‘The Best Defense is a Good Offense’: Japan’s Need for a Practical Cyber Policy
Over the last two decades, Japan has seen a more gradual buildup in awareness and action for cybersecurity objectives than have other countries. Although cybersecurity was first mentioned as a significant issue in the yearly Ministry of Defense (MOD) report
Trump, Twitter, TRUTH, and Lies
When Twitter banned Donald Trump from its platform, it became clear that society had reached a point at which the scope and power of social media platforms far exceeded what anyone could have predicted. We had the “leader of the
A More Perfect Union: Technology and Democracy
Technology is at center of the 2020 election. Misinformation, polarization, and extremism are spreading across social media platforms and undermining the civic process. With our democracy at stake, we must identify how platforms enable these threats, and how we as
Better Late Than Never; Twitter and Facebook Enact New Civic Misinformation Policies
"Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In Ballots all over the USA. Must have final total on November 3rd." This misleading and inflammatory tweet from President Trump, unfortunately, is only one of millions of posts circulating on social media which
How to Make the Election More Accessible for Everyone
Millions of Americans with disabilities are excluded from voting and participating in our presidential elections. For example, this year’s televised presidential and vice-presidential debates were inaccessible to viewers with hearing loss. Despite voter equality legislation and more accessible polling options,
The New (Inter)Faces of American Politics: Start-ups Changing the Way We Vote This Election
The 2020 US election is only a few days away, and like most things in life, it is being drastically affected by developments in technology. Recent events have deterred some from trusting technology to preserve our right to vote. However,
If AI is biased, how should we use it?
Source: University of Toronto Magazine. Even in the unprecedented time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the headlines are inundated with ways that artificial intelligence is being used to assist coronavirus patients and perhaps even prevent future pandemics. Not far from these auspicious articles are
Ameelio – The Free Prison Communication Platform
Writer’s Note: Currently, I am working as a software engineering intern at Ameelio remotely, through spring and summer 2020. Specifically, right now, I am working on writing web crawlers to build a seamless, searchable nationwide inmate database. All uncited quotes come
Contact Tracing and the Future of Technology Governance
On April 10, Apple and Google announced their partnership to build a Bluetooth-based contact tracing platform. Set to launch in May, the API would allow public health authorities to develop apps that would use the Bluetooth functionality on Android and
Voting by App
The greatest threat to our democracy is not foreign interference in elections, or political polarization, or fake news. It is our voter turnout. A democracy is supposed to be a system of government by the whole population, but the 2016