Media Bits and Bytes – Censoring Censorship Edition

Happy birthday Open Source; FBI is reading this; SOS FOIA; Say it loud; Bitcoin bubble; Free speech and attacks on democracy

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Open Source Celebrates 20 Years

By Sue Gee
February 2, 2018
I Programmer

The 20th anniversary of Open Source Software is being celebrated on February 3rd at FOSDEM, taking place in Brussels, Belgium. A new website has been launched by the Open Source Initiative in connection with this milestone anniversary.

The FBI is Setting Up a Task Force to Monitor Social Media

By Chip Gibbons
February 1, 2018
The Nation

The worst candidate for the job.

Big Tech’s Bid to Control FOIA

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By Mya Frazier
February 2, 2018
Columbia Journalism Review

Facebook sought to control the release of information, with a highly unusual demand: Officials must give Facebook at least three days before responding to any public records request.

Inside Amazon's Artificial Intelligence Flywheel

By Steven Levy
February 1, 2018
Wired

How deep learning came to power Alexa, Amazon Web Services, and nearly every other division of the company.

Bitcoin Biggest Bubble in History, Says Economist Who Predicted 2008 Crash

By Angela Monaghan
February 2, 2018
The Guardian

Nouriel Roubini calls cryptocurrency the ‘mother of all bubbles’ as it falls below $8,000.

Private Censorship Is Not the Best Way to Fight Hate or Defend Democracy: Here Are Some Better Ideas

By Corynne McSherry, Jillian C. York, and Cindy Cohn
January 30, 2018
Electronic Frontier Foundation

We are at a critical moment for free expression online and for the role of the Internet in the fabric of democratic societies. We need to get this right.