Tag Archives: META

22Sep/23

Rupert Murdoch and the rise and fall of the press barons: how much power do newspapers still have?

Simon Potter, University of Bristol

Global media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has announced his retirement as chairman of Fox and News Corp, making way for his son Lachlan. He has been demonised as a puppet master who would pull the strings of politicians behind the scenes, as a man with too much power. But what influence did he and his fellow media moguls really wield?

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18Sep/23

Prominent dark sides and hidden agendas of social media moderators

Mon, Sep 18 — It is important to note that not all social media moderators are motivated by these dark sides and hidden agendas. Many moderators are genuinely trying to create a safe and welcoming environment for users. However, the power that social media moderators wield means that it is important to be aware of the potential for abuse. Continue reading

07Jun/23

Apple Vision Pro headset: what does it do and will it deliver?

Panagiotis Ritsos, Bangor University and Peter Butcher, Bangor University

Apple recently unveiled its Vision Pro headset at the Worldwide Developers Conference in California. With it, Apple is venturing into a market of head-mounted devices (HMDs) – which are usually just displays, but in this case is more of a complete computer attached to your head – as well as the worlds of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR).

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22May/23

The European Union (EU) has fined Facebook parent Meta €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion)

May 22, 2023 /Business/ — The European Union (EU) has fined Facebook parent Meta $1.3 billion for transferring user data to the United States without adequate safeguards in place. The fine is the largest ever imposed by the EU for data protection violations.

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires companies to obtain consent from individuals before transferring their data outside of the EU. Meta argued that it had obtained consent from users, but the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) found that this consent was not valid. Continue reading

22Apr/23

The Metaverse will get a big boost from AI

April 21, 2023 /Technology/ –The metaverse is a virtual world where people can interact with each other and with digital objects. It is still in its early stages, but it has the potential to revolutionize the way we live, work, and play.

AI can play a major role in the development of the metaverse. It can be used to create more realistic and immersive experiences, to provide personalized content and services, and to automate tasks.

Here are some specific ways that AI can boost the metaverse: Continue reading

13Jan/23

Reclaiming privacy

By Samuel Woodhams | Digital rights researcher and journalist

Last week, WhatsApp announced a new proxy support feature that will help people stay connected during internet disruptions. The app is often targeted by government censors because messages on the end-to-end encrypted service can’t be intercepted, enabling people to organise protests and share critical information in private.
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28Nov/22

Gangs, drill music, and police databases

The Met has overhauled its ‘Gangs Violence Matrix’ database following a legal challenge by human rights organisation, Liberty. The tool is used by the police force to identify and monitor people suspected of being involved in gang-related crime.
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01Oct/22

We’ve had the backlash against Big Tech. Now what?

David Carroll
Published: September 29, 2022 | Parsons School of Design

David Carroll is an associate professor of media design at Parsons School of Design at The New School in New York.

Thomson Reuters Foundation — On Sept. 13 an employee of Boston’s Northeastern University was injured when a package delivered to a virtual reality research lab exploded in his hands. Like a scene from a futuristic thriller, a note accompanying the bomb accused the lab of secretly working for Facebook and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg in a plot to take over society through virtual reality. Continue reading

17Aug/22

Caste in California: Tech giants confront ancient Indian hierarchy

OAKLAND, Calif, Aug 15 (Reuters) – America’s tech giants are taking a modern-day crash course in India’s ancient caste system, with Apple (AAPL.O) emerging as an early leader in policies to rid Silicon Valley of a rigid hierarchy that’s segregated Indians for generations.

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20Jul/22

OPINION: Meta and hate speech in India

Deborah Brown and Jayshree Bajoria are senior researchers at Human Rights Watch

Last week, Meta, formerly Facebook, released its first human rights report, which included some snippets from the pending Human Rights Impact Assessment on India. But this was not a preview of the full assessment. Rather, Meta told Human Rights Watch that it does not “have plans to publish anything further on the India HRIA,” an abdication of its commitment to transparency and due diligence.
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