Month: May 2020

EFF opposes California bill to authorize digitally verifiable COVID-19 test results

Jonathan DonnerIdentity and Privacy
No to California Bill on Verified Credentials of COVID-19 Test Results
EFF opposes a California bill, A.B. 2004, that would authorize the issuers of COVID-19 test results to do so with digital verifiable credentials. This bill would take us a step towards national digital identification, create information security risks, exacerbate social inequities in access to smartphones and COVID-19 tests, endorse one solution to an evolving technological problem, and fail to limit who may view credentials of test results

Change model: letter of opposition co-signed with ACLU of California

Facebook links its (big) entry into e-commerce to the pandemic

Jonathan DonnerDigital Livelihoods, Digital Political Economy
Facebook launches Shops to bring more businesses online during the pandemic
A major new push into e-commerce will bring an Instagram shopping tab, shoppable live streams, and more. Facebook Shops begin rolling out today.

In a live stream, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said expanded e-commerce would be important to begin rebuilding the economy while the pandemic continues. “If you can’t physically open your store or restaurant, you can still take orders online and ship them to people,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of small businesses that never had online businesses get online for the first time.”

The big platforms may have an even bigger role in retail and e-commerce, after COVID-19

Change model: Seeing an opportunity, or sensing good timing for a move they have been developing for a while, a big player enters new part of the market.

Re-configuring the news ecosystem – requiring platforms to pay for content

Jonathan DonnerPublic Sphere
Australia Wants Facebook And Google To Pay News Outlets For Their Content. Could Governments Around The World Follow?
As the coronavirus pandemic decimates the economics of the news industry, the Australian government is stepping in. It may not be the only one.
Australia Moves to Force Google and Facebook to Compensate Media Outlets
The decision, announced after talks on a voluntary system stalled, is part of a global push to save local news organizations.

Australia is early out of the gate with a plan to require Facebook and Google to help pay for news content they link to, as a way of sharing advertising revenue..

The explorations and negotiations leading to this proposed policy shift were underway prior to COVID-19, but the pandemic (and its acceleration of the crisis in news) has added urgency.

Change model: direct regulatory action

Intended goal: support legacy news operations and local and national journalism

Making working from home a permanent condition

Jonathan DonnerDigital Livelihoods, Digital Political Economy
Twitter Will Allow Employees To Work At Home Forever
Two months into working from home, Twitter makes it permanent for some.

Is this a trend other firms in tech will follow? Will there be similar moves in other sectors? We saw the term “remote-first” used in an article this week. Like “mobile first”, there is likely to be some momentum in this direction for a while.

BREAKING: After Axing 135 Staff, Andela Will Go Fully Remote & Give Jobs To Non-Employees
After cutting its staff base by 10 percent with the axing of 135 staff, Andela is going fully remote and giving jobs to non-employees.

Ada Lovelace Institute – Rapid evidence review explainer

Jonathan DonnerIdentity and Privacy
COVID-19 Rapid Evidence Review: Exit through the App Store?
A rapid evidence review of the technical considerations and societal implications of using technology to transition from the COVID-19 crisis

Change model: advocacy and policy briefs

Focus: discouraging approaches to immunity certification that will erode privacy, stratify society, and invite discrimination

MIT Technology Review COVID Tracing Tracker

Jonathan DonnerIdentity and Privacy
MIT Technology Review COVID Tracing Tracker
There’s a deluge of apps that detect your covid-19 exposure, often with little transparency. Our Covid Tracing Tracker project will document them.

The Project will track and compare various contact tracing apps using five categories:

  • Is it voluntary?
  • Are there limitations on how the data gets used?
  • Will data be destroyed after a period of time?
  • Is data collection minimized?
  • Is the effort transparent?

MIT Technology Review, 7 May 2020

Change model: better and more comparative information to inform decision-making.

update:

India is forcing people to use its covid app, unlike any other democracy
Millions of Indians have no choice but to download the country’s tracking technology if they want to keep their jobs or avoid reprisals.