Gizmodo: The Facebook Papers, Void Filling, and Governance
May 2, 2022
If you need more evidence about the fine thought processes at Facebook, navigate to “We’re Publishing the Facebook Papers. Here’s What They Say About the Ranking Algorithms That Control Your News Feed.” In the story is a link to the link tucked into the article where the once-confidential documents are posted. In the event you just want to go directly to the list, here it is: https://bit.ly/3vWqLKD.
I reacted to the expansion of the Gizmodo Facebook papers with a chuckle. I noted this statement in the cited article:
Today, as part of a rolling effort to make the Facebook Papers available publicly, Gizmodo is releasing a second batch of documents—37 files in all.
I noted the phrase “rolling effort.”
In my OSINT lecture at the National Cyber Crime Conference, I mentioned that information once reserved for “underground” sites was making its way to mainstream Web sites. Major news organizations have dabbled in document “dumps.” The Pentagon Papers and the Snowden PowerPoints are examples some remember. An Australian “journalist” captured headlines, lived in an embassy, and faces a trip to the US because of document dumps.
Is Gizmodo moving from gadget reviews into the somewhat uncertain seas of digital information once viewed as proprietary, company confidential, or even trade secrets?
I don’t know if the professionals at Gizmodo are chasing clicks, thinking about emulating bigly media outfits, or doing what seems right and just.
I find the Facebook papers amusing. The legal eagles may have a different reaction. Remember. I found the embrace of interesting content amusing. From my point of view, gadget reviews are more interesting if less amusing.
Stephen E Arnold, May 2, 2022
Just A One Trick Pony Use Case for Clearview AI? Duh?
March 28, 2022
I read “Ukraine Uses Facial Recognition to Identify Dead Russian Soldiers, Minister Says.” If I were a minister, I suppose everything I might say would become a news story from a “trust” outfit. The write up reports that Clearview AI’s technology and image database will allow Ukraine to ID casualties. Then Ukraine will output the matches via social media. The write up makes clear that other questions were asked, but the minister did not comment. One factoid in the write up is that Clearview has an alleged two billion images scraped from VKontakte, the Russian Facebook.
A couple of points:
- The trust outfit publishing the one trick pony use case requires that one register to ingest the content.
- Will those in Ukraine use the technology to determine if a living Russian is trying to pass as a resident?
My clear view is that the more immediate use case for the system might be to focus on the living. Does that idea creep into the news report? Of course not, Thomson Reuters is not the New York Times.
Which is better the “we don’t comment on the obvious spin from the minister” or “the laptop content” shuffle? “Better” is the incorrect word. How about “different.”
Stephen E Arnold, March 28, 2022
Mathy Types Want Free Textbooks: Professional Publishers Do Not
March 25, 2022
The United States is home to many of the best universities in the world. Unfortunately higher education has become incredibly expensive. One of the biggest expenditures for students are textbooks. A single textbook can run hundreds of dollars and it could be for only one class! Many students, professors, universes, and organizations support open source and open access to textbooks.
Thew American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) supports free textbooks:
“The American Institute of Mathematics (AIM) seeks to encourage the adoption of open source and open access mathematics textbooks. The AIM Editorial Board has developed evaluation criteria to identify the books that are suitable for use in traditional university courses. The Editorial Board maintains a list of Approved Textbooks which have been judged to meet these criteria.
Approved Textbooks The list is organized by courses ranging from pre-calculus to upper division analysis and algebra. Each book has a brief description of its important features and information about how to get it.
Evaluation Criteria There are a number of features that the Editorial Board considers in evaluating textbooks.
Guide for Authors Here is some advice on questions facing open textbook authors.
Editorial Board The AIM Editorial Board develops the criteria for acceptance and reviews open textbooks.
Open access curriculum material for inquiry based learning courses can be found at
The Journal for Inquiry Based Learning in Mathematics.”
Authors and publishers of textbooks should be published for their work, but students do not need to pay hundreds of dollars for a single book they may not use. Professional publishers are likely to interpret the free textbook idea as evidence of lunacy which is difficult to convert to a function that yields revenue.
