I have written on journalism and media trends eariler few years ago. So it is time for update. What is the state of journalism and news publishing in 2017? NiemanLab’s predictions for 2017 are a good place to start thinking about what lies ahead for journalism. There, Matt Waite puts us in our place straight away by telling us that the people running the media are the problem.
There has been changes on tech publishing. In January 2017 International Data Group, the owner of PCWorld magazine and market researcher IDC, on Thursday said it was being acquired by China Oceanwide Holdings Group and IDG Capital, the investment management firm run by IDG China executive Hugo Shong. In 2016 Arrow bought EE Times, EDN, TechOnline and lots more from UBM.
Here are some article links and information bits on journalist and media in 2017:
Soothsayers’ guides to journalism in 2017 article take a look at journalism predictions and the value of this year’s predictions.
What Journalism Needs To Do Post-Election article tells that faced with the growing recognition that the electorate was uniformed or, at minimum, deeply in the thrall of fake news, far too many journalists are responding not with calls for change but by digging in deeper to exactly the kinds of practices that got us here in the first place.
Fake News Is About to Get Even Scarier than You Ever Dreamed article says that what we saw in the 2016 election is nothing compared to what we need to prepare for in 2020 as incipient technologies appear likely to soon obliterate the line between real and fake.
Headlines matter article tells that in 2017, headlines will matter more than ever and journalists will need to wrest control of headline writing from social-optimization teams. People get their news from headlines now in a way they never did in the past.
Why new journalism grads are optimistic about 2017 article tells that since today’s college journalism students have been in school, the forecasts for their futures has been filled with words like “layoffs,” “cutbacks,” “buyouts” and “freelance.” Still many people are optimistic about the future because the main motivation for being a journalist is often “to make a difference.”
Updating social media account can be a serious job. Zuckerberg has 12+ Facebook employees helping him with posts and comments on his Facebook page and professional photographers to snap personal moments.
Wikipedia Is Being Ripped Apart By a Witch Hunt For Secretly Paid Editors article tells that with undisclosed paid editing on the rise, Wikipedians and the Wikimedia Foundation are working together to stop the practice without discouraging user participation. Paid editing is permissible under Wikimedia Foundation’s terms of use as long as they disclose these conflicts of interest on their user pages, but not all paid editors make these disclosures.
Big Internet giants are working on how to make content better for mobile devices. Instant Articles is a new way for any publisher to create fast, interactive articles on Facebook. Google’s AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is a project that it aims to accelerate content on mobile devices. Both of those systems have their advantages and problems.
Clearing Out the App Stores: Government Censorship Made Easier article tells that there’s a new form of digital censorship sweeping the globe, and it could be the start of something devastating. The centralization of the internet via app stores has made government censorship easier. If the app isn’t in a country’s app store, it effectively doesn’t exist. For more than a decade, we users of digital devices have actively championed an online infrastructure that now looks uniquely vulnerable to the sanctions of despots and others who seek to control information.
2,356 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Theodore Schleifer / Recode:
Telegram, citing ToS, suspends public channel that incited violent anti-government protests in Iran; Telegram is a major platform with ~40M users in Iran — “There are lines one shouldn’t cross,” says the CEO of the popular messaging app. — The executives of Telegram …
Telegram is shutting down a channel that called for violent protests against Iran’s government
“There are lines one shouldn’t cross,” says the CEO of the popular messaging app.
https://www.recode.net/2017/12/30/16833542/telegram-iran-demostrations-messaging-protests-pavel-durov
The executives of Telegram, the widely used messaging app in Iran, are heeding calls from Iranian government officials to better police Telegram’s users as rallies in support and protest of the government sweep the country.
Telegram is a major platform for information in Iran and counts more than 40 million users among the country’s 80 million people. And it has played an especially key role in this week’s anti-government protests against Ayatollah Khamenei. Counter-rallies supporting the government also emerged on Saturday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hiroko Tabuchi / New York Times:
Groups skeptical of climate change are gaming Google’s largely automated ad systems to promote misleading claims that reject established climate science
How Climate Change Deniers
Rise to the Top in Google Searches
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/climate/google-search-climate-change.html
Groups that reject established climate science can use the search
engine’s advertising business to their advantage, gaming the
system to find a mass platform for false or misleading claims.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alex Hern / The Guardian:
The chair of UK’s fake news inquiry committee has given Facebook and Twitter until January 18 to hand over info about Russian disinformation campaigns
Facebook and Twitter threatened with sanctions in UK ‘fake news’ inquiry
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/dec/28/facebook-and-twitter-threatened-with-sanctions-in-uk-fake-news-inquiry
Chair of parliamentary committee gives firms a deadline to hand over information about Russian misinformation campaigns
Tomi Engdahl says:
BBC:
Germany starts enforcing law under which social networks will face fines of up to €50M if they fail to remove hate speech, fake news, and illegal material
Germany starts enforcing hate speech law
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42510868?ocid=socialflow_twitter
Germany is set to start enforcing a law that demands social media sites move quickly to remove hate speech, fake news and illegal material.
