Eurofornia

Californians are perhaps a little more willing to accept European-style government regulations than, say, Texans. Furthermore, California is too big a market for companies to ignore, even if it isn't always the easiest place to do business. So it probably makes sense that California is at the forefront of Internet privacy laws. NPR reports.

Questions...

•If things go as planned, in 2020 we will know what companies know about us. Will this be an important right or a trivial one? Why?

•Why might this new law have an impact on your next refrigerator or home security system?

•Should we as Californians care that this law might add difficulty and expense for some Internet companies? Why might this be more of a concern in Northern California?

•Why do you think the big tech companies didn't just give big money to defeat the ballot measure?

•If you were CEO of a tech company that deals in consumer information, how would you want the new law to be crafted?

Bow to Your Computer Overlords!

The following is a MediaNote Classic. It was originally presented to MC101 classes in Summer 2015.

Most of us have been exposed to the idea that if machines keep getting smarter and smarter, they will eventually take over and if we're kept around at all it will be as pets. Your Humble Blogger isn't quite that paranoid (or cynical), but he must admit that artificial intelligence is doing more and more of what humans used to do. Writing news stories, for example. NPR reports.

Questions...

•Why does news matter? How does it contribute to our ability to make sense of the world?

•"Disintermediation" will be described. How are computer-written news stories an example of disintermediation?

•Does it matter to you if computers write a growing number of news stories for us? Why or why not?

•Is there any human influence in the computer-written news stories?

•Do computer-written news stories leave us more susceptible or less susceptible to news monopolies? Why should news monopolies be avoided?