking news, news programs and daily programs like 7.30 will have to search for archival material themselves and will be expected to log the metadata of any new material into the system.”

The Register: Makers of ad blockers and browser privacy extensions fear the end is near. “Seven months from now, assuming all goes as planned, Google Chrome will drop support for its legacy extension platform, known as Manifest v2 (Mv2). This is significant if you use a browser extension to, for instance, filter out certain kinds of content and safeguard your privacy.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Bleeping Computer: US: Chinese govt hackers breached telcos to snoop on network traffic. “Several US federal agencies today revealed that Chinese-backed threat actors have targeted and compromised major telecommunications companies and network service providers to steal credentials and harvest data. As the NSA, CISA, and the FBI said in a joint cybersecurity advisory published on Tuesday, Chinese hacking groups have exploited publicly known vulnerabilities to breach anything from unpatched small office/home office (SOHO) routers to medium and even large enterprise networks.”

WIRED: Disinfo and Hate Speech Flood TikTok Ahead of Kenya’s Elections. “LAST AUGUST THE TikTok account @aironixon shared a video intercutting scenes from Netflix’s docuseries How to Become a Tyrant with videos and screenshots of Kenyan deputy president and presidential candidate William Ruto…. The video is one of 130 identified by Mozilla Foundation fellow Odanga Madung, who has detailed his findings in a new report. Altogether, Madung found hate speech and disinformation in videos that accrued over 4 million views after being shared by 33 TikTok accounts.”

NBC News: Hospitals are required to post prices for common procedures. Few do.. “The Hospital Price Transparency Law is intended to make the hidden costs of services such as X-rays, medical tests or colonoscopies clear to patients before they enter the hospital. But a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association added to mounting evidence that hospitals are largely ignoring the law.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Cornell University: Tear down academic silos: Take an ‘undisciplinary’ approach. “Solving societal problems such as climate change could require dismantling rigid academic boundaries, so that researchers from varying disciplines could work together collaboratively – through an ‘undisciplinary’ approach, a new Cornell study suggests. Instead of rallying around a specific mission, it’s best to incorporate a human approach and fixate on the process to find solutions. The work published May 16 in Nature’s Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.”

US Department of Education: Funding Available to Support Native Language Revitalization. “Advancing its commitment to maintaining, protecting, and revitalizing Native American languages – the U.S. Department of Education has announced approximately $1 million in grant funding available for Native American Language (NAL@ED) projects.” Good morning, Internet…

June 9, 2022 at 05:31PM
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Mobile Networked Creativity Repository, Minnesota Water Quality, EU Device Standards, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, June 8, 2022

Mobile Networked Creativity Repository, Minnesota Water Quality, EU Device Standards, More: Wednesday Afternoon ResearchBuzz, June 8, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

North Carolina State University: Creativity as Survival: Crowdsourcing Unexpected Ways We Use Technology. “I’m part of a team of researchers that is collecting examples of how people are using mobile, networked technologies to accomplish unexpected things – from improving local transportation in low-income communities to sharing information about public health. To identify examples of these innovative efforts, we are enlisting the public’s help. We’ve created a website called the Mobile Networked Creativity Repository to crowdsource examples from around the world.”

State of Minnesota: State rolls out dashboard showing PFAS monitoring results for drinking water . “Minnesota residents who get their drinking water from a community public water system will now be able to find out if their system’s water has any level of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), through an interactive online dashboard unveiled today by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Engadget: EU reaches deal to make USB-C a common charger for most electronic devices. “Europe has reached a deal to make USB-C a common charger for all phones and electronic devices, with the aim to reduce e-waste and inconvenience with incompatible chargers.”

CNET: TikTok Adds Avatars Similar to Apple’s Memoji. “TikTok users can now animate themselves with the latest app feature, TikTok Avatars, the short-form video platform said Tuesday.”

USEFUL STUFF

Gizmodo: It’s Time To Clean Up Your Social Media Profiles. “Here we’ll take you through the steps needed to update your profiles on most of the major social networks, and guide you through the options that are available—some of which you may not be aware of. We’re going to concentrate on the web interfaces, where there’s more room to operate on a bigger screen, but these options are available on mobile too.”

Search Engine Journal: Tips For Avoiding Misinformation In SEO Resources & Conversations. “For every idea proposed, there are others in the SEO industry who disagree. Turning to Google for help isn’t always helpful because Google ranks information about SEO that Googlers themselves are on record saying is wrong. There is a way to cut through the noise and figure out which information is likely valid and which information is smoke and mirrors.” I can’t stand SEO because so much of what’s out there is garbage. This is a helpful article for cutting through the junk.

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

South China Morning Post: China and US locked in new infowar after Chinese social media claims American manipulation over Xinjiang. “Beijing and Washington are locked in another round of narrative wars over an unsubstantiated claim that US diplomats had admitted human rights issues in Xinjiang were made up to undermine China. In a statement emailed on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the US embassy urged China to stop attributing false statements to American officials that could make them targets for harassment.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

WIRED: The Hacker Gold Rush That’s Poised to Eclipse Ransomware. “At the RSA security conference in San Francisco on Monday, longtime digital scams researcher Crane Hassold will present findings that warn it would be logical for ransomware actors to eventually convert their operations to business email compromise (BEC) attacks as ransomware becomes less profitable or carries a higher risk for attackers. In the US, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has repeatedly found that total money stolen in BEC scams far exceeds that pilfered in ransomware attacks—though ransomware attacks can be more visible and cause more disruption and associated losses.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Concordia University: Government websites and apps use the same tracking software as commercial ones, according to new Concordia research. “It’s no secret that the commercial websites and mobile apps we use every day are tracking us. Big companies like Facebook and Google depend on it. However, as a new paper by a team of Concordia researchers shows, businesses are not the only ones gathering up our private data. Governments across the world are incorporating the same tracking tools and empowering large businesses to track users of government services, even in jurisdictions where lawmakers are enacting legislation to restrict commercial trackers.”

