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Uh-Oh: Feds Say Google ‘Systematically Destroyed’ Evidence for Years by Auto-Deleting Employee Chats
Google’s reliance on commonly used messaging systems that automatically delete conversations after a day has landed the company in hot water with the Department of Justice.
In filing Thursday evening, the DOJ accused Google of using so-called “history off” communications that they say “routinely destroyed” written communication after 24 hours. Some of those destroyed chats, the DOJ alleges, may have discussed “sensitive topics.” That’s a bad look as the tech giant faces not one, but two antitrust investigations by the nation’s leading law enforcement division.
“For nearly four years, Google systematically destroyed an entire category of written communications every 24 hours.” the DOJ alleges.
What’s Really Behind the Wave of Sadness Among Teenage Girls? We Asked 9 of Them.
Reports of persistent sadness and hopelessness. Declines in overall mental health. A rise in suicidal thoughts. None of these trends, outlined in an alarming Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report about teenagers’ mental health last week, come as a shock to Jacqueline Metzger, a 17-year-old high school senior in Washington, DC.
Much of the conjecture about why girls are experiencing a spike in sadness has come from adults, whose theories include smartphones and social media, as well as anxieties about the world teens will inherit, rife with problems like climate change.
Metzger and eight other teenage girls interviewed across six states generally agreed with those hypotheses, but they said their generation has the confidence to speak up about how they’re feeling and why they think that is — if adults are willing to hear their voices.
The high schoolers pointed to what they see as unique stressors their generation faces, which combined have led to the observed spike in depression. Many named social media, the coronavirus pandemic — which robbed them of normal high school experiences — school shootings and gender discrimination as some of the reasons their cohort feels hopeless. They also said teens are talking more about mental health now than in the past and possibly reducing the stigma, which may lead more of them to feel comfortable reporting it to the CDC.
9 People Hold the Internet’s Fate in Their Hands
Free speech advocates focused on the Supreme Court this week, as nine justices spent nearly three hours hashing out the meaning of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Tuesday’s argument in Gonzalez v.Google marked the first time that the Supreme Court might interpret the 26 words that protect online platforms from liability for user content.
But a potentially greater threat to free speech was taking place more than 800 miles to the south in Tallahassee, where a Florida state legislator proposed a bill to make it easier for plaintiffs to bring defamation lawsuits. To the north, a federal judge recently struck down a New York law that regulates online hate speech. To the west, a judge nixed a California COVID misinformation law. And in DC, the justices are also considering whether to rule on the constitutionality of Texas and Florida laws that restrict the ability of social media platforms to moderate user content.
We are at a potential turning point for the Supreme Court’s strong protections for free speech and the internet. Only one justice who decided the 1997 case remains on the court. And online speech is now far more controversial than it was in the internet’s nascent years, with some arguing that too much harmful speech remains online while others contend that platforms are too heavy-handed in their content moderation. Internal and external forces could pressure the Supreme Court to allow the government to take a more hands-on role with free speech.
California Bill Would Prohibit Social Media From Promoting Harmful Content to Minors
A newly introduced California bill would, if passed, prohibit social media sites from promoting content that can lead minors to purchase fentanyl or firearms — including ghost guns — commit suicide, develop an eating disorder, inflict harm on themselves or others or develop an addiction to the platform.
Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), who introduced Senate Bill 287 earlier this month, said in a Feb. 2 statement it is designed to hold social media platforms accountable for allowing “harmful content toward youth.”
The bill would require social media companies that make over $100 million in gross revenue per year, to undergo quarterly audits of their features, designs and algorithms that have the potential to cause or contribute to such harm.
Universities Need to Do More to Protect Free Speech. Here’s How We’re Succeeding
Free speech on college campuses has emerged as the new front in the culture wars between the Right and Left. But despite what you may have heard, most university students and faculty are supportive of free speech and the robust exchange of ideas on university campuses. According to recent research by the Knight Foundation, 84% of students view free speech rights as critical to our democracy.
