💪🙌💥Public pressure works! #meta delays implementing their AI training of users personal data.

@[email protected] filed legal complaints in 11 European countries we joined up with them in Norway.

In Norway, the public outcry has also been deafening at times.

We will follow closely and our arguments still stand: Meta does not have a legal basis for such processing.

#privacy #gdpr #ai #GenAI #MetaAI

https://noyb.eu/en/preliminary-noyb-win-meta-stops-ai-plans-eu

Why are algorithms called algorithms? A brief history of the Persian polymath you’ve likely never heard of.

Over 1,000 years before the internet and smartphone apps, Persian scientist and polymath Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī invented the concept of algorithms.

By Debbie Passey. via @ConversationUK

https://theconversation.com/why-are-algorithms-called-algorithms-a-brief-history-of-the-persian-polymath-youve-likely-never-heard-of-229286

#books #mathematics #algorithm

Waiting for my flight to Amsterdam before a train ride to Groningen to present the Small Web at my colloquium on computer science at the University of Groningen tomorrow.

https://www.rug.nl/research/bernoulli/calendar/colloquia/computer-science-oriented/2024/20240611-aral-balkan?lang=en

#SmallWeb #groningen #netherlands #universityOfGroningen #talks

Looking forward to presenting my computer science colloquium on Small Web at the University of Groningen, Netherlands, on 11th of June, 2024 at 4PM.

https://www.rug.nl/research/bernoulli/calendar/colloquia/computer-science-oriented/2024/20240611-aral-balkan

There might be space for a few people from outside the university to attend so if you want to drop by, make some noise and I’ll have a chat with the university.

Thanking @mirela for organising this and looking forward to hopefully meeting some of you in the Netherlands soon.

#SmallWeb #groningen #netherlands #web #dev

"Just like Apple, Meta is behaving as though the #DMA permits it to carry on its worst behavior, with minor cosmetic tweaks around the margins. Just like #Apple, #Meta is daring the #EU to enforce its democratically enacted laws, implicitly promising to pit its billions against #Europe’s institutions to preserve its right to spy on us."

Big Tech to EU: "Drop Dead" | #ElectronicFrontierFoundation https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/05/big-tech-eu-drop-dead

European Parliament today supported extending the indiscriminate, error-prone #Chatcontrol 1.0 searching of ALL private messages sent via US big tech platforms.

Read why #Pirates are opposing this: https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/pirates-vote-against-chatcontrol-1-0-extension/

How did your MEPs vote? https://mepwatch.eu/9/vote.html?v=164216&country=

My video explains why the official justification is a tall tale: https://twitter.com/echo_pbreyer/status/1753055216969076745

The election year focus on 'deep fakes' is a distraction, conveniently ignoring the documented role of surveillance ads--or, the ability to target specific segments to shape opinion. This's a boon to Meta/Google, who've rolled back restrictions on political ads in recent years.

Put another way, a deep fake is neither here nor there unless you have a platform + tools to disseminate it strategically.

"The virus is rampant. We’re still in a pandemic. There’s a lot of complacency at the individual level, and more concerning to me is that at the government level.

"Using masks for respiratory pathogens that transmit through the air is a no-brainer—plus vaccination, plus distancing, plus improving ventilation."

We don’t know everything about this virus. Even in year five, there’s still a lot of research that needs to be done."

- Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/rampant-covid-poses-new-challenges-in-the-fifth-year-of-the-pandemic/