It’s been a busy week in Facebook-must-answer-to-someone land. I really do feel like the conversation has been elevated by whistleblower Frances Haugen’s testimony before the Senate on Tuesday. I feel strongly that Facebook should be forced to offer an algorithm-free version of its product, as I argued earlier this week. [Keep reading]
Early September always fills me with a strange kind of dread. There’s a flood of horrid memories jumbled together with admiration and wonder for all the love and courage that each 9-11 anniversary churns up. I find the Tribute in Light over the World Trade Center a hauntingly beautiful, irresistible [Keep reading]
Facebook profits from advertisements it knows, or should know, are fraudulent, a federal lawsuit filed in California alleges. The social media giant makes it easy for criminals to target consumers who are not only likely to click on certain kinds of ads, but also likely to follow through with purchases, [Keep reading]
For many decades, economists wandered around in the dark, confused that their elegant formulas about consumer behavior failed again and again. They’d yell at their calculations in dark rooms, frustrated that people didn’t actually move through the world as rational actors, like the data they fed into those formulas. Then [Keep reading]
INTRODUCTION Computer criminals armed with ransomware were able to hold U.S. drivers hostage earlier this month. The Colonial Pipeline attack had such dramatic real-world results that the simmering ransomware crisis has boiled over. It’s impossible to ignore now. But what does that really mean? Ransomware criminals are raking in the [Keep reading]
You live with someone for 50 years. You do everything with them. Eat, sleep, cry, laugh, suffer. Then one day, you’re alone. Just thinking about that void can take your breath away. Now imagine someone steps into that void and manages to …ease the pain, just a little. Anyone would [Keep reading]
Former Florida guardian Rebecca Fierle was arrested last year and charged with aggravated abuse of an elderly person after she signed a do not resuscitate order on behalf of a 75-year-old man in her care — against his will — and he died when his feeding tube was capped. That’s [Keep reading]
Jonathan Walton: So, unpleasant stuff. Mair Smyth: Okay. Jonathan Walton: You’ve been lying to us the whole time about everything Mair Smyth: About what? Jonathan Walton: The whole time. That was a lie. That last four grand you needed that came out of nowhere, that was a lie. You’ve [Keep reading]
Before I get into my pragmatic guide for watching the election results roll in tonight, please take a moment to think about the real star of today’s historic event: The poll worker. There is so much pressure on election staff this year. There’s a deluge of mail-in ballots, there’s demands [Keep reading]
Credit: California Secretary of State’s office Voting by mail is safe – at least as safe as any other way you’ve voted in a U.S. election. It’s hardly new. I voted by mail for years when I lived in Washington State, one of five states that currently have all-mail elections. [Keep reading]
Bob Sullivan