Fake News – The new Danger

9

October

2020

5/5 (2)

Social media networks allow us to communicate with each other regularly, exchange information with our friends and followers and receive the latest news almost immediately. However, recently the abuse of social media is becoming worse: as more politicians use it to control public opinion and therefore creating a rising danger for democracy. Studies suggest that social media is the number one battleground for dirty politics, ranging from Russia, where a high number of highly active Twitter accounts are bots, to Taiwan, where a movement against the President included thousands of highly organized but not entirely automated accounts spreading Chinese mainland propaganda. We leave our digital footprints all over social media and the web with every swipe, like and follow. Furthermore, the technology that leverages our online habits combined with the influence of big data and artificial intelligence is a perfect opportunity for computational propaganda. Automated bots that make extremely fast calculations provide individuals with targeted misinformation and spread it across social media and their communities as mentioned earlier.

However, politics are not the only area affected by misleading information. The latest crisis of Covid-19 was also largely influenced by the dissemination of fake information. The false information generated tons of conspiracy theories that created a possible danger for society. For example, misleading information promoted fake goods and services, such as fake COVID-19 tests and vaccinations. Moreover, they promoted a false sense of security with inaccurate information about treatments and promoted distrust of official guidelines. These are only a few examples of the significant impact that fake news can have. But how can we avoid that danger in the future and break the fake news chain? Here are some suggestions from my side. If you have come across fake information, do not engage with them in any way. Instead of commenting which will just help make the post more popular try to report them if possible. Further, I would suggest to only trust reputable websites. The key is to be mindful and use your common sense in order to avoid getting tricked by misleading information.

What is your take on Fake news? Any suggestions on how to avoid them?

Sources:

Social media manipulation as a political tool is spreading


https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2020/08/03/the-dangerous-art-of-social-media-and-messaging-manipulation/#4ef9a3963f69
https://researchguides.austincc.edu/c.php?g=612891&p=4258046
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jan/19/twitter-admits-far-more-russian-bots-posted-on-election-than-it-had-disclosed

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5G – What will it bring?

8

October

2020

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Fifth-generation (5G) cellular networks are now becoming a reality after years of speculation and a large amount of hype. 5G networks use a system of cell sites, like other cellular networks, that divide their territory into sectors and send encoded data via radio waves. Whether via a wired or wireless backhaul connection, each cell site must be linked to a network backbone. 5G networks use a form of encoding that is identical to the encoding that 4 G LTE uses. However, the air interface is configured to have much lower latency and more flexibility than LTE. Therefore, 5G radio system can get about 30 percent better speeds thanks the more efficient encoding (Staff, 2019).

This opens up many possibilities for future applications. An example area where this technology can help is autonomous driving. For driverless cars to become completely autonomous and in order to prevent collisions and reduce congestion, they would need to interact with the cars around them. Thanks to new speeds and lower latency it is possible to assure better reliability.Further, 5G networks would also allow telesurgery, where experts hundreds of miles away in one hospital monitor devices in another building. A recent example shows that this reality is closer than we think. A surgeon in China successfully removed part of the liver of a pig from 30 miles away using a 5 G link in early 2019. However, it took 10 years for 4G to become the main cellular technology, and the new 5G technology might take even longer. All these improvements cannot be implemented immediately. Although many big carriers are already busy building the necessary infrastructure around the world, devices capable of accessing 5G networks are just starting to appear. Therefore, it will take still some years until the new technology is fully implemented. Nevertheless, once it’s fully in place, we’ll be asking ourselves how we have ever lived without it.
What is your take on this technology?

References

https://www.vmware.com/radius/five-ways-5g-will-change-our-lives/#:~:text=Mature%205G%20networks%20will%20operate,20%20times%20faster%20than%204G
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-15-5784-2_27
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2019/07/14/top-10-digital-transformation-trends-for-2020/#5366b0c676be

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IoT transforming businesses

29

September

2020

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General

The Internet of Things (IoT) describes a “system of systems”. More specifically it is a network of internet-enabled objects that has software, sensors, and network connection that allow them to connect and exchange data. IoT devices as of now have the ability to monitor how we sleep, work out, eat, and much more. Truth be told, a significant number of us are now acquainted with most of these gadgets: consider devices like the Fitbit, Apple watch or even voice-enabled smart assistants such as Siri or Alexa that are integrated into our daily lives.

Business

Also, IoT for Businesses has a huge potential. Smartphones for example enable employees to have their own portable office which allows them to be able to work from any place they want at any time. Further, areas of application can be linked to workplace safety by allowing to lock your office via your smartphone or building comfort by allowing to schedule meetings or book rooms via tablets that are connected to the company network. Therefore, everyone that is connected to this network will get a notification on his/her device and his up to date with the bookings. Moreover, companies can save cost by integrating things such as Nest Thermostat which is an intelligent system that can adjust air conditioning and heater from overuse and lower the energy consumption. However, this is only a small portion of what is possible. Nevertheless, such great benefits are always paired with at least some drawbacks. First, tracking and monitoring employees in the workplace involves privacy and data issues that most businesses have not faced before. Companies might be able to track location history, sometimes without clear employee opt-in. Therefore, the privacy challenges will grow as the adoption of this technology is rising. Furthermore, cybersecurity risks will also increase in proportion to the rapid development of this technology. Therefore, proper communication and training is essential for employees.
Concluding, I would claim that IoT is the merger of the physical and digital world which creates new modes of collaboration, intelligence sharing and business efficiency. However, one of the important factors to keep in mind is privacy and with that also the linked cybersecurity threat.

