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Finally, I figured it out: Its a feature, not a bug.

That old Silicon Valley bromide was at the center of the finale this week of HBOs satire Silicon Valley, the show that has perfectly and hysterically skewered tech and all its weirdness for six seasons.

Silicon Valley from executive producers Mike Judge and Alec Berg was always prescient and topical, but the last episode, Exit Event, nailed the most important point that the series and its motley crew of geeks has made throughout its run. Its a point that explains a lot about where we are today with tech: You cant build a safe internet, even when you try your hardest.

The punch line of the series was the perfect metaphor for todays real-life digital landscape: A groundbreaking artificial-intelligence platform called Pied Piper (the actual product is called PiperNet) had become potentially dangerous and rats got activated to destroy the creation. (I should mention that Ive made guest appearances on the show, playing myself.)

So if you want to know why so much of tech has seemed to become ever scarier whether you read the report out last week from Uber about sexual assaults taking place across its car-hailing business, or the multipart series in The New York Times on how services like gaming or video platforms have become hunting grounds for pedophiles, or listened to numerous Republican politicians spew propaganda online about Ukraine meddling in American elections let me break it down for you.

Simply put, far too many of the people who have designed the wondrous parts of the internet thinking up cool new products to make our lives easier, distributing them across the globe and making fortunes doing so have never felt unsafe a day in their lives.

Theyve never felt a twinge of fear getting into a strangers car. Theyve never imagined the pain of privacy violations, because rarely have they been hacked or swatted or doxed. Theyve not been stalked or attacked or zeroed out because of their gender, race or sexual orientation. Theyve never had to think about the consequences of bad choices, because there have been almost no consequences of failure. They have never worried about losing their high-level status, living lives defined by the line on their company growth charts: up and to the right.

Literally, up and to the right. Despite all the mishegas over everything from election interference to hate speech to disinformation to screen addiction to President Trumps toxic tweets, after a tough 2018, tech shares in the S&P 500 are up more than 40 percent as 2019 comes to a close, way above the overall index.

Amazon is up 16 percent. Alphabet has soared close to 29 percent. Microsoft is zeroing in on a 50 percent gain, while Apple is killing it at 70 percent. And Facebook, the social networking giant that has attracted the ire of so many for so much? Up 53 percent.

Big tech includes the most valuable companies on the planet, with two in the trillion-dollar valuation club (Apple and Microsoft), one coming close (Amazon) and another closer (Alphabet).

Which is why I found it striking and laudable that it was Uber whose shares have plummeted since its I.P.O. in May that was out front as the year ends by delivering on its promise to publicly reveal all of the unsafe incidents on its platform.

The report the company delivered last week noted that it had more than 3,000 incidents of sexual assault of varying degrees in 2018, a small number compared to the overall ride volume, even though thats a higher number than reported on other transportation systems.

Among the problems were shoddy background checks. How well or not the company vetted its drivers has been a long-running problem that its more recently appointed managers have been trying to fix.

The numbers are jarring and hard to digest, said Ubers chief legal officer, Tony West, in an interview last week in The New York Times. What it says is that Uber is a reflection of the society it serves.

While Mr. West has a point humans often do act like beasts its one that tech companies often rely on as a go-to explanation for misdeeds. When things go wrong, executives often point to the cruel world and say that they cannot control how their inventions are used by the teeming masses and the inevitable malevolents. Also often pointed out: The bad acting is just a tiny sliver of the massive use of their products.

All true, but thats actually the bug, not the feature. The real problem, which was perfectly depicted on Silicon Valley, is that thoughtlessness is a feature, lack of reflection is a feature, a drive to grow at all costs is a feature and, most of all, the sloppy and lazy ways in which tech too often designs and deploys its inventions are the ultimate features.

Uber had been the poster child for this, of course, with its go-go-damn-the-torpedoes ethos under the co-founder and former chief executive Travis Kalanick. While creating a product that hit the bulls-eye of a market need, it did so by flouting regulations meant to protect customers, like doing those pesky background checks and crowing about how you had to drive fast to win big.

Even now, Ubers chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi who replaced Mr. Kalanick after he was ousted for hit-and-running over a lot of stuff is still cleaning up the mess and trying to put in place safety features that should have been there in the first place. Hes had to awkwardly bolt them on, of course, because the idea of thinking of safety first has never been at the heart of anything Uber or most of Silicon Valley does.

So, kudos to Uber for at least putting a mirror to the ugly parts of its face and not looking away. Like all of tech whether it is around issues of privacy, disinformation, hate speech, screen addiction or the abuse of children online the company probably should have thought of it at the beginning, rather than after damage was done.

