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Chomsky and Pollin: We Can't Rely on Private Sector for Necessary
So-Called Democratic “Moderates” Are Actually Right-Wingers Who Have Always Thrown Up Roadblocks To Social Progress CJ Polychroniou The U.S. is the only liberal-democratic country in the world with a political system set up for two mainstream parties, a long and continuous history of union suppression, and without a major socialist party at the national level. How is it possible that the world’s largest economy has a crumbling infrastructure (“shabby beyond belief” is how the CEO of Legal & General, a multinational financial services and asset management company, described it back in 2016), and ranks in the lower half of second tier countries, behind economic powerhouses Cyprus and Greece, on the 2020 Social Progress Index? It’s the politics, stupid! The United States is the only liberal-democratic country in the world with a political system set up for two mainstream parties, a long and continuous history of union suppression, and without a major socialist party at the national level. Indeed, the countries that perform best on the Social Progress Index have multi- party systems, strong labor unions, a plethora of left-wing parties, and adhere to the social democratic model. In other words, politics explains why the United States did not develop a European-style welfare state. Political factors also explain why economic inequalities are so huge in the US and the middle class is shrinking; why the quality of America’s health care system is dead last when compared with other western, industrialized nations; why there are millions of homeless people; and why the infrastructure resembles that of a third-world country. -
Bots and Political Influence: a Sociotechnical Investigation of Social Network Capital
International Journal of Communication 10(2016), 4952–4971 1932–8036/20160005 Bots and Political Influence: A Sociotechnical Investigation of Social Network Capital DHIRAJ MURTHY1 University of Texas at Austin, USA ALISON B. POWELL London School of Economics, UK RAMINE TINATI University of Southampton, UK NICK ANSTEAD London School of Economics, UK LESLIE CARR SUSAN J. HALFORD MARK WEAL University of Southampton, UK This study explains how bots interact with human users and influence conversational networks on Twitter. We analyze a high-stakes political environment, the UK general election of May 2015, asking human volunteers to tweet from purpose-made Twitter accounts—half of which had bots attached—during three events: the last Prime Dhiraj Murthy: [email protected] Alison B. Powell: [email protected] Ramine Tinati: [email protected] Nick Anstead: [email protected] Leslie Carr: [email protected] Susan J. Halford: [email protected] Mark Weal: [email protected] Date submitted: 2016-08-30 1 The authors gratefully acknowledge the feedback from the day-long workshop Algorithms, Automation and Politics, organized by the European Research Council–funded Computational Propaganda project of the Oxford Internet Institute and held as a preconference to the International Communication Association Meeting in Fukuoka, Japan, in June 2016. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Research Council. Copyright © 2016 (Dhiraj Murthy, Alison B. Powell, Ramine Tinati, Nick Anstead, Leslie Carr, Susan J. -
Disinformation, and Influence Campaigns on Twitter 'Fake News'
Disinformation, ‘Fake News’ and Influence Campaigns on Twitter OCTOBER 2018 Matthew Hindman Vlad Barash George Washington University Graphika Contents Executive Summary . 3 Introduction . 7 A Problem Both Old and New . 9 Defining Fake News Outlets . 13 Bots, Trolls and ‘Cyborgs’ on Twitter . 16 Map Methodology . 19 Election Data and Maps . 22 Election Core Map Election Periphery Map Postelection Map Fake Accounts From Russia’s Most Prominent Troll Farm . 33 Disinformation Campaigns on Twitter: Chronotopes . 34 #NoDAPL #WikiLeaks #SpiritCooking #SyriaHoax #SethRich Conclusion . 43 Bibliography . 45 Notes . 55 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This study is one of the largest analyses to date on how fake news spread on Twitter both during and after the 2016 election campaign. Using tools and mapping methods from Graphika, a social media intelligence firm, we study more than 10 million tweets from 700,000 Twitter accounts that linked to more than 600 fake and conspiracy news outlets. Crucially, we study fake and con- spiracy news both before and after the election, allowing us to measure how the fake news ecosystem has evolved since November 2016. Much fake news and disinformation is still being spread on Twitter. Consistent with other research, we find more than 6.6 million tweets linking to fake and conspiracy news publishers in the month before the 2016 election. Yet disinformation continues to be a substantial problem postelection, with 4.0 million tweets linking to fake and conspiracy news publishers found in a 30-day period from mid-March to mid-April 2017. Contrary to claims that fake news is a game of “whack-a-mole,” more than 80 percent of the disinformation accounts in our election maps are still active as this report goes to press. -
Spring 2017 Industry Study Industry Report Electronics
