New 3D map of the Milky Way Galaxy shows warping and twisting; Privacy laws tipping the balance towards authoritarianism; Facebook plans backdoor in WhatsApp; Computers spotting fake smiles; Citizen Science for children on the Steem blockchain
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- A new 3D map of the Milky Way reveals our galaxy's warped shape in unprecedented detail - Researchers at the University of Warsaw recently measured the distances between our sun and thousands of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy in order to produce the most detailed 3D map to date. The map reveals that the galaxy is not flat, as widely believed, but it warps and twists at great distances from the center.
- Op-Ed: How data privacy laws could make the criminal justice system even more unfair - This op-ed argues that a number of new and proposed laws that are intended to protect privacy actually tip the balance in a way that makes it harder for people to defend against false accusations. The laws give police access to multiple sources of forensic data while erecting obstacles to access by defendants. One such law is the recently enacted California Consumer Privacy Act, which prohibits technology companies from disclosing when law enforcement accesses their data, but has no corresponding prohibition when defendants access it. The proposed New York Privacy Act suffers from the same shortcoming. The argument is summarized here: "In criminal cases, both the prosecution and the accused have a right to subpoena evidence so that juries can hear both sides of the case. The new privacy bills need to ensure that law enforcement and defense investigators operate under the same rules when they subpoena digital data." h/t Bruce Schneier
- The Encryption Debate Is Over - Dead At The Hands Of Facebook - Facebook has announced plans to "moderate" end-to-end encrypted content on their WhatsApp platform, and even to stream the content to their own servers for further analysis when certain criteria are met. Whatever they may call it, this amounts to Facebook executing a man in the middle attack against their own users. As Bruce Schneier puts it, Facebook Plans on Backdooring WhatsApp.
- How to Spot A Fake Smile? Ask A Computer - Scientists at the University of Bradford have created software that can spot false facial expressions by analyzing cues from the mouth, cheeks, and eyes of the subject as an expression moves across the face. This is a task that humans are not good at doing. Research leader, Hassan Ugail says these techniques could be useful for biometric identification, and also for social and clinical scientists who are seeking insights into human behavior.
- STEEM My daughter found a Cicada shedding his shell! - Here's a citizen science initiative in biology for children. @ironshield posts pictures of a cicada in the process of shedding its shell. The cicada was discovered by @ironshield's daughter. (A beneficiary setting of 5% to @ironshield has been applied to this post.)
My other open posts
@remlaps
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- Curating the Internet: Science and technology micro-summaries for August 1, 2019
- Curating the Internet: Science and technology micro-summaries for July 30, 2019
- Curating the Internet: Science and technology micro-summaries for July 29, 2019
- Curating the Internet: Science and technology micro-summaries for July 28, 2019
- Curating the Internet: Science and technology micro-summaries for July 27, 2019
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