The Daily Populous

Thursday February 1st, 2018 night edition

image for Google and Facebook are watching our every move online. It's time to make them stop

Together they form a tight digital advertising duopoly, showing no signs of abating.

These echo chambers distort people's reality, creating a myriad of unintended consequences such as increasing societal polarization.

On their unending march to profit from more and more personal information, Google and Facebook have shown little regard for all the negative consequences of their runaway algorithms.

Congress and federal agencies need to take a fresh look at what can be done to curb these data monopolies.

DuckDuckGo found that about a quarter of American adults are already taking significant actions to take back their privacy.

I can say from my own experience, you can indeed live Google and Facebook free.

Commentary by Gabriel Weinberg, CEO and founder of DuckDuckGo, which makes online privacy tools, including an alternative search engine to Google. »

Woman who died in December was planned witness in Flint water crisis cases

Authored by mlive.com
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FLINT, MI -- Prosecutors will have to prove criminal cases against current and former state employees charged with Flint water crisis crimes without a planned witness -- a city resident they say died last month because of exposure to Legionella bacteria.

Four who took Flint water plea deals in line to testify in latest prosecutions.

Water consultant says former Flint EM wouldn't pay to fully soften river water. »

Data is the new lifeblood of capitalism – don't hand corporate America control

Authored by theguardian.com

Big data Data is the new lifeblood of capitalism – don't hand corporate America control Data has become the world’s most important resource.

Now Silicon Valley giants want to keep government from standing in the way of profits ‘The corporate crusade against data governance is only getting started.’ Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP.

The flow of data now contributes more to world GDP than the flow of physical goods. »

India's farmed chickens dosed with world's strongest antibiotics, study finds

Authored by theguardian.com
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Chickens raised in India for food have been dosed with some of the strongest antibiotics known to medicine, in practices that could have repercussions throughout the world.

The consequences will be felt throughout the world because resistance to strong antibiotics is spread among organisms.

Any regulations to be negotiated after Brexit might not take account of these regulations. »