Sites that do not remove “obviously illegal” posts could face fines of up to 50m euro (£44.3m).
The law gives the networks 24 hours to act after they have been told about law-breaking material.
Social networks and media sites with more than two million members will fall under the law’s provisions.
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will be the law’s main focus but it is also likely to be applied to Reddit, Tumblr and Russian social network VK. Other sites such as Vimeo and Flickr could also be caught up in its provisions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ProPublica:
Study shows Facebook’s hate speech rules are unevenly enforced, with the company agreeing its censors made mistakes on 22 of 49 posts submitted for explanation
Facebook’s Uneven Enforcement of Hate Speech Rules Allows Vile Posts to Stay Up
https://www.propublica.org/article/facebook-enforcement-hate-speech-rules-mistakes
We asked Facebook about its handling of 49 posts that might be deemed offensive. The company acknowledged that its content reviewers had made the wrong call on 22 of them.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hiroko Tabuchi / New York Times:
Groups skeptical of climate change are gaming Google’s largely automated ad systems to promote misleading claims that reject established climate science — Groups that reject established climate science can use the search engine’s advertising business to their advantage …
How Climate Change Deniers Rise to the Top in Google Searches
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/climate/google-search-climate-change.html
Groups that reject established climate science can use the search engine’s advertising business to their advantage, gaming the system to find a mass platform for false or misleading claims.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kaitlyn Tiffany / The Verge:
Niche online communities and media grew in 2017, through Patreon, TinyLetter, “finstagrams”, and more as people looked for alternatives to Facebook and Twitter — Why tiny, weird online communities made a comeback in 2017 — Americans got tired of big social media in 2017.
The year we wanted the internet to be smaller
https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/28/16795090/internet-community-2017-post-mortem-tumblr-amino-drip-tinyletter
Why tiny, weird online communities made a comeback in 2017
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Logan Paul Video Should Be a Reckoning For YouTube
https://www.wired.com/story/logan-paul-video-youtube-reckoning/
By the time Logan Paul arrived at Aokigahara forest, colloquially known as Japan’s “suicide forest,” the YouTube star had already confused Mount Fuji with the country Fiji. His over 15 million (mostly underage) subscribers like this sort of comedic aloofness—it serves to make Paul more relatable.
After hiking only a couple hundred yards into Aokigahara—where over 247 people attempted to take their own lives in 2010 alone,
“Did we just find a dead person in the suicide forest?” Paul said to the camera. “This was supposed to be a fun vlog.” He went on to make several jokes about the victim, while wearing a large, fluffy green hat.
Within a day, over 6.5 million people had viewed the footage, and Twitter flooded with outrage. Even though the video violated YouTube’s community standards, it was Paul in the end who deleted it.
“I should have never posted the video, I should have put the cameras down,” Paul said in a video posted Tuesday, which followed an earlier written apology. “I’ve made a huge mistake, I don’t expect to be forgiven.” He didn’t respond to two follow-up requests for comment.
YouTube, which failed to do anything about Paul’s video, has now found itself wrapped in another controversy over how and when it should police offensive and disturbing content on its platform
Tomi Engdahl says:
Twitter:
Twitter says it does not block or remove controversial tweets of world leaders because it would hide important information people should see and debate — There’s been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on Twitter, and we want to share our stance.
World Leaders on Twitter
https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/company/2017/world-leaders-and-twitter.html
There’s been a lot of discussion about political figures and world leaders on Twitter, and we want to share our stance.
Twitter is here to serve and help advance the global, public conversation. Elected world leaders play a critical role in that conversation because of their outsized impact on our society.
Blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate. It would also not silence that leader, but it would certainly hamper necessary discussion around their words and actions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lucia Moses / Digiday:
A year after launch, Facebook Journalism Project gets mixed reviews for developing products with news outlets, providing training, and helping to curb hoaxes
One year in, Facebook Journalism Project gets mixed reviews from publishers
https://digiday.com/media/one-year-facebook-journalism-project-gets-mixed-reviews-publishers/
A year ago, Facebook launched its Facebook Journalism Project. Led by Campbell Brown, the ex-NBC News anchor who was Facebook’s new head of news partnerships, the project was a high-profile effort to smooth relations with prominent news publishers. Facebook was getting blasted for the spread of fake news, contributing to filter bubbles and doing too little to help publishers make money on the platform.
The challenge inherent in such a project is that publishers aren’t a monolithic group. They have a variety of different business models and want different things from Facebook.
But there has been a lot of talk, not much action. Critics say the initiative hasn’t delivered in meaningful ways and is a public relations exercise aimed at placating publisher critics more than anything. For all the nice lunches, the power still lies with Facebook.
Politics and business publisher Axios mainly uses Facebook for audience reach and not for monetization, so the project has “met my expectations” for more transparency about Facebook products
“Do we have more control and say over what kinds of product they create?” Tucker said. “I’m not sure. But at least we get to get our voice into some part of the discussion.”
