10 stories this week (w/e 08 Feb)
The 46th Birthday edition. Send me cake. š
2-min read
Hello fromĀ 20 Minutes into the Future. Welcome to our weekend complement to the normalĀ weekly commentary. Below youāll find 10 links to stories that also take a critical look at how technology is shaping our lives today.
āµ Pandemic vs panopticon: coronavirus face masks are compromising Chinaās facial recognition systems.
https://qz.com/1796833/coronavirus-face-masks-foil-facial-recognition-cameras/
ā¶ I get it. Nancy Pelosi makes for fun gotcha memes. Just remember: the road to hell is paved with memes.
https://www.wired.com/story/pelosi-trump-state-of-the-union-meme/
ā· Settle in. Put on a pot of coffee. Come back up for air after a half hour. This an amazing read on Trumpās billion dollar disinformation campaign for the 2020 election.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-2020-disinformation-war/605530/
āø Fake news sites have infiltrated Googleās algorithms. How? Propagandists are parodying local journalism even as itās dying off.Ā
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/these-fake-local-news-sites-have-confused-people-for-years
Not a subscriber yet?Ā 20 Minutes into the FutureĀ is 100% ad free and always will be. Sign up for weekly commentary & related links to help you dig deeper into big tech behaving badly.
ā¹ Facebook Messenger is the platform of choice for pedophiles.Ā
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/us/online-child-sexual-abuse.html
āŗ Collective action comes for the gig economy. First up? Instacart. Ā
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/qjdvgm/instacart-workers-win-historic-union-election
ā» Ajit Pai hates poor people. The digital divide is class warfare. The FCC has the remit to fix it but instead Pai makes it worse to serve his corporate masters.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/01/ajit-pais-surprise-change-makes-it-harder-to-get-fcc-broadband-funding/
ā¼ āTogether with independent researcherĀ Beatrice Ferrara, Pisano has been looking for more empowering and more dynamic futures for rural areas. The duo has been investigating ways to use culture -and in particular sound art and technocultures- to better understand the complexity of rural areas and to challenge discourses of capitalism that tend to marginalise these rural territories.ā
https://we-make-money-not-art.com/the-manifesto-of-rural-futurism/
Sick and tired of big tech behaving badly?Ā 20 Minutes into the FutureĀ is about holding the bastards to account. One way we can do that is by spreading the word of their misdeeds.
ā½ āThis is an argument against nihilism.ā
https://www.wired.com/story/the-internet-is-a-toxic-hellscape-but-we-can-fix-it/
ā¾ The Shadow Shitshow in Iowa.Ā
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/technology/election-tech.html
Thanks for readingĀ 20 Minutes into the Future.Ā Have a friend or colleague who'd like the newsletter? Invite them toĀ sign up.Ā Ā
Good night and good future,Ā
Daniel
20 Minutes into the FutureĀ is a critical look at how technology is shaping our lives today. And what actions we can take for a better tomorrow. If you're not already a subscriber and found this newsletter worth your while then please sign up.
My name isĀ Daniel HarveyĀ and I writeĀ 20 Minutes into the Future. Iām a product designer and have written for Fast Company, Huffington Post, The Drum, & more. If you're pissed about the current state of tech and want to see us do better then youāve found a kindred spirit.
You can email me atĀ daniel.harvey@gmail.comĀ or follow me on TwitterĀ @dancharvey.