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Month: April 2018

Public sector workers have greater free speech rights than do private sector workers

Public sector workers have greater free speech rights than do private sector workers

The NY Times writes in “Speaking Freely About Politics Can Cost You Your Job” that private sector workers ‘ “…don’t have the right to speak freely in the workplace.” Or even outside it.’ Unlike public sector workers: “… anyone who works for a government office, whether local, state or federal, is for the most part protected by the First Amendment”. Public sector workers have a greater free speech right than do private sector workers (which is most of the workers…

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Should professors have more free speech rights than others?

Should professors have more free speech rights than others?

If we engaged in widely publicized hateful or hurtful or vile speech, our employers would likely begin job termination procedures within 24 hours regardless of whether we made such comments in a private capacity or not. As the NY Times notes, “Speaking Freely About Politics Can Cost You Your Job“. Private sector workers ‘ “…don’t have the right to speak freely in the workplace.” Or even outside it.’ Unlike public sector workers: “… anyone who works for a government office,…

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#Facebook is designed to “reward content that elicits emotion”

#Facebook is designed to “reward content that elicits emotion”

Because emotionally roused viewers are more susceptible to advertising messages: The service’s algorithm, designed to reward content that elicits emotion, made it a perfect tool for Russian propagandists to spread disinformation during the 2016 election. Source: Instagram Looks Like Facebook’s Best Hope – Bloomberg Nice to see others recognizing that Facebook emotionally manipulates people.

Computer algorithms that analyze #Facebook “Likes” understand your thinking better than your spouse #DeleteFacebook #Privacy

Computer algorithms that analyze #Facebook “Likes” understand your thinking better than your spouse #DeleteFacebook #Privacy

Facebook (and Youtube and Twitter) have conducted a global experiment on human populations without consent of the guinea pigs by analyzing our “Likes”. Facebook’s digital model of us is more accurate than our own understanding of ourselves. Computers need evaluate as few as 100 Likes to make a judgement more effective than a human. Analyzing just 300 Likes enables the model to know more about the subject than does the subject’s spouse. Computer models achieve “peak” accuracy when more than…

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Architectural propaganda – how stores are designed to trap you

Architectural propaganda – how stores are designed to trap you

Costco stores, like many stores, are designed to trap you inside longer and to walk further to be exposed to more buying temptations. Food and toilet paper are placed in the back so you will have to walk past more tempting items to buy. Costco tends to move products around inside the store so that you will walk more to find them on your next visit. Costco is not alone. Grocery stores put milk and eggs in the back of…

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#Facebook targeted emotionally vulnerable youth for advertising

#Facebook targeted emotionally vulnerable youth for advertising

Facebook … conducted research about exploiting posts by kids as young as 14 to show how its algorithms could help advertisers pinpoint emotionally vulnerable moments for the purpose of targeted ads. Source: Facebook able to target emotionally vulnerable teens for ads | CSO Online Facebook research showed how to identify young people who felt “worthless”, “stupid”, “anxious” and so on, based on their Facebook usage, and researched how this could be used to target them for advertising. Facebook does not…

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