Volcanoes are erupting in The Philippines, but on-fire Australia received some welcome rain. The Iran war cries have been called off and The Donald’s military powers are about to be hamstrung by the Senate. Meanwhile, his impeachment trial is starting, and we’re all on Twitter for a front-row seat.
Article Source: MIT Technology Review
11/20/2020
Pfizer wants authorization to start distributing its vaccine by Christmas
The record-shattering effort to develop a coronavirus shot took just 248 days—and it could be ready "within hours" of approval.
10/20/2020
The 2020 election could permanently change how America votes
America’s top election official says voters who learn to cast their ballots early and by mail will want to keep doing it—even after the pandemic.
Data: 29 million votes have been cast at this point, compared to 6 million in 2016
Quote worth repeating: “Frankly, it’s going well,” says Electoral Assistance chairman Benjamin Hovland
10/06/2020
Facebook says it will extend its QAnon ban
The social media site will remove any “Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon, even if they contain no violent content.”
09/29/2020
How democracies can claim back power in the digital world
Technology companies have taken many aspects of tech governance from democratically elected leaders. It will take an international effort to fight back.
Should Twitter censor lies tweeted by the US president? Should YouTube take down covid-19 misinformation? Should Facebook do more against hate speech? Such questions, which crop up daily in media coverage, can make it seem as if the main technologically driven risk to democracies is the curation of content by social-media companies. Yet these controversies are merely symptoms of a larger threat: the depth of privatized power over the digital world.
Every democratic country in the world faces the same challenge, but none can defuse it alone. We need a global democratic alliance to set norms, rules, and guidelines for technology companies and to agree on protocols for cross-border digital activities including election interference, cyberwar, and online trade. Citizens are better represented when a coalition of their governments—rather than a handful of corporate executives—define the terms of governance, and when checks, balances, and oversight mechanisms are in place. . . .