In announcing the project, Facebook said it would in work three ways. The first was developing products with news organizations, including improving Instant Articles, Facebook’s fast-loading article format; and launching a subscription product. The second was providing training and tools for journalists, including social analytics tool CrowdTangle. The third part of the project was curbing news hoaxes and doing other things to inform readers about separating fact from fiction.
“The Facebook Journalism Project has transformed the way we work internally and with the news industry,” Brown said in a statement. “We learned a great deal from our partners over the past year, and together we made significant strides in areas like increasing monetization and support for subscriptions, improving brand recognition for publishers and news literacy, and investing in training programs and tools like data insights. At the same time, Facebook has taken huge steps to fight false news, clickbait, and sensationalism. This coming year, FJP’s goal is to keep elevating the good and to make sure that quality journalism thrives on Facebook. We know there is more work to do, and we’re committed to it.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Happy New Year- Welcome to Linux Journal 2.0!
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/happy-new-year-linux-journal-alive
Talk about a Happy New Year. The reason: it turns out we’re not dead. In fact, we’re more alive than ever, thanks to a rescue by readers—specifically, by the hackers who run Private Internet Access (PIA) VPN, a London Trust Media company. PIA are avid supporters of freenode and the larger FOSS community. They’re also all about Linux and the rest of the modern portfolio of allied concerns: privacy, crypto, freedom, personal agency, rewriting the rules of business and government around all of those, and having fun with constructive hacking of all kinds. We couldn’t have asked for a better rescue ship to come along for us.
In addition, they aren’t merely rescuing this ship we were ready to scuttle; they’re making it seaworthy again and are committed to making it bigger and better than we were ever in a position to think about during our entirely self-funded past.
First, the PIA people are hard-core Linux, free software and open-source hackers. They are just as committed to FOSS values as Phil Hughes was when he published the first issue of Linux Journal in April 1994
Second, they’re eager to support us in building Linux Journal 2.0 around the substantial core of devoted readers we had through the many years of Linux Journal 1.x. And, this means we need to hear from you.
Third, expect to see familiar names and faces continuing to work here.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Let’s talk advertising
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/lets-talk-advertising?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+linuxjournalcom+%28Linux+Journal+-+The+Original+Magazine+of+the+Linux+Community%29
As I say here,
“Adtech is a cancer on advertisers, publishers, and everybody it tracks.
We already have one form of chemo in ad blocking. According to PageFair’s 2017 Adblock Report, at least 11% of the world’s population is now blocking ads on at least 615 million devices. According to GlobalWebIndex, 37% of all mobile users, worldwide, were blocking ads by January of 2016, and another 42% would like to. With more than 4.77 billion mobile phone users in the world by 2017, that means more than 1.7 billion people are blocking ads already: a sum exceeding the population of the Western Hemisphere.
Speaking personally, the one form of advertising I might be willing to bring back is sponsorship.
One of our first jobs, once we get our Drupal act together, is figuring out a way to do comments without Disqus, which is the main source of tracking files on our site.
Tomi Engdahl says:
No Level of Copyright Enforcement Will Ever Be Enough For Big Media
https://torrentfreak.com/no-level-of-copyright-enforcement-will-ever-be-enough-for-big-media-180107/
On an almost continual basis rightsholders are calling for tougher anti-piracy measures on top of more restrictive and punitive copyright law. It’s undoubtedly a threat to current Internet freedoms as we know them. But really, is anyone truly surprised that entertainment companies still hate their content being shared for free?
Then peer-to-peer came along and it sparked a revolution.
From the beginning, copyright holders felt that the law would answer their problems, whether that was by suing Napster, Kazaa, or even end users. Some industry players genuinely believed this strategy was just a few steps away from achieving its goals. Just a little bit more pressure and all would be under control.
Ever since, this cycle has continued. Eager to stem the tide of content being shared without their permission, rightsholders have advocated stronger anti-piracy enforcement and lobbied for more restrictive interpretations of copyright law. Thus far, however, literally nothing has provided a solution.
One would have thought that given the military-style raid on Kim Dotcom’s Megaupload, a huge void would’ve appeared in the sharing landscape. Instead, the file-locker business took itself apart and reinvented itself in jurisdictions outside the United States.
With the SOPA debacle still fresh in relatively recent memory, copyright holders are still doggedly pursuing their aims. Site-blocking is rampant, advertisers are being pressured into compliance, and ISPs like Cox Communications now find themselves responsible for the infringements of their users. But has any of this caused any fatal damage to the sharing landscape? Not really.
Instead, we’re seeing a rise in the use of streaming sites, each far more accessible to the newcomer than their predecessors and vastly more difficult for copyright holders to police.