What is your take on IoT? Do you already use it at work?

References

https://wire19.com/7-ways-iot-technology-can-improve-your-workplace/
https://isg-one.com/articles/iot-and-the-intelligent-workplace#:~:text=The%20Internet%20of%20Things%20(IoT,and%20businesses%20connect%20and%20interact.&text=The%20workplace.,they%20are%20creating%20collective%20intelligence.
https://fowmedia.com/internet-iot-impact-workplace/
https://www.purchasecontrol.com/uk/blog/technology-trends-for-business-2020/

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AI`s increasing importance in Customer Service

29

September

2020

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Artificial intelligence (AI) is arguably one of the major trends in the current technology landscape. Especially in the customer service domain the technology is finding increasingly more applicability. The primary goals of most of companies is to improve the customer experience and at the same time reducing human customer service costs. Therefore, investments in AI are made increasingly to help augment the work of human customer service representatives and at the same time reducing costs by automating processes. Customers service is an important domain of every business and costs companies a lot of money each year. According to Salesforce deploying AI for Customer Relationship Management will increase global business revenues by $1.1 trillion by 2021. Therefore, current technology is used in different forms and across industries such as retail, banks or insurances. Companies are now confident AI can reliably handle low-level requests, resulting in significant investment and roll outs of these systems at the moment. There are several use cases for AI. An example is Augmented Messaging which is a bot assistant with the goal to prevent frustration some customer feel when dealing with a pure bot while still using the technology to increase efficiency. In this case the human deals with the enquiry when the bot is not able to solve the problem because it is to specific or complicated. A second example are AI Organized Email Inquiries where the technology helps employees to understand customer enquiries. The AI will classify the enquiry and send it to the right department for example. All of this is used to speed up the process and save valuable time for the company.

Seeing these examples, it is understandable that the potential use of AI in customer service is immense. Therefore, I think everyone should keep an eye out on AI trends in 2020 and beyond.

References:
View at Medium.com
https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/07/02/ais-increasing-role-in-customer-service/#3648a6a773fc
https://www.paldesk.com/ai-trends-in-customer-support-to-look-forward-in-2020/

Use Cases of AI for Customer Service – What’s Working Now

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Facial recognition: the new key to safety?

26

September

2020

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The market for facial recognition technology (FRT) is on the rise. According to a MarketsandMarkets report the market value was 3.2 Billion dollars in 2019 and will reach 7 Billion dollars in 2024. Facial recognition is a biometric technology that uses specific and unique facial features to identify a person. Nowadays, it’s utilized in an assortment of ways from unlocking your phone, go through security at work, purchase products at stores etc. The amount of photo and video data available provides the dataset required to make FRT work.

Especially, the security part is linked to a lot of controversy. Since one of the major advantages is safety and security, proponents claim it will help to deal with violent crimes, terrorist threats and is able to support solidarity within the society. An example can be found in China where cameras are set up at crosswalks to identify and post photos of jaywalkers. Furthermore, in London the technology is finding more and more use. The logic behind that is simple. At the point when individuals realize they are being watched, they are more averse to perpetrate violations. Currently, authorities in London are testing to identify individuals with the help of FRT via Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras which are spread all over the city. Moreover, Business owners use the technology to help identify suspects of interest when they come in their stores to help with possible fraud. These are only some examples of FRT in use for better security.

However, the biggest downside for FRT in most people’s opinions is the threat to an individual’s privacy. Privacy is such a major issue that a few urban areas, in the US already have prohibited law enforcements use of real time FRT. In these cases, police can use video recordings from personally owned security cameras, yet they can’t utilize real-time FRT. Another drawback is that the system is vulnerable to biases. The technology relies on algorithms to make facial matches and those algorithms are more reliable for white men than other groups because the databases contain more data on white men than women and people of colour.
While these developments sound surprisingly similar to something out of George Orwell’s 1984, the technologies presented are moving closer to making that a reality. Therefore, I think it will create more issues in the future that will require specific legislation outside current laws.

What is your opinion on this new trend?

References:

www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/08/19/facial-recognition-technology-here-are-the-important-pros-and-cons
www.cnet.com/news/in-china-facial-recognition-public-shaming-and-control-go-hand-in-hand
www.bbc.com/news/technology-50674909
www.designworldonline.com/two-major-concerns-about-the-ethics-of-facial-recognition-in-public-safety

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