(Bloomberg) — When federal regulators stepped in to backstop all of Silicon Valley Bank’s deposits, they saved thousands of small tech startups and prevented what could have been a catastrophic blow to a sector that relied heavily on the lender.
Big VC, Tech Got Backstop for Billions in Uninsured SVB Deposits (archived)
Big Tech is rushing ahead of any legal framework for artificial intelligence, or AI, in the quest for big profits, while pushing for self-regulation instead of the constraints imposed by the rule of law.
DOD Developing AI Weapons? Beware the Frankenstein Chatbots
NYT hypes China threat: They’re reading the internet
That Beijing is mining publicly available information is not new or surprising but fear mongering about it in Washington is good for business.
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The Times was passing on findings from an analysis by threat intelligence company Recorded Future, which says a Chinese open-source intel company has been mining publicly available information from the Office of Net Assessment, a Pentagon think tank, and the U.S. Naval War College.
Related:
Exclusive: Google, CIA Invest in ‘Future’ of Web Monitoring
The investment arms of the CIA and Google are both backing a company that monitors the web in real time — and says it uses that information to predict the future. The company is called Recorded Future, and it scours tens of thousands of websites, blogs and Twitter accounts to find the relationships between people, […]
Read More »
The Google Play Store suspended an app that combines a web browser with a file manager after a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) complaint pointed out that the app is capable of loading a piracy website—even though that same pirate website can be loaded on any standard browser, including Google Chrome.
Google bans Downloader app after [Israeli] TV firms complain it can load a pirate website
When most people in the English-speaking world hear the word “propaganda”, they tend to think of something that’s done by foreign nations who have governments that are so totalitarian they won’t even let people know what’s true or think for themselves.
Most Propaganda Looks Nothing Like This
Omidyar money behind organizations pushing corporate boycott of Twitter
Civil Beat Publisher Bankrolls Shadowy Anti-Musk Group
Related:
NGOs, “Unions”, & Media Outlets in the Service of Imperialism
Facebook and Instagram users are not allowed to call for the death of Vladimir Putin, according to an update issued by their parent company.
Facebook and Instagram users not allowed to call for death of Putin
Hadn’t realized this, until I came across it in another article. 🤷🏼♀️
Yesterday, @KanekoaTheGreat turned us on to a story demolishing the credibility of Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll, and today he helps take a sledgehammer to someone else’s credibility:
Criticizing George Soros is antisemitic … according to organization receiving money from Soros!
Related:
Institute for Strategic Dialogue
Analysis of the activities of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue
The Ukraine Content Aggregator is used to catch fake news and share data on it with foreign partners, the secretary of state says
US developed AI tool to battle Russian disinformation Blinken
H/T: Emil Cosman
Related:
Secretary Antony J. Blinken at Freedom House 2023 Annual Awards Ceremony
The third thing I wanted to highlight. While we’re working to promote access to the internet for all, we’re also working to address threats to human rights that come with an open internet, including online harassment, abuse, disinformation.
Now, online abuse doesn’t, of course, target only human rights defenders. Instead, the internet and digital technologies are often used to amplify attacks on vulnerable groups – women, the LGBTQI community, marginalized ethnic or religious groups – and undermine our broader fight for human rights. So this year, we launched what is now at least a 12-country Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse. We’re encouraging private sector to become engaged with us as well.
We’re also working to address the massive challenge of online misinformation and disinformation – again, something familiar to everyone in this room. To cite one example, of course, Russia continues to push a steady, relentless stream of disinformation about its war of aggression against Ukraine, to lie about and cover up horrific abuses it’s committed, to try to justify committing others.
In response, the State Department has developed an AI-enabled online Ukraine Content Aggregator to collect verifiable Russian disinformation and then to share that with partners around the world. We’re promoting independent media and digital literacy. We’re working with partners in academia to reliably detect fake text generated by Russian chatbots.
The rapidly evolving technology of Artificial Intelligence and the lack of government oversight over its development and implementation is drawing heightened concerns, including from the Biden administration which is taking the risk of machines being one day able to turn against humanity seriously. But they could be shooting themselves in the foot by tabbing Vice President Kamala Harris as the new AI czar.
Kamala Harris tapped as Artificial Intelligence czar and the jokes write themselves
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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