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Media Bits and Bytes - March 5, 2019

Portside
Fox's Friend; UC Breaks Ranks; Facebook FUBAR; Backyard Reporting; CNN's Big Score; Antisemitism at Radio Marti; Microsoft Accuses Moscow

Why Big Tech Companies Are Open-Sourcing Their AI Systems

Patrick Shafto
Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Amazon have been making remarkable progress in artificial intelligence. Recently they have released much of their work to the public for free use, and adaptation. This seems bizarre: why would companies reveal the methods at the core of their businesses? And what does their embrace of open-source AI say about the current state of artificial intelligence?

labor

Labor Issues at Microsoft Prompt Talk of Policy Changes

Matt Day The Seattle Times
A group of workers employed by a Microsoft contractor successfully organized a union -- a rare feat in the tech industry -- and is now bargaining with its company over a contract.

Tidbits - October 30, 2014 - Two Week's Worth

Portside
Reader Comments- Ebola, Capitalism, Cuba, Disease Control; Elections- Black Vote, Voter Restrictions; War against Islamic State; Detroit; U.S. Jews Debate Israel; Berkeley Free Speech Movement, Education- Philadelphia and Common Core; Mexico, NAFTA; Wealth Inequality; New Voters in Ferguson; Announcements- Black & Brown Unity Event-Los Angeles-Nov 8; New York City Labor Chorus Honoring Pete Seeger-New York-Nov 15; SHE'S BEAUTIFUL WHEN SHE'S ANGRY-New York showing-Nov 16

Microsoft Admits Stashing $92B Offshore to Avoid $29B in U.S. Taxes

David Sirota International Business Times
Microsoft Corp. is currently sitting on almost $29.6 billion it would owe in U.S. taxes if it repatriated the $92.9 billion of earnings it is keeping offshore, according to disclosures in the company's most recent annual filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such maneuvers -- although often legal -- threaten to signficantly reduce U.S. corporate tax receipts during an era marked by government budget deficits.

Media Bits & Bytes - Shifting Terrain Edition

Portside
Ethnic Press Across the Country Share a Single Editorial on Immigration; the Microsoft Empire is Fading Fast; the Expansion of Mass Surveillance Limited Only by Technology; More Media Consolidation will not Cure the Problems of Media Consolidation; Cubans Finally Get Some Access to the Internet, but It's Not Cheap; Americans are Using Their Smartphones in Unexpected Places

Media Bits & Bytes - Hacking, Stalking and Spying Edition

Portside
Kochs to Buy L.A.Times? Unions Say "No!"; Massive Biometric Database Proposal Hidden In Immigration Bill; NSA Releases Guide to Internet Spying; Scandal Sheets on the DoJ/AP Leak and Bloomberg Reporters Stalking Their Customers; Hollywood Challenges Books for the Blind; Girl Coder Beats the Boys in Hackathon Competition
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