SHOULD WE HAVE TO TAKE A QUIZ TO POST COMMENTS?- DTNS WEEKLY TECH UPDATE 03/02/2017

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CLOSER LOOK - TESTING YOUR COMMENT PATIENCE

NRKbeta is the tech section of Norway’s public broadcaster’s website. Two weeks ago they published an explainer about a proposed digital surveillance law in the country. 

https://nrkbeta.no/2017/02/15/nrkbeta-forklarer-forslaget-til-nye-lover-for-overvakning-i-norge/ 

As you can imagine, comments on such proposals can be very divisive and heated. Some folks think any kind of surveillance is oppressive. Others think it’s dangerous to oppose surveillance. 

But the comments on both sides in the NRKbeta story were respectful even when in disagreement. NRKbeta thinks its because of a new system where, on some stories, they require commenters to answer three multiple choice questions about the story they wish to comment on. If they don’t get the questions right, they don’t get to post their comment.

http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/03/this-site-is-taking-the-edge-off-rant-mode-by-making-readers-pass-a-quiz-before-commenting/ 

The procedure does two things.

1. Tries to insure that the people discussing the story understand the basic facts of the story. This cuts down on many arguments based on misunderstandings or ignorance. 

2. It takes the edge off. It’s a speed bump, if you will. If I read a story, get incensed at the government and want to blast a screed, three multiple choice items that make me re-think the story, seriously take the wind out of my sails. 

Of course the readership of NRKbeta is tech savvy and quickly were sharing a script with each other that could circumvent the quiz. But maybe that’s OK. It still stops casual commenters who may have only read the headline. But over time, groups, maybe coordinated, or maybe not, could learn how to overcome the barrier if they were intent on starting online fights. That’s not something unheard of in the world.

That’s an issue that Jigsaw’s Perspective project is tackling. Perspective is trying to use machine learning to create an algorithm that can grade the “toxicity” of a comment. 

https://jigsaw.google.com/projects/#perspective 

Just seeing the grade as you type can make people more civil. However, someone determined to get around the system, can. Researchers at the University of Washington’s Network Security Lab published a paper February 27 showing that typos, like changing “idiot” to “idiiot” lowered the toxicity score significantly.

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1702.08138.pdf 

Now, it’s tempting to dismiss both these projects in light of that, right? Where there’s a will to speak there will be a way. BUt Jigsaw welcomed the University of Washington report. Jigsaw’s product manager for Perspective CJ Adams, told Ars Technica they welcome the research, adding, “The API allows users and researchers to submit corrections like these directly, which will then be used to improve the model and ensure it can to understand more forms of toxic language, and evolve as new forms emerge over time.”

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/googles-anti-trolling-ai-can-be-defeated-by-typos-researchers-find/ 

What I like about both these projects is they’re approaching it like you might if you have two friends fighting. You get between them, try to give them some space and give them a chance to calm down. If one of them just refuses to chill, you change tactics, but you don’t come right for the hammer.

I don’t want censorship and I really don’t want companies to decide what is OK for me to say or not say online. So Jigsaw’s tool could be used for good or ill. If it shows me whether I’m being “toxic” that’s helpful. Because I want to have a productive discussion. If it’s used to ban me that becomes more problematic.

And NRKbeta’s, while easier to circumvent, is even better. As long as the quizzes are factual, it just gives me a chance to calm down, and even helps me make sure I didn’t read something wrong. That’s a service to me. 

Finally, I see both these efforts and the others like Civil (https://www.getcivil.com/ ), are examples of why I don’t think discussing things online is a lost cause. We are learning how to speak to each other when *everybody* can speak. This is what that learning looks like 

NEWS RECAP

In a Tumblr post, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced that she will forgo her annual bonus and equity stock grant and distribute it to Yahoo employees due to security breaches discovered in September last year. Yahoo also filed its conclusions with the US SEC that its security team notified 26 targeted users of state-sponsored access of their accounts while consulting with law enforcement, but the legal team did not properly investigate. Up to 32 million accounts could have been affected by cookie forgery. Yahoo General Counsel Ronald Bell has resigned without severance payments. https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/03/marissa-mayer-forgoes-bonus-after-yahoo-botches-hack-investigation/ 

Snap Inc. began trading stock on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday under the symbol SNAP. Snap issued its stock at $17 a share and it jumped at market open to $24. http://venturebeat.com/2017/03/02/snap-starts-trading-at-24-up-41-from-ipo-price/

 YouTube announced YouTube TV that combines live content from broadcast and cable networks with all other YouTube content. Networks from ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC, are included along with local broadcast channels. Programming from Turner, Viacom, AMC, Discovery and A&E is not. It will be available on any YouTube app and have unlimited cloud DVR storage. The product is separate from YouTube Red but will contain all of YouTube Red’s original programming. YouTube TV arrives this spring starting at $35 a month for up to six users at a time. http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/28/14750894/youtube-streaming-tv-service-announced-hd-live-cable-channels 

Alphabet’s Waymo autnomous car company filed suit against Uber’s Otto autonomous truck company over misappropriated trade secrets. Waymo alleges that in December 2015, while Otto founder Anthony Levandowski was a Waymo employee - backed when it was still part of Alphabet’s Google — he downloaded 14,000 “highly confidential and proprietary files” including Waymo’s LiDAR  circuit board design. Waymo discovered this when a supplier accidentally copied a Waymo employee on email’s containing designs. The suit alleges other former Waymo employees of taking its data to Otto. https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/23/waymo-sues-uber-and-otto-for-theft-of-trade-secrets/ 

Uber’s SVP of engineering Amit Singhal has been asked to resign by CEO Travis Kalanick. ReCode reports that Uber discovered that Singhal had not informed them that he left Google executives there informed him of an allegation of sexual harassment from an employee that an internal investigation had found “credible.” Singhal denied the allegations of harassment but acknowleged there had been a dispute at Google. Recode says Google was prepared to fire Singhal but he resigned before that could happen. http://www.recode.net/2017/2/27/14745360/amit-singhal-google-uber 

Twitter VP of engineering Ed Ho posted about new anti-harassment features Wednesday. Users can mute specific words, including usernames from their timelines. Users can chose to mute accounts with the default “egg” avatar and unconfirmed email addresses or phone numbers. Proactive measures will attempt to identify abusive accounts and take actions like limiting visibility only to direct followers for a period of time. Twitter will start notifying users when it takes action after a harassment report. http://www.recode.net/2017/3/1/14776186/twitter-mute-timeline-eggs 

The Raspberry Pi foundation unveiled a new single board computer, the Raspberry Pi Zero W. The $10 computer includes the same wireless capabilities of the Raspberry Pi 3, including 802.11n wi-fi and Bluetooth 4.0, along with the same CPU and RAM of the original Raspberry Pi Zero. The Raspberry Pi Zero W is available immediately from the foundation's channel partners. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/02/new-10-raspberry-pi-zero-comes-with-wi-fi-and-bluetooth/ 

In an interview with the New York Times, Global Chief Executive for Sony Interactive Andrew House said the company has sold 915,000 Playstation VR units as of February 19th. Sony's internal goal was to sell one-million units by mid-April, which led to supply shortfalls. Sony expects supply issues to be resolved by April. They also announced that Playstation VR will go on sale in Latin America this autumn. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/26/business/sony-playstation-vr-sales.html 

The International Telecommunications Union published its draft report on technical requirements for 5G radio interfaces Thursday. A single 5G cell must have a capacity of at least 20 Gbps, with a maximum latency of 4ms, support 1 million connected devices per square kilometer and have at least 100 MHz of free spectrum scaling up to 1 GHz. Users should see a minimum of 100Mbps down and 50 up. The draft is expected to be finalized and approved in November. https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/02/5g-imt-2020-specs/ 

Facebook announced new tools to help prevent suicides. If a friend reports concerns during a live video, or if Facebook’s AI detects a pattern of concern, Facebook staff will review the report quickly and provide suicide prevention resources to the person streaming. Facebook partnered with Crisis Text Line, the National Eating Disorder Association and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to develop the program. People in crisis will be available to connect directly with mental health services through Facebook Messenger. https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/01/facebook-brings-suicide-prevention-tools-to-live-and-messenger/ 

Line Pay has passed 10 million registered users, that’s 280% growth and transaction growth is up 13.8 times. All the growth isn’t in Japan either. Line Pay added more than 400 merchants since it’s launch in Taiwan in August 2015. Line is also promoting Line Pay heavily in Indonesia and Thailand. https://www.techinasia.com/line-pay-thailand-taiwan-indonesia 

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS

Sony introduced two premium handsets at MWC, the Xperia XZ Premium and Xperia XZs. Both phones feature HDR image support, a 19MP back camera, IP68 dust and water resistance, front facing stereo speakers, and high resolution audio support. The XZ Premium features a 5.5-inch 4K display and Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 835, as well as 4GB of LPDDR4x memory. The XZs features a smaller 5.2-inch 1080p display, the Snapdragon 820 CPU and 4GB of standard LPDDR4. The XZs will go on sale April 5 for $699.99 with 64GB of storage. The XZ Premium will go on sale later in the spring due to Snapdragon 835 supply issues, no price was announced. http://www.anandtech.com/show/11162/sony-xperia-xz-and-xperia-xzs-phones-for-us-market 

TCL announced the BlackBerry KeyOne, previously codenamed Mercury, in Barcelona Saturday. The 4.5-inch 1620 x 1080 LCD touchscreen has 3:2 aspect ratio above a touch-sensitive physical keyboard. It has keyboard shortcuts and there’s a fingerprint sensor in the spacebar. It uses the Snapdragon 625 processor and a 3505mAh battery, running Android 7.1 and committed to monthly security patches. The BlackBerry KeyOne ships in April for $549. http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/2/25/14738106/blackberry-keyone-announced-price-specs-mwc-2017 

HMD announced four phones under the Nokia name Sunday. Three new smartphones run Android Nougat 7.1.1 with monthly security updates and Google Assistant. The 5.5-inch Nokia 6 announced for China in January will be available worldwide for €229 and €299. The 5.2-inch Nokia 5 is €189 and the Nokia 3 runs €139. All three smartphones can be pre-ordered at nokia.com/phones for shipping in Q2. HMD also announced a revival of the Nokia 3310 feature phone running the Series 30+ OS with a 2.4-inch QVGA screen, 2-megapixel camera and a microSD card slot. It comes bundled with the Opera Mini browser and yes, Snake. It’s available in Q2 for €49. https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/26/hmd-unveils-3-android-smartphones-in-nokia-clothing/ 

-- http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/26/14742150/nokia-3310-mwc-2017 

LG announced its new flagship G6 phone Sunday. The modularity of the G5 is gone but the G6 has a 2:1 aspect ratio, or 18:9 for comparison to the more common 16:9. A new LG interface takes advantage of the extra screen real estate, to do things like see two windows side by side. No price or release was announced, though LG said the G6 will come to South Korea in a few days. https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/26/lg-g6-reveal/ 

Huawei announced its new 5.1-inch 1080p P10 and 5.5-inch WQHD P10 Plus flagship phones Sunday. Both have Leica Dual-camera lenses, run the octa-core Kirin 960 processor with 4GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage with a 6 GB RAM 128 GB storage version for the P10 plus as well. The P10 has a 3200mAh battery and the P10 Plus 3750 mAh. The P10 will cost €649 and the P10 Plus starts at €699, shipping in March in Europe, Malaysia, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand to start. http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/26/14741440/huawei-p10-specs-release-date-price-mwc-2017 

Huawei also announced the Huawei Watch 2 and the Huawei Watch 2 Classic. They include GPS, heart rate sensor, NFC and Android Pay with a1.2-inch circular display and 12.6mm thick, a little smaller thicker than the previous Huawei watch but with double the battery life at two days. The Watch 2 will have a model with LTE, as well as a Porsche Design version. Pricing begins at €329 coming to China and western and central Europe in March and more widely including the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand in April and May. http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/2/26/14734864/huawei-watch-2-classic-smartwatch-android-wear-mwc-2017 

Lenovo announced the 5-inch Moto G5 and 5.2-inch G5 plus Android 7 phones Sunday, both with 1080p HD and microSd card slots. The G5 Plus has a Snapdragon 625 processor  and can record 4K video.  The G5 has a removable 2,800mAh battery. The G5 Plus has a sealed 3,000mAh battery. Both will come with Google Assistant. Both ship in March with the G5 starting at €199 though not coming to the US, and the G5 Plus starting at $299, coming to the US but without NFC in that region. http://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/2/26/14742166/lenovo-moto-g5-plus-announced-price-release-date 

Samsung chose not to announce new Galaxy S phones at Mobile World Congress but did show off the Galaxy Tab S3 and Galaxy Book. The Tab S3 is an Android tablet with a 2048 x 1536 display with HDR playback and auto-calibrated speakers. The Galaxy Book is a Windows 10  convertible in 10.6 and 12-inch models with Intel Core M3 and Core i5 processors respectively. Both have S-Pen stylus functions like tilt that change input based on the angle of the pen. A new keyboard case has improved key travel and a 50 percent  larger trackpad. https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/26/samsung-galaxy-tablets/ 

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