Category / Topics

by Pavlos Efraimidis

Facebook tries fighting fake news with publisher info button on links | TechCrunch

Facebook thinks showing Wikipedia entries about publishers and additional Related Articles will give users more context about the links they see. So today it’s beginning a test of a new “i” button on News Feed links that opens up an informational panel. “People have told us that they want more information about what they’re reading” Facebook product manager Sara Su tells TechCrunch. “They want better tools to help them understand if an article is from a publisher they trust and evaluate if the story itself is credible.”

Source: Facebook tries fighting fake news with publisher info button on links | TechCrunch

by Pavlos Efraimidis

Cargo Cult Science

RICHARD P. FEYNMAN

Some remarks on science, pseudoscience, and learning how to not fool yourself. Caltech’s 1974 commencement address.

During the Middle Ages there were all kinds of crazy ideas, such as that a piece of rhinoceros horn would increase potency. (Another crazy idea of the Middle Ages is these hats we have on today—which is too loose in my case.) Then a method was discovered for separating the ideas—which was to try one to see if it worked, and if it didn’t work, to eliminate it. This method became organized, of course, into science. And it developed very well, so that we are now in the scientific age. It is such a scientific age, in fact, that we have difficulty in understanding how­ witch doctors could ever have existed, when nothing that they proposed ever really worked—or very little of it did.

Source: Cargo Cult Science

by Pavlos Efraimidis

Special Report: Blockchain World – IEEE Spectrum

When Bitcoin was unleashed on the world, it filled a specific need. But it wasn’t long before people realized the technology behind Bitcoin—the blockchain—could do much more than record monetary transactions. That realization has lately blossomed into a dazzling and often bewildering array of startup companies, initiatives, corporate alliances, and research projects. Billions of dollars will hinge on what they come up with. So you should understand how blockchains work—and what could happen if they don’t.

Source: Special Report: Blockchain World – IEEE Spectrum

by Pavlos Efraimidis

Israel Facebook: Mistranslated post creates security alert – BBC News

A post saying “good morning” in Arabic was reportedly mistranslated to say “attack them” in Hebrew.

Israeli police arrested a Palestinian man last week after a Facebook post he made saying “good morning” in Arabic was mistranslated to read “attack them” in Hebrew, local media have reported.

Police confirmed that the construction worker was briefly held under suspicion of incitement but was released as soon as the mistake was realised.

The post showed a photo of the worker next to a bulldozer in the West Bank.

Such vehicles have been used to attack Israelis in the past.

There is only one difference in lettering between the colloquial Arabic phrase for “good morning to you all” and “hurt them”, pointed out The Times of Israel.

 

Source: Israel Facebook: Mistranslated post creates security alert – BBC News

by Pavlos Efraimidis

For $1000, anyone can purchase online ads to track your location and app use | UW News

Privacy concerns have long swirled around how much information online advertising networks collect about people’s browsing, buying and social media habits — typically to sell you something.

But could someone use mobile advertising to learn where you go for coffee? Could a burglar establish a sham company and send ads to your phone to learn when you leave the house? Could a suspicious employer see if you’re using shopping apps on work time?

The answer is yes, at least in theory. New University of Washington research, to be presented in a paper Oct. 30 at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Workshop on Privacy in the Electronic Society, suggests that for roughly $1,000, someone with devious intent can purchase and target online advertising in ways that allow them to track the location of other individuals and learn what apps they are using.

Source: For $1000, anyone can purchase online ads to track your location and app use | UW News

 

by Pavlos Efraimidis

DNA Robots Can Deliver Molecular Packages – IEEE Spectrum

These miniature machines could help assemble electronics and medicines

Miniature robots with arms and legs made of DNA can sort and deliver molecular cargo, a new study finds. Such DNA robots could be used to shuffle nanoparticles around on circuits, assemble therapeutic compounds, separate molecular components in trash for recycling, or deliver medicines where they need to go in the body, researchers from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena say.

Source: DNA Robots Can Deliver Molecular Packages – IEEE Spectrum

by Pavlos Efraimidis

Προκαταρκτική για διασπορά ψευδών ειδήσεων μετά τα περί χολέρας στο «Έλενα» | naftemporiki.gr

Τη διενέργεια προκαταρκτικής εξέτασης για τα περί κρούσματος χολέρας σε υπόγειο του μαιευτηρίου «Έλενα», διέταξε ο προϊστάμενος της εισαγγελίας Πρωτοδικών, Ηλίας Ζαγοραίος.

Η παρέμβαση του εισαγγελέα έγινε μετά τη χθεσινή ανακοίνωση του ΚΕΕΛΠΟ, το οποίο δεν επιβεβαίωσε τα περί χολέρας.

Υπενθυμίζεται ότι το ΚΕΕΛΠΝΟ ανέφερε τα ακόλουθα: «Με τα έως τώρα επιστημονικά δεδομένα δεν τεκμηριώνεται η παρουσία εντεροπαθογόνου δονακίου (όπως το δονάκιο της χολέρας) από τον εργαστηριακό έλεγχο. Επιπλέον κανένα κρούσμα νόσου δεν έχει αναφερθεί στο ΚΕΕΛΠΝΟ. Αναμένεται η τελική εργαστηριακή επιβεβαίωση από το Κεντρικό Εργαστήριο Δημόσιας Υγείας».

Η εντολή του εισαγγελέα είναι να ερευνηθεί το αδίκημα της διασποράς ψευδών ειδήσεων.

Source: Προκαταρκτική για διασπορά ψευδών ειδήσεων μετά τα περί χολέρας στο «Έλενα» | naftemporiki.gr

by Pavlos Efraimidis

News: Internet researchers harnessed the power of algorithm to find hate speech – Aalto University

The aim was to identify hate speech targeted at minorities and people in a vulnerable position.

 

During the municipal elections in spring 2017, a group of researchers and practitioners specialising in computer science, media and communication implemented a hate speech identification campaign with the help of an algorithm based on machine learning.

At the beginning of the campaign, the algorithm was taught to identify hate speech as diversely as possible, for example, based on the big data obtained from open chat groups. The algorithm learned to compare computationally what distinguishes a text that includes hate speech from a text that is not hate speech and to develop a categorisation system for hate speech. The algorithm was then used daily to screen all openly available content the candidates standing in the municipal elections had produced on Facebook and Twitter. The candidates’ account information were gathered using the material in the election machine of the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle.

Source: News: Internet researchers harnessed the power of algorithm to find hate speech – Aalto University

by Pavlos Efraimidis

Digital services collect unnecessary personal information | Karlstad University

When one creates an account to get access to an online service, the service provider requires certain details to identify users who want to access their accounts. There are existing methods that can be built into such services to protect users and their privacy under certain circumstances. However, many service providers choose to use other methods to collect as much information about us as possible, and so frequently threaten online user privacy.

Source: Digital services collect unnecessary personal information | Karlstad University

by Pavlos Efraimidis

No Incentive? Algorand Blockchain Sparks Debate at Cryptography Event – CoinDesk

Should incentives in blockchain systems be a last resort? The developer of the Algorand proof-of-stake system thinks so, but other experts disagree.

“Can you say anything about incentives in Algorand?”

That question was directed to Silvio Micali, an MIT professor who had just delivered a keynote on his theoretical proof-of-stake (PoS) system at the Financial Cryptography and Data Security conference in Malta, yesterday. And the Turing-award winner’s answer set a few back on their heels.

“Incentives are the hardest thing to do,” Micali said.

In 30 years as a cryptographer, he had spent the last 10 working on just that issue.

Source: No Incentive? Algorand Blockchain Sparks Debate at Cryptography Event – CoinDesk