Systems built into Kodi are transforming these platforms into a plug-and-play piracy playground
Faced with problems like these we are now seeing calls for even tougher legislation. While groups like the RIAA dream of filtering the Internet, over in the UK a 2017 consultation had copyright holders excited that end users could be criminalized for simply consuming infringing content, let alone distributing it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pirate Bay Founder: Netflix and Spotify Are a Threat, No Solution
https://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-netflix-and-spotify-are-a-threat-no-solution-180107/
Pirate Bay founder and former spokesperson Peter Sunde believes that piracy will decrease over time. However, people won’t be better off when online media distribution is in the hands of the powerful few. “Netflix, Spotify etc are not a solution, but a loss,” he says.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Field Guide to “Fake News” and Other Information
https://fakenews.publicdatalab.org
Disorders explores the use of digital methods to study false viral news, political memes, trolling practices and their social life online.
It responds to an increasing demand for understanding the interplay between digital platforms, misleading information, propaganda and viral content practices, and their influence on politics and public life in democratic societies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ripple, a Tinder spinoff backed by Match, launches app for professional networking
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/08/ripple-a-tinder-spinoff-backed-by-match-launches-app-for-professional-networking/?ncid=rss&utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook
A team of former Tinder employees, led by Tinder’s original CTO Ryan Ogle, are today launching a new app aimed at professional networking. The app, called Ripple, aims to be a sort of mobile-first alternative to LinkedIn that addresses some of the problems common to the aging, now Microsoft-owned business networking platform.
https://rippleapp.com
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Zuckerberg says News Feed will focus on what friends share, de-emphasize content from publishers and brands as it moves to favor interactions over passive posts
http://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/11/technology/facebook-news-feed.html
Jason Koebler / Motherboard:
Facebook’s News Feed changes are good for media industry in the long term; journalism engineered to be picked by an algorithm is not journalism, it’s marketing — Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the New York Times that the social network will revamp its news feed to emphasize …
Facebook Is Deprioritizing Our Stories. Good.
A society that relies on a centralized portal to get its news may very well be doomed.
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/zmqgn4/facebook-algorithm-news-feed-change
Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the New York Times that the social network will revamp its news feed to emphasize “meaningful interaction” between friends and family. As a result, the news feed will significantly decrease the number of posts you’ll see from news outlets such as Motherboard.
Thursday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the New York Times that the social network will revamp its news feed to emphasize “meaningful interaction” between friends and family. As a result, the news feed will significantly decrease the number of posts you’ll see from news outlets such as Motherboard.
Good.
This move has been long-rumored, and has been looked at by many in the industry as an incoming algorithmic apocalypse that will have far-reaching impacts on the bottom lines and ultimate survival of outlets whose readers find them through Facebook. But my hope is that we’ll come out of this with a healthier news media.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook stock dips after the platform deprioritizes publishers
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/12/facebook-stock-news-feed-change-january-2018/?ncid=rss&utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&sr_share=facebook
Facebook shares fell around 5 percent on Friday following the news that the company would retool its News Feed to boost social interactions over stories from publishers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ECJ to rule on whether Facebook needs to hunt for hate speech
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/11/ecj-to-rule-on-whether-facebook-needs-to-hunt-for-hate-speech/
Austria’s Supreme Court is referring a legal challenge over the extent of Facebook’s responsibility to remove hate speech postings to Europe’s top court for an opinion (via derStandard.at). The case has clear implications for freedom of speech online.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Europe keeps up the pressure on social media over illegal content takedowns
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/09/europe-keeps-up-the-pressure-on-social-media-over-illegal-content-takedowns/
The European Union’s executive body is continuing to pressure social media firms to get better at removing illegal content from their platforms before it has a chance to spread further online.
After attending a meeting on the topic today, Andrus Ansip, the European Commissioner for Digital Single Market, tweeted to say the main areas tech firms need to be addressing are that “takedown should be fast, reliable, effective; pro-activity to detect, remove and disable content using automatic detection and filtering; adequate safeguards and counter notice”
For example, a new social media hate speech law in Germany, which as of this month is being actively enforced, has already draw criticism
Another problematic aspect to the Commission’s push is it appears keen to bundle up a very wide spectrum of ‘illegal content’ into the same response category — apparently aiming to conflate issues as diverse as hate speech, terrorism, child exploitation and copyrighted content.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is this fake news or truth on fake news?
The Highly-Anticipated 2017 Fake News Awards
https://gop.com/the-highly-anticipated-2017-fake-news-awards/
2017 was a year of unrelenting bias, unfair news coverage, and even downright fake news. Studies have shown that over 90% of the media’s coverage of President Trump is negative.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux Journal 2.0 Progress Report
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/linux-journal-20-progress-report?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+linuxjournalcom+%28Linux+Journal+-+The+Original+Magazine+of+the+Linux+Community%29
Tomi Engdahl says:
Katie Collins / CNET:
EU says social networks remove 70% of hate speech, up from 59% in May, review 81% of reported content within 24 hours; Instagram and Google+ join the initiative
Instagram joins EU fight against illegal online hate speech
https://www.cnet.com/news/instagram-joins-eu-fight-against-illegal-online-hate-speech/
Social networks have made dramatic improvements when it comes to removing illegal content from their platforms, says the European Commission.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alexis C. Madrigal / The Atlantic:
Facebook should explain how it will design surveys ranking trust in news sources, whether media can contest rank, whether user ideologies will be a factor, more — Mark Zuckerberg announced Friday that Facebook will begin surveying users about which news sources they trust, in an effort to rank publications on “trustworthiness.”
