This week’s Internet health news recap includes a tongue-lashing from Sir Tim, cyborgs in Sweden, Internet access for vulnerable populations in California, a new open source social network named after a prehistoric elephant and loads about online privacy. Read up, get informed, pass it on.<\/p>\n
CBC Radio: Internet health as a social issue<\/a><\/strong> Shark & Minnow Open Swim Podcast: Google Controversy, American Girl, Market Research & Internet Health \u2013 Episode 3 Poynter: Can trust in the news be repaired? Facebook, Craig Newmark, Mozilla and others are spending $14 million to try<\/a> NY Mag, Select All: It\u2019s Time for a Grassroots Movement for Better Online Privacy The Washington Post: The U.S. government has withdrawn its request ordering Twitter to identify a Trump critic The BBC: Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee slams UK and US net plans BuzzFeed: After Internet Privacy Vote, Some ISPs Pledge Not To Sell Browsing Histories Slate: Worried About Your Online Privacy? Mozilla\u2019s Executive Director Has Tips for You.<\/a><\/strong> recode: At least three states are trying to replace the online privacy rules nixed by Trump The New York Times: Google Training Ad Placement Computers to Be Offended Associated Press via Yahoo Tech: Cyborgs at work: employees getting implanted with microchips<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMozilla’s Mark Surman says the health of the internet should be a mainstream social issue just like the environment or education.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/strong>Open Swim is a podcast that explores emerging trends in business, marketing, design and culture. In this episode they take a explore a number of topics, including Internet health.<\/p>\nWeb Literacy<\/h2>\n
\n<\/strong>A global coalition of tech leaders, academic institutions, nonprofits and funders, including Facebook, Mozilla and Craigslist Founder Craig Newmark, on Monday announced a $14 million initiative to combat declining trust in the news media and advance news literacy.<\/p>\nOnline Privacy + Security<\/h2>\n
\n<\/a><\/strong>It is, admittedly, easy to let this issue slide as a minor one compared to the many others facing Americans today. But the internet is now essential to many of your day-to-day functions \u2014 not just how you talk with friends, but where you shop, manage your finances, search for a job, and find out what\u2019s happening in the world. It can seem weird, in a moment when toxicity online feels like it\u2019s at an all-time high, to think of the internet as something worth fighting for, but it is. It\u2019s time to protect it.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/strong>The legal battle between Twitter and the U.S. government ended Friday as the Department of Homeland Security withdrew its demand that the tech company release information to identify an account holder whose tweets have been critical of President Trump.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/strong>The web’s creator has attacked any UK plans to weaken encryption and promised to battle any moves by the Trump administration to weaken net neutrality.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/strong>The Republican-controlled Congress just voted to repeal landmark privacy rules passed under Obama, but some ISPs see a strong commitment to privacy as their selling point.<\/p>\n
\nFor those of us who believe privacy is an essential part of a healthy internet, it\u2019s been a bruising few weeks. Congress recently voted to overturn Federal Communications Commission rules that would have helped put people in control of how their internet service providers handle private data. As a result, Washington made the already-uncertain future of online privacy that much more bleak.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/strong>Lawmakers in at least three capitals \u2014 Maryland, Minnesota and Montana \u2014 are weighing new restrictions on the way internet providers and other companies can collect and share their customers\u2019 sensitive data, including their web-browsing histories, with advertisers.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a><\/strong>Over the years, Google trained computer systems to keep copyrighted content and pornography off its YouTube service. But after seeing ads from Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart appear next to racist, anti-Semitic or terrorist videos, its engineers realized their computer models had a blind spot: They did not understand context.<\/p>\n