The DuckDuckGo AI Option

When you use ChatGPT, Claude or Llama technology within DuckDuckGo’s chatbot, the company acts as a middleman that limits what the AI companies know about you and what you’re chatting about. DuckDuckGo says that when you use its chatbot, your conversations aren’t used to train AI for DuckDuckGo or any of its partner AI companies. Your chats may be saved only anonymously for, at most, 30 days, with limited exceptions. And the AI companies don’t have access to personal information such as your device’s unique digital ID number, which could be used to assemble dossiers on your habits. -Washington Post

19 Articles about AI & Data Privacy

What the Arrival of A.I. Phones and Computers Means for Our Data – New York Times

AI and Privacy Issues: Challenges, Solutions, and Best Practices – eWeek

How to opt out of having your data ‘train’ ChatGPT and other AI chatbots – Washington Post

Doctors are using AI to talk to patients and record appointments. Don’t worry, your data is allegedly safe – Fast Company

Is It Safe to Share Personal Information With a Chatbot? – Wall Street Journal  

As threats of AI loom, parents can take steps to remove online photos of kids – Washington Post  

How Strangers Got My Email Address From ChatGPT’s Model – New York Times

Artificial intelligence can find your location in photos, worrying privacy experts – NPR 

Ahead of the Olympics, France embraces AI video surveillance - The Washington Post

Researchers used ChatGPT to extract people’s contact information, showing that the chatbot’s privacy restrictions can be bypassed. – New York Times 

Why generative AI is a double-edged sword for the cybersecurity sector – VentureBeat

Cybersecurity faces a challenge from artificial intelligence’s rise – Washington Post

Gen AI fueled 2023 cyberattacks – CSO Online

Reconciling privacy and accuracy in AI for medical imaging – Nature

Apple Faces a Tough Task in Keeping AI Data Secure and Private – Cnet

Newly passed Colorado AI Act will impose obligations on developers and deployers of high-risk AI systems – White & Case

Apple’s New AI Security Move Explained – Forbes  

Facial recognition startup Clearview AI settles privacy suit – Boston Herald

Test your Online Security Setup

Answer a few simple questions from Security.org to find out whether you are staying safe online.

Created by Security.org  • View larger version

Articles of Interest about the virus, writing, journalism & more – April 25

***THE VIRUS 

It was my job to call people whose Covid-19 tests were positive. That taught me a lot about medicine, the law, and society

This game simulates how your choices affect the spread of the coronavirus 

When Denver backed off social distancing in the 1918 pandemic, the results were deadly

'We Haven't Learned From History': 'Radio Influenza' Is A Warning From 1918 

Social Distancing Enforcement Drones Arrive in the U.S.

Coronavirus Entered My Father’s Nursing Home and Nobody Warned Me 

***WORKING FROM HOME

Zoom’s encryption update is like ‘skipping two generations on a smartphone upgrade’

Google Duo video calls are about to look a whole lot better

Google Meet launches improved Zoom-like tiled layout, low-light mode and more

***WRITING & READING 

Microsoft Word now flags double spaces as errors, ending the great space debate 

Better training is key to tackling plagiarism in developing countries 

These Are The Most Popular Books Set In Every State

 Ways to Make Your Writing Clearer

Can Comic Books survive Coronavirus? 

***JOURNALISM

Investigating the coronavirus: Incomplete data creates headaches for reporters  

Congress' local news bailout push  

California Times folds Burbank Leader, Glendale News-Press and La Cañada Valley Su

NYPD Seizes Drone Of Photojournalist Documenting Mass Burials On Hart Island  

Why Do So Many News Anchors Sound Alike?

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

U.S. newspapers have shed half of their newsroom employees since 2008

Workers at Hollywood Reporter and Billboard Vandalize Website After Getting Laid Off 

L.A. Times to Furlough Workers as Ad Revenue Eliminated

YouTube says 'authoritative' news viewership has jumped amid COVID-19 pandemic 

***STUDENT MEDIA

A student newspaper retracts a story about coronavirus

Metro Atlanta schools’ shutdown doesn’t stop news — or student reporters 

Oregon’s student newspapers are adapting amid pandemic 

***FAKES & FRAUDS  

Chinese agents spread Fake text messages claiming the US military would enforce a country-wide lockdown

Facebook already knows who believes in fake news—and selling ads to reach them

***PRIVACY & SECURITY  

Flaw in iPhone, iPads may have allowed hackers to steal data for years

Americans doubt tracking cellphones will help limit COVID-19, divided on whether it’s OK | Pew Research Center 

Better Business Bureau warns about posting your senior picture in #Classof2020 Facebook challenge

Half of Americans have decided not to use a product or service because of privacy concerns

***SOCIAL MEDIA 

 TikTok now lets parents set restrictions on their kids’ accounts  

***POETRY 

 "I only have my poetry as my weapon. I will not surrender” 