Vox EU: Mobile internet access and the desire to emigrate. “The mobile internet has changed how people live, work, and exchange information. Fast broadband can boost household income and affect political awareness. This column examines how 3G mobile internet rollout affects people’s desire and plans to emigrate. Increases in 3G coverage raise individuals’ desire and plans to emigrate, especially for those who do not have networks abroad, while it negatively affects perceptions of relative financial wellbeing and trust in the government. Internet access may be boosting the desire to emigrate while reducing the costs of finding information on opportunities abroad.” Good afternoon, Internet…

June 9, 2022 at 12:14AM
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WordPress Plugins, South London Gay Community Centre, Photogrammetry for Journalists, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, June 8, 2022

WordPress Plugins, South London Gay Community Centre, Photogrammetry for Journalists, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, June 8, 2022
By ResearchBuzz

NEW RESOURCES

WP Tavern: rtCamp Launches WordPress Plugin Compare Project. “The team behind rtCamp, a 125-person agency and a WordPress VIP Gold agency partner, has launched a new tool called WordPress Plugin Compare Project (WPPC) to help users extend WordPress with the right plugins for their needs. WPPC lets users search for plugins to compare and customize each selection displayed on [a] chart.”

Brixton Buzz (no relation): Revolting Gays: new website documents the South London Gay Community Centre and the Brixton gay squatting scene, 1970s – early1980s. “Telling the story of the South London Gay Community Centre and the Brixton gay squatting community from the 1970s to the early 1980s, the website documents a seemingly disparate group of gay men and their attempts to live together communally. Containing written text, photographs, podcasts, videos and art works, the Revolting Gays website will go live on June 24th this year.”

EVENTS

Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas: Learn how to capture the world in 3D: Sign up for this free online course on photogrammetry for journalists. “Photogrammetry allows journalists to tell stories about the world around them by creating three-dimensional replicas from photographs. Learn more about the photogrammetric process and how it can be used for journalism in a new free online course from the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.”

USEFUL STUFF

PC World: Best remote desktop software: From casual use to business deployment. “The fascinating and incredibly useful remote-desktop software that allows you to operate another computer over a long distance as if it were your own is now two decades old. But while it’s not new, faster networking and broadband has rendered the remote desktop experience far speedier and more enjoyable. Under optimal conditions, it’s nearly as facile as being there in person.”

From MakeUseOf, for a given value of “Useful”: The 5 Best Free Random Decision Makers. “If you’re trying to make a light-hearted, a random decision maker can help you to more easily make an unbiased decision. It can save you time and prevent overthinking. Of course, they won’t be suitable for large, life-altering decisions–you’ll need to ponder over those, sorry!”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

New York Times: Don’t Believe Everything You Read About the Man in This Photo. “There is no ‘Bernie,’ he’s not a crisis actor, and news organizations are not behind the posts. And the photo? It is of a 36-year-old online gamer, Jordie Jordan. He’s alive, and he had nothing to do with the posts. Instead, the posts are part of a yearslong harassment campaign against him, taking place on online platforms like Twitter, Reddit and Discord.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

CNET: Crypto Scams Have Cost Consumers More Than $1 Billion, FTC Says. “Crypto scams have cost consumers more than $1 billion since the start of 2021, according to a new Federal Trade Commission analysis. The numbers, which are based on losses reported by consumers from January 2021 through March 2022, also show that crypto is becoming the payment of choice for many scammers, accounting for about one in every four dollars lost to fraud, the FTC says.”

Politico: Discord hires first lobbyists. “The popular online text, video and voice chat app Discord has hired its first federal lobbyists. Monument Advocacy’s Stewart Verdery, Ashley Hoy, Andrew Howell, Joseph Hoefer and Jeff Gary will lobby on privacy and content moderation issues for the platform, which initially found a huge base among gamers but exploded in popularity during the pandemic.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

WIRED: ‘Civic Fan Fiction’ Makes Politics a Dysfunctional Team Sport. “Stories bind us together, and woe betide anyone who forgets it; there is no perfectly rational and coldly logical way to replace the role of narrative in our lives. We’re meaning-making machines. More than anything else, that is what makes us human: the ability to imbue the inherently meaningless with the most elaborate and consequential of meanings. When it comes to politics, that means storytelling is often at the heart of it, and stories need heroes, villains, and narrative arcs. It’s easier and more satisfying.”

Michigan Daily: TikTok: Proof that we’re living in a simulation. “While it’s fun to imagine that there is a conspiracy behind TikTok’s apparent telepathy, the reality is I have zero proof of a simulation and plenty of proof of the existence of my very real and very human brain, which is simply recognizing a pattern between events in my own life and the things that I observe online. But I do concede that whenever an oddly specific TikTok pops up on my For You page, it feels too accurate to just be chance. So what’s really going on?”

Engadget: Oregon is shutting down its controversial child welfare AI in June. “A number of states across the country have already implemented, or are considering, similar algorithms within their child welfare agencies. But as with Northpointe’s COMPAS before them, their implementation have raised concerns about the transparency and reliability of the process as well as their clear tendency towards racial bias. However, the Allegheny developers did note that their tool was just that and was never intended to operate on its own without direct human oversight.” Good morning, Internet…

June 8, 2022 at 05:27PM
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