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July 29, 2019: Juliette Kayyem on terrorism; Neuralink's mind-reading device; and Libra

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This week: Juliette Kayyem on terrorism; Neuralink's mind-reading device; and Libra

Above, New Yorker cartoon by Jason Adam Katzenstein
(thanks to listener Michael for the pointer!)

This week: Juliette Kayyem on terrorism; Neuralink's mind-reading device; and Libra.

Juliette Kayyem is the faculty chair of the Homeland Security Project at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and formerly was Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Find Juliette at JulietteKayyem.com and on Twitter, @juliettekayyem.

Note:

• Dan Coats to Step Down as Intelligence Chief; Trump Picks Loyalist for Job (NYT, July 28): Coats "was vocal in defending intelligence agencies and their assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 election on Mr. Trump’s behalf, and he emphasized those findings leading up to the president’s meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Helsinki, Finland, in 2018."

• Dan Coats to Step Down as Director of National Intelligence Next Month (WSJ, July 28): "Coats, who has tangled with the president over how to deal with the threat posed by Russia, is leaving his post. ... Mr. Coats has been especially critical of Moscow’s efforts to interfere in U.S. elections, which he warned in 2018 were ongoing. Russia has denied any election interference."

New items:

• Following up on last week's show, including Sen. Hawley's questioning of Google's Karan Bhatia about YouTube's profiting from pedophilia: YouTube videos featuring children rank in highest views, Pew study says (CNet, July 26): "Videos with children under 13 received three times as many views as other videos." Given that the majority of YouTube views are driven by Google's own Recommended Videos algorithm, we can guess what's behind the "three times as many" multiplier. See my thread on last week's show, linking directly to each clip.

• Chris Gilliard, Techtonic guest on the July 8 show, was included on NBC News (July 22): Concern over police use of Ring doorbells as crime fighting tool. See also Fast-growing web of doorbell cams raises privacy fears (AP News, July 19).

Recent hearings we didn't get to last week:

Last week's show featured audio from Congressional hearings on July 16. Here are the ones I didn't have enough time to play, which I hope to play this time:

• 3. Senate hearing on Facebook's Libra (July 16, 2019): Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, "Examining Facebook’s Proposed Digital Currency and Data Privacy Considerations" - Video here. (See also the Video of Matt Stoller at the Congressional briefing on Libra, also on July 16. See also Stoller's "Big" newsletter (July 17) on When Facebook's Bill Lumbergh Tries to Start a Currency.)

• 5. House hearing on Facebook's Libra (July 17, 2019): House Committee on Financial Services Hearing: Examining Facebook’s Proposed Cryptocurrency and Its Impact on Consumers, Investors, and the American Financial System - Video here. See also the transcript of the Ocasio-Cortez exchange with David Marcus... as well as this: Facebook's plan for cryptocurrency should set alarm bells ringing (The Guardian, July 21) ... and just posted today, Facebook Is a New Form of Power (New Republic, July 22): "Yes, it's more powerful than most companies. But it's not quite like a government, either." ... and Facebook Crypto Plan Draws Fresh Fury From House Democrats (Bloomberg, July 17).

Elon Musk's Neuralink launch:

• Merging AI & Man - Elon Musk's Vision for The Future (Axios on HBO, Nov 25, 2018)

• Neuralink launch event (Video of livestream from July 16, 2019)







• Elon Musk's Neuralink says it's nearly ready for human volunteers (Technology Review, July 17, 2019) - good overview. See also from a few months back, New device translates brain activity into speech, but with limits (Axios, April 25, 2019).

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