Infowars (good and bad)
Information is on every front line in this crisis: in health management, in overcoming isolation, and in the most unnecessary battle of them all ā disinformation.
I think politicians are abusing the term āwarā to make themselves out to be wartime leaders to grandstand a little too much. But the idea that there is a war of information is real.
Information is on every front line in this crisis: in health management, in overcoming isolation, and in the most unnecessary battle of them all ā disinformation.
Health: information is knowing who has the virus through as much testing as possible. Making the invisible visible, tracing its path, closing down the right places, isolating the right people, stopping it in its tracks.
Isolation: Our ability to communicate is critical to staying connected and social when weāre physically apart. This is well discussed, but weāre seeing more of the infrastructure tested and improved to ensure services are accessible when we need them most. Thereās still way too big a digital divide on this front that is yet to be addressed, sadly.
Disinfo: If someone asked me two weeks ago if Iād bet thereād be a 5G x coronavirus crossover conspiracy out there, Iād have chuckledā¦ then sighedā¦ then shrugged and figured they were probably right.
As with so many aspects of poor management of the digital town square, crackpots have been left loose under āfree speechā ideals for too long.
Free speech as a right? Yes.
Free access to large scale platforms to distribute lies? No.
Like so many things as we travel through this tunnel, we can only hope the other side looks a little different to what we already knew was a problem but were not quite addressing properly. We have to hope we emerge from our cocoons looking different ā a betterment, not a devolution. And to come together again as a better community, we need to ensure the tools we use to connect online are no longer abused by those who want to keep us apart.
Thereās so much to pick at under the scab of disinformation right now but itās too much. Donāt let fear drive you. Show as much empathy as you can if you do engage with the conspiracies. But maybe, if you feel the need to directly fight back against the stupid, do it with compassion and clarity. Help close the canyon that has divided us for too long.
Iām still largely off Facebook. Itās still been great. When Iām there and I do see a post or two, I only engage with the positive. Maybe thatāll make my bubbleās algorithm promote positivity more often.
I would have had this newsletter earlier today, but we discovered Taika Waititi was live on Instagram doing a commentary for Thor: Ragnarok, which turned into him hanging out with Tessa Thompson and then Mark Ruffalo just chatting about life and lockdown and making movies and fun times theyāve had together.
It was the kind of moment that was blissful and distracting and I just decided to be there, in the moment, enjoying something rather than rushing off to do more work.
When you find some bliss right now, enjoy it while itās there.
Donāt let the āroutineā ruin capturing the chance to smile in the face of it all.
I think Iāll remember that slower morning fondly when this is all over. No offence, but I wonāt regret sending this newsletter an hour later than originally planned.
Todayās links feel like thereās a lot of āphase twoā activity out there, for good and for bad. Information warfare of many stripes. The ongoing digital war (more hot than cold) between nation states, efforts to bolster infrastructure, and moves to fix whatās broken.
Plus a bunch of positive things to engage with out there online to make this moment a little nicer to live through.
Good luck. Stay safe. Stay sane.
On Byteside
Now The Official Quibi Review Show
Byteside podcast: When this episode started we werenāt sure about Quibi. By 15 minutes in weāve decided thatās all the show is about from now on.
byteside.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Big, big data
Russian telco hijacks internet traffic for Google, AWS, Cloudflare, others
This is as āhot warā as digital warfare gets, abusing the trust mechanisms internet protocols rely on to force traffic through Russia for unknown purposes.
www.zdnet.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Why the coronavirus lockdown is making the internet stronger than ever
Just like that, our internet connection has become an umbilical to the outside world. Many companies are upgrading infrastructure to keep it from breaking.
www.technologyreview.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Clever crypto could protect privacy in Covid-19 contact-tracing apps
Researchers are racing to achieve the benefits of location-tracking without the surveillance.
www.wired.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Helping public health officials combat COVID-19
Weāre helping public health officials by providing aggregated, anonymized Community Mobility data as they make critical decisions to combat COVID-19.
www.blog.google Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Social problems
How the telephone failed its big test during 1918ās Spanish flu pandemic
Alexander Graham Bellās invention was supposed to make life under quarantine bearable. But AT&T ended up begging people to stay off the line.
www.fastcompany.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
WhatsApp limits message forwarding to slow coronavirus misinformation
WhatsApp tightened message forwarding limits, restricting content sharing to one chat at a time.
www.businessinsider.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Twitter wins... at being the worst for coronavirus misinformation
A study examined 225 pieces of content that independent fact checkers had rated false or misleading between January and March. They found that 59 percent remained on Twitter, 27 percent, on YouTube and 24 percent, on Facebook.
www.washingtonpost.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
YouTube to curb videos promoting 5G coronavirus conspiracy theories
YouTube says it will start limiting videos promoting 5G coronavirus conspiracy theories.
mashable.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
5G Conspiracy Theories Are Sweeping the Planet. Why?
Thereās no evidence linking 5G to the virusābut new technologies have a history of rousing health fears.
www.psychologytoday.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
During the Great Depression, many newspapers betrayed their readers. Some are doing it again now
The pretence that right-wing commentators are on the side of their audience falls away in times of crisis. Theyāre on the side of business - especially their own.
theconversation.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Digital help
Customize Your Zoom Virtual Background with Free Works of Art
If youāre going to use a fake background, make it something sensational.
www.openculture.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Great time to try: 5Ā½ ways to make movie masterpieces at home
Budding filmmakers neednāt let isolation stand in the way of their cinematic dreams. Here are five and a half ways you can make movie magic at home.
theconversation.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Nikon is streaming free photography classes throughout April
To ā[help] creators stay inspired, engaged and growingā in these uncertain times.
www.cnet.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Facebook launches Quiet Mode for muting alerts and scheduling downtime
Facebook is rolling out a new feature today that allows users to mute all notifications from the social network and schedule some quiet time.
venturebeat.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Football Manager 2020 gives free in-game advertising space to mental health charity during lockdown
Virtual advertising for good.
www.eurogamer.net Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Finding some bliss
10 films with amazing architecture to stream during isolation
If youāre in isolation or lockdown, here are 10 feature films that use architecture in exciting ways to watch as a distraction from coronavirus anxiety.
www.dezeen.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
TAFE NSW is offering free online courses so you can upskill in isolation
Want to take this time in self-isolation to try out online courses and upskill yourself? TAFE can help.
www.lifehacker.com.au Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Facebook Gaming launches tournaments for esports amateurs
Facebook Gaming is launching tournaments for esports amateurs today in early access across the globe to compete in the era of social distancing.
venturebeat.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Using GTA Online to find a normal world of movie theatres and stores
With most of the United States stuck at home, Iāve relied on Grand Theft Auto Online to virtually leave my home and do things I miss, like seeing a movieā¦.
www.kotaku.com.au Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Cosplayers can't go to cons, so they had one on the Internet
An annual April 1 cosplay gag took on added significance this year. Without any major cosplay cons taking place in the foreseeable future, this āconā was as close as anyone would get anytime soon.
www.kotaku.com.au Ā ā¢ Ā Share
Early meme site YTMND has been resurrected with the help of fans
Some good news for these troubled times: the site, which died a year ago, has been rebuilt from the ground up.
www.vice.com Ā ā¢ Ā Share