How Instagram Solved Its Justin Bieber Problem Wired Top Stories by Cade Metz Back in the day, Bieber pics would receive so many “Likes” that they’d crash Instagram. Here’s how they fixed it. Inside the Aaron Swartz Day hackathon Newsweek Columnists: Christopher Dickey by Seung Lee Golden light flooded the room through the tall, stained windows all … Read more
Narcodata, an In-Depth Data Journalism Project That Contextualizes the Drug War in Mexico Global Voices Online Screenshot from Narcodata’s introduction video. The Economist’s anti-ad-blocking tool was hacked and infected readers’ computers Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow Pagefair is an ad-blocking circumvention tool that publishers can use to track readers who’ve taken technological countermeasures to protect their privacy. … Read more
Chelsea Manning’s statement for Aaron Swartz Day 2015 Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow Lisa Rein writes, “Chelsea Manning prepared a statement for this year’s “Aaron Swartz Day Celebration of Hackers and Whistleblowers That Make The World A Better Place” that took place at the Internet Archive, in San Francisco, on November 7th. It’s pretty amazing. (more…) … Read more
How big data and The Sims are helping us to build the cities of the future The Next Web by The Conversation By 2050, the United Nations predicts that around 66 percent of the world’s population will be living in urban areas. It is expected that the greatest expansion will take place in developing regions such … Read more
New book: Participatory Culture in a Networked Era by Henry Jenkins, Mimi Ito, and me! apophenia In 2012, Henry Jenkins approached Mimi Ito and I with a crazy idea that he’d gotten from talking to the folks at Polity. Would we like to sit down and talk through our research and use that as the basis … Read more
Google’s audacious project that scanned millions of books has been declared legal The Next Web by Owen Williams Google Books, a project that involved scanning tens of millions of books to make them available online, was met with resistance from authors around the world. A group of authors sued Google in 2008 claiming that the project violated copyright and … Read more
Ada Lovelace Day: Celebrating the Achievements of Women in Technology EFF.org Updates by Annelyse Gelman Happy Ada Lovelace Day! Please join us in commemorating the life of Ada Lovelace by celebrating the achievements – past and present – of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Snowden for drones: The Intercept’s expose on US drone attacks, … Read more
Where Do Major Tech Companies Stand on Encryption? EFF.org Updates by Amul Kalia Comparing the Public Encryption Policies from 21 of the Biggest Tech Companies There’s a major battle brewing over encryption right now. Law enforcement agencies are trying to demand “backdoors” to our sensitive data and communications, while civil liberties groups are fighting back through … Read more
Nobel Prize in literature goes to journalist from Belarus EurActiv.com Svetlana Alexievich, a Belarussian journalist and dissident writer, won the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday (8 October) “for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time”, the Swedish Academy announced. How the Crowd and Automation Are Shaping Journalism Social Media Today by … Read more
EU top court: NSA spying means US servers are not a fit home for Europeans’ data Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow Historically, US companies have been able to get around the (relatively stringent) European data-protection rules thanks to a “Safe Harbor” agreement between the US and the EU — but Max Schrems, an Austrian privacy activist, … Read more
The US’s Campaign Against Encryption Is Based on Blind Faith in Silicon Valley Stanford Center for Internet and Society by Center for Internet and Society Date published: September 22, 2015 “”The unanimous conclusion—the scientific consensus—in industry, in academia, and even among government experts is that there is a significant security risk associated with facilitating government access … Read more
Internet Society Statement on the 2015 UN Sustainable Development Summit Internet Society – News Headlines Language English Date: Fri, 09/25/2015 Internet Society President and CEO Kathryn Brown issued the following statement: This week, the United Nations is hosting the Sustainable Development Summit (SDS) where the international community will embrace a global agenda to alleviate poverty, … Read more
Survey: 96% of Recruiters Use Social Media to Find High-Quality Candidates All Facebook by Kimberlee Morrison A Few Tips for Blogging Growth Daily Blog Tips Blogging is competitive and if you are new to it, you might face a tough challenge. In order to create a fan base and gather an audience around your blog, you need … Read more
Mapping How Tor’s Anonymity Network Spread Around the World Wired Top Stories by Andy Greenberg Germany has overtaken the US in total nodes, with France, the Netherlands, and Russia coming close behind. First Detailed Public Map of U.S. Internet Backbone Could Make It Stronger MIT Technology Review Researchers dug through public records to uncover the true shape … Read more
EDRi identifies key challenges to freedom of expression online Yeni Medya On 13 November 2014, EDRi met with the European External Action Service (EEAS) for a civil society consultation on the EU Human Rights Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline. The EEAS aims at improving the Guidelines in the future and was seeking input … Read more