NEW RESOURCES

Arizona State University: Introducing the Black Women Composers Project. “Now online and poised for growth, the Black Women Composers Project points to the ASU Library’s growing collection of over 160 newly available scores, including symphonies, operas, choral works, vocal music and chamber music, and features biographies, compositions and sound recordings belonging to 15 significant composers in the 20th and 21st centuries.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNET: Facebook will warn you when you’re about to join a group that broke its rules. “Facebook will also limit the invite notifications for these groups to reduce membership and limit the distribution of their content, the social media giant said Wednesday. The moves are part of Facebook’s efforts to reduce the spread of harmful content such as hate speech and misinformation on its platform.”

PCWorld: Dropbox adds a free, limited password manager. “Last year, Dropbox launched a password manager as part of its paid Dropbox plans. On Tuesday the company said it’s making the technology available to those who use the free Dropbox plans, too. Unfortunately, the Dropbox solution isn’t as good as what other free password managers offer.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Euronews: Myanmar has endured more than a month of nightly internet shutdowns. “Myanmar has endured nightly internet shutdowns for more than a month as anti-coup demonstrations continue. Since the military seized power and detained elected leaders on February 1, at least 149 people have been killed, according to the UN. On Tuesday night, internet access in Myanmar was shut down for the 31st consecutive night, according to internet monitoring service Netblocks.”

Mashable: Inside the fight to close the Spanish-language disinformation gap on Facebook. “As Facebook continues its effort to reign in misinformation, some activists argue it isn’t enforcing its policies as adequately for Spanish-language posts in the U.S. — a failing that could impact the more than 59 million people who speak it.”

Reuters: Google to invest over $7 billion in U.S. offices, data centers this year. “Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Thursday it plans to invest over $7 billion in offices and data centers across the United States as it takes on a surge in internet traffic after pandemic restrictions drove more users and advertisers online. The company’s investment related to U.S. offices and data centers was over $10 billion last year and more than $13 billion in 2019.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

FBI: FBI Releases the Internet Crime Complaint Center 2020 Internet Crime Report, Including COVID-19 Scam Statistics. “The 2020 Internet Crime Report includes information from 791,790 complaints of suspected internet crime—an increase of more than 300,000 complaints from 2019—and reported losses exceeding $4.2 billion. State-specific statistics have also been released and can be found within the 2020 Internet Crime Report and in the accompanying 2020 State Reports.”

Ars Technica: Mimecast says SolarWinds hackers breached its network and spied on customers. “Email-management provider Mimecast has confirmed that a network intrusion used to spy on its customers was conducted by the same advanced hackers responsible for the SolarWinds supply chain attack.”

The Verge: Teen ‘mastermind’ behind the great Twitter hack sentenced to three years in prison. “Teenage Twitter hacker Graham Ivan Clark has pleaded guilty to last summer’s unprecedented bitcoin scam attack that involved the takeover of dozens of high-profile accounts on the social network, according to paperwork filed in Florida court on Tuesday. Clark, who was 17 when accused of leading the scam, will spend three years in prison as part of his plea deal.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of Texas at Austin: We Need to Give More Credence to Personal Data as the Asset That It Is. “Consumers are in a tough spot. Whether someone has access to the internet is the modern-day version of the haves and have-nots. Consumers must also ‘Click to Accept’ to rules and policies not typically in their best interests. And if they say ‘No’ to these rules and policies, these internet users are banished to the have-nots. Consumers need a public policy to establish and exercise their digital rights. We deserve a digital Bill of Rights making possible a fair, transparent and empowering internet.”

Newswise: Health ads in users’ customized online sites may evoke negative reactions. “In a study, the researchers found that people who gained a feeling of control when they customized an online website were more likely to perceive the health message as a threat to their freedom, lowering the chance that they will adopt the message’s advice. On the other hand, when customization bolstered the users’ sense of identity, they did not resent the message as much and were more willing to consider the ads’ recommended behavioral changes, according to the researchers.”

The Guardian: Facebook’s long-awaited content ‘supreme court’ has arrived. It’s a clever sham. “Facebook faces a problem of two-sided economic incentives: dangerous and socially objectionable content is genuinely valuable to its bottom line, but so is the public perception that it’s proactively committed to maintaining a socially responsible and safe community. It designed the oversight board to escape this double-bind. Oversight by a legalistic body with the appearance of neutrality earns Facebook public goodwill and deflects blame for lax content moderation. But in designing the structure of the body itself, Facebook has virtually ensured certain financially beneficial outcomes: maximum content, even the dangerous and harmful, left online. The result is a win-win for Facebook.” Good morning, Internet…

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