Whitney Grace, March 25, 2022
Ever Heard of Editorial Policy?
March 16, 2022
I have been working through the digital baloney that is tossed in my face each morning. Mashable reveals that Substack is losing writers due to censorship. The story “Why Substack Creators Are Leaving the Platform, Again” explains how Substack’s management fell on its sword. TikTok’s problems with content moderation in Russia are explained by the “real” news outfit owned by the estimable Rupert Murdoch. “TikTok Struggles to Find Footing in Wartime” explains that figuring out how to deal with what Mr. Putin perceives as untoward content. Amazon Twitch faces similar challenges. And there is YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook.
The issue is that none of these high tech outfits attended to the value of what I call “editorial policy.” The idea is that there are guidelines developed by professionals working in an information generating operation develop. These are discussed, debated, and written down. Once they have been written down, the guidelines are reviewed, presented when new employees are hired, summarized in user documentation, described in training sessions, and mentioned (briefly or in detail) in conference posters or presentations.
The main idea is to demonstrate a set of guidelines that the information generation outfit followed. I have delivered briefings to start ups, venture funds, and professional groups for more than 50 years. I can say, based on my experience, that once the Internet made everyone into an expert, very few found editorial policies particularly relevant.
Now the zippy types are figuring it out. The problem is that effort is needed. Disciplined thinking is necessary. Staff training and continuity are important. Management commitment is important.
I am not sure retroactive editorial policies will be possible. Let’s just go with the flow. How is that working out for you?
Stephen E Arnold, March 16, 2022
Is It Party Time for STM Professional Publishers?
March 4, 2022
I spotted a TorrentFreak write up called “FBI Gains Access to Sci-Hub Founder’s Google Account Data.” The article explains that investigators are gathering information about Alexandra Elbakyan, the founder of what the article references as the “Pirate Bay of Science.”
The idea behind the service is to make paywall protected content available without the paywalls. The article explains what agencies have been involved and some of the legal procedures followed. These are routine but may be surprising to those who think about new recreational vehicles and the new pizza place.
What makes the investigation interesting is that references are made to Ms. Elbakyan’s alleged links to other governmental entities.
Several observations:
- Alleged links to a foreign power engaged in hostile actions move the story from scientific, technical and medical content made available without the pro9fessional publishers permission to a higher level of security concern.
- Professional publishers have not been happy campers since Sci-Hub became available. (Is this because the service has chewed into some revenues for these commercial enterprises? My guess is, “Yep.”)
- Allegedly, Ms. Elbakyan lives in Russia and, if the Wikipedia is spot on, she is studying philosophy at the Russian Academy of Sciences. (Will extradition be possible? My view is that the process will be interesting.)
When I read the story, I thought about one professional publishing big wig who said off the record, “That crazy Kazakh has to be shut down?”
Is it party time in the world of STM professional publishing? Not yet, but some may want to buy foil party hats and cheap kazoos.
Stephen E Arnold, March 4, 2022
More Print Magazines Jobs Bite Dust As They Go Digital
March 3, 2022
More printed magazines and newspapers are disappearing says Al Jazeera in the article, “Barry Diller-Owned Dotdash Ends Print Editions Of Six Magazines.” Print media is not entirely dead. Newspapers are thinner than most waistlines, phone books can still be found if you look hard enough, and magazines still sell well at stores. Dotdash Meredith will remove some of those magazines from the racks, including the popular Entertainment Weekly and InStyle. Other popular titles are People en Español, Parents, Health, and EatingWell. Dotdash wants to concentrate on digital publishing.
Unfortunately two hundred jobs are cut in the process, which is 5% of the company’s entire workforce. April 2022 will be the final issues for the six aforementioned magazines. Meredith Corp. purchased Dotdash in October 2021, but the purpose was not to buy print media instead Meredith wanted brands. Meredith Corp. is seriously invested in growing and invested $80 million in content for its brands.
Despite people reading more during the pandemic, print media saw decreasing revenues:
“Newspaper and magazine publishers have faced pressure in recent years from a decline in print-advertising revenues, while tech giants like Google and Facebook have pocketed most of the ad dollars in the digital space.
