Colleges and banks flaunted new rules meant to protect students from paying excessive bank account fees for prepaid cards loaded with financial aid, and schools that accepted payments from banks were the biggest culprit, according to government research made public today after I filed a Freedom of Information Act. The […]
A friend tells you he only drinks coffee made in a French press. Then, you see someone order a French press at your favorite coffee shop. Next, you’re at Target and you see a display with ornate French Press gadgets for sale. And you conclude: “This French press thing is everywhere! […]
I’ve written many times that consumers have been hacked. Corporations with billion-dollar research budgets have poked and prodded us for decades, exposing every weakness, turning your human nature against you and exploiting that systematically. After reading this excellent Washington Post story about the spread of conspiracy theories online, I worry […]
People really don’t like being judged by machines. A wide majority of Americans say they worry algorithms will treat them unfairly when used to make judgments in crucial circumstances, such as during job interviews, parole proceedings, or financial transactions, according to a new survey released Friday by Pew Research Center. Algorithms […]
When I first approached this topic, I was using instant replay video reviews from sporting events as a METAPHOR. Turns out, I was being far more literal than I realized. Even with slow-mo, zoomed in, frame-by-frame analysis, people can’t agree on what they see from yesterday’s Donald Trump – CNN […]
Today, we’ll begin with Step 1: Long before you step into the voting both, your vote can be hacked. It’s already happened. I’ve written about state-sponsored trolling before, and I think it might be the greatest threat to democracy, and maybe even intelligence itself. Here’s a partial transcript from this part […]
A security hurdle meant to block criminals from stealing PIN codes that secure credit freezes at Experian was easily overcome simply by answering “None of the above” to a series of security questions, according to a report by NerdWallet.com. “Our colleague Liz Weston and several others at NerdWallet this morning were […]
Want your employees or consumers to finish something? Give them a decent head start. It sounds too simple to be true, but it is. People are more likely to complete a task if they are given a jump start at the beginning. This behavioral phenomenon is called “endowed progress.” We all […]
What should computer science students — all college students — learn about the intersection of ethics and technology? @ethicaltechorg, founded by two Duke university students, (I’m an adviser) is crowd sourcing the curriculum for Tech Ethics 101. Thoughts here, or at the link: https://ethical-tech.org/request-for-collaboration/ Algorithms run our lives today. They […]
I’m not really one for anniversary stories — they tend to be pretty artificial news hooks. But one year after what many think is the most significant hack of U.S. consumer data in history, it’s certainly worth taking stock of what’s happened since. For starters, Equifax has increased the amount […]
Bob Sullivan