There is no law, regulation or lawsuit that is forcing Uber to make this data available, Mr. West said to The Times. We are doing this, frankly, because the public has a right to know.

The truth is, we always did.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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There Is a Reason Tech Isnt Safe - The New York Times

With all eyes on tech giants like Facebook, Twitter and Google, the Liberal government appears to have overlooked another key contributor to the spread of disinformation as it prepared for the 2019 election.

The Canadian government thought Pinterest wouldnt be vulnerable to political disinformation, in part because government officials believed the image-sharing platform doesnt use an algorithm to promote content, according to a briefing obtained by National Observer.

But as National Observer recently reported, Pinterest does use an algorithm, by means of which, Pinterest users were steered toward misleading content, extremist memes and conspiracy theories about Canadian politics ahead of the Oct. 21 federal election, researchers studying the platform found.

Ultimately, the best disinformation campaigns are the ones people dont know about, said John Gray, a visiting research fellow at the Atlantic Councils Digital Forensics Research Lab (DFRLab), who conducted the analysis of Pinterest alongside research associate Kanishk Karan.

Canadian government officials held a discussion with Pinterest staff on March 29, according to a briefing note prepared in May for former democratic institutions minister Karina Gould and obtained by National Observer through freedom-of-information. (Gould is now the minister of international development.)

The memo also details discussions with Reddit and the ephemeral-image-sharing service Snapchat. It refers to the three platforms as second-tier, as opposed to first-tier companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google.

Though the memo notes that Pinterest has struggled with health-related disinformation, it also concluded that the platforms business model makes it not particularly useful for co-ordinated disinformation campaigns and it does not have issues with false information going viral.

But researchers say this simply isnt the case.

Pinterest is an avenue for visual disinformation, Karan told National Observer. Its just too bold to suggest that the platform doesnt have a problem with disinformation.

Users barely had to engage with Pinterest to be pointed towards misleading political content, the DFRLab researchers found.The platforms algorithm started recommending far-right propaganda after users clicked on just one post opposing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

A second click on an anti-Trudeau post thrust users into a far-right meme ecosystem, ultimately creating a feedback loop of increasingly extreme content.

Pinterest didnt respond to a request for comment by deadline.

Liberal cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc whose role as president of the privy council now encompasses Goulds former Democratic Institutions role didnt answer questions about whether the government plans to include Pinterest in future work on the file, and redirected to the Privy Council Office.

The PCO didnt answer questions about the extent to which bureaucrats who spoke with Pinterest were familiar with the platform. In a statement, it said that the note summarized what government officials heard from Pinterest, and that Gould later wrote to Pinterest in June 2019 along with Twitter, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Snapchat and Reddit to ask the company to update the public on its election integrity efforts.

The government will continue to explore all reasonable options for ensuring that social media platforms contribute to building not hindering a healthy Canadian democracy, the statement said.

The briefing note made similar conclusions about the social media platform Reddit, National Observer previously reported in October. The memo showed that the government thought that disinformation and hate speech are not major problems on Reddit, In fact, hate speech has thrived on the platform for years, and Reddit played an outsized role in the spread of misinformation during the election.

The precise degree to which Pinterest or Reddit enabled the spread of hyperpartisan memes and disinformation during Canadas election campaign isnt clear, as influence is difficult to measure. The federal government has said there was no election interference that met its threshold for notifying the public.

As an image-based platform, Pinterest functions differently than text-based platforms like Facebook and Twitter. However, this doesnt mean its not vulnerable to manipulation it just means it may play a different role in the cycle of disinformation.

Most information operations involve multiple platforms, Gray said, and the interconnected nature of social networking sites is a key feature that cant be ignored.

If we look at this strictly on a platform-by-platform basis, were failing to see the entire ecosystem, said Gray. Weve got to talk about the relationships between platforms [and] how things are moving between them.

Karan said any discussion of disinformation needs to look at all platforms as part of the same ecosystem, rather than relegating certain platforms to lower-priority or lower-risk discussions.

Disinformation is not platform-specific, Karan said. Our conversations shouldnt be, either.

As memes spread between users and across platforms, they become independent of their creators. Unless theyre branded with a logo or other identifying signature, it can be difficult to trace the meme back to its original source, which could make visual platforms like Pinterest particularly appealing for bad actors looking to cover their tracks.

However, the April 2019 memo appears to downplay the role of Pinterest as a vehicle for sharing content, claiming that the platform is not designed to allow large-scale re-sharing.

This stands in stark contrast to the description offered by Gray, who said Pinterest actually makes it relatively easy to share content not just to re-pin it [on the platform], but to share it to [other platforms] as well.

