Why child online safety is so complicated
MIT Technology Review
Our in-depth reporting on innovation reveals and explains what’s happening now to help you know what’s coming next.
Welcome back to What’s Next in Tech. In this edition, explore why it’s so challenging to enact laws intended to keep kids safe online. Then, understand why Big Tech’s bet on AI assistants is so risky, and learn everything you need to know about artificial wombs.
Tomorrow: MIT Technology Review’s editors will unveil our inaugural list of 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch at this year’s ClimateTech conference. Use the promo code LINKEDIN for an exclusive discount when you register for ClimateTech.
Critics say that child online safety laws will actually hurt kids.
This summer, the US Senate moved two bills dealing with online privacy for children and teens out of committee. We’ve also seen many states pick up (and politicize) laws about online safety for kids in recent months. Some focus on children’s data, while others try to limit how much and when kids can get online.
Supporters say these laws are necessary to mitigate the risks that big tech companies pose to young people—risks that are increasingly well documented.?
But as with most things, it’s not really that simple. There are also vocal critics who argue that child safety laws are actually harmful to kids. To learn why, read the story.
This story comes from The Technocrat, our weekly newsletter on politics, power, and Silicon Valley. Sign up today to stay informed.
Why Big Tech’s bet on AI assistants is so risky
Since the beginning of the generative AI boom, tech companies have been feverishly trying to come up with the killer app for the technology. First it was online search, with mixed results. Now it’s AI assistants. Last week, OpenAI, Meta, and Google launched new features for their AI chatbots that allow them to search the web and act as a sort of personal assistant.
This is a risky bet, given the limitations of the technology. Tech companies have not solved some of the persistent problems with AI language models, such as their propensity to make things. But perhaps the most concerning aspect is their security and privacy weaknesses. By putting this deeply flawed tech in our hands, Big Tech is making us all vulnerable to scams, phishing, and hacks on a massive scale. Read the story.
领英推荐
Everything you need to know about artificial wombs
Earlier this month, US Food and Drug Administration advisors met to discuss how to move research on artificial wombs from animals into humans.
These medical devices are designed to give extremely premature infants a bit more time to develop in a womb-like environment before entering the outside world. They have been tested with hundreds of lambs (and some piglets), but animal models can’t fully predict how the technology will work for humans.?
Regulators are grappling with the question of how much of the unknown is acceptable as this research moves out of the lab and into first-in-human trials. But selecting the right participants will be tricky. Read the story.
This story comes from our MIT Technology Review Explains series, in which our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what's coming next. Read more from the series here.
Get ahead with our most-discussed stories:
Images: Stephanie Arnett/MITTR | Getty; Stephanie Arnett/MITTR | Envato; Pro Shots/Sipa USA via AP Images
Malware Secure Computers
12 个月Those who are perpetrators of online child abuse, should be placed in a jail cell and that childs father should be allowed to visit that person privately, for that father to express their religious belief in reform . . . OR . . . . to use other forms of fatherly communications, such as . . . . . . .
STEM communication ???
1 年Well positioned: 'explore why it’s so challenging to enact laws intended to keep kids safe online.' Or it's not complicated, rather unexplained, before introducing. Reminder, even The Apple founder was processed by the same secret-control-?? without a single relevant argument. Group against individual professional : : interest???group hidden across?? the borders ?? into opponents(?!) transition ?? jurisdiction?? always????winner as target person's privacy is red???processed: the oldREDway. Every???scam is tested on children whose entrance is free from accuracy, such as birth year, for the purpose of future subversive accusing advisory???????? At the same time parents are not allowed to control or(!) rewrite the date of birth. (!(!)!)? #Why: prepared ???that way? Since the 1980s Timeline was broken, International System of Units controlled, slowly disfigured, irreparably as invisible to everyone working on another subject @ the same time. interrupted STEM communication ?? There is a pattern of serial??ambushed (!) troops in a very short time. That's why inSideRs:RED??interest have??? regular control of legal responses tested on children: test without:: responsibility/Approval/expiry Fast Fact check ? Quality data assessment??
There are WAY, WAY too many childhood dangers for any external entity to protect kids from even some of them. This issue should be up to the parents. Passing laws will just give government another way to leverage into family matters. Unintended consequences outweigh intentions most of the time. For example, child protection agencies passed laws about leaving kids in cars. The New York Times wrote "Motherhood in the Age of Fear" https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/27/opinion/sunday/motherhood-in-the-age-of-fear.html to explain one of the major unintended consequences of this good-sounding rule. I know 20-something couples who are afraid to have kids. They read the WaPo articles about the family who got on the abuse registry for letting their kids walk home alone from a nearby park. Having a child gives the government an 18-year window during which the family can be wrecked financially and emotionally for any reason or no reason at government whim. Part of the problem is that the agencies get reimbursed when they take kids away form their parents. The reimbursement covers more than the costs and the extra goes into the agency budget. If this law passes and a kid is smart enough to get online, it will cost the family big time.
Author "How To Promote Your Business" Also, "Amazing GRATITUDE Best 365 Days Journal of Gratitude For MEN & WOMEN," 382 pages, in English, French & Spanish. On SALE at Amazon. USA Get Yours Today at #ProfessorAndyAuthor
1 年Very timely.?? Thanks for Sharing. ?? Follow Professor Andy on LinkedIn for more interesting insights.