Spring 2017 Industry Study Industry Report Electronics The Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy National Defense University Fort McNair, Washington, DC 20319-5062 i ELECTRONICS 2017 ABSTRACT: While currently assessed as mature and healthy, the global semiconductor industry is facing a strategic inflection point. This inflection will shape a future for the industry that is significantly different than the past. Although outlook for that future remains favorable, numerous challenges place that future at risk. Challenges found in Chinese competition, skilled workforce shortages, commercial semiconductor market shifts, unique DoD electronics needs, and ongoing requirements for rapid innovation threaten the stability of the market, the U.S. competitive advantage, and U.S. economic and national security. Future success in the industry hinges upon policies which address these challenges and enable U.S. companies to embrace future opportunities. LTC Khalid Alothman, Saudi Arabian Army CDR Terri L. Gabriel, U.S. Navy LTC Kevin F. Hanrahan, U.S. Army COL Jeffrey Howell, U.S. Army Mr. Benjamin Lam, U.S. Dept. of State Mr. Steven Mapes, Office of the Secretary of Defense Lt Col Adrian Meyer, Air National Guard COL Michael Samson, Philippine Army Col James E. Smith, U.S. Air Force Mr. Keith Smithson, Dept. of Energy COL William Smoot, U.S. Army Mr. Sim Walker, Dept. of the Army Lt Col Aaron Weiner, U.S. Air Force Ms. Denise L. Williams, Office of the Secretary of Defense Dr. Stephen Basile, Faculty Mr. Michael Dixon, Department of State, Faculty Col Thomas A. Santoro, Jr., U.S. Air Force, Faculty ii Industry Study Outreach and Field Studies On Campus Presenters BAE Systems, Inc., Arlington, VA Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. -
MIT Club of San Diego Fund” (To Donate, Go to and Type “San Diego” in the Search Box
View this email in a web page MIT San Club of Diego April 2014 Newsletter Editor's Note: We are trying a new approach to our website and newsletter. Instead of lots of text on the home page or in the Newsletter, we will have titles, summaries and links to each article. This should make our Home Page and Newsletters more concise and make it possible to input the content only once. If you would like to participate in this project to improve our communications, including our social media communications, please email me. Thanks, Ollie Smoot News Jerry's Thoughts: Our Club is "Running at Full tilt." We have a lot going in San Diego. I hope that our activities are attractive to you. If you think of other things we can do, please send me an email. Dan Oliver '60 SB II, one of our most active members, will be running in his 42nd marathon including his 4th Boston Marathon on Monday, 21 April. In addition to this set of remarkable athletic accomplishments, Dan was also instrumental in organizing the “MIT Strong Team” (http://mitstrong.mit.edu/team/oliver) after speaking with President Rafael Reif during his visit to LA a few months ago. He also garnered more than $3,100 in donations to the Sean A. Collier Memorial Fund. Let’s cheer Dan on and wish him and his fellow runners the very best of luck! We continue to have organized many excellent Programs during the past two months, including: 23 Feb - Alumnae Happy Hour 6 Mar - Toast to Friends with UC-Berkeley and Ohio State at R-Gang 8 Mar - FIRST Robotics Event 12 Mar - UCSD Prof Todd Coleman (ex-MIT) Lab 27 Mar - Admitted Student Reception 3 Apr - Presentation by Prof. -
FY2020 Report to the President Overview This Year, the MIT Alumni
MIT Alumni Association ~ FY2020 Report to the President Overview This year, the MIT Alumni Association (the Association or MITAA), along with the rest of the Institute, experienced the challenging headwinds generated by the Jeffrey Epstein-MIT Media Lab matter, followed by the once-in-a-century Covid-19 pandemic that produced impacts on all aspects of society. Later in the academic year, the widespread antiracism movement, sparked by police violence, added further complexity and offered opportunity for connecting with our community. These extraordinary circumstances, though, did not deter the Association from staying the course in year three of its Strategic Plan with its North Star Vision: to engage and inspire the global MIT community to make a better world. It was the foundational partnerships between the Association, its Board of Directors, key Institute leaders, and many dedicated volunteers and donors that helped to keep the MIT community of alumni and alumnae, parents, and friends close and engaged throughout the year. Following the revelations of MIT’s engagements with Jeffrey Epstein, the Association served as a conduit between the Institute and the alumni/ae community, providing senior leadership and the MIT Corporation with important insights on sentiment and offering opportunities for repair and restoration. This worked help diffuse tensions and kept our alumni community focused on the long- term health of MIT. In the final weeks of the academic year, as the MITAA was pivoting its signature event, Tech Reunions, to a virtual global gathering, the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the calls for social justice prompted the Institute to affirm and energize its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. -
