Intelligence Squared Debate: We Must Stop Big Data’s Pandemic Power Grab
By: Intelligence Squared Podcast June 17, 2021 In this week’s podcast Nani Jansen Reventlow goes up against Rowena Luk to debate whether bringing big tech closer into our lives during the pandemic has been a welcome innovation or a dangerous power grab. The debate was staged by Intelligence Squared Germany in partnership with the European […]
Lina Khan: How America’s Answer to Margrethe Vestager Plans to Take on Big Tech
By: City AM June 16, 2021 Since taking over as European Commissioner for Competition in 2014, Margrethe Vestager has made her mission clear: to crack down on the ballooning power of Big Tech. The ruthless competition czar has undoubtedly delivered on those ambitions, handing down high-profile fines running into the tens of billions […]
India Says Twitter Knowingly Not Complying With Local Laws
By: AP News June 16, 2020 NEW DELHI (AP) — The standoff between the Indian government and Twitter escalated Wednesday when the country’s technology minister accused the social media giant of deliberately not complying with local laws. Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said Twitter has chosen “the path of deliberate defiance” when it […]
Tech Privacy Practices Under Scrutiny After DOJ Subpoenas
By: The Hill June 17, 2021 Tech companies that publicly promote their privacy practices are coming under scrutiny for handing over metadata on lawmakers, congressional staffers, journalists and even a minor in response to subpoenas from the Trump administration’s Justice Department. The involvement of tech giants like Apple, Google and Microsoft is shining […]
Pivot: Interview with Caleb Scharf on Space Exploration
By: Pivot June 15, 2021 Kara and Scott discuss how Apple unknowingly handed over phone data of two Democratic congressmen to the Trump Administration. Then, they discuss how the pay gap between workers and CEOs grew even wider during the pandemic. In Friend of Pivot, Caleb Scharf, the Director of Astrobiology at Columbia University and […]
Ikea Fined €1.1m by French Court For Spying on Staff
By: Guardian June 15, 2021 The home furnishings group Ikea has been ordered to pay €1.1m (£861,000) in fines and damages by a French court after being found guilty of spying on staff. Two former Ikea France executives were also convicted and fined over an elaborate scheme to gather information on hundreds of employees, job applicants and […]
Jeff Bezos Reportedly Didn’t Pay Any In-come Taxes For at Least 2 Years Between 2006 and 2018
By: Business Insider June 8, 2021 In 2007, and again in 2011, billionaire Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos reportedly paid nothing in federal income taxes. That’s according to confidential tax documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service obtained by ProPublica, which were revealed in a bombshell new report on some of the world’s wealthiest people. […]
Nigerian Broadcasters Ordered to Stop Using ‘Unpatriotic’ Twitter
By: Guardian June 7, 2021 Nigeria’s media regulator has directed all TV and radio stations to delete their Twitter accounts and described its use as unpatriotic, escalating a widely condemned clampdown on social media. The country’s National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) said all stations were to “suspend the patronage of Twitter immediately,” days after Nigeria’s government indefinitely suspended the […]
Microsoft’s Kate Crawford: ‘AI is Neither Artificial Nor Intelligent’
By: Guardian June 6, 2021 The AI researcher on how natural resources and human labour drive machine learning and the regressive stereotypes that are baked into its algorithm. Kate Crawford studies the social and political implications of artificial intelligence. She is a research professor of communication and science and technology studies at the University of […]