Poem constructed from emails received during quarantine goes viral  

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA   

Local media outlets launch during the coronavirus pandemic

Articles of Interest about Literature, Journalism, Writing & Languages – Jan 29

***WRITING & READING

The Enemies of Writing: A writer who’s afraid to tell people what they don’t want to hear has chosen the wrong trade  https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/01/packer-hitchens/605365/

 JRR Tolkien's son Christopher dies aged 95 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/16/jrr-tolkiens-son-christopher-dies-aged-95

 Exploring various scholars' rationales for self-plagiarism https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/01/10/essay-rationales-self-plagiarism

 

***GRAMMAR 

Who do they think they are? The battle over the singular use of “they” has been waged for centuries https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2020/01/18/who-do-they-think-they-are   

English's pronoun problem is centuries old https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/english-s-pronoun-problem-is-centuries-old-120012301829_1.html

 

***JOURNALISM

7 things to consider before adopting AI in your news organisation: A training module for newsrooms https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/polis/2019/12/12/7-things-to-consider/

Journalism still has power: But not the way you’d hope  https://www.cjr.org/cjr_outbox/hegseth-trump-gallagher.php

The latest newspaper chain to face Alden Global Capital cost-cutting  https://www.axios.com/media-local-newspapers-private-equity-0add6bce-f44a-4938-82bb-6d4bb01068c8.html

Jim Lehrer's 16 Rules for Practicing Journalism with Integrity www.openculture.com/2020/01/jim-lehrers-16-rules-for-being-a-journalist-with-integrity.html

 

***THE BUSINESS OF JOURNALISM

Flipboard expands into local news https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/28/flipboard-expands-into-local-news/

Facebook awards $700,000 in local news grants  https://www.axios.com/facebook-local-news-grants-advertising-f9f7048b-2bd2-4eb6-9bfc-6fe72fb5c359.html

The New York Times used to be afraid of BuzzFeed. Now it’s hired its biggest star. https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/1/28/21112608/ben-smith-new-york-times-buzzfeed-media-revenue-jonah-peretti

 

***FAKES & FRAUDS

Big Tech platforms struggle to police deepfakes ahead of the 2020 elections    https://www.axios.com/deepfakes-big-tech-policy-facebook-reddit-tiktok-ca7a99b8-e571-4b0b-933a-27e4b2c0b0f7.html   

2020 rules of the road for the Age of Misinformation https://www.axios.com/2020-rules-of-the-road-for-the-age-of-misinformation-87bc3f7e-b064-4b47-bc71-7639b9a82b8a.html

How Swedes Were Fooled By One Of The Biggest Scientific Bluffs Of Our Time https://medium.com/@Soccermatics/how-swedes-were-fooled-by-one-of-the-biggest-scientific-bluffs-of-our-time-de47c82601ad

A new text message scam is disguising itself as a FedEx notification https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/23/business/fedex-text-scam-trnd/ 

How To Spot 2020 Election Disinformation https://www.npr.org/2020/01/23/798809217/how-to-spot-2020-election-disinformation

Clearview AI Says Its Facial Recognition Software Identified A Terrorism Suspect: The Cops Say That's Not True https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/clearview-ai-nypd-facial-recognition

Half of Americans don’t know 6m Jews were killed in Holocaust, survey says    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/22/holocaust-survey-americans-pew-research-center

American Distrust Of The Voting Process Is Widespread, Poll Finds https://www.npr.org/2020/01/21/798088827/american-distrust-of-the-voting-process-is-widespread-npr-poll-finds

Is this video “missing context,” “transformed,” or “edited”? This effort wants to standardize how we categorize visual misinformation https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/01/is-this-video-missing-context-transformed-or-edited-this-effort-wants-to-standardize-how-we-categorize-visual-misinformation/

Misinformation about coronavirus tests Facebook, Google and China  https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-misinformation-facebook-twitter-google-china-246a0325-b4ea-4465-92ae-5f364a7e965c.html

The New York Times tested blockchain to help you identify faked photos on your timeline https://www.niemanlab.org/2020/01/heres-how-the-new-york-times-tested-blockchain-to-help-you-identify-faked-photos-on-your-timeline/

 

***SOCIAL MEDIA 

Twitter’s Jack Dorsey on edit button: ‘We’ll probably never do it’ https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/15/21066815/twitter-edit-button-jack-dorsey-says-no

Twitter apologises for letting ads target neo-Nazis and bigots https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-51112238

Targeting TikTok’s privacy alone misses a larger issue: Chinese state control https://qz.com/1788836/targeting-tiktoks-privacy-alone-misses-a-much-larger-point/

 

