TWEAKS AND UPDATES

The Wire Science: Is the Google Maps Island off Kochi Really an Island?. “According to The News Minute, the tourism development organisation had also been aware of the mass’s existence for ‘four years’ and that its members hadn’t seen it ‘growing in size’. However, Raj Bhagat Palanichamy, a geo-analytics expert at WRI India, tweeted on June 18 that ‘the mystery holds no water’.”

USEFUL STUFF

Data Horde: How to recover your Yahoo! Groups from the Internet Archive. “Yahoo! Groups, once upon a time a hub to many online communities, was shut down in 2020. Yahoo! Groups used to host mailing lists going as far back as 1997, and perhaps you may have once been a part of it yourself. Users were offered a Get Your Data tool to download their messages and other data, prior to the shutdown, but many people were unable to respond on short notice. Thankfully, owing to the efforts of the Save Yahoo Groups Project and Archive Team the data of many groups has been preserved. If you missed out on the GYD tool, you might still be able to retrieve your groups’ data by following the steps below.”

Vogue: 8 Brilliant Queer Photographers To Follow On Instagram. “As we once again take to the streets (Covid-19 restrictions permitting) for this year’s Pride celebrations to honour our LGBTQIA+ siblings, eight queer photographers share their hopes for the future, from the funding of trans healthcare to the building of new physical safe spaces.” Some of the images in the article would probably be considered NSFW.

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Guardian: UK libraries and museums unite to save ‘astonishing’ lost library from private buyers. “From the British Library to the Brontë Parsonage Museum, a consortium of libraries and museums have come together in an ‘unprecedented’ effort to raise £15m and save an ‘astonishingly important’ set of literary manuscripts for the nation.”

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: National Archives grant will fund Pittsburgh records digitization, ‘a real boon’ for genealogy. “Just under $134,000 from the National Archives and Records Administration will fund the processing of 751 cubic feet of historical government records that contains seven collections from City Council, City Planning, the Planning Commission, the Department of Public Works, the Historic Review Commission and the Urban Redevelopment Authority.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Wired: A New Tool Wants to Save Open Source From Supply Chain Attacks. “RUSSIA’S HISTORICALLY DESTRUCTIVE NotPetya malware attack and its more recent SolarWinds cyberespionage campaign have something in common besides the Kremlin: They’re both real-world examples of software supply chain attacks. It’s a term for what happens when a hacker slips malicious code into legitimate software that can spread far and wide. And as more supply chain attacks emerge, a new open source project is angling to take a stand, making a crucial safeguard free and easy to implement.”

NBC News: Dozens of women sue Pornhub, alleging it published nonconsensual clips. “More than 30 women sued Pornhub on Thursday, accusing it of violating federal sex trafficking laws, distributing child pornography, racketeering and other crimes. The suit alleges that Pornhub’s parent company, MindGeek — and its constellation of porn brands — is a criminal enterprise that purchases, launders and uploads illegal content often obtained through human trafficking and sexual assault.”

Reuters: Vietnam introduces nationwide code of conduct for social media. “Vietnam introduced national guidelines on social media behaviour on Friday which encourage people to post positive content about the Southeast Asian country and require state employees to report “conflicting information” to their superiors.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

CNN: Facebook is testing AI to get you to stop fighting in its groups. “Conversations can quickly spiral out of control online, so Facebook is hoping artificial intelligence can help keep things civil. The social network is testing the use of AI to spot fights in its many groups so group administrators can help calm things down.” If it works as well as the AI content moderation, I’m sure it’ll work fine. And by “fine,” I mean head for the hills.

Open Access Government: Social media data for social and behavioural research . “Guangqing Chi and Junjun Yin from The Pennsylvania State University discuss how social media data has become a gold mine of information for both academic and non-academic use.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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