5 Questions About Facebook’s Plan to Rate Media by ‘Trustworthiness’
What could go wrong?
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/01/facebook-media-trustworthiness/551045/
Mark Zuckerberg announced Friday that Facebook will begin surveying users about which news sources they trust, in an effort to rank publications on “trustworthiness.” This rating will help determine media companies’ placement in the News Feed, thereby materially changing the traffic that their stories receive.
Given that the implementation of these surveys will change which news brands prosper, this is a very limited explanation of how this all might work. One thing we know for sure: Facebook has decided that, at an institutional level, it will not create an editorial process for rating these publications.
The approach raises many important questions about the implementation of the new policy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Simon van Zuylen-Wood / New York Magazine:
Profile of Glenn Greenwald, who is consistently skeptical of Trump-Russia ties and DC power structures, and who now positions himself as a fierce media critic — It’s 10:45 p.m. Rio de Janeiro time. Glenn Greenwald and I are finishing dinner at a deserted bistro in Ipanema.
Does This Man Know More Than Robert Mueller?
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/glenn-greenwald-russia-investigation.html
Glenn Greenwald’s war on the Russia investigation.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Twitter:
Twitter to email 670K+ US users who interacted with tweets from Russia’s Internet Research Agency, found 50K+ Russia-linked bots tweeting election content — When we appeared before the United States Congress last fall, Twitter publicly committed to regularly updating both congressional committees …
Update on Twitter’s Review of the 2016 U.S. Election
https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/company/2018/2016-election-update.html
When we appeared before the United States Congress last fall, Twitter publicly committed to regularly updating both congressional committees and the public on findings from our ongoing review into events surrounding the 2016 U.S. election.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Taylor Lorenz / The Atlantic:
Inside the lives of social media stars’ parents who are mastering new platforms, dealing with shady agents, and focused on the physical safety of their kids — When then-14-year-old Jonas Bridges ran down the stairs of his Atlanta home shouting, “Dad, I’ve got 1,000 fans!” his father, Rob Bridges, hardly took notice.
Raising a Social-Media Star
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/01/raising-a-social-media-star/550418/
The parents of teen internet celebrities get a crash course in a new kind of fame while trying to maintain boundaries for their newly rich and powerful children.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Boing Boing:
Boing Boing and EFF file a motion to dismiss Playboy lawsuit that would set a dangerous precedent by making publications liable for linked content
Playboy is suing Boing Boing – but linking is not copyright infringement
https://boingboing.net/2018/01/18/playboy-is-suing-boing-boing.html
Playboy’s lawsuit is based on an imaginary (and dangerous) version of US copyright law that bears no connection to any US statute or precedent. Playboy — once legendary champions for the First Amendment — now advances a fringe copyright theory: that it is illegal to link to things other people have posted on the web, on pain of millions in damages — the kinds of sums that would put us (and every other small publisher in America) out of business.
Rather than pursuing the individual who created the allegedly infringing archive, Playboy is pursuing a news site for pointing out the archive’s value as a historical document. In so doing, Playboy is seeking to change the legal system so that deep-pocketed opponents of journalism can shut down media organizations that displease them. It’s a law that they could never get from Congress, but which they hope the courts will conjure into existence by wiping us off the net.
It’s not just independent publishers who rely on the current state of copyright law, either. Major media outlets (like Playboy!) routinely link and embed media, without having to pay a lawyer to research the copyright status of something someone else posted, before discussing, explaining or criticizing it.
The world can’t afford a judgment against us in this case — it would end the web as we know it
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dan Sabbagh / The Guardian:
Four phone hacking cases against Murdoch’s The Sun and News of the World were settled just ahead of trial; another 47 cases remain in the pipeline
Phone-hacking cases against Murdoch papers settled at last minute
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jan/18/phone-hacking-cases-against-murdoch-papers-settled-at-last-minute
Confidential settlement of cases against Sun and News of the World raises difficult issues for future hacking cases, judge says
Tomi Engdahl says:
Daniel Funke / Poynter:
Google suspends Reviewed Claims fact-checking feature after criticism from conservative news outlets over erroneous link debunking a Daily Caller story
Google suspends fact-checking feature over quality concerns
https://www.poynter.org/news/google-suspends-fact-checking-feature-over-quality-concerns
Google is suspending a search feature that displayed fact checks associated to publishers after receiving criticism from conservative news outlets.
“We launched the reviewed claims feature in our Knowledge Panel at the end of last year as an experiment with the aim of helping people quickly learn more about news publications,” a Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Poynter. “We said previously that we encountered challenges in our systems that maps fact checks to publishers, and on further examination it’s clear that we are unable to deliver the quality we’d like for users.”
