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Feb 26 2023

Word War. Avatar anchors. Self salt.

Feb 25, 2023
David Akin's Roundup
Clippings of #cdnpoli, #media, and #tech content aimed at those with an interest in Canadian politics and policy. And sometimes Canadian postage stamps.
Canada
Canada needs an inquiry into Chinese election interference: ex-spymaster
Richard Fadden, former head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said he 'can't see any compelling reason not to' hold a public inquiry into election meddling by China. [Global]
Party's policy would result in Ukraine's annihilation, says Ukrainian Canadian Congress. [CBC]
From the Provinces
NDP takes aim at health care, affordability ahead of UCP budget
Ganley claimed the upcoming budget will increase government spending as the UCP attempts to "buy back votes" with surplus revenue. [Calgary Herald]
Les libéraux veulent freiner l’hémorragie en conservant leur bastion, tandis que les solidaires sont déterminés à prouver que leur formation ne plafonne pas. Les attentes sont élevées dans Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne, où le Parti libéral du Québec et Québec solidaire se livrent une chaude lutte pour remporter le siège laissé par l’ex-cheffe libérale Dominique Anglade. [La Presse]
Elsewhere
Word war: In Russia-Ukraine war, information became a weapon
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, and the first to see algorithms and TikTok videos deployed alongside fighter planes and tanks. [AP]
It has been one year since Russia launched its brutal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Brookings Institution Ukraine Index compiles key security, economic, and political data to highlight the consequences of the war and track its trajectory as circumstances change. [Brookings Institute

At the request of the ruling junta in Ouagadougou, French special forces have withdrawn from the West African country, marking the end of more than 20 years of military presence. [Le Monde]
Mexico's opposition plans a mass protest on Sunday against President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's drive to shrink the independent electoral authority, arguing the changes threaten democracy - an accusation he vigorously denies. [Reuters]
Ajay Banga, U.S. President Joe Biden's pick to run the World Bank, will face a tough slate of issues around the institution's finances and capital structure from the get-go, thorny problems he must address as he reshapes the bank into a force for combating climate change on top of its traditional role as a poverty fighter. [Reuters]
COVID and Vaccines
Florida county Republican Party votes to ban the COVID-19 vaccine
Lee Co. Republican Party member Joe Sansone called the vaccine a bioweapon. [CBS]
Catching COVID-19 may increase the risk of developing autoimmune disease by 43 per cent in the months following infection. [Live Science]
Media
DeepFake: They’re not TV anchors, they’re avatars: How Venezuela is using AI-generated propaganda
Fake news stories about economic improvement presented by computer-made ‘reporters’ have begun circulating online, evidencing how the technology is being used to further pro-government narratives [El Pais] 

Hundreds of officials, tech firm representatives, academics and members of civil society were invited to the two-day meeting hosted by the United Nation's cultural fund to brainstorm how to best vet content while upholding human rights [AFP via Voice of America]
Under the title "Facts against Fakes," fact-checking organizations from Germany and Austria offer up-to-date articles on false information currently being circulated on the internet. [Press release]

Christopher Curtis: Cuts won't be as deep as announced last month but the newspaper chain continues its long road towards insolvency. [The Rover]

Ismail Muhammad reviews "Culture: The Story of Us, From Cave Art to K-Pop" by Martin Puchner. "...human history is not one of neatly delineated canons and hierarches that respect geographical boundaries." [NYT]
Tech
Self-salting roads might one day make winter driving safer
Researchers in China have developed a technology for an asphalt additive that can slowly release salt on-demand over the life of the road. [CBC]

We tested connections to every continent except Antarctica. The big takeaway was how robust Proton VPN is at providing leak protection. [ZDNet]

Among Americans who have heard about AI programs that can write news articles, 16% describe this as a major advance for the news media. [Pew]

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