Networks, the Internet, and Cloud Computing

Facebook Was Letting Down Users Years Before Cambridge Analytica

In 2011, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) found that Facebook had deceived users about how much data it shared with third-party apps, and how that data was used. Facebook was required to ensure that outsiders did not obtain such data, but failed to do so.

Running Out of Time: The Impact and Value of Flexibility in On-Demand Crowdwork

Workers in on-demand digital labor markets often have little control over their schedules. Giving workers more control yields more work product without loss of quality. Workers value control of their pace of work.

The First Amendment in the Second Gilded Age

Social media firms give users freedom of speech in exchange for access to personal data. The digital public sphere depends on the business models of firms like Google and Twitter.

Fixing Social Media's Grand Bargain

Social media firms like Facebook offer services for free in exchange for data from end users, using the data to sell advertising. This bargain encourages social media firms and advertisers to manipulate users.

Weaponized Narrative is The New Battlespace

Weaponized narrative, the use of disinformation to undermine opponents, is increasingly important to national security. The United States lags behind Russia, China, and other powers in using weaponized narrative.

The Humans Working Behind the AI Curtain

Many online tasks are performed partly by artificial intelligence (AI) and partly by humans. Workers are hired on a temporary, “on demand” basis by firms such as Microsoft and Facebook to train algorithms or to assess questionable content.

Loss Functions for Predicted Click-Through Rates in Auctions for Online Advertising

Online ads are usually purchased in auctions. Auction participants sometimes misestimate the likelihood that users will click on an ad, resulting in economic loss. This paper develops a new method of estimating such losses called the “empirical loss function.”

Blind Spot: The Attention Economy and the Law

Firms like Google and Facebook rely on consumer attention, a limited resource. Consumer protection laws and antitrust law assume that harm must be monetary, and do not effectively control problems that arise from unwanted intrusions on our attention.

Law, Social Welfare, and Net Neutrality

Net neutrality rules bar broadband carriers from charging different prices to different Internet users, but this would mean that ordinary consumers are paying more for Internet service so that firms like Netflix can pay less.

The Ten Most Important Section 230 Rulings

Under Section 230 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, websites are not legally responsible for content posted on the site by others. A few cases suggest that immunity does not extend to sites that encourage unlawful content.