Michael Casey, a senior advisor for the Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative, suggests a solution to the increasing popularity of fake news in a Daily Beast article. Casey writes that we need “the software to distinguish between ‘fake,’ manufactured networks and those composed of people who honestly and independently choose to follow a content provider and share their work.”
In this segment, Prof. Eric Klopfer works with Good Morning America to test the effectiveness of parental control software. After a group of children testing the software access a blocked site, Klopfer notes that if one child figures out how to bypass parental controls, “all their friends are going to find out as well.”
Graduate student Maimuna Majumder writes for Wired about her research examining how the 2016 presidential election impacted the mental health of people in different states around the U.S. Majumder and her colleagues found that while susceptibility varies across groups, the presidential campaign, “has likely had adverse effects on the mental health and wellbeing of American citizens.”
An article co-written by Prof. Carlo Ratti for The Guardian describes how the internet has changed people’s attitudes towards consumption. “The internet has heightened the prestige of sharing by turning it into a communicable experience,” Ratti notes.
Writing for The Washington Post, Prof. Tim Berners-Lee and research scientist Daniel Weitzner examine Senator Ted Cruz’s proposal for the U.S. to control the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). If the U.S. reverses plans “to allow the global Internet community to operate ICANN independently…we risk undermining the global consensus that has enabled the Internet to function and flourish.”
In an article for Scientific American, Prof. César Hidalgo examines how to improve the design of and make open data websites more usable. “To make open data really open, we need to make it searchable, and for that we need to bring data to the surface of the web,” writes Hidalgo.
MIT researchers have developed a tool, dubbed Eyebrowse, that allows users control over how their Internet activity is shared, reports Dan Misener for CBC News. Graduate student Amy Zhang explains that without a tool like Eyebrowse “people that actually create the data don't get to see their own data.”
Emma Woollacott reports for Forbes on Vuvuzela, a text-messaging system that MIT researchers developed to encrypt the metadata and content of messages. “Vuvuzela uses multiple servers instead of one, to give each message multiple layers of encryption,” writes Woollacott.
Barb Darrow reports for Fortune that MIT researchers have discovered a vulnerability in Tor, a network known for cloaking user identities and locations, as well as a way to fix the problem. It’s estimated that 2.5 million people use Tor daily, Darrow explains.
In a special issue on the Internet of Things, Politico’s Danny Vinik compiles an oral history to describe the origins of the Internet of Things. “I’m sure there’s a sci-fi novel somewhere that talks about this,” quips Sarma, who features prominently in the piece, which also references MIT’s Auto-ID Lab.
Politico editor Steve Heuser compiles a special series on the policy questions raised by the Internet of Things. In it, Prof. Sanjay Sarma calls attention to security concerns, writing, “if leaders don’t think this through, and don’t create a framework for it to succeed, there’s a real chance that the full potential of the Internet of Things could be compromised.”
Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, writes for The Wall Street Journal about how the Internet of Things will impact retirement. “While high-tech will provide incredible benefits, it will also bring new costs, both financial and social, that should be considered as a new part of retirement planning.”
MIT is launching three new cybersecurity initiatives aimed at the technical, business and regulatory issues posed by cybersecurity, reports Conor Ryan for BostInno. “We hope that these initiatives will help us work together with industry to create better tools to eliminate a lot of the current vulnerabilities that plague the digital landscape,” says Prof. Daniela Rus.
Kyle Vanhemert writes for Wired about a talk by graduate student Greg Borenstein on the future of camera technology. “The gist of Borenstein’s talk: Cheap cameras are getting better and better, and researchers are finding more and more to do with them,” writes Vanhemert.
Visiting Scholar Michael Schrage speaks with Jared Bowen of WGBH about the hack on Sony pictures ahead of the release of “The Interview,” as well as subsequent widespread Internet outages in North Korea. “I think this is a very, very serious breach and it sets a very dangerous precedent,” says Schrage.