The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the industry’s woes as it accelerated a shift to online news platforms, bringing newsstand sales to a halt.”
Dotdash is the digital arm of IAC and owns fourteen media branches. Its fastest growing branches are health, lifestyle, and finance. The company reaches 100 million online consumers on a monthly basis.
Print is not dead yet, but its digital counterpart is certainly taking over!
Whitney Grace, March 3, 2022
Elbakyan: A Slippery Online Service
March 2, 2022
Paywalls stink. The justification for paywalls is that they keep organizations and publications funded and this makes sense. However, most independent researchers cannot afford the often high fees that educational institutes and corporations have no choice but pay. Other than expensive fees, paywalls prevent important research from being shared.
Alexandra Elbakyan decided to circumvent paywalls as she pursued knowledge and became an expert programmer at a young age. The reason she became an expert programmer was her desire to create her own Tamagotchi program. She failed creating a digital pet, but she did succeed in gathering lots of information and the desire to share it.
Elbakyan designed Sci-Hub, a scientific database that:
“Sci-Hub collected a database of 88,343,822 research documents, freely available for download. Around 80% of the collection are research articles published in journals, 6% are papers from conference proceedings, 5% are book chapters, the rest are other types of documents. 77% of the documents available through Sci-Hub were published between 1980 and 2020, and 36% between 2010 and 2020. The coverage is > 95% for all major scientific publishers. The total size of Sci-Hub database is about 100 TB.”
Elbakyan’s Sci-Hub is an excellent tool for researchers who do not have the privilege of a bypassing paywalls through an educational institute or corporations. Knowledge does need to be shared, especially if it can assist in benefiting humanity.
The only problem is Elbakyan’s questionable celebration of communism and Josef Stalin. She also believes in astrology. It is a stereotype that programmers are oddballs, but applauding the dictator who is second only to Mao in murdering the most people in history and a market system theory that has been proven not to work is not good. Also astrology is junk science.
Whitney Grace, March 2, 2022
Interesting Assertion from Bezos Affiliated Newspaper
February 15, 2022
My recollection is that Amazon, when under Jeff Bezos’ control, provided technology to the US Central Intelligence Agency. I was surprised when I read “Senators: CIA Has Secret Program That Collects American Data.” I have no idea if the story is on the money or note. I found it interesting that Amazon was not mentioned in the write up. Even though that interesting detail was omitted, I noted this passage in the article:
“These reports raise serious questions about the kinds of information the CIA is vacuuming up in bulk and how the agency exploits that information to spy on Americans,” Patrick Toomey, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. “The CIA conducts these sweeping surveillance activities without any court approval, and with few, if any, safeguards imposed by Congress.”
And Amazon? Not in the picture. Amazon’s client? In the picture.
Stephen E Arnold, February 15, 2022
New York Times May Be Embracing the High School Science Club Management Method
February 10, 2022
I read “New York Times Opposes Tech Staff Push to Organize.” The write up from the always-objective outfit owned by the esteemed information kingpin Rupert Murdoch reports:
Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for the Times, said the company didn’t voluntarily recognize a technology union because it would be ‘an unproven experiment with lasting implications.’”
The Guardian reported in “Leaked Messages Reveal New York Times’ Aggressive Anti-Union Strategy” stated on February 1, 2022:
Meredith Kopit Levien, the chief executive of the New York Times Company, wrote a memo on 19 January circulated to staff titled “Why a Tech Union Isn’t Right for Us” on the tech workers’ union election at XFun, the group within the New York Times responsible for product development operations. “In short, we don’t believe unionizing in XFun is the right move. But that’s not because I’m anti-union,” said Kopit Levien. In the memo, Kopit Levien cited the origin of the XFun group and its growth, and attributed any disconnect workers might be feeling to working apart during the pandemic. She also cited Wirecutter’s union as a warning sign for unionization.
From my vantage point in rural Kentucky, the Manhattan centric dust up is amusing. We have the Gray Lady, who wants to expand its online subscription business, reduce costs via adoption of smart software, and a staff of professional who are quite sharp. One might say really woke.