A spokesperson for Google further clarified to Poynter on Friday that the tech company isn’t ending its fact-checking efforts altogether — just the Reviewed Claims section of its Knowledge Panel feature.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed:
Sources: YouTube plans to create Intelligence Desk to seek out inappropriate content using Google data, user reports, social media trends, outside consultants
YouTube Is Assembling New Teams To Spot Inappropriate Content Early
https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexkantrowitz/youtube-intelligence-desk-will-spot-inappropriate-content?utm_term=.pdYLzkYPP#.dfqOempPP
Following a series of scandals and advertiser boycotts, YouTube is taking a more proactive approach to hateful and offensive content.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet giants removing 70 per cent of reported hate speech, crows European Commission
But we might still drum up some new regs, so keep it up
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/19/hate_speech_facebook_eu_takedown_report/
Tech firms are removing more hate speech faster than before – so now EU lawmakers want them to improve their feedback to users.
According to the European Commission’s latest review of the big four internet firms’ action against illegal content online, the removal rate is, on average, 70 per cent of content reported.
That’s an increase from the last assessment, carried out in May 2017, where the removal rate was 59 per cent, and a big boost from the first such report, in 2016, when it was 28 per cent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook’s Latest Fix for Fake News: Ask Users What They Trust
https://www.wired.com/story/facebooks-latest-fix-for-fake-news-ask-users-what-they-trust
Mark Zuckerberg promised to spend 2018 fixing Facebook. Last week, he addressed Facebook making you feel bad. Now he’s onto fake news.
Late Friday, Facebook buried another major announcement at the end of the week: How to make sure that users see high-quality news on Facebook. Facebook’s solution? Let its users decide what to trust.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Algorithms take power – dominate people’s thoughts and feelings
The working group on the possibilities of online voting is not in favor of introducing online voting in Finland due to the associated security problems.
“Being influenced by various cyber means has become a new standard. The most important thing is to look at the whole, no matter what the vote. There may be many forms of influence, “says Professor Jarno Limnéll of Aalto University’s cyber safety. He participated in the work of the working group.
It is a good thing for a social discussion on this subject.
Elections are, according to Limnéll, a critical infrastructure for democracy and society. Therefore, we should try to prepare for a new kind of tools that have not yet been seen.
The growing influence of algorithms and their opacity are, according to Limnéll, a growing challenge. The digital environment can influence people’s opinions and behavior.
“I believe that, in the coming years, we will have a greater need for understanding the impact of our democracy on the security of society. I see that more and more algorithms use power. The one who controls them is increasingly dominating our thoughts and feelings. I believe that the most significant cyberattacks are happening to people’s minds. ”
Along with big data, Limnéll sees algorithms and profiling as the biggest threat to democracy, as they can unequal people in an unprecedented way. Particularly concerned is the growth in individually tailored content of social media. Especially effective, they seem to spread news that is untrue.
Source: https://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/algoritmit-ottavat-vallan-hallitsevat-ihmisten-ajatuksia-ja-tunteita-6697454
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rupert Murdoch wants Facebook to pay for the news
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/22/rupert-murdoch-wants-facebook-to-pay-for-the-news/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook
Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of News Corporation, today issued a statement calling for Facebook and Google to subsidize the news traveling through their platforms.
In the statement, Murdoch calls on Facebook to pay a carriage fee, as cable companies do with pay TV, to trusted publishers that are posting their content on the social media platform
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jason Horowitz / New York Times:
Pope Francis condemns “fake news”, praises journalists as “protectors of news”, and lauds educational efforts aimed at helping people recognize misinformation — ROME — The serpent in the Garden of Eden hissed the first fake news to Eve and it all went downhill from there …
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/us/politics/pope-francis-fake-news.html?mtrref=undefined&gwh=18073F155C13C3022C7E9EB69B4ED526&gwt=pay
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / Motherboard:
Profile of Harlo Holmes, an activist developer who helps journalists learn to use the anonymous whistleblower platform SecureDrop and how to stay safe online — A couple of years ago, a journalist that used SecureDrop, the WikiLeaks-style submission system that allows sources …
The Activist Developer Who Helps Journalists Protect Data and Sources
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/3k5w98/the-activist-developer-who-helps-journalists-protect-data-and-sources
Harlo Holmes helps journalists learn how to use the anonymous whistleblower platform SecureDrop and how to stay safe online.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The tricks propagandists use to beat science
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610012/the-tricks-propagandists-use-to-beat-science/
A model of the way opinions spread reveals how propagandists use the scientific process against itself to secretly influence policy makers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Everybody lies: how Google search reveals our darkest secrets
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/09/everybody-lies-how-google-reveals-darkest-secrets-seth-stephens-davidowitz?CMP=share_btn_fb
What can we learn about ourselves from the things we ask online? US data scientist Seth Stephens‑Davidowitz analysed anonymous Google search results, uncovering disturbing truths about our desires, beliefs and prejudices
Tomi Engdahl says:
George Soros: Google and Facebook ‘Deliberately Engineer Addiction’
http://fortune.com/2018/01/25/george-soros-google-facebook/
George Soros said Facebook Inc. and Google are almost monopolies and have purposely fostered addiction among users.
