The 26th Block: Our evil digital twin
The least we could do, perhaps, is to restore rational scepticism.
There is no escaping our evil digital twin
In her lecture at The Digital Person Symposium, University of Cambridge in 2019, Irene Ng presented personal data as an asset class and described its economic value chains and business models — the exchange mechanisms and transactions, the monetisation, datafication and digitisation of human-generated personal information. And how we all have a digital avatar twin that thinks and behaves like us.
One of the biggest lessons I have learned from studying the evolution of misinformation in the media is that it is becoming more and more hyper-localised. Still, the source of the misinformation is becoming more powerful and potent yet also more distant from the target. It is nameless, faceless, and anonymous, harder to trace and pin down.
For instance, you would probably trust the rumour your neighbour started about the mayor’s past because you’ve known each other for years — they seem reliable, and trustworthy. You have a track record of a dependable, honest neighbourly relationship. You accept and maybe even pass this rumour around with far less scepticism than you would have if it came from a visitor from out of town that told you the same thing.
Today, that rumour about the mayor may be circulated in your neighbourhood, but the source is not your neighbour. It is probably not even from someone in your town, or country. But you will not have the level of scepticism one would expect when an outsider is spreading a rumour.
In the same way targeted digital marketing is able to put out the most relevant ads and content on your browser for you, disinformation campaigns use personal online data to segment their targets by demographics and interests, fine-tune their language and behaviour with extreme accuracy, and craft a message specific to a single individual. And there is no escape because, as much as we like to believe otherwise, we are very predictable beings (Chao Ming Song et al., Science ($)). The least we could do, perhaps, is to restore rational scepticism.
As local news dies, a pay-for-play network rises in its place
I am a firm believer that local journalism is more effective at fighting misinformation than national or regional news, especially as disinformation campaigns become more hyper-localised. You would trust a voice, a name, or a face that you’ve seen or heard in your own neighbourhood grocery store than the TV stranger in a suit in the C-level suite in the centre of the capital city that you rarely visit.
Local journalism is nonetheless vulnerable to disinformation without safeguards around its finances, audience support and fact-checking policies.
Davey Alba and Jack Nicas for The New York Times:
Maine Business Daily is part of a fast-growing network of nearly 1,300 websites that aim to fill a void left by vanishing local newspapers across the country. […] The network is largely overseen by Brian Timpone, a TV reporter turned internet entrepreneur who has sought to capitalize on the decline of local news organizations for nearly two decades.
While Mr. Timpone’s sites generally do not post information that is outright false, the operation is rooted in deception, eschewing hallmarks of news reporting like fairness and transparency. Only a few dozen of the sites disclose funding from advocacy groups. Traditional news organizations do not accept payment for articles; the Federal Trade Commission requires that advertising that looks like articles be clearly labeled as ads.
Most of the sites declare in their “About” pages that they to aim “to provide objective, data-driven information without political bias.” But in April, an editor for the network reminded freelancers that “clients want a politically conservative focus on their stories, so avoid writing stories that only focus on a Democrat lawmaker, bill, etc.,” according to an email viewed by The Times.
Well, I did say disinformation campaigns are getting more hyper-localised.
How many plans to save local journalism are too many?
Another American perspective on the state of local journalism from Rick Edmonds for Poynter Institute:
As the pandemic advertising recession and longstanding negative trends have made the financial precariousness of these enterprises obvious, Congress has pretty much decided it should come to the aid of local news. The question of how remains, together with making the help timely.
My take comes from conversations with a variety of advocacy groups pushing one form or another of legislative assistance. A surprising favorite approach has emerged, too — direct subsidies for news subscribers, local journalists and small business advertisers.
That’s the structure of HR 7640, the Local Journalism Sustainability Act, sponsored by Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.), Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.) and more than 70 co-sponsors from both parties.
Nothing on the Internet is free, including the news. Even if there is no direct monetary exchange between you and the publishers, someone else is paying for it, and your personal data is the currency.
This is an experiment about how we view history
The Pudding’s Matt Daniels and Jan Diehm created a short quiz (just five images!) where you guess the year the photos were taken. They explained:
How we view history is largely defined by the aesthetics we associate with each period. When you were dating the photos, you probably looked for context clues — what people were wearing, if there were any familiar buildings, and if you recognized any faces. You were probably also looking at color.
Inspired by this tweet, we wanted to test how color does or does not warp our perception of time.
Let me know how you did!
What I read, watch and listen to…
I’m reading The Mystery of Immaculate Concussion by Julia Ioffe for GQ.
I’m watching Star Trek: Discovery, season three. 🖖🏽
I’m listening to Salleh Ben Joned: A Most Unlikely Malay produced by daughter Anna Salleh for ABC. RIP.
Chart of the week
I had a more serious chart in mind from Mona Chalabi about what the US Supreme Court looks like after ACB’s confirmation, but we all need a bit of a pick-me-up, don’t we?
