Ethics, Privacy and Law
Binance judgement cements US crypto approach
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) handed down a record fine of $4.3bn (£3.2bn) to the Binance crypto exchange yesterday, 21st November, for “consistent and egregious” violations of US laws and financial regulations. Founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) stepped down with immediate effect to be replaced as CEO by Richard Teng, former Head of Regional Markets…
Read MoreAI: Can we build it? Should we?
This week BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, called on the Prime Minister to make ethics a priority at the upcoming AI safety summit. As AI explodes into the public consciousness, ethics has to be front and centre – and proactive. We can’t snooze on the job. Around 2015 I heard DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis…
Read MoreFTX Bankruptcy News
The newly-appointed CEO of the complex FTX group of companies has made his first filing in the bankruptcy court for the district of Delaware. It makes grim reading for anyone who has run a business, from startups with a handful of customers to listed companies. An unprecedented failure of trust and governance The administrator, John…
Read MoreLive from the FTX meltdown
*** Originally published Friday 11th November, edited for latest developments*** Where are we now? Thursday 17th November: The first filing is made in the bankruptcy court of the state of Delaware. You can read the key takeaways here. Saturday 12th November, 3am UTC: A reported hack starts to drain funds from FTX under the nose…
Read MoreDiversity across a decade
With eleven days left of a turbulent ten years, I’m following the fashion of reflection but looking ahead to the promise of the impending Twenties. In January 2010 I was comfortable in a senior financial position with a FTSE 100 subsidiary. Today, I’m in the process of writing my fifth book (fiction) and awaiting publication…
Read MoreWho can be trusted with our personal data?
There are shivers in Silicon Valley as the data protection winter approaches. Hard on the heels of the May 2018 implementation of Europe’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) covering personal data, the California Consumer Privacy Act 2018 (CCPA) passed through the state legislature in August. The long and difficult labor which preceded the birth of…
Read MoreGold! Gold! Gold from the Blockchain River! | Center for Digital Ethics & Policy
Read the original article: Gold! Gold! Gold from the Blockchain River! | Center for Digital Ethics & Policy In 2017, $5.6 billion was raised for blockchain-based development projects through a new funding mechanism dubbed an ‘ICO’ or Initial Coin Offering. By comparison, $240 million was raised by the same method in 2016, while it’s estimated…
Read MoreInitial Coin Offerings – Snake Oil or Saviour?
2017 was the year that Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) hit the technical business press, and cryptocurrency stepped out of the shadows. It’s been a remarkable ride: in June, when finalising details of my novel Bitcoin Hurricane, the publisher asked whether Bitcoin was well enough known for the book to sell. By Christmas, at every signing…
Read MoreWho takes ethical responsibility for social media influence? | Center for Digital Ethics & Policy
There’s a storm brewing, and social media is at its eye. For a decade, businesses and politicians have increasingly used both Twitter and Facebook as convenient mouthpieces. Twitter’s values declare: “We believe in free expression and think every voice has the power to impact the world.” Facebook’s mission is to “bring the world closer together.”…
Read MoreWill big business compromise the ethics of artificial intelligence – Center for Digital Ethics and Policy | Loyola University Chicago
Will big business compromise the ethics of artificial intelligence? We are entering a new era of technology adoption. We have passed the point of using new tools to perform old tasks, and our behavior is changing. I grew up with a 1970s television that had four push-buttons on it; these were laboriously and manually tuned…
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