Controversial Reads 031922


If you work in advertising or marketing, you’re probably aware of Apple’s privacy efforts over the last year. Apple now requires apps ask customers if they want to ‘opt-in’ to allow behavioral data tracking.


Among gamers and parents and even within the medical community, there’s disagreement about whether gaming addiction is real.


When discussing our relationship with technology, for whatever reason—whether it’s due to aimless maximum engagement algorithms, the ruthless economic incentive structure of the global market, or just our own sheer inability to think critically in the face of incessant propaganda—we’re led to believe that there are only two possible paths from here: 1. Integration with Technology or 2. Luddism.


I was struck by how easily he assumes that large doses of data, math, and computing power make computers smarter than humans. He is hardly alone, but he is badly mistaken.


When Shiri Melumad was working on her doctorate in 2012, she found herself reaching for her smartphone during moments of stress, before a tough exam, for example. She didn’t always use it, she just held it. It was comforting.


There is an estimated $12 billion market of companies that buy and sell location data collected from your cellphone. And the trade is entirely legal in the U.S.


In contrast, what is the conservative solution when approaching a problem of corporate excess? Unfortunately, that is the problem conservatives now confront with Big Tech, the enormous corporations that control what Americans can do and see online with almost no government oversight.


One side argued that Millegan’s personal beliefs had nothing to do with his role at ENS, and besides, cancel culture is a web2 thing, not a web3 thing. The other side took the “Well why should we support and work with an asshole” stance.


We do know the roughly 40-foot-long piece was part of a rocket that went up five years ago to carry the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Deep Space Climate Observatory more than 600,000 miles into space.


All three cases were eventually dropped, but in Parks’ case, that took almost a year, including 10 days in jail. The cases shared some commonalities.


As the debate about how to rein in Big Tech and its anti-competitive practices continues, news publishers and telecommunications providers are increasingly calling for large pay-outs from major platforms. However, these proposals risk restricting users into ever-smaller walled gardens and cementing the dominance of a few big players.


Research about the influence of computing technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), on society relies heavily upon the financial support of the very companies that produce those technologies.


Sanctions that affect Internet traffic have been under-discussed for a long time. As a result, it’s as yet unclear to what extent sanctions might affect Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) and traffic destined for or coming from Russia.


With the troubling news of the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the specter of a cyberattack by a nation-state on the US looms as a threat yet again. However, this time may be different, especially if the US and its allies respond with any kinetic, real-world attacks or resources.