***LANGUAGE 

 How we use language, with a look under the hood https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/columnists/mcintyre/bs-ed-mcintyre-20200111-tmf465vuubdebmtpu3p6ngsz2q-story.html

Things You Didn't Know Had Names  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63034/48-things-you-didnt-know-had-names 

Using a child’s identified pronouns might feel complicated, but it’s crucial. Here’s why (opinion) https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/01/16/using-childs-identified-pronouns-might-feel-complicated-its-crucial-heres-why/ 

The alphabets at risk of extinction https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200121-the-alphabets-at-risk-of-extinction

Author Interview: Dennis Baron On 'What's Your Pronoun?' https://www.npr.org/2020/01/26/799629318/author-interview-dennis-baron-on-what-s-your-pronoun

'Baby Shark,' Now In 19 Languages And Counting — Including A Navajo Tongue https://www.npr.org/2020/01/28/800557518/baby-shark-now-in-19-languages-and-counting-including-a-navajo-tongue

Discover the Disappearing Turkish Language That is Whistled, Not Spoken www.openculture.com/2020/01/discover-the-turkish-language-that-is-whistled-not-spoken.html

 

***LITERATURE

The Obscure Editions of Jane Austen Novels That Made Her Internationally Known  https://lithub.com/the-obscure-editions-of-jane-austen-novels-that-made-her-internationally-known/

UCLA receives $25 million from Uniqlo founder for Japanese literature and culture studies http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/25-million-uniqlo-founder-japanese-literature-and-culture

Edgar Allan Poe's Baltimore home was named a literary landmark https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/edgar-allan-poe-baltimore-literary-landmark-trnd/index.html

Virginia Woolf Books To Read If You Want To Explore 20th Century Literature https://www.republicworld.com/lifestyle/books/virginia-woolf-books-to-read-to-explore-20th-century-literature.html

Is Jane Austen the Antidote to Social Media Overload? https://daily.jstor.org/is-jane-austen-the-antidote-to-social-media-overload/

Jeanine Cummins' migrant book 'American Dirt' is problematic; author’s note makes it worse https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2020/01/21/american-dirt-jeanine-cummins-book-review-mexican-migrant/4497859002/

 

***POETRY

What happens when machines learn to write poetry: should artificial intelligence alter our appreciation of art? http://bit.ly/30CkvI3

Have You Abandoned Your New Year's Resolutions? Tell Us In A Poem https://www.npr.org/2020/01/16/795953834/have-you-abandoned-your-new-years-resolutions-tell-us-in-a-poem

'Ghost poetry': fight over Samuel Beckett's Nobel win revealed in archives https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/17/ghost-poetry-fight-over-samuel-beckett-nobel-win-revealed-in-archives

 

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA  

Augmented reality contacts are real, and could be here sooner than you think https://mashable.com/article/augmented-reality-contact-lenses-mojo-vision/

The Culling Has Begun’: Inside the iHeartMedia Layoffs  https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/iheartmedia-mass-layoffs-937513

Could iHeart layoffs be the beginning of local radio’s endgame? https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2020/01/could-iheart-layoffs-be-the-beginning-of-local-radios-endgame.htm

2020 won't be the year digital election ads surpass TV  https://www.axios.com/2020-digital-election-ads-tv-75cd82b1-b9a1-4637-b885-8aa654e63291.html

 

***PRIVACY & SECURITY

Clearview app lets strangers find your name, info with snap of a photo, report says  https://www.cnet.com/news/clearview-app-lets-strangers-find-your-name-info-with-snap-of-a-photo-report-says

Facial Recognition could replace the fingerprint https://story.californiasunday.com/facial-recognition

The Secret History of Facial Recognition https://www.wired.com/story/secret-history-facial-recognition/

Most Americans support right to have some personal info removed from online searches  https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/01/27/most-americans-support-right-to-have-some-personal-info-removed-from-online-searches/

When your appliances work as police informants

Suppose police suspect a man of organizing a political protest that turned violent, muses the ACLU’s Nathan Wessler, who argued the Carpenter case (on digital privacy) for the ACLU before the Supreme Court. The suspect’s smart meter and thermostat confirm that a handful of people showed up at his home and stayed there the two nights before the demonstration; the suspect’s smart refrigerator ordered a bunch of soda and snack food on those days, which was all consumed; after someone asked Alexa to play some music in his living room, a voice in the background said, “Tomorrow, we’re going to really show them”; and that night, the suspect’s smart mattress recorded him sleeping fitfully and his heart beating faster than normal. The police arrest the man on conspiracy and other charges. He eventually proves he’s innocent – some old friends visited from out of town, and planned a day of sightseeing—but not before a legal nightmare turns his life upside down.

 "There’s not a person among us who doesn’t have private aspects of their life that could create difficulty for them if they were exposed,” Wessler says. “And misinterpreted.”

David Henry writing in 1843