“They deliberately engineer addiction to the services they provide,” Soros said in a speech in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday. “This can be very harmful, particularly for adolescents.”
Soros compared the internet platforms to gambling companies, and said they may be permanently damaging human attention. Overseas, Soros said he’s concerned that some social media and technology companies may fall into “unholy marriages” with regimes in Russia and China, creating a “web of totalitarian control.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Memes Have Rights Too’: Grumpy Cat Wins $710,000 In Copyright Lawsuit
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/18/01/24/2131221/memes-have-rights-too-grumpy-cat-wins-710000-in-copyright-lawsuit
The Grumpy Cat Limited company was awarded $710,001 in damages on Monday when a California jury decided that the beverage company Grenade was guilty of infringing on its copyright and trademark. Grumpy Cat Limited, formed by Tabatha Bundesen to monetize the viral fame of her sour-faced cat (real name, Tardar Sauce), sued Grenade in 2015, claiming the company used the cat’s image on several of its products, despite only having the rights to sell a line of iced coffees called “Grumpy Cat Grumppuccino.”
Grumpy Cat Wins $710,001 in Copyright Lawsuit: ‘Memes Have Rights Too’
Internet-famous cat wins lawsuit against beverage company Grenade
https://www.thewrap.com/grumpy-cat-wins-710001-in-copyright-lawsuit-memes-have-rights-too/
Tomi Engdahl says:
New York Times:
How Devumi uses its 3.5M+ automated Twitter accounts, sometimes based on stolen social identities, to sell followers and retweets to 200K+ customers — Everyone wants to be popular online. — Some even pay for it. — Inside social media’s black market.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/01/27/technology/100000005704904.app.html?mtrref=undefined&gwh=ED101CFA2C44A05E6D7BAB5211DDD503&gwt=pay
Tomi Engdahl says:
Social media is giving us trypophobia
https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/27/social-media-is-giving-us-trypophobia/?ncid=rss&utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook
ething is rotten in the state of technology.
But amid all the hand-wringing over fake news, the cries of election deforming Kremlin disinformation plots, the calls from political podia for tech giants to locate a social conscience, a knottier realization is taking shape.
Fake news and disinformation are just a few of the symptoms of what’s wrong and what’s rotten. The problem with platform giants is something far more fundamental.
The problem is these vastly powerful algorithmic engines are blackboxes.
The great lie of social media has been to claim it shows us the world. And their follow-on deception: That their technology products bring us closer together.
In truth, social media is not a telescopic lens — as the telephone actually was — but an opinion-fracturing prism that shatters social cohesion
Social media is not connective tissue but engineered segmentation
Think about it, it’s a trypophobic’s nightmare.
Or the panopticon in reverse — each user bricked into an individual cell that’s surveilled from the platform controller’s tinted glass tower.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed:
Researchers say publisher of Newsweek and IBTimes used fraudulent methods to inflate traffic to get ad deals; company acknowledges buying traffic, denies fraud — Several of Newsweek Media Group’s business websites are buying and manipulating traffic that originates on pirated video streaming sites.
The Publisher of Newsweek And The International Business Times Has Been Buying Traffic And Engaging In Ad Fraud
https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/the-publisher-of-newsweek-and-the-international-business
Several of Newsweek Media Group’s business websites are buying and manipulating traffic that originates on pirated video streaming sites. The company acknowledged buying traffic, but denies engaging in ad fraud.
The publisher of Newsweek and the International Business Times has been engaging in fraudulent online traffic practices that helped it secure a major ad buy from a US government agency, according to a new report released today by independent ad fraud researchers.
IBTimes.com, the publisher’s US business site, last year won a significant portion of a large video and display advertising campaign for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency. Social Puncher, a consulting firm that investigates online ad fraud, alleges in its report that the ads were displayed to an audience on IBTimes.com that includes a significant amount of “cheap junk traffic with a share of bots.”
A CFPB spokesperson told BuzzFeed News the bureau is looking into the allegations raised in Social Puncher’s report.
A source familiar with the campaign said that sites were selected based on data obtained from a third party audience measurement and media planning platform.
“We use third-party platforms to verify and filter this traffic to ensure it is of the highest quality. This verification process prevents poor-quality traffic being redirected to our sites and we consistently score highly on various third-party ad verification platforms,” the company said.
Even with its recent history of turmoil, IBT managed to land a big slice of a lucrative US federal government ad buy last year.
Beginning in early 2017, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau spent millions on digital display and video ads that aimed to educate consumers about their rights when it comes to college tuition and home loans. This money was placed directly on a select group of websites, and not programmatically via an ad exchange.
The CFPB was created with the dual mandate of educating consumers about their rights with regard to the financial industry, as well as to hold the industry accountable via investigations and other action.