S:\FULLCO~1\HEARIN~1\Committee Print 2018\Henry\Jan. 9 Report
Embargoed for Media Publication / Coverage until 6:00AM EST Wednesday, January 10. 1 115TH CONGRESS " ! S. PRT. 2d Session COMMITTEE PRINT 115–21 PUTIN’S ASYMMETRIC ASSAULT ON DEMOCRACY IN RUSSIA AND EUROPE: IMPLICATIONS FOR U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY A MINORITY STAFF REPORT PREPARED FOR THE USE OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JANUARY 10, 2018 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations Available via World Wide Web: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 28–110 PDF WASHINGTON : 2018 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Mar 15 2010 04:06 Jan 09, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5012 Sfmt 5012 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\COMMITTEE PRINT 2018\HENRY\JAN. 9 REPORT FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER seneagle Embargoed for Media Publication / Coverage until 6:00AM EST Wednesday, January 10. COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS BOB CORKER, Tennessee, Chairman JAMES E. RISCH, Idaho BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland MARCO RUBIO, Florida ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire JEFF FLAKE, Arizona CHRISTOPHER A. COONS, Delaware CORY GARDNER, Colorado TOM UDALL, New Mexico TODD YOUNG, Indiana CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, Connecticut JOHN BARRASSO, Wyoming TIM KAINE, Virginia JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts ROB PORTMAN, Ohio JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon RAND PAUL, Kentucky CORY A. BOOKER, New Jersey TODD WOMACK, Staff Director JESSICA LEWIS, Democratic Staff Director JOHN DUTTON, Chief Clerk (II) VerDate Mar 15 2010 04:06 Jan 09, 2018 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\COMMITTEE PRINT 2018\HENRY\JAN. -
Bibliography: Bias in Artificial Intelligence
NIST A.I. Reference Library Bibliography: Bias in Artificial Intelligence Abdollahpouri, H., Mansoury, M., Burke, R., & Mobasher, B. (2019). The unfairness of popularity bias in recommendation. arXiv preprint arXiv:1907.13286. Abebe, R., Barocas, S., Kleinberg, J., Levy, K., Raghavan, M., & Robinson, D. G. (2020, January). Roles for computing in social change. Proceedings of the 2020 Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, 252-260. Aggarwal, A., Shaikh, S., Hans, S., Haldar, S., Ananthanarayanan, R., & Saha, D. (2021). Testing framework for black-box AI models. arXiv preprint. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/pdf/2102.06166.pdf Ahmed, N., & Wahed, M. (2020). The De-democratization of AI: Deep learning and the compute divide in artificial intelligence research. arXiv preprint arXiv:2010.15581. Retrieved from https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2010/2010.15581.pdf. AI Now Institute. Algorithmic Accountability Policy Toolkit. (2018). Retrieved from: https://ainowinstitute.org/aap-toolkit.html. Aitken, M., Toreini, E., Charmichael, P., Coopamootoo, K., Elliott, K., & van Moorsel, A. (2020, January). Establishing a social licence for Financial Technology: Reflections on the role of the private sector in pursuing ethical data practices. Big Data & Society. doi:10.1177/2053951720908892 Ajunwa, I. (2016). Hiring by Algorithm. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2746078 Ajunwa, I. (2020, Forthcoming). The Paradox of Automation as Anti-Bias Intervention, 41 Cardozo, L. Rev. Amini, A., Soleimany, A. P., Schwarting, W., Bhatia, S. N., & Rus, D. (2019, January). Uncovering and mitigating algorithmic bias through learned latent structure. Proceedings of the 2019 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society, 289-295. Amodei, D., Olah, C., Steinhardt, J., Christiano, P., Schulman, J., & Mané, D. -
Weaving the Dark Web: Legitimacy on Freenet, Tor, and I2P (Information
The Information Society Series Laura DeNardis and Michael Zimmer, Series Editors Interfaces on Trial 2.0, Jonathan Band and Masanobu Katoh Opening Standards: The Global Politics of Interoperability, Laura DeNardis, editor The Reputation Society: How Online Opinions Are Reshaping the Offline World, Hassan Masum and Mark Tovey, editors The Digital Rights Movement: The Role of Technology in Subverting Digital Copyright, Hector Postigo Technologies of Choice? ICTs, Development, and the Capabilities Approach, Dorothea Kleine Pirate Politics: The New Information Policy Contests, Patrick Burkart After Access: The Mobile Internet and Inclusion in the Developing World, Jonathan Donner The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and Participatory Media, Ryan Milner The End of Ownership: Personal Property in the Digital Economy, Aaron Perzanowski and Jason Schultz Digital Countercultures and the Struggle for Community, Jessica Lingel Protecting Children Online? Cyberbullying Policies of Social Media Companies, Tijana Milosevic Authors, Users, and Pirates: Copyright Law and Subjectivity, James Meese Weaving the Dark Web: Legitimacy on Freenet, Tor, and I2P, Robert W. Gehl Weaving the Dark Web Legitimacy on Freenet, Tor, and I2P Robert W. Gehl The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England © 2018 Robert W. Gehl All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. This book was set in ITC Stone Serif Std by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available. ISBN: 978-0-262-03826-3 eISBN 9780262347570 ePub Version 1.0 I wrote parts of this while looking around for my father, who died while I wrote this book. -
