NEW RESOURCES

University of Texas at Dallas: Criminologist, Student Team Build Database on U.S. School Shootings. “A criminologist and her students at The University of Texas at Dallas are creating a database that tracks shootings at K-12 schools in the United States going back to 1990. Dr. Nadine Connell, associate professor of criminology in the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, said the National Institute of Justice project aims to fill a need for reliable data on gun violence on school campuses.”

New York Times: Overlooked. “Obituary writing is more about life than death: the last word, a testament to a human contribution. Yet who gets remembered — and how — inherently involves judgment. To look back at the obituary archives can, therefore, be a stark lesson in how society valued various achievements and achievers.”

International Labour Organization: ILO launches online access to legal research and training for developing countries. “The ILO and a group of academic partners have launched a programme to provide free or inexpensive access to legal information and training to promote research in low- and middle income countries and help strengthen the rule of law. The programme, known as GOALI (Global Online Access to Legal Information) will give users in more than 115 developing countries access to a wide range of essential legal information for their work and studies that they would not normally be able to obtain.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNET: Facebook gets exclusive rights to stream 25 MLB games. “Facebook wants baseball fans to turn off their TVs and instead log on to its social network. The company said Friday it signed a deal with Major League Baseball to exclusively stream 25 games this season on Facebook. It’s the first time the social network has gotten access to games from a major sports league that won’t be shown on TV or anywhere else. The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.”

BetaNews: Ubuntu Linux 18.04 ‘Bionic Beaver’ Beta 1 now available for download. Bionic Beaver? “Today, Ubuntu Linux 18.04 ‘Bionic Beaver’ Beta 1 becomes available for download. Ubuntu 18.04 is significant, as it will be an LTS (Long Term Support) version. As was the case when Unity was the primary DE, GNOME is not available in this beta stage. Instead, there are other flavors from which to choose, such as Kubuntu with KDE Plasma and Xubuntu, which uses Xfce.”

Phys. org: Facebook moves ahead on music with last major label deal. “Facebook on Friday announced a licensing deal with Warner Music, the last of the major label groups to sign with the social media behemoth which is promising more personalized music. Facebook’s two billion users will soon be able to post in more creative ways with the catalog of Warner, whose artist roster includes Ed Sheeran, Coldplay and the late Prince.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Reuters: New German minister to challenge Google and Facebook’s presentation of news. “Germany’s incoming minister with responsibility for digital policy says she will push social media giants to make users’ information feeds more diverse and timely to avoid creating ‘echo chambers’ for the like-minded.”

The Hill: FEC rules for political ads on social media may not be ready for midterms: report. “Requirements for social media companies to disclose who is behind political ads on their platforms are unlikely to go into effect prior to this year’s midterm elections, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) said Thursday.”

Wow. Not the Onion. The Next Web: To ensure stability, Facebook will “help” Nigeria with its upcoming general elections. “Facebook will be helping Nigeria with its upcoming 2019 presidential elections. This comes after a team from Facebook, led by Ebele Okobi (Facebook’s Public Policy Director for Afrika) visited and met with Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to explore various ways in which they could work together on voter education and engaging citizens ahead of the 2019 elections.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Ars Technica: Potent malware that hid for six years spread through routers. “Researchers have discovered malware so stealthy it remained hidden for six years despite infecting at least 100 computers worldwide. Slingshot—which gets its name from text found inside some of the recovered malware samples—is among the most advanced attack platforms ever discovered, which means it was likely developed on behalf of a well-resourced country, researchers with Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab reported Friday. The sophistication of the malware rivals that of Regin—the advanced backdoor that infected Belgian telecom Belgacom and other high-profile targets for years—and Project Sauron, a separate piece of malware suspected of being developed by a nation-state that also remained hidden for years.”

The Register: Less than half of paying ransomware targets get their files back. ” Paying off a ransomware demand is a great way to end up losing both your money and your files. This according a study from security company CyberEdge, which found that for those hit by a ransomware infection the best bet is probably to just restore from a backup. The survey, based on a poll of information security professionals, found that less than half of those who pay a ransom demand end up getting their data back.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Water Online: Crowdsourcing The First Water Management Database — With A Little Help From Companies. “From Cape Town to Puerto Rico to Flint, Michigan, it’s no surprise that drought, flooding and water pollution can devastate communities, impacting lives and hindering economic growth. But the physical components of water supply – its abundance or scarcity, levels of pollution, and the competition over it — are only half of the equation when it comes to overall water security. What’s just as important is how water is managed by public institutions, such as water utilities and local governments.” Good morning, Internet…

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