Many accounts on Pinterest are anonymous, which makes the platform more vulnerable to disinformation campaigns, Gray said. A single person can operate numerous anonymous accounts, which can then be used to manipulate algorithms or create the illusion of popularity, so that an idea or position without much public support appears more mainstream than it actually is.

Pinterest has played a key role in other disinformation operations, including Russias 2016 influence campaign targeting the U.S. election.

According to expert testimony delivered before the U.S. Senate, Russian operatives created, tested, and hosted content on Pinterest before pushing it to other platforms like Twitter and Facebook. In other instances, unwitting Americans picked up Russian-generated content from one platform and shared it on their own Pinterest pages.

The memo notes that Pinterest said it would actively block searches and links to political or divisive issues ahead of the Canadian vote. However, the DFRLab analysis shows that searches for Trudeau were not blocked in the days leading up to the election, nor were conspiratorial content or extremist memes featuring Islamophobic and anti-immigrant sentiment.

Links to hyperpartisan content on other social media platforms like YouTube appear within the search results for Trudeau.

According to the web analytics company Stat Counter, Pinterest is the second-most popular social media platform in Canada, accounting for 22 per cent of all traffic from Canadian social media users. Research on Pinterest users in the U.S. shows that the platform is among the most conservative of all social networking sites, and also one of the least demographically diverse a finding that generally holds true among Canadian users, as well.

According to Gray, as long as political disinformation and inflammatory memes have a home on platforms like Pinterest, the site will remain vulnerable to being used as part of domestic and foreign disinformation operations. The very presence of such content in such large quantities on a major social media platform is likely to catch the attention of bad actors, he said.

I see these meme boards as a weapons cache if you leave it around, people are going to use it, he warned.

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Exclusive: Canada's government underestimated Pinterest's disinformation problem - National Observer

NAKHON SI THAMMARAT, Thailand (Kyodo) -- Social media is increasingly being used as a means of smuggling endangered otters, and Thai authorities say that is making it difficult to crack down on secret networks.

Illicit trade in the Asian small-clawed otter, an animal that has seen booming demand as pets in Japan, has been on the rise.

Police in Phatthalung, a province in southern Thailand, arrested two people in connection with a recent case, including a 27-year-old man who, in late October, admitted to charges of trying to smuggle the otters to customers inside cardboard boxes.

Authorities said that 18 of the otters, including 11 newborns, each with a street value of 3,500 baht ($116), were discovered at a clothing shop run by the man during an investigation. The suspect also admitted to smuggling such otters in the past.

Calls for preserving rare species of animals are increasing worldwide. A ban on the international commercial trade of the otters found in Southeast Asia, designated as a species threatened with extinction, will take effect on Nov. 26 under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

In Thailand, one of the supply nations of the otters, unauthorized trading and possession of the fish-eating mammals is banned, but demand for them as pets remains strong.

Otters used to be traded in secret in Bangkok until a few years ago. With some fetching over 1 million yen ($9,200) each in Japan, smuggling has increased sharply, prompting Thai authorities to heighten surveillance on the trade.

Otter cafes have been springing up across Japan, with one in Tokyo's Ikebukuro district reportedly keeping about 15 otters imported legally from Indonesia.

A Japanese man, who operates two otter cafes in Tokyo and Fukuoka, said he has been approached a number of times about purchasing the animals.

In the summer of 2018, he contacted authorities about a man who tried to sell him two emaciated otters. The police later arrested the man on suspicion of smuggling them.

According to Traffic, a wildlife trade watchdog, a total of 59 otters, smuggled from Southeast Asia, were taken into protective custody between 2015 and 2017, of which 32 were headed to Japan.

Indeed social networking sites have become the main conduit for smuggling activities, Thai authorities said.

In the case in Thailand, in an exchange that began over Facebook, a police officer disguised as a customer was able to gather enough information, leading to the two arrests.

But an official in charge at the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation in Thailand suggested the case is simply the tip of the iceberg.

"This is not even close to a full-scale investigation" of the illicit trading of otters, the official said.

The arrested man admitted that he had been asked by unknown "customers" to find otters and procured them via unknown "suppliers," reaching out to people on social media. He planned to ship most of the animals to Bangkok.

The otters could have possibly been resold and shipped abroad from the capital city, but as smuggling networks are loosely connected with many of the participants on the social networking sites using fake names, investigations often hit a dead end, authorities said.

In Thailand, otters inhabit the southern region, including Nakhon Si Thammarat, where they come to feed in fish-breeding ponds. But a 54-year-old neighborhood resident said the number of otters seen there recently has dropped considerably due to habitat loss caused by the expanding construction of houses.

Hence, illicit trading in "bred otters" is increasing due to the decreasing population of wild otters. "There must be secret breeding places, but we cannot pinpoint them," a senior official at the wildlife conservation department said.