What's a Patent Owner To
Winter 2018 Vol. 16, Issue 1 A review of developments in Intellectual Property Law Motions to Amend at the PTAB after Aqua Products, Inc. v. Matal – What’s a Patent Owner to Do? By Andrew W. Williams, Ph.D. conducted by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board shifting to the patent owner, however, was In 2011, Congress enacted (“PTAB” or “Board”) that analyzed statistics in not found in either the statute or the rules the America Invents Act and all IPRs, CBMs, and PGRs. The third and most promulgated by the Patent Office. Instead, the created new mechanisms recent iteration included data through the Fiscal PTAB interpreted its regulations in an early to challenge issued claims Year 2017 (which ended on September 30, decision, Idle Free Sys., Inc. v. Bergstrom, Inc.1 at the Patent Office. The 2017). The first thing this study revealed is that In Idle Free, the PTAB indicated that the burden goal was to expeditiously motions to amend were filed in only 275 out is on the patent owner to show “a patentable resolve issues of patent of 2,766 completed trials, or 10%. The Board distinction over the prior art of record and also validity in response to the counted a trial as “completed” when it was prior art known to the patent owner.”2 The public outcry that validity terminated due to settlement, when there was Board subsequently relaxed the patent owner’s challenges in the federal courts were too a request for adverse judgement, when it was burden in MasterImage 3D, Inc. v. -
When Will Someone Bring the Future Forward Faster?
B:16.625” T:16.375” S:15.625” B:10.75” T:10.5” S:10” When will someone bring the future forward faster? We started by connecting the phone to the Internet, now we’re connecting the Internet to everything. By inventing technologies that connect your car, your home, and the cities in which we all live, we’re accelerating a smarter, more seamless and intuitively synchronized world. We are Qualcomm, and these are just a few of the ways we’re bringing the future forward faster. #WhyWait to join the discussion Qualcomm.com/WhyWait © 2016 Qualcomm Incorporated. Qualcomm is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries. Why Wait is a trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated. Untitled-2 2 11/30/15 2:26 PM D22648_1a_P56191 Brain_MIT-Tech-Review_DEC_m3.indd D22648c01A_Brain_Blue_3u.tif 11.23.15 Epson HP Client: QUALCOMM Document: P56191 Brain_MIT-Tech-Review_DEC_m3.indd Date: 11-20-2015 4:01 PM Notes: December Job No.: P56191 DDB Office: San Francisco Trim: 16.375” x 10.5” Description: MIT TECH REVIEW 1 Pick-up Job No.: NONE Gutter: None Color(s): 4C Miller, Jason APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC APPROVAL DATE OK/WC B:16.625” T:16.375” S:15.625” B:10.75” T:10.5” S:10” When will someone bring the future forward faster? We started by connecting the phone to the Internet, now we’re connecting the Internet to everything. -
FCJ-156 Hacking the Social: Internet Memes, Identity Antagonism, and the Logic of Lulz
The Fibreculture Journal issn: 1449-1443 DIGITAL MEDIA + NETWORKS + TRANSDISCIPLINARY CRITIQUE issue 22 2013: Trolls and the Negative Space of the Internet FCJ-156 Hacking the Social: Internet Memes, Identity Antagonism, and the Logic of Lulz Ryan M. Milner College of Charleston Abstract: 4chan and reddit are participatory media collectives undergirded by a “logic of lulz” that favours distanced irony and critique. It often works at the expense of core identity categories like race and gender. However, the logic need not be entirely counterproductive to public discourse. Provided that diverse identities find voice instead of exclusion, these sites may facilitate vibrant, agonistic discussion instead of disenfranchising antagonism. In order to assess this potential for productive agonism, I undertook a critical discourse analysis of these collectives. Emphasising the image memes they produce, I evaluated discourses on race and gender. Both race and gender representations were dominated by familiar stereotypes and partial representations. However, while dissenting perspectives on race were repressed or excluded, dissenting perspectives on gender were vocalised and contested. The ‘logic of lulz’ facilitated both dominance and counter, each articulated with heavy reliance on irony and critique. This logic ambiguously balanced agonism and antagonism, but contestation provided sharper engagement than repression. 62 FCJ-156 fibreculturejournal.org Ryan M. Milner ‘A troll exploits social dynamics like computer hackers exploit security loop- holes…’ (Adrian Chen, 2012 October 12) In October 2012, reddit – a popular link aggregation service and public discussion forum – was embroiled in a prominent controversy. Adrian Chen, a journalist for the news site Gawker, had just revealed the ‘offline’ identity of Violentacrez, one of reddit’s ‘most reviled characters but also one if its most beloved users’ (Chen, 2012 October 12).