Media Bits and Bytes – October 1, 2024
- The Suppression of Trump’s Vance Dossier
- Sam Altman’s AI Manifesto
- Doc Goes to the Heart of MAGA Violence
- Inside the Springfield OH News-Sun
- The End of Musical App Finale
- What Computers Can’t Do
- Do You Need a Virtual Private Network?
- Course on Digital Capitalism
- CNN Smears Rashida Tlaib
- AI and Spear Phishing
The Suppression of Trump’s Vance Dossier
X has been blocking links to a dossier with information from Trump’s campaign vetting Sen. JD Vance and his potential as a running mate. Meta followed suit on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. The reporter was suspended by X.
By Hallam Stevens
The Conversation
OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman declares that we are on the verge of “The Intelligence Age”, powered by a “superintelligence” that may just be a “few thousand days” away. The new era will bring “astounding triumphs”, including “fixing the climate, establishing a space colony, and the discovery of all of physics”.
Doc Goes to the Heart of MAGA Violence
By Brandi Buchman
HuffPost
Nick Quested embedded with the Proud Boys in the run-up to Jan. 6, 2021, and portions of what he captured on film have come out in recent years. That includes footage of a critical meeting between members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers in an underground garage just before the insurrection. His documentary, “64 Days: The Road to Insurrection”, is coming out on Oct. 4.
Inside the Springfield OH News-Sun
By Josh Sweigart
Editor and Publisher
The false claim that Haitian migrants in Springfield were responsible for eating pets was quickly spread online, causing a wave of fear and confusion in the community. As national attention intensified, the Springfield News-Sun remained focused on delivering accurate, well-researched information to their community.
The End of the Musical App Finale
By Nitish Pahwa
Slate
Last month, nothing short of an earthquake-level upheaval struck the professional music industry. On Aug. 26, the president of the Colorado-based tech company MakeMusic announced that the firm would be making “no further updates” to Finale, the pioneering and popular music-notation app that the firm had been selling and updating for 35 years.
By Eli Zaretsky
London Review of Books
We think of human beings as essentially rational, problem-solving, goal-oriented animals – an idea that long antedates neoliberalism. At the same time, we think of the computer as a problem-solving calculator, though one with access to far more data than an individual person. Computers can think creatively. What computers can’t do is free associate.
Do You Need a Virtual Private Network?
By Zack Whittaker
TechCrunch
VPN providers funnel all of your device’s internet traffic through their own systems, under the premise that the provider shields your information from outside prying eyes, like governments, online advertisers, and even your home internet provider. The problem is, how do you trust that a VPN provider will protect all of your private internet browsing information?
This collection of materials is drawn from a dynamic six-week course that delved into the concept of digital capitalism — what it is, how it is being shaped, and its far-reaching impacts on our economy, society, and environment.
CNN has spent days amplifying a news story centered around a fabricated quote. And these smears aren’t just insulting, they put Tlaib in danger. Calling out or protesting against a genocide now seems to be considered a worse crime than committing one.
AI and Spear Phishing: New Directions in Disinfo
By Nina Jagannathan
Salon
Phishing has evolved beyond misspelled emails and dubious URLs. The Nigerian Prince has been dethroned by something far more insidious. Adding artificial intelligence to these deceptive tactics has made phishing harder to detect and more convincing.