A group dubbed "the society of otter owners" has a page on Facebook. After a series of email exchanges, it admitted that it breeds the animals in Malaysia and sells them for 2,500 baht each in Thailand.

Thailand has extended the maximum prison term for illicit trading of endangered animals to 10 years from four -- the strongest evidence the Thai government is serious about stamping out the trade.

Asked if the group is concerned about the Thai government stepping up efforts to crack down on the smuggling of otters, it responded, "There is a mountain of deals unknown to authorities and, it is impossible to eliminate smuggling."

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Illicit trade of otters via social networking on the rise - The Mainichi

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Social networking site Twitter initially said it would be wiping accounts that hadn't been accessed within the past six months.

A link has been sent to your friend's email address.

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

Twitter.(Photo: Thinkstock)

Twitter is rethinking its plans to purge inactive accounts, including those started by users who have died.

Soon after saying that it will get rid of some accounts that go unused, Twitter decided to put a pause on the plans after receiving backlash frompeople who didn't want to lose tweets from users whohave passed away.

Weve heard you on the impact that this would have on the accounts of the deceased. This was a miss on our part," Twitter said in a statement Wednesday.

The social networking site initially said it would be wiping accounts that hadn't been accessed within the past six months. The cleanup was set to happen Dec. 11.

On the surface, it was a good idea because the purge would free up coveted usernames that were held up by inactive users.Typically the only way to get a username from someone is through a trademark case.

Target Cyber Monday 2019: Deals on iPads, AirPods, and more

The proposed move by Twitter also spotlighted the fact that there's no way to memorialize deceased users' accounts. "We will not be removing any inactive accounts until we create a new way for people to memorialize accounts," Twitter said in a statement.

On Facebook, dead users' friends and family have the option to report them as deceased. Once the social networking site has verified the loss, a designated contact personcan create a special profile honoring the user.

Follow Dalvin Brown on Twitter: @Dalvin_Brown.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2019/11/29/twitter-wont-removing-unused-accounts-after-all/4330204002/

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Twitter won't be removing inactive accounts after backlash over profiles of dead users - USA TODAY

Its Thanksgiving in the United States, and you know what that means: slide into the holiday weekend hack clich premise that we should be able to wrap up with lunch. (Interface will be back on Monday.) And, with that in mind, let the end of November in a thank you note. Heres something to be grateful about for each of our major social networks as we close the year.

Facebook is making rapid progress in its development of the Supervisory Board, an independent group that will serve as a kind of Supreme Courts decision moderation. I was told that the board early will be named within the next month or so, and will begin to hear the case next year. Im rooting for the Supervisory Board because it can give a veneer of social networking accountability. For the first time, people who are unfairly removed it will be able to get a fair hearing from interested third parties. Of course, it is not possible to work but not any regulations that mean, Im grateful that Facebook is trying.

YouTube already has such a rough year I struggled to come up with a product or policy of a big win. (60 Minutes did a piece about the struggle seems to YouTube on Sunday.) Fortunately, the parent company placed unreasonable limits on political advertising restrict the candidates ability to micro-target voters in the ad. This has the effect of limiting the overall number of political advertising, making it easier for citizens, journalists, and academics to understand in real time the argument that politicians and their supporters make. It would also be likely to encourage politicians to aim their messages at a wider part of the electorate, so as to maximize the reach and impact of their message. It was one of the very few things have been done this year platform that may reverse a trend that worries me the most accelerating the political polarization here and around the world. Thats one reason I predict Facebook will adopt similar restrictions in the next year.

Twitter woke up from a nap for a decade and start delivering new products on a regular basis again. your favorite of these may be different from mine, but really there are a bunch to choose from. As I wrote here earlier this month: Under the leadership of head Kayvon Beykpour products, the company began to remove coarse tweet faster; submitted the original application for the MacOS; adding a search feature to direct messages; turns the list into Swipable schedule; and begin to let you hide the replies to your tweets. And that is what the company has shipped since September. I also have enjoyed the new ability to follow a topic, which has been great to follow niche interests. It is hard to see this as anything other than progress, and this is much more than that in 2020.

Snap is the most creative companies in consumer technology, but until now looks like the business behind it in freefall. But against the odds, CEO Evan Spiegel seems to have turned it around this year. A redesigned Android app and the surging use of foreign aid for the company returns the user growth, C-suite executives managed to survive the new company without quitting or being fired, and the stock rose 189 percent. The company has even found a sympathetic ear among antitrust regulators investigate Facebook. I am grateful that the company is now in a strong position to continue to do what it always did best: creating innovative new tools for creating and communicating.(Source)

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Four social networking gives us reason to be thankful this year - Herald Journalism 24