In the digital 21st century, large tech companies shape the decisions we make and the information we consume, in ways that are impossible for the ordinary user to see or understand. The algorithms that determine which information will be shown to which...
States across the country, including Massachusetts, are considering legislation to ban internet service providers (ISPs) from collecting or selling their customers’ sensitive information—like browsing histories—without opt-in user consent. (Take action to support the Massachusetts bill!) But according to Cloudflare, you don’t have to...
Today the Massachusetts Special Senate Committee on Net Neutrality and Consumer Protection meets to discuss critical law reform regarding internet service providers’ (ISPs) use of consumer data. ISPs have access to mountains of personal information including our browsing history, personal and professional...
The Cambridge Analytica and Facebook scandal has woken the United States up to the seedy underbelly of online advertising markets. Unless we take action soon, this problem will only get worse. Thankfully, states like Massachusetts are considering legislation that would protect consumers...
From The Jetsons to Smart House and Star Trek, pop culture tells of our fascination with futuristic technology. So it’s no surprise to see many consumers enamored by Amazon and Google’s electronic home assistants and “smart” appliances. Want to turn off the...
Earlier this week I heard a young computer scientist named Julia Dressel talk about her work examining the accuracy and fairness of the COMPAS tool, a proprietary system courts across the country are using in bail, sentencing, and parole contexts. This revolution...
Legislation recently proposed in the senate would give US and foreign governments unprecedented access to our real-time communications and sensitive personal information stored on the servers of private companies like Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. On February 6th, Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Chris...
The Department of Justice’s research arm, the National Institute for Justice, has announced $2 million in funding for “research to apply advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies to support law enforcement in preventing, responding to, and investigating gang violence, human and drug...
CFPB SCALES BACK EQUIFAX INVESTIGATION AND WARREN SLAMS BACK From Vox: Elizabeth Warren warns Equifax could “wiggle off the hook” for users’ credit data getting hacked On Wednesday, Senator Elizabeth Warren released a report condemning Equifax for a lackluster response to its...
In December 2016, the Boston City Council held a hearing to discuss the Boston Police Department’s plan to spend $1.4 million on a social media surveillance system. Police Superintendent Paul Fitzgerald and Boston Regional Intelligence Center (BRIC) director David Carabin spoke of...