Still, college campuses are increasingly challenging places to have challenging conversations. The same study found that the percentage of students who believe that free speech rights are secure has dropped from 59% to 47% since 2019 — a whopping 20 points. Meanwhile, the percentage of students who felt their campus climate prevents students from expressing their opinions has increased, from 54% to 65%, since 2016.
Universities need to do more to protect free inquiry and expression, which will only flourish on campuses that are clear about their purpose, driven by cultures of curiosity and intellectual humility, hold the line when controversies arise and focus on creating communities where everybody feels a sense of connection
Ransomware Gang Leaked Los Angeles Student Health Records Online
Health records for about 2,000 current and former Los Angeles school students have been published to the dark web following a ransomware attack last year, the school district said in a statement on Wednesday.
The “assessment records,” which could include mental health, attendance, disciplinary and academic results, were stolen in a September 2022 cyber attack, Jack Kelanic, a senior IT administrator for the district, told Reuters after an education news site posted redacted copies of purported student mental health records online.
The attacks were first widely reported last year, but the compromise of sensitive health records only came to light in recent days.
Cyber attacks on schools worsened after the COVID-19 pandemic forced millions of students online for virtual instruction while school systems’ technology infrastructure may not have been ready.
Needed: A New Framework to Make Sure Health Companies Play Fair With Patient Data
I’m now more certain than ever that patients are being seriously exploited in terms of their data, its value and the profitability others are deriving from its aggregation and sale — though some are beginning to realize just how valuable their health data can be. They should be able to bank that value.
Unlike money, no global infrastructure exists to govern, manage and watch data transactions, and no collective institutions exist to protect data security or integrity. Healthcare data in particular exist in a wild west environment governed by permissive regulations that enable data sharing and transfer among entrenched interests rather than protecting individual’s privacy.
Today’s system allows data monopolies to operate unfettered and reap profits while data laborers — in this case, patients and healthcare professionals — receive no compensation for their essential contributions. This status quo is unacceptable, antiquated and exploitative. Yet the healthcare landscape is dotted with companies whose only value proposition is aggregating and reselling data created by patients and doctors.
Meta Announces ‘Facebook Jail’ Reforms That Focus More on Better Explanations of Policy, Less on ‘Timeouts’
“Facebook jail,” the name the social network’s users have bestowed on the company’s system for determining policy violations, is getting an overhaul. Meta announced today it will be reforming its penalty system based on the recommendations from the Oversight Board, the independent body of experts, academics, civic leaders and lawyers who now weigh in on appeals decisions made by Meta.
The Board had long raised concerns about Facebook’s penalty system, which it called “disproportionate and opaque.” It also advised Facebook to be more transparent with users over its decisions and pushed to allow users to explain the context of their violating post when appealing a decision made by Meta.
Today, Meta says it will reform its system to focus less on penalizing end users by restricting their ability to post and more on explaining the reasoning behind its content removals, which it believes will be a fairer and more effective means of moderating content on its platform.
GPT-4 Is Coming — What We Know so Far
ChatGPT has taken the tech world by storm, showcasing artificial intelligence (AI) with conversational abilities that go far beyond anything we’ve seen before.
The viral chatbot interface is based on GPT-3, said to be one of the largest and most complex language models ever created — trained on 175 billion “parameters” (data points).
However, it’s something of an open secret that its creator — the AI research organization OpenAI — is well into development of its successor, GPT-4. Rumor has it that GPT-4 will be far more powerful and capable than GPT-3. One source even went as far as claiming that the parameter count has been upped to the region of 100 trillion, although this has been disputed in colorful language by Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO.
China Appears to Be Pulling Another U-Turn, Saying It’ll Promote the Use of AI in Daily Life Just Days After Reports It Blocked ChatGPT
China appears to have had a change of heart about artificial intelligence. It now wants to integrate the tech into daily life, just days after reports emerged that it had blocked its citizens from accessing viral AI chatbot ChatGPT.
On Friday, officials from China’s science and technology ministry said their government attaches “great importance” to the development of artificial intelligence, and will be promoting its integration into the economy and society.
