Larry Page’s dream of using technology to fix cities may come to Canada first. Sidewalk Labs LLC, the urban innovation unit of Page’s Alphabet Inc., has applied to develop a 12-acre strip in downtown Toronto, according to two people familiar with the plans. Details of the proposal are private, but these people said the bid… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Ethical Issues
Facebook kind of, somewhat continues to crack down on fake news
Facebook has taken action to try to curb the spread of misinformation across its platform, employing a team of fact-checkers to flag false news reports in order to reduce the visibility of fake news in the main news feed. In a report on the recent French election, for example, Facebook’s internal security researchers admitted to… Read more »
Durham, England police use AI to help with custody decisions
Police in Durham, England are preparing to go live with an artificial intelligence (AI) system designed to help officers decide whether or not a suspect should be kept in custody. The system classifies suspects at a low, medium or high risk of offending and has been tested by the force. It has been trained on… Read more »
‘Shot Spotter’ a key technology in arrest of Fresno shooter
Fresno Police Chief, Jerry Dyer, says his department’s ‘Shot Spotter’ technology detected gunfire on Tuesday that led to the quick apprehension of Kori Ali Muhammad, accused of fatally shooting three men. Source: Toronto Star Date: April 25th, 2017 Link to video: https://www.thestar.com/news/2017/04/20/-shot-spotter-a-key-technology-in-arrest-of-fresno-shooter.html Discussion 1) “Shot spotter” technology means that very high fidelity microphones are placed in an area… Read more »
YouTube ad controversy was a gift for Google rivals
Weeks after scores of advertisers boycotted YouTube, Google is still trying to mitigate the damage. Meanwhile, long-struggling competitors in the digital ad market are seizing the moment. MediaMath Inc., a New York-based seller of software for automated online ad buying, is introducing a new service to ensure that ads only run alongside hand-picked, “high quality” content. The “curated market” offering… Read more »
U.S. internet service providers get green light to sell user data — but what about Canada?
Privacy protections designed to prevent U.S. internet service providers from sharing or selling subscribers’ personal information with third parties — without permission — were dismantled by U.S. Congress on Tuesday. It means that information about the apps American internet subscribers use, the websites they visit, and the things they purchase online — among other things… Read more »
Smart TV hack embeds attack code into broadcast signal—no access required
A new attack that uses terrestrial radio signals to hack a wide range of Smart TVs raises an unsettling prospect—the ability of hackers to take complete control of a large number of sets at once without having physical access to any of them. The proof-of-concept exploit uses a low-cost transmitter to embed malicious commands into… Read more »
Is robotics a solution to the growing needs of the elderly?
The receptionist at the Institute of Media Innovation, at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, is a smiling brunette called Nadine. From a distance, nothing about her appearance seems unusual. It’s only on closer inspection that doubts set in. Yes – she’s a robot. Nadine is an “intelligent” robot capable of autonomous behaviour. For a machine, her… Read more »
Are your shoes giving away data?
Hoxton has come up with a novel way of measuring footfall – literally by filming people’s shoes. Sherlock Holmes-like, its system can deduce a remarkable amount of information such as age, gender and social class of shoppers from their footwear. “We have cameras at about 50cm off the ground and it points down so it… Read more »
Google advertising row spreads to US brands
At least four major US firms have pulled millions of dollars in advertising from Google’s platform amid rows over extremist content. The Times reported that telecoms firms AT&T and Verizon, as well as car rental company Enterprise and pharmaceutical giant GSK, have withdrawn all non-search advertising. An investigation by the newspaper found major brands were… Read more »
Leading Titles
Introduction to Information Systems, 3rd Canadian Binder Ready Version Update Edition
R. Kelly Rainer, Casey G. Cegielski, Ingrid Splettstoesser-Hogeterp, Cristobal Sanchez-Rodriguez
ISBN: 978-1-119-13385-8
August 2015, © 2016
CDN $98.95; CDN $114.95