Along with referrals from pirate streaming sites, Pixalate told BuzzFeed News that data collected on IBT’s sites so far this month show that “roughly 40%” of the traffic coming via referrals from YouTube and LinkedIn is in fact the result of redirect chains.
“Note that this does not mean that YouTube, LinkedIn, etc. are ‘in on’ anything — it simply suggests that their sites are likely often used in the redirect loop meant to scrub the original referral (a pop-under ad),” said the Pixalate statement. “Traffic coming from YouTube appears to advertisers as more legitimate than traffic coming from a pop-under ad.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Eric Johnson / Recode:
Wired launches a metered paywall with five free articles per month, followed by a $20 annual subscription fee — Wired’s wall goes up today: Four free clicks, then $20 a year. — Starting today at 9 am ET, Wired.com will have a paywall — although infrequent visitors might not notice it right away.
Paywalls make content better, Wired editor Nick Thompson says
Wired’s wall goes up today: Four free clicks, then $20 a year.
https://www.recode.net/2018/2/1/16957324/wired-paywall-nick-thompson-magazine-advertising-subscription-peter-kafka-recode-media-podcast
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook moderator: I had to be prepared to see anything
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42920554
“It’s mostly pornography,” says Sarah Katz, recalling her eight-month stint working as a Facebook moderator.
“The agency was very upfront about what type of content we would be seeing, in terms of how graphic it was, so we weren’t left in the dark.”
In 2016, Sarah was one of hundreds of human moderators working for a third-party agency in California.
Her job was to review complaints of inappropriate content, as flagged by Facebook’s users.
“They capped us on spending about one minute per post to decide whether it was spam and whether to remove the content,” she said.
“Sometimes we would also remove the associated account.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brainjunk and the killing of the internet mind
https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/07/brainjunk-and-the-killing-of-the-internet-mind/?ncid=rss&utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&sr_share=facebook
The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Food Rules, summarized his philosophy of eating quite simply. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
So let me propose a little framework: “Enjoy content. Not too much. Mostly paid”.
I was thinking about this brainjunk challenge as the world has burned down this week at two of America’s most storied publications.
On Monday, we learned that Newsweek fired its editor-in-chief and executive editor, along with Celeste Katz
Meanwhile in Southern California, we have witnessed the complete breakdown of the Los Angeles Times
If old soldiers don’t die and just fade away, then media companies are pretty much the opposite: they die, and they die in spectacular, political fashion.
It is the deep irony of our times that readers, often deeply educated, will shell out $30 for a meal in New York or San Francisco while paying thousands in rent, only to avoid paying a few bucks a month for a publication, let alone ten. The monthly price for the New York Times is the price of a single cocktail these days in Manhattan.
The bulk of my friends don’t pay for subscriptions. The bulk of the internet doesn’t pay for subscriptions. People will gladly spend hours a day reading brainjunk, to avoid even the slightest expense that might improve the quality of what they are reading. And so, even storied publications are going to fall by the wayside so we can read about “7 Tips on How To Improve Media.”
If you want to consume McDonald’s, be my guest. If you want to read whatever LinkedIn calls news, go right ahead. But if you actually want to learn, to improve your mind, to improve your awareness and understanding of the world, you have to shell out. Start paying.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How to Take Back Your Facebook News Feed
https://www.wired.com/story/take-back-your-facebook-news-feed
In December, Facebook announced yet another tweak to the News Feed. This time, the social network would begin prioritizing “meaningful” conversations between friends and family over stories from publishers, brands, and businesses. If this all sounds familiar to you, that’s because Facebook has made a number of similar changes in the past.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook Hired a Full-Time Pollster To Monitor Zuckerberg’s Approval Ratings
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/18/02/06/2340221/facebook-hired-a-full-time-pollster-to-monitor-zuckerbergs-approval-ratings
According to The Verge, Facebook hired a full-time pollster to track Mark Zuckerberg’s approval ratings last year as the young CEO was making his 50-state tour across the country. The pollster, Tavis McGinn, reportedly “decided to leave the company after only six months after coming to believe that Facebook had a negative effect on the world.”
Facebook hired a full-time pollster to monitor Zuckerberg’s approval ratings
Why Tavis McGinn quit after six months
https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/6/16976328/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-pollster-tavis-mcginn-honest-data
Tomi Engdahl says:
Fake News Sharing In US Is a Rightwing Thing, Says Oxford Study
https://politics.slashdot.org/story/18/02/06/2224253/fake-news-sharing-in-us-is-a-rightwing-thing-says-oxford-study
Low-quality, extremist, sensationalist and conspiratorial news published in the U.S. was overwhelmingly consumed and shared by rightwing social network users, according to a new study from the University of Oxford. The study, from the university’s “computational propaganda project”, looked at the most significant sources of “junk news” shared in the three months leading up to Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address this January, and tried to find out who was sharing them and why.
Fake news sharing in US is a rightwing thing, says study
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/feb/06/sharing-fake-news-us-rightwing-study-trump-university-of-oxford
University of Oxford project finds Trump supporters consume largest volume of ‘junk news’ on Facebook and Twitter