The 166th Block: No news online
At least, not the way we know it
This week…
Your reading time is about 6 minutes. Let’s start.
More Canadian advertisers pause advertising on Meta’s Facebook and Instagram. The list includes telecoms and media companies Torstar Corporation, Bell Media, Quebecor, Cogeco, and CBC, as well as the governments of Canada, Quebec, and Montreal. The move comes after Meta promised to block Canadian news content on its platforms in response to the federal Online News Act, which is not too dissimilar to Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code. Also known as Bill C-18, the Online News Act requires Internet search engines to pay Canadian online news companies to link to their platforms. Google also promised to make the same move as Meta when the bill comes into force in the coming months.
Indiegraf’s Erin Millar says the tech giants’ move “invites us all to imagine a different future for news.” (Well, Meta’s Twitter clone Threads is probably not the place for journalism.)
And now, a selection of top stories on my radar, a few personal recommendations, and the chart of the week.
ICYMI: The Previous Block invited you on a literal fact-checking bus, especially if you are a boomer, even though boomers are apparently better than the rest of us at detecting misinformation. CORRECTION NOTICE: Provided link to The Peak's newsletter.For better and for worse, Apple’s about to make your readers harder to track again
Two years ago, Joshua Benton asked, “Should we expect stripping URL parameters to be a feature in iOS 17?,” after the Mail Privacy Protection in iOS 15 made it harder to track email open rates. On Nieman Lab, he breaks down what the URL tracker does:
At the micro level: Which stories got the most clicks today? At the macro level: How much does placement within the newsletter affect an article’s clickthrough rate? Do certain types of stories work better with email subscribers than with, say, people on Facebook? Does the timing of clicks suggest we’re sending the email at the wrong time of day? Should we revamp the Friday email, since no one seems to read it? And so on. (And since Apple already screwed up open rates two years ago, the importance of clickthrough rates — all tied to these URL parameters — has only increased.)
Personally, I have no problem with Digiday collecting that data about me. But other companies (including many publishers) add an additional parameter to that string that personally ties the click to me. Optimistically, they could be using that data to personalize what they offer me — to send me more stories about x because I always click on stories about x. But more often, they’re just adding it to the Great Ad Tech Pile of Personal Data to improve ad targeting — often more to the benefit of the ad tech company than to the publisher.
You already know how I feel about URL trackers (see ”The 162nd Block” and “The 96th Block”), and this may sound like a win for privacy, but how soon do you think Apple will start monetising this?
Meta’s Threads app is a privacy nightmare that won’t launch in EU yet
Natasha Lomas for TechCrunch:
Information provided about the app’s privacy via mandatory disclosures required on iOS shows the app may collect highly sensitive information about users in order to profile their digital activity — including health and financial data, precise location, browsing history, contacts, search history and other sensitive information.
Given that Meta, the developer behind the app, the company formerly known as Facebook, makes its money from tracking and profiling web users to sell their attention via its behavioral advertising microtargeting tools this is hardly surprising. But it does raise questions over whether Threads will be able to launch in the European Union where the legal basis Meta had claimed for processing Facebook users’ personal data (performance of a contract) was found unlawful at the start of this year.
Not a surprise. Anyway, the image below is how I feel about it. If you feel the same, you can find me on Threads.
UK, US universities release AI ethics guidelines
Two stories here. First, in the UK, all 24 Russell Group research-intensive universities have signed up to a set of guiding principles on generative AI. Sally Weale for The Guardian reports:
Developed in partnership with experts in AI and education, the principles represent a first step in what promises to be a challenging period of change in higher education as the world is increasingly transformed by AI.
The five guiding principles state that universities will support both students and staff to become AI literate; staff should be equipped to help students to use generative AI tools appropriately; the sector will adapt teaching and assessment to incorporate the “ethical” use of AI and ensure equal access to it; universities will ensure academic integrity is upheld; and share best practice as the technology evolves.
Second, Santa Clara University partnered with the pope to release an AI ethics handbook. Thomas Germain for Gizmodo explains:
The guidelines are the result of a partnership between Francis and Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Together, they’ve formed a new organization called the Institute for Technology, Ethics, and Culture (ITEC). The ITEC’s first project is a handbook titled Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: An Operational Roadmap, meant to guide the tech industry through the murky waters of ethics in AI, machine learning, encryption, tracking, and more.
His Holiness and his associates might not seem like an obvious choice to weigh in on artificial intelligence. But according to Father Brendan McGuire, pastor of St. Simon Parish in Los Altos and an advisor to ITEC, the initiative is the culmination of longstanding interests for the church. He argues the Vatican wields a unique ability to bring key players to the table.
“The pope has always had a large view of the world and of humanity, and he believes that technology is a good thing. But as we develop it, it comes time to ask the deeper questions,” Father Brendan told Gizmodo in an interview. “Technology executives from all over Silicon Valley have been coming to me for years and saying, ‘You need to help us, there’s a lot of stuff on the horizon and we aren’t ready.’ The idea was to use the Vatican’s convening power to bring executives from the entire world together.”
Maybe Francis didn’t fancy seeing his AI-generated self plastered all over the web wearing that dapper puffer jacket.
What I read, listen, and watch…
I’m reading about how Canada’s freedom of information system broke under its own weight, by The Globe and Mail’s Robyn Doolittle and Tom Cardoso, with data analysis by Mahima Singh and Yang Sun.
I’m listening to Justin T. Huang discuss consumer behaviour, social media, and censorship on Marketing x Analytics with Alex Sofronas. Huang connected with me because of a story I shared on The 126th Block, and I’m pleased to be able to showcase some of his work by sharing this podcast.
I’m watching Dan Toomey’s piece about the vanity list that is Forbes 30 Under 30 on Good Work.
Other curious links:
“The Cambodian government tried to cut ties with Facebook — via a Facebook post” by Jack Brook and Nimol Seoung for Rest of World.
“Out of touch, but inspiring? Journalists share their thoughts about academic research” by Tamar Wilner and Valérie Bélair-Gagnon for Nieman Lab.
“Star Trek as a guide to sharing intimate, personal details” by Chloe Page for Nieman Storyboard.
“Copyright exceptions in Canadian education aren’t a loophole, they’re essential” by Stephanie Savage and Jennifer Zerkee for The Conversation.
“Enamorarse, sufrir, flirtear: así transforma la inteligencia artificial nuestras relaciones” por Karelia Vázquez for El País.
« A Spiritual Midjourney, au-delà du miroir » par Alessandro Zuffi et Naïa Combary dans Libération.
Chart of the week
Worldwide, ChatGPT’s traffic dropped 9.7 per cent, and unique visitors were down 5.7 per cent in June, per David F. Carr on Similarweb.
And one more thing
An analysis on CJR by Sayash Kapoor, Hilke Schellmann, and Ari Sen on how to report better on artificial intelligence.