My hypothesis is:
- Workers are divided into classes; that is, the “real” journalists and the others.
- The others sense that they are like Google marketing and legal professionals: Down the management crafted totem pole.
- The union effort is one way to try and put up a Chinese wall so that jobs can be defended. (If the wall is like the nifty one in China, it will demonstrate the skills of those who built it. You have to respect that Chinese wall even though it is tough to ride a horse from Point A to Point B on the top of the wall.)
The result is that the traditional publishing wants its class structure. It wants to be digitally hip as the XFun vivifies. However, the others are not in the game plan.
So far New York Times’ management team have taken decisions which remind me of the moves employed by Facebook- and Google-like outfits in Silicon Valley. The shallowness of the approach creates drama.
Drama makes news. News is good. The publicity may not be so beneficial. The lasting implications, however, may be great for the not-real-journalists. Despite snappy podcasts, “real” journalists may not be able to select, optimize, and maintain the smart systems the Gray Lady wants and needs. Talking about technology is not the same as doing technology in my experience.
Stephen E Arnold, February 10, 2022
Tech Giants: Are There Reasons for Complaining about Tiny Component Vendors?
February 8, 2022
I read “Tiny chips, Big Headaches.” The write up is interesting and it comes at a time which follows [a] record earnings and [b] before the anti-trust cowboys begin their roundup. I found this paragraph notable:
But there is growing anxiety that as cloud-computing networks have become larger and more complex, they are still dependent, at the most basic level, on computer chips that are now less reliable and, in some cases, less predictable. In the past year, researchers at both Facebook and Google have published studies describing computer hardware failures whose causes have not been easy to identify. The problem, they argued, was not in the software — it was somewhere in the computer hardware made by various companies.
The write up concludes that fixes are “a little bit like changing an engine while an airplane is still flying.” This statement is attributed too Gary Smerdon, a wizard at TidalScale.
Let’s step back.
The alleged technology monopolies are eager to cement their market dominance. One way to do this is to become like AMD: Smart people paying other people to fabricate their silicon and assemble their gizmos. It stands to reason that really smart people like those at the tech giants want to gain control and be like Apple. Apple went its own direction and seems to have a lucrative allegedly monopoly and some fascinating deals with people like a certain online advertising outfit for search.
What’s the argument for becoming more like Henry Ford’s River Rouge operation. That’s the one that ingested iron ore at one end of the facility and output automobiles at the other end. Today the raw material is user clicks and the outputs are monetization of messages to the users or the crafting of subscription services that are tough to resist.
My take on the reasons for pointing the finger at third parties is more of the shifting blame. This method was evident when Mr. Zuckerberg said Apple’s “privacy” policy created some headwinds. Sure, the Zuckbook has other headwinds, but the point is that it is useful to focus blame elsewhere.
However, the write up advances a point which I found interesting. Here is the passage from the write up I noted:
In the past year, researchers at both Facebook and Google have published studies describing computer hardware failures whose causes have not been easy to identify. The problem, they argued, was not in the software — it was somewhere in the computer hardware made by various companies.
I want to direct your attention to this statement: “The problem… was not in the software.”
Now that is an interesting observation about software. The general rule is that software has flaws. Maybe Steve Gibson can generate “perfect” software for SpinRite, but how many at the alleged technology monopolies follow his practices? I would assert that many at the alleged technology monopolies know what his method is; therefore, if certain wizards don’t know something, it clearly is not worth knowing in the first place.
I interpreted the statement that “The problem … was not in the software.”
Hubris, thy manifestation is those who believe their software was not a problem.
Ho, ho, ho.
My concern is that presenting an argument that failures in uptime are someone else’s problem invites the conclusion, “Well, we will be more like Apple. Hasta la vista, Intel.”
Personally I don’t care what the alleged technology monopolies do. Trouble looms for these outfits regardless of the direction in which I look. What annoys me is that the Gray Lady is pretty happy telling the alleged technology monopolies’ story.
The problem is not the software. The problem is the human thing: Reformation, disinformation, and misinformation as stealth weapons in the battle for continued market dominance.
Stephen E Arnold, February 8, 2022
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
