TWEAKS AND UPDATES

CNET: Snapchat year in review: How to see and send your look back at 2021. “It’s mid-December, and Snapchat has joined Facebook, Instagram and Spotify in launching its year in review feature. A Look Back at 2021 will round up a random assortment of your snaps from the year across categories like pets, water, filters and staying in.”

TechRadar: Google Drive could soon start locking your files. “Google has announced a new policy for cloud storage service Drive, which will soon begin to restrict access to files deemed to be in violation of the company’s policies. As explained in a new blog post, Google will take active steps to identify files hosted on its platform that are in breach of either its Terms of Service or abuse program policies.” This policy really worries me. I’m concerned about false positives and political language being targeted by authoritarian governments. I hope a solid and fast appeal mechanism is in place.

USEFUL STUFF

MakeUseOf: Top 4 Free Video Editors for YouTube in 2022. “If you are passionate about a subject, you can be sure that you can find an audience on the platform. But attracting people to your content requires quality videos that stand out. And to produce such standout videos you need professional video editing software. Unfortunately, not everyone can afford these tools. Thankfully, there are plenty of free video editors for YouTube on the market.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Guardian: Distraction disaster! Notifications are ruining our concentration – here’s how to escape them. “Whether socialising with friends or completing a difficult task, a ping on your phone can destroy the moment. It is time to address the constant stream of interruptions.”

Surfer: Calling All History Buffs: Help Keep the Encyclopedia of Surfing Growing and Thriving. “Over the past decade-plus, author and surf historian Matt Warshaw has built the world’s most important digital archive of surf history, documenting wave riding’s past in a way that’s invaluable to generations past, present and future. Anyone who has a subscription to Encyclopedia of Surfing knows the feeling of falling swiftly down the rabbit hole of surfing’s yesteryear and discovering new things about our sport’s various icons. This holiday season, Warshaw is putting on fundraiser to help keep EOS thriving and if you’re feeling holly and jolly and in the giving mood, click here to be apart of EOS’s 2022 endeavors.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Brookings Institution: Texas’ new social media law is blocked for now, but that’s not the end of the story. “The coming months will thus see two different federal appeals courts weighing in on cases concerning one of the most important contemporary technology-related constitutional law questions: To what extent can the government regulate social media content moderation decisions without running afoul of the First Amendment?”

Bleeping Computer: DHS announces ‘Hack DHS’ bug bounty program for vetted researchers. “The new bug bounty program will use a platform developed by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and will be monitored by the DHS Office of the Chief Information Officer. Researchers who report security vulnerabilities as part of the Hack DHS program will be able to win monetary rewards of up to $5,000, depending on the flaw’s severity.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

University of New South Wales: Augmented reality project explores lived experience of disaster survivors. “An augmented reality project exploring the relationship between wellbeing and place will provide insight into why some people in adverse circumstances don’t always access mental health services. Hard place/Good place, led by UNSW Scientia Professor Jill Bennett as part of her Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship, will develop an archive of experiential stories with people from regional, rural and remote areas, exploring what it means to be in a ‘hard place’ or a ‘good place’.”

WTSP: USF study finds people want more regulation on social media platforms. “Breaking down the numbers, a majority, 56% think social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are having a very or somewhat negative effect on America’s political climate. Even more — 71% — agree posts or comments from political leaders and those with the most influence should be held to a higher standard.”

Defense One: Trollfare: How to Recognize and Fight Off Online Psyops. “EU President Ursula von der Leyen and others have correctly diagnosed Belarus’ use of migrants as part of a ‘hybrid attack’ against Europe’s democracies. But most have missed a key component of this and other such attacks: the psychological operations deployed online. The